A/N: I do not own the Cal Leandros series or any of the characters therein. I'm just having fun.

Thanks to Kin-outcast1 and Comuterale for reviewing!


Niko moved through the camp, stopping to talk, lay a hand on a shoulder, encouraging his men. They would fight today, and the tension in the camp was a beautiful thing. One of his captains looked up from fletching one last arrow.

"Chieftain. You should look to your Caliban. He left not a moment hence."

"Indeed. I will, Egill." Niko clapped the man on the shoulder, and moved past the last hide tent.

A dark flash of hair at the edge of the hill. Niko walked across the deep green grass, down the hill, and slowly the rest of Caliban was revealed. Pale skin marked with blood-paint and dark hair whipping in the wind, chest bare. He had a streaked lamb, bleating and kicking as he gripped its fleece with one hand, and raised his curved knife with the other.

But as Niko approached the lamb kicked out, small hooves thudding into Cal's knee, and as Cal winced the lamb escaped. Niko watched it run across the grass as he walked up to his brother-in-arms.

The monster watched the lamb go, knife at his side. "That, my brother, is not a good omen for you today."

"No?" Niko looked at the pale face, the dark hair twisted with bits of feathers and stone.

"No. Your battle will go wrong today." Cal's eyes were half-closed, his voice that husky sing-song he used when seeing. "You are betrayed, my warlord, by a close friend."

"You speak of Guthrum," Niko said, knowing Cal's dislike for the man, and matching the lamb's streaked coat to Guthrum's brindled beard, white and grey from a scar on his cheek. "I know you bear him no love, my brother, but do you truly think he would betray me?"

"It is foretold. The eagle fled before the crows this morn." Cal smiled up at Niko, sea-grey eyes hooded under dark lash. "You should let me foretell the battle with Guthrum's entrails. The outcome will be more favorable."

Niko hesitated before shaking his head. His hair, clubbed for battle, tapped his shoulder-plate. "He has served me for many years."

"He thinks you corrupted by me." Cal's smile had not faded a whit. "He will betray you and take your place-or so he thinks. My brother, when have I been wrong?"

Niko raised an eyebrow.

"...that was only once," Cal declared, after a moment of silence, frowning. "Even the greatest of seers can be led astray by the vagaries of the gods."

Niko smiled a little at Cal's indignation, but he was troubled. "Come. We will ask Guthrum."

"And if he shows false?" Cal asked, as Niko turned. Niko didn't have to look to see the dark smile, the eagerness for bloodshed.

"Then you may read the fortunes of battle in his entrails," Niko answered. He had not become the chieftain of the greatest empire the north had ever known by being gentle.

Cal's spear rang as he caught it up, and bare feet skipped silently in the grass as he caught up to Niko's longer stride. They walked side-by-side into the camp again, as one.