Chapter 34
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Three days passed before anyone came to see either of them. They were fed, their meals slid through old-fashioned and decidedly low-tech slots in the door, but other than that, they spent their entire time alone, sequestered not only from each other, but any other contact.
Separated as they were, Ella and Draikis nevertheless felt each other’s presence. Not in the same cell, obviously, but somewhere within the dungeon, nearby, but not close enough to touch.
Communication was out of the question, the walls being solid stone of absurd thickness. But as the lovers passed their days wondering how the other might be, they shared a common sensation smoldering in their cores, no matter how out of place it might have seemed.
They felt joy.
They also ran the gamut of emotions, from anger to frustration to determination and back again, but the whole time their Infalas each emitted a steady pulse, an energetic bond linking them no matter what obstacles might be in between.
When they were finally visited by Elder Soparo, Totaxxis, and an interrogation recorder, they had both reached a degree of calm neither would have expected. And, to their questioners’ surprise, they each took the blame, protecting one another without hesitation.
Totaxxis was the most frustrated of the team, though Elder Soparo was not particularly thrilled with their statements even as he was still coming to terms with one as trusted as Draikis violating the law like this.
As for the recorder, he simply jotted down all that was said, though the electronic recordings created automatically more than sufficed.
But it was written in the texts that all accused would have their statements inscribed by a recorder, and so they were.
Three more days passed. Days of seclusion only broken up by one additional questioning session each.
Then, at long last, the pair were abruptly taken from their cells, hauled up from the dungeon and out of the building for their first taste of sunlight since their capture.
They didn’t enjoy it for long as they were ushered to the grand hall.
Ella’s heart nearly jumped out of her chest when she saw Draikis. He was striking in his calmness, the burning adoration in his eyes apparent even as they were kept separate while they walked. No words were needed. All was clear in but a look.
The pigment residing on Ella’s chest twinged hard, her nipples tightening almost uncomfortably at his presence despite the situation.
She was pondering what exactly it could mean when they were led into their destination’s side entrance, following a smaller passage until it spit them out into the large hall.
“You. There,” Totaxxis commanded, directing Ella to a seat. “And you, over there,” he added, placing Draikis a distance away from her.
Ella looked all around. It seemed like every last priest was present, sitting in the gallery watching silently.
“What’s going on?”
Totaxxis flashed a menacing grin. “Your trial.”
“Trial? Wait, so I get to defend myself?”
He scoffed. “Later, you may try. But evidence will first be brought against you both.”
Totaxxis walked away, leaving her with her confusion. Confusion, but a glimmer of hope.
Maybe I can explain. Maybe—
“The prisoners will stand!” a booming voice commanded from the central dais, amplified by some invisible alien tech.
Ella and Draikis rose to their feet in silence.
The older man wore ornate robes and had more of the bearing of an inquisitor than a judge.
He seemed to be taking their transgression personally.
Ella figured that as a priest who had sworn the same vow as the others, and had been living them for decades, it kind of made sense.
Totaxxis watched from the side, seated apart from Elder Soparo and a few other senior priests.
He was their head of security, and his position allowed him full view of the chamber without much effort or obvious head turning.
Not that he’d need it. This was a friendly place.
His home. Where they all fell in line and followed the rules. All but one, that is.
“The first attestant will now speak.”
Ella turned to look at the man who rose from his seat and made his way to the front where a simple lectern awaited him.
Attestant? Wait, we have people testifying against us? For what? How? We were alone.
She found out soon enough. Myriad claims were made over the next several hours as dozens of priests, many of whom she didn’t even recognize, stepped forward to voice their recollections of her and her violations.
Ella managed to keep her cool, biting her tongue for most of their testimonies.
But when one man, a greasy-looking priest named Gorvin — with whom she’d had a heated discussion about her being within the Norvalian compound, during which she reminded him she was a rescue and a guest — she could hold her tongue no longer.
“Oh, give me a break!” she blurted when he claimed that while she was never overtly cruel to the men of the brotherhood, he nevertheless believed she wielded some sort of vile female power over them. “You’ve got to be kidding. I never did anything to anybody, and you know it.”
She saw Draikis shake his head, warning her away from her actions, but she couldn’t help herself. Gorvin seized the opportunity, redoubling his accusations.
“I’ve seen what you do to the brothers. We’ve all seen it. You tempt them. You distract them from their vows. These men of honor and faith. Your wicked powers draw their gazes to you. You cannot deny it!”
“Deny it? Oh, please. You’re just pent up from your vows. Truth be told, you seriously need to get laid.”
“How dare you! Norvalians do not—”
“What? Fool around? I thought that was a more recent addition to your rules. And besides, physical stuff aside, what’s so wrong about loving someone?”
Gorvin’s cheeks darkened, his eyes widening with anger. The judge stopped him in his tracks before it could devolve into something worse.
“Thank you, Brother Gorvin.”
“But she—”
“I said thank you,” the judge repeated, his meaning quite clear.
Reluctantly, Gorvin returned to his seat, Ella somehow escaping his wrath, though if looks could kill, he’d have slain her in that moment.
The judge gazed down upon the two defendants, looking between them before resting his attention on Ella.
“You are an intruder here. A disruption to our ways and the tranquility of our home. And you dare speak of sacred things of which you do not understand?”
“I’ve been studying the—”
“Quiet!” He turned to Draikis. “And you. A disappointment of the highest order. You swore a vow. Took an oath. And yet you betray your faith.”
Draikis’s shoulders rolled slightly back, his head held high. “My faith is unshaken. I still uphold and defend the ways of our brotherhood, and I will remain a Norvalian until the day I die.”
“And yet you violate that very statement of faith by cavorting with this female.”
“I do not deny that she and I have been intimate. But it was not an intentional act but rather the organic blossoming of something impossible. Something beautiful. My faith remains, but it is now joined by something just as sacred.”
The judge leaned forward in his seat with a skeptical frown. “And what might that be?”
“Love.”
The assembly gasped, murmurs rising among the crowd.
“Silence!” the judge commanded, the room falling to a hush at once. He turned his attention back to Draikis. “Impossible. Not for one of our order, and certainly not with the blocking runes.”
“But it’s true. I love Ella. I was conflicted at first. Torn. Unsure of my faith. But now I see, the two can coexist.”
“They cannot. Despite what your hormones and faulty logic may lead you to think, the law is the law, and you have no defense.”
“Wait!” Ella blurted.
Heads spun, all eyes on the interloper.
“What if he does?”
“You, an outsider, and a female at that, believe you know our laws better than we do?”
“I’m not saying that. All I’m saying is we’ve got the right to defend ourselves, right?”
“You do,” he reluctantly replied.
“And I can review the laws under which we’re being tried, yes?”
“Yes, you may,” he conceded. “But where are you going with this?”
“I just want to exercise my rights.”
“What do you want?”
“I ask for access to the laws to better review and understand them.”
“That is all you want?”
Ella shrugged. “Well, yeah. I’ve read a bunch of other things about the Norvalians, but I didn’t dive into modern legal practices.”
“You mock our laws?”
“No, I just didn’t think they’d be as relevant. I was trying to learn about your order. I hadn’t gotten around to them, is all.”
The judge stroked his chin, silent a long moment before letting out a frustrated sigh. “It is allowed by law. Very well, you shall have access provided in your cell.”
“Thank you.”
“But that does not halt our proceedings. And with the testimonies I have heard today, it is clear that the threshold for initial punishment has been met. The female is an outsider, and as such she is exempt from this phase. But as for you, Draikis, in two days’ time you face your first punishment.”
“Wait, first punishment?” Ella objected. “But the trial has only just begun. Punishments are at the end.”
The judge and others present laughed. “Oh, outsider. Now it is even more clear you have not studied our laws. Yes, final sentencing comes later, but due to clear violations of this egregious and undeniable nature, admitted openly by the defendant, Draikis must now face his first punishment. He must face the lash.”
Ella felt her stomach drop. “Lash? You’re going to whip him?”
“Yes. Publicly. It is the law. Ever since the old times, this has been the way. So it was then, and so it remains. Take them away. Punishment will be carried out in two days’ time before the next phase of these proceedings.”
Ella met Draikis’s eyes, shocked to find them calm and accepting his fate. A little smile even creased his lips as if to say, “It’s okay. I’ll be fine.”
Dragged to her cell and locked away alone to ponder his fate, Ella truly wondered if he would be.