Audrey had volunteered to be the first to testify. She felt she owed the others as much. She was also the one who had the most details to share, since she had been the one to work with Nora and the FBI. But she couldn't deny that she was a little nervous.
When she was on her way to the podium, the stares and hate she felt from the defendant bench more than doubled. She didn't look at any of them, she only looked at the lawyer, as she had been instructed. She said her name and how she had become involved in the events. Then she started her testimony, with how she had paid for a ticket and came to the burh. She didn't go into detail about her own background, that wasn't relevant to the events. If the defendant lawyer asked, she would answer, but in her story now, it would be seen as a way to garner sympathy.
When she told of how she had been placed in the pillory and left there overnight, she could almost feel the tension in the room. It was packed with reporters and people who had lost someone, so she suspected most of them tried to picture it. She gave as many details as possible, especially about the first few days, which had arguably been the worst. She then went on to describe what she could remember about Rita. She herself had not been able to come and testify, so Audrey had decided to tell her story as well. She had warned Bryan she would do that, and he agreed. When she told how Philip had cut out part of Rita's tongue, she saw many that gasped or heaved for breath. She took a moment to collect herself before continuing. The strongest response came when she told of her and Philip's last conversation in the sheep pen. How he had claimed that Arthur planned a new way to get new theows and his latent threat that he would claim her.
Arthur's lawyer protested that she had no way of knowing whether that was his client's plan, but Audrey simply responded that she didn't say that, but it was Philip's words.
"That was what gave me the courage to go along with the plan that I learned just after he had left. I served dinner that night and made sure that Philip's mug was always full, so he drank even more than he normally would. That way, I hoped he would be out cold when the FBI arrived."
Altogether, it took her hours to tell everything she remembered. And that left out a lot of details. She hadn't said how she came to lose her memories, only that it was an incident and she got knocked on the head. She suspected the defense lawyer would ask about that later. She wasn't looking forward to the cross examination, but it would probably not make much of a difference. The video had already been shown and accepted as valid, no matter what her testimony said.
During lunch, both Nora and Leann spent the time boosting her confidence. Her face was completely void of expression as she sat down for the cross examination. Philip's lawyer asked a series of questions about the details, clearly trying to trip her up. But she coldly replied when she couldn't remember and answered every question exactly as she had during the initial testimony. And she made sure to only use Philip's name and felt a hint of satisfaction every time she saw the faint outline of his eyes on her. She didn't dare look over at him completely, but since she was addressing his lawyer, it was inevitable that she saw some of him as well.
When the lawyer started asking about that final night though, he clearly wanted her to admit that she had tied him up and then teased him. She admitted to tying him up, and said she only knew where the ropes were because he had previously restrained her there all night but asked him to clarify when he said she was teasing him.
"My client claims that you came into his room later and deliberately provoked him, just before the FBI arrived."
"Ah, yes, I was in his room when I heard the helicopters. I overheard Ædven and one other person discuss who should go and check on Philip, since he hadn't come out yet. I made sure to stumble, so they became aware of me, and they were quick to give me the task instead. I knew that if any of them had gone in, they would have released him, and I would be in even greater danger. I hoped that by making sure that Philip was not present, it would be easier to convince most of the churls to not fight back."
"What did you say to him, when you saw that he was awake?"
"I don't remember the exact words, but I think I said something about how he now would know how it feels to be tied up and helpless, since he had done that to so many others. It wasn't a long conversation, as I soon heard the helicopters and had to go down to the courtyard to try and prevent the others from fighting the FBI."
When the lawyer tried to continue pressing this point, the FBI lawyer protested, asking why this was relevant. Luckily the judge ruled it wasn't. Audrey hadn't done anything wrong when she tied him up and she wasn't accused of doing it either.
The rest of the cross examination went without a problem. Most of them didn't even have questions for her.
The next witness was Nora. Audrey hadn't actually heard her story in full until now, and she was more in danger of crying now than during her own testimony. Hearing how much effort Nora had put into finding her again made her feel loved in a way she hadn't since her family died. She couldn't stop herself from giving Nora a long hug as she came back to her seat. Her cross examination hadn't been nearly as long, since she hadn't interacted directly with most of them. Arthur's lawyer had tried to accuse her of threatening his client with a gun, but as Nora pointed out, it wasn't a gun, and even if it was, she was preventing Arthur from closing the gates.
It took several weeks to go through all of them, but in the end, there could only really be one result. They were all found guilty. Most of the churls on trial were sentenced to many years in prison and mandatory counseling. Ava, the scop, got life in prison for her many possession charges and for aiding in the abuse that had happened. Arthur and Philip both got the death penalty. As the judge declared that, Audrey finally dared to look over at the accused bench. Arthur looked defeated, as if he had truly believed that the result would be different. Philip had no reaction. That is, until he saw that Audrey was looking at him. Then his eyes filled with lust and hate in equal measure. Audrey held his gaze until he was forced to look away, as he was being taken out of the courtroom. Only when he was out of her sight did she allow herself to relax.
It was finally over.