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Chapter 4

Peter

A grueling two weeks passed while we walked through bushes and stomped over never-ending piles dirt. Twice my ropes got tangled in a bush and Dante had to unravel them. Both times, I caught a glimmer of condescension in his eyes, like I was being a pain in the ass. Me! He wouldn't have even had to untangle my rope if we were walking on the main road. I never told him that, though. A sneaking suspicion told me he would just bring up that shit with the Talth from before. He'd probably say it all condescendingly, too. God. He probably would never let that go. I imagined him laughing about it later with his drinking buddies, telling them about time he saved the little faggotprince. Asshole. At least I knew he could protect me. Guns may have only been able to hold three bullets, but, after seeing what a single bullet could do someone, I felt safe.

_ _ "How much longer?" I asked, walking behind Dante. "It's been two weeks since we left Cainrin. When are we going to stop at another town? Where the hell are we even going? Do you know, or are you just too macho to admit you're lost?"

Dante didn't turn his head around, or even slow down. "I know exactly where we're going,"

I shot the back of his head with a disbelieving look. "And how's that, wolfy?"

He shifted his end of the rope from his right hand to his left and stretched his now-free fingers. "I have a map,"

"Bullshit!" I said.

"Really, I do," he claimed.

"Then how come I've never seen it?" I asked him.

"Because I've only ever looked at it when you were asleep,"

"Uh-huh. And I'm your mother,"

I thought for sure he would have tugged on my rope, but, much to my surprise, he hardly seemed to react at all. "You don't believe me?"

"Let's see," I said, rolling my eyes. "Do I trust the same guy who brought me out into the woods, tied me up and abducted me? Hmmmm... Nope. Can't say I do,"

Dante suddenly stopped walking, making me think that I broke his last bit of patience. He didn't slap me across the face, like I thought he was going to. Instead, he took off his bag and placed it on the ground before he started to dig around inside. Eventually, his hands stopped moving and withdrew a piece of brown parchment that had been folded in half. He then unfolded the paper and held it out for me to see, revealing that he actually did own a map.

Despite the boring base color, the map was very colorful. The ocean around Alpis was a navy blue shade and had little curvy lines in certain parts to represent waves. Alpis itself was even prettier to look at, but it was made up of several different colors instead of just one. Every Kingdom had its own color. My father's Kingdom, the Gannish territory, was painted with rich lavender. I then began looking at the North territory of the map, where I saw that the Fanged Peaks, which were ruled by Queen Santel, had painted with an alluring gold color. I suspected that they were painted gold because Queen Santel was richer than any other queen or king in Alpis. I also noticed that the Danil Kingdom, the most northern Kingdom and the one that we were currently in, was a dim grey.

I was about to try and figure out where exactly we were, when Dante drew the map away from me. He then turned it around and stared at the colors himself.

"It's exquisite, isn't it?" he asked, as if Jesus fucking Christ had come down from the sky and given him that stupid thing.

"Yeah," I said. "Who made it?"

Dante's eyes scrolled over the map and I could see the faintest hint of its colors reflecting inside his pupils. "I don't know. A friend gave it to me as a present. I never thought to ask him where he got it,"

"Who was your friend?"

Dante ignored my question and put his map back into his little gay bag. "We're about three miles from the border. We probably should stay here for the rest of the day,"

As Dante walked over to a tree and tied my arms to its trunk, I asked him, "Why? It's barely noon. Shouldn't we keep going for a little while?"

"No," Dante told me, as he finished securing the rope to the tree. "We're going into Capres' Kingdom and I want to stay there as briefly as we can. I don't need to tell you what William Capres would do if he caught the son of David Gannish inside his Kingdom, do I?"

_William Capres. _

_ _ I had nearly forgotten that his Kingdom was underneath us and that avoiding it wasn't an option, unless we grew wings. "No,"

"Good," Dante said and tied my muzzle closed with a few good knots.

After deciding that his handiwork was good enough, Dante drew his bow and loaded an arrow. "I'm going to find us lunch. I'll be back in a little while,"

He left me alone and went in search of whatever game he could find.

William Capres. How could I have forgotten about the grudge he still bore for my father and the rest of the Southern Families?

The Yurl War was a good twelve years ago, when I was only seven years old, so most of my memories of it had faded. I still could remember my father being gone for a while, though, since he had to go with the other Southern kings and queens up north.

Basically, the Yurl Family was small and Ansil, their City, used to be right beneath Owl's Overwatch, which is the only mountain range in Alpis besides the Fanged Peaks. Owl's Overwatch is also the physical landmark that divides the Northern Kingdoms from the Southern ones. Anyways, twelve years ago, the Southern Kingdoms found themselves becoming more and more overpopulated. Housing space had run out, leaving families to live in the gutters, where many of them either died of starvation or contracted some fatal disease. The Southern Families called a meeting amongst themselves and voted to move the Yurl Family just north of Owl's Overwatch, since they ruled the smallest Southern City. Of course, they did this without the Yurl's consent, despite the fact that the Yurl's were present at the meeting. My father, of course, was the one who came up with the idea and proposed it. The Northern Families, much like the Yurl's, weren't happy about the decision, since the Southerners never asked for their permission. It also didn't help that, in order to move the Yurl's into the North, the Talis', who lived in Sleeping Sun and just above Owl's Overwatch, would have had to give up a piece of their land. Soon, the Northern Kingdoms, along with the Yurl's, fought against the entire South. Five months and a few thousand dead soldiers later, the South won the war and the North bitterly made room for the Yurl Family to re-locate Ansil above Sleeping Sun.

Now, William Capres was technically second-in-command of the Northerners. I say "technically" because, after Bernard Santel declared war on the South, Capres was the first to agree. After the two had come to a mutual alliance, the rest of the Northern Families backed them up and recognized King Santel as their leader. But, when the North lost, the Southern Kingdoms cried out for punishment. So, Bernard, who was captured in the last battle, was executed in front of the Southern Kings and Capres himself as punishment. Nobody else was allowed to witness it in an effort to prevent any riots from breaking out. King Santel was beheaded, or so the rumors had said. After Santel was dead, they let Capres go. But, the Southern Kings warned Capres that his fate would be the same if he ever followed in his friend's steps and declared war. Then, on top of taking land to make room for the Yurl's, the Southern Kingdoms heavily taxed the North as punishment for starting the war in the first place, another idea that had been proposed by my father. In fact, I realized as I sat against my tree, the South was still collecting piles of gold from the North.

I imagined William Capres sitting in a dark throne room, contemplating my father's death, as well as the death of every other Southern ruler. He hated them all, sure, but he despised my father more than the rest, since he proposed moving the Yurl's and the taxing of the North. If I was caught in Capres' territory, God knows what he would do to me. Any otter found in Tynas was usually tortured or murdered, simply because of their species. In fact, any citizen in Capres' Kingdom could murder an otter and not receive any punishment. That was how deep Capres' hatred for my father ran and my stomach twisted at the thought of him finding me.

I didn't have to shake the horrible feeling away for long because Dante came back, carrying a bloodied wild fox. He skinned the animal and preceded to cook it with a makeshift spit he made from a few sticks. Once the meat was cooked, the pelt was inside Dante's bag and I was untied, we began to eat.

"How long do you think we'll be in Capres' Kingdom?" I asked after swallowing my food.

Dante took a sip from his wineskin and sighed. "Maybe about two weeks, if we don't run into trouble. Shouldn't be too hard. We'll have to stop in Tynas for a few minutes, though,"

"The Capital?" I gasped. "Why? Do you know how horrible it is for any otter that goes there?"

"I've heard the stories," Dante said.

"Apparently you haven't!" I said. "Do you know what the guards would do to me before we could even stepped inside the City? They'd cut off my fingers and toes one by one! Then, they'd skin me alive and leave me to bleed in the street! And that's just for being an otter. Who knows what they would do if they found out who my father was?"

"They won't hurt you," Dante said.

Something about his lack of concern bothered me so much that I began to raise my voice. "Easy for you to say! Two of the three wolf Families are Northerners! They'll probably throw you a goddamned welcoming feast and give you my heart as an appetizer!"

Dante looked up from his food to stare at me. "That's exactly what I'm counting on,"

"What?" I screamed.

"Oh," Dante laughed, "not the appetizer part. The wolf part. When we get to Tynas, I'll give you my cloak. It'll be really big on you, so it will hide your tail and face. Chances are most people will just assume you're a weasel or something. But, if any of the guards find out that you're really an otter, I'll tell them that I'm escorting you to Capres to get a reward. Since I'm a wolf, they'll probably take my word for it. That's to say if they even catch us, which they won't,"

Despite Dante's faith in his own plan, I myself was not convinced. A million things could go wrong. The cloak could come unlaced and fall off. The wind could blow the hood off of my head. Or my tail could stick out from behind the cloak. But I still didn't have a choice. Dante was my abductor and whatever he said was final.

"Why do we even have to stop in the first place?" I asked in a much quieter voice.

Dante took a bite of his fox meat. "I need to purchase a few things,"

My voice rose again. "We're going into Tynas just so you can fucking shop?"

"I need to get some supplies," Dante explained.

"Then we can go somewhere else!" I said. "Let's go someplace where I won't get my ass carved like a goddamn turkey!"

"I need bullets," Dante said. "I'm pretty low and my friend sells them. Getting a couple of arrows wouldn't hurt, either. I also want to get you a disguise,"

Hardly any merchants sold bullets on account of how only royal Families could afford a single gun. So, stopping did make sense, but I was still in shock about waking straight into Tynas. "Is there anywhere else you can get bullets?"

Dante shook his head and his voice softened. "No. Not until we've crossed the Fanged Peaks,"

I let out a sigh of defeat and leaned my head back against my tree. I was going to die and Dante may as well have stuck a knife in my heart. It would have been a more merciful death than what Capres' men would give me if we were caught.

My fox remained untouched for the rest of the night until Dante threw it and the rest of the scraps into the fire.

Days seemed to become shorter than a few breaths and, before I knew it, the day came when we would enter Tynas finally arrived.

Dante's cloak draped over my body as if I were some boy who was trying on his father's clothes. The hood touched the hairs on my cheeks with the firmness of a toddler's grasp and hung off my head like a blanket. Lower down, the backside of the cloak hung off me so much that it touched the ground and I was reminded of an aunt of mine, who had starved herself so she could fit into her wedding dress. All around, between my chest and the cloak, there was a good three inches of empty space that let the cool morning air chill my body. As I stood there, feeling like a total dumbass, I began to think that we would be surely be caught.

"It's bigger than I thought it would be," Dante confessed, as he walked around me.

"We're gonna die," I groaned.

Carefully, Dante crept behind me and made sure that my tail was tucked into my trousers, which would have made my ass suspiciously huge, but the cloak covered it. "We're not going to die,"

"You're right. I'm gonna to die!"

"Not with me right next to you. You saw me handle those Talth back on the road," Dante said, after he finished examining my tail and stood up.

I looked Dante straight in the eye as he strolled in front of me and checked to make sure the hood concealed my face. "Those guys were nothing. These are knights we're talking about. They have training and experience,"

The wolf's fingers pulled the hood of the cloak further over my head, which caused the tip of it to droop down over my face and block half of my vision. So, I had to tilt my head back to look Dante in the eye. "If everything goes to hell, just run," he said. "Let me take care of the rest,"

"Where would I even go?"

"Hmmm," Dante groaned, either because he was thinking or because the hood was annoying him. "Let's meet a mile south of Tynas,"

"How long's a mile?" I wondered.

Dante's blue and brown eyes narrowed. "You don't know how far a mile is?"

I shrugged. "No,"

For a moment, he thought and then answered, "There's a statue just along the road after you leave the Tynas. It's only a half-mile south, but it's still something,"

My ears twitched. "A statue? Of what?"

"One of Capres' ancestors," Dante replied. "She was murdered and her killer was never found. The statue was made in her honor. There's a plaque there that can tell you more about it,"

I blinked and, against my better judgment, asked, "How old was she?"

Dante was still for a moment. "Four,"

A void of pity grew inside my heart and made my blood go still.

Then, Dante crouched down to become eye-level with me. Something had changed in his eyes, it seemed. They appeared almost gentle. "I'm sorry about this," Dante sighed. "I really am. Not just for bringing you into Tynas, but for exposing you to all of this over these past few days. It must be hard to take in, these rapists, murderers and cruel people. But, once you get back home, you can forget about all of this and runaway again to go drink at taverns. But, until then, I swear I'll protect you,"

I swallowed and pushed down the lump in my throat. "Okay,"

Dante got back on his paws and put on a horribly fake smile. "Hey, at least you're off the rope for a while!"

After lowering my head and staring at my bare wrists, I realized that I wasn't feeling any better. I was still probably going to be butchered the moment we stepped inside Tynas. "Yeah. I guess,"

"Now, the shop we're going to is on the far side of the City and near the southern gate, so we could get away if we needed to. The forest is right-"

I let my body fall forward and my arms wrap tightly around Dante's upper thigh as if I were in danger of falling off the side of a cliff. I buried my face into his trousers and my fingers dug into the fabric. "Please," I begged him, "don't make me go,"

Slowly, I began to shake. It started in my fingers and grew into a tremor that stretched out over my entire body. Even my legs were shaking so much that I had to hold onto Dante's thigh even tighter so I wouldn't fall over. The horror stories that I had heard about otters being publicly castrated, having their eyes plucked out with tongs and being eaten alive by domesticated dogs made me only quiver even more against Dante.

"Dante," I whispered, "or whoever the hell you are, please don't make me go in there. For the love of God, or whatever you fucking believe in, just...don't,"

I could feel Dante's trousers become moist and I realized that I was crying. Yet, I ignored my tears.

"I'll...I'll blow you. I'll let you fuck me. I'll do anything you want just...don't let them hurt me,"

My words ceased and became entirely replaced with a wave of pitiful sobs.

Dante remained still as I cried onto his trousers. Then, after a few sobs later, Dante lowered his hand down and held my left shoulder with a firm grasp. "We have to go into the City. We wouldn't have to if there wasn't another choice. But, I promise, no harm will come to you, Peter,"

I sobbed a few more times and, after I was finished, I pushed myself gently away from Dante's leg and wiped away my tears with my arm. When my eyes were tear-free, I looked up and saw Dante hunched over with genuine concern in his eyes.

"Okay, Dante,"

Reluctantly, after Dante stood up and began walking, I followed him towards Tynas, the very City that William Capres called home.