บท 12: Court is in session

My eyes went wide in shock, Channing was hugging me and I couldn't hold back that sweat that drenched my palms. Whatever he said was with good intentions but I was not used to this kind of touch. My breathing paced as an odd feeling drowned my heart, as if this man meant something, awkwardly placing my hands on his shoulder I returned the hug halfway trying to push him away.

Maybe because I was denied a man's touch while locked in the castle dungeons, but there was already a different kind of feeling this man activated inside me which I was still trying to understand.

"Umm... thank you Cha-Channing, I'm actually not quite comfortable," my voice came out rather low, I wondered if he could hear it.

He immediately let go of me running his hands through his blonde hair, clearing his hoarse voice, "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. It's about time we head inside! That is the way we go, the entrance will take you to the spectator area" he said pointing towards the other side of the lobby, stealing his eyes away.

"Spectator area! Sounds as if an orchestra is going to start inside" I tried to lighten the mood to which he laughed and without saying anything just brisked ahead.

I ran up to him walking alongside, "So this is all the evidence you got?"

He turned to me confused so I pointed at the rolled papers in his hand. He looked down, realising my question, "Oh this! It's the courts' legal document, we need to bring it for every trial. And yes it also has some evidence in it, but none of them is your concern so don't think a lot about it." He hit my head playfully with the rolled documents.

Is he actually like this? He probably treats every other girl like this. I tried to calm my heart from being flattered by his every little action. But why do I keep feeling that he is trying to flirt? Whatever that shouldn't be my concern right now, 'focus on the case!'

We walked in through an open door leading to a grand looking lobby, there was a red carpet on the floor, some expensive paintings adorning the walls and a potted plant in every corner. It was truly decorated like a lobby outside an orchestra house! We continued to the end of the lobby and opened the rather small door which led directly inside the courtroom.

It was nothing traditional, there was an inclined sitting area for the "spectators" and it was separated by a thick glass from our side of the court. On this side, there was a sofa for all the suspects and the testimonies, A relaxing chair for both the lawyers to sit. The judges' panel was also separated by the thick glass between us, the seat for three judges was on a height and below was the jury panel.

It was a smart design to keep the judging panel and the people attending safe in case of any mishap and give them enough time to flee the site.

"This looks nothing like a rural court! It's as good as a royal court." I said with an amassed expression. Channing smiled and asked me to go and sit on the sofa, I walked ahead and saw our pack sitting near the front in the audience area. Almost all of them looked around in awe as if coming here for the first time.

The bells rang and both the lawyers entered, Channing immediately went to our lawyer and handed the documents in his hand explaining something. The jury also took their respective place and the loud sound of some strange instrument stole everyone's attention. The three judges entered and checked their mic, "Hello am I audible? Let's begin with the trials, let there be silence when the court is in session. lawyer for Winterwells, start with the opening statement."

Channing took a seat beside me, but I was more focused on the lawyer. He went ahead to explain the entire incident as we knew, after he was done the defendant lawyer from Waterwoods gave his statement. It was almost whatever we already knew, what happened next was the main dish of this case.

The judge sitting in the middle was probably in his late 70s, the other two looked quite younger than him. He patted the mic and in his rough, slow voice said, "Winterwells, call in your suspect for today's trials."

Channing immediately asked me to go and I did, I walked to the testimonial square and climbed the three stairs standing at the far end of it.

Our lawyer came forward and showed the pictures of John's dead body on the projector screen. "Sire, as you can see on the screen John's abdominal and chest area was ripped out brutally here," said the lawyer and changed the slide continuing, "These reports clearly state the cause of death as bleeding due to extreme open wounds on the body, the traces are of an unknown wolf. I would like you to hear it from Selene herself who was present at the site, what exactly happened that night?"

I was nervous at his inquiry, but I was prepared for this moment, "I went there to save Channing, however, John attacked me which led to a fight as he wanted to kill our Alpha. But later another wolf crossed over the fence from Waterwoods Village and struck at John. He tried to fight back, but lost in a battle of strength and died of blood loss."

"As you heard Sire", the Lawyer proceeded immediately, "Selene saw a wolf from the Waterwoods attack and kill john. Before that John was perfectly fine to be able to fight back!"

"Objection Sire!" Said the other lawyer, "There were severe wounds inflicted by Selene and only she saw the wolf enter Waterwoods, we deny the claim that any wolf from Waterwoods attacked John."

Our lawyer countered immediately, "So you are saying that the rest of the bodies we found didn't belong to the werewolves from your village?"

"Objection overruled," the judge sitting at the left corner said in a loud voice, "Lawyers, the feud between your villages can wait, the case will be handled with justice!"

The opposition lawyer sat back down and our advocate continued, "It is true Selene inflicted wounds on John's body, but Selene was injured as well. She claimed to have got into a fight with him, but as she wasn't gravely injured so wasn't John! It was after the werewolf from Waterwoods arrived that John lost his life. I request you to inquire into this matter more deeply!" His gaze bore into their lawyer with disgust as he went back to his chair.

The lawyer defending Waterwoods got up immediately, "I would like to ask Miss Selene, why did you fight with John that night?" He asked in a devilish tone.

I looked at Channing and he nodded his head assuring me, "I was protecting Channing, as John told me that he wanted Channing dead and wished to become the Alpha of our pack. So I simply just defended our Alpha which made him attack me and result in our fight."

A murmur went through the entire audience listening about John's betrayal but the lawyer smiled as if satisfied with my answer, "Sire! This matter is internal for the Winterwells, that day in defence, as Selene claims they fought. But no one else saw the other wolf, she is just covering her crime blaming Waterwoods, when in fact no one else was present there that day! She just wants to get out of being called a murderer, pushing her blame onto us.

"Further she can't prove John's betrayal, she is just making up the story to get in everyone's good books. The truth is she was the one who tricked Channing, she planned the attack and as John must have found out about her, she must have killed him to shut his mouth up forever!"

I trembled at his words, this is exactly what John had threatened me about. Little did I know even after his death, this charge would come and corner me. I tried to find a counter-argument through my shaky voice as only my mouth moved but no sound was there.

The murmurs from the crowd grew louder and louder cornering me,

"Such a cheap trick! She must be prosecuted."

"John was a nobleman, why would he want to kill Channing! It must be this girl."

"How fake is she with those teary eyes, such people should get a death sentence!"

"Murderer, betrayer! Sentence her to death!"