"It's time." Sir David's voice caused me to open my eyes.
I stood up, stretched my arms, and let out a yawn as I said: "Already? And I was just getting comfortable too. This place is not half bad. Dry floors, quiet, and songbirds that sing beyond the barred windows. If you can get used to the smell, it is not such a bad place to be."
"What are you going on about?" Sir David asked as he gave me a strange look.
I shrugged and said: "Just giving you my review on the court's dungeons. Maybe next time, I will give you one on the castle dungeons."
"Stop fooling around. You need to get into your role and put these bastards in their place!" Sir David let out an exhausted sigh. It looked to me that he was more worried about the outcome of the trial than I was.
Even if the courts decided I was guilty, I was not going to go to jail. King Gravos and I had already come to an agreement last night, thanks to Diablo doing me a favor and sending a shadow to the castle with a message. The king gave his reply and agreed to my idea if things went south.
I walked handcuffed up the stairs to the courtroom that was connected to the dungeon I was locked up in. These handcuffs were not made for people like me, so if I really wanted to, I could easily break out of them at any time.
When I reached the top of the stairs, I was met with a large hall. I did not realize it on my way here, but the royal court was huge, and I mean huge. But this was also the place where nobles or high ranking officials from other countries were put on trial for their crimes in the kingdom. I guess it was a source of entertainment for some nobles.
But I can say this about this place. It was split. Two different factions. It was easy to tell. One side was staring daggers into me while the other did not. Even the four judges seemed to be split. No, maybe it was a three to one ratio. Three of them seemed to be on friendly terms, and the other sat there with his eyes closed. But of the three, one was looking at me as if he was going to eat me.
I was brought to the center of the room onto a platform where my handcuffs were removed and replaced with metal shackles on my ankles and wrists. Chains attached to these new shackles were anchored to the platform, making it hard for me to take even five steps forward. But even as I stood there with the shackles, I kept smiling away as if this whole thing had nothing to do with me.
A great many conversations could be heard throughout the hall, making it quite noisy. So as soon as I was chained up, one of the judges finally yelled out: "Order! Order! Order in the court!"
The hall went silent. The judge, who seemed to be taking the lead, looked around before looking at me as he began speaking: "Today's court is on the murder of many noble children within a dungeon. Faith Cyrilia, how do you plead?"
"Not guilty," I answered firmly.
"Not guilty!? You killed my son!"
"What about my daughter!? She is dead now because of you! You are nothing but a demi human. Lay down and accept your fate!"
I raised an eyebrow and looked up at a lady that was very much overweight staring at me with bloodshot eyes. I smiled as I looked at her and said: "Are you sure you want to allow your hate for demi humans to affect your judgment?"
"You! You killed my daughter! Of course, I will dislike demi humans!" The woman yelled back. I just shrugged as I looked at the judges who were letting this go on.
"Is this how you handle court? You let others talk out of line?" I asked, my smile never disappearing. I was not here for the trial but to rile these people up and make them act out. The angrier they get, the more likely they will slip up, just like the woman just now.
"Silence! You have no right to tell us how to handle our courtrooms!" The judge on the left yelled out. It was the judge that sat next to him who was in charge, yet he still yelled out. Mistake number two. His actions alone proved he was condoning the actions of the nobles.
"Then do your job, please. I do not have all day. After this, I need to check on a few things in the academy library. I also need to clip my toenails as well." I spat out, causing the judge's face to grow red with anger.
"Order!" The judge in the lead finally yelled out. "Enough! The court is already in session. Everyone should stay quiet unless spoken to by the judges or be kicked from the courtroom."
The whole room finally quieted down, but I only yawned at the horrible acting this man had. If he was really bothered by the fact that they were yelling, he would have stopped it before things had gotten this far. "Faith Cyrilia, you say you plead not guilty is this correct?"
"Yes, it is." I nodded. I could still hear people grumbling from the audience.
"Then the plaintiff can begin his questioning." The lead judge said, finally getting the trial underway. A man with slick back blonde hair wearing a fancy suit with many golden rings on his fingers stepped forward and bowed to the judges before turning to me.
"Faith Cyrilia, you pleaded not guilty, but there are many witnesses who saw you put a barrier up around the nobles' sons and daughters, keeping them from being able to receive any food or even be rescued while you dived deep into the dungeon. Are you saying that you did not do this? Do you even know the meaning behind the words 'not guilty?"
