The Golding's Trial 1

The guards forced Jaime and Margrett to their knees in front of the platform. Hisses, boos and furious shouts could be heard from the crowd. Several citizens tried to jump into the arena to attack the criminal couple. The couple's shackles glowed brightly as the couple struggled to break free. Now in tatters, their once rich clothes were filthy and grimy, like they hadn't had anything else to wear for days.

"Get your filthy peasant hands off of me! I am the rightful City Lord of Halcyon!"

"How dare you disrespect my husband?! I'll have your heads for this you stupid pigs! I am the future Lady of Halcyon!"

Margrett's shrill shrieks were ear piercing. They were even heard outside of the stadium. The guards had wax in their ears to block the noise. Obviously, they came prepared. Even under the guards' glares, the husband-and-wife duo refused to back down.

"SILENCE!"

A judge slammed his staff on the ground again. His blue robes fluttered from the force. Jaime and Margrett's yells were caught in their throats as they were pushed to the ground by an invisible force. The crowd snickered as they watched the couple's faces smash into the ground.

"To maintain the court's integrity, I will preside over this case since the defendants formerly belonged to the City Lord's clan. Lord Innello, please recuse yourself until this case is over."

Innello obediently stepped to the side. He could finally stop his greedy elder brother once and for all. This chance could not be ruined. The City Lord glanced up where his family was sitting. Hopefully, Daren could withstand the trial.

"Jaime and Margrett Golding. You stand here today on multiple counts of high treason and espionage against Halcyon City and the Chinebar Republic. You are also accused of aiding and abetting the terrorist actions and war crimes of the True Order insurgents.

"Namely terrorism, use of weapons of mass destruction, assassination, attempted assassination, mass murder of civilians and prisoners of war, taking hostages, unnecessary destruction of civilian property and pillaging, among other crimes."

The judge glared at the couple as he released the force holding them down.

"High treason alone is enough for the death sentence. How do you plead? Still not guilty?"

"Yes, you ignorant wretch! This city should be ours! There's nothing wrong with us taking it back! These accusations are blown out of proportion in an attempt to keep what is rightfully ours! We merely took the opportunity to correct things."

"Exactly! Even if we did bruise a couple of whinny brats or blow down a door or two, the damage wasn't that bad and doesn't matter at all. Commoners are barely third-class citizens with their little magical talent. This is a country for wizards, not the lower class. Wizards are always right to drive them out."

The tension in the arena sky rocketed once again. Most of the onlookers were victims of the atrocities that took place just a short time earlier, whether they were nobles or commoners. The blue robed judge resisted the urge to slam them into the ground again. Ruining his image wasn't worth it.

"So, that's your excuse? Fine. The final charges brought against you are child abuse and neglect towards your own son, Daren Forolan. These charges were added personally by the City Lord, Innello Forolan, last night. How do you plead?"

"What?! We would never harm our own child! That lying brother of mine must have turned him against us. He stole our child when he was young after he stole my position as City Lord. Where is our lawyer?! I want to speak with him immediately."

"This is a ridiculous, bald-faced lie! I'm an excellent mother! I provided the strictest education for our little Darie to grow into the best young noble that he could be. I even kept all of the dirty little heathens of the lower classes stayed away while choosing the best playmates for him. That deceitful weasel ruined it all!"

Daren subconsciously sat up straighter when he was mentioned. Murmurs rippled through the crowd at the unexpected abuse and neglect charges. Despite all their talk about how their genius son would restore their rightful positions, they actually abused him?

Actually, those charges weren't all that surprising when the crowd thought about them. Those hypocritical narcissists could steal from their family and betray their city. Harming their own child wasn't that far off. They even tried to get him engaged with that arrogant good-for-nothing witch from Landrienne.

All eyes were on him as his parents raged below. Daren clenched his jaw as he stared at the lunatics hurling abuse at the judge below. He barely recognized them from the last time he saw them a few months ago. Their personalities seemed to have gotten even worse.

"Oh? The City Lord is the villain? Heh." The blue robed judge ignored the further raging of the Goldings. "Your current lawyers were charged earlier, and should now be in prison. We would have assigned you a lawyer, but for some reason all were too horribly injured to represent you. Again, how do you plead?"

"Not guilty, obviously!"

"Very well. Court reporter, please record that the defendants have pleaded 'not guilty' to all charges and will forgo their lawyers."

"What? For the record, we never said that we would forgo a lawyer! Get our lawyer out of prison right now! How could he be charged and tried so quickly? That's clearly an abuse of power!"

The judge sneered in his mind. An abuse of power? Imprisoning some corrupt lawyers with actual evidence was nothing compared to what those two have done.

"Thank you for repeating for the records that you will definitely forgo your right to a lawyer and to keep yours in prison since you don't need him."

"That's not –"

"No need for such thanks. I'm just doing my job."

Once again, the Goldings sprawled face first into the ground. They moaned and struggled to get up while the court reporter dutifully wrote down the correct 'reality' that the judge would approve. The lawyers in the crowd wiped the sweat off of their brows. Anyone who represented those two, forced or not, would probably be ripped apart by the crowd.

After the reporter nodded, the trial continued. The first charges discussed were high treason and espionage. After all the evidence had been brought forward, the chief judge motioned for Innello to speak.

"During the battle, Jaime and Margrett Golding openly stood with the True Order while they attacked Halcyon. They repeatedly demanded for me to relinquish the position of City Lord. The final time they even threatened to harm Halcyon's citizens. Hundreds of defenders witnessed this."

"Meaning there are witnesses of them siding with the enemy during battle. However, they never admitted to working with them before the battle. Do you have conclusive evidence to prove this?"

"No, your honor. However, they have the motive and the means. Jaime and Margrett Golding have much more intimate knowledge of the city's defenses than most. They even know some information that's restricted to the heir and family head. This information would definitely have been necessary for the True Order's sabotage plan to work, which it almost did."

"Defendants, do you have anything to say?"

The charges for espionage were circumstantial at best. The Goldings loved to be pretentious and act like the city was theirs. They hated working with the True Order, so they never admitted to sabotaging their own city to help them. The True Order never revealed its sources either.

That probably would have saved them in normal times. However, these weren't normal times. Thousands had died. Most of the city was damaged. The invaders' plan worked too well. Only inside help could have let the attack go so smoothly.

Their fate was sealed. After all, the Goldings did publicly call for Innello to hand over the City Lord position while in the eyes of thousands of witnesses. They would be convicted on all charges, no matter how circumstantial.

"We didn't do anything wrong! Halcyon was supposed to be ours! I had no choice but to fight to get his city back!"

"Yes, that's right!" Margrett's eyes lit up when an idea flashed into her mind. "We didn't attack the city ourselves. We didn't do anything wrong. The True Order forced my husband and I to help! They threatened to completely destroy the city since a thieving rat corrupted it!"

The blue robed judge smacked his staff into the ground. He turned around to deliberate with his fellow judges. Innello stood by the side and patiently waited. Margrett triumphantly glanced at him, with smugness in her eyes. She fully believed that blue blooded nobles like she and her husband wouldn't be convicted.

The couple became more triumphant as the deliberations took longer and longer. In their mind, it took hours. In reality, it only took half an hour. Well, actually they only took five. The judges just had to go over their decision and waited for a while. They had to keep up an image of fairness, you know?

Silence reigned as the judges took their places again. The blue robed judge knocked on the floor with his staff.

"The court has made its decision. For the main charges of high treason and espionage, we find the defendants guilty on all counts!"

The crowd cheered. The sentence was exactly what they wanted, while others were thrown into a rage.