The Marenon Chronicles Collection - By Jason D. Morrow Page 0,29

eye to Silas, but before it could say anything Silas jumped behind Dink and Boo, falling in line with the rest. The dog moved down the line, doing the same to others as it did to Boo. Silas looked to the large man, but he wasn’t going to turn. Boo stood petrified.

Silas tried to get a response from him. “Hey, are you alright?”

He still wouldn’t budge. Dink turned slightly to catch Silas’ eye. “I think that did it for him,” he said out of the side of his mouth.

Silas understood what Boo was feeling. With talking dogs and a mysterious red glow, how were any of them still feeling sane?

The line moved all too quickly. Before Silas could blink twice there were only four people ahead of him in line. He could clearly hear the dog-man at the judge’s seat now. It sounded bored as if this were a job it was sick of doing.

The dog asked for the name of the first person in line, wrote it down in his ledger, and repeated it back. “Sam Oling.” It pointed, with its thumb, behind it. “The gate is only a brief walk that way. If you try to run or struggle, my guards will tear you to pieces and you will be tossed through the gate anyway.”

Sam said nothing and walked to whatever this gate was. The line moved forward again. Boo began sobbing and Silas was now able to look past the line and see the gate.

He watched as Sam Oling passed through what looked to be glass. Silas half expected a ripple, but there was no disturbance as he walked through it. The glass was neither transparent nor reflective. The arch around the glass was ablaze; Silas realized its blinding light was the source of the red glow. Sam Oling disappeared through the glass like a ghost.

“Daniel Farthing.” The dog then repeated, “The gate is only a brief walk that way. If you try to run or struggle, my guards will tear you to pieces and you will be tossed through the gate anyway.” This was its rehearsed line. It made Silas sick that something could be so callous about someone’s end.

Regardless, Silas had accepted it. This was the end. He was either going to be torn apart by a dog or walk boldly to his death with his chin held high. The line moved ahead one more person. Boo.

Boo could not stop his crying and Silas feared for his premature death. The dog looked down at him. “Name,” it said.

Boo couldn’t say anything through the sobs.

“Name!” the dog yelled. At that moment Boo flung his flabby arms up, throwing Dink and Silas to the floor and began running back to the cell area. The dog at the judge’s seat stood from behind its desk, pointed at Boo with a long finger and yelled, “Get him!”

In an instant, three dogs jumped Boo. Silas turned away from the attack, but could hear the screams and splattering of blood. Boo was dead moments before he should have been. When Silas dared another look he saw two dogs carrying the lifeless weight of flesh to the gate. Once there, they tossed him through, just as the judge had promised. His body disappeared instantly.

The judge looked down at Dink. “Name.”

“Dink Woodward,” he said without hesitation.

“Dink Woodward,” it repeated as it wrote his name. The dog pointed behind it with its thumb as if the whole Boo incident never happened. “The gate is only a brief walk that way. If you try to run or struggle, my guards will tear you to pieces and you will be tossed through the gate anyway.”

Dink braved a glance back at Silas as if to say Good luck.

“Name,” the dog said.

Silas watched as Dink made his way to the gate and disappeared through the glass. One by one they were meeting an inevitable, evil end.

“Name!” the judge snapped once more.

Silas brought his attention back to the judge, sitting high, scowling at what it was sure to think was some worthless individual.

“Silas Ainsley,” he declared.

The judge began to write, but stopped after just a second. “Excuse me, Silas what?”

“Silas Ainsley,” he repeated.

The judge’s eyes moved back and forth frantically as if searching the back of its mind for some lost information. After several moments of this, the judge closed the ancient book, tucked it under an arm and ordered two guards to take position next to Silas. What had he done?

The judge walked down the steps of the