Dierdre

The stately woman stepped forward through the crowd to where Riley stood. In deference, he moved aside and let her take the center place.

The Judge stared evenly at her. This was unusual, but so was the kind of charge currently before the Council. With his hand, he gestured for the woman to proceed.

"My name is Dierdre. I am The Provider's wife." Having been sequestered for so long in her home, she had not been recognized by most of the people in attendance right away. Shock reverberated across the large room. By now the crowd had grown large enough to spill out into the square. If Ashley had not been escorting Dierdre, it's unlikely she would have even made it inside.

"I am here to testify about the man accused today." The chatter intensified until the main guard called for silence.

"My husband, my Heart, Lysander, and I married many years ago. On a mission a little over twenty years ago, he recounted to me that he met a strange man in the woods. The man seemed to appear and disappear out of nothing, and promised great wealth and power should my husband agree to do him favors in return.

"My husband agreed, laughing the matter off as a crazy man in the woods, but very quickly he was promoted through the ranks. He was elected Provider only a few years later, and was amongst the youngest ever elected, with no particular qualifications for the post. I think if you look at the election records, you will find some discrepancies."

The Judge looked toward the Treasurer, who gestured for a guard to come close, and gave whispered instructions on where to retrieve the relevant election records. Once he did so, Dierdre continued.

"He was contacted by that man, and tried to convince me to go along with the schemes being plotted. He said we could have great power and influence, but I was convinced his plan was evil. When I tried to reveal his plots, he isolated me from society and convinced everyone I was not in possession of my mind any longer."

There were whispers in the crowd as several of the wealthier citizens recalled the rumors of the Provider's wife being mentally unwell.

"The final, worst part of everything was that he engaged our only daughter to that man from the woods, who turned out to be Crown Prince Duncan, heir to the throne of Rhone! He would send our daughter to our enemy as the wife of a man more than twice her age! It was despicable and I cannot allow it to happen.

"Traitors must be held accountable. Our city's well being and very survival are at stake. I have seen the messages myself, though he burns them after receiving them. I have seen him make use of the military messenger birds, which is its own offense. He purposefully disposed of the emergency stores to deplete Klain's resources for the coming attack. I implore the other members of the Council, for the good of our nation, impeach and remove him immediately."

Ashley had filled Dierdre in on the missing pieces Roland had provided to her on the way from the house to the City Hall. Though she had anticipated some trouble from the servants trying to retrieve her mother, when she showed up with her uniform and her sword with an order from the General summoning Dierdre, they cowed and let the two women go without any further protest.

Everyone looked toward the Provider, whose wife had just verbally eviscerated him in a public forum. Whether or not the accusations were true at all, the experience had to be devastating to the man's pride.

He smiled sadly, and finally spoke, his voice hoarse with emotion.

"My darling, please, for you own sake, return to your bed for rest. You are not well. Accusations are already leveled at me such that you need not trouble yourself adding to them. Please go home and I will send the doctor to check on you soon." His voice broke a little. "I love you, no matter what."

The crowd was torn in reaction. His act was convincing to many, and they said that his love for his wife was admirable even in her insanity. The woman could get him executed for treason with her words, but still he cared only for her health!

The other part of the crowd did not quite buy his sweet words. Continuing to paint her as insane would be the cleverest ploy for a man in his position.

Dierdre, knowing what she knew now, was utterly enraged by his words.

"How DARE you claim to love me, you insidious imposter!! You're not my husband, you horrifying excuse for a human being, if you are even human! You're not him!! He loved me! You're a monster and a liar and I'll hate you until I die!"

Her furious outburst was accompanied by a lunge toward her husband's imposter. The guards leapt into action and restrained the frail but enraged noblewoman.

"You're a monster! Don't believe a word he says! He's a spy from Rhone in disguise, and imprisoned me in my own home, abused me, manipulated me! He's evil!!" Dierdre thrashed against the guards holding her as she continued to verbally lash out at the Provider.

"Please, be gentle with her! Please calm down, my love!" The Provider stood and reached forward in concern. "She doesn't mean to fight, please don't injure my wife! She's not well!"

His words incensed the woman further and she screamed in rage. The guards subdued her as gently as they were able and, with a gesture from the Judge, pulled her from the room.

"I'm so sorry for the disruption my wife has brought to this place. Please forgive her, and do not hold it against her." The Provider sat wearily back in his place, grief in his eyes. "It is not her fault. She's not well."

Ashley looked ready to strangle the man herself. She was about to speak when Riley took her arm, urging silence. Though she pulled her arm away roughly from his grasp, she flinched and sent him an apologetic glance. He returned a small encouraging smile, and she took a step back behind him.

Roland watched from the back of the room beside the door. This was not going as well as they had hoped. Dierdre's understandable but ill-timed outburst discredited her testimony, and cast the entire accusation against the Provider into murky water. He had gained the sympathy of much of the crowd with his longsuffering response to his wife's tirade.

Still, there was the letter. Roland hoped it would be enough so that they did not have to invoke the backup plan. While it was a potentially viable option, it put later plans at risk of failure. The ultimate decision on whether to use the backup plan was left with him.

They were being slowly backed into a corner as the Provider continued to manipulate the crowd with his worried glances toward the door through which the guards had dragged Dierdre.

Roland would have liked to just bring the real Provider in to confront the man. As soon as he'd arrived yesterday, he asked the General to send out a search party, but there was no realistic chance of them finding the man, if he was still alive and had not been recaptured. It had taken Roland days to ride full speed for Klain; a weak old man on foot would still be too far to locate expediently.

The Treasurer looked up from the thick book of election records the guard had brought him and cleared his throat. The Judge gestured for quiet in the room before the man spoke.

"I looked up the election records from when the Provider was elected, per the lady's assertion." The Treasurer began. "While I have not found blatant direct evidence that the election was manipulated in my cursory review just now, there are some tabulation discrepancies and other irregularities that, in my learned opinion, merit further investigation."

"Thank you, Treasurer," stated the Judge. "Peacekeeper, did the investigations on the missing military messenger birds and the stolen emergency stores yield any conclusions which might support or refute the current accusations?"

"The investigations did not reach satisfactory conclusions," The Peacekeeper hated admitting this.

The Judge nodded. "If that is all the evidence before us, I believe we should deliberate and vote on whether to remove the Provider. Though the evidence does not seem sufficient at this juncture for a trial of treason, this is perhaps concerning enough to have the Provider step down from office and remain confined while the matter is thoroughly investigated."

"Provider, would you be willing to voluntarily step down while the investigation proceeds?" The Judge was magnanimous and wanted to give the option to his esteemed colleague to honorably proceed without forcing the others to vote on the matter.

"I would not." The Provider stated loudly.