CHAPTER ONE
THE TRIAL
Everybody was silent as the boy entered the room. Never had it happened before in the long history of Aramar that a fourteen year old lad went on trial.
The young man, dark-haired and with green eyes, walked slowly but determined and in no way hesitant down the aisle between the benches where the attendants sat in the room. The people stared at him, but they remained silent. No word was exchanged and nobody whispered anything to his neighbor. Only one man was distracted as a lonely fly buzzed through the room and around his head. The man waved his right hand in the direction of the annoying insect and it flew away, to look for someone else it could tease.
The courtroom, in which the trial took place, was a very big hall, at least twice the length and width of a normal house. The walls were covered with plates made of rávatavar, the precious wood from the Wolf's Grove. Big windows let light stream into the room. They were framed with the dark wood of the horn tree, and their upper edge closed in an arch. The window grate was separated in scales that shimmered yellow and blue. But today the windows were opened and sunlight poured in. Outside in front of the window grew a mighty silver birch, and around it sprawled a dragon fang scrub, the ánglagâr, so-called because of his blossoms that looked like a dragon's mouth. Naugûr flowers sprouted between big groups of blue clover. The plants and flowers grew exuberantly, because nobody looked after them. To the men, the events inside of the courtroom were more important.
The boy seemed not to be bothered by the fact that he attracted all eyes like a magnetic rock. And still, his dark gaze created a shadow on his face. He was in a bad temper; nobody doubted that.
As he stopped in front of the judge's desk and waited, he stood in the light of the sun that fell in through one of the windows. Now one half of his face was illuminated by the light while the other half lied in the shadow. An eerie view, and many considered this as sign for his dark shady soul.
The people rose as the judge stormed into the hall. He was a chubby man with only a few hairs left on his small head. This was not the first trial Judge Hara conducted, but a young man never before stood in front of him.
Not far from the judge's desk sat Thêl on a wooden chair. Thêl had been present at many trials as a consultant because he was considered one of the wisest persons of the land and his advices had always been worthwhile.
After the judge took a seat, and the people did so too, he looked in the eyes of the boy but the very didn't return the look. He stared along, not with empty eyes, but also not concentrated on the man in front of him.
„Well, Gaman, you know why you are standing here, don't you?" Hara began, but Gaman, as
the boy was called, continued to not look at him. "You were brought here because of murder.
Do you understand? You are here because you killed a man!"
Now Gaman's eyes wandered up to the plump man behind the desk, but his look continued to be cold and disrespectful.
„No." he replied.
„No? What do you mean?" Hara asked back.
„I did not murder anybody. I couldn't." Not only onto the judge Gaman gave the expression
of an unrelenting hard adult when he said these words.
„But we have witnesses that watched you during the murder." Hara returned.
„If so, then they are lying. I did not do anything." Gaman said straight-faced.
„No. No, surely not. All of the three witnesses are honest and, to some extent, eminently
respectable persons. I believe them – You, in contrast, not."
Suddenly the lad's temper changed, like the weather in late spring. On his face, where dark clouds were just hanging, there was now a heavy thunderstorm blustering. He became aggressive. Very aggressive.
„Very well! I confess! I killed him!" he screamed.
„And then you usurped his treasure of gold, didn't you?" the judge replied.
„His treasure? Oh no, not his. Mine! His precious gold is now my own. It is my treasure! My
precious!" Gaman screamed at the top of his lungs.
„Well, when you go to jail now you won't need it!" Hara said strictly.
And again Gaman's temper changed. He was still enraged but at the same time bemazed.
„Could you please repeat that?" he asked with an angry undertone.
„I said, when you now go to jail, then..." Judge Hara answered, but Gaman interrupted him.
„To jail? I'm just fourteen! I am not grown yet that you can imprison my like a murderer or a
pack of thieves!"
„Whoever is old enough to wield a sword will be called to account if he slays someone with it
on purpose." Thêl suddenly said, who watched the whole scenery in silence so far.
Before Gaman was able to retort something Hara said: „Thêl speaks the truth. This is our law.
And you, Gaman, are undoubtedly old enough to hold a sword and also wield it. And there is
also no doubt that you wielded it on purpose and with an evil mind. If you would have been
attacked by bandits and would have defended yourself, than we would have no reason
to accuse you, but you slayed someone on purpose. And because you confessed it you will
be sentenced."
Now Gaman didn't know what to say, but it was clear that he knew he had no more chance.
„I... I don't accept this judgment. I..." he stuttered.
„Well, you killed someone and therefore you'll be put in prison. Whether you like this or not
is irrelevant." Hara said with the strictest voice he could exhibit, a voice that he normally
only uses on brutal murderers and criminals.
And so the judgment was pronounced. Judge Hara adjudged Gaman to prison sentence until he reached manhood. After the verdict was decided Gaman didn't say anything anymore. He went on staring along aimlessly and was hauled off silently.
„What do you say to that?" Hara asked Thêl, after Gaman and the other people left the hall.
„Strange. Very strange." Thêl replied. „Where did you say did this boy came from?"
„From Nauras." Hara answered.
„Nauras? Weird. I know this village. One of the most peaceful places I have ever seen. I
cannot imagine that one of the residents turns into a murderer just because of a little
gold." Thêl said.
„Well, it would not be the first time you make a mistake. Besides, he confessed it." the judge
replied.
„Nevertheless, there is something amiss. Although I must admit that this did not come
completely unexpected."
„Why, what do you mean?"
Thêl's voice suddenly became loud and clanging. He reminded Hara of a priest sermonizing in front of the loyal believers. „The prophecy had forecast that strange things will happen
when the time comes as the Chosen One appear from another realm and finally liberate us
from everything that torments us." As he finished his sentence Thêl looked at Hara in a
normal way again.
Hara could not help himself and laughed. „The prophecy? I don't know..."
„You do not believe in it?" Thêl asked.
„No, not really."
„Well, maybe you should, my friend."
„Come on, you know me. For me such fairy tales are a nice distraction, like women. But
nothing more and nothing less. Now come, let's go."
Slowly Hara and Thêl paced out of the hall, and the close knocking of their steps echoed through the empty room. And after the doors of the courtroom were closed, it became silent. Only the fly still buzzed in the room, flew around and then whirred out of the window, as the last witness of the strangest trial that ever occurred in Aramar.