The Trial of Rufus Locke – Part 1: The Charges

ROYAL TRIBUNAL OF VALDORIA The Crown against Rufus Locke

Lady Justiciar Cordelia Ashby, Authorised Court Officer of the Crown, has decided in the matter of the accused Rufus Locke, bookbinder of the Market Quarter, as follows.

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

GUILTY

of the offences of

CONTEMPT OF THE JUSTICIAR

FAILURE TO KEEP SILENCE IN COURT

UNAUTHORISED SMUGNESS

Original statement of the accused:

I am afraid I have been unbearable. I have smirked at the Justiciar's rulings, murmured jokes in the gallery and rolled my eyes at the reading of the Articles. I am entirely aware that the Court is a game I agreed to play, and I should like to be taught, properly, how to play it better.

Mitigating circumstances: the accused has a sense of humour.

Aggravating circumstances: the accused has used it.

SENTENCE

• A fine of one thousand crowns, counted aloud.
• A night in the Cells, in soft restraints with quick-release knots, with water, bread and a bell within reach.
• Thirty ceremonial strokes of the cane, counted aloud, within the Articles of Consent.
• Silence from the ninth bell to dawn, to be broken only by the word CASE CLOSED.

Further provisions:

• The accused's friends in the gallery are invited to leave. There are none. The gallery is empty. The Justiciar is sorry to have to say it.
• The Justiciar will check on the accused every half hour.
• A record of the proceedings will be kept in the Court's private ledger, and burned afterwards.

Signed, Lady Justiciar Cordelia Ashby.

Rufus tried very hard not to smile. He was thirty-eight, a real-life bookbinder with a quick tongue and a lifelong habit of using it to avoid being looked at. Cordelia was fifty, a circuit judge, tall and immaculate, who had been waiting for this evening for two years.

"Mr Locke," said Lady Justiciar Cordelia, in her bench voice.

"Your Excellency."

"You are smirking."

"I am not, Your Excellency."

"You are very nearly smirking." She raised one eyebrow. "How do you plead?"

"Guilty, Your Excellency."

"To all charges?"

"To all charges, including the smirk."

"Wise." She turned a page. "Do you accept the verdict?"

"I do."

"Do you remember the word?"

"Case closed."

"Are you content?"

"Content, Your Excellency."

"Then you will be silent." She laid her pen across the file. "From now."

Continue the story: Part 2 – Case Closed.