"Next!" Adele shifted awkwardly.. only one more in line till it was her turn.

Most people in her position would have hired a kobold lawyer... Or at least a furgnome paralegal, to get them out of a jam like this.

Adele did it on her own.

"Ma'am, you might want to check you weapon now, as it is your turn next." The round belly of the security guard jiggled as he spoke.

"Oh no thanks, I'll keep it with me." Adele spoke nervously.

"Ma'am, I hate to say it, but I wasn't asking." The guard stood, hand outstretched, asking for her blade. Adele gingerly unclipped her scabbard and handed it over. "I'll keep it safe for you, don't worry." He hung the blade up on the wall, where a brief blue shimmer, ripped, making it clear that the scabbard was now magically locked.

"Next!!" The call of the bailiff summoned her in.

"Good luck!" Whispered the security guard. Giving her a thumbs up.

She stood up and walked into the court room. It wasn't a welcoming space. She felt awkward and unsettled... She just wanted to get Lox back...

Nervously she made her way to the chair that looks up at the court bench where the judge might appear. Not a moment after she sat in the chair there was a yellow "poof!" Of smoke and a wizard with long yellow robes and one of those funny little judge caps appeared.

The crowd in the room all rose to standing: "all rise!" the bailiff called. Adele was stunned, as she realized the crowd that was sitting on the benches around her was Infact, all zombies, there just to fill the seats.

"Rise! Didn't you hear him girl? Rise, Rise!" Adele jumped up with a start. "Atta girl..." The yellow hat judge shuffled some papers on the desk and looked lost in thought as her reviewed the file.

"Hmmm hmm yes, yes.. okay, here we have a... State your name for the record girl."

"Adele..."

"And today you're being found guilty of 2 counts of destruction of royal property, 3 counts of killing royal animals, 4 counts of assaulting royal guards... Aaaaand one count of unruly conduct in a courtroom."

Adele wasn't understanding... "Your honour, I just got here, we haven't even had the trial yet, if you'd allow me, I can explain everything that happened..."

"Its said 'your Chrono-majesty' to be precise, and we've already heard your story, it's a good story, but a story, none the less. The truth has already been decided for you."

Anger pulsed through her as she slammed her fist on the table, "Your Chrono-majesty'," she spoke, stumbling over the weird new word, "you cant just tell me happens, we haven't event spoken before now! How can you know my story? And I've never even set FOOT in a courtroom before, so how could I possibly have been unruly in one?"

The yellow wizard looked down his long nose at Adele, "Listen, I don't expect a warrior like you to understand or comprehend these things, but believe me, we've already done this once, you need not drag it out again, alright?" Adele dug her nails into her clenched fist to try and keep herself calm and from doing something she'd regret.

"Punishment shall be 4 weeks detention in a level 3 Chrono tube, as well as a fine of 50 gold coins. Any questions?" Adele was angry but knew better than to fight back.. it would be easiest to serve her 4 weeks and be done with it... These crooks would have more than 4 weeks of her life if she put up a fight.

Seeing her sit back down, submitting to the inevitable, the judge spoke, "Ah there's a good girl, much simpler this way. Better than your last reaction. Come now, let's get her down to Chrono." He began to shuffle papers on the desk, distracted.

"Who will look after Lox while I'm in Chrono?" Adele asked sheepishly.

The yellow wizard, who had been tidying his things looked down at her, uninterested, "hmm? What? What's Lox? Oh the big cat of yours? Oh, don't worry, caring for the beast won't be required, it was put to death just moments ago. You won't need to worry about boarding it while you're away."

The bailiff was walking toward Adele, calmly, to cuff her and take her downstairs, "Come on miss, let's get a move on."

Adele was in shock. Lox and her we together. Always together. She felt her heart sinking. Her mind racing. She has to do something, anything, to bring Lox back... He was her everything... But now, now he was just something of the past...

The past...

With that, Adele had an idea. And as she did, a large alarm bell began to ring coming from the other side of the building, far off. The bailiff, confused, ran over to the big window. The zombies all around began to stir and grown in their seats. "Your Chrono-majesty, come quick! I can't believe it, she has escaped!"

The Chrono-majesty looked confused and shuffled over to the window where he could clearly see down into the courtyard. "WHAT? No, impossible! Stop her!" He looked back at Adele.

Realizing what was happening Adele knew she only had moments to act: pulling her hidden sai from her hair, she smashed the corner of the table in front of her with the sharp, metal forks, breaking a sturdy, wooden table leg off in her hand. Using the long, oak leg as a weapon, she vaulted forwards towards the door the bailiff had intended to take her through. With two nimble steps, she lept over the rows of seated zombies toward the door. Rushing over to it, she threw her shoulder into the door with a 'thud'. Locked!

"STOP!" She heard the Chrono-majesty shout from across the room. There was a quick "crack" noise, a pause, and then she landed again, having just bounced off the door. Slightly startled, she looked around and was shocked as to what she saw:

The yellow wizard, Chrono-majesty now no where near the window, but rather was on the floor, in a pool of blood, unconscious or worse. The zombies were all up and moving, on their way out the main front doors chasing something.

And the door, that was locked in front of her, but a moment ago, was now open, inviting her in.

There was no time to try and understand what had just happened. If she was going to save Lox, she had to be quick.

She tore down the hallway, looking for the pathway down the Chrono prison. Running as fast as she could, she could hear the bailiff scrambling after her. "Help! Guards! Help!" The sirens were blaring everywhere now. She was officially a fugitive on the run! But she had one stop to make before she could get out of here: Lox.

Using her wooden table leg, she quickly knocked out 2 guards that came upon her and it wasn't long before she found the great Chrono chamber.

The massive machine looked like some kind of giant phallic space pod rising up in the dark room. Running over to the control panel, she prayed it was simple:

The machine lit up and the first prompt said "prison ID required" she smashed her palm onto the reader. It beeped green then the next prompt asked for "length of sentence".

"Oh please let this work" she keyed in 'negative 15 minutes'

The pod lit up and the door opened. As Adele ran up, into the machine a group of zombies & human guards came running into the room "STOP HER!" they ran at her.

The machine didn't do anything... The door would close on her! "What's wrong?" Adele asked herself out loud. She look around and saw the large green "start button" on the control panel. "Fuuuuu" she shouted as she flung her wood table leg, end over end, at the button.

Bingo, perfect hit. The door closed and a gentle hum started in the machine and crushesndkesd louder and louder, "here goes nothing..."

And with a simple 'pop' everything went quiet.

To be continued, written by MeepleDad

Entered by: 0x2c93…020f