Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 08:07:06 +0000 (UTC)
From: Christian Debus <servus4u@ymail.com>
Subject: "Changed Circumstances" Chapter 64  Gay Male/Authoritarian

Changed Circumstances
Chapter 64
"Retribution"


This is a story of erotic fiction meant to be read by adults over the age
of eighteen years

Written by Jean-Christophe October, 2014
My stories are archived at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Jean-Christophe_Stories

"The characters and ideas contained in this story are products of the
writer's imagination and bear no resemblance to actual persons or
events. Please respect the integrity of the story and don't do any
rewrites, make alterations or add another's artwork or pictures"

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Chapter 64:

My late grandfather had numbered many judges among his friends and
acquaintances although I can't recall if the elderly Judge Fitzwilliam was
one of them. Anxiously, I watch as he takes his seat and the court is
called to order.

Michael Stewart had told me the Honorable Henry Fitzwilliam is an old
school, no nonsense type judge who runs a "tight ship" and true to that
description he wastes little time in opening proceedings.

His first action is to address the court and to outline his course of
action.

"Sadly, it's my melancholy duty to deal with a number of serious, criminal
offences with which the four defendants are charged." His Honor pauses to
peer accusingly over the top of his glasses at the four trembling prisoners
in the dock. "Some of these are crimes against the state's laws while
others relate to a grave miscarriage of justice perpetrated in another
court just a few feet from my own courtroom and which, happily, it has
fallen upon me to correct.  But I will return to that in due
course. Suffice to say that all the crimes of which the defendants are
charged - while separate in themselves - do converge in a dastardly plot to
injure an innocent man and deny him his freedom. I refer, of course, to Mr
Lucien Barrois - and I warmly welcome you to my court, Mr Barrois - who is
the innocent victim of the miscarriage of justice I referred to in my
earlier remarks."

My heart soars! Even though Judge Fitzwilliam is still to rule in my favor
his remarks confirm that I am free. And in welcoming me to his court as "Mr
Barrois", he has given me back my true identity.

As his words resonate throughout the room, there is a spontaneous round of
applause from the spectators' gallery. I can't help but contrast this with
the hand-clapping and jeering of the crowd who'd celebrated my enslavement
in Judge Matthew's courtroom three years ago.

Today's crowd is very different! These people are members of the "Save
Rafe" group and my supporters. I am humbled by their show of support and -
even though I know it has impinged upon the court's dignity - I deeply
appreciate their actions. All my pent-up emotions are laid bare for them to
see and suddenly I begin to weep. And as I struggle to regain my composure,
Thor reaches out and cradles me in his arms. From the security of Thor's
embrace, I hear the rapping of Judge Fitzwilliam's gavel and his request
for order. I draw away from Thor and facing the judge, I apologize to him.

"I'm sorry for my outburst, your honor."

"You need not apologize to my court, Mr Barrois. Rather it is the courts
which should apologize to you. I am mindful of your awful ordeal of the
past three years and I can only imagine the emotions that you now feel. And
your tears are perfectly understandable given the circumstances of the past
twenty-four hours. However, I do wish to spare you a lengthy sitting before
me and my intention is to be as quick as possible so that I can restore you
to the companionship of your friends and supporters. No doubt, they'll wish
to celebrate with you when I deliver my final finding. But for now," Judge
Fitzwilliam appeals to the public gallery, "I would ask for their patience
- and their silence - and allow me to proceed."

I'd been listening so intently to Judge Fitzwilliam's words that I'd
forgotten about the four prisoners in the dock. As I look towards them, I
sense an air of foreboding hanging over the dock; all four defendants are
crushed. They stand despairingly with their shoulders slumped and
white-knuckled as they clutch the rail of their enclosure for support. Just
as I'd read the judge's intention towards me, they'd also done the same and
came to the conclusion that they are to be adjudged guilty of all crimes.

"Let me say that today, in this court, I am the sole arbiter of guilt or
innocence and the dispenser of justice. Therefore, I have decided no jury
is necessary in this case as the defendants, by their own abhorrent
actions, have shown their guilt beyond any shadow of a doubt. Hence, there
is no necessity for the prisoners to waste my court's time by entering
their pleas of guilt or innocence."

All four defendants gasp audibly at the judge's ruling. And his words
confirm what they'd already unhappily guessed - that they are guilty as
charged.

"Since this unhappy case was brought before me barely twenty-four hours
ago," Judge Fitzwilliam continues, "I have considered every aspect of it
and unhappily for the prisoners, I can find neither excuses for their
crimes nor any extenuating circumstances that might mitigate their guilt. I
will first of all deal with the serious crime with which all four
defendants are charged. That is the illegal trading of slaves and more
specifically their failed attempt to smuggle two slaves out of the
country. Our legislators have quite rightly put into place sensible rules
for the orderly importing and exporting of slaves. And all four defendants
were aware of this when they hatched their dastardly plot to circumvent the
law by spiriting Mr Lucien Barrois and the slave known as Norge abroad to
some undisclosed destination. On this charge I find all four defendants
guilty! It is now my melancholy duty to pass sentence."

Judge Fitzwilliam's verdict is greeted with a solitary, strangled cry from
Simon Barrow who, as a lawyer, is undoubtedly aware of the implications the
verdict is to have on him and his three co-accused. The judge ignores Simon
as he addresses the foreign slave-trader, Luis Martello.

"Luis Martello! I find you guilty as charged. Sir, as a foreigner you were
welcomed into our country and allowed to conduct your business dealings
with our citizens. You, sir, as a guest abused our hospitality and
generosity by engaging in a nefarious activity with your fellow accused. I
am tempted to believe this wasn't your first attempt at such illegal
activities and if this is so then your punishment is long overdue. The
penalty for the crime of which you and your co-conspirators are guilty is
mandatory and it's not within my power to alter it.  Therefore, you are
sentenced to lifelong servitude without manumission. You will be taken from
this court for processing and eventually offered for sale as a slave at
public auction. The proceeds from your sale will be paid into the public
coffers together with all monies or personal items of value you have with
you. Bailiff, take the prisoner down!"

I don't know the foreign slave-trader's mother tongue and his words are
incomprehensible to me. But their intent is obvious. As he is hauled
kicking and screaming from the hushed courtroom, he hurls foul, verbal
abuse firstly at the judge and then to the other three defendants who are
left ashen-faced by his sentence. Each now knows the fate that awaits him.

Gradually, the shouting and protests grow fainter as the new slave is
hauled away to be processed into his slavery. I shiver as I recall that
terrible day three years ago when I'd been made to crawl the length of the
long corridor from Judge Matthew's courtroom to the Office of Slave
Assessments and Registrations. And as I made that journey, I first felt the
excruciating pain of the cruel Whippistick. Then it was a new novelty in
the unpracticed hands of an overseer now it is used universally on
slaves. I wonder if Cyrus T Humboldt is still working as the registrar. I
recall him as a pompous, self-opinionated and grossly overweight individual
reeking of cheap body perfume in a vain attempt to mask the obnoxious scent
of his perpetually sweating body. I also remember his gauche and clueless
young assistant, Jason and wonder if he still works within the court
complex. However, I have no desire to renew my contact with either of them.

Patiently, Judge Fitzwilliam waits until all is silent and then he turns to
the second slaver, Lionel Schuster.

"Lionel Schuster, I find you guilty as charged and sentence you to lifelong
servitude without manumission."

Lionel Schuster greets the judge's words with a strangled protest

"No! You can't do this! I was tricked into doing this by Guy Maratier and
Simon Barrow. I was only doing them a favor."

"I doubt that very much!" the judge replies tartly. "You don't impress me
as the type of individual who'd do a favor for anyone without a monetary
reward. And the evidence presented to me suggests that you were being well
paid for your part in this evil scheme. An envelope, addressed to you and
containing a large sum of money, was retrieved from the prisoner, Barrow
which he has confessed was given to him by the prisoner Maratier with the
explicit instruction that he was to give it to you as payment for your part
in the illegal smuggling of two slaves out of the country."

"Your Honor, please! I beg the court's mercy." Lionel's words take on an
air of desperation.  "I didn't mean to do wrong."

"Of course you did. You would be aware that you were breaking the law. You
are a member of a profession that is held in low esteem and men like you
are the reason why slave-dealers are generally despised and viewed as
untrustworthy. And you are living proof of that untrustworthiness. An
example must be made of you to serve as a warning to other slave- dealers
that the law won't tolerate such illegal practices as the one you
perpetrated.  Therefore, as well as being sentenced to lifelong slavery,
all your property, personal effects and monies are forfeited to the state."

"NO!!! I'm too old to be a slave! Please, have pity?"

"While it's true that you are elderly, my hands are tied. The sentence for
the crime for which you stand convicted is very clear; servitude for the
term of your natural life. And unfortunately for you, the law doesn't make
any allowance for your advancing years. You will be taken from my court and
processed into slavery. Then, you will be offered for sale by public
auction where it's very possible that your age will tell against
you. Should you fail to attract a buyer then you'll be handed over to the
state and employed on public projects such as road-building, parks and
gardens maintenance and the like. Bailiff, take the prisoner down!"

In a way I have some understanding what is going through Lionel Schuster's
mind. I know from bitter experience the feelings of disbelief and panic
that would be consuming him as he is lead out of the courtroom by two burly
court guards. But I have absolutely no sympathy for his plight. As I watch
him being led away, I think of the countless, hapless slaves who he'd
bought and sold over the years. He'd never regarded them as human and had
only ever seen their monetary worth adding to his own insatiable greed. And
I recall his callous indifference and the cruelty he'd shown to Cato and me
three years ago as he'd assessed us for Guy Maratier.

Now, Lionel Schuster is to sample the bitter life of a slave and I am
gratified with his changing circumstances. Eagerly, I await the sentencing
of Simon Barrow and Guy Maratier. I wonder what scathing comments Judge
Fitzwilliam will have for them.

Next to be dealt with is Simon Barrow; the verdict is a foregone conclusion
and he knows there'll be no mercy shown to him.

Judge Fitzwilliam leans forward and looks directly at the trembling and
ashen faced attorney.  He seems to be overcome with emotion and indeed he
doesn't speak for several moments.  Then he sadly shakes his head and
solemnly hands down the only verdict open to him.

"Simon Barrow, as a fellow lawyer, it is my melancholy and distasteful duty
to find you guilty as charged and sentence you to lifelong servitude
without manumission."

There is sadness and regret in the judge's voice as he speaks. Obviously,
he finds the sentencing of a fellow jurist distasteful.

Simon Barrow couldn't have been in any doubt about his sentence. After all,
as a lawyer, he'd have known the penalty for his crime, and so he's had
time to reconcile himself to his fate.  Nevertheless, perhaps because of
the emotional impact of his sentencing, he moans audibly.

"Oh no! Please this can't be happening to me!"

Then, he turns to face a visibly shaken Guy Maratier and accuses him.

"You're to blame! You are the case of all this! You're the guilty one. It
should be you who's punished not me. You talked me into helping you.  You
ordered me to do this for you. I was your employee and I was only following
your orders. You are to blame and ..........."

Judge Fitzwilliam orders Simon to either remain silent or to be gagged. He
tell the disgraced attorney the choice is his to make.

Stunned into silence, Simon collapses to his knees and clasps the dock's
railing as he listens to what the judge has to say.

"Simon Barrow, there are no excuses you can offer to this court that
mitigate your guilt. You accuse your co-conspirator of causing your
present, unhappy predicament. That's not true Mr Barrow; you are the sole
architect of your own downfall. As a lawyer you'd have known what Guy
Maratier proposed is against the law and you were duty-bound to have
advised him of this. Instead, it appears that your greed made you acquiesce
and you aided and abetted his dastardly plan for his two slaves. If
anything, your guilt is the greater. As one sworn to uphold and serve the
law you had an obvious duty to point out to your employer that what he
proposed was illegal. If he'd not listened and still persisted with his
illegal plans, then you should have alerted the authorities so that they
could intervene. You didn't do this and by not doing so you compounded your
own guilt. You have no one to blame other than you."

Momentarily, I feel pity for Simon Barrow. Publicly disgraced and now
condemned to perpetual slavery, I can emphasize with his plight. Three
years ago, I'd been in a similar situation and I remember the awful
emptiness I'd felt on that occasion. I'd felt the loss of my freedom, the
pain of rejection and the mocking ridicule and scorn of those around
me. Only one who has also suffered these things would understand what Simon
Barrow is now feeling.  But my sympathy for him is fleeting. I remember how
in the courtroom that day, he'd callously abandoned me and expediently
switched his allegiance to Guy Maratier. His had been an act of gross
betrayal and not that of an honorable man.

And over the years, together with Guy Maratier, he'd been a willing party
in adding to my suffering by his cruel taunting of Thor and me. How many
times had he driven us and applied the driver's whip to our naked backs?
Now he is to taste the bitterness of slavery and to suffer its awful
torments.

Today is a day of retribution and for remembering these things. As I look
sideways to where Thor sits at my side I feel only anger towards those
who'd cruelly used and abused us and there is no place for pity in my
heart.

Once more, Judge Fitzwilliam's summation cuts through my thoughts. He
hasn't yet finished with sentencing Simon Barrow.

"It saddens me deeply to see you standing in my dock," he berates Simon,
"and being found guilty of such a serious crime. From what I gather, you
showed some promise as a lawyer and you could have been held in high esteem
by your peers if you'd chosen to uphold the law and not to break it for
your greedy, pecuniary interests. You are now to pay a high price for that
greed. The public at large is entitled to feel trust in those who enforce
the law and in the courts where justice is dispensed without fear or
favor. Your actions broke that trust and you have brought the noble
institution of the law into disrepute. Therefore, I must take action to
reassure the public that any corruption in the justice system will be
weeded out and ruthlessly dealt with. Your betrayal of the public trust
warrants further punishment. You have been sentenced to the maximum period
of servitude that the law proscribes and I have thought how I can add to
your sentence. Naturally, all your property is forfeited to the state and I
did consider having you publicly flogged as an additional
punishment. However, my court officials have advised me that this could
irreparably damage you and lessen your value when you are sold at
auction. Therefore, I have decided that immediately after you are branded
and fitted with your slave collar, you are to be taken to the front of the
courthouse and placed in the public stocks for a period of twenty-four
hours. The words 'Corrupt Lawyer' are to be written on the titular board
above your head and the general public will, within reason, be permitted to
show their displeasure in the long practiced tradition of pelting you with
overripe fruit and eggs. Additionally, you are to receive thirty strokes of
the cane. I'm mindful that you will be newly branded and therefore you will
be caned on the upper back and shoulders rather than the
buttocks. Hopefully, your public shaming and caning will go some way to
re-assuring the public of the law's intolerance of corruption. Bailiff,
take the prisoner down!"

This additional punishment takes me by surprise. I'd not expected it but I
approve whole- heartedly. From my point of view, it is the icing on the
cake.

Before my own enslavement, I had witnessed prisoners publicly displayed in
the stocks and they are designed to cause discomfort to the hapless victim
and to humiliate him. Stripped naked, the prisoner is forced to kneel on
all fours on a raised platform with his head and hands locked into a
crossbeam. Thus totally immobilized, he is easy prey for the general public
to taunt him. Humiliatingly, all parts of his naked body are open to their
scrutiny and I know from past observations that Simon will be subjected to
the crudest of inspections and subjected to the grossest indignities.

I bitterly recall the day of my enslavement when Guy Maratier drove me away
from the courthouse. As we passed through the crowd, I'd been subjected to
the taunts and jeers of my detractors and my naked body was pelted with
overripe fruit and eggs. No words of mine can adequately describe the
humiliation and the hurt of my public rejection and ridicule. Now Simon
Barrow is to experience it. There is justice in the world, after all!

Desperately, Simon seeks refuge in the dock and refuses to leave. He hangs
onto the railing with grim determination and refuses to co-operate with the
two guards who are to take him to the slave assessor. Finally, more guards
are called for; they waste no time in prying his hands lose from the rail
and dragging him bodily from the court. Gradually, his desperate cries of
protest and his vain pleas for help fade into the distance as he is hauled
down the hallway and delivered into the lascivious, exploratory hands of
the slave assessor. Recalling my own experiences, I picture him being made
to strip naked and subjected to the most intimate of inspections. And from
there he'll be taken to the blacksmith's forge for branding and collaring
before being placed in the stocks.

Now there is just one prisoner to be dealt with and that is my nemesis, Guy
Maratier. I look at him and see that he is wracked by fear. Like a trapped
animal, his eyes dart wildly around the courtroom as though he is looking
for a means of escape and his body is convulsed by his violent
trembling. How isolated he must feel as he stands alone in the dock. It is
a feeling I know all too well!

With Guy Maratier's guilt now a foregone conclusion, I wait for Judge
Fitzwilliam to deliver his verdict. With my hope restored, I am anxious to
leave the court and resume my old life as Lucien Barrois.



To be continued ......