One Of Us Is Lying - Merlin Apply Fic

Chapter 6 - Trials

Ok so, here we go, the trials at last! Thank you so much to everyone who PM me or responded, and to everyone I've roleplayed with or sent descriptions to for cooperation and putting up with me!

And thank you also to those people I haven't contacted yet for being patient. I'm trying to involve most OCs but it just takes me a while to get round to PM-ing some of them!

Anyway, a character will be dead by the end of this chapter! Before you read, any guesses who?

Enjoy!

The whole court was assembled once more in the throne room. In a small cluster of their own at the front huddled the thirteen suspects, separate from the other members of the crowd. Their eyes were downcast, their shoulders hunched, their faces blank and their expressions darkened by fear of the future.

Each knew that the penalty for threatening a king's life was death. Each dreaded with a deep, gut wrenching fear that weighed upon their minds and clouded their thoughts the prospect that they would be pronounced guilty. They dreaded the pyre and the flames. They dreaded the pain. But above all, they dreaded death.

When Uther entered, emblazoned with crimson, he brought the silence with him, its icy tension clamping down on every last noise until the room was silent. And only then, when he had their undivided attention did he speak. It was a short sentence, but filled with doom and the promise of suffering:

"Let the trials commence."

And those four simple words spelled death.

After a few moments of silence, Lady Teodora Silva took a few hesitant steps from the group until she was standing before her king. Nodding to him, she turned to face the court. "I wish to accuse Thoryne of Ealdor of being responsible for the attempted murder of our king, Uther Pendragon." She watched nervously as the man in question was brought before the king, a guard firmly clasping either arm to keep him from running.

Not that Thoryne looked as though he was about to run. He was a calm man, his long brown hair casually laid across his shoulder blades and a look of placid boredom on his features as he observed the last before him, his eyes piercing her as they locked with hers. A small sarcastic smirk played over his lips.

Teo's head was spinning as her thoughts whirled around it faster than she could comprehend them, allowing her to catch only snapshots of each one. What if Thoryne was innocent? What if he was about to die for something he never even did? What if - her stomach jolted - what if this made her seem suspicious? Her jumbled thoughts were so interrupted when the man in front of her spoke.

"Ah, yes, the blacksmith. Why not?" He smiled again. "Why not accuse an innocent man? Because you're too useless to catch the guilty one?"

At that, Teodora visibly stiffened and Uther's eyed flashed. "This is my court and you would do well to speak respectfully here. You say you are innocent, but how can we believe a word you say when you act in such a disgraceful manner?"

"Ah, so now you're using this trial to take out your own anger? Remind me, king, am I being accused of sorcery or disrespect?" He never even flinched at Uther's outburst, simply stood there quietly and steadily and waited until he could be heard.

Thoryne spoke in a soft voice that compelled one to lean in and listen. When he talked, the whole room was silent except for his voice and it gave the ironic impression that he, not the king, was the most powerful man in the room. The council hung on his every word as the trial dragged on. Thoryne batted away every fruitless question either Teodora or Uther threw at him until Teo felt completely frustrated exhausted of idle questioning.