So I'm back. Sorry, School may not have been busy, but I've been going hard at my strength training so I am dead the moment I get home. I would lay in bed and think, 'shit need to post' BAM, I'm asleep and I wake up at eight with a headache. Anyways, here is the next chapter of Vulpine Wizard

8 - Why would I?

When I awaken, I find that I am in just my boxers, my leg is bandaged up and it is day light. In that order. I sigh as I rummage in my backpack. The supplies are still there and I see all my bags around the backpack, so I check them to see I have everything, they just took my pants which were probably ruined trying to take the trap off.

At least they didn't kill me in my sleep for being a freak. Man, I am not having a lucky time keeping my freakishness a secret anymore it seems. Had a good four year run though. I grab a few stimpacks and jab them into my leg to heal up the wound as well as take some of the pain out of things. After a few hours of reading, I see Daniel walk in. "Ah, you're awake. I need to cut to the chase, what the hell are you?"

I scowl at his rudeness before I sit up from the ground, "I'm a person that had the misfortune of getting infected by some radiated fox gene thing." I pause at this and then continue with, "I have no fucking idea man, main reason I hid it. It's weird and unknown. You know how insane people are these days. Having a tail would just be like waving a red flag in front of a bull. Anyways, while I have to thank you for taking the trap off, I'm still pissed that it was your trap that tried to eat my leg in the first place."

The man chuckles as he takes a seat next to me, seeming to dismiss the tail as nothing. "Yeah, I am still sorry about that."

I sigh at the man before dragging my pack closer. "Is Follows-Chalk still alive?" I ask as I rummage in my bag for the Pre-War supplies I had to go get for this guy and his tribe.

"Yeah, it was a close thing, but God was looking down on us that day and he will be making a full recovery," Daniel says with a preacher-like smile.

'This guy is totally like the burned man, isn't he.' I think to myself before I reply, "That's good. Hate to see the guy die after something as stupid as an ambush. Well... I got you the supplies for your evacuation. Hope they were worth trouble of getting." I hand him the items in question and a guard for the tent that I hadn't noticed until now grabs them and takes them away. 'Alright then.'

"Thank you. These will be a godsend when we have to leave. I was losing hope we could get any of these, much less all of them. Tribals are smart but... they are ignorant. They have a hard time getting over their taboos. Who knew all we needed was a Gentile... uh... no offense."

I look at him blankly, "I have no idea what that word means, so as long as it doesn't insult my mum, I don't care. So you're not sticking around to defend your home?"

The man shakes his head as a reply, "No. The Sorrows are a peaceful and sensitive tribe. They are too... innocent if you can believe that, to fight to the death for their home. Joshua wants us to help him, but..." The man petters out as he thinks of the right thing to say.

"It would permanently change these lovely people into a band of killers?" I suggest.

Daniel nods his head, staring at the ground. "I know it is the cowardly thing to do, but we are not like Joshua where the fire in his soul still burns with rage. I just don't want any of the Sorrows to turn out like that man." There is a pregnant silence after this until he clears his throat to change the subject. "Anyways, if we are to evacuate. We will need to scout out some locations where the White Legs are, disable some of the traps they have set on a nearby bridge and try to recover a map of the grand Staircase, a wilderness area to the east. Do you think you'll be up for these tasks? Waking Cloud will be able to guide you around to where we think the camps are, she is one of our best warriors with an uncanny ability to sneak around. I'm really am sorry to ask this of you, but we need all the help we can get. "

I look at the man and I see he truly is sorry that he has to ask an injured man to do this. "Sure. I'll be up and at it in a day or two. I'll kill all the White Legs I find on the way, but... In the time I am healing, do you think you could get one of your medicine men to teach me your ways? I'm a follower as you can tell and well... Learning never stops as they say," I sheepishly grin, embarrassed about the request.

Daniel chuckles and nods, "I'll have Dancing Moon come over and teach you some of our medicines. We don't have a lot, but we have good antidotes and the like. Having to fight Cazadors have made us have to increase our skills with poisons. Rest up and again, I'm sorry about the... Bear trap." On these words, the man left me.

I blink at his quick exit before rummaging in my pack and pull out the pair of jeans. I pull them on and find them rather loose, so I take a leather belt from my pack and belt the pants up so they don't fall past my hips. I allow it to be a little lose so my tail could get past the top of them without discomfort that usually comes with pressing it down.

Bored and sore, I grab my sniper and clean it, so that it is ready for the assassinations I will be having her do when I'm back on my feet. I make sure her scope is clean and that the fall didn't damage her in anyway.

I finish checking over the weapon just as a bald woman comes in with supplies in a leather bag. "Greetings, I am Dancing Moon."

Over the next three days, Dancing Moon teaches me all she can on her tribe's medicine which is inferior to my own medicine, but the combat medicine is amazing. Their antidotes are fast acting and effective and the same can be said about their poisons. She teaches me all about the poisons too so I know the symptoms and how to fight them. There was so much more to learn, but I can run with only moderate pain, so it is time to go. As I walk out of the tent, I see Joshua approaching and a woman with feathers framing her head a ways behind him coming towards us.

Joshua greets me with a biblical style quote, "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem who said, 'Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation.' O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed. Happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. Do you know what it means?" What the fuck.

I shrug with a confused look on my face and think it over for a second, "You want to... beat the hell out of the White Legs instead of leave?" I half answer, half ask.

The man nods, "Given those two choices, yes. In the best of all possible worlds, they would just leave us in peace, but they won't. I don't enjoy killing, but when done righteously, it's just a chore, like any other." I prefer just to clean honestly. "Practiced hands make for short work. And the good Lord knows there's much to be done here."

"I get what you are saying and I'll help you kill the Legion scum, but I'm not understanding what you want here."

"I'll make it simple then. I and the Dead Horses are prepared to do what must be done to protect Zion from the White Legs. And though Daniel won't accept it yet, there are many Sorrows who are also prepared. They may not be warriors, but this is their home. If you have a chance to speak to Daniel about this, ask him to consider defending Zion instead of abandoning it. He has good intentions, but I fear that if we evacuate the Sorrows from this place, it will be lost to them, and us, forever."

"Daniel will not agree. The man is set on keeping the Sorrows out of the fighting and... I have to agree with him. They may be ready, but even someone like me can't, even with good intentions, ask the man to make these people fight. They are far too innocent and that will just get in their way. You know this man! You've led an army of monsters against people! These tribals aren't killer and will freeze the moment they see the sight of life leaving a man's eye. You and I have witnessed the worst out of man, but these people have only been shot at a few times. They would crumble under any real fight against people."

Joshua nods to my words and I continue, "Look, I'm joining you, for the sole purpose to lessen the size of the Legion army. I'm about to go out and kill a few of their war camps as well to cut down on their manpower too. You can get your walkie-talkie from Daniel if you haven't already and after the battle is over and we have won, the Sorrows can come back with a simple call."

"This is a mistake, but I see I can not persuade you on this topic as I can not persuade Daniel. I must thank you for your aid and saving Follow-Chalk from the White Leg as well. May the lord watch over you doctor." With this, Joshua left towards Daniel's tent. As Joshua leaves, who I can assume is Waking Cloud comes forward. The woman is wearing the same thing as Dancing moon, simple leather armor to cover the bare essentials with a bald head.

"Daniel told me to guide you on the scouting trip. Let's make haste and find the White Legs." I nod and we head off into the desert. A thought comes to mind, 'Did Graham just not see my tail or is that man so hell-bent on killing the White Legs he just doesn't care?' The thought only comes to my mind due to see my tail swishing behind me out of the corner of my eye.

Our first stop is to the cave where the amp is, so says Waking Cloud. The cave is called Morning Glory and we make our way there in only a dozen or so minutes. The valley is small unless you have a Yao Guai roped to your back.

We enter the cave and the moment Waking Cloud sees the interior, she stops with wide-eyes. "We should not be here! This place... it belongs to the Father in the Caves! We must not profance it with our touch!"

I blink at her. Is this their religion? "What is the Father in the Caves?"

"The Father in the Caves?! He's the Holy Father who gave the Sorrows His succor and gave the New Canaanites His son! Many of the caves around the valley are sacred to him, and those who trespass are punished by holy wraith!"

I rub my face before I answer the best way I can without insulting her, "I understand this is your religion, but we NEED the map to the Grand Staircase. I'm sure your Father in the Caves wouldn't want his children to be harmed just because of his word, right?"

"I-I guess... so. Just, don't touch anything you don't have to!" I nod as I make sure my gun is fully loaded. This cave could be the home of another Yao Guai or something, so I lead with my rifle. It is a good thing I do too, as a plant in front of us rises up and tries to spit acid at me. I am able to sidestep and put a burst into the plant, the bullets tearing it off its stem.

I look around the room and find several similar plants as that one, so I focus and destroy them all with a burst from my rifle. I reload and continue forward into the cave, watching the walls for any signs of the mutated plant-life. Waking Cloud follows behind while mumbling prayers under her breath, asking for forgiveness from her Father.

I find no more plants and after climbing up to the upper levels, careful to avoid the rusty bear trap on the way up, I find a little shack with a a bedroll and computer in it. I ignore the couple as my sight zones in on the dufflebag in the corner.

I open the rough materialed-bag to find a trench coat, jeans with sewn in Kevlar knee pads, military issue combat boots, a metal breastplate with kevlar lining on the side, a pack of cigarettes, a 40mm grenade, a few bricks of .45 and 5.56 bullets each, and a helmeted gas mask with red eyes. "Holy shit, this is... A complete Ranger's combat uniform!" I exclaim with wide eyes when I see the breastplate and helmet. I quickly pack it away after looking through the pockets for any extra things. Under the pair of pants, I find the map I came for.

'I'll fix the armor up later,' I tell myself as I put the map in my scholar satchel. Thank the gods this thing is water proof or I would be so pissed when I had to jump into the water. I see Waking Cloud looking around at the shack, so I call over, "I have the map, let's get out of here."

The woman nods and almost sprints out of the room. I have a hard time following her with my recently healed injury , but she thankfully waits outside the cave for me. Once outside we start or trek to where we think the White Legs are.

We make good time to the camp by the bighorn Bluff as Waking Cloud tell me. I pull out my sniper as we come over a raise that overlooks the camps location. From the voices, there are people there, so the information is solid.

I prop my rifle up and lean out of cover. I see nine White Legs in the camp, all with tommy guns on their person or large machetes. I shake my head and pull out something I took from my dead caravan. Two hand grenades. "Cover your ears Cloud," I whisper over to the woman next to me. Without waiting for her, I pull the pin on both the hand-held explosives and flung them into the enemy's midst. The tribals do not notice a thing as they are talking to one another in loud voices. I count down from nine in my head and at one, the explosive blows up in a large display of shrapnel and gore.

I have to duck back down so I don't catch a stray piece of shrapnel with my face and I make sure Waking Cloud is still behind cover. Once the bloody rain settles, I leave the cover with my pistol in hand and execute the remaining White Legs that are screaming on the ground.

Waking Cloud follows me, but the moment she sees all the gore, she stumbles to the side and loses her lunch before collapsing into a ball a few feet away from the sickness. I can pick up faint whimpering from her direction as I finish things up. I made the right call, these people are not made for war.

I crouch next to her and draw her into a hug which she gladly accepts, burying her face into my shirt. I wrap one of my arms around her as I keep lookout with my pistol at the ready. The woman cries herself out in only a few minutes. In this time, I don't see any one come to check out the noise, but I really do not want to stick around for the other camp to investigate. I get her up and lead her out of the bloody camp, keeping her face in my shoulder so she doesn't catch any stray glimpses.

After we get a ways away, she starts to calm down. "I-I-" She stutters out before I shush her.

I crouch down in front of her to look under her hands that are covering her face. "Go back to the camp, Waking Cloud. I'll take care of the bridge guards and the remaining camp." The woman nods like a scared child and runs back to her camp, trying to get as far from the scene of death as possible. I don't blame her too much. If that is among your first kill, to see nine men turn into a bloody mess and then executed, that would get to even the hardest men. Gods above and below, I truly have lost all connection to the value of human life.

I head back to the camp and following the path, I see why the other camp didn't attack because of the explosion. There is a few corpses of cazadors around along with three Yao Guai cub along with their mama dead on the ground, all surrounded by about fifteen White Legs. The bastards got taken down by the wildlife and by the looks of things, only a few hours ago as some of the blood is still wet.

I loot the camp and start to the bridge. I arrive at the bridge with no problem, but the moment I step foot on the wooden thing, I start taking gunfire from the hilltop across the way. I focus as I pull my weapon and see four people taking potshots at me with pistols. I can only shake my head and line up my shot as I duck behind a stone support.

A quick couple of bursts later and the White Legs are dead. Some still on the hill, but some ended up rolling off into the ravine to be eaten by the local wildlife down there. Leave it to the legion to find people dumber than raiders to join their cause. For the traps, I just take a few sticks and set them off as I walk down the road. With that down, I head back to Daniel to report the success of the jobs.

Once I arrive back, I see the man walking around in the river, so I splash over to him and say, "The White legs along the bridge and in their camps are all dead. I have the map to the grand Staircase right here and that should be everything." I turn over the map to the man and he takes it with a grin on his face.

"I appreciate all of this. Well, that's all there is left to do. Now we just have to quietly leave and get out without being noticed. That's assuming Joshua won't try to stop me. And that he hasn't talked you into fighting the White Legs despite what I've said. Don't worry... haa... I don't hold it against you. You're a ge-... an outsider. Sorry. Fighting seems like a practical solution, but there's more than that at stake."

"Don't worry Daniel. While I am going to go fight, it is because I have to. This isn't about the tribes for me. I was here to learn medicine, but when I learned that the White Legs aligned themselves with the Legion, and well... I wasn't leaving here until they all are dead at my feet anyways. I don't want your people here to see that either, Especially after seeing one of your elite warriors cry at the sight of nine dead bodies. This is your home though, so yes, leave while you can, but keep that walkie-talkie handy for Joshua's call. We are doing this soon, so hold up in the area for two days. We can win this and if we don't... well, you are already leaving, so you can just continue to go."

Daniel looks down and nods. "Okay. Okay, that sounds manageable. Thank you for the help my friend and I wish you well and that God watches over you in this darkest of times." I pat the man on the shoulder and make my way to Joshua to inform him that the Sorrows are truly out of this fight.

I find the tribe ready for battle and Joshua loading his firearm in front of them. "The war parties are dead and the roads open. Daniel is taking the Sorrows away. I would not convince him about needing to fight after seeing an 'elite' warrior cry when she saw a grenade aftermath."

Joshua sighs and nods his head when he hears this. "I thought it over and my men agree that the Sorrows would have just gotten in the way. I have a man here with the radio waiting for our return to contact Daniel about our victory. Thank you for what you have done and I hope to see you with me after the battle. Our objective is to lead a group of my men into the White Leg's camp and find their leader, Salt-Upon-Wounds in Three Marys and stop him from fleeing. There can be no mercy, this is an extermination, nothing less."

"Let's do this then," I tell him.

"God be with you." I can see the man smile under his bandages as he waves me and his men forward. We march onto the White Leg camp as the sun slowly lowers into the horizon, casting long shadows that will work in our favor.

We run into a few little patrols of White Legs, but they do not een get a chance to scream before we gun them down. We make good time and by the time the moon is overhead, we are charging their camp with Dead horse fighters swarming everywhere.

Joshua and I charge the front with our squad of men to fight them head on. I stay in the back with my rifle and take down anyone that has the high ground in the fight while Joshua and his tribe tackles the threat on our level. The night air erupts in the sounds of multiple gunfights as we advance down the canyon towards their leader's camp.

We reach a dip in the path and have to swim across to reach land we can stand on once more. I take point and as I come up from under the water, my world turns white as explosives rock the world around me. I fall abck into the water and with blurred vision, see rocks fall down and into our path.

Joshua hauls me out of the water and to land. "This is taking too long. We can't let Salt-Upon-Wounds escape. I'm going to find a way around. God willing, we will finish this together." I pat the man on the arm and he runs off to somewhere, but my eyes were still watering from the flash, so I couldn't tell which way he went.

I continue up a little incline next to me and cross over a arch to find a cave. 'That's convenient,' I think to myself as I draw out Morgana. I lead with the gun and fire at any White Legs that stand in my way, not letting anyone hear my approach in the soft sand. Sometimes having bare feet is a bad thing, but it works out well in these situations.

It isn't long until I find the exit and get out to rejoin the fighting around me. As I run through the canyon, I see mini gunfights all around me and when I can, I take down a few White legs to help along the fighting and cause a bit of chaos for my enemies.

I start running as I hear an increase in fighting ahead as well as Joshua's voice booming over the sound of the bullets, commanding his men in the battle. I arrive to see the tail end of the fight and the men capture a few of the White Legs. Joshua checks his weapons over as I approach and his men bring forward the captives from the fast gun fight.

I stand silently next to Joshua as a total of ten White Legs were brought forward and put on their knees. At the end, I see a man with a special headdress that I can guess to be the chief. In cold blood, Joshua pulls out his forty-five and execute all of the grunts in front of their chief. The chief struggles and yells, but it doesn't do a thing. All I do is stand in front of the chief and watch the first Legate do his work.

"We warn you at Syracuse, and you persisted. You took advantage of us at New Canaan to drive us out, and like the dogs of Caesar you are, you followed us to Zion." The man can only shake as Joshua's voice gets harsher as his speech goes along. "And now you stand on holy ground, a temple to God's glory on Earth. But the only use for an animal in our temple is sacrifice! Kale watcha nei conserva oh! You understand me, don't you? Don't you?!" The man's voice could freeze water as he asks the question.

The chief suddenly looks up at me, "Outman! Kuna-man mad! He kill all White Legs! You talk! You stop!" He commands me. The man tries to command me from on his knees. Classic Legion arrogance.

I crouch down next to him and pull out Morgana, the suppressor taken off it for cleaning and I never bothered to put it back on. "You understand me?" I ask the man in a casual voice as I bring the pistol forward, the barrel lazily pointed towards the ground in a semi-nonthreatening manner. I am an enemy with a loaded gun, so it can never be fully nonthreatening.

The man frantically nods. "Good. You see this pistol, Friend?" I ask him tapping the barrel against my leg. Once more the man nods as an answer. "This pistol was used to kill Caesar." The man's eyes widen as they lock onto the gun in question. "The bullet that blew his sick little head off came from this little weapon. So... Friend," I say with a slight growl and twisted smile on my face. "Why would I talk Joshua out of killing you if I was willing to kill the man you sought to join?" I ask with a small gesture with my gun and shoulders. The smile still on my face, the amusement of seeing the piss-inducing fear in a Legion scum's face flooding my veins. Better than watching a prank from the Weasley twins on Snape.

The war chief's eyes widen as I back away and just as he starts to turn, Joshua puts a bullet through his head, the bone and brains spraying out of the exit wound, coating the ground where I once stood. The man's body falls into the slow-moving water and his blood mixes with the liquid, making a trail of tainted water flowing out the way we came in. "And God's work is complete." Joshua states as he holsters his pistol. "Thanks to your help and the grace of God, the White Legs won't be troubling Zion anymore. Let's go tell Daniel. Tomorrow will be here soon enough. And there is much to do."

I too holster my weapon as I scratch my head. This really wasn't what I signed up to do. "Alright. Yeah, let's get Daniel back before he thinks us dead." I did have fun though, except for the being shot and trapped part.

For the next three months, I help everything get settled back down. I take care of a Yao Guai infestation once I've rested from the battle and once everything starts running smooth and everyone is back, I am able to start up my lessons once more. Joshua even gifts me with his pistol, a .45 with Greek lettering on the side that says "A Light Shining in Darkness." The pistol was so nice that I discarded Maria except for her grip decal which I magicked into fitting on the .45, merging the two. I still call her Maria, but she is now a sexy weapon instead of a sexy ornamental tool.

Dancing Moon taught me everything she knew about medicine and in return, I taught her the basics of what I knew that she could use in the setting we were in. I master the glamour charm for my ears, but have to renew it every three hours, so I'll need to have that mounted like I first thought. I have given up on my tail completely as there is no way I can make my magic do what I wanted to be done with it. I may have worked around runes with my security with an excess of power, but this is one thing will not be working around.

By the end of the third month, I am ready to go back to Mojave and join back up with my pack. I bid the tribe a farewell after I am prepared, wearing my usual vest, coat and bandages, but what is new is my padded jeans from the Ranger uniform which I have made into pristine condition, but made sure there was still loose. Sure I need a belt, but I can easily hide my tail in the mess of denim. I also have my gas mask and helmet on standby so that I can run through the desert and not breath in a pound of dust.

The trip back to the Mojave desert took well over a month and half of a second before I find my way back to Vegas. In that time, I mostly walked and worked on a few spells to ease my living. I made a campfire spell that burns green from the intensity, but I can lower the heat at will. I made that into a combative spell the moment I saw the damage it could do to an animal's body. Some basic hygiene spells like cleaning and fresh shaving. Since I never carried a razor and my combat knife was more of a short sword, I rarely shaved, so I made the spell to help that along. It shaves off all the hair from the nose down to baby smooth, but I don't care enough to fine tune it. As long as my head hair is fine. The cleaning just took a layer of grime off things. I could do it for dirt and the likes off my body, but it leaves an unclean feeling, like the dirt was still kind of there, so I stuck with cleaning my weapons of gunk and blood.

By the time I get back to the cave where we started the adventure from, it has been six months since I left and I do believe my birthday has been here and passed. I'm eighteen. I can finally drink alcohol, woo!

The air is hot-ish, but I can feel the familiar waves that comes with the height of summer which it would be seeing as I left sometime in February. I've been in the wastes for over five years and have done more than I thought I ever could with my life. Damn... I've killed a lot of people in that time. With this in mind, I start my hike to the followers to get back to my pack and a nice warm bed. While I love my pack, after half a year of sleeping on the ground, my bed is what I look forward to the most.