[stylist] Trials of an honorary Dragon chapter 26 (New chapter)

[helene ryles]

Chapter 26
Beria Slyrake's trial by Liza Bronze
28/1/1998

The court room smelt strongly of wood polish, just as it had done the
last time I went to court.   I had to keep my eyes squeezed shut
because the light hurt so much.  At least my cochlear implant was
working today, so I did not have to rely on Tadoma to get by.
Katrina’s lavender scent was also a great improvement on the smell of
Beria's cheap perfume.  Katrina had come to offer her services, both
as a tactile interpreter and a body guard.  Both services were needed.
Today my half sister Madrella was absent.  She was meant to come.
P.C. Rickshaw had summoned her there on the pretext of defending
Beria, but Madrella had simply failed to turn up.
There were other differences too.  Mingled with the wood polish smell
was an overpowering scent of dragons.   Katrina told me that Talmon
and the rest of the Bronze clan were present, along with Julius Darth,
and the Dragon Judge.  Most of the dragons sat crowded together, in
the upper gallery, their presence made the room unbearably hot.
The case started with the complaints against Beria.  How she
secretively took the legs from criminals in her charge; how she
covered up for criminally minded family members; how she had beaten me
up; her slanderous lies against Talmon; and the other Bronze dragons;
and the numerous other ways in which Beria had abused her power as a
police officer.
The crimes Madrella committed which Beria had covered up were so
serious that the judge issued a warrant for her immediate arrest.  She
was going to have a separate trial.  The judge placed Nadia in the
hands of the Parvesh witches, as soon as her term at NIRC was over.
At that point in the trial P.C. Rickshaw and several other police
officers begged to be excused so they could go and arrest Madrella.
They felt it necessary to act swiftly, before Madrella got to hear
about the trial outcome and fled the country.
“Traitor,” Beria had screamed.
I heard a crash.
“That was one of the police officers collapsing.  She fell not too far
from where we were sitting but not close enough to be protected by my
shielding charm.  I think the curse was meant for P.C Rickshaw but
Fiona‘s protecting her.  At least Beria has been netted now.
“Netted?”
“It’s a giant net made from magnetic fibres, which effectively blocks
a witch’s power.  They should have used it with Beria to begin with,
but the protesting police officers weren‘t taken seriously enough,”
Katrina explained.
After that Drama was over, they went on to discuss my father, and how
I'd been sold at birth.
An image of Julius, giving me to Talmon Bronze flashed through my
mind.    Talmon travelling to various dragons to seek their advice on
what was to be done with me, and then Talmon was soaring through the
sky towards Nassoli on the way to drop me off at my Nanny.  I saw 8
summers pass by, then Beria bringing me back to Talmon.
Talmon's images were interrupted at that point by the images projected
by the judge, which started with the Image of a baby bird, falling out
of nest. Next was an image of the baby bird being put back in the
nest?  Then there was an equation sign between me and the baby bird,
followed by a question mark.
I saw no further images from Talmon.
"Shania Krum and I would like to know the answer to that too, but
Talmon isn't saying anything.  He is just sitting there, in a crouched
position and he looks really dejected," Katrina explained.
Next the judge portrayed an image of my encounter with Julius Bronze.
Through a series of images he asked Talmon and the other Bronze
dragons why they hadn't stopped me from going over to Julius Darth.
Surely a female dragon would have been able to distract Julius just as
well as me, and they would have been far more capable of defending
themselves against him.
No comments were made by any of the Bronze dragons.  There was just
more of the same remorse that I sensed from Talmon.
After that I heard Beria's voice. She sounded really angry.  I prodded
Katrina, as she seemed reluctant to interpret what was being said.
"Oh Beria is just mouthing off,” Katrina explained, “You really don't
want to know what she's saying.   Beside I really needed a break now.
I had to divide my energy into intensify my shielding charm and
interpreting for you and I‘m feeling quite tired now.  It’s as well I
did put up my most powerful shielding charm since a couple of curses
bounced off it soon after we arrived.”
Meanwhile a whole series of images flashed backwards and forwards from
the judge and Julius Darth.  The images flashed by so quickly that I
was unable to process any of them.  There were a lot of unfamiliar
symbols used as well.  I've never really understood Dramic when
communicated from Dragon to Dragon, but then no human is really meant
to. I felt the temperature rise, the wooden floorboards, began to
vibrate and the air swirled round as the dragons flapped their wings
in agitation.
The judge was not at all impressed by Julius's conduct or the conduct
of any of the other dragons either.  Through a series of images, he
told them that dragons and humans were meant to live together in
harmony.  Dragons had no business eating human legs when it was not a
necessary part of their diet.  He felt it was particularly inexcusable
to expect their human servant to get their legs for them and
particularly not by underhand methods in the way Beria had been doing.
Neither should dragons exploit their humans in other ways.  He felt
interspecies mating between man and dragon was also very wrong.
The judge then sent me an image of me and Talmon together followed by
a question mark.
“Yes of course I want to be with Talmon,” I replied.    I found that a
really odd question to ask.  I was further perplexed by the surprise
that the dragon felt, and the way in which he kept asking me simple
questions to make sure I was sane.
"I want to be with Talmon and Vinny. I also want to see Nadia my
niece," I shouted.
I visualised a visit with a healthy well fed Nadia.  Somehow I doubted
she would be well fed at that place. I would have to bring a lot of
food with me when I paid her a visit.
Next the judge sentenced Beria to a mental hospital for the criminally
insane.  Julius Darth was ordered to do without another human servant
and to stop eating human legs.
Julius took that very badly.  I visualised him and his father,
Excellus Darth, who was the present of Darthrila. They were being all
matey together.  I next visualized Excellus removing the judges wig
and throwing him out of court.   I visualised the judge eating salad
with the words ‘your choice’, and Julius eating a human leg. This was
followed by the words ‘my choice’.  Lastly Julius sent us all an image
of a human and a pig with an equation symbol between them.
I felt the door slam.  That was Julius leaving court.
After that it was all over.

As Katrina guided me out of the court room,   I felt footsteps behind
me.  Someone tapped me on the shoulders.  I saw Katrina and another
blurry shape talking but I had no idea what was said.   I had turned
my cochlear implant off due to the noise of so many people talking as
they left the court.  Neither could I see well enough to lip read any
more.
"It's P.C.  Rickshaw," Katrina signed, "I'm afraid Madrella is still
at large.  They tried to arrest her, but she wasn't at home.  She
seems to have packed up all her belongings and left.  Nobody knows
where to find her now.
“P.C. Rickshaw also comes with bad news about Nadia.  P.C. Rickshaw
went to visit Nadia, but she found her in a very shocking condition.
She has had to be taken to the local hospital."