Rena Raden's Point of View

Walkie's Hotel was posh - so posh that I knew that it was going to be destroyed as we battled the Kurghas standing guard in the lobby, and El Toro drew his sword as the Kurghas drew their knives and pistols. "Rena! There they are! To the rescue!"

"They have come for the Dog general! Stop them!" A Kurgha shouted, and as he lunged towards me with his knives, I parried them with my sword. Kicking my opponent in between the legs, I knocked him out by smacking his head with the flat of my blade.

I then felt arms grab me from behind, and I kicked my legs uselessly in the air as the Kurgha prepared to throw me over his shoulder into the coffee table behind him. I then heard the sound of glass shattering as Ratbeard smashed something into the backside of the unaware Kurgha's head, and as I was released, I noticed the flowers lying on the carpet, indicating that he used a vase.

Emmett, stunned in several places on his body, had crawled away to recover, and Bonnie was involved in a shootout with a Tiger armed with pistols. Taking a long draft from a bottle of alcohol lying around, Old Scratch then breathed a jet of flame onto his opponent, who screamed like a little girl as he stopped, dropped, and rolled.

El Toro had the advantage in range as he fenced with a knife-wielding Kurgha, and Monkey King kept another busy as Gracie slammed her spanner into the Kurgha from behind. I then heard another Kurgha shout as he was beginning to overpower Jack in hand-to-hand combat. "The Dogs must have called for reinforcements. Attack!"

Two more Tigers then appeared on the balcony overlooking the lobby - captains, judging by their more ornate uniforms - and the orange one shouted a one-word order at us while his white-furred companion gazed at the fighting. "Hold!"

We all did so, even Ratbeard, who had an equally stunned Tiger in a choke hold. The orange-furred Kurgha captain then continued speaking as he walked slowly down the stairs with the other captain, both of them looking at the tableau. "I recognize this Dog! I knew this one's captain, in Rajah. He was my friend. Let them speak, I say!"

"Jadbal Chand?" Jack asked as he pushed away the opponent he was grappling with just moments ago, and the orange-furred captain nodded. I noticed he had an eyepatch over his right eye, but then my attention was taken by the white-furred Kurgha, apparently the senior of the two, who spoke. "Very well. Why have you come here? Speak!"

"Who are you, and why have you taken Brigadier Stewart prisoner?" I demanded, and the white-furred Kurgha answered. "I am Kzinti Singh. It is a great insult the High Command has done us - it cannot be borne!"

He gestured for us to follow him, and we warily did so as he led us downstairs to the cellar of the hotel, where the missing brigadier - a short Bulldog wearing red - was chained to the wall next to barrels that I assumed contained the rations.

Kzinti Singh then kicked one of the barrels open, and its contents of hardtack rolled out. I bent down to pick a piece up and examine it, and I cracked it open against the cobblestone floor to see that it didn't have any weevils - a luxury when it came to military bread. "The food is the root of it. The old food spoiled - it was not fit to eat. We asked for more, but they 'improved' it. We cannot eat this. It is too good. We are warriors!"

"I-I beg your pardon?" I asked, probably looking up at the Kurgha captain as if he were mad, and Kzinti Singh explained himself. "A well-fed Kurgha craves only sleep and belly rubs. This is no way to fight an enemy! But a hungry, irritated Kurgha? He will fight with the strength of ten tigers! Our food must taste bad, leaving us hungry for battle."

"Go back to the Admiralty. Tell them we will fight no more for them without bad food to sustain us! Bring their answer to the lighthouse." Kzinti Singh said as he unchained Brigadier Stewart, and the Bulldog rubbed his wrists as he walked with us out of the hotel without a fight.

"Bad food, eh? Good thing we're in Marleybone, I reckon! Har!" Ratbeard laughed, and I nodded. "Anyway, let's get back to the Admiralty, mates."