章節 110: First Witness
"You traitor! How dare you bite the hand that fed you?!" Lord Edgar yells furiously, taking a few steps towards the elderly knight. Some guards get in his way, grabbing his arms and preventing him from moving forward.
"Lord Yronwood! Shall we chain you hand and foot like a common brigand?" Princess Dorna asked, frowning. Despite her disapproving expression, the princess's eyes shine with joy at the thought.
"Maybe we should," Lord Allyrion laughs with a mischievous glint in his eye.
Edgar ground his teeth and clenched his fists so hard his nails dug into his skin.
"It won't be necessary, princess." He growls through his teeth. "I beg your pardon, my lords and ladies." He makes bows to the judges and returns to his place with the guards following close behind.
Ser Ronnel, who had frozen in place with a terrified expression at Lord Yronwood's outburst, snapped out of his stupor and continued forward until he was in front of the judges. He bowed to them stiffly, still tense and nervous.
"My princess, my lords, my ladies." He muttered quickly.
"Ser Ronnel," Prince Arthur cleared his throat and drew all attention to himself. "Please state your name and title, if you have any."
"Aye, I- I am Ronnel, uhm o- of Yronwood my lord, I have no last name." Ser Ronnel swallows and clears his throat nervously. "I have no title, I am just a knight."
"I see, so you have no blood relationship with any noble house?"
"No my lord. I am the son of a miller."
"And how did the son of a miller end as a knight?" asks Lady Ladybright in a curious tone.
"It was a summer many years ago, when I was a young lad. I was visiting an uncle who lived by the sea. One day while fishing I saw some young noblemen jumping from a cliff into the sea. They were enjoying the good weather, my lady." Ser Ronnel's eyes clouded, remembering the past. "One of them didn't surface after jumping, his friends screamed but they didn't jump into the water to see what happened. I wasn't too far away so I went to see what happened, I jumped into the water and saw him sink under the waves. There was blood in the water, my lady. The boy had the bad luck to hit the rocks, I pulled him out of the water and brought him to shore. The boy was Lord Yon Yronwood, his father made me a squire as a reward for saving his son`s life."
"Since then, you served House Yronwood?"
"Aye, first as a squire, then as a knight."
"In those years you developed a close relationship with your lords? Lord Yon came to see you as a friend and confidant, Am I correct?"
"Aye, we were close." Ser Ronnel has a bitter smile on his face. "Although sometimes I wish we weren't."
"Why is that?"
"I- I did many things for lord Yon. Many bad things, my lord." The elderly knight's face twists with regret and disgust, every word seems stuck in his throat and it costs him a lot to pronounce them.
Doran straightens, alert, and looks at the knight in alarm.
`He can't be fighting the compulsion, can he?` Everything that ser Ronnel is saying they had rehearsed previously, in rehearsals the knight was more eloquent and fluent, now he almost seems to fight with his words.
Doran bites his lip and takes a deep breath.
`I will monitor him closely.` Concentrating on his magic he moves his fingers in a pattern and his eyes blur and acquire a golden tint. The prince's perspective changed and now he was looking at the room as if he were Ser Ronnel, using a spell that is a mix of possession and legilimency Doran is now a passenger in Ser Ronnel's mind. He will know what the knight is going to say before he says it and will prevent him from saying anything that would sabotage their plans. The downside of this spell is that his body is left unprotected, as he cannot operate it properly while his consciousness monitors the knight, the only actions he can do is stand up. Luckily no one is paying attention to him, so no one noticed that Prince Doran is but a statue right now.
"Bad things? Care to elaborate?" Prince Arthur raised an eyebrow.
"I betrayed my kingdom, the princess and the king." Ser Ronnel regretfully confesses. "Lord Yon was a traitor and so was I for following him."
The crowd mutters to each other, there are shouts of "Traitor!" and "False knight!". There are those who support Ser Ronnel for confessing, and those who condemn him for his complicity in the crime. The most vocal reaction is not that of any member of the crowd but that of the defendant.
"Lie!" exclaimed Lord Edgar, that was more than he could bear. "My father was a good and righteous man! He gave you a home, a family! How dare you sully his name? You mutt!" Lord Yronwood's face is red and twisted with anger.
"Lord Yronwood!" The princess scolds him. "This is the second time you have threatened the witness! If there is a third time I will make sure you are gagged."
"And not the good type, I am sure." Whispers Lord Allyrion to his fellow judges, Lady Wyl coughs to hide her laughter and Lord Gargalen nearly choked. The princess sends Lord Cedric a sharp look but the amused twinkle in her eyes betrays her.
Lord Edgar growls under his breath and bites his lip to keep from saying anything else.
Arthur hits his cane against the floor and silence returns to the room, this time he doesn't even bother to look at the crowd, Ser Ronnel has all his attention.
"You say that Lord Yon Yronwood was a traitor, why is that?"
Ser Ronnel takes a shaky breath and struggles with his words.
"H- He conspired with Lor- with Aegor Rivers to overthrow House Targaryen."
"How can you be sure of these statements? Did you witness some treasonous act, something that would make Lord Yon Yronwood a traitor to the crown and Dorne?" Prince Arthur gives a significant glance to the knight and then the judges.
"I was there, my lord. I was present at many of the meetings between Aegor Rivers and Lord Yon."
"These meetings, do you remember the dates and places?"
Ser Ronnel gives a list of dates.
"So the last meeting was the year Aegor -Bittersteel- Rivers died? Years after the last Blackfyre war." Says prince Arthur in a flat tone.
"Aye."
Arthur falls silent and lets everyone absorb that information. That House Yronwood has fought for the black dragons in various wars is no secret, it is information that everyone in this room and the rest of the continent knows well. The fact that House Yronwood continued to conspire with House Blackfyre years after the end of the war is a well-kept secret - it was a well-kept secret. Now everyone knows, from the mouth of a man who used to serve the late head of house Yronwood.
Arthur looks at the judges for a moment before turning his attention back to the witness.
"You confessed to committing many crimes in the name and by order of your superiors. Can you elaborate on that?"
"I ran a lot of errands for them, sending documents, escorting relevant people and- and" Ser Ronnel swallowed hard. "M- m- murder. I murdered many folks for them." His voice is barely a whisper but he is heard by everyone in the room.
The silence in the room is broken again, this time Prince Arthur lets the crowd riot for a few minutes. It is Lord Dayne who got up from his chair and demanded silence in the room, it cost the old Lord Dayne several tries to calm the crowd.
"Murder you say, who did you kill?" Jason Dayne looks at the witness with contempt, his tone is harsh and accusative.
The princess interrupts him.
"We are not here to judge Ser Ronnel's crimes, that can wait." The princess makes it clear with a look that Ser Ronnel will not be spared his punishment, his crimes will be neither forgotten nor forgiven. "We are here to judge house Yronwood, the crimes of a major house take precedence over the crimes of a mere knight."
"It must not be forgotten that this knight committed these crimes in the name of House Yronwood, my princess. Listening to them might give us more clarity as to the depth of House Yronwood's crimes." Prince Arthur intervenes and looks at the princess waiting for an answer, she thinks about his words for a moment before nodding.
"I see the wisdom in your words, proceed." She gracefully tilts her head towards her husband and waves her hand at him.
From the subconscious of Ser Ronnel Doran snorts in amusement, his grandparents are putting on quite an act.
`As if the words they are saying are not scripted.`
"Well, what are you waiting for, ser Ronnel?" Jason Dayne looked impatiently at the knight.
He stammered for a bit before straightening up and giving a list of people his superiors ordered him to kill. The list is long, he did not kill many of those people directly but resorted to third parties. By the time he got to the bottom of the list, he mentioned the "bandits" who had terrorized the lands of House Yronwood for the past year.
"So you're saying those `bandits` are men you hired on Yon Yronwood's orders to terrorize his own lands? To give him an excuse to increase his forces?!" Jason Dayne jumped out of his chair, his face flushing red with anger.
The other judges aren't much better.
"He sacrificed hundreds of smallfolk, innocent men and women-" Even the carefree Lord Allyrion is smoking with anger.
"Just-" Lord Gargalen is speechless, he can barely utter a word.
"Bastard!" snarls Lady Wyl angrily.
"Bastard is pretty weak, my lady. Yon Yronwood was a fiend from the Seven Hells." murmurs Lady Ladybright.
Lord Manwoody shakes his head in disbelief.
The crowd wasn't much better, the guards had to restrain more than one.
"My niece was raped by those monsters!" Shouts a woman trying to lunge at Lady Yronwood, who backs away from her in fear.She and her children are quickly surrounded by Martell guards who keep the crowd at bay.
"They are slander!" shouts Lady Yronwood. "Tell them Edgar, tell them!" She looked desperately at her husband while hugging her children tight.
Edgar Yronwood is as pale as milk, and beads of sweat dot his forehead. Several guards are surrounding him, protecting him from the crowd that seems ready to tear him apart. He does not dare to look at his wife, his mind is focused on the events of the last few hours, on how he can counter the testimony of a man who knows all the dirty laundry of his house, a man who knows things that he doesn't even know. Ser Ronnel was his father`s best friend and confidante for more years he has been alive.
The Princess of Dorne rises from her throne and looks at the crowd with irritation. As if by magic, their screams disappear and everyone remains silent, they look at her nervously.
"Prince Arthur, do you have more questions for the witness?" she asks her husband.
"No, my princess." Prince Arthur responds and bows his head respectfully.
"Good, I have one." She turns to Ser Ronnel and looks at him with her golden eyes, eyes that shine like the sun and burn like fire. "What did Bittersteel promise House Yronwood for their loyalty?"
Ser Ronnel looks mortified and very distressed at the princess's gaze.
He stutters something that is unintelligible.
"Can you repeat that?" Princess Dorna raises an eyebrow.
"D-Dorne." Ser Ronnel swallows hard. "Aegor Rivers promised House Yronwood Dorne, my princess." The knight drops to the ground and kneels in front of the princess, as if awaiting punishment for pronouncing those words.
The room suddendly became deathly cold.
Before anyone can say anything, the princess raises a hand, freezing more than one with their mouth half open and words on the tip of their tongue.
Princess Dorna looks livid, she scans the crowd and then looks at Lord Edgar, her eyes burning him like the sun of the desert.
"Is late, we shall take a break to eat and freshen up. The trial will continue in the afternoon."
***
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