Never Forthwith

No, I'm Not A Witness

AN: This chapter includes a court case. I have no idea how courts work, especially in the time period I am basing this off of. On the bright side, this is my story that takes place in a fantasy world, so I can make the courts work however I want. So don't be too confused on what's happening, though I might go back through it later to be more accurate.

Kalea (kuh-LAY-uh) woke up with a bang. Literally. Some idiot was banging on a desk. Kalea looked around the room she found herself in, her confusion growing the more she studied it.

Kalea had somehow managed to end up at the back of a courtroom. The Judge was currently in a heated argument with what seemed to be the Chief Witness. The man who sat in the Box of the Accused had a smug grin on his face, not bothering to hide it as he pushed his blonde hair out if his eyes to better see them. The other witnesses were all clumped together to the side of the Judge, attempting to avoid the argument.

Kalea looked around herself again, paying closer attention to her immediate surroundings. She had woken up on a bench in the back of the section for the commoners who wanted to watch. The people on the wooden benches around her were to busy talking to their neighbours to notice her, and it seemed that nobody had seen her confusion, or seen her at all for that matter.

Now how did I end up here?  She wondered. She very clearly remembered falling asleep in her bed after returning home from the witch's house. Wait, the witch! She blessed me when I saved her from the hunters! She didn't tell me what the blessing was, but her magic must have gone wonky when she cast it. Kalea nodded to herself, sure that she had found the cause. After all, she wasn't a 3rd order witch yet. She forgot what the blessing was as soon as she gave it. She should have gotten a Familiar to help with her short-term memory. 

Kalea went to stand up in order to leave, when the Judge finally finished his argument and declared the court back in session. Rotten timing. I can always leave afterwards. Kalea thought to herself as she sat back down on her bench. 

"Order! Order in the court!" The Judge yelled at the crowd in an effort to quiet them. The crowd continued to converse noisily, some people were even screaming across the room to others. "SIT DOWN ON THE BENCHES AND SHUT YOUR TRAPS!" The Judge's second attempt was much more successful. 

With the crowd effectively silenced, the Judge explained the case. "We are gathered here for the case of Carik, a merchant who has been accused of false testimony against witches."

Kalea watched as men and women stood up and testified that Carik had accused people of being a witch after setting them up. Many people came up claiming that they had seen him placing objects in their sibling's or employer's rooms before dragging the police over to arrest them. She could tell that they were being truthful, but other witnesses came up claiming that they had seen other people do those things, not Carik. The case did not seem to be going well at all.  Carik's case may have been shaky, but with the conflicting witnesses nothing could be determined. The only reason Carik had not yet been declared innocent was the Chief Witness. The truly unsettling part was that the smug look on Carik's face never left, even as the Chief Witness gave details about his plans and procedures that could not be denied. 

Eventually, the Judge called for a break. Kalea watched as the Chief Witness, a man who had worked for Carik before Carik had his sister arrested, stood and made his way to the door, closely followed by two guards. Kalea rose from the bench to follow behind them, ready to leave this strange place and find her way back home before her mother hunted her down.

As Kalea exited through the wooden doors of the courtroom, she paused. Kalea had no idea where she was, and therefore no way back to her home. She made a split second decision to follow behind the trio onto the paved street in order to ask one for directions to Lord Ladee's land. Her mother was in the Lord's employ as a hunter, the Gilberts had been employed as hunters for the Ladee family since before their rise to nobility. (Kalea was certain that one of her ancestors had been the result of an affair in the family who had been kept close so that they could be watched. Her mother had never given her an answer.)