Rivals' Honour

8. A Trial of History

While Seonghwa might have been acting as if time stood still, the night passed in its inevitable flow. Soon, the sun tickled at the window and the prison livened up as it announced time for Hongjoong's trial.

The pirate was ready to put an end to this fever dream. Seonghwa's pleading eyes and his words haunted him awake and asleep. Though Hongjoong had so many other things to worry about, like trying to gain his freedom, he had grown weary from his pain and the imprisonment Seonghwa's feelings cast upon him. When that cell door finally opened with a creak to make space for the four soldiers picking him up, Hongjoong sighed with relief.

Seonghwa couldn't taunt him any more than this. Before the eyes of the law, Hongjoong was a criminal. And Seonghwa could meddle with the barracks but not the law written by the government and the church.

The nervous-looking recruit tugged Hongjoong up with caution of his leg. Wincing when he tried to stand on it, Hongjoong gritted back all vulnerability.

His last march as the mighty pirate captain should be dignified. Even when Seonghwa tried so hard to sabotage him.

"Grab his other side," the lad asked a companion, and the pain eased when Hongjoong balanced between their hands. He hopped along with his slow procession, up the stairs and towards the scent of the sun and the sea he missed so much.

The sun was blinding after all that time spent in the dim building. It glared down with its tropical heat, quickly burning through Hongjoong's hair and clothing. He relished its blessing and closed his eyes. The breeze rustled in flags and shrubs and carried the sweet scent of the orange trees bearing fruit. Though he was too far from the ocean to hear it, its salty tang carried. Oh, how Hongjoong wished himself back onto the Grief, with her planks below his feet, riding the endless ocean.

They crossed the sandy yard into the courthouse attached right to the barracks. It was higher in security, the walls sturdier than a simple hearing room in the city hall. When the sun cast off its glaring heat, its kiss lingered under Hongjoong's skin. Would it watch his execution? Drag things out with its omnipotent glare? Or would its rays be a distraction that absolved the pirate from his last suffering?

Hongjoong spent so much time under those gleaming rays, watching them dance over the water, that he forgot how frightful the waves became when the sun was covered by clouds.

No crowd assembled for Hongjoong's hearing since it was risky to bring people in, even when he was bound. As he was pressed into a chair surrounded by towering stands below a priceless chandelier, Hongjoong felt only the vindictive eyes of the men of the law on him. A few soldiers, a scribe. The judge himself, buried under a layer of powder and the wig of grey curls.

Relaxing into his seat, Hongjoong spread his legs. Two guards lingered behind him to stab him at the slightest movement. Keeping the tension going, Hongjoong stayed still.

No Cabezon. Did he finally seal his heart away at the bottom of the sea, never to be found again? Or could he not bear to attend the trial?

A few more men huddled through the doors. They wore the robes and crosses of the church and whispered to the judge. The coldness in their eyes was chilling. Regarding Hongjoong as no more than a stain of disgrace on their beautiful earth.

Hongjoong stared back without batting a lash. The rage that bubbled in him when he heard of their judgment and punishments of their own people didn't match his injured leg. If this weren't Seonghwa's base, he would take a few of these rats out with him if he went down, anyway.

But he didn't want to make trouble.

"The commodore?" Hongjoong picked up on the judge's whisper. Everyone else shook their heads, clueless about his whereabouts.