Shadow Walker

by James 'Fel' Galloway

Chapter 9

Strider was an interesting companion, and also quite an asset.

Danvers was not boasting at all about his Equar. The animal had Shaman-like endurance, capable of running at an open canter literally all day, eating up the minars like no other horse could. In the ultimate complement, Kyven had to admit that the Equar would be able to match Kyven or any other Shaman stride for stride, and Shaman were so well conditioned that they could run virtually anything into the ground. The Equar would give Kyven the same kind of mobility he'd enjoy if he stayed in his Arcan form all the time, which he could not, and it gave him the ability to outrun virtually anything that might chase him. Strider wasn't a race horse, but he could run fairly fast. A faster horse may catch up to him, but after a couple of minars, the Equar's indomitable endurance would take over and allow him to keep galloping along as the other horse fell behind. Kyven felt utterly comfortable on Strider, and confident that if he couldn't talk his way out of a situation, he could sure as hell run from it.

And that was the way of his totem. Fighting was the last resort for the shadow fox, and so it was the last option for Kyven. And if he did have to fight, then attack by ambush and be done with it before the enemy knew what hit him.

Much as Kyven would talk to his last horse, Spirit, and almost feel as if the horse was talking back in its own way, Strider proved to be just as smart as Spirit was. Kyven rather liked Strider, and thankfully, the Equar seemed to like Kyven. He was a bit playful, but most juveniles were, but he knew to settle down and be serious when Kyven told him to do so.

Strider wasn't his only companion. Twice, Kyven had spotted two massive sleek shapes lurking far back in the trees. At first Kyven thought that the Loreguard was shadowing him, then he thought that a monster had tagged his trail and was stalking him, but investigation showed that it was a pair of Lupans. They were from the pack Clover had persuaded into the army, and Kyven wasn't exactly sure what they were doing. He doubted that Clover sent them, else they'd be traveling with him, not ghosting his backtrail and staying out of sight as if they were hiding from him as much as anyone else. Either way, the two would help if only by keeping his trail clear of anyone that might want to follow him. Two horse-sized wolves were a very formidable deterrent.

Thanks to Strider's inexhaustible canter, Kyven pulled well ahead of the army, cantering down back roads marked out for him by Clover that would connect with Tobacco Road about five minars north of Penbrook. But it was still a journey of days, and those days gave Kyven time to ponder things, both in the world and in his personal life. The war had started, and that saddened him. The Shaman understood the futility of war, but they also understood that there was a time when it was necessary to protect life. Madmen like those commanding the Loremasters were not men with whom could be bargained, and they had either power-hungry sycophants or men who were blindly loyal to their cause forming their armies that would fight for them. The Loremasters had, at its core, a noble idea, to restore the great ancient civilization, but the means they were using and their plans for afterwards went against everything which those ancient people believed. They wanted to rule, they wanted absolute power over Noraam, even if they had to crush the kingdoms under their heel to get it and get thousands of men and Arcans killed. They also had committed the mortal sin of not learning from the past, or having so much arrogance that they believed they were better than the very ancient civilization they wanted to emulate. The crystals were running out, and they believed in their arrogance that they could control the machine that created the crystals in the first place, either not understanding or not caring that that machine had destroyed the civilization they wanted to restore.

The lust for power had destroyed men, started wars, and had once destroyed the world. Truly, he felt that the Arcans had the right idea in their approach to such things.

He wondered how Danna was doing, adjusting to being an Arcan. Knowing her ... not well. He could almost imagine hearing her rant and curse and yell at everyone around her, making them suffer for the indignity she felt, lashing out because she felt helpless. He knew that feeling only too well himself. He also wondered what the shadow fox wanted from her. She had to have a reason to take Danna; if anything, his treacherous totem was methodical and thorough. She did everything she did for a reason, and it was all part of her grand plan, a plan so intricate and convoluted that Kyven couldn't make heads or tails of it. The fox wanted something from Danna, that was abundantly clear. A simple answer was the fox wanted her obedience, forcing her to command the armies of Haven, but that was a bit too simple. No, the fox was more subtle than that. Yes, making Danna an Arcan gave her a very personal motivation to fight against the Loremasters, since the Loremasters would enslave her just like any other Arcan, but there was more to it than that. With his treacherous totem, there was always a game within a game, a lie behind a truth, a hook hiding within every piece of bait, an ulterior motive behind every act.

And now he, Kyven Steelhammer, the quiet, honest young man who was raised to be honorable and forthright, was a Shaman of a spirit of deceit, and had taken to her ways so quickly that Master Holm would be ashamed of him. Perhaps that was why the fox picked him, some kind of malicious satisfaction in taking an honest man and turning him into a scoundrel, but the truth of it-if there ever was a truth where he and the fox was concerned-was that the events of the day required scoundrels more than honest men. The Loremasters surely weren't being honest, and he had proven just how useful a scoundrel could be if he was in the right place at the right time. Shario was certainly every bit as much a scoundrel as he was, but Shario did it with a panache and flair Kyven couldn't quite match.

There were enough men out there to fight for truth and honor, meeting on the field of battle and letting courage and conviction carry the day. Kyven was a soldier in another war, a dirtier war, a war of cunning, guile, deceit, and ruthlessness. And, he had to admit, it was a task for which he was well suited. The fox had utterly corrupted him in those regards, had taught him well when it came to skullduggery and the occasional necessity of cold-blooded murder, but that too was the lie within the truth. That was not who Kyven was, even though it was a way in which he had to act. To him, that was just a job. He felt much more like a Shaman when he helped someone who needed him than he did when he assassinated a faceless enemy on the streets of Avannar, felt far more the Shaman in the smile of one who needed him than the terror in the eyes of a man he was about to kill.

And this new task of his, this was a waste of his talents, and also made him ponder what the fox was up to. She should have left him in Avannar, left him to pick over the Loremasters at his whim now that he had learned how to shadow walk, for he would be unstoppable. Yet she did not. She pulled him out of Avannar and attached him to the army. Admittedly, it was doing something very important and could use his help, but what he was doing could be accomplished by Lightfoot, for that matter. No, there was another game here, he could smell it. The fox had her own plans for Kyven out here, and in her usual style, she was leaving it up to him to understand exactly what it was she wanted him to do. She wouldn't come out and just tell him what it was; that wasn't the way it worked between them. If Kyven couldn't figure it out for himself, then he would lower himself in her eyes. He was a full Shaman now, a walker of the path, and he should be wise enough to understand what his spirit wanted him to do. Much as in the vision where she started him towards her desired goal but left it up to him to understand what that goal was, what was going on here was similar. The fox had ulterior motives for putting him out in the field, and he had to figure out what it was she wanted him to do. If he couldn't figure it out, he was sure she'd be very short with him the next time she manifested and told him what he wasn't wise enough to see for himself.

As they neared Penbrook, he pondered just what she might want him to do out here. What could he do that no other Shaman could? What could he do that was so important to her that she wanted him out here instead of in Avannar, where he could be feeding Haven all of the Loremasters' plans?

The only thing that made Kyven different from other Shaman was who he was, and what he could do. He was weak as Shaman went, barely capable of what most of them considered simple uses of their magic. But in the one realm where he could use his power, it made him a match against any other Shaman. No other Shaman could equal him in the sphere of illusion, because of the blessing of his totem, his aspect of being a totem Shaman rather than a free Shaman.

That was thinking about it too much. The simple way to think of it was that Kyven was human where no other Shaman was. On his way to Danvers' plantation, the fox had silently nudged him into being very visible, very open. Her reasoning was to tell the Loremasters he was out of Avannar, but that didn't mean that it was true. Far from it. She wouldn't tell the direct truth like that. Maybe she wanted the humans of Noraam to know that there was a human Shaman.

Hmm. That certainly had possibilities. The bias against Shaman cultured by the Loremasters held its strongest basis in that Arcans weren't people possessed of souls, that the evil that created Shaman made Arcans different from people. If the common man found out that humans were Shaman too, well, that would certainly cause a major shift in their thinking. It would stir things up, make it even harder for the Loremasters to move on their plans ... or it would cause a backlash against Arcans where humans thought that they were somehow infecting humans with Shamanism. No, that was a subject too complicated for a simple man like him.

A wise man understood his own limitations, and admitted them, even as he worked to transcend them.

His arrival at Penbrook lent itself its own problem ... Strider. He was a terrific animal for distance, but for a man who needed to be untrackable from one city to the next, riding a massive Equar, the biggest horse most men had ever seen in their lives, lent itself to a certain notoriety that would allow people to track him. That could be a problem ... or it could be a means by which he concealed his true identity, if he did things right. Say ... for a horse rancher come to Penbrook to look over local land for a new ranch. A horse rancher would be expected to be riding a good horse, and a rich rancher would be riding a magnificent animal. That cover would also allow him to assess the ranches west of the city as Danvers wanted.

And so, to the residents of Penbrook, a rather handsome middle-aged man rode into town on a huge dark horse, dressed in fine leather chaps and denim trousers, with a rugged cotton shirt and a battered old wide-brimmed felt hat atop his head. The man was polite if a bit terse, and the first thing he did was ride up to the tavern, slide off that huge animal, and walk in with confident steps without even tying up his animal, with nothing but a pat on the shoulder and a request the animal not wander.

The man was obviously rich, friendly if a bit short-worded, and was interested in the ranches west of town. Penbrook had nearly as many horse ranches as Avannar did, and there was a bit of friendly rivalry between the two regions, if not a little animosity with the tobacco farmers who saw all that prime farmland going to waste feeding horses. The people of Penbrook were only too happy to answer every question the handsome man asked, even about things that had nothing to do with farming and horse ranching, such as how many Loremasters were quartered in town, if there was a Loreguard detachment there, and how often the Loreguard patrols came through town on the single road through town, which connected to Tobacco Road about half a day to the east on a wagon or walking horse.

And like all travelers, he was a harbinger of news and rumor from more populated areas. Penbrook had heard about the attack on Riyan through the Loremaster stationed there, who had heard it through alchemical devices that kept him in touch with the rest of them. The visitor too knew about the attack, but knew more than the villagers knew. The rumors said it was a very large band of robbers who had executed a daring attack on one of the warehouses on the east side of town, but got caught and shot their way out with heavy losses. "They weren't bandits, they were Arcan thieves," the visitor told them. "The Loreguard had hundreds of Arcans in a pen there in town, and the bandits stole them. From what I heard, the Loreguard was chasing them east, towards Stinger Bay. I'll bet they have a ship anchored somewhere around there, and they're gonna get the Arcans out to sea before the Loreguard can catch up to them."

"Given what Arcans are going for right now, that would be worth some chits if they pull it off," one of the tavern occupants noted.

"That's probably why they did it. With all these soldiers running around, I guess the usual bands of highway robbers can't make any money. They're getting desperate, so near as I can figure, a bunch of them all got together and came up with that crazy idea. Crazy enough to actually work," the man chuckled. "I don't think anyone would have believed anyone would be crazy enough to attack Riyan when they have thousands of soldiers there, yet they did it, and they got away with all the Loreguard's Arcans. I guess they caught the soldiers napping."

"I wonder how they got past the collars," someone speculated.

"Yeah, that's the part that's got me curious too. I don't see how they did it, but all the word I heard coming down said they did it. They must have had a master key or a grounder or something that got them past the collars ... or maybe someone in the Loreguard was in on it and helped them steal the Arcans for a cut of the profit. There's no army in Noraam that doesn't have at least a couple of scoundrels in it, even the Loreguard."

The villagers believed the visitor's story without much consideration, because it mostly made sense to them. And so, they were comfortable thinking the bandits had gone east instead of south, and as such would be unprepared when those same bandits showed up in Penbrook.

The rich visitor rode west, out to the ranches, and looked over a few of them. The ranchers realized that this rich man didn't know the business as well as most, he probably had a foreman that managed things like that for him, but he knew enough for them to see past his lack of knowledge and see only the chits the man obviously had to have, given his fine clothes and the gorgeous horse on which he was riding. He knew just enough to be taken seriously.

The only odd thing the residents of Penbrook noticed about the man that he didn't stay the night. He came in, spent an hour or two at the tavern, then spent half a day surveying the horse farms west of the village. When he came back from his inspections, he bought some supplies from the general store and then mounted up, obviously leaving town. When the resident Loremaster inquired as to why he wasn't spending the night, the wealthy rancher's answer was somewhat curious. "I have other sites I want to look over before heading home, and I want to get that done soon. Something is going on. The Loreguard has thousands and thousands of men in Riyan, and you don't muster an army that big unless you intend to use it somewhere. I'm checking out some new sites for a ranch in case something happens up in Avannar and I have to move my herds. Between what's going on in Riyan and what happened in Avannar, I don't feel comfortable keeping the majority of my stock that close to it."

"What happened in Avannar?" one of the residents asked.

"They had a Shaman up there stirring up trouble," he answered. "He killed a few ranking Loremasters and set fire to their headquarters. When they caught him, they found out he was human. A human Shaman."

That caused quite a few whispers and gasps through the residents. "Are you sure?" someone asked.

"Heard it from a Loremaster friend of mine myself," he answered in a sober tone. "A human Shaman. That's why I'm looking into moving my herds south."

"Well, they caught him, didn't they?" someone chuckled.

"I don't care about the Shaman, or if he's human or not," the rich man noted darkly. "What I care about is that army in Riyan. When it marches, I'm moving my herds away from Avannar in the other direction. Unless I don't remember my history, all the nations of Noraam are supposed to be friends. Ain't no reason for the Loremasters to assemble an army that big unless they mean to use it somewhere, and there ain't nothing to attack but one of the nations of Noraam. I'll bet old Smoke here that that Shaman attacked Avannar because of that army in Riyan," he declared, patting the huge horse just in front of the saddle. "Even the Shaman can see what's coming, and they tried to do something about it and failed. The Loremasters are off their rocker, and I don't want my herds anywhere near their capitol. I don't want my stock anywhere near Avannar when the rest of Noraam attacks the Loremasters for them breaking the alliance. It sure as hell ain't my fight. If that army marches south out of Riyan, I'm moving my herds to Phion. If they march north, I'll drive my herds right by 'em and settle them either here or maybe somewhere near Rallan, which is where I'm going now to look over some land." He tipped his hat to the villagers. "And I need to be on my way so I can get that much closer to Rallan by sunset. So pardon me if I seemed short or unfriendly, I just don't have much time left to get my stock somewhere safe. Good day to you all."

And then the rich rancher rode resolutely out of town, leaving behind him a firestorm of hushed whispers and speculation. None of the villagers had looked at things quite that way before, and now that the rich rancher had laid things out in a different light, it had a logic to it that none of them could deny. Why was that army in Riyan? The rancher was right. They'd all heard about it, heard that it had thousands and thousands of men in it, but no explanation from the Loreguard outside of a story that they were going to march that army west, to explore the rolling foothills west of the Smoke Mountains. But if that was the case, why did they need such a huge army? Wouldn't a few hundred men be better, and cheaper? Why assemble that many men in one place unless they were going to be used somewhere? And where could they be used if not against one of the kingdoms of Noraam, who were all supposed to be in an alliance of mutual friendship?

And the villagers started to wonder.

Kyven contacted Danvers that night after making camp in a clearing not far from the road, near where an old wagon track would lead south according to Clover's map. He relayed everything he'd learned in Penbrook, reporting that the village had no Loreguard garrison, just a sheriff, and there was only one Loremaster. "There's about ten ranches west of the city, and I'd say there's about a thousand head of horses out there," he told Danvers. "The only thing you have to watch for is the Loreguard patrols. The villagers said there's two or three visits from them a day as they patrol the road from Tobacco Road all the way out to the village at the end of the road. If they get that many visits, then there must about five patrols on that road riding back and forth. According to my map, Greenfield is a little over thirty minars from Penbrook, and it's about twenty minars from Penbrook to Tobacco Road. The rumors in the village say that there's a lot of Loreguard patrolling Tobacco Road right now, so there's a chance that the army might be engaged if they get warning from the Loremaster and they have enough men close to the Penbrook road."

"I think we can manage that," Danvers' voice came from the talker. "Did you disable the Loremaster's communication gear?"

"I didn't really try, because they'd have time to repair it before you get there, and that would put them on guard," he answered. "Just send in Clover or Lightfoot first. They can deal with it."

"True, true. Alright, just go due south from Penbrook and survey the plantations due south from there and report back what you find on them, particularly how many Arcans there are. We'll be moving as fast as we can."

"Pursuit?"

"Ayah," he said, almost sounding Alamari. "Between what I have and what you got, I have enough enemy talkers to pick things up. They're sending about half of the army at Riyan after us, just as we expected. Clover eradicated our trail to hide where we went, but she didn't destroy all of it. They know they're dealing with an enemy force of about five thousand men, so they're sending twice that after us, which is tactically sound. You never willingly go into battle unless you outnumber the enemy two to one. They see an enemy force running amok in the Free Territories to be important enough to split their forces. They'd better be thankful over on the other side of the mountains, what we're doing for them," he grunted. "There's a garrison of about ten thousand men at Rallan, and then there's the major garrison in Lanna of about thirty thousand men," Danvers told him. "That's the force we're trying to lure to Cheston, so the Flaurens can come up behind them and we can pincer them. We just have to get past Rallan."

"Is that general coming after us?"

"Tag? Nope. They're sending him out west, and they're marching as we speak. They left yesterday. The attack on Riyan spurred them into moving, maybe before they were ready. But the soldiers are gonna be pissed, they'll have to do all the work themselves," Danvers chuckled. "No Arcans to do the heavy work for them, and all those men they hired to do the labor haven't reached Riyan yet."

"I'm sure they'll manage," Kyven said dryly. "Maybe digging ditches and erecting fortifications will show them how Arcans live."

"Clover sent word ahead of them. The reply makes it clear that when Tag gets to Deep River, he's going to be in for a shock."

"They're on the move?"

"They're only about twenty days out, which means Tag will beat them to Deep River by about two days," Danvers answered. "Just enough time for him to settle in his men and rest them before continuing on west. They'll probably allow the entire host to settle into Deep River, and then cut them off. They have enough soldiers to put men on both sides of the river, which will strangle the Loreguard from their supply lines. They'd have to cross the river again to protect those lines, and that is not a river you can just ford."

"I know, I've crossed it before."

"Then you know exactly what I'm talking about. To try to clear out their overland supply lines they'd have to try to execute a river crossing against a hostile force. Tag's not stupid enough to try to cross the river with a hostile force on the far bank of a very wide river, not when there are no bridges."

Kyven pondered that information. Clearly, the Loremasters felt that securing a place to build that machine was still their highest priority. They had intended to build the machine well west of the mountains, at the point where the Snake River and Deep River joined, where they could build a stranglehold on the crystal trade and still have access to two major rivers to move their crystals to the rest of Noraam. Taking Deep River was just a leg of that plan, securing the beginning of the planned supply train that would have both overland and water routes. Overland first, until the Loremasters secured their planned city site at Snake River, then move supplies by river. An overland army moving to that point would go faster by going in a straight line, which the river did not do, and for that they needed an overland supply train leaving from Deep River, the only known settlement that far west.

For the Loreguard, they would have few options once Danna surrounded them at Deep River. They didn't have the manpower to hold both banks, not when it would fatally divide their forces, and while Danna vastly outnumbered them, they would have an advantage in being in a defensible position. But Danna didn't have to fire a single shot to win that war. All she had to do was encircle the Loreguard, wait for winter, and make sure not a scrap of food got inside. Danna had the numbers to do that, even if her forces weren't very well armed. The Loreguard would have muskets, maybe some artillery, and quite a few alchemical weapons at their disposal, but they'd do them no good if the opposing army gave them no targets to use them without abandoning their defensive positions and had more than enough men on the opposite bank to ambush and capture any supplies trying to reach the Loreguard forces besieged at Deep River.

But not every man that left Riyan was going to Deep River. As Kyven recalled, part of this first phase for them was to take over all the mining villages in the Free Territories, the last substantial crystal-producing areas left, so they had control over the production of crystals. The garrisons of soldiers located in cities throughout Noraam would be the ones that would respond to any nation moving to do something about it, with a larger defensive presence in the Free Territories to defend Avannar. It wouldn't take many soldiers to take over the mining villages, since the villages has no militias or standing armies of their own. A force of 30 Loreguard could take over and hold Atan ... at least at first. Timble and Virren had all kinds of plans for the Loreguard that came to Atan, since Kyven's history with Atan would cause them to come in and try to sweep out all the unfavorable elements. Atan would be treated like a conquered city, its citizens harassed and abused, and the Masked wouldn't allow that.

Despite Kyven unearthing their plans, they were going through with them. He figured that they thought that they would have the advantage, since most people wouldn't believe the Loremasters were going to do what they were doing until it was too late.

"Alright, I'll report in tomorrow afternoon," Kyven said. "I've adopted a persona that seems to work rather well, and I'll work my way south using it. I-" he stopped, and realized something. Rallan was the capitol of Carin, and though the king of Carin was weak, he wasn't stupid. Maybe that was what the fox wanted him to do. Kyven was the weakest of all the Shaman, but he was human, and as such he could probably get in to talk to the king where no other Shaman could. And since he was human, he'd be taken much more seriously than if, say, Clover tried to talk to him.

The fox knew there was a war coming, and now the Loremasters knew about Haven. It wasn't a secret anymore. And since that was the case, then Haven needed to make contact with more than Flaur and explain some things, reveal the duplicity of the Loremasters personally. If Kyven was going to go that close to Rallan anyway, it cost him little to stop by the palace and have a little chat with the king of Carin without the Loremasters knowing about it. Kyven still was needed by the army to warn them what was in front of them, but he could also spare a day to try to smooth the way for the army in another fashion.

"I'll be stopping by Rallan for perhaps two days," he continued. No reason to tell Danvers about what he intended to do. In some ways, Kyven was very much like his totem, and his totem wouldn't reveal any information that didn't need to be revealed. "I'll do what I can to keep the Loreguard at Rallan off of you."

"Something wrong?"

"I just spotted something, that's all. I think a couple of Clover's Lupans are following me. That shadow was way too big to be anything but a Lupan."

"Hmm, now that you mention it, I've only seen a couple of them since we started moving. I think you might be right," Danvers agreed. "I'll leave you to it, Kyven. Good luck out there."

"You too," Kyven answered, and he turned off the talker.

After he put his things away, he practiced shadow walking. He limited his practice time as the fox warned him, working to understand the shadow world better. She had told him that understanding that world was his defense against its malevolent denizens, so his time inside the shadow world was spent studying it ... such as he could. The place was an assault to the senses, from the shifting nature playing tricks on the eyes to the constant vertigo threatening to make him vomit any second. It existed as a kind of wavering parallel to the real world, where elements of it appeared and vanished depending on if they were in shadow, and those places not in shadow just shimmering voids of boiling darkness, like a fogbank of shadow. Shapes and images floated through the place in a chaotic jumble, because there was no true time here, no true distance. Shadows of the present, past, and future jostled together with shadows from all over Noraam.

Understanding that world is your defense against it. That was what the fox told him. But this world simply made no sense to him. It was like a world with no rules-

No, it had rules. What he had to do was learn those rules, learn how this world worked. That was what the fox wanted him to know.

Alright, so. What did he know about this world? Well, it had no sense of time, and distances were entirely arbitrary, even while there was definitely distance in here. After all, he had to physically walk from one point to another to move through the shadow world, but that distance wasn't set. A single step could take him further than twenty in this place, and he already understood that it was his conscious that helped determine that distance. This world reacted to his will, that was another thing he needed to remember. He remembered how he had tricked the creatures in here by stretching things out so he seemed far away, and he recalled now that he always moved to the exact point in the real world he wanted to go despite the shifting nature of this place, which was caused by his intent to go to that spot.

Danna. He tried to find her in this shadowy realm on an impulse, and to his surprise, her Arcan face appeared among the undulating images around him. He walked five steps towards her face, but it came no closer. That told him that great distances were represented here, else he'd have reached her in those five steps. He focused on her face and kept walking towards it, mindful of the sensation in the back of his mind that the things in here were getting closer to him, seeming to track him down faster when he was moving than when he was standing still. No, that wasn't right. The fox had said that his disruption of their natural habitat by forcing his will on this place was attracting them to him, like a beacon in the darkness. He reached Danna, who looked annoyed, but still quite handsome despite wearing fur and a muzzle now. Her eyes were the same, and even in the misty, shifting image before him, they were beautiful.

He stopped moving, then before he knew what he was doing, he converged a gateway out of the shadows and stepped through it even as he willed it to move around him. The shifting shadow world yielded to a shadowy glade filled with tents, and Kyven was standing under a large tree just at the edge of it. A pavilion tent was being erected not twenty paces from him, and standing not five rods in front of him were Danna, Hardstep, and Firetail. Danna was blatantly Arcan, wearing a short-sleeved cotton shirt and a pair of curious leggings that only reached her knees, leaving her Arcan shins and feet bare. She retained her blond hair, her white-tipped ears poking out of it, and was still sleek and toned. She almost looked like a girl on a picnic, but the heavy leather belt hanging cocked off one hip, which held two pistols and what looked like a shockrod, belied her casual appearance. It was warm and muggy wherever they were, which explained her light clothing, and the sun was peeking over the trees behind him, casting the large clearing in rosy, shadowy hues.

Firetail's tail rose, and she sniffed at the air experimentally. Then she laughed. "Come out, my brother," she commanded. "And explain how you got here!"

"I never could hide from you, Firetail," he said ruefully, which made Danna literally jump in place. He stepped forward as she whirled around, and he saw that even as an Arcan, she was still a very handsome woman. Her muzzle was perhaps a bit shorter than his when it was his turn wearing that fur, a little narrower, but her dazzling eyes had not changed. The image in the shadow world was a reflection of a fine, fine reality. But the way she looked at him wasn't what he expected. She seemed horrified at the thought of looking at him, and she took a step back when he approached. "Hello, Danna," he said in a gentle, wistful tone.

Then, to his shock, she turned and bolted, fleeing towards the far side of the camp as fast as her two Arcan legs would carry her.

"Danna!" he called in surprise, taking a step forward.

"I think you startled her, my brother," Firetail told him calmly. "And unlike you, she detests what she is."

"Well, I'm not letting her do that," he said bluntly, bulling past the aged Shaman and running after her.

Danna was in shape, but she was nowhere near as conditioned as a Shaman. If she were to run on all fours, she could run faster than him, but her refusal to do so let him catch up to her about a hundred paces into the forest, where she slowed to a stop and leaned against a tree. She jumped again when he grabbed hold of her shoulder, and his grip on her wouldn't let her break free. "Danna," he said sternly.

She dropped to her knees before the tree and put her hands over her face. "Don't look at me!" she said in a strangled tone, on the verge of tears.

"Stop being silly," he told her in a gentle yet firm voice, kneeling beside her. "I didn't care when you looked at me when I was an Arcan. Do you really think I care now that things are the other way?" he asked grabbing hold of her wrists and gently prying them away from her face. She snapped her head to the side, refusing to face him, refusing to look at him, so he put his hands on her shoulders and turned her body towards him. "I'm sorry I startled you, Danna," he apologized, "but this day was going to come eventually. I knew you were an Arcan, she told me, and that didn't stop me from coming, did it?" he asked. "I came to see you, you silly girl. And whether you're covered in fur, or you're human, you're still Danna to me. Now look at me."

"No," she answered in a quavering voice. "I'm ugly!"

"For an Arcan, you're quite handsome," he told her. "You wear that fur well."

She snapped a teary gaze at him, but now her eyes were full of sudden anger. "I'm wearing it because of you and that Trinity-damned spirit of yours!" she said with sudden heat, pushing at him chest. "Look at what she did to me! Look!"

"You don't want me to look at you, then you do?" he asked with a smile. "Well, if you take that shirt off, I might be able to see more."

She gave him a wild look, and he couldn't help but laugh helplessly when she started smacking him with her hands, almost like an angry little girl rather than a trained soldier. Despite slapping him like an angry child, she was still strong enough to knock him on his butt, where she lunged and tackled him, continuing to slap at his shoulders, chest, and head. He covered his face with his forearms, then gave out a whooshing cry when she slammed both hands down on his lower chest. "Phwah!" he gasped, then he grabbed her hands and held them, felt her tail lashing against his knees. "Alright, miss mood swing, think we can get over this, sit down, and talk a while?" he asked.

Kyven had gained wisdom in more than one way. His goading of her, then his sudden peace offering, made her blink and look down at him, then the fur on her cheeks ruffled when she realized she was sitting on his stomach. Kyven knew Danna well enough to know how to get through her emotional wall and get her to be a little more rational. And his ploy worked. She quickly scrambled off his stomach, then sat down beside him, her face pensive and nervous at the same time. "I'm ... I'm sorry," she told him, looking away. "I didn't expect to see you."

"I should have warned you I was coming," he offered. "Where are we, more or less?"

"You mean you don't know?" she asked in surprise.

He shook his head when she looked at him. "I came looking for you. I found you, but I have no idea where you are. So I don't know where I am," he chuckled.

"We're about twenty days northwest of Deep River, about to come out of the forest and out into those grasslands they tell me cut the forest in half through this region," she answered him. "How did you get here?"

"I've learned how to shadow walk," he told her. "I'm sure Clover told Firetail about it when she sent back a report."

"Something like that, but we didn't think you could go so far," she said. "Clover just said you'd learned how to move through the shadows, and you use it to get past obstacles."

"Distance doesn't mean that much in there," he told her. "How has it been?"

"Well, they try," she said. "I can't fault the Arcans for that. The conscripts aren't very good at it, but they work hard."

"No, Danna. How has it been?"

She looked away. "I hate this," she growled, picking at the fur on her forearm. "I feel like everyone is staring at me all the time. I can't walk very well. It took Firetail weeks to teach me to speak right. The fucking tail always seems to get in the way. And I feel like I'm a prisoner. Do you know what that bitch wants from me?" she said with sudden heat.

"No, she didn't tell me."

"She wants me to have babies like this!" she said with a strangled scream afterwards.

"What? How? There are no males."

"I have no idea," she growled. "But that's her price for giving me back my humanity. I have to have Arcan babies and give them to Umbra so she can raise them. Well I won't do it!" she declared hotly. "I won't be her brood sow, no matter what it costs me!"

"That's your choice, Danna," he said carefully, thinking it over quickly. Clearly, she had more in mind than just him and Umbra. But the how of it was what he couldn't figure out, unless she intended to wait for Umbra's children to be old enough to father children ... if she had a male child. That could very well be it, but he doubted it. The fox had to strike while Danna still hated being an Arcan, where she would swallow her pride and submit to a male to escape her Arcan state. Kyven knew from experience that an Arcan body was something one could get used to having, and Danna might very well mellow into it ... or become resigned to it. "But either way, it won't bother me all that much."

"What the fuck does that mean?" she snapped.

"I've been there and done that," he said. "I know it's a little worse for you since you'd have to get pregnant and carry the baby to term, but I was in your shoes not too long ago. Remember what Umbra was created to do."

Danna frowned with a snarl, showing her fanged incisors. "You certainly didn't seem to mind fucking that little whore."

"I can't deny that it wasn't fun," he admitted. "But I'm a guy. Our responsibility kinda ends as soon as we pull out, at least when it comes to what I had to do with her."

She gave him a look, then settled back on one hand. "And is that all you feel about it?"

"Honestly? No," he answered. "Even if they are Arcans, they're still my children. I can't help but want to get to know them, even if I'm not the same race as them anymore. I don't know if I can be a father to them the way I've always imagined it, but I do want them to know who I am."

"Well, you're a better person than me," she growled. "That fox bitch will just have to deal with disappointment. I'm not as weak as you. I won't give in, even if I have to stay like this."

"That's between you and her, Danna," he told her mildly. "I have no say in the matter. I guess I'll have to get used to fur, though."

She gave him a strange look.

"You think I care?" he asked. "At first I was attracted to your face and body, I'll admit that. You're gorgeous, Danna. But after I got to know you, I came to like the person behind the face. Think this matters to me?" he asked, reaching over and pinching the fur on her forearm. "You were Danna before, and you're still Danna. You look a little different, I can't deny that, but it doesn't dissuade me at all."

She gave him a startled look.

"Lightfoot calls me a pervert. Guess I am," he said lightly, leaning back on his hands. "I don't think you're ugly, Danna. In fact, you're strangely attractive like that. But you wouldn't be half as attractive if it wasn't you under that fur."

She was quiet for a long, long time. He heard her tail slashing behind her as she stared at the hand not holding her up. "We'll be in Deep River after they get there," she said, changing the subject.

"What are you planning to do?"

"Let them settle in, then surround them," she answered.

"No, Danna. What are you planning to do?"

She looked at him, and sighed. "I, I don't know. I don't want to fight my own people, Kyv. You know that. But what the Loremasters are trying to do, even if you don't believe that machine bullshit, we can't let it happen. If they establish in the Snake River valley, there's gonna be a war, and the Arcans will lose. And ... well, I have to admit. I think the Arcans deserve Haven. They need someplace that is theirs. Even despite that, we can't let the Loremasters take over Noraam. That wasn't what I enlisted into the Loreguard to do. I served to help people, not conquer them."

"The truth will win out," Kyven noted, pondering her position. "How many Loreguard would desert if they knew the truth of what they were doing?"

"I don't know. I know the men in my unit wouldn't like it, but we're not really soldiers in the classic sense. I solve crimes, Kyven. That's my job, or at least it used to be. The men in my unit are detectives, not soldiers, even if they have military rank and training. The rank and file, who knows?"

"Hmm, I might have to talk about that a little bit with her."

"Do me a favor and kick her in the face."

Kyven chuckled lightly. "I can't touch her, but she can touch me. So my foot would go through her head, and she'd probably be pissed off that I tried to kick her in the face and do something about it." He held out his arm to her, showing her a faint trio of scars on his forearm from her claws. "I have a few more of those in various places."

"Why do you follow her, Kyven?" she asked suddenly. "You're human again. You owe her nothing! Leave her and follow another spirit!"

"I know she's evil, Danna," he sighed, leaning back and laying down on the forest floor, looking up into the canopy. "But she needs me. And I need her, because I can't be a Shaman without her. It's hard to explain."

"I think you have time," she said frostily.

"Alright," he said, collecting his thoughts a moment. "I know you know what a totem Shaman is."

"Yeah. Most other Shaman aren't attached to just one spirit, but you are. To her."

"That's part of why I stay with her. She's my totem, Danna. All of my power comes from her. I have no magic without her. And in what's going on over there on the other side of the mountains, they need me, Danna. Not to brag, but I can do things nobody else can do. They need me for what I can do. And because they need me, I will be there for them. That is the Shaman way, Danna. When we are needed, we will serve. They need me. The shadow fox needs me. And I am a Shaman, Danna. I may be human, but I'm just as much a Shaman as Firetail or Clover or Hardstep. It is who I am now. The shadow fox needs me. The spirits need me. The Arcans need me. The humans need me too. I am needed, and I will serve.

"That's why I stay with her, Danna. Despite everything she's done to me, despite the fact I know I mean nothing to her. I'll endure that abuse if it means I can make a difference for the Arcans, and for the humans too. We didn't want this war, but we have no choice. Now, I'll do everything I can to end it as quickly as possible and with as little damage as possible to both sides, and afterwards I'll work to keep the peace between the humans and the Arcans. Do I like it? No. I can't say I entirely hate my spirit, but I certainly don't like her all that much."

"How can you not hate her?" she demanded.

"That's hard to explain," he said, scratching his shoulder. "Sure, I hate her in a way, but there's, well, more there. I hate her, but I respect her. When she commands, I obey. I bow to her wisdom, because she's wiser than I am, even if I don't like her personally. And when she's happy with my work, I feel pride. Not because I'm trying to please her, but because I know if she's complementing me, then I must have truly done well. Anyway, that's why I stay with her, Danna. Despite what she did to me, despite how I feel. She needs me. And Shaman go where they are needed."

"You sound like them."

"I am one of them now, Danna," he told her calmly. "I've finished my Walk. I'm a Shaman, I now walk the path. This is now who I am. Is it so bad to you?"

She was quiet a moment. "No, I guess not. It's just not really the same. You're not the man I got to know in Haven."

"We all change, Danna. Hopefully, I've changed for the better."

"Well, I didn't," she growled, balling her clawed hand into a fist.

"It's not all bad, you know," he told her sagely. "You're a shadow fox Arcan now, Danna. That means you have the same shadow powers I do."

"I thought about that. I haven't really tried to use them."

"Well, they're very handy. And if you decide to help the Arcans fight, I'd kinda like you to be able to use them. They make you very, very hard to kill, and I'm sorta personally interested in you staying alive."

"You said nobody could teach you how they work."

"Nope. And I can't really teach you either. It's something you need to learn for yourself. But, I can show you, so you know what you can do," he said, looking at her and raising a hand. A small cloud of misty shadow formed around it. "I may be human, but the fox let me keep my shadow powers, so I guess I'm not entirely human anymore. That's are how I shadow walk, not Shaman magic. With practice and work, you could shadow walk too."

That seemed to pique her curiosity. She sat up and looked at him. "Well, you can't teach me, but show me what you can do. Everything. Even the stuff you didn't show Umbra."

"Umbra's not capable of half of what I can do," he said honestly. "Not because she doesn't have the power, but because she just can't understand it. And you have to be able to understand it to do it."

And so, he walked her through everything he'd learned to do, from hiding within the shadow, to creating shadow, to manipulating shadow, all the way to shadow walking, though he didn't demonstrate that to her. "It's dangerous," he told her when she protested. "Where I go isn't empty, Danna. There are, well, things in there, and they see me as an invader. I'm not going to walk just to show you because it'll tell those things where I am, and that means they'll be closer when I go back in there to go back to my camp." He smacked his head and laughed. "I hope my horse didn't wander off," he laughed. "I didn't plan on coming here. I was practicing my shadow walking, thought of you, and well, here I am. I really should get back there. My camp is empty, and Strider is probably getting impatient."

"You're leaving?"

"I think I should. Tell Firetail I'm sorry for not visiting with her, but you needed my company more than she did." Her cheek fur ruffled slightly. "But I can come back tomorrow. In fact, I think I should. I'll give Firetail a detailed report, and I'm sure she wants to catch up. And I'd like to see you again."

"I hate you seeing me this way," she admitted, looking away from him.

"Danna, it does not bother me at all," he said gently. "Because even though you're a little different, you're still Danna." He leaned over, put his hand on her shoulder, and startled her by kissing her on the side of her muzzle. "Be safe, Danna. I'll see you tomorrow."

She looked at him as he stood up and walk away, and then her eyes widened when shadow seemed to converge around him, and he was gone.

Getting back to his camp turned out to be a lot more exciting than Kyven intended, because the beings within the shadows were waiting on him to reappear when he returned to the shadow world. They were so close to him when he entered that he almost turned around and went right back out, but he couldn't afford to be trapped with the army with Strider unattended. So, he turned towards camp and literally ran within the shadow world, charging through misty shapes and through voids, ignoring the vertigo as best he could by focusing on one point, his camp, and running for it. Though distances meant little within the shadow world, the distance he had gone to see Danna did translate into quite a sprint to get back, and when he got there he could literally see the creatures. They were ... chaos. That was the only way to describe them. Their forms were shadows like everything else, but they were darker, more distinct, more real. But the substance of their forms shifted, undulated, swirled and flowed within their forms like liquid, and their forms seemed to be as mutable as their interior. They were amorphous, changing shape by the second, and each of the five reached out for Kyven with a multitude of writhing tentacles.

It startled him, but he reacted without fear, by exerting his will against the shadow world to alter its dimensions. He pushed the things away from him by increasing the distance between him and them, making their tentacles reach further and further and further without getting any closer to him. Almost immediately, he felt the intense pressure and resistance of the shadow world to this wholesale alteration of its natural state, and he was forced to exert almost all his concentration on pushing the creatures back even as he split his attention enough to focus on the shadows to converge a gateway leading back into the real world, which he had to do because the tentacles kept coming and coming as if the creatures could stretch them into infinity. He backed into the gate even as he pulled it around him, never taking his eyes off those writhing entities, and he could almost feel their fury when he fell out of their world and escaped them once more.

Fell happened to be literal. He appeared from the shadows nearly five rods above the ground, and turned head over heels to land roughly on his stomach in the grass next to his unlit fire pit. He climbed to his hands and knees and shook his head to clear out the stars of the hard landing, inwardly relieved. That was close. Too close. The fox had said that if he could see them, he was in serious trouble, and now he understood why. If they could see him, they were in striking distance of him. Only his nearly reflexive response to their attack saved his life.

He rolled over and sat down, blew out his breath, and silently counted his blessings even as he made sure he didn't break his nose. It was bleeding quite liberally from being plowed into the ground, forcing him to lay back down on the grass to keep from dribbling blood all over his clothes. He turned his head towards where Strider had been picketed-though it was more correct to say where Kyven asked him to stay, since the Equar was strong enough to pull a tree out of the ground if he was serious about getting free of his tether-and saw a rather curious scene. Strider was there, and flanking him were two massive yet sleek canines, one ebon black and the other charcoal gray. The Lupans. They were all clustered around a carcass laying before them, the carcass of a rather large cow or bull of some kind, almost too big to be a cow but too small to be a Tauron, sharing it with the Equar. That seemed a strange sight, but Equars were omnivorous, not herbivorous like horses ... but what was strange was that the Lupans were sharing their meal with the Equar instead of trying to eat the Equar.

Then again, if he was a Lupan, trying to kill an Equar would be high on his list of things not to do. Strider was frolicsome and playful, but he was a powerful, powerful animal, and unlike horses and other animals of his ilk, Strider was not afraid of a Lupan, which was smaller than he was. He would fight before he ran, and his massive size, steel-hard hooves, deadly fanged maw, and great strength meant that anything that wanted to eat him wasn't going to get his meal without getting severely injured. Besides, the Lupans had seen him riding Strider, and Clover said they were actually rather smart. Hopefully they saw Strider as Kyven's companion, and as such was not on the menu. Perhaps them sharing their kill with Strider was something of a peace offering.

"I hope you saved some for me," Kyven called, pinching his nose shut with his fingers and sitting back up. He channeled enough heat to light his fire, then became very still when the ebon Lupan padded over to him. He felt like a child looking up at a mastiff, for the Lupan towered over him with him sitting on the ground. It leaned in and sniffed at his face, then a tongue the size of a bread pan slurped over the side of his face. He laughed and flinched away from the tongue, but stopped laughing when a huge paw pushed against his chest, trying to push him down, and it was not gentle.

This was not play. This was a test of strength. Kyven pushed back against the huge animal, using his Shaman-honed strength, then bulled up to his feet. The big canine reared up and put his paws on Kyven's shoulders, but Kyven held up against the weight, even used the hand not keeping his nose from bleeding to push back against the Lupan's chest. The Lupan continued to paw and lick at him for a good minute, never hostile but not quite friendly, which Kyven endured without much difficulty, proving that he was neither threat nor weakling.

When the Lupan reared up and then backed up enough to return to all fours, returning to its meal, Kyven pondered just how he knew what it was doing. Maybe it was related with his unusual understanding of wild Arcans, some kind of curious affinity for wildlife. Kyven just knew how to approach wild Arcans without them attacking him, and now he just knew how to respond to the Lupan's test of him. Was it something to do with the shadow fox, or something else? Maybe it had to do with him being a Shaman. Either way, it was something to ponder some other time.

After he got his nose to stop bleeding, he decided to test his acceptance by the black Lupan, which was dominant over the gray one, by approaching the kill. The two Lupans, and even Strider for that matter, gave him a cool, not entirely friendly look as he knelt by the back of the big cow, but his eyes were resolute and his body language was not passive. None of them did anything when he set his knife to the carcass and peeled away the hide to get at the flesh beneath, then he settled down and started eating, joining them in an ancient tradition of acceptance among carnivores, the sharing of a kill.

Perhaps they didn't care because what Kyven could eat from their kill was barely two mouthfuls for any of the three of them. Kyven ate his fill and returned to the fire, unrolling the map Danvers gave him and plotting his route through the southern marches of the Free Territories. There were no large cities until he reached Rallan, just a series of small farm villages where tobacco was brought to be sold, and the efforts of the farmers were financed by merchants who catered to their needs. The army behind him would veer to the east to avoid Rallan, probably at Lake Char, which was considered the border between the Free Territories and Carin. At that point, Kyven would go southwest to Rallan, to speak to the king and also to see if there was any way he could delay or divert the Rallan garrison of Loreguard, who by now had undoubtedly received word of the attack and knew that the attackers had fled south, towards them. He expected to see quite a few Loreguard patrols on the road, searching for the attackers, just as they were doing along the Penbrook road. That many patrols was not normal, they were searching for any sign of the men who had attacked Riyan. But what the patrols didn't expect was that the attackers were coming cross country, moving along long-forgotten back roads, natural trails, and voids between plantations. Danvers' tactic of sending out parties and sacking every plantation within a day's ride made it impossible for the Loreguard to plot plantation attacks and use them as a means to find the army, even as it concealed the true numbers of the army from the Loreguard.

The two Lupans warily approached the fire, giving it furtive looks, then they sat down flanking Kyven, looking down at his map with impassive eyes. "So, I wonder what brought you two into the camp, given you've been following me ever since I left the army," he told the two of them absently. "Wouldn't be because I vanished from the camp and you couldn't figure out where I went or how I did it, was it? Then Strider gave you a lesson in manners when you came in to investigate, no doubt," he chuckled. "So you brought him your kill to get on his good side so you could see where I went, eh?"

The two large animals remained silent, then the gray laid down beside him.

"Were you a mean Equar, Strider?" he called to the animal, who was still at the carcass.

Strider gave a passive snort and returned to his meal.

"Well, I don't really expect you two to hang around," he said, mainly to himself. "Now that you know where I am, you'll probably wander back into the forest during the night. But, just so you know, I'm going that way," he said lightly, pointing south.

Both the gray and the black Lupan raised their heads, sniffing at the slight breeze. Then the gray stood up. Kyven looked back to Strider, who had his head up, his ears pricked.

That tore it. There was someone out there.

He rolled up his map, quickly kicked off his boots, and then hunkered down and enacted the power of his foxhead medallion. He felt that icy cold sensation flow through him, like his bones turned to cold water, and he took Danna's shadow fox body and gave her his human one. He couldn't meld to the shadows in his clothes, but the Arcan form lent itself a different set of senses. Once he was settled into the Arcan body, he lifted his muzzle and tested the faint breeze for unusual smells.

Human scents. Very faint.

The two Lupans quickly loped into the forest on silent paws, leaving Kyven to consider how he wanted to go about this. He was camped pretty well off the road, but his fire's smoke and light in the twilight may attract them. They could be Loreguard patrollers or just locals on their way home, but either way they were moving in his direction. He decided to be passive about it, returning to his human form, then shivering the goosebumps away as the cold washed through him. He left his boots off, wrapped himself in the illusion of the horse rancher, and leaned against his saddle. "Steady, Strider," he called softly. "I know they're there. Let's wait and see what they do."

A few moments later, he found out. It was a patrol of Loreguard, twelve of them, and they had moved into the forest to investigate the fire, it seemed. They were on foot, but Kyven could hear horses stamping their feet nearby, no doubt wary at the smell of blood and the proximity of two Lupans, who preyed on horses. They came through the forest from the road, which was to Kyven's left; he knew better than to put his bedroll on the far side of the fire, where its light would blind him to their approach. "Good evening, gentlemen," Kyven called amiably. "What brings you here?"

"Investigating your fire, traveler," the officer among them answered. "We weren't sure if it was man-made or a small forest fire just starting."

"It's been dry enough for them," Kyven said calmly.

"Might I ask-what the hell is that?" the officer gasped when he saw Strider.

"It's an Equar, Lieutenant," Kyven answered calmly. "My horse."

"I thought they were too wild to ride."

"Not if you get them as newborns and raise them with regular horses, they're not," Kyven answered. "I suggest you keep your distance. He's a bit snippy when he's eating."

As if to prove the point, Strider gave the twelve men a flat, challenging look, then rather aggressively buried his nose in the carcass. The sound of snapping bones was clearly audible from within the ribcage of the dead cow.

The officer gave the Equar a long look. "Who might you be, traveler, and what business are you pursuing?"

"I'm Van Steady, a rancher out Avannar way," he answered immediately. "I'm on my way to Rallan to look at some potential ranchland. I just came through Penbrook and inspected some land west of there, but I don't think it's what I want."

That information seemed to satisfy the officer, whose body language was much less aggressive now. "Well, we need to set up ourselves, and this looks like a good place."

"Not if you have horses," Kyven answered immediately. "And not if you have itchy trigger fingers."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want you shooting my wolves," he answered.

"Wolves?"

Kyven's illusion nodded simply. "I don't travel alone, Lieutenant. I raise wolves as well as horses, and I have some with me. They're why I knew you were coming. They're back in the trees a bit, which is why those horses I hear are skittish. My Equar is used to wolves. Your horses aren't. So, you're welcome at my fire, but you'll have to put your horses somewhere else and kindly not shoot at my wolves if they come up close to camp."

For some reason, the very word wolf was enough to make even a grown man fret, and these Loreguard seemed to be no different. The men in the patrol started looking into the forest, and Kyven was quick to use his shadow powers even as he channeled an illusion, making the shadows beyond the trees shift and take on lupine shapes, which then prowled the very edge of the lit perimeter of the small clearing.

The patrol leader looked around, looked at his men, then took a step back. "That cow there wasn't from a farm, was it?"

Kyven's illusion shook its head. "There's a bunch of wild ones around here. A couple of Tauron too, if you're of a mind to chase them down. Tauron sell pretty well at the cattle fairs."

The officer nodded. "I think we should set up far enough away that your wolves don't keep our horses from getting any rest," he reasoned. "Do you need anything, Master Steady?"

"Nah, but thanks for asking. Good night to you, Lieutenant."

"Same to you, citizen," he replied, and then the patrol backed out of his clearing almost as if there were enemy soldiers training shockrods at them from the trees.

Kyven didn't pay the patrol much more mind, though he knew from here on he'd have to hide behind the illusion of Van Steady, as now the Equar was coupled to that persona. But, that wasn't all that big of a deal, since the rancher illusion seemed perfect for moving south anyway. He could stop in at the plantations south of his location, chat with the plantation owners, and quietly take stock of the dispensation of the plantations.

Not a problem. Sometimes hiding in plain sight was the best possible place to hide.

Kyven did as Danvers needed of him the next day. He visited the plantations that extended south from Penbrook, which were sprawled almost haphazardly along a series of wagon tracks and country roads which crisscrossed the forest, but also interconnected in a way that allowed one who knew the back roads a means of going south without going cross country, but also without being seen by anything but a handful of people. These farm roads were only used when the plantations or small farms out in the piedmont needed supplies from a village, so they were lonely places where one might only see one wagon all day. Clover's map allowed him to avoid the two tiny hamlets hidden among the forests out here, which the army behind him also intended to avoid.

The reason the plantations were staggered out like that was simple economics. These plantations were settled long ago by squatter families who saw potential and simply claimed the land, farmed it, and expanded over the years. The best sites for farming were taken by those who got there first, mainly along Tobacco Road, so the families that came later, when the tobacco rush had first begun, had to settle for whatever land they could find that was viable for tobacco farming. The result out here in the piedmont wasn't an orderly series of plantations laid out to maximize land use, but a mishmash of erratic borders with tracts of unclaimed forest between them, and often quite lively disputes between farm families where those borders touched. Not everyone was willing to farm out here, where it could be half a day to a village and several days from a major town like Riyan, so there were still plenty of available land. Because of that, the farms and plantations that were out here didn't build right up against each other, but instead wherever the land was best suited for tobacco and with lots of empty land separating them.

Kyven visited them one by one as he moved south, and at each one he did what was needed. He found out how many Arcans there were, how many humans there were to guard them, and what kind of supplies or materials the army might be able to use. He also spread his gospel, as it were, warning the people about the coming war in the form of his determination to move his herds away from Avannar and his concern about why the Loremasters had amassed so many men in Riyan. After seeding that doubt in the minds of the plantation workers and owners, he mounted Strider and rode off no matter what he was offered to stay, stating with steely determination that his livelihood depended on getting his herds out of Avannar as quickly as possible.

Before the armies arrived, those rumors would spread behind him. That was how things worked out here. The plantations he visited would spread those rumors to those he didn't, until the word was all over the southern territories. It wouldn't stop the war or dissuade the Loreguard, but what it would do would be to motivate the citizens to consider the possibility of war, and perhaps make a few quiet preparations to either move or bunker down. It would also make those that took Kyven's warning about the Loremasters to heart to carefully consider any request or demand made on them by Loremasters or Loreguard.

He did camp early, this time camping well away from any road in a clearing so small there was barely room for him and the Equar, then he warned Strider not to wander as he stepped into the shadow world and started out for Danna.

That was itself a lesson. By the time he found her, he sensed the things very close to him, and he came to understand that while he could travel any distance within the shadow world, the further he went, the faster they could find him. If he entered and just stood in one place, they couldn't find him as quickly as they could when he traveled distance. That seemed strange to him, almost contradictory, but the rules in the shadow world were different from what he would expect. He pondered the idea of moving in small stages when he returned instead of trying to traverse the entire distance at once, but something told him that that wouldn't work either.

He stepped out of the shadows to see the army setting up camp for the night, having appeared behind a small oak tree that was literally right on the edge of a sea of grass to the south. The army had reached the edge of the forest, where Clover said a forest fire long ago had converted forest to grassland, and the army was setting up out in that grass, far enough from the forest so as not to trample the saplings that were taking root at the edge, proof that the forest was steadily reclaiming the territory it had lost to the fire. Danna and Firetail were sitting on horses surveying the construction of the tent city some distance from where he was, and they hadn't noticed him step out of the forest. The Arcans camping nearest the forest, however, did. They stopped what they were doing and greeted him with kind and enthusiastic words, all reverence and smiles, and he passed quite a few blessings about himself as he moved through the camp towards Danna. All of Haven knew of Kyven Steelhammer, the human Shaman, and the fact that he was human didn't seem to bother most of them. Oddly enough, the most resistance he seemed to encounter was among the Shaman themselves, such as it was. They may not approve of a human, but he was accepted by the Spirits, he walked the path, and they respected him for that acceptance.

Remembering the rather awkward meeting from yesterday, the wise part of Kyven understood that this time, perhaps, a slightly different approach was needed. He stopped about two hundred rods from Danna and Firetail, among the Arcans who still clamored around him, bent down and took off his boots, and then he used the amulet that his totem had given him to take on the Arcan shape. He felt his fur stand up from the cold that flowed through his bones as he took Danna's burden from her, felt his tail snake through the rather cleverly concealed flap that he'd cut into them to accommodate it, so he could take the Arcan shape while still in his clothes.

Again, Firetail seemed to sense him first. She turned towards the commotion among the tents and smiled when he appeared among the Arcans, still touching hands and blessing any who asked it of him, happily performing one of the duties of the Shaman by comforting the Arcans. In a way, the Shaman were the clergy of the Arcans as much as they were their guides, and sometimes their leaders. Haven may be ruled by the council, but the council acceded to the words of Firetail. In her way, Firetail was the true ruler of the Arcans of Haven, though she rarely exercised that power. That was not the Shaman way. Shaman were guides, not rulers, who only took up the mantle of leadership when necessary ... like right now. Firetail nudged Danna and pointed, and the two of them watched him as he emerged from a cluster of Arcans, pausing to bless a very small female canine Arcan. He walked up to their horses and smiled in the Arcan way. "Hello Firetail. Hello Danna."

"Kyven," Firetail smiled, dismounting and advancing to him. They took hands, and she licked him fondly on the cheek. "I should be offended that you had no time for me yesterday, but at least you came back today your much more handsome self," she winked.

"Please," he snorted, looking up at Danna. "I told you I'd be back," he told her.

She looked down at him, her expression curiously unreadable, then she flushed slightly and put her bare feet back in the stirrups of her saddle. "Kyven," she returned, a bit distantly. "We should have some dinner ready soon."

"Sounds good, but I'm afraid we have to take care of business before pleasure," he said, looking back to Firetail. "Let's go to your fire and talk."

"I already have things ready."

Firetail and Danna took him to a large fire burning outside a large pavilion tent that had to be Danna's command tent. Kyven found himself not just in their company, however, for six other Shaman were sitting around the fire. Coldfoot and Stalker were there, which surprised him a little bit, and they were sharing company with four other Shaman he knew fairly well from Haven, Hardstep, Patience, Dancer, and Tallspan, as well as two Shaman Kyven did not know well. One was a tall, lanky male cougar Kyven knew as Longtooth, and the other was a raccoon female that reminded him a little of Teacup, since she was rather petite. Kyven nuzzled his way through them, even accepting a curt nuzzle from Stalker, and then took his seat between Firetail and Danna as they settled and Patience channeled a cozy fire. He accepted a plate of raw venison from Firetail, who took it from a young red vixen Arcan whose hands were trembling. Kyven then explained things in far more detail about what he was doing than Clover could, since she wasn't there, telling them about his movements south in front of the army and what he was finding. Firetail and the Shaman were much more interested in things that didn't matter to Danvers as much, such as the welfare of the Arcan slaves and any signs that crystals were starting to become scarce in lieu of the Loremaster invasion of the western frontier. "It's Arcans that are scarce," Kyven answered. "Every plantation I've visited, they're complaining that the kennels are empty. Between what we did and the Loremasters trying to gather Arcans for their westward march, there's not an Arcan to be found in any kennel anywhere in the Free Territories."

"Thank the spirits for that," Patience sighed.

"I should be in Rallan in three days," he continued. "The army's going to avoid Rallan, but I want to go in to look things over, see how many men the Loreguard have there, and I think I'm going to stop by and pay a visit to the king. I think he needs to learn a few truths."

"That will be very dangerous, young Shaman," Firetail told him.

"It's what I've been trained to do, Firetail," he said simply. "If I couldn't get in to see him, I think my spirit would bite me in a very uncomfortable place. If I can get into the Loremasters' headquarters, I should be able to get into the palace to see him."

"Still, you should be careful, my brother," Tallspan told him, the huge wolf, who looked a lot like Stalker now that he could see them at the same time, warned.

"That's why I'm glad you're here, Longtooth," Kyven addressed the cougar. "I need as detailed a map as you can give me about the Carin roads."

"I've already made one for Clover. I can make a copy for you, brother," he nodded.

"I also need everything you know about Rallan. I've never been there, and I'm not going to have time to study the town before I go in. I need to know where everything is before I get there."

"Not a problem. I can even give you the floorplans of the palace."

"That will help," he said brightly. "Danvers wants me to try to draw off the Loreguard garrison to the west so they can slip by to the east. I think I can do it, or at the very least make them look in one direction for a few days. Before I do that, though, I want to get to the king and have a little talk with him. Explain what's happening so he knows what's really going on. I doubt he'll help us, but I'm sure Danvers would be happy if he didn't help them."

"The humans need to know the truth," Firetail said. "Now that the Loremasters know about us and about Haven, we have to spread the truth to those who need to hear it. And King Longwell of Carin is one of those men."

"Exactly," Kyven nodded. "The Loremasters have poisoned humanity against the Shaman. I doubt that's going to change any time this century, but if we can make some inroads with the leaders of Noraam, keep them from being hostile to us, it might help us in the long run. They can issue orders that the common man will obey, even if they don't understand or agree with them."

"A wise thought," the little raccoon nodded appreciatively. "You have certainly walked far, my brother."

"Thank you, sister," he said modestly.

"That it comes from a human Shaman might make it more potent," Dancer added thoughtfully.

"If there's anything I can do, that's probably it, Dancer," Kyven agreed. "I'm in a sort of unique position here, a bridge between the two societies. Maybe they'll listen to me where they wouldn't listen to an Arcan."

"Well, you are certainly accepted in ours," Coldfoot smiled at him.

"That comforts me, brother," Kyven said mildly.

A dinner of a thick, hearty buffalo stew was brought to the fire, and they all enjoyed a sumptuous dinner without much conversation. After dinner, Kyven explained in further detail what the army was doing, what he was doing, and Danvers' plans. Where Clover could send messages, Kyven could answer questions, allow Firetail and the others to probe into the depths of the plan to fully understand it and consider it. He was a bit startled when, after they finished discussing it as Shaman, the little raccoon whose name was Rings reached over and put her hand on his wrist. "When you go back, brother, take me with you."

He started. "That's dangerous, sister," he told her. "I'm still learning how it works, and if I bring another, it'll put both of us in greater danger."

"Be that as it may, Clover could use help, brother," she returned. "It's worth the risk to put a second Shaman with the army. If you're willing to take that risk, brother, then so am I."

He shook his head. "I can't do it, sister," he told her. "I'm not even sure how to do it. I'm not ready to try something like that yet."

"You're sure?"

"Positive," he affirmed. "I'm willing to try when I'm ready, but it's just too dangerous. I don't know enough to be confident we'll survive to get back."

"Very well, but when you're ready, I will be here."

"That's good enough, sister." He looked to Danna. "How are things looking for this side?"

"It looks about where it was yesterday," she answered.

"We have a friendly spirit watching the advancing army," Firetail told him. "We know exactly where they are and how fast they're going."

"From the looks of it, they'll beat us to Deep River by two days," Danna continued. "Then we'll just surround them and starve them until they surrender. The Shaman promise they can cut off all communications from the army, even fake some."

"We're going to send back false reports that the army is alright," Tallspan told Kyven. "That should delay any attempt to send reinforcements before the army in Deep River surrenders."

"Clever," Kyven nodded.

"Thank your Danna for it," he grinned.

"If all goes well, we can capture the army without a single shot fired, and we're going to need it. We can't risk a single soldier taking Deep River, because we're going to need them to defend Haven when the retaliatory expedition comes over the mountains."

"A wise concern," Firetail agreed. "This is not the greatest danger to Haven, it is what comes after, when the Loremasters and Noraam learn just what truly exists west of the Smoke Mountains."

They broke up after little more conversation, and Kyven went straight to Danna. She seemed just as reluctant as that look she gave him when he first arrived, and she sat quietly with him by the fire after the other Shaman left. They sat in silence for nearly a full minute, then she blew out her breath. "Thanks."

"For what?"

She reached out and pinched the fur on his wrist.

Kyven chuckled. "I guess I'm a little more used to it than you are," he told her. "Does it bother you seeing me like this?"

"It's ... confusing," she admitted. "You may be an Arcan right now, but that's just because you're taking it from me. I got used to it when we were in Haven, got used to seeing you like that. On you, it, well, it looks kinda normal. But I know it's not. You're the human, and now I'm the Arcan, and I'm stuck like this forever."

"Maybe not," he told her.

"Oh yes I am," she said hotly. "There's no way in fucking hell I'm being a brood sow for that bitch."

"Well, maybe time will change things," he said patiently. "No deal is set in stone. Perhaps you can change the terms with her."

"How?" she snorted acidly.

"By outwaiting her," he answered. "She's wise, and if you prove she's not going to intimidate you, well, you might be able to renegotiate your deal. If all she wants is shadow fox Arcan children, well, you have something she wants."

"What is that?"

"The very fact that you're the Arcan," he told her. "What she did to create Umbra isn't something she can just do over and over, Danna. You own something she had to do a lot to make, and that gives you a bargaining chip. If she wants more Arcans, and you own one of only two means to produce them, so then you have something she wants. Use that. Force a new bargain that restores your humanity in exchange for what she needs, or threaten to hold it hostage until you get what you want. Spirits may be immortal, but the fact you're not puts a sense of immediacy into it for her she can't ignore."

Danna considered that for a moment, then laughed ruefully. "That's pretty fuckin' devious."

"Guile and deceit, Danna," he smiled. "Guile and deceit. You can't win anything against her without being devious. All you need is a patsy."

"A what?"

"Like I said, you're not getting out of this without being devious, Danna. Find a human woman who is willing to be the brood sow. Ask Firetail to make you a small fortune in crystals, and offer to pay her that king's ransom in exchange for her, ah, services. That way the fox gets what she wants, you get what you want, and the patsy gets what she wants. Everyone's happy." He chuckled. "Obviously, this may have to wait a while, at least until after this war is over. And with you stuck as an Arcan, well, maybe I'll have to look into it for you. If you want, that is."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll find the patsy if you're willing to make the deal," he told her.

"You'd do that for me?"

"I care about you, Danna," he said, putting his clawed hand on her knee. "Of course I'd do it for you. And unlike you, I'm not fettered by any sense of morality about it," he said with a toothy grin. He manifested an illusion around himself, an illusion of him in his human form. And since he was so intimately familiar with his human self, he was able to imprint tremendous believability into the illusion, making it as real as real could be in almost every respect. "I'm willing to be a little dirty if means we end up back the way we started, Danna," he said. "I ... I still want to see if us can work. I've never stopped wanting it."

She gave him a surprisingly shy look, then reached out and touched the back of his hand. She gasped when she touched it, then grabbed it and felt along his wrist and palm. "You-how did you do that!" she gasped. "There's no fur!"

"I can be whatever you want me to be, Danna," he told her impulsively. Clearly, his own belief in his illusion was enough to overcome her innate disbelief in it, causing his illusion to fool her senses. "That's what being a master of illusions is all about, you know," he chuckled.

She reached out and touched his face, putting her hand on his muzzle, but the way she pressed against the side of it was like she was ignoring the muzzle, trying to touch his human nose and cheek. Her eyes seemed a trifle confused for a moment, then they darkened in a strange manner. "There's just skin," she said, touching his face. "No muzzle, no fur, just skin."

"It's just an illusion, Danna," he told her. "I'm still the same underneath."

Her dark eyes literally smoldered at him. "I don't believe you ... " she said, then she looked around. She grabbed his hand, stood up, and pulled him quickly and urgently towards a row of tents.

"Danna!" he said in surprise. "What are you doing?"

"What I've been wanting to do since Riyan," she answered hastily. "I'm not wasting this chance, not while we're both human and we won't be the same again for a long time."

Kyven tried to object, he tried to explain, but that wasn't very easy with Danna being so unlike herself. She dragged him into her tent, and came close to raping him. There was no debating with her, no discussing. It was as if her lust had taken complete control over her, but in a way, Kyven wasn't being too aggressive about putting her off. He'd been lusting after Danna since he met her, and he wasn't about to say no. She seemed not put off in the slightest despite his repeated warnings that he was still Arcan under the illusion, and he maintained the illusion through it all, felt her gripping his fur even as she said it was skin, felt her press her cheek against his muzzle and say nothing as he consumated a year of desire for this woman, felt her under him, felt himself inside her, and felt that it had been worth every second's worth of waiting. She was just as passionate, just as intense, and making love to her was like a thousand lightning bolts roiling through his body because she was so demanding, so sensual, so aroused. He was careful not to gouge her with his claws, gripping the blankets tightly as he climaxed within her, then collapsing atop her as they panted to recover afterwards.

Once he recovered his breath, he rolled off of her and started gathering his clothes. He'd been gone too long as it was, and he needed to get back to Strider. "Danna," he started.

"No," she said. "Not a word. Don't ruin the moment."

"I told you this is an illusion," he said to her honestly.

"And I told you I don't believe you. Or, I don't want to believe you," she said calmly. "I felt what I wanted to feel, and touched what I wanted to touch. And I liked it," she declared.

That surprised him. She knew he was Arcan under the illusion, but she decided to accept the illusion as her reality, and that made it as real to her as it needed to be. To her, she touched only skin, ran her hands over human features, not Arcan ones, and to his surprise she had had that much sexual attraction to him that she was willing to ignore the fact that he was Arcan under the illusion to finally take what she had been wanting from him for months, and it made finally having sex with her nearly explosive in its intensity.

"It was definitely worth the wait," he winked at her.

"Not another word," she said. "I know you have to go. So go. And I'll see you again ... but don't expect this every time you visit."

He laughed and dismissed the illusion. "I'll take whatever you give me, Danna," he said, kneeling down and licking her cheek. "Are you ready?"

She looked up at him, and nodded. He then returned to the human shape, and he got his first chance to see it happen from the outside as he watched Danna change even as he changed himself. The human Kyven knelt down and kissed the Arcan Danna on the muzzle, then she gasped when he ghosted his hand over her furry breast. "This wouldn't have mattered to me," he whispered huskily in her ear.

"You're a pervert," she teased without any heat in her voice.

"Then I'm a pervert," he agreed, grabbing her breast firmly and fondling it. "I told you, Danna, I'm attracted to what's under this fur. I'd climb right back into those blankets and between your legs in heartbeat if I didn't have to get back to my camp."

"If I let you."

"Oh, would you?" he grinned, reaching down and fondling her genitals, which made her suck in her breath.

"Go!" she barked, slapping lightly at his hand.

He laughed, and while still holding onto his clothes, the shadows rose up from the tent, surrounded him, and carried him away.

Danna blew out her breath and lashed her tail savagely. She wasn't sure if she'd done the right thing. It felt, well, like she wasn't being honest with him. But then again, that was ... .

Wow. She'd used the human illusion as an excuse, but despite knowing that he was Arcan, she had really felt human skin, and couldn't feel his claws or his muzzle. She had wanted to believe he was human, and that made him feel human to him.

And ... shit. That was, was, wow. Just wow.

She looked to the side, where the shadows seemed to darken, and then a pair of emerald points of light appeared within them. The shadows seemed to recede to reveal that hated bitch spirit, the shadow fox, sitting with her tail wrapped around her front legs sedately. "Wisely done, human," her voice came audibly into the tent.

"I hate you, you bitch."

"I am sure you know how little that matters to me, human," she sniffed lightly. "I will uphold my part of the bargain as soon as you complete yours. You were wise to submit. Despite what my Shaman told you, I would have watched you die before giving up what is mine. And you, like him, are mine."

Danna could only stew silently in her fury, for there was no answer to that statement that would make her feel better, even as she watched the fox's form dissolve into the shadow, leaving only her glowing eyes. And then those too were gone, leaving her alone in the tent with nothing but her fears, reservations, thoughts, and worries.

She put her hand to her furry belly, and wondered if she'd truly done the right thing.

But there was no answer to that question. None at all.

Chapter 10