[stylist] Trials of an honorary Dragon. Chapter 10. (was 'A deafblind girl').

[helene ryles]

Chapter 10:
Going to Court by Liza Bronze.
23/2/1995

The court case went very badly.  I had to sit for hours on a hard
wooden bench in a court room, that smelt strongly of wood polish and
Beria‘s cheap perfume.  Beria was sitting next to me in stony silence.
  The lighting was terrible, with bright sunlight streaming from the
window.  It meant I could not see anything at all.  I would just have
to depend on my cochlear implant to let me know what went on.
“Beep Beep,” went my cochlear implant. The batteries were running
flat.  I put my hand inside my pocket, to pull out my spare batteries.
To my horror I could feel some loose change, and several bits of
paper, but no batteries at all.  I knew I had slipped some spare
batteries in my jacket pocket, but then I remembered changing that
jacket.  I wasn’t sure the jacket I’d originally selected would make a
favourable enough impression.  Time was running short by then.  I
completely forgot to transfer my cochlear implant batteries to my
other pocket.
I tried turning the hearing aid in my non-implanted ear right up, but
I have very little hearing in that ear now.  I could hear people
talking around me but I had no idea what they said.
Although I was unable to understand much in the way of speech, the
banging of the Gavel was painfully loud for me with my hearing aid
volume turned up to the max.
I sighed deeply.  I would just have to swallow my pride and tell Beria
what had happened.   After all, it was what she was supposed to be
there for.  I suspected she only offered to help so she would have
something to gossip about later on.  I was sure she would repeat my
failure to bring extra batteries to all our colleagues at the police
station.  The idea was quite unbearable, but Nadia’s case was more
important.
“Beria, my cochlear implant batteries have run out.”
Beria put her finger to my lips.  Then she put my hand over her mouth
in order to do the Tadoma method of communication.  I felt
uncomfortable having to put my hand over Beria’s mouth like that.   I
had a terrible time trying to understand what was going on.
Consequently this account has been patched together from what little I
did decipher, along with a lot which was explained to me after the
court case was over, by various people.
First Madrella said her piece.  Alas Madrella is a very good actress.
  She managed to play the part of the misunderstood and concerned
parent well.  She accused me of kidnapping Nadia just because I didn't
approve of her method of education.  Well I don't, but that was
entirely beside the point.  If the oral only system was the only abuse
that Nadia was getting, I would have butted out and minded my own
business.   Madrella even managed to shed a few tears on Zakia's
behalf.
My father came next.  He told the court what a 'help' Madrella had
been to him whilst we were growing up.  How she would never have
dreamed of harming anybody…  All lies.
Then a man who I had never met before told the court how 'caring' and
'concerned' Madrella was when dealing with her children.  It wasn't
Nadia’s father anyway.
Nadia’s father was the first witness to testify against Madrella. I’m
told he put his head in his hands and wept through the entire court
case.  In fact he was blubbering so freely that nobody could
understand what he said.  Something about all this being the wrath of
god, I think.  The judge must have written him off as a fruitcake.
“Traitor!” hissed Beria as the next witness came forward.   She pulled
my hand away from my lips.
“Who is it?” I asked wondering which of the numerous witnesses I had
selected to testify against Madrella had come forward first.  I felt
indignant at Beria for pulling away my hand at such a crucial moment,
so I put my hand back on her lips. I could feel her muttering some
strange words.
“Oh dear, P.C. Rickshaw has just fainted, she was the last of your
witnesses too,” Beria commented.  She seemed to be gloating.
“But that can’t be right! I got a number of witnesses together.  Where
are they?” I asked in utter dismay.
“How should I know, now be quiet.  They have just finished carrying
out your colleague and the court will proceed once more.”
It seemed that all the other witnesses that I had put together
simultaneously suffered from mysterious ailments, which prevented them
from coming to court.  I suspected magical interference from Madrella.
 It wasn’t natural for all the witnesses to fall sick at the same time
in this peculiar way.
I really needed a powerful witch on my side to counteract all the
spells that Madrella was using. If only Katrina Parvesh had bothered
to show up.  I had not heard from Katrina at all.  She had never come
to act as Nadia’s bodyguard. Maybe she heard that Nadia had been
kidnapped?  Even so, her help in this matter would have been
invaluable.
Beria‘s was not on my side.  I had assumed up until now that she had
just allowed Madrella to deceive her, but now it seemed as though
something far more sinister was going on.  Surely that couldn’t be
right?
As for P.C. Rickshaw, It quite astonished me that she was taking my
part.  She had even announced to Beria that she would be going to
court to take Madrella’s part.  Once in court she must have switched
sides.
No sooner had she made her way to the witness box, than she had
clutched at her throat, and collapsed to the ground in a faint.  She’d
been holding Madrella’s file but all the pages had become completely
blank.


Beria didn’t have to interpret for the judge, who communicated to me
via Dramic.
I was sent images of me as a bitter, vengeful human.  I visualised
Nadia as a well cared for child in the arms of Madrella.  Next I saw
an image of me sleeping with some bloke; me pregnant;    an image of
me with a child; and finally Nadia being properly cared for by
Madrella.
He refused to take my accusations of child abuse seriously at all, and
was suggesting I got a bloke so I could produce children of my own.
I blinked.  How could this dragon judge misunderstand everything in
this dreadful way?  I had always thought so highly of the Dragons,
assuming them all to be like Talmon and the other Bronze dragons.  I
had heard about Julius Darth and his taste for human legs, but that
was only one rogue dragon.  All the rest were good.
Just when I thought things could not get any worse, I was accused of
abusing my power as a police officer, by collecting Nadia from NIRC
while wearing someone else’s police uniform.

I had gone to collect Nadia a few weeks before the end of term.
The day before, P.C. Rickshaw had informed me that Madrella would be
allowed to take Nadia home for the new years break and there would be
nothing I could do about it.  She’d turned and left after that.  As
usual, P.C. Rickshaw spoke in condescending tones that really grated
on my nerves.  P.C. Rickshaw and I had never got along together
despite the fact that we were the only two deaf police officers in the
station. I disliked her audist views, and envied the fact that she was
a junior police officer whereas I was only an assistant dog handler.
When I picked up my rucksack, at the end of the day I felt it had
become a lot heavier. As I made my way to Stilosarka railway station I
wondered what was causing the extra weight.
While waiting at the station, I briefly felt inside my bag.  My hand
touched a neatly folded police uniform and some papers that definitely
hadn’t been there before.  After that I had to wait for the train back
to Druzil to arrive.
During the journey home, I took the papers out to find a letter
inviting me to visit Nadia in NIRC with a permit to enter NIRC the
following day.   There was a map, showing me how to get there too.
The jacket had upgraded stripes, and a new police identity card tucked
inside the pocket.   This marked me out as a junior police officer,
when I was actually just worked at the kennels to help train the
police dogs.  I wondered which of my colleagues had gone to the
trouble to help me rescue Nadia.  They must know Madrella was
mistreating Nadia and wanted to do something, without falling out of
favour with Beria who was their boss.
The next day had all gone according to plan, right until the time that
Nadia and I had arrived at Druzil railway station.
The only consolation was that, as a result of the upcoming trial,
Madrella would not be allowed to take Nadia over the new years break.
I had been hoping the judge would ban Madrella from seeing Nadia
altogether, but now our case wasn’t looking good at all.
The fact that no one at the hospital had actually seen Zakia’s remains
didn’t help our case either.  No post mortems were ever performed on
Zakia.   When she died halfway through the journey Mr Murat took her
body to my father’s place until a funeral could be arranged.  So it
was just Mr Murat’s word against Madrella’s.

The banging of the gavel at the end of the case rattled my already
strained nerves.  That was followed immediately after by Madrella
getting away with her abusive behaviour.  She had full access to
Nadia.  Access that I was being denied.  To add insult to injustice I
was then given six months in which to find myself a bloke.  If I
hadn’t found one by then, Beria had been instructed to find one for
me.
I lost my temper completely after that.     It didn't help my case.  I
even swore at the Judge.   In the end Beria had to cast a muting spell
on me in order to shut me up.

               ***     ***    ***


“23/8/1994
Dear Liza,
I’m sorry I’ve had to pull out on you like that, but I can‘t possibly
act as Nadia‘s bodyguard at present, as I‘m urgently needed up north.
I would have sent a replacement but due to unfortunate family problems
there is nobody else available.
I spoke to your aunt Beria who promises to keep an eye on things.
I hope you understand,
All the best from Katrina M. Parvesh.”

I angrily screwed up the letter and threw it against the wall.
So she said she was sorry to pull out on me, did she!  “Pulling out,”
was putting it mildly. I felt as if she had just yanked the rug right
from under my feet.
So that explained why there had been no sign of her at court.  There
had just that cursing letter which Beria should have given me last
summer.  Beria had only given me the letter that day, as I was leaving
the court room.
The letter came as a final betrayal after a very bad day.