Chapitre 47: The trials
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This was going to be an announcement but I know everyone hates them.
Exam week, so I will not upload as many chapters as last week, and the next one too
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POV of Wilhelm
You are confident that you will be able to set Jaime free, my king, it will be an extremely difficult mission, the cases of assassination of a king are extremely few and there is no jurisprudence to support your reasoning'' said Maximilian as he walked while holding his hands with elegance.
''We only have to give him the merit of saving the city, saving the lives of four hundred thousand people should be enough for even the most narrow-minded to understand that the madness of the mad king was out of control and long ago, that man had become a monster, although Jaime did not save per se the city within his reasoning he performed the act thought he had saved hundreds of thousands of innocent lives from the monster they called king'' I said with a serious tone as we continued our way to the throne room.
I gave a sigh
''You have a greater understanding of the law than I do, so I assume that my concern is unnecessary and that you will find the legal argumentation that will allow Jaime to get out alive from this trial that seeks to finish him'' Maximilian said keeping his characteristic tone of voice.
Finally, we arrived at the throne room where the judges' chairs had already been set up and slowly many nobles began to arrive to witness the fate of the many nobles who had supported the Targaryens.
Among the many awaiting trial were the nobles of the reach who were made to form a line because the trials were to be quite short, just a formality to avoid spending hours proving guilt in a trial and ending with a trial by combat.
I had been reading the laws of the seven kingdoms and besides being quite specific about punishments, it lacked a due process format, this gave a lot of freedom to the judges to determine who was guilty and who was not, something that would make it effortless.
I took my place in one of the three chairs that were near the iron throne where Lord Arryn was already with his lawbook of the seven kingdoms and Lord Stark who was in his chair rather quietly looking at the huge crowd of nobles.
''Where is the king?'', I asked Lord Arryn.
He went to change his robes for something more decent for the trials, because of the importance of this trial,'' said Lord Arryn.
''How shall we judge the lords, Lord Arryn'' Lord Stark asked.
''Only as losers, there are no laws that speak of what should be done with the defeated parties in a rebellion'' Lord Arryn said.
''We can assume that Robert was always the rightful monarch, only that his right was not yet in use when he rose in rebellion, he is automatically considered the rightful monarch of the seven kingdoms and those who supported the Targaryens are only traitors, who deserve the ultimate punishment for their disobedience to their rightful monarch King Robert Baratheon'' I said as I read some of the laws on treason.
''Since we judges have the power to interpret the law of the seven kingdoms, as long as our interpretation does not go against the spirit of the law, so that is what I would recommend starting the trials because those laws sought the stability of the kingdom and we can use that argumentation if you wish to have any legal validation'' I said closing the book I had with me.
''When did you learn our laws?'', said lord Arryn very surprised.
''It was one of the reasons for the terms I had requested earlier from you, I studied them well before considering they would not be suitable for us'' I said as I rested my back on the chair while the guards brought the first nobles in with their arms in chains
The whispers inside the throne room from the many nobles on the winning side stopped abruptly as the accused began to enter one by one.
King Robert arrived to sit on his throne just in time as he brought a goblet of ale and a cup bearer who brought with him a container of alcoholic beverage.
The first to be judged was lord Mathis Rowan, who like all the other prisoners had chains on his wrists.
''Lord Mathis Rowan you are charged with the crime of treason, how do you plead'' Jon Arryn said to the accused.
''Not guilty, I cannot be charged with treason, I was loyal to my lord Mace who called me to arms and I answered my vows of loyalty'' Lord Rowan replied.
''Lord Rowan, please respond based on the facts and not on your personal assessments,'' said the Prussian lord, who had his gaze fixed on the accused.
''But it is the truth, I did my duty and ....''' the lord tried to say but was interrupted.
''LORD ROWAN!, we are only evaluating the facts that are known to all, so I will ask you questions that you will have to answer yes or no'' said the Prussian lord.
''You attacked his majesty's men, King Robert Baratheon the first with the name in ashford'' said the Prussian lord leaning on his legs watching lord Rowan.
''Yes, but it was because of him.....''again the lord tried to say but again he was interrupted
''Again, lord Rowan just facts, leave aside your personal appreciations'' said the Prussian judge getting up from his chair and walked down the steps from where he was sitting
''Then you consciously raised your arms against the rightful king of the seven kingdoms'' said the Prussian judge only a few steps away from lord Rowan.
''No he was a rebel and .....'' but again he was interrupted by the implacable judge
''did you participate in the siege of storm end, yes or no'' said lord Prussian
''Yes, but ....'' Lord Rowan was unable to finish.
''Twice you had the opportunity to realize your mistakes of supporting the false king Aerys Targaryen, who illegitimately occupied the iron throne and you continued to support him, this according to your gods and men is treason, no more questions'' said the Prussian judge returning to his seat.
Lord Arryn was very pleased with the Prussian lord's aptitude for expediting the trials and getting this long work completed as quickly as possible.
The vote of the three judges was unanimous. House Rowan was stripped of all its titles.
The second defendant was lord Caron, a banner man of king Robert himself, he received the same treatment as the previous defendant where the Prussian judge was relentless with his yes or no questions preventing the defendants from justifying their actions, but unlike lord rowan lord Caron preferred to demand an ancient right because he too had been found guilty.
the trial by combat
''What's going on lord Arryn'' I said looking at the thoughtful lord Arryn.
''Crown champions must be knights of the King's guard, but we don't have any presently,'' said Lord Arryn grimacing.
''We can always make exceptions, we don't have to be so strict with the law, Lord Arryn, King Robert can make use of my men to represent him in combat'' I said looking at lord Arryn and then at Robert
''Charles, he will be my champion in this'' said Robert smiling very excitedly
''Charles come'' I said calling to the Teutonic master.
''Yes my king?'' said the knight bowing.
''You are going to fight, I need you to be as brutal as possible, to prevent another idiot from thinking he can get away with a trial by combat, don't look for a prestigious battle, crush him'' I said whispering in his ear.
The knight nodded.
Lord Caron received his armor and his sword and looked with concern that his opponent was a lot taller than him and he was strong due to the thickness of his armor on his arms.
When the combat began, the fearsome master of the Teutonic order charged violently against lord Caron only to stop and make a feint, causing lord Caron to try to protect himself from the attack of the Teutonic knight
The blade of lord Caron passed quite close to the helmet of the Teutonic knight who taking advantage of his position using his shield hand caught the blade of lord Caron's sword and with a little force, he snatched it away leaving lord Caron unarmed.
Charles launched a thrust with his mace striking lord Caron's breastplate deforming it on the spot filling the throne room with the sounds of twisting metal and broken bones.
Charles stepped forward and delivered a powerful elbow to the face of the almost defeated lord Caron.
The battle had already been decided, but the knight approached lord Caron who was raising his hands to defend his face, struggling to say the words to surrender.
But it was when he received a strong stomp from the Teutonic knight and another and another and another until the hands of lord Caron fell to the floor and his helmet was deformed and full of blood and many pieces of the skull were scattered in the throne room staining the white clothes of the Teutonic knight.
The silence was absolute for those who watched the battle, still trying to assimilate the ease with which Lord Caron was defeated.
Charles walked away, taking off his helmet showing a disappointed face from the battle.
Robert began to laugh loudly congratulating the Teutonic Maester on a victory.
After the servants took lord Caron's body away the trials returned to normal and no other lord again demanded his right of trial by combat because they knew who would be the champion of the crown if they tried to get out of prosecution through that right.
The trials were relatively short because of the intervention of the Prussian monarch, and all the accused were always condemned to the complete loss of their territories because the vote was unanimous.
During the following hours the Prussian monarch had become before the eyes of westerosis an implacable judge, using all the powers given to him by the westerosis laws, he sought absolute justice in the trials.
But it was when the time came that most lords awaited the trial of the son of one of the most powerful men in the seven kingdoms, Jaime Lannister.
He was the last to be judged, as his trial was expected to be a long one, since this was a sensitive subject.
Lord Arryn was nervously looking at Lord Hohenzollern, who until a few minutes ago had acted as an exceptional prosecutor against the nobles who supported the Targaryens.
''Jaime Lannister, you stand accused of the crime of regicide, how do you plead,'' Lord Arryn said.
''Guilty...'' Jaime said, almost close to tears, trying to hide his face from the gaze of the other lords.
Lord Arryn's eyes widened because he did not think this could happen and looked almost desperately at the Prussian lord to do something.
As he had done all day the Prussian judge stood up and walked to see the accused
''Ser Jaime, I do not question the fact that you used your sword to end the reign of the mad and tyrant Aerys Targaryen, I witnessed the scene, I want to know what made you do it'' I said with a serious tone as I stared at the accused.
''Eh... well... the king was planning to burn the whole city, with his wildfire, there were warehouses full of that liquid all over the city, worse as you said ....''Jaime explained the situation but I had to interrupt him.
''Ser Jaime, we only want to know the facts that led you to make the decision, not your opinion of the facts'' I said trying to prevent Jaime from trying to continue blaming himself more.
''Do you remember what happened on the seventh day of the first moon of 281?'', I asked the defendant
''.... Ser Arthur dayne named me knight'' said Jaime after thinking a little bit
''Do you remember your vows precisely to the mother and the maiden?'', I said without taking my eyes off the accused.
''To protect the young, innocent and all women'' Jaime answered.
''These vows were prior to those of the royal guard?'', I asked again.
''Yes'' Jaime answered, showing a face of doubt about everything that was going on.
After that answer, the Prussian monarch started to take steps from left to right making his steps echo in the throne room to draw everyone's attention to him
''I do not know why you have pleaded guilty, but my duty as a judge is to seek justice, even if you yourself plead guilty to a crime, the reason you killed the Targaryen king was the imminent danger approaching the city?'', I said with a tone strong enough to be clearly hated by everyone
''Yes.....''' Jaime said.
''Clearly, by breaking his vows as a royal guard, but fulfilling his vows as a knight..... protecting the innocent from the monster that ruled them..... here's the thing..... ser Jaime saved the lives of over four hundred thousand people for the life of a tyrant''I said leaving time to observe the reactions of the attendees.
''Since my men conducted experiments testing the explosive nature of wildfire and with the amount that was hidden in the city, the explosion would have consumed the entire city and even everything around it''I continued speaking keeping my tone of voice
''I can't imagine the size of the internal conflict you must have had within yourself Ser Jaime, deciding between which votes to fulfill.... but to the impossible no one is obligated... you save the city..... but the question now is for us ourselves....''' I said turning to the other two judges
''Should we punish this heroic act only because the laws say so?, leaving as a precedent that we will punish all who seek to protect the innocent.... or else we will reward the act that saved more lives than any of our acts in the rebellion'' I said looking at Lord Stark because Lord Arryn was smiling.
''I as judge my vote is already decided, Jaime, even if he kill the mad king, he is absolved of responsibility because he acted in defense of others and seeking to prevent a greater evil, therefore, Ser Jaime..... thank you for saving the city, thank you for doing the right thing''I said as I continued to look at the stoic face of lord Stark and turn finally to Jaime
After making use of the rhetoric I returned to my seat to observe the result because at least lord Arryn already has a huge justification to vote innocent
"Eddard, what is your verdict," Lord Arryn asked the thoughtful Lord Stark.
Eddard closed his eyes and let out a long sigh.
"Not guilty," said Lord Stark.
''Ser Jaime, the judges have reached a unanimous verdict. .... you are innocent... remove the chains from the man who saved the city'' said Lord Arryn happily.
'And with that, I've kept my part of the bargain.'
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