Fire was licking at the dark sky, shooting up sparks towards the waning moon, and Irisi was deeply inhaling the smells of the burning wood and the cooking meat in the night. Her people, upon her request, had moved from the desert and to the Nile river, about a mile or so out from the city. She wanted to be closer, but the elders insisted upon keeping their distance. Normal humans meant trouble, especially now that there were rumors of jackal attacks going around.

One of her higher-up subordinates had brought this news back to camp. Akhir, as he was called, had snorted and shook his head out as if he were trying to get rid of a fly. "This is ridiculous," he had said to her, "We'd never touch a hair on anyone's head unless they attacked us first." His partner on the reconnaissance mission, a female subordinate named Yara, had been the one to hear and relay even worse tidings to Irisi.

"There are more guards than usual," she had added, looking grim, "And they keep talking about the black jackals. Something about temples and taming."

After that, Irisi had forbidden the melanistic jackals from entering the city. She wouldn't risk their lives when she could put herself in their place just as well, and without the consequences.

Akhir approached her again, breaking her out of her thoughts, and he didn't look pleased. She sighed before he even started talking—the look in his eye said everything, and she was honestly surprised he hadn't brought this up sooner.

Nostrils flaring, he started in on her with, "Okay, a week I can handle, but two is pushing it." Irisi bit back a laugh. He was very lucky that he and his brother had been her childhood playmates, otherwise he wouldn't be allowed to speak like that to her. His tawny-brown eyes flashed angrily at her, and he implored, "Please, let's leave already."

She only snorted with amusement before going back to her business. He knew as well as she did that the clan wasn't going anywhere, and she'd pay them hell to keep them there. The next night, she would see Atem. Thoughts of him lit the fire in her belly that usually only burned through her during the hunt. Sniffing the new breeze, she made a decision: screw it all, she'd go to him now.

The city's air was warm and thin on her pelt as she melted in and out of the shadows, unseen. Eyes bright, she tried scenting Atem as she drew nearer to the palace walls, but couldn't find him. Several sets of plants inside and out of the walls were blooming with new flowers, and their sweet stench cloyed her senses. Tilting her head, Irisi paused a moment before dashing to the wall and transforming back into a human. Feeling exhilarated, she wondered about the best way to draw him out from the palace.

It was only then that she heard a man shout in fear, when she hadn't heard his footsteps over the sound of her racing heart. The guards came running at the sound of snarling and a woman's frustrated screeches. When they got there, she had turned back into a jackal, hoping that the guards would have a harder time catching her. Her teeth were latched onto the first man's leg, and he beat her with the butt of his s[ear until she released him. With a yelp, she fell back, trying to shake off the pain. The sounds of another jackal made her open her eyes, and she saw Akhir protecting her.

He snapped at the heels of one of the attacking guards, and tugged at the flesh he managed to grip in his jaws. He was fighting better than Irisi, mostly because she was angry that he had followed her, and this was distracting her terribly as she leaped back into the fight. It was five on two, and she didn't like their odds when she heard the hoofbeats of two approaching people on horseback. Shada and Mahad rounded the corner, and when Irisi saw the Millenium items hanging from their necks, she bristled in fear.

Raising her tail, she froze and barked at Akhir, telling him to run. He growled, refusing, but she signaled to him her insistance. With a fierce look to her, he knew he had to trust his leader, only out of obligation. Irisi snarled and lunged at him before he turned tail and ran away. While she was paying attention to him, her back was towards the humans, and she was doomed.

She felt ropes around her neck dragging her to the ground. More were hobbling Irisi, tying her front paws together as well as her hind. Another rope was bound around her jaws to keep her from biting, and that's when she started to panic. She could hear the priests talking, listening to the man's account of the jackal turning into a woman, and they looked suspicious. That is, until, Shada caught sight of the jewel glowing dimly in the moonlight, nestled in the soft fur of her brow.

"Take it to the palace," he ordered the guards, his eyes widening, "It requires further study."

A guard lifted her over his shoulder in her captive state, and she started to thrash as hard as she could.

"No!"

She shrieked and turned back into a human, causing the startled guard to drop her immediately. The rope around her jaws had fallen away from her human face, but she still had to pull herself up with her wrists and ankles tied. Her bonds tightened, having to fit around larger joints, but Irisi tried to look up at her captors with pleading eyes.

"Don't hurt me," she said in a low voice, panting while trying to calm her racing pulse, "Please. I'll go with you peacefully, just don't hurt me."

Mahad had reined his horse back a few feet, staring at her in horror. "What is it...?" he whispered, more to himself than anyone else. She frowned.

"I'll anwer all of your questions, anything you want," she reiterated, wanting to calm them all down, "But I ask that you allow me an audience with the King."

"Why do you want to speak with the great Pharaoh?!" commanded Shada, "Why should we allow such a strange, possibly even dangerous creature near our ruler?"

Irisi glowered, her murky eyes gleaming in the moonlight at them. "The reasons are mine. If you're present as well, you'll hear soon enough. Please, if you're going to take me into custody, I would prefer to go without a fight." Shooting a glance at the guards and regaining her clan chieftainess composure, she barked out, "Untie me. I will not run, but I will not be brought to the palace of the King of Egypt like a prisoner. I lead my own nation of people, if you must know."

The two priests looked at each other, trying to decide what to do. It took moments, but they finally nodded to each other, then gestured to the guards to untie her. "We will take you to the palace where you will be confined in a room, guarded until the Pharaoh is prepared to receive you."

Irisi breathed deeply as they cut her free with their spears, and she could smell the fear-scent rolling off of each of them. Inside, she was shaking, wondering how the elders were taking her disappearance. She knew that Akhir would be telling them that she had been captured by humans. The bulk of the citizens would be grumbling about how they knew something like this would happen, her younger warriors would be wanting to storm the city. Hopefully Akhir could keep them all in check until he could get the things she needed. If she was going to meet the Pharaoh finally, she would need to be received like the queen she was. Atem would find out sooner or later. Hopefully before he missed her the next evening.