The bailiffs keep had a round tower of about 15 meters height and a 3-storey stone building attached to it. The building and the woodworks inside of it looked new, as it was built with the latest expansion of the Higher City under grandmother’s rule.
It was one of the few stone buildings in Salaria build out of white stone in a more gothic style and with many statues flanking the various coloured windows, mostly of local figures of folklores and the past rulers of Salaria of the now ruling house.
It was especially eye catching, as it followed the Mitalican style of architecture as opposed to the Sarembrian use of the local black-red stone as base material, whitewashing the building after building it and painting scenes of folklore and stories on it. The same could be said about the woodworking’s inside the keep: the doors, tables, chairs had relative thin and curvy legs as apposed to the more massive feel of the islands style. The massive wardrobes for books were made from thick wooden boards in which flowers and snakes, the animal of my family, were curved into.
While the ground floor housed some offices for law counsel, permissions for trade or crafting, and the purchase of land in the city, the first floor housed the keeps hall, where the court would be.
We went to the stairs, where my guards have already set down my palanquin, which was just a glorified chair with four wooden arms reaching out of it to lift it up. I sat down on it and two sturdy men transported me to the upper floor but did not stop there and just brought me into the court room while being flanked by my uncle on my right and the arborean siblings on my left.
While the ground floor had a narrow corridor, many rooms and the ceiling could be reached by raising your arm, the upper court room was almost as big as the whole building, minus the room of the staircase and a hidden room behind the court.
In the back of the room there was a long heavy table on a small elevation with a wooden throne behind it. On the table were mountains of parchment, books and scrolls, while some free space was in front of the throne and one end of the table, were the courts scribe sat on a small wooden chair, already recording the present people.
There was free space before the bailiff’s table. In the middle of the room were tow tables, were the accuser and the defendant could take place. Along the walls were long wooden benches, were other people waited for their court or petitions to the bailiff or the duchess. Well most of them, some of them were more carefree in their behaviour, as if they were just spectators.
There was one group at one of the desks, two men in their forties sitting in chairs and around them three younger men, acting as their servants. They had expensive clothes out of exotic textiles, but while the thinner man’s coat was in the king’s colours yellow, white and black, his other clothes had a wide range from deep blue to pink. To be honest, he looked more like a parrot, than a respected merchant. But in contrast to his clothes he had a more sombre look at us and started to whisper something to the other trader.
His companion was a plump man, and while his clothes were not even nearly as colourful, you could tell by the mixture of red and white elements that the man was a Sarembrian. The steel dagger and the scabbard out of bronze and silver with elements of coins, flowers and two coat of arms on it was another sign for a wealthy and influential merchant, which meant only one city in the whole duchy. He was a small, round, and happy looking man with a wide grin on his face, but his eyes threw a cautious look at my small retinue.
Stolen novel; please report.
The people in the room soon stopped talking and looked at us a little confused, as they did recognise the duchess guards but neither Gennach nor me. So, one of the guards saluted and called out into to the room as the crowd stood up.
“Lord and heir of the Sarembrian Islands, The Lord of Red Rock Castle Baron Leonidas and Lord and Marshall of the Sarembrian Islands Sir Gennach have graced you with their presence. Honour to the Judges!”
“Honour to the Judges!”
The crowd shouted out as they gave a mall bow toward us and then sat back to their places. Momentarily they started to talk as if we were not there. My guards just nodded satisfied and brought my palanquin next to the bailiff’s seat, while some of them escorted the siblings to the other unoccupied table for the defendant’s.
As the siblings sat down, the two merchants began to whisper more agitated, while the mitalican merchant was more irritated by my presence and looked at me as if I was just about to steal his apple pie, there was more confusion and surprise on the face of the sarembrian merchant.
After a while studying the crowd in the court room, the door of the bailiff’s room opened and the ducal servant with a few clerks entered the court room. The bailiff, an old man in his fifties in green and red leather clothes approached his seat in haste and with a pile of scrolls in his hands. Only as he put down the scrolls on the table did he saw us.
“My Lords, what a surprise to see you!” He said with genuine surprise.
“Sir Gennach and Lord Leonidas, I welcome you to my humble court room. How come you have come here today? Are there again problems with the new blacksmiths and their armour? I thought the last batch of apprentices were better.”
“No, nothing like that old friend Ruprecht. The armours are good, I as the Marshall have nothing to complain about. I am just accompanying my nephew so that he could pick up something in the art of government. You see, his two childhood friends are today as defendant’s in court, so he wanted to see it up close.”
“Oh, the case of the pawned iron mines of the Iron valley. The young siblings there are milord’s friends? Of course, I am glad to welcome milords to see this court, but…” The old man stopped, and looked at me earnestly in the eyes. “My Lord, while they are your friends, I judge firstly by the ducal law and secondly by the kings law. I do that at the best of my abilities, and while you are the heir, I am firstly loyal to your grandmother, duchess Eleonora. And as your lordships know, she does not take it kindly if she is interrupted in her work, as my liege puts it, by “nonsense”.”
I was a little perplexed at how direct bailiff Ruprecht told me to not interfere, especially considering our social standings. Well, he should have some backbone if he was nominated bailiff by my grandmother.
“Sir Ruprecht, be assured I will not interfere in your judging. I merely want to know how the court proceeds and give some moral reassurance to my friends. I will ask my uncle about the court, but if he can not answer, please forgive me if I direct my questions to you, Sir.”
Ruprecht considered my reply shortly and then smiled at me. “Sure, My Lord, it would be a great first time to start learning about the court. I will be happy to teach my future liege.”
The bailiff bowed to us and then went back to sit down in his seat to begin the court. One of the bailiff’s servants announced the start of the court. “The bailiff of The higher city of Salaria, honourable Sir Ruprecht opens hereby the hearing on the case between the merchant Pedro Fugeri and Baron Regent Manuel de Arborea. The accuser has the word!”
Let’s see why Gennach wanted me here.