A/N: The song for this one is An Ember's Arc by Be'Lakor.
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Listen. Listen and you might hear the sounds of the forest. The birds singing. The bugs eating trees. The wind whispering among the leaves. Then, focus. These are not the sounds you are looking for. For if you know not what you seek, in this abundance of life yours will be lost. The faint strain of wood, when the string is being drawn, the small bow meant for hunting small game not really capable of hurting a middlesized mammal with a simple chainmail, but deadly to the small bunny that stood with her eyes closed between two large oak trees in the lush forest that surrounded the village of Topia. The release of the arrow, its precision and point deadly sharp.
With a practiced ease, Judith went for a roll towards her right putting a tree between herself and the shooter. The doe didn't open her eyes yet, tracking the slight changes within the atmosphere of the forest, its ambience and feel. Her adversary was a natural when it came to climbing trees and was hunting for its prey. The bunny had to adapt, and do it fast, lest her fate be skewered on a piece of a pointy wooden stick with feathers. Bows were an extremely rare weapon, much more suited for felines of the far plains and deserts of Zahara. Large mammals had difficulties with acquiring bows capable of enduring their strength, small mammals were too weak to make good use of the stiff frame required of a bow to be functional and useful for anything larger than a small lizard or bird. Spears and javelin were much more convenient.
Or slings for that matter. Still, a bunny was too small to efficiently slug a stone and do more than a bruise. The doe has been trying to find a key to this exact scenario for a month now. She went from being easy prey, hunted down in mere minutes, to an expert tracker being able to outlast her quarry's quiver. But not being able to go on the offensive in a usual way made Judith irritated. Of course she could have easily dealt with the situation by relying on her power as a god, but that would not be fair. She, being young by the measures of those transcended, still didn't want to rely upon her abilities too much outside of extreme situations. And she had to give credit to Sylvi, the lynx was an extremely hard opponent. An hour and ten more arrows later, the duo called it quits for the day. It was only when Sylvi ran off towards the black figure that Judith realized they were being watched.
Once more, the doe was questioning whether there was something supernatural about the ability of mercenaries to conceal their presence from both sight and hearing. Tyhja oftentimes reminded her of Nicholas of clan Wilde, a mercenary fox she met nearly a century ago, who proved to be more than capable to approach her unnoticed. But if she has seen eyes of the fox and knew he held no ill will towards the world (while being snarky and not at all happy with prey mammals), the black representative of the village remained an unsolved mystery even though she saw him on an almost daily basis due to her task and also her thirst for knowledge.
While Judith was a trained guard, prepared by the very best female warrior in Lord Big's army, a polar bear by the name Ruslana of clan Knyazhii, she still lacked a lot when it came to real combat. Learning of the fact Sylvi was also training to be a warrior, allowed for the two to continuously hone their abilities sparring with each other. When not busy in his forge or with other his responsibilities, Tyhja would superwise and give his advice. The wolf seemed to be a seasoned fighter and a good swordsman, who taught Judith the essentials of wielding a shortsword, a longsword, and dualwield. The bunny still preferred to use her spear for her fights, and while the black wolf didn't claim superiority in spearwielding, his observations were extremely handy when it came to exposing her weakness and where the doe should pay more attention on her spars and practice routine.
All in all, Judith could not say she complained much about the three months she spent in Topia. If only she knew how much longer she would have to stay here...
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Despite his wish to depart as soon as possible, Nicholas was way to prominent a figure between those who knew the truth of his existence to just go as he pleased after announcing his return in a way he did. While other gods who heard his call didn't even bother, nobles and lords of the North has either departed themselves or sent their relatives as representatives to pay their secret homage to the Red King.
Nicholas of clan Wilde hated this. The Red King though knew the importance his presence meant for all the predators, and understood the message him shrugging of the lords' gesture would send. The fox mercenary cared not for such worthless sentiments, but as the second bearer of the title, the red fox dared not go against the legacy of the wolf that has set up the example of who the bearer was and how he was to behave. As such, Nicholas spent two more weeks in the castle of Lord Bog, meeting and discussing the current and future state of things with the rulers of the land. And even declining several not so subtle courting propositions. If there was a positive thing the tod found in all this commotion, it was the fact of foxes being seen as outcasts of society having mostly being gone now. He would have to thank Finneas for this sometime.
Finally though the fox found himself once more on a road. This time he was not traveling on his feet though. Lord Big understood the urgency with which the issue of Bellwether had to be addressed. As such, the shrew has provided Nicholas with the fastest lizardmount his stables held. The gheko lizard specie was known for their speed and proclivity to move using their large hind paws, as well as a bright yellow skin covered in stripes and dots of mostly brownish and earthly color. The steed was, as stated by the stable keeper Flash the Sloth, the fastest strider in the Tundra. Perfect for long distances.
As it turned out, Flash didn't lie, since it took Nicholas just three days to arrive near Topia. Thankfully, the sun has just recently set and the gheko possessed enough ability to navigate in the darkness, so the fox decided not to stop for the night. If he could reach the village in the middle of the night, even better. As far as he knew, his friend rarely slept, unless one counted the wolf's uncounted daynaps. Night was their preferred period of activity, after all.
Striding along the bank of the Zoo river, the red fox was finally approaching his destination.
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Judy was woken from her night sleep by a soft shake of a larger paw on her shoulder. Being used to waking up nearly instantly, the bunny shot a questioning glance towards the intruder. Sylvi just nodded her head in the direction of the door for the doe to follow. Once outside, the lynx signed for them to go in the direction of the river, that was hidden behind a line of trees, that were a part of the surrounding forest. Something was going on, but the lynx remained silent, her expression missing its usual cheer, pouting but focused. The silence was broken when the two reached the treeline.
- There are several cogs dropping anchor near the fishing harbor. Tyhja went out to meet them, but told us to scour the forest for any pests that forgot to announce their presence. - Even to someone lacking bunny ears, the discontent within Sylvi's voice was as clear as a storm cloud in the clear sunny day. The fact that her bow she was fond of using was left behind, also meant that this task was taken with utmost seriousness.
- Let's do this as fast as we can than, and go help him. - Judith knew that her friend didn't like being too far away from the old wolf.
Their bond was formed a long time ago, when the lynx was still a small kid and Tyhja roamed the world with his blade constantly drawn. The meeting of those two was something that could be described by only two words, depending on the individual hearing it: incredible coincidence, or fate. He just finished off a bunch of burglars on a forest road, and decided to clean his sword. There just happened to be a large trunk of a fallen tree that caught the wolf's attention. While tending to his weapon, something strange happened.
Tyhja was an individual that possessed a certain aura of danger and foreboding to him that made mammals instincts scream in silent precaution to stay away from the deceptively small figure. Much more so during his traveling days.
But there, in front of the black wolf, clothes drenched in blood and gore of enemies, crawled a cub of a lynx. The small feline seemed to be mesmerized by the dazzling light that the sharp metal blade of the wolf's sword reflected. Up to a point when small hands reached for the weapon. Intrigued, Tyhja would lower the sharp edged blade for the cub to touch, and seeing the pure glee in those yellow eyes, the seasoned warrior made a spur of the moment decision. He would take the cub with him. A thought on how would he care for it, were its parents looking for their lost child, or the fact that felines and canines were not exactly in the same order did not really occur to the simple man he was. And the fact the cub turned out to be a girl didn't discourage him either. Maybe Tyhja would never be an ideal parent, judging by his uncaring nature, but he was attentive enough, and Sylvi never complained.
If Judith was honest, she envied the lynx. The doe would never know what it was like, to be the only child in a family, always in the presence of one's father, constantly receiving all the attention. In a distant way, she could comprehend it, but now, when she was in a similar situation with her father, Judith was too old to be a young kit again.
On the other hand, Judith felt sorry for the young feline. The doe would sometimes catch the resigned smile Sylvi would show, when watching the passionate way with which the black wolf would strike metal when working in his forge, or calm affection he showed when maintaining his staff. Judith knew this look, for her sisters, a long time ago, has put a basin with water in front of her for the doe to see her own expression. An expression she thought to have grown out of, since these days the thought of a certain blind mercenary fox no longer caused that strange feeling to clench her heart.
The two followed in the direction Judith's superb hearing was able to discern anomaly within the forest's life, while the lynx led them with her sharp night vision. It took them but half a mile to locate the source of the disturbance.
Mr. Otterton, obviously an otter, local fisherman, husband and father of two children, was leading three mammals after himself. A portly ram was holding the rope tied around small otter's neck, while two others, a kudu and an oryx held spears in their hooves, tasked probably with guarding. A duty that was probably not suited for them since, their loud voices were exactly the reason Judith was able to locate them so quickly.
- You shut up!
- You shut up!
- I told you first to shut up!
- No, I told you first to shut up!
- Shut up already, cretin!
- You should be the one to shut up, and I am ten times smarter than you, dumbass!
- Hey, we have a sarge who happens to be an ass, so if you two don't shut to hel up right about now, I am reporting your sorry behinds! - The ram, despite his portly stature and lack of apparent weapons, surely was not someone to be trifled with, since the oryx and kudu fell silent indeed. But not before muttering something along the lines of worthless sheep and their idiotic plans on breaking peace with predators, easily caught by Judith's extraordinary hearing.
- How far it is to your village, pelt? - The ram's voice carried within something more than the simple disdain and arrogance of a prey mammal directed towards a predator the bunny was used to. It carried thinly veiled hatred. Something that sent shivers down Judith's spine, and apparently the otter's too. The two guards were too busy burning holes through one another's foreheads to notice anything.
- J-j-ust a b-b-it longer. Maybe half a mile, sire. - If not for the fact Otterton was leading the group in a direction opposite to where the village actually was, the young bunny guardian would have been disgusted with the otter. He was genuinely scared, his eyes bulging, breath hitching, heart running with the speed of a warmessenger. Yet, the otter decided to forfeit his life to buy some time for someone in the village to maybe notice something was amiss.
A glance towards the lynx, a silent sign to get rid of the ram and, if possible, catch the other two, and the bunny made her move. The doe was prepared for a fight, a fight in which her life would be put on the line, all to save the brave otter and return him to his family.
The ram was no obstacle though, despite all of Judith's fears that he probably was some kind of elementist, due to his command over the other two. Her spear easily went through the ram's head, entering through one ear and exiting through the other (Judith couldn't deny her love to show off and do things in ways others didn't actually expect from her).
The oryx and kudu turned out to be a seasoned and, despite their open show of dissatisfaction with each other, synchronized unit. They didn't cover in fear from Sylvi's fearsome roar, immediately acquiring a back to back fighting stance, covering each other, spears lowered and ready to strike. It took Judith and Sylvi two minutes to subdue the two by first breaking their spears, then demonstrating the fact they couldn't defend against either lynx's sharp claws and insane speed, nor bunny's flying short spear. Bruised and bleeding, the duo agreed to surrender and share information on the location of their ships in exchange for their lives and comfortable stay in the village. Otterton would guard the two tied horned mammals, while the bunny and lynx hurried off to the where the Portuan ships have dropped their anchors.
To where Tyhja was.
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A/N: IF you somehow still keep suffering through this trash, do give a thought on visiting sable1456 and reading his masterpiece of a trilogy about our favourite duo. At least you will have something to enjoy, and not just suffer.
Howleys.