Chương 53: Book 2 Chapter 5 - City Tribunal

That night, as the sun set, Kiara's carriage pulled up to the city office buildings, depositing both her and Dustin near the front doors. She admired the orange and purple clouds stretched beautifully across the sky as they walked in. Her family had returned to their farm, taking the thirty three gold with them. She knew they would be fine, they had always been fine in the past, but it was hard to be separated again after finally being around them for a few days in a row.

Putting that thought out of her mind for now, she entered city hall, asking the clerk for directions to the tribunal she was scheduled for. The clerk led them to the tribunal hall, a large room with auditorium style seating around a central dias. Near the central dias, a row of seven elevated seats stretched out in a wide arc. The centermost of the seven seats was raised slightly above the others.

Baron James Norshod, the ruling noble in Easton, sat in the center seat, with three city lords on either side of him, filling out the seven judgement seats. The auditorium style seating was filled with excited people, a loud buzz of chatter echoing around the room. As they walked toward the central dias, Kiara saw Dustin waving to many of the people in the stands, a large smile plastered to his face. At first, she thought he was trying to win favor with the crowd, or something, but then they started waving back.

He apparently knew these people.

"Who are all these people?" she whispered to him as they walked.

"Wealthy families from here in Easton, mostly," he said, waving to another couple high in the stands.

"Some lesser nobles from surrounding cities, too."

"What are they doing here?"

"I invited them!" he replied cheerily.

"These are all people that have a vested interest in tonight's hearing. House Yountal has a lot of friends right now." Oh. More Dustin-y stuff.

"Why did you invite them?" she asked testily. She didn't love the idea of being grilled in front of a crowd.

"While Baron Norshod rules here in Easton, he also relies on these families. His willingness to pass a harsh judgment on you will be severely limited by the influence of the many powerful families gathered here tonight." Kiara was suddenly very grateful for the crowd. They were here to support her, not to watch her burn. She was glad Dustin was so well versed in these matters.

As they stepped up onto the central dias, the chatter around the room died down, and Baron Norshod stared down at them sternly from his central judgment seat. A clerk read out a short introduction before stepping aside, "Lady Shian Yountal is here to answer for the death of Lord Grivalt, the ruling noble of Poston. Baron James Norshod is presiding. Clerk Amanda Heartrend will take notes, to be presented to Count Dremond." Poston.

It was the first time Kiara had heard a name for the village she grew up in, but she supposed it made sense for it to have a name. People from elsewhere had to refer to it somehow, after all. Silence filled the room for a few seconds before Baron Norshod spoke.

"You are accused of killing a ruling noble, Lord Grivalt, at his own estate just outside of Poston." A small, collective gasp filled the room, more out of propriety than surprise. Killing a ruling noble in his own estate was gasp-worthy, even if they all already knew the purpose of tonight's tribunal. Baron Norshod continued, "You filed a report yourself, admitting to such. This tribunal will determine the circumstances surrounding the event, and determine what penalties might apply, if any."

Kiara glanced sideways at Dustin, but he seemed relaxed, so she maintained her composure as well. His presence was steadying. The lord sitting in the left-most judgment chair spoke next, asking a question.

"Why were you at Lord Grivalt's estate last Saturday, Lady Yountal?" She glanced at Dustin, who nodded in encouragement.

"We had a meeting scheduled," she replied, turning to the lord who had addressed her.

"I was there to pay off the debts of some of his indentured servants."

"To have them work at your own estate?" the lord asked.

"If that is their wish," she responded.

"I did offer employment to the servants whose debts I paid off, some of whom are now working at my estate. Others have returned to their previous lives." A murmur rippled through the room as those gathered processed her response. The second lord spoke next.

"And how, exactly, did that meeting lead to an altercation?" Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

"I wanted to pay off the debts of specific servants. Lord Grivalt refused, so I offered to pay double or triple the amount of their debts. After showing him the money I had brought with me, he attacked me."

"Why were you interested in those specific servants?" the same lord asked. Kiara hesitated. The World Engine wouldn't let her say too much about the specifics of her family being there, nor would that be wise. Another aspect of the truth would serve nicely here though.

"One of the servants that he purposefully held back had recently been beaten rather badly. Another was a young lady, whose family he was trying to sell to me, and I didn't want them separated." It seemed that after each set of questions, space was left for the gathered spectators to whisper and speculate amongst themselves. The murmurs this time were more angry, indignant at the situation she had described.

"My lords," Dustin interjected, raising the paperwork the courier had dropped off earlier that day.

"It has also been brought to our attention that quite a few of the servants at Lord Grivalt's estate were being held there illegally."

"Who are you?" one of the lords asked.

"Dustin Savage, I am the estate manager for House Yountal."

"And why are you here?"

"As the estate manager for House Yountal, I have business dealings with many powerful and influential people," Dustin said, gesturing around the room to the powerful and influential people he was referring to.

"Including Lord Grivalt. I have in my possession many contracts and letters that might be pertinent to tonight's hearing."

"And what does your statement about illegal servant indenture have to do with the matter at hand?" the same lord asked.

"It helps set the scene for the type of activity being carried out at Lord Grivalt's estate leading up to this altercation," Dustin replied calmly.

"Some of those servants should not have even been there to begin with." Baron Norshod's face was growing darker and darker with each passing moment. The accusations being levied against Lord Grivalt were not the main purpose of the hearing, but were relevant enough that they had to be allowed. As Lord Grivalt was a cousin of his, it reflected poorly on his own house. The third seated judge, a lady, seated just to Baron Norshod's right, spoke next.

"Where did the altercation take place, Lady Yountal?"

"In the dining hall at Lord Grivalt's estate, my lady," Kiara responded.

"And were there witnesses present?"

"There were. The very servants I had gone to free were there, along with my two bodyguards."

"And no one else?" the woman asked with a raised brow.

"None that survived, my lady," she replied. This time, the murmurs in the crowd were loud enough and lasted long enough that Baron Norshod had to call for order. Baron Norshod, whose face was now a mask of anger, spoke next. His words were choked out, spittle flying from his mouth like miniature fireworks.

"You claim that Lord Grivalt attacked you, and you defended yourself?"

"Yes, milord," Kiara responded, maintaining her calm.

"It's convenient!" he erupted loudly.

"All of the surviving witnesses are either loyal to you, or indebted to you in some way." He began gesticulating wildly as he looked around the room.

"It is clear she is lying! How is it that you eliminated both Lord Grivalt and every single guard at his estate all by yourself with only two of your guards?" Kiara cocked her head to the side, trying to follow what he had said.

"There were only thirteen guards in the dining hall, my lord. I did not kill every guard at the estate."

"Oh?" he retorted.

"Then where did all of his guards go? They just magically disappeared?" He had a wild look of triumph on his face now, as if he had caught her in some lie. She sighed internally. Apparently stupidity ran deep in this family. She was now starting to see the intellectual resemblance between Baron Norshod and Lord Grivalt.

"They apparently ran off, after ransacking the place," she replied, trying not to lose her cool.

"If I had killed them, then they would still be there. Dead. You can count the bodies, this line of questioning seems unnecessary." Dustin placed a calming hand on her shoulder, and she reigned herself in. A few snickers were heard in the crowd. The truth had been so obvious, and the crowd apparently found it funny that she had called the baron out on it. Baron Norshod's face grew darker and darker as he fumed. He settled back in his chair while the next lord took up the questioning.

"Pray tell, Lady Yountal," the next lord, directly on the baron's left hand, asked, "How did you manage to defend yourself against Lord Grivalt and thirteen of his guards if they attacked you unexpectedly in that dining hall? I believe the baron was trying to ascertain the truthfulness of your report. In said report, and again here tonight, you have claimed that only you and your two bodyguards were involved in the altercation against Lord Grivalt and his men."

"That is correct," Kiara confirmed.

"My two guards temporarily held off eight of Lord Grivalt's guards, defending themselves admirably until I could arrive to help them. In the meantime, I was attacked by Lord Grivalt himself and five of his guards."

"And you walked away without a scratch?" the lord asked hesitantly. Kiara pointed to her left arm, which had indeed received a single scratch. More of a gash, really.

"I was wounded on my arm, but otherwise was lucky enough not to be injured. My two guards, on the other hand, were heavily wounded, and were rushed straight to the infirmary here in Easton. They have only returned back to my estate recently, where they are still healing up." The room was silent this time. The implications were clear. Shian Yountal could handle herself. She had fought off a tier 2 mage at the peak of his power, along with thirteen of his guards, pretty much all by herself.

Her two bodyguards had apparently only just survived, and she had been the one to save them. This far outside of a county capital city like Portish, it was rare to see anyone tier 4 or higher. The more powerful mages tended to congregate in the bigger cities, where there was more money, more opportunity, and more power. The baron himself was a tier 3 mage, but many of the wealthy houses in Easton were ruled by tier 2 individuals, and house retainers out here tended to fall into the same category.

Kiara had just declared herself to be one of the most powerful people in the barony.