Storms were a rare occurrence in Saharais the low grey rumbles of the thunder in the distance. In the busy streets, people jumped out of the way to avoid getting run over by the of vendors in the packed streets hastily packing up their wares to prevent them from becoming damaged by the rain thus ruining them.
Inside the jackal family's home, Cassius paced back and forth against the white carpets his tail twitching in irritation. He greatly resembled his son Zerrin with his short white dreadlocks and the ribcage pattern that Zerrin had inherited. Multiple scars ran all over his body, and his attire consisted of black gloves and boots rimmed with gold strips.
"How long does it take for a single spy to report back?!"
Cassius snarled turning his gaze towards a pair of jackals. Kaito sat up with his tail curled around him for comfort his eyes were on the floor avoiding eye contact with his irate father. He wished that Zerrin was here. It had been a whole week since he'd been sent out on his was like Zerrin had vanished, it did happen to young jackal pups that were sent out into the desert, and they were never heard from ever again. Zerrin had to be dead. He felt the knot of sadness forming in his stomach.
The only member of his family that cared about him was most likely dead, and it hurt he dug his claws into the settee cover wishing that by some miracle Zerrin would return home safe and sound telling Kaito all about his trek.
I don't want to do the trial. Kaito looked down at his bare arms wishing that his stripes would come in soon. It didn't help that Dune his oldest sibling had been claiming that there were monsters in the desert that snapped up young jackal pups if they strayed too far from Saharais.
Sera sat next to him. She was beautiful; she wore a dull dark brown sleeveless vest with long green trousers, a pair of gold bangles adorned her wrists and ankles. Her footwear consisted of a couple of red boots, a long messy strand of white hair adorned the top of her head.
She heard the low sniffle coming to her left. She let out a sigh gritting her teeth reaching down whacking Kaito hard across the back of his head. She heard Kaito yelp lifting a hand to rub at the spot where he'd been struck tears in his eyes.
"Oh, for Chaos' sake stop sniveling Kaito!" Sera snarled turning a fierce gaze see an equally irritated look flash onto Cassius' face. Dune and Sahara the other two jackal pups peering into the room from the hallway smirks on their faces seeing their youngest sibling suffering.
"I've slapped Zerrin when he was your age a—"
A hurried knocking on the wooden door cut off the rest of Cassius' sentence. With an irradiated huff, the older jackal quit his pacing making his way over to the door opening it with such force he saw the exhausted jackal bore a single silver armband on his upper left arm.
The spy's jobs in Saharais was simple. They would follow the jackal pups tracks making sure to keep out of sight of the young jackal and to report back to the parents of the jackal if their child had completed the trail or if they'd perished during the attempt.
"Finally, it's about time!" The jackal was dragged into the room as Cassias removed a small blade from the holster at his belt pressing it right up against the terrified jackal's throat. "Speak does my weak son live or has he perished in the desert?"
"H-he lives sir." The jackal gasped out feeling the cold steel of the blade being pressed ever so slightly against his throat. He could already guess from the displeased expression on Cassius' face and the slight curl of his upper lip that it was news that he hadn't wanted to hear.
"Fine, then I suppose that we'll have to go and get him them."
Cassius ignored the look of glee that appeared on Kaito's face. He should've killed Zerrin when he was still a baby, or at the very least would've kept both Kaito and Zerrin separated from each other something that he would keep in mind in the future.
Sera let out a low sigh getting to her feet as Kaito slid off the couch the wide smile never left his face his tail was wagging like crazy.
"We'll have to go and retrieve the little freak right?" Sera asked letting out a low sigh. She loved Cassius she did, but the matter of looking after another female jackal's pups was a grave insult. She bit down on her tongue looking over at Cassius who was whispering something to the other terrified jackal who nodded running away.
"Well, that freak did cross the desert in such a quick time," Cassius looking as though he'd swallowed a foul piece of steak. "We have to retrieve him, and I think that he can handle what I have in mind for him after all."
The mood at the orphanage was different. Gadget noted. The wolf slowly sat up in bed slowly rubbing his eyes chasing the last traces of the morning sleep away stifling a yawn as he did so. He looked over at the newly repaired Grappling hook. His mind wandering back to yesterday where he'd taken a risk in standing up to Chad's gang spilling their secrets along with Fuchsia and Corvin.
He pushed back the blankets slowly stretching out his aching back.
The first thing he heard outside of his door was a series of stomps which was quickly followed by yelling. Gadget opened the door soon stepping into the hallway, and he almost couldn't believe what he was witnessing.
Chad and Aster stood in the middle of the hallway glaring at each other their fists clenched; their tails were twitching, the fur was bristling along the napes of their necks their eyes narrowed. There were a couple of kids witnessing the bizarre sight in front of them.
"How dare you! You leaked the picture that I wet the bed when I was ten years old!" Chad snarled taking a step forward towards Aster.
"Well excuse me, boss!" Aster snapped back his ears were pinned back against his head. "It's payback because you said that I was too dumb to rule this whole orphanage by myself!"
Gadget wisely chose not to say a thing. The rest of the orphanage kids were looking on in disbelief. Two of their tormentors were fighting right here in the hallway. He spied some of the kids rubbing their eyes in disbelief wondering if Santa had come early.
The tension between Chad and Aster had reached a peak, for without warning Chad lunged at Aster forcing the coyote to sidestep lashing out with a kick landing a successful blow in the middle of the maned wolf's back sending crashing on his stomach knocking the wind out of him. Before Chad could even respond Aster darted forward landing a couple of kicks onto Chad's side.
"I'm jumping ship dumbass." The coyote hissed waking past Chad stomping on Chad's hand in the process. "Have fun hanging around Mara. I've just found out how you and Mara are always making fun of me behind my back. You two are just perfect for each other." Aster shoved past a couple of kids heading down the stairs to the lower level as the last sound they'd heard of the coyote was a door slamming shut marking Aster's exit from the orphanage forever.
Chad staggered to his feet gasping holding his aching hand looking dumbfounded. Aster, his second in command had turned on him in the blink of an eye. Gadget decided it would be wise to make himself scarce before Chad saw him and take his bad mood out on him as well.
One down just two to go. Gadget thought to himself happily. With Aster's departure, the balance of power in the orphanage would shift for sure. The kids began to whisper seeing Chad slowly and painfully get to his feet staring in disbelief at what had just occurred. Aster had suddenly turned on him for no reason whatsoever well there were times when he'd called the coyote dumb behind his back.
News of Aster's sudden departure spread like wildfire throughout the orphanage for it was like the usual atmosphere of fear disappeared in an instant. He'd seen both Chad and Mara sulking around the orphanage not looking at each other. There was a tension between them as Corvin looked over with a small smirk gracing his beak.
"Heh and good riddance that he's gone." Corvin nodded in the direction seeing happy kids. Fuchsia was sitting with them kicking her heels against the rough wall as a small smile on her face. "I've heard a rumor that he fled because of the police."
Gadget looked up seeing the Matron walking across the grounds with a couple of policemen for both of them were dogs with severe expressions on their faces. The Matron looked puzzled and just a little bit frustrated. She scanned the area looking for Aster before she was forced to shake her head speaking to the two policemen in low tones. They were too far away for Gadget what they were saying, but he saw the looks of disappointment on their faces.
"Oh, so I did guess that Matron is doing something about it." Gadget said. Fuchsia let out a low sigh placing a hand on Gadget's shoulder. "She does her best for everyone and like I've said someone has to stand up to Chad's Gang."
The wolf saw Mara walking by a look of fear appeared on her face when she saw the policemen in the distance. She looked over at Gadget as a small scowl appeared on her lips curled upwards to expose her sharp teeth. She walked over as Gadget slid off the wall to make eye contact with her his fists clenched ever so slightly at his side.
"I don't know what you did." Mara snarled ignoring, Corvin and Fuchsia her bushy tail was swishing from side to side. "Your little friend's not here to protect you now."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Gadget replied evenly. "Besides its payback for all of the years of torture you've put everyone else through at the orphanage." Gadget said. Mara's answer was to shove him causing him to stumble into Fuchidsa's arms before she turned around on her heel storming off in the direction of the woods.
"I hope that they lock her up somewhere good," Fuchsia said bitterly. Both Gadget and Corvin agreed with her.
The rest of the day was uneventful as Gadget sat upright at his desk in 's class the bird was pacing back and forth in front of the blackboard his talons clicking against the wooden floor.
"And as you see class there is no logical way that a cow could jump over the moon," Shun said allowing a small smile to grace his beak seeing his students for once were paying attention sitting upright at their desks. "So then there is no reason to believe in that silly nursery rhyme."
Mara and Chad sat at the back of the classroom talking in hushed tones as a loud knocking on the door caught everyone's attention. Shun spun around a look of irritation appearing on his face.
"Oh, really now there is a lesson going on!"
Shun angry at having his lesson disrupted as the door creaked open as the Matron entered the classroom with the same two policemen from earlier as Mara's fur paled ever so slightly.
"Matron!" exclaimed in shock dropping to a knee." I'm so sorry I had no idea it was you a-"
"Stand up Mr. Shun. Don't embarrass yourself further."
"I'm going to get to the point." The Matron said her gaze was zeroing in on Mara who swallowed nervously feeling the Matrons' gaze burning her fur. "Mara and Chad can you please come with us to talk to the police about a weapon that was involved in the incident a few days ago."
Gadget froze in fear. The wolf remembered with a sinking pit in his stomach that he was the one who'd told the Matron everything that had happened. He knew that there was no way that she would endanger Gadget.
Chad leaned back in his chair fixing the Matron with a small smile. "I'm sorry Matron we all know that Zerinn was the one who went attacked Mara and me," Chad said. "How can you have proof that Mara was the one who did it?"
"I have my ways, Mr. Chad."
"Oh." The smug look that was on Chad's face vanished to be replaced by confusion. "Well, then it was all Mara's idea to smuggle the weapon into this orphanage. I had nothing to do with it."
A furious snarl filled the room as Mara leaped out of her chair tackling Chad to the ground her hands were around his throat. "You liar! You planned this whole thing out from the start!"
Chad struggled to remove Mara's hands away from his throat. "You said that this plan was flawless! How dare you throw me under the bus like this!"
The Policemen ran to the back of the classroom grabbing the thrashing snarling jackal cuffing her hands leading her out of the room with her shouting various threats promising to break Chad's neck if she ever saw him again. The Matron followed the group shooting one last suspicious look at Chad struggling to his feet rubbing his hand across his throat coughing harshly sucking oxygen into his lungs.
"Well then you're now free to resume your lesson, or I think that you can give the kids an early recess Mr. Shun."
Mr. Shun turned a stunned look towards his class his brain trying to process what's just occurred at a loss for words for once. "Uh, class dismissed." Mr. Shun said making his way back into his chair as the kids hurried out of the room before their teacher could change his mind.
"Yes! With both Mara and Aster gone, Chad can't touch anyone else!" Corvin had cried out in excitement.
Gadget nodded feeling content for once. "After Zerinn was taken to the hospital, I told the Matron everything that happened." Gadget closed his eyes briefly his mind flashing back to his bloodstained hands. "She wanted to get some eyewitnesses who said they saw Mara smuggling the sword into the orphanage before she contacted the police."
Gadget tuned out Corvin and Fuchsia's conversation. His mind wandered back to the classroom spying Chad stepping out of the building his eyes narrowing as he spied Gadget who for once raised his head to meet the maned wolf's gaze. Chad naturally curled his lip storming off to a distant corner shoving a pair of kids out of the way.
Gadget felt a pit of dread in his stomach. Even with two of his tormentors, gone Gadget could sense that a storm was brewing.