{"id":137,"date":"2012-10-04T17:16:32","date_gmt":"2012-10-04T04:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/csidemedia.com\/gryphonclerks\/?p=137"},"modified":"2012-10-17T17:25:08","modified_gmt":"2012-10-17T04:25:08","slug":"excerpt-the-trial-from-realmgold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/csidemedia.com\/gryphonclerks\/2012\/10\/04\/excerpt-the-trial-from-realmgold\/","title":{"rendered":"Excerpt: The Trial from Realmgold"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that I’ve submitted The Gryphon Clerks<\/em> for consideration to a small-press publisher, I’m concentrating on finishing the draft of Realmgold<\/em> (formerly “the political book”). I like it. It might even become the “first” book, since both cover the same time period and it’s a little more mainstream – more conflict, for one thing.<\/p>\n

Here’s an excerpt. Constance is a Countygold, a local ruler, who is acting as a magistrate here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Constance\u2019s official judicial table that she used in her usual courtroom had been moved to the platform of the hall. She stood up behind it, a slight, fiftyish, grey-haired woman who needed the reading glasses that she looked over at the gathered crowd.<\/p>\n

Here we go, she thought.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here,\u201d she said, \u201cto ascertain the facts about the incident which occurred night before last, just south of Boulder Bend, between a dwarf caravan and a group of local men. I will hear testimony from all who were present and survived, and I will render judgement based on the principles of justice and the law of Denning.\u201d She paused and very deliberately tracked her gaze across the various groups. \u201cAnyone who disrupts the proceedings will be ejected without appeal. Is that clear to everybody?\u201d<\/p>\n

There were nods from various parts of the hall. The grey-clad RBP men didn\u2019t nod, just sat stiffly. There were mutterings among the dwarves, but she chose to assume they were translations being made for those who didn\u2019t speak Pektal. The newswriters scribbled, and the Coppers shuffled their feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood,\u201d she said, and sat. \u201cI will have the participants in the incident come in one at a time and give testimony as to what occurred. Call\u2026\u201d she squinted at her notes\u2026 \u201cTree Stonecircle.\u201d<\/p>\n

The advocate for the Coppers popped to his feet as if on a spring. His appearance was against him \u2013 he was pop-eyed, with a receding chin and advancing teeth \u2013 but he was a highly skilled lawyer, too highly skilled for the Coppers to be paying him themselves, thought Constance.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdvocate Trustworthy,\u201d she said, acknowledging him. She thought: Trustworthy, what a name for a lawyer.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay I inquire of the court why the first witness to be called is the principal accused?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the principal accused,\u201d she pointed out. \u201cAnd I am calling him first because, having read through the depositions made by the participants, I concluded that his account gives the fullest outline of the incident. That is not,\u201d she said, as he opened his mouth, \u201ca judgement of its accuracy, only of its level of detail.\u201d She nodded to the corporal, who had been waiting for her ruling, and he hurried out the back to fetch the centaur.<\/p>\n

There was some murmuring among the Coppers when Muscles appeared, which Constance hushed with her bell and a hard glare that said: Remember, I can throw you out. The RBP men sat silently, obviously determined to give her no excuse.<\/p>\n

It was the magistrate\u2019s prerogative to question the witness first, so she began, once he had been sworn in.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are Tree Stonecircle?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, Countygold,\u201d he said, in a surprisingly tenor voice. His head was about three dwarfpaces above the ground, and, seated, she had to look up at him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can address me as Magistrate while we are in session. You were hired by the dwarf Pack of Sevenhills as a caravan guard?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, Magistrate.\u201d<\/p>\n

She led him through the outline of events, which he recited calmly and clearly, like a military officer giving his report. His enormous hooves stayed planted foursquare on the platform, and he didn\u2019t fidget, nor did his speech stumble. She handed him over, as was the tradition, to Trustworthy, who as far as Tree was concerned was acting as the opposing advocate.<\/p>\n

Trustworthy leapt to his feet and leaned forward, gesturing up at the centaur (the advocates were not seated on the platform, since there wasn\u2019t room). \u201cTree Stonecircle,\u201d he said, \u201cyou have testified under oath that the humans you killed began the altercation. Is this true?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, Advocate,\u201d said Tree.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd does the oath bind you?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Tree blinked, at a loss for the first time. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Advocate, I don\u2019t understand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you bound by your oath in court?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course I am, Advocate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you\u2019re more than half an animal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murmurs began on both sides of the court, and Constance rang her bell sharply. \u201cAdvocate, I suggest that you desist from this line of questioning,\u201d she said. \u201cI am mindmage enough to confirm that the oath does bind the witness, as it does any other witness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trustworthy bowed to her unctuously and continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo what was it that led you to conclude that the humans concerned had attacked you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of them shouted \u2018let\u2019s get them\u2019, and they all ran at us with weapons,\u201d he said. More than one of the reporters smirked, and they all scribbled faster.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd these so-called weapons, of what did they consist?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSharp bits of metal on poles, mostly,\u201d he said. One reporter laughed openly, though briefly, glanced at Constance and fell silent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were, in fact, agricultural tools, were they not? Hayforks, mattocks, scythes and the like?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, Advocate. Sharp bits of metal on poles,\u201d said Tree.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were not, for example, spears and swords?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, Advocate, they were not. I imagine that such items are difficult to obtain for civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you imagine is not evidence,\u201d said Trustworthy sharply. \u201cSo you admit that they were not weapons?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, Advocate, I admit that they were not spears and swords. They were capable of doing harm to us and I judged that that was the intent of the people holding them, which made them weapons. It is my job to make these determinations and act upon them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo had they actually laid their implements on you when you fired your bow?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, Advocate. That\u2019s rather the point of a bow,\u201d said Tree. \u201cYou can defend yourself from a distance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you shot \u2013 how many?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThree, Advocate. After that they were too close.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what did you do next? Remind me?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI drew my sword and defended myself, my employer, and my fellow employees.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you attacked a group of peasants, who had nothing but farm tools to defend themselves, with weapons of war.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAdvocate, I defended myself and my group against an unprovoked attack with improvised weapons. It\u2019s my job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you stick to this story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI do, Advocate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYours to question,\u201d said Trustworthy to the other advocate, a skinny man called Hopeful with a big blade of a nose, and sat down.<\/p>\n

Hopeful stood, straightened his lawyer\u2019s shoulder-width black poncho, and asked, \u201cMr Tree, how many of your opponents were killed in the encounter, do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe it was three, Advocate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you base this on?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRapid examination at the scene,\u201d he replied. \u201cIt\u2019s possible that one or two more may have died afterwards, after I left.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd how did they die, these three?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo from my shots. The third man I shot, the big one with the pickaxe, looked as if he would live to me. Then one of them was kicked by one of the mules, and he hit pretty hard. Looked like he had internal injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the ones you fought with your sword\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne I disarmed by cutting the head off his weapon. Two I knocked out with the flat of the blade. The last one I kicked, but he should have survived all right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you had a sword, but you didn\u2019t stab anyone with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBroadsword, Advocate. Not really a stabbing weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou didn\u2019t cut anyone, then.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, Advocate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy was that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI try not to kill people if I can avoid it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you, Mr Tree,\u201d said Hopeful, and sat down.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you, Mr Tree,\u201d echoed Constance, \u201cthat will be all. The court,\u201d she said to the room at large, \u201chas sighted documentation which shows that the centaur Tree Stonering is a licensed caravan guard, permitted to carry and use weapons in defence of his employer and his employer’s goods.\u201d She paused, looked down at her notes, and said, \u201cCall Root Pinegrove.\u201d<\/p>\n

The corporal led Tree back into the back room on Constance\u2019s left, emerged, ducked into the back room on her right and brought out a medium-sized Copper who walked rather carefully, as if in pain. His heavy breathing was clearly audible in the courtroom, silent except for the scribbling of the reporters.<\/p>\n

Tree would probably have recognised him as the man with the mattock.<\/p>\n

Constance moved through the formalities of confirming his identity and involvement in the incident as rapidly as she could, given his thick dialect.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many of you were in the group involved in the incident?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEleven, Magistrate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what had you been doing previously?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe been at pub.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDrinking?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYahs, Magistrate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy did you have your tools with you?\u201d<\/p>\n

The man\u2019s mouth, which featured some truly hideous teeth \u2013 green and worn or missing \u2013 worked briefly as he tried not to answer, but the oath compelled him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe was lookin\u2019 for shorties.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you mean you were looking for dwarves?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYahs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what did you intend to do when you found them?\u201d<\/p>\n

Root muttered something.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeak clearly, Mr Root,\u201d said Constance sternly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe was gonna do \u2018em over.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were going to attack them?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYahs.\u201d The man was sweating, trying not to answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd did you attack the dwarf caravan in question when you found them?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYahs.\u201d Very reluctantly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn your statement given previously, you claimed that the dwarf caravan attacked you. Are you now saying that was untrue?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYahs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou lied in your statement?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYahs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy did you lie, Mr Root?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWas sceered.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were scared. What were you scared of, Mr Root?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSceered of Localgold.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd why was that?\u201d<\/p>\n

The man struggled visibly, but didn\u2019t answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you under a compulsion not to answer that question, Mr Root?\u201d she asked, knowing full well what the answer was.<\/p>\n

\u201cYahs,\u201d he said, with a mixture of fear and relief.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid the Localgold suggest that you go out after the dwarves, Mr Root?\u201d<\/p>\n

Trustworthy popped up on his spring, but she waved him down. Root\u2019s eyes bulged as the conflicting oaths fought to force him in opposite directions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all right, Mr Root,\u201d Constance said after a few heartbeats, as the Copper\u2019s face started to flush, \u201cyou don\u2019t have to answer that question. Be it noted in the record that the witness was unable to answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you attacked the dwarf caravan. Another witness has told us that one of your group cried out, \u2018Get them!\u2019, or words to that effect. Did you hear those words, Mr Root?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYahs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWho said them?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSky Tanner.\u201d He added a tongue-click to the end of the name, as superstitious Coppers did to the names of the dead.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what happened then?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe run at the shorties and the horse-arse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMr Root, in my courtroom you will call things by their correct names. You will call dwarves dwarves, gnomes gnomes, and centaurs centaurs. Is that clear?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYahs, Magistrate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo what happened after Sky Tanner called out?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe run at the\u2026 the dwarves and the centaur.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo attack them?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYahs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith what object?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMagistrate?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was your purpose? What did you hope to achieve by attacking them?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBeat \u2018em up, take their stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were going to rob them?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYahs,\u201d quietly.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you intend to kill them?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNah.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust to hurt them?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYahs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what stopped you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hor\u2026 the centaur.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe stopped you from beating up the group any worse than you did, and from robbing them?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYahs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat did he do to you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKicked me in guts.\u201d He touched the area in question and winced.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you, Mr Root. Yours to question,\u201d she said to Trustworthy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now that I’ve submitted The Gryphon Clerks for consideration to a small-press publisher, I’m concentrating on finishing the draft of Realmgold (formerly “the political book”). I like it. It might even become the “first” book, since both cover the same … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/csidemedia.com\/gryphonclerks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/csidemedia.com\/gryphonclerks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/csidemedia.com\/gryphonclerks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csidemedia.com\/gryphonclerks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csidemedia.com\/gryphonclerks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/csidemedia.com\/gryphonclerks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139,"href":"http:\/\/csidemedia.com\/gryphonclerks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions\/139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/csidemedia.com\/gryphonclerks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csidemedia.com\/gryphonclerks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csidemedia.com\/gryphonclerks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}