Tatum and Henry

“We are brought here today initially under the arrest of Captain Tatum Sullivan for desertion, which has resulted in further investigations that will also be on trial today. Major Boyes, can you please inform us of the alleged crime that brought us here today?” Elder Johannes asks.

I look in the direction of Major Boyes, who stands up from his seat and recounts the evidence passed to him by Captain Carlton and his team against Tatum.

“Lieutenant General Weston, would you like to make a statement at this time?” Elder Johannes asks.

“I would like to make my statement after Captain Carlton is brought to witness if I may?” Kane asks.

“Granted. Captain Carlton, you may take the stand,” Elder Johannes agrees.

Captain Carlton stood and walked over to the witness stand, and Major Boyes gets out of his seat.

“Captain Carlton, can you please describe to us the incident you witnessed where you alleged Captain Sullivan deserted the war?” Major Boyes asks.

Captain Carlton smirks at Tatum and then retold how he and his team witnessed Tatum walking towards a downed enemy, leant over him and then turned back towards the treeline. He told how Tatum began to walk away from the field when his teammate, Alexa Brown, noticed and fired off a warning shot. When Tatum continued to walk towards the tree line, Alexa shot off more arrows which Tatum cut down with her sword. He stated that Alexa called for Tatum to stand-down, so he called for Tatum to stand-down, and then Tatum took off running.

“And your team witnessed the entire incident?” Major Boyes asked, looking a bit more confident.

“Yessir. We were all shocked. I mean, here we are, werewolves, fighting a war against oppressing other species, and Captain Sullivan, a human, was aiding them,” Carlton replied.

“Thank you. No further questions at this time,” Boyes states, before sitting back down. Kane then stands up.

“Captain Boyes, you stated that all your teammates witnessed this incident occurring, is this correct?” Kane asks.

“Yes.”

“And if I was to call up each one of your teammates, they would tell me the same story, would they not?”

“Yes.”

“In fact, their stories are so similar, some sentences written on their statements are exactly the same. Is this correct?”

“I’m not sure, I didn’t write their statements…” Carlton begins to blubber.

“But as team Captain, you signed off on their statements, correct?”

“Yes…”

“You signed off on these statements, knowing that these statements may have been falsely written?”

Captain Carlton growls, looking at Major Boyes, who sits there looking into his desk.

“My teams’ statements were not false. We wrote what we saw! We all saw Captain Sullivan leaving the enemy to go back to the treelines and then run away!”

“Could your perspective be hampered by the incident the night before the final battle with Major Pechette?” Kane asks.

“The… incident?” Carlton gulps.

“Yes, the one where your officers, Alexa Brown, Selena Hampton and DeAnna Halcyon, made lewd comments about General Erstad and his mate. Alexa Brown, according to Major Pechette, threatened General Erstad’s mate, for which Captain Sullivan was witness to, and your team was then punished for?”

I roll my eyes. This information I had read in Thea’s report, so I knew what happened, but I also knew that Tatum had a right to retaliate against these threats. How she punished Alexa and her team was minor than what she was entitled to.

“Of course not! That is ludicrous! My team did not threaten General Erstad’s mate at all! General, you have to believe me!” Captain Carlton calls out, making me scowl.

“Captain Carlton! Order!” Elder Johannes chides.

“Are you calling Major Pechette, the third in command of this war, a liar, Captain Carlton?” Kane asks.

“No, no,” Carlton stutters.

“This brings me to my arguing statement, Elder Johannes. Captain Carlton and his team made this allegation against Captain Sullivan in order of revenge, to pay her back for their punishment. We counter that Captain Carlton and every member of his team lay their account of the alleged incident before the trial against Captain Sullivan continues, and furthermore request that they be prosecuted for false information. I have no further questions for this witness currently,” Kane states, sitting back down in his chair.

“I agree Lieutenant General Weston. It is quite unfortunate that Captain Sullivan be put in this situation if these allegations are untrue. As Captain Carlton’s team are all present today, I call up Alexa Brown as the next witness,” Elder Johannes replies.

One by one the members of Captain Carlton’s team are brought up to the stand to testify. Their accounts vary and are not the same stories as written in the accusation, in fact, Mara Constance and Sheldon Murry, two of Carlton’s teammates, admitted that they had been sent to a different part of the battle and did not witness Captain Sullivan trying to run away at all.

“Sergeant Murry, did you write the report stating you saw Captain Sullivan run from the battle?” Kane asked. The sergeant looked down at his hands before replying.

“No sir,” he admitted.

“Then why did you sign that you did, making a false accusation against the Captain?”

“Lyndon, Alexa, DeAnna and Selena told us that we were on kitchen clean-up because of Captain Sullivan and that was why we were late to the battle, sir. They told me we were being punished for no reason. I just wanted to support my teammates,” Sergeant Murry admits.

“Lyndon Carlton, your Captain advised you of this?”

“Yessir.”

“No further questions,” Kane states, sitting back down.

“Counsel, do you have any further witnesses before we ask Captain Sullivan to the stand?” Elder Johannes asks.

“Yes,” Kane says, standing from his seat, “I have some further questions to ask Captain Carlton,” he states. Elder Johannes nods and calls Captain Carlton back to the stand.

“Captain Carlton, do you know where Captain Sullivan ran to after your team shot arrows at her?” Kane asked.

“She ran into the trees,” Carlton replies.

“And did you see her run into the trees?”

“My sergeant…”

“Did you personally see Captain Sullivan run into the trees?” Kane interrupts

“No sir.”

“Did you know that the treeline was where Captain Sullivan was meant to be? That she ran from her post and was returning to it when your team came across her?”

“No sir.”

“After you witnessed Captain Sullivan run from your team, what happened next?”

Captain Carlton relayed the rest of his actions after witnessing Tatum’s alleged desertion, when Kane stopped him.

“Captain Carlton, you mentioned outside that you witnessed General Erstad attack two wolves at once. Is this correct?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Was this before or after the alleged desertion of Captain Sullivan?” Kane asks. I watch as Captain Carlton thinks.

“It was after.”

“Before you saw General Erstad do this, what was he doing before this?”

“Objection!” Major Boyes states, “what has this got to do with Captain Sullivan’s desertion?”

“I am merely trying to establish a timeline,” Kane offers.

“Continue,” Elder Johannes orders.

“Uh, I saw him walk away from pile of enemy that had been killed,” Captain Carlton says proudly.

“And did you see who killed these wolves?”

“No sir, but one of us, I believe.”

“One of us. Thank you, no further questions.”

Elder Johannes calls Captain Sullivan from the stand and then excuses us for a recess. Captain Sullivan and his team walk out, Alexa stealing glances in my direction as she leaves.

I sigh as I watch Kane takes Tatum’s hand and walk over to us. I wrap my arms round Tatum’s waist and breathe in her scent, calming me and my wolf down.

“How are you feeling?” I ask her.

“Scared,” she admits.

“You did nothing wrong,” I say, followed in agreement by Thea and Kane.

“I know, but, what will happen to me if I lose? Will they take me away from us? From Anna? Jed?” she asks, her lip trembling.

“Anna?” Thea asks.

“Rhiannon. It’s Zoe’s pet name for her because she couldn’t say or spell Rhiannon,” Tatum explains.

“It won’t happen, I promise,” Thea says, “if it does, we’ll have another war,” Thea adds, making Tatum laugh.

“A war with you three against the system?” Tatum smiles. Thea nods.

“Let’s get some air,” Kane suggests, and we nod, walking outside the building.

Five minutes later we are sitting back down and waiting for Elder Johannes to walk back in and sit at his bench. The room holds the quiet murmur of Captain Carlton’s team talking, and I can feel his female team-mates looking in my direction, but I focus ahead, looking at my mate.

“Captain Sullivan, please take the stand,” Elder Johannes instructs. Tatum stands up from her seat and walks over to the witness stand where she sits.

“Captain Sullivan, you are here under order to tell the truth, by the power invested by me from the moon goddess, do you understand?” Elder Johannes asks.

“Yes sir,” Tatum replies.

“Major Boyes, please begin your questioning,” Elder Johannes then says. Major Boyes nods and walks up to Tatum.

“Captain Sullivan, please tell us in your own words what happened in the incident where you attempted to desert the fight,” Major Boyes asks.

“Uh, I left my post to get my arrow from the wolf that I had shot down and then I went back to my post when Alexa poorly shot at me with her bow and arrow. She accused me of being on Alpha Andre’s side when Captain Carlton called for her to stand down and then- ”

“This is your version that you wrote in your account, is it not?”

“Yes sir, it is,” Tatum agrees.

“And then you ran away from them, yes?” Major Boyes asked.

“Yes, because I”

“Just a yes or no will suffice, thank you Ms. Sullivan. No further questions,” Major Boyes says, turning to look at the Elder before taking his seat.

Kane stood up.

“Captain Sullivan, after Captain Carlton called for everyone to stand down, what happened?” Kane asked.

“I heard a scream, and I ran towards it.”

“And what did you find?”

“I saw Zoe Clifford being dragged into the fight by a wolf, and I attacked him before grabbing Zoe,” Tatum says.

“Elder Johannes, I would like to convey that Zoe Clifford is the first daughter of Beta Adrian Clifford of pack Iunae Lumen, she is also a white wolf. Captain Sullivan,” Kane begins, “how do you know Miss Clifford?”

“She is my daughters’ best friend.”

“And what happened after you had Zoe?”

“A female water fairy came up to me and took her. Then they both disappeared,” Tatum admits, a look of guilt on her face.

“Objection! Where is the proof of this?” Major Boyes complains.

“I present the story Zoe wrote about the incident, as well as Queen Alyssa of the Water Fairies' account of the incident,” Kane states, passing the information to the Elder.

I smile as I watch Kane look at Major Boyes. He has this information if he chose to look into it further, but he didn’t, so now we’re here.

“Queen Alyssa of the Water Fay?” Elder Johannes asks, looking at Kane. Tatum looks surprised as well.

“Yes sir. She was the one who took Zoe out of harms way, teleporting her to her Aunt Waverly in Iunae Lumen pack. We also have Waverly Jaber’s statement regarding this too,” Kane says, presenting another sheet of information to the Elder.

“Well,” the judge begins, looking through the sheets of paper before him, “if we call a Queen, a white wolf and the daughter of a Beta a liar, then Captain Sullivan is guilty. But according to her account, and the account of the Queen of the Water Fay, Captain Sullivan is not guilty of the charges put against her,” Elder Johannes states, looking at Tatum, who smiles back, “this now brings us to how we got to this point at all, Lieutenant General Weston, how is this possible?”

“I believe that Major Boyes did not follow protocol correctly, he did not cross-examine Captain Sullivan’s account with that of the allegation of desertion, instead moving forward and arresting her without cause. His intention was to detain Captain Sullivan while leaving her dependents without her,” Kane states, looking at Major Boyes.

“Could her husband or partner not have looked after their dependents, Lieutenant General?” Elder Johannes asked

“Yes, he could have, however the dependents of Captain Sullivan are special cases,” Kane says, smiling at me.

“How?” Elder Johannes asks.

“Captain Sullivan and her mate are raising their daughter, a Beta wolf, and stepbrother, an Alpha wolf. Both have been separated because of this war longer than any other wolf family,” Kane says.

Elder Johannes raises his eyebrows in surprise, “and who is your mate, Captain Sullivan?” he asks.

“Henrik Erstad,” Tatum smiles, looking at me.