Kan was on the shore with Sakhyo, eating breakfast and competing to see who could skip a stone the farthest into the waves. The young stoat was enjoying the break from his grueling training immensely, even though none of his tries even came close to his friend's, since the mink had grown up around water. After a particularly devastating loss, Sakhyo deftly snatched an oat scone off his lap and began munching on it. "Hey!" he protested.
"Winner's spoils, mate," she laughed. Kan growled good-naturedly and laid back, reclining on the sand. She flicked a crumb at him. "Gerrup already. D'you ever do anythin' else but eat and sleep?"
"Lose at skipping stones," he quipped. "We never had anythin' like that where I was from." The mink gave him an odd look.
"Where are you from, anyway?" she asked. Kan abruptly sat up, but stared at the ground and didn't answer. "Kan?" There was still no response.
The increasingly tense atmosphere was broken when a tall shape came charging over the dunes and abruptly collapsed at their footpaws.
It was a young hare, one Kan recognized as having left on a scouting mission a few days previously. He was obviously exhausted, but still able to talk once Sakhyo gave him a flask of cordial.
"Been runnin' for a full day an' night, wot," he gasped, coughing weakly. " Saw 'em from a distance...Tell...Sarge Merrond... horde's...three days away... an movin' fast." With that, the poor creature's eyes rolled up to the whites and he fell back on the sand.
The entire Shadowtide was gathered in the secret room, together with Sergeant Merrond and another higher-ranking hare, a female introduced as General Ixora. Rinqan looked around the table, his voice as soft and calm as always. "Does anybeast know of this horde?"
"P'raps it's the one we 'eard tales about," Sakhyo suggested. "Y'know, from the rumors before Rae...y'know..." The coyote stared grimly back at her.
"I remember those tales. A huge army, led by a creature the likes of which nobeast had ever seen..." Something unreadable flickered in his normally impassive golden eyes, but disappeared as the sergeant broke in on the conversation.
"I don't care 'ow many they are, laddie buck, or wotever new 'ellspawn's leadin' 'em. With your liddle group, and our hares, they don't stand a chance!" Kan, Tokala, and Sakhyo cheered, only to be silenced by a severe glare from the hare General.
"Stop this foolish talk, Sarge. Yes, we're well equipped t' deal with vermin, no offense t' the present company, but we can't treat our foes as soft and stupid. Many a battle's been lost by underestimatin' the enemy, wot." Merrond's ears drooped slightly, and he grumbled to himself as Ixora continued. "We should infiltrate them as soon as possible, so that we can learn of their plans before they attack us. You, coyote, wotever yore name is, I believe y' know what to do."
The coyote inclined his head respectfully. "Aye, Gen'ral. Now, listen well, my brave creatures. You will leave here in pairs, so that it will seem less suspicious. Either allow yourselves to be captured or go to join the horde on your own, but do not arrive within less than two days of each other. Understood?" Heads nodded around the room, and he went on. "Tokala, you will go with Arif. If necessary, tell them you are mates." Arif seemed quite displeased at the notion, and the vixen imploringly raised her eyes to the ceiling before melodramatically collapsing onto the table. "Sakhyo, you are to go with Kan. You will leave tomorrow." The two friends grinned happily at each other, but as usual, Arif interrupted.
"You cannot be serious! Even if he 'ad any talent as a fighter or a spy, he's barely trained. It's suicide to let dat thick-skulled whelp on such an important mission."
The growl that came from the coyote sent the entire room into a frightened silence. His golden eyes were alight with anger, and his lips were drawn back to reveal an imposing set of fangs. In a voice like thunder, he snarled, "I have warned ye once already, fox. I say this stoat will go, and if ye continue to act like this I'd say ye were far more thick-skulled than him."
The big fox snorted and rose from his seat. Larger than most of his species and well-muscled, he made a formidable opponent, but he was still nowhere near the coyote's size. He subsided, but still had to have the last word. "Fine, O wise leader," he snapped mockingly. I'll be waitin' to hear what will come from dat silver tongue of yours when your precious stoat's da one that kills us all!"
Long after the rest of the group had gone to the barracks, Kan and Rinqan were still seated at the table, with the lanterns burning low and the remnants of a hurried meal lying before them. Although Arif's outburst had enraged the coyote, he still knew that there was a grain of truth in it. One false move could send the fates of everybeast in the mountain crashing down around their ears.
And so, late into the night, Kan began to learn just what it meant to fight in the Shadowtide.
Kan felt as though he had barely slept for an hour when Sakhyo woke him. Outside, it was still completely dark, and raining as well from what he could hear. The mink was fully dressed and bearing a traveling pack, with a short sword in her waist sash and a dagger close to paw. He was surprised to see that she had discarded her normal tunic for clothes that were little more than tattered rags, ripped and dirtied in a score of places. Her normally sleek fur was disheveled and slightly muddy, and with stained claws and teeth completing the disguise, she resembled nothing as much as some scruffy camp follower. Kan was hard put to remember that this was actually his friend, and not a vicious hordebeast.
He ducked abruptly when she tossed a bundle of fabric at his head. Standing up and unrolling it, he found that it contained clothing, if it could be called that, and a second bulging pack. One item that puzzled him, though, was a blackened, stained scrap of cloth. He held it up gingerly between two claws. "Wot's this?"
"Rub that on yer blade, mate. Hordebeasts may keep their weapons all nice 'n' shiny, but at first we're gonna be rough ol' travelers, who don't sit 'round doin' silly little things like polishing swords. So blacken that up, or it'll look pretty suspicious. Meet me outside near the trainin' ground when yer done." She turned to go as, with a sigh, he pulled on the clothes, and grimaced as he dirtied his sword with the foul rag.
Stop that, he chided himself. You'll never pass for a hordebeast with that attitude- you're supposed to love blood, filth, slaughter, an' all that other crap.
He finished with the blade and thrust it into the new belt, a shabby affair made from the skin of some long-dead snake. As he exited the barracks and headed back up through the mountain, he suddenly noticed something moving at the end of the hall, a dark shape heading in the same direction as he was, although already much farther ahead. Kan raced up the passage in pursuit of the shadow, and found in amazement that it was the marten Raeyari.
She, too, was dressed in tawdry clothes and bearing a traveling pack. There was no need for her to dirty her pelt for effect, since it was as thin and matted as ever. She spun around upon hearing his pawsteps behind her, and he saw that her eyes had not lost their empty look. To his surprise and confusion, she gave a faint hiss and backed away, with a vague hint of fear flickering in her gaze.
I must look like a real terrifyin' vermin, he figured, but then again, maybe she's always like this.
He finally reached the training ground, taking care to keep his distance from the marten on his way there. Sakhyo was impatiently tapping her footpaw, and Rinqan waited by her side. Raeyari padded slowly over to the coyote, acting as though Kan did not exist. "Good, yer here," the mink said cheerily. "Rin's got some more orders for ya, an' then we c'n get goin'."
"I have decided that it would be best if you were to allow yourselves to be captured," the coyote announced, "since travelers can always pose a threat and if you were willingly pressed into service, they would probably accept you more than if you tried to join the horde on your own." He continued talking, but his voice faded into the background as Kan became lost in thought.
Why am I doing this? he wondered. How do I know I can walk into that horde, join them, spy for their enemies, and still walk out alive?
He came back to earth with a jolt of fear. Rinqan was still addressing them, and he tried hard to listen, shaking the troubling thoughts from his mind.
"...I cannot go myself, Sakhyo, for I'm too easily recognized," he said. The mink was grumbling. "Yeah, yeah, so yer stand out in a crowd. Big deal. We need ya with us."
"Your 'big deal' could get everybeast killed, if I am captured and our plans exposed. I have told ye already, I will hide by the camp an' give help if ye need it."
She snorted and turned away. "Fine, wotever. If I'm dead by the time ya come, you'll be the one needin' help, 'cause I'll come back 'n haunt ya. Good huntin', Rin, an' c'mon Kan, it's time ter go." She turned to leave, but as Kan followed, a call rang out from behind them. "Hoi, wotsyername, stoat! Hold hard a second!" It was Tokala.
The vixen came racing up to join them. Kan stared, perplexed, at the pile of earth in her paw. "Stop gawpin' and close yer eyes," she barked, and he obeyed, still very confused as she smeared the dirt over his face.
"What th' hell did yer do that for?" he snapped, impatient to get going. Sakhyo laughed. "Great idea, Toka! Look, stoatface, she covered that mark on yer eye. That way y' won't stand out from the crowd." Kan smiled sheepishly as he realized the vixen's idea.
"Thanks, Tokala. See you soon, I 'ope."
The pair headed off without further ado, into the flatlands of the northwest.
The horde was marching fast. A distance that a normal army would have covered in three days was being completed in less than two. Stragglers were killed instantly, as were any weak or injured creatures. Thus, it was not long before a scout came racing back to the main body of the horde with news that two travelers were headed in their direction. The warlord ordered one of his Captains to capture them and bring them to the horde's temporary camp, where the final plans of battle were being made. The officer, a big ferret called Rend, set off that very day. Close to a score of his troops accompanied him.
By nightfall, Kan was beginning to regret his decision. He was extremely nervous about his role in the imminent war, and although he was no stranger to traveling, it seemed as though his paws were worn down to the bone. Dinner, the only meal they'd stopped to have, was a disappointment at best- Rinqan had forbade them from lighting fires, lest it attract unwelcome attention. Everything had been eaten cold, and the bread was rather soggy from when he'd accidentally tripped and dropped the food sack in a puddle. To top it all off, Sakhyo snored uproariously, as he soon discovered. Sleep was apparently out of the question.
He did not remember closing his eyes, but somehow the young stoat found himself dreaming. He was traveling again, walking across a flat, featureless plain. A cold wind was blowing, sending clouds racing across the sky. Shadows were everywhere, and he did not notice that one of them moved.
A huge figure leapt toward him, swinging a sword. In a sudden blaze of light, Kan briefly saw the features of his attacker before the blade slashed into his throat. He fell back in agony, feeling his life literally slip away. Arif's eyes gleamed mockingly at him as everything went dark.
Drenched in sweat, Kan awoke to find that although the strange landscape and the fox had disappeared, the pain was all too real. He turned his head, although the motion only made the scimitar at his throat bite deeper into fur and flesh. That was nothing, however, compared to the agony of what he saw. Sakhyo lay motionless by his side, deep gashes across her forehead and shoulders still slowly dripping blood onto the ground.
Kasivar Steelwave merely laughed.
A/N: BWAHAHAHA! WRITER'S BLOCK, I LAUGH IN YOUR HIDEOUS FACE! I'M BACK! (for the time being) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA(cough)HAHA!