[RPG] [FEI] Part 2: Trial of Fredrick Stormreaver and Sarig TithOnanka

[Samuel Knowlton]

"Doesn't sound like a bad guy," Dodd said amicably.

Galiard harrumphed. "Perhaps. He is on his way here to speak to the Court in 
person. I spoke with Lord Von Krondor about him very briefly -- Milan felt 
that one a traitor, always a traitor, but that's the issue of it. The 
history is so murky, the details so scarce, that I cannot determine whether 
or not this was a real act of treason or simply a political maneuver in 
which Fredrick and Sarig ultimately ended up on the losing side. Treason 
typically requires some personal motive or gain, or at least a desire to 
harm the state. These things might have been proven, but there was never any 
trial -- they were simply ejected from the realm after the original founder 
of Lasanar, one Ser Daran Hawk, was returned to power."

"Daran Hawk?" Dodd arched an eyebrow. "'ods, m'lud, idn't there a statue of 
him out in Ossaet somewhere?"

Galiard stared blankly. "I thought that was your mother."

"An' you fink I'm not educated, m'lud the art critic."

"Right," Galiard hem-hem'd, "The Hawk family, as best I can tell, was one of 
the greatest houses of the whole land back in the day, though this is of 
course many years ago. I don't know what ultimately happened to him, but 
that's a case for another day; at any rate, Daran, or perhaps the Grand 
Justiciar at the time, banned both Sarig and Fredrick. Fredrick's crime may 
have simply been ignorance, or just ending up in the wrong place at the 
wrong time, but even Sarig never had a proper trial, as best I can tell."

"So what happens now?" Dodd frowned. "We haven't heard anything from Sarig, 
and I doubt the High Marshal of Nighthelm is too terribly concerned with 
what the Courts of Lasanar fink of 'em."

"That may be," agreed Galiard. "But the fates of the two men are tied. One 
served the other; so it seems to me that we must determine, if only for our 
own posterity, two things: first, whether Ser Sarig is truily guilty of 
treason, and secondly, if he is, of whether or not Ser Fredrick deserves to 
share his punishment. This affair was not as black-and-white as Menelmereth 
and Colasan."

"You can't exactly hang them now, though, if they're guilty," observed Dodd.

"Nor would I," Galiard dismissed the idea with a grunt. "They have already 
been sentenced to exile. The question at hand is whether that sentence 
should stand or be repealed, for one or both of them. Gather the 
magistrates, the High Justices, and the archivists; I want everything we 
have on both of them before Fredrick arrives. Dispatch a messenger to Sarig 
of Nighthelm that the Grand Justiciar humbly requests an accounting of his 
rebellion in Lasanar; send also messengers to Lord William Equar, if he can 
be found, and Lord Von Krondor, and anyone else we know of who was present 
at the time. Solicit their testimony. We shall, if nothing else, determine 
what really happened, and what manner of people we are today in what we do 
about it."

Dodd rose. Galiard stood with him.

"Convene the High Court of Lasanar, Ser Dodd."

Dodd nodded curtly. "Will you be wanting your wig, m'lud?"

"I hate that bloody wig," scowled Galiard, throwing a paperweight at his 
lieutenant.