As the four walked to the court area, Ryan noticed that more people just wore pelts.
They were doing administrative work.
This made Ryan chuckle to himself.
These people see themselves as warriors of old, but they are just people.
"What's so funny?"
He didn't pay attention, and Bell's question startled him.
He didn't want to show her his embarrassment.
"They consider themselves barbarians, but they do paperwork like civilised people. That seems ridiculous to me."
Before she could speak, Eragon interrupted, "Conan is using a printer."
They looked to where he was pointing, and a very large, scarred and muscular man was waiting for documents to print.
Bell then added, "Conan the Librarian."
This caused all three to laugh.
All the Vikings who were working seemed very unhappy about the interruption.
Grizzly tried to keep his face neutral, but he hid his laughter with a cough.
"Conan the Librarian, I'll remember that. Eena will get a kick out of that."
Bell smiled, and as soon as Grizzly looked away, she had a sad look on her face.
This only lasted a moment as they walked to the courtroom.
They were met by two massive guards.
They wore nothing but loincloths and held massive axes.
Grizzly spoke, "We are here for the trial."
One nodded and opened the door for them.
One of the guards led them in.
What Ryan saw was a massive room with five elevated podiums.
They were led to what was essentially a concrete box.
There were no markings, except for scratches from those judged in the past.
Each podium had a massive mural on the wall right behind it.
The one on the far left had the rose with the dripping petals.
This one, Ryan recognised as the Blood Rose Guild.
He studied the others.
The next one was a silver helmet with two crossed axes.
The next one was a golden moon with a silver star in the middle.
The next one was a golden side profile of a woman with a crown.
The last one was an open book with no adornments.
Ryan then turned his attention back to the crew.
The guard was still there.
He was trying and failing to intimidate Grizzly.
"There is no smoking in the great hall."
Grizzly spoke with his cigarette dangling from his mouth.
"If you want these, you will have to take them from me."
As the guard stepped forward, Grizzly flicked his axe.
The guard's eyes went wide as it turned to smoke.
Without a moment's hesitation, he ran out of the courtroom.
Ryan frowned at the old man, "Is it wise to antagonise them?"
After blowing a large cloud of smoke, Grizzly replied, "They respect the show of strength here; that little show could help us."
He thought over Grizzly's words.
He then noticed that Bell was pacing, and the always talkative Eragon was silent.
He could almost feel the anxiety emanate from them.
He felt a deep anger for those who caused those feelings in his friends.
After about fifteen minutes, the two guards from earlier entered the hall.
One walked up to the group while the other stood by the door.
"You all must enter the dock; the judges will be here soon."
As he spoke, he had his eyes on a smoking Grizzly.
As they entered the box, Ryan noticed that there were six stools for them to sit on.
The guard then took his place next to the box.
The crew sat down to wait for their accusers.
Suddenly, the guard yelled from the door, "All rise!"
The crew stood up and looked at the door.
"Introducing the leader of the Viking Clan, Jarl Bjorn Nyberg, and our greatest hero, the Underjarl Sten Grimstad!"
The crew saw the man they had met at the dock.
This time, he was only wearing a loincloth and thick boots.
He had many deep scars all along his very muscular body.
His second in command had thick and long black hair.
He was similarly dressed as the Jarl.
What set him apart was the burn scar that took up the left half of his head.
He also wore a black eye-patch.
Ryan could tell that these two men were extremely dangerous.
For a moment, Ryan locked eyes with Bjorn.
He nodded at Ryan.
Bjorn took his place at the podium in front of the mural of the silver helmet and crossed axes.
Sten took his place behind him.
The guard gave another shout to introduce the next guild.
"Introducing the Grand Shepard of the Sons of God Order, Rashid Abbot and the protector of faith, Warden Ibrahim Holloway!"
Two men walked in with dark robes with white collars.
The one in front had a white turban, and the one in the back had a beige one.
Both men seemed to be in their sixties with very thick and well-groomed beards.
Rashid took his place at the podium in front of the mural of a golden moon with a silver star in the middle.
Ibrahim took his place behind him.
The guard gave his shout to introduce the next guild.
"Introducing the Matriarch of the Amazon Sisterhood, Reina and her shadow Sombra!"
Two women walked in with long white dresses with golden chestplates.
On their heads, they wore large helmets with plumes that obscured their faces.
The leader had a purple plume, and the follower had a white plume.
They looked forward while walking as if they were floating.
It was quite the sight, but it was incredibly slow.
Reina took her place at the podium in front of the mural of a golden side profile of a woman with a crown.
Sombra took her place behind her.
The guard gave his shout to introduce the next guild.
"Introducing the leader of the Wizard Guild, Caelum and his second Fay!"
A man and woman with brown hair and brown eyes entered.
They looked so similar that they could only be siblings.
They wore plain grey robes and entered the hall.
As they passed the guard, they bowed and thanked him.
They bowed in front of every podium and the box.
Caelum took his place at the podium in front of the mural of the open book with no adornments.
Fay took her place behind him.
Bjorn spoke to the hall.
"Until Aleksandar arrives, we will keep our judgments to ourselves, and the accused is under my protection."
Ryan noticed how Sten looked slightly surprised by the declaration.
Reina scoffed.
Bjorn ignored her response and continued speaking.
"Also, you may each ask one question before the Blood Rose arrives."
"Why? I say we just execute the beast and go home," she then looked back at Sombra, "This island is very drab."
Ryan gripped the side of the box as hard as Sombra nodded at Reina.
He failed to control himself as he stood.
"If you want to hurt him, you will have to go through me."
The elegantly dressed woman spat on the ground and looked him in the eye.
"What could you do, boy?"
She had a half smile as she spat her words at him.
He felt a familiar emptiness as he spoke.
"I will kill you."
In her offence, she tried to run at a ready Ryan, but Sombra grabbed her and pulled her back.
As she spat insults and tried to escape from Sombra, Bjorn hit his podium with his open palm.
"Calm down, Reina. You Amazons pride yourselves on your decorum, yet you are goaded by a boy."
She stood up straight and took her place behind the podium.
She decided to keep her mouth shut.
Bjorn then turned his attention to Ryan.
"I respect your determination to protect your friend, but remember where you are."
Ryan nodded at Bjorn.
"Jarl, I know exactly where I am; it was Reina who forgot her place."
Bjorn gave him a smile as Reina grabbed onto her podium so hard that a piece broke off.
"I like you, boy, and before we proceed, I have one more question. Would you have killed Reina?"
With a glance at Eragon, he answered.
"Yes, her guard too if I do not have any other choice."
Bjorn let out a hearty laugh.
"I like you," he looked over to Grizzly, "You have a fine apprentice, Bear."
Looking back, Ryan saw the look on the crew's faces.
Eragon gave him a thumbs-up.
Grizzly looked annoyed.
What made him feel guilty was the surprised look on Bell's face.
Had he gone too far?
Bjorn started to speak again.
"We were given evidence of what happened and why they were with the Dwarves. Did anyone not get the email?"
Rashid raised his hand.
Bjorn frowned as the Grand Shepard spoke, "We do not believe in the use of the internet; we did receive a copy of the evidence on parchment."
Ryan heard soft chuckling from Eragon behind him.
Caelum spoke to Rashid.
"Great Shepard, the Jarl just wanted to know if all received the report, not how it was received."
Rashid nodded in understanding.
"My apologies, Jarl," he turned to Caelum, "My thanks to you, Master Wizard."
Reina then decided to speak up.
"Rashid, if you just use the internet for contact with us, I am sure God will forgive you."
Rashid's face hardened as he looked at her.
"Do not speak of God, for you can never understand His will. The internet is filled with degeneracy and will not be tolerated."
Ryan looked over to Bjorn.
He had his palm on his forehead as the leaders bickered.
"Enough! Can we move on?"
Reina and Rashid decided to keep their mouths shut.
Bjorn then explained what happened at Goldhaven.
After Bjorn's speech, Caelum was the first to speak.
"Did any of you see what this stone or attacker looked like?"
Ryan stood up and spoke, "No, it happened so quickly that I only caught a glimpse of the stone."
He then sat back down as he waited for another question.
Rashid spoke, "Beast, what did you see?"
Ryan wanted to rise, but Bell's hand on his shoulder stopped him.
He kept to his seat and kept his mouth shut.
Eragon rose and answered.
"I was playing some games with a couple of kids. I then felt something on my back, and I felt my magic being drained. Apart from that, I don't remember anything"
Fay then asked a question out of turn.
"What type of magic do you have?"
The Guild leaders gave her a stern look, and Caelum grabbed her by the collar and whispered into her ear.
Eragon decided to answer.
"I can only use healing magic."
Ibrahim had his turn to speak out of turn.
"Blasphemy! Only God and his prophets can heal! Not a demon like you!"
Bjorn slammed his fist down.
"The next person who speaks out of turn will go to the pits."
This caused everyone to flinch.
After the room had calmed, he then looked at Reina.
"Do you have any questions?"
She smiled at Bjorn.
"My question is for you, Jarl."
He frowned, "Unorthodox, but you may proceed."
"May I be the executioner?"
She smiled at a wide-eyed Ryan.
Bjorn took a deep breath.
Ryan knew that this brief meeting had taken its toll on him.
They then heard the guard at the door shout again.
"Introducing the Guild Master of the Blood Rose, Aleksandar Drakonovich and the Priestess of Thalara Eena."
As they walked to their podium, Rashid and Ibrahim were fuming.
They were only kept quiet by Bjorn's threat.
Eena gave the crew a small wave as they took their place at their podium.
Ryan felt as if a massive weight fell off his shoulders.
Eena took her place behind the podium while Aleksander stood before the other podiums.
He gave them a deep bow.
"My apologies for being late."
Bjorn gave him a quick nod as he took his place.