Shivashakti looked at the the young lad lying on the ground. His attire was similar to that of the looters they had captured.
"Bring that scum," he motioned to one of the Rajdhani guards who pulled one of the looters by his leather vest and presented him before Shiva.

Before Shivashakti could say anything the looter fell on his knees before the unconscious lad.
"What have you done to him," he said in a devastated voice, "Jorah will hunt you all. Haron was like a son to him. He will kill each and everyone of you." Said the looter as he began to sob, " Haron, my leader, what have they done to you." The looter started to sob profusely.

"Well that didn't take much," Shiva said gleefully. "Finish the boy," he ordered another Rajdhani guard.

As the guard approached Haron Veerbhadra spoke out.
"Wait," he said sternly, "only the Council of Justice can sentence a man to death," he looked Shivashakti directly in his eyes. "And as far as I remember, you are not a part of it my lord." Shivashakti looked like he has been slapped.
"Very well, take him to the dungeons, we will present him before the council, then will bring down the axe down on his neck." Shiva said indignantly.

*************************
The news of the looter kidnapping the princess had travelled across Rajdhani. Thousands gathered at the Palace of Justice to witness the trial. The council hall was situated at a hillock opposite to the Castle. The temple was situated between the two. The three hillocks containing the Temple, Palace of Justice and Royal Castle were referred as the Supreme Triangle.

Meanwhile a bewildered Haron woke up in the dark dungeons below the Justice halls. The cell he was kept in, was quite large. It had stoned walls on three sides and steel bars on the fourth. A passage ran in front of the steel bar wall, illuminated by candles which hung along it's two sides.

"Haron, captain, you are awake at  last." It was Cabo, he scurried towards Haron. Cabo was of Haron's age, he was always in awe of the young captain. Unlike the rest of the looters in Jorah's gang Cabo and Toshiba hailed Jorah's decision of making Haron the second in command. Haron was relieved to find Cabo, Grut, Jorda, Sanyo, Brastos and Orlon with him in the cell.

"What happened to Igor, Hunter and Vladimir?" Haron asked feebly.

"Hunter and Vlad were killed by these Rajdhani scums." Brastos replied gruffly. His face distorted in repulsion when he referred to the guards of the administrative center. "Igor managed to escape", he continued "I hope he has conveyed our situation to Jorah".
"What happened to Toshiba and Dante?" Brastos shot back at Haron.

"The Eavaling killed Dante infront of me," Haron replied,"I don't know what happened to Toshiba, I haven't seen him after I rescued those kids."
Brastos snorted,"If I remember correctly, you were to bring spices and pulses. Not babysit." He smirked "And Jorah made you the second in command," he spat out "no doubt his judgment has gone to the goats. You got three probably four of your brothers killed because of your escapade. "
"And probably that lack of compassion was the reason you lost out on the position of captain, the second in command, to a sixteen year old boy." Haron icily replied. "I wonder at times, whether your sister was really raped by those merchants or you sold her to them Brastos."

"You filthy whore lover..." Brastos roared and menacingly scrambled towards Haron, grabbing his throat and chocking him nearly, it took him four men to be pulled back and made to sit.

"If we fight amongst ourselves, we won't be able to fight for the cause Jorah got us together to," Sanyo cautioned.

Sanyo was probably in his late seventies. His white hair was long and tied in a ponytail. His skin had wrinkled around his face and hands. Yet he was like lightning when it came to sword fight. Sanyo was revered by all the gang members including Jorah and Brastos for his wisdom.

Haron lied down, assured that Brastos won't attack him, after Sanyo's warning. He had dozed off when a loud clanging woke him up.
"Get up scums," four dungeon guards were standing outside the steel bar, "your trial is about to begin." Barked one of them.
"What has it come to," complained the second, "Looters getting trial."

*******************

The Council of Justice had representative from each group. The Emperor was the representative of the Brahmins. The commander in Chief was the representative of the Kshatriyas. The Master of Merchants, the man with the most number of export and manufacturing was the representative of Vaishyas. The Sudrapal or the Sudra with the largest farm and largest herd was the representative of Sudras. The four representatives in turn nominated the fifth member who was known as the Honor of Ethar. In any dispute between the members of Council, the decision of the Honor was ultimate.
As the crowd thronged the dome shaped Hall of justice, Commander Jaiveera, Sudrapal Raghuraj sat down to the right of the seat of the Honor. Emperor Vayuvijay and Master Alinoy sat to the left of the Honor. They awaited Honor Acromeda to join them.

The semicircular platform of the Palacial was separated from the general people. It was five feet high marble structure at one end of the Circular hall. A marble crescent table stood on it with four teakwood chair and one marble chair. The marble chair was at the center while two chairs stood on either side of the marble chair. All the chairs faced the public who were filling the seventy feet high gallery. There was a circular space between the Platform and the gallery. A large empty cage stood there. On both side of the cage there were three chairs. Once the hall had filled to its highest capacity the guard behind the platform announced the arrival of the Honor. Everyone including the Council stood up and remained standing as Acromeda entered and took her seat.

She motioned the presenter with her hand to begin the trial.
"The looters Haron, Sanyo, Brastos, Grut, Jorda, Orlon and Cabo be presented." The presenter boomed as the echo carried his voice to every soul present inside the Hall.

Four guards walked into the circular gap at the center with the seven looters, chained together. They lead the seven men into the cage and locked them inside, then each guard stood on each side of the rectangular cage.

"You stand trial against the charges of illegal possession of arms, attack on the Rajdhani soldiers and Castle guards, endangering the lives of common people, theft of goods and kidnapping of the princess of Ethar. Do you plead guilty for the charges?" The booming voice of the presenter asked.

"We only plead guilty of theft of goods." Haron replied calmly "nothing else."
A loud murmur spread across the hall.
"SILENCE" roared the Honor, and the murmur died as abruptly as it erupted.

"In that case, I call upon the alleger to prove his case," the Honor spoke to the crowd seated in the gallery before turning her gaze to the caged men "and by the laws of Ethar you are entitled to defend yourself on your own, or choose a representative. What do you choose?"
Haron looked squarely at her "We choose to defend ourselves on our....."

"I AM THEIR DEFENDER" A man in his late forties spoke from the door behind the Gallery. Once again the loud murmuring erupted as heads turned to the speaker. Jorah was accompanied by Igor and Tamara. His pet eagle Scion perched on his shoulder.

He walked down the stairs along the Gallery and to the caged prisoners.

"Identify yourselves." Acromeda spoke warningly.

"I am Jorah of East Bank, the port polis of Kaivalya, I am the guardian and defender of all these men and lads," he said pointing at his caged gang "and I shall prove that all allegations leveled against them are nothing but frivolous attempts of a purposeless individual."

Unlike the rest of the looters, Jorah wore a white Dhoti, along with a white ankle length cloak with a hood. Even though his parents were Vaishyas, Jorah decided to research cures of diseases before he became a looter. He was a Vaishya by birth but a Brahmin by work.

"I may be purposeless but I ain't delusional like you my looter lover friend." Shivashakti stood up from the first row of the gallery that was reserved for the Ministers and law keepers.

"I am sorry if I have offended you," Jorah spoke with mock respect "but how do you proof your case."

"There were hundreds of people who saw what happened" Shiva retorted back.

"None or your hundred witness can testify that these men here attacked the guards, they merely, shot at the ground, not a single soul was injured by them, but since when has death sentence had been the punishment been for theft."

Jorah looked at the Council of Justice, his eyes filled with anger and pain. "Your guards killed two men without any trial yesterday. Two men who hadn't attacked anyone were shot at the back when they tried to escape from the market. That was murder not punishment."

"They had kidnapped the princess," Shiva roared at Jorah, "Any harm on the royal family deserves death sentence and that is the law."

"How do you know the princess was kidnapped?"

"We caught that Haron trying to run away with the princess."

"I was not running away.. I was protecting her from... " Haron started but stopped when Jorah raised his hand to silence him.

"How many of our men did you murder yesterday Emperor?"

"We didn't murder any of your men. Two of your men were killed while evading the guards, and that to upon warning." Vayu replied unfazed by the allegations.

"But the market alley has four of my men's lifeless bodies. Two of them were retrieved today."

"Result of infighting," Shiva snapped.

"My men may have contempt for each other but they can never kill their gang brother." Jorah turned towards Haron and said "Tell them what happened Haron."

"It was the Eavaling, the child of Eaval. He attacked me Toshiba and Dante while we tried to protect the boy and his toddler sister. A hooded figure with only flesh, no eyes, no skin, no nose, no ears. Toshiba and Dante tried saving the children." Haron could feel a knot in his throat as the last memories of Dante came back.

Shiva erupted with laughter, "Is he delusional too, or is he drinking to much of wine or just trying to hoodwink this Council with such banal story."

Jorah turned to look straight at Shiva "After the trial, the only delusional person for the people here," he waved his had to show the audience gathered at the gallery "will be you royal Advisor." He then turned to face the platform.

"How do you wish to prove your statements Jorah?" The Honor asked skeptically.

"I have witnesses to prove my case," Jorah replied.

"We don't accept witnesses, who speak at knife point or lured by Gulars or in your case Aurs." Sneered Shivashakti. Gulars were the gold currencies while Aurs were silver currencies, lesser valued than Gulars.

"The boy Surya or the princess of Ethar, if I am correct, cannot be bought by Aurs or Gulars."

Another round of loud murmur followed.

"The princess and Surya are children, they cannot be produced as witnesses." Jaiveera interrupted the murmur.

"Children are considered to be the true speakers of truth." Jorah said his eyes twinkling.

"The princess and the boy are both in the House of Health," Jaiveera said impatiently, "if your motive is to delay the sentencing, I am afraid it is futile. So unless you have credible testimony then YOUR men shall be sentenced to the noose for attempting to harm the princess."

"But they are here, Commander." Jorah replied in a tone of fake surprise.

Before anyone could react to the information, the Scion took off from Jorah's shoulder and flew out of the hall. And seconds later returned.  Surya with Ajinkya cradled in Shivani's arms stepped inside the Council of Justice. Veerbhadra and Aboli brought up the rear. Shivani climbed down to the center as Surya and Veerbhadra followed.

"Shivani, what is the meaning of this." Vayu exclaimed, as he stood up from his seat. It was no more a murmur it was nearly a mayhem, as people clambered over each other trying to get a view of the entire scenario. Ajinkya looked scared, while Surya was poised.

"The truth needs to come out Vayu." Shivani replied, as she seated Ajinkya in one of the chairs next to Jorah, and Surya took the last empty chair.
"Will you my lady, and you my young lord, narrate the events of last evening.

As Ajinkya and Surya narrated the incidents of the night, the hall fell silent as if they were in a mourning. Surya left out the part were he used his power of fire to save Haron. Instead he told them Aboli had attacked the Eavaling. Aboli pricked her ears on hearing her name.

"This is absurd." Raghuraj exclaimed after the children had finished. He didn't want to believe the chaos that will ensue in the marketplace if this was true. An Eavaling in the largest marketplace of the Rajdhani. The shopkeepers were going to go berserk after the news escaped. "Surely the children are traumatized after the events of last night." He said trying to find an excuse to discard the narrative. "They were administered sedatives weren't they? I have heard it affects your senses."

"But aren't the Looters version and the children's version identical?" The Honor wondered allowed.

"Maybe the Looter had planted the story in their minds last night, and the sedative just made it real for them," Shivashakti took cue from Raghuraj's theory.

"When did you last administer sedative on them?" He asked Shivani.

"Today morning at five hours past midnight, but it is already noon. The effects......"

"That explains, the effects of sedatives have not yet worn off." Shiva replied triumphantly. "The narratives of these children cannot be taken into account."

A sudden flaps of wings broke through the silence as an eagle flew to Jaiveera. It had a scroll tied to its legs. Jaiveera took it out and read. Colour drained from his face.

"I have reason to believe that the looters are speaking the truth." Jaiveera spoke finally.

"News came from Kaivalya, they had similar incidents," he said passing the scroll to Vayuvijay, "Elixir, the head of Kaivalya, just reported orc like creatures vandalized and massacred a village in Sapphire Shore."
*************