Marianne, the Madame, and the Momentary Gods by Sheri S. Tepper

Author:Sheri S. Tepper [Tepper, Sheri S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: General Fiction, zz
ISBN: 9780441519620
Publisher: Ace
Published: 1988-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

The magistrates were informal in their treatment of those brought before them. There were seven chairs on the dais, and occasionally all seven of them were occupied, though usually only two or three of the magistrates were seated there at a time, often at least one of them asleep. The others wandered about the courtroom or left the room entirely and could occasionally be heard ordering someone around backstage, as it were. One magistrate played endless games of chess with himself. Another drew endless pictures of naked women without heads. Only the tall, dark woman at the left end of the row seemed to pay attention.

‘Window dressing,’ said the voice in Marianne’s mind. ’She’s the only real one. The others are merely window dressing.’ The dark woman peered at her out of fiery eyes, hot, eager eyes, belying her casual demeanor.

‘Just Marianne, charged with receiving stolen goods,’ the prosecutor intoned, tugging at the wig that seemed always about to slip off the back of his bald head. ‘Material of national importance, stolen from the palace.’

‘Trial by combat,’ the dark woman drawled in a bored though somehow elated voice. ‘Next case.’

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