Chapter 28
“Would you state your name and position for the record keeper?” the court representative asked.
“Saw Yatha. Former Director of Prisons.” With his one good eye, Saw surveyed the courtroom. He’d never had this vantage point before. It was different than he’d imagined, but it was far from unpleasant. Every eye and every ear in the room – and he couldn’t forget the many people who were viewing this moment from outside – were pointed directly at him. Every eye and ear except for Lillian’s, who was focused on whatever was directly in front of her. Be he didn’t count her. She was already dead as far as he was concerned. Saw knew this would be his moment to shine in the hearts of the Merlain people, and he intended to make the most of the opportunity. He already imagined the statues and buildings named in his honor for being the one to secure Merlain dominance over the realms.
“Thank you, Patriot Yatha.” The court representative scanned his notes for his first question. “For the record, you were the Director of Prisons when Princess Lillian was captured during a raid of a Coellum convoy, correct?”
Saw nodded. “Let the record reflect that Patrior Yatha nodded in the affirmative.” Then, turning his attention to Saw, the representative said, “If you can, please verbalize your answers for the record.” Saw said he would, but inwardly, he did not take the public correction well. This was a show trial, after all. Everyone knew it. That was the point. Saw was certain that Chieftain Dol would be well within his rights as Supreme Leader of all of the realms to execute Lillian without this formality, so why all of the attention to detail, as if this trial actually mattered? Saw jutted his chin a little and adjusted his seat. If he was going to be challenged, he was ready for the fight.
“Now,” the representative continued, “while the Princess was under your authority, she was allowed to escape. Can you fill us in on the details of that event?”
“Certainly,” Saw began icily. “As has been known for some time, the Princess possesses certain traits. These traits allow her to control weak minds and have them do what she wants; to obey her wishes even when it goes against your personal interests. She was able to convince a certain weak-minded guard to allow her to escape.”
“And what became of this guard?”
Saw smiled as he said, “His position was terminated.”
“I see,” the representative said. “Were the princess’ traits, as you call them, known to you before you placed this guard over her imprisonment?”
“If I recall, her traits were suspected, perhaps even gossiped about the way people speak in ignorance about a great many things. However, since she had never set foot on Merlain before, nor had she employed these traits at any other time in our experience, the extent of her power was unknown.”
“And you didn’t see the need to plan for the extreme?”
Saw Yatha didn’t like where this line of questioning was heading. Was he on trial? What was this court representative attempting?
“I didn’t see the need to overreact to rumors, no,” Saw said. “That said, had this guard kept up his duties, the cell I had assigned her would have been sufficient. I designed it with the Princess’ abilities in mind.”
The representative crossed his arms. “That’s an interesting way to put it, Patriot Yatha. Overreact. Because, and maybe you would do us the please of filling in any missing details, once the Princess had escaped your facility and our jurisdiction, you abandoned your position as Director of Prisons to chase after her, leaving the government without a Director and the prisons without a leader. Would you call that an overreaction?”
Saw could feel his face tighten as this arrogant prosecutor had the gall to accuse him of dereliction of his duty. The only conclusion was that the Chieftan had put him up to this. This wasn’t the line of questioning of a show trial representative. This was a public skewering of his patriotic ferver and shaming of the extent to which he was prepared to go to preserve the mission and culture Zungher Dol had established over the realms. And if this was how that devotion was to be repaid, Saw was not about to go down without a fight. He grinned broadly at the representative and said, “Thank you for bring that up. Since I’ve returned and putting the Princess back in her rightful place, I have not had the public forum in which to explain my actions.
“Upon being notified of the Princess’ escape, I did immediately go in search of her. I don’t know that I would characterize it as ‘abandoning,’ but I could understand how some less informed people might see it that way. The way I understood my duties, she was mine to guard, and because of one thing or another, she had slipped my grasp, and I owed it to all of Merlain as a fellow patriot as well as to my overflowing devotion to our Supreme Leader to set things right as soon as possible. And believe me when I tell you, whatever rumors have been told of the Princess’ abilities are not even a percentage of what she is capable. For my pursuit of her spanned several dimensions and lasted far longer than even I anticipated.
“Not only is she able to jump time and space, not only is she able to muddle the thoughts of the simple-minded, but she is also able to change her form from the person you see before you today in this illustrious courtroom to other objects. Her favorite alternate for is that of an orb. It is small and easily overlooked, so it was with great pride that I located and trapped her in this form. It was while I had her captured and set to begin my return home that I can face-to-face with her mind-altering abilities.
“I say this for the record that while it gives me no pleasure to say this, she convinced me, with thoughts that seemed much like my own, to see to details about my return and leave her alone. With my attention diverted, she escaped again into the protection of a young man who interrupted my departure. I had planned to dispatch him as I had others along the way, but she helped him escape my grasp.”
“So, this would be the third time she foiled you?” the representative interjected.
Saw snapped back from his memory. “If you are keeping count. I suppose yes. May I go on?”
“Please.”
Saw nodded at the representative. “Lillian successfully eluded my detection for a long time. But in that time, I learned how to deduce her tricks, how to distinguish her thoughts from mine, and how to detect when she was active or dormant. I realize that it is not I who should say such things about myself but let someone else come to this conclusion, but I would suggest to one and all that I am the foremost expert on Princess Lillian and her ways. If it were not for all that I learned while I was tracking her down, she would still be free, free to menace the good people of Merlain.”
“Yes,” the representative toned. “Could you provide details for the court on how you finally returned the Princess to her rightful place in our prison?”
“I came across some scoundrels who had located her in her orb-like state. They, of course, were ignorant of what they had and suspected they possessed a pearl of great price. I was able to befriend them and wrest if from their grasp. And just in time, too. For their law enforcment was on to me and I narrowly escaped their realm’s borders with Lillian safely in my custody.
“It was with great patriotic pride that I deposited her back into the cell I had designed for her. I admit I was surprised to find that in my absence, my position as Director of Prisions had been filled by someone else.”
“This was a suprise to you? You were absent many cycles.”
“I was so intent on honoring the responsibilities given to me by Chieftan Dol, that it barely seemed a moment that I was away from my people. I gave express instruction to the new Director how the Princess must be handled. And based on his following of my instruction, you see her here in court today. I’m proud of what I did, and I’m certain that every citizen who loves our realm, who loves Chieftain Dol as I do, would have done the same. I find it an insult to suggest that to not go to the fullest extent of one’s ability to preserve the Merlain way of life and to benefit all other realms with this culture would be to show disdain for the realm I pledged to defend. If there are those who would say otherwise, I would ask why they didn’t come with me, to rid the realms of this scourge to us. She is the criminal and she should not just haver her day in court, but have her day of judgement for how she, her father, and her people seek to undermine the righteous cause of Merlain across all the known realms.”
Before the court representitive was able to ask another question a small amount of applause began in the gallery of spectators. This small applause grew quickly into a thunder. And Saw knew that he had won. He didn’t know what he would do with this victory yet, but he knew Zungher Dol was watching these proceedings from his high office and that this response from the people would give him leverage for something – the removal of Amnon Saxe, an even higher position in the government, perhaps even the beginnings of enough power to overthrow Dol should he prove too weak to fully carry out his vision for a strong Merlain future.
Saw Yatha tried not to look smug under the adulation. Once the applause died down, he looked at the representative and asked, “Any further questions?”
“We reserve the priveldge to call Patriot Yatha back to the stand, should that be necessary.”
“So ordered,” one of the red-robed judges said. “You may step down.”
Saw nodded at the judges, and walked out past Lillian, past the representitive, past the smiling faces of the gallery, and into a brand new day.
