Shadow Walker
by James 'Fel' Galloway
Chapter 10
Longtooth's maps proved to be invaluable. They were dead-on accurate and allowed Kyven to navigate the back roads of the southern Free Territories using Clover's maps, then the back roads of northern Carin using Longtooth's maps. Two days ago, Kyven had finished scouting plantations for the army behind him, and was now making haste to Rallan to both warn the king and also do something to try to distract or mislead the sizable garrison of Loreguard present in the city.
The army behind him was now so large that it couldn't hide anymore. The two thousand human mercenaries were now backed up by about five thousand Arcans, Arcans armed with literally anything they could find for them to use. All the Briton rifles had been handed out, and the two thousand or so Arcans who didn't have a rifle were armed with weapons taken from plantations and villages they had invaded on the way south. Those Arcans were armed with alchemical weapons, muskets, pistols, bows, and some were armed with swords and farm implements since there simply wasn't anything else left. Danvers was using those Arcans as reserves, and was also surreptitiously putting the smallest, weakest, most timid, and the Arcans too conditioned to be slaves into those roles both to keep them out of combat and also give his army the best chance of success. They were actively being pursued now by the Loreguard that had detached from the main force and were moving south, but the army was going to find that catching up to Danvers wasn't going to be easy. Every human was mounted, all their supplies were on horses instead of wagons, and the Arcans were just as mobile as the horses. This mobility was Danvers' secret weapon, the ability to either outrun or at least keep pace with any pursuit, which meant that the army chasing them, should nothing go wrong, wasn't going to catch them until it was a place and time of Danvers' choosing. Since there was now a big trail of ransacked plantations and villages that had seen the army pass for them to follow, part of Kyven's mission in Rallan was to make sure the Rallan garrison couldn't march east and block them, then let them get pincered between two armies and get slaughtered. From the messages delivered to him by Danvers and Clover, the army was progressing both in moving towards Cheston and also in training the Arcans to be soldiers. Despite being slaves for hundreds of years, Arcans were genetically disposed to being soldiers, since they were literally created to be soldiers, and that basic programming was starting to show itself both in the Arcans Danvers was leading and the Arcans marching towards Deep River. They may not know how to fight, but other aspects of a good soldier such as teamwork and an awareness of the unit as a whole were already there, and those were important, if esoteric, qualities.
Arcans were possessed of a pack mentality, and the pack in this respect was the army.
But that wasn't Kyven's immediate concern. He was only one day out from Rallan, and Strider ambled down a back road carrying what looked to the farmers that watched him pass by to be a grizzled middle-aged man in fine clothes and with graying hair. The illusion of Van Steady had made good time south, and had taken on more and more personality as Kyven stayed within the illusion, fleshing out the persona until it was almost as good as a real person. What worried the farmers more, however, were the two monstrously huge canines that padded along behind the Equar, wolf-like animals the size of a large pony. Most of the farmers had never seen a Lupan before, but some of them saw that they looked wolf-like enough to be worried about them. The two Lupans had abandoned their isolation from Kyven two days ago and had started openly traveling with him when they moved into much more populated territory, somehow sensing that they were actually safer with Kyven than they were skulking the narrow bands of forest between farms down here in Carin, where there was much less cover, many more humans, and more opportunities for the two big canines to run into trouble. That they understood this enough to follow Kyven openly said much about their innate intelligence; they were much smarter than the common canine.
Kyven slowed Strider enough to consult his map without having it bounce all over the place. In about two minars he'd turn onto another road, a tiny village occupying the crossroads where the two lanes crossed. Longtooth's map didn't give a name to the hamlet, but it would be a good place to stop for a brief rest and restock on some sundries ... at least so long as the villagers didn't try to chase the Lupans out with torches and pitchforks. How those two approached entering a human village would tell Kyven how serious they were about following him.
He hadn't gone to see Danna since-well, since she more or less rocked his world. It wasn't that he was avoiding her after they'd been intimate, it was that he'd been too busy to make the trip and also he was giving them a few days to settle down before he tried that again. For a second time, he was very nearly caught by those things in the shadow world on his way back from Danna, and he again had to resort to serious measures to protect himself. He made sure to have Clover send a message back to Danna that he wouldn't be able to visit for a few days to make sure she knew he wasn't avoiding her, and he fully intended to go see her once he got to Rallan.
"Keep calm, you two," Kyven called back as the hamlet appeared around a gentle bend in the country road. It was a tiny little place, a collection of about ten houses, a tavern, and a small general store and livery clustered around an intersection between two rutted, poorly maintained back roads in rural northern Carin. The two Lupans, seeing the hamlet, turned and bounded into the woods rather than enter the village.
So much for that.
A few kids scurried out and followed the Equar as he ambled into the village, slowing to a walk as Kyven identified the combination livery/general store and pointed him in that direction, more or less ignoring the excited questions the kids babbled at him. There was a curious lack of enslaved Arcans, he noticed, not seeing a single collared Arcan among the houses. He did see one, however, as an almost unnaturally thin, naked, bedraggled, very young red fox vixen Arcan padded wearily out of the general store, carrying a large basket of what looked like dirty clothes. Kyven almost froze on the back of Strider as he looked at her, for she had a sense about her that was like a blinding light to his eyes, almost inciting him into spirit sight.
A Shaman! She was a Shaman!
His priorities immediately shifted. He couldn't leave her behind, but he also couldn't really take her with him. But despite that, for right now, taking her was what mattered the most. He'd figure out what to do with her after he got her. He rode up to the store, intentionally blocking her with Strider as she moved to come down the steps, and she looked up at him with open-mawed wonder for a long moment. No doubt she could sense something about him that was unusual.
"Are your masters the shopkeepers?" he asked.
"She don't talk none, mister," one of the kids supplied. "But yah, the storekeep owns her. Owns like five Arcans, he does. He sells 'em too, he's the village kennelmaster."
Kyven swung a leg over Strider and dropped to the ground, then grabbed her boldly by the wrist. "Good. Then he'll sell her to me," he said, going up the stairs and literally dragging the vixen behind him, who struggled to keep hold of her basket. The interior of the store was very small and somewhat spartanly stocked, with just a couple of shelves holding the simple goods and items that farmers needed; bolts of cloth, leather, hides, a few farm tools, and behind the counter there were four alchemical lamps sitting on high shelves, out of reach of the customers. A bell was standing on the counter, and Kyven picked it up and rang it forcefully. The Arcan wasn't struggling against his grip on her wrist, but he could tell that she was very tense and frightened. He wished he could calm her down or explain things to her, but this wasn't the time or the place. He did, however, drain the crystal in her collar on the spot.
An almost skeletally thin woman wearing a severe gray dress and her graying brown hair done up in a bun came out into the store from the door behind the counter, who had to be the wife of the shopkeeper. She had a narrow, fox-like face, steely gray eyes, and an affronted expression as if she was better than everyone else in town put together. Her sneer vanished when she found herself facing not a villager, but a finely dressed stranger, and it was replaced by a predatory smile. "Good afternoon, good master!" she said in a surprisingly melodic voice for such a harsh-looking woman. "How can I serve you today?"
"I need a bag of flour, a bag of beans, a side of either beef or venison, I don't care which, and her," he said, pulling the Arcan forward and holding her wrist up.
"Well, I have everything you need, good master," she said with an oily smile. "I don't sell my house Arcans, so if you'd like to step around to the livery, I can show you a few Arcans I can sell you. I'd be willing to part with one of my laborer Arcans."
"I want this one," Kyven insisted.
"An Arcan is an Arcan, good master."
"I want this one," he repeated. "If you want to know why, send the kids out of the store."
A couple of the kids behind him started whispering and giggling, and the woman suddenly became very stern-looking and disapproving. "She is not for sale," the woman declare stiffly.
"Anything is for sale to a merchant," Kyven said blandly. "I'm sure I have enough chits to overcome your sense of moral outrage."
"I seriously doubt that. I won't allow the perpetration of a perversity!"
Kyven dropped what to her looked to be a thousand chit coin on the counter, but was actually a twenty-five chit coin covered by an illusion. Her eyes bulged and she opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Then she swallowed. "H-However," she said, swallowing again. "Given the, ah, current state of the Arcan market, them being so rare at the moment and all, a-and the fact that you're somewhat intent on that particular Arcan, I m-might be inclined to part with her."
"Good. My Lupans like their meat young and tender," Kyven said in a chilling voice, picking up the chit and replacing it with the same coin, this time not covered by an illusion.
The woman's eyes bulged again, and she goggled at him. "Lupans?"
"What did you think I wanted her for?" Kyven asked flatly. "She's too young for you to miss her too much, there hasn't been any decent hunting for them this close to Rallan, and my Lupans like to play with their food."
The vixen started pulling against his grip, making strangled cries, but Kyven's grip on her was like steel. He didn't like scaring her, but he wanted this woman and this village to think that when the vixen left the village, she was going to her doom, just in case any of them even suspected she might be a Shaman.
"Well, in that case, if you put that first coin back on the counter, she's all yours," she said with a sadistic little smile.
"You'll take this one and be happy about it," Kyven stated bluntly. "I just wanted to see if your morals were worth a thousand chits. They are."
She gave him a hot, savage glare, then drew herself up stiffly. "The current Arcan market is rather tight," she said savagely. "She'll go for a thousand chits, your first offer."
"My first offer was to buy your morals. Now I'm going to buy an Arcan," Kyven retorted as the vixen continued to struggle against his grip. "Female Arcans are going for ninety in most city kennels right now. She's young, so she'd go for about one thirty to one fifty, but this one has obviously been mistreated, so that knocks her price way down. As thin and frail as she is, and since her pelt is obviously in bad condition, about the only thing she's worth is dog food. So, twenty-five is my offer."
"You can leave my shop," she said in a highly offended tone.
"Fine. I'll just wander over to the tavern, have a drink, and tell everyone all about how you're willing to whore out your female Arcans as long as you're offered enough money."
Kyven had identified her as the type that saw her status as nearly as important as money, and her reaction did not disappoint him from his initial assessment of her. She looked horrified for a moment, probably at even the indirect linking of her name with whore, and then she gave him a furious look filled with frustration and indignity. "Seventy-five," she growled.
"Still the merchant," Kyven chuckled humorlessly. "Fifty, and that'll cover my other purchases as well. And that's as high as I'll go."
She gave him a murderous look, then stuck her nose up. "Fifty and you get nothing but her."
"Deal," he said, which made the vixen all but writhe, making whimpering sounds.
"Let me get the key to her collar," she said in a stiff tone.
"Why? The crystal's been depleted in it," Kyven said, pulling the collar off her and tossing it on the table. "Be glad I paid you fifty for what I could have simply grabbed off the street," he added, fishing another twenty-five chit coin out and tossing it on the counter. "But I'm no thief. At least my morals aren't for sale," he said, which made her cheeks flush a hot red.
"Get out!" she snapped, pointing at the door.
"Gladly," he said, turning and dragging the terrified Arcan behind him.
The kids followed him out of the store, dreadfully eager to see him feed the Arcan to his Lupans-if only they knew what Lupans were-but they were disappointed to see him advance over to his impossibly huge horse. "Down, Strider," Kyven ordered, and the horse knelt down on his forelegs to let Kyven mount and drag the vixen up with him, grabbing very firm hold of her as she struggled against him. She found his arms to be like steel, however, and couldn't even scratched and bite her way free of him as the Equar began trotting out of the village.
When most of the kids and a few adults were behind him, when he was far enough away from the village for them to be unable to make out what he was doing, he pulled her up to where her ears were close to his head. "I'm from the Masked," he said soothingly to her. "Do you know who they are?"
She continued to struggle against him, continuing to make terrified sounds.
"Calm down, I'm not going to feed you to my Lupans," he told her. "I just want them to think that. So calm down, calm down," he said in a soothing tone.
She didn't seem to believe him, for she gouged four deep furrows in his forearm with her short, sharp claws, which made him wince. He opened his eyes to the spirits and put his palm against her belly, then channeled a made-up spell on the spot into her that made her feel a curiously pleasant sensation. "I'm a Shaman, girl," he hissed into her ear. "I'm rescuing you, so stop clawing me!"
That caused her to stop struggling, at least mostly. She pulled at his arm a few more times, but the sensation she was feeling in her belly was decidedly not normal, not natural, and she twisted around enough to look at his face. She saw his glowing eyes, and she gasped.
"Shaman!" she said in a hushed whisper, then she sighed lustily. "You're the human Shaman we heard about," she said in a more relaxed tone, leaning her head against his neck and shoulder. He laughed reflexively when she licked his chin and cheek.
"So you can talk."
"She wouldn't let me talk outside the store, didn't think it was proper," she answered in a quavering voice, but she wasn't struggling anymore. "Did I hurt you?"
"I'll live," he answered. "I wanted them to think you're going to be fed to my Lupans, and I couldn't warn you about it. I'm sorry I scared you, but it was necessary."
"Why?"
"I'll explain later, so until then, you'll have to trust me, child," he told her reassuringly.
"I trust you, Shaman."
"Are you alright?"
"I'm alright," she said.
"Do you have a name, little one?"
"Ember," she answered.
"A pretty name for a pretty young lady," he told her, ceasing his spell now that she was calmer.
"You think I'm pretty, Shaman?" she asked almost girlishly.
"Of course you are. I'm ... partial to foxes. For reasons I'll explain later," he chuckled. "Where did you hear about me?"
"Rumors from travelers coming from Rallan," she answered. "They say the Loremasters are hunting for a human Shaman that escaped from them. The humans can't believe it, think it's impossible."
"It used to be, but not anymore," he said calmly. "I'm the first human Shaman, but I don't think I'll be the only one. Now, little Ember, think you can move a little? It's a little awkward holding you hanging halfway off the horse like this."
With Kyven's help, Ember sat in front of him a bit unsteadily in the saddle. She'd never ridden a horse before, and Strider's broad back and the fact she was a passenger without stirrups would make her first attempt quite a bit more challenging than the usual first ride. Kyven kept an arm around her middle, holding the emaciated Arcan steady, and had to deal with the bend of her tail prodding him in a couple of sensitive places as Strider trotted them towards Rallan. He didn't take her far, however, only about five minars before he found a little clearing near a stream that wandered close to the lane, a place that looked to be a popular place to stop and water horses from the chewed-up condition of the grass between the little creek and the road. Kyven helped Ember slide down, then he dismounted himself and let Strider wander over to the stream and start drinking. "First, to warn you, little one, I do have a pair of Lupans with me," he told her. "but I promise you, you're not their dinner. Like I said, that was just something I told that shrew of a woman so they'll think you won't live long after I took you from the village."
"Why?" she asked again.
"We're far enough away now," he noted. "Simply put, little one, you're a Shaman."
"What? Me?" she gasped.
He nodded. "Don't I seem different to you? Different from other people?"
"Yah, yah, you do," she admitted, looking at him, scratching at her matted fur. "I noticed something, well, something about you when you rode up to me."
"Shaman can sense each other, little one. That's how I knew who you were," he told her. "I wanted the humans in the village to think you were dead just in case you've ever used any kind of Shaman magic or done anything unusual that they might remember now that you're gone. Since they think you're dead, it won't matter."
"Oh. Ohhh, sneaky."
"I'm known for a certain amount of sneakiness," he said modestly. "Now, let's get something to drink and move on."
He rode through most of the afternoon with her in the saddle in front of him, as he explained, in very general terms, what a Shaman was and what they did. She seemed capable of accepting it, listening attentively and asking astute questions, proving that she was actually rather intelligent. He consulted the map again, holding it in front of both of them and looking over her shoulder down at it, and he realized she needed a bath ... or at least his spell that cleansed fur. He saw from the map, and from the farms they were passing, that they were about two hours from Rallan. He wasn't ready to enter the city quite yet, so he detoured into a tract of woods and led Strider with Ember riding him until he found a void in the trees just big enough to serve as a camp that was bordered by a small stream dominated by a huge boulder that sat on the near bank, a boulder with leprous-looking growths of moss and lichen covering its side. Once he decided they would camp there, he dismissed his illusion of Van Steady, which made Ember gasp and stare at him wildly.
"Oh, sorry. I forgot to warn you about that, since that wasn't how I look," he told her. "My particular talent when it comes to Shaman magic is illusion, young one, and that's how I move around without being hunted down."
"That's amazing!"
"Thank you. Now hop down and let's think about dinner. And definitely a bath," he said, looking meaningfully at her.
She looked away guiltily.
The stream proved to be little more than a hand deep, so it was completely inadequate to serve to bathe the Arcan, so he resorted to Shaman magic. He channeled the spell he had invented into her fur, and it billowed out as if filled with wind, stripping all manner of dirt and detritus from her fur, dislodging quite a few fleas, some lice, and a few ticks, and she yelped when the spell brutishly untangled the mats in her fur, yanking on those knots before the magic unraveled them. After just a few seconds, however, the spell did its work, and it left her fur clean and smoothly groomed, as well as stripping the smell out of it. "Better," he said with an approving nod as she looked down at herself and saw that she was clean. "I don't have many spare clothes, but I think I could find you something that'll come close to fitting."
"I've never worn clothes before," she told him. "Do I have to?"
"Not if you don't want to," he shrugged. "How old are you, little one?"
"Four, I think," she answered. "I lived my whole life there with the Master and Mistress. They sold my parents last year, but kept me," she said with a lonely sigh.
"She didn't seem very nice."
"She wasn't that bad," Ember admitted. "She didn't hurt me like some humans do in the village. She just didn't care much about me. It was the Master I didn't like. He would hit me whenever he argued with his wife, and he argued with her almost every day," she sighed.
"She didn't feed you either," he noted, looking at her middle critically. Her ribs were very nearly sticking out and visible under her fur.
"I'm being punished for breaking her good dishes last week," she said quietly, looking at the ground. "That's how she punishes us. She won't give us food."
"I'd say you've been punished far too much from the look of you," he grunted. "I have some jerky you can eat for now. After dark, I'll go get you more meat than you can possibly eat," he promised as he started unsaddling Strider, who was looking at the stream meaningfully.
Ember gnawed on the last of his dried meat as he set up camp, forgoing the tent and just laying out his bedroll and his extra blanket for Ember. Strider trampled down a young maple sapling and started tearing it apart with his jaws, Strider had a strange taste for maple saplings, and Kyven built a fire in the sandy bar next to the stream. Ember sat on her haunches next to the fire, staring at it in a bemused manner, but she started and scrambled backwards fearfully as two shadowy shapes melted out of the forest on the far side of the stream.
"Easy, Ember," he said calmly as the two Lupans padded out of the woods. One of them was carrying the carcass of a deer in its jaws, the Lupan so tall only the back legs of the deer dragged the ground. "Those are the Lupans I told you about."
"They're yours?"
"They're not anybody's anymore, they were being held on a ranch and they're not really tame," he answered as the dominant Lupan jumped the stream and boldly padded right up to the young vixen. "They've been following me for a while, and we're sort of friendly with each other," he added as the Lupan started sniffing at the Arcan, his nose bulling into her roughly. But when he knocked her down with a foreleg, Kyven stepped between them and stared right into his eyes, glowing Lupan eyes meeting glowing Shaman eyes. "Enough!" he commanded. "She's mine, you leave her be!"
The Lupan gave him a challenging stare, then eased back. The Lupan sat down on his haunches and regarded the Arcan with curious eyes, then looked up at Kyven, then he stood up when the smaller female, dragging the deer, jumped the small stream and brought the kill into camp.
Ember looked frightened as she stayed on the ground, looking up at the Lupan and Kyven, uncertain and unsettled. "I told you, they're not tame," Kyven said. "But they'll obey me and leave you alone now. Stand up, little one, and even though I know it's not easy, don't be afraid of them. They can smell fear, and if they know you're afraid, they won't be friendly to you."
"Is that why it knocked me down?"
"Not exactly," he hedged, not telling her that Arcans used to be their food until Clover freed them. "But if you show them you're not afraid, they'll respect you."
Strider ambled over and bulled the smaller female over at the deer, and Ember flinched when the Equar casually crushed the deer's head in his jaws, then swallowed most of what he pulled away from it. "Wait here, little one," Kyven ordered as he advanced on the carcass. The Lupans and Strider wouldn't object to him taking his piece of the deer, but they might object to Ember. Using his knife, he cut away an entire rear leg, stripped the hide all the way down the hoof, then carried it back over to her. "Here, start with this," he told her, handing it down to her. She took it with a grateful look at him, slid over and plopped down on her backside, and started eating ravenously. Kyven returned to the deer as the two Lupans turned and bounded out of camp, melting back into the dark shadows of the later afternoon forest.
"Where are they going?" she asked.
"To get another deer, most likely," he answered. "They bring us meat because they know we don't always have time to hunt, and it's one way they show respect for us. Besides, they know Strider will brain them if they don't bring him meat, he's come to expect them to hunt for him and they know better than to disappoint him. You mean brute," Kyven chuckled, patting Strider fondly on the flank. Strider snorted into the kill, but didn't look up. "They let me share in the kill because they respect me. You, well, you'll have to prove yourself first. So until I say so, don't get involved with any meat the Lupans bring into camp unless I give it to you."
"Okay." She took another bite and swallowed almost without chewing. "Where are we going? What am I going to be doing, Shaman? You said something about me having to train."
"I need to figure out how to get you there," he grunted as he cut away the other hind leg and abandoned the rest of the kill to Strider, who would probably eat just about all of it. "I should really take you to Clover for now. You'd be much safer with them than with me. But I can't really turn around, and they can't really come to me. I'll have to think about it. Until I figure something out, you're stuck with me, I'm afraid."
"I don't mind, Shaman," she said between bites. "I know you'll protect me. Mother said that's what Shaman do. Protect those they think are worthy, and take them away from the collar and hide them where they can be free."
"We protect more than the worthy, we try to protect everyone. But there's so few of us, and so many to protect, and Loremasters hunt us continuously," he sighed mournfully. "We do what we can, but even we admit that it's not nearly enough. I'm sorry you had to be there, little one, and I'm sorry if you were mistreated."
"It's okay, Shaman," she told him. "I understand, and they weren't all that bad to me. Some Arcans in the village were much worse off than me."
"Then you're much wiser than most young ladies, young lady," he said, giving her a slight smile.
She actually giggled. "What are you doing out here, Shaman?" she asked. "I don't think you were looking for me."
"No, you were a happy accident, little one," he admitted. "What I'm doing is moving in front of an army fighting against the Loremasters, using my illusions to move through the human settlements and gather information the army needs. My next stop is Rallan, where I have the tough task of finding some way of preventing the Loreguard there from blocking the army from getting past Rallan on its way south. I'm still not entirely sure how I'm going to do it, but I'll think of something."
"All by yourself?"
"I'm well suited for these tasks, Ember," he smiled. "If only because they can't really catch me. If I somehow mess up, I can get away and try again. But now I have you, so I need to find some way to get you to safety ... but I don't really know how to do it outside of just taking you with me until I rejoin the army. I can't stop what I'm doing just to take you to Clover."
"Well, I can fetch and carry for you, Shaman," she offered. "And I can stay with your horse while you're off doing those Shaman things."
He nodded. "You can at that," he agreed. "But I might be able to have Clover come get you," he mused. "You'll be much safer with Clover than with me."
"I'm just happy to be gone from the village," she declared. "Happy to have a chance to be free."
"I'll do what I can to give you that chance, little one," he promised.
Kyven considered the problem as he ate, then he watched with some amusement as Ember tried to tidy up the camp, a camp almost completely taken up by the Equar. He really had no idea what he was going to do. He couldn't leave her behind, he couldn't take her back to Clover, and he wasn't sure if Clover could come to him. The fact that she was Shaman made her safety the utmost priority, so much so that Kyven wouldn't entrust her to anyone but a Shaman or someone he explicitly trusted, like Lightfoot, Timble, Virren, or Shario. So, because he couldn't leave her and couldn't trust that she could make her way to the army on her own-not since she'd been a slave her entire young life and was utterly incapable of taking care of herself in the wild-he was in an awkward position. In all honestly, he was more or less stuck bringing her with him, making her stay with Strider and praying she could keep hidden while he was off doing his work. Actually, that wouldn't be that hard, all he had to do was tell her to stay with Strider, since Strider was smart enough to not let himself get caught ... or more to the point, nobody would be crazy enough to try to catch him.
One did not argue with a horse that weighed more than a bull, and was just as cantankerous when he was annoyed.
The Lupans returned at sunset with two more deer, and they ate on the far side of the stream before coming over to join them at the fire. Ember was decidedly nervous as the two pony-sized canines laid down near the fire flanking the human Shaman, and Kyven absently reached over and scratched them from time to time as he pondered the problem at hand. He sat and stared into the fire for a long time, then leaned absently against the larger Lupan, the dominant of the two, who accepted his attention with stoic calm. "Ember," he said in a calm, soothing voice. "Come here."
The fox Arcan approached him somewhat warily from the opposite side of the fire. Both Lupans raised their heads and looked at her, but Kyven reached over and put his hand on top of the smaller female's head even as he leaned against the male. "Sit down," he said, patting the ground beside him and close to the female. She did so, visibly trying not to look scared even as her hands trembled, and she sidled up against his side as if seeking his protection from the two huge animals. "It's alright, Ember," he assured her. "Pet her," he urged, motioning at the female.
"Do they have names?"
"None I've thought to give them," he answered. "They're not mine. They're not even really tame. Remember that, Ember. These two are wild Lupans, but as long as you approach them using their own customs, they'll treat you fairly. I'm not entirely sure why they're following me, but they've seemed to attach themselves to me and Strider, so we're something of a pack now. An odd pack, but a pack," he chuckled softly.
Pack was something that Ember instinctively understood. She reached out and tentatively touched the smaller female Arcan, who was charcoal gray, and petted her uncertainly. But, when the Lupan didn't object, she got more and more confident, stroked her thick fur with a stronger but still gentle hand. "Wow, their fur is, well, kinda wiry," she noted. "Not soft, but not rough."
"Rugged," Kyven noted.
"Yeah, rugged." She stroked the gray's fur for long moments, then scratched her vigorously just behind the ear, which the female seemed to enjoy if her thumping hind leg and wagging tail was any indication. She rousted from her bed and pushed against Ember, pawing and licking at her, which was what Kyven was waiting to see. "Now she's talking to you, Ember," he told her. "She's testing your strength. So let her lick you, but don't let her push you to the ground. Hold your ground."
Ember didn't have much strength because she was malnourished, so she couldn't stand up to the Lupan's weight. The female pushed her to the ground, and Kyven watched very carefully for the sign that the female was about to get more aggressive. But, Ember continued to push at the Lupan even from the ground, obviously afraid but doing that Kyven told her to do, trying to push the Lupan off her enough to sit back up, at least until the female trapped her under her massive paws. Kyven poised himself to use Shaman magic to separate them, but the female just licked roughly at Ember's face and chest, then gently clamped her jaws over Ember's shoulder and neck. "She's accepting you as a subordinate, Ember," Kyven told her. "Lick her under her chin to tell her you accept your position in the pack."
Ember did so tentatively, licking at the base of the female's jaw, which caused the female to release her. Kyven silently sighed in relief for not having to intervene as the female let Ember back up, then laid back down beside her. "Sub-hor-dee-nat? What is that, Shaman? I don't know that word."
"It means you're the low girl in the pecking order, little one," he told her. "They accept you, but they are over you. So you do what they say."
"But what if I don't understand what they want me to do?" she asked fearfully.
"They'll make sure you understand," he said calmly, patting the male, who had watched the affair with impassive eyes. "To them, you're just a little cub that needs to be trained. But the main thing to understand is they won't eat you now."
"Eat me?" she gasped.
Kyven nodded. "If you're not pack, you're food," he surmised calmly. "You've been accepted into the pack, so they'll leave you be. Just remember that until you're strong enough to challenge them for a higher place, these two can tell you what to do."
"I think everyone can," she said, a bit ruefully as she looked over at the Equar, who had gone back to his maple sapling after eating his deer. "But that's okay. I'm used to being told what to do."
"For now," he said with a chuckle, reaching over and ruffling her auburn hair.
The talker in his belt beeped, and he picked it up and activated it. "Danvers?"
"Aye, Kyven. How goes it? Anything to report?"
"Nothing unusual, General," he answered as Ember gave him a curious look. "I'm just outside Rallan and will be going in probably after midnight. I want to have a little chat with the king while I can get at him when he's more or less alone. After sunrise, I'll survey the town and work out how I'm going to accomplish my mission." He glanced at Ember. "Oh, and I've picked up a little complication. Can you put Clover on for me?"
"Surely, give me a few minutes to get her," he answered. It didn't take him half that time, for Clover's voice came over the device not twenty seconds later.
"Yes, brother?"
"Sister, I have a little problem," he began. "I happened across a new Shaman just outside Rallan. I have her with me now."
"Really? That's wonderful news!" Clover said happily. "If you can hear me, welcome to you, my new sister! I look forward to meeting you!"
"Hello, Mistress Clover," Ember said tentatively in reply.
"We are naught but equals among ourselves, my sister," Clover laughed. "So just call me sister or Clover, if you please. Brother, what are you going to do with her?"
"I'm honestly at a loss here, Clover. I can't leave her behind, I can't bring her to you, I doubt she could make it to you by herself, and I don't think you can come get her."
"No, I doubt that. I think you may simply have to keep her with you until you reach Cheston, brother."
"That's what I'm thinking as well. If anything, she can stay with Strider and the Lupans. They should be able to protect her."
"I would suggest getting a fake collar for her, brother, so any human that might happen across her believes she is owned."
"That's a given," he agreed. "Until I can think of something, I'll keep her with me."
"Just be careful, my brother."
"Naturally. I'm going to have to cut this short, sister. I have to get to Rallan."
"Of course. Good luck, my brother. And farewell, my new sister. I can't wait to meet you!"
"She sounds nice," Ember noted as Kyven put the talker away.
"You won't find anyone sweeter than Clover, little one," he said simply as he unfolded Longtooth's map and studied it. The king's palace was literally in the center of town, and Rallan was a fairly large town, home to some fifty thousand people and Arcans. It was the center and heart of the tobacco trade in Carin as much as Riyan was the center in the Free Territories. Included in the map was a detailed floorplan of the palace, showing Kyven every door, every window, and ever room. He would need that information, for he intended to infiltrate the palace by stealth and have a chat with the king while he was in his bed. According to the map, the Loreguard's main barracks was on the west side of town, near the river than flowed just south of the city, which was his other problem. There was a force of some ten thousand Loreguard currently in Rallan, some housed at the barracks and the rest bivouacked west of the city in tents, which was enough men to bottle up the army behind him and get them all killed. Kyven had to prevent that, and he admittedly wasn't sure how he was going to do that yet. He had a few ideas, but nothing solid.
"Is this writing, Shaman?" Ember asked, pointing at some of the titles.
"It is, little one," he answered. "I'm sure they'll teach you to read if you want."
"That sounds nice. The Mistress spent almost every night reading books while the Master was out at the taverns. Sometimes I felt sorry for her, the Master was very mean to her."
"She seemed to me to be the kind that brought it on herself," he said dismissively. "And I can't hold much sympathy for someone that came close to starving you, little one."
"It wasn't so bad," she told him. "I'd rather be hungry than having the Master hit me."
"Well, those days are over, Ember," he told her calmly. "You're a Shaman now."
"I don't know what that means I'm supposed to be."
"Yourself, little one," he told her as he folded the map. "A Shaman is first and foremost just that. Himself. Herself. You don't act like someone else, thinking that they're more of a Shaman than you, because they're not. Every Shaman is different, every Shaman has his or her own way of doing things, and none of us are either right or wrong about it. Being a Shaman will change how you see things and how you do things, but it won't change the fact that you're a Shaman."
"Okay," she nodded. "What's it like, being human?"
"You mean being a human Shaman?" he asked, and she nodded. "Well, I'm hated by my own people, but the Shaman accept me, and so do the Arcans. I hide who and what I am, but who I am lets me do things other Shaman can't do. As to how I feel about it, well, as long as I'm where I'm needed and helping those who need me, then I'm happy. I'm not all that worried about how my people feel about me, because I know that what I'm doing is right, and I'm trying to help them just as much as I am the Arcans. As long as only one human accepts me, then I don't care about the others."
"Your wife?"
"You're sharp, Ember," he said with a smile. "No, not my wife. But she is a woman, and I do have feelings for her. As long as she accepts me, then I don't care about what the rest of humanity thinks."
"My Master and Mistress don't like each other, but I've seen other married humans. They seem happy where my Master and Mistress aren't. I wonder why they stay together."
"That's a subject I think only they can answer, little one. And I doubt either of them is brave enough to admit the answer, even to themselves. Humans can be very complicated."
"I've noticed," she said in a grave manner which made Kyven laugh.
Now, little one, I'm going to have to go. I need to go to Rallan and talk to the king, and then I'll come back. Now that I know the Lupans accept you, I feel comfortable leaving you with Strider. I want you to stay in camp and keep quiet. If there's any kind of trouble at all, stay with Strider. If he fights, stay out of the way. If he runs, stay with him. Don't follow the Lupans, stay with Strider. Understand?"
"I will, Shaman," she affirmed with a nod.
"If all goes well, I should be back before midnight," he told her as he stood up, leaving her between the two Lupans. "You two be nice to her," he told them. "I'll be back soon, alright?" Both Lupans looked up at him impassively, then put their heads back down almost in unison, more than content to laze by the small fire Kyven had built. "Strider, keep an eye on things," he called to the Equar, who was still gnawing on the maple sapling. The Equar snorted and bobbed his head, then went back to his sapling.
"What should I do, Shaman?"
"Anything you want, so long as you stay in camp, don't annoy the Lupans, and don't make much noise," he answered. "Just keep your chin up, little one. I should be back in a few hours."
Rather than surprise her with it and leave her wondering, and possibly noisy, until he came back, he advanced out into the woods and out of sight before stepping into the shadow world. He fought back the vertigo and the sense of them, taking notice of him, starting to move towards him, and padded from where he was into Rallan with but two steps, moving into the city and seeing parts of it waver into and out of existence as light in the real world shifted and moved. It was just past sunset, a time of dark, deep shadows, and Kyven could almost feel it in his bones, feel the shadow pulsing through him like blood. Despite the shifting nature of everything around him, he was able to discern where he was by matching streets with the map he'd read, and made his way to the palace. He moved into it through the shadow world, finding almost all of it visible to him since it was dark in the real world and the alchemical lights cast enough shadow inside the palace to "illuminate" the building in the shadow world. He stepped into an antechamber right off the royal bedchambers, one that was empty, then converged a gateway back into the real world and stepped through it even as he willed it to pass around him.
He found himself in a richly appointed sitting room with a large window, done in the Carin style. Windows in Carin were often large enough to serve as doors, and the two windows in this room opened to a balcony populated with sturdy wicker furniture. From the sounds coming through the door, the king was in his room, and was entertaining a young lady ... if her moans were any indication. The young King Alak Longwell of Carin was unmarried, but since he was a king, he certainly was never lonely.
Unfortunately, he didn't have the time to be polite and allow the king the time to finish playing with his bedmate. He opened his eyes to the spirits and looked through the door and wall separating the bedchamber from the parlor, and found the king and his playmate alone in the room. There were two guards just outside the door of the next room, which looked like a study or office of some kind that led out to the hallway, serving as the only way into the royal apartments. If Kyven startled the king, those two guards could be in the room and brandishing their evil-looking alchemical rods, powered by black crystals, that would instantly slay whatever against which they were used. Kyven channeled a simple auditory illusion that created silence at the wall, which would prevent any yells from the bedchamber from reaching the guards.
Problem solved.
Kyven left his eyes open to the spirits as he opened the door and stepped into the royal bedchamber, where the young, surprisingly fit and muscular king was heavily involved with his blond-haired playmate, making the bed shake as he thrust powerfully. At this moment, Kyven could probably fire a musket in the room and not have either of them take notice, so he settled himself in a chair by a desk near the door, poured himself a glass of wine, and even put his feet up on the desk as he watched the performance impassively. It went on for a good five more minutes, until the king gave out a ragged groan, the woman all but screamed, and he collapsed heavily atop her. "Who's your king, baby?" he asked in a hoarse, panting voice.
"Your big dick is," she giggled in reply, but then she gasped in surprise when Kyven set down his wine glass and started clapping his hands, applauding their virtuoso performance.
"Encore," he called cheekily.
King Alak Longwell moved far faster than Kyven would expect from a king, and in a way that surprised him. With blurring speed, he rolled off the girl, out of the bed, and onto his feet facing Kyven, and a pistol had come out of nowhere to be in his hand and pointed at Kyven. Kyven made no threatening moves, however, simply picking the wine glass back up and taking a sip, letting this young tawny-haired king have the opportunity to take stock of the invader, particularly his glowing eyes. Longwell was also fairly handsome as men went, with strong cheeks, a straight, narrow nose, and pursed yet sensual lips crowning a square jaw. His hazel eyes were hard and calculating as he took in the man lounging about at his desk, but the pistol in his hand was rock solid as it stayed trained on him.
"You have two seconds to make your peace with the Father," Longwell warned.
"Put your gun away, your Majesty," Kyven said calmly as he took another sip. "Oh, and I think you might want to cover up, dear," he said, glancing at the young girl, who was now naked and uncovered on the bed. "Not that you aren't quite lovely, but I think you may not know me well enough to show me what you're showing me now."
She got over her fear enough to snatch up the covers and pull them up to her chin.
"You're the human Shaman," Longwell deduced.
Kyven nodded. "That's right," he affirmed. "I thought it might be a good idea to drop by and have a little talk with you, your Majesty."
"And if I shoot you where you sit?"
"You're far too savvy to do something so rash," Kyven said mildly. "Clearly I'm here for a reason, and it costs you nothing to listen."
"It would if they knew you were here."
"Please," he said with a smile. "Give me more credit than that, your Majesty. Nobody saw me come in, nobody will see me leave. Your two guards in the next room don't even know I'm here, even if I started shouting. Why, you could shoot your pistol and they won't even notice."
"Magic!" the girl gasped.
"Yes, dear, magic," he nodded, taking another sip. "It's quite handy for someone like me."
"What do you want?" the king asked.
"Not what I want as much as what I think you should know," he answered as the monarch lowered his pistol a little, but not enough to prevent him from bringing it back up and shooting in the blink of an eye. "But, what I have to say might be something only you may want to hear. If you'd like, I'll fix it so your lovely friend here can't hear what we're saying, and she can draw the curtains on the bed so she can't see what we're doing. That way she doesn't have to worry about knowing something she shouldn't know." He nodded towards her as her cheeks paled. "It won't hurt a bit, my dear. Just a simple little magic that fixes it so sound won't reach you, the same spell I'm using to keep the guards outside from hearing us through the door. I wouldn't even think of harming such a pretty young lady," he said, which, despite the situation, made her preen just a tiny bit, and lower the covers enough to show him just a peek of the upper swells of her handsome breasts.
"I think that's a good idea. Pull the curtains, Anna. I'll open them when it's alright."
"Are you sure, Alak?"
"I'll be fine," he said, brandishing the pistol enough for her to take notice of it. "You go ahead and settle in."
"I, alright," she said. Holding the covers to her with one hand, she sat up and pulled the curtains on the poster bed, concealing her from sight. Kyven channeled the same auditory illusion over the bed, leaving the girl in silence.
"Now, on to business," Kyven said. "I'm sure you know what's going on?"
"With the Loremasters? More than they think I do," he answered, lowering the pistol a little more. "They've marched an extra eight thousand men into my city to remind me of the power they have."
"I'm sure you know more than that, your Majesty," Kyven said calmly.
The man gave him a hard look. "I've heard some rumors."
"Rumors often have a bit of truth in them."
"Then there is an Arcan army?"
"There is. Two of them, actually," Kyven noted, taking another sip of wine. "This is really good."
"I'll send you a bottle," the monarch drawled dryly. "So, why is the human Shaman in my bedroom? To tease information out of me?"
"To give it to you, actually. I just wanted to see what you know so I know where to start."
"Try from the beginning."
"The beginning. Alright, first things first, then. There is an Arcan nation west of the mountains."
The man gave him a hard look.
"I've been there, your Majesty. I've seen it. Trust me, it's there."
"I don't believe it," he said flatly. "Arcans are too stupid to form any kind of stable society."
"You'll find that opinion to be very wrong," Kyven told him. "Yes, some Arcans aren't intelligent, but the same can be said for humans. But, this isn't really about the Arcans, it's about the Loremasters. Do you know what they're doing?"
"Publicly, they're moving to explore the interior. Privately, I've heard they have intentions to settle Deep River."
"Yes, they intend to take over Deep River, but their ultimate goal is to build a city of their own where the Deep River and Snake River join. Do you know why they're doing it?"
"I've heard rumors," he said. "But they're too ridiculous for me to believe."
"The one that says the crystals are running out?" When Longwell nodded, Kyven put down the wine glass. "That's the truth," he declared. "The crystals won't last five more years, your Majesty. Not the way people are using them up now. Haven't you seen the mining reports from your own villages? Fewer and fewer crystals are coming out of the Smoke Mountains."
"That's happened before," he countered. "Just a coincidence where more than one village had its mines play out at the same time. As soon as they prospect around, they'll find more, and the crystals are gonna be flowing again."
"This time it's different, your Majesty," he said seriously.
"I don't believe it."
"The Loremasters do," he said bluntly. "And I'm sure you'll admit that they have access to far more information than you do."
That made Longwell frown slightly. "How do you know that?" he challenged.
"Oh, please, I'm sure you heard the stories even down here. The Loremasters captured the black fox Shaman that was hiding in Avannar, I'm sure you heard all about how the Shaman set fire to the Loremaster's building and killed a few of their higher ranking members."
"Your underling?"
"Actually, that was me," he admitted. "Magic, you understand," he smiled. "Anyway, I was there to gather information about what the Loremasters knew and what they were up to. The Loremasters know the crystals are almost gone, and that's why they're marching an army into the Smoke Mountains as we speak. The Loremasters are going to try to take over every crystal-producing mine that's left and get a stranglehold on crystal production, but they also believe that they can build an alchemical device that can create crystals, and they intend to build it far away from the kingdoms of Noraam so they can defend it from the rest of you and keep absolute power in Noraam. And that is why there's an Arcan army marching to meet them. The Arcans absolutely cannot allow the Loremasters to get a foothold on their side of the mountains, your Majesty. Even if you don't believe that they're there, think about it simply as just another nation. As a nation that you'd say is technically at war with the Loremasters, look at me and tell me that if you were leading that theoretical kingdom, you wouldn't try to stop the Loremasters from invading your territory."
"Alright, theoretically speaking, I could see that."
"Thank you. So, what you need to know is that the Loremasters are breaking the alliance."
"That's what the Flaurens keep saying."
"The Flaurens have first hand knowledge of it. One of their spies got his hands on documents that prove it, to the point where the Flaurens are marching their army north. They should be in Georvan by now, on their way to Avannar." He picked up the glass again. "So, if you don't think this is serious, your Majesty, understand that the people north and south of you do. There's about to be open warfare in Noraam, because the Flaurens are moving to oppose the Loremasters.
"To summarize things, your Majesty, this is what's going on. The Loremasters have known the crystals are almost gone for years, and they've had plans to take over Noraam completely in more than just name using the crystal shortage as their impetus. Right now, I'll guarantee that Loreguard units are moving into your mining villages under some false pretense like protecting them from wild Arcans or some other bullshit, but the truth is they're there to take them over and keep you from getting any crystals the mines produce. There's also a large force of Loreguard on their way to Deep River to take it over, but their real goal is the Snake River, where they intend to build their own city, and ultimately try to build that alchemical device they think will create crystals, which will give the Loremasters complete and utter control over all crystals in Noraam, and therefore complete and utter control over the entire continent. That's the ultimate goal, your Majesty. They've also amassed most of their forces in the Free Territories, because they know that when the kingdoms learn the truth, that's where they'll march their armies. The mines in the territories are the last mines producing crystals in any quantity, so that's territory the Loremasters want to defend at all costs. Between the Shaman and the Flaurens, that information was ferreted out, including all their plans about what they're going to do. When the Flauren spies got that information back to Flaur, they declared war. But what Noraam didn't know is that the Arcans are putting their hands into this as well. That's why I'm here, your Majesty. Consider me an envoy from the Arcans. I won't ask for your help or tell you what to do, but the Arcans felt that you, and all the other monarchs, deserve to know the full truth.
"The full truth, your Majesty, is that the Loremasters are betraying you, the Arcans are far more than you believe, and the crystals are almost gone. The Loremasters want Noraam to return to the glory of the ancients, and part and parcel of that is to reunify Noraam under a single banner, the way it was before the ancients were destroyed. And since this is all their idea, and they want to control the destiny of Noraam, they'll unify the continent under their own banner, not the banner of any of the kings of Noraam. After all, your Majesty, exactly why does a supposedly peaceful organization need such a big army? The dwindling crystals is just the excuse, the reason to move forward with that ultimate goal. There's a nation of Arcans west of the mountains, populated by all the Arcans that escaped from the collar on this side of the mountains, and they're moving to stop the Loremasters. You can believe me or not believe me, but in about two weeks, you will know beyond any shadow of a doubt that they exist, when the Arcan army meets the Loreguard moving towards Deep River and word gets back to this side of the mountains.
"What you need to know for the moment is that there's a second Arcan army in the Free Territories right now, moving south. They're going to pass through your territory, but you're not their target, your Majesty. They'll free every slave Arcan they encounter as they move through your kingdom, but they won't attack you or your people unless your people try to fight them."
"An Arcan army? That's a contradiction in terms," he snorted.
"It's not only Arcans," Kyven told him. "There's a few thousand humans in it, men from the Masked and mercenaries and soldiers who have axes to grind with the Loremasters for their own personal reasons. Virtually all the Arcans in it are slaves they freed since attacking Riyan, but even a slave can be a good soldier if you give him a musket and teach him how to pull a trigger."
The king frowned slightly.
"That army is only going to get bigger as it moves through Carin," he continued. "Like I said, they'll free every slave they come across and fold them into the army, so you need to be ready for the outraged plantation owners who bang down your door over losing their slaves to the army. By the time they get where they're going, it might have upwards of thirty thousand men and Arcans in it. There's going to be war, King Longwell, and you need to consider just where you're going to stand in it. You can fight the Loremasters. You can do nothing and hope that you're overlooked, because Carin isn't very large. Or you can side with the Loremasters and ultimately lose your throne, and probably your head, when they take over, and decide you're too inconvenient to keep around."
"You assume I believe your wild story that there are no more crystals."
"I don't have to assume anything, because that fact is the only thing that makes everything else make sense," he answered simply. "Now that you know that secret, does everything you've heard about what's going on, both what I told you and what you already knew and you're just pretending not to know to see what I know, does it make sense now?"
Longwell practically scowled. "What does this army that's about to invade my kingdom intend to do?"
"Ultimately? Pass right through on their way to Flaur, then pass through again as they and the Flaurens march on Avannar. That's why they're moving south, and I'm sure you're aware that the Flaurens are massing their armies to march north. They're fighting for the same thing, after all."
He was quiet a long moment. "The Loreguard is moving to cut them off," he declared. "I've learned that much from General Huntsman, the garrison commander. The ten thousand men they have here is about to mobilize."
"They'll be in for a surprise," Kyven told him easily. "But thank you for that. Finding out what the Loreguard here intend to do is one reason why I'm here. To talk to you is the other."
"Are you really human?" he asked.
"Yep," he said simply. "My particular skill when it comes to Shaman magic is illusions and deception, so I can appear as an Arcan when I want. I could walk out of here looking like your playmate, and it would be so convincing I'll bet ten chits both your guards will have hard-ons after I walk by. It makes it much harder for them to track me, since they're never sure just exactly what I look like," he smiled.
"And that's why they couldn't pin you down in Avannar," he breathed.
"Among other reasons," he agreed. "Truth be told, I had a lot of help in Avannar from the Masked, other Shaman, and from the Flaurens. They very much wanted to get their hands on what I pulled out of that building, so they put an agent in our corner to help as much as he could."
Kyven put the glass down and stood up. "Times are changing, your Majesty. I think the fact that I exist should be a fairly strong indicator of it. The Arcans and their spirits are not what everyone thinks they are, and neither are the Loremasters. And there is going to be a reckoning. The free Arcans have kept their secret to protect the Arcans on this side of the mountains, still in their collars and at the mercy of people who don't really have any. But, the Loremasters have forced them to show their hand and reveal themselves, because they can't repel the Loreguard army marching on Deep River without coming out of hiding. This is bigger than their secret, because it jeopardizes every free Arcan west of the mountains, as well as quite a few human settlers out there that know about the Arcans and live peacefully with them, or don't care about them. What you need to ask yourself, your Majesty, is which unknown you're willing to gamble on and trust. If you trust the Arcans and the Flaurens and side against the Loremasters, you might lose your crown if the Loremasters catch wind of what you're up to. But, if you side with the Loremasters, I can guarantee you that you will lose your kingdom, because the goal of the Loremasters is to return Noraam to the glory of the ancients, and in the ancient system all of Noraam was a single nation. There will be no room for kings in the Loremasters' system, Alak Longwell. You'll probably also lose your head, since the Loremasters would find your continued existence to be a trifle inconvenient when trying to consolidate their hold on Carin. How you decide to do what you do, I'll leave to you. I only came to give you all the details that I'm sure were missing from your intelligence, to explain the why of what's going on. I think you'll see things a bit clearer now, and since you'll see more clearly, it will let you make the wise choices for both yourself and your kingdom."
"Just answer one question," he said quickly. "If the crystals really are nearly gone, what will the Arcans do?"
Kyven looked him right in the eyes, and saw that that wasn't the real question he was asking. "We've built our entire society on the backs of slaves," he said simply. "I once believed that it was okay, because Arcans were just Arcans. Then I found out I was a Shaman, and the spirits the Arcans follow taught me, in a very direct and brutal way, just what kind of life Arcans have on this side of the mountains. The spirits used magic to make humans see me as an Arcan, and then I was put in a cage. The spirits the Arcans follow are very real, your Majesty, and while they may not be gods, they do have power, and they will make sure Noraam changes. I'm a symbol of that change. I am the first human Shaman, but I won't be the last. So don't believe for a second that the spirits won't have a hand in what happens after this war. You can ignore and vilify the Arcan Shaman all you want, despite knowing that they aren't what the Loremasters claim them to be, but when there are more and more of us, you will not be able to deny the truth. The spirits also showed me the true Arcans, the side of the Arcans that humans don't get the opportunity to see, and though they are different from us, they're similar enough to us where it counts for me to see enslaving Arcans as the same as enslaving humans. Arcans are people, Alak Longwell, just as much as you or me. The Arcan that no doubt cleans your room after you get up in the morning is no different from the girl behind those curtains if you look past the fur and look into their hearts and minds. Eusica has already figured that out, since they don't permit slavery and as a result there are virtually no Arcans over there. I've had the rare and unique opportunity to live in both societies, your Majesty. I grew up human, and then I lived with the Arcans both as a slave and as a free Arcan, and I feel that I've been blessed to be able to walk a minar in an Arcan's collar, because it opened my eyes to the truth and steeled my determination to serve the Arcans any way I can to make their lives better.
"So, what will the Arcans do? Leave. Within twenty years, there will be no more Arcans in human lands, and humanity will have to learn how to fend for itself. They will leave us to our own devices, because after everything we've done to them, a thousand years of slavery and brutality, of killing them for their fur or for sport or making them fight each other to the death for our own amusement, they have absolutely no reason to trust us ever again. I've seen it too many times in the eyes of Arcans who escaped from the kingdoms, a look of fear and terror that you will never forget once you've seen it. And perhaps the Father feels that it's time for us to get our own hands dirty, to join the rest of the world, since the rest of the world doesn't permit slavery. Will it cause upheaval in Noraam? Certainly. It might even trigger a famine when farms no longer have slaves to do the work, at least if the kingdoms don't import food from Eusica. But in the end, we'll be better people for it. For the first time since the ancients, we'll have worked an honest day without forcing others to do our work for us, without being the very evil that the Trinity says we should oppose. And you know what? Maybe that upheaval will be good for us. Maybe, after everything settles down and we're all used to the new way of things, things will be better. Maybe they won't. But the simple fact is, this is something that is inevitable. Evil can perpetrate itself for only so long before it destroys itself, and the days of the Arcan slaves are coming to an end.
"How you and Carin approach that fundamental truth is up to you, King Alak Longwell," he said with chilling calm. "You can embrace change, or you can go down kicking and screaming when change is forced upon you. How you deal with it will be the legacy you leave behind for anyone who remembers your name for the next thousand years. But if you don't move carefully and with wisdom, nobody will remember you at all." He gave the monarch a steady stare with his glowing eyes, even as he called up the shadows to slowly, inexorably, flow over him. He was making a show out of it, and he wanted the king to enjoy the performance. "So think carefully, Alak Longwell of Carin. Noraam is about to change forever. And now that you know the full truth, you can help shape the future, bring peace to the land, and if you're very careful, you may even keep your head."
For a moment, all the king could see was his eyes, the rest of him shrouded in shadow, and then those too vanished, leaving him to his own thoughts and ponderings.
When he got back to the camp about two hours before sunrise the next morning, he was met with a curious sight. Ember was still there and she was just fine. In fact, she was giggling and laughing, because she, the two Lupans, and Strider were all playing. It didn't look like it at first, and he almost moved to intervene, because the two Lupans were squared off against the Equar with Ember behind him, as if the Equar was protecting the girl. But then Ember literally darted under and between Strider's legs, reached out and tapped the smaller female Lupan on the snout, then scrambled back under Strider. The female moved to catch her, but Strider bumped her away with his snout. The male circled, but Strider didn't move his hooves, staying still because Ember was under him. Ember darted away from the male, got behind the female, and grabbed hold of her tail. What ensued was a rather amusing game of chase-a-circle, as the female kept trying to circle on Ember, but the fox Arcan kept herself far enough out of reach to make the female turn several circles before she finally got smart and tripped Ember with her back leg, making the Arcan sprawl to the ground. Ember laughed loudly when the female pinned her down and licked her on the face. Strider and the male were having a mock-battle of their own, as the Lupan tried to move the Equar from his solid position, but being careful not to bite too hard or hurt the Equar. He roguishly nipped at Strider's legs, scampering away when the Equar tried to butt him with his head or swat him with his tail, then to Kyven's amazement, he jumped fully onto Strider's broad back and got a grip on his mane with his jaws. That made Strider move, and Kyven had to laugh as the Equar tried to buck his unwelcome rider. The male managed to hang on for a few seconds, but then he was dislodged and landed lightly on the ground. Strider brayed ominously and squared off against the wolf, whose tongue was lolled out as if in amusement, then he dashed in and tried to bite Strider on the right ankle, only to get a whole lot of Equar snout and forehead pushed into his shoulder for his trouble, knocking him away.
The fun and games were put on hold, however, when they all realized Kyven was there. The female let Ember up, and Kyven let her nuzzle at his neck when he came into camp. "I'm glad to see you all getting along," he noted, looking at the male, who still looked amused as Strider gave him flat looks. "Canines are sneaky, Strider, you have to watch them."
"It was a good night, it was quiet," Ember told him. "Did your work go well?"
"Good enough. I had a little chat with the king and looked over the Loreguard, then spent most of the night getting ready for what I have to do here." In that respect, Longwell had been truthful. After about two hours of investigation and chatting with a few Loreguard officers in a couple of taverns, he found that the Loreguard were indeed getting ready to move out, probably in the morning. One chatty Captain was kind enough to tell him that they were just waiting to know where to go, which told him that the Loreguard chasing the army hadn't gotten close enough to warn the forces ahead of where to go to head them off.
And that was how he was going to misdirect them.
Kyven tracked down on General Walter Huntsman, commander of the Loreguard garrison in Rallan including the some eight thousand troops that had been sent to reinforce him, and prepared to take his place. Huntsman had given himself his last name, and it summed up his personality fairly well. He was a tall, burly man who thought himself a hunter, and was prone to brash statements that were nearly as forceful as his bushy moustache and thick sideburns. He had a lot of swagger, that was for sure, and Kyven spent nearly half the night playing cards with him and a couple of his officers, pretending to be a wandering gambler who the officers saw as some kind of sport to against which to gamble. The whole time, however, Kyven was studying Walter Huntsman carefully, from his mannerisms to his speaking style to even how he wore his uniform and carried himself. Huntsman was left-handed, so that was going to cause the right-handed Kyven maybe a little problems, but he could work around that. Huntsman's Phion accent wasn't hard for him to mimic. After he was fairly sure he could impersonate the general, Kyven memorized the details about the men and the situation that he'd need to know to fool the junior officers long enough to draw the army too far away for it to matter. He only had to draw them about a full day away, since the army couldn't be more than a day behind him, and they were going to pass by Rallan at least half a day to the east. If he could march the Loreguard out and maintain the ruse until they camped for the night, then he will have succeeded in his mission.
"I'm just here for a few minutes, little kit," he told her. "What I want you to do is settle the camp in. I'm going to hunt you enough meat to last you until I get back, because I don't have much time to get you settled, and I should be gone for two days."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to pull the Loreguard army out of the way of our army coming this way," he answered.
"All by yourself? How?"
He smiled. "My strength is illusion, deception, and trickery, little kit. I'm going to kill and replace the commander of the soldiers in Rallan, and then simply lead them in the opposite direction for a while. I'll look and sound just like him, and since I spent most of my time away watching him and learning his little personal quirks, they'll never know the difference. When I have them far enough away, I'll sneak away and come back."
She gave him a look, then laughed. "And you said canines were sneaky!" she teased.
"Canines aren't the only sneaky ones," he chuckled. "I just need to talk to Danvers or Clover to find out where the army is, then I'll go hunt."
"You can ask me."
Kyven jumped in surprise, then laughed even as he turned. Standing at the edge of his small clearing, by the stream, stood Lightfoot, wearing nothing but her weapons belt, which was normal for her. She gave him a calm look, then advanced when he opened his arms to her and gave him a strong hug. "Only you could sneak up on me, Lightfoot," he told her. "Did Clover send you?"
She nodded after nuzzling his neck, then she looked to the vixen. "Shaman, will you bless me?" she asked, which surprised Kyven. It was the first time he'd ever heard her ask.
"I, I don't know how," she said uncertainly as she accepted Lightfoot's nuzzle of greeting.
"Just put your hand on her shoulder and ask the spirits to bless her, little kit. And get used to it," he smiled.
"Oh. Okay, I guess," she said, putting her hand on Lightfoot's shoulder. "May, uh, the spirits bless you," she intoned, trying to sound serious.
Lightfoot smiled and nuzzled Ember again, then let her go to turn back to Kyven. "You need to hide better."
"You're the only one who could find me," he countered. "How far away is the army?"
"A day," she answered. "Northeast. I ran all night to get here."
"About where I figured they'd be," he said, to which Lightfoot nodded. "Oh, Lightfoot, this is our new Shaman, Ember. Ember, this is Lightfoot. She's a fighting Arcan, and a good friend. Just mind that getting more than five words out of her can be challenging," he smiled.
"I'll show you five words," she countered, giving him a rude gesture.
"That was five, alright," Kyven noted, then he laughed when she swatted him. "Are you taking her back?"
Lightfoot nodded. "I could find you fast."
"You'll need to be careful. Her owners didn't feed her very well, and she's a house Arcan."
Lightfoot turned to Ember. "She does look scrawny."
Ember seemed a bit offended at that word. "I can hold my own," she flared.
Lightfoot gave her a cool look, and Kyven had to chuckle. "Welcome to a new level, little kit," he told her. "Lightfoot can run a horse to death if it chases her, Ember. So can I, for that matter. Trust me, you won't keep up with her." He glanced at Strider. "Actually, there's our solution right there. Ember can ride Strider back to the army. Strider can keep up, and it solves the only real problem I had. You can bring him back to me, because you can find me after I'm done leading the Loreguard in the wrong direction."
"If I bring him back, I stay," Lightfoot warned. "You need me."
"I'd have said no yesterday, but I do run into problems when I have to leave Strider behind," Kyven said thoughtfully, remembering how Strider was left to fend for himself when he went to see Danna. "Strider will be just fine, nothing out here can really hurt him, I'm just worried about him wandering away."
"Well, then I want to stay too!" Ember protested.
"No, you need to be with Clover," Kyven told her. "I won't risk a fledgling Shaman out here. You are far too precious, Ember."
"You go, Shaman," Lightfoot ordered. "You need to be safe. This is not safe enough."
"It's not because I don't think you can hold your own, little kit," he said sagely, seeing the impending indignant outburst. "It's because to us, you are the most precious thing in Noraam, and you must be protected."
"Just so," Lightfoot agreed, looking at the young vixen sternly.
"You really think that?" she asked, looking at Lightfoot.
"Shaman are that important," Lightfoot declared.
"We serve the Arcans as guides, healers, teachers, and as the messengers from the spirits, Ember, and we trained Shaman deal with the Arcans trying to protect us enough as it is. They don't like to see us risk ourselves in any way, they believe we're too important to put ourselves in danger. But when the Arcans find a Shaman like you, a Shaman who can't protect herself, you'd be surprised to see what kind of protective reaction it incites. Just the fact that you'll be in the army will make every Arcan in it fight like a crazed Wolveran, because they won't let anything hurt you. Every Arcan in that army would die to protect you, and do it without hesitation."
Ember seemed honestly surprised when Lightfoot nodded emphatically. "The Shaman serve us with their wisdom. We serve them by protecting them from harm. And since you're a child Shaman, we will die to protect you."
"And that's the most you'll hear Lightfoot say at once for a week," Kyven said with a teasing smile.
"It's why I'm coming back. He can't fight," she said, pointing at Kyven.
"Not like you, I can't," he admitted. "But I fight my battles a little differently than you do."
"He cheats," Lightfoot told Ember, who giggled.
"Rules? What rules? The only rule I follow is the one that says the guy who's still alive when it's over is the winner," he retorted. "I don't much care if my opponent thinks what I did was cheap or dirty, because he's dead and I'm not."
"Healthy," Lightfoot said approvingly. "Listen and learn, Shaman," she added to Ember.
"Since you're here and taking them, I guess I don't have to hunt," Kyven said, glancing at the Lupans, who were giving Lightfoot an assessing look. Despite the fact that she was quite small, even the Lupans could sense the strength in the diminutive fighting Arcan, and they would respect her for it. "So I should get back. I know where my target is, and I have time to get to him before it matters. From what I found out, he's going to receive his orders to move at sunrise, when he knows which way to go. I'm going to make sure that army goes the wrong way. So let me get back."
"I'll take care of things," Lightfoot told him.
"I'll move due south from Rallan after I'm done, so you can track me down."
"Like you could hide," she said teasingly.
"Yeah, yeah," he retorted, which made Ember giggle. He nuzzled both of them in turn, then gave the Lupans a steady look. "I can't tell you two what to do, but whatever you do, stay out of sight," he told them. "And behave, Strider."
Strider tossed his mane flippantly in reply.
"I'll see you soon, Lightfoot. Be well, sister, and listen to Clover."
"I will," she promised.
Kyven turned and converged a gateway into the shadow world, which made Ember gasp in surprise. He smiled at them and stepped into it, fully confident that Ember would be just fine. If she didn't have enough protection with the monsters, Lightfoot being there to provide direction made her unassailable.
General Huntsman seemed to his men to be in a surly mood.
This wasn't uncommon to the men who were under his command, for he was a gruff, no-nonsense disciplinarian type of general, given to meting out harsh punishments but also just as quick to hand out commendations to those that performed well under him. The officers knew that they'd be marching in the morning once the central command told them which way to go to head off the rebellion, and Huntsman didn't disappoint, barreling out of the command headquarters at daybreak and barking commands. Huntsman never told his men what their orders were until he gave them, and he never explained himself, of a mind that a common soldier didn't need to know why he was doing what he was ordered to do, he just had to do it.
What they didn't like, and didn't entirely understand, was Huntsman's seemingly obsessive drive. From the first moment the column of nine thousand men started to move, Huntsman forced them into double-time, and he ran them for nearly two hours behind his trotting horse before allowing them a break. The men weren't used to that kind of exertion, so there was quite a bit of groaning and even some instances of men throwing up or collapsing after the column was halted for rest, a rest where Huntsman prowled the edge of the resting formation on his horse, trotting it back and forth as he waited impatiently for them to move again. One group of men heard him in an exchange with one of his captains, which both braced them and worried them.
"We can't go this fast all day, General," the captain warned.
"We have to, Pip," the general growled in reply. "I sure as hell don't like running the men like this, but we have to get in front of the rebels. Intelligence has them nearly halfway to Harrom, a good twenty minars, and there's nothing south of us big enough to stop them until you get to Lanna. It has to be right here, right now, and it has to be us. We have to get there and still have time to dig in and rest. I don't want the men to get there and then have to fight while they're still breathing heavy."
"It won't do much good if they're collapsing before they get there, General."
"I have faith in the men, Pip," he replied calmly. "They won't let me down."
That exchange rolled through the army the way gossip can, and it bolstered the men quite a bit. There was considerably less groaning and more focus when they started up again at double-time, for they knew that they were the only thing standing between the rebel army and Lanna and all the plantations and farms and villages in between. That knowledge spurred them on ... at least in heart. Bodies, on the other hand, weren't quite so influenced by morale. By lunch, the army had been running since breakfast, and the men were fairly tired. Loreguard soldiers often marched at double-time, but none of them had ever ran for so long. There was quite of bit of silence as the men tried to eat, but weren't able to eat very well, or very much, for they were already exhausted and it was barely noon.
When they started out again, thank the Trinity, they didn't run. They did march at forced march speed, which was considerably faster than a normal march but not double-time. They marched for nearly an hour, rested briefly, and then ran at double-time for nearly half an hour. They repeated that cycle the rest of the afternoon, until they marched through a small village and into a stretch of neat, organized plantations of tobacco and cotton. Just as the sun set, Huntsman finally called a halt and ordered the men to dig in along the north side of the road. Men who had run most of the day found themselves digging shallow trenches from which they could fire their muskets without exposing themselves to return fire. When one soldier dared to ask the patrolling general why they were digging in against Arcans, the general gave him a flat look. "The Arcans were freed by men, private, and those men have muskets. Now, if you wanna stand out in the open and get your ass shot off, that's your decision. But I think the rest of the men would like a little something between them and those muskets, so dig."
As the crickets started singing in the late summer night, the men had dug a trench just deep enough in which to kneel and fire over the embankment while minimizing their own exposure to return fire. Huntsman sent out scouts to search for the rebels, then retired to his small tent on the south side of the road, just abutting a fence separating the road from the cotton plantation beyond. Men, exhausted from the long, hard march and the excavation, ate a simple meal of beans and rolled up into their blankets without the usual chatting and lounging about the campfires common for an army on the march.
In the morning, however, things were chaotic and confusing. The last shift of guards went to wake up the officers, and to their shock, found them all dead. Every single officer and ranking sergeant was murdered, and alchemy was definitely involved, for the officers were frozen solid in their tent, as if they'd been out in a Hamp winter, where the sergeants had been almost surgically assassinated, throats slashed or necks broken ... and whoever or whatever had done it had moved through the camp during the night and killed those men literally surrounded by others, and had not awoken a single man during the murders. The only officer to survive the slaughter was Huntsman himself, who stepped out of his tent when horns sounded to rouse the army, horns that took on a desperate sound. "General, the officers are dead!" the sentry blurted as he ran up to the grizzled officer.
"I know, private," he answered in a shockingly calm, almost amused voice. "All of our alchemical communications devices are drained as well. The sergeants?"
"They're dead too!" he said in a hysterical voice.
"Good. Guess I got them all."
The private gave him a horrified look.
Huntsman smiled at him, a chilling, evil smile. "The Shaman thank you for making it so easy," he said in a voice that was not Huntsman's. "Now that everyone that could tell you what to do is dead, you'll be easy to kill when the army arrives."
The private gaped at him, absolutely stunned.
"Come now, think the Shaman weren't going to do something about you?" he asked, and then the form of the burly, grizzled General Huntsman wavered and vanished, leaving behind a naked black Arcan with a white chest and stomach, but whose eyes glowed with a sinister emerald radiance. It took the private only a second to realized that standing before him was the black fox Arcan, the Shaman that had attacked Avannar! "Enjoy the upcoming battle without anyone to tell you what to do," he said in a melodious voice just as the private's training began to register to him. He reached for his pistol even as a strange dark shadowy thing appeared around the Shaman, and as the private fumbled with his pistol, the Shaman just vanished as the cloud of darkness enveloped him.
The private watched in muted awe as the cloud simply evaporated like fog, but there was no Shaman inside it. He was simply gone, as if he had never been ... but what he had left behind was all the proof the man needed that he had most certainly been there.
Using his foul magic, the Shaman had killed every single man in the army that could tell them what to do, leaving behind a disorganized mob fearing an imminent attack from an army that wasn't there.
The Rallan garrison of the Loreguard had been neutralized.
Instead of returning to Rallan or trying to find Lightfoot and the army, Kyven instead traveled to Deep River. He wanted to report in to Firetail himself, and he also wanted to see Danna and see how things were going there. Kyven could find Danna from within the shadow world, and just like the other times he had done so, traveling to her seemed to lure the things to him much faster than if he had simply walked a few minars. For a third time, Kyven escaped the shadow world just seconds before they found him, stepping out of a converged gateway enacted into the real world not from ambient natural shadow, but from his own power.
What greeted him made him frown. The army was camped, and they were within the Deep River valley, for the minar-wide river was just off to his right as the army prepared to move. Deep River itself wasn't in sight, but there was also a bend in the river in front of him.
"Shaman!" an Arcan called as they took notice of the black fox, whom they knew beyond any doubt was Kyven Steelhammer. Kyven was quickly surrounded by touching hands and warm smiles, and Kyven had to bless his way through the crowd until he met up with another Shaman, the vixen Dancer. She nuzzled him in greeting, then laughed as he returned to his human form and licked him on the cheek. "I liked you better the other way."
"You'd be surprised how often I hear that," he said blandly. "Where are Firetail and Danna, sister?"
"Come, not far, " she answered, taking his hand and pulling his away from the Arcans. "Later, my friends, later! Kyven has come far and no doubt has important news for Firetail!"
"Somewhat," he answered. "I got the Rallan garrison out of Danvers' way, and just wanted to let Firetail know," he informed her. "And find out what's going on around here."
"Well, then come with me," she smiled, taking his hand.
Firetail and Danna were with several Shaman near the river, consulting a map when he arrived. He was greeted warmly by the Shaman, but when he turned to Danna, he could sense something nervous about her ... something, well, guilty. That and the fact that she didn't seem to want to look him in the eye told him immediately that she was either having second thoughts about what they'd done, or she was unsettled about the situation with the army, or something. "What brings you here, my brother?" Firetail asked of him after he greeted them.
"I just finished with the Rallan garrison, Firetail," he answered. "I got them far out of Danvers' way. By the time they realize what I've done, they'll be too far away to even join the army chasing Danvers south."
Firetail laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "Well done, my young brother!" she praised. "How did you do it?"
"An old trick of mine, Firetail. I killed and replaced the general that led them, and used his identity to pull them far west of Rallan while our army goes east of it. Last night I killed the officers and drained all their communication devices, and I just left the army after revealing myself to the soldiers and basically telling them that the rebel army was going to attack them any minute. By the time they realize I was lying and someone takes enough initiative to take command of the army, it'll be too late for them to do anything."
They all nodded or congratulated him, and he staggered when Hardstep clapped him on the back. "I am constantly amazed at how much you do with so few options, brother."
"Why Hardstep, I'm a Shaman of guile and deceit," Kyven smiled. "You always have lots of options when you lie."
"It's the illusions, not the lies," Dancer smiled.
"Well, that too," he nodded. "Where are we here?"
"We're camped about a day southwest of Deep River," Coldfoot told him. "We're waiting for the humans to arrive. They're not here yet., but should get here early today. We let them settle in, then we surround them."
"So more or less on schedule," he surmised.
"Have you eaten, brother?" Firetail asked.
"Not yet, but I'm alright," he said, turning on Danna. "Danna."
"Kyven," she said, not looking him in the eye.
"Come walk with me."
She sighed and nodded, then held out her black-furred hand to him.
He led her away from the other Shaman, and away from the army, taking her down to the river's edge. She remained stonily silent the entire time, but she also didn't take her hand out of his. Finally, as they reached a willowy oak that was growing by the riverbank, he turned and stopped her. "What's wrong?" he asked softly.
She sighed and looked away, then looked to him, then she aggressively swished her tail back and forth. "I ... I lied to you," she finally declared.
He laughed, which made her give him a sudden hot look. "That's it? From the way you were acting, I was afraid you'd done something relatively awful."
"Well, I don't feel all that good about it!" she snapped at him, then she blew out her breath and looked away.
"Don't be silly, woman," he told her. "I lie on a daily basis, though I never lie to you. I'm not-"
"That's the point!" she declared. "We've always been honest with each other, Kyv! Always! And I've broken that, ruined it! I know you hate to lie, hate being her assassin, and I've always tried to-" she broke off and looked away again, then turned completely from him, her back to him, and hugged herself with her arms. "I hate that you can read me like a book."
"You can do even more to me," he said simply. "You think I don't know you can take in everything with a single glance? You're not an investigator for nothing." He stepped up and put his hands on her shoulders, feeling the soft material of her cotton shirt under his fingers. "Now tell me what's so wrong that you felt you had to lie to me, Danna."
"She is!" she declared with sudden anger. "I told you I'd die before I was her brood sow, and I lied, Kyven! Lied! I-" she glanced over her shoulder at him. "I wanted you so much," she said in an emotional voice. "But that wasn't why I slept with you."
"What did she do?" he asked.
"She threatened to-" she said, then her shiver cut her off. "She knew what you were going to do, Kyven, that you'd try to find some way around what she wants. She knew. She always knows! She threatened me if I didn't try to get pregnant."
"With what?"
She shivered. "She threatened to do to me what she did to Umbra, only backwards," she announced. "Completely make me a monster! She can do it, Kyven! I know she can! If she can change me halfway into a monster, she can change me all the way! She said if I didn't bed you the next time I saw you, she'd take everything from me, even my mind! That I'd be a dumb animal, but she'd leave just a little piece of me behind so I'd know what I used to be, and spend the rest of my life screaming and screaming and screaming inside! She looked at me, Kyven, she looked me in the eyes, and-and I know she'll do it!"
She burst into tears, whirled, and buried her face in his shoulder and chest, clutching at his shirt with her clawed hands, literally drawing blood as her claws pierced his shirt and drove into his skin. For Danna, who rejected being an Arcan, Kyven could see that it was the perfect threat to level against her. The fox, as usual, had played her game to perfection, and terrified Danna into doing what she wanted her to do.
But this bit of intimidation against the woman he loved ... this couldn't go unanswered. Kyven had been trying to stay out from between Danna and his spirit because for one, he believed there wasn't much he could do, and for another he felt that things would smooth themselves out over time. But Danna wasn't going to knuckle under to her the way Kyven did, and now the shadow fox was using brutal tactics to blackmail Danna's cooperation out of her. Kyven had been willing to endure the abuse he received from his spirit, but it was an entirely different thing to see that same abuse leveled against someone else, someone for which he cared deeply.
He had to take a stand. But, since this was the shadow fox and she owned him body and soul, it meant that he had to play the game at her level. He had to play dirty to force the shadow fox to leave his Danna alone, because he couldn't stand to see her so distressed.
He had thought to bargain with his spirit to release Danna, but now he was going to try to make her release her.
It was time to fight back. And he knew exactly how to do it.
"Danna," he said softly. "Danna, it's alright," he told her, holding her close. "We'll do something about this, I promise."
"What can we do?" she sniffled against his chest. "She has us by the hair, Kyven! Both of us! If I don't do what she wants, she'll do something awful to me, and Firetail told me that she can kill you because she's your totem! I don't want to be a monster, Kyven, but I can't stand the idea of what she wants from me! And you ... she's never going to let you go, Kyven. Never! I'll live my whole life watching her hurt you and hurt you and hurt you and you just endure it because you think it's the only way you can help, and it's going to destroy me!" She sobbed. "She's evil, Kyven, and she has us in her jaws!"
"She doesn't own me quite the way you think, my dear heart," he told her gently. "I may have to obey her commands, but she doesn't control me. I can fight back. It won't be blatant, but that's not how we do things, neither me nor her. I promise you, I'll take care of this. It may take a little time, and we both might lose a little skin over it, but I'll take care of it. And I'll take care of you, my Danna," he said, rocking her in his arms. "Always you."
She accepted his comfort in silence, just staying in his arms long after her sobs eased, feeling him hold her and taking strength from it. Finally, she coughed slightly, and gripped him a little. "What can we do?"
"Guile and deceit, my Danna. Guile and deceit. We'll beat her at her own game. And the first move will be ours, but I need to know something first. Are you pregnant?"
"No, I had Firetail check and she says I'm not," she answered. "Though I don't know why. I thought that when she made me sleep with you, she'd, you know, make it happen."
"She may be smart, but she's not perfect, Danna. She makes mistakes, and it seems she made another one. But this is also the perfect way to start the game with our first move. Come, we have to go see Firetail."
"Why?"
"Because I'm going to have her Seal us."
"Seal? What is that?"
"Seals are ways to tie two people together. Clet and Stripes were Sealed so if one of them died, both of them died. But that's not how what Firetail is going to do it."
"What? Kyven, don't be mysterious, you know I don't understand Shaman magic all that well!"
"Firetail is going to Seal you so you can't get pregnant."
"Why? That doesn't help us!"
"Oh, it does, Danna. It does."
"How?"
"Because I am going to hold the Seal," he answered with a grim chuckle. "So the only way you can get pregnant is if I release the Seal."
"But that gets us nowhere!"
"Maybe not in the short term, Danna, but these games aren't decided in the first move. I need the bargaining chip of having control over what she wants. That way, to get what she wants from you, she has to get it from me. And that means she won't threaten you anymore, because it does her no good. She'll have to level her threats against me, and I don't scare easily anymore," he said with a dark smile.
"She's a spirit, she can just undo it!"
"Shaman magic doesn't work that way, Danna," he told her. "The only way she can break this particular spell is to have the Shaman that cast it undo it. But that won't work, since Firetail will pass control over the Seal to me, which will make it as if I was the one that cast the spell. So she will have no choice but to come to me to remove the Seal. I will have something she wants, so she will have to bargain to get it."
"No!" Danna gasped. "That's what got both of us into his mess!"
"I'm a little wiser than the last time I tried to bargain with her, my Danna," he said with a gentle, reassuring voice. "Trust me. The main thing for me, though, is to get her off your back. I don't want her making you upset. I want you to be happy, or at least as happy as you can be in this mess."
She gave him a shiny-eyed look, then licked him on the side of his mouth and cheek. "You're the bravest man I've ever known, Kyven."
"I'm all aflutter that I've finally made you notice me," he said dryly, which made her laugh. "Now let's go find Firetail. She has a little job to do."
From the shadows of the oak, above them, the shadow fox watched them walk away, a smile playing on her vulpine features.
It was about time.
She was almost looking forward to seeing just how cunning her human really was, for now she had finally incited him into action, by threatening the one and only thing for which he truly cared, the one thing that would incite him into treading into territory which he feared, attempting to bargain with her.
His Danna.
She would enjoy the game against her own Shaman, but what was more important was goading him into accepting his full power. Until he would bargain with the spirits, bargain with her, he would forever deny himself a portion of his power and a healthy measure of versatility as a Shaman, for he was weak in power and would be forced to bargain with her in order to have her perform certain spells and magicks beyond his ability. If it took threatening his Danna and lying to her, so be it. That was her nature, and she would act no other way.
She would enjoy the game by not even cheating and seeing what he was up to.
Well, she wouldn't cheat too much. She wanted to be pleasantly surprised, but she also fully intended to win. And in this game, there really weren't any rules, just wits against wits, cunning against cunning. And part of her cunning, and her advantage, was being able to spy on her human Shaman without him sensing her.
After all, her other entertaining little game had reached its satisfying conclusion, for Toby Fisher now belonged to her. He led her a merry chase, but in reality he'd been much more acceptable of what she had planned. He bargained quite sharply against her for his services, far better than Danna or Kyven, but in the end, she got what she wanted.
Him. Body and soul, until she was so inclined to let him go.
She now had all the mortals she wished to have, and it was time to move forward with her plans. Her Shaman would entertain her with his skulking and shenanigans now that Toby had been defeated and claimed.
The waiting was all, and she was very patient.