Judgment

"You must be punished, and the choice is before me as to how." The words came a little softer, but his expression did not change. "I understand that you cannot have acted alone in this, but we have no other to hold to this crime, so my judgment is this..." He paused once more, the doom of the moment as heavy as loomweights. "If you can aid us in finding those to blame not yet burned beside those wagons, then you shall outlawed from the Stonedeans for one year, your property gifted to the families of the dead men you betrayed." Firming his jaw once more, he exhaled slowly. "If you do not aid this, if no other is brought to account then you shall hang from the old oak outside the gates until you are dead." The doom spoken, he called out. "This I pronounce in the name of the King, my judgment."