Ashnak turned back to the courtroom as Zhazba-darabat threw his long velvet robes about him and began unearthing books from the prosecution desk. In a voice too low for the judge to catch, the dwarf growled, “I have witnessed centuries of precedent, orc. How skilled in law are you?”
“Erm…” Barashkukor shot a haunted look at Ashnak, swallowed, and hauled a book out from the bottom of his pile. “I cite the unanswerable case of Hashbanipal Shadowtree vs. The Blue Elves.”
The dwarf slammed a heavier tome down. “I contradict you with Meliadis the Savage vs. Brukgug Halforc.”
“But I quote Bishop Filgrindibad vs. The Secret Masters of the Halls!”
“And I return: Mistress Shulikan vs. Dolf, Dexis, and Durundibar!”
Barashkukor flicked back the ends of his wig, stunning another halfling, and appealed to the jury. “I therefore cite the unanswerable precedent of Berendis vs. All the Elves of Thyrion!”
Several of the jurors applauded. Those who had been glancing from Barashkukor to Zhazba-darabat rubbed their necks.
“Alaric Bonegrinder vs. The Red Paladin Hugon!” Zhazba-darabat cried triumphantly. “And what do you say to that?”
The small orc scrambled up onto the pile of books already cited, steel leg glinting, and thumbed another tome, rocking precariously. “I will answer that with—erm—with…”
“Order!” Magorian’s gavel crashed down. The orc sergeant in the third row glowered at the front-row grunt. Only a pair of orc ears remained visible, and they did not so much as twitch.
There was silence, apart from the growing noise of the brawl outside in the square, which seemed to have attracted a number of non-orc combatants.
“I rule those precedents out of court,” Magorian quavered. “If you think I’m going to sit here and listen to all that rubbish, you’re much mistaken. Counsel for the defence, do you have anything else to say?”
“I can’t wait,” Ashnak rumbled under his breath, his bloodshot gaze fixed on the small orc major. Behind him, Razitshakra chuckled. Ashnak looked over his muscular shoulder.
The orc marine commissar rested her elbows on the front row of the gallery. “Don’t worry, sir,” she murmured. “I’ve rigged the jury.”
Ashnak glared red-eyed at the jury box. Seven well-fed Men, an elf, two halflings, a dwarf, and a half-elf. “Those aren’t our people.”
“No, no, sir; I’ve rigged the jury.” Concealing her movements from the White Mages, Razitshakra briefly drew open her greatcoat. Ashnak saw that the commissar’s free hand held an M57 firing device.
“Claymore mines under the chairs, sir.”
One of the floor-cables ran across from the gallery to the jury box. Studying them, Ashnak noted beads of sweat on the foreheads of the Man and halfling jurors. Even the elf looked a little uncomfortable.
“Nice work, Commissar,” he approved.
Several shots sounded from the square, over the noise of brawling. The captain of the White Mages scowled and ordered half her force outside. She fixed Ashnak with a challenging glare. Ashnak flicked an imaginary piece of lint from his ripped combat trousers.
“My client,” Barashkukor proclaimed shrilly, “was somewhere else entirely at the time when the said atrocities were committed. M’lud, I am my own witness here—at the time in question, the general was observing my handling of a T54 Main Battle Tank in the River Faex.”
Magorian looked doubtful. “I don’t think you can be your own witness, counsel.”
“Oh.” The small orc’s face fell. Then he brightened. “Very well. I never did trust paperwork. I’m an orc of action, I am. Call the T54 Main Battle Tank!”
The same halfling usher flung open the door to the corridor. “Call the T54 Main Battle Tank!”
“CALL THE T54 MAIN BATTLE…WHAT?”
“I don’t think you can do that.” Magorian looked from the clerk of the court to the Captain of the White Mages. “Can he do that?”
Whatever answer he received was drowned out by the grinding roar of the tank. The orc marines in the gallery cheered, banging their weapons on the floor. A grunt carrying a red flag on a stick walked in through the courtroom door.
Ashnak stood as first the gun-barrel, then the tracks, and finally the chassis of a T54 tank ground into the courtroom. Since it was not more than a few inches wider than the door, it did no more than knock large chunks out of the doorframe. The tracks ripped the tiled flooring to shreds.
The T54’s motor chugged, coughed, and idled. A broad-shouldered orc grunt in a steel helmet flipped open the lid and leaned his elbows on the hatch, one arm close to the mounted machinegun.
“Officer on deck!” Razitshakra bawled from the gallery. The orc caught sight of Ashnak and saluted rigidly. Ashnak returned the salute.
“I demand you rule this tank out of court!” Zhazba-darabat screamed.
The High King Magorian regarded the battered doorway. “You rule it out of court!”
The dwarf prosecutor threw all his papers up into the air in disgust. “Your Honour, I object!”
“Why?” Barashkukor asked smugly. Zhazba-darabat marched up to the small orc and glared at him, nose to nose.
“Because it isn’t even the same tank, that’s why! Your T54 Main Battle Tank is at the bottom of the River Faex, isn’t that right, Major?”
Flustered, the orc major muttered, “It’s a representative T54 Main Battle Tank.”
“No such thing!” The dwarf waved his arms, appealing to the bench. “It couldn’t testify, even if it could testify!”
Magorian scrubbed shaking fingers through his thinning hair. “What was that again?”
“I said—”
Uproar broke out, each citizen of Ferenzia trying to out-shout the orc marine sitting nearest him on the merits of a tank’s testimony. In vain the Order of White Mages used enhanced spells to bolster their calls for silence.
“Silence in court!” the High King Magorian’s voice cracked. “Silence in court!”
Ashnak raised his head. “I think I can help you there.” He snapped his fingers.
FOOOOOOOOOMMMM!
The T54’s 115mm cannon fired. The window glass imploded. A substantial section of the vaulted ceiling fell in, scattering the gallery and the floor of the court with wreckage. For a moment there was silence broken only by the moans of Men, elves, dwarves, and halflings bleeding from the ears.
Ashnak reached up and pulled a large chunk of cotton wadding from his right ear and another one from his left ear. “That brought the house down.”
“The smoke cleared to show High King Magorian waving his gavel in a dazed manner as he sank out of sight. “I said silence in court, dammit…”
Barashkukor pulled several yards of cotton wadding from his ears. The other orc marines followed suit. Barashkukor brushed debris from his horsehair wig. “M’lud, I rest my case.”
A small voice quavered from under the judge’s bench. “The jury may retire…”
Seven Men, two halflings, a dwarf, an elf, and a half-elf left their seats at a run and pelted out of the court, knocking aside the stunned mages. The Captain of the Order of White Mages signalled her Men to sit down on the jurors’ vacated chairs, and tend to their wounded.