The Trial

Pierre arrived the following morning. As soon as he entered the "cell," Chrono could tell he was the lawyer. Besides the business suit, the man carried a bag overflowing with papers. He carried himself very stately, eyeing Chrono over the tips of his bifocals. At first he looked like he wore a plastic pot on his head, but that was only his hair, short-cropped, black, and quite unmoving.

Chrono tried to stop the lawyer from sitting on the plush couch, but it was no use. Wordlessly, Pierre sat, and sank deep, into the furniture. The boy only watched as the lawyer struggled just to get out of the seat.

"Good morning, sir Chrono," he began, shaking the boy's hand. "I am Pierre."

"Hello," the boy returned meekly, motioning toward the writing desk. Pierre took his cue and sat in the hard, wood chair. Chrono sat opposite him on the bed.

"Let's begin, then." Some papers fell out of the bag. "Sorry about that," Pierre said while gathering the loose material. "These are for another case. Anyway, let's review yours." He leaned back in his chair in a manner which reminded Chrono of a wooden puppet. After a brief pause, the lawyer cleared his throat and continued. "Well, then, myabe I shall start.

"I suppose you know already the charges against you." Chrono shook his head. "No, then?" Pierre peered over his bifocals, then turned to his bag and produced a folder. "Here they are. One: the charge of kidnapping with malicious intent." Pierre stopped for a moment as if considering something. "Two: the charge of abducting a royal figure for ransom." Both raised their eyebrows in unison. "And three: the charge of imbalance of character and/or integrity."

"That's laughable."

"Maybe so, but there are three charges against you anyway."

"They can't prove any of that."

Pierre smiled unnervingly. "Well, now, we'll see about that. This first charge is the most serious. Frankly, Chrono, you don't have anything but your word on this one. You and the girl disappeared at the same time, for several hours."

"But the girl - she could testify! She could say I did no such thing!"

The lawyer wrinkled his forehead. "I was under the impression she would testify against you."

"Trust me, she wouldn't. Ask her yourself!"

"I would, but – " he glanced at the wall clock. "Your trial is a few hours away. We don't have much time. Now let's get one more fact straight: not only did you disappear for several hours, but you returned of your own will, escorting the lady out of the fair." Once again he scanned the list of charges. "Yes, they will not be able to prove the charge of ransom if you returned her willingly. However, they will be able to easily charge you with rape and assault."

"That's ridiculous!"

"Oh, as well as the fact you returned in separate clothes, and she did not?" Pierre gave his smile again. Something about that smile both assured and greatly distressed Chrono. As if he knew he were under careful scrutiny but found completely innocent.

Pierre continued. "Finally, imbalance of integrity and/or character." He looked up as playfully as a lawyer could. "That's a fancy way of saying you are either insane or intensely maladjusted, even violent. At the worst, they can only harm your reputation. In fact," his eyes lit mischievously, "we could lessen your sentence if we could convince them you were insane."

The boy started. "That's not funny."

"That doesn't matter. Those are the facts. Now, give me your side of the story."

Chrono waited a long time before starting. As he spoke, Pierre scribbled notes. "I met the girl at the fair. She looked familiar to me, but I couldn't place her. Anyway, I had come to watch my friend's science project. Something went… wrong. The girl got in trouble, and I had to help her… then I took her home – back here, to the palace."

There was a moment of silence as the lawyer finished writing. Finally, he looked up from the paper and proceeded. "Before I begin, I would like you to tell me that fantastic story again – with complete honesty. Oh I believe the part about the science fair, but if something went wrong, surely your friend would have known where you were for those long hours."

"Lucca."

"Pardon?"

"My friend, Lucca."

"I see…" he wrote the name down, then thought of something else. "Now, was anyone else at this science project?"

"Yes, a lot of people I didn't know."

"We'll see about that then. Now, you said you actually escorted the girl home. I have written here that you took the girl out of the fair, but no one seems to have seen you take her home."

"I took a car."

"Did you see anyone else?"

"...YES! – my mother! I went home first – with Nadia! My mother saw her!"

Pierre wrote that down. "Good, then. Do you know who drove you to the palace?"

"Some driver I don't know." Chrono was speaking rapidly now.

"What time was it?"

"Just after seven."

"Good, good. When did you leave for home?"

"Fifteen minutes later."

"And did anyone see you take the girl into the castle?"

Chrono's face went white. "No… I left her… I mean, once we were out of the car, I sent the girl on her way." Pierre just stared. "Aren't you going to write that down?"

"That comment stays in this room." The lawyer eyed the boy with such intensity that Chrono felt the nape of his neck start to burn. "Now, I have here the entire story, what you thought, who saw you and whom you saw. But, there is one hole missing. Specifically, a six hour hole where you and the girl vanished into thin air." He leaned back in the chair as Chrono sighed, head in hands. "Now, give me the story straight. Specific. No lies, no half-truths. We aren't in court yet." Pierre laughed at his own "joke."

Chrono looked up briefly before recounting his adventure of the last six hours (or three days, depending on who was asking). At the end of the story, Pierre leaned forward at stared the boy down long and hard. After what seemed a day, he leaned back again. "We're doomed."

"Yeah, no one will believe us."

"That's not the issue. The judge and jury, they are like-minded along with the Chancellor. And the Chancellor only takes cold, hard, facts. Supposing you truly traveled through time, did you bring any articles back with you?"

"No… wait, yes! My clothes! They're at home!"

"That's good." The lawyer scribbled some more. "However, we don't have time to retrieve any articles not on your person… anything else?"

"The gate key."

"This would be how you traveled through this portal, then? Do you have it?"

"No. It's Lucca's."

Pierre wrote again. "What else?"

"My sword. Don't bother. That's at home, too. Other than that, we left the past in the same condition we came."

For another five minutes the whole room was silent. Finally, Pierre stood, shook Chrono's hand, and said professionally: "See you at the trial, sir Chrono."

"Wait! That's all!"

Pierre looked back once as he left the room. "I'll think of something."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

No amount of anticipation could prepare Chrono for his entry into the courtroom. He felt he was in a giant, golden ring of fire – at least, that was the romantic description. In reality, he felt he was in trouble. Massive trouble.

The seats were arranged like bleachers at a sporting event, raised ten feet from the trial space and set in an arc. Already a crowd was gathering to watch the two teams face off. Chrono tilted his head back. Towering in front of him was a gargantuan of a stained-glass-window, mocking him with a picture of a blindfolded old man carrying the scales of justice. Chrono hoped for once that the man would open his eyes.

"Chrono!" He jumped and turned. There was his mother, in the front row on his left. She had brought Lucca along. Great. Apparently the tickets were selling cheap if she could afford two. Reluctantly he approached the row.

"Hi, mom," he croaked.

"Chrono, oh Chrono!" She was crying now, but she quickly regained control of herself and stared him in the eye, as only a mother could. "Chrono, be honest with me. Did you… did you do it?" Mom was losing it, he could tell, when the pre-game show distracted her from the fun of the real thing. "Please, Chrono…"

"Mom… no. I promise. It's all a lie."

She was overjoyed, but she didn't stop crying. Chrono could bear it no more, and backed into his seat at the center of the ring. Any moment, he thought, the doors would be opened, and the lions would be let loose.

"Chrono!"

What now?

It was Nadia. "Chrono!" She called from the front row on the right - Her father was nowhere to be seen. She waved and smiled, and Chrono knew right then that at least somebody believed in him.

"Court is now in session!" some voice boomed. It sounded impressive until Chrono saw its owner – a short, pudgy, balding man with a full red beard. The dwarf introduced the judge, Pierre, and the Chancellor, and then disappeared into the background.

The judge, a wan old man with a full gray mustache, pulled a sheet of paper from the folds of his robe. After carefully looking it over, he stuffed the paper back somewhere in his clothes, and began to speak with all the excitement of a sleeping sports announcer. "Will the prosecution please step forward." The Chancellor did. "What are the charges, Chancellor?"

With a gleeful ahem! – the Chancellor pulled his own script out and began to read aloud. "First – Chrono, you are charged by the high court with kidnapping. Kidnapping with malicious intent!" He paused to let the accusation hang over the crowd as they all thought of their own definitions for malicious. "Second, abduction of a royal figure for monetary gain." Now the crowd was beginning to murmur. "A finally, an instability of integrity and character."

None of the charges were new to Chrono, but coming out of the Chancellor's mouth, he knew he had been set up. Pierre put an arm on his shoulder, more to steady himself than the boy.

"Is that all, Chancellor?" the judge yawned.

"Yes." He stepped back.

"The defense? Chrono, how do you plead?"

"Not guilty!" Pierre shouted.

"To all the charges?"

"To all the charges."

The judge sighed and took the sheet of paper from his robe again. "Chancellor, bring forth the evidence."

"Certainly." The old man stepped forward and eyed the crowd. "Here are the facts, ladies and gentlemen! It is true the boy only met the princess at the fair – but we cannot assume this was an accidental meeting. No, here, in my hand – " the Chancellor waved his sheet of paper – "are the signatures of twelve individuals who saw their meeting." He began reading. "Just before noon, Chrono was standing beneath Leene's bell. Seeing the princess, he formed his plan – when she wasn't looking, he stepped up to her and knocked her down. As the kind observer he stooped down to help her – but what for? I'll give you a hint: the boy is poor, our princess is rich. Everyone who saw the girl at the fair saw she carried with her a pendant, her emblem of royalty – worth millions in gold! So, he – "

"Objection!" Pierre cried, and stood. "Insinuation of character! The boy did not identify the girl as the princess."

The judge awoke briefly. "Is this true?"

"Yes. The girl never told him her name."

"Chancellor, is this true?"

"It cannot be!"

"Then continue."

He did, but not before giving the lawyer the eye. "The boy knew her all right – in fact, they spent the remainder of their documented time at the fair together. That is, until they both disappeared – for six hours! Six hours! What can a man do in six hours, I wonder?" He leered at Chrono. "Then, the two of them returned – this boy, he was wearing a new set of clothes! Where, and why, did he change? Those who saw them said they left the fair in a hurry, and the girl seemed dazed, out of focus, and thoroughly overworked. The boy was not seen again until he was arrested and brought forth!" The Chancellor uttered this last accusation in finality.

The judge took his cue. "Thank you, Chancellor. Pierre?"

Pierre stood, taking deep breaths. "People of the court!" His voice carried well, but there was an uncertain twinge in it. "You have heard the remarks from our esteemed Chancellor, but I tell you now none of it can be proven as he has spoken! All he was able to give you was speculation, assumption of character, and guilt by defamation!" He turned on the old man. "I believe you mentioned you had twelve signatures of men who saw Chrono and Nadia's meeting. What are their names? Or do we not have the privilege of knowing who is slandering this boy?

"As for the charge of abduction with intent for monetary gain – this is a false charge that does not require any more proof than the Chancellor himself provided. Was it not six hours, Chancellor, that the boy was missing? Now, people of the court, in all the stories of ransom you have heard – when was the last time a kidnapper returned the victim before receiving his ransom? Yet, the Chancellor openly admits that the boy returned to the fair with the girl only six hours after their departure. There was no ransom note written. There was no demand for ransom. Why? Because this boy could have no intent for ransom!

"You also say the boy is guilty of an instability of character and integrity. People, do not be confounded by this wording. In simple terms, he is accused of being insane and inherently violent. Anyone who has spoken with this boy can see the only character flaw he is guilty of is shyness. I request that charge be dropped, not only because it has no basis in the logical mind, but because it serves no purpose other than to slander the boy's name."

"As for all these charges, I will request the court adjourn until tomorrow morning, to allow me to collect the proof this boy had provided to me word-of-mouth." Pierre's voice still had that strange twinge of weakness, and his words fell at the end of the statement.

The Chancellor and the judge exchanged glances. "Chancellor?"

"No objection," he remarked, taking the bait, the wheels in his mind already turning.

Whack! – "Court is adjourned until tomorrow morning at eight. And Chancellor, I want to see these twelve signatures." The last comment was not a threat or a challenge.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"What's going on?" Chrono questioned, following the quick heels of his lawyer.

"I'm buying us some time. Hurry, back to your cell – let's write down every name you can think of, people who know you. Write down the items you wanted me to find. We're going to prove the dirty rat wrong, and I don't care how!"

"No, I mean, what are you thinking?"

Pierre stopped and faced the boy. "You're going to have to play along with me. If we show weakness, the enemy will attack. If we merely say we are weak... the enemy will find himself against a very threatening force!"