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[Isk]

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The court room was adequately filled as Isk sat with Wicked Rose and Porthos at the judge’s desk. The trial had been sparsely advertised and only those who heard the word of mouth made it to catch a glimpse of the alleged butcher of Skara. While everyone payed all-out attention to the words of Mal the prosecutor and Hugh the defendant Isk found himself retreating into his own mind. The past week had been an extremely difficult one for him, not only had the Magnate begun to doubt his virtues but the loss of a child at birth had sparked off something only hinted at before, a sort of madness.

Running his hands through his hair Isk managed to catch a few exchanges between Mal and the mayor of Skara Brae before he zoned out again. His mind was like mental fudge, a terrible thing for a man that was supposed to weight the evidence. Running his hand through his mane of white hair he glanced at Mal and Hugh in turn. While Mal showed vigour and enthusiasm, Hugh was more controlled, alert even when drunk.

“What’s this?” the Magnate whispered to himself as he came across a dark grey hair. Separating it from the others he did not think of how withdrawn he looked from the rest of the proceedings. Frozen for a time he held the hair with his eyes turned up to see it before plucking it from his head. As he held the dark hair between two gloved fingers only a nudge from Wicked Rose forced his mind back on the trial but now the mayor was off the stand and William on it. The black robed Magnate began to pay attention as William began to present himself as a nut. The crazy conqueror claimed himself to be an agent of a god who wanted cities to rule. The idea though absurd was strangely fascinating to Isk. Never before had he witnessed someone brazen enough to declare himself an agent of the divine. William’s one sentence answers were as simple as they were bizarre. “The Lord told me to” or “The Lord did it” Now actually interested in the trial itself Isk reached into the notes the prosecutor had given him and flipped though William’s various speeches looking for some sort of consistency. Was William putting on an act?

The mention of a Lord of Light did appear at various times in the speeches as Isk soon realized. Resting his elbows on the table Isk asked to himself “Is religion a madness? Just because William claims to carry out the will of some god does that make him insane?” It was a question Isk could not answer. Trying to reason it over in his mind Isk completely blocked out all noises. As the trial progressed in the background the Magnate’s attention rested on answering the questions he posed himself.

Trapped in his thoughts only to snap back into reality near the end of the trial Isk realized that he had missed a bulk of the prosecution’s case. Hugh was now standing and declaring that the defence rested as well. Strange. Two hours had gone into the case and now it was almost over. As Wicked Rose opened her mouth to call the case to a close Isk dashed out of his bench to ask a final question. As William returned to the witness chair the Magnate leaned against the short wall which divided the Yew court into two and placed his eyes on William’s seemingly detached complexion. “Do you know the difference between right and wrong?” Isk asked, when William answered “The Lord does” the Magnate turned judge let out a shout and asked the question again. This time William answered “no”

Narrowing his eyes and glancing at William as the accused made his way to Hugh’s side Isk approached Porthos and Wicked to whisper to them. Both had nodded and it was agreed that the verdict would be read at the upcoming Regency meeting set for the thirtieth of May.