Wings

18: Turn Your Eyes From Your Hands To The Heavens

NPOV

Track: Shadow, Livingston

It's judgment day.

King Hermes keeps only a small senate. Kings that came before him used to have senates of up to hundreds of people, while Hermes prefers to have a smaller group of only a few dozen. Each senator is a representative from a specific area of the kingdom, representing their people in the decisions of the nation as a whole.

Unfortunately, judging by how the nation as a whole thinks of me, my chances of living to see another day are low. King Hermes would apparently have faked my death if he believed the Senate would vote in my favor—I'm pretty sure that means I'm doomed.

Judging by the way the light filters through my tiny window, it's about noon on the third day of my imprisonment when General Clarisse and her knights appear at my cell door to escort me to my trial. The walk there is boring, and the courtroom seems specifically designed to intimidate. There are about three dozen senators plus guards, the King, and the Queen. The prince joins them today, though he holds his head in his hands and his lips are moving like he's talking to himself, although no sound escapes.

The Senators and royal family are sitting in raised semicircles, as though they are in an amphitheater and I am the entertainment on the stage below. I pull my wings close to my body, wincing at the fire that explodes in my shoulder at the movement. Making my wings visually smaller does not deter the senators from staring.

"Your attention, please," the king announces after General Clarisse chains me to a metal loop in the floor. Although General Clarisse steps back to allow the trial to commence, I am left with two soldiers behind me, eyeing my wings with their hands on their swords, and two soldiers in front of me, stoic but prepared to fight me if need be. As if I could fight them even if I wanted to.

"Monster," King Hermes says, clearly addressing me, "you have been charged with the murder of innocent lives within our kingdom, as well as with corrupting our youth, stealing from our villages, and promoting anarchy and immorality to our citizens. The evidence against you is insurmountable. Nevertheless, I'm not one to skip the formalities, so I will allow you to make the choice between honesty and lying: how do you plead?"

I glare at him, wishing I was human so that I could fight my way out of here. Although, if I was human, I wouldn't be here in the first place.

"Not guilty," I say, loud and clear for the senate to hear. "The charges against me are false; I've never hurt—"

The soldier on my right yanks on my wing—the one I fell on the other day to protect Will. White-hot pain floods my senses, and I bite my tongue hard to avoid crying out. By the time I've recovered, a murmur has already fallen over the senate, and when I look up at them, there are several senators whispering to the people sitting nearby—some even laughing at my cut-off defense.

I clench my jaw, furious that I'm even here when it's clearly pointless. None of these people will vote in my favor. Why even have a trial if they're just going to use it to humiliate me?

A dark-haired woman to my right signals to the king, bowing her head slightly when he acknowledges her and signals for her to speak. "Your Majesty, would you mind sharing the 'insurmountable evidence' you mentioned? Because we have a plea of innocence, I believe it is in the senate's best interest to hear it."

The King's lips tug into something like a smile, but it leaves me with a sick feeling in my gut. There's something in the way the King is tapping his fingers and inspecting this senator that makes me think they must not get along well. Or perhaps he just expects her to vote in my favor for whatever reason.