- Maximus' Testimony

Maximus was brought into the courtroom. The judge thought it odd to have a horse testify, but the princess, the Captain of the Guard, Flynn Rider and the PubThugs had all testified of how he had done incredible and important things.

But how to hear his testimony? And how to sort truth from lies?

Anything able to communicate can lie, the judge knew. Even a flower lied to get bees to come and pollenate them. But what of a horse?

The princess was able to communicate with animals, and while she seemed so very honest and had promised to not lie during the trial, he needed to make sure that the trial ran as fairly to all parties as possible. There were not a lot of people with good animal communications skills in the kingdom, and the kingdom was so very biased against the kidnapper.

Ota was so often left in wonder at just how much effort had gone into the conception and birth of the Lost Princess. Not just by the King and Queen and the medical team, but by the entire kingdom. He had talked with many people as he studied here in Corona and so many of them had a story to tell about their part in helping the queen have a child, finding the magic golden flower and the search for the Lost Princess. All that love for the royal family had turned to hatred aimed at the kidnapper.

The kidnapper was heavily guarded mainly for her own safety. What one or two might dare in the darkness of the night wouldn't be done when there were 20 about with bright torches.

This was also the most emotional charged trial he had ever been a part of. This was not what he had been expecting when he had come to Corona. He had come to Europa to study the legal systems because his king had wanted to improve things and lighten his load. His king had felt that too many people were bringing minor suites to the king to aggrandize themselves or annoy their enemy.

He had come to Corona to study and found it quite wise in its legal construction. The government, the victim and the accused all had certain rights that needed to be abided by, and it had been carefully balanced over a long period of time so no one party dominated. Most trials concluded will all parties agreeing that justice and mercy had been served.

He was hoping that he could let that happen here in this trial.

The judge had spent some time with Maximus trying to get to know him. Maximus was very smart and quite articulate for a horse, so he was thinking that he could question him in front of the court and to make sure had placed three citizens in the courtroom whose job it was to write down their interpretations of what Max had communicated.

So Maximus told of his chase of Flynn Rider and the Stabbington brothers. His battle with Flynn over the satchel. Then the search that lead him to his encounter with Gothel and eventually the Snuggly Ducking and the dam. Finally finding Flynn Rider and the girl. The girl had talked to him and understood him and he helped her enjoy her birthday, but kept Flynn Rider in sight all the time, except when they went on the little boat.

But Flynn had come back alone and was captured, he searched for the girl but only found the Stabbington brothers. He needed to find the girl, she had vanished into the forest something was wrong, he needed Flynn to find the girl but no one would listen in the stable so he had to go to the Snuggly Duckling to get the men he needed to get Flynn out and take him to the girl. Finally the guard had followed and found them all at the tower.

It felt odd to the judge to thank a horse for his testimony.