Author's Notes: Hey everyone, as promised this one will be longer and things will happen, as always I own nothing
When the time came for her trial the Gold Cloaks came for her. They chained her hands in front of her and led her to the throne room. There benches had been placed and were filled with many members of the court and the Tyrell party. At the front of the room sat the three judges. Lord Tywin sat on the Iron Throne and looked like he belonged there more than Joffrey ever had. On either side of him was a chair, in one sat Prince Oberyn Martell and on the other sat Lord Mace Tyrell. Before the steps leading up to where they sat stood a wooden three-sided box to which she was directed, there were seats on the side and she was made to sit on one and her chains attached to another attached to the front of the stand. She had not been allowed to wash so her hair was ragged and her face covered with filth. She still wore the clothes that Joffrey had torn.
She was conscious of these things and of all the hostile looks that were being directed her way. Enough! She told herself firmly; none of that matters anymore! This is the last thing you have to endure and then you will be with your family again. So she took hold of herself. She thought of Robb and her father and even Arya and how brave they had all been and tried to be equally brave. She looked up at her judges and remembered when she had stood before King Robert and had not been brave. She had lied and Lady had died, as had Arya's friend, Sansa found that she could not even remember the boy's name, one more mark against her. Here perhaps she could atone for that.
A commotion at the back of the room drew her attention, turning she saw her husband being brought in by his brother, Jamie Lannister of the Kingsguard. Jamie walked her husband up to sit next to her. Though not as bad as her he was definitely looking the worse for wear, with rumpled clothing and needing a shave. Their eyes met and he nodded at her and tried to give her an encouraging look it failed, however, to have the desired result and he soon gave up the effort. Just then Lord Tywin declared the commencement of the trial. Sansa stood accused of attempting of attempting to commit adultery with the King and then attempting to murder him. Tyrion stood accused of participating with Sansa in her efforts and of bribing Sir Blount to murder Joffrey in his sick-bed.
The first witness was Sir Meryn Trant, he stated only that Sansa had come to the King's quarters at an unusually late hour. He had been standing guard outside the door when he heard loud noises coming from within, he had forced the door and had found Sansa, in a state of partial undress, attacking the King with a knife, whom he had then subdued. Regarding Tyrion Sir Trant recounted how Tyrion had threatened the King and had struck him on several occasions, hearing that made Sansa feel a fondness for her short husband, the accounts of him striking Joffrey made her want to laugh and she had to struggle to keep a smile from her lips.
Next witness was the Queen. She recounted how Tyrion had threated Joffrey and herself. She maintained that the whole thing was Tyrion, he had always been a spiteful and malicious creature and could easily have manipulated Sansa, a rather stupid creature, into assisting him in his treasons plan. Several times Tyrion tried to interject but his father would not allow it.
A servant who had served Grand Maester Pycell said that a number of poisons had been found to be missing and a search had failed to discover them. It was claimed that Tyrion had stolen these after he had had Pycell thrown into the black cells. But after he had failed to find a way to use them on the King he had resorted to using Sansa to carry out his plans.
As it went on and on, after a while Sansa began to find it repetitious and began to lose interest. Everyone could see that they wanted to find the two guilty and this whole trial was a mummer's farce to please formality. Knowing the outcome already she wished that they would just get on with it and get it over with. As witnesses came and went she found her mind drifting away from the throne room more and more and instead going to the bright field of her dreams, which she found to be growing clearer and clearer as time went on.
She vaguely heard Lord Tywin ask if there were any more witnesses, she hoped not. After the Crown had called all of its witnesses then she and Tyrion could call theirs. She had none and from the look on his face neither did Tyrion. Once they formally announced they had none judgment would be passed and she already knew what that would be. Well, I got one wish, I will finally leave King's Landing for good and they can keep the wretched city. But her attention was brought back to the present when she heard a sharp intake of breath from Tyrion.
Shae was walking to the witness stand and when she began to speak Sansa could not believe her ears. Shae claimed to have been Tyrion's mistress, before and after his marriage to Sansa. Sansa found herself blushing as Shae described what she and Tyrion had done and the names he had had her call him while they were 'together'. She looked at Tyrion, she wondered if she should be angry at his infidelity but theirs had hardly been a love match and even Father had strayed, as evidenced by her half-brother Jon. And seeing the look of betrayal and humiliation on his face and hearing people in the audience laugh at him she found she pitted him more than anything. It seems that in your own way you were as much a fool about love as I was.
But that was not all that Shae talked about. She told of how Tyrion and Sansa had plotted together to kill Joffrey, using Sansa to seduce him to make him lower his guard. None of this was true but from the sounds of the crowd they believed every word of it. Sansa felt anger at being betrayed by someone she had thought of as a friend, though not much. She had been betrayed and hurt by those she had thought her friends too often to be very angry and in a way she was almost grateful, she had wanted and end and if her fate had not been sealed before it certainly was now. At last Shae was done and it was time for Sansa and Tyrion to call their own witnesses. Sansa was about to state that she had no witnesses to call when Tyrion spoke.
"Father, I wish to…confess." Sansa stared at him. What was he doing? He had taken no part in her plans so what was he confessing to?
"You wish to confess to plotting against the King?" Lord Tywin asked from the Iron Throne.
"No, of that I am innocent." Tyrion said in a strange voice, as if he were saying something he had wanted to say for a long time. "I am guilty of something far worse, I am guilty of not being another Jamie, of being short and stunted and ugly and worst of all, an embarrassment to you." Anger had entered his voice and increased with each word he spoke.
"You are not on trial for being an embarrassment to the family." Lord Tywin said, anger entering his own voice.
"Oh, but I am. I have been on tried for that my whole life. Tried and condemned by you, my 'sweet' sister," this was said with such venom that Sansa drew away as far as the chain would allow. Either not seeing this or not caring Tyrion continued; "And the majority of our family and now you all have the perfect chance to make the shame of my existence go away forever. And you," here he turned to face the audience; "I saved all of you when Stannis would have happily burned the lot of you. I should have let him." Here he gave a bitter laugh; "Hells, if I could do it again I would offer him some of the wildfire in case he did not have enough wood for you all!"
As the crowd erupted into a chorus of angry shouting Lord Tywin, clearly also angry, called down from his seat. "Have you nothing to say in your defense!"
"Only this, I had no part in what happened but I wish that I had! The thought of that cowardly little bastard writhing on the floor covered in his own blood would be a sight that would bring the greatest joy to my heart, more than I could ever get from a lying whore!" This last was said while he looked at Shae and on his face was such a look of hatred and rage that he did not look sane, in fact, he did not look even human. "The only thing that could have made it better would have been if my wife had gelded him! That would be a sight to behold and every high-pitched word from his mouth music to my ears!" This was said with such hate-filled longing that Sansa felt queasy. By now the crowd was yelling so loudly that Lord Tywin was calling for the prisoners to be returned to their cells but Tyrion wasn't finished yet.
"I am not done," he declared, his tone and face had become strangely calm; "I may be a disgraced son but I am still your son and I have too much of you in me to go quietly to the fate you have planned for me. I demand a trial by combat."
"As do I!" A voice declared, to Sansa's surprise she realized that the voice was hers. She did not know why she had done it, she wanted it to be all over and here she was prolonging it. Perhaps she wanted to cause just a little more frustration for the Lannisters before the end. Or perhaps this was how a Stark of Winterfell should end, fighting till the end. If a Lannister could so could she.
These declarations caused another burst of yelling from the crowd. Tywin called for silence and eventually he got it. But before he could say anything else the Queen rose from her seat and spoke to the judges.
"My lords, while they have the right to demand trial by combat and they stand accused of plotting together, they also stand accused of separate crimes. So they cannot be tried by one combat, they will each need to have their own champions and have them face separate opponents." Lord Tywin looked at her for a moment and then nodded his head in agreement.
Author's Notes: Hey everyone I hope you liked it. I was going to repeat his speech from the show but decided to try something different let me know what you thought. I am not sure how they would actually do two trials by battle together so this is what you got. Next chapter will be a set up for the combat, which will take place in the chapter after that, hopefully this will help tide you over till next season. Till next time please keep praying for those unjustly held and all others who who need it and may Jesus bless you all.