Her Mantle Upon Your Shoulders: Part 13


 * This story is from Old Age Canon. Some of the lore may have changed. Author: WinterAnswer

Previous: Her Mantle Upon Your Shoulders: Part 12 | Continued: Her Mantle Upon Your Shoulders: Part 14

Sequel to "His Shadow Upon Your Fate." Rupland and Brunka were waiting in their chambers once Akuna returned back to the keep, exhausted from the day's happenings. The smell of food was about the room and it made her stomach twist with want. Rupland smiled the moment she entered, and the sight of it was soothing, despite the apprehension boiling in her bowels. Brunka stared at her with blatant worry. That made her suspicious, but with her mind on other matters, she didn't press the issue or why she was cradling her doll so closely as she ate.

"I have dinner here, mate," Rupland told her, holding up a plate with meat piled on it. "It's still warm."

She looked at the food with a discerning look, thinking she might dismiss the meal, especially with a headache such as this pulsing through her head. Then she felt her stomach quiver again and decided otherwise.

Taking the plate from her mate, Akuna slumped roughly down upon the bed, shaking the mattress as she did. She examined the meal in her hands, noticing the large cuts of meat, mounds of fruit paste, and a roll of sweet bread in the middle of it all. It was a great bounty when compared to the previous meals they've had here in the Narulus. Without another thought, she took a strip of meat and downed it swiftly. She did the same with the fruit paste and bread, devouring everything before her mate and child could finish theirs. Then came her tongue to lap up the last remaining juices, tasting the wood of the plate. Then there was nothing else. Nothing to eat. Nothing to do. But think.

Falling back against the bed, Akuna closed her eyes for just a moment. But the instant she did, her thoughts rushed in to harass her anew. What am I to say, she asked herself. What am I to do at the meeting that is soon to come? Will they call me a traitor if I voice my disagreements? Who will understand my quarrels? And who will damn me?

Rest was illusive with her thoughts awhirl with such questions. She was tense, she knew, with her tail twitching between her legs, her stomach fluttering. Akuna's eyes came open to stare at the stone ceiling above, finding no certainty there neither. Turning her head, she looked to her mate, praying the sight of him would better her mood. Indeed, as her eyes saw the rusty hue of his mane and the milky color of his chest and belly, her heart seemed to rest. She found her hand reaching for him, her pads stroking as they went down to his hips and thighs. She pinched him there, enjoying the feel of his muscles underneath his hide.

When she looked up to his face, he was staring at her, bewildered. She smiled at him and he soon mirrored it lovingly. But then her eye caught something strangely new about him. The bandage plastered against his skull. That had not been there before, she surely knew.

"Did you fall?" she asked, her expression taking on confusion.

"What?" Rupland answered with a question, seemingly confused as well.

"That bandage.  Where did you get it?"

His hand rose and touched the pale gauze. His eyes grew with realization. "Uh," came from his mouth and for a moment nothing else did. "I...um, this is a new wound..."

Something was wrong, Akuna realized as her mate tried to grasp the right words. "What happened?"

"Please, my mate," Rupland started to say, holding up his hand as if to hold her back, "check your rage...it was..."

"What happened?" she asked again, more coarse this time. Brunka was shivering now, clutching her doll more. The cub looked at her, but only for a moment before she averted her eyes. "What in the hells happened?" she asked Rupland once more.

"Vosgoloma," he blurted out, avoiding her gaze like the child. "He came after us.  He attacked us.  But you-"

"When?" Akuna interrupted, shooting up from the mattress. "Where?  How?"

"You need not worry.  He's been taken to the cells.  You don't need to be so angry.  He won't hurt us again."

"Where is he?"

"Please, my mate-"

"Where is he?!" She was shouting now.

"In the cells," he answered, lest he inquire her wrath even further. "He's in the lower cells, but don't go there!  Please, Akuna.  He's been dealt with.  There is no-"

She did not stay to listen to his banter. She made for the door, yanking it open to pound into the hallway beyond. She looked to her left and right, taking stock of which way she should go, the hatred bubbling in her stomach, replacing the anxiety that was once there. She aimed herself down to the left, towards the stairwell. Taking long, stomping strides, she walked with purpose, clamoring down the stairs with speed. Once she was on the bottom floor, she asked a guard where she might find the brig. He gave her sure directions. Even so, Akuna navigated them poorly and was forced to ask another guard, her mind hazy with rage. Lower and deeper inside she went.

She traveled narrower halls with her anger half forgotten, feeling as if her limbs were filled with iron. Her supper had been large. Fatigue was setting in, she knew, but she pressed on nevertheless. Finally, after many forgotten turns and wrong ways, she came upon the brig. She squeezed herself through the narrow hall dark with shadows where the torchlight could not reach. A single guard waited in front of the door to the cells, armed with only a spear and a sword at his side. His blue eyes stared at Akuna as she came up, her footsteps echoing loudly.

"Best let me through," she said heftily to the guard. "I have business with one of your prisoners."

"Can't let you pass, madam," the male told her, his voice as hefty as hers.

"Why the hell not?" she barked, her rage stirring.

"No one is to see the prisoners.  Especially you, First Captain Akuna."

She was taken aback by that. "And why especially me?"

"Because Vosgoloma resides behind this door, soundly in his cage.  And he's quite bloody already."

"I have only words for the sack-less whoreson.  I hope to rupture his ears before I'm finished." She tried to quiet her anger, hoping she might convince the guard to let her through.

"Save your words, you will stay on this side of the door.  No one shall enter." The guard stamped the end of his spear down on the floor, it's echo going back and forth through the tight hall.

"And who commands this?  Hashin?" Akuna hissed, dropping her calm facade.

"Blax."

"The servant?"

"The servant, madam," the guard confirmed.

"So you follow the commands of a mere servant?  And that goes above my command, one that holds the rank of First Captain?"

"Your rank has no say here, First Captain.  Blax acts in defense of the keep and it's guests, a goal in which I adhere to as well.  I have given my word to him, even if he is a mere servant.  An honor guard must keep his word."

With that, Akuna tried another tactic, one to boil this honor guards honorable blood. "So what did the servant promise you for keeping your word?  Hmm?  Perhaps a good lick of your cock?  Would you like that from him?  Perhaps a good ramming up his tail hole, good and hard?"

"I have no care of what you presume, madam," the guard said plainly to Akuna's deep dismay. "If you will, return to from which you came..." He stamped the end of his spear again, his face stern.

There was no use. Knowing she could not coax the guard from his spot, Akuna took in a lungful of air and spoke. "Vosgoloma!" she yelled out, her voice ringing high. "I know you're in there!  I can smell how you've wet yourself."

"Madam!" the guard spoke up, his ears atwitch. "Go back from which you-"

"Pray I don't see you outside your little hole here," she continued despite his protests, "or I'll be pulling out your stomach from the hole your stones used to be!"

The guard was slamming down his spear over and over again in hopes to silence her. But by then, Akuna was done, listening to the last of her words bounce down the hall and back to her. She waited, hoping for some response by the imprisoned captain, but none came.

"Coward," she sneered before honoring the guard's wishes.

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On her way up to her chambers, Akuna saw the dipping sun through a row of windows and the haze of colors it donated to the sky. Night would soon come and she was still filled with unease. The questions came again to buzz around her head like bothersome insects, stinging the inside of her skull. A nap would have been most desired, but there was little time for it.

Up she went to her room, greeted with Rupland's and Brunka's stares as she entered. Her mate looked overtly relieved, holding the child that looked at her nervously, as if her mother meant to do her harm.

"What did you do?" Rupland asked, summoning up the courage to speak.

"Nothing," Akuna grunted, aiming her steps toward the chest that held their reserved clothing. A clean skirt, red in color, was found folded inside, no doubt the courtesy of that meddlesome steward. "You should have told me at once," she told her family. "You should have sent for me." A leer projected from her eyes, aimed at them both. "Instead, you felt the need to call for the assistance of a lowly servant.  A small, girly servant."

"I asked for naught," Rupland said in his defense. "He was the one that found me after I was beaten.  I would've had to crawl all the way back to the healer if he had not happened upon me.  I had asked for you, but you were elsewhere.  He insisted on finding Brunka and kept his word." His eyes grew hard, brow wrinkling. "I pray you aren't entirely thankless for him, considering you were gone."

"I was-" she began to interject, but cut herself short.

How can I explain myself to you, she asked inwardly. What reasons can I give to make you see the importance of me being away? Is there one he will accept? Does my duty for my clan exceed my duty to my family? No, there was nothing she could say. Instead, she growled impatiently, undressing and redressing quickly, throwing her dirty skirt across the room. It impacted almost soundlessly against the wall and fell to the floor.

"I am to attend another feast," she grumbled, heading for the door with a fresh skirt flowing around her hips. She didn't want to spare another word to them with her rage threatening to burst.

"Akuna," called her mate. Turning, she found his gaze, but his anger was not there to judge her. "Stay wary."

I will, my lovely, she wanted to say. You do not know what dangers lurk. Best you don't, she decided, leaving him and Brunka with a nod.

Evenfall found her again waiting at the east study, watching the sky turn colors and darken while guests came and went with and without a moment's glance as she seated herself in a chair. When they passed onward, laughter echoing from the gathering hall beyond, her head became a whirlwind of worry and anxieties again. Was Vicris truly jesting? Would her complaints be seen as a weakness and thus prove her unworthy of remaining within the ranks of the Brethren of Unity? If so, would they toss her down into the Blood Pool's pit to be savaged by some beast brought from the exotic wilds? Or to be carved by a southern champion, mere fodder to boil the blood of her brothers and sisters? These questions only fueled Akuna's irritation as she continued to wait.

Milkas Anser came earlier than usual, making Akuna only more nervous. The assassin did not give the black ribbon to wrap around her eyes. Akuna was bewildered by it's absence, but did not ask about it. She could not be faulted for Milkas's forgetfulness. When they went to find the Brethren's secret room, Akuna took note of where they turned, where they ascended, and where they descended. It had taken them less time to get to their destination than last time, Akuna realized. Perhaps now they care little if I know where their hidden chamber is, she mused. They won't let me leave this time, they will simply kill me for my insolence.

The two females came upon the last hallway, it's cobblestone walls dark.

"Here," Milkas said, touching one side of the shadowy wall with her hand. "Push with me."

Akuna did so, placing both hands upon the wall and then pushing with Milkas. The wall gave way to their strength, going inward like a door to reveal the Brethren of Unity's chamber within. Like last time, the walls were dancing with shadows, torch flames quivering. The other members were waiting, seated at the white stone table. Milkas pulled a latch on the hidden door and it closed behind them with the sound of scraping stones.

"Step forward, Akuna," Vok said calmly as Milkas took her seat. "You may sit among us on this night."

A good sign, Akuna thought as she took her place at the end of the great white stone table. Drenvan was to her left, giving her a quiet smile once she found her chair. Everyone else was in their place, their eyes watching her quietly, but Akuna then saw two additions to the assembly: Vok's Nevrean and Agundar comrades, both seated at the Grand General's right.

"What are they doing here?" she asked, motioning towards the non-northerners.

Their heads turned and saw, but did not say any of their own objections. Vok appeared quite bewildered, but immediately knew whom she referred to.

"You've seen these two before, First Captain," he said, waving a gesture towards them. "I've introduced you to Asasukula before," he looked to the Nevrean, "but I don't believe I told you Neilza's name."

"I don't believe you have," smiled the Agundar.

"They have no right to be here," Akuna snapped.

"Why might that be?" Vok asked, seemingly amused.

"They are not Shigu, not even sergal," she reasoned. "Why should they have a seat here, listening in on our clan's workings?"

"They benefit our clan greatly and they look to benefit us further in years to come by making us allies with the clans of the other races."

"But they are not members of the Brethren of Unity!"

"You are mistaken, Akuna." Vok's voice grew harder. "Like you, they have plegded an oath to me and given blood.  They have promised to strengthen our clan in many ways and I have promised to be open with them about our customs, those seen and unseen."

"But how can-"

"Have no worries," said Asasukula, "the northern cause is our cause." His feathers were black as night in the dim light of that cavern, his beak shining a polished blue.

"We are mere guests here to aid your people with our many influences," smiled Neilza. The horns that curved over his head did not shimmer like the Nevrean's beak, but his long, burnished, black hair made up for it, shining along with his loose tunic of turquoise silk.

"You should have no say here," Akuna growled.

"A solider like yourself should not question the Grand General's decisions," Era inserted. "Accept them as if he were General Rain."

Akuna had a hunger to argue with the Master Strategist, all of them if she must, but the leers she gained from all round the table made her swallow her words. She grew silent, trying to calm down as she grumbled to herself. She placed her hands upon the table. It was cool to the touch, smooth as marble.

"A momentous night," Vok stated after a spell, his voice flying up towards the top of the chamber. "For all of us.  And especially for you, is it not, High Captain Akuna?"

"Indeed, it is," she responded with not a hint of nervousness or anger  betraying her tone.

"How did you find your fellow comrades?"

"Kind and...generous," Akuna could only say, finding few words to aid her.

"Your comrades have much to say about you.  Both pleasing," Vok said as he looked at Vicris and a few others, "and those less so." He then looked over to Era and Highlen. "Let us begin with those more pleasing.  Vicris, if you will."

Vok seated himself as Vicris rose up, her back straight as a pole. Akuna held her breath. "My friend knows the weight of her duty.  She knows the importance of our plight, despite the trials ahead of us," the pit fighter said, her voice boastful as she looked around the table, smiling at Akuna. "She is strong-willed and war-hungry.  There is no question.  She is Shigu to the bone."

Vok waved a hand after Vicris seated herself. "Milkas."

Like the pit fighter, the shadow-hide assassin rose. She turned her head and gave Akuna a stare as blank as slate. "Firstly, I didn't think much of our new compatriot.  At a glance, she has a stubborn nature, but she'll listen and that's better than most.  Even so, she's an unremarkable soldier, like so many of those found within our barracks."

Is this suppose to flatter me? Akuna asked herself silently, feeling irritation bubble inside her belly.

"Then came the night I supped with her at the gathering hall," Milkas continued. "Many fools were drunk, including me I must confess.  You all surely know by now what occurred at that hour.  A foolish lad challenging a seasoned captain.  It would have ended there, but the captain thought otherwise.  First, it was him that made the lad bleed.  Then came another and another and another from the crowd.  It would have been the male's last day, but our friend thought otherwise too.  Even with a hall full of drunks against her, she did not balk.  Perhaps it was the ale that made her brave, but even with a belly full of brew, I wouldn't charge muzzle first into a mob.

"She gave a roar my ears have rarely heard.  She has a strong voice, a commanding voice, one that made all those in the hall cease their actions.  She snatched that boy's hide from death and was bold enough to spit in the face of that captain and send him running.  I would have laughed if I was still able to, but bless you for bringing a smile to my face." She showed one then, a light grin as if she were still there in the gathering hall. "I have met few with a womb as brass as Akuna's and it's a great sight to see her here with the Brethren."

Without command, Milkas seated herself, neither looking at Vok or Akuna, whom was simply stunned by the words she'd just heard. Then rose Drenvan, complimenting Akuna's listening ears and honest mouth, but condemning her nosy nature and inability to unlock the proper meaning of his propaganda. "Despite all this," he finished, "our friend has a strong presence, a much needed trait in these times of the down-trotted, the beaten but not broken."

When he was seated, Amalio took his place. "With what Drenvan has said, I cannot disagree with.  Akuna has indeed the ear's of a listener, the mouth of a honest elder, but you have not seen her at an eatery to know she has the stomach of a craven!" The Brethren gave a laugh at that, save Milkas whom showed a mere smirk.

Once the Shigu ambassador stopped, so did the compliments. Akuna readied herself. It was now time to hear those that held resentments towards her. The first to speak was Highlen and she had no doubt of the grievances he possessed.

"My fellow warriors, you have the right of it.  She has the patience, while many wouldn't.  She gives the truth, while many would hold their tongue, but she's stubborn, even if your reasons are right before her nose." The soldier held up his hand mere spaces from his muzzle, frowning. Then his eyes turned to her, showing disappointment. "The future, our clan's future, is one of gunpowder and barrels.  Bullets and fire.  Is this not what we all foresee?"

Heads around the table nodded, save Akuna's.

"Our High Captain would see it otherwise.  She would have us stay weak and ill-armed while the southerners pick us off one by one with their rifles-"

"I would not have that!" Akuna interrupted, surprised at her comrade's accusation. "I would have us hold our hon-"

"Keep your silence, Akuna!" Vok cut in at once, his voice as firm as his expression. "Allow your comrade to finish.  He will allow you to do the same when I permit you to speak." Akuna looked around the table and saw everyone was watching her, Asasukula and Neilza grinning. Hiding her shame, she gave a slight grunt, and quieted her throat.

"You speak of honor," Highlen continued, looking only at Akuna. "Our honor is unquestionable, our loyalty undeniable!  But if you ask me, if I would choose defeat but with honor or victory but with shame, I would choose victory with shame undoubtedly.  The legends do not speak of how graceful the defeated were.  They speak of how cunning and capable the victor was.  The victor is remembered, while those defeated will be forgotten in their grave.  The gun is our rejuvenation, our saving grace from the scribes writing that Clan Shigu was filled with inbreds and the ill-witted.

"We will challenge the southerners to fight us with equal arms.  If it would please you to keep your sword and spear, so be it, High Captain.  It will make you seem fearless, but do not think lesser of your fellow soldier for choosing a weapon more practical.  But choose, Akuna.  Which would you have?  Our clan decimated, with swords in their death grip?  Or our clan the ruler of all, with guns held readily in their hands?  I pray you choose the latter.  I'm reluctant to call you wrong, Akuna.  I'm more willing to call you unconvinced.  Perhaps you are afraid or just ill-informed.  Either or, I hope to find you desiring a rifle just as you desire a spear.  When the day comes, come to me and I will show you how to aim properly and put a bullet through a blond-hair's eye socket.  Just remember the days are escaping, with war looming."

As he placed himself down, he donated Akuna with a forgiving look, but Akuna did not show him the same. Her eyes were full of stubborn rage. The day I fancy a rifle in my hands is the day I fancy to shit in my own mouth, she growled inwardly.

"Era," Vok said to the Master Strategist and he stood like all the rest.

The look he set upon Akuna was one of sternness, as if she were a child deserving of a rod hard across her thighs. But instead of a rod, came words, and Akuna would take them without flinching.

"For those who do not know, I have blessed our High Captain with the knowledge of our plans."

Blessed? No, she thought. You have burdened me.

"A few of you would say it was too soon to tell her.  Aye, that might be true," Era nodded, looking across the slab of white stone. "But better to inform her now and gave her the time to accept the sacrifices were are to make than for her to find out later and question her loyalty to our Grand General at our most important hour."

Era's eyes found Akuna again, staring with conviction. "We all know what is to occur in time, which villages are to be burned, which are to be slaughtered.  Our comrades, though sick and unfed, will be put under the blade so the great mass of Clan Shigu will see victory and bring the sunlight of our spoils to Vilous.

"Bandits, southern in nature, will be promised coin, but will be paid with iron.  Highlen volunteered his troops, but he did not do it happily.  No one here relishes the thought of having our own kind harmed, but the age demands it!  We bear this burden so we and the generation after us may know the sweet and scarce nectar of victory.  We seek to fulfill General Silves' mission.  The Sailzane will fall before us and the southerners' legacy will be buried and forgotten under it's sands, not us.  If you are truly a warrior of your clan, you will see the legitimacy of these plans and our reasons."

It took all of Akuna's strength to keep herself from snapping at the Master Strategist. This is wrong, she wanted to scream. This is not the way! We are better than this, using these foul schemes. We are Shigu, full of strength, speed, and prowess. Not lies, deceit, and dark dealings. But like the Grand General would have liked her to, she kept her silence.

After Era seated himself, their heads now turned to Haskin, waiting to hear his own judgment, the Nevrean and Agundar quietly whispering things in his ear. The sight of them continued to bite at Akuna's hide.

"A fine round of words," the Grand General said at first, looking around the table. "I thank you for all your honesty, as it is expected here, in this most private room.  Akuna." He looked to her, eyes as calm as a cloudless sky. "You should know this is not a place to speak lies.  As I had with those before you, I will now allow you to speak freely.  Tell us your true feelings towards your fellow Brethren.  Tell us of those that pleased you and those less so.  Tell us truthfully."

Akuna remained seated, waiting for him to say more before she realized he was finished. She was about to begin and then she remembered to rise from her chair.

"Truthfully..." she said, her voice reverberating off the rocky walls around her. "I am thankful to have a comrade like Vicris here with me.  She likes a good fight like I do and she is as Shigu to the bone as I am.  Amalio, even though a few of the dishes you suggested I try made me feel like I was passing thorns through my ass," that gained a few laughs from the other members, "you know good food and I thank you for buying me my midday meal.

"For you, Drenvan," she continued, "I fail to see how greatly your craft benefits our clan, with your papers and pictures and inks.  Paper cannot hold back the shove of a spear, but your craft must have some use that the Grand General sees as worthy and I respect such." The Inkmaster gave her a coy smile, but his eyes narrowed, conveying how insulted he felt.

"But I am not so willing to respect the embracement of firearms and the willingness to kill our own kin." Her eyes turned to Highlen and Era, whom both watched her with unwavering stares. "I love my clan and I would never have us feel the sting of defeat.  But the moment we embrace the gun is the moment we embrace the cowardice of the southerners.  Let them keep their weapons and their distance.  When the battles that lay before us come, then we will show them true prowess in war is found only in cold steel and sly tactics!"

She found her rage peeking and she relented to take a breath, patting down the fur that was standing up on her arms and shoulders. Before long, she went on.

"With matters of slaying our brothers and sisters...I cannot approve of either.  Even if the result would ensure a new war against the southerners." Her eyes wandered from Era to Vok, looking to see if he was considering her words. She could not say, but carried on. "This is not the way.  There must be better ways to provoke the southerners and revive our comrades' lust for war.  To allow a handful to die for the sake of deceiving the rest is a foul act.  An act reserved for the likes of the Reonos.  Let us enlarge our settlements, grow in number and in strength." She looked to the ones that gave her praise. "That should be enough to provoke our enemy, to see us prosper in their land.  That should be enough if we must dissolve Rain's final order.  There is nothing more I can say.  I have said everything truthfully and truthfully I hope we find a better path.  Truthfully, I pray we hold our honor."

Turning her head, she locked her eyes with Vok's again. There was nothing she could see on his face to know if he was convinced or not. Both the Nevrean and Agundar looked unimpressed by the speech. Even so, she was glad to have spoken her piece, to let them know this was not the right course. She placed herself in her seat, and like the others, looked to Vok to hear his view.

The Grand General did not stand when he spoke. Instead, he leaned forward and placed his arms upon the table before him, weaving his fingers together. He looked from one side of the table to the other, observing the expressions upon his fellows' faces.

"The manner of war is not as simple as it had been in year's long past," he told them. "For Rain, it was a matter of where and when to march.  She had a need for strategy, but our overwhelming numbers and united bloodlust brought easier victories.  Those days are done.

"You know of our current condition, Akuna.  Scattered and weary of war, but you were spared the littler details of these times.  I had too believed there were other ways to regain Clan Shigu's old glory, but time has stolen our opportunities.  I had prayed to the gods for a greater path, but they gave no answer.  I beseeched Era," he waved a hand towards the Master Strategist, "to find our best option to revive our clan's thirst for war.  Given all the methods we had at hand, he took in consideration everything.

"I do not despise your unwillingness, I only see the same fear I held when I had first considered these plans." There is no fear, Akuna thought. Only disgust. "But there was little else to consider.  Era has shown me that.  Reports throughout the Sailzane has shown me that.  Each day we become weaker and less likely to fight.  For now, the southerners wait, but why?  Are they afraid to push us back and away, lest they give us reason to retaliate?  No.  Instead, they wait and watch with patience.  And when the moment is right, they will bring bread and milk and water instead of iron and steel.  They will promise shelter and feed our comrades so long as they surrender their arms and bend their knees to plead loyalty to Clan Reono and all the other southern clans.

"Simply, we do not possess the time or the wealth to invigorate our people to war without the use of drastic acts.  As Highlen has said, it is not an easy choice.  But answer me this, Akuna.  What does it matter if our war is declared through deception?  The soldiers we will lead into battle will not know of the lies we have sown or the blood we have spilt.  Our reasons might remain false, but their vigor will be real.  No matter the method, when victory means life and defeat means death, a victory remains a victory.  Do you at least see the reasoning of our ways?"

Licking her lips, Akuna remained silent for a spell, looking from the Grand General to the others around the table that awaited her answer. Forgetting the General's final order, she knew without a wanting of war, her clan would not win any battles. With so few that would gladly fight for Rain's cause, the Shigus would be greatly outnumbered. Many would have them retreat home to the north, but that would be seen as an admission of defeat.

Despite the outcome it would entail, there was no honor in killing your own people. Akuna could only guess what would happen if this gambit was revealed to the commoners of the clan. They would die for these sins, their family names damned to be stricken from all records and scrolls. Their families, if not also executed, would suffer scorn from their brethren. They would become villains in the songs and stories to come, their memories twisted to become monsters.

Akuna prayed such would never happen. But this present moment was critical. Her choice of words could either damn her in the eyes of her comrades or revitalize their trust for her.

"Yes, I see," she chose without much bravado in her voice. "I can see your reasoning."

"Are you still with us?  Are your intentions still for the greater whole of our clan?"

"Aye, my intentions have always been for the greater whole of Clan Shigu.  It's just...it's not as simple as slashing open a southerner's throat."

"In time, it will be that simple again after the Instigation is concluded.  But do your qualms weigh heavy on you?  Will they make your tongue loose or your will weak?"

"I still have my qualms," Akuna told Vok. "It is not an easy thought to know a good few will die for our cause, by our hands, but they will not make me weak or more likely to flap my lips before those that have no right to know."

"You say you still have your qualms." This time, it was Master Strategist Era to speak. "Some might see you as less trustworthy for it.  How can any of us be sure of your loyalty to the Brethren of Unity?"

To Akuna's ears, that was a challenge to her devotion. "My loyalty today is as strong as it was the day I swore my oath before General Rain," she boasted. "The oath I swore with the Brethren of Unity is no different and no less important.  I pledge by the heart," she beat upon her thick chest, "and my word is as sure as my steel.  If any of you have your doubts about me, put them to rest.  I have not survived the peril of battle and killed dozens to shy away now."

To that, Era, Highlen, and the rest had nothing to say. Some nodded to her claim and others simply stared. Then came Vok's voice again, his tone foreboding.

"You have done well in your years of service to the clan, First Captain.  But the true test of loyalty comes with what I am to task you with today."

Akuna's lips pursed together as she straightened in her seat, her jaw clenching tightly.

"The limit of your stay is swiftly approaching," the Grand General began. "And with it, you will return to Rellon with all my charity.  New weapons, food and water, and new soldiers to swell your ranks.  Your word will go above all others at your settlement, but I require you to advise us when your Captain Kusno returns from the north."

That caught her off guard. "Why are you interested in Kusno?"

"We have many suspensions about him," Vok said as fear swelled in Akuna's belly. "When he came here before you, we suspected he spoke with one of our lesser allies.  Had he ever spoken of a fellow named Rekie Vasmot?"

Akuna shook her head. "No.  I don't know the name," she said, even though she might have heard it before.

"Rekie might have told him many things.  Secret or commonly known.  About the Brethren and our members.  Truth or falsehood.  Either or, we believe Kusno gave an ear to his words and that was the reason for his quick departure.  And you said it was not long before he left for the north to recruit?"

"Yes," she said, remembering the dark warning her captain had whispered to her. Keep your mind clear, Akuna. Our enemies are closer than you believe them to be, maybe even at arm's length. Just keep safe. Those who work against us wear most friendly masks and wish us to break the oaths we've sworn to our General. Never let that happen. Never.

She kept quiet about what was said, but the newfound clarity made her shiver with despair. You were right, Kusno and I was too much of a fool to see the meaning of your words. Damn me to the hells beyond, I'm such a damned fool.

"We had one of our mediators follow him on his way through the Sailzane," Vok told her. "For a few days, his path was traced, but he was lost in a sandstorm.  We suspected he knew he was being followed.  A few days passed and we thought he lost his way, but then we found out through another of our mediators that he turned up in Gold Ring.  There, he spoke with the Supreme Captain and her council, speaking of treason and treachery at Wevren.  He said I was preparing villainy here and undue violence.  Little did he know, we had friends among the Supreme Captain's cohorts as well."

Sitting still in her chair, Akuna could scarcely believe her ears. The shadows seemed to grow darker, the torch  flames dimming, and the air seemed hostile. They were all looking at her now, with their accusing eyes. They hid their hands lest they show their claws peeking and their anger rising. Her ears dipped, her jaw twitching.

"We had a desire to apprehend him," Vok continued. "Not arrest, but we needed to know what he knew.  Even so, he escaped to places unknown before we could.  We believe he left in the company of southerners."

A misunderstanding. This is just all a great misunderstanding, she wanted to say, but she knew she would be damned for speaking such words. She remained silent with her eyes agape, feeling her comrades' faces grow more unfriendly.

"When and if Captain Kusno returns to Rellon, you are to keep him there, in chains if you must.  We do not want him to wander off again, speaking of things he does not fully comprehend.  Do you understand?"

Opening her mouth, Akuna meant to speak the words, but they did not come. "It is Kusno?  Are you certain?" she blurted out instead.

"Rekie confessed to speaking with a male with blue fur, short of stature, with many scars on his arms," Vok informed her. "This describes your captain, yes?"

"Yes...," Akuna reluctantly answered.

"Another was seen accompanying him," Era added. "A younger male, smaller than he."

"Drig."

"Do you know him?"

"Yes, but he's just a lowly soldier.  Kusno treats him like his squire or the sort."

"You are to apprehend him as well," Vok commanded. "Your captain might have shared a few of Vasmot's words with him.  But I ask you again, Akuna, and with great direness, had Kusno ever spoke to you of what occurred here at Wevren, saying it was something dark or sinister or a betrayal?"

Such words could describe what you are planning to do, Akuna thought ruefully but kept such thoughts quiet. "No," she gave the same answer when Vok had first asked her, "but he had seemed...troubled, bothered even.  I knew something was wrong, but whatever afflicted him, he did not say."

"It would weigh heavy on my own heart too if I was contemplating to betray my clan or not," Drenvan said, smiling to himself.

"Kusno would not betray his clan!" Akuna yelled, her voice ringing against the thick walls of the cavern. "He wouldn't!  I marched with the male, saw him spill the blood of countless southerners.  When at the dawn of battle, he would take up the cry, 'Clan Shigu!  Clan Shigu!  Clan Shigu!' and we would join his voice with ours.  Kusno would not do this!"

"His actions say otherwise," Vok said, unconvinced. "Are you not concerned as to why he would tell you he was going to the homelands, but then go to Gold Ring to tell half truths to the Supreme Captain?"

"What harm is there in speaking with the Supreme Captain?" she asked. "Is she not included in our ploys?" She looked around the table and saw uncertain glances.

"Supreme Captain Vigrow holds the same sentiment as the majority of our clan," the Grand General told her. "She works to undone Rain's final order in hopes of leading our people back to the north.  She wishes to undo all of our conquests of the south, believing us too weak to finish the deed." Tension grew in Vok's eyes. "The harm in speaking with her would inform her of what is brewing here.  If she knew, she would no longer see us as simply boosting our defensive strength.  Instead, she would now think we were preparing a coup.  With a stroke of her quail, she would condemn us all as rebels."

Akuna's guts twisted at the word. The rebel was an untrustworthy animal, not fit to serve and doomed to die alone without a true clan, forever disgraced in this life and the next. "So we must hide our intentions from her as well?"

"She plays her role at Gold Ring with her best intentions.  But once the fire is sparked, no one will be able to quench the flames that rage for battle, not even her.  She and her council, along with our friends there, will vote to back our declaration and all opposition will be vanquished."

Brooding in her seat, Akuna could not bring a word to her lips that would undo Vok's argument. She thought it best to turn back to the subject she had a better chance of swaying them. "But with Kus-, with Captain Kusno...what will you do with him?"

"Question him, of course.  From there, we will decipher if he is truly loyal to Clan Shigu.  Perhaps Rekie misinformed him of our intentions and he is taking the role of the "good soldier" in hopes to bring justice to those he believe mean harm to the clan."

"And if not," Akuna began, looking only at Vok, "you mean to kill him..."

"There is no lying to you, Akuna." He looked at her solemnly and she thought his expression appeared genuine, "and with that, I have to confess when I first invited you here, it was only in hopes of finding out what Captain Kusno had learnt from Rekie.  But once I knew how true of a Shigu you were, I thought better to have you become one of my comrades.  Even a member of this assembly, closer than any soldier could ever pray for.  You do not speak for your captain's actions, but I expect you to have him answer for them."

Akuna let her shoulders slump as she looked down at the table before her, not sure what she should say except...

"I will have him answer, but I know he works in the clan's best interest.  He is no traitor."

"We will see," Era said, provoking Akuna to growl lowly at him.

The assembly continued to discuss business on a variety of subjects. Highlen talked about the Abalo clan supplying them well with firearms while the Vilo clan gave them plenty of ore to craft their black blades. Both Asasukula and Neilza seemed pleased by these developments. Amalio advised the Grand General of the treaty between them and the Crincrin and Blue Sky tribes, allowing them to trade with their caravans. The Inkmaster was asked if his leaflets were ready to be delivered across the desert and he answered yes. Vicris was asked how many blond-hair tails she had accumulated during these handful of days and she said six. She added she would have ten more by the end of this fortnight.

Other tidings were talked over, but Akuna paid little mind to what was being said. Instead of feigning care for what settlements have accepted Vok's charity, she thought of Kusno and the charges brought against him.

You said you were going to the north again, she mumbled to herself. You said you were hailing towards the homelands. Instead, you turned towards Gold Ring and spoke with the Supreme Captain. What else haven't you told me? What were you told? Why do you run? Do you fear for the safety of your comrades or do you fear the coming of war?

Akuna could not answer these questions without her captain's presence. She would have to wait and waiting made her overtly anxious.

"This assembly is dismissed," Hashin told the Brethren of Unity and Akuna regained her focus. She had lost track of time, so distracted with her own musings. The other members were rising from their seats and walking towards the wall where the hidden door was. She moved to join them.

"Akuna," Vok called upon her, still at the head of the white stone table, talking with Asasukula and Neilza. "Come, I want to speak with you before you go off for the night."

"Yes, sir," she said dutifully, but once she approached him, Vok signed for silence. They stood and watched the other members leave the chamber through the secret door, including the Nevrean and Agundar. When they were gone, Vok beckoned her to follow through it as well. Aside from the click of their foot-claws upon the stones, the halls were deathly quiet. Akuna was too, not truly knowing what to say as she follow the Grand General's path.

"Much is asked of you, Akuna," Vok suddenly said as they came to an upper landing. "And I know it must weigh greatly on your shoulders, especially with regards to whom we spoke of."

"With all due respect, Grand General," Akuna said with difficulty, "I don't believe Kusno would act against the clan...even in this desperate age."

"My reports say otherwise," Vok told her, striding along relaxingly, "but I pray you are right in the end once we have him in our grasp.  Does he frighten easily?"

"No, he does not."

"Then it might be something deeper than just fear." Sighing, Vok ascended up another flights of stairs and Akuna followed. "Whatever it might be, I pray I will not have to choose whether he is to live or die."

The words sent a chill down Akuna's spine, turning her guts into squirming worms.

"It is the same choice I am offering you on this night," Vok then finished, looking over his shoulder at her.

Deep perplexity was Akuna's first response, eyeing the Grand General as if he had spoken another tongue and expected her to understand. "What do you mean?"

"I will explain once we are at the top.  Keep quiet now.  We need no wandering ears listening."

Up and up they went, floor after floor, stairwell after stairwell. Before long, Akuna was huffing behind Vok while he hardly seemed burdened by the long journey through the keep. There was nary a person walking the halls at this hour. Just them and the occasional guard at his post. Torchlight gave illumination, playing games with the shadows. When they happened upon a window, Akuna looked out to see a nightly scene, darkness in the Narulus' yard.

After a dozen or so flights of stairs, the Grand General and First Captain finally came to their destination. When Vok opened the door for her, Akuna was not sure if this was the same rooftop they had walked upon previously. The nightly chill wove through her fur as a light wind blow from the heavens. Aside from starlight, she could hardly see her muzzle in front of her face. But then she realized they were not alone.

Within a pool of torchlight, three northerners awaited near the tower's ledge. Two guards and one lad seated upon the edge, placed between two merlons. When she and Vok drew closer, she saw the male's head was bagged and his limbs were bound by rope. At Vok's motion, the guards lifted the bag and revealed the male's face.

In addition to the cuts on his stomach and chest, Vosgoloma's face was a bloody mess. Lumpy bruises were found on his cheek, muzzle, and jaw. His left eye was nearly swollen shut, but in his right eye, hate and fear could be seen clearly when he looked upon Akuna.

"No doubt you know of the encounters your mate and child endured at the hands of our Captain Vosgoloma," Vok explained. "I was told of what occurred and I've found that a simple expulsion from the Narulus was too light of a punishment."

Vosgoloma struggled in his restraints and one of the guards clasped the male's throat tightly and squeezed. The captain gagged once and ceased his thrashing. The guard released him.

"I give you the choice to either have him bear the shame of being demoted and the rank of captain stripped from him, or, if you deem that too gentle, you may decide to have him thrown into the river below."

When Haskin said that, Vosgoloma's uninjured eye enlarged. He began to thrash again, but once more the guards made sure he behaved.

"What say you, Akuna?" Vok asked and their eyes were upon her on this cool desert night.

Akuna stood still as a stone, leering at Vosgoloma, watching the fear grow on his face. She considered for slight moment of allowing him to live. Indeed, there was shame in demotion and for a captain to become a lowly soldier once more would earn him much ridicule. His shame would be a great thorn in his pads for a long while, his sins not easily forgotten. But of course, she only considered this for a slight moment.

"Let him drown," was her answer after only a brief silence.

With Vok's approval, the guards obliged. Daggers came into view and slashed away the ropes that bound Vosgoloma's wrists and ankles. Then they cut the rope that kept him quiet. For the split second, he tried to speak, but he could not finish one word before both guards shoved him off the ledge. He made a pathetic sound as he dropped out of sight. He tried to scream as he fell, Akuna heard, but was cut short as he hit the water with a wet smack. The two guards looked over the ledge and when they looked back to Vok, they both nodded.

"Sad, is it not?" Vok asked, watching Akuna. "Or maybe you would call it pitiful.  He could not bear the brunt of his sins or perhaps it was the lost of his female that drove him off the edge.  Which tale would be suitable?"

"Neither," was her answer. "I have no pity for him and no one should either.  Let the tales say he was a foul male whom had not a speck of virtue.  Let it be said that he was pushed off the edge for his disrespect and the dishonor he flaunted about."

The Grand General hummed to himself, looking over the ledge down towards the river. "Perhaps that is a better story to tell.  But let's not tell our part of this story to anyone," he turned back to Akuna. "Best to keep such things secret.  Do you understand this, Akuna?  Do not let me hear you boasting it was you that decided Vosgoloma's fate."

"Yes, sir."

When she returned to her chambers, Akuna laid herself down softly against the bed with her mate and child. She pulled them both closely to her and listened to Rupland grumble something incoherently. Soon, he nuzzled at her neck and hooked an arm around her hips. Brunka snuggled close as well, as if she were still a newborn. Cloaked in their warmth and her ears filled with their soft breathing, Akuna slipped into slumber.

=
=====================================================================

"...He's...dead?" Looking with his one undamaged eye, Cagost gave a look of disbelief.

"Yes," Rupland said, looming over his bedridden comrade.

The young male grew silent for a moment, his one eye moving to stare up at the ceiling. Then a smile etched itself across his face, a sigh exiting between his lips. "Good," he said, sounding pleased with the news.

Having heard the news this morning from Blax, Rupland had felt relieved as well, mostly for Brunka's sake. The Narulus was safer without that mongrel prowling it's halls. There was a drop of guilt in rejoicing over the death of a fellow northerner, but Rupland swiftly forgot it once he remembered how the captain had attacked them. No doubt Akuna would dance upon the bastard's grave if she ever found where he would be buried.

"How did he die?" Cagost then asked, his smile gone.

"He jumped," Rupland told him. "He escaped the brig and the guards chased him around the castle.  They surrounded him on a ledge overlooking the river.  That's when he jumped off and fell into the water.  Most likely thought he could swim like an Enoca."

Thinking that funny, Cagost laughed. "I hope the fool drowns a hundred times in a dark and wet hell.  What will they do with the corpse?"

Rupland had asked Blax the same question. "It will be returned to the village or camp he hailed from."

"Do you think they've sent it off yet?  If they hadn't, I'd like to give the whoreson a few blows across the jaw and a few cuts on the face for doing this to me." He touched the bandages that conceal the wounds on his head. "I don't want them to bury him like he is now, all pretty."

That same young brashness, Rupland thought as he watched Cagost's smile widen again. "I think it's best you pay tribute to the gods for giving this small blessing.  If Vosgoloma had known you were here, so helpless and too weak to harm a babe, he would have strangled you easily without any effort."

Suddenly, the smug smile was gone, replaced with cold awareness.

"Ha!  Not with me here!" said the thick healer seated in one corner of his room. He grinned and took a long pull on his pipe and allowed the smoke to lazily flow from his maw. It was a powerful herd he was smoking, it's scent filling the room. "I would have gutted the bastard before he could get his claws around that boy's pretty little neck."

"Just another wound for you to switch, yes?" Rupland smiled at the older male.

"No use in stitching the dead," the healer smiled back, nursing at his pipe once more.

"And I would deeply appreciate a word of thanks to my mate for saving your hide the other night," Rupland turned back to Cagost. "Without her, they would be carrying your corpse back to Rellon all bloody and torn and swollen.  Worse than you are now."

The shame was plain across the boy's face. Rupland's words pained him and he knew they were true. "What would she have me do?"

"Have you do?"

"I owe her a debt for saving my life." The boy looked concerned now. "If she were to ask me of anything, I would have to oblige, would I not?"

"You'd best keep such a question to yourself, see?  Just give Akuna your thanks and you need not worry about her pressing for something more.  Let your ears dip, put on some sad eyes, and play to her pride.  That's all you need to do to satisfy her.  Maybe she'll have you lick her feet or hands, but I'd be jealous at you since that's my job!"

He gave a laugh and Cagost showed a reluctant smile.

"Keep yourself abed and healing as long as it takes.  But once you're hobbling, have yourself hobble to my mate and give her the thanks she deserves, yes?"

"Aye," the lad nodded. "The thanks she deserves."

Pain was Rupland's companion as he made his way back to his chambers. The gardens could wait for a day. He needed the sweet comfort of a bed under him and rest for his new wounds to heal. Perhaps he would ask for a glass of ale or wine tonight to numb his senses. He would dream wildly if he drank wine.

Once finding his room again, Rupland was surprised to see Brunka seated on the bed, playing with her doll.

"Shouldn't you be playing with the cubs of the keep?" he asked as he limped towards the bed. Gruntingly, he placed himself atop the sheets next to his daughter.

"I don't want to go play," she murmured and her father caught the edge of melancholy in her voice.

Thinking it best not to press to ask why, Rupland settled against the mattress and relaxed as the day slowly progressed. Not wanting the solemn sight of the ceiling over his head, he thought it better just to close his eyes. His mind wandered to and fro. He thought of how his mate fared and how damaging the encounter with Vosgoloma had been for Brunka. Then came thoughts of home, of Rellon and their two-storied house found there. How was Akuna's squad? Were they being lead well by their stand-in captain? He prayed Budio was doing well in the tavern and Niyi was finding good game to hunt along with their brood. He thought of Caklup and his shop full of oddities. He thought of Ceil elbow-deep in buckets of dye, coloring fabrics for Hasasa. Then his mind turned towards Captain Kusno, whom would be smoking leaves and trading tales with his old tribe. Rupland hoped the older male was having better times there than they were having here in this black stone mountain of a place. But he knew he need not fret. The time to head home was close at hand. He only hoped he would fully heal on their way back.

A scratch at the door interrupted his musings, his eye turning towards it. Brunka looked too, but was reluctant to answer it herself.

"Come in," Rupland called and the door slowly creaked open to reveal a group of cubs waiting outside.

"Might Brunka come and play?" asked the smallest child, a girl with mangy gray fur.

Looking at his daughter, he was bewildered to find she had not already leapt from the bed to join her companions. Instead, she remained still, holding her doll as if she were to afraid to move.

"Brunka?" her father ventured.

"I...don't want to go out right now..." she said.

"Come on," beckoned the little female. "We're going to play comrades and cowards."

"I don't want to," Brunka answered solemnly.

"You don't need to be afraid," said one of the older cubs, the tallest male. "That man is dead, you should know.  He leapt and drowned in the river.  He won't hurt you again if you're still scared of him." There was a teasing tone in the male's voice, but Brunka did not go after his bait. She simply did not move from her spot on the bed.

"Let's go," the tall boy said. "Little Brunka is still scared.  Of a dead man even."

Rupland watched the cubs leave, but the one little female remained, looking longingly at Brunka. "You don't need to be afraid anymore," she said, but Brunka would not rise from where she sat. Soon, the little female too went to join her friends, slowly closing the door behind her.

Silence filled their chambers and Rupland watched his daughter dip her ears down and quietly play with Joos. "You should go," he said. She did not look at him, but her ears dipped even lower. "Are you afraid?"

For a moment, there was no response, but then came a whimper and she nodded.

"You need not fear him anymore," he told her. "He's gone."

"But...I'm afraid," Brunka said, sniffling, "I'm scared if someone else will try to hurt me..."

"Who is there to harm you?"

"Someone bad..."

"There are guards to protect you."

"Only if they know where I am."

Her father gave a heavy sigh to that. Akuna will not like this, he knew. She would throttle the child if she saw a morsel of fear in her.

"Come," Rupland swiftly said as he swung his legs off the bed. Pain ran up and down his limbs, but he could tolerate it. He grabbed after his crutch and gained his balance. "Let's go to the gardens."

He looked to his daughter and saw the fear in her eyes. "No," he stated stubbornly. "I don't want to."

"Because you're scared?"

She locked her eyes with his lone one and she nodded.

"There is no need to be afraid.  Even for a battered cripple like me." He smiled, but Brunka was reluctant to show her own.

"But you're grown and bigger than me."

"And?  You're small and swift like a northern wind.  Your claws and teeth are like needles while mine are blunted or chipped.  You are young and strong while I am old and broken."

"You're not broken," she interjected. "You're only...hurt."

"And you are not but you're afraid.  Are you going to sit and play with your dolls while the warriors play with their swords and spears?"

"Maybe I will." Such a stubborn, childish voice, he thought, but there is shame in there too.

"Or would you rather your mother see you like this and drag you outside by your tail?" The cub's eyes widened now. "She hates to see you so fearful, child, but for me, I am sad.  Will you stop playing with your friends back home at Rellon?"

"At home, there are no mean men holding me over a river..." Brunka mumbled and Rupland was struck abashed by her response.

"Aye, that's true enough," he relented, "but it's truer to say there are worse places elsewhere."

"Like where?" The child seemed dismayed by the fact.

"The cities, the larger villages.  Where there are crowds, there is killing, thievery, and the starving.  Such was the place where I was born and grew.  I would have lived well if I had lived here, in a place such as this," he waved a hand about their chambers. "There are guards and you have little to worry over expect an unruly guest, but the Grand General keeps order here.  There are sentinels too, out in the streets, but they were outnumbered by crooks and cutpurses where I came from.  If I can survive that, you can survive a walk to the gardens with your father, yes?  Maybe go play with your cub friends?"

The child looked to consider that for a moment, looking from him to the little doll Joos in her hands. She waited, fumbling with the doll's tiny arms and legs, but eventually, she lifted up from the sheets and met him at the door. They left Joos waiting on the bed, alone.

Walking was a straining act for Rupland, but the pain running through his legs did little to deter him, especially with Brunka nearer to him.

"Father..." the little one began, looking down at the stone floor.

"Yes, child?" he asked, his voice ever gentle.

"What else can you tell me of the city...when you were a cub?"

Looking down at her, he saw the gleam of wonderment in those gray orbs of hers. Even though he could not refuse her request, he could tease. "Oh, but are you certain you have the bravery to withstand the stories of my childhood?"

"Yes," the cub boasted, "I do!"

"Well, you were held over a river on a high ledge, so you dealt with fear, but have you ever dealt with the fear of someone holding a blade's tip at your throat?"

She looked up at her and shook her head about.

"It's a different sort of fear, I have to say, but if I had the choice between the two, I would rather be held over a river on a high ledge by my tail like you were."

=
=====================================================================

Hot water rushed out and filled the pool inlaid the stone floor. Akuna's eye's traced the pipe along the wall and up through the ceiling, up to one of the higher floors where the water was warmed. Nothing more was required to do than to pull a rope that too went up to that upper floor, perhaps ringing a bell to advise the servants bath water was needed below.

Those above seemed to know the exact amount of water needed for the pool. Once filled, the water ceased and Akuna dipped into the boiling warmth of the bath. All around her, close to the walls, were other baths like hers with their own pipes and ropes to call forth their own water. She was thankful to find she was the only one here. She needed time to cleanse her fur...and her thoughts.

Tails of steam rose from the water's surface as Akuna immersed herself. She settled herself in the center of the bath, huddling so the water was at her chin. The heat was working through her fur and making it's way into her flesh, down into her bones. It calmed her, beckoned her to close her eyes and sucked in the steam through her nose. Opening her mouth, she allowed the water to fill into her maw, swallowing down a mouthful. It tasted clean to her and she drink more.

Breathing in a long breath, the water's pressure made Akuna's chest feel strange, as if her heart were aflutter. For a long moment, she rested there in the center of the pool, breathing and exhaling deeply. Her mind wandered, skull full of worry, jaw clenched in stress. The thought of Kusno never let her be.

Are you fool or gallant, Akuna asked as if he were there with her? Was that what you were hinting at? Why not tell me? Or anyone? Were you truly that afraid, believing the secrets you hid were infectious like a plague? No one would had believed you, she realized. Not even me. I would believe you were jesting with me, but that would be strange since you never seem to jest.

Why lie to me, to your comrades? Why say you were heading north when you meant to strike at Gold Ring instead? So no one would know, she answered the question herself. If the question of where you were was put to us, we would have answered dutifully. But now where are you? Are you truly in the company of southerners? No, Akuna knew for a certainty. You wouldn't be, even with your vices, your fondness for their females. Where, then? Where! North. Home. With your birth tribe. But no, you would not go there. Vok and his allies would know you might head in that direction for safety. Can I blame you if you tried? It depends, she thought, on what you were told and what you believe.

What were you told by this Vasmot? Vok had been unclear and Vicris hadn't a shred of what truly was said between the old soldiers. What if it had been me that had paid an ear to Vasmot's words? I would've said he was a mad, raving fool and would had nothing more to do with him. But you Kusno had been convinced somehow and you are not easily swayed by words alone.

Whatever it may be, you acted for the best of the clan, seeking the help of the Supreme Captain and her council. If you had been a coward, you would have disappeared in the Sailzane like so many soldiers before you. Gone, Vok would no longer worry over you. But you are no coward, Kusno, Akuna knew. And at least Vok was not willing to brand you a traitor from the start. Perhaps this is just a misunderstanding. Maybe you were misinformed, my old captain, told tales that twisted you to see Vok as some usurper. But what were you told? Where are you truly? Who are you with? Does Drig know your objective, is his head full of rumors too? Whatever and wherever, I pray I am able to convince the Brethren you meant no harm to the clan. Perhaps they will take you within their enclave, as long as you swear fealty. Or perhaps more likely...they will behead you for being such a nuisance...

In time, she hoped to save his tail, just as he had saved their entire squad those long years ago. The rains had given them their redemption, sweeping them away from the main body of the army. They had journeyed, they had suffered, but they had prevailed, with Kusno at the lead.

The water was losing warmth, but Akuna remained in the bath with the water over her lower jaw, up to her cheeks. Scrubbing at her arms and legs, chest and belly, the dirt hidden in her fur clouded the bath. There was soap, smelling of flowers and oils. It stung her nostrils, but she nevertheless used a tad on her fur, hoping the sweetened scent would entice Rupland.

The rocks, the ones Era had spoken of, were no easier to swallow on this day. A hundred times Akuna had pondered on what was to become of those small settlements and their people. The males. The females. The cubs. Thrown to the slaughter...for the good of Clan Shigu. The killing of unworthy thousands whom would not submit to General Rain had too been for the good of Clan Shigu..., but this was just cowardly bloodletting. The histories will be written that the southerners caused all this murder, but Akuna and her fellow cohorts would know the sickening truth behind the bloodshed, a war fought under false pretences. And yet...what if their little gambit was revealed? By Kusno or someone after him?

"Then I pray I'll have a sharp razor on me," Vicris had laughed when the question was put to her. "You cannot capture the dead."

"But the gods can," Akuna had told her.

"Aye, and may they judge me justly if they do.  I act for the northern realm.  For our people.  For our future as the supreme race of all Vilous." She had turned to Akuna, showing her signature smile. "Don't you, Akuna?"

Akuna was not sure of the answer she had given her friend. If they were found out, a razor across the throat would not save her. Vicris claimed no family, no relatives, and the closest lovers she had were the male whores she allowed to thrash her cunt. But for Akuna, she had a mate and a child. With her death, they would be thrown at the feet of her persecutors. Both would be exiled, if not killed outright. If not given the sweet solace of death, there were worse ways to live. Rupland would no doubt become a slave until his bones were grinded into dust and her daughter would be primed for work most unsavory...

"No!" Akuna yelled aloud and her voice rumbled through the empty bath chamber. "I won't let that happen," she growled, talking to herself. "Gods be good, don't let that happen." She wretched her mind free of her thoughts and her body free of the bath. The water was now a foggy grey. Speckles of insects once hidden in Akuna's fur floated upon the surface. Once she had dried herself off, her fur fluffed out in large, messy clumps, but the sweet smell and soft texture made her glad she had taken the time to find a bath instead a simple pail and rag.

A good meal every night, cool stone rooms, a cup of ale a request away, a northern friend around every corner, and a tub big enough for her enlarged frame. A pity I will have to leave all these luxuries with my stay so close to an end, Akuna thought regrettably. But once the thought of Rellon entered her mind, a sense of dread befell her. Her soldiers will praise her return with new weapons and supplies. They may even congratulate her on her ascended rank, but Akuna did not look forward to completing the task Vok had handed her.

Kusno, you wretch, where are you? Her thoughts on her former superior turned sour and burned angrily. You are the reason I am here, you, your odd actions, and the things they suspect about you. Who am I to believe? Am I just a means to capture you, a rogue element in the Grand General's plans? Perhaps so, but perhaps Vok spoke truly and he does see me as a good member of the clan. He would not have done all this over apprehending Kusno. Promoting my rank, introducing me to his secret assembly, and telling me his strategies. It would have been simpler to give in to all my requests and send me on my way with weapons and new troopers in tow, likely laced with informers. They would have waited at Rellon and once Kusno appeared, they would've pounce and taken him to Wevren to answer for his daft deeds.

That responsibility was upon Akuna's shoulders now and it weighed heavily like a boulder. Now, it would be her confining and sending him to those that regarded him as a traitor. They would not be gentle, no, Akuna knew. Vicris had confirmed her fears when she asked what became of Rekie Vasmot after he confessed.

"You truly want to know?" the pit fighter had asked while in the yard. Once Akuna said yes, she continued. "There was not much left of the old bastard once he had spoken.  His ears, tail, a few fingers here and a few toes there were taken.  Highlen told him he could keep the rest if he told them the truth.  He did eventually and laughed before he left us into the nether life."

Akuna found herself sitting on the floor of the bath chambers, whimpering. Whimpering like a cub. Am I to send you, my friend, my comrade, my captain, to your death? How can Vok expect that from me? But maybe this is only a test and you yourself, Kusno, are part of the Brethren. You had came here before me and perhaps you had impressed Vok enough to be inducted. You suggested my name, calling me a loyal soldier like yourself and this is all just a trial...but...

Letting out a frustrated snarl, Akuna rubbed her head erratically and hide her face with both her hands. She let out a sigh, shaking her head.

"What would you say, Kusno?" she asked the dimness around her.

Imagining Kusno there with her in that bath chamber, seated across from her on the floor, she saw him. And then, she imagined him answering.

"I'd say do you truly believe everything you are told?  Are these few truly your comrades?" He was slumped over, displaying his scared forearms in full view. "They give you food, bedding, bath and a new rank, but does that mean you owe them loyalty?  You swore before this Brethren of Unity, but who do you owe fealty first in your heart?"

Akuna answered immediately. "To General Rain.  To her and Clan Shigu."

"So you are, but do your comrades speak from the heart as you do?  They mean to undo Silves' last order by drawing the blood of our brothers and sisters.  More so, they speak in secret while the Supreme Captain and her council are kept unaware.  These are not the actions of a loyal warrior.  They are of someone seeking to gain power."

"A traitor's work," Akuna added. "But...are they truly traitors?  They have gathered our forces, given them food and water, arms to use, and trained them so they may fight.  Vok has even said we work to fulfill Rain's mission, even through her absence."

"He seeks to inherit her rank while she remains missing.  Grand General.  A grand title, one that he might have crafted only for himself.  Vok and his cohorts act as if they know Rain is dead for sure.  Have they searched for her?  They certainly have the numbers to comb the Sailzane's sands.  Or would they rather believe her dead so they can put her mantle upon their shoulders?"

Akuna had no answer for that, only growing uncertainties and lingering worries.

"Go and find your own answers, Akuna," Kusno's shade told her. "Find where the Brethren's loyalties truly lie.  Ask the questions that will reveal the most, with the right people in the right place.  But most of all, keep your mind clear. Our enemies are closer than you believe them to be, maybe even at arm's length."

Yes, that is what Kusno would say. Akuna was sure of it.

=
=====================================================================

They were in the gardens again, and the father was surprised to see the child so curious. Her questions came in burst, but he always had an answer in reply.

"Did you have friends?" Brunka asked, her ears pricked up in high interest.

"Always," smiled Rupland, his mind swimming in the memories. "There was never fewer than four of us.  "Jamock and I were always sure to be together. We were brothers, in spirit, but not in blood."

"Who else was there?" The child was captivated, sitting still next to him.

"Comrades came and went with the turning of the sun.  There was Camy, always a talker, never a doer.  We had a fellow named Starlow for a few months before he took a liking for another group of cubs.  Hokka stayed with us longer, always smelling like he had bathed in his own nightsoil.  I remember Wakla, Joony, and Florista the Tiny."

"Why was he called the Tiny?"

"Because he was small," Rupland giggled.

"As small as me?"

"Ah, no, but only a tad taller.  You could pick him up by his tail, but he had an unnatural strength to him.  He might have made a good solider if he is alive today.  But Jamock was always there, no matter our quarrels.  We would meet at dawn and part at dusk.  Well, that was until we grew older and the night roads no longer frightened us.  Once the day began, we would stay together as if we were bonded by the tail.  Scourging trash, asking for coins, finding things to trade..."

"Thieving?" the child asked suddenly and the word stung Rupland's ears. But there was no disgust in Brunka's tone, only wonder. That did not make him any happier.

"Yes," he groaned with shame. "We stole together too."

"What did you steal?" She was staring at him, eyes wide as eggs.

There was no omitting the details from the child, he thought. If he hid the truth, it would only entice her further and Brunka already had a hankering for his youthful exploits. He didn't know if it was just childish inquisitiveness or if she inspired to repeat his actions. Despite either, he relented. "Anything.  Anything you could eat, if it was not rotted.  Anything you could wear, if it was not soiled too badly.  Anything you could fight with, but you had to know the right folk to sell those too.  Had a friend called Pelpel who sold a broken dagger to an untrustworthy fellow.  Once the coins and dagger were switched, the fellow stabbed Pelpel and took back his money.

"There were trinkets too, jewelry, but nothing as pleasant as you might believe.  We even took a few books, inkwells, quails, but those were hard sells considering few could read and fewer could write.  Pieces of broken metal, whether it was copper or steel, was still valuable.  We could sell the pieces to our blacksmith and he would pay us well.  I once took a Canno board and that sold very well to a troop of elders.  They always liked the games I showed them and they always made sure to fill my hand with coin."

"What was the grandest thing you stole?" Brunka was deeply invested and it did not take long for Rupland to know his answer.

"The jade hand," he said with regard, as if his daughter would know what he spoke of. "We found this jeweled thing about the size of my hand and a little beyond my wrist." He pointed at his arm to show, wiggling his fingers. "It was all made of jade with claws of ivory, all encased in a gauntlet of gold encrusted with rubies, topazes, and pearls.  I nearly heaved my stomach with joy when I found it.  When Jamock saw it too, we rushed out of there, thinking everything else in that house would not come to even a quarter of what that trinket was worth."

"Did you keep it?"

"Oh, no," he shook his head, huffing with laughter. "You can't keep such a treasure like that for long.  The owner will kill to have it back and other thieves are likely to gut you when they find out you have something that valuable.  You have to sell it quick and quietly, bargaining with those that look like they have enough coins to fill a wagon.

"We finally settled on a nevrean merchant whom didn't insist our treasure was a fake or just cheaply made.  He gave us enough coin to survive on for a half-year.  Of course, that was if we wanted to split it half-way, which we didn't.  We were greedy."

"Greedy?"

"Yes, very greedy.  Jamock wanted a larger cut of the coin because he was the one who had gotten us into that house in the first place.  I wanted a larger cut because I was the one that found it in it's hiding place.  People don't just lay such treasures out on their tables.  No, they place them in small places or places were you can't see, like the underside of a bedside or behind a hearth.  It was in the ceiling, behind a loose board like it always was.  Our words turned fierce and after awhile, we fought with tooth and claw, making one another bleed.  By then, we decided it was best to cut it down the middle and denounce each other as friends.  Even so, after a day or two, we met again and bought each other a whole bloncarn carcass for a grand supper.  We never fought like that again."

Suddenly realizing how wide his smile was, he decided it was best to warn the child now.

"But Brunka, don't take this as an invitation to start pick-pocketing," he told the girl sternly as he leered at her. "I do not speak with pride when I tell you my thieving days as a cub, taking anything that came into reach.  No, it's a shameful past.  Not as shameful as some, but still shameful.  Let your hands stay clean, Brunka." From thievery and from blood. "No one is kind to a thief, especially a thief caught.  If your mother ever came to know you were stealing, she would crush both your hands and bandage them around two spears so they could do nothing else."

"Could she put a sword in one and the spear in the other so I can fight with both?" the cub smiled jokingly.

"What is the weapon you don't like?" her father smiled too.

"The hammer.  It's too heavy!"

"Then that's the weapon your mother will put in both your hands.  Oh, they'll be heavy for a spell.  You'll have to drag them everywhere, too weak to lift your arms, but you won't mind after awhile."

"No!" she giggled, grabbing at his arm. "Please, no!"

"Then don't let your claws get tangled with something that isn't yours.  Do you see my meaning?"

"Yes." The cub nodded.

"Promise on your blood."

"Promise on my blood!"

Grinning, Rupland pulled her closer and touched the top of her head with his, ruffling her mane with his hand.

"What happened to Jamock?" Brunka then asked, her curiosity peeking again.

Rupland's smile turned sour. "With Rain's coming, came change.  We had prayed we would fight together in the same squad, but fate and the captains thought otherwise.  Even so, we found each other after each day's march or after ever battle and talked of our plunder and kills.  That went on for a good few months and then suddenly...he wasn't there."

Despite the sadness that tore at his insides, only a small amount showed on his face. Even that little was apparent to Brunka. Her face mirrored his melancholy.

"A true friend is a precious thing, Brunka," Rupland told her. "One that will stand by you day after day is rarer than a lake in a field of dunes.  Make many friends, but know which will beg for a bite of your meat and those that will give you a bite of theirs without you asking.  Do you understand my meaning?"

"I think so," the cub said, her eyes turning thoughtful. "Is mother one of those that will give you meat without asking?"

"Aye, she is," he chuckled, "but she also shares more with me than any others.  You'll find one for yourself too, a young male, but you're much too young to be searching.  Choose one as wisely as you would your friends."

Brunka nodded and smiled innocently before her eyes turned thoughtful again. Her fingers caressed the grass underneath her, claws digging into the dirt. "Who was your mother and father?"

"My mother and father?" He was surprised by the question, even though it was a question usually asked by cubs. "I didn't have a father," he blurted.

"Why not?"

"Because I didn't know him.  My mother said he was a warrior, like her."

"Your mother was a warrior too?" That seemed to excite the girl.

"Yes, but for a different time and a different clan.  She even said she was an assassin, with feet and claws silent as midnight.  She would tell us this to me and my sister-"

"You had a sister too?" the child exclaimed.

"Yes, but I'll get to her later.  But my mother would tell us this to keep us under her control.  She even said she had a knife in a box underneath her bed so sharp it could bite through your thigh bone as if it were just air.  Of course, I never saw any knife like that, but my mother did have excellent fighting prowess.  She taught well, a blessing for us vagrants."

"What are vagrants?"

"The poor, the soiled-furs, those without a true home.  We lived in a shanty hut, a pathetic thing, but it shielded us from the rain and the cold when the seasons turned." He regarded his daughter with a serious expression. "Be grateful for the things you have.  Many would trade their left arm for what we are blessed with."

"Did you trade your left eye instead of your arm?" the cub smiled.

"What?  No, I told you what happened to my eye.  The battle on the eastern plains..." "A jest, father.  That was a jest," the child grinned, giggling.

"Oh, of course," he said, mirroring her smile and bringing forth his own laughter. With warning, Brunka then pounced at him, biting softly at his cheek and ear as she growled playfully. "Gods help me," Rupland said, giggling harder, tossing on the ground "now I'm being attacked by my own cub!"

"Brunka!" a cub's voice called out. Ceasing in their play, Rupland saw Brunka's group of friends waiting at the threshold of the garden's entrance.

"Finally not afraid to come out and play?" one of them asked teasingly.

"Yeah, come on."

"Let's go," the others clambered.

Brunka looked from them to her father, her expression asking for approval.

"Go on," he said and the cub jumped to her feet. The other cubs were running too as Brunka gave chase and Rupland could hear their laughter recede as they left sight. All that remained was his solitude and the shifting leaves of the gardens to keep him company.

For awhile, he relished the sight of the trees and shrubs, their greens, browns, yellows, and reds. A little leaf or branch might shiver by a rogue wind, but the place was overtly still. It made this part of the keep seem unreal to Rupland, but the sweet, organic scents in the air helped him relax. Leaning against the tree behind him, he rested his eyes, listening to the stark silence around him and feeling the sunlight wash over his face.

Just a little nap, he thought as he felt himself slip closer and closer into sleep. Just a little one. But before he could fully reach slumber, the light seemed to darken around him, the sound of someone's feet disturbing the grass.

"Pathetic," a voice said after a sigh.

His lids snapped opened and he found someone standing over him. His hand went up to block the sunlight, his one eye adjusting to see whom disturbed him. His stomach lurched nervously, praying Vosgoloma had not come back from the dead to ravage him anew. He almost said his name when he realized whom stood before him.

"Akuna?"

"Ah, half-blind," her voice greeted him. "I'd forgotten.  You know you look half-dead sitting there, with your bandages."

"I might need more with you wounding me like this," he smiled up at her, stretching his arms and legs.

"I don't aim to wound, I aim to kill," she assured him. She dropped on her bottom next to him, grunting as she did. Her fingers caressed the ground, picking at the grass. "So this is where you come to?  Sitting on your ass on false grass while your brothers grow harder on sand?" She flicked a blade of grass from her claw. "I might disown you if this sloth continues."

"Sloth?  Gods have grace, I am recovering, Akuna." He gave her his smile, knowing she was just teasing him. "Give me time and I'll be trading my crutch for a spear.  I hope you'll help me along my path."

"Pray that I don't break you," she said solemnly without looking at him. "I want to see you walking on your own before we leave this place."

"But isn't that only a few days?" he asked.

"No, we're staying a few more.  Perhaps a fortnight more."

That caught him off-guard. "Are you doing this on my account?"

"No, I have things to do here, things I have to know before we head back to Rellon."

"What things?"

"Nothing you should burden yourself with.  That's my duty."

"Maybe it's best to share the weight."

Akuna shook her head, smiling when she finally looked at him. "Not with your thin arms."

Leaning, Rupland pressed his muzzle against her shoulder, nurturing her. But then his nose gave a twitch. Her scent had changed. Her fur had traded the smell of the earth and training and sand for the smells of blooming flowers and washing oils. Soon, he was kissing her there, scooting closer as he inhaled heavily.

"What are you doing?" she asked, bewildered.

"You smell...like a fantasy," he moaned as he nuzzled her with his eye closed. "You've cleaned yourself nicely." His hand massaged her stomach, fingers surfing through her fur.

"Glad you are enjoying my stench.  My head already aches from it," she grumbled and Rupland felt her begin to purr.

"I have a sort of ache too.  Might I cure yours and you'll do the same for mine?"

"Perhaps so," she grunted with a laugh, stroking his mane.

"Let's go up to our room then," he suggested.

"Bleed that.  Take me here and now, in these gardens."

He quit his nuzzling and looked at her face. He did not need to ask if she was serious, he saw by her expression that she was telling him truly. "Aye, I will."

Maneuvering themselves behind a bundle of trees close to the stone wall, the act began. Rupland continued to nuzzle her, rubbing himself against her. His hands groped and pinched, finding places most soft and hard. He licked and now enjoyed her tastes. And if the gods weren't generous enough, Akuna laid on her back and allowed him to be on top. Even with his injuries, he could not pass up the opportunity.

His thrusts were quick and brutal, drilling into her deeply. By the way his mate squeezed her eyes shut, claws digging into the dirt, back arching off the ground, he was doing well. His own hands were digging into the ground, feeling the cool dirt coat his fingers.

"And to think...," Akuna grunted, "I just took a bath."

Rupland only relented a moment to laugh, but once he went back at it, his movements were the more powerful until he released himself inside her. Collapsing atop her, he went back to nuzzling her chest, his hands gently stroking her.

"Is that all?" she asked, teasing as her claws nipped at the back of his neck.

"No, no." He was suddenly up again, in more ways than one. "Again," he said as if he were pleading. "Again."

She allowed it, but only if she finished this time. Despite his hunger, he gladly obliged.

=
=====================================================================

Tread carefully, Kusno would say if he were here, otherwise they might find your prying to be the beginnings of a deserter's mind. Yes, Akuna would agree with her captain, very carefully. A few more days here will give me more time to ask the questions that beg to be answered. Without them, my heart may remain uncertain and the clan becomes weaker if that is so. Gods grace me, I need to know.

The rest of the day was spent recollecting, manifesting the questions that needed to be asked and the duties that needed to be done. After wiping away her mate's seed, she departed from him, promising she would return for supper. She wasn't delighted at the idea of going back down to the baths to wash away the smell of their lovemaking. She hated getting her fur wet. To hell if anyone caught the scent, she decided, there is no shame in the act.

Akuna found it best to wander aimlessly through the Narulus' innards. Her hands ran over black stone walls, wondering if she pressed hard enough she would find another secret chamber filled with another secret assembly plotting the reinvigoration of their clan through the sacrifice of many innocents. She went high and came low, went high again and low once more. Morning turned to noon and afternoon turned to night as she repeated the pattern, finding little solace in this multi-floored maze crafted by southern hands and minds.

The windows gave her many views to look over. Wevren and it's blanket of buildings and edifices, tails of smoke from bakeries and smiths reaching for the sky. The red-tilled roofs of the lower wards and the thick defenses of the keep on outward. The yards were down below, brown and bare, sometimes sparsely occupied and sometimes heavily thronged. On a higher floor, Akuna caught sight of the squads stomping in the inner courtyard. From that height, they looked little more than miniature figures fighting among themselves, harder to distinguish one group from the other, but Akuna found it easy to select Vicris and her troops from the sea of northern sergals. She could see the tall frame of the pit fighter as she monitored her soldier's progress, at times participating in their melee. For a moment, Vicris seemed to be looking about the yard and then pointed her muzzle towards the keep. Akuna thought she saw her, but the High Captain made no indication she did.

Suddenly, Akuna recalled a memory. The prisoner that cried usurper. She remembered having a curiosity about him when her and Akzla had been first introduced to the Narulus dungeons. She had wanted to ask High Officer Zulca of his charges, but the matter seemed unimportant after so long. But now, Akuna realized, it could mean something. She rushed off, her strides full of purpose.

The dungeon was found many turns later and there was a lone person in the guard quarters. It was a bored male tilting back in his chair, whittling a tiny wooden figure with a tiny knife. Other works of wood were found on the table in front of him:  a cube, a spear, a star, even a cub curled up in a ball. When Akuna entered, he ceased carving and stared with hooded eyes, setting his chair back down on all four legs.

"I need a word with one of your prisoners," Akuna told him, ready for resistance.

None came. The guard gave a mere shrug and jutted his thumb over his shoulder toward a door.

"Back there," he said as he resumed carving. "Keep your claws to yourself."

Akuna moved around the guard and his table. She found the door's latch and pressed inward to take in the stank of the dungeon beyond. Nothing had changed since last time. It was still cold and wet, full of horrid smells that couldn't be escaped. The cells were still cages of stone and iron, straw scattered across the floor. Several prisoners were gone now though, mostly southerners that were now likely slaves for the greater northern race. But down further, the light-furred male was still there, but he did not rise with hostility from where he sat like before.

The smell of rot came to Akuna's nose and she saw the prisoner's wounds were festering, gifts from Zulca's sword. The prisoner was watching Akuna lazily, his glare maddening, his breathing raspy.

"Who are...you?" he asked with much effort.

Akuna stood silent before the bars and look down the way she came, toward the door. She could see the guard through there and he was watching her with his chair turned around. He was still carving wood with his small knife.

"When I saw you before," Akuna said, turning back to the prisoner, "you were shouting usurper.  Whose is the usurper and why are you here?" She stared down at the male, displeased with seeing one of her kind in such a condition.

"Vok is," the male said lowly. "So is the ones with him.  All his soldiers.  Everyone in this place." His head lifted, eyes locking with Akuna's orbs. "You."

Akuna grumbled to herself, not falling for the trap that would spark her anger. "Why are we usurpers?"

"You make merry and play while our good General stays lost among the sands other there," he said, his voice becoming clearer. He tired to stand, but quickly gave up and groaned painfully. "You sit and wait, lazy or unwilling, while I try and look for our mother General." He leaned against the wall and coughed loudly. "I bravely scour the wastes for her while you all grow fat." He showed a smile and giggled. "And you...are certainly fat!"

Growling, Akuna found her patience growing thin with this imbecile. "Why are you here?  Who put you here?"

"Vok did.  Him and his fellows.  All of them!  I ask for supplies to venture the wastes and his fellows agree, but I need more than they can give me.  I need more!  Water, food, men to accompany me.  Many.  Soldiers even.  I need a platoon, but Vok will only give me untrained welps.  He says I don't need them, he says he need them!  But I say I know where the General is!"

That grabbed Akuna's attention. She took a step closer to the cell, the bars close to her face. The smell of the prisoner's wounds burned her nostrils. "Where?"

"I thought Gold Ring before," he went on, "but that was foolish.  No, somewhere else.  Deep in the heart of the Sailzane.  Where armor and swords melt and fur burns like in a fire.  That is where they keep her, in a stone pit, afraid of her."

"Who?" Akuna asked forcefully. "Who is keeping her?"

"The other races," the prisoner said. "The southerners.  The Nevreans.  The Agundars and the Enocas too.  Even races we have never seen before.  Hairless races and ones that have fur but are metal too.  Machines and the living dead.  They are all hiding Rain because they fear her, know that she has the power to claim the northerners greater than all of them!"

Akuna's heart dropped more and more as she listened to this fool's rambling. She shuffled uncomfortably on her feet, her ire rising with her time being wasted like this. She wanted to skin the male for baiting her like this. He must be near death, she reckoned. His wounds must be making he delirious.

"But that is not the most unbelievable thing I can tell you," the prisoner was saying, leaning forward.

Akuna doubted that. "And what is that?" she asked.

"If you were to see Rain now you would not recognize her.  She no longer has the same face or fur color or height.  Rain is a child again after having died once, but the gods were good and granted her another chance to fulfill her purpose.  Our purpose as a race!  But the other races knew and locked her away-"

With that, Akuna turned tail and walked away from the prisoner and his rabble. He called after her, pleads that turned to curses and Akuna's ears soon heard that familiar mantra. "Usurper!  Usurper!  Usurper!" Closing the iron-bound door behind her, his screams could hardly reach her.

"He'll be on like that all night," the guard said to her, annoyed.

"Why was he put here?" Akuna asked, annoyed as well but for different reasons.

"He started screaming like he is now," the male told her as chips of wood piled between on the floor between his feet. "Started to call the Grand General an usurper, like you hear him, and when they tried to expel him, he bit and scratched and stabbed anyone that would touch him.  Bloody from what I hear and we're all safer now that he's there behind the bars.  Brainless fool."

Akuna wondered what would become of the prisoner. More than likely he would die of infection before anyone would take him as a slave. She felt more embarrassment for herself than pity for the fool as she left the guard to continue his craft.

"I hope he vomits maggots before the end of his days," she mumbled to herself. I'm chasing the wind, she thought pitifully. She was looking for a reason, any reason at all to validate her distrust for this place. And if I were to find some reason, what would I do then? Akuna could not find an answer.

Moving on, she happened upon airy studies, some occupied, others dark and lonely, but Akuna did not seek solitude. She entered the first common room she found, glad to feel it's rowdy noises filling her ears. The long tables were crowded with both males and females, those young and more seasoned. All soldiers, but few looked to have the proud scars of a bold warrior. The shutters were open, but the place was overwhelmed with heat accompanied by a wet, spicy odor. It was the smell of food and unwashed fur.

Everyone's eyes watched her enter and followed as she placed herself on an empty bench. She put her elbows on the table before her, her tail whipping behind her. For a time, Akuna's eyes wondered over the common hall. There were clusters of comrades, maybe three or four or more, all drinking, eating, and trading jests. Couples were paired off, kissing and nipping at each other's ears, reminding her of Rupland and her. In one corner, others were gambling away their coinage, throwing their tilled dice across the floor. There were those like her, sitting silent and away from the huddles. Many were using paper fans to cool themselves.

Akuna aimed her eyes down at the table, examining the crisscrossing scratches etched into the wood. Some were even words, names. A pity she could not read them.

Vicris, she will be the one that will give me my answers, Akuna thought. As her claws dug into the soft wood of the table, she listened to her doubts.

"You should not trust her so quickly," Kusno would say, sitting across from her while he puffed at his pipe packed with smoking leaves. "She was here before you, plotting alongside the Brethren, and now she wears a friendly mask to fool you."

"She's the only one I feel like will talk to me without hindrance," Akuna retorted inwardly. "With the others...I don't fully trust.  They will either tell me all lies or give me half-truths to keep me subdued."

"And if Vicris tells the Grand General?" Kusno would eye her uncertainly.

"I was only curious.  I just have to ask the right questions at the right moments," she remembered. "There is no harm in that.  Vok cannot expect a fine warrior like me not to ask questions.  But what if I find their answers convincing?" The question chilled her insides. "What if I become convinced you are the traitor they believe you to be?"

"Then discard me like all other traitors," Kusno would tell her instantly. "You owe me no loyalty.  I was only your captain during some harsh years.  I am only a small piece of the animal that is Clan Shigu.  If you find me to be guilty of the sins they say I have committed, then expel me like the excrement that I am."

She hoped Kusno would say that, praying that he would. But the thought still wriggled in her stomach, making her feel sick. Don't make me do this, she wanted to beg. Don't make me cage my own captain like an unworthy scab. But then...who will? Vok will find someone more willing if she refuses. Perhaps Akzla. That will only earn Akuna scorn and Kusno a more unpleasant transition to Wevren. Better me than a squad that knows nothing of mercy.

"Oh, ho, ho," came an unfamiliar voice. "A new face.  A new, beautiful face we have here."

Looking up, Akuna's eyes met the tired stare of a male with fur the color of half-dead grass. His smile was wide, his hand holding a tankard of ale, but the rest of him was vastly unremarkable. Expect for his eyes. They were a deep, bright blue. A young whore could drown in those eyes, but his smile was stupid.

He seated himself opposite of her, dumping himself right onto the bench as he slammed his tankard on the tabletop. Suddenly, his expression turned dumbfounded when he looked at her face again. "Oh!  A touch of battle I see there," he said, slurring his words as he touched his cheek. "But that's alright.  Just a scratch it looks.  We all have that.  A table might have a few scratches on it too, like this one," he pounded on the table, "but it's still a fine table, no?"

Akuna gave a stern stare in hopes it would put some fear in the drunkard, but the fool just smiled dumbly back at her. "What rank are you, soldier?  You should know you are talking to someone above you."

"How high?" the fool laughed. "I like females with high ranks.  Maybe you're a captain or a squad leader or something more.  Whichever, would you like a romp in my bed tonight?  And you have no need to ask, I'll let you be on top like you enjoy."

"I have more mind to tear off your jaw and smash it into your face," Akuna threatened, but again, the male was unmoved. "And furthermore, I have a mate."

"Oh he won't know.  Just something between us.  You and me.  Eh?"

Akuna breathed a deep sigh. She was already annoyed, she didn't need another fly in her soup. "Should you be training, soldier?  You shouldn't have quit so far from dusk." "The day's duties are done today," said the male. He brought up his cup to drink and much of it sloshed between his jaws and onto his chest. "But I do need a fair grooming.  Give me one and I'll clean you good too." Again, he drank from his cup, swallowing deeply.

"You shouldn't drink like that.  Ale dulls the mind and senses, especially after a day's work," she said even though she too took part in some nightly drinking after a hard day's training. "You should be preparing yourself."

"Is Vok getting us ready for one of his big shows again?  Would you know anything about that?" "I meant war," Akuna said bluntly.

"War?" asked the soldier, looking dubious. "Is it war we have now?  When?  Did it just start?" He gave a heavy laugh and wouldn't stop.

So little you know, Akuna thought as she rose and left.

When night came and the mattress called her to rest with her mate and child, sleep was allusive. She was still thinking of questions to be asked and the repercussions each could entail. She thought of the settlements destined for slaughter, saw sick faces twisted into masks of pain and terror. She didn't know those faces, they were not friends, but they seemed real to her. And as always, she thought of Kusno and the question of his loyalty.

Whimpers interrupted her thoughts. The little body between her and Rupland was curled into a ball, making sad sounds in her sleep. She nudged Brunka at her back, whispering her name. The child jolted awake and stared at her mother as if she were some foe.

"Mother?" she asked, sounding to be on the verge of tears.

"A nightmare?" Akuna asked her cub, stroking her ears gently. "What was it?"

"The...man that held me over the river." She whimpered over and over again, but Akuna did not scowl the child for her fear.

"Come," she said, pulling her daughter close. The cub's tiny arms wrapped around her like a collar, her muzzle nuzzling her neck. Akuna licked the top of her head, rubbing her nose there and the child seemed to calm.

"I don't like it here," Brunka whispered after a long while. "I don't like it."

"I know," Akuna said, "neither do I." The child had been through much. Two attacks upon her father and her, from both northerner and southerner. Akuna had repaid Vosgoloma for his crimes, but it would not heal the wounds he had etched into her daughter's mind.

"Once we are home we'll be training again.  Harder.  Faster.  More unrelenting than ever.  You will feel fear no more.  You will be strong and fierce.  People will quiver at your presence.  No one will dare attack you again.  Does that sound good?"

She felt Brunka's head move under her chin, nodding. "I want to see my friends again.  I want to climb the big rocks again.  I just want to go home."

"Soon, child.  Soon." But soon there will be war and will you been feeding the beast or be one of those thrown into it's jaws?

=
====================================================================

The gardens were indeed a placid location, but soon Rupland found himself lacking any interest in the place. It was a good place to rest his bones, to heal, but there was nothing there to stimulate his mind, nothing to stroke his interest or humor.

Cagost was ever awake now and even though he was a talker, he was far from a good one. He complained of the pain of his wounds, the taste of the food he was being fed. He even whined that the keep healer's smoke irritated him. "You're suppose to inhale it through the nose.  Try it, my boy, it will relax you," said the healer, but Cagost only argued it choked his nostrils.

There were better places and better company, Rupland was sure. And bugger anyone that laughed at his limp or his crutch. He needed conversation. Even if it was just eavesdropping, it would satisfy him.

Slowly, he treaded, going down to the less prestigious rooms and corridors where the more common Shigu lurked. From there he followed the voices bouncing down the hallways, finding they came from a rather large common room. The ceiling was high, the windows open to let the desert sunlight stream in, and the benches full of northerners. Pushing aside the door, Rupland found the rancid smells fermenting inside with the deplorable heat, but both were tolerate. He moved toward the wall, trying to remain unnoticed, but he quickly found his efforts were all for naught.

The people around him suddenly quieted and their eyes were fixed upon him and his tattered body. Some grinned and pointed, whispering jests to their friends while others merely stared.

"It seems someone put it in the wrong hole!" someone yelled out, thinking their jest funny enough to be heard by all. And indeed, the rest of the patrons thought it was a jest well-made as the room swelled with laughter. Despite his previous thoughts, Rupland felt the sting of embarrassment spread through him. It felt like the whole keep was laughing at him. But he braved it without looking away. Soon, the laughter died down and everyone seemed to return to their conversations and cups.

Feeling humbled, Rupland found a clear bench to rest upon, laying his crutch across his lap. He looked down the table and saw glances from a group of lads. Perhaps it would've been better to stay in the gardens, he thought, regretting this entire ordeal. But as time passed, he found himself beginning to relax and enjoy the chorus of voices around him. Soon, he was studying their faces, watching their lips move and their tongues lap at their drinks. He caught little morsels of their jabber, but could only guess at their subjects of discussion.

Suddenly, Rupland found someone seating themselves across from him. And then another, right at his left flank.

"Move," the blue-furred male across from him said. "You're sitting at our table." His face was stern and serious.

More people were filing through the door, all seating themselves at the table Rupland chose for himself. A squad, he decided and readied himself to get up until a hand touch his shoulder.

Looking to his left, he found a gray-furred male, his face showing no hostility. "No, stay," he insisted. "Fuck yourself, Mino.  There's enough room for him," he said to the male on the other side of the table.

"He's not a Roko," this Mino said. "Thus he has no right to sit among us." He slapped the table and it rang dully.

"And yet any female that shows even the slightest interest in taking your moldy knob into them can have a seat right next to you?"

"It would be rude to turn away an admirer seeking my seed," the mile smiled. "Perhaps this fellow here is seeking yours," he said, pointing at Rupland.

Finding the jest well met, Rupland just smirked and huffed.

"The only females seeking your seed are ones hoping to poison their womb and make themselves barren," a female with a shortened mane said, gaining laughs from her comrades.

"Maybe I show you otherwise when you're asleep in your bunk!"

"Try it!  I'll make you smooth as a girl down there.  That is if I even feel your tiny prick."

The other squadmates erupted with laughter and Mino rumbled the table between them as he slammed his fist down in frustration.

"Stay with us, friend," said the gray-furred fellow. "You look rough." He looked at his bandages and his tone was not full of mockery. "Was it the stairs?  No shame in that if it was.  Clemy here broke a finger tripping down a few," he told.

"What?" asked the male called Clemy.

"Nothing, Clemy.  Just talking to a friend here."

"It wasn't stairs," Rupland explained. "Southerners.  Four of them."

"Just four?" Mino asked. "That's a great shame."

"Eat your tail," the gray-male sneered as the final member of the squad placed himself at the table. A male with his green fur graying. His gaze was lazy but his blue eyes were sharp.

The other members of the Roko squad saluted him and he mimicked them before his sharp eyes found Rupland.

"Whose the corpse?" he asked gruntingly and his subbornates laughed.

"A friend, captain," said gray-fur. "But how might we call you?  My own name is Allvon to make it fair."

"Rupland."

"I would rather call you One-eyed the Shorttail.  Sounds better than Rumpland."

"And I could call you Poison-cock by the way your friends have it," Rupland responded smilingly and the soldiers cackled while their captain remained subdued.

"What's your tale, Rupland?" asked the captain, but none too friendly. "And it's Elo, but make sure you say Captain before it.  Do those wrappings keep you together?"

"Close to it, Captain Elo," Rupland said respectively. "I can thank the southerners for that.  And one of our own race too, for the bandage on my head."

"Did the southerners take your eye?" one of the unnamed squadmates asked.

"This is from awhile back, during our marching years," he pointed at his eyepatch. "A talyxian bite it right out and I chewed his face off to the bone for it."

"How might a talyxian taste?" asked a young female. "I've had southerner before."

"Haven't we all?" Mino asked sarcastically.

"I've tasted Nevrean before," Allvon proclaimed, "but only a most tender part of them.  Female to be sure."

"You shouldn't speak with such pride about those things," said one of the females.

"What's the use if there's no risk of getting them with child?" asked Mino.

"A cunt is cunt," Allvon told them. "And quite a fine, tight cunt it was."

Rupland gave an uproarious laugh at that. A few member of the Roko squad thought it funny too and before long joined their laughter with his as if he were one of their own.

=
====================================================================

I've had my day of solitude, Akuna decided as she exited out into the training yard. Now is the time to act. As always, the air was noisy, full of dust and sun while the ground burned her feet. Weaving through the circles of dueling troops, she came up to Vicris and her squad. And as always, she watched her soldiers attentively like a mother looking over a litter of playful cubs.

Wordlessly, Akuna reigned up beside her and immediately the High Captain noticed her presence. She seemed pleased by it, showing a slender smile. Akuna showed nothing, far from any mood to smile.

"A pleasant sight to see you out today" Vicris said. "Thought you would hunker in your little cave again.  Couldn't blame you for it though.  Vok has put a most unappetizing dish before you."

"Can he really expect me to eat shit in a broth of piss?" Akuna asked with a snide.

"Aye, he does and you better smile while you chew it or you might hurt his feelings.  And be sure to tell him you want seconds." Vicris giggled aloud.

"To hell with his feelings.  He doesn't have to eat what I have to eat."

"True enough," she said, putting her muzzle to Akuna's ear, "but Vok has his own dishes to eat and they are just as unappetizing as yours and mine."

Akuna could only give a frustrated growl at the sentiment. "But he demands me to serve him my own captain on a silver platter," she whispered back. "I dare to ask...what did Rekie really say to Kusno?  Something that I have not been told about?" Her eyes were accusing.

Vicris's eyes showed innocence. "I have a sliver of what was confessed, but nothing that would surprise you.  The lout was guilt-ridden about what was to be served and it did not settle well with his stomach.  He spoke of betrayal, turn-tails, and he didn't have any fondness for our benefactors."

"Asasukula and Neilza?"

"Those two.  Said they had their own agenda and we were the keys to the door of their desires."

"What do they desire?"

"Far from what I know, but at this point, Rekie must have been rambling.  Calling us tools of theirs, nothing more than pets, our collars unseen around our throats.  Babble, surely."

Or the truth of why he spoke so openly with Kusno, Akuna guessed. "Why would he call us tools?"

"I'm not entirely certain, but I can guess.  He was an old solider, most likely believed we didn't need the aid of outsiders, especially those outside of our race.  Couldn't stand the thought of us trading favors with them.  He wanted the more independent clan Rain had formed, but these times force us to make alliances."

The pit fighter's tone sounded truthful to Akuna's ears, but she had her doubts. All is lies to keep me ill-informed, she believed.

"But his was a cautionary tale, Akuna," Vicris continued. "It's a moral to those who refuse to change their ways for the better of the clan.  Those few are a hindrance, a chain around our feet to keep us slow while other clans race forward.  Your captain is an old solider too.  Might be that-"

"Don't speak like you know him," Akuna snarled at her comrade. "He wasn't your captain.  He don't know the lengths of his loyalty.  You know nothing about him."

Vicris only grinned down at her, like a mother would at a stupid child. "I know he ran to Gold Ring when he was suppose to go north.  Methinks he acts like a coward."

"Take that back!" Akuna yelled out.

"Why should I?" Vicris leaned close. "It was him running, like a scared child."

"Shut it!" she hissed.

"Maybe it will take our rematch to make me," the High Captain suggested.

"I'll shatter your jaw."

"Make it so."

Akuna bared her teeth at her friend, but she only showed a coy smile. Her own fists were clinched, she realized, fur bristling with her rage rising. "Come then," she snared and Vicris signaled her troops.

They surrounded the two like before, closing around their sparing grounds. The two females surrendered their skits and took their stances. Akuna didn't just want to beat the bitch, she wanted to maim her.

Once the fight was started, Akuna did not wait. It was most likely what Vicris had wanted, but the female warrior could not hold herself back. She rushed at Vicris, hoping to tackle her, but predictably the pit fighter turned, lashing out with a kick at her head as she dodged. Akuna blocked her kick, swerving back to face her comrade. She rushed again, this time lashing out with her own kicks and punches. Each was slow, sloppy with anger, and Vicris avoided them all. She came in close to jab at Akuna's belly, knocking the air out of her. Akuna buckled and felt a fist hammer down upon the top of her muzzle, lowering her further to the ground. She was beginning to rise her arms in defense, but a kick had already crashed against her face. Vicris danced away, playing with her friend.

Kneeling, Akuna could feel the blood leak from her busted lip. She licked and tasted the metal tang of it. I'm bleeding, she thought, and it feels good. She rose to her feet and took on her battle stance, tail lashing wildly. Her muzzle was wrinkled in rage, claws fully unsheathed. The soldiers were cheering, others jeering, but there was fire brewing behind Akuna's eyes.

Akuna attacked, her arms and legs flashing. Vicris turned and dodged, waiting for moments when her comrade reached too far or put too much force in her strikes. She tried many times to grab a limb, but the moment Akuna felt the fingers enclosing, she yanked herself back. After ignoring the blows her friend donated, Akuna finally hit her. Square in the stomach and hard. Vicris tumbled back from the force of the blow and tripped to the dirt. Akuna saw she was stunned, trying to regain her breath, and pounced. She lifted up her leg and threw it down in hopes of hitting Vicris's head or crushing her hand or foot. There would be regrets, but Akuna felt the situation demanded it.

Speedily, Vicris rolled back and the dropkick slammed down upon the ground with a dull boom. By the look in her eyes, Akuna could see Vicris was surprised by the force of the attack. Suddenly, she tensed and relinquished her playful smirk. This time, she was the one to attack.

The pit fighter flew at Akuna, her attacks like lightning strikes. She hit her in the shoulder, the neck, chest, and belly. Little more than slaps, Akuna felt, but they were taking their toll. Then came a kick she had not seen, striking her clean across her jaw. Dazed, she stumbled, but then collapsed on her knees, blinking dumbly. There was a sharp pain in her mouth. Searching with her tongue, she felt the cut on the inside of her cheek. Instead of spitting, she swallowed down the blood that filled her mouth.

The moment she rose once more, Vicris was upon her and assailing her with jabs and kicks. Akuna did her best to dart away, but many made their mark upon her muzzle, thigh, and arm. Vicris was slashing with her claws now, cutting at Akuna's hide. Blots of red mixed with her gray fur, but the pain was far away. Akuna waited for Vicris to tire herself out, but soon found herself falling. Vicris had put her leg behind her, tripping her. Using the momentum of her fall and grabbing her, Vicris spun Akuna in mid-air. The large female was then tossed up and thrown down to land...right on her head.

A great pain surged through her skull now as if it had been crush and all the little bones were tiny glass pieces now. Her eyes were closed to the world, her hands groping, and her throat struggling to breath, the air forced from her lungs.

Akuna thrashed upon the ground, claws digging into the dirt. The hairs on her body vibrated and she realized it was the troop's uproarious cheers. She attempted to get up, but found her limbs too weak. She rolled on her back, felt the sun on her face. Soon her throat opened and she sucked in the precious air she needed. Vicris was lingering above her, showing a gloating smile. She pressed her foot down on Akuna, toe-claws sinking into her chest.

Akuna's fingers wrapped around the ankle connected to the foot that pinned her, but the moment she did, Vicris moved her foot up and against her throat now. Again, Akuna withered with her breath turning short.

"Give in!" Vicris commanded her.

Akuna's response was a growl, a weak one with her windpipe compressed. The foot gained weight, constricting her.

"Ack!  I give, damnit!" she choked. "I give, you flea-ridden whore of a bastard."

The foot lifted up and Akuna coughed several times before her breathing settled. She could hear the laughs roll through the crowd, see the arrogant looks around her. Grunting, she got herself up on her feet, but it took effort to stand. She swallowed and tasted more blood.

"A fine brawl, my friend!  A fine brawl through and through!" Vicris boasted, walking towards her. "Thought I broke your neck when I threw you.  Glad to see that I-"

"Again..." Akuna leered and the pit fighter stared at her, seemingly astonished at what she had just said.

"Again?" Vicris asked with her troops going quiet.

"Again!" The crowd took up the call too. Again, again, again! Their shouts rumbled through the training yard, gaining the attention of the other squads. Vicris watched as others came to watch, looking intrigued. How could she refuse the challenge? She shrugged, smiling. "Again, it is." The crowd burst with renewed applause as Vicris took her stance and Akuna did as well. When the new bout began, both females rushed at each another.

For Akuna, it was hardly any different. Her heavy punches and kicks were easily avoided, Vicris twisting away from them. For each attempted hit, Vicris responded with two and three of her own assaults, bruising Akuna with each, but they could not damper her resolve. She pummeled the pit fighter's side with her knee, but then came a devastating blow against where her chest and belly met. Akuna kneeled, her breath once again knocked out of her. A foot slammed against the side of her head and she went down. This time though, she found the power to get herself up despite the pain gnawing at her.

"Again!" she yelled out and the audience approved.

Another flurry of hits and misses, more red pain and black breathlessness. The one that took Akuna to the dirt this time came when Vicris kneed her between the legs and hammered her elbow down on her neck when she bent down. But Akuna endured, stirring the vigor of those who watched.

"Again!" she roared, the blood streaming down her chin. "Again, again, AGAIN!"

=
=====================================================================

The Roko squad were a rowdy group Rupland found as the hours progressed, but one that satisfied his need for companionship. They were also nosy, but he was willing to humor their varying curiosities: How he came under attack by a group of southern vagrants, what squad he fought with during the Campaign, where he hailed from and how many kills he has to his name. When he claimed to have killed twenty-six southerners, a few of the young soldiers nodded in admiration while the older squadmates were less impressed.

"You survived all our battles under Rain's command with just twenty-six kills?" laughed a shaggy indigo-furred female by the name of Ausco. "Did you kill one or two every clash and say, 'That was quite the battle, but this little soldier is done today," and you would lay on the battlefield while your brothers were still fighting, thinking you for dead!"

The entire common room filled with cackling laughter and Rupland had enough sense to laugh with them. A good jest, he could confess to himself. He was beginning to concoct a joke of his own to counter her until one of Ausco's comrades spoke first.

"How can you talk so cocksure, Ausco?" said a thick male called Sosso. "My eighty-and-three is a mountain compared to you two's pathetic piles of bodies."

"Eighty-three sounds like a cheater's number to me," Rupland then spoke up, gaining their eyes. "Did you go around after the battle was won, poking any southerner corpse and saying, 'Another kill to my name!'"

The squad gave a few good chuckles at that, one that put a smile on their captain's face. "I've thought something similar when he talks of his numbers," Elo told them. "My own number is sixty-and-seven and this lout has more than me?" He shock his head, still smiling. "The fool must be using the highest number he can fathom in that little skull of his."

The other soldiers laughed, as were their duty, but Sosso remained quiet. "You'll be having those words for supper once another war comes and the fields are red with my spoils."

"Says the cub to the father," Ausco added.

"Do you have any children, Rupland?" Allvon asked after the laughing had died and he had swallowed down a piece of meat from his plate.

"Aye, a daughter.  Brunka."

"An ugly name," one of the younger soldiers decided, "but she must have a pretty face.  A female with an ugly name is always blessed with a beautiful face."

"A shame you have neither," Ausco jested.

"How old is your daughter?" asked Mino.

He's looking for a way to offend me, thought Rupland, but he answered nevertheless. "Near three."

The male smiled. "Take heed, Shorttail, I might be the one to take her maidenhood and get her with my child.  Would be my sixth cub though."

Smiling through his growing anger, Rupland said his counter. "I'll be sure to warn her of any ugly males named Mino and his poison cock."

The soldiers laughed again and Mino shuffled irritably on the bench.

"You think you'll be in any condition to fight once you have healed, friend?" Allvon asked. "With these times, you'll be seeing your number grow to twenty-seven and so forth."

"Is there talk of war in these halls?"

"Talk of war is always in these halls," said Captain Elo.

"The coming of war and peace is like night and day.  The sun is setting and we are due for another war.  More so, soldiers are being trained and you don't train for peace."

The thought was sour, one that turned Rupland's belly into worms. War. The word bit at him bitterly, searing his hide. War, again. If he had heard it three years ago, he would be filled with joy at the prospect. But now, with a daughter so gentle and untouched by the terrors of conflict, he felt only dismay. Not now, he prayed to the gods. Let her grow and if war must come then let it be at the ripe age of twelve or thirteen, when her body is strong and her mind is fortified. War. No, please, no...

Time went on and Rupland grew solemn and silent. He listened to Roko squad tell stories most recent. Ausco talked of her romance with a particular messenger, speaking of her admiration for his thick legs, lank arms, and thin middle, but there was little love in the bond. "As long as I can send letters to my mother in the east, I can take all the stabs from that tiny prick of his."

Allvon gave tale of his winnings gained from betting in the beast-fighting houses. Rupland knew of such places, having seen many during his childhood, but he had little delight for them. Allvon was hoping to pool his coins into buying three beasts of the desert wilds:  A spiny-scaled Needle-mouth, a crocked-back Ravol, and a black-bellied Zailnail. "I'll be naming them Hacon, Stavon, Milcon, after my dead brothers.  Taken from the war."

"Take caution, Allvon," Captain Elo said, "you'll do better to keep that coin in your pocket."

"Coins in your pocket don't buy farms.  The beasts are the first step, then the farm with cattle and greens to grow, then I'll be buying sellswords to protect the lands.  I'll be my own king!"

"Here?  In the desert?" Ausco asked.

"No, fool, in the north!  The land is just sitting there, waiting for someone to make a claim to it!  I'll be one of the clever ones to get his piece of that feast."

"You'll gain more pleasure by eating those beasts," Mino added and Rupland could not disagree with him.

"Find me in a few years and I'll be sure to give you work on my farm tilling my fields."

"More likely we'll find you sick and thin to the bone in some city, sucking an elder's pipe to get a crumb of food." This time, it was Allvon shuffling in his seat, visibly wounded by the joke.

All through their laughter and stories and smiles, Rupland sat quietly, listening, but full of dread. Soon, he felt it would be best to retreat to his chambers.

Finding balance with his crutch, he bid his new-found companions a farewell, telling them his wounds were burning.

"Have a cup of ale to numb your pain," Elo suggested, but Rupland insisted it was best to get his muscles moving again. They wished him a good day and quick healing.

When he returned to wandering the keep, he realized how safe it felt walking down those halls of hard stone. Up in this black keep surround by a city of strong northerners, walled with huge white stones. Rellon only has a haphazardly-built gate of wood to protect it, Rupland remembered. It would be shattered in a charge and their Nevrean neighbors would not shed a tear or a drop of blood to shield them from attack. Here, they had enough defenses and numbers to hold out, a tough boulder to break. For any army, Rellon would be a mere pebble in their path.

There was a temptation to ask Akuna if they could settle here, seeing as they've been received well enough. But Rupland knew without a second thought Akuna would refuse the proposal. She had squads at Rellon and as undisciplined and lacking in arsenal as they were, Akuna took pride in having soldiers of her own to command. Even if she would be promised better men and numbers, she would not humor the idea of abandoning her fellows. A true captain never abandoned the troops she claims, she would say.

"We were seen as troublesome before," Rupland remembered further back. "Rain questioned our loyalty and grouped us with other malcontents with a captain that despised the ground our feet touched.  Kusno.  When we were washed away in the mountains, he could have abandoned us, claiming we drowned in the rainwater, and he would've not been faulted for it.  But he led us through darkness, pain, and torture to find the comfort of our mother army again.  Aye, a true captain and that is what Akuna inspired to be.

Silence awaited him in his chambers. He had hoped for a nap, to find himself upon the bed before him, but one misstep and he found himself on the floor. Thankfully, he caught himself and went to his knees, his crutch falling to the floor. His snarl was wrathful, eyes agape with his claws scrapping across the wooden floor. His legs were full of pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain! PAIN! All I know now is pain!

Akuna had the right of it, Rupland thought with melancholy. I'm pathetic, limping along, looking old even though my fur is full and colorful. "To hell with you!" he told his crutch as if it were alive, slapping it away from him. He then looked to the bed and growled at it too. "I've slept enough." He lifted up and straightened his back, his hands leaving the floor. "No more." Little by little, he made himself stand. Rest had made him weak as a newborn, legs shaking as he stood there. Looking to the bed, he felt as if he were a hundred rekusus from it,  but he knew what he must be done.

His right foot moved and it was little effort to complete the action. Once it came down, he was able to keep his balance. As his left came forward, he hissed as invisible teeth chewed at his right thigh when he put pressure on it, but it could be tolerated. When he put some weight on his feet, he feared something might give, but his bones remained unbroken as he pressed on. One by one, he came closer to the bed, feeling his chest swell with joy, his steps keeping steady. Finally, with his hands touching the edge of the bed, he smiled gladly. Small progress, he thought, but progress enough. Turning around, he readied himself and stared at the door. He was ready for more. He took another step and aimed forward, praying his stitching would not rip open.

=
=====================================================================

"Perhaps this will wash the flavor of blood from your mouth," Vicris said as she sat down a flagon before Akuna, ale slouching over it's brim. Akuna took it up silently and drank it down selfishly. Indeed, it took the taste of her own blood out, but even so...

As the ale washed through her maw, the inside of her cheek screamed with pain. Akuna winced in agony, remembering her wound. "Doesn't take out the taste of losing to you though," she said before taking another sip, expecting the pain this time. She averted her eyes away from the pit fighter with her bruises and cuts flaring as painfully as her shame.

Even without looking at her, Akuna knew Vicris was smiling her cocky smile as she took her seat on the opposite side of the booth. Afternoon was upon them and the tavern was slowly gaining more patrons. Callmis was lazily working the bar, filling the requests for drinks with a modest selection.

"It's a humbling taste, isn't it?" Vicris asked teasingly.

"Piss off," Akuna growled back.

"Alright, alright, I'll let you heal," the pit fighter giggled slightly. "But if it means anything, I'll take back my words about your Captain Kusno.  I may not know the male and though his charges are grave, I pray we find him innocent."

"I'll prove him innocent," Akuna blurted without thinking. "Kusno will come out of this shit pile smelling like flowers and I'll be the one to pull him out."

"That or you'll be getting just as much shit in your fur digging him out.  Your loyalty is admirable, my friend, but watch your step or you might catch a scent that no amount scrubbing will wash away."

"I'll make you eat those words."

"Like you did today?" Vicris smirked at the female warrior whom growled at her.

For a long moment, Akuna sat there, hunched over her cup of ale. She opened and closed her hand, wiggled her toes, and moved her mouth around. She could feel bruises here and there, thick pain underneath her fur. Her head pounded dully too, agitating her mood. I must look like a damned mess, she thought solemnly. My fur full of dirt and my face all puffy. Rupland will surely scream from the sight of me tonight.

Before she spoke, Akuna lifted up her eyes and looked about the room, hoping not to find any wandering eyes or ears pointed their way. "What if I were to propose an idea to the...our friends?"

Vicris looked around too, making sure. She spoke as she brought her cup to her lips. "It all defends upon the idea.  Is it well-founded or foolhardy?" "Might be both, but I might like to round up a squad for one grand mission." Her eyes locked with Vicris's and they were full of intrigue. "To find our General Rain."

A smile grew on Vicris's face as she put down her cup. "Fully foolhardy then."

"What is so foolhardy about it?" Akuna asked, displeased by her friend's reaction.

"Not only is it foolhardy, but it's also been done before.  By trackers and hunters and captains and fools that gotten themselves lost to die in the Sailzane."

"And what?  They found nothing?  Nothing to lead us to her?"

"Oh, they found many things.  A pile of bones, a dry corpse, a rusted sword, a piece of tail armor, and a skull of a bovine they thought belonged to Rain too.  One might be evidence of Rain's death or might be evidence that she is alive and breathing.  They all have their theories.  Rain's stuffed corpse is among an Agundar warlord's trophy room.  Or she is locked away in some cold brig, endlessly being maimed by Nevreans or southerners.  But all of it was fruitless, for us waiting and those searching fools.  And they dare beg a reward for their idiocy.  Save your time and your men, Akuna.  Far too long have we lingered upon Rain.  Best to claim her dead and be done with it."

Akuna was astonished, not truly believing such words could come from a High Captain's mouth. "Why are you so ready to abandon her?"

Vicris' expression was one of confusion. "Ever thought she could have been the one to abandon us?  For all the time she has been gone, she could be up north, ravaging all the male meat she damn well please." She lapped at her drink nosily, whipping her chin with the back of her hand.

Akuna would be pleased to throw the rest of her ale full in Vicris's face, but before she could the High Captain began speaking again.

"Besides that," she said in a hush, "Vok thinks it would be better to fade Rain's memory from the clan's mind altogether."

Akuna was bewildered. "What does that mean?"

"He thinks Rain is unneeded now after being gone for so long.  Best to replace her before her children start to wander."

With her mouth open, Akuna stared at her friend with a glare. "He means to replace her?  With who?  Himself?  As Commander?"

"No other," Vicris answered. "He's our Grand General after all."

Akuna's mind reeled against the idea. Her jaw set hard, her heart pumping with anger and her ears twitching spastically. But through it all, she tried to appear calm, lest Vicris see and keep the rest of the details to herself. But...he's not our General, her mind declared. He's no Rain Silves. How can he claim to replace her? Her ire was rising, she could feel it, her resolve lessening.

"But...how?  The commons will not give up Rain easily."

"He believes they will once he allows Densen to pass around his many papers to the masses."

"Papers?"

"Yes, papers.  You know, the little drawings he makes and puts all over Wevren.  Vok has told him to make them all flattering so the masses will adore him.  They will show Rain passing her title down to our Grand General to make him our new Supreme Commander."

"But the Supreme Captain...how do you know she will allow him to take her title?"

"Whom better than someone with a strong army in reserve?  Whom seems the most fit and most ready for the responsibility of leading our troops to strike at the southerner threat for their most deplorable deeds?  There is no other northerner in the entire Sailzane that can rival Vok Hashin.  If the Supreme Captain dares to condemn him for his actions then the council will accuse her of making the clan weaker."

A grand plan these few have weaved together, Kusno would whisper in Akuna's ear. The Inkmaster provides the kindling, Amalio's bandits and Highlen's gunmen ready to spark the fire, Milkas' assassins to keep it alive, and Vok ready to spread the flames across Vilous while his allies in the Supreme Captain's council make certain the heat is not doused. Aye, a fine plan crafted to win this war.

Akuna could not stomach it any longer. She spared Vicris the embarrassment of having ale splashed into her face and had the good sense to excuse herself.

"Didn't fancy what I had say, did you?" Vicris asked as she surrendered her seat, seemingly aware of Akuna's true emotions.

"Just another boulder to be swallowed, but I'll do it all for my clansmen.  But the ale is not helping my aches and this noise is not helping my head."

"Drink down another cup and you'll feel better."

"Tomorrow.  Right now, I need a nap."

"And that is why you lost today," smirked the pit fighter.

Akuna smirked as well and showed her friend a vulgar gesture as she headed for the tavern's exit.

Once outside, her legs became animated with a fury she could scarcely control. She stomped through the yard, her mind a whirl with thoughts of what she should do next. Damn an escort, she thought firstly, I'll find Densen's little ink-press shop and trash it to find those traitorous papers and shove them down Vok's lying gullet. But the idea soon left her head once she thought of something better.

She looked up towards the upper windows of the Narulus, remembering how she had first been taken to Vok's chambers. From floor to floor, she ascended, taking three stairs at a time with her temper growing. Yet she kept it hidden, knowing the keep guards would better assist her if she kept her tone calm. By the time she found the hall that lead to Vok's room, her anger had cooled to ambers but they were still hot as a newly forged axe.

"I require a moment of the Grand General's time," Akuna said to the two guards posted before Vok's door, but speaking the welp's rank left a wretched taste on her tongue.

"On what matter?" asked the guard to the left.

"A matter not for the likes of you," she spat back.

The two guards traded a look. One entered while the other watched Akuna. Again I must wait like I'm a simple servant, she thought ruefully. Only a few seconds had passed before the door opened fully and the guard motioned for her to enter. Going in, Akuna saw there were others in the room with Vok. Seated behind his low-table, Asasukula and Neilza sat at his left flank while Master Strategist Era was planted at his right. Akuna felt uncomfortable with all four of them staring at her, but she knew a Shigu never retreated.

"My apologies to keep you waiting, First Captain," Vok said, bowing his head graciously. "My guards are very dutiful, but better to have dutiful guards than ones that are lack-witted.  Why might you need my audience today?"

Akuna swallowed hard and thought on the words she would say. She jumped at the sound of a bang, but realized it was just the door shutting behind her. "Might I speak freely or would it be best not to?"

"Speak freely," Vok told her. "We are in the company of friends.  Do not leave your words unheard.  Do not worry either if you think my guards are listening.  That door is made of hard and heavy oak.  Our words will not go through it."

She took in a lungful of air, her heart thumping against her ribcage. "The papers, the ones that will make it seem you are inheriting Rain's mantle, I know of them."

Asasukula and Neilza seemed confused by this. They looked to Vok while Era gave Akuna a displeased leer. "And what might you think of this, First Captain?" Vok asked as he leaned forward on his elbows.

"I am disgusted by it," Akuna said truthfully. She took in another breath, her fur beginning to stand on end. "What made you believe you deserve Rain's duty?  Missing as she may be, you have no right to claim yourself the new commander of this clan!" She was walking forward, slowly, her rage unchecked. "You have no right to replace her!"

All four of them were staring again. The Nevrean and Agundar looked most nervous. Vok and Era seemed to have little reaction to her hot emotions.

"I knew that idea would invite your ire," Vok said, "and I know a great many would have my tongue severed for my suggestion.  But with our clan so strewn and those in Gold Ring ready to admit defeat, who is most ready to revive our old vigor?  While I cannot attest to having Silves' strength or provoking the same fear and fierce loyalty, I say I can create the future she wanted for us northerners.  The southerners gone, their people destroyed, our curse broken, our clan raised above all others, with no one in Vilous to question our clout."

"But why are you so ready to claim her dead and for good?" Akuna quickly asked. "What tells you that she is gone?  I know of the parties that have come forward claiming to know her fate, but why not send groups of your own troops to search for her?  You have the numbers, you have the maps, you know where to send them and find her scent.  Why haven't you?"

For a moment, they sat still and silent on their cushions while she loomed over them.

"There is great waste in that venture," Era suddenly said. "If she has not returned then more than likely she has been captured.  If captured, where is the demand for ransom?  No one has claimed to have her, dead or alive, so there is little hope in searching the wastes for her now."

"But what if she is held by captives not looking for a ransom?  What if she is a prized prisoner, weeping for us to come and save her?" She hoped to appeal to their soft hearts, praying they would understand.

"It has been years, Akuna," Vok spoke. "There is little hope in finding her in the strong and able condition we last seen her.  Better to think she is dead than find her crippled for the southerners to mock her."

"To add, Rain was a brute," Asasukula started. "She knew nothing of compromise.  She negotiated with fear and fear alone.  Yes, she would have stamped out the southerners surely if she were still with you, but after that, she would have been at a lost."

"Apart from conquering, she had little else use," Neilza said smilingly.

Akuna swung her arm furiously across the table and at the two non-northerner's cups. Their wine flew out, staining their tunics and breeches. Both had flinched and now were in shock as they wiped away the red liquid from their faces.

"Do not speak as if you knew her!" she yelled full in their face, spittle dripping from her jaws. "You never marched with her, never seen her make bleed the scum that came at us.  YOU DO NOT KNOW HER!  YOU ARE NOT SHIGU!"

"AKUNA!  Godsdamn you!" Vok stood, his voice blasting in her ear. Neilza showed more anger than fear and Asasukula looked to be reaching for something hidden in his cloak but stopped when he saw Era shaking his head at him.

"What use are you to us?" Akuna said, her voice straining. "Why are you even here?"

"Do you mean today?" asked Neilza.

"I mean on all days before this!  What is your reason to meddle with Clan Shigu?"

"Our reason is coin," the Agundar answered with a leveled voice.

"And we do not meddle.  We trade," added Asasukula. "And show some gratification.  Your commander certainly does, so why not you?" The avian's eyes locked on Akuna, his round iris turning into a pinprick. "Our own clans allow yours so many luxuries.  Materials to build your homes, weapons, armor along with food and water and wine and ale!  All that for the gold and silver Vok has generously given us."

"If that is your only business than why are you allowed to listen in on our assemblies?  Why are you given the privilege to speak with the Grand General in his chambers as if you were his advisors?"

"We act as such," Neilza told her. "When war breaks out between the north and south sergals again, the other races will be waiting to decide whom they side with.  Many of our kind despise you northerners.  How violent, how uncivilized, how worthless, others call you.  They would rather aid the southerners and see you wiped out before them.  There are even those that would take up arms and face you on the killing fields."

"Then let them come and let them be trampled," Akuna hissed.

"But without us, would you have the supplies to face them?  Without us, you would be facing the southerners with brittle spears while they maim you with steel and fire.  Without us, the other clans and families would be thorns deep in your paws.  They would prove more bothersome than you believe us to be.  We have the influence to keep the southerners unaided and you fed, protected, and strong.  That is the reason we meddle with Clan Shigu!"

Snarling, Akuna straightening her back, looking from face to face. Their faces were wrinkled with anger like hers, but no one seemed more displeased than Era, his ears dipped low.

"Rain would not need your...this..." She could not find the words.

"Rain is no more," Era interjected. "Her flesh is gone, her bones are dust, her soul is risen.  It would be best for you, First Captain, to hammer that into your damned, thick skull."

Akuna desired to give the Master Strategist a curt strike of her claws, but Vok spoke up before she could ready her arm.

"If that is all you came to say, First Captain, then take yourself back to your chambers." There was no tension in his voice or in his body. She knew he felt no threat in her. "I will gather an assembly and you will speak your objections there.  I do not enjoy the notion that one of my comrades are questioning my position."

"Gather no one.  I am only questioning your purpose with...this folly.  You have put actions in place to replace Rain.  You have created methods in hopes of forcing the commons to forget her.  Our Mother General!" She felt as if she were pleading with these four, hoping they would see the error of their ways. But none spoke to admit their wrongs, no one stood to agree with her. They merely stared at her as if she were deeply mad.

With her ears dipping in defeat, she took in a breath and released it grudgingly. "I will give you a courtesy that Kusno forgot to give you.  I'm leaving for Rellon on the dawn after tomorrow's.  I won't run off for Gold Ring or disappear.  I will stay at my post, train my troops, and maintain my duty for my clan."

She turned on her heels and made for the door, but before she could walk two paces, Vok called after her.

"Akuna!"

She turned and gave him a look of dismay.

"With your departure, how can I be sure you will keep your oath to us, to the Brethren?  How am I am to be certain that you will keep your loyalty to me?" He tapped a claw on his chest.

"Know this," Akuna began. "When war comes, you will find my squads ready to bloody their blades.  I will lead them and keep them strong.  I will see our destiny realized. I will follow your tail and obey your commands.  But you, Grand General, will never be my General.  You might lead our clan to greatness again and force the southerners into oblivion, but you will never be my General.  I will remain as an ever loyal warrior to the northerner cause, but you will never be my General."

With little else to say and her patience growing thin, Akuna left them with their wrathful glares, spilled drinks, and stained clothes.

=
=====================================================================

When evening came, Rupland's legs were burning. He wasn't quite certain if it was sore muscles or enraged bruises. But with that pain, he also earned a sense of pride for his tenuousness. Six times he had completed his simple trek from the bed to the door and back again. Yes, his bones did feel as weak as twigs with each step forward, but he knew each day henceforth he would gain new strength.

With the sun dipping, Brunka appeared, rushing in with a good amount of youthful vigor remaining. Jumping up on the bed with her father, she gave the details of her day:  How they still hunted the black rodents found inside the keep's walls, how Cal wagered Marisa would not eat a bug and yet she did, and how a guard played a round of comrades and cowards with them. Before long, the child realized her fatigue and settled down beside her father, purring as she pressed her muzzle into his chest.

The cub did not awake with her mother's arrival. Rupland was grateful for it as Akuna did not look pleased. She grunted as she entered the room, her brow scrunched and tail flailing behind her. Rupland was also alarmed at the cuts half-hidden under her fur and the swelling around her face. She quickly undressed and kicked away her skirt before she joined them on the sheets. But she was not gentle in her actions. She dropped herself on the mattress on her back, crossing her arms and closing her eyes, paying her child and mate little notice.

Rupland only stared at her, befuddled. She exhaled and inhaled sharply, her closed lids twitching just so. She hopes I will not bother her, but does she really expect me not to ask?

"Might I guess at those bruises?" he whispered carefully.

"No," was Akuna's answer. Her eyes snapped open, but they continued to avoid him. "And it is not why I'm so...enraged at the moment.  That is with other matters.  And we're leaving for Rellon the day after tomorrow.  I thought better than to stay here any longer.  I should probably inform Akzla and that fool of hers.  Can he walk or is he still as crippled as you are?"

"I...don't believe he can walk, but I have..."

"Damn, then I suppose we will have to tie him to the back of the carriage and drag him all the way back to Rellon."

The idea made Rupland laugh softly, making the cub at his side toss and growl in her sleep.

"The travel will do you some good too, Rupland," Akuna carried on. "Before the first week is done, I'll have you running again."

"You should know I walked without my crutch today, my mate," Rupland smirked.

"Truly?" Akuna turned her head to look at him. "How far did you walk until you stumbled?"

"In truth, I only stumbled once, and it was from this bed to that door." He pointed and Akuna looked.

"Unimpressive," was her verdict. "I see now what I must do.  You will walk the entire distance home.  Perhaps I can teach you to stand in your sleep."

"Oh, you are so cruel, Akuna.  So cruel," Rupland smiled.

Akuna sighed, shutting her eyes again. "Yes, I am cruel while the gods make me suffer such hardships.  Yes, I am cruel while they are so merciful to me."

"Is that how you think of it?  That my injuries are the gods being cruel to you?"

"What?" She seemed confounded by the connection. "No, no, no.  I mean...many things.  Too many to name to you.  But hardships are like beasts of burden.  They can be wrangled eventually."

"Aye, that they can be," he agreed, shutting his eyes along with his mate.

A silence took sway over them for a good while. Rupland listened to the night air inside their chambers, to his mate's and daughter's breathing. But then she spoke again, this time more thoughtful than ever.

"Rupland...if...when war is to come and I am not destined to see it's end, would you find another mate?"

This time, Rupland's eyes snapped open. He turned his head towards her and found her muzzle still pointed at the ceiling, one gray eye watching him.

"Wha...why would I need to?"

"Death is why, you fool.  If I'm carried off to the afterlands, will you find another mate?"

"I...um, I...is that what you desire?"

"I desire to live and see our clan's final victory, but if that is not so, you should find another.  And not that whore dyer that tried to take your cock from me.  Not her!  Some proud female, strong too.  Plant a seed in her belly.  Give Brunka a brother or a sister.  I know you wanted more cubs, but I hated those months off my feet.  My hands felt empty without an axe.  Perhaps you might find a warrior bolder than me." She was smiling, Rupland saw, but he was frowning.

"You talk as if you know you're bound to die.  Don't talk that like, please.  I hate to think on it.  It pains me."

"But if the times comes, will you find another?"

"What if I can't find someone...that can keep me as warm at night as you?"

"Then I suppose your hand is the closest mate you will come by.  If you curl your back enough, you might find your mouth to be the better mate." The bed shook as Akuna giggled. Rupland smiled, but there was a terrible sadness in him now. He thought upon it, but then big arms came to pull at him. Their daughter was sandwiched between them, like so many nights before this. Both mother and child were purring now, he could hear and he never wanted it to end.

"But know this," Akuna whispered in his ear, "I plan to have you as my male until my fur malts and my legs give out."

"Before that, might you dance for me?" he asked. She had never performed the ritual. Her reluctance always stung his heart, but he knew she saw the act as an embarrassing performance. He had dreams of her performing the dance, him accepting her gesture, and their bond set for life. But beyond that, she had never mentioned it.

"Aye," Akuna said after a while, "if that will make you stop asking."

Rupland's worry settled with those words, his arms finding her in the dark of the night.

=
=====================================================================

While there were those stumbling in the desert to find their General, Akuna found Rain easily within the space of her mind.

There was crusty, yellow grass underneath her feet and the sun was along the horizon. She didn't know if it was dusk or dawn. Far ahead, she could see a group of huts huddled together in a circular pattern. Her armor clanked loudly as she walked and drew closer. Akuna found she had not seen huts, but towering piles of debris. Wooden planks, pieces of metal, spear and swords, iron-bound doors, cups and tables, marble statues and bronze shields. Even corpses, both of bone and rotting flesh. All clumped together in one mass.

In the wide open middle of these waste piles with a throng of wild beasts circling her, was General Rain Silves. She was untouched by the years. The same shade of dark blue fur, tall frame, golden eyes glittering with the waning sunlight, blood red markings under each orb, and collar of pink scars around her neck, her posture conveying both power and pride.

Akuna took cautious steps towards her and noticed the wild beasts near did not take heed of her presence. They prowled about, barking and sleeping and playing. Their crooked backs bounced up and down with each of their steps, their long brown fur flowing with the wind.

She was full of fear and joy when she came close to the General, but when Rain noticed her, she paid a simple glance and turned back to look over her beasts. Without asking, Akuna knew Silves tended over these animals, like a herd.

"The others will be overjoyed to see you again," Akuna told her General, trying to keep her tears unseen. She had wanted to say she was overjoyed to see her again, but she must appear strong in the presence of her Supreme Commander.

"Some will be dismayed by my appearance," Rain said to her, her voice booming in Akuna's ears. "I'm surprised to see you are not one of them." The look she projected at the First Captain was one of disgust.

That wounded Akuna more than a dagger through her heart. In fact, she felt like that had just occurred, with Rain holding the blade. She stumbled to find the words to defend herself.

"I would never be dismayed to see you again, my General." She bowed her head submissively, slumping her shoulders.

"I am told many things about my children.  Some have been diligent.  Others..." Rain turned to her, her expression less thorny. "Mischievous."

"I have done nothing of the sort." She was near to pleading with her commander, ready to drop to her knees and beg for her forgiveness.

"Even though you have been supping with this...Grand General Vok Hashin?" Rain asked her, looking to her beasts. "What makes him so great of a general?  What are his accomplishments?  How many battles has he won?  How many kills are to his name?  How many have pledged an oath to protect his life?  How many are under his sway?  What makes him so remarkable?  What makes him so worthy of my rank?" There was boiling wrath under her tone and that provoked Akuna's fear.

Akuna fumbled for some reason, any reason to say, but despite her efforts, none came to her. "Nothing.  I...can't, my General.  I cannot tell you one sliver of a reason.  He is nothing compared to you.  He is nothing." Her chest was hurting, eyes turning foggy with tears, voice turning shrill with a sob.

"Then why are you consorting with him?"

Akuna fully expect the General to come at her, her halabard striking down for her neck or at her hip to cleave her clean in half. But the blade never came.

"I'm...," Akuna began to say, whimpering. "I'm just so...tired of waiting.  I was tired of waiting for the southerners to come.  I was afraid...and foolish.  As a soldier, there is nothing else."

For a long while, both females stood silent, neither one looking at the other. Summoning her courage, Akuna started to say something, something for the General to see the validity of her actions, but Rain was already walking away. "My General, please!" she said, but she did not turn back. Then the sun melded with the sky, the objects in the debris piles melted together, and the beasts closed in. Clarity was lost and Akuna's eyes blinked back into reality. She saw light was streaming through the window shutters, signaling morning and her time to awake.

=
=====================================================================

"If Vok were to strip you of your rank," Vicris began as Akuna came up to her on another bristling hot, southern day, "might you feign surprise?"

"It would not surprise me if he had the lot of you shave me from head to tail and send me walking through the dunes to cook.  Might I survive, do you think I'll gain my rank back?" Akuna smiled at her friend.

Vicris mirrored her smirk. "You shouldn't be joking.  You should be paying Vok an apology and sucking the seed from his prick.  Suck well and you might remain First Captain.  Or perhaps it would be better to go to Era too.  I'm told he was the most furious."

"Era can shove it," Akuna sneered. "I had no quarrel with him and he was not the source of my ire yesterday."

"Mayhaps I need to suggest to the others that we should keep you in the dark about matters such as this.  Lest we bare the brunt of your...ire again."

"Do that and my ire will be tenfold."

"Might be me getting demoted considering I'm the fool that told you in the first place!  I'll slash your ears off if that happens." She slapped Akuna in the shoulder and both females gave a laugh. "All for that dead bitch General of yours."

Akuna stopped smiling, her laugh gone. "Best watch your tongue or I might rip it out of that whore mouth of yours." "Ah, and here we have an olden soldier protecting the honor of her olden commander.  You need not worry, my friend.  Whether her ears are in the sands somewhere or in the afterworld, her claws cannot harm you."

"My own claws are itching to-"

"Cut out my throat?  Do try, but does that mean you have a hankering for another bout and more bruises to cloud that pretty face of yours?"

"Let me have my fun today.  Let me have a go at your troops.  Too many laughed yesterday.  Do you know which wagered against me?"

Vicris's finger came up and pointed at one group. "See that one?  With the brawny arms and gray fur that is almost white?"

"Yes, I see him."

"That one likes to boast of the pocketfuls of coin he earned from your defeat.  The boy likes to call you a slob and a drooling lout.  He himself is a fine soldier, but his mouth is a turn-tail."

"Get him over here."

"Gentle now.  He's still my soldier.  Maybe...make him silent for a day or two."

Vicris called him over and Akuna undressed. The troops surrounded them and they took their stances. Akuna was careful at first while the brawny-armed male kept his distance. Soon, she was flying at him, pummeling him, throwing him to the ground. She aimed for his face, his jaw, hoping to hear something break. He'll be drinking his meals after this next punch, she thought as her arm cocked back.

"Akuna!" came the cry and she stopped. Everyone's head looked about and then their muzzles aimed towards the southside of the keep. Sprinting towards them was High Officer Zulca. Leaving her prey in the dirt, Akuna rose to meet him.

"Zulca," she greeted him with neither a frown or a smile. "Might you heard I'm heading home tomorrow?  Will you be escorting me back?"

"Bleed that!  That's not why I'm here." He was gasping for air, his round chest expanding and contracting. "The tramps, the southerners..." He looked up at her, eyes casting a grim gaze. "We found them.  The ones that attacked your mate and child."

Eyes growing wide, Akuna's fur bristled with an old rage and new excitement. And here I thought we would never find the inbreds. "Take me to them," she demanded. "Might they still be alive?"

"Of course," he breathed. "Vok thought you would enjoy smiting them and has arranged them for an ambush.  Come!  They are waiting." He gave his signature, curling smile.

Akuna nodded and began chasing Zulca's tail.

"Wait and I'll have a few of my troops follow too," Vicris told them, running after them. "Don't be so selfish with your meat, Akuna."

"Plant your feet, High Captain!" Zulca commanded. "Vok has assigned him own personal guard to accompany Akuna.  No others are to encroach.  Not even I."

"Even though we're just dealing with tramps?" Akuna asked, stopping in her tracks. "Vicris is far from encroaching.  She can-"

"Enough of your babble!  Vok was particular to just have you and his guard on this task.  No others!  Enough!  Let's carry on!"

Akuna paid Vicris a sad look and the pit fighter gave her a shrug of the shoulders before they parted with the moment so dire.

Specifically, three of Vok's personal guard came with Akuna, all three males, their arms, legs, and abdomens coiled with hard muscle. Zulca bided them fair hunting, donating his sword to Akuna without a second thought. The strides of Vok's posse were long and Akuna had difficulty keeping up with them as they headed out through the gate, unlit lanterns rattling at their hips.

"Where are the bastards?" she asked with the four of them jogging down into the city's streets.

"In the wasteways," said the violet-furred male.

"Where?"

"Wasteways.  Sewers built by the Agundars.  Where all our shit and piss flow into the canyon river.  Treacherous tunnels.  Best we lead you."

"Lead the way, but remember I'm the one that shaves the flesh off their bones."

"Duly noted," said another male as they turned down a side street.

They were avoiding the main roads, running down ones that were less congested. Loiters and groups of youth watched as they hustled by, their eyes showing little interest. Others leaped from their path and those that lingered in their way were harshly barked at. They passed storefronts, water pumps with lines of people before them, and merchants waving at them to browse their goods.

"Here," said one male, pointing as they approached where the ground dipped and lead down to a door set into a stone wall. When they entered, Akuna could immediately feel the choking odor of defecation clog her nostrils. She didn't say word, lest her escorts believe her weak of the stomach. She pressed onward with the males lighting their lanterns and entered into the first winding tunnel. Akuna's eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness. At the top of the walls on either side of them, she could see slivers of light come through cuts into stone. Street drains, she realized, where someone might toss in their garage or make a quick privy.

The tunnels were twisty, but not hard to travel through. The left side provided a walkway to avoid the flowing canal of waste to the right. Turns were made up ahead and Akuna kicked a dead lizard from her path and into the river of piss. She prayed they would find these tramps soon, unsure how long she could tolerate the smells that afflicted her nose.

Time went on, as they did too. The odors weren't getting any worse, but they weren't getting any better, Akuna thought. They stopped for a moment when a strange noise was heard, but when it passed, they went on. The males' footfall were muffled, and Akuna made sure to make her feet just as quiet. With her sword out, she looked down each shady tunnel, straining to see any moving shapes, looking at her back to see if they were being followed. She kept herself at the ready, prepared for a blade to strike from every corner they turned.

"Where are we going?" she asked, her voice ringing hollow against the stone walls.

"To where the water spills into the river.  That is were the southerners have been seen, possibly waiting for a boat to escape the city."

"Hurry then," she commanded.

The males were sure of their way while Akuna followed, holding her sword up while they kept their own weapons sheathed. She found that odd, but kept her mind focused on the task at hand. I'll drown the bastards in the river, Akuna thought with anticipation. Their throats will chok with nightsoil and their eyes will stink with urine. Filth will drown in filth.

She saw the tunnel up ahead brightening. Sunlight. Akuna quickened her pace while the males stayed at their own speed. She kept her head low and her sword arm ready. She turned the corner, the light blinding at first, but after a moment her eyes focused and found...no one.

They are escaping, she thought in alarm. Forgetting any subtlety, she ran. The exit was a semi-circle of white light, but as she came closer, the outside became more define. At the lip of the outlet, Akuna stuck her head out and looked from right to left. No one again. Nothing but the river and the reddish brown canyon walls looming above. No boat, no southerners.

"They're not here yet," she decided, pulling her head back in. Vok's guards were coming up leisurely behind her. She would be angry at how relaxed they seemed, but she had little patience for that. "Two of you stay here," she said as if they were under her command. "Keep the exit under your watch while me and someone else search the tunnels for the inbreds."

She was moving around them, taking the head of the group again. Then someone laid a hand on her shoulder, pulling. The instance she turned, something flew full in her face. "You damned bastards!" she screamed, reeling back. Sand, she thought, until it began to sting. Then it started to burn, the pain turning intense. Soon it felt as if someone was pressing her face into a blazing fire. She was stumbling as her sword was knocked out of her hand. "Wha-" she tried to say, but choked on the words. "What...in the hells did you..." She coughed, blind, struggling to breath with her nose clogged with mucus. Someone struck her across the jaw and she collapsed on her hands and knees. She tired to get up, but then came a kick to the throat and she went face first into the stream of corrupted water. Her mouth opened and filled with it. The taste was beyond putrid.

She struggled, but her limbs were too weak to help her off the tunnel floor and out of the canal. Her head was halfway into the water, her ears sticking out. She could hear the males, their laughter echoing hauntingly through the sewers. What are you doing, she wanted to ask, but she just gained another mouthful of piss. She was yanked from the stream and laid sprawled out on the floor, gagging and hacking. She wanted to rise and fight, but her eyes still burned and there was little strength in her limbs. With her mind spinning, her eyes darkening, the males standing over her like dark giants, she yielded to the shadows gathering and allowed them to devour her.

=
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Night was closing in and yet Rupland was still left waiting. He laid on the bed, legs painfully sore from exercise and head and throat raw from good conversations. On the nightstand, Akuna's dinner platter lingered, cold and untouched. He tried to busy his mind by listening to Brunka as she talked to her doll, but his eyes stayed trained on the door. Many times had his heart fluttered at a sound beyond it. It had nearly leaped from his throat when a knock came, but he was disappointed to find it was just Blax, coming to take their requests for supper.

"Father?" asked the cub near him. "Where's mother?"

Even she could see that Akuna's absence was queer. "I'm not sure," he told her. "But it's nothing to worry over.  She is most likely with her army friends."

"What do you think they're talking about?" the child asked innocently.

"Many things," Rupland said lazily, scratching the back of his head. "Old stories of the Campaign.  Good times and good tales..."

"Does Mother like it here more than home?" Brunka suddenly asked.

Rupland turned away from the door and saw his daughter nibbling on one of Joos's ears, watching him intently. "Why would you think that?" "There are many people like her here.  People that wear armor, that are big and mean and yell a lot."

Rupland waved his hand dismissively. "Soldiers will be soldiers and your mother is soldier to the bone.  The gods have gifted her with strong arms, a warrior's fierceness, and hands that hold a weapon well.  For her, there is nothing else.  But here and Rellon...No, this is not her place.  I can see it in her eyes, something troubles her, but that could just be congestion." He smiled, but the jest felt flat for the cub. "But don't fret, we'll be heading home after tomorrow."

The instance the words left his lips, Brunka's face suddenly brightened. Her eyes pricked up, her smile stretching, tail wagging with joy. "At dawn?" she asked.

"At dawn," her father smiled. "Remember to say a farewell to your friends before you go.  Will you miss them?" "Some of them," she admitted. "I'll miss Marisa and Hubus.  But I won't miss that ass-licker Kare," she snared. "Or that whoreson Ce-"

"Ah, silence!" her father interrupted her, clamping her mouth closed with his hand. The cub was surprised by his objection. "Such harsh words should not come from a cub's mouth."

"But mother-" she tried to say, but her father held her muzzle tightly closed.

"I know who you heard it from, but I've heard an elder's proverb about this.  What was it?  Maybe...a filthy mouth hints at a filthy heart or something akin to that.  All it means is that don't fill my clean ears with your dirty mouth."

Letting go of her muzzle, Brunka looked her father over curiously before her face grew heavy with guilt. "Mother let's me say those words.  She says my tongue is a weapon too and I have to hone it like any other blade."

"Yes, yes, I remember hearing this before," Rupland told her, remembering how the child had cursed freely in her first year. "And your tongue can sting like a blade too.  Misuse it and you could cleave a friend.  Understand?" The cub looked thoughtful, but eventually nodded. "Now, what were we saying?"

"My friends..."

"Yes, your friends.  Give them your farewells.  Remember their names.  You might meet them again on another day, perhaps one you won't be expecting."

"Will we ever visit here again?"

"Mayhaps.  We seem to be in good standing with the Grand General and his staff.  And it's quite grand to have your own meals made for you and baths ready without waiting, isn't it?"

The cub nodded rapidly, grinning. "But I miss Jala and Meel most.  I miss climbing big rocks and finding lizards with them.  But tomorrow we'll be going home!" She hugged her doll tightly against her chest, squealing with joy.

"Ah, but remember we have a two week journey ahead of us."

The fact seemed to dim Brunka's joy. She gave a long whine, collapsing to the sheets. "I'll sleep the whole way.  I don't want to walk through all that hot sand!"

"You'll have to face your mother about that," he said, pulling her close, "but I'm just learning to walk without my crutch.  Won't you help me?"

Pouting, Brunka crossed her arms over her chest. "I might."

"My little warrior," Rupland smiled, licking Brunka's cheek.

Night progressed and Brunka found sleep easily while her father brooded with the dark as thick as his unease. From time to time, he would doze off and half-dreams of Akuna crashing through the door would startle him awake. With each passing hour, his panic grew. He gave silent prayers, already thinking the worst, but he tried to force himself to relax. Was there a feast tonight? Akuna would have surely told him so, but perhaps she had forgotten. Maybe she had been invited to a private affair with Vok. No explanation could settle his heart.

Dawn came and Akuna still failed to appear. At this instance, Rupland was feverous with worry, but his ire was beginning to collect. I'll wring her tail off her ass if I find her sleeping drunk in the gathering hall or something more shameful. It's my turn to be harsh with her!

"Have you seen my mate?  She has been gone since the evening," he told Blax when he came to serve breakfast, but the servant gave him a sad look, saying no. "Can you find the Grand General or anyone else that would know of her whereabouts?"

"I shall try, Master Rupland," the steward told him dutifully before he left. Rupland suddenly realized how fond he had grown of being called master.

Once they had broken their fast and dressed, father and daughter departed, but before they did, Rupland gave Brunka a task. "Look and ask about your mother through the keep.  It's strange for her to gone for so long."

"Will you be cross with her?" she asked with concern.

"Aye, but not anymore cross than she has been with us before.  Due time for her to get a thrashing from the thrashing rod," he smiled and the child smiled back.

With his crutch under his shoulder, Rupland went through the Naralus's places. He checked every study, every common room, and the privies along with the tavern. Down and through he went, looking down each hall carefully, scaling each stair warily. Akuna was to be found in none of these places and when that truth grew surer, Rupland's heart pulsed worrisomely.

Gods help you, Akuna, he wanted to snarl at her. I'll flog your ass raw for this! You would do the same to me.

Upon an upper floor, he came to a window overlooking the wide and open training yard. Down below were the troops, ever animated in their duties to tone and ready their flesh. Their shouts came to his ears, their grunts and howls echoing off the keep's walls. With his good eye, he tried to spot Akuna's gray fur from the horde of Shigu soldiery, but it proved fruitless. Even with two eyes, it would be too difficult to find her, Rupland realized. He was tempted to go down there and look through the crowds for her, but soon saw the idea as folly. It would be so sweet to embarrass Akuna in front of her fellows, showing how beaten her mate looked despite his own pride. But Akuna had pride too and it would be a sad sight to see her shamed like that.

No, I have a better idea. His chest puffed out as he sucked in the air, his throat opening. Then came his howl.

"AKUNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

A great amount of soldiers looked his way, ceasing in their actions to stare up at him. He took in another lungful of air.

"AKUNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!  COME HOME!  COME HOME!"

Some of the soldiers called back at him, but none looked to be his mate. Soon, once the soldiers went back to their bouts, Rupland carried himself to places elsewhere.

With midafternoon looming, Rupland found his legs greatly fatigued. A rest is all I need, he thought as his eyes searched for a place to sit. An empty hall was his only respite, not even a cushion to lay on. He seated himself down softly and laid his crutch across his lap, thinking of where he could search next. His anger was fleeing and his fear was finding new strength, but he was exhausted. Just a moment's rest, he thought, closing his eyes. Then came sleep.

He neither dreamed nor was disturbed, but once he thrust himself back into consciousness, he found the desert sky turning gold, evening approaching. She must be at our chambers by now, he thought as he rose to his feet. She must be. Quickly, he found his room, praying Brunka had not panicked with his absence. But as he came down the hallway, along with his daughter, a new face stood before his door. A shaggy, black-furred male, aged but not too old. He approached the stranger cautiously and the nervous look on Brunka's face told him to be careful.

"Yes?" he asked Shaggy-fur, holding his daughter close to him.

"And you are Rupland?  The one mated to First Captain Akuna?"

"That I am," he said as he sized up the male. He already knew something dreadful had happened.

The male's eyes grew solemn, his gazing moving from them to the floor then back to them. "A calamity has befallen your mate."

Rupland's heart froze in his chest and he could feel his daughter's shoulders tighten. "What has happened?" he asked, eyes wide as plates.

"We had discovered where the southerners that attacked you and your daughter were.  They were found in the sewers and Akuna gave chase, but they had surprised her.  An ambush.  She fought mercilessly, but...she is with the gods now."

His jaw slacked, Brunka shaking in his hands. "No!" she blurted out while her father's mouth moved but the words stayed in his throat.

"...where?" he asked, his head filled to the brim with disbelief. "Where?" he yelled angrily now.

"Where what?" asked the shaggy-furred male, perplexed.

"Where is she?" he snarled, holding onto his daughter as if he might lose her too. Brunka was crying now, whimpering panicked words as she whirled around and buried her face into his belly. "Where is she?  I have to see her!  Where?"

The male put up his hands defensively, his eyes growing stern. "She is in one of our cellars, but...you would not want to see her.  She is...maimed."

"Then how do you know?" he asked in a growl. "How?!  How do you even know it's her?" He let go of his crutch and it fell nosily to the floor. "You don't know her!  It can't be her!  Let me see her!"

"Calm yourse-"

"How would you know it was her?"

"It's her, we know!  The gray fur!  The large body!  The short tail!  It's her!"

"No," Rupland tried to yell, but it caught in his throat. "No," he tried again, but it turned into a sob. "No..." He went to his knees, his hands shaking. He looked to Brunka's face as her little hands wringed the hide on his chest. He could see the terror in her eyes, the sorrow streaming into her cheeks. She was desperately trying to say something, but she was so stricken, she couldn't make the words. He clung to her and she did to him as the tears surfaced and ran down their faces, wetting their fur. Then came a cry from Rupland, heavy and harsh, that felt to scorch his very heart.