Chapter 3:
That night, a foul mood hung from the king's tent, the villainous fox Shroud was brooding again. He raked his devious mind and sat in deep thought. Sitting in his throne room, two female ferrets tended to his needs, one of them constantly replenished his chalice of wine and another massaged his feet. A final servant, this time a female mouse cleaned up a pool of blood in the carpet. A dead rat had a long spear protruding from his chest. The poor beast had spilled a single drop of elderberry wine on his master's impeccable purple vest, when he attempted to clean it he only succeeded in widening the stain, the fox king had grabbed the rat's paw and snapped several fingers in a vice grip. Then he kicked out and sent it sprawling. When the beast attempted to run away a spear flew through his chest and out his back instantly slaying him.
The seer was then called. Kayleen hobbled in, supporting herself with a ashen pole with markings running up and down the shaft, a raven skull decorated the top as well. The elderly rat knelt and kissed the fox's hand, a sign of respect. With a heavy sigh the king said,
"I want the sable dead, he has the favour of the army. I crave more treasure my seer, I need their loyalty."
The rat looked up and spoke.
"Is assasination a choice sire?"
The fox knew this was a test, as the rat often asked these questions. But still he entertained it, he had always loved questions and puzzles. As a child he had learned to favor cunning over strength. He had murdered his elder brother when he was twelve seasons old, drowning him in the family pool. Even as a child he knew that his brother was bound to take the throne when his father died, so he said it was an accident. As an adult he grew wiser and more cunning and sly and still had his love for enigmas and puzzles.
Before replying he kicked the servants out,
"No, rat. The sable cannot be killed. He is far too loved by his soldiers."
"Then we can make them hate him."
The king enquired,
"But how? They only will detest him if they find him guilty of a crime."
"Such as…"
"Such as, treason! Eureka, I have found it. The army will no longer support him if they think he is a traitor. Then I can have a lieutenant who is loyal to me become general. I will have unlimited power in the army and no one shall suspect it."
Kayleen smiled and added,
"We must fake a document, we have his writing samples from battle reports. I shall start forging it immediately sire"
But before she left he grabbed her throat and whispered,
"But no beast must know about this, Kayleen. This must be between the two of us my seer. If I find out you betrayed me I shall frame you as well and have you tortured and killed."
He let her go and she took no time running away as the fox watched her receding form. He would have revenge soon enough, the gods have been generous indeed. Calling for his chalice to be refilled and his pillows be fluffed he reclined and still smiling his dangerous smile, the fox dreamt of bloody murder.
That same night most of the fighters retired to their small, standard issue tents and ate their rations. Strict discipline was enforced and all were made to polish weapons, prepare their beds and be ready for the long march south in a few days. The majority of the horde then sat around large fires and ate and talked, some tended to wounds and others simply went to bed for a well earned rest.
The sable general left the company of the emperor and walked away. It was a clear night, not a cloud was in the sky. The moon was half full and was bone white. Although the snow stopped, the wind did not. Hugging his cloak to his body, Althalos headed uphill to the clinics tents.
He walked over to the tent of the vixen Riven, her tent was rather small but comfortable looking. A warm inviting glow radiated out of the lodging and warmed him slightly. Almost immediately the wind cut into the exposed flesh of his face and paws. Shivering, the sable called out the fox,
"Riven, open up. My whiskers'll freeze off if I stay out any longer."
A shadow appeared and moved over to the tent flap.
"Hold on, I'm coming right now." The vixen quickly opened the tent and pulled him in.
Riven's tent was softly lit with lanterns and a two glasses of wine were set on a rush mat. They drank and spoke of their past's and a fish was brought out and shared along with a plate of fruit.
They ate and sat together. Then when they ran out of things to say the vixen took off the thin, silk nightgown she was wearing and revealed her underwear. The sable took it as an invitation and did the same. Extinguishing the lanterns, the pair slid under the covers and tied the tent flaps together.
The orgasmic sounds coming from the tent were muffled by the howling wind. When they were finished the two sat back in the bed and drank some more. Comfortably intoxicated, Althalos slept soon after. The sable was sweating and had goosebumps on his flesh from the wind.
Spotting the faint traces of dawn, he slid up, put on his clothes and whispered goodbye to the vixen. She mumbled something but he did not hear it.
As soon as he stepped outside a pair of rough hands grabbed him. He recognized that thick, musky smell in the air. It was Crom Risalth. He was accompanied by two other guards, a rat and a stoat. Instinctively, Althalos struggled and attempted to reach for his sword, but the leopard lizard held fast. Whispering in his ear the lizard hissed.
"You are under arressst, sssable. You are hereby guilty of treassson."
"What did I do?" he struggled some more.
"Ssstop flailing about, sssable. We know of your plot to asssassinate the emperor and sssell plansss to the enemy. The mighty Shroud has ssspoken."
Althalos sensed another beast approaching, the unmistakable stench of perfumes hung in the air. It was Shroud himself. The sable snarled,
"Speak of the devil, what evidence do you have against me, you bastard." He loaded the last word with enough venom to subdue an elephant.
Holding up a scroll with writing scrawled on it, the fox just bared his teeth, his eyes flaring and barked.
"My bodyguards took the liberty of examining every commander's quarters and we found this; a letter asking a barbarian for treasure in exchange for battle plans. That is evidence enough , traitor."
"You planted that you coward! I always knew you hated me." retorted the sable
"Don't make me laugh, scum. Instead of screwing about with petty whores," pointing at Riven's tent, "Maybe you should have thought of the consequences of betraying me instead."
Incredulous, Althalos spoke,
"I hope you burn in hell, you fucking coward. I hope that-" Crom's paw slapped onto his mouth stopping him from speaking.
Shroud kicked him savagely in the face until his lip was torn and he had a black eye.
"Enough of you, you filthy son of a bitch. Crom, I want him executed. Take him to the forest, march 'till you reach a clearing. I want him to suffer, take your time lizard, then bring me his head on a stick!"
With that the fox, turned and stalked away. His plan had worked, none could stand in the way of Shroud. The silver furred fox sniggered the entire way to his tent. All the while, Crassus had followed the bodyguards as they dragged Althalos away, he readied his longbow for a rescue mission and silently crept after them.
They marched for several hours in the snowy forest, Althalos was bound and gagged as they marched him on the path. Three guards accompanied him, a ferret, an otter and Crom himself.
The ropes around his paws cut into this flesh and removed fur. Three times he had fallen flat on his face, mud forced it's way into his mouth and he was unable to wipe it off. The bodyguards had laughed each time and tried to trip him with their spears.
The wind had died down a little but still was dreadfully cold, but mercifully they allowed the sable to keep his tough tunic on, but his chainmail and cape along with all his weapons were removed before they left camp.
To warm themselves, the ferret, named Ripclaw passed a bottle of whiskey with the otter.
Crom refused to drink the aged spirits and instead took out a tiny bottle of his own. It contained a murky, yellow looking liquid that must have been purely alcohol. The smell alone was slightly intoxicating but the lizard took a long, deep sip. Draining the small bottle he chucked it the side of the road.
"That'ssss called Dark Ale, boysss. Sssstraight from my homeland, pure alcohol with ssome lemongrass an' lime insside. Makess you a man." Hissed the reptile in his peculiar accent.
"Pshhh, that stuffs nothin', no flavour. Rubbish I say, 'tis nothin' compared to whiskey." Replied Dewfang, the otter.
The two beasts snarled at each other, swearing.
But before a fight broke out, the ferret pointed to a natural clearing nearby.
Althalos broke into a cold sweat, his eyes looked around everywhere for a weapon or even just a way to escape. He hoped against hope they would at least make it a quick death. But he knew he was doomed, he heard the fox say that it should be a long, bloody demise.
He had never been that much of a saint, ready to be executed, now the sense of certain death hung over his head. It was nothing like a fight, in battle he always had a weapon, or at least his paws and teeth. But here he was as helpless as a babe. They could kill him as slowly as they liked. His feverish eyes stared at the pouch Crom carried on his side. It bulged with countless torture devices.
The lizard reached in his pack and drew a long,dull blade. His tormentor's smiled as the lizard hissed,
"How will you ssspeak liess and backsstab you own sssoldiers. Ssell lies and whissper evil if you no longer have a tongue?"
Ripfang added, "Aye, you traitor. We''ll cut your eyes out. In fact it's what we'll be doing soon." He sniggered.
The otter then said,
"Right, we'll torture your useless hide if you lie to us. Or you could tell us the truth and all will be good and pretty like."
The sable knew they were lying, he filled with courage and snarled,
"Go to hell you motherfu-" A slice from Crom's knife to the forehead silenced him.
"Hold hisss head up Dewfang, I'm going to ssslice his throat. Vein by vein, you'll bleed to death you bassstard."
An arrow suddenly thudded into Crom's shoulder and he fell. Two more smashed into the ferret, one lodged deep into his skull and the other in his thigh. A shadow flew from the treeline and bowled the otter over, the Black Hand guard was well trained but fumbled with his blade. His slowness was punished with a slash to the throat and another to the stomach. The otter attempted to shovel his insides back into his body but collapsed as the life ebbed out of him.
The form who saved him seemed to be an angel, Althalos was in awe but soon recognized the reddish coat and short stature.
"Crassus! What the hell are you doing here?" exclaimed the sable.
"Zounds, did they hit your head or something mate? What am I doing here? I'm rescuing you, you fool." He said as he sliced the bonds holding his friend with a dagger.
"Won't you be punished, you'll suffer the same fate as me. Now you won't be general mate."
The sable stood and rubbed his sore paws and packed snow on the deep cut the lizard had given him.
"No, that bastard Vizk got the promotion. Don't ask me why, so when I heard you were gonna be executed on account of high treason, I did some snooping and figured you was innocent."
"So you'll quit the army just to help me?" asked the sable.
"Never really liked the lieutenant thing, hate taking orders too. So I guess were both deserters?"
"If you say so."
"Well then we better be ready for some swashbucklin' adventure mate. Crassus and Althalos the bandits. Zounds, think of all the women we'll get, dashing fellas always get the women dontcha know."
Laughing, the two grabbed some weapons of the dead bodyguards and pilfered their ration packs. They set off to the south, far from the the camp. Singing jauntily and waving spears and swords about they trod off to meet their destinies.
Crom rose slowly, an arrow was embedded deeply into his shoulder, He could feel the tip scraping painfully across his bone and the barbs tearing his flesh. Grimacing he removed the arrow and cleaned the wound. Resting for several minutes he started trailing the two escapees.
Their tracks were going to be easy to follow, the fools had left their footsteps and didn't bother masking their scents, the smell of sable and weasel wafted upwind to the lizard.
Grinning deviously, the evil leopard lizard stalked his prey, he would have their heads and feast on their bodies. None could stop the fierce reptile as he methodically hunted his prey.