Author's Notes: Hey everyone, I am glad that you liked the last chapter and I hope that you like this one as well, as always I own nothing, Martin and HBO do.
All too soon a septa and several members of the Faith Militant came for Sansa. She was led from the cell and taken to a chamber that she had never been before, though after the darkness of her cell anything was an improvement. In the center of the room was a chair and Sansa was led to it and told to sit down. In front of her were eight more chairs, to Sansa's dismay Sansa saw that Cersei was sitting in one, a satisfied smirk poorly concealed on her face. In the other seven there were three septas and four septons, all of whom regarded her with blank expressions. After a moment the old man that had spoken to her before entered the room, he first looked at the other seated figures and then turned towards Sansa and began to speak.
"Lady Sansa of House Stark and wife to Lord Tyrion of House Lannister, you stand accused of apostasy against the Faith of the Seven and the practice of witchcraft. It has been determined that your trial shall be a Trial of Faith. Do you wish to confess?" Sansa had to take a moment to gather herself and force herself to calm down and shook her head. "Then," the man continued; "Do you swear in the presence of all the gods that you shall speak the truth?"
"I do." Sansa said. "I have done nothing wrong and I question the legality of these charges. The Faith of the Seven has been at peace with the worship of the Old Gods since the time of the Andal invasion. As to the charges of witchcraft, as I have not done such thing and I demand that if there is evidence to produce it." She knew that her control of animals and people would be seen as witchcraft but as the gods had seemed to forsake her she felt little guilt about lying under oath.
"As you say, there have been no efforts to end the primitive practices of the worship of the false gods since the invasion." The old man said. "However; as I told you earlier, this was due more to a lack of resolve rather than an acceptance of the practices of the Northmen. If it is found that you have been practicing the faith of old gods then, as the First Men were taught the faith by the demonic Children of the Forest, you are guilty of witchcraft." Sansa was silent for a moment and then inspiration struck her.
"You say that following the old gods automatically makes one guilty of witchcraft. By that logic a follower of the Faith of the Seven would be a pious and virtuous person. Yet, at this very moment, Sir Loras is being held. As a knight he is pledged to the Seven and should be above reproach." The judges looked at one another and it looked like one or two of them suppressed smiles. The old man did not seem to share in this mirth, he did not get angry, he merely continued speaking.
"You are correct, a true follower of the Seven should be above reproach. However; there is some doubt as to the sincerity of his dedication. But we are here to discuss you not him." He then called forth his witness, mostly the maids that had served her in the past, all of whom swore most piously that Sasna had indeed gone almost every day to the godswood, some of them claiming that she spent far more time there than she did in any sept. Some of the witnesses outright lied, claiming that they had accompanied her to the godswood and that Sansa had chanted and performed strange rituals some of them even fell on their knees before the old man and pleading for his forgiveness. After the last one had left the old man turned back to Sansa.
"Well, my lady, what do you have to say about this charges?" Sansa remembered what Tyrion had said about her maids, that they were in Cersei's employ and that gave her an idea.
"These women were sent to me by the Queen Mother, whose dislike of me is well known. She accused me of being part of the murder of her son, His Grace King Joffrey. I was found innocent in the eyes of the Seven. You must consider that they are lying to please her. Also, if I were guilty of apostasy would not the Seven have caused my champion to lose?" This seemed to give those sitting in judgement pause and many of them looked at one another.
"Yet you do not deny that you engage in worship of the false gods of the North?" The old man pressed.
"I have never denied it." Sansa said firmly, she hoped that wherever they were her family could hear how firm and brave she sounded, she doubted Arya could have done better, though she was sure her sister would have been more vulgar. Yet her feelings of pleasure were dampened by a thought. If only I had been brave like this before, maybe Lady would still be with me.
Old man looked at her for a moment then spoke again. "Very well, the prisoner will be returned to her cell while the judges confer. She will be summoned when a verdict is reached to hear it and her sentence."
Author's Notes: Hey everyone, I hope you liked it. Was the back and forth any good? Please let me know in the reviews. Next time the verdict, till then please pray for the Sudanese pastors who are now awaiting the results of their trial and the Christian woman in Pakistan who is appealing her death sentence for blasphemy, as well as the Christians seized in Libya by ISIS and all their other victims and all who are sick and need prayer. Bye and may Jesus bless you.