eyebrows, and a freckled face. A disciple and three adepts huddled around the prosecutor’s table. Across the room, a single chair sat empty, facing them all. The accused’s chair.
The enforcers all but dragged her to it and sat her down. Two stood guard behind her, and Justice Captain Milad poised beside the prosecutor’s table, his crossbow cocked. One of the enforcers untied the gag and pulled it out of her mouth. It felt good to be free of it. She licked and stretched her lips and opened and closed her jaw to work out the stiffness. Justice Captain Milad flexed his hands on the crossbow.
“I am Elder Tornal,” said the white-browed elder in the center. “To my right is Elder Gastone, and to my left Elder Devarla. We will serve as Sentencing Judges for this proceeding. Let the record reflect that Disciple Jeneve is serving as Primary Witness, and Adepts Fer, Uster, and Gerios are serving as Primary Judges. Unless there are any objections, let us begin.”
He waited a moment for objections, but the room was silent.
“Will the accused please state her name for the court,” Elder Tornal said.
“Jora Lanseri.”
“Jora Lanseri,” Elder Tornal said, “you are here to face justice for the murders of five Legion soldiers, four enforcers, March Commander Turounce, and Elder Sonnis. How do you plead?”
“Not guilty,” she said.
“On what basis do you make this claim?”
Though the courtroom was quiet, a hush seemed to settle over it. No rustle of cloth, no clearing of throats. All eyes were on Jora.
She looked around the courtroom at all the faces staring at her, judging her. She was undoubtedly the first justice official ever to have been accused of murdering another, but then, they probably didn’t know that Elder Sonnis had murdered Elder Kassyl. Even if they did, it was too late anyway. “On the basis that I was acting in the capacity of a member of this order, meting out justice as my duty required.”
Gasps rippled across the room. People turned to their neighbor and whispered.
“Quiet!” Elder Tornal demanded. He banged a gavel on the bench. “Quiet.” He glared at the audience until they settled back down. “I’ll clear this room if you can’t maintain your composure in the manner befitting justice officials.”
The elders, adepts, and disciples, duly chastened, answered with silence.
Tornal lowered his gaze to the papers before him and began to read aloud. “Disciple Jeneve will Witness the events beginning on Veneris Day, the 8th day of Septebar, the day the accused renounced the Justice Bureau, and the four days that followed.”
“If I may address the court,” Jora said.
Milad flexed his finger on the crossbow trigger. If he squeezed it, even accidentally, Jora would be dead. Even without the kendern on her head, she couldn’t possibly have summoned an ally to protect her in the time it would take the bolt to travel across the room.
A bead of sweat dribbled down her sides. She swallowed and waited for Tornal to nod, then cleared her throat before continuing. “The events that led up to my decision to leave began with the death of Elder Kassyl.”
“I don’t see how Elder Kassyl’s passing is relevant to your departure,” Elder Gastone said.
“I’ll show you,” Jora said. “Permit me to give you a tour of my timeline and the things I learned. You’ll understand better why I did what I did.”
The three sentencing elders whispered amongst themselves for a moment, too quietly for Jora to hear. The three judging adepts took the time to discuss the matter as well. “We shall leave it to the discretion of the adepts sitting in judgment,” Tornal said.
Jora glanced at Adept Fer who had once been well-disposed toward her. Did he just wink? Did she still have a champion within the Justice Bureau?
Adept Fer nodded and then whispered something to the disciple sitting beside him. “We have no objections,” he lisped with his baritone voice.
“Very well,” Elder Tornal said. “Jora, if you agree to take no aggressive action against any member of this tribunal, members of the audience, or the enforcers who brought you, we will remove the kendern device.”
“You have my word.”
“Justice officer,” Adept Fer said, “kindly remove the kendern from Novice Jora’s head.”
The corners of Elder Tornal’s mouth twitched. “Refer to her as simply Jora or Jora Lanseri, if you please. She has been expelled from the Order.”
Expelled. Jora cast her gaze downward. She didn’t know why that saddened her, but it did, perhaps because the Order was the closest thing she had to