by Chris Colfer
At dawn, the ear-piercing cathedral bells didn’t even make Brystal flinch. It was now the morning after the worst night of her life, but she had no concept of time. Her mind was completely blank, her body was completely still, and as far as she was concerned, the world had stopped spinning.
Her cell door swung open and a prison guard stepped inside, but his arrival didn’t break her petrified trance.
“Your Defense Deputy Justice has arrived,” the guard said.
After hearing this, Brystal was finally able to make sense of where she was and what had happened. She, Brystal Evergreen, had been imprisoned for a crime. She was sitting in the prison deep below the Chariot Hills Courthouse, and the Deputy Justice assigned to defend her had come to speak with her about the pending trial.
The guard stepped aside and a tall young man in a black hat and a gray-and-black-checkered robe entered the cell. When Brystal gazed up at the Deputy Justice, she thought her mind was playing tricks on her.
“Brooks?” she said.
Her eldest brother froze after taking his first step into the prison cell. His eyes went wide and his face grew pale at the sight of his sister in chains.
“Brystal?” he gasped.
The Evergreen siblings stared at each other for a full minute without saying a single word. It was the only time in Brystal’s life that she had been genuinely pleased to see her brother, but the pleasure quickly faded as she realized why he was there: Brooks was going to defend her in court!
“Brooks, I—I—” Brystal tried to break the silence, but she was at a loss for words.
“Do you two know each other?” the guard asked suspiciously.
As Brooks stared at his sister, the disbelief in his eyes changed into a very serious and urgent expression. He raised his index finger to his mouth, imploring her to be quiet. Brystal didn’t understand why the silence was necessary, but she obliged.
“We’re acquainted,” Brooks told the guard behind him. “She’s just one of the many schoolgirls who admire me. But who can blame her?”
Her brother’s charade was confusing—she knew it was perfectly legal for Deputy Justices to defend family members on trial—so why was he pretending they weren’t related? Brooks opened his briefcase and retrieved a quill and a piece of parchment. He scribbled a quick note on the paper, folded it, and handed it to the guard.
“I need you to deliver this message to Justice Evergreen’s office on the fourth floor,” Brooks instructed. “I was just reminded of something involving another case that needs to be addressed immediately.”
“Sir, I can’t leave you alone with the prisoner,” the guard replied.
“Don’t insult me—this girl is hardly a physical threat. The note, however, regards a very serious and timely matter. Justice Evergreen will want this message right away, and if your reluctance jeopardizes his case, I’ll make sure he knows you caused the delay.”
Obviously, the guard didn’t appreciate being ordered around. He glared at Brooks and then begrudgingly headed to the fourth floor with the note in hand, slamming the cell door behind him. Brooks turned to Brystal and the disbelief returned to his face.
“My God, Brystal! What the hell have you gotten yourself into?” he exclaimed. “One count of trespassing! One count of female literacy! And one count of committing magic! Do you have any idea how serious this is?”
Brystal looked to the floor and shook her head. “I don’t know what to say,” she said softly. “It all feels like a bad dream.”
“When you weren’t at breakfast this morning, Mother assumed you had gone to the Home for the Hopeless to volunteer before school!” Brooks said. “When I got to the courthouse, all the Deputy Justices were talking about the witch they caught in the library last night—but I didn’t put the two together! I never imagined in a million years the witch would be my own sister!”
“But I’m not a witch!” Brystal exclaimed. “The banned book I was reading explains everything! Please, you have to find it and show it to—”
“Are you mad?” Brooks asked. “I can’t use a banned book as evidence!”
“Then what are we going to use for my defense?” Brystal asked.
“Defense?” Brooks said, as if he was appalled by her choice of words. “Brystal, you were caught by three witnesses—there’s no defense! You’re facing life imprisonment with hard labor for committing magic alone, but with trespassing and female literacy on top of it, you’ll be lucky to make it out of here alive!”
“You mean… they might execute me?”
Brystal felt like a cold hand had suddenly reached into her body and ripped out her stomach. She had willingly gone down a long path of mistakes, but she had never thought it would lead to this. She started hyperventilating.
“No, this can’t be happening!” she cried. “You can’t let them execute me! Please, Brooks, you have to help me! I’m your sister!”
Brooks rolled his eyes at the remark. “Oh yes, and what a joy you are!” he said spitefully. “I’m afraid even with my superb defense skills, my hands are tied.”
“There has to be something we can do!”
Her brother went quiet and he bit his nails as he thought about it.
“There’s only one thing I can think of that could possibly help you now.”
“What?”
“Father.”
Brooks said it like it was good news, but it only made Brystal feel more hopeless than before. Her father was the last person on the planet she expected to save her.
“Father isn’t going to help me,” she said. “When he finds out what I’ve done, he’ll want to kill me himself!”
“Well, you’re right about that,” Brooks scoffed. “Father may not value your life, but he thinks very highly of his own. He would do anything to preserve his reputation. And nothing is going to tarnish his name more than one of his children getting arrested and sentenced to death. Luckily for him, I’m the only one who knows you’re in here.”
“How?”
“As far as anyone knows, this is the case of Bailey vs. the Southern Kingdom—the charges have been filed under the alias you gave the library! When Father gets my note and realizes you’re the one on trial, he’s going to do whatever he can to sweep this case under the rug before his colleagues find out!”
“But what if he doesn’t?” Brystal asked. “Father can’t be my only chance of survival.”
“Then it all depends on your trial,” Brooks explained. “First, the Prosecution Deputy will present your charges to the sitting Justice and recommend a penalty. If they recommend the minimum penalty, the Justice will most likely sentence you to life imprisonment with hard labor, but if the Deputy recommends the maximum penalty, I guarantee the Justice will sentence you to capital punishment.”
“But the sitting Justice doesn’t have to take the recommendation, it’s just a suggestion,” Brystal recalled from what she had read. “Even if the Prosecution Deputy recommends the maximum penalty, the Justice could still be merciful.”
Brooks’s face fell flat and Brystal knew there was something he wasn’t telling her.
“There won’t be any mercy this time,” he said. “Your trial is being overseen by Justice Oldragaid.”
“Who?”
“Justice Oldragaid is the most despised Justice in the court system. He has a God complex and is notorious for condemning people to death whenever possible. Even when Prosecution Deputies recommend the minimum penalty, Oldragaid likes to bully them into recommending the maximum penalty just so he can enforce it.”
“Oh my gosh!” Brystal gasped.
“It gets worse,” Brooks went on. “Oldragaid has hated Father since their days at the University of Law. During their time as Deputy Justices, Father never lost a case against Oldragaid and would humiliate him during the trials. That’s the reason he assigned me to your defense—it’s impossible for a Defense Deputy to win a case like this and he wanted to watch an Evergreen lose! And Oldragaid would be thrilled to sentenc
e you to death if he had the chance.”
Brystal couldn’t believe her misfortune. She was getting punished not only by the laws of the Southern Kingdom, but also, apparently, by the universe itself.
“Then I’m doomed,” she said quietly. “There’s no way around it.”
“There’s still one thing in our favor that you’re forgetting,” Brooks reminded her. “Like I said, as far as anyone knows, this is the case of Bailey vs. the Southern Kingdom. Justice Oldragaid doesn’t know who you are. Trials usually don’t begin until a day or two after incarceration, so hopefully that’ll give Father enough time to help you before Oldragaid finds out.”
“So that’s why you pretended we weren’t related in front of the guard. You didn’t want anyone to realize who I am.”
“Exactly.”
Brystal never thought a day would come when she was thankful for having a brother like Brooks, but here it was. All the calculating and mischievous qualities she resented about him were now the tools he was using to save her life.
“I’m so scared, Brooks,” she said.
“Well, you should be,” he said. “Even if Father finds a way to help you, you aren’t going to walk out of here freely. Best-case scenario, you’ll probably spend the rest of your life in a prison far away from Chariot Hills.”
“I suppose you think I deserve it for being so stupid…,” she said through tears. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.… I just wanted life to be different.…”
“Then I guess you got what you asked for.”
The door swung open as the guard returned to the cell. He was wheezing and sweating profusely from his journey to and from the fourth floor.
“I delivered your message to the Justice, sir,” the guard grumbled.
“Just in time, too. I’m all finished here.”
Brooks picked up his briefcase and headed for the door, but Brystal stopped him as he stepped into the hall.
“Deputy Justice Evergreen?” she asked. “If you happen to see them, will you please give my love to my mother and my brother? And tell them I am so, so sorry for all this?”
Her brother gave the slightest nod possible without attracting the guard’s attention. “I am not your messenger, criminal,” he said dramatically. “See you in court.”
Brooks continued down the hall and the guard followed, locking the cell door behind him. As the sound of their footsteps faded, Brystal was consumed by the most extreme sorrow she had ever experienced. She lay on the stone bench and wept until there wasn’t a teardrop left inside her.
As far as she knew, her brother was the last piece of home she’d ever see again.
That night, Brystal was jolted awake when her cell door suddenly burst open. Two prison guards charged inside, grabbed her by the arms, and forced her onto her feet. Without saying a word, the guards rushed Brystal out of the cell, raced her across the prison, and then hurried her up a spiral staircase. They moved at such a frantic pace Brystal had trouble keeping up and had to be dragged a majority of the way. She had no idea what was happening or where they were taking her, and she was too afraid to ask.
They reached the top of the staircase and entered the main corridor of the courthouse. The corridor, usually bustling with Deputy Justices and Justices alike, was dark and completely empty. Brystal figured it must have been past midnight, which made the whole situation even more frightening. What could be so important that it required her to be transported in the middle of the night?
At the end of the dark corridor, Brystal spotted Brooks pacing in front of a pair of tall double doors. His face was bright red and he angrily muttered to himself as he moved.
“Brooks!” she called out. “What’s going on? Why are we in the courthouse so late?”
“Justice Oldragaid found out who you are!” he said. “The guard must have read my note and tipped him off—that bastard! Oldragaid moved up your trial—he’s trying to sentence you before Father has time to intervene!”
“Wait, I don’t understand,” Brystal said. “When’s the trial happening?”
“Now,” he said.
The guards pushed open the double doors and pulled Brystal into the courtroom. Her brother followed closely behind.
They were the first to arrive and Brystal was overwhelmed by her first glimpse—it was easily the biggest room she had ever been in. It was surrounded by massive marble pillars that stretched into the darkness of a seemingly endless ceiling. Wooden risers wrapped around the courtroom with enough seats for a thousand witnesses. The only source of light came from two torches burning, one on either side of the Justice’s chair, which was raised on a tall platform at the front of the room. An enormous portrait of King Champion XIV was hung on the wall behind the platform, and the sovereign scowled down at the courtroom like a judgmental giant.
The guards locked Brystal in a tall iron cage that stood in the very center of the room. The bars were so wide she could barely see through them. Brooks took a seat at an empty table to the left of the cage, and Brystal assumed the empty table to her right was reserved for the Prosecution Deputy.
“Try to stay calm,” her brother whispered. “And whatever you do, don’t say anything. It’ll only make things worse.”
A small door behind the platform opened and Justice Oldragaid entered the courtroom from his private chambers. Even if he wasn’t the Justice overseeing her trial, the sight of Oldragaid would have been chilling. He was a skeletal man with a pitch-black beard and large sunken eyes that had pupils the size of pinpricks. His skin was the color of pea soup, and his long fingernails made his hands look like claws.
Oldragaid was followed by four guards, and to Brystal’s horror, an executioner also emerged from the Justice’s private chambers, carrying a large silver axe. Brystal turned to her brother, hoping to find reassurance in his eyes, but Brooks was as alarmed as she was. The trial hadn’t even started and her fate seemed to be sealed.
The Justice climbed up the steps of the platform and took his seat. He glared down at Brystal with a twisted grin, like a cat gawking at a mouse in a trap. With three loud bangs of his gavel, the proceedings began.
“The case of Bailey vs. the Southern Kingdom shall commence,” he announced.
“Your Honor, I’d like to remind you that it is illegal to begin a trial without a Prosecution Deputy,” Brooks said. “And furthermore, it is completely unethical to have an executioner present in court before a defendant has been sentenced.”
“I am aware of the law, Defense Deputy,” the Justice sneered. “The Prosecution Deputy will be here momentarily. However, you of all people should not be lecturing me about ethics. It’s recently come to my attention that you have made deliberate attempts to conceal information from the court. That is a direct violation of your moral duties as a Deputy Justice, and violators must be reprimanded.”
Justice Oldragaid gave the guards a signal and they covered Brystal’s cage with a sheet. Her limited view of the courtroom was now entirely obstructed.
“Your Honor, what is the purpose of this?” Brooks objected.
“As I’m sure you’re aware, Defense Deputy, whenever a Deputy Justice is caught committing a violation in court, it is up to the presiding Justice to apply an appropriate punishment,” Oldragaid explained. “I’ve decided to teach you a lesson about the importance of transparency. Since you attempted to conceal the defendant’s identity from me, her identity will be concealed for the rest of this trial. You are not to speak a word about who she is until after the Prosecution Deputy has recommended penalties. Let one word slip, and I’ll charge you with conspiracy to assist a criminal. Is that understood?”
Brystal didn’t have to see the hatred beaming from her brother’s eyes to know it was there.
“Yes, Your Honor,” Brooks said. “I understand.”
“Good,” Oldragaid said. “Bring in the Prosecution Deputy!”
The double doors creaked open and Brystal heard a new pair of footsteps enter the courtroom. Strangely,
the Prosecution Deputy only made it halfway through the room before he stopped in his tracks.
“Brooks?” a familiar voice asked.
“Barrie?” he gasped. “You’re the Prosecution Deputy?”
Brystal felt light-headed and went weak in the knees. She had to grab the bars of her cage to prevent herself from sliding to the floor. Justice Oldragaid was using her trial to get revenge on the Evergreen family, and it was more malicious and cruel than she could ever have imagined.
“This is my first assignment,” Barrie said happily. “Why didn’t you tell me you were the Defense Deputy on Bailey vs. the Southern Kingdom?”
“I—I—I was trying to keep it quiet,” Brooks said.
“Why is the defendant covered up?” Barrie asked.
“I’m not allowed to discuss it,” Brooks said. “Barrie, listen to me, this trial isn’t what it seems—”
“That’s quite enough, Defense Deputy!” Justice Oldragaid commanded. “Thank you for joining us on such short notice, Prosecution Deputy. Now please step forward and present the charges against the defendant.”
Barrie took his place behind the table to Brystal’s right. She heard him remove papers from his briefcase. He cleared his throat before reading them aloud.
“Your Honor, three men witnessed the defendant conjuring a spell from an open book in a private section of the Chariot Hills Library,” he said. “The first witness was the librarian, Mr. Patwise Woolsore, the other two are officers in the King’s Royal Guard, and all three have signed sworn statements of what they encountered. Given the credibility of the observers, the defendant has been charged with one count of trespassing, one count of female literacy, and one count of committing magic. I’ll now relinquish the floor to the Defense Deputy.”
“Given the substantial evidence, and the nature of the crimes, we will not waste any time with the defense,” Justice Oldragaid said.
“Your Honor, I object!” Brooks shouted.
