literature

Fires of Torment (Ch. 3/4)

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Chapter 3: Witch Trial



“Is the Inquisition ready?” Kira walked behind the Inquisitors’ bench and slammed her fist upon it. “I, Inquisitor Kira, have my case well in hand, milord. It shall not take long at all.”

Barnham stared down at her. “What are you doing?”

She smiled. “You wanted to know what it feels like to be condemned as a witch. Well, I’m going to show you.”

“You appear to be going a bit overboard.”

Silence, accused, unless you wish to be cast into the flames this instant!” She left the bench behind. “Is the defender ready?” She walked to the other side of the room and adopted a meek expression. “I am ready, milord.” She returned to the Inquisitors’ bench and laughed. “It appears even Sir Flower Girl understands the severity of the accused’s situation. Lower thy sword now, and I shall make the end merciful.”

Barnham closed his eyes. This was more surreal than he’d ever imagined. It couldn’t get any weirder.

“Kira! Kira! Kira! Kira!”

Oh yes it could.

He opened his eyes and stared at Kira, who ceased her imitation of the gallery and returned to her spot as Inquisitor.

She cleared her throat. “Allow me to review the case. Mr. Zacharias Barnham stands accused of being an insufferable psychopath who persecuted and murdered uncountable victims for merely possessing the ability to use magic. As Inquisitor, ‘tis my duty to clarify that while some of these victims were guilty of crimes, they were executed in a manner most cruel and terrifying. Others were innocent of all charges and suffered the same fate. There is no room for doubt, milord—this man is guilty and must be put to the flames!”

“Objection!”

“The accused may not object. ‘Tis up to his defender to present what pathetic defense he has.”

Barnham glared at her. She was enjoying this a little too much. He shifted from foot to foot. Was her description truly the way she and the others viewed him? If so, he would much rather discuss it with her on solid ground—but even permission to speak from the cage would be preferable to silence.

“You’ve made some serious accusations,” she said, in her role as the judge. “Do you have any proof to back up these statements, Inquisitor Kira?

“Yes, milord, I do. I have a witness, one of his victims, who will now testify. I call Miss Kira to the stand!

“Objection!”

She was actually objecting to her own statement? He hadn’t expected her to give him a defense at all.

Kira adopted the rather pathetic pose she used for the defender and said, “There is a huge contradiction in what the Inquisitor just said, milord. She claims this witness is one of my client’s victims, and yet he is accused of being a murderer. If no one died, no murder was committed.”

She punched the Inquisitors’ bench. “Objection! While ‘tis true none of these victims died in truth, both the accused and his victims were unaware of this fact at the time. He fully intended to kill them.” She smiled. “But just so the court is satisfied, I will grant him permission to speak in his defense on this one occasion. Mr. Barnham, did you believe the witches you condemned were dead?”

He closed his eyes. “Yes.”

“You believed they burned alive?”

“Yes.”

“On your orders?”

He lunged to the edge of the cage and tried to draw his sword, although there wasn’t enough room. “Kira! You know that’s what I believed. That’s why we’re here! Must you continue this farce just to torment me?”

She smiled. “I rest my case, milord. Let the witness take the stand.”

The cage confined him too much. He wanted to be on the ground again, with open space around him. He’d believed it would be easier for him, as he was not truly on trial . . . but she’d turned it into one. To think about his actions in the privacy of his own mind was painful enough, but to hear someone else say them cemented their truth.

. . . an insufferable psychopath who persecuted and murdered uncountable victims. . .

He shuddered.

Kira took the witness stand and picked up her basket of flowers. “My name is Kira. I sell flowers in the marketplace. I lived such a happy life, yet I was always filled with fear. You see, I was a witch. From the time I was a child, I knew I had to keep it a secret. If anyone ever found out, I would be dragged into court and burned. You can’t know what it’s like, to live with constant fear. It changes you! It turns life into an unending nightmare, because you’re always terrified you might slip up and reveal your secret.”

It shouldn’t have been that way. Barnham took a deep breath to steady himself. According to the Story, all witches were evil, monsters bent on the destruction of the town. They weren’t supposed to be scared girls who just wanted to live like everyone else.

Kira twirled a flower between her fingers. “I tried to stop it. I thought I could end the witch trials and save us all from that fear. I was wrong.” She dropped the flower and lowered her gaze. “They revealed my secret in this very courtroom. As they dragged me to the cage, I begged them to stop. Mr. Barnham showed no sign of regret or compassion. He sent me screaming into the fire.”

“Kira—”

“The accused forfeited his right to speak with his earlier outburst!”

It mattered not. He didn’t know what he would have said, anyway. An apology was not enough. He could do nothing to refute her claims. The only thing he could say in his defense was that he thought he was doing the right thing to protect Labyrinthia.

Kira left the witness stand. “Sir Flower Girl, would you like to begin the cross-examination?” She drooped. “Milord, the defense sees nothing wrong with this testimony. However, there were certain mitigating circumstances that have yet to be brought up. When Mr. Barnham did these things, he was under the influence of a potent hypnosis drug, which led him to believe all witches were evil and that death by burning was their required fate. All Labyrinthians, except for the witches themselves, believed the same thing.”

How much was the Story and how much was him? More importantly, why had he decided to let Kira do this to him? Rather than absolve his guilt, it made him feel worse.

“Objection!” She shook her head. “Poor Sir Flower Girl, how naïve you are. Miss Espella Cantabella was not a witch, and yet she tried on numerous occasions to give her own life to prevent their fates. Ms. Patty Eclaire was not a witch, and yet she remained on Miss Cantabella’s side at all times. Though they were strangers, Sir Blue Knight, Sir Top Hat, and their assistants were all under the influence of the same drug at the time they opposed the witch trials.” She slammed her hand down. “The accused was capable of thinking for himself, yet he persisted in his twisted reasoning.”

He wanted to be away from there, anywhere but in that courtroom, but most of all, he wanted to be in the bakery, where he could make bread and pretend the witch trials never happened.

“Objection! Despite your depiction of him as a heartless man who burned all witches without a second thought, he did not oppose the altered sentence for Miss Jean Greyerl—” She cut herself off mid-sentence. “Objection! ‘Twas a decision made by the judge. Mr. Barnham had no authority to object to it. If the defense wishes to pursue this argument, I shall summon witnesses who were present when Mr. Barnham demanded Miss Greyerl be sent to the flames.”

“Enough,” he said. “You’ve proven your point.”

She ignored him. “Objection! Correct though that may be, Inquisitor Kira, I have witness testimony that says he aided the escape of Miss Espella Cantabella and her accomplices after she was accused of being the Great Witch Bezella. He then dedicated to himself to the pursuit of truth.

“’Tis true! I’ve since realized how mistaken my actions were!”

“Objection!” She smiled up at him and wagged her finger. “Too little, too late.”

He couldn’t hold her gaze for long before he had to look away. If they all viewed him as she did, no wonder the woman fled from him in the bakery. But he never intended that. He wanted to protect Labyrinthia, not be viewed as a monster by some of its citizens.

I’ll leave. I’ll go far away, to a place where neither my actions nor the memories I cause can hurt anyone. Though running would only allow him to escape the city and the frightened stares of the one-time witches. His guilt would run with him and the memories would remain.

“I am ready to announce my verdict.” Kira closed her eyes. “Mr. Zacharias Barnham is found guilty of all the charges made against him. For the persecution he showed the witches of Labyrinthia, and the hideous murders he intended to commit, he shall be cast into the flames. Bailiff!”

As she walked to the lever, he once again braced himself.

She paused. “Noble stoicism? I’m disappointed. I’d hoped to hear you beg me for mercy, so I could withhold it the way you always did.”

“Enough,” he said. “Put an end to this.”

“Oh, I’ll put an end to it, all right.”

Something in her tone unsettled him more than the entire pseudo-trial. “Miss Kira?”

She burst into laughter. “Oh, Inquisitor Barnham, you really aren’t very bright, are you? You know how I feel about you, yet you let me light the fires without a second thought. In fact, you put yourself completely in my power.”

He glanced over the edge of the cage at the fires below. She couldn’t possibly mean what it sounded like. The chamber below the fire pit wasn’t visible, but that was part of its point. Still, ‘twould be much preferable if he could see it.

Kira laughed even harder. “I’d understand, if it was someone else—Espella, perhaps, or Maya Fey. But me? I framed Espella for murder. I intended to kill those two criminals and send her to be burned alive, all to put an end to the witch trials.”

His heart pounded. “The witch trials are over!”

She glared at him, her eyes wild. “Do you really think that matters? Even now, you’ve had only a taste of what you put us through! Do you know what I see whenever I fall asleep? I see this courtroom! You send me to the flames every night. We’ll never be free of those memories, Inquisitor Barnham, never, and it’s all because of you!”

He needed to do something, to fight or flee or anything—but his legs were locked in place. He gripped the edge of the cage. “I’m sorry, Kira. Listen to me. I know I was wrong.”

“I don’t care!” She clutched the lever. “I don’t care that you’re sorry, I don’t care what they’ll do to me—”

He recognized that edge to her shouts. It was the same tone as when she’d screamed that Espella was Bezella. Desperation. His chest constricted and his heartbeat roared in his ears. “Kira!”

“—all I care about is that I can finally rid us of you!” She slammed the lever down.

The cage closed around him, and he tried to force it open. Kira laughed at his attempts. He stared at her laughing face and shouted something, he wasn’t even sure what, and the top of the cage crashed shut.

Darkness. He slammed his hands against the metal. Too small, too close, he had to get out—

Movement. His stomach lurched up as the cage descended.

. . . an insufferable psychopath who persecuted and murdered uncountable victims. . .

Every breath was shallow and quick. It couldn’t be real.

. . . no sign of regret or compassion . . .

That look of satisfaction just before she went to light the fires, the venom in her voice when she spoke about him—her laughter still rang through the courtroom. He clapped his hands over his ears and gasped for breath. He wanted to understand, he didn’t want to die.

We’ll never be free of those memories, Inquisitor Barnham, never, and it’s all because of you!

Any more than the witches had wanted to die.

Lower and lower, hotter and hotter, the darkness and the fire and the guilt—

Zacharias Barnham closed his eyes. Maybe Kira was right.

Maybe this was the only way.
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PrinceofKoopas's avatar
I guess Kira found Sir Apprentice Baker's antics amusing while she was in court.