Disclaimer: All non-original characters are property of SEGA or their respective creators.

21. Before Night Falls

"Mama, look!"

Roma glanced up from the sackcloth tunic she was darning. Her five-year-old cub Katra was standing in front of her, holding out an artfully-sculpted mudpie for her appraisal.

"That's…very good, Katty," said the red she-wolf.

Katra beamed at the faint praise. Roma smiled faintly, then took up her needle again.

"Mama?"

The she-wolf suppressed a sigh. "Yes, Katty?"

"When is Loopy coming home?"

Roma looked up again, peering over Katra's head towards a hut on the far side of the stockade, the fenced enclosure where Queen Rouge kept her household slaves. The hut was much like the one Roma was sitting in the doorway of: a scantly-thatched wooden cube with one room and no windows. However, that particular hut had formerly been the Moon Wolf of Dalriada's home.

"Lupe isn't coming home, Katty."

The cub dropped her shoulders. "I wish she would. I miss her, mama."

"I miss her too, Katty," said the she-wolf, "Now, go play with your sisters."

Katra turned around and trudged off into the stockade's muddy courtyard. There, two younger cubs were hard at work crafting mudpies of their own. Watching her go, Roma suppressed another sigh. She missed Lupe more than she dared tell her mate Miro, let alone their children.

Living here alongside the Moon Wolf, it had been easy to pretend the stockade was like a little piece of Dalriada from the time before the bats came. Roma wasn't quite old enough to remember those days, yet she'd been able to experience things many wolves who were old enough had missed out on. Things like having each of her three cubs blessed under the light of a full moon.

Still, miss the shamaness as she did, things were better this way. Simply knowing Lupe was now out there somewhere, freely roaming the land, was enough to give hope to every wolf.

Just then, the stockade's tall wooden gates flew open. Katra and her siblings fled in terror as Khan came marching in, pulling two hunched-over hedgehogs by the scruffs of their tunics. The brown lynx Conifer followed behind them, her spear pointed at Shadow and Amaranth's backs.

"What do you think?" said Khan, "Together or apart?"

Conifer cocked a brow. "Wouldn't two huts need two guards?"

The monkey grimaced. "Good point. Open that one up."

The lynx duly yanked open the door of Lupe's old hut. Khan wrenched Amaranth upright.

"You first, your ladyship," he said, releasing the cerise hedgehog.

She obeyed, traipsing through the mud towards the hut.

"As for you," muttered Khan, peering down at Shadow, "This is for booting me off that chariot."

He drove his knee into the black hedgehog's gut. Shadow wheezed, slumping to his knees. Amaranth went to double back, but Conifer caught her by the arm.

"Get inside," the lynx growled.

Meanwhile, Khan hauled Shadow up by his quills.

"Now I've pulled your fur, does that mean I deserve to die too?" the monkey sneered, steering Honey's killer towards the hut, "For what it's worth, I hope she doesn't kill you later. Your wife's put that boy of yours through enough already."

With that, Khan shoved Shadow through the hut's door. He stumbled over his own feet, landing face-down on the dirt floor. The door slammed shut, leaving the hedgehogs in semi-darkness. Despite the lack of windows, plenty of sunlight penetrated the thinly-thatched roof.

Shadow groaned as he rolled onto his back, just as Amaranth was taking off her sackcloth tunic.

"Comfortable?" she asked quietly.

The black hedgehog snorted softly. He clutched his abdomen at the resulting pain.

"No," he wheezed, "Are you?"

"I am now. I can't move in this without it snagging," she said, discarding her tunic, "Let me help."

She squatted beside her husband and proffered her hand. Shadow squeezed it as he slowly sat up.

"Thank you," he grunted.

"No. Thank you," she said, clutching his hand to her breast, "Silver's been having nightmares about that horrible cat. I can't wait to tell him."

"Nightmares?" said Shadow, furrowing his brow, unsure he could remember the last time he heard that word in relation to their son, "Why?"

"Never mind that now."

Still clutching his hand, she went to stand up. Shadow resisted, anchoring her in place.

"Why, Amie?" he asked, his voice soft but stern.

Amaranth sighed. "The morning after I buried that poor cub, Honey came for us…"

She trailed off, biting her lower lip.

"What did she do, Amie?" asked Shadow gently.

"She…held a blade to Silver's throat."

The black hedgehog inhaled sharply. "The queen let her do such a thing?"

"Actually, the queen scolded her for it," said the cerise hedgehog, "That might be why she was so lenient with us."

She paused, glancing about the gloomy hut.

"That time, anyway."

Shadow's expression darkened. "Why did you do it, Amie?"

"Do…what?" asked Amaranth guardedly.

"Why did you let Lupe and Lobo go?"

"I didn't."

She stood up and stalked off into a dark corner piled with straw. She sat down with her back still turned.

"What do you mean you didn't?" said Shadow weakly.

"Could I say it any plainer?" snapped Amaranth, "I didn't do it!"

The black hedgehog slumped back on his elbows. He forgot his retort amid the sound of sobbing. Abdomen still aching, he struggled onto his hands and knees and began to crawl.

Halfway across the dirt floor, he froze, startled by the feel of coarse sackcloth under his palm. He glanced down at Amaranth's discarded tunic, seeing the hole he'd ripped in it when Honey made the fatal error of forcing them apart. He lifted off his own wool garment and crawled on.

"Amie?" he whispered, placing his hands on her quaking shoulders, "If you didn't free them, who did?"

Amaranth slowly turned her head. Her bloodshot eyes met Shadow's gaze over her left shoulder.

"They freed themselves," she sniffled, tears still coursing down her cheeks.

"How?"

"I was asleep. Silver needed to…I warned him not to go by himself. He was being so clingy, I never thought he—"

She stiffened as Shadow gripped her shoulders. "Amie…please."

She shut her eyes tight. "Lobo grabbed him."

Her husband's eyes widened. "Did he hurt him—"

"Of course not!" hissed Amaranth, "How could you think Lobo would ever—"

"But he happily threatened him?" countered Shadow.

His wife looked away. She tried to shake off his hands, but he hung on.

"Why is the queen convinced you let them go?" he asked levelly.

"Because…that's what I told everyone."

Shadow inhaled sharply. "How could you—"

"I had to get Silver away from there somehow! He was terrified! And I…"

She paused, hugging her nascent bump.

"I knew Percilla would expect me to lead the search party. I just…couldn't."

She looked over her shoulder.

"After everything they've been through, they deserved a chance to get away."

"Not at Silver's expense!" growled Shadow.

Amaranth yelped as her shoulders were squeezed. She lashed out with an elbow, knocking him onto his backside.

"How was I to know the queen would punish him? I didn't think…why would she send Lupe with me if she was worried about her escaping—"

"She probably thought she'd tamed Lupe by now—"

"Then she was wrong!"

"So were you, Amie," said Shadow flatly, "Our son is a slave…because of you."

Amaranth shrank from his glare. Curling up amid the straw, she broke down again.

Shadow sat still, listening to her racking sobs. His instinct to go and console her was strong, but everything he could think to say rang hollow. He was furious with her. How could she have been so naïve as to think—

He almost scoffed at his hypocrisy. Of course she could be that naïve. As could he. His gross underestimation of a humiliated monarch's wrath had put them on the road to Dalriada in the first place.

Leaning back on his hands, he cast a glance at the hut's door. Khan's parting words echoed in his ears, drowning out Amaranth's sobs.

I hope she doesn't kill you later, the monkey had said.

Shadow's anger melted like an icicle in a firepit, leaving him with a suffocating lump in his throat. If Rouge could punish a child so harshly out of spite, what might she do to him for killing another warrior who, for all her flaws, was defenseless at the time?

A queasiness came over him. If this was to be where it ended — where his father Baron Mephiles' wish finally came true — he couldn't let it end like this.

"Amie?" he murmured, placing a hand on her hip.

She seemed neither to hear nor feel him.

"Amie," he said, shaking her gently, "Please stop."

The sobbing hedgehog sobbed on.

"Amie!" he hissed, rolling her onto her back, "Stop crying!"

She did stop, purely out of shock. She looked up at him, eyes wide with fear.

"Sh-Shadow?" she whimpered.

"Please, Amie," he said, reaching down to wipe her wet cheek, "You've cried enough."

She seized his forearm with both hands.

"I'm sorry, Shadow," she sniffled, tucking his hand under her chin, "For Silver…for everything."

Shadow used the arm she was hugging to lever her into a sitting position.

"I forgive you," he whispered, holding her face to his chest, "Just…don't cry anymore."

As he spoke, a single tear slipped down his cheek and off his chin, soaking into the quills atop his wife's head.

"Hypocrite," she muttered, nuzzling his white chest fur, "When you saw Silver…how was he?"

"Sooty, mostly."

Amaranth snorted.

"He said he was being a good boy," Shadow added, "Like he promised you."

"I knew we could trust Rufus. He—"

"Enough about that for now, Amie."

The cerise hedgehog pulled away from him. "But I miss him, Shadow."

"I missed you," said the black hedgehog.

Their faces collided in a fierce kiss. Lips locked, they fell into the straw together, unfazed by the stray stalks pricking their bodies. They weren't strangers to this. It was almost the same as ten years ago, in Tesiphon Castle's dungeon on their last night in Erinia. Only this time, they weren't in chains.

"How?" breathed Amaranth, peering up at Shadow as she lay beneath him, "How did we end up like this again?"

"It's just what you do to me, Amie. You've always made me able to do things I never dreamed I could," he cooed, tenderly rubbing her nascent bump, "It's why I love you."

His wife's eyes glistened with tears of a different flavor as her legs enveloped his waist.

жЖж

A contented smile crossed the panting Xhade's lips as Knuxahuatl rolled off of her. That had been the distraction she needed.

She'd hoped the view from atop Dalriada's walls would be enough to dislodge Blaze from her thoughts. It wasn't every day a lifelong prairie dweller got to look down upon endless hills stretching off into the distance. However, that death glare the cat had fixed her with when they were grappling over her battleaxe had lingered on.

Thus, they'd retreated into this empty guardhouse on the battlements. They may've ended up in here either way. They'd hardly seemed able to keep their hands off each other since leaving Laputa, inside and outside the tent. They'd been especially watchful in their moments keeping watch together under the stars.

Xhade groped idly for Knuxahuatl's hand as they lay side-by-side on his unfurled cloak.

"How much longer do we have to wait?" she asked.

"We'll know when we know."

"How?"

Just then, the distant drone of an oxhorn trumpet sounded outside, summoning the queen's warriors to her longhouse.

"That's how," said Knuxahuatl.

Xhade smirked, giving his hand one last squeeze. "I love you, my king."

жЖж

"Who was she, my queen?" asked Cassiopeia.

"She was…many things," replied Rouge pensively, "A bodyguard. A servant. Occasionally even a confidant."

The pronghorn tilted her head. "A confi-what?"

The bat smiled patiently and turned away, peering over the railing of the platform that'd been erected outside her longhouse. Down on the grass before them, Princess Blaze of Agnia was overseeing a team of wolves laying Honey's body upon a funeral pyre. The wood for the pyre had come from Shadow's chariot. The princess had taken the vehicle apart with her battleaxe.

Except for her head, Honey's body was wrapped in the same violet cloak Rouge had covered her with after Shadow's attack. The queen would have preferred to bury her bodyguard, but the princess was insistent that Agnian custom be observed. Rouge seemed to recall Honey having a rather low opinion of her people's traditions, but the Hellcat had to be placated.

"My queen, look!" gasped Cassiopeia suddenly, "Have you ever seen such an emerald?"

Rouge tracked the pronghorn's gaze beyond the pyre to an opening in the palisade encircling the longhouse's grounds. Knuxahuatl had arrived, dressed not in the customary tunic and breastplate, but a blue-gray sarong. A segmented gold necklace hung around his neck. The largest of the square-shaped segments was indeed set with the single largest emerald the bat had ever seen.

"No," she muttered, narrowing her eyes. Not at the jewel, but at the vermilion hand Knuxahuatl was holding, "Khan?"

The monkey was standing at the back of the platform, alongside the green armadillo Matilda. He almost fumbled his mace as he stood to attention. "Yes, my queen?"

"Knuxahuatl has deigned to grace us with his presence. Bring him to me."

"And his, uh, guest, my queen?"

"Just him," said Rouge brusquely, turning to Cassiopeia, "We shall entrust his guest to our young ambassador here."

The thirteen-year-old blinked. "Ambassador, my queen? Me?"

The bat smiled. "Why ever not?"

Matilda came forward to usher the dumbstruck pronghorn away. They followed Khan down the platform's ramp. Watching them go, Rouge turned back to the railing. By now, every off-duty warrior in Dalriada had assembled, forming a tight circle around Honey's funeral pyre.

Blaze was at the heart of the circle, intoning some interminable Iblisian funereal blessing. The brown lynx Conifer — the only other Agnian in Dalriada — stood beside her, holding a flaming torch. The echidnas were meandering their way around the circle's perimeter when Khan intercepted them.

Rouge watched intently as the monkey presented Cassiopeia. Both echidnas looked bemused as the pronghorn pinched the hems of her sea-green tunic and curtsied. Knuxahuatl didn't seem to take much cajoling to part with his companion. The bat pursed her lips. May there yet be hope?

Khan duly led Knuxahuatl in the platform's direction. Rouge tracked the duo as far as she could, then turned away from the railing. She didn't mind if she missed seeing Honey go up in flames. The thought she might soon be inhaling particles of her late bodyguard was bad enough.

She found herself ill-prepared for the sight of the emerald necklace up close as Knuxahuatl climbed the ramp. Watching the green jewel glitter against the backdrop of his chiseled scarlet chest, she barely heard Khan formally present the echidna. Before she knew it, the monkey had left them.

"Aren't you cold?" she asked, composing herself.

Knuxahuatl grinned. "We Arkadians don't usually wear more than this, my queen."

"I see," said Rouge, "Have you forgotten how I expect my warriors to present themselves in my presence?"

She eyed his sarong's sash, seeing no sign of a protruding knife hilt.

"I notice you've come unarmed as well as unarmored."

"My queen, I merely thought—"

"Thought what?" the bat snapped, "That you could stroll into my hall after failing to carry out my orders while showing off your buxom concubine—"

"C-concubine?" spluttered Knuxahuatl, "She…Xhade is my friend."

"She would seem to be considerably more than that."

"Truthfully, my queen, there is nothing unusual in how she's dressed. Shad—I mean, the princess would tell you as much."

"Very well," said Rouge, "And would she also be able to tell me about all the echidnas she saw walking around holding hands with their friends?"

The echidna stiffened.

"That's what I thought," muttered the bat, "Now tell me, if that isn't in fact Tikal in disguise, who is she and why is she here?"

Knuxahuatl padded past her to the platform's railing. Down on the grass, Honey's pyre was alight. Xhade and Cassiopeia were paying little attention, deep in conversation on the edge of the circle. Meanwhile, the armadillo Matilda was glaring at any warrior trying to chance a glance at the vermilion echidna.

"Well?" said Rouge, joining him at the railing.

"The night before we left, my queen, do you remember what you said about making me King of Arkadia?"

"What of it?"

"Well…every king needs a queen."

"You had a queen."

Knuxahuatl sighed. "Not the queen I need."

"Oh?" said Rouge, arching her brows, "And whose army do you propose to use if not mine?"

"There's something else I need before I even think about that, my queen."

"And what might that be?" asked the bat, eyeing his necklace, "Emeralds?"

"A clan, my queen," said Knuxahuatl, "A family…heirs. Something to show the other clans I'm not just some die-hard Pachacamac loyalist, riding in to save them all from Iximche."

"That sounds like a perfectly noble motive to me."

The echidna scoffed quietly. "There's no such thing as a noble war in Arkadia."

Rouge furrowed her brow. "Why wasn't I told any of this before?"

"With respect, my queen, I couldn't imagine it ever becoming a reality at the time."

"What changed your mind?"

"Xhade did."

The bat narrowed her eyes. "Do I even need to ask if she's aware of your…previous sleeping arrangements?"

Knuxahuatl grimaced.

"But of course. Why would she be?" huffed Rouge, "What echidna alive would knowingly form a clan with he who bedded the hated flittermouse?"

"Rouge—"

"Don't you dare!" hissed the queen, "You forfeited the right to utter that name the moment you…"

She trailed off, struck by the echidna's pained expression.

"I never intended this to happen, my queen," he said, "But seeing what Iximche's done to my aunt, to Tikal, to…what he might do to Laputa if no one—"

"Noble words for someone whose people supposedly don't believe in nobility."

"We believe in love, my queen, and I love Xhade."

"And I loved you," sighed Rouge, "My mistake."

She turned to leave. Knuxahuatl went to clap a hand on her shoulder. She caught his arm and hurled the off-balance echidna onto his back.

"Go fetch your 'queen' and bring her inside," she said, straightening up, "There are arrangements to make."

"Arrangements?" wheezed Knuxahuatl.

"I can hardly stop you leaving my bed for another, but I needn't let it happen under my roof," said Rouge, spreading her wings, "Before you try and govern a kingdom, let's see how well you govern a household."

жЖж

Amaranth pouted as she tousled a wiry strand of Shadow's chest fur. The smoke seeping in from outside had spoiled his scent. She would've expected the aroma to be more potent, what with how sweaty they'd been, but apparently not. There was still time to refresh it, if only he'd wake up.

"Amie?" grunted Shadow, awaking to find himself being straddled.

"Rise and shine," whispered his wife, sitting astride his waist, "You can't possibly be that tired."

"Try sleeping in your armor seven nights in a row."

Amaranth smirked. "I seem to recall us going on campaigns longer than that."

Straw rustled as Shadow reversed their positions.

"I don't seem to recall you ever sleeping in armor," he said, touching his nose to hers.

They kissed.

"Be gentler this time," she whispered, resting her head in the straw.

Shadow frowned. "Surely tha—ugh!"

He winced as she prodded the spot on his abdomen where Khan's knee had struck.

"I just don't want you to hurt yourself again," she cooed, spreading her legs.

And gentle he was. Amaranth stifled her exultations, lest she overexcite him. The longer he lasted, the longer she didn't have to think about what might be coming after dark. That was when the queen had said to expect her.

"Shadow…w-wait," she breathed, clutching a fistful of white chest fur.

He peered dumbly at her as if slapped out of a trance. His face quickly turned sheepish.

"Not gentle enough?"

Silently stroking his moist cheek, she put her hand to her nose. She shivered bodily as his fresh scent flooded her airways.

"No," she cooed, smiling sweetly, "Everything's fin—ah!"

Just then, the spiked head of a mace smashed through the hut's door. The rotten planks gave way liked gossamer. Amaranth clung to her husband with all four limbs.

"It…it's too early," she whimpered, burying her face in his fur, "It's even not dark yet!"

Shadow held her tight as the mace struck a second time. He looked over his shoulder. Khan was in the empty doorway.

"Trogg's balls," the monkey muttered.

"What're are you waiting…oh," said Conifer, shouldering him aside.

The peeping warriors exchanged further words. The black hedgehog couldn't hear them over Amaranth's muffled sobs. Then, they vanished. More indistinct chatter followed.

"Khan, your job is to guard me, not my modesty. Move."

Shadow's blood ran cold as Queen Rouge appeared in the doorway. Her hands gripped the pommel of an upside-down sword. His own broadsword, in fact. The otherwise gleaming blade was still stained with Honey's blood.

"Recognize this?" she said, scowling at the hedgehogs, "Khan, bring them out."

жЖж

Blaze hacked and coughed as an inopportune wind blew powdery gray ashes into her face. Muttering a curse against the wind goddess Typha, she sighed and scooped up another handful, depositing them in the clay pot propped between her knees. It was hardly an urn fit for a warrior of Honey's status, but it would have to do.

During her kittenhood at the royal court in Mergissa, she had grown up in awe of the flaxen-furred feline. Rebellions were something of an Agnian pastime, and General Honey had won battle after battle in defense of the kingdom's unity. Between those victories, she'd occasionally invited the young Princess Blaze to train with her.

That was the Honey whose memory she had been honoring with this ceremony. The cat she'd known before her uncle Magnus — he who preferred to listen to his rebellious subjects rather than silence them — became King of Agnia. That was the Honey she was determined to avenge.

Scooping up yet more ashes, Blaze's ears pricked at the sound of sobbing. She frowned. Even she hadn't shed tears while the pyre burned — Honey would've only mocked her for it — so why would anyone else?

She cast a glance towards the longhouse. Her handful of ashes drained through her fingers, nowhere near the urn. Khan was descending the longhouse's steps, a mace over one shoulder, Shadow's broadsword over the other.

Two hedgehogs shuffled along behind him, dressed in makeshift sarongs made of sackcloth, their wrists bound with leather cords. Amaranth was resting her head on Shadow's shoulder as they walked. Tears spilled down her smiling face.

Lastly came the echidnas. Xhade hugged the right arm of the stony-faced Knuxahuatl. They looked so melancholy, it was almost a surprise their wrists weren't bound, too.

"But…how?" Blaze whispered to herself, shaking with fury.

Snatching a fistful of ashes, she mewled as a shard of bone cut her hand. Peering down at her bloody palm, she pouted. She could practically hear Honey's laughter.

жЖж

"How can one creature get so dirty?" muttered Tumbola, wringing a cascade of water out of a wet white quill.

It drooped tentaclelike over the side of the water barrel Silver was wallowing in. His fur had finally gotten too sooty for his mistress to bear.

"Honestly, anyone would think you'd climbed up that chimney," the beige skunk tutted, reaching for another quill.

"Aren't you forgetting whose mess he had to clear up?" Rufus piped up.

The blacksmith and his other slave, the blue wolf Canus, were sitting across the yard, attaching handles to sword blades.

Tumbola glared at her husband. "If you'd come back when you said you would, I wouldn't have had to make that mess."

"I'll bear that in mind next time half the horses in the bloody stable need reshoeing. You can be the one to tell Tarka why your precious needlework should come before the queen's orders."

Silver exchanged furtive smirks with Canus as the back-and-forth continued overhead. There hadn't been a single day the skunks hadn't bickered since he'd come to live here. At first, he'd worried it was something to do with him, but Canus had assured him otherwise. They'd always been like this.

"Mind if I interrupt?"

Silver's ears pricked as a familiar voice spoke over the skirmishing skunks. He looked towards the yard's wicker gate. Khan was standing there. He wasn't alone.

"Ma!"

The water barrel toppled over as Silver tried to clamber out. He sprinted across the yard, flattened the wicker gate and threw his arms around Amaranth's waist. Only then did he notice Shadow.

"Pa?" he squeaked, gawking at his father while clinging to his mother.

Shadow managed a faint smile. "Hello, son."

Knuxahuatl suddenly came between them. He untied the cord around the black hedgehog's wrists.

"Thank you, master," murmured Shadow.

Silver's mouth sagged open. It remained so while Xhade untied Amaranth's wrists.

"Thank you, mistress," said the cerise hedgehog.

Xhade nodded and followed Knuxahuatl into the smithy's yard.

"Pa?" said Silver, "Did you just say…?"

Shadow crouched down, placing a hand on his son's soggy shoulder.

"That's right," he said softly, "We're the same now. All three of us."

Silver removed his arms from around Amaranth.

"Not three, Pa," he said, placing a hand on his mother's gravid belly, "There's four of us now."

Just then, he frowned. He patted the nascent bump. He could only feel fur.

"What happened to your clothes, Ma?"

Amaranth smirked, wiping her eyes as she crouched. "This is what Arkadians wear."

Silver tilted his head. "But I thought we're Erinians?"

"We are," said Shadow, taking the albino hedgehog in his arms, "We're just doing as our mistress asked."

"Your father's being a good boy," said Amaranth.

Silver went limp in Shadow's embrace. Resting his head on his father's arm, he peered idly into the yard. He saw Khan following Rufus towards the forge, carrying a very familiar weapon over his shoulder.

"That's your sword, Pa!" he piped up, "Wh-what are they doing with it?"

"They're going to melt it down," said Amaranth.

Silver looked up at her in horror. "Why, Ma?"

"Because I don't need it anymore," said Shadow, holding his son tight, "All I need is right here."