Durr, I think I forget to mention what 'ruhe' meant in the last chapter. It's just a German word for rest or quiet, used as a command. Yay. Thanks to the people in the multilingual LJ community for helping me with that! It's much better than the first thing I came up with -o.

-----

Something was scratching at his window. Irritably, Coen rolled over in bed and tried to ignore it.

"Wuff!"

What...the hell...this early in the morning... In frustration, he threw his blankets aside and stalked to the window. I swear, I am going to kill that dog. He lifted the latch and nudged the window open.

Alakyl stuck her muzzle in. "Wuff!. Rr...rff!"

"What do you want? I thought you hated me."

The wolf lifted a foot and pried the window open further. She looked up at Coen, her pale eyes eerily reflecting the moonlight.

"What?" the knight asked more forcefully.

Alakyl whined softly.

Coen stared down at her, not understanding. Gods above, why does this stuff keep happening to me?

She whined again.

"What the hell is your problem, waking me up at this time of night?"

She growled, as if frustrated.

"My feelings exactly."

The wolf leapt back from the window, doing a small spin in the air. She gave a few whining barks, then looked back at Coen, her tail between her legs. Then she was still.

"...She didn't." Forget Alakyl. I'll kill Niira first.

-----

Coen ran to the first person he thought of: Lavitz. He knew the knight would be asleep at this hour, but that mattered little. If Niira had only left late tonight, they might still be able to catch her before she got to the mountains. It would be difficult to find anyone among the cave-riddled peaks. Stupid, stupid girl...

He fairly skidded to a stop in front of the First Knight's house. He may have his neck wrung later for waking Lavitz, but it was a risk he was willing to take. He didn't want to be running towards the rat-people alone.

He pounded on the door. Waited a moment. Banged again.

The door clicked and swung open. Lavitz, still dressed in his nightclothes, glared at Coen. "You better have a good explanation for this."

"She's gone."

-----

Knight were trained to get themselves in full fighting form in a short amount of time. While Lavitz buckled on his armor, he and Coen discussed their plan of action. The First Knight made no secret that he didn't trust Coen's military decisions half the time, but for once they were in agreement with one another.

"It would take too long to get one of the knighthoods ready to go," Coen was saying. He seriously disliked the prospect of just him and Lavitz dealing with the rat-people again, even more now that the mysterious Fireborn seemed to be involved with the situation.

"They'd only slow us down anyway." The First Knight twisted around, strapping on his pauldrons. How he could don his armor by himself, Coen couldn't figure out. He couldn't do it, that was for sure. Maybe that was why he hated having to wear it. Something about having someone help him with his armor really disturbed Coen.

"Gods, we've got to be flipping mental to be doing this," he said, half to himself.

"Perhaps. How'd you find out she was gone, anyway?" There was a suspicious tone to Lavitz's voice.

Damn it, stop thinking I'm out to take advantage of your daughter. "Alakyl found me."

"Hmm." Lavitz closed his gauntlets around his wrists. "Where's she now?"

"I...I don't know." He had lost track of the wolf in his mad rush to get dressed and find Lavitz. "You don't think she's gone after Niira by herself, do you?"

"How should I know?" The knight now stood in full armor, ready for action. "Guess there's only one way to find out."

-----

The dark figure had seen the wolf come trotting out of the city. Without a word, she dropped down next to the canine. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

The wolf yelped, then turned and snarled.

But the shadow had darted out of her vision. "You're playing right into Phoenix's claws, you know."

She could tell that the wolf did indeed know. "Hrrr..."

"It's not Niira he wants. And he couldn't care less about the life of the human king."

Alakyl barked once, aggressively. The shadow recognized it as a distorted Northlander word for 'sister.'

"You're of more use here in the city."

A loud growl from the wolf.

"Do you still not see it? You dumb brick of a dog."

Alakyl lunged forward, but once more the figure was beyond her reach.

"It's you he wants. He wants you to follow Niira. Think about it."

The wolf did.

"He wants you exactly where he can keep an eye on you. He wants you alive just long enough to draw Serpent Mother to him, and then he'll kill you both."

"Nrrf?"

"Don't worry about Niira. She won't be alone."

"Hrr?"

"Come back into the shadows and watch. You'll see soon enough."

The two of them sat in silence in the darkness, so close that Alakyl's flank was pressed against the shadowy figure's leg. It was not too long before too men with weapons left the city at a fair job. Alakyl stirred, ears forward. "Nrrf."

"Now do you see?" The shadow rose, her tail lashing in pleasure. "But they'll need help. They'll be hunted. Come. We have work to do. They trust you, they'll listen to you. But you'll need my voice to speak with them."

"Grrr."

"It's all right. Nobody trusts me. I'm used to it."