Sixclaw

Chapter 44

MAIN BASE CAMP

Sixclaw had a headache. Even opening her eyes was pain. Still, she decided to take her chances and open her eyes. Still darkness. Paws bound, and a sack over her head, she let out a small sigh, and attempted to get comfortable.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." said a voice. Even that small noise shot red hot spikes of pain through Sixclaw's head.

"Please shut up." said Sixclaw, curling into a ball.

"Where am I? Who are you?" asked Sixclaw.

"Don't speak that way to your superior." said the voice."You are currently on a battlefield, on your way to be traded. As to who I am, that's none of your hellgates-damned business."

Sixclaw's headache had started to subside by then, so she attempted to sit up. "Traded? The Hell, One-Eye?"

"Do you actually equate my voice to that of the tactless bumbler?" said the voice, sounding incredulous at the prospect.

"Now that I think about it, you sound more like…" Sixclaw searched for the name in her mind, but before she could place it, she felt a sharp pain in her arm. The last thing she heard before blacking out was a voice talking in a foreign language, and then everything was silent.

TRANSPORT

As Longtail and One-Eye waited for their troops to board their transport, Longtail turned to One-Eye and began to speak, "I'm addressing the badger in the room here, what happens if they're dead?"

"If she did that, our course of action is pretty simple; do what we do best." said One-Eye, sealing his helmet onto his battered armor.

"And that is?" said Longtail.

"Kill everyone and everything in the area." said One-Eye, grabbing an extra magazine for his gun.

"And what about the Queen?" said longtail.

"No, you can't kill her. She has to have the ability to stand trial for war crimes." One-Eye stated. "And no maiming or permanent brain injury either. We need her lucid, not in a damn coma like that councilmouse from Floret."

"Have you gone soft?" teased Longtail. "And fuck that councilmember. He was a pompous sack of lies, empty threats, and more damn lies."

"No. I'm not soft, and never will be. I just want her to have a fair trial. Then we can have the execution." said the wildcat. "It's gonna be glorious as Hellgates."

"What about us? If she gets the trial, she can have us investigated too. And do you really want those many occasions in which we did… not good things?" said Longtail.

"Relax, comrade Longtail. I got this handled." said One-Eye, his visor hiding the cruel smirk that flashed across his face.

The siren sounded, and the two warlords boarded their transport with their division of shock troopers.

NEGOTIATIONS SITE, QUADRANT 5

The Dragon Queen was not known for her patience when it came to meetings with the enemy. Nevertheless, she was able to restrain herself from giving the order to open fire long enough for the transport to land at her position.

"Welcome. I trust I find you well?" said the queen, extending both paws to the two beasts that had arrived out of that dropship.

"You can dispense with the pleasantries. Prove they're still alive." said Longtail, his voice becoming a screechy growl

The queen was taken aback at this. She had not expected the exchange to be civil, but she wasn't expecting one of them to turn feral so early. "Very well." said the queen, unlocking the doors to an armored vehicle. Inside were five creatures with cloth covering their heads.

"Those could be fakes. Take off the hoods or I will call in my forces." said One-Eye, unsheathing one of his claws and placing it in front of the queen's eyeball.

"That's a good joke." said the queen, letting out a mirthless laugh, before composing herself again. "But it's all a bluff isn't it? "The armor, the walls, the armies. It's gotten so bad that you've even managed to convince yourself you're not the most isolated creature in the southlands."

"Maybe I am. But at least I'm going to survive this war." growled One-Eye. "NOW SHOW ME!"

"As you wish." The dragon queen removed the hood from the head of one captive, revealing Sixclaw's pale face. It took all the self control that One-Eye had not to rip the queens jaw out right then and there. "I grow tired of this conversation. Let the negotiations begin." said the queen, guiding the two to a table. "So the way I see it, you have no choice but to surrender to me. With your filthy pirate in my custody, all your supply lines… have been cut." said the queen, making a 'snip' motion with her paws. "What say you?"

"I refuse." said both Longtail and One-Eye. "You were correct, Bootbrain was our biggest supplier in terms of shipping. He used his fleet to deliver many goods to our side." One-Eye started to grin, and pulled off his helmet. "But, with the return of the Bullet Farm to our list of suppliers, I think you'll find our war effort will be able to continue, despite the loss of our comrade."

"No, you idiot, the Bullet Farm works for me!" said the queen. "Always have, always will. Ever since Adran's fall from grace, they've been making our weapons and ammunition. What you said is false."

"Well, false this!" said Longtail, drawing a gun and aiming it at the queen's forehead. She remained calm, as One-Eye attempted to wrestle the gun from longtail's grasp. Longtail ejected the magazine, and showed the Queen the writing on the side, which read:

"MADE IN BULLET FARM. DATE: NOVEMBER TWELVE, SEASON: EIGHTY EIGHTY"

"That's three days ago. I guess it is true."said the dragon queen, loading the magazine into the gun, and chambering a round and looking at the prisoners, who's eyes were starting to twitch, a sign that they would be back to lucidity soon. "Well, I have no further need for these captives," she said, turning the gun on Sixclaw and firing a round into her chest.

One-Eye's working eye instantly turned blood red. The wildcat let out a scream of rage and pain. He overturned the table as the queen backed away.

"Easy, big guy." she said. "I don't want to hurt you. Not yet, anyways." The round had not killed Sixclaw, or even remotely hurt her. The pistol was a decorative item, and the low power bullets had no chance of penetrating the chainmail Sixclaw wore

At this point, the twelve shock troopers inside the transport realized something was amiss,and rushed out of the transport, crossbows and assault rifles at the ready, only to be met with the green whirlwind that was the queen.

The twelve troopers didn't stand a chance as the queen scythed her blade through each of them with speeds that rivaled that of Martin himself. She made short work of the shock troopers before turning back to One-Eye. "Let's get this over with." she said.

One-Eye charged straight at the queen, while Longtail hung back to free the prisoners. The feral cat wan't as stupid as he looked, he knew that One-Eye and the queen would be pretty evenly matched. "Only one of 'em is going to survive this." he said, laughing a bit, as he removed the cuffs from a newly awakened Sixclaw.

"Where are my weapons?" asked Sixclaw.

"In the van." Both cats turned around to see One-Eye get launched back into a tree. "Well, good luck with the prisoners." said Longtail, drawing his long knife as the Dragon Queen charged towards him. Longtail was smaller and faster than One-Eye, so he was able to match her for a few seconds longer, but was ultimately disarmed.

Sixclaw slapped Blackpaw awake, and pressed the knife into his paws. "Get them the fuck untied." she snarled, before running to the van that presumably held her weapons.

"Your grammar was incorrect!" Blackpaw shouted after her. "Everyone is uncultured here."'

A/N

Another update, yey. Also, there are only a few actual plot advancing chapters left. I still have the epilogue, deleted scenes, credits, and all that to write.

R&R