them?” Kira asked fretfully, clasping her hands together as they waited.

“I’m not sure…” Jenna asked, her voice filled with just as much worry, “But I’m praying it’s not them…”

Just then, the judge took to his stand and the doors opened. In walked Sheriff Steele, his deputies, and the three outlaws, bound in handcuffs. Everyone muttered silently amongst themselves. Jenna and Kira gasped in fear. They had been right.

The three prisoners were handcuffed to chairs at a table before the judge and the court. The jury sat off to the side, staring at the three accused convicts. Balto had a blank, neutral expression, Kale simply smirked, and Kaltag glanced around somewhat nervously. The judge banged his gavel and a silence fell across the courtroom. The judge turned to Steele and nodded to him.

“Present the case, sheriff,” the dog stated as the husky rose to his feet and stood before the court in the center of the courtroom.

“Ladies and gentlemen, your Honor, I present to you the three dogs that came into our town to deliberately cause us harm,” Steele began, pacing back and forth slowly, “They observed our daily activity and then what did they do? They made a move on the law-enforcers of Silent Spring. Last night, one of them broke into my office while me and my deputies were inside and made an attempt to kill us. He then jumped out a window and sought help from his two partners here. They then murdered two deputies before we were able to bring them to justice. Here they are now: Mr. Balto McLane, Mr. Kale McGovern, and Mr. Kaltag Lorden.”

Kale scoffed and shook his head. He leaned back in his head, arms folded across his chest. He had a look of amused disbelief on his face as he lowered the brim of his hat over his icy-blue eyes. Steele glared and him and chuckled softly.

“I’d like to call Kale to the stand!” he declared. Kale refused to move even a muscle. Steele waited a minute before speaking again. “Kale, get to the stand!” Kale lifted the brim again and smirked at Steele.

“Sorry, I couldn’t hear you over your blatant lies,” Kale retorted, “Besides, it’s kinda hard to ‘take the stand’ when you’re handcuffed to a chair!”

A few people in the audience chuckled, but were silenced by an angry glare from the sheriff. He let Kale up, brought him to the stand, and handcuffed him once more. Steele then sighed softly, now a little more relaxed that the dog was where he wanted him to be.

“Alright… Kale, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?” Steele asked. Kale merely shrugged and the husky continued, “Now then, is it true that you were in my office last night?”

“Well yes, but-” Kale began, but was cut off by Steele’s next question.

“And is it true that you did, in fact, inflict harm to several of my deputies, including myself?” Kale opened his mouth to speak, but Steele continued, “And did you not assist your friends in the murder of two deputies of Silent Spring?”

Kale went to speak, but sighed and leaned back in his chair. He smirked slightly, holding back a chuckle at the sheriff who was oblivious to the outlaw’s lack of interest as he continued his interrogation.

“So is it not true that you did, in fact, break several laws, including assault of several law-enforcers and the murder of two of them?” Steele finished, turning back to Kale and staring into his eyes fiercely. Kale casually glanced around the courtroom before returning his gaze to Steele.

“Oh, were you done? Sorry… See, I thought the points of trials were to ask questions and get answers on what happened, not have crooked sheriffs bark questions at you every two seconds…” Kale remarked wittily, “Can I answer now or are you going to cut me off again, Sheriff?”

Steele growled, but low enough so only Kale could hear him. “Answer-the-questions…” he snarled softly, his eyes burning with anger.

“Yes to all of them, but the only reason I did any of them was because you kidnapped me!” Kale snapped back. The courtroom was once more filled with low murmurs. Steele, however, kept his cool and turned around.

“So you’re trying to blame me for your own crimes? How desperate can one dog be?” he asked, getting Kale mad.

“Why you crooked, slimy excuse for a sheriff!” he shouted, going to lunge for Steele, but was restrained by his steel bindings to the chair. After a moment of struggling, he sighed dejectedly and sat down.

“One last question…” Steele stated, turning back to Kale, “Is it true you attempted to murder me before in a deadly ‘game’ of yours?” Balto and Kaltag went pale. They knew that that part was true. Kale simply stared at Steele and said,

“Can I go back to my chair now?” Steele growled once more and let Kale up so the dog could walk back to his seat and sit down. Steele then looked back to the others and pointed to Balto.

“You, Mr. McLane. I call you to the stand!” Steele barked out demandingly.

“Here we go…” Balto murmured and waited until Steele let him up to take the seat at the stand.

“Balto McLane, is it true that you murdered two deputies right before the entire force of Silent Spring?” Balto scoffed slightly at Steele’s accurate inquiry.

“Are you gonna keep interrupting me like you did to Kale?” Balto asked, receiving a similar fierce growl like Kale had.

“Just answer the question!” Steele ordered, banging his fist against the stand, “Did you murder two of my deputies?”

“Objection!” Jenna shouted angrily, rising to her feet, “Balto is kind and sweet and would never harm anyone!” Balto quickly glanced up and smiled at Jenna, not knowing she had been here.

“Ms. McMahn, please sit down,” the judge said calmly and watched Jenna sit before turning to Steele, “Please continue, sheriff…”

“Oh really?” Steele asked slyly, “Bring in the bodies!” Just then, the doors to the courtroom opened up and two of his deputies carried the bodies of their fallen friends inside, holding them in a standing position for the court. Two bullet wounds had hit either dog, causing immediate death. Steele walked over to a table with the three outlaws’ bandoliers on it and took out Balto’s pistols, opening the chamber to show the two chambers with scorch marks around them.

“You can inspect the other dogs’ guns, but only Balto’s has fired two shots recently,” he explained, determined to convict the trio, “The bullet types match with the ones in Balto’s gun currently and at an inspection of the gunshot marks on his pistol, one can tell by the scent it still carries that they were fired within 24 hours.”

“Objection!” Jenna declared defensively, standing up swiftly, “Balto had been firing his gun with me at some targets yesterday. That’s why his gun is like that!”

Ms. McMahn, please take your seat!” the judge said and Jenna sat down.

“But he undoubtedly cleaned it off, did he not?” Steele asked, a hint of malice in his voice, “Also, Kale did, in fact, break into my office and try to murder us all…”

“Like Hell I did!” Kale shouted, trying to stand again and falling back to his chair.

“Kale wouldn’t do a thing like that!” Kira called out, standing up once more, “He’s innocent, I know he is!” Kale’s ears perked up when he heard Kira’s voice and turned around to stare happily at her, overjoyed at her presence.

“Ms. Thesher and Ms. McMahn, one more interruption and I’ll have to have you removed from my courtroom! We’re trying to conduct a trial!” the judge exclaimed, looking back to the sheriff, giving him the signal to continue.

“Some trial this is! The only word you trust is to a sheriff who’s had a grudge against these three since they first arrived!” Jenna shouted, rising to stand beside her friend, “This is biased against Balto, Kale, and Kaltag! It’s like you’re just trying to kill them!”

“That’s the final straw… Sheriff, would you mind having two of your deputies escort Ms. McMahn and Ms. Thesher out of the room?”

“Certainly,” Steele replied, turning to his team leaning against the far wall, “You heard the judge! Watch them outside.”

Two of his deputies nodded to Steele and walked over to the two young dogs. Taking them by the arms, they led the struggling females out toward the doors leading to the lobby of the courthouse. Balto and Kale growled angrily and fought against their bindings.

“Get the Hell off of them!” Balto shouted, fighting a losing battle with his handcuffs.

“I swear I’ll tear you apart, you bastards!” Kale shouted after them, still fighting with every ounce of strength in his body, “Argh, Son of a bitch! I hate handcuffs!”

Jenna and Kira tried to struggle away from the two deputies, but they were easily overpowered by the dogs holding them. They cast a quick glance back at the three convicts before the doors were closed and they were gone. Kale growled angrily and settled down, a fierce, deadly glare on his face. Balto had a look that could strike a dog dead at glance. Once all was still, the judge sighed heavily.

“Let the trial continue…” he said slowly, banging his gavel once.

Chapter 3

            Jenna and Kira sat out in the lobby with bated breath. Every so often, they could hear the muffled sounds of the audience of the courtroom get riled up a bit, but then it immediately went silent. Everything was way too silent and still for comfort. They couldn’t