Elf Defence (Adventures in Aguillon #2) - Lisa Henry Page 0,57
found guilty by the jury.”
“What jury?” Benji asked, blinking.
“I was the jury,” Gunther said, his eyes dancing. He tsked at the look on Benji’s face. “It’s perfectly alright, I voted twelve times.”
“I’m supposed to have a lawyer!” Benji exclaimed.
“You had a lawyer,” Gunther assured him. “He put on a very spirited defence.”
“He?” Benji asked. “I thought Helga was going to be my lawyer.”
“I was your lawyer,” Gunther said. “And I did my very best, but unfortunately I was no match for the prosecutor.”
“Who was the prosecutor?” Benji asked.
“I was also the prosecutor,” Gunther said. “It’s all about streamlining the system, you see? Cutting out the middlemen, as it were.”
“Jakob said I’d get Helga for my lawyer,” Benji said, craning his neck to try to see around the goons. “Where is Jakob? Or the commander? Or any of the guards?”
“They’re suddenly and unavoidably busy. There was an incident with a goose,” Gunther said. “A wild goose. I’ve sent the guards to attempt to apprehend it.” He and his goons shared a laugh at that. “By the time they get back to town, this entire thing will be over.”
“But you don’t have a guillotine!” Benji exclaimed.
“I know,” Gunther said, his smile widening. “Can you believe that the judge made an exception in your case?”
Benji’s heart sank. “Who... who was the judge?”
“I was the judge,” Gunther confirmed, rolling up his scroll again. He looked at the goons. “Well then, shall we get it done?”
Benji’s blood ran cold.
There was a wooden gallows built in the middle of the town square. Benji’s bare feet didn’t make a sound as he climbed the steps, but his chains clanked. From the top of the gallows he had a view of the pretty gingerbread houses of Tournel, the ruined fountain, and the pale, shocked faces of the townspeople.
“Oh, boy,” Benji said as the goons pushed him toward the noose hanging from the scaffolding, “Calarian is going to fuck you guys up. He is going to make it his life’s quest to avenge my death, and he is incredibly serious about quests.”
“Shut up,” Gunther said, climbing the steps after him. He stood and faced the crowd, clearing his throat as he unrolled his scroll. “People of Tournel, you are hereby asked to bear witness to the execution of Ebenjilarian Willowtree, who has been tried and found guilty of the murder of Duke Klaus of Tournel, and also the crime of treason, for installing a pretender to the ducal seat.”
“Oooh!” Benji said “You know who else is going to fuck you up? The kings. Both of them. They’re going to send an army to Tournel, and then you’ll be sorry, because I’m a royal envoy, and you’re not allowed to execute me!”
The crowd shifted restlessly, and a woman pushed her way through it. It was the woman from the council with the cinnamon bun hair. She looked as worried as everyone else, but she also looked fierce.
“Gunther!” she exclaimed. “This can’t be legal! Trials held in secret, and rushed through! No judicial oversight!”
“It’s fascism, that’s what it is!” Benji yelled back. One of the goons wrenched him by the chain. “Gunther is a fascist! The revolution starts now!”
“Shut up, you,” Gunther said, and then sneered at the woman. “Shut up, Helga.”
Helga climbed onto the first step of the gallows. For a moment Benji thought she’d rescue him, but then one of the goons rushed forward and pushed her down again. The crowd gave a collective gasp as she hit the cobblestones.
“Fight back!” Benji yelled, and then noticed too late what he could only assume the crowd had already seen: a group of six men stood in the shade of one of the buildings around the square. Hired muscle if Benji had ever seen it. He didn’t recognise a single one of them from Tournel and, more importantly, they were armed with bows and arrows and swords. The small crowd in the square might be a match for them, if they all rushed them at once, but it would come at a very bloody cost indeed, and it seemed the crowd knew it, because none of them made a move.
And the Tournel guards were out chasing a wild goose.
Helga struggled to her feet, blood running from a shallow cut on the side of her temple. She was starkly pale, but determined. “You can’t just hang people, Gunther! You don’t have the authority!” she yelled, hands clenched at her sides, and Benji couldn’t help but admire her spirit.