Chapter 19 Aylin’s trial
“There he is, grab him!” Three men jump onto me as I walk the streets of the Bloodmoon Pack.
“You are being changed with the murder of Alchemist Kaelen. The judge is ready to see you. Do not struggle or your imprisonment will be worse.”
One man places a rag over my mouth, it smells of chloroform and another places silver cuffs around my wrists and ankles.
I don’t struggle, I actually knew this was going to happen, the chloroform seems a little too aggressive, but so does jumping me when they could have just instructed me to follow them to the court house.
I couldn't tell Celest, I knew she would worry, but my case is open and shut.
My eyes shut when the drug takes effect and I am carried away.
The heavy oak doors of the High Magistrate Court groaned shut, cutting off the townspeople from outside.
I stand in the center of the stone courtroom, fully awake now that the drug has worn off, with the silver chains still binding my wrists and ankles.
Across from me sat the Tribunal, where three judges in depressing gray robes stood and a gallery packed with nobles, citizens, and merchants.
High Magistrate Vance struck his wooden gavel. The crack echoed like a lightning strike.
"Alpha Aylin of the Pleiades Pack," Vance began, his voice cold and rhythmic. "You stand accused of premeditated murder. You tracked the alchemist Kaelen to his private laboratory, the Lions Keep. You bypassed his wards. You struck him down in cold blood. Do you deny these acts?"
Aylin lifted his chin. The metal links clanked. "I do not deny killing him. He was a monster."
"He was a licensed alchemist of the Eclipse Pack !" Vance countered, leaning forward. "The law does not permit Alphas to act as executioners, regardless of your personal grief. You claim he murdered your mother, yet you brought no evidence to the guard. You took a life, and the law demands yours."
A murmur ripples through the gallery. I kept my gaze locked on the judge.
"The guard would have found nothing. Kaelen didn't use steel, Magistrate. He used Aconite. He poisoned her, sucking the life from her body and making her veins all over her body turn black. To the healers, there was nothing they could do. We did not possess an antidote.
After returning to my mother I found her dead, so I returned to the Lions keep and I found his journals. I found the ledger of his victims."
"A murderer’s defense is rarely quiet," prosecutor Gerald interrupted, stepping into the light. "But words are not proof. We have reviewed Kaelen’s confiscated estate. The ledger you speak of was encrypted."
"Then you haven't spoken to the Lead Apothecary," a sharp voice cut through the courtroom.
The gallery turned. Master Alchemist Vesper stood at the back of the room, holding a heavy parchment bundle. The guards hesitated, but Vance nodded, allowing him to approach the bench.
"What is the meaning of this, Vesper?" Vance demanded.
"The Alpha is telling the truth," Vesper said, laying the papers before the judges.
"We broke Kaelen’s ciphers this morning. He wasn't just a rogue alchemist. He was the architect of the 'Grave-Weep' sickness that decimated the southern districts three winters ago. He engineered the plague to sell the antidote to the nobility at a premium."
A collective gasp sucked the air from the room. The quiet murmurs turned into a rising wave of shock.
"He kept meticulous records," Vesper continued, his voice shaking with anger.
"The names of every person he infected to test his strains. Aylin's mother was the first successful trial. Kaelen murdered over two hundred people for profit. And the Eclipse pack was about to grant him a seat on their High Council." The courtroom erupted.
"Silence!" Vance roared, hammering his gavel, but the tool was useless against the sudden wall of noise.
In the gallery, a merchant stood up on his bench. "He killed the butcher of the south! He saved the rest of us!"
"He's a hero!" a woman yelled from the front row.
Gerald, the Beta from the Eclipse pack and the prosecutor, looked down at his case files, then slowly closed the leather folder. He turned to the judges and took a step back, signaling the withdrawal of his arguments.
Vance looked at the documents, his face turning pale as he realized how close the city had come to elevating a mass murderer.
He looked down at me. The chains around my wrists and ankles suddenly looked like an insult to the people in the room.
The Magistrate struck the gavel one last time, not to demand order, but to deliver the final word.
"The charges of murder against Alpha Aylin of the Paiedes Pack..." Vance's voice boomed over the crowd, "...are hereby dismissed under the provision of public salvation. The accused did not commit a crime; he extinguished a threat to the realm."
The courtroom didn't just cheer; it shook.
Men threw their hats into the air. Guards stepped forward, not to restrain me, but to unlock my cuffs.
As the silver cuffs hit the stone floor, a dozen hands reached out from the gallery to clap me on the shoulder, pulling me up into the crowd as a protector, rather than a prisoner.
After the courtroom was empty I met with Vesper. “That felt like it was too close, Vesper. I almost thought you weren’t going to come.” I say laughing.
“We almost didn’t Alpha. If you hadn’t sent over the cipher this morning we wouldn’t have made it.”
“All is well Vesper. Thank you again.” I say and walk out of the court room a free man.