Witch Hunt: Ordis Justicius (pt.1)

His ears had been ringing for hours, he felt the taste of his own blood, fresh with a hint of iron. It went well with the felling from the cold steel that pressed hard on his skin from the shackles that held down his wrists. "I remember it clear as if it was yesterday, High Prafectius. I remember the fear in her eyes, the tremble in her voice, as I took the shot. I remember how the crimson flow splattered the floor from the wound in her neck." The man rose up too a straight posture, and spat the judge right on the mask. "And I regret -nothing-."
The Prafectius looked down at the man with no emotion in the hollow eyes of his metal face. He took then lifted a black stone from the bowl infront of him, before adding it onto the scales of justice, so that they tipped. "Then death is your judgement."
The court went silent, the only sound following being the wind whistling from a blade, before something hit the floor.
Gunther Bishops opened his eyes. The light stung them painfully, as he looked at the open celldoor. Strange, he could not remember it being opened once this week, or month. He didn't know, nor did he care how long he had been down in this damp shithole.
He slowly rose up to his feet, while grinning from the numbness and pain in his back, gifted from a bed of cold wood. Still, he wanted nothing less than that damnable door to close shut again, or it felt as if the light would blind him. His shadow came though, but instead of being pleasant, something that was even worse than staring into the sun appeared infront of his gray eyes, and it caused his lips to twirl into a frown of disgust.
"Ohh shi', if i' ain' de infamous Gunfher Bishops himself, you look leik feckin' crap, Freak!"
A fat swine of a man, adorned in a sweaty and grayed shirt entered. He bloated a toothless grin and spat on Gunther's bare feet. "Ge' up!" He ordered with no patience as his abnormaly large and hairy hands took a hold of Bishops shoulders, before pulled him up from the ground and tossing him out the door and onto the wet but green grass outside. Atleast the fresh air and smell of rain was a lovely change than the foul air within the cage.
"Ah said ge' up!" The man, now visibly two meter tall, screamed so that his saliva spurted around him, while he aimed in a leatherboot kick towards Gunther's rib region, but he would have none of it.
The kick swept the grass as Gunther swiftly rolled to the side while twisting his feet and legs so he proppeled up onto his footpads, which caused him to grin at the pain in his body, but it didn't stop him from fleetingly dodge the jailkeepers wild right hook, and repay the favour by snapping the bone in his arm with a swift grip and crush using his knee.
"Aargh, you feckin' li'll rat!" The jailkeeper howled out as soldiers gathered around them, but none cared to intervene as the much smaller man danced underneath a wild flurry of arms, and in the flow of a single spinn, he ended up with a hind-kick to the hollow of the keepers knee. The ground almost shook as the man fell tummy-first against the dirt, and suddenly found himself with the tables turned.
Gunther didn't even care to look over his shoulder at the bested man. Instead he smiled with grim demeanour while folding his palms together behind his head, as he obediently followed the guard away from the prison yard, and into a narrow stone hallway that had been dimly lit by torches covering the walls.
Thankfully the walkway looked far longer than it was in the shadows and they soon arrived to the back entrance within the mountain-keep. The soldiers pushed it open and following a horrid creaking in the door, Bishops set his eyes on the massive court.
Carrying atleast a thousand seats of fine mahogny, on rows after rows of marble slabs, lit up by crystaline chandliers and surrounded by round walls painted with immages of knights and priests, the courtroom was indeed impressive. Gunther was lead to the middle of the room. were a wooden platform infront of the judges podium stood awaiting him, along with the Ordis Justicius and their High Prafectius himself. The nine of them were dressed in elegant, gold and red striped robes with hoods, adorned with metal masks to cover up their faces. The High Prafectius even had additional runes on his attire to stand out from the rest.
"Witch-Hunter Gunther Bishops, please be so kind and step up infront of us." A cold and emotionless voice seeped out from one of the many masks and sent a wave of shivers through the backs of the many spectators that filled the room.
Gunther only sighed though, as he stepped up onto the scene where his fate soon would be decided. As he took the step however, he made sure to glance out over the rows of people. Nobility and citizens tied too the victim as far the eye could see glared with wrath and disgust towards him. Then, he set his eyes on the mother of the murdered girl. She was easy to spot, wearing a full black mourning dress, adorned an ebon tiara with onyx inlays. On her left sat a burly man with teary eyes and on her right a small hooded person, whom only revealed a wicked smile on their lips.
He averted his gaze from the crowd as it started to shout and swear at him, as his eyes instead met with the hollow darkness of his judges. He stood there now, waiting, as the hammer fell down, to cause an echo throughout the room. "Silence and order within these halls!" the High Prafectius bellowed out as he seated himself down. He folded his silken gloves together, which almost magically caused the crowd to go silent. "Now, let us hear the words of the accuser."
The woman in black stood up with folded hands, as she looked down, and her braided black hair fell over one of her shoulders. "This, this -sick- dog murdered my daughter, my -only- daughter in cold blood! Then, they have the audacity to accuse her of witchcraft, to cover up their own disgusting acts." The woman's voice trembled and the lines of sorrow on her face made her look ten years older. Bishops couldn't help but feel a bit bad for her, even though her words caused another hatestorm to form from the crowd.
"Sick fucker, cutthroat, murderer!" This were but few curses he could make out, untill the judge's hammer fell again, causing an echo to fight back the angry voices. "Order in court! Now, let us hear the words of the accused. Gunther Bishops, speak your piece, why did you kill this woman?"
He raised his posture, as he stared down the High Prafectius. "I followed the contract in detail, I killed her because such was my duty." He glared at the Ordis Justicius as the words been uttered, silently awaiting judgement.
"You fucking submitter, it's really true what they say, you really have no souls, High Prafectius, in all due respect, just end him already, I'm sick of seeing him still breathe!" The voice came once again from the mother, and caused the judge to slam down his hammer twice.
"Lady Asteria, judgement is not for you to decide, and the man has a right to defend himself!"
"Did my daughter have a chanse to defend herself!?"
"Silence, I'll have none of this. If you keep interupting court, I'll see to it you're removed and we'll judge per evidence only!" The High Prafectius raised his palm to emphasize the last words, which worked as the crowd and the woman went dead silent, but the wrath could still be seen in her emerald eyes.
"Your duty is also to investigate and evaluate a situation. Kills are not taken unless there is clear evidence of wrongly used mysticism. Did you find any trace of such?"
Gunther stood still, he was pale from the time spent in darkness, and his unkempt chestnut hair fell over his parched lips, but he spoke clear without any hint of weakness or fear. "I found no evidence that could have proved her guilty."
The judges went silent for some time, as a leather folder carried it's way towards the High Prafectious through the hands of his Justicius. He opened it and a silent wave of whispers could be heard from the judges, but Gunther could not make out what they said.
"Gunther Bishops, the file here states you tried to hinder the murder, not commit it. Witnesses have stated themselves that they saw you trying to stop the bolt from being fired, and such is why it hit the neck, and not the heart. Is this true?"
Gunther remained silent, as he kept staring at the judges. He didn't even care to blink, even though his eyes were hurting.
"It would be much easier for us, if you cooporated with the truth, Mister Bishops. We have no wishes of judging the innocent, and our evidence does not lie. Again, why did you try to stop the killing?"
"Because I deemed something off with the 'evidence' to take that shot. My brothers in arm's didn't notice my warnings in time, therefor I aimed to stop him from taking a potential innocents life, but I failed."
A low sorl went through the crowd, but died down before the judges could react. "I do not see why I should deem you guilty for murder then, failing too cooporate, and ridicule against the jailkeeper, perhaps. But as I see it, there is no serious crime that -you- are guilty of. The judge picked up three small pebbles, one red, one blue and one orange, and placed them onto the scale. They weighed down just a little.
"Then it has been decided, under the grace of father Ysand and his holy scales. You are judged guilty of unwillingness to cooporate and ridiculing a man of law. I hereby sentence you too five hundered empire coin in fine!"
The High Prafectius struck the hammer thrice, before ending the session. "It has been decided, and I hereby declare court ended." He rose up, and walked away from the podium, as the rest of Ordis Justicius wrote down and noted what had happened. The guard also sprung in motion too escort Bishops out, and calm the angry crowd, that was shrieking for his blood. Gunther could not help too look back at it, somewhat wishing they acctualy got their justice, but then he saw the hooded person again, twisting lips in a silent frown, and he could not help but feel like there was something awfully familiar with them.