Chap. 77 The Trial

Chap. 77  The Trial

Lord Dorn reflected that, sometimes, Aivas's insistence that the Charter be followed in cases of law was more of a nuisance than a benefit. 

"I wonder if I shouldn't just do what our grandparents did…just behead the true criminals and banish the troublemakers. Not a soul would kick about it."

But banishment was proving to be a little less reliable. Look at these miscreants before him. While he didn't know their history, he was a good judge of character and the men before him were of the bad sort. He'd give long odds that at least one of them had been banished and had managed to make his way back. Boatmen seldom asked questions as long as money changed hands. In his research, he found these particular men were responsible for a long list of crimes.

Only Betzil had given his name to the inmate informer. But the guard…he'd have to give the man a bonus, he'd played his role as a deaf idiot perfectly, had heard everything the men had said. There was more than enough evidence from their 'confessions' to convict them all. 

He started on the one with the twisted arm.

"Your name and Hold?"

The man stood silent.

"No matter, I shall call you Arm.

"Arm, you stand charged of: horse theft, theft, burglary, robbery, home invasion, assault  with the intent to murder, and kidnapping. How do you plead?"

"I ain't done none of that."

"How then, did your arm get broken?"

"Got drunk. Got into a fight, lost it when the man broke me arm."

"When and where did this happen?"

"Can't right remember."

"I am disturbed by your lack of courtesy. I am Lord Dorn. You will address me as Lord Holder."

"Aye. Lord Holder, I ain't done none of that."

Lord Dorn said to his master at arms, "Call in the first witness."

"What's a witness? Weren't none there when me arm got broke."

"Did it break itself, then? You said you were in a fight. With yourself?"

The people watching the trial laughed.

Fire Lizard Man entered the makeshift courtroom. Both Arm and Ear blanched.

"State your name and your Hold, sir," Lord Dorn said.

"My Lord Dorn, I am called Fire Lizard Man and I have no Hold. I am a trader."

"Is that your born name?"

"No sir. But it's what I go by now, sir."

"Is it because of a crime you committed?"

Lizard grimaced. "My Lord, when I was 21 years old, I was put to work in the Tillek winecrafthall. My job was to load casks of Tillek wine onto wagons and transport them to other Holds, Halls and Weyrs. The buyers would give me the money and empty casks. One day I got an empty cask of Benden wine in with the empty Tilleks. So, next time I went out, I stole a cask of Tillek wine, re-casked it into the Benden cask, and sold it as Benden wine. It was a lot more money. I got caught. Right at the first sip."

Lord Dorn roared. 

"That was stupid," he finally was able to say, wiping his eyes.

Lizard laughed, ruefully.  "Aye, my lord, it was. But after I finished my sentence of six months of digging latrines out of solid rock, I decided to change my way of life and my name. Both Tillek and Benden Winecrafters, rumor is, put a price on my head. They don't have a sense of humor, sir! For all I know, that price is still there. So I had to light out. I didn't want to be forever known as the idiot trying to pass off Tillek for Benden wine."

Dorn laughed again. "Knowing Gorton, I'm sure he was more interested in punishing you for trying to pass off Tillek as Benden wine rather than the actual act of theft!"

"Aye, my Lord. Aye."

"Fire Lizard Man, you have made me laugh, always a good thing for a man to do. But we have business here. So, sir, do you recognize any of these men before you?"

"I do, sir. That one, with the arm twisted, and the other, missing an ear-six years ago, they jumped me as I was driving my wagon through your Hold lands. I was alone. They came out of nowhere. They didn't say a word to me, just attacked. The one with the missing ear slashed me with a knife, cutting me open neck to navel. The other one beat me with a cudgel. They threw me out of my wagon and left me to die."

"That's a lie, "Arm shouted, "he were with us, robbing."

Ooops.

"You don't shout out in my courtroom, Arm."

Lord Dorn looked hard at Lizard.

"Is what defendant Arm said true?"

"No, sir. I'd never seen them before in my life, and this is the first time I've seen them since they attacked me."

"Defendant Arm, then, you admit to robbery?"

"Uh uh, I didn't."

"You just said the plaintiff was with you 'robbing'. So you admit to robbery, and the plaintiff denies being with you. I assume, then, that you were lying?"

"That were a mistake."

"If he were an accomplice of yours, why would you almost kill him and steal his wagon?"

"Ummmmmmmmm,"

"Um is not an answer," Dorn said. "You admitted to robbery. You have slandered an innocent man. If you fail to refer to me with respect to my position as 'my Lord' or 'Lord Holder', I shan't even bother to carry on. You've already admitted to robbery, that's enough of a crime for me to do with you as I wish. If you lie to me again, I'll make the punishment even harder. I ask again, did the plaintiff go robbing with you?"

"Nay. My Lord."

"So, you admit to lying. Too."

"Aye. My Lord."

"Can the plaintiff prove his charge of assault by defendant Ear?

Lizard nodded. "I can, my Lord." He pulled up his shirt. The scar was still, after all these years, painfully red.

"How is it you survived, sir?"

"A young man saved my life. My Lord, he is one of your plaintiffs, waiting to testify. If you would call him, he can corroborate my story."

"His name?"

"Sandriss, sir."

Sandriss was called in. Lord Dorn knew in advance who Sandriss was. 

"You, sir, I believe you are one of my cotholder's sons?"

"Yes, my Lord. My father, now deceased, was Hanliss, our cothold is on the edge of your Holdings, just the other side of the mountains. My brother, Mardriss, is now your cotholder."

"I see. Sandriss, do you recognize any of the defendants in front of my bench?"

"Yes, my Lord. The one missing an ear, and the one with the twisted arm. They stole my two horses. They had half a dozen other horses, all stolen. This was six years ago. I think the only reason they didn't attack me is I was in the woods, relieving myself. They didn't see me and I didn't go after them until after they stole my horses.

They left me afoot. I tracked them and I found Fire Lizard Man in the middle of the path,  bleeding out. He was just about dead. I bandaged him up. He told me who did it to him. I left him with what water I had, and followed these two to a holdless man's hut. 

 They didn't know I was coming. I saw my horses in amongst the others. I saw Fire Lizard Man's wagon and draft horses in with the bunch. I called them out, and when I asked them why they'd stolen my horses, they attacked me. I had two fire lizards, sir, and they attacked the two. Between them and myself, I managed to break that one's arm and snatch the other one's knife. He was swinging away, almost gutted me, and then I cut off his ear with his own knife. 

Your master of arms had me take it off my belt, if you want to see it, he has it. 

They ran off, my Lord, with my fire lizards chasing them.

Then the holdless man came back, after hearing the noise. He was in awful shape, my Lord, they'd beaten him half to death. I helped the holdless man's wife take him into their hut, then I took his horses and wagons back to where Fire Lizard Man was.  Then we went back to the man's hut. His wife came out and she said she'd patch them both up. The holdless man said he knew who the other horses belonged to, and that he'd return them."

Lord Dorn nodded. "I see. Do you remember the holdless man's name?"

"Nay, my Lord. He just said they were holdless and I let it go at that. He was a good man, my Lord, he kept a clean hut and hadn't done a bit of damage."

"Begging your pardon, sir, " Lizard said, "But the holdless man's wife  nursed me until I recovered. Wouldn't take a mark, not a thing, in return. I'm forever beholden to them, and Sandriss, here. They saved my life."

Dorn turned his attention to the one missing an ear.

"You. Defendant with the missing ear. Your name and Hold?"

"Ain't got a name. My Lord. Nor a Hold."

"No matter, I shall refer to you as Ear. Ear, you are charged with horse theft, theft, robbery, home invasion, assault with the intent to murder, and kidnapping. How do you plead?

"Innocent, my lord."

"Ear, do you recognize the plaintiffs?"

"What's a plaintiff? My Lord."

"These two men are the 'plaintiffs'. They have a complaint against you and the other 'defendants'. 

"No sir, I ain't never seen neither one of them. For that matter, my Lord, I ain't never seen Arm or Betzil, there, until I got stuck in t'cell with 'em. I'm innocent as a babe, my Lord."

"YOU LIE!" Arm yelled, in a fury, "we been partners for ten years!"

Betzil couldn't stand it. "He's lying, sir, he was behind it all, all of it!"

"Sit down, you. And you. One more outburst and I'll end this trial without any more testimony."

Arm and Betzil sat down, furious. 

Sandriss and Lizard bit their tongues to keep from smirking. 

"So, defendant Ear, how is it you lost an ear?"

"Got in a fight. My Lord."

"Where and when did this happen?"

"Can't rightly remember, my Lord. I were drunk."

"That's quite a drunk. The other defendants claim to know you. You claim they are strangers to you. My plaintiffs claim you stole their horses and wagon, attacked one, almost killing him, displaced a holdless man, beating him and stealing his abode. Plaintiff Sandriss claims to have a knife that you tried to kill him with, and he cut off your ear. Can you disprove any of this?"

"Just my word against them, my lord. The one with the arm, he told me all about his life as a criminal. His partner is Betzil, over there."

"Why would they claim to be partners with you?"

"Don't know, my Lord. They's criminals. They'll say anything to keep their heads."

Arm and Betzil jumped to their feet, trying to run at him, but the chains on their legs prevented it, as did the big men behind them. They were shrieking in fury.

"He's lying!! He's lying!"

Lord Dorn reflected on how easy this was going. "Sit down. Betzil, stand".

"Betzil, your Hold?"

"My lord, I'm innocent of what these two claim. I never went robbing with them."

"Your HOLD, Betzil?"

"Crafthall, sir. My father is a cheesemaker at your crafthall near here."

The name rang a bell in Lord Dorn's mind. Ah. He had it. 

"Ah. You, Betzil, are charged with rape of a drudge at your crafthall. In addition, you are charged with theft, robbery, attempted kidnapping, assault on a dragonrider, and impersonating a Weyrling at Kahrain Steppe Weyr. How do you plead?"

"Sir, I didn't rape nobody. She wanted it."

"I see. Bailiff, please call in my next plaintiff."

The man went out into the next room, and brought in a girl. She went up before Lord Dorn, and nodded her head.

Lord Dorn looked down at her, gently. She wasn't very much older than his granddaughters, he thought. 12? 14?

Betzil's blood ran ice cold. He began to sweat. He never dreamed the girl would have the courage to actually testify against him.

"Miss, your name and Crafthall?"

"My lord, I am so scared of him. My name is Tamily and I live at the cheesecrafter Hall."

"Do you recognize the three defendants?"

She turned, trembling. The big men behind the defendants reassured her. That, and the chains they wore. 

"Just the one, my Lord. Only one. That one, over there. His name is Betzil. He told me he would make me his wife if I did things for him. But I didn't believe him after a while. So I told him to stop bothering me, I didn't want him to kiss me, so he …he….raped me. Then he ran away."

Betzil cried out, "YOU wanted it, you bitch!"

The man behind him clouted him. "Shut up, you, or you'll get another."

Ear jumped up. "Sir, My Lord, hear me out. We found Betzil on the beach. He had chains on his wrists. He'd come off a dragon. The dolphins pushed him ashore. We took him in. He told us he had money and knew where more could be had. He was the one who said we should kidnap that girl…"

Oops.

"So, you admit to attacking holdless children and attempting to kidnap a young girl…for what purpose, may I ask?"

"Betzil wanted a girl. He said it was for her to cook for us, and he would laugh when we asked him what else. I think he wanted to…to, um, have sex with her. But we said she was too young, and he insisted."

"I DID NOT!"

Betzil earned another clout.

"So you admit to knowing both Betzil and Arm, and committing crimes such as assault, attempted murder, attempted kidnapping,  burglary, horse theft, robbery and rape."

"Nay, nay my Lord, not rape! I never raped nobody. Neither did Menlet, no, we picked Betzil up and saved his life and he made us go out and do all them things."

"Who is Menlet?"

Ooops.

"That's him, over there, he's the one with the bad arm. Arm." Betzil  shouted. "His name is Menlet. The other is named Sibor."

Menlet shouted, "I never did none of those things, you lie!!"

Lord Dorn suddenly got tired. "I have one more plaintiff to call in, then I shall cast judgement on you three."

"Bailiff?"

B'rost entered the room. He approached the bench, saluted Lord Dorn and said,
"My Lord Dorn, I am B'rost, blue rider from Kahrain Steppe Weyr."

At last, Dorn thought, a man with manners. 

"Good day, sir. Can you identify any of the defendants?"

"Yes, my Lord. That one…his name is Betzil. He raped this young girl, Tamily, in my crafthall the day the dragonriders came on Search. He disappeared after raping her. We didn't know where he'd gone until the day before Impression. I was late coming to the Weyr as I'd just turned 16 two days prior. When I got there, Betzil was there. He'd stolen my name, passed himself off as ME, and was attempting to Impress a dragon, as me. When he was caught, he was put in chains and one of our riders, C'val, was tasked to bring him here, to your Hold, for judgement. He  got his wrist chains over C'val's head and tried to strangle him. Only because C'val's dragon threw him off did he survive. We thought he'd drowned."

"I remember that day. We wondered what had become of Betzil. Thank you, B'rost, and you, my plaintiffs. Miss Tamily,  thank you for your courage in coming here. It took a lot of you, didn't it?"

"Yes, my lord. I am scared of him. But I didn't want him hurting anyone anymore."

"That, my little lass, you can be assured of."

He looked at the three defendants.

"You…I cannot bring myself to dignify you men with the word 'gentle, so I shall just say this: You have been terrorizing my Holdlands, and my people, for at least ten years.

Before Aivas revealed the Charter to Pern, I would have been free to do with you as I wished. Before the charter, I wouldn't even have bothered with a trial. But the Charter doesn't constrain me. I am still free to dispense justice as I see fit, no matter how onerous or how old the punishment may be. 

I have no proof, but I believe that you, Menlet, and you, Sibor, have committed crimes in other Holds on Pern, were convicted and banished. Somehow you escaped banishment and came here to terrorize my Hold. 

Therefore, having learned of a new means of punishment, I sentence you, Menlet to be transported by dragonback one thousand kilometers to the steppe. There you will be unchained and released. Do not under any circumstances, step foot in any of my Hold lands, ever again."

"Just…just released? Let go?" Menlet called out, not believing his luck. 

"Haven't I told you how to properly address me, lout?"

Menlet blanched. He was home free! "Pardon, my Lord. We'll just be released?"

"Yes. On the steppe. About a thousand kilometers out."

He had no idea what the steppe meant. 

Still, he smiled.

"You, Sibor, will be transported dragonback to the steppe, 900 kilometers out, unchained, and released. Under no circumstances will you step foot in my Holdlands ever again."

"My Lord, nowhere near these other two?"

"Nowhere near the other two."

"Thank you, my Lord."

"Finally, you, Betzil. I find you guilty of the extremely odious crime of rape, in addition to attempted kidnapping, slander, and robbery. You besmirched the name of an innocent young man in attempting to steal his identity and his future. You took something precious from a young girl, not only her innocence but her trust.  Because the Charter does not constrain me from more severe forms of punishment, I, Lord Dorn, sentence you, Betzil, to beheading. I cannot, in all good conscience, release you anywhere here on Pern without fear of your raping again. In addition, this will prove a deterrent to other ….persons, for I can't call you a 'man'..to others who might think of raping. 

Bailiff, return Menlet and Sibor to their cells. Dragon transport for them has been arranged and will be conducted this afternoon.

Those of you who wish to witness the beheading, stand fast. Punishment will be carried out as soon as the court harper records the proceedings of this trial."

Betzil began to wail.