3.21: Justice – 2

“Sire,” Aprilia said professionally, bowing sharply to me.

The three Elders followed.

“Everything has been prepared,” Erickson said cautiously.

“Let us meet out justice, then,” I said, turning toward the chairs that had been set up facing the courtyard.

I didn’t feel right sitting almost three stories above the crowd, but this was the only way our voices were going to reach thousands of people.

I lowered myself on the large high-backed chair of soft, resinous wood that had been made for me. It was a simple utilitarian thing, our people too busy farming, mining, finishing six hundred crossbows, and constructing enough buildings to shelter everyone before winter came to spend time on frivolities like decorating it.

Soon, the courtyard was full of people. It was a hundred meters in diameter, so even three thousand people had plenty of space to move around, even with its northern side barricaded for the court. A hundred men dressed in green and armed with goedendags, the new members of our military, stood behind it, guarding sixty men whose shoulders were drooped with fatigue. The veteran soldiers either stood atop the bastions, armed with repeating crossbows, or in the courtyard, trying to create a semblance of order.

The people looked in much better shape now, compared to when they had arrived in the valley, with nothing but their clothes and sacks of grain on their backs, some tools if they were lucky, to their names. When I had declared the formation of Chadom months ago, sunken eyes had looked warily at me, afraid to hope.

The faces that looked at me now weren’t exactly happy, given the nature of this congregation, but they were not despondent either. I hadn’t entirely failed.

The buzz of thousands whispering turned into a loud continuous drone as the prisoners were lined up in front of us. They had cleaned themselves up and had been given new clothes, but the affects of being locked up for weeks couldn’t be wiped away with a bath. Hollowed out faces squinted in the sunlight. Hyde’s hair again shone silver.

Suddenly, a loud crack echoed. Then another.

A well dressed herald struck the butt of his staff on the wooden floor for the third time.

“Hear now the court of judgment,” he shouted, “convened under the authority of the Supreme Leader of Chadom and the Messiah of the Cha! Let all present bear witness!”

I glared at ‘Lothar.’ This was clearly his work.

“State the prisoners,” I said out loud.

“Elder Hyde, Judran, Hersh, Simel, Eldan, Almar and Merek stand accused of conspiring to incite rebellion against the Supreme Leader, of kidnapping Aprilia, his secretary, and attempting to murder the General of the Armed forces, Lothar.

“Yara, wife of Hersh stands accused of attempting to murder the Supreme Leader by poison, and Elder Meyer of aiding her.”

I looked to the old man, looking up at us. “Elder Hyde, what do you have to say in your defense?”

“I have nothing to say to you,” he said, looking up at me with red-rimmed eyes. Then he turned around to face the masses. “Our people have been persecuted for centuries, even though we did nothing to the natives. We finally, finally!” the words tore out of him.

“We finally found a place to call our home. Where the Cha could live in peace and harmony, but our dear Supreme Leader, in his endless wisdom, decided to bring the very same people that drove us out of our homes into our new one. An old man like me cannot do much by myself, so all I did was talk to some men who were worried about our people’s future. His secretary happened to come across our congregation. Upon reflecting…” he turned to face us, “I will acknowledge that some young men got out of line. They could have done terrible things, if they hadn’t been stopped by the General. I take full responsibility for their actions. That is all I have to say.”

I stood up to address everyone.

“This isn’t a common trial. This day will decide the fate of our country. The fate of our people. I will acknowledge that Elder Hyde deeply cares for you all. His actions have been guided by your welfare, but he made a grave error of judgment, which led us to this point. In his grief, he labeled every one of the millions of Nahnoans as his enemy. I’m sure you all realize how silly that is.”

My eyes scanned the crowd. I was sure many besides the sixty bound men agreed with him. Grief turned people irrational, and far too many of these people had lost loved ones to the exodus. Most of the deaths had been those too old and too young to survive the march or the diseases at the Bog, but the Cha rightfully blamed the Nahnoan zealots for it.

“I do not ignore the threat of the men who drove you out of your homes. I promise you none of them will be ever allowed to enter Chadom. The only ones I’m letting in are the people whose skills we simply do not possess, and it’s not a very long list.”

A few lips quivered at that.

“Trust me when I say this,” I continued, “no one is more paranoid about who gets inside our country more than me. Not only ours, but even Nahnon’s future is dependent upon our secrecy.”

The courtyard went silent. I hoped people would understand my viewpoint.

Hyde broke it. “And how will you know which of the immigrants are safe? Will they tell you, oh Messiah? Do you want to know how I lost my granddaughters?” he sneered. “It was one of my neighbors! When that nobleman put his eyes on my granddaughters, the man whom I thought was my friend offered to hide them with his relatives, and I trusted him! Do you know what happened next?” he growled. “He sold them to the nobleman!” his voice echoed through the courtyard. “As if they were cattle!”

His chest rose and fell unevenly with the effort of shouting.

“You went through a terrible ordeal nobody should have to face,” I said softly. “All I can do is promise to never let such a tragedy repeat in Chadom.”

He glared back at me, saying nothing.

“No, there is no guarantee that every one of the immigrants is safe,” I continued. “Why do you think I had soldiers posted there day and night and have the people confined to the Bay? Like it or not, Chadom and Nahnon’s fates are intertwined, and not because of my upcoming marriage. I sought out that union because we are simply not big enough to survive the incoming storm on our own. We need to build some trust with the Nahnoans. Trust, unfortunately comes with vulnerability. I understand that given your past, you cannot stand being vulnerable to any Nahnoan, but it is necessary for our survival. I am only bringing those we need, and not one more.”

He bared his teeth in frustration.

“Our glorious leader, always thinking of the practical matters. In your practicality, you forget about the human cost. You didn’t just bring craftsmen, but also their families. When they mingle with our people, what will stop their men from ensnaring our women, or their women from trapping our men? If not now, it will happen in the next generation! You would see us dilute our identity!”

The courtyard went silent.

I was suddenly tongue-tied. Individual autonomy would not work as a defense. Thousands of eyes looked at me for an answer.

“Do you have so little trust in your people?” I replied. “And how do you know the immigrants won’t accept our identity?”

He scoffed. “Nahnoans?”

“Not anymore, Hyde. Those people boarded ships knowing full well they were bound for a new life in unknown lands. Maybe they will adopt a new culture. It’s not suicide, the way you think it is. Not as long as one’s core beliefs are retained. I promise you and everyone else present that our laws and education will ensure the Cha’s identity is never erased. Never.”

“Pretty words from the mouth of one who is about to marry into Nahnoan royalty!”

“It’s obvious you are not going to focus on the trial, so we will hear from others.” This was not the direction I wanted the debate to move towards. Even the good people around me were somewhat bigoted and this wasn’t the time to open that can of worms. “Witnesses come forward,” I said out loud.

Lothar walked forward.

“Sire, when I reached the clearing in the forest,” he said sharply, “I found Aprilia being kidnapped by four men, none of whom had good intentions in their eyes. When I tried to talk some sense into the Elder, he ordered the men to bind me as well. I resisted. In turn, they attacked me with deadly weapons. If not for my training, I would have died.”

“Aprilia?”

She stood up slowly, eyes hard. “Everything that the General said is the truth. When I approached the clearing, Elder Hyde was fomenting dissent against you.”

“Thank you.” I leveled a gaze at the old man, who looked at me defiantly.

“Do you deny these charges?”

“I have already said what I wanted to!”

I sighed.

“Elder Hyde, you riled up more than sixty men against me. Had you succeeded, not only would have the General of our military been dead, and my secretary… abused, my plans to make Chadom a naval and trading power would have been disrupted. You threatened the future of our nation and our people by resorting to violence, instead of airing your grievances in the open. I would call that treason.”

His eyes widened in anger.

“You—you speak of treason?”

“Yes, and the punishment for treason is death.”

He looked to the three Elders seated beside me. “Have you all given up your dignity and turned into his toadies? I know Erickson is a lost cause, but you two as well?”

When they didn’t respond, he huffed. “Fine! I will accept my end with dignity.” His sharp eyes bore into mine. “I will pray for God to grant you wisdom, Supreme Leader.”

I nodded silently.

“Does anyone object?” I asked the five people around me.

Nobody said anything.

The crowd stilled, holding its breath.

“Hyde, based upon the presented testimonies, including your own, this court finds you guilty of conspiring to incite rebellion, and almost killing a man in the process,” I said out loud. “For your crimes, you are sentenced to death.”

The air stilled, then reverberated with gasps of hundreds.

Silence followed, as if the air itself had stilled.

The position of Elder wasn’t given to just anyone. They were revered figures; the ones who ensured the traditions and culture of the Cha survived through generations of oppression.

And now, one of them had been condemned to death.

Wind whispered through the courtyard, carrying the faint smell of pine and cedar with it.

Law was being built, one shock at a time.