Chapter 2
"So, how's Mom?" Kutir, evil warlord of Cindalha, asked his advisor, Loka. They were walking through the tunnels bored deep in the rock of Mount Aa. The heat of the forge fires, coupled with the volcano's natural heat, sent up blistering waves of warmth, enough to send a man to his knees in utter exhaustion. The warlord didn't even break a sweat as he listened to Loka's reply.
"High Queen Cendal is in her chambers," the small Harlan said. "She has been wracked by a fever. She will not survive for long."
Kutir pulled Loka close and hissed. "The poison, you fool! How is the administration?"
"Ahhh. Cendal has taken enough poison to lay the entire army low. Your mother is truly the most powerful warlady to rule on the mountain."Loka gasped at the error he had made.
"You, Loka, are lucky that you said 'warlady' and not 'warlord.' I would have killed you right here for that mishap. Don't let it happen again." Kutir strode away from the Harlan, who was rubbing his neck where the fox had grabbed him, muttering about how the warlord had taken a turn for the worse.
"Hello, Mother," Kutir simpered as he walked into Cendal's bedchamber. "How are you feeling?"
"Quiet, son!" The High Queen's voice echoed through the spacious chambers. "Your whining vocal range will damage my delicate ears." Kutir moved to his mother's side. She was an silver-gray vixen, withered with age and the laburnum-yew poison. Tracery of scars from the Dunilet Wars ran around her long muzzle. Hundreds of years before the wars, the warlords and warladies of Cindalha had been human. But gradually, their cleverness transformed them into foxes, the most cunning of beasts. This change gave them an advantage, for as foxes they could creep around undetected. For Cendal, it was a disadvantage. Her vixen form was more susceptible to natural poisons, which Loka had secretly slipped into her ale.
"Peace, mother. If you shout, you will not recover. Rest now, and feel better."
"You say that every night, Kutir. Yet I never feel better. I always feel worse."
Kutir shrugged. "It's just your imagination, Mother. Rest now." As he turned away, he whispered, "forever." The crimson fox strode out, and closed the door behind him. Loka stood there.
"Is she asleep, Master?" Loka questioned. Kutir threw back his head and laughed.
"Yes. Cendal is asleep... forever!"
