Rashieka's Trial II

“Your job to tell us when Rasheika strays,” Frendral said, short with words as always.

“Well yeah, but I don’t think she meant any harm by it. She gave up calmly enough, none of that trying to starve herself to death like she pulled back in the war. I think she was just playing around really. I got a couple of the other spies, spread some rumors around her troops and pretty soon her whole thrown together army fell apart. Then we went out for a couple of drinks, is that really so bad?”

“Tom, do you think everything is a game?” Kerma asked, exasperated. Tom chose not to answer that because he knew that the answer was yes. He didn’t have to answer anyway because Kerma knew the answer as well. “You are playing with other people’s lives, you do understand that don’t you.”

“Not like anyone died,” Tom said defensively. “People hardly got hurt, worst was a broken arm.”

“That doesn’t pardon you from using people like chess pieces; you’re as bad as Rasheika. People are not to be manipulated just because Rasheika gets bored and you are just as guilty because you can’t be bothered to stop her until it gets bad enough that you can play with her.”

“Now look here,” Tom said, now fully furious, who did Kerma think she was. Well she was his ruler but he hadn’t really acknowledged her as such, Frendral ruled him, Kerma was his friend, most of the time. “There are only six of us, and we work in pairs, and you expect us to be able to catch everything right at the start. We have a lot of ground to cover you know. We hadn’t even realized Rasheika had left Ferndale until I got the report that she was stirring up trouble.”

“Well maybe you should consider getting more spies if you can’t do your job,” Kerma snapped back.

“There aren’t that many people who are willing to live hand to mouth for nothing but a dashing image, maybe if you considered paying us for our troubles so we weren’t forced to survive by a life of crime,” Tom trailed off, realizing he had said the wrong thing. No government employee of Ferndale got paid since the city had no tax and both of his rulers worked themselves almost to death to make a living and govern the city at the same time. Tom knew he had had no right to bring up the subject of pay to the two of them and had the decency to look ashamed.

“You’ll testify against Rasheika?” Frendral asked Tom, his eyes flashing between Kerma and Tom. Tom supposed that he should be grateful that Frendral hadn’t snapped at him for picking a fight with Kerma, everyone knew that Frendral and Kerma liked each other even if they did try to be secretive about it.

“I’ll defend her,” Tom decided, “just like I did back when we first caught her after the war. If I’m defending her you can’t expect me to testify against her. Ask one of the other spies.”

“You’re setting as a lawyer?” Frendral asked dryly, though not much more dry then he always was.

“Due to the nature of my business I am pretty good at twisting facts and wiggling out of things,” Tom said, joking at his own expense to break the tension of the room, it worked. With both Frendral and Kerma laughing Tom excused himself and went to go find Rasheika where she was holed up in Kerma’s house before her trial. Ferndale didn’t have a prison so the rare prisoners that they did end up with tended to be put under house arrest. Rasheika usually stayed with Kerma when she was in town so that was where she had been confined. Tom could only hope that Kerma wouldn’t come home any time soon so they could talk in peace.

There was a guard on the door to Kerma’s guest room but he let Tom past without question. Tom was, though not considered a respectable one, a government official. Tom found Rasheika lying back on her straw tick, fast asleep. Looking around the room Tom found himself wishing that other cities’ jails were half as nice; he had seen the insides of a lot of them for his tendency of smuggling. The room was large and airy with a closet, a set of draws and a wash basin. There was a chair and bookcase as well but the books wouldn’t do Rasheika any good, she didn’t know how to read. Of course the room wasn’t very secure he noticed, Rasheika could probably escape any time she wanted to, but she didn’t seem interested in escape.

“Hey Rasheika, get up,” Tom said, sitting in the chair. Rasheika instantly sat upright.

“Oh, it’s you, I thought you were Kerma or I wouldn’t have bothered playing at being asleep, she lay into you too?” Rasheika asked. Tom grinned; Rasheika never had any remorse for her crimes.

“If her tongue was any sharper I’d be dead,” Tom admitted. “Must be hard on you living here with her, I can’t imagine.”

“She comes in peaceful enough, and then something sets her off. I don’t want to deal with it anymore so I just play at being asleep when she comes in. She’ll catch on soon, she’s stupid, but not that dumb. Still it’s gained me some peace.” Tom laughed, if you listened to Rasheika you would think that she hated everyone, but he knew all too well that Rasheika had more respect for Kerma then he did.

“I’ve agreed to defend you, just like last time, be grateful,” Tom said.

“Well I might as well give up on my freedom now,” Rasheika said. “With you defending me I’m doomed.”

“And how would we imprison you with no jail? Ask some city that doesn’t even know we exist to hold you? Come on, worst that could happen to you is exile if I can’t do my job right.”

“Which you never can, and I don’t see why they think that not being allowed in this hole of a city is a punishment. Exile is one of the worst punishment ideas I’ve ever heard, complete morons came up with that one.”

“Some people like it here, and if you don’t why is it that you always come back here?” Tom bristled, even though he knew that Rasheika was just being Rasheika.

“I come back because I don’t work and Kerma’s a big enough fool to give me free food and lodgings. So how are you going to tell the courts that I’m innocent when you know I’m not? Lie?”

“Wouldn’t work, too many witnesses to your guilt, we’ll have to admit you’re guilty.”

“What kind of idiot defense lawyer are you? You don’t tell people your client is guilty even when she is, don’t you know that? Not without my permission anyway,” Rasheika spluttered.

“It worked last time, admit you’re guilty but try to prove they can’t punish you just the same. If it worked once it might work again, and frankly Rasheika, I think it’s your only hope. You don’t have a lot of friends in this city after all, and God knows you’re guilty.” Rasheika only laughed, and Tom soon joined her, they were frequently likeminded and both looked at this whole thing as a game. Outside of the door the guard thought about looking in and seeing what was amusing the criminal so much but decided against it. Tom was one of the good natured leaders of the city but he had a reputation for being vindictive and creative when he was crossed. Looking into the room probably wouldn’t upset Tom but the guard wasn’t willing to risk it.

Ferndale didn’t actually have a courthouse to hold Rasheika’s trial in, so the rarely used Town Hall was used instead. People liked it better when they held their meetings outside, or at people’s houses so the Town Hall had to be cleaned before it was suited for any official purpose. Rasheika didn’t say anything when she was told that her trial was postponed for cleaning but her expression said a lot, she thought they were all disorganized idiots.

When Rasheika was finally shown into the Town Hall for her trial, under guard of course, she had to admit that they had done a fine job to make it look like a proper court room. It actually had furniture, which was a big change, with a platform at the head of the room where Frendral and Kerma sat. Over to the side there was a group of twenty people who she took to be jurors, they all hated her of course, there wasn’t a person in the whole city that didn’t. The crowd that had started to gather in the back of the Town Hall was very clearly hostile, and made all sorts of horrible sounds when she was led in. This wasn’t going to be an unbiased trial by any means and she hadn’t expected one. There was a box on one side of the platform that held John, Tom’s second in command, as well as a boy she recognized as her second in command when she had been in The Mound. On the other side of the platform was another box, where Tom already stood, that’s where she was led.

“I see they’re not taking any chances,” Tom said, nodding to her guard, who was binding one of her hands to the railing of the box. “Well you did escape us once, when you were a prisoner after the war.” Rasheika snorted under her breath and leaned over to whisper in his ear.

“You can stop playing around like a fool, he wasn’t a spy officially at that point but it was Ohanzee who freed me. I’m not an escape artist like you are. Was he working under an order of your queens or did you decide to do that by yourself?”

“Not the time,” Tom said shaking his head and whispering back. “We’ll talk about that later, somewhere private. Of all the times for you to decide you’re curious about that business.”

It is possible that this conversation would have continued but the crowd in the back of the room started to get violent and everyone was distracted by the guards trying to calm them down. There were members of the crowd who were shouting for Rasheika to be instantly banished and never allowed to set foot in Ferndale again, that was slightly more comforting then the people who were shouting for her death. Tom was shocked to find that, even with as popular as he was, people were calling him a traitor and calling for his expulsion from the city as well. The guards tried to subdue the crowd for about five minutes, and weren’t making a lot of progress, when Frendral jumped from the platform and started to advance on the audience. Instantly the room fell silent, Frendral was strong and had a nasty temper, for all that he looked like a banker’s clerk, and no one wanted to get on his bad side. Frendral regained the platform, still with a dark look on his face, and suggested that they start the trial since everyone was there that needed to be.

To be continued...