The courtroom was in an uproar as they lead Deryn in. It may have scared anyone else but Deryn kept her head high and her chin proudly lifted in the air. Just let that overstuffed Lord Winston Churchill try and bug her. She doubted he could.
The guard leading her in wasn't at all gentle. He was gripping her arm so tightly she was sure it would bruise. Although she probably couldn't blame him for the roughness. He was sporting his own black eye and a good swollen cheek from where she had clocked him. Technically it hadn't been his fault that she was being taken to court, but that hadn't stopped her from hitting him.
He shoved her to the head of the room where Winston Churchill himself was glaring down at her from his perch. She recognized him from the penny papers with his pudgy face and big nose. Beside him were the other speakers of the House in shorter desks. They didn't look nearly as evil as Churchill and in fact had empathetic looks.
She was forced into a chair behind a wooden table and locked to it with a chain around the waist. When she turned to her right to examine her surroundings she was a bit surprised to see Alek sitting at a table beside her. His eyes were like ping pong balls they were so wide. He was obviously shocked to see her.
She must have looked a barking mess. They had practically forced her into a dress, which was more of a burlap sack and itched miserably. Her tights were thick nasty wool and her shoes dug into her toes but the corset was the worst. She pulled at it to try and get more comfortable while looking Alek over for the first time in three weeks. Her stomach was almost bubbling over with excitement the instant she had seen him. Blisters, was he a sight for sore eyes. He looked paler and thinner and his hair had grown out a bit so that it covered his eyebrows but either than that he looked healthy and alert. It was good to see that he was no longer in a wheelchair. She smiled at him cheerfully, despite the situation, and he mumbled something back that she couldn't hear.
"SILENCE!" Churchill bellowed. He smacked the gavel a few short times in order to get the attention of the room. The crowd eventually settled down and Churchill cleared his throat before speaking again.
"Mr. Smithson, would you bring over the bible." A very large man who was wearing one of the daft looking wigs came over to Deryn and asked her to place one hand on a bible he was holding and another on her heart. When she did he asked her,
"Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?" She weakly nodded which appeared to be answer enough because the man left her and repeated the same actions with Alek. When that was done Churchill started talking.
"Now before we continue I just want to say that my intentions are for the best." He said smoothly. "I do not want to execute anyone. Especially not children! For the record, Prince Aleksander is a valuable asset to the British Empire and were he to die we would lose a possible alliance with Austria-Hungary.
But, situations being as they are, there is a strong possibility that Aleksander is a traitor. And if we find him guilty of treason here today then it is safe to say that I will try him as any other treasonous felon and have him hanged."
WHAT? Alek might be hanged! Now she understood why Alek looked so scared. Her own nerves bumped in her throat and she felt like she had to throw up.
"MURDERER!" Came a cry from the audience. Deryn could have sworn it was Jaspert's voice. "CHILD MURDERER!"
The crowd was quick to join in and soon the room was booming with thunderous cries. Sure enough, Jaspert was standing on top of a table toward the back. He had a rifle strapped to his back which he suddenly took off and began swinging in the air above him like a baton. Others began to follow suit and a few soldiers climbed onto the table beside him.
"JASPERT YOU DAFT NINNY, SHUT UP AND SIT YOUR ARSE DOWN!" He couldn't hear her though. She was strapped too tightly to the chair so she couldn't stand either. There was a sharp rapping sound and she realized that Churchill was hitting the gavel over and over. The crowd didn't settle down however. Alek looked like he was going to faint he was so startled.
Finally the heavy set man with the bible stood.
"QUIET!" He barked. She saw Jaspert sit down and wave to the others to join him. Eventually everyone began to settle and Winston Churchill began to speak again.
"Thank you, Mr. Smithson." He nodded to the heavy set man who sat down without another word.
"Your highness," he addressed Alek, "I would like to start by asking you a few questions. Firstly, it has been recorded that you assisted with the maintenance of the Leviathan engines, is that true?"
Alek nodded.
"Speak up boy."
"I…uh….that is…yes sir."
"So it had come to the Navy's attention that you had an education in mekanicks?"
"Um, I believe so."
"And they decided to have you look at the engineering of the Goliath as well?"
"Yes sir." Alek responded quietly. Churchill made a tittering sound.
"I wouldn't have suggested the idea myself but Barlow insisted. It seems that you Clankers were the best choice to overlook the construction of the engines. Apparently that also included sharing all the top secret information about the Goliath."
Alek only nodded.
"We trusted you Alek. Not only with the mekanicks of the warship but with the knowledge of its mission as well. Instead of keeping that trust and possibly insuring your future alliance between your country and ours, you chose to give that information up to the Germans."
This time Alek answered him curtly. "I never did anything for the Germans!"
"No?" Churchill lifted the side of his mouth in a partial grin. "You didn't try to stop the Goliath's mission to attack Tsingtao, a GERMAN settlement? Hmmm?"
Alek's face had turned a light shade of green. He looked as sick as Deryn felt but still kept the courage to continue talking.
"It may be a German settlement, your honor, but it is still a settlement. There are at least five thousand souls living in Tsingtao and you and the Japanese were planning on killing them all!" He was shaking now, making him look even more like he was going to faint. Deryn wished she was sitting next to him so she could at least hold his hand or something.
"You forget, your majesty, that this is war!" Churchill's face had become even redder. "Our lives are governed by how we can defeat the enemy. Didn't your father teach you anything?" Alek didn't respond to that remark but he stopped shaking and some of his fear seemed to be replaced by anger.
"Miss Sharp," Churchill turned his large head to face her, "I have a few questions involving your circumstances as well."
God dammit please don't include me in this, you chubby round loon! She thought.
"Is it true that you disguised yourself as a boy in order to join the air force?"
She looked down at her lap, not wanting to make eye contact with him. "Yes."
"And is it true that you assisted Aleksander on his quest to kill the Demon, the crucial living bomb of the Goliath?"
"No." She muttered. She couldn't lie here even though she wished she could. She wanted to take some blame for the death of the Demon. That way Alek may get out of some of the blame.
"But you did rescue him that night?"
She looked up at Churchill who was squinting down at her. "Aye, I pulled him out of the water. He was barking daft to go and cut that thing down, but I wasn't gonna let him drown!"
"Fine then." He looked a little let down. "So you didn't assist in the actual event. However you were key to Aleksander's survival and helped him later on when he tried to escape form Japan."
Well, that's true enough. "Yes."
"How did you plan on getting him away from the Emperor exactly?"
She sighed then retold the story briefly. "We planned to take Alek and his men out of the palace before the Emperor noticed and get them onto some Gyrochopper contraptions. Once we were free from the city we planned on flying to neutral territory, like Switzerland."
Churchill broke into a broad grin when she finished talking.
"So you completely ignored your duty to take the prince back to the Leviathan and back to your commanding officers."
Dammit! "Yes. But you see, I had to. It wasn't like the choppers were mine and I could choose where to take him. And there's no way the Captain would've listened to me if I brought him back."
"Listened to you about what? Perhaps you were worried that he wouldn't believe you? I mean, why would he believe you? How would a midshipman on the Leviathan know that the Japanese Emperor had plotted to kill the heir of Autria Este?"
He was right, she knew. Looking at it from that standpoint she looked very suspicious.
"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, Ms. Sharp. It is obvious that someone must have assisted you with the escape. I can't imagine that you flew two Gyrocopters by yourself. However, my main point of interest falls back on how you managed to get the Prince out of the palace without being caught."
"We were caught." She mumbled under her breath. "Otherwise I wouldn't be stuck here talking to you, pudge face." He pretended he didn't hear her but Deryn saw his cheeks turn a deeper shade of red making him look like a giant strawberry.
"What you failed to mention, Ms. Sharp, was how you shot a man in order to get away."
Deryn felt the blood rush out of her face and heard the crowd murmur behind her. That was not what she expected him to say. She turned to look at Alek whose mouth was wide open so he resembled a fish. There was a long silence and she realized the Churchill was waiting for her to reply.
"Aye, I may have done that."
"The Court finds you guilty in the case of first degree murder. You are sentenced to death by hanging for the shooting of General Timothy Barrens."
The courtroom burst into shouts but was instantly silenced this time when Deryn yelled over the crowd.
"WAIT WHAT? Hang on a squick, are you serious? Hanging?"
"I'm sorry Ms. Sharp, but the law states clearly that murder is to be punished with a death sentence. And in the case of a first degree murder, the death is by the noose." He didn't look sorry though. He was looking down at her with a smug expression. "We have an eyewitness who claims he saw you shoot the General." Churchill pointed to his left and Deryn recognized the wiry man beside him as Jenson, the other man who had been in the room when she had fired the pistol. He was wearing one of the nasty little wigs just like the rest of them and sneered down at her like she was a foul insect.
"But that's not…..that's not fair!" She bantered back. "They were trying…what they did…..they tried to rape me!" She would have cried then if she could but she was too angry.
"Well I hate to say it young lady but you had it coming to you. What with you dressing up like a man, it's no wonder they took you for the slut you are." The moment the words were out of his mouth the crowd burst into the loudest uproar she had heard so far. Beside her Alek had stood up and was yelling loud curses in German. She though she saw Jaspert throw something and out of the corner of her eye she saw Dr. Barlow and Volger screaming at the top of their lungs.
Winston Churchill didn't try to stop them immediately. He let the crowd run itself horse before finally knocking on his desk with the gavel. This time Jenson raised his arms above his head and the crowd hushed up to hear what he had to say.
"You didn't shoot him because of that! You shot him in cold blood. He was dueling with your Princey fellow and you shot him point blank. Didn't even give him a chance to defend himself. We may have been a bit rough with you, but we never did you any harm. So you sure as hell didn't need to shoot a British General in order to protect a bastard Clanker prince!" He was fuming. Deryn could feel the audience murmuring behind her. Everyone had easily been swayed to Jenson's new view on the events. Everyone except Jaspert that is.
"You fucking liar!" She heard him bellow over the heads of the other crowd members. "You wouldn't be saying that if…." He never got to finish his sentence because a soldier beside him had yanked him back down and was now barking at him to keep his mouth shut.
"No, he's not lying." She mumbled. Because it was true, she had shot the man in cold blood. She felt horrible for it and couldn't deny it anymore.
"So you plea guilty? Very well then." To her surprise Churchill lifted himself down from the podium and returned to the floor in front of her and removed the wig. "I consider myself a fair and descent man, Ms. Sharp, and I have to sentence you to death. I really do apologize that things turned out this way." He made to reach for her shoulder as if to pat her reassuringly but something swatted away his hand. Alek had risen from his seat and was now standing between her and Winston Churchill. His own arm quivering at his side from the recent smack he had delivered to Mr. Churchill's hand.
"DON'T TOUCH HER!" Alek bellowed. His face was stern and frightening. The crowd was dead silent, shocked that the humble Prince had changed so abruptly.
"Excuse me?" Churchill looked a bit scared himself. He even backed up a squick to get away from Alek. Alek stood as tall as he could, which was no more than five foot four inches. Deryn remembered because he was about three inches shorter than her. But in her eyes Alek could have been a seven footer. Churchill almost shrank below him.
"You can't touch her! And you can't execute her!"
Churchill took a moment to register what Alek had said then pushed out his chest, raised his chin and laughed.
"Who are you to say what I can and can't do?" Even though he had regained some of his composure he was still looking at Alek nervously.
"I am Aleksander Ferdinand Hapsburg, future Archduke of Austria-Hungary, and you sir cannot kill this woman."
"Why not?" Churchill asked. "If she is somehow innocent, your highness, please tell us." The crowd gave a quiet murmur and Churchill chuckled.
Alek made eye contact with Deryn and she could see a huge amount of fear in his eyes that she hadn't noticed earlier. He bit his lip and seemed to be deep in thought on what to say. His eyes darted toward where Count Volger was sitting and then up to Jenson on the podium. Deryn was about to say something herself but Alek's face suddenly lit up like he had a breakthrough idea.
"You can't kill her sir, she's pregnant."
Deryn had to literally swallow down bile that had risen into her mouth.
So much for telling the truth. She thought. The crowd was in uproar again and Churchill's face had turned a shade of purple. From the corner of her eye she thought she saw Volger faint.
"It's illegal for you to execute a pregnant woman." Alek stated as if he were reading it from a book in one of his princely tutoring lessons.
"He's right, sir." Said the man Deryn recognized as Mr. Smithson. "Under His Majesty's Royal Decree: it is forbidden for a woman with child to be killed. Executing her would kill an unborn, innocent soul." There was a brief pause in which Deryn saw Churchill glare Mr. Smithson down evilly, but the other man only stared back blankly and blinked.
Winston Churchill smoothed out the front of his jacket and cleared his throat. When he spoke again he wouldn't meet Alek in the eye.
"I'm afraid that I don't believe it, your highness. With you blurting out random information about this girl's physical state the moment after she has been sentenced to death, one has to be a bit suspicious."
"Well, it's true. Right Deryn?" Alek nudged her in the back with an elbow and she had to struggle not to throw up all over Lord Churchill.
"Yes. Very true. I am very…um…very pregnant."
Her answer seemed to spark some hope in Churchill because the man instantly broke into a large smile.
"And if this were true I am assuming that you would be the father, Prince Aleksander?" He gestured to Alek with an outstretched hand and a mocking bow. Alek blushed profusely.
"Yes." Alek muttered. He must have suddenly realized what that would have entailed seeing as how embarrassed he now looked.
"May I ask, Ms. Sharp, how far along are you? You aren't showing yet for what I can tell."
If she got the chance to later she would certainly smack Alek good and hard upside the head for this.
"Almost a month now." She blurted out. Hopefully that added up right. She and Alek had been in quarantine for three weeks since they left Japan, so she couldn't have been pregnant any time after that. She had only met Alek two months ago. That wouldmean at least a month to get to know him before…
Barking spiders! This is way too embarrassing to think about.
"I'm afraid there is no way for you to prove that, Ms. Sharp, so we will have to continue forward with the execution as planned."
"But there is also no way to prove that she isn't!" Alek said smugly. He crossed his arms and grinned at Churchill. Deryn realized that Alek finally had the upper hand.
Churchill didn't respond. Instead he gave Alek one last angry look before turning back to the other dozen men with wigs. They circled around him intently and began whispering angry remarks back and forth to one another. Deryn watched them argue for moment before she let herself relax a little and turn to Alek.
He had let his tough smug look fall for a moment and she saw him again as the sixteen year old boy she met on the glacier two months ago.
"I'm so sorry Alek."
He looked at her with genuine shock. "What for?"
"They're going to kill you too, you ninny!"
He gave her a full bright smile, the first one she had seen from him in weeks.
"I don't think they will Deryn, you are forgetting one more thing." He pointed behind her and she turned to see Dr. Barlow walking up the aisle with tazza at her heals and Bovril on her shoulder. "We have Doctor Nora Darwin Barlow on our side." Alek grinned.
Barlow shoved her way into the huddle of dusty wigged men and began giving them a piece of her mind. The whispers became angrier and were accompanied by a lot of rude hand gestures before Churchill finally called a stop to it, climbed back up to his judge's podium and returned his attention to the courtroom.
"It has come to my attention that having a young Prince as a cooperative captive is too valuable a commodity to part with over a small skirmish about loyalty. From this point forward, Aleksander von Hohenguard is free from his treason felonies and is allowed to live on the condition that he remains in London and under strict guard until he is found useful toward the British Empire.
As for the young lady, I have been told that there are ways to test for pregnancy." He nodded to Dr. Barlow angrily as he continued. "I will have one of the Doctors under the service of the Crown examine Ms. Sharp in the morning. And I can assure you, Barlow, that the Doctor will not be you or any of your cohorts.
If Ms. Sharp is indeed pregnant, as she claims, she will be spared of her execution and sentenced to life in prison. However, if she is not then her execution sentence will be carried out as fore planned." He gave one last haunting whack with his gavel before the courtroom blossomed into chaos once again.
Deryn wasn't even able to hear herself curse over the racket of the room.