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Sheep-Dog

Chapter 6 – The Tribunal

Bobby and Barbara did not sleep at all that night. Instead they explored each other's bodies, examining the folds and wrinkles, testing them for sensitivity, marvelling at the differences, wondering about the similarities.

As they probed, poked and felt their way around they talked, mostly about how disappointed they each were with life there at the school compared to their farms. Bobby told her about the graft and corruption he had witnessed, but he left Ronnie out of it. Barbara told him about how the city ewes bullied those from the farms and how the institution conditioned them to a life of servitude to the rams. She also described the rebellious ways of some of the lambs and young ewes, like the displays in the shower room window. Then there were the ways some ewes pleasured each other to overcome the loneliness and lack of satisfaction they often suffered when married to an older ram with many wives and little stamina.

Bobby found those last stories fascinating and exciting. Apparently Betty Sue and the Lincoln of straight-razor fame were more than just friends, and their exhibitionism was not limited to putting on the occasional show for the guards. He suggested that he and Barbara might try some of the things she had described them doing, except for the one involving a double-headed dildo ... he only had one available office down there and he was not ready for that yet.

They started off on their sides facing each other on Bobby's narrow bed. She ran her digits though the thick fur around his neck and slipped her hands along his tail, luxuriating in the feel of soft clean fur. For his part, he could not get over the sensation of sheer skin under his rough but sensitive paws, and he caressed her flanks and legs while gently licking her face.

He traced the contours of her back and legs. She was not stout like most of the ewes here but she was not skinny either. She had sleek, firm muscles, quite like a collie he thought, built for endurance and speed. His paw followed the valley along her spine and it led to firm buttocks, smaller than those of most sheep, but pleasantly full all the same. His other paw followed the outside of her thigh to join its brother in gripping those warm globes.

She had been licking him too but now she began to plant small kisses along the line of his lips as he caressed her butt. He kissed her back, enjoying the sensation when she opened her mouth momentarily and their tongues touched. The small bits of hoof on the tips of her fingers were digging into his chest.

He felt her woolly tail, left unsheered because it stuck out of her school uniform. It wagged back and forth happily like a puppy's as his digits traced around its base. Meanwhile his other paw had gone exploring again, examining the skin on the inside of her legs and thighs, which she parted slightly to allow him better access.

One of her hands was behind his head, stroking his fur, but the other one on his chest was drifting south and had reached his smooth and almost furless abdomen. It lingered there, just above his sheath, twirling the sparse hairs around as their kisses grew more intense. Once their tongues were engaged in constant combat she slid her hand further down to stoke his penis through the thin skin of the sheath and to caress his dangling testicles.

Bobby reciprocated by moving his paw up between her thighs until he could cup her sex in his palm. It was still warm and damp from their lovemaking and it did not take much rubbing before it opened enough for him to sink two digits inside.

He slid his digits in and out, reaching as deep as he could inside. There was a particular spot in there that made her writhe and moan when he touched it so he made sure to pay it a lot of attention. When he felt her clit grow and harden against the pad at their base he pressed down on it too. His other two digits squeezed the twin mounds of her sex so that they sealed the others inside.

He was also responding to her caresses. His cock emerged from its sheath sleek and moist and still smelling of her. A small amount of clear fluid dripped from the tip and she spread it along his shaft as more and more appeared. When it was fully extended the sheath began to retract as the base swelled into the beginnings of a fresh knot. She encouraged it by tickling the base and squeezing his balls.

It worked. Bobby was as hard as he had been earlier and his knot had grown to the point of no return after only a couple of minutes.

“Where did you learn that?" He asked as a joke.

“In health class." Barbara answered matter-of-factly. “As the future wives of the elite the students of Bayfield are instructed in many techniques designed to arouse older rams. It's all theory and chalkboard diagrams though. This is the firs time I've been able to practice them for real. I must say, you respond much quicker than we were told to expect from the elderly rams. I thought it might take ten or twenty minutes to get you aroused again."

“I have the vigour of youth to thank for my, uh, quick recovery." Bobby said, adding to himself that having her naked, sheered body in his arms did not hurt either.

“I was afraid that I would have to use some of the other techniques we were coached in."

“Oh? Like what?"

“Let's see. There was provocative undressing, but its too late for that. Sexy dancing, body slides, spanking ... oh, and anal probing was highly recommended."

Bobby almost lost his knot at the thought. “Anything else?"

“Well, there was this ..."

Barbara bent, bringing her face down to the level of his waist without moving her sex off of his probing paw. It was an impressive feat, even to a canine who could bend over and lick his own balls if cared to do so. When she was doubled over, she took the tip of his cock between her lips and began bobbing her head up and down an inch at a time. She let the saliva from her mouth leak out so that it dripped slowly down his shaft, where she spread it about with the hand that was still squeezing the base of his shaft rhythmically.

“Oh, yeah. I've, ah, heard of this."

After a minute she released his cock from her mouth and began licking the shaft all the way down to his knot while stroking its length with her hand. After thoroughly wetting the shaft and his knot she bent over even more and sucked one of his balls into her mouth. She rolled it around inside, flaying it with her tongue before spitting it out and repeating the process on the other ball.

“Uh ... oh ... yeah, that's new."

She ignored him and proceeded to take both of his balls into her mouth, rolling them against each other as she drew air in through her nose.

She released them and smiled up at him. “That is supposed to make the limpest ram hard, but its wasted on you." She gave his wooden shaft a hard squeeze to emphasize her point.

“I, uh, would go as far to say that it's wasted."

“Oh?" She giggled and gave them another suck before returning her mouth to his cock.

“Mmmmgh, mmmmh." She moaned as she took the full length into her mouth. She dropped her head until her lips came up against the bulge of his knot and then she raised it so that only the tip was still inside. Then she did it all over again, many, many times.

Bobby did not have much experience as a lover, but he had kept his ears up when the farm cats were whispering about it and when Dan and the other guards bragged about their prowess. While he dismissed most of the guards' stories he did believe some of what the cats and Dan said. He especially remembered what Sid had said about sex being about mutual pleasure, yet here he was letting Barbara do all the work. It did not seem fair. It was the kind of thing you might expect from an old ram, and Bobby had lost a considerable amount of respect for them recently.

He pulled his paw out from between her legs and used his arms to shift her around so that she could straighten out her spine. Soon she was kneeling beside his head, laying half across his torso as she continued to swallow his cock. She was rolled over so that Bobby could not see her sex, but he could smell it, and the scent coming off it was one of desire, of need. Should that need go unfulfilled? Not if he could help it.

Remembering her detailed description of how Betty Sue and the Lincoln would pleasure each other he tilted her away from him and then lifted her nearest leg up before lowering her back down astride him. She settled in again with a knee on each side of his head and her sex just an inch away from the tip of his snout.

His eyes were fully adjusted to the dark by now and the moonlight streaming in through the window was enough for him to see the shiny cleft with its protruding pink lips and the hard button of flesh at its apex. He stuck out his tongue and gave that knob of flesh a lick. She moaned when he did and then wiggled her hips to lower herself down onto his mouth. He took that as an invitation to continue.

He reached up and held her by the waist as he poked and probed the folds of flesh between her legs with his long, clever tongue. As he had done with his digits earlier he sought out those spots that made her react the most and concentrated on them. Plunging it deep inside was good, but flicking it around her clit was better.

Soon her hips were reeling and rocking, driving her clit against him one moment and pulling it away the next. As her excitement mounted he had to chase it around so he shifted his paws to her hips and then her butt to hold her steady while he drilled her with his tongue. He also used them to spread her butt cheeks and pull her vulva apart so he could get his oral probe into as many spots as possible.

While wrestling with her increasingly active butt one of his digits slipped and accidentally brushed across her anus. She moved as if she had received a static shock, the kind that makes a little bolt of lightning leap from the tip of your digit to a metal object on a cold dry day. But she did not jump away from him, rather, she pushed her ass back against his paw, which was frozen in place for fear he had broken some taboo.

He pressed his digit against the puckered hole again. She moaned and rolled against it. Well, he told himself, she had mentioned something about anal probing exciting arousal.

Her anus was dry, but clean, so he ventured a lick to spread some of his saliva and the liquid that was oozing from her twat. That move was greeted with more moans and a firmer push against his muzzle so he grabbed both of her butt cheeks and buried his snout in the cleft, darting his tongue in and out and around the hole there just as he had done on her clit.

When it was good and wet he returned his mouth to her twat but began probing her tailhole with a digit. Slick and eager, it swallowed his digit up to the first joint without him having to really push much. Once inside he twisted it and pumped it in and out like he had done earlier on her twat.

It was much tighter and more muscular and it drew his digit deeper, lubricating itself now. Bobby helped by pushing a little deeper each time, occasionally shifting his head to spread a little more juice around the base of his digit.

Barbara's head was still pumping his cock while she alternated squeezing his knot and caressing his balls with one hand while she held herself up with the other. Each time she was fully down on him her hard nipples brushed the sensitive bare skin of his abdomen.

He did not know how long they were locked together like that, mouths working each other's sex frantically while hands and paws pleasured other spots nearby, but it felt like a very long time. The growing pressure in his balls told him that it would not last forever though, and he redoubled his efforts on her clit so that he would not cum alone.

His efforts paid off as she uttered a stifled scream around his cock and drove her cunt so hard against his mouth that he was afraid he would suffocate, but his tongue never slowed as hot, coppery-tasting fluid shot down his throat.

His digit popped out of her ass as she squeezed his muzzle hard between her thighs. he could feel the tremors wracking her as she continued to orgasm against his tongue.

Dan had said that you knew when you were done when they squealed and pulled away from you, unable to take any more. But Barbara did not pull away or squeal, although admittedly it would have been difficult to squeal with so much cock stuck down one's throat. Instead she stretched her mouth as far as it would go and drove her head down so hard that is knot was forced inside. Then, lips sealed around it, she sucked as hard as she could and rocked her head to make his cock rub against the back of her pallet, all the while snorting air in and out through flared nostrils like some crazed bullock.

That and the firm grip on his balls which she suddenly released was enough for Bobby. Freed of her grip they immediately fired a double load. He felt the great wad force its way past her lips, then up and out of his shaft. He felt it splash against the back of her throat and warm the end of his cock before she swallowed it all down in several gulps. Then he felt her lips pull back over his knot and up along his cock until she was sucking the last drops from its tip.

Without realizing it he had stopped torturing her clit and begun lapping gently around her twat. She was licking his parts gently also, cleaning up the last of his spooge and her saliva. When she was satisfied that none was left she turned around and collapsed on top of him.

They lay there silent, satisfied and exhausted, as the first light of dawn chased the shadows away.

“I should go." She said, but she made no effort to get out of bed.

“Yes, you should." He agreed, but did nothing to speed her on her way.

Eventually she did reluctantly rise from his bed, don her clothes and slip out of his window.

Bobby lay there looking at the open space, remembering her smell, the warmth of her embrace and the feel of her soft skin until it was time to get up and shower before his next shift.

Part of him was hoping that that was the end of it, but another part could not wait until he saw her again.

His sensible side told him that it had to end now otherwise they would inevitably get caught. The Lincoln knew about Barbara sheering off all her wool and she probably could guess why. That meant that Betty Sue also knew, because according to Barbara the two lovers had no secrets between them. How long before the rest of the students knew? How long before someone blabbed to one of the school staff out of jealousy or spite?

But his emotional side told him to seek her out again, to take what happiness he could find because there was little enough in this corrupted cooperative paradise. More often than not his emotional side won out.

They continued to ignore each other in public, or at least they thought that they were. Bobby watched her unconsciously as she moved in the hallways and along the pathways. Barbara could not help but smile when he came into view, often stopping dead in her tracks and causing a pile-up of ewes.

They continued to see each other when they could get away, mostly at night. Barbara would sneak into his room if the barracks was quiet, otherwise they would meet behind the big oak by the athletic field. They spent roughly half of their time together making love and the rest talking.

He discovered that Barbara like the smell of wet dog, it reminded her of a Collie on her home farm that had found her when she wandered off during a thunderstorm and carried her back snuggled against its chest. She also liked the smell of fresh mown alfalfa, spring flowers and soap. When she was a lamb she liked to run and leap over the fences and walls that divided the fields, as all lambs did, but unlike most ewes she had never outgrown it. She liked hard work, order and discipline, and she was upset that the sheep that ruled the nation did not seem to share these attributes. Mostly, she missed her farm and the friendly, reliable dogs there.

Other than the smell of wet dog, which only reminded him of bath day, Bobby shared her likes and habits. When he was a pup he used to gambol and play with the lambs but as soon as he was old enough he had been put to work. When he had some free time, however, he would run and jump and luxuriate on the feel of the wind of his passage through his fur.

“Maybe one day you'll go back to the farm and run free again." He mused.

“Not likely. I've been told that I'll be married to a powerful city ram to solidify the flock's interests, besides, I would not enjoy running free if you were not running beside me."

It was more than lust or sex for them. Barbara professed to have loved him at first sight. Bobby had to admit to himself that he was developing strong feelings for her too. He liked the sex but afterwards he loved to just cuddle with her while she talked about her day at school. Those sessions often ended with them trading small kisses and caressing each other's faces as they silently stared into one anothers' eyes.

Aside from these tender moments there were the notes that she continued to pass to him or slip through the crack in his window frame. Against his better judgment he kept some, and even answered in kind. Every morning when he made his bed and his paw brushed against the sheets of paper hidden under his mattress he vowed to burn them, before they were exposed, but he never did. He put his lethargy on the matter down to not getting as much sleep as he needed due to all the time he was spending with Barbara.

One morning a month after starting his affair with her he returned to his room after pulling a night shift patrolling the grounds, of which he had spent approximately half of the time with Barbara, he discovered Dan and the Chief Administrator of the school waiting for him in his room. The incriminating notes from under his mattress were piled on the nightstand.

“Bobby Collie," the Chief Administrator, an older ram who was named Charles Drysdale, said in an ominous tone, “you are summed to face the tribunal. Your supervisor, Danny Doberman, has volunteered to stand as your Advocate."

Bobby saw Dan bristle when the ram called him 'Danny', but he kept it under control as the Chief Administrator stood up, gathered the notes and headed for the door.

“Follow us, young Collie." He called over his shoulder, certain in his arrogance that the dog would not bolt for freedom or, heavens forbid, attack.

Bobby never considered doing either. Caught red-pawed he hung his head and quietly followed.

“Let me do all the talking." Dan whispered as Bobby passed near. “We'll pass this all off as just a young ewe's infatuation."

The ram led them to the administrative section of the school, a part of the building that Bobby had never been in before. They entered a meeting room. The only furniture was a long table at the end of the room with three comfortable chairs behind it. Two of the chairs were occupied by sheep that Bobby recognized as the Dean of Ewes and the school Chancellor. The ram Drysdale took the third chair. The only other occupants were a very old ram who was standing in front of the table to one side, and Barbara, who was standing near the back of the room with her head down.

Bobby turned to her and opened his mouth to speak but Dan jerked him back and forced him to stand in front of the table in the center of the room. Dan stood beside him.

The Chancellor raised a gavel and brought it down hard on the table. "This tribunal will come to order." He said. “Let the record show that this procedure is being held in the Board Room of the Bayfield Academy for Young Ewes in the city of Ariesborough. Presiding is myself, Chancellor Merino, as president of the tribunal with Chief Administrator Charles Drysdale and Dean of Ewes Madam Sophie Mouflon. Presenting as the claimant for the school is Professor Awad Arapawa, head of the Disciplinary Committee. The purpose of this tribunal is to examine the claims against a member of the school's security force, one Bobby Collie. Standing with Collie is his supervisor, the Head of Security, Danny Doberman. I will remind the participants that while this is an administrative tribunal and not a court of law the decisions made here are enforceable under the civil laws passed by the flock's duly elected representatives and nothing that occurs here precludes referring the matter to a criminal court should it so warrant. Anything said during these proceedings may be used as evidence at a criminal trial. Is that all understood?"

There were nods all around.

"Good. Professor Arapawa, what is the claim?"

"Chancellor, members of the tribunal, we claim that the dog Bobby Collie has had an illicit affair with one of the students, Barbara Dorset."

The woolly ram with his double curled horns gestured to the young ewe at the back of the room, her gaze cast down on the floor. She was wearing the school uniform which consisted of a long-sleeved white blouse closed with a black bow and the pleated skirt with the school's exclusive grey and green tartan. She wore the optional white stockings, an unusual choice as shearing season was still months away, and the traditional low-heeled black shoes. The Chancellor noted that she was barely more than a lamb, and while a bit on the thin side for his tastes she was pretty and well developed about the chest. He thought that she would be a fine breeder when she reached full maturity.

The Chancellor ruffled the papers he had been given concerning the case. "I understand that this claim is made by the Disciplinary Committee itself after receiving an anonymous tip and it has not been corroborated by the student involved?"

"That is correct Chancellor."

Dan stepped forward. "If it pleases the tribunal, Chancellor, I'd like to state right here and now that these claims are ridiculous. Bobby Collie is one of our finest guards. Why just a few months ago he prevented a wolf disguised as a student from gaining entry to the school."

The Dean of Ewes was not familiar with the episode, have only recently been hired by Bayfield. "How could a wolf disguise itself as an ewe, Monsieur Doberman?"

"He wore a woolly body suit and a sheep mask and he had managed to get a hold of an extra large school uniform, Madame Mouflon. Some of the girls on the field hockey and wrestling teams are quite large and it is easy to find old uniforms at the thrift shop in the village."

The elderly ewe turned her head toward the collie. "How did you spot the intruder?"

"By his gait, Madame. Young ewes have a distinct way of walking. Seen from behind it's sort of a hip swinging lilt, but this one was stomping along as if it had never worn shoes before. Sensing something amiss I came up close enough behind it to get a good sniff and that was all I needed."

"Do you send a lot of time watching our students' backsides and, uh, sniffing them when they aren't looking?"

"No! Well, yes, some … I mean, it's my job and I have to watch out for … and the sniffing thing …"

"The point," the doberman interrupted, "is that there is no telling what the intruder wanted on our campus, but in his bag we found a number of items that indicated he intended to molest one of our students." Dan failed to mention that those items were a bottle of whiskey, a jar of lubricant and a note from Betty Sue with a map to her room in the dorm.

"A rape kit!" The Chief Administrator exclaimed.

"That was our assumption too, Mister Drysdale." Dan said, biting his lip to keep from smiling at the old fool. “Bobby here is a hero for preventing what could have been any number of attacks by this Lupine assailant and his bravery has not gone unnoticed. This bogus charge is obviously a vicious and unsubstantiated attack on a loyal dog's character by a jealous rival. Why you even convened a tribunal based on anonymous hearsay is beyond me."

"We have evidence, Chancellor."

Dan spun on his heel to face the ram making the claim. "What evidence? Why was I not informed that there was evidence implicating one of my staff?"

"Because this is not a criminal court and the rules are different." The Chancellor chided him. "In civil and administrative matters non-Ovids do not have the right to disclosure of the Claimant's evidence if the Claimant is an Ovid."

"But Ovids do?" The big dog's lip curled ever so slightly as he spoke.

"Of course. Such a law was passed by the duly elected representatives of the flock …"

"Ovids outnumber all other species a hundred-to-one." Bobby said under his breath. "Don't pretend that the laws they pass are fair."

"You are not helping your case." The Chancellor commented. "Professor, what evidence do you have to present?"

"We have the notes written by Miss Dorset." Professor Arapawa said, indicating the pile of paper Drysdale had placed on the table.

Barbara's head came up and a short bleat of surprise was forced from her lips. Bobby blushed as the three members of the tribunal passed the notes around.

How can they be admissible?" Dan protested. "You can't conduct a search of a residence without a warrant, even from non-Ovids, and you can't get a warrant for an 'administrative procedure'."

The old ram smiled in a way that made the fur on Bobby's spine stand on end. "Mister Collie's room was provided by the school. The barracks is school property. Just as the homes of most canines and other species belong to the farm or enterprise where they reside. Mister Collie is a tenant of the school, his rent deferred as part of his wage and benefits package, as detailed in his employment contract. The law says that property owners can waive the right to a warrant to search the property of their tenants. "

Madam Mouflon read something in the notes that made her almost collapse in shook. She fanned herself with a sheath of them. “There are some very, how do you say, explicit details in these notes."

Administrator Drysdale and the Chancellor fought each other for the batch she had been reading and their eyes flew across the pages, growing wider with each paragraph. When they were done they both looked hard at Barbara.

“Bring her forward." The Chancellor ordered. Professor Arapawa complied, dragging her by the arm.

“Remove her clothing."

“NO!" Bobby lunged forward, but Dan restrained him.

The professor hesitated at first, but then he took a double handful of her collar and tore her blouse in two.

Madame Mouflon almost fainted and had to rest her head on the table. Mister Drysdale could not tear his eyes off of her. The Chancellor exclaimed with shock. "Miss Dorset! You've been shorn out of season!"

While his head was turned the Administrator slipped the lewd notes into a drawer in front of his seat.

Dan was having a whispered conversation with Bobby. When he was done he turned to address the tribunal.

"These are very incriminating notes or would be if Bobby had solicited them. But this student's words and actions can be explained by a simple infatuation with the hero that saved her life. A sad, sick infatuation based on a fantasy, for sure, but an unfulfilled one. My subordinate, while touched by the attention, knows his place and he rebuffed Miss Dorset at every turn. Clearly this is a case of unchecked gossip and jealousy with no basis in reality. Bobby Collie is innocent."

"Innocent covers a broad range of meanings, perhaps too broad for this case." The chancellor grumbled as he searched for the graphic notes he had just a moment before. "Nonetheless, this evidence is open to interpretation. Miss Dorset, your lack of innocence is evident. Relationships between Ovids and subservient species is forbidden not only by the school code but by law. Tell us how this came about." The Chancellor demanded.

Barbara moved forward until she was between the Professor and the two dogs. "I was greatly affected by the way Bobby … Guard Collie I mean, took down the wolf." She began. "Bobby was so strong and skillful and … and handsome." Her face took on a faraway look as she remembered how the collie had outfought the larger wolf after ripping the mask from its head.

"I think that you should stick to the present," Madame Mouflon chided her, "and stop calling him by his first name. It is too intimate given the circumstances."

"But we have been, intimate that is." Barbara countered, making the elder ewe swoon again.

Dan protested that the ewe was caught up in her own fantasy, but the chancellor could tell by the way the collie was wilting that the young ewe was speaking the truth. "Continue." He commanded.

"After seeing him capture the wolf I became obsessed with him." Barbara admitted. “I followed him around like a lamb, but what I felt stirring inside me was something more than infatuation, it was something hotter than the warmth we are expect to feel toward our servant protectors, it was something more … erotic."

"You've been reading Madame Mouflon's romance novels. I've told you not to leave those trashy things laying about Sophie. A young ewe exposed to those … particular plot lines … why they might imagine anything!"

"I did NOT imagine anything." Barbara shoot back angrily. "Watching Bob … Guard Collie as he went about his rounds, when he exercised at the track, when he swam at the pond … his fur all wet and clinging to his body, outlining his muscles …" She shook her head to clear it. "Watching him made me feel like a full-grown ewe." One of her hands slipped down unnoticed to rest against her groin.

She realised that she was rubbing her mound and stopped. She sighed and looked down to one side. "All of the ewes fantasize about being with other species. Some thrill to stories about being ravaged by wolves, others are attracted to the canines that protect us. They are strong, loyal, faithful, kind and … and not woolly at all. I used to think that such ideas were silly, until I saw him take down the wolf. It awoke something in me."

"I tried talking to him, but it was difficult because there were always other students or teachers around, and you have to be careful because of the gossip. One day when hardly anyone was about, I told him how wonderful he was. He just shrugged it off, to modest to take credit for how extraordinary it was." She flashed Bobby a little smile, but it faded when she saw the worried look on his face. But now she was determined to tell her story, so she took a deep breath and continued.

"He avoided me initially, so I started writing him notes … innocent things at first …but after the first few I started getting more … personal."

"I learned his schedule and I made sure that he saw me everywhere he went. I went swimming when he went swimming - such a strong swimmer he is too - until he stopped going to the pond altogether. I did stretches, and yoga poses in front of him when he worked out in the field but he stopped going there too. His last visit to the track was the evening I wore a top and shorts that were two sizes too tight."

"You see what I've been saying?" Dan injected. "Bobby - I can still call him Bobby, right? Bobby has avoided and rebuffed this wayward lamb at every turn."

"I believe that she blurted out something about them being intimate. There is obviously more to this story. Please continue, Miss Dorset, but do get to the point."

"The point, yes, the point. the point is that his rejection just spurred me on. I talked with some of the other seniors and B… one of them suggested that a sheepdog might have a shearing fantasy."

“What?"

“It's sex with young sheep of whichever sex one prefers after they have been sheared down to the skin." Drysdale said in an off-hand manner. Then he noticed the disgusted looks the other sheep were giving him. “Or so I've heard."

“Administrator Drysdale is correct." Barbara informed them. “Young rams or ewes barely of legal age, sometimes both, and the closer they are sheared the better. I thought that if that is what I had to do to get him to notice me then that is what I would do. I found someone with some experience in the procedure and had all the wool covered by my uniform removed."

The Tribunal demanded to know who had done it, but Barbara gazed back at the them defiantly. “It doesn't matter. After it was done I went to Bobby's room and lay in wait for him to come back from his nightly exercise session, certain that once he saw me like that he would know that I wasn't just some silly lamb with an infatuation."

Bobby was looking at her sadly, wondering if she realized how badly this would go for him once she finished her story. Even Dan was looking worried.

Barbara wiped a tear from her eye before continuing. “But he rejected me again. After pouring my heart out in those notes, describing all the things that I wanted to do with him as if they had really happened, after baring my wool-less skin to him in the most intimate act that I had ever engaged in … he sent me away without as much as a touch or a kiss. Said that he had better things to do than to entertain a hopeless waif like me." She was sobbing openly now. “So, I guess I really was a silly little lamb after all."

“As I noted before," Dan injected, “receiving intimate notes does not constitute an intimate relationship between this student and my subordinate."

“But replying in kind is." Professor Arapawa said as he produced a thinner sheath of paper from inside his black robes and passed them to the members of the tribunal. They passed then around and read them quickly.

“So." The Chancellor said accusingly as he leaned forward. “You were intimate with her from the beginning."

“No." Bobby said softly. “That came later."

“Ha! A confession. Finally, we get down to it. Would you care to elaborate Mister Collie?"

Bobby raised his head and looked at the ceiling. “I knew that she was obsessed with me, but I underestimated her tenacity. I didn't return her notes, not at first, but I didn't have too, not telling her to stop was enough to encourage her."

“And once you read them you began to lust after her, did you?"

“Lust? I would have said desire, but either way, it didn't begin then." He looked around the room sadly. “You rams don't know what it's like, there are so many ewes to choose from, you have your pick of mates. It's not the same for us. If we don't get selected for breeding we're doomed to go through life alone. Even if we are deemed good enough to reproduce we have little say in who we are mated with. If you're lucky enough to be paired with someone you get along with, someone you might learn to love, you live in fear that your puppies won't be big enough or strong enough or smart enough because if they don't measure up you'll be split up and she'll be paired with a new sire."

His voice grew angry as he continued. “And you keep the bitches separate from the males to prevent 'unauthorized breeding' like it was a capital crime. There are twenty dogs here, all males, surrounded by a thousand young ewes. What do we desire? We desire what we see but can't touch. What we're not supposed to touch, in any event. I'm not the first dog to succumb to the temptation, to take what's offered."

Dan shifted uncomfortably but Bobby changed tack. The collie wiped his brow as he had begun sweating profusely. “I couldn't get the images conjured by those notes out of my mind. Two days after I told her we had no future like this I came back to my room after a shower to find her waiting for me, naked. She must have climbed in through the widow I left open to catch the morning breeze. I tried to resist but I was powerless to push her away. She held her arms out to me and … and ... and I stopped resisting."

“So, you raped her." Madame Mouflon accused.

Barbara jumped forward. “He didn't rape me. I went to him, and I'm of legal age."

“Barely." The professor observed. “And there is no legal basis for such an inter species relationship, whatever your age."

“Why? Because there are more of us and we make the rules? Because you dried up old rams can't stand the thought of even one pretty young ewe slipping between your fingers? Well if its rape then maybe I raped him! As he said, I backed him into a corner, a servant overcome by a member of the species he was bred to serve. I slammed the door behind him, pulled off his towel and pulled his cock out, got down on my knees and took him in my ..."

“MISS DORSET!" The elder ewe screamed. “There is no need to go into the details of this ... this act."

“Let the child speak, Sophie. We must be certain of the .... uh ... facts ... yes the facts, before we judge this claim."

“But Chancellor!"

“We're all adults here. Nothing she says can shock us."

The Chancellor looked back at Barbara and nodded for her to continue.

Barbara took a deep breath. She paused to survey the tribunal. The Chancellor was rapt. Mister Drysdale's hands were moving on something below the level of the table. So were Madame Mouflon's.

“No. I'll not describe our love for your entertainment. But the truth is that I seduced him."

“These notes we found under your mattress say otherwise."

Barbara remained defiantly silent.

“Very well then. We need to confer for a moment."

The three pulled back and talked in whispers with their backs to the room. After several minutes of what appeared to be heated discussion they returned to their seats.

“Bobby Collie, despite this student being the aggressor you by your own admission were a willing participant in this act."

Dan stepped forward. “But Chancellor!"

“No, Mister Doberman, there is no argument that will sway us or appeal to this process. Mister Collie's employment here is terminated immediately. Just be thankful that we are not referring this matter to the police - for the sake of the reputation of this wayward lamb's family if nothing else. And you, young ewe, should be ashamed of yourself. If your father was not the herd leader of his district I would let the courts send you to rehabilitation camp until they wipe this canine nonsense out of your head. As it is, I will certainly be having a talk with him at the next board meeting."

The chancellor banged a gavel down on the desk. “So, there it is. The claim has been found to be substantiated and the punishment meted out. Mister Collie, please vacate the premises before sunset. That is all."

The tribunal members left the room by a door behind their table before Bobby could think to protest. The Professor from the Disciplinary Committee took Barbara by the arm and led her out the opposite end while Dan and Bobby were still dazed by the suddenness of the tribunal's conclusion. As she was dragged from the room Barbara grabbed the doorframe and turned back to bobby. Catching his eye, she nodded once to him, and then she was pulled through the door and was gone.

Dan scratched his head. “What the hell? The last dog they caught masturbating near the Ewes' showers was put in the stocks for a week and almost castrated by an angry mob. You fuck her brains out and get off with no punishment, no trial, no jailtime … it doesn't make sense."

Bobby was biting his lip. “Did they say that her father was the herd leader for his district?"

“Yeah, something like that."

“That would make him Daryl Dorset, the most senior ram in all the Borderlands. He is the elder ram for all the Dorset flocks, and they hold about twenty percent of the seats in the Assembly. He's got to be the most influential ram in Pastoria."

“One thing I've learned about politics, Bobby, is that no one is ever satisfied with just a percentage of the power. The Dorset have been using their ewes to extend their influence and control of the Assembly for years. I can see why they would want to keep this quiet. If she is his eldest daughter whoever she marries would be tired to the Dorset clan but if they heard about her affair with a canine … well it would be too embarrassing for anyone with any real power to marry her. Daryl would owe whoever took her off his hands a favour, and I bet he hates owing favours."

“He does if he's anything like the Dorset that run my home farm."

“Well, it could have been worse. At least you won't have a criminal record. Cheer up, the Army is always looking for good dogs, and you're still young enough to picked by their breeding program in maybe … ten years or so."

“Who are trying to kid, Dan? There'll be no job for me, and no breeding program. The best I can hope for is assistant shit shoveller on a night soil wagon and an annual visit to one of the cheaper houses of ill repute. No, I'm leaving, heading for the territories where a dog can still be a dog."

“The territories? Are you serious? That place is run by wolves."

“Maybe, but I've heard that a dog is free to be a dog there. There are no laws, no masters, just you and your mate, if you have one. I plan on leaving tonight."

“Damn, Bobby, you think you have this all worked out, don't you? Except for one thing; there aren't a lot of female dogs out in the territories. Competition for them is going to be fierce. How are you going to lay claim to one of those bitches?"

“I won't. I'll be traveling with a mate."

“That's news. Who do you have in mind?"

“Barbara."

“WHAT! Now I know that you've gone crazy. You fuck her a few times and you think that she'll travel to the ends of the earth with you?"

“I'm not that naive, Dan." Bobby sighed. “It started as an affair, but our obsession grew into something more than infatuation and we fell in love. It was Barbara that suggested we hightail it out of here and move to the territories. We have no cash but she can access the funds of the Dorset flock in her father's name, enough to buy us both passage."

“They don't care about interspecies relationships in the territories like they do here." Bobby continued. “Folk will leave us alone. And if they don't, we'll stake a claim far from anyone else and build a little house on it where we can be alone together. You see, you guys are not so subtle. I could smell that something was amiss before I even walked into the barracks. So before they dragged us in here I got a message to Barbara, telling her that I was willing to go if she was and to meet me in the woods outside the school grounds at dusk, if we weren't in jail already. Her nod as she left was the confirmation I was seeking. Our new life begins tonight."

Dan punched his former subordinate playfully. “You old son of a bitch. You really do have this all planned out, don't you?"

“Yeah, but I could use some help with one thing."

“Anything for a dog with balls as big as yours."

“We need a distraction"

Dan pursed his lips in thought for a moment and then snapped his digits. “I have just the pair for it. Charlie Collie looks a lot like you, to a sheep anyway, and he has been trying to get into Betty Sue's skirt for ever. She owes be a big favour for keeping her note to the wolf out of the inquiry. With a little soot in her wool at the right places she would look like a Dorset, and she's already sheared … if they were seen heading south while you and Barbara went north under false names …"

“How could we get false papers so soon?"

Dan rubbed his paws together with glee. “Leave that to me. You just get your stuff and high tail it to the woods for your rendezvous with Barbara while I handle the rest."

They were entering the long dim corridor that connected the Administrative wing to the main school. Dan sighed happily and put his arm across Bobby's shoulders as they entered the dark and abandoned Academic section.

Bobby looked up at the taller canine. “You know I can't pay you for any of this."

“Ah, forget about it."

Bobby was forced to re-evaluate his views on the dog who had once represented the epitome of corruption to him.

“Gee Dan, that's almost noble of you. You know, if I wasn't leaving, this could be the start of a beautiful friendship."

“Don't count on it, chum. With the authorities distracted by the hunt for you two I'll be able to get away with murder on the black market. Shit, even the Commander will be to busy to verify if he's getting his cut, especially from your back pay and pension refund. Bobby, my romantic canine friend, you have made me a very happy dog."