#Challenge failed successfully: neither is this 100 - 300 (or even 500) words nor does a trial even work like this

[thesuetyouforgot]

Fanfic request asks:

The Trial of King Arthur, Sir Bedivere and Sir Lancelot as they're in court for the apparent murder of Frank the Famous Historian (which they didn't even commit) and they're testified against by the previous characters that they've met in Holy Grail (like the Black Knight, the 3-Headed Giant, the French Taunters, Zoot, etc).

The Trial of Arthur, Bedivere & Lancelot =requested by @yonderghostshistories ------

"Hold it, hold it… Don't everybody speak up at once…" The judge was wishing for nothing more than this trial to finally come to an end. Though the case was nothing too extraordinary -he has experienced a lot in his working days- and the three defendants were a bit strange -insisting on keeping up their medieval disguise-; the witnesses definitely were the icing on the cake - unbearable! The weirdest creatures, appearing so strange and unreal that even the knightly defendants seemed normal in comparison. And worst of all - none of them could give clear, useful testimony.

The judge had eventually managed to tame the herd of young ladies and to get them to stay silent while only one of them spoke. Zoot, so her name, was mentioning very important indications. "…he was feral, swinging his sword and threatening us with violence while just barging into our castle. That man-", her eyes were glistening contemptuously when she pointed at Sir Lancelot, "is a danger. I have no doubt he would be capable of committing this crime."

The judge nodded, a small content smile on his lips. That coincided with the police's first suspicion and also with the statements of various wedding guests. This case seemed to be just about clear by now and Lancelot would have to face his judical fate.

…or so he thought. More witnesses were to follow. And one especially caught everyone's attention: A knight in black armour and with neither arms nor legs was wheeled into the courtroom by a nurse. Although he himself did not consider it to be that tragical, the fact that 'King' Arthur supposedly was the cause for this man's limblessness -and probably his madness too, the judge thought to himself- did change the judge's view of the blond defendant. "It was a fair duel! I must not be blamed!" King Arthur looked almost frantic and definitely miserable when he called out his plea, to which the black knight even agreed with a nod.

What a strange bunch of people… The judge could only shake his head in disbelief. This was going nowhere… "Alright. We'll continue the trial after a break of-", he took a look at the big clock on the wall, "-two hours." He banged his gavel and off everyone went.

Barely feeling refreshed, court staff and spectators returned to the courtroom two hours later; only some of the journalists had sent in a replacement for the remaining trial. "Send in the next witness please." The judge took a deep breath before he would have to face whatever strange witness would appear in front of him now.

And his expectations definitely were not disappointed: An old, poorly dressed woman waddled into the room, her eyes wandering along the faces in front of her until her gaze came to rest on Arthur and Bedivere. Pointing at the latter, she exclaimed alarmed: "Those men are evil! The king and this blue knight… Especially the knight." She needed a moment to compose herself again as even the mere memory of the occurrences seemed to take her breath away. "Not a second did they hesitate to extort me to get their will by calling out…", she paused for a while, "…Ni."

The last word was only whispered but it caused a collective gasp to go through half the courtroom. Only police, attorneys and journalists looked around in astonishment. "Ni?" The judge asked in puzzlement, raising his eyebrows. He was taken aback when the woman in front of him immediately flinched at his question, clutching her chest as if her heart was about to stop beating. He let out a groan. What had he gotten into here? Another difficult witness and another vague evidence against one of the three defendants when the police had clearly reported that only one could be the murderer…

All the judge really knew by now was how close he was to banging his own head against the table instead of his little gavel.