The Furred Reich (21 page)

“Oh… No problem then.”

Yes, the sooner they got out of this place, the better. Those oxen seemed to be just slow as hell, and they trodded along the brick lain path to Jasra while some kind of battle was occurring at a speed much faster than this pace.

“Come on…” He growled aloud, losing his patience.

“Hey, Qok… We’re not gonna get there in time…” Hex finally said to the bird.

“It’s the monsters,” Hex explained to the bird. “They’re fast on the way and this shitty little country isn’t going to hold for long! So push it!”

Qok looked over at him. “I’m going as fast as we can.”

A plume of smoke rose up over one of the buildings on the pinkish-orange horizon. There was no city wall, which meant that if the monsters broke through once everything was over. As they drew closer he could see residents panicking. Hex tried hard not to do the same.

“Qok? Just… Just leave the oxen here.”

The avian stepped off the cart and reluctantly looked at his oxen. He reached forward, pet their snouts and turned to Hex.

“Come on…”

Civilians were panicking, grabbing belongings and running for the seafront. Hex and the old bird elbowed their way past the city when a flaming ball descended from the sky and exploded on some apartments nearby, causing the building to crash and spitting debris everywhere. The throng of equines screamed and scattered around. A black fire rose from the rubble and another plume of smoke swirled up over the crowd. The Hwa-Chong bombs were already in use. Obviously.

“Good god what are we in for…” Qok shouted over the chaos.

At the harbor several boats were maneuvering into and out of the docks. Men were maintaining some kind of order, keeping a line of furres waiting to get on the next boats, which were coming by the minute. The lines of people stretched well past the docks, snaking into the streets.

Hex shook his head and got into a line with Qok. He could feel the combat constricting around them more and more, spilling into the city and closing into the port. Still the furres filed orderly onto one of two boats that were getting ready to shove off.

“Urrrrgh!”

An unearthly grunting rose up behind the throng. Hex turned around to see three hulking Greenskins slicing their way through a thin line of equine soldiers.

“Shit. It’s over.” Qok said.

Screams rose up from the once-orderly line. Some of them charged the boats, which were already brimming and weighed down with living cargo.

“Hey that’s enough!”

Some men and women even tried swimming out to the boats as they shoved off. No other ships were left in the water.

Drunk on success, one of the monsters grabbed a young woman by the hair and steadily pulled back. Hex stood there for a second, captivated by the scene and watching it as if he were watching a house burning.

After a second, he and Qok ran onto the docks in a desperate attempt to get to distant shores.

“Deltia! Deltia!”

A stray boat that looked like a guard ship was collecting up those stranded in the water.

“Deltia!”

It wasn’t a big boat. Hex and Qok both leaped into the water and made a swim for it. One of the staff saw the approaching beasts and turned away so that the boat made its way further from the increasingly dangerous coast. Qok got there first, reached out and took a hand.

Hex reached forward lunged at Qok.

“Hex—What?!”

The Kitsune stepped upon the old driver to leap onto the already-burdened vessel. It nearly keeled over when he did. Hex then kicked his helper away as the boat increased in speed.

“Come back here! Come back and help me, I have a—”

Qok’s head sank under the water and Hex turned around to watch from afar as green skin swarmed into the narrow streets of the stricken city.

Giraz

“C’mon Asril!”

It was Tari again. Coming to wake Asril up before another day of Grapewine smushing and harvesting. Asril was trying to get accustomed to a regimented, working life. Without her travel partner Tari’s insistence, Asril would likely have been kicked off the Western Vinyards of Giraz weeks ago.

“Arr, alright. Just gimme a moment.”

It was a miracle Tari made it this far, but the graceful, midnight-furred cat fit in well to civilized life in Giraz. Asril couldn’t say the same for herself, and she often fought the urge to snatch things when no one was looking. Tari was there to stop Asril from doing that, too.

The two of them left the dormitories and were greeted by lines and columns of berry trees which stretched as far as her eyes could see. Their task was simple: Tari picked the fruits and, once inside the vat, Asril smashed them with a paddle. Sometimes, when they were really behind, Asril would put on slippers and step on the berries herself. Today she’d only have to use the paddle.

To Asril, it was strange how she quickly she and Tari came to depend on one another. Though things were boring most of the time, it was hard not to be grateful. Tanjung was right all along about this country, Ahuran. It was safe from the monsters. Tari and Asril cultivated, harvested and processed their column of Grapetrees until about dusk, and then headed to a meal tent with the other vineyard workers.

Captain Cyan was there waiting for them yet again. The blue-furred feline soldier had taken a liking to Tari, that was obvious, and Tari didn’t seem to mind it so much. Even still, theirs was not a courtship they hid from Asril, and Asril never felt like the two didn’t want her around, so even she got to know the Captain.

“What are you thinking about, Asril?”

Tari snapped the former thief out of her thoughts.

“Oh nothing. I was just thinking about something, but it’s all OK now.”

Lightning Rune Tribe

“Stillgestanden!” the human shouted to a disheveled line of male wolves.

Vahn, barely eighteen summers, had been running for almost a week. His tribe, like dozens of others he’d seen, was swallowed up by a tide of green. A few days ago he’d gotten wind that a new tribe was taking people in; a tribe of wolves, but led by humans who threw fire and slayed monsters with their cannons. The story seemed mythical, but given the state of his former tribe, he convinced himself to believe.

“Is this it?” Noa, one of two long-time friends that escaped with Vahn, asked.

“It’s supposed to be… They said go to show up at the moat with no water.”

Noa peeked into the dark cave, but saw no one.

“Someone’s here,” Vahn growled. “I can sense it. But I just can’t see them.”

“Hello?!” Noa shouted, his voice carrying through the trees.

A figure came walking out of the cave and a very tall, snow-white wolf emerged. Painted on his chest were two crisp lightning symbols.

“What do you want?”

Vahn stepped forward and raised his paw.

“We, um. We’re looking for the Lightning Rune Tribe. If this is the right place, we’d like to join you.”

“Hmph. You boys are welcome to try. Though it won’t be easy. Those who don’t make it regret trying.”

“Please. We’ll do anything. Just give us a chance.”

“I see the three of you have been running for awhile. Tomorrow I’ll take you to our proving grounds. Until then you stay outside. Show up here an hour before sunrise.”

That night they slept in the cold. An hour before dawn, Vahn and his friends came by and saw another stray male was waiting by the skinny moat.

“You looking for the Lightning Rune Tribe?” Noa asked.

“Yes. Is that you?”

“No, but we were told to come here.”

Then the tall white wolf from yesterday came from the forest and led the four of them through the warm caverns and toward the ‘proving grounds.’ When they got outside there was an exact line of ten other wolves, none of them had any paint and all seemed to be ‘recruits’ as they were. There was a fanaticism in the air of this ‘Lightning Rune Tribe,’ and things seemed anything but safe. Already Vahn regretted his decision.

‘GOOD MORNING GENTLEMEN!’

Then came the ‘Master.’ He was a short human dressed in a sharp gray uniform holding badges and otherworldly symbols. The human stood before them in the cold air and the tall white wolf followed right behind. Vahn noticed one thing first and above all: A black cross dangling on the man’s neck collar, and second, thick furs perched upon the man’s shoulders.

‘TOMMORROW A PERIOD OF TRAINING BEGINS FOR YOU, WHICH WILL TURN YOU INTO THE BEST FIGHTING MEN IN THE WORLD.’

Even the birds seemed to have been quieted by the sound of his voice.

‘FELDWEBEL KRISTIYAN,’ he shouted in a voice even louder.

“Yes, Master Sepp.” The tall white wolf next to him turned and replied.

‘JOIN US AT SUNRISE FOR THE NEW RECRUITS.’

‘Master Sepp’ then turned and gestured for a different group of wolves waiting at the hill to come join them. The wolves’ faces were painted with exhaustion. All were marked with two lightning bolts upon their chest. They came even with Vahn’s group. Master Sepp stopped them with a tiny gesture. There must have been fifteen of them.

“Here are some new friends,” the Master said, addressing both groups. “Salute them, please.”

The fifteen exhausted wolves all made a quarter turn and shouted and shouted to Vahn and the others.

“Thank you, comrades, for joining us.”

As soon as Master Sepp had gone, the two men by his side, ‘Kristiyan’ and another human, chased the recruits off to the cave as if they’d suddenly gone mad. A wooden door swung open and Vahn, with the others, entered into a dugout cavern inside the snow-covered hill.

“You’ve got four minutes to find a place!”

The other human introduced himself as ‘Hair Petch-Key,’ and explained what Master Sepp expected of them in terms of order, cleanliness and discipline. Petch-Key also advised them to sleep, which was strange because it was still early.

Vahn settled into a pallet on the floor and prepared to sleep.

“It seems that life here won’t be a joke,” said Noa.

“I don’t know if this was a good idea,” Vahn said as he closed his eyes.

The sun’s pink light barely touched the treetops when the wooden door flew open as if the Raiders themselves were bursting in. A shrill whistle pierced the cavern air and Kristiyan barked at all of them.

“Thirty seconds to the troughs! Then everybody in front of the trenches!”

Vahn had no idea what a ‘trench’ was. Forty five seconds later he found out, because soon they all stood in front of that long but narrow line through the ground. Master Sepp arrived shortly, and today he was carrying a whip under his arm.

“Stillgestanden!” Barked Kristiyan.

“At ease,” Master Sepp calmly ordered.

“Feldwebel Kristiyan, you will simply accompany us today. In honor of our new recruits, I myself will drill them.”

Master Sepp shifted his weight and stared at the snowy ground, then jerked back up again.

“Attention!”

In a split second the ten recruits were standing straight.

“Very good,” he said in a honeyed voice. He walked toward them. “Gentlemen, I have the impression that you came to this tribe a little hastily. Without much reflection. Not one of you seems adequate to the job we have to do. I hope that I am wrong, and that I will not have to take you to the punishment hut to teach you the error of your decision.”

Vahn and the other recruits stood there with empty heads and full attention.

“The task which you have, sooner or later will require more of you than what you supposed. Simply knowing how to fight is no longer enough. You will also require a great deal of courage and perseverance. I must warn you that everything here is hard, nothing is forgiven, and therefore everyone must have quick reflexes. To destroy these Raiders we need men, and not pitiful specimens like you.”

“Down on the ground, and full length!”

Without hesitation they were all stretched out in the snow. Then Master Sepp stood forward and walked across the wolven ground, continuing his speech as his boots trampled the paralyzed recruits. His heels calmly crushed down on a back, a hip, a head or a hand—but no one moved.

“Today,” he said, “I will take you for a little outing, so I can judge your abilities for myself.”

Master Sepp turned and addressed the group to which Vahn did not belong.

“Today, gentlemen, it will be your privilege to assume the role of the wounded. In twos! Pick up the wounded.”

Vahn was paired with another young fellow whose name he learned was Kasha. The poor wolf looked to have a black and blue eye. Vahn hoped Kasha’s mark wasn’t from this training, though he suspected that it was.

“Hello.”

“Hi,” the beaten wolf said in a low voice.

Kasha and Vahn made a seat of their hands for a wolf who must have weighed 100 Gils. Master Sepp led them to a low hill which seemed at least ten Paces away. Vahn’s arms felt as though they could break under the weight of their new friend. Still, he and Kasha marched up the hill, and when they reached the top, they had to climb back down, stumbling on the steep slope. Whenever someone let go, Master Sepp would separate the trio and assign an even heavier load of one wounded person on one back. Vahn sensed it would soon be his turn.

The pain and pressure became so great that Vahn lost his grip altogether, and Kasha was hanging on alone. Vahn shook his bloodless paw and gave a sigh. The shadow of Master Sepp loomed over him, and Vahn was ordered to lift a man heavier than himself onto his shoulders. But the shift in position was a relief, and he was able to keep going. The torture went on for an hour. Vahn, and surely most others, were at the point of losing consciousness.

“Since you all seem to be tired, I’ll now assign you to a lying-down exercise, which may revive you. Over there, picture a nest of Raiders behind that hill.”

Master Sepp gestured about a kilometer away.

“Also,” he chuckled, “imagine you have the best reasons for taking that hill, but if you walk there on your paws, the Raiders will lay you flat. Therefore! You will make yourselves flat on the ground and proceed on your bellies. I will be on the hill. And I will fire on anyone who I see. Understand?”