Part 3- The trial
Her daughter's words repeated themselves in her brain.
"Sometimes the people you love and trust are the ones who won't forgive and give you a second chance. No matter if you truly apologize or not"
Was Claudia talking about her friends, Callum and King Ezran? Or was she referring to that incident where her mother slapped her all those years ago? Lissa hoped it wasn't the latter. What's really that damaging that it was still fresh in her daughter's memories? Maybe it had been a bigger betrayal than what she originally thought, because, indeed, she never accepted any of Claudia's apologies. Her daughter's words hurt her so much that she had been unable to speak a word to her during their visit to her cell.
Today was even worse. She sat quietly in the audience with her head low. The wait for her daughter's trial was killing her slowly. She just wanted it to end.
The place was full of people. The trial was a public event, and of course, half of Katolis showed up to see the fate of the only person there was to blame for the ordeal. Because, of course, Viren was missing and presumed dead. But Lissa knew her ex-husband wasn't dead, she knew what Claudia had done…
She felt awfully lonely sitting in that crowd. She was alone, Soren was to testify in court, and she knew nobody around. Nobody knew she was the mother of the criminal, and she was thankful for that. The public discomfort with her daughter seemed to be raging this particular day, as she could hear all kinds of hate comments about her.
It was especially odd for her, because it was the first time in her life that she was in the presence of Elves. As Claudia's crimes were not only against humans, but also Elves, their representatives were part of the jury and many elves had joined the public hatred towards her daughter, attending the trial in hopes that Claudia would be given a good enough sentence.
How did it all get this bad? She closed her eyes for an instant. Was this all her fault? No, it was Claudia's fault, it was Viren's fault, not hers… or at least, that's what she told herself.
…
Weeks went by since the incident with Claudia, and things seemed to have settled back down in her home. Things were all back to 'normal' or at least as normal as they could be in her miserable life, with her constant fights with Viren and Soren coming in and out of an illness during the allergy season. Claudia's birthday came and went and everything was advancing smoothly. Even Viren seemed to be putting effort in working on their family.
That particular evening, her husband joined her in the courtyards. He sat by her in the bench, crossing his arms
"He's getting better'' he said, looking at Soren and how his health was finally improving and how he seemed more confident with his sword. It was the first time in months that she heard him say something positive about Soren.
"Maybe you should tell him that," she suggested. The distance between them was still apparent, and she could feel the tension building up. At that moment, her mind went back to Claudia, who, in honesty, was the least of Lissa's concerts at the time (with Soren being ill and the increasing tension between her and Viren, Claudia learning dark magic was just not the priority).
"Where is Claudia?" She asked. If Virent was here, it meant that the magic class was over.
"At home, she's grounded" Lissa was surprised. It was the first time in months that she saw him grounding Cloudia, unlike Soren, who he grounded on a weekly basis.
"Why? What did your golden child do to grant her a punishment from you?" She commented, making sure he could hear the poison in her words. He shot her a smooth smile, as if he was playing with her.
"You wanted me to treat them fairly, didn't you?" She didn't answer, because somehow, his idea of fairness didn't feel right…
…
"The royal court of Katolis is in responsibility to try the accused with fairness. We may now proceed with the trial. Let the accused enter" ordered the judge. Upon her daughter's entrance, the crowd went wild. People cursed her, they threw things, they booed her. Everyone here seemed to hate Claudia.
"Silence, silence in court!" Screamed the judge. Claudia was guided by six royal knights. Her hands were still handcuffed and her head low, looking at the ground, she didn't make eye contact with anyone. They guided her to the table in front of the podium, where she was met with a man, who Lissa presumed was her lawyer.
Claudia sat in the accused chair, giving her back to the audience, she placed her handcuffed hands on the table, and Lissa noted that she seemed tired, with dark bags under her eyes and the injuries in her wrists were more prominent. By this point, Claudia had spent 2 weeks in that humid jail cell…
"We now welcome our beloved king Ezran of Katolis'' the judge announced. When the king entered the courtroom, Lissa was taken back with his sight. The all mighty king Ezran, the man who forgave her son Soren, and the one who was now the biggest authority in Katolis, was just… a child.
The judge then proceeded to mention the charges. "In the name of our King, today we will hold accountable through court, Claudia, daughter of Viren, the former advisor of king Harrow, and the man who orchestrated the plot to destroy Katolis. Claudia is accused of conspiring against the kingdom of Katolis, accused of attempted murder of our beloved king Ezran, accused of crimes against the human and elvan races, accused of murder and accused of performing extremely damaging sinister acts of dark magic against the kingdom and with ill-fated intentions to revive the man who caused death and destruction to the human and elves races"
Lissa saw Claudia shift in her seat. The list of charges was quite impressive, so much that Lissa wanted to know how her 17-year-old daughter was able to accumulate so many wrongdoings in a span of just 3 weeks.
As a mother, this was a painful experience. In a way, she still saw Claudia as her little baby daughter, the one who loved reading and picking flowers. But the withe side of Claudia's hair was enough to shut those thoughts, as she could now only see a monster… just like her father.
…
She was too tired of this, she was tired of him and his dark magic. Dark magic was the thing that was ruining their family. Viren sat at the kitchen table, reading some book, while she made dinner with the children's help. Soren, who once again had come down with a fever, insisted on helping, and was getting some utensils while Claudia poured ingredients to make bread.
"Claudia, dont! not in the kitchen" she schooled, stopping her daughter from crushing the ant that was roaming around the kitchen counter.
"We could use its powers to mix the ingredients faster"
"Claudia!" She screamed, pulling her daughter's hand away from the ant. This got Viren's attention. She looked over his way only to find him looking at her with a twisted smile.
"Claudia, what is an ant for a dark magician?" He asked calmly. Lissa felt the rage building in her stomach. Before Claudia could say anything, Lissa interrupted
"An ant is a life. We shouldn't kill it" she said, looking down at her daughter. But little Claudia only eyed her with fear, then looked over to see if her father approved of the response.
"Claudia, please, educate your mother on what is an ant for a dark magician" Viren said, with the same twisted smile and terrifyingly calm tone. Little Claudia bit down her lip, looking up at her mother
"An ant is a vessel of power on our disposition for magic" immediately, her daughter closed her eyes and flinched, as she expected some violent reaction from her mother. But Lissa could only watch in fear. Virens twisted smile and Claudia's scared gaze were too much… she had enough of this… she couldn't take it anymore.
"Well, I bet we can mix it just fine with this spoon!" Soren's enthusiastic voice cut through the tension. At that moment, all she could see was Soren, her son's cheeks were a bit red from the fever, but he was still smiling brightly.
"Yes, honey, we can," she answered. Soren… she had to be strong for him…
…
The jury proceeded with the witnesses. There were 6 witnesses in total. The first three were the horseman knights for the army. Men that that had been close enough to Viren and Claudia to listen to their conversations. Their words were short, but enough to incriminate Claudia even more, they claimed that she obeyed Viren in everything he ordered without any questioning. She just followed him blindly through all his commands.
The other three were more interesting, first was Soren. Her beloved son spoke in defense of his sister.
"My dad was always pushing us to do things that weren't right, but the thing is, he had a way of making bad things sound good. I think Claudia is innocent, she was just following him because he is our father".
"If she's innocent, why didn't she see the destruction she was causing? Why didn't she turn on him to help our king like you did?" Soren shocked his head saying
"I can't say for sure, but Claudia has always been very close to my dad, we both believed blindly in him… it's just that I started seeing things differently. Claudia didn't want our family to break even more. Like I said before, my dad always made horrible things sound like they were good".
Lissa understood her son's words better than anyone. Viren had done the same with her all those years ago, making dark magic sound like it was the solution to all their problems. But once she started a family with him, she started to open her eyes to how bad things really were.
Soren used his time in court to try and defend Claudia as much as he could. Through his testimony, he explained how Viren didn't trust Claudia for many things, and how he never really explained his true intentions to them. He mentioned how Claudia was just following their father's orders and how both of them really thought he was in the right.
Through all his testimony, Claudia cried… it wasn't a loud scandalous cry, on the contrary, it was quiet tears that rolled down her cheeks and landed on the table in front of her. She kept her head low and didn't face him at all…
The next witness was someone she actually knew. Callum, the elder prince of Katolis. She met him when he was an infant and almost didn't recognise the young man who stood on the podium. To Lissa's surprise, his testimony mostly favored Claudia. He explained how she did many things to protect him and King Ezran and how he believed Soren was right in the fact that Claudia was most likely just following orders from Viren.
The last witness was a young elven woman named Rayla, who helped the princess on their task to return the dragon prince. Her testimony did not favor Claudia at all. She recalled most of the things Callum had, but she had a negative view of Claudia, presenting her as an evil mage who manipulated both, prince Callum and king Ezran, to fulfill Viren's desires.
With only two witnesses to her favor, it was more than clear that Claudia's case wasn't to favor her, but the final sentence would depend on Claudia's testimony itself…
…
Claudia's final trial was held the following day. Lissa sat in the same spot she did the day prior. Once again, she felt like a lone soul in a sea of raging people. Due to being a witness, Soren was placed away from her, but at least, she had him in eyesight this time. In a matter of minutes, the courtroom filled with people and soon enough, her daughter was called in to testify and try and defend herself.
"You may now explain yourself" the judge ordered. To lissa's surprise, Claudia sat proudly in front of the judge, she only nodded and said
"My father did not survive the fall. He must have died upon impact. He wasn't breathing when I found him, but the creepy caterpillar was looming over him".
"Creepy caterpillar?" Asked the judge
"Yes, all this time he had been talking to that creepy caterpillar that only seemed to be growing in size the more my father talked to it. It was like it was controlling him, like he obeyed everything the insect said. When I found them, the creepy caterpillar looked at me and I could feel his energy through me, desperately asking me to bring them to safety. So i did, I took them both to a cave where the caterpillar made a weird giant cocoon" whatever Claudia was telling did not seem like the truth to Lissa. Whas Claudia really this delusional to think that a Caterpillar was controlling Viren? Did Viren tell her to say that to seem innocent? It wouldn't be the first time he used her like that
…
"Dad was really sad today," Claudia told Soren, who was resting on the living ro couch. Whatever illness he had, Lissa was glad it was not contagious, because he was the only one in the family with it and by this time, she was sure Claudia would have caught it already. She continued to listen to her kids from the kitchen
"Really, why so?" Asked Soren. She raised both shoulders
"Not sure, he just told me to tell you where mom could hear so that mom would not be mad at him anymore" Lissa almost laughed aloud. Of course, Claudia, the genius child, would screw Viren's plans. Because, unlike Soren who was pretty good at social skills, no matter how smart she was in academics, she was certainly not the same when it came to socialization.
"He said that maybe we could make mom think that the morning incident wasn't his fault," she added. At that, Lissa's blood boiled. The morning 'incident' had been Viren's fault, as he started to push the 'Claudia is way too talented' card again. She was so tired of it that it ended up in a loud argument.
What was seemed like a dumb innocent mistake by Claudia's part, had shown her another horrible side of Viren, the one that manipulated… but the worst of it was that he was now using their daughter.
…
"I don't know who he was, but he was injured. He must have been stabbed during the battle, but he was still alive. I took him back to the cave because I knew that he was a power vessel at my disposal to use dark magic. I knew what I had to do if I wanted to save my father". Once again, Lissa got goosebumps at her daughter's words. Viren had that same, ill, horrendous, view of life.
"The man you are talking about, his name was Anthony Weston, proud knight of the Katolis army. Do you admit the crime of murder?" The judge asked.
"Yes, I admit I killed him" Claudia stated, her voice remained calm and collected, like it was a matter of fact. The crowd went wild at her statement. People screaming, throwing things. Lissa could hear her own heartbeat in her ears, she turned to Soren, who was seated by the other witnesses, he seemed as shocked as herself. Lissa only shut her eyes and lowered her head… this was not Viren's fault. Claudia had done this, no one told her to do it. She did it because she wanted to.
"Why did you do it?"
"Because I didn't want my dad to die. He is all I have left, after the treason of my brother… So, I did what I had to do, I killed the man and used his power to bring my father back to life"
"Where is your dad now?"
"I don't know, I must have fainted from the strain the magic took on me. When I woke up, my father and the creepy Caterpillar were gone… they left me at the cave" at that, her voice seemed to break, as if it was some sort of painful memory.
The judge questioned her more about Viren's whereabouts, but Claudia only repeated the same story, it looked like she genuinely didn't know where Viren was.
"We are known to proceed with the pleading of the court. Claudia, you must answer with either 'innocent' or 'guilty' to the following statements" Claudia only nodded
"To the crime of conspiracy against the kingdom of Katolis"
"Guilty"
"To the crime of attempted murder of our beloved king Ezran"
"Guilty"
"To the crimes against the human and elves races" tears ran silently across Lissa's cheeks as she heard Claudia plead guilty to every single crime she was accused of…
"To the murder of Anthony Weston and the usage of his body to perform extremely damaging and sinister acts of dark magic against the kingdom and with ill-fated intentions to revive lord Viren"
Claudia took a second to answer the last accusation. For a moment, it seemed like she was at a loss for words. From her position on the podium, Claudia seemed to spot Soren. At the sight of her brother, she turned her gaze, then picked up her eyes and without hesitation said
"Guilty"
Once again, Lissa felt it like a dagger to her heart. Claudia seemed to have no remorse for her actions…
The judges took about 3 hours to deliver on the sentence, which were the most painful in Lissa's life, as she was prohibited to see Soren and she didn't even want to think about Claudia. Wen the court finally picked up, the judge announces the sentence
"After much delivering of the judge panel, Claudia, daughter of Viren, will serve the following sentence: 5 years of imprisonment for conspiring against Katolis, 15 years of imprisonment for attempted murder of King Ezran, 15 years of imprisonment for crimes against human and elves races and 25 years of imprisonment for the murder of Anthony Weston. The criminal would face 50 years in jail in total plus a sentence of 6 years of community service to be reinserted in society". After the reading of the charges, the crowd went wild, some celebrated the sentence, some were not satisfied with it…
"Through the generosity of King Ezran, our noble ruler has decided to give the prisoner the possibility of parole that would be placed in action after the first 10 years of imprisonment of the criminal"
Lissa could only see the sad look on Sorens face. Her boy looked like he was crushed inside. Claudia on the other hand looked weirdly unfazed with the sentence, she didn't cry, she didn't say anything, she just nodded in agreement and then quietly left with the guards as the angry crowd yelled and threw things at her….