I thought about it. All the bad memories of her as I grew up were flashing before my eyes, but they kept fizzling out. She hadn’t been lying when she said she helped me run away. She hadn’t lied about anything so far. I realized why she never spoke to me when I was a child or pretty much ever. She knew I had the same abilities she did. She couldn’t treat me like the Fisher King did because I would know she was lying, so she just ignored me when I tried to talk to her. After a certain point, I just ignored her back.
Esiro was still sobbing on her shoulder, so I wrapped my arm around her other shoulder.
“I understand now. I don’t want you to die either.”
Esiro wiped her eyes. “Don’t we get a say? I get we aren’t one of the judges, but it’s our mother they are taking away. Why don’t we get to have an opinion?”
Illyna stroked her hair. “Because it wasn’t just you I hurt. Give your opinion. Always give your opinion, but it might not be enough. Oz may want to see me die for my part in this.”
Dorothy was still standing and looking out at the pyre. “They’ve got him on the pyre, and they are about to light it. Oz needs to keep in mind it was you that stopped him and if you hadn’t, he would have killed even more people. Idris would have died if you hadn’t broken contact with his ring. If you hadn’t started punching Locasta, the two of them would have killed several of us before we stopped them.”
“Let’s not talk about unpleasant things. All my family is together, and soon, the Fisher King will be no more. I don’t know about the three of you, but I’m in the mood for a bonfire.”
So, we sat, our little makeshift family, holding each other and watching my father burn on that pyre.
Chapter 39
Frankie
M
y father and the rest of the judges decided to pick up the trial right at sunrise, even though no one had slept. We all sat watching that bonfire until it was total ash. I’d never watched a body burn before I don’t think I ever wanted to do it again. The smell was atrocious, and it took all night for the body to be reduced to ash. I wanted to check on Galen, but he hadn’t come out of the viewing box all night. I hoped he and his siblings were getting closure.
A few people had started gathering up all the ashes so they could be scattered across the Deadly Desert, and all I wanted was food and a nap. I didn’t get it. Pridius was up on the stage like he didn’t require sleep and advised we would continue with the trial.
Oddly, no one was complaining, and the audience had been pretty verbal so far. Illyna’s testimony lit a fire under their asses about how close they had come to getting slaughtered. The more I heard her speak, the more I hoped her punishment didn’t involve death. Sure, she epically fucked up giving the Fisher King his ring back, but I hadn’t forgotten she saved Idris’ life and probably saved a lot of lives getting the jump on the Fisher King and beating Locasta to a pulp.
My opinion didn’t matter, and I wasn’t about to tell that to Galen unless he said something to me about feeling the same. Whatever happened in the viewing booth, I hoped all three children had opinions about Illyna’s fate and it would be taken into consideration when they were passing judgment on her.
I dragged my ass back to my seat and snuggled into Oprix. Idris had left to find Zusim. His job for this trial was keeping Elore occupied, and I found that so sexy. I yawned and rubbed my face into his chest. He kissed the top of my head.
“Is Galen still in the viewing box with his family?”
“I think so. I saw no one come for Illyna. I wonder why.”
“Aren’t they calling Esiro next?”
“Actually, the order keeps getting switched up. I don’t know who they will call next. They were supposed to call Ozma and Dorothy before they called Illyna, but one testimony changed that. Illyna’s testimony could have switched up the order again.”
“I don’t remember trials being this disorganized when your mother was the judge. It should be you, Saffron, and Glinda up there.”
“We’d still need a Northern judge, and as much as this panel of judges is not impartial, Saffron, Glinda, and I were all so affected by this, I’m not sure our training could have us give a fair trial. My mother never tried a case she was directly involved in. Pridius should have declined to be a judge because he’s my father. Nick Chopper should have said no because Locasta was the one who cursed him. The Scarecrow should have said no because he’s friends with Dorothy and Glinda. This trial keeps going ass up because none of these men have judged a trial like this before and they are too connected to be judges.”
“I think your father has something to say.”
Pridius stood in front of the crowd. “I know everyone is tired and hungry. We could drag this trial on for weeks calling witnesses that have been hurt by the Fisher King and Locasta. You’ve heard from Illyna. We intended to call her daughter, Esiro, who the Gillikin know as Locasta’s servant. Illyna and Esiro’s information proved true. We found a chest underneath the floorboards of Locasta’s bedroom with what looks like trophies. We found the bloodied bodice of a dress, and upon questioning the servants, it was the favorite of Locasta’s mother and the dress she was wearing when her body was found. I think it’s time we ask Locasta some questions.”
Oh shit. They were just going balls out if they were calling Locasta now. Which Locasta were we going to see? The face she showed Oz or the nasty woman who mistreated Esiro, and I saw peeking through when Dorothy drank tea with her?
Locasta was well dressed and looked well-fed when she came out, but she couldn’t glamour herself to look like an old woman anymore. She looked like a young woman with green hair. She was so distantly related to Illyna they hardly shared any features except the green hair and even that wasn’t the same shade of green.
Pavius was still making an ass of himself even after listening to Illyna and a severed head.
“The North wants proof this is Locasta. You all brought her here and told us to hold her prisoner, but this doesn’t look like the Locasta we know.”
“Oh, sit down, you inflated windbag,” Locasta snapped. “Fooling you was so easy because you have the intelligence of a slug.”
Roxar pounced. “So, you admit you are Locasta of the North?”
“Yes, I am. And I warned the Fisher King about Illyna too. I warned him she wasn’t what she seemed, and she would eventually betray him. If he had just listened to me, killed her, and made me his only wife, you’d all be dead right now. I told him it was a mistake not going after his wayward children when they all went missing. All three of those ungrateful brats betrayed their own father.”
Roxar cocked an eyebrow at her. “You aren’t even trying to persuade the judges and audience of your innocence.”
“Why should I? The citizens of Oz are a bunch of mindless sheep. Glinda and those two Sentinel brats will tell you what the outcome will be, you’ll go along with it, and the rest of Oz won’t question a single thing.”
“They would if you were saying a single thing that made us believe you were innocent of all charges.” Roxar pointed out.
“What’s the point in lying now? I was at that cemetery, and I got caught because Illyna just couldn’t keep it together when she saw those brats again. If I had known she would hit me and behead my husband, I would have just killed her before we left. Now, decades of planning are ruined and the love of my life is gone. Where is his body? I’ll find a way to reattach his head with magic and we’ll go to another realm.”
Pridius just clucked his tongue. “The Fisher King is nothing but ash now. Unlike Illyna, who shows genuine remorse for her part in this plot and tried to stop it, you want us to let you go so you can murder people in another realm? I don’t think so.”
Locasta let out this awful wail, and it wasn’t because we weren’t just letting her go. It was over the Fisher King. I’d only spent limited time around him and a lot of that, it was just his head, but I didn’t see how anyone could love that man. I got that Illyna was lonely, and he twisted th
at, but what was Locasta’s excuse? She was talking like some deranged sixteen-year-old obsessed with an Oz celebrity.
I knew a few Winkie girls like that before my mother died. There was this Winkie band that was famous and all the girls my age were in love with the lead singer. I’d gone to a few concerts with Oprix and Idris because I liked their music, but some girls threw their underthings on stage, and I would hear them talk before the show. They talked like the lead singer wasn’t just a cute Winkie with a good voice. They talked like he was one of the mythical fairies everyone assumed we descended from.
Locasta talked about the Fisher King like he wasn’t just a man from another realm with magic we didn’t have here. I suppose that made him special in a way, but her Sentinel training should have had her wanting to fight him, not become his wife. If she had been listening where her mother didn't understand the hidden messages, why did she run to him instead of from him?
“You murdered my husband!” Locasta wailed. “There’s no way I can mend him from that.”
“Are you expecting us to feel sorry for you?” Pridius sneer. “The two of you were planning to slaughter most of Oz.”
“Maybe Oz needed to be slaughtered. So many citizens have magic, and they are too stupid or too scared to tap into it. Why shouldn’t the Fisher King get to take it if they are too cowardly to use it? All that power at their disposal and they can’t even be arsed to learn to tap into it. If they will not use it, it might as well go to someone who will.”
“Glinda was using her magic, and she intended to teach her child to use it. Yet, you kidnapped her and tortured her.”
“Glinda is an insufferable twat who doesn’t deserve her magic. She’s always looking down on people because they can’t do the things she can. Azami and Adora were the same. All three of them were snobs who thought they were better than everyone else in Oz because they happened to be good at magic and fighting.”
Pridius jumped to his feet and got right in her face. I remembered what he said about loving my mother once. He got right in Locasta’s face and was practically spitting at her as he yelled.
“So, which is it? Are the strong in Oz snobs, or does everyone deserve to die for being weak?”
“Both!” Locasta yelled. “The other Sentinels never truly respected me. They always viewed me as weaker than them. The Fisher King always saw my value, and we made the Sentinels pay. I helped kill Azami and Adora and I managed to capture Glinda the Good. I only had to leave the North once to put things in place after Adora died to make sure Azami met the same fate. The only reason Glinda isn’t dead is that she ended up being two for the price of one.”
Every Flying Monkey in the audience was growling and flexing their wings. Ivia had been attending the trial with her human face since her dinner with Roxar, but she instantly shifted back to her monkey and was baring her teeth at Locasta. Glinda might not be a Flying Monkey, but she was mated to one, so she was one of them now. My mother spent ages trying to break the curse on that cap. The Flying Monkeys wanted blood.
Pridius looked like he was ready to up and punch Locasta in the face. Roxar ended up pulling him away before he lost his cool and did it. Pavius was just sitting there with his mouth hanging open like he couldn’t believe his precious Locasta was actually like this.
“So, you have no regrets about torturing and murdering people? You have no regrets about plotting to steal magic from Oz?”
Locasta leaned forward in her chair. “I regret I never just killed Illyna and begged for the Fisher King’s forgiveness later. We would have won if she hadn’t turned. I saw it, and I tried to warn him. If his own son would betray him and run away, Illyna was sure to be next. If she had just beaten that boy more, he wouldn’t have dared try to run.”
Okay, now I was joining the Flying Monkeys, baring my teeth and ready to jump up there to rip her head off. Locasta was even worse than I pegged her for when I watched her with Dorothy. She was delusional and completely insane. How long were the judges going to let her spew this vitriol? My group and the Flying Monkeys were ready to jump up there and beat her. Pridius looked like he was already there too. If they didn’t get her off the stage soon, the audience would rush the stage and rip her apart.
“Why did you kill your own mother?” Roxar asked.
I felt like screaming to just get her off the stage. Why did we need to know her reasons? She was crazy. They found her bloodied dress in Locasta’s fucked up trophy case. If they let her keep talking, there would be a riot.
“Because she was weak and stupid. We went to that cave for ten years while Illyna was trying to tell her what the Fisher King was offering, and she just couldn’t understand it. When she did finally get it, I already knew what she would do. She would alert the other Sentinels instead of joining him. I couldn’t let that happen. I needed something big to prove to him I was worthy when I was only seventeen and not fully trained. So, I killed her and came up with a brilliant plot to take over the North so he could get magic.”
Roxar finally backed down. “That was all I needed. Get her out of my sight.”
The Gillikin guard heard everything. When they escorted Locasta out, her hands weren’t bound, and it looked like they were guarding her like they used to. The guard had turned. They roughly trussed her hands up and shoved her as they took her away.
Pridius lost it. He turned to glare at Pavius.
“Was that enough for you? Do you finally believe your precious Locasta was a willing participant to murder?”
Roxar practically tackled Pridius.
“Everyone, we are breaking for today. Go back to your rooms. Eat and get some sleep. We’ll gather again tomorrow when heads are cooler.”
Roxar dragged Pridius off the stage. Nick Chopper and the Scarecrow slowly followed. Pavius was still sitting in his seat with his mouth hanging open like his entire world had just been shattered.
Chapter 40
Daxar
I
couldn’t imagine what was left for this crazy trial. We’d burned a talking head and its body that would still be moving if it wasn’t tied up. The entire North just found out someone they trusted not only plotted to murder them, she actively hated them. The judges nearly got into a fistfight and if Locasta had stayed on that stage any longer, someone from the audience would have tried to kill her.
We were all back in our room, trying to eat before we took a nap quickly. Galen was still missing, but he appeared right when we were about to finish eating. Francesca took one look at him and flung herself at him in a huge bear hug.
“How are you, Galen?”
“We all talked while the Fisher King’s body was being burned. None of us, none of my siblings, want our mother to die for what she did, but she keeps telling us our opinion might not matter. After Locasta’s shit show, they will want to deliver justice and close this trial. Esiro was supposed to be a witness, and she wants our mother to stay with her in the North. We don’t think they will call her now. She need not give evidence against Locasta because Locasta damned herself.”
I knew my father. The other judges might not want to hear it, but he would want their input. He’d probably already formed his own opinion of Illyna’s fate, but he wouldn’t speak it until he’d spoken to her children. Whether he did that in person or on the stand in front of all of Oz, I knew he would ask, so I told Galen this.
“How can he call us to the stand after Locasta? After everything she said, people are going to want justice and soon.”
“He’ll talk to all of you. If not on the stand, then privately. He had to get Pridius off the stage before he assaulted Locasta, and he had to get Locasta off the stage before all of Oz rushed the stage and ripped her apart. We all needed a break to clear our heads. That testimony after we all hadn’t slept or ate was a recipe for disaster. I don’t think any of the judges would have called her after a night like what we had if they had known what she would say.”
I don’t think any of us expected her to be so blunt. I exp
ected her to try to weasel out of it. I expect a barrage of lies to explain why she was in that cemetery or that everything had been against her will. If nothing else, I was hoping for some sort of explanation of her taking up with the Fisher King that involved coercion and regrets. She regrets nothing except for the fact that she didn’t get to commit mass genocide. When Sentinels went bad, they sure went full out.
“Daxar knows his father,” Francesca said. “If he says he’ll ask, he will. I think when my father calms down, he’ll want to talk to the three of you too.”
“What’s with the other judges?” Oprix asked. “I get Pavius. He just couldn’t accept Locasta had been a part of this, but it was like Nick Chopper, and the Scarecrow weren’t even trying. They didn’t question a single witness. What was the point of being judges if they weren’t even going to try?”
Idris was back in our rooms after babysitting duty. He leaned back in his chair and had commentary like always.
“I didn’t see the last few testimonies, but Nick Chopper ran his mouth at whoever would listen that Adora was the one who cursed him. I don’t get why he’s so silent now. And the Scarecrow likes to talk about how smart he since he got his brains. He hasn’t slipped out a single nugget of wisdom since the trial started. That’s not like him.”
I had my own theories. I’d spent time around the Scarecrow while Glinda was building Emerald City Academy. Yes, he liked to talk about how smart he was with his new brains, and there were certainly things he didn’t understand, but he was actually intelligent. He was a fair ruler of Oz and I’d seen him address audiences before.
“I can’t speak for Nick Chopper since I don’t know him all that well, but I’ve seen the Scarecrow in action settling a dispute in Emerald City. He never asks a lot of questions. He stays silent and most of the time, if he just stares someone down and says nothing, they’ll start adding additional information they might have left out before because they are uncomfortable. His face never betrays him because it’s only painted on and it unnerves some people. He’s always watching and listening and when the time comes, he delivers his verdict.”
Oz Has Spoken: A Reverse Harem Academy Romance (Emerald City Academy Book 3) Page 23