Exit to the Right ??

"Look who's finally up," Mathilda trilled when Matis brain recalibrated and pictures appeared through the fog. The first thing he saw with certainty and focus was a close-up of his mother's fingers, drawing near with the clear intention of running down his cheek. He tried to evade them, but he didn't have much room to move.

Left and right of his head rose his arms up, and behind him Matis' head bumped into the wall against which he stood propped up. He tried the chains that were shackled to his wrists, tried to melt them with a bolt.

"Don't brother, darling. We had them custom made to withstand your strength as well as Flo's magic. Only the best for our children," Mathilda smiled. By the mention of Flo, Matis caught the flicker of light reflected by metal behind Mathilda's shoulder. It came from the chains holding Flo in much the same position as Matis, on the other side of the room. He was alive. Relief pushed through Matis' veins though it made him wonder who had been ordered to be killed back in Nott's realm.

"Well," Mathilda clapped. Once together her hands stayed knotted and she looked happily from Matis to Flo and back. "Now that our audience is awake, there is some bureaucracy to complete." She stepped out through a heavy wooden door with iron fittings. On its other side was a rough stone wall lit by the flickering shine of torches. Matis wondered where they had brought them. When he looked over to Flo, he shrugged. Flo had no idea either.

That was all the time they got, because the click of Mathilda's shoes on the stone floor came closer again. When she stepped in, she was followed by a man, Matis had never seen.

"Mr. Hermod," Mathilda put her arm around the small, unremarkable man who by his coloring seemed to be made of the same stuff as Nott's sand and pulled him forward, "works as clerk for the Immortals' court. While you two beauties slept, the court has stepped together to debate your case."

"Shouldn't we have been present for that? To have a chance to defend ourselves?" Flo croaked. His voice sounded as rasp as Matis' throat felt.

While Mr. Hermod shrunk back into Mathilda's arm, Mathilda waved Flo off with a lazy gesture. "Your parents were called upon to see to your interests. We managed to prevent the worst, haven't we Mr. Hermod?" The man nodded, a parchment clutched to his chest. "You see, Florizel, not even your golden tongue could have done better. Let's read them the verdict Mr. Hermod, shall we?"

With a slight push Mathilda shoved the man forward. He stumbled, caught himself, and cleared his throat after unrolling the parchment. He then read in an unexpected steady and clear voice, "In the case against Florizel, son of Duke Guthrum, and Mamillius, son of Duke Vlad and Duchess Mathilda, the honorable court of the Immortals has gathered and has come to the following verdict: For willfully endangering and harming the mortal population, for putting the mortal world on the brink of unrest and chaos, and for manipulating the writing on the Tree in an effort to cover up aforementioned deeds we sentence the accused to life in prison. The conditions of the imprisonment are subject to the behavior of the convicted. Any improvement depends on acts of redemption, starting by yielding the information that is necessary to destroy the blood currently hidden in a nut, and to stop whatever infection the convicted have brought upon the mortals. Done and ordered in Chambers today."