The Trial of Hollis Wren – Part 1: The Banner

ROYAL TRIBUNAL OF VALDORIA The Crown against Hollis Wren

Lady Justiciar Marguerite Aubrey, Authorised Court Officer of the Crown, has decided in the matter of the accused Hollis Wren, archivist of the Upper Library, as follows.

In the name of the Crown of Valdoria, the accused is found

GUILTY

of the offences of

DEFAMATION OF THE ROYAL BANNER

QUESTIONING THE AUTHORITY OF THE JUSTICIAR

Original statement of the accused:

Last midsummer I made a copy of the Crown's banner and set fire to it on the library steps in front of my friends, to show that I did not fear the Tribunal. I also said, to anyone who would listen, that the Justiciar's cell was not secure and that I could leave it whenever I pleased, and that the Justiciar herself was too soft to impose a proper penalty. I now see how foolish I was, as I volunteered for the Court of my own free will. I ask humbly for judgement.

Mitigating circumstances: none.

Aggravating circumstances: the accused has been an archivist of the Crown for eleven years and has held the Banner in his own hands at the Midsummer Muster. He understood its meaning perfectly.

SENTENCE

• A fine of seven hundred crowns, counted aloud before the Court.
• Five hundred lines written in his own hand: I will respect the Banner of the Crown.
• Thirty ceremonial strokes of the cane, counted aloud, within the Articles of Consent.
• One night in the Stone Cell, with a latch he may lift at any moment, to be tested at the ninth bell.

Further provisions:

• The accused will be shown, before the sentence begins, exactly how the cell latch works.
• The SENTENCE may be ended by the word UNFURL.
• The Justiciar will read the full verdict aloud once more at dawn.

Signed, Lady Justiciar Marguerite Aubrey.

Hollis stood in the hall of the old assize house with the verdict in both hands. He was forty-three, a real-life university archivist with a stammer when he was nervous, which, he had found, was always. Marguerite was forty-nine, a magistrate, composed and warm-eyed, who had taken a year to agree. They had built the Articles together. They had tested the cell latch on four separate evenings.

"Mr Wren," said Lady Justiciar Marguerite, from the bench.

"Your Excellency."

"The Court has read your statement. It is the most eloquent confession we have received."

"Thank you, Your Excellency."

"It was not a compliment." She raised an eyebrow. "Do you accept the verdict?"

"I do."

"Do you remember the word?"

"Unfurl."

"Are you content?"

"Content, Your Excellency."

"Good." She closed the file. "You will begin the lines at once."

Continue the story: Part 2 – Unfurl.