CT 03 "Just A Scratch"

A Chapter by dw817

The clam spoke the verdict, "Your initial claim of being innocent of BOTH is a black-hearted lie to this court which is the most severe kind of law that can be broken. This court finds you guilty !"

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JUST A SCRATCH

© October 2013 Written by David Wicker
Please do not reprint without permission

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This Tale is Rated: TEEN - best read in a tavern amongst disreputable strangers

And so I had this strange dream that I was somehow in Medieval Times, I was some kinna penniless peasant out in the markets with a ragged sword, and I was examining some finer swords in comparison with my own.

When while holding up one beautiful weapon my foot slipped on a loose cobblestone beneath me and the sword's sharp edge swooped hard to my right.

"Hey watch it !" the vendor called out as I tried to regain my balance swinging the sword wildly behind me as I couldn't catch it in time.

I had just regained my footing and replaced the sword on the stand when someone behind me sitting at a table all to himself counting gold coins to himself said most quietly, "Ouch."

I looked and there was the strangest looking fellow I had ever seen. His face was in such a scowl that his cheeks were lower then his chin ! I restrained myself from laughing out loud as he was obviously in already a foul mood.

His nose was really bad looking too. It curled up as if to poke out his right eye and I could tell he used his left one to see out of mostly as the right appeared to be clouded, likely from having it's vision blocked thissaways.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry." I said walking over to him and I dipped my head briefly in apology. So doing I started to walk away when, still facing his treasure he spoke louder.

"I see you are a COWARD, if nothing else."

I turned back to him, "I beg your par -"

He interrupted me and stood now and said loud enough so the all in the market could hear. "A COWARD who does not take responsibility for his own foolish actions !"

I puzzled on this a bit and finally said, "What would you suggest ?"

Then he smiled, and quite honestly it looked worse then his frowning and only lasted a second. He rose from his chair carefully pocketing all of the coins with a manner that made me think he stole every single one of them.

"A cut," he replied. "You have cut me, so now I get to CUT you."

I looked around for approval or disgust from anyone around me, but they all were going about their business apparently paying him no mind. Was there something I was supposed to know about this guy ?

"Well ..." I faltered.

"Come here," He said slowly and demanding, seeing that I was one to respect authority and perhaps he thought I would show the same to him. He frightened me in truth though.

I walked to the long wooden table he was at and at once he grabbed my arm but I stopped him. "Where were you cut ?" I asked innocently.

His face screwed up into a frown and then he released my arm. He held out his right hand squeezing on the end of his thumb. His face turned purple as he squeezed mightily into that long calloused thumb of his.

After almost a minute, a faint dot no bigger then the head of a pin appeared showing that I must have indeed nicked him slightly. "It hurts," he grunted with some effort. "I want my cut now."

"That's just a scratch !" I exclaimed. "You can live with that, can't you ?"

"Coward !" he cried back. "I want my cut now, only then will things right set to be right !" He tossed his hand up in the air absently, "Then you can be on your -merry- way."

Reluctantly I held out my hand which he grabbed hungrily and holding the sword I was examining with his other hand he looked at me with a terrible smile on his face. "You may not want to see this." he said with horrid intent.

I turned my eyes away and must have fallen asleep for a second because when I turned back he was busily chopping my hand to bloody ribbons !

"That's enough !" I yelled out and tried to grab the sword from him. We wrestled with it for a bit and then suddenly he directed the sword to my neck. Then he leaned back for a blow. He was going to kill me ! Probably like all the other ones before me.

I grabbed the bladed end with my already severely wounded hand and pushed away. The blade slipped from his grip and gashed a long cut in his neck.

"You !" he said clutching the side of his wound. "I'll - I'll kill you for this !" He started to reach for the sword again when a guard arrived, apparently to keep peace in the marketplace.

"What's going on here you two." he asked gruffly.

"A game." the scowling man said. "It is naught but a game and of no concern to you, sirrah."

The guard smiled unpleasantly when he recognized the voice, "Gwottimer, I know you better then that."

Finally he came to a decision, "Come on, it's back to court for you."

He paused for a second, and said, "You too." to me. The guard didn't say anything to me but was talking a thousand words a minute with his body language giving me disparaging looks that Gwottimer was indeed a very bad person and that I had awful luck to run into him.

* * *

Like everything else out here, nothing was inside and it was all was outside. The court was a raised wooden table and several wooden pews or benches in front of this. I sat down still clutching my hand when a kind young woman passed by.

She explained she was the Nurse here and quickly bandaged my hand kissing the tip of my index finger in the process which certainly made me smile.

The judge was arranging some papers and it was then I noticed his table was a good 10 feet higher then where I stood. Gwottimer not waiting for a prompt spoke at once.

"Your honor, this idiot blindly cut me with his sword and then tried to kill me with it ! I did all I could to defend my life when fortunately an officer of the court arrived or I should have surely been killed by his treachery !"

"Wh - Whaaat !?" I yelled. "That's not right ! That's not what happened at all ! He's LYING !"

It was then I looked at the judge for confirmation when I noticed he was roughly a large CLAM as big as myself with a poorly done powder wig on its "head" if he (it ?) had one.

A single foot pushed out the backside laced in a fine black shiny boot and the Clam lowered itself to my level.

"My good fellow. You're new here, aren't you ?" The clam paused for just a second, a long grey tongue flicking out over its frame.

Without waiting for a reply he continued, "Yes, of course you are. These proceedings will go well if you are an honest sort. You will be given a chance to speak. Have faith."

The judge winked at me with no eyes and pulled back into the judge's spot.

Gwottimer not wanting to lose his chance in his please proceeded on with his fury.

"I demand justice for this outrage ! Tence the injury he has done to me and at once."

The judge spoke like reading an old law. "The tence is your right Gwottimer." Then speaking to me he said, "Can you cover the tence ?"

I shifted uneasily. "The what ?"

"The tence," the clam judge began patiently. "The copper, the coins. For a neck injury such as his is at least 15 tence."

"I don't have the funds," I began when Gwottimer laughed horribly and looked at me.

"That's too bad friend cause I guess they'll lock you up proper now and all that you have will be given to me ! You must know the law in the land here in order to be cleared without payment for innocence."

I bit my lip. "Surely there is another way ?"

The judge spoke, "Yes. There is. For now it is your time to defend yourself and explain to me what you saw happen that led to this."

I spoke every detail and not less then 3 times did Gwottimer interrupt me with a different story. The judge was firm though and listened to me warning Gwottimer not to interrupt again or be held liable of contempt of court.

I concluded my recollection. The judge clam leaned back in its shell and a long sheaf of papers were handed to him by the officer. The judge spoke quietly to the officer and occasionally directed a glance in my direction. I feared the worst.

"A decision has been reached !" the clam said suddenly. "Gwottimer, because we find you guilty, you must pay him 50 tence for the damage you have done to his hand. Only if you are guilty and are aware of the law, are you required to pay."

Gwottimer grumbled sullenly but carefully counted out 50 coins in my good hand.

"What about my payment !?" Gwottimer announced after paying me.

The judge smiled in such a way to me, I knew all must be going well for me.

"What is your name ?" the polite clam asked me politely.

"David, sir - your honor, sir." Gwottimer sniggered behind me at my timidity and fear of court.

"That's fine, David. Gwottimer, this is not the first time we have seen you in court, but it will most certainly be the last. We said that we have found you guilty. We could well be wrong. How do you plea for yourself in these proceedings ?"

"Not guilty !" he barked out immediately without really listening to the judge's earlier words.

"Very well, if you are not guilty of this crime, then you must be imprisoned for trying to trick this court in where David was paid 50 tence for when we thought you were guilty."

"If you had not have paid, you may have left here a free man. Because you did corrupt these court proceedings, you will be imprisoned. You are welcome to change your verdict if you think instead you were guilty which will clear you of the charges of tricking this court."

"How do you plea NOW ?" The clam was bobbing up and down on its fine soled boot and even I had to smile at the devilish logic behind this puzzle.

"Guilty, your honor ! And I move that the court shows mercy upon me for having admitted my guilt and my knowledge of the laws !" Gwottimer said maneuvering his words most carefully.

* * *

The judge spoke again. "David, in this case you must give Gwottimer back his tence. I did so and he counted it carefully to make sure I wasn't holding back. I didn't. I wanted to be especially honest in these proceedings especially since logic was playing a heavy hand in it.

There was a moment of silence. The clam continued, "An innocent man should only pay because he did not know originally what was the law. Gwottimer is well acquainted with the laws in this land."

"Gwottimer, " The clam began. "You can withdraw your accusation against David and leave now or demand he pay you now for his innocence in these proceedings."

"I wish to push my accusation." Gwottimer said determined to drive his point home and ruin me.

Suddenly I saw a beautiful violet fairy fly up to my face. As I marveled at her radiant beauty and iridescent wings, she suddenly flitted over to my left ear and whispered in a lovely high-pitched voice, "Checkmate."

Then there was a flutter of wings and she took straight off into the sky giggling, her tiny delicate arms outstretched against the sun as if to catch it. "Wow." I breathed at the beautiful sight of her and wondered if I would see more.

The clam ignored the interruption from the tiny winged girl. Perhaps she was my attorney in this bizarre dream ?

The clam then spoke in judgment, "Gwottimer, by your own words you have said you are guilty, in these proceedings because a triple adjustment was made to your case, we must honor the final verdict you have chosen for yourself."

"No mercy will be seen by this court with you having twisted these proceedings far longer then the initial outcome."

Gwottimer started to yell that these whole proceedings were a disgrace but the Clam raised his voice over his and continued, "Gwottimer, you are guilty ! By insisting that he pay you when indeed he was innocent and then claiming you yourself were innocent is robbery in the first degree."

"By cutting him when you were innocent proves you were guilty in your prior statement of claiming you were innocent. Because you cannot be innocent of both counts, and having claimed both to yourself, since both counts together prove a falsehood, we can only charge you of one crime."

"Your initial claim of being innocent of BOTH is a black-hearted lie to this court which is the most severe kind of law that can be broken. This court finds you guilty, we are glad you agreed earlier with our findings, and a DOUBLE execution has been arranged for you immediately -"

The judge sucked in one quick breath to continue to prevent Gwottimer from interrupting him further.

"This court is adjourned !"

Then the clam faced me, "David, your sword will be confiscated of course. Do you wish to change your plea of innocent to the first charge and guilty of the second charge ?"

"No no no ... !" I couldn't speak fast enough. I certainly didn't want to worsen my situation anymore than it already was.

The judge smiled at me. "A wise decision. Our Nurse will attend to you now." Turning his 'head' towards the officer he said.

"Gwottimer's time is up ! He finally dug himself into a pit. assemble the people, no outsiders. Only those that have ever seen Gwottimer prior to this court case will attend this execution. Positively no outsiders are to see this spectacle."

"This way." the pretty nurse directed me through a one-way door. There was a clamoring of yelling and cheering going on behind me, apparently Gwottimer didn't have many friends in truth, and I wondered if that was because he never tried to make any.

But nonetheless she led me away from all of this.

She unwrapped my hand, and the healing bandages must have surely been magical for the severe cuts to my hand were almost completely gone. She kissed the inside of my palm which arose a warm feeling inside me.

"Kiss it all better ?" she smiled and said in her delicate voice. "How are you feeling now, any pain ?"

"No." I said, and took her hand in mine. "It was just a scratch really."

I was unable to let go of her hand and she didn't let go of mine but held it in hers. My whole face flushed warm and I felt dizzy with feelings. Suddenly she pulled on my hand, "You need to come this way now."

"Wha ? Where are we going ?" I asked but grinned at her as she continued to hold my hand and lead the way.

And she smiled in return as we walked but didn't answer my question. It seemed everyone in this land was either magically beautiful or curiously strange in some way.

Still holding my hand I heard a loud cheering behind a long wooden door that she opened with her other free one and - I was then witness to Gwottimer's 'double' execution.

(This dream has been edited, Gwottimer's death was seen to me, and it was perhaps the most horrible thing I had ever seen EVER at the time and I doubt any readers would like to know more details, I wish I was spared of it in this dream which quickly turned into a nightmare, but I wasn't).

DREAM ENDS