The flames that swallowed the city of Sunhall had faded to embers, allowing the wind to carry the ashen remains across the lands in rolling black clouds. Fox's lungs seized as a black plume washed over the mounted company. His muzzle wrinkled and he covered it with the scarlet scarf around his neck. It did little to purify the air he drew, but it was better than hoping for a clean gasp amidst this terrible miasma. Others around him had followed suit though they fared no better with handkerchiefs, spare clothes, or tattered rags.
Sunhall was but a mile away but even at a distance it was a strangely familiar sight. Truly the sight of the razed city was nothing new to the man. For years, he had raged a ceaseless war, saving, liberating, and even destroying a fair number of cities across the stars. Yet his campaign was to rid the star system of the Venomian scourge, not to peel a city apart until nothing but bones remained. So, as he and the entire mounted regiment of the army neared the city, it fast occurred to him just how "personal" this sacking was.
The high walls of Sunhall, once armed with dozens of ballistae, bolstered by hundreds of soldiers, and many assortments of traps, now lay bare. Solid stone now crumbled and bore holes like a rotting smile. In the shadow of the great barrier was a small city that clung to the face of the wall like ivy, but was now nothing but ash and stone.
Though the sight was a mournful tragedy, it utterly failed to pull his own heartstrings. That could not be said for the Cerinian warriors around him. Very. Most stared forlornly at the destruction before them, their eyes wet but not from the stinging smoke. Such was the toll of war, that even in life one must pay.
Fox looked to the rider to his left, the lovely Seneschal Sapphire. Normally she was alight with life and vixenly guile, now, she was but a shadow of the radiant creature. Her gemmed eyes were dulled and unpolished, her tail hung off the side of her mount like a deceased catch, and the link she had tethered between her minds had grown silent. Fox swallowed hard and contemplated tapping into their connection. Yet when Sapphire had linked their minds, she explicitly forbade him from opening the doors she shut under pain of punishment. This link was for her benefit and of her own power, thus she ordained the rules. So, like a mournful and obedient hound, he waited for her to allow him to approach.
The mounted company reached the city limits, now denoted by the small pile of fire licked stones from a ruined home. They followed the paved road inwards, more smoldering homes and businesses lined their flanks. Fox thought of the loving fanfare the citizens of Kalmun'Ra and wondered if the ghosts had come to witness their "saviors." Small glimmers occasionally dotted the road but the deeper into the township proper, the more gold could be found. Before long, however, the road became golden and bejeweled with the taken wealth of the city.
'Why would an army sack a city then abandon it and the spoils?' Fox wondered to himself, his gondola hissing as it stepped on a small pile of gold coins.
They neared the gates of Sunhall interior, the scattered wealth ever increasing in quantity. An icicle stabbed at Fox through the link he shared with Sapphire. The tall and proud gate of Sunhall had been shattered. Though the tops of the gates remained almost unspoiled, the bottom was charred, splintered, and torn open wide enough for an army to storm. Sentries were already stationed at the entrance, with many search parties having delved inside. Upon seeing Sapphire and her host approaching, the officer of the guards hurried forward.
Though he was a vassal of her army, Fox reared his gondola forward and stopped the young fox in his tracks. Realizing that if he came any closer that his life would be jeopardized, the officer knelt before the Seneschal.
"Lady Sapphire!" said the man, his voice creaky like a tired, old bridge. "The city is in ruins. Our search for survivors have been in vain. The inside only reflects the outside."
Sapphire's eyes closed as she took in the news. "What of the keep?"
The young man's eyes darted to Fox as if he were to be punished for delivering the worst of his tidings. "It has fallen."
The cold from their bond began to pull. Everything around Fox fell away like he stood upon the event horizon of a blackhole before he too was dragged down. Nothing remained of his mind, save only the knowledge. It was as if he was stripped down until his mind was laid bare and was as plain to see as his stolen flesh once was. Though he now spent a lot of time in this strange state, Fox doubted he would ever become accustom to being so vulnerable.
"Fox."
The man turned but only darkness was found. Normally, Sapphire's mind was as alight and expansive as a city in the summer. Fox shivered.
"Sapphire," he said, reaching out his hand to the nothing.
Footsteps echoed from across a great distance. They never grew louder but Sapphire soon appeared from out of the void. Fox's heart skipped a beat. Sapphire's cerulean gems had become stained red with tears. Her heavenly visage wracked with grief. Both her ears and tails drooped as if they were broken.
"Fox…" she whispered, her body shaking like a leaf in a windstorm. "I failed them."
The darkness began to creep along Sapphire's frame like tendrils of shadow, but Fox intervened. He approached her, and without a word, enclosed her in his arms. Sapphire fell into his embrace without resistance.
"This is not your fault," said the man, hoping to lead her to reason. "You acted quickly and you answered their call." Sapphire said nothing. "War… you'll never save them all. The cost will not always be great, but it will always be there. You must steel yourself and lead your people in this desperate time. If they see your break, so will their own spirits."
Even through her crushing sadness, Sapphire's smile brightened the room. She pulled back from Fox and patted him on the cheek.
"Spoken like the Hero of Lylat," she said, causing the man to wince. "You are my rock, Fox. I'll need you more and more as we further the campaign."
"And I you, Sapphire," Fox said, holding Sapphire's hand to his face just before he felt his mind expelled.
In the space of a blink, their convergence had finished. Without missing a beat, Sapphire ordered the officer to return to his post. Orders began flying from the Seneschal and soldiers snapped quickly to obey. Though burdened with a heavy heart, Sapphire road as resolute into Sunhall as she did out of Kalmun'Ra.
Fox entered the city right at the heels of his liege. What he saw inside was as akin to an exotic animal murdered in a cage. The city was ruined and entirely unsalvageable. Hardly a building was left standing after the fire had its fill. The larger buildings once believed to be safe within their protective walls had been brought as low as the ashen remains of firewood in the pit. Spread out all around the city, Fox could see soldiers wading through the hot ash. Their faces bore the same disheartened look their leader had worn.
The only thing still standing in the city was the stone keep, but even that looked ready to fall. The iron bars and wooden doors proved equally useless as the city gates in stopping the attackers. Many a ballistae bolt was lodged in the ground, but when Fox's eyes traced up the keep, the war machines were but cinders. Fox growled as he and Sapphire entered the keep.
Fox took in the destruction with indifferent eyes. The ruined corpse of a city no longer held any shock or dismay for the man. If anything, the unrestrained devastation was eerily nostalgic. Yet two things perturbed the man as they were the only differing variables of the city's end.
Why was the wealth left so frivolously on the ground, and where were the bodies? Even if the fur and flesh were melted away in the fire that claimed Sunhall, there would still be charred bones. Yet there was nothing.
The gondolas began to hiss and revolt against their riders the further they trespassed. Fox and Sapphire dismounted, their steeds handed to a squire who seemed was adamant in keeping his face covered. The red man's ear flicked when he heard the squire sniff, and something told him it wasn't because of the foul air.
"Where are we heading?" Fox asked, his muzzle wrinkling as he stepped over a sculpture's severed head.
"To the keep," said the woman, her sandaled feet wading through ankle high soot.
"And what, if I may ask," growled Fox, finding it difficult to remain at the woman's side while trudging through the ruins.
Sapphire did not answer and Fox, somehow wasn't surprised. The vixen reveled in the secrets and riddles she carried. Even Fox himself, her most trusted confidant and loyal Champion, was only allowed to know the minimum.
When they reached the keep, a small force was already inside searching for supplies and weapons as all hopes for finding any survivors were nonexistent. Upon her entry, a call to salute was barked, and everyone dropped whatever it was that they were doing to obey. Sapphire almost ignored the greeting and hurried forward. No one dared stand in her way or approach her with tidings.
While the rest of the army searched above ground, Sapphire led Fox to the basement of the keep. The storehouse was completely barren. There were marks on the stone floor where barrels of drink and food once stood but had been drug off in a hurry. Fox wondered why Sapphire would bring him to such an insignificant place but not for long.
Sapphire sandaled foot touched the stone floor and then did Fox's jaw. The stone began to glow and from her feet, a trail of blue light flowed like a river. It swelled, it curved, it flowed all around the room until Fox could see it was forming a glyph in the stone. By the time Fox had found his words again, the glyph of light vanished.
"What? How? What!?" Fox managed to stammer but Sapphire put a finger to his lips.
"Watch the door. Do not let a soul enter," Sapphire ordered.
"Sapphire! What is-"
The vixen's cerulean eyes disappeared behind a veil of light. Fox balked and almost screamed were it not for the gentle finger that pressed against his lips.
Sapphire turned back to the room and Fox did as he was told. He returned to the stone steps and guarded the short hallway that led into the storeroom, but his curious eyes would drift down to watch after a while. Sapphire had dropped to her knees and started praying. A black tipped ear tilted towards her, but the words she spoke were no longer recognizable. Fox strained to listen, but all he could hear was the gentle tongue of the Cerinians. The man shivered upon realizing just how much control she wielded over him. Truly she was in every nook and cranny of his being, and there was nothing he could hide that she did not know already.
The ritual seemed ready to come to a close but it was merely the eye of the storm. The glyph swelled and surged. Blue light began to bleed out and stretch like veins under skin all across the floor. Sapphire's chanting became fanatic in turn, as if she was attempting to calm a hurricane with mere prayer.
Fox watched in utter disbelief at what he was seeing. Even as a child he never believed in magic or fairytales. Technology had progressed to the point that it might as well be magic. People lived past one hundred and fifty years, traversed the stars, colonized multiple planets of vastly different conditions, and carried the power of all civilization's knowledge on their wrist! Yet what he was seeing was beyond ones and zeros. This was honest to god magic that he could see with his own eyes.
Whatever she was doing, it seemed to be working in her favor. The magic that was as violent as the rapids of a river, began to ebb and trickle. Before long, the strands rescinded and the glyph started to hum.
Sapphire's head lolled on her shoulders until her eyes fell on Fox. The tod tensed seeing the gorgeous cerulean eyes gone blank and pure white. When she spoke to him, her voice was otherworldly; like a thousand whispers following her lead
"Not a soul."
The vixen collapsed. Fox's body felt the draw to her but his feet stayed rooted on the stairs. A cleavage formed down the center of the red man's heart. He yearned to leap to his fair lady's aid yet was bound to his post. She had given him an order to stay, and like the loyal dog he had become, he would stay.
Hours, or perhaps days managed to pass in the agonizing limbo Fox had found himself in. He felt like a pile of space junk adrift among the endless stars. What happened to his fair lady and what was she doing here that was so important? It was an irrefutable fact that what she had said was true; he was an outsider. The man could recite one-thousand-and-one facts about his machine of war, the Arwing, yet the only thing he could say about Cerinia with confidence was that it was beautiful.
The people, the lands, the cultures, and even the ground beneath his feet was foreign to him. At every turn, he came face-to-face with something that shook the foundations of everything he'd ever thought to be truth or mere fantasy. Magic had no place in his world as it had been replaced with wires, circuitry, and software.
Yet the memories… they weren't mere one's and zero's.
The red Fox shivered. How could it have been her if not magic? It had been almost two decades since she last drew breath. But then why was she there!? It was as if time and death were but an afterthought to her. She looked exactly the same, sounded the same, smelled the same, and loved him just the same when she was alive.
A part of him knew it was impossible, that it was just that blue witch puppeteering his brain, but he did not give a damn. The loss of his mother had been a large hand in the clay that molded him into the man he was today. To have her back after all these years, he would willingly buy the lie, no matter what it may cost.
An addiction, a drug, a dependency. Whatever it took to feed his habit and pay his supplier, he would comply.
Footsteps began to sound from outside, drawing Fox's attention back to his task. The door threw open revealing the old warrior, Tungsten. A desperate look was in his eyes but they quickly hardened when he saw his way was barred. Upon seeing each other, both men grew tense. There was an unspoken, mutual hostility between the two. Both served Sapphire loyally, but both questioned the other.
"Where is the Seneschal? It is urgent I speak with her," the man asked, unable to see into the dark cellar past Fox's massive, armored frame.
"She's busy," said Fox, folding his arms. "Whatever business you have, it will have to wait."
The steel gray fox growled. He stood taller than most men, but it was his veteran stature that imposed the most fear. "I do not have time to wait, boy. Stand aside."
"Why don't you make me, old man?"
The very dust hopelessly adrift in the air seemed to freeze. Both men stood like statures just waiting for the unseen queue to bound forward in pursuit of blood. Fox's eyes picked up just the smallest twitch in the man's body. A fleeting gesture perhaps, but his sensors went wild as a result. Warnings of danger flashed across Fox's vision through the invisible graft over his pupils. Fox appeared strong and resolute on the outside, but inside, his mind was frantic.
'What is this guy's deal?' Fox asked himself as their standoff dragged on. 'He's got to be around his late forties, why did he proc my combat systems like that? Could it be just a glitch… or was he really that dangerous?'
"I will not ask again," Tungsten declared. "If I have to make you move, it won't be to the side, it will be to your grave."
Fox dropped his arms. For a split second, it seemed like he was about to yield his post, but then the blades in his arms shot forth and hummed, eager for battle.
"Boys!"
The woman's voice grounded the crackling electricity in the air. Fox turned and saw his fair lady standing at the foot of the stairs no worse for wear. His blood continued to bubble madly. A lesser man would have given into the lust he felt for the old man's blood. Sadly, whatever the unknown transgression between them was, it would have to come to a head some other time.
"Do I really have to tell you both to not fight over me?" the ocean blue vixen said rolling her eyes. Fox's eyes managed to tear away from Sapphire's Executor just as the vixen's hand retreated from her pocket. "You men are all the same."
"My Lady!" Tungsten said, tilting his head in a quick bow. "I bring urgent news from one of our scouting parties!"
Fox's neck started to bristle in the back. Everything about the old man was grating against Fox's nerve. For whatever reason, it was bringing back a bitter nostalgia from his past.
"What did they find?" Sapphire asked, her tone shedding of its irate edge.
Tungsten's words caught in his throat despite the leave to speak freely. As he wrestled to find his voice, Fox watched in silent fascination as ten more years suddenly taxed the man's face. His eyes became foggy and wrinkles he hadn't before formed around his eyes. Breaking his silence, Fox would have thought a man risen from his grave had whispered. "We… we found the people of Sunhall..."
~X~X~X~X~X~X~
The sun was rising high over these desolate lands, but the heavy smoke still blotted out the blue sky. It was like a curse hanging over their heads; a constant reminder of the horrors that befell Sunhall and its people. Sapphire had yet to rouse from her quarters and had fallen deathly silent in mourning and prayer. What she had witnessed from the high ramparts was enough to even freeze Fox's veins. Thus, Fox had assumed a somber vigil over his fair lady whilst she came to cope with the desolation in her heart.
Though he was an alien to the world, people, and cultures, but the brilliant sun with six luminescent rays was already familiar to him; it was the symbol of the people's gods. Many wore it on their shields and armor. They prayed to it ritualistically in mass every day, but a strong devote could always be found throughout the day offering a prayer. It amazed Fox to find so many convinced of the existence of a divine entities. Back in the Lylat, faith was a thing only read about in history books. Here, it was a large part of most everyone's life. Which only made it more appalling what their unnamed enemies had done.
Fox had seen barbarism, the horrors of war, and the evils man could unleash upon his fellow man… but never had he witnessed carnage transposed into what could only be described as art.
True to Tungsten's claim, they had found the people of Sunhall. Every man, woman, child, and babe had been indiscriminately slaughtered. Their bodies cut open and their life blood spilled out in what could only have been a ritualistic sacrifice. When they fell to the earth, never to rise again, their bodies were fashioned into a six-pointed star, trapped inside a cage.
It had been several days of mourning and feeble attempts to bury the dead. To dig a secular grave for every man, woman, and child would upturn all the fertile soil for miles around the fallen city. Thus, mass graves were the only option. A new road was cut into the earth by the ceaseless, innumerable carts of dead. Fox could see it in everyone's eyes; the hopelessness and utter failure everyone felt. The burden was shared by all, and Fox found himself grateful he was without telepathic empathy.
"Fox?"
Sapphire's call straightened Fox's spine and drew him into the tent. His heart wanted to soar but remained grounded in case his fair lady was still buried under grief. Inside the reclusive tent, Fox expected to find his liege bedridden and inconsolable. Yet there was no greater mistake he could make than to underestimate the vixen.
Only one notable sign of her grief was visible, and it was the red stained tapestry her cerulean gems stood against. Everything else was perfectly in place. Perhaps too perfect. Not a hair wavered its pleasing formation. The long and shining hair flowed down and over her shoulder, collecting towards the end in a bun. Though she hadn't roused from her tent in a few days, she still smelled sweet and inviting to the man's sharp nose. Her clothes were more modest and less casual than Fox was used to seeing her wearing. A low standard to be sure, as the first time he had seen her, she was wearing only her fur and guile.
"Sapphire?"
The woman closed her eyes, savoring the sound of her name rolling off his tongue. "I am ready. Have a runner send a message to Tungsten and Cadium. Lingering among the dead does nothing for us or them. By sundown, we'll have decided our next course of action."
Fox bowed his head and nearly took his leave, but something continued to nag at him. Perhaps this was all but a front; a wall of confidence she had thrown up to hide the wounded heart behind. Sapphire was too proud for her own good. She wouldn't show weakness to any man, but perhaps it wasn't a man she needed.
"Shall I send for your daughter? You haven't spoken with her since before we crossed the mountains," Fox suggested, earning a hawkish look that could cut through the heavy armor adorned on his chest. "I'm sure she misses you."
Sapphire crossed her legs and waved a lock of hair from her face. "I have no time for her and she should be concerned with her training." The woman's lips pursed but then split into a smile. "No. If you long for her company, I won't discourage you. I know she's been on your mind a lot of late."
Fox's spine stiffened so sharply his armor gave off a quiet clatter. "I'll go fetch a runner."
~X~X~X~X~X~X~
Every muscle ached, and her bones felt like broken glass. Her skin was a deeper blue and sickly purple than her fur from all the bruising. Never in her life before today, could she remember being in such pain. Yet for all her agony, she was glad to have it. Because of her recruit status as a Vindicator, her training exempted her from the daunting task of undertaker. A privilege she was both grateful for and ashamed of.
Having been released from the evening drill, Krystal limped her way towards the center of camp where the smell of food still lingered. She hoped that maybe a cook would take pity on the battered wretch that she was and throw a stale end of a bread loaf her way. If not, she might be able to lick an empty bowl. Thankfully, a steward boy saw through her currently haggard appearance, and was enamored enough by her raw beauty to put together some table scraps. Krystal did her best to flirt with him, but she was too tired to make it even half convincing.
Her belly no longer argued, but instead stared angrily from across the room. The feast in her honor felt like many moons ago. She regretted not stuffing her face until even Raj Tel'Vox, the god of feast, drink, and festivity would relinquish his divinity unto her.
Krystal sighed and resigned herself from the rest of the day. Perhaps if she woke up early enough, she would be able to reach the head of the chow line and wolf it down on the way to the training yards. Yet as she neared the tent she shared with five other females, something began to loom over the back of her mind.
The vixen turned and called out, "Who's there?" but no one answered.
Worry began to swell in the vixen's heart. She sensed no danger, but that did not comfort her. An open fight was something she could handle. Whatever was near her now went beyond iron and blood. It was as if dark itself had manifested into a corporeal form, drinking away the light and warmth as it passed.
Krystal's ears flicked. Something was moving behind her. Krystal turned once more, unsure of what she might bear witness to…
"Podieus!?"
From a distance, Krystal could catch the scent of sweat, ash, and burned flesh on the man's body. From head to toe he was mired with filth, ruining his once proud golden coat. His face had sunken so profoundly that it was as if it was only ragged fur stretched taught over a skull. His hands were bleeding from many raptured blisters and had left a trail of droplets behind him.
Krystal ran to his side without hesitation and ushered him to sit. He obeyed her as obediently as a puppet. His eyes were as Sunhall lay; pillaged of all soul or life. Even as she spoke to him he made no inclination he was even in this world anymore. His body was still here perhaps, but Podieus seemed to have been transposed.
"What have you done to yourself?" Krystal whispered, reaching into one of the satchels of her belt for a bandage to mop up some of the mess.
"I…" Podieus began, but his voice broke and fell.
He did not speak again and instead stared off into the distance towards the Ashie Mountains. Krystal only worked harder in ridding the man of the excessive filth that had accumulated all across his body. By the dirt and mud clinging to his hands and boots, she could only assume he had been helping with the burial efforts for hours, if not days. Krystal cleaned his hands with water from a canteen, exposing the cracked and blistered flesh beneath. Podieus didn't even flinch as she wrapped bandages around his hands.
It was enough to help mend the minor physical wounds, but she feared was the damage left unseen. Krystal knew very well the pain of losing her home and kinsmen… but an entire city? Her village was but five dozen little homes with a few shops for traders to stock up at before crossing the Scorching Sands. Sunhall was home to thousands of people, and perhaps all of them and everyone Podieus ever knew was now gone.
The young woman could not stand idle anymore. With her patient mended, Krystal chanced a brush against his mind with her own. Yet when her aura grazed his, she found nothing to stop her. At first she thought he was merely bluffing, that perhaps maybe he was luring her into a false sense of security. Yet as she took step after step into the man's mind, the path remained unobstructed.
"Podieus? May I come in?" she asked when she felt she had come far enough.
Intruding upon a person's mind was rude, and doing so for malicious purposes was punishable. Thus, the vixen had no desire to infringe upon the man's privacy. But her greeting went without answer. Her words carried into a dark abyss like wind over a dead sea. Not even an echo reached her; the man's mind had grown so cold.
Forgoing his consent, Krystal mustered every positive energy still inside her, and bled it into the man's mind. His fire was fading, and Krystal desperately tended the flames in hopes of rekindling the once proud warrior. As many harsh days and cruel nights it took, she would draw him from the ashes.
A faint echo reached the vixen's swiveling ears. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. Though her mind was aching for a break, her spirit refused to falter and she searched harder for the last vestige of hope. Shifting her arura around the edges like a lighthouse beacon, Krystal's mind reached deeper into the dark. Her sweeps yielded nothing, and so she stretched her aura tighter and tighter until she was a longsword cleaving a swath through the dark.
As graceful and determined her swings were, it amounted to little more than an angry child waving around a stick. She hit nothing and found no sign of Podieus. Only the eggshell remained; not a glimmer of yolk to be found. Tremors began to arise along the aura's edge. The fine blade dulled and degraded back into an unrefined cloud. The darkness weighed in, crushing Krystal's aura.
"Podieus!" screamed the vixen, the pressure threatening to stamp her out. "PODIEUS!"
Krystal's eyes snapped open. Her lungs pulled the heavy air in until she fell into a fit. Red sank into the whites of her eyes while she coughed. Each and every cough was like a poisoned tipped dagger in her chest being twisted. All the while she struggled, Podieus looked on with the same distant look. It was as if the abyss he stared into had gently swept him in and left behind only a shadow. Krystal reached out to touch him, but the very air between them felt like leagues.
Wings disturbed the air above her, and Krystal saw a carrion come to rest on the small tent behind them. Its eyes were a cloudy white and its feathers were as black as the smoke in the air. The woman gawked, and the bird stared back before letting out a scream.
"HELP! HELP!"
Krystal's blood ran cold at the horrid creature's voice. By no means could the wretch speak, but the bird's particular specie was quite capable of mimicking the noises it heard.
"BURNS! BURNS!"
The vixen looked for a rock to throw as the bird kept screaming. Her fingers found a stone and she let it loose, but her aim was foul and the carrion merely hopped in place.
"GODS! GODS! SAVE US! GODS!"
Tears began to well up in the woman's eyes. She could all but hear the voices crying out as they fell to the slaughter
"BURNS! BURNS!"
Another stone. Another chance to silence this foul creature. Gods and goddesses, please. Another rock was all she asked.
"BURNS! BURNS! BURNS! BUR-"
In the height of its scream, the bird suddenly ceased. Krystal's shaky hands stopped combing the hard earth for another missile and she looked up. To her utmost joy, the carrion's breast now bore a smoldering hole no larger than the width of her thumb. Yet no sooner did she look than its body exploded in a violent spray of feathers and viscera. She could find no sliver of pity for the creature in the wake of such a gruesome death. It had grown fat on the very bodies of the people it mocked.
"Are you alright, Krystal?"
That voice, so familiar and warm. Krystal's heart soared at the sound of it and if her face were currently capable, she would have smiled.
"Arden!" she sighed, never before being so happy to have seen him.
He seemed taller for whatever reason. Maybe it was because she was in the dirt or he had always been so big and she just never realized. Like the mast of a ship he stood tall and proud fashioned in armor and muscle. Arden placed a jagged crystal back into a satchel in his belt before he held out a hand to her. Krystal took it and in the blink of an eye, found herself back on her feet and resting against his broad frame. Oddly enough, Krystal could not find it in herself to pull away.
"What's been happening here? Are you alright?" he asked once more, a hand finding its way to her the small of her back.
Choking words came to her but the man's aura was a fountain of rejuvenation. The genuine care for her wellbeing was a roaring bonfire in the heart of winter. Its radiance illuminated the world around her and chased back the impending shadows until they had receded to their very source.
"I… I'm fine," she admitted, color returning to her cheeks. "I found him like this and I thought… I tried to help."
Arden pulled away and took his warmth away but not out of reach. He stared at Podieus for a while, trying to gauge what had become of the man.
"You're either really brave or foolish," said Arden. "I've heard stories of this. What he needs is a healer, and a damned good one at that."
"What is it? What's happened to him?"
The man frowned and brushed a lock of violet hair from his face. "It's called Mind Rot. By the looks of him, he's been toiling in the fields. Handling all the remains of what used to people must have been too much."
"Sunhall was his home. The people were his own," Krystal nearly whispered.
A moment of silence fell between the foxes. In the midst of camp and surrounded by kinsmen, barely a soul was to be found in the waning hours of twilight.
"Krystal… I want you to get some rest-"
"I'm not leaving-"
Firm hands clamped on the young woman's arms. She felt inexplicably drawn to Arden's luminous violet eyes. "I'll see to him. You needn't worry. You look almost as dead as he. It'll be dawn sooner than you think, and whispers are abound that we are to give the fiends that did this chase."
The thought of slipping into a warm bedroll appealed greatly to the aching vixen, but abandoning Podieus in his most desperate hour was something she would never forgive herself for.
"And what about you? I suppose you'll stay by his side all night and deprive yourself in my stead? I think not!" she refuted, earning a slightly tighter grip.
"Damn it, woman," said the man, ready to assert himself once more but seemed to falter at the thought.
Krystal shrugged Arden's hands from her body. "I can endure the coming hardships, Arden. I have you with me after all."
His tail flicked and ears stood up straight to catch those honeyed words. A small smirk fleeted the edge of his lips. "I'll never win an argument with you so long as I live, will I?"
"You're starting to learn." Krystal shouldered past the man and hefted a heavy arm over her shoulder. "Now help me get him to a healer."
~X~X~X~X~X~X~
"Whatever force that did this would have to be far greater than our own. Pursuing such numbers would only lead us to ruin." General Cadium picked up wooden gondola head and placed it down a few inches from the city of Sunhall, back at the mountain pass. "If we dig ourselves in, we'll be able to safeguard the west until reinforcements arrive."
"That could take weeks, General. Months even," Tungsten pointed out. "Not every city has a standing army anymore, and those that do are few in number. Our own numbers shrivel before the Kalmun'Ra legions of the past."
"If it takes months, then it will take months," Cadium insisted. "Our only other choice is to flee back across and hide behind the city walls, and look how that ended for Sunhall!"
It had been like this for hours. Fox sat in agonizing silence with nothing to do. He always hated the planning stages of war. Insufferable bureaucrats would agonize the details down to how many grains of rice should be in a soldier's rations. It was thinking like this that helped the Venomians sear a bloodstained trail through the breadth of Lylat to Corneria. The lack of action then and now was maddening.
Given twenty good men, Fox would have ridden south and found those that would dare fall into his fair lady's disfavor. With his band he would unleash chaos upon the unsuspecting curs while they slept. Caught off guard in the dead of night, Sapphire would then take the full force of her army and lay waste to them. His blood started to boil at the thought of it, and his initiative began to stir within him. It would be easy and over in a single night. Were it not for the gentle hand on his shoulder, Fox would have risen at any moment and stormed off to find a vengeful throng.
"Easy, my Champion," Sapphire cooed deep inside his mind like a rider rearing a startled mount. "It is almost finished."
The man swallowed his anger like a burning shot of alcohol. He awaited his fair lady's move, eager to see what the beguiling vixen would do.
"Gentlemen," said the woman as she sauntered up to the table. "You're forgetting the southern pass."
Cadium stiffened. "They would never! Those grounds are sacred to the gods and goddesses! Mortal trespass is forbidden unless under the direst of circumstances!"
"A minor infraction to these heathens to be sure. They've already defaced The Six with their barbaric sacrilege," Tungsten reminded, his face appearing carved from a lonely mountain.
"The cities to the south have a marked advantage." Sapphire pointed out the small channel running under a scorched landside to a coastal city that stretched around the small gulf. "Sunhall and the Mal'akh Thul were rivals for generations. In the event of a likely invasion, the sea farers would ferry their populace to more defensible positions further down the river." Sapphire's finger trailed along the channel, stopping at a marked city surrounded by desert. "An army foolish enough to cross the Scorching Sands would be decimated by Selaeria's chariot."
Sapphire moved her forces south in open defiance of the briefing's speculation of where their enemies had established themselves. She didn't stop until they had come to a halt at the southern pass.
"The southern pass is far narrower, steeper, and can be held with but three-hundred steady spears," Sapphire said, ignoring the eyes of the men growing wide. "Our archers can rain death with little fear of retaliation. The lake will provide us water, and supply trains from Kalmun'Ra can sustain us. The divine have gifted us with a natural fortress. With Any luck, our noble Emperor will send the royal army to the northern pass, thus securing the west. If not, we'll still have sentries to warn us should a detachment cross."
Sapphire smiled at her own cunning. "We'll have them trapped in a cage of mountains and sand until an insurmountable force can be gathered to stamp them out."
Like the obedient hounds they were, Tungsten and Cadium had remained silent despite the obvious protests hiding behind their eyes.
"Seneschal," Tungsten began first when Cadium refused to speak up. "What of the outlying villages? The farmers? They'll all be put to the sword without our aid."
A low breath escaped the woman. "If the gods and goddesses are good, they will escape their fate. There is nothing we can do for them without compromising our forces and the entirety of the west."
"And what of the affront on the divine?" Cadium interjected, having grown bold in light of his peer's lack of reprimand. "The Ashie Mountains' valley is where The Six created, shaped, and forged our very world!"
"The southern pass has been open to mortals throughout history, should a dire need arise," Sapphire reminded the man. "What greater need is there than to save countless lives from a barbaric horde? The only ones who will find retribution will be those that dare run towards our spearmen."
Another hour passed by the time the General and Executor left Sapphire's quarters. All the while, Fox marveled at how well the woman twisted and spun the men into compliance. Were it up to Tungsten, he would stand and fight, trying to save as many lives as he could while inadvertently damning them all. As for Cadium, he would not dare sully his gods with a mistaken curse and lose the west. Only Sapphire could see the stakes and the necessity for sacrifice.
Had Sapphire lead the armies of Corneria, perhaps the fires wouldn't have burned so bright?
Fox rose to his feet and paced around the tent. His ears flicked as he walked, searching for the faintest breath in the air. He muffled heard voices off in the distance and the dancing of a few fires the watchmen would cling to throughout the night.
"No one is out there," Sapphire assured him just as his nose started to twitch, "though I admire your persistence."
The tod's tail lashed behind him for a moment. "What's the point of having me at your heel if you can protect yourself far better than I ever could?"
Sapphire merely hummed and ambled over to him. "Sometimes a girl likes a man around. It makes her feel safe and secure." Sapphire inspected him with a smile, but something in her eyes betrayed her coy gaze. "When my enemies charge and they meet their end on the lines of my army, I'll have just as much need for you as I do now. You're my Champion; the one promised to me by the Goddess. I have no fear with you at my side."
Her loving words could be no more burdensome. His final battle had been years ago; the last life he had taken was the only one he truly ever wanted. Now he was on an alien world, expected to fight for the foreign soil beneath his feet. It was different with the land was his. Those barbarians he had slain in her territory was little more than hunting an irksome animal sticking its nose where it didn't belong.
"I can feel your reservations, sweet soul," said the woman from behind closed eyes. "You need more convincing. Perhaps I should go grab… her."
Like a pet catching whiff of a treat, the man's spirit perked up. His tail was wagging fast enough to blow the tent away. Sapphire smiled and sat him down on the bed. The reverence he held for her in his emerald gaze evoked a giggle from the vixen. She leaned in and covered his eyes with her paws.
"Now then… where's my little man?"
A warm wave of nostalgic air seeped into the man's lungs. Sweet perfume, summer winds, and smoke from a popping campfire all lovingly washed his mind of fear and doubt. He leaned forward to nuzzle into the warm belly he missed so dearly. The woman let out a low "oof!" but cradled his head all the same.
"There's my brave little Champion," cooed the woman, gliding her slender fingers through his growing white mane. "How are you doing, sweetheart?" she asked with a kiss between the ears.
"So much better now, Mommy," murred the boy, his ears flicking as his mother began humming that old tune she always did when she was happy. "I missed you."
Vixy grinned so wide that her smile almost reached her fennec touched ears. "I missed you, too. Have you been taking good care of Sapphire like I asked?"
Fox nodded. "Yes, Mommy."
Another kiss between the ears. "Good boy."
Vixy attempted to sit down on the cot beside her son, but found it difficult with two arms wrapped around her waist. Nevertheless, she managed all without breaking her child's loving hold. She set his head in his lap and ran a thumb across his bushy brows, just the way he always liked it. His murr doubled and the tips of his toes started twitching.
"Have you met any new friends? You're always so popular… especially with the girls."
Fox hesitated and wanted to keep hold of his secrets, but he couldn't lie to his mother of all people. "Well… there's this one girl…"
"Is she pretty?"
"She's the prettiest girl I've ever seen," he admitted, red growing under the orange of his cheeks.
"Even prettier than me, Foxy?" Fox's muzzle fell but before he could splutter out an apology, she tapped him softly on the nose. "Only kidding, sweetheart." Both the foxes laughed and Fox hugged her even tighter. "If you ask me, you should let her know what you think of her. She's probably thinking you're about the most handsome tod this side of the galaxy."
"I will, Momma…" said the boy, though Vixy doubted he actually would; he was always so shy.
The woman stroked his brow a little while longer. She had words for him but not the strength to use them. Feeling such a loving young thing nestled up into her with all the love and trust in the world was so gratifying, she almost shed a tear for having missed it with another child. The moment was just too sweet that it was a shame she had to spoil it.
"Fox?"
"Yes, Mommy?" asked the boy, his eyes drooping and voice draining to a mumble.
"You remember when I asked you to protect Sapphire?" The boy nodded. "Well… there are people -very bad people- who wish to do her harm. If they get the chance they will kill her… and if they kill Sapphire…"
Fox's embrace turned painful. "I won't let them hurt her. I won't let them hurt you!"
Vixy swallowed past the painful lump in her throat. "You'll have to kill those people, Sweetheart. Can you do that for me?"
"I'll kill them, Mommy," promised the boy, tears flooding his eyes. "I'll kill them all."
Vixy kissed him between the ears once more. "Good boy."