Chapter 33 New Allies

Edited by Euphonemes

Artwork by Knoton13

So, the cover art is awesome, but it cuts off the full picture here so check out the FULL picture on my Ao3 account or Deviantart account. Also, hid a few references in this chapter so see if you can find them all! ;)

"So, who is this new friend of yours?"

The question of just who Nick was taking her to see had been playing on her lips since the moment they had left the villa. They were currently in a rather nice carriage, one being peddled by two of Nick's guards, while two other wolves sat on each side of the vehicle, watching for danger with crossbows held at the ready. Judy herself was gripping the hilt of her sword the entire journey into town.

She wasn't about to let this vixen get the better of her a second time.

Nick kept a wary eye on the road, though he cast a cursory look at Judy, adding a smarmy smile to purposely rile the lovable bunny. "That would ruin the surprise, no?"

"Hmphh..."

As the town of Zootopia appeared around a bend, Judy spotted Fort Zootopia looming ahead of them. She felt a sharp twinge of pain in her heart seeing the building that had been hers, only for her dream to be snatched away by that insidious ewe. Noticing her drooping ears, Nick patted the shoulder of the kudu peddling the cart.

"Más rápido por favor."

The kudu nodded and doubled the speed he had been peddling, putting them past the fort in no time flat. But as they passed the gates, Judy's eyes bulged out of their sockets.

Not even thinking, she leapt from the cart as it sped past the fountain.

"Carrots!" Nick yelled. "Carlos, stop...stop!"

Judy was off and running towards the entrance, slowing to a stop as she reached the massive unguarded entryway. "Is that...Bellwether?"

Judy watched as a very shorn Bellwether marched between four of her tigers from the latrine to Judy's old quarters. The bunny couldn't contain her surprise at seeing the now pink, woolless animal between the legs of the four tigers.

Her ears perked as they caught light pawfalls behind he.. "Nick, didn't Bellwether have wool the last time we saw her?"

Nick looked between her ears, parting them with his snout. Judy shook her head at his antics, though she couldn't prevent a stifled laugh of her own when Nick guffawed. The fox covered his muzzle with his paws while trying to hide his frantic laughter.

That lasted about two seconds before he let out a loud, wheezing 'Haaaaaa!'.

Four sets of narrowed eyes stared in his direction, though Nick didn't care. "She looks like a naked mole rat!" he snickered before leaning against the fort walls, laughing without end. Judy looked back at the ewe, who was glaring daggers at the doe. She decided it was about time to leave, even though she quite enjoyed the look of consternation on the Bellwether's face, as well as hearing the snickers from soldiers throughout the courtyard of the fort. As she turned, grabbing Nick by his coat lapel, she couldn't help the wide smile that skirted across her muzzle. At least Karma found a way to repay her for her generosity.

"Come on, Slick," she chuckled. Grabbing the wheezing fox, she led him back to the cart, and they were off again.

"Are we there yet?"

Nick grumbled at the near constant refrain from the rabbit. Judy, on the other paw, was having a great time getting on the fox's nerves in order to find out who they were going to meet. It helped that she was holding his free paw while leaning into his side. Her voice was laced with as much sweetness as possible. It wasn't her style, however; she had observed how several of her sisters pulled the same trick on their suitors. Judy felt like she'd lose nothing giving it a go.

"No.." Nick growled.

"So, are we there yet now?"

Nick sighed heavily and groaned heavily. "Judy…"

"Yes?" Judy asked coyly, smiling at the fox in the seat next to her. Nick stared down at her for a long while as the cart made its way out of town. Her smile never let up under his glare, and it only took a minute for Nick to finally break, rolling his eyes before deciding on another route. Leaning down, he placed a quick kiss upon Judy's lips.

Judy's eyes sparked wide open as his lips came away from her own. Blinking quietly, she found herself caught in a stupor as the cart continued its jarring, rocky journey down the dusty dirt road.

Nick grinned at the stupefied rabbit as he placed a paw against his muzzle. "You know...I think I can promise another of those if you keep that question to yourself."

Judy blinked away her confusion. "Huh?"

Nick leaned back into the seat. It wasn't very comfy, but he liked watching the stoic rabbit officer being so flustered at such a little gesture. Placing his paws behind his head, he propped his feet upon the seat in front of them. Judy finally realized what the sly fox had done and narrowed her eyes.

Two can play this game...she thought. "Nick?"

"Yes?" Nick drawled. "What is it-urgk!"

Nick was stopped in his tracks as Judy yanked down on his jacket lapels. The wolves surrounding the different sides of the cart snickered, watching Judy kiss Nick deeply, pulling him closer to her as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Those two…" the wolf peddling the cart laughed.

"Oh hush, Larry," the wolf next to him said. "It's good that he's finally found someone."

"I agree with that, Gary.". He looked behind him, finding the kiss ending. Larry noticed a divot in the road ahead and nudged his companion, pointing at the dip. Understanding dawned on the wolf and he leaned the cart towards the hole.

Da-dump!

The whole cart shuffled, sending Nick falling on top of the bunny. Their eyes widened at the sudden situation.

"Uh…"

Both Nick and Judy nervously chuckled. They felt the cart jerk to a stop, and Nick raised his head. "Oh, we're here!" he stated in a rush as he pushed himself off of Judy. He wiped his paws on his shirt and offered a paw to Judy. The bunny simply glowered at him, crossing her paws across his chest while laying on the bench.

"Aren't you forgetting something, Nick?"

"Am I?" he asked, ears perking.

"A certain promise?" Judy reminded the fox as her paw again reached for his coat.

Gary and Larry chuckled along with the guard wolves, who jumped off the cart and created a perimeter at their destination. They watched as the fox yelped and disappeared again under the back of the bench. "They really like each other, don't they?" Gary asked his brother.

"It does seem like that," Larry replied as they heard a growl, followed by a squeak, though they weren't sure who made what noise. They abandoned the cart and the two mammals still on it as they secured the perimeter. It took several minutes for the rabbit to reappear, smoothing her shirt as she hopped from the cart with a smug look and a spring in her step.

Nick reappeared a few seconds later, one paw cautiously grabbing the side of the cart. The fur on his head was quite ruffled and his clothes a slight mess as he pulled himself from the cart, leaving his hat somewhere at the bottom of the cart. He slowly made his way out of the cart and onto the ground, legs wobbly and paws shaky.

Remind me never to make a bet about kisses again with that bunny...he thought as he stumbled about in a love-drunk haze, nearly falling out of the cart and onto his muzzle. Nick grinned, a goofy smile etching his face. Though I really don't mind her kisses...they're dynamite!

He slowly made his way towards where Judy stood in front of a large wigwam. Nick placed an unsteady paw on Judy's shoulder. "So...do all rabbits kiss like that, or is it just you?"

Judy smirked up at the fox. "Sorry, bunny trade secret. And unless you plan on kissing another rabbit, you'll never find out."

"Not planning on anything like that." Nick wrapped his arm around Judy's side. His gaze caught her amethyst eyes glancing at him. "Only one bunny for me."

"Hmmmm…"

Judy nuzzled into Nick's side. "Sounds good to me, Slick. Now, who is this mysterious amigo that you wish for us to meet?"

"Oh, Ake'cheta?" Nick drawled as he led them towards the entrance of the teepee. "He's a good friend of my family and an honorary member of the Pawute tribe, though he originally came from the Spilyáy tribe. He acts as a bit of a liaison for his tribe and Zootopia and knows more about poultices and herbal remedies than anyone else."

"Ah," Judy stated as Nick led her to the flap of the wigwam, lifting it and letting Judy inside.

The interior of the wigwam was clouded with smoke from a smoldering fire, the coals and single log bathing the area in a soft, earthy glow. The insides of the tent were sparse: a single ornately crafted carpet covered one half of the inside, while a large chest sat against the opposite side. On top of a the chest was a rather odd device, which looked like a fancy birdcage. As Judy drew closer, she saw an odd kangaroo plushie, sporting a tattered blue tunic. Several scrolls covered with inscriptions coated the entire cage, with large and spacious dream catchers hanging and pieces of sage were tied above and on the cage.

"Huh…" Judy said, leaning her head to the side. Her interest was lost as a wooshing sound filled the small room. She ducked her head, levelling her ears as a tomahawk whizzed between them.

"Yaaah!"

Judy turned to look behind her, seeing the tomahawk buried deep into a support pole right between Nick's splayed ears. Judys' sword was in her paw in an instant, whipping around to face a silent coyote sitting cross-legged in the middle of the carpet.

"Who are you!" Judy shouted, her rapier pointed at the mammal as she advanced on him.

"Carrots…"

Judy drew up to right in front of the silent mammal. As she closed upon him, she noticed the red markings across the tan coyote's body and across his eyes. Levelling her sword at his chest, she again growled.

"Who are you!"

"Judy…" Nick again warned.

"What?" Judy stormed, casting her gaze behind her.

Nick lifted a nervous paw toward the coyote. "You don't want to make him angry...you wouldn't like him when...he's…"

Nick stammering turned to incoherent murmurs as the light in the wigwam dimmed, the last of it disappearing as the fire died completely. The last thing she saw was Nick gulp and his eyes go wide with worry.

"...angry." Nick finally muttered. Seeing Nick's shadow dancing against the walls, Judy turned to see a soft glow appearing from behind her. She noticed the light came from a wisp of smoke above the coyote that grew slowly, trailing through the air like a snake through the grass.

"I...AM..." a deep, bellowing voice said, filling the tiny area as the cloud grew, expanding until it towered over both Judy and Nick. The vision flared to life, the vibrant blue cloud taking shape into that of a coyote. At the same time as this tremulous display formed, the coyote's eyes flashed open, revealing a pulsing blue glow from them.

"AKE'CHETA!"

The room shook as the pulsing figure let back its shadowy head and howled. Judy nearly dropped her sword in surprise, taking several steps back to Nick's side. "What is he?"

"Um, right now?" Nick asked as the visceral vision stared down at them. "Seems a bit hangry, no?"

"Not the time, Nick!" Judy hissed.

The coyote on the carpet stood, his blazing eyes focused onto the two interlopers. The azure eyes focused on the fox. A small smirk lit his lips. "Ah, Don Wilde...long time no see…What brings you and this A'ykws to my abode."

"It has been quite awhile, eh, Ake'cheta?"

"It has been too long…" the coyote stated. "What is your business here?"

Nick clapped his paws together, seemingly now unfazed by the apparition looming over them. "Well, my fine compañero Judith here, has something that we would humbly ask you to identify for us."

The coyote's booming voice filled the void between them. "And that is?"

Turning to Judy, Nick offered the doe a sweet grin. "Mi amor, do you have the poultice with you?" Judy nodded and with her free paw — her other still holding a death grip on her sword —handed over the satchel she had grabbed from the wagon to Nick. "Thank you."

"What can I say except you're welcome," Judy stated calmly back, though her eyes darted between Nick's green-eyed gaze and the azure form of a coyote floating above them.

Nick caught the flicker of her eyes and chuckled. "You must forgive my friend, Ake'cheta. He has a flair for the dramatic."

Judy tentatively nodded, surveying the insides of the wickiup again while seeing how far the exit was from their position. Just two leaps and we could be away from this crazy coyote. She again found her gaze lingering on the few items in the room. Her head jerked back after passing over the cage upon discovering the kangaroo doll inside of it was gone.

"Uh...Nick?" Judy stammered, tugging on Nick's sleeve while her focus only briefly left the cage to look at the fox with a growing sense of fear.

"Yes, darling?" Nick asked. She pointed her sword towards the cage, only to have her mouth drop open at the doll re-appearing in the crudely built trap, a wooden bowl of popped maize situated in its lap.

"Oh, don't mind the Nope Doll, Carrots. He's usually harmless."

Nope...doll? USUALLY?! A spike of anger welled within the rabbit. Between the haunting visage hanging above them, the disappearing and reappearing doll and the general sense of growing anxiety she was feeling within her, she was growing increasingly agitated.

"Don Nicholas Piberious de la Wilde!" she yelled, somewhat shocked at the volume of her shout as the fox turned to face her again. "You are going to explain all of…" she waved her sword and paw around the room, "...this to me, right...now!" Her foot stomped on the carpet as her glare shot daggers through the fox.

Her eyes widened as she raised her sword, pointing it above Nick's shoulder.

"That is easy, little a'ywks. Your lutsa tlipa here is i-ya-yush."

"Yeagh!" Nick jumped back, startled by the coyote's muzzle that suddenly appeared over his shoulder. His paw reached automatically for his right side where his sword would be, forgetting he wasn't Zorro at the moment. Gotta play the cowardly Don I guess...he thought, jumping behind Judy. He poked his head between Judy's ears. "Don't scare me like that!" he cried.

A rumbling laugh filled the wigwam. The coyote's shoulders began to shake as the mist above him began to dissipate, quickly losing its form and color altogether until it vanished completely. The light of the coals began anew as a fire licked hungrily at the logs placed above them. Judy could have sworn she heard a disgusted sigh behind them, but only saw the oddly named Nope doll inside the cage, its paws folded across its chest.

"Don Wilde, you have always been an easy fox to trick." The coyote advanced on the pair, a smile on his face. He extended a paw to Judy, ignoring her sword completely. "I am sorry for the display, Capitán Hopps…" He chuckled slightly as he motioned towards Nick with his head. "...I just wanted to see if I could scare Nicholas here."

Judy offered a shy grin. "I can definitely understand that." She extended her own paw and gripped his. "He definitely can be a xu-shum."

The coyote grinned. "You speak my language?"

Judy nodded. "Somewhat. A few tribes sometimes traded with my family, so I picked up a few words here and there. Mostly ones my mother and father weren't happy I learned."

"So they'd be very applicable to our mutual friend currently hiding behind you."

Judy grinned. "Very."

Ake'cheta let out a tremulous laugh. As his laughter settled, he looked at the satchel still in Nick's paw. "You said you had something you wished me to see?"

Nick nodded, passing the satchel to the larger mammal. "We do. We have a poultice that was used by Sk...an assassin, and wish to see if you can identify where it came from. Judy here knows it comes from the mountains near her home, but I thought you might be able to give us a closer location."

Ake'cheta nodded, ignoring the faux-paus while withdrawing the poultice, examining it in his paw. "Hmm...interesting." He turned his gaze back upon the rabbit. "I smell the comfry in this. You said this was from the mountains?"

Judy nodded.

The coyote sniffed the wrap, grimacing at the coppery scent of dried blood. Breaking a patch of it off, he brought it over to the chest in the corner. He withdrew a pestle and mortar, as well as a pitcher and bowl.

He passed the pitcher over to Nick. "Can you fetch some water from the spring out back?" The fox took the pitcher and, with a quick kiss between Judy's ears, he walked out of the tent, tail swishing behind him.

"Keep that one in line," Ake'cheta stated plainly as he mashed the bit of the poultice in the mortar. "That shapatkwapwiluula has many secrets."

The doe's head tilted slightly, nose twitching. "What was that you called him?" She hadn't recognized any malice in the canine's voice, but had never heard that word used before.

It was Ake'cheta's turn to look confused. He stopped his paw from mashing the poultice, head turning slightly. "You mean he hasn't told you yet?"

"Told me what?" Judy asked with a step forward.

Ake'cheta shrugged. "It is not my place to tell if he hasn't shared. We all have our shadows we wish to hide, though eventually like the morning sun, all things cloaked in black will be revealed."

"What do you mean?" Judy asked, intrigued by his statements. Ake'cheta remained silent, his muzzle turned to a frown as he worked. Judy was about to question him further when the flap to the teepee opened.

"I'm back!" Nick raised the pitcher and smiled at the doe. "I brought the water. And Judy, it is muy deliciosa. You should try some...Judy?" Nick's ears perked up when he saw the bunny's nose twitching. "Are you alright, darling?"

"I'm fine…" she muttered quickly. She glanced at the coyote who had gone back to his task, a sudden tenseness to his movements.

"Are you sure?" he asked quickly, passing along the water to the coyote who took it with a curt nod. He poured a small amount of water atop the absorbent mashed plant material. Nick walked over to Judy, whose eyes bore holes into the floor. He placed a paw on her shoulder.

"I'm fine," Judy snapped. Her eyes softened as Nick withdrew his paw. "I'm sorry...I'm just…"

"Overwhelmed?"

Judy sighed. "Yeah...I guess so." It wasn't a lie, but it was close enough to how she was feeling. The loss of her dream job had left a gaping hole in her heart, and even though she felt it filling being around Nick, the fox's general kindness towards her alleviating the sting of her loss, it still was there.

Though now, a new thought was brewing in her mind. What was the secret that Ake'cheta was about to tell her? What secret is Nick hiding?

Her thoughts were cut off by the crashing of pottery and the sound of cursing.

"What is it?" she asked, eyes drawn to the cracked bowl lying broken on the dirt floor. Ake'cheta was staring with wide eyes at a smoldering pile in the center of it. The slight blue tinge to the smoke that wisped from it turned to an inky black the higher it rose.

"El foso de la desesperación!" Ake'cheta muttered. "This is pejúta Šicà. Very bad medicine."

El foso de la desesperación...Judy repeated. Her ears shot up and eyes widened. "That's the place that Bellwether mentioned in her journal!" Nick shot her a worried look when the rabbit walked over to the coyote and placed her paws on the kneeling mammal's shoulders. "Do you know where that is?"

The coyote returned her gaze and nodded. "I do, but...that is a cursed land. Only those who seek death travel there. Many in my tribe have returned spouting gibberish, or not returned at all. The spectre of death lives in that land."

"Well, that sounds...terrible," Nick stated. "Well, I guess that means we'll be leaving it to more experienced mammals to follow up on that clue."

"We're going," Judy stated vehemently, turning her gaze onto Nick. Her amethyst eyes pierced through his defenses and shoved his protests back down his throat. It was the same look she had given him when he was masquerading as Zorro, vowing to capture him even if it was the last thing she'd do.

There would be no persuading the rabbit otherwise.

"Well, if you're going, I'm going, Judy. I can't let my favorite and most loved bunny go traipsing off to such a wonderful sounding place." Nick's gaze travelled over to the coyote. "How about you, Ake'cheta. Up for going mad?"

The coyote sighed heavily. "If only to keep you safe from the wayward spirits which surely haunt that place."

"Great, let's go!" Judy abruptly turned in place with military precision before marching towards the tent flap. "Gather what you need, Ake'cheta, and meet us at our cart. Nick? We'll head back to your manor and gather what we need."

Her eyes narrowed and took on a glint of steel. "We will find out what happened to Skye at the Pit of Death, even if it's the last thing we do."

The tent flap opened then closed as the bunny disappeared from view. Nick choked back a nervous gulp. "I sincerely hope that this isn't the last thing we do…"

AN: So, while looking up the Spanish words to season this chapter with, I found out that coyote in Spanish was coyote. Who knew…*not me*Also, a huge thanks to Knoton for allowing me to use his OC, Ake'cheta, as well as giving me a lot of information about different Native American phrases I could use in this story. Translations will be provided below.

SAHAPTIN -

A'ykws- Cottontail Rabbit

Lutsa Tlipa- Red Fox

I-ya-yush (eye yah yesh)- Crazy

Xu-shum - Trouble maker

Shapatkwapwiluula -Outlaw