Authors Note: Hey, Guys! First, this story is still on haitus 'cause I can't promise you that I'll post another chapter soon, heck I don't even know what the next chapter is about. (i'm making it all up as i go along..) I've been reading a lot of books lately and all these ideas are whirling around in my head! I'm going to go insane. But. Go ahead and review 'cause I live for your praise. =^.^=

Silence. One never really appreciates the silence of shock, or the silence of being alone, until one is the cause of it. A bit pompous of me to think that everything would turn out alright after dropping that verbal bomb of a surprise. Now I am sitting in the makeshift prisoners tent awaiting judgment wondering if I will ever be able to get some dinner and where my 'pet' has gone off to.

Oh well, I suppose I should have been a bit less sarcastic. The commander was very, uh, upset when I told her my full name and her subordinates thought I was being fresh with her, which resulted in a very nasty fight. I lost on purpose. Not that I would have won anyway but nobody lost their head, so to speak. Still, I would like some supper before my intestines eat themselves from the inside out.

The tent that they're keeping me in is quite quaint in the way that many such small tents are. Grubby and smelly from its previous occupants, it was a typical give-it-to-the-newbie tent as was the cot. The floor, if you could call it such, was the brownish part of the tent ensemble which is why these sorts of tents are called mudflats. That way you can tell which end is down making setting up a breeze, or so they say, personally I think they make being in the military a pain.

The kiddies seemed to think I need six people guarding my tent and I don't blame them. After all I did take out about a dozen of them during our friendly brawl and they only managed to get one hit on me. I contribute my fighting prowess to all this outdoorsy living I've been doing lately, very invigorating.

Much as I enjoy this sorry excuse of a tent, I think it's time I stretch my legs and find something to eat. I can hear people moving around outside but they all seem to be avoiding this 'tent' and anyway, I can smell something good cooking. Must be chow time.

I stood up and noted the positions of my guards before flicking a knife out of my arm sheath. Now, this isn't common knowledge but in every mudflat, no exceptions, there is a flaw in the back of the tent that you can slit an opening in and conceal without leaving a trace of said opening.

So, I sauntered over casually and, pretending to stretch, I leaned down to make the proper cut. Loud voices outside the tent stopped me and I knew I wouldn't get another chance as the front flapped open revealing a mousy looking kid; if you can call six feet of lanky brown haired boy, mousy.

He looked down at me stretching on the floor and I ignored him. We stayed like this for awhile as I continued stretching and waited for him to say something, young people are always impatient, until he cleared his throat and said,

"So."

I struggled with my laughter and carried on as though he hadn't spoken. He looked at me for a long moment then wandered over to the back of the tent and walked along the perimeter until he got to the cot upon which he sat down on. And stared. I finished up my stretch and looked out of the corner of my eyes at him. Short, light brown, hair that stuck up in the back framed his long face and gave him the 'mousy' look, sort of. His moss brown, tired looking, eyes caught mine and he straightened up.

"I have been instructed to escort you to dinner but my companions and I have reached an agreement, you will remain here until our commander has deemed it necessary to question you. If you have any complainants, let's hear 'em."

He lost his stilted I-am-speaking-from-memory tone at the end of his most interesting speech in which he, and his friends, presumed that he can keep me here. How stupid.

I smiled and stood. He started to get to his feet but he was too slow. I gripped his neck right behind his ear and pressed him gently back onto the cot as he fought to keep consciousness. He failed. A quick punch to the jaw saw to that and as I laid him out on aforementioned cot, I whispered, "Next time, laddie, be sure not to come between me and my food, hey? Sweet dreams."

Straightening up, I strode over to the magical door that leads to my salvation from starvation and, nonchalantly, slit the slit and made my escape. I figure it would take about three minutes for them to notice my disappearance but only about two seconds to find mousy boy. Oh, well.

Meanwhile, Jeri Snak was sitting with her soldiers enjoying a nice hot meal and wondering whether or not she should believe all these things that she has heard in the last few hours. Or at least she would be enjoying that meal if it weren't for the creature that has identified itself as "Maurie" who insists that she should listen to him and to "stop being stupid". She sighed, things never work out just the way you want.

This "Maurie", as he refers to himself, is a small, tan with brown stripes, fox-like creature with large ears and black eyes that look like they're staring your soul into a corner of your head and nailing it to the wall. At the moment he was interrogating corporal Victore on the details of their mission and Victore was coping quite well, unlike his mates who were still wary of this unnatural being who claimed to be a deity. They weren't alone in their wariness that's for sure. Plenty of the others were keeping their distance.

"Hey, lady! Where's Aani? If you come between him and his supper he'll do something drastically unnecessary." Maurie announced, throwing a glance around the camp.

Jeri turned, a straight backed figure silhouetted in the firelight, and replied, "I sent someone to fetch him and they should be back soon. Anyway, I doubt this "Aani" of yours could get past all my soldiers even if he did put up an admirable fight before."

Maurie sneered, "Sheesh, you sure are naïve. Aani is the best fighter in this whole damn camp by far and I have no doubt that he could blend in without any trouble at all. Hell, he could kill you all and still have time for breakfast. Unfortunately, he doesn't work that way." He pulled a disgusted face and muttered, "Stupid git."

Jeri sighed; it had been going like this for quite a while. She would attempt to draw him out, and get some information on this Aani character, and he would fire back insults while boasting about "Major General Aani ve Rojinul Kohtoc". On that note, the fact that he claims to be General Kohtoc is simply outrageous. He is far too young to be Kohtoc, who was that age nearly sixty years ago, although his attitude about this whole affair suggests that he is telling the truth which is ridiculous! I am no simpleton to be taken in by a charlatan.

She glanced around, Private Shoson should be back by now, and saw a sarge entering the food line which was odd since she thought she knew all the sergeants on duty. She frowned and started to get up but quickly turned when a commotion erupted down in the direction of where they were holding Rojinul.

Private Shoson and Private Merridew, who had been on the guard detail, came running up looking upset. They came to a halt and saluted stiffly. She raised her eyebrows, questioningly, while she saluted back. Private Shoson cleared his throat and began to explain, "He overwhelmed me, sir, and escaped…"

I scooped up several ladlefuls of stew, slinked over to the shadows, and sat down to enjoy my dinner. I looked around and saw the typical army camp scene; groups of uniformed denizens sitting around fires supping the last of their meal. The only difference here from other typical army camp scenes was the fact that nearly everyone was young and inexperienced. Oh, sure, there were some middle aged fellows who looked like they'd seen some action but when you know what I know and you've seen what I've seen, they're all just a bunch of amateurs.

Maurie was staring over in my direction, like he knew I was here, and Commander Snak was talking quietly to mousy boy and the guard kid; she didn't look too happy. I was just about done when they broke up and the commander turned to the rest of the kiddies.

"It seems that our "guest" is wandering the camp and could be fashioning a message to his superiors-"

Raucous laughter interrupted her as Maurie erupted, rolling around like he'd heard the most hilarious thing ever. They all stared down their noses at him looking insulted and indignant. A couple of commons, common soldiers, near by looked ready to leap into battle but were quickly calmed by a black haired private who had a look of authority.

The commander sighed and looked down at Maurie with a look that said, now what? Eventually Maurie finished chortling and sat up, scratching his ears, to look at her with a glint of something bad in his eyes.

"Aani doesn't have superiors, sweetheart, he has me, although I don't count, and he has himself. That's all you need when you're a smartass Guar-" He was taken down in the middle of his sentence by a spoon that was hurled at the speed of light.

Everyone's head swiveled from his descent to me at the other end of camp where I relaxed my pose and sat down to slurp down the leavings of my soup. Pretty soon, they were all gathered around me in a very familiar pose and I smiled innocently.

"It wasn't me." I said, beaming. They didn't move. I sighed and rolled my eyes. "I really hate to agree with the little bastard, but Maurie is right. If I wanted to kill you miserable little excuse of an army, I would have already gone back to my hut and gathered my implements of destructions to do the job. Your discipline is amazing, true, but your experience is sad, just sad."

I leveled my eyes on each and every one of the approximately 50 people standing around me, weapons drawn, and leaned back. Most of them met my eyes and glared but some of them actually looked like they were listening to what I was saying, sort of. The mistrust was thick in the air and Madam Commander did not look forgiving. On a happier note, mousy boy and that black haired private were looking thoughtful and might actually be on my side of the battlefield.

The awkward stillness was broken when mousy boy lowered his sword and said, rather incredulously, "This is all 'cause you didn't get dinner, isn't it?"

I looked at him and he looked back. I jumped to my feet and everyone got closer than I am comfortable with, their faces set in grim lines. But they soon backed off when I grinned and threw my arms in the air. "Hallelujah! Someone actually figured it out!" I turned to Maurie and said, "This is all your fault, you know."

Maurie stiffened up like an electric current was wired to his spine and started a howl of indignant expletives directed toward me and my ancestors. During this wave of abuse, the kiddies lowered their weapons and stepped back to look to their commander for direction and found her trying to engage me in a glaring match. I smirked, they stepped right into my snare, and blinked companionably at her before walking over to Maurie. He stuttered to a halt and watched me cautiously as I approached.

"Aani? What're you doing?"

I smiled and picked him up. He skittered up to my shoulder and whispered into my ear.

"Aani? I don't know what you're planning but I suggest we do it fast."

"Shut it, you." I muttered out of the corner of my mouth as I approached the honorable Commander Snak. Maurie stiffened up something awful and I could tell he really wanted lay into me but that's life; absolutely unfair to the little people.

She gazed at me imperiously as I came to a halt an arms length away. "Well, Mr. Rojinul? What is it you intend to do now?"

"That's General Kohtoc, but beggars can't be choosers, I guess. I really hate to have to do this but you leave me with no choice." I sighed and ran a hand over my nice thick hair as she stiffened up.

"I'll help you out with whatever it is you wanted me to do in the first place when you came up here to disturb my peace. Plus, I'll tell you and certain others some things that none of you regular humans should know. In the meantime, while I gather my tools, would you be so kind as to look after this rascal for me?"

I handed her Maurie, who looked like he wanted to kill me, and saluted. "It's good to be workin' with you, commander. Until I return."

I turned around and headed north to find mousy boy and blackie blocking my path with determined expressions and their hands on their weapons to back that determination up. I walked on past them, no way am I going to give some half-trained puppies that have probably never seen combat the satisfaction of hesitation, and came to a halt when someone called my name.

"General Kohtoc!"

I swiveled on the balls of my feet and there was that black haired private with the insatiable curiosity coming toward me with many questions in his eyes. I raised my eyebrows, "Yes?"

He blinked his baby blue eyes at me and started to speak but I cut him off, "Your name, young 'un?"

He snapped to attention, a gesture I appreciate but not at the moment, and bowed from the waist. "Private, First Class, Benja-min Salsar. Pleased to make your acquaintance, sirree. May I continue?"

I nodded my acquiesce and he stood straighter, if that's possible. What came next completely took me by surprise.

"May I accompany you to your abode, sir?" he asked in a polite and courteous manner.

I hid my surprise behind a soldiers blank face then replied, "Sure. You can bring mousy boy, too, if you want."

"Mousy boy?" he said with a confused expression then turned to look at Private Shoson, or whatever his name is, when I gestured in his direction. Private Shoson looked none too happy about his nickname or the fact that he was coming with us.

I wheeled around and stalked about ten paces before looking back. They were following me, reluctantly, in Mousy boy's case, slowly and keeping a good ten yards between me and them. Idiots. As if I was going to do something to them while we were still in the camp boundaries. That was going to change in a big way once we reached the woods, oh, yes indeed.

Maurie looks a bit (more than a bit, really. slighty more fluffy) like a Fennec fox. wiki it.