SWNOVELS Chapter 9: Laylith
The courthouse was huge, it was a big hall without windows, with hundreds of torches hanging on the walls, and several tukhtaashes stood next to the walls, watching over the lighting in the vast hall. Dozens of benches were placed tightly to each other and various citizens were already seated on them, as well as surface residents, who seemed to be forced to work, but it does not seem that the tukhtaashes treated them like prisoners.
“How does the air get in here?” Laylith asked, sitting down next to Arel. “We’re underground, and in a completely locked room, why isn’t it stuffy here?”
“I don’t know... So, where is Arinella? Didn’t you find her?” Arel asked.
“No,” Laylith answered.
Finally, three judges entered the hall and everyone stood up. The judges sat down, and everyone in the hall sat down as well. Edelmer was brought in and put in the place of the accused.
“In the name of king Ikki Raak, we begin the trial. Case number one million two hundred twenty-four thousand forty-one, the pure-blooded snunorf Edelmer Arnwaldskar is accused of the premeditated murder of another pure-blooded snunorf, Kardgert Argfringskar, who was sentenced by the king to serve in Itskel-taash.” The judge looked up from the reading and turned to the audience, “So, those present, who do not know me, my name is Azar Wulu,” said the judge, it was a dark-skinned bald middle-aged man. Then he pointed to the other judges, “to my right is my wife, Neze Wulu, and to my left is my son, Jhor Wulu. And now we will hear the witnesses, and then we will pass the verdict.”
“Wait,” Laylith jumped up, “isn’t my father supposed to have a defense attorney?”
“You interrupted the judge and didn’t address the judge properly,” Slu Tis, sitting nearby, intervened. Then she turned to the judge and stood up for the half-elf. “Dear shtak-tshak, she has just arrived, like her father, I did not have time to acquaint them with the rules of our etiquette, cultural and ceremonial customs, please forgive me, and please forgive Laeltilat, and if it possible do not impose additional penalty months of work for contempt of court.”
The judges looked at each other.
“We forgive you and Laeltilat as well,” - said Azar.
“Thank you, dear shtak-tshak,” Slu said.
“Dear, shtak-tak…”
“Shtak-tshak” Slu corrected her.
“…Shtak-tshak, I would like to ask a defense attorney for my father, if the customs of your people allow you to defend the accused,” Laylith asked.
“Yes, they do,” Azar said, “you just need to ask any of those present to volunteer or agree to become a shaheshta.”
“Then I’m asking someone to volunteer!” Laylith looked around the crowd sitting on the benches. “You don’t know me and my father, but many of you saw exactly what happened in the dining room, my father is a good man, although I have known him myself recently, due to circumstances, but he is exactly what I imagined him to be, kind, caring, honest. Everything that happened in the dining room is a terrible tragedy, but that snunorf was an evil racist, and he…”
“I’ll defend Edelmer Arnwaldskar,” a young tukhtaash woman with curly hair interrupted her. “My name is Chathi Tsek and I saw what happened, so I will defend the northerner.”
“Thank you!” Laylith could hardly hold back her tears. Chathi took a seat next to her and Arel.
“We are about to begin,” Azar said, “urshah, call the first witness.”
An elderly tukhtaash with grey hair was the prosecutor and he stood up.
“The prosecution calls Ubad Cuttergert,” the elderly man said.
On one of the benches in the very corner, someone stirred, and then headed toward the judges. He was a half-blood dwarf male, probably the son of a tonnebeard woman and a sand elf, arnadacre, Ubad’s ears were like those of the sand elves, and he had a long beard like a tonnebeard.
“Do you guarantee that your words will be sincere and that you will not soil the meaning of what you say with lies or distortion?” the prosecutor asked.
“Yes, I do, urshah,” he bowed to the prosecutor, and then turned to the judges and bowed to them, “dear shtak-tshak.”
“The day before yesterday, on the two hundred twenty-first day of the five thousand one hundred and eighty years of the underground cycle, did you witness the actions of the defendant?” the prosecutor asked.
“Yes, I did, urshah,” Ubad answered, “I was in the dining room at the time of the event, the defendant snunorf attacked Kardgert Argfringskar, my friend, and killed him in a fit of uncontrollable rage!” Ubad almost burst into tears but restrained himself.
“That’s a lie!” Laylith jumped up. Chathi Tsek threw a disapproving glance at the half-elf and shook her head. Laylith sat down, the judges and the prosecutor, as well as the half-blood dwarf ignored her.
“What kind of relationship did you have with the murdered one, dear Ubad?”
“We were close friends, we were,” he hesitated, “lovers!”
“And how long was your relationship?” the prosecutor asked.
“Three years and sixty-four days.”
“Have you ever used the magic of illusion on a victim during your relationship?”
“No, never!”
“Have you ever used some shape-shifting spells and appeared before Kardgert in a different guise?”
“Never!” Ubad insisted.
The prosecutor turned to the judges.
“Dear, shtak-tshak, based on the information we have received, we can assert that the murdered snunorf was not a racist since he had a long relationship with Ubad, which, as you can see for yourself, or expertise can determine, has no snunorf roots. Therefore, there is a possibility that the young half-elf, her accused father, and two arqilunian might have misinterpreted something...”
“To Luelsharetil’s mother, what are you talking about?!” Laylith flashed again.
“Dear Laeltilat Arnwaldskar, if you do not stop interfering with the trial, you’ll be removed from the courthouse, understood? Judge Azar said.
“Yes, dear shtak-tshak, I understood everything, but let me say something to the court.”
“Shaheshta… defense attorney will do it for you, and now take your seat.” Azar turned his head to the prosecutor. “Dear urshah, continue, please.”
" I have nothing more to say, dear shtak-tshak,” the elderly prosecutor said, “the other subjects of the kingdom, our sentenced workers and citizens have seen absolutely nothing or do not want to say anything at all, so the prosecution is finished.”
“It’s the shaheshta’s turn, please,” and Azar invited Chathi to rise with his hand. She stood up.
“I, Chathi Tsek, will speak not only as of the shaheshta but also as the witness and the victim. Snunorf Kardgert Argfringskar not only assaulted Arlandiel Gael-UlanTarrik, but before that he insulted Edelmer’s daughter, Laeltilat Arnwaldskar. And more… about ten days ago Kardgert Argfringskar raped me!” The rumble of the crowd went through the hall. Chathi continued, looking at the judges. “Of course, Edelmer Arnwaldskar overstepped the boundaries of the law, and first attacked Kardgert, and then indeed killed him in a fit of rage, as the prosecution claims. But according to the criminal code of the tukhtaashes, the death penalty is prescribed for rape. And for rape by a foreigner, Law 26.5 says, I quote: ‘if, through the fault of a foreign citizen or a stateless person or a person of another state formation, a citizen or citizens of Itskel-taash is forced to engage in sexual acts without her/him/they/their will and consent, such a person or foreign citizen may be put to death and executed of any kind at any time without involving the court and other organizations of the kingdom in order to ensure justice.’”
Someone shouted, “skarkeshuh”. Someone was clearly expressing sympathy.
“Order in the courtroom!” Azar shouted. Gradually the hall calmed down. “Proceed, please,” Azar said, turning to Chathi.
“Besides the fact that Kardgert raped me, I also know for certain that he could not date Ubad, not only because he was racist, but because he preferred to “sexually punish” only women for racial disparity, not men.”
“How do you know about his multi-racial-cultural orientation, perhaps he could have preferred diversity?” for the first time another judge, Azar’s son, entered the process.
“I know this because I have personally experienced the horror of his “punishment”, dear shtak-tshak!”
Someone shouted, “liar!”
“Then why didn’t you file a royal application following protocol in such cases?” Jhor Wulu continued to wonder.
“Because of public censure and condemnation. Look around, dear shtak-tshak, our system is imperfect, we’re taking travellers into slavery, against which we have fought for millennia. But, yes, I see that we treat them with dignity, and after the expiration of their forced labor, almost all of them are assimilated here and become part of our multinational kingdom! But can’t you see that they’re trying to impose the values of their races on us?!”
The woman judge decided to enter into dialogue.
“You accuse the murdered snunorf of rape and racism, and you are very close to the line, what is permissible, dear Chathi. We cannot offend the values of other races, persons and rational beings. Even the karkhashes have the right to preserve their traditional way of life, which is why we have created huge running grounds for them. If the tukhtaash marries a snunorf woman, and they have children, and the mother wants to tell the children stories from northern folklore, then you shouldn’t call it imposing values!” Neze Wulu stressed.
“And how we should call it?” Chathi asked.
“Dear, friends,“Azar intervened, “we spend too much time on irrelevant topics. Let’s decide the fate of Edelmer Arnwaldskar. If the shaheshta Chathi were indeed raped, which we can see through clairvoyant magic with her consent, then by law we will have to decide to completely drop the charges.”
“I can show you! I can use my magic and you’ll see what happened!” Laylith jumped up.
“No, we need the consent of either the relatives of the murdered person or the witnesses to the incident. In this case, none of them agreed to use clairvoyant magic, and we did not find the relatives of the murdered person. Even witness Ubad referred to the spectacle traumatizing his psyche and did not agree–”
“So you need someone’s consent to solve crimes, regardless of the severity of the crime. Amazing!” Laylith did not calm down.
“Enough!” Judge Azar said. “We will study the evidence, we’ll watch Chathi’s incident, and then tomorrow morning we will continue the trial. This hearing is now over!”
And the judges stood up and left the courtroom demonstratively.