December 3

Rusty walked up to Jonas. "Sir, I need to find a large Sapphire stone. Justine has informed me how to make a crystal of truth. The problem is the local stores only have small ones."

A voice from behind stated, "I can help you with that young wolf."

Jonas and Rusty turned, "hello mam, can I assist you," Jonas asked?"

"I am Upic, Princess of the East Flock and my husband, Quillen. This is my cousin Vala- Princess of the West Flock and her husband, Yawna. Amelia contacted us to about a meeting for the day after the memorial. We came to pay respect to those who have fallen."

Jonas bowed his head in respect. "I am King Jonas Thompson and I was recently crowned king of the Supernatural by former Queen Enya. This is my Gamma Russle Suite, but prefers to be Rusty. Are you here for the council meeting?"

"Yes, and I heard it was postponed, but my gut feeling said I still needed to come today. So we are here."

"You are welcomed here."

Vala replied, "It has been close to 500 or so years since she Enya faded away. Which one of you has the element of fire?"

"You know about the elements?"

"King Jonas, I was a princess when I met her. I am over 600 years old. But I rarely come to this rhelm. However when Amelia contacted me, I knew it was time to come. With the elemental return I knew evil must be on the rise in other supernaturals too. I contacted my older brother who is king of the East Flock. He granted me permission to come. He contacted the other three kings. North kingdom will join us after the birth of their future leader and unsure about the South Kingdom."

"Why unsure about the South Kingdom?"

"That is where the dark Fae is rising up. Their king was at war with them." She looked at Jonas, "now can you tell me who has the fire element?"

Jonas replied, "let me link Finn. He is a sixteen year old Lycan. I would guess you wish to talk to Enya?"

"I figured she would attach herself to him. I was a teenager last time I saw her."

"We were getting ready to head to lunch. Would you care to join us? Or would be prefer to shown to a cabin?"

"We would love to join you for lunch, but we won't need a cabin. You see, we make our homes in garden."

"I am sorry, I did not know. You are the first Fae I have met. Please forgive me if we unintentionally offend you. I can request our Harvest Elemental to show you the gardens she has been working on. You can give her the details of what you need for your accommodations."

"That would be lovely. You mentioned needing a sapphire stone." She leaned down and touched the ground. The ground glowed. There was a small mound that formed. Then out of the ground a large sapphire arose. It was about 2x2-½x2-¾ inches." She stood up with it in her hand. The ground stopped glowing and the mound disappeared. The other fairies came forward and touched it with their hands. The stone started to glow and reshape from a rough jagged stone into a smooth circular stone. It was dark blue in the middle and lighter blue toward the outside.

A few minutes later the stone stopped glowing. The other fairies removed their hands and stepped back. She held it out to Rusty. "Here is your stone of justice. Once you and Justine bless it this stone will be able to show you if someone is lying or telling the truth."

Rusty took it from her, he bowed, "thank you Princess. You knew Justine? She is right now resting."

"I never met her, but I heard of her. "

Then they started walking toward the cafeteria."

After lunch Enya/Finn and Sarah went to the gardens. Sarah led them to a rod iron gate within the edge of the garden. "I planned to start fixing this area next week, but I think it would be a perfect place for your quarters." She waved her hand and the snow cover paths disappeared. In its place with stone paths leading to arbors. She had vines start to form and shape into homes. She had flowers blooming. Soon the garden was full of life and no longer looked like winter. The fairies added their magic to Sarah's and the garden was complete.

Finn look at the fairies, "Enya is awake. She said she will stay here and talk with you, but we have to leave to see about a trial. Do you need anything first?"

Vala replied, "I have a feeling we need to be at that trial. Do you feel the king will mind us going?"

"Let me link him and ask." Fin's eye clouded and a couple minutes later he said to fairies, "he said you are welcomed. Please follow me." He led them to the training ground.

As they walked through the entrance of the training grounds everyone was asked to draw out a piece of paper from one of the bags beheld by warriors. "Please hold onto your paper until your asked to read it."

Finn led them to where the elementals were. "Would you like to stand to the side with us or I can lead you to seats by the witches?"

"Standing here is fine, go join your friends. We will just observe.

Edmund was standing in the center in front of a judge's stand. Tanya was sitting on the right side of the stand ready to take minutes. The left side was an empty chair for a witness. Behind the judge stand was a huge screen. When looking around there were other large screens set up. Off to the side was a podium. Plus two tables with four chairs.

Promptly at 1:00pm Edmund walked over to the podium. "Good afternoon. My name is Edmund Brown. I am the organizer for King Jonas Thompson. I will be the one who will be mc-ing for this proceedings. Will everyone please stand."

Everyone stood up, "the defence attorney for this proceedings, Attorney Betty Silva." From the female locker room walked out a woman in her mid twenties; 5 feet 10 inches tall with light brown hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a white blouse and pin stripe skirt. She went and stood in front of one of the tables.

Once she was in place, "now for the defence is Councilman Peter Thompson and King Jonas Thompson." They walked out of the men's locker room and went to stand by the second table. As they walked by the wolves showed their necks to them out of respect.

"Next is the honorable Judge Russell Suite," and he walked out of the men's dressing room. He was carrying a decorated box in his hand. He walked across the field to where the witness stand was. He set the box on the edge of the stand. He removed the lid and set the lid on the floor. Several people gasped when they saw the glowing gem inside.

He walked up to where the judges stand was. He sat down. Edmund spoke, "everyone please be seated."

Once everyone was seated, Rusty spoke up, "when Organizer Brown introduced me he did not tell you that I am the Elemental of Justice. I can use my power to tell when someone is telling the truth or lying. I used my power earlier to make a circular truth crystal. It is in the blue glowing crystal you see in the box. I would like to ask for someone in the audience to volunteer to demonstrate how this works."

A warrior stood up, "Gamma, I mean Judge, your honor? How should you be addressed here?"

"Whatever you feel comfortable with Warrior Gerald Troy."

"Sir, I am willing to demonstrate how the stone work. Several people know on my days off I like to fish. They always feel I am telling tall tales and I admit a few times I do, but one story they never believed."

Russell smiled, "let me explain how this stone works and if you still agree you are welcome to be the volunteer."

"I will still volunteer. I am a warrior and defending justice is what we do."

"The members on the witness stand will come forward and sit down. They will pick up the crystal from the box. The crystal will stop glowing. Our witness will be asked questions. If they tell a lie the stone will turn red and get hot in their hand. They will not be able to let go of the circle of truth until they tell the truth. When they tell the truth it will switch back to blue and cool down. When they pick it up the stone won't react as long as the witness tells the truth. It will only react once a lie is told."

Rusty looked at the warrior, "Gerry are you willing to give it a try? You will be asked to lye and the crystal will burn you hand, but won't leave a mark. You won't be able to let go of it until you tell the truth."

Gerry walks up to the witness stand, "I have no problem demonstrating the crystal." He sat in the chair and picked up the crystal. "Now you want to find out if this stone works. My name is Gerald Troy and I am a warrior for the Symposium Pack. My favorite pastime is fishing."

"Now, I have been told I tell a lot of tall tales about my fishing exploits. My last vacation I went fishing at Wilkin's Bay and caught a shark that was twelve feet long." The rock started turning red. "Damn, this burns you hands." He tried to shake it off and it would not let go.

Rusty says, "tell the truth and it will cool down."

"The last place I went fishing was Prince Edward Island. It took me about three hours to reel in a blue fin tuna that was over eight feet long. It was 1,130 pounds. It was 48 pounds short of the record." The crystal turned blue. He grinned and looked at the warriors he had been standing by. "See I told you that was a true story."

He looked up at Rusty, "they accused me of telling fish stories and the photo I showed them had been photoshopped. With the circle of truth I am proving my story is true."

Rusty smiled at him."I too had heard about that fish and thought it was a story. Thank you for sharing. You may put the stone back in the box and join your friends." He looked over the crowd. He then looked at the defence and prosecutors, "are you satisfied that the circle of truth works or would you like to test it on someone else?"

Jonas replied, "I am satisfied."

Betty replied, "What if my client refuses to use it? In 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in Townsend v. Sain, that confessions produced as a result of ingestion of truth serum were "unconstitutionally coerced" and therefore inadmissible

Rusty looks at her, "we may be in the USA , but supernaturals have different laws. According to werewolf law 49.36A/ fae law uteq145 / vampire law 651/ witches law COT23: confessions produced by CIRCLE OF TRUTH are admissible even if coerced to speak the truth. Supernatural beings are to uphold a higher standard of justice than the human realm. If a supernatural being refuses they will automatically be held into contempt and placed in a dungeon/cage until he or she decides to comply."

Betty's face turns red since she was not aware of that law. "Thank you for informing me of the law."

Rusty replies, "many times we do incorporate human laws, but in this case we do not. Number one is if we tried serum it would not work on werewolves since our metabolism would burn it off faster. But the CIRCLE OF TRUTH is magical and forces no lies. If someone tries to use magic on it to force it to change it will glow a different color. Then it takes twenty-four hours to clear. That person will automatically be found guilty and accused of tampering with justice."

Betty nods her head, "I understand."

Rusty looks at Edmond, "let us proceed."

Edmond calls out, "Case Docket AM24789 Amos Marshall charged will murder, attempted murder, illegal mate, incest, rape, illegal contraband and fighting." You see Frank escorting Amos out wearing cuffs on legs and hands from the men's locker room to the table where his attorney is.

Frank says, "sit down here next to Miss Troy." Amos sits down."

Edmond looks at Amos and then at Jonas, "King Jonas you may begin."

"The first charge I am going to address is the illegal contraband that lead to murder and attempted murder. My first witness is Doctor Oneida Costa who is from Yellow / Benton Pass Pack. He was working at the mobile hospital."

From the female locker room you see a woman who looks about fifty wearing a doctor jacket walking across the field. She gets close to the judge's stand and Edmond walks up to her and assists her into the chair. He returns to the podium. "In front of you in the box is a crystal known as the CIRCLE OF TRUTH. In a moment you will be asked to pick it up. I want you to state your name, then state a lie about your profession, the stone will get hot and turn red in your hand. Tell us next what your true profession is and lastly tell us your pack. You are asked to do this so you will know what the crystal can do. Do you understand?"

"Name, lie, truth, and pack. I understand."

"You may pick up the stone and make your statement."

She picks up the stone in her hand, "My name is Oneida Maria Costa. I am a warrior." The stone turns red, "Owwww this is hot. I am a doctor." The stone turns blue and cools down. I am a member of Yellow / Benton Pass Pack and alpha is Que Height."

Edmond says, "thank you for your introduction. You now know what will happen if you lie on the stand. King Jonas you may proceed with your questions."

"Doctor Costa you were working at the mobile hospital the day of the attack. Can you tell us what type of patients you were seeing and what went on?"

"My colleagues and I treated about three hundred patients. Most of them were what we call level three where we cleaned out debris from wounds and they healed on their own. We had several level two where we reset bones or they came in after the fight where we had to arrange for surgery so bones could be rebroken and reset properly. Last was the most puzzling we had patients coming in with deep long claw marks. These patients were dying. We had a patient come in with fake extender claws. It was then I realized what was happening. I had been a young resident when I saw these claws. I requested taking blood from the three patients that had just died. They all had lethal amounts of silver in the blood. I started giving the antidote shot to the other patients with claw marks like that."

"When talking to you previously you mentioned this was not warrior honor, but murder or attempted murder. Can you tell me why you referred to it as that?"

"Objection. He is not an enforcer who can investigate these type of crimes."

"Doctor Costa, can you tell the court what makes you qualified to give the statement of not warrior honor but murder or attempted murder?"

"Experience. I am seventy-one years old. I have been a doctor for fifty-two years. The reason I recognized the silver extensions was I was one of the doctors called to the pack that newborn, pups, parents, warriors and top three were wiped out with those extensions. I assisted in doing autopsies on those victims. I have performed autopsies on over a hundred suspicious deaths in various packs including the royal pack. I have assisted enforcers and even have taken the enforcer investigation class to know what to look for when it comes to investigation. I have even started training other doctors since I plan to retire when I turn seventy-five."

Rusty says, "objection overruled."

"How many patients died from wounds with the silver claws?"

"Prior to seeing the claws on the one solder there were thirty-one suspected, but those bodies were burned. Cannot confirm them. However after taking the blood from the first three we took blood from another fifteen that were confirmed. We had six rouges state that it was Amos Marshall that attacked them before they died. Four others of them state that Amos attacked them because they refused his order to wear the extenders. That was thirteen who we have Amos named. I gave Enforcer Frank the name of three others whose names were mentioned. We had a total of thirty-eight confirmed deaths from silver extenders."

"Objection: those patients are dead and we cannot cross examine them to confirm any of these statements."

"Your honor he is holding the circle of truth. Not one time did the rock turn red. Plus, I can call a couple other doctors and nurses who heard the patients deathbed utterances."

"Injection overruled."

"Can you tell the court why you say murder and not warrior death?"

"Out of thirteen that named Amos eleven of them were Strickland warriors who confessed they refused to wear the silver claws. Two of them were rouges he attacked. When you turn your own warriors, that is considered treason and murder under werewolf law 16:M32C."

"Now explain how many attempted murders were there."

"We currently have nineteen patients who are still being treated for silver. We have one patient who is being treated for silver and had wolfbane that was poured on his wounds."

"Objection again. He should not be able to speak on behalf of the patients who are alive."

"I agree. Doctor can those patients speak on their behalf?"

"The three who named Amos that has just silver can, but the one who uttered Amos before he passed out that has wolfsbane is currently in a coma."

"Can those three appear in court to give their statement?"

"They are still in the hospital because we are still flushing silver out of their system. I would not recommend them getting up yet, but I can FaceTime with my mate. They can talk to you from their bed through FaceTime."

Jonas looked from the doctor, to Betty to Rusty. "I would like to request that the patients be attached to the screens for viewing and questioning."

Tonya replied, "your honor I can hook up through a zoom talk a conversation. I have been getting daily notes with Nurse Renee Rhine in a zoom talk."

Rusty looked at her, "set it up."

"Doctor Oneida, is there anything else we should know."

"I did remove the claws from about a dozen bodies. I collected them in evidence bags and keeping with the chain of evidence I did turn them all over to Councilman Peter Thompson and King Jonas Thompson. This way they could figure out whose fingerprints were on them."

"I do question the chain of evidence because of conflict of interest."

"What conflict of interest?"

"He is the mate of my client's daughter."

Peter spoke up, "I have never done anything illegal or compromised this case. You can call me as a witness to speak using the CIRCLE OF TRUTH. We gave the evidence over to a forensic doctor, Jorge Roush, and still are awaiting his results."

Rusty said , "At this time I am not having Councilman Thompson called to testify.

Tonya clicked a button and Nurse Rhine came on the large tv screen. "Good morning afternoon Tonya. Wasn't expecting your call this early. How can I help you."

I am taking notes for a trial. The court would like to talk with some of the patients. Can you ask the enforcer to come to the phone? I am going to hand my device over to the king.•

"Sure one moment," she calls out, "Enforcer Jones, the king wishes to talk with you." She looks back at the screen, "he is walking this way."

When he got there he looked at the screen, "your majesty how can I assist you."

"Did you finish walking around with the group of photos?"

"Yes, your majesty and we have had four suspects identified. They have all been placed in the dungeon."

"What were the totals and did anyone identify Amos Marshall?"

"We had seven rouge who were betrayed by Striker with silver claws; we had five Striker Packs who said no to silver claws and their pack attacked them and one rouge who had silver claws and wolfsbane poured on him, the rest were warriors from our allies

Two rouges: Charlie Davis and Franklin Dickens, pointed out Amos Marshall for slaying them. One member from Striker Pack, Harold Acres, identified him. Plus, Allen Wayne who is the one who had wolfsbane poured on him identified him. It was a total of four identified him. plus one Striker Pack member was wearing them who was sixteen. He made a statement that when Amos ordered them to attack rouges and striker members he started ripping off the claws and Amos then attacked him."

"Go to each of those patients bed who identified Amos. Tell them. I have a camera that is set up for a zoom phone call to the courts. On a tray place some surgical medical equipment and a silver extender claw. Ask them to point what they were attacked with."

"Ok your highness."

Next I want you to hold up the photos and ask them to point to who attacked them. Once they point to the photo I want you to ask, tell the court what happened on the battlefield that lead to their injury."

Betty says, "I object. If we can see them. They will be able to see us and point out my client."

Tanya replied, "the camera for the courtroom can be blocked." She stands and walks over to where the courtyard camera is and covers it with a towel. In the top corner everyone now sees a white towel, and can now see just Enforcer Jones.

"Proceed Enforcer Jones."

He walks over to the bed and sets the phone with camera up on the bedside table, "hello, I know I asked you some questions. There is now a trial going on and King Jonas asked me. To have you answer a few questions. He is on the zoom call watching and will listen to our talk."

"That is fine and thank you your majesty for wanting to listen to me."

"You're welcome. I am going to let Enforcer Jones lead this interview."

"For the record please state your name and pack."

"My name is Charlie Davis. I am formally from Pack Cypress Meadow Pack, but expelled from my pack at age sixteen when my wolf did not appear. I was a rouge for two years. I got my wolf at age eighteen.  Alpha Jon from Striker pack offered me a spot in his pack if I joined the fight to help take his Gamma's mate back."

He looked at the photos, "I was placed under senior trainer Amos Marshall. All of us rouges were placed under him. He wasn't doing much in the way of training us and after the fifth day Beta Rouge Wayne Allen and Head Warrior Amos Marshall got into a yelling match. "

He looked nervous at the camera. He reached and took a sip of water. Then placed the glass back on his bedside table. "Beta Wayne accused him of not training us properly. He stated that his training would get majority of us sacrificed on the battle field if we fought trained warriors."

Betty said, "I want to know if he heard them or if it was rumor that caused the fight."

Charlie replied, "I was the sparing warrior just two groups down from them. Maybe ten to fifteen feet from where the confrontation took place. They were yelling, but even if they were whispering with our wolf hearing I could hear and see it."

Enforcer Jones asked, "what happened during the yelling match?"

"Amos shifted and attacked Beta Rouge. Beta Rouge did not shift and beat him. In his human form he pinned Amos to the ground and he passed out. When Amos woke up he threatened to get revenge on Beta. None of us rouges would listen to him. The Beta took over our training. Modern back to training Striker Warriors."

"Can you tell us how you got here and what happened the day of the battle," Enforcer Jones asked."

"The day before the battle we were woke up at 3:00am. We were taken through some tunnel and ended up by an airfield. We were loaded up in a plane. We flew to a nearby field." He paused again.

"Continue Warrior Charlie."

"We shifted into our wolves and were broken up into squads. I was placed in Amos' group. There were about forty rouges placed in his group. When the fight started us rouges were between the enemy and Amos's warriors. We started getting attacked from both sides. Amos had betrayed us."

He took another sip of water. "Beta Rouge came running toward our section and roared in anger. Many around us dropped into submission: the enemy, other rouges and Striker Pack. Amos stayed up and ordered his warriors to attack Beta. I saw the silver extenders go into him. He ordered them back and I saw him pull a bottle out of his pocket. He threw it on Beta Rouge. I started to get up and run toward Beta Rouge. I saw him attack Ferris Wheeler with an extender and die in front of me. That is when Amos stabbed me with an extender on his claws. I went down. The next thing I knew I woke up in this hospital bed."

Betty asked, "how can you know it was an extender and not a claw that got you? In the heat of the battle he could have mistaken you for the enemy."

"A claw is dark colors on the wolf and the extenders were silver. I saw him stab me." He reached over and opened up a chest by his bed. He held up a jar with a broken extender in it. "This is what the doctor pulled out of me."

Betty asked, "why do you have that in your possession?"

"It is to remind me some wolves are weasels and cannot be trusted. Amos Marshall is that type of wolf."

King Jonas says, "seize that extender Enforcer Jones. Charlie those are illegal to have.  We will need to confirm who removed it from you."

Just then, Doctor Oneida called out, "I am the one who removed it and placed it in that jar. I set it on his bed to question him later about it. I forgot to question him about how it got inside him."

They questioned the other patients who identified Amos and had similar stories as Charlie.

King Jonas looked at Amos and stood up. At the beginning of this trial Organizer Edmund Brown said the charges against Amos Marshall was illegal contraband. We shared what we found in a hidden compartment in his suitcase that had the extenders he hadn't handed out. We had witness share about them being told to wear the extenders to attack his enemy. Those attacks were considered tragedy of war. The ones that are considered attempted murder. Was the attack on Beta Rouge with extenders and wolfsbane. Plus the attack on Warrior Charlie."

He paused, "next was the attack and murder of Ferris Wheeler who was a warrior in Striker Pack. Those attacks were fights within his own ranks. These attacks by council law A621D967 if in battle you intentionally attack in aim to kill your fellow solders are acts of treason within your own pack. We are adding after hearing the testimony of the patients in the hospital acts of treason."

He then looked up toward the judge, "these acts alone is the penalty of torture and death."

He looks back at Amos and then at Betty, "we have three more charges that were brought up: illegal mating, incest and rape. I am offering you a chance to do the right thing. If you go to the stand and testify to admit guilt on all charges while holding the stone we will offer you a quick death with no torture."

"Why would I do that," Amos sneered."

"This would save a young she-wolf from having to testify. Which you probably do not care about. This will save you several hours of torture. I guarantee your skin will be flayed with silver and have small amounts of wolves bane poured on your wounds. It won't be enough to kill you but enough you feel the agony of pain. By council law that torture can go on up to 120 hours before death sentence is carried out."

He looked at the judge, "I ask for a fifteen minute recess while the defense council and her client discuss the option."

Fifteen minutes later the trial ended and Peter walked over growled, "you are a coward and this is what you get for raping my mate."

Amos looked surprised my that comment. "Your mate?"

He then slumped over dead because Peter pushed his claws through Amos' chest and pulled out his heart.

Thank you for reading ONE YEAR. Would love to hear your input. This chapter is 5025 words long.