If looks could kill, I’d have been six feet under ages ago. For instance, at this moment, Judge Andalus was staring me down with such a look I almost died right there on the spot (I couldn’t rightly tell, of course. He was wearing a rather complex helmet, completely concealing his face from my view. But surely his face wore some grotesque visage. It always did the rest of the time!) This probably would have helped the Judges’ case along, something I was determined not to do.

“Farvus Vichni,â€? he boomed in his deep, refined voice, “you are present today in the Court of Daeyador for crimes against the city, including the following…â€?

After which he listed off the numerous crimes I had committed, such as illegal chariot racing (I smiled fondly at the memory), playing Daeyadorian Death Match (a rather vicious game outlawed for being just as violent as it sounds) in unauthorized zones, and, most recently, bribing some of the Judges before my trial (no comment).

No, the odds were not in my favor.