Chapter 53: Going to Court

"...And so then, the Firebenders had us cornered. There was no way out. 'Give in,' they told us, and fire appeared in the air, they were threatening to catch us on fire. I then had a plan. I jumped onto the side of the wall and sprang to the wall opposite of the one I was on, getting higher and higher until I reached the roof. Then I made the earth rise slowly beneath my friends to get them to safety, and we all ran away, jumping from each roof to the next, escaping our doom."
Raoul leaned forward with interest. Lux, a small leopard, was telling a story about how she had helped her friends escape the Firebenders during a fight. Lux was known for being not very heavy, making her fast and easy for her to climb up things. "That's amazing!" Raoul wagged his tail.
"Thanks," Lux smiled. "I'm glad some animals around here want to hear my stories."
Suddenly, some animals came down into the prison. Raoul narrowed his eyes. Who is it this time?
"Firebenders," grumbled Comet, apparently detecting their scent.
The Firebenders stopped in front of the patrol's cage. Raoul recognized them as Vitaly, Wildfire and Graves.
"Come on," growled Wildfire, "you all are coming with us."
"Wh-Where to?" Streak asked nervously.
"Court," grumbled Vitaly, "we're trying to see if you're guilty or not of trespassing."
"We weren't trespassing!" Akumu protested. "We needed shelter! So we came here!"
"Don't talk back to us!" snarled Graves, clawing Akumu's muzzle. She yelped out in alarm.
"Hey!" Comet growled, "watch it!"
Graves narrowed his eyes. "I can do whatever I want, boy. Don't challenge me."
"You shouldn't hurt Ak--" Comet was cut off when Firefly put his tail in Comet's mouth to keep him quiet.
The patrol reluctantly came out of their cell. Vitaly took the front of the patrol, Wildfire took the right side, and Graves took the left side so they couldn't escape. Nyla, who still had been standing guard, joined them to walk at the back. Raoul looked away from Nyla and pretended he was suddenly really interested in the ceiling of the prison room.
They walked up the steps, and Raoul looked at how much light there was around them. Lot better compared to the prison, Raoul realized, admiring and loving the sun for the first time ever. He then turned to follow the group. They were walking for a large building on the hill, guarded by a buffalo and a white wolf, both looking fierce and dedicated to their job.
"We are here for the mid-day court," said Vitaly.
The buffalo and wolf bowed. "Enter, our leaders," they said in unison.
The group walked into the building. Raoul marveled at the beauty of the inside. But then, his attention snapped to a group of Firebenders in the building, all in a circle, laughing. Raoul looked to see Tiggerpaka was in the middle of the group, doing flips, spinning and then face-planting onto the ground.
"Tiggerpaka!" Raoul hissed, "what are you doing here?"
"Wh-What? I-I-I'm not Tiggerpaka! I'm Tiggerpak!" Tiggerpaka exclaimed. He then whispered to Raoul, "It's me, yeah...they made me their humble performer. They love me!"
Raoul was about to respond when Graves snarled, "Get back here!" and Raoul quickly ran back to the group, not wanting to get in trouble. He turned to the door they were trotting towards, guarded by a tiger and a lion.
"Mid-day court," Wildfire muttered.
"Enter, our leaders," the guards bowed.
The group then walked in. There was a big table, and in the middle was a big chair with a purple-black cougar sitting in it. Next to her on another big chair was Poisonfang. To the cougar's right was a big brown bear, a green snake and a wolf who looked exactly like Ash.
"Ash betrayed us!" Streak hissed.
"No, no, no..." Cinder shook her head. "That wolf has green eyes. It's not Ash."
"Oh. Phew!" Streak breathed.
Raoul cocked his head. Who was that Ash look-alike?
On Poisonfang's left side was Firetalon, a pitch black wolf and Darkclaw.
"That black wolf is the Firebender Healer," Cinder whispered, "Deadtail."
"May the court begin!" the cougar yelled.
"That's Dusk," Cinder hissed, "the cougar."
"Quiet!" Vitaly snapped, as the three Firebenders went to join their fellow Firebenders on the Firebender-side of the court, which was also the side Poisonfang's representatives at the table were sitting on. Some Earthbenders were sitting on Dusk's side of representatives.
"So," Poisonfang rose. "These so-called travellers have committed two crimes: trespassing, and espionage!"
"Espi-what?" Streak said.
"Spying," whispered Cinder.
"We weren't doing espionage!" yowled out Light.
"Silence!" roared Dusk. Light crouched back from fear.
"...And we have proof. Florence told us that you all came to the gates asking for shelter. Trespassing!" Poisonfang hissed. "And you all were talking to the warriors locked up in the prison. Our friend Nyla informed of us that," Poisonfang flicked her tail at Nyla. "You obviously were trying to get them to uprise!"
"Were not!" protested Comet.
"Be QUIET!" Dusk snarled.
"Is she only here to silence us?" Windows whispered.
"Excuse me," Cinder bowed to Poisonfang. Raoul grew wide-eyed. She just bowed to a Firebender! "Poisonfang, I know we were trespassing. And the fact that we were talking to some of the warriors in the prison. But could you give us a chance to defend ourselves, please? I know it's hopeless to ask something like that, but I am hoping you will be merciful on us. You are the greatest warrior ever, and we are but humble little travellers in your presence."
Way to sweet-talk her, Raoul had to admit, Cinder did a pretty convincing job.
But Poisonfang still didn't look convinced. "Fine. Any witnesses to defend these idiots?" she snarled.
No one rose up.
"Okay then," Poisonfang said, "six years in the dungeons it is!"
"No!" Akumu yelled out.
"Hold on! Can you let us tell our side of the story!" Cinder protested.
"Fine then," Poisonfang muttered. "You're going to be here a while, anyway..."
Cinder cleared her throat. "We were a group of travellers who found each other a while back, deciding to help each other survive being on our own, sort of like allies. We walked throughout the land as we kept being chased away from territories, trying to find a place to call our own. We then came across Storm Desert. We had no idea the Earth Kingdom was on the other side. We hoped there'd be a place to live on the other side of the desert. When we arrived to the Earth Kingdom, we were starving and exhausted. We had all been trapped in a sandstorm. So then we came to the Earth Kingdom to ask for shelter, hoping you'd give us it."
Poisonfang waited for a while, then growled. "You lie very well."
"I am not lying," Cinder insisted.
"Guards, take them to the dung--"
"Wait!" Deadtail exclaimed.
Poisonfang rounded on Deadtail. "What?" she snarled.
"These are all young animals," Deadtail said, eyeing the patrol. "You shouldn't waste their bodies away in the dungeon for a few years. What good will it do? They'll just sit there and rot like the warriors. What we need to do is make these animals slaves. They can do a bunch of work for us. They're young enough to do it."
Poisonfang smiled. "Brilliant, Deadtail." She turned to the patrol. "Go to the prison while I think of your first slave assignment!"

Author's Note:
Okay. Chapter written. Now BRB, gotta prepare for a big water war.
Check Misitu's Art Central for a new post and more pictures on the Funny Pictures page.