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Journey Of The Heart

Saturday, June 9th, 739 BSO; 12:27 PM

"I know where to find them. I can save the Claw Clan."

Ayo had expected to be laughed out of the Council the moment she opened her snout, but instead, Kibwe Feralheart waved his paw toward the blue-purple Dilophosaurus and indicated she should continue.

"I have... had a brother named Amadi," she started, moving forward to stand before the Council. Funny, just a few short moments ago, she was on it. "And he was part of the Bitah'ta." That information caused everyone to start talking at once, either in quiet whispers or shouts of outrage. She had expected that reaction, as the majority of species saw the Bitah'ta as rebels and terrorists. With extremist members like Amadi, she could understand where the stance came from, but there were also others that just wanted change for their people, like Dejen.

"I will be the first to admit that they can be radicals, as my brother was one," she started to pace, unable to sit idle as she spoke. The movement hurt, causing all the bruises and aches caused by the night before to flare up, "But for every radical like my brother, there are ten or more that just wanted freedom from slavery and oppression."

That last part, of course, got a reaction - the Claw diplomat, the red feathered Mavuto Quickclaw spoke up, jumping forward while snarling his answer, "Oppression? Just because you have been replaced by Sauda-," he was silenced by Kibwe snarling, the red feathered male quickly shut up and slunk back at the fury directed at him by the much larger black feathered raptor.

Ayo bobbed her head toward Kibwe in thanks and pressed on before someone else could take the stage, "I'm not talking about myself. You raptors take my kind for granted - and just like you do to us, it is easy for our kind to paint yours in sweeping strokes. To classify all raptors as heartless slavers. I have seen the best and the worst both our kinds have to offer and, frankly, we're not that different."

There were murmurs from the crowd that varied from indifference to outrage, but Ayo ignored the majority of them. She just needed the approval of one raptor in particular and she waited quietly as Kibwe made up his mind. He couldn't seem biased toward her, more so now that he was technically mated to Sauda, but she could see his desire to support her regardless of that fact. Surprisingly, however, it was Sauda that spoke up before him.

"Ayo, if it can save my Clan - my former Clan - I can't see a reason to disapprove," the female spoke while dipping her head toward the female Dilophosaurus, "Most of us in the Claw Clan thought you were just some sex-object, or perhaps just a way for Kibwe to skirt his duties as a leader, but no. There is more to you than meets the eye, isn't there?" she quietly mused before shaking her head and looking beside her to Kibwe.

He, gracefully, ignored part of her comments and instead leaned himself back, "We'll try and buy you as much time as we can, Ayo. May the Tuk hasten your steps."

The fact that Kibwe made a religious reference showed just how dire the news really was and how seriously he was taking it, as Ayo knew he wasn't overly religious as a whole. She bowed her head and hesitated for a moment before turning away from the gathered raptors and pushed her way through the sea of bodies. It proved an easy thing, as before too long the crowd parted before her willingly, realizing, perhaps, that this smaller creature was their only hope of actually winning this war.

Monday, June 10th, 739 BSO; 2:02 PM

Ayo's search had taken her in circles without any luck. Her first instinct was to go to Dejen's home, where she had gone with Yeva to find him. She lingered there longer than she should have when she found out it was empty; as if it was abandoned by Dejen and his family. It made her momentarily uncomfortable and memories threatened to wash over her before she decided to leave.

As she attempted to proceed down the right path, her mind was swirling about her current task. She knew that the Bitah'ta were called many things by many voices - freedom fighters, terrorists, idealists, honourless, brave, and stupid. She was sure most of these things were as true as they were false, with her own opinion being that many of them were just young males wanting to change things and not knowing how to go about it, so they get conscripted into the Bitah'ta and suddenly find themselves with no other option left. Some, of course, joined due to their hatred (such as her brother) or because they have no choices left (such as a slave), but most lay somewhere in between those two extremes.

She also knew why many of the raptors balked at the idea when she presented it, considering their only really known 'goal' was to overthrow the raptor Clan system and put the 'lesser species' in charge instead; a government ruled by Dilophosaurus and Allosaurus. To get their way, though, they attacked and raided hunting partings, interrupted the Clan's Hunts, and raided the city. Sadly, the latter only hurt their own kind, as they rarely made it past the lower city. That only led to destruction and carnage for its own sake, leading to only their kind paying the price.

She spent much of the afternoon and night retracing her steps into the jungle, lost amid a swirling maelstrom of thought; but like Dejen's home, she found the camp empty. There was hardly a sign that the clearing had once been occupied and already the jungle was trying to reclaim what was once lost, creeping inward with long vines. The only disturbance that Ayo noticed was a lump of dirt, a shallow grave that was unmarked. She bent down beside that and, removing a flower from a nearby bush, placed it atop of the unmarked grave. She did not mourn Amadi for who he had become, but rather the brother she had lost years ago, consumed by his hatred.

It was there, with her body trembling in sorrow, that she finally was put on the right path. A voice cleared their throat behind her and after her initial fight-or-flight response at being startled during such a personal moment, she recognized the raptor before her, "Subira?"

Subira Sightseer, as it turned out, had been waiting in the jungle for the past day. She was glad to see Ayo there, though for reasons she refused to expand upon, only cryptically saying that the right path had been set. "I apologize for giving no warning to you and yours about the Tuk marching. Not even I can view all the threads of time," she commented after Ayo explained her reason for being out alone.

Subira then insisted that Ayo follow her back to the Seer complex and, while she knew time was wasting, Ayo didn't see another step she could take. With or without her, the Heart Clan would fight. She just hoped the results weren't as bad as everyone was predicting. Even Subira refused to put her at ease, just stating that she couldn't tell her what the results of the fight would be, "Telling just one soul, no matter how inconsequential it might seem, can change everything."

The better part of Monday morning was spent with Subira (and her guard, who had been waiting nearby), traveling to the complex. It was sometime in the afternoon when they arrived at a pair of old columns in the jungle and Subira directed Ayo forward, into the darkness of the passage. One of Subira's guards had bioluminescent lichen that was wrapped around a stick, serving as a makeshift torch in the pure darkness of the long, winding path. One that, seemingly, let out into the sub-floors of the complex.

Ayo could tell right away that the sub-floors weren't used and were most certainly built over, the new pyramid established over the old. At least, they hadn't been used, but she saw that the rubble had recently been disturbed and saw a multitude of bodies hard at work. At first, she thought they were all slaves and she was about to wheel on Subira, but then she looked closer and saw that they weren't being directed by raptors. Several clusters of them were also sitting around talking to one another, laughing or telling stories.

She looked again and saw that it wasn't just dilos, as there were several Allosaurus doing the heavier lifting. Like the Dilophosaurus, however, they were joking or laughing as they worked, even if some of them were slower on the uptake. These weren't slaves, but rather free creatures and it made Ayo all the more confused. At least, until she spotted the leader for the group and some of it made sense. "Dejen?"

The brown-to-tan scaled male turned toward her with a wide grin, stepping away from a pair of dilos that he had been in conversation with to stand before Ayo and Subira. Surprisingly, he bowed his head respectfully to the Seer Matron and, even more surprising, she returned the gesture of respect. "Ayo! I was starting to wonder if you'd show up. Matron Sightseer kept assuring me you would, eventually, but..."

"But I didn't say when or how, so you doubted me. I can't blame you, Dejen, as I was only half confident myself," Subira nodded, bobbing her head before turning toward Ayo, "As I said I can't tell you the future, but that also doesn't mean I can't hint at it indirectly."

Ayo's head swirled with questions, but the first one that popped to mind was the most obvious one, "What are you doing here, Dejen?"

The large allo offered a grin, rolling his shoulder to indicate that Ayo should follow after. With a bow of her head, Subira slipped away with her guard down a darkened side chamber, one that presumably led to the surface of the Seer complex.

Following Dejen, Ayo saw where the members of his family had gone, the semi-familiar snouts pushing loose rubble out of the way while others were helping dilos with planting the bioluminescent life from the jungle to provide a source of light in this subterranean world. "Subira led us here. She said that her Clan accidentally tunneled down into what she is calling the 'Old City', but I doubt anything she does is by accident."

"No. I don't think anything she does is accidental," Ayo agreed, frowning still in confusion before turning toward Dejen, "But what are you doing here? What is... anyone doing here aside from raptor slave teams?"

"After you declared me the leader of my Bitah'ta cell, I had some initial challengers, both internally and externally, from other cells. After fighting a few of them, I started to go to the cells nearby that I knew of, recruiting them toward my version of the Bitah'ta. Equality - just as the word truly means."

"I can't assume it was all peaceful," Ayo quipped.

"No. One or two cells were entirely radicals, and those refused to join. Attacked my group, even. We're stronger for it now, but at the time it was a shock to have to fight our own. Now there are two leaders of the Bitah'ta, whereas just a week ago there were twenty-seven. Not to say the other leader has attracted only zealots to his cause, but he did gather the larger majority of cells regardless."

He pressed on after a brief pause, "After gathering those cells to my side, I was lost. I returned to the original camp and found it was torn down. As it turns out, it was Subira's doing - she was waiting there for me. My followers were on edge, but they thankfully listened when I told them to stand down. A smart choice, as it were, as Subira had the clearing surrounded by fighters. She told me she had an offer for me, and," he waved a large paw around, indicating the ruins about them.

"She offered us a home. She couldn't give us citizenship again, but this? This is damned close enough." Dejen himself was still a citizen, Ayo knew, but she also knew that the vast majority of the creatures working on clearing the rubble wouldn't be. She had no doubt that the vast amount of them had missed the yearly census and were declared dead.

"What's the catch?" Ayo asked. There was always a catch.

"She was upfront about that, though cryptic at the time - we're meant to help the Raptors when we're asked to. Needless to say, many of us are wary about such ambiguousness, but..." he shrugged.

She frowned. Was it that simple? She knew that Subira Sightseer had been pulling the strings from day one: it was her son that was declined by Kibwe, it was her bid for war that led to the current civil war, it was her securing the narcotic months ago that allowed Ayo to go on her Hunt, and it was the Seer emissary's vagueness that led to the Heart agreeing to the Claw's terms.

It was even her Clan's supposed idleness that had seemingly left the Tuk in a stalemate until just recently.

Now it seemed she was pulling the strings once again, giving Dejen's people hope and forcing them to agree to familiar terms, those that were unseen at the time to all but her. Ayo took a deep breath, trying to ignore the feeling of being played, and pressed on. Played or not, the fate of her lover and the Claw Clan depended on these fighters. "I'm here to ask you to help the Raptors."

Dejen arched the ridge of a brow and then tilted his head back in a rich laugh, shaking his head afterward, "Of course you are. You do know that, by Rite, the cell I took is technically yours?"

Ayo, of course, hadn't wanted it then. She still didn't want it, at least not directly, "You've earned their respect and camaraderie, just look at how they're working to a new future - under you Dejen. I can't ask you to hand that all over to me now."

Dejen paused and Ayo nearly ran into him when he did so, the large male thinking for several seconds before turning toward Ayo, "What is the nature of this 'help'?"

Ayo took a deep breath, "To fight. The Heart Clan committed itself to the war, as you've probably heard," Dejen grunted, acknowledging that fact, "Well, we hoped that the Seer's staying put in their pyramid would cause the Tuk to largely do the same - we were wrong. They've left a token garrison behind and marched in strength on the Claw. The Heart can hold them, maybe even beat them, but..."

Ayo shook her head, "The Talon and Feather Clan are prepping for a final push on the cornered Claw Clan."

Dejen lifted a large paw to scratch at his snout while he thought, before he spoke up, "Why is that such a bad thing," he stopped Ayo before she could open her snout, "I know that loss of life is a tragedy no matter what, I'm far beyond blind hatred of the feathered ones, but if the Heart Clan holds off the Tuk, the Feather, and the Talon - wouldn't that be good regardless of what happens to the Claw?"

"Perhaps before, but now it'd be a sign of weakness," Ayo rapidly caught Dejen up on the events of the past few days, making the large allo snarl and spit upon the ground.

"Damned harem politics."

"My thoughts exactly," Ayo agreed with a sad smile before shaking her head, "So Kibwe would lose face and the Tuk would seize on that to try and push a rival to the head of the Heart Clan, either during the war or after. The Heart can't afford to send troops to help the Claw, however, and..."

"And that is where we'd come in," Dejen finished with a deep breath, watching as Ayo nodded her head to confirm his suspicions. "We promised Subira that we'd help when asked and I'm not one to turn back on my promises. Besides, no matter how impressive a dilo you are," he lowered one large claw and poked her chest with it. Once again, Ayo was reminded that those claws could easily pierce her hide, "you can't fight a war on your own. And you don't want to lead my cell? Fine, you don't. You lead me."

Dejen then moved back a few feet and lowered himself to a submissive, prostrating position in front of a flabbergasted Ayo. She had come seeking help, yes, but she didn't exactly expect to become the leader. Seeing the commotion, others soon crowded around Dejen and Ayo, curious about the goings-on. Those that had been in the camp the day that Amadi died recognized Ayo and they were quick to join Dejen, prostrating themselves before the dilo. Like a wave, every soul in the room did the same until Ayo was the only creature still standing.

Dejen slowly brought himself back to standing, grinning down at the still stunned Ayo before he laughed, "It seems the Bitah'ta have a new leader," he frowned then, "but we're only several hundred in total," obviously, there were more scattered among the ruins that Ayo hadn't seen, as there was maybe only sixty or so crowded around the pair of them at the moment.

"If you really want to assemble a force that can stand up to the Clans, you'll need to convince Iyapo."

"Iyapo? Is that the other leader you mentioned?" Ayo asked, which led Dejen to nod, confirming that suspicion. "Can you take me to him?"

"I can. It'll only take a few hours to reach his camp."

Ayo was ready to leave at once, but Dejen shook his head and then snarled faintly at the bodies still crowded around, eavesdropping upon their conversation. At once, they scattered and got back to work, leaving the pair alone once more. Dejen started to walk and, not exactly knowing her way in these tunnels, Ayo followed silently afterward.

"I have something else to show you, Ayo," Dejen spoke after several twists and turns, passing by more and more bodies that were hard at work clearing rubble or otherwise trying to make this underground realm inhabitable. Eventually, they came to a section of it that was well lit by a mixture of candles and planted algae, giving just enough light to see by.

There was a single bed in this section, made of wood rather than stone, occupied by a single raptor. Ayo didn't recognize who it was at first, at least not until the raptor spoke.

"Not even a hello?" spoke the raptoress on the bed and Ayo closed the gap rapidly to embrace her. Ayo's mind was spun with questions and emotions, making the smaller female shake for a moment in that feathery embrace. She had never gotten the proper chance to mourn for her friend and now? Now it seemed she wouldn't have to, though she still had to inhale deeply just to convince herself that she wasn't seeing things.

"Yeva! How? I thought-," she shook her head, cutting herself off and holding her friend tightly. At first, she thought it was a trick of the light, but now that she was closer she saw that it wasn't. Yeva Goldheart no longer fit her last name by feather colouration alone, that was for certain, as her feathers had taken on an ashy-gray.

"I died? I did, sort of... I don't understand a lot of the mumbo-jumbo the Seers told me, but I slipped into a coma of some sort. More like... paralyzation they said? Yes, paralyzation. I could see and feel everything, but I couldn't move at all," she paused, looking between Dejen and Ayo for several moments before continuing. "That was one of the reasons Dejen agreed to Subira's terms. Selfish allo, selling his followers for love," she snorted, but Ayo could tell it was mocking and playful, not earnest.

Dejen looked sheepish for a moment before turning toward Ayo, "I know you want to stay here with Yeva and play a thousand questions, but if you want to meet Iyapo, we need to leave soon."

Ayo embraced her friend again and caught her up on everything as quickly as she could, including her reasoning for being there. At the end of it, Yeva spoke up, "I want to go, too."

Ayo and Dejen exchanged looks and the allo spoke up after a moment of hesitation, "I'm not sure how wise that would be, Yeva. Iyapo is reasonable, but his followers... he attracted the worst of the Bitah'ta."

Yeva shuffled on her bed, clearly still weak, but not wanting to sit idle. She adjusted and brought herself to standing, though she needed a few moments to balance herself before she spoke, "I'm part of the Bitah'ta too, Dejen."

Ayo laughed at that and even Dejen chuckled, making Yeva look back and forth in confusion for a moment before Ayo clarified, "The Bitah'ta is nothing but Dilophosaurus and Allosaurus, Yeva. Most joined because of their hatred of raptors."

"So? From the sounds of it, Dejen made you the leader of the Bitah'ta, didn't he?" Yeva pressed, "You don't hate raptors, do you, Ayo?"

"Well, no. Of course not."

"Then your Bitah'ta should change its rules and beliefs, shouldn't it? Bitah'ta means equality, after all."

Ayo took a deep breath and nodded her head before looking at the ash feathered female, "What about your loyalty to your harem and Clan, though, Yeva?"

"What about it? I'm helping the Heart by helping you, aren't I? Besides," she offered a lopsided smile, "I died, didn't I? Death kind of frees me from my harem, don'tcha think?"

Ayo laughed, knowing how much Yeva disliked her harem leader and gave a nod of her head even as Yeva looked at Dejen and spoke, "Besides - I think I'll form my own harem now." Dejen, to his credit, had the state of mind to grin stupidly at the words.

Monday, June 10th, 739 BSO; 9:38 PM

Despite further protests from Dejen about her health and safety, Yeva traveled with both Dejen and Ayo into the jungle, following after the large male who escorted the two females toward the Bitah'ta's central camp, where they would find Iyapo.

The trip, as Dejen promised, took until far after nightfall. Ayo was worried about wasting her time on this trip but she knew how essential it was. Doing a quick headcount with Dejen before the pair left, his numbers were hardly enough to form a division. 867, give or take fifty. She knew she'd need at least two regiments to really help the Claw, and from what Dejen had told her, Iyapo had at least three.

It baffled her that that many dilos and allos had willingly exiled themselves in their hatred, but she knew that some felt backed into a corner. Debts or family issues led them to leave before they were sold to the Clans, and many were escaped slaves. Some of them, Dejen explained, didn't hate the raptors, but rather hated their governmental system. Ayo wasn't sure how many changes she could promise, let alone keep, but Dejen told her that she was a beacon of change in and of herself. The feather around her wrist proved that much by itself.

Dejen informed them that they were nearing the main camp when a spear suddenly sailed through the air and planted itself firmly in front of the trio, "I guess that is hello?" Yeva asked.

"That is close enough, strangers. Dejen - who are these two? And why is one a raptor?" snarled a voice from the jungle, one who clearly knew who Dejen was.

Dejen, however, seemingly didn't recognize the voice, though he did address it, "I am here to talk to your leader, Iyapo. The raptor is," he looked sidewise at Yeva before standing up straighter, "She is my mate and a member of the Bitah'ta."

That earned a long period of silence before a dilo stepped into the clearing, grunting faintly while pointing another spear at the group, "Follow me and don't try anything."

Yeva leaned over to Ayo as they started to follow, whispering, "We weren't the ones flinging spears," making Ayo snort.

Dejen was true to his word about leading them to the central camp and that they had been fairly close, only following their escort for another few minutes before they were led into a rather spacious camp. Ayo silently wondered how no patrols ever found the place, then wondered if perhaps they did and just never made it back to tell. Regardless, the camp showed obvious signs of having been around for a while, with campfires lit and several storage tents filled to bursting. Outlying tents looked newer, and Ayo noted there were plenty of them, keeping with Dejen's story of cells joining with Iyapo.

She also noticed that, despite the fact the camp had been in use for some time, there was little-to-no organization present in the arrangement of it. There were private tents right next to storage tents (unguarded storage, she noted) and there were no clear-cut paths through the camp. Their route was twisting and turning, positively labyrinthine, and while she might not have cared or properly noticed two or so weeks ago, now she saw just how ill-disciplined they were by comparison to the raptors.

Though, at least, she was confident in Dejen's estimate for numbers. Three, maybe even four regiments of troops just lingering around with nothing to do. That number of dilos and allos plus the lack of discipline led to all manner of vices, from gambling over games of dice to betting on fights between domesticated jungle monitors. There was even prostitution; dilos (and one or two allos) with vibrant dyes convincing some of those idlers to join them in their tent for silver or goods.

Of course, she noticed one thing rapidly, and that was that every creature in the camp was male. There was no scent of a female at all and it put her and Yeva in the awkward position of being the only ones matching that gender in the camp; no doubt the only females that many had seen for months judging by the stares. It made Ayo uneasy, but she pressed on, deeper into the camp.

Eventually, their escort stopped them with a sudden jerk of his body and crossed his tail in front of Dejen's frame. It was only because the large allosaurus was on edge and hyper-attentive that he stopped in time, something Yeva and Ayo didn't have the luck of when they bumped into the large male's back. "He's in talks with the other leaders right now."

Dejen grunted and stood to the side, tail lashing in a mixture of nerves and that natural reserve of energy that the three species all seemed to share, and even Ayo found herself unable to sit perfectly still. Instead, she examined the central tent, where the main meeting seemed to be; at least what she could see and hear of them. They were being held in the center of the camp, or as close to the center as Ayo could gauge, and seemed filled to bursting with all the bodies within.

Not to mention the noise from within. Raptors might not always agree and they could be quite vocal about it. Even the meetings of elders in the lower city could end up being quite the rambunctious event, but it all paled in comparison to the arguing in the tent. It was as if everyone was trying to speak over each other at once and the one with the loudest voice was declared the winner. It was insanity and now she understood why the Bitah'ta got so little done despite their numbers. Iyapo might be their leader, but Ayo was starting to assume that that title belonged just to a figurehead.

Still, if this Iyapo garnered enough respect that the others would follow him in principle, then Ayo could see the benefit of getting him on her side. She was trying to figure out exactly how she would do that when their escort nudged her with the blunt side of his spear, pushing her forward, "Iyapo will see you now," he spoke, shoving Ayo forward again. Dejen growled at the escort, but otherwise followed with Yeva tucked in close to his side.

They were escorted into the middle of the tent, surrounded in a semi-circle by a multitude of dilos and a few allos, all on layered platforms. It reminded her of a poor mockery of an amphitheater, with what she can only assume were higher-ranking males in the upper rows. She had little issue spotting Iyapo, regardless of the arrangement of the others.

He was isolated, sitting right in the middle and lounging on his side in a small loge. He looked bored, at least until his wandering gaze came upon the three of them. That caught his attention and he slowly brought himself to sitting, letting Ayo get a good look at the male. Obviously, he was older, his hide dulling with age and going from what must have been a once vibrant green into a much more muted colouration. He also sported three claw marks over one eye, scars that made Ayo lift her own paw to rub at her cheek, thankful that the deep cuts that Amadi left upon her hide had mostly healed, leaving only rougher hide in their wake.

"Dejen, I see you travel in odd circles now," Iyapo spoke, his voice carrying clearly and stopping all the hushed muttering around him at once. Every soul in the tent was focused on Dejen and the two strangers accompanying him, and Ayo was just hoping that their attention stayed cordial.

Dejen grunted at the male's barb and found himself moving closer to Yeva as if partially shielding her from the glares of the gathered audience. Ayo herself saw a multitude of emotions in every snout that looked at Yeva, from outrage and hatred to even lust. "And so do you, Iyapo," the large allo finally responded.

"I do, do I?" Iyapo questioned, looking around the tent at the many snouts gathered around himself. "I see familiar faces, those that have served the Bitah'ta loyally for years. Perhaps one that I don't see eye to eye with, but all those I know; even multiple generations in some cases, rare as that is. No, I think you are the one truly keeping the odd company - a female who struck down her brother, a loyal member of our band I remind you, and perhaps more confusing than that, a raptor."

Dejen found himself grunting once more, clearly not having a response to either of those and Ayo decided it was her turn to speak up. She brushed her way past Dejen, standing before the Allosaurus while Yeva still remained shielded somewhat behind him for the time being. "My brother was grasping onto the edges of madness."

"Was he now? The few that left Dejen's cell to come to mine after Amadi's untimely death told only that he was giving them a purpose," Iyapo spoke, leading to a swirl of muttering around the tent. Ayo ignored the words of those around her, focusing instead all of her attention on Iyapo; she had a feeling that she'd never win them all over with words anyway, but if she could at least convince Iyapo...

The others would fall in line, "And that purpose was uncontrolled hatred. He no longer had the Bitah'ta's interests in mind, only hate."

"Hate of those living in the upper city, yes, and I fail to see why this would be an issue. I would say that you, a female Dilophosaurus and Amadi's own sister should understand his desire for change," he paused for a moment, "but then again, everything I've heard tells us that you're under the sway of the raptors yourself. Another casualty."

"Fallen under their sway? I did nothing of the sort. I may have been trapped in their world like a mosquito in amber, but I pulled myself free. Besides, any ties I had to them were cut," it wasn't quite true, but it was enough of the truth that she could say it without a waver in her voice.

"Cut ties? I heard, from reliable sources, that you were tossed aside. Like scraps to a jungle monitor."

Ayo flushed at that, wanting to deny it, to argue and explain why she and Kibwe had parted, that it was as much her choice as any raptor's, even if she knew that wasn't quite true. Politics were a pain in the tailfeathers and even if she explained it, she knew it would just have her running in circles and getting absolutely nowhere. Instead, she brushed it off, pushing forward. "I did not come here to discuss my time with the raptors, but rather I came to offer the Bitah'ta something."

"And what could you possibly offer any of us, Amadi's sister?"

"Ayo. My name is Ayo," she felt dirty now, knowing what Amadi was truly like. As if being related to him somehow would brush off onto her, "And I can offer you a future. A way that future generations can look back and be proud of what their family did rather than seeing a bunch of troublemakers. I can offer you a way to return home as heroes, as someone to be looked up to."

Iyapo leaned back while looking down at the three before him, ignoring the roar of the assembled crowd around him as much as Ayo was doing the same. "That is a lot to promise, young one. Almost too much."

"I can vouch for her, Iyapo," Dejen spoke, stepping forward while Yeva still clung close to his side, "You'd be surprised at just how much this one dilo can accomplish."

"She is probably the best of any you," that brought total silence to the tent and caused both Dejen and Ayo to look beside them as Yeva took a step forward. "She is not blinded by hate, but she sees the unfairness my own kind commit on yours. And yet, she somehow finds a way to be passionate and honest with those that are the same to her."

Iyapo let out a faint hiss before standing up in his isolated box, leaning forward as he did so to look at the now gray feathered Yeva, "And who are you?"

Dejen tried to take a step forward, to shield Yeva from the group's scrutiny, but she raised a paw to stop him, "I am Yeva, formerly Goldheart of the Heart Clan."

"Formerly? I didn't think you raptors could abandon Clan."

"We can't, not truly. Even the exiled retain their Clan names. But I was not exiled. I died."

Iyapo arched a brow at that and snorted, shaking his head, "Come again? Because you look plenty alive to me."

"Amadi bullied Dejen into taking me to their camp - their cell, as you call it. He promised Dejen that all he wanted from me was information. Dejen wasn't stupid, though, I know that. He promised some form of insurance, though I still am unsure of what it was." Ayo sensed a brief tension between the two, but it faded away as Yeva continued to talk.

"The information he wanted was in how we - raptors - die. How we react to poison, in hopes of... I am unsure. We never had a dilo's tolerance to poisons and that is well recorded; if I had to guess, he just wanted to see how we die for his own form of sick pleasure."

She shrugged, "I died that day, or so the healers of the Seer Clan tell me. The poisons and whatever Ayo tried to do to save me caused me to fall into a form of paralyzation. I saw everything, every moment of their conflict before Ayo lured Amadi out of the tent. You want to know the kind of male your beloved Amadi was?"

She hissed, pressing on with a snap, "He was the kind that would try and rape his own sister - and someone who was bought by the Tuk Clan."

That last part, specifically, caused a sudden uproar of conversation and argument from the gathered bodies. Ayo knew it wasn't the entire truth and if Yeva was able to see and hear everything in that tent, she was stretching the truth - Amadi thought he was using the Tuk Clan's agreement against them, after all.

Ayo saw her chance nevertheless, "My brother, in his hatred, was willing to sell out his whole race just to obtain a sliver of vengeance. Is that really the future you want?"

Iyapo had gone silent and now sat with his eyes closed, claws resting under his chin in thought before he looked down at the gathered three, "What do you want of us, Ayo?"

Tuesday, June 11th, 739 BSO; 2:06 AM

Ayo was utterly exhausted though, at the same time, she was elated. Iyapo and the other leaders argued and bickered and vied for favors or agreements, but in the end, the Bitah'ta agreed to follow her. Dejen was appointed as her second, a title he didn't want but was pressured to take by more than just her. Iyapo, surprisingly, refused to take the title of a leader (or officer) underneath her, and instead abstained, recommending another male in his place. One who not only shared the colour of his hide but had his eyes.

When meeting him in private afterward, Iyapo told Ayo that he had been ready to face his 'retirement', an event that would lead them off to a death of their choosing in the jungle. "Fighting for you may as well be my retirement," he claimed, declaring that as the reason he refused a leadership role. Ayo had no illusions that the male Iyapo requested take his place was his son, and Ayo was delighted to find that he shared some of her own optimism for the cause.

"Hatred only leads to more hatred," he told her when first introducing himself - Umid. Ayo, however, wasn't done with the surprises for the night, as Yeva requested to be a leader as well, despite what protests Dejen may have had to the idea and her safety.

"Seeing a raptor at the head of your ranks will live up to the true meaning of Bitah'ta," she argued and Ayo, scared as she was for her friend, couldn't argue that. However, Ayo also knew that there was no time for pleasantries, so she gave her first order, a strange feeling indeed as she stood before columns and rows of disarrayed dilos and allos. The order was simple and plain - march.

Time was against them, after all, and she hoped a forced march to the Claw complex would get them there early enough to provide enough to provide some rest before the Talon and Feather fully prepared themselves to march upward, to finish off the Claw. She made a promise to Sauda, after all, and she planned to keep it.

Silence, thankfully, wasn't necessary on their march as they were anything but; the sounds of laughter and constant talking following behind her as she led the way through the jungle, assisted by two scouts that helped guide her steps. Her stomach turned as the march gave her mind time to wander, but she tried to ignore the doubts that were attempting to creep in - that this army she had assembled would break at the first sign of real conflict.

She knew that not every soul following her was committed either, and hoped that that wouldn't bite her in the tail - at least, not yet. Many shared her brother's unceasing hatred for the Raptors, but she hoped that by fighting beside them that their hatred would cool. Otherwise, she hoped that by venting their hatred on the feathered ones they fought that their hatred and prejudice would be kept in check when around allies.

It was way before dawn, sometime after midnight, when they finally arrived at the lower city and pressed onward toward the Claw compound. Already she could tell something was amiss, as usually at this time of night there would only be the sounds of muffled talking of guards. This time, however, she heard something that sent a chill down her spine and hastened her step. The sounds of fighting and dying.

She moved forward with males who were considered the 'best' at scouting, moving silently around the edges of the Heart camp and avoiding their rearguard. More so when she saw just how on edge those guards were, adrenaline and exhaustion etched out upon their forms in equal measure. When they finally got into a position to observe the front line, it was everything Kibwe had been worried about.

Fires were lit along the length of the ramp leading up to the first floor, and even though the Tuk were fighting an uphill battle, it seemed almost as if they had the advantage. Ayo could see the dead lined along that ramp and piled to either side of the base of it - top and bottom - telling her a story of just how far back the Heart had been pushed in such a short period of time. What was worse was that the red-cloaked members of the Heart seemed exhausted. As if they hadn't stopped fighting since they clashed, early Monday morning.

It was immediately obvious that Kibwe's army was on the verge of flight, bending outward and losing ground right before her eyes. She had assembled her army to assist the Claw, but if they got trapped in the Claw pyramid afterward by the victorious Tuk, the whole ordeal would be for nothing. She decided then and there that her first commitment would have to be to fight the Tuk.

Ayo didn't stick around to figure out the exact details of how she was going to do that; instead, she turned around and hurried back to her army (still an odd thought to her) which was impatiently idle in the lower city. It was the first time that many of them had been home since their willing exile and Ayo saw the longing in each of their snouts to slip away, to either reunite with their families or to gamble, drink, and whore the night away.

She didn't give any of them that chance, instead rapidly addressing Dejen, Yeva, and Umid; giving each of them orders as she came up with a simple but audacious plan, one that worried Umid and Dejen but made Yeva simply laugh. "Kibwe's brushed off on you, it seems."

She marched forward, straight toward the Heart camp with nearly five-thousand bodies following her up from the lower city. The guards at first panicked, assembling rapidly to meet her marching force, at least until one of the officers saw her and, most importantly, the cloak she once more wore around her shoulders.

She was no longer the Matron of the Heart Clan, she no longer could give them orders. Regardless of that, the officer quickly ordered her own men to fall in and, surprising to every soul aside from perhaps Yeva, took her spot beside and behind Ayo, deferring control to her.

Ayo indeed took a page right out of Kibwe's playbook - no subtlety, no hiding her intentions, rather she marched her army straight through the camp, passing through the heart of it and hardly bothering to acknowledge the stunned expressions that were on every tired snout as she neared the front. She needed to give no orders once they were there and instead, she grasped her spear tightly in paw and rushed into the fray before her.

Adrenaline. Frustration. Anger. Every emotion that bottled itself inside of her was placed squarely into that first hurl of her spear, tossing it forward and having it sail over the embattled front of the Heart Clan; raptors who, still, hadn't noticed what was at their back, instead absorbed entirely by the battle before them. It was of little surprise to Ayo to see Kibwe's massive black feathered form stuck in, fighting off two allosauruses at once. Ayo's alchemical mind noted that they sported that same sickly green hue that the Tuk as a whole seemed to share and their scales seemed to be flaking off in places.

Then she was stuck in herself and her mind focused everything on one simple goal - survival.

From the moment the Heart Clan parted around her force to let them engage in a mixture of confusion and elation, she noticed something was wrong. More so than she had already noted. She was worried for a moment that her own forces wouldn't fight with her, that they'd call off the attack when she noticed it wasn't just the stray allo supporting raptors, but that the army that Kibwe was still fighting was largely still made up of slaves and scattered raptors acting almost as handlers.

Instinctively, she noticed that there was something fundamentally wrong with the dilos, just as there had been with the raptors and the allos - they all sported that same sickly green hide that nearly glowed. Something inside of her raged at it and it wasn't just her, it seemed. Despite being at the forefront of the charge, she was rapidly passed by Umid who wore an absolutely primal snarl on his snout.

Her newly acquired comrades seemed to put aside their hatred for the Raptors for the moment, at least for the ones in red and focused their ire on what was an obvious perversion of their own kind. This was worse than whatever battle trance the drugged slaves had been under for the Talon and Feather, far worse. And the injustice and sheer wrongness of it all gave every follower in her army something to take their frustrations out upon.

Thankfully, the Heart raptors that were already fighting didn't lash out at her own forces, seeming to realize they were fighting with them instead of against. But even with the added numbers that should have overwhelmed such a token front line, Ayo found that the drugged creatures before them hardly gave an inch. Even when one was left bloody and ragged, an eye clawed out and deep, mortal gashes along its throat, it still tried to kill Ayo - all while its lifeblood drained down its sickly hide.

Ayo, however, wasn't so lucky as to not feel pain. She felt it everywhere, a thousand irritating bug bites that lined her hide, hardly doing more than aggravating her but slowly draining her of the will and ability to fight. Her hide, before very long, was streaked in blood; both hers and the Tuk's slaves. Yet there was no time to rest, even as her body started to ache and the battle haze wore off to more conscious thought. The latter made her sluggish, causing her to be knocked aside by a rampaging allo that she hadn't noticed before, something that would have made her laugh for the absurdity of it all during less trying times - after all, how does one miss an angry allo?

From her position on her side, she was able to watch as the combined arms of her followers and the Heart slowly pushed the Tuk back. Step by slow step, but they were doing it. She watched as Dejen barreled his way forward, sending the smaller frames of dilos into the sky to land limply upon the ground, where they would soon become animated again and stumble to their feet to fight on. Then she watched him raise that massive head of his and bring it sharply down, his upper jaw catching and severing a dilo's neck. That one? That one didn't rise again.

Yeva's now ash feathers were coated thoroughly red, the raptoress seemingly having an uncanny knack for not being spotted, even in the thick of combat. She was surrounded by them and yet the Tuk focused everything on the species behind her, leaving her to weave and dive into their numbers without acquiring a scratch, sowing remarkable chaos in her wake. She wasn't as powerful as Dejen, Kibwe, or maybe even Ayo, but she seemed to be just as capable in her own way.

Then finally there was Umid, the unknown quantity to her. He was fighting alongside the officer that had thrown her men in with Ayo's lot, the two seemingly using one another to fight - Umid would sweep the feet out from under one of the Tuk's followers, and the captain's sickle-like claw would slash across their belly. The most disturbing thing of that combination, however, was when their intended victim would stand once more, intestines spilling onto the ground before they'd eventually die from blood loss.

She scrambled back to her feet and eventually, the storm of combat pushed her closer to Kibwe, the black feathered male once more covered from head-to-toe in gore, dripping rivers of it off of his feathers. Like before, the vast majority of it wasn't his, but she could tell he was exhausted. His movement was sluggish and he was relying more upon backstepping rather than his usual brash, forward attacks. For a moment he snarled at her, body tensed and ready to lunge, at least until the blood rage in his eyes cleared to realize just who the dilo before him was. Then he lunged anyway and Ayo tensed, thinking she'd have to drop to the ground or otherwise avoid him, only for the large male to sail past and land upon the smaller frame of one of the sickly dilos that had moved silently behind her.

By the time the battle ebbed out in the pre-dawn hours, the Heart had reclaimed the central ramp leading up to the ground floor of the Claw pyramid and the Tuk were pushed back or in flight. Only a scattering of raptors, however, had fled while the other two species were abandoned and left to die. With no one left to fight, the battle hit Ayo all at once and those annoying cuts and bruises started to sting like a thousand wasps all over her hide, making her wince. From the look of those around her, hardly any were better off than she was.

Tuesday, June 11th, 739 BSO; 5:44 AM

The hour following the battle was a blur, a very tense blur. When the lust for battle died off and her mixed army was left standing alongside a battered and bruised raptor army, tempers and desires flared. Hatred and racism bubbled to the surface and threatened to boil over as her combined forces and the raptors postured and snarled at one another. Exhausted though Kibwe's forces may be, they were willing to fight if pushed hard enough.

The posturing came to an end at Ayo's order, however, as she instructed Dejen to carry the body of a dead dilo over to the hissing crowd. A task he did willingly, if without understanding; tossing it in among their midst, "Does something seem wrong here?" she asked the gathered crowd and they grunted, the members of her forces looking away.

"All the more reason to kill these featherheads now," hissed one of them. Ayo wanted to smack him but instead pressed on.

"Do you see one of us that looks anything like this in any other Clan? No?" She asked, knowing it was rhetorical. They hadn't of course, none of them had. The Tuk had been increasingly secretive over the past few generations, no longer building their harems and rarely being seen outside of their pyramid without full-body cloaks. Ayo was starting to wonder exactly why and was piecing together a loose theory.

"And do you know who, in his hatred, was willing to sell you - all of you - to the Tuk?" That brought confused silence to the Heart, but sounds of slowly building discontent to her own people. They all knew who she was talking about, that Amadi was willing to join with the Tuk for his personal gain. For his own hatred. "If you must hate something, hate the Tuk. For obviously they have perverted our kind."

"Well... I still don't trust them," called out one of the voices in the crowd, which was responded to by a snort from the raptors.

"Good - 'cause we sure as hell don't trust you." The snouts were lost in the sea of faces, anonymous and unknown, but it served its purpose. "But I hate the Tuk a lot more."

To that? To that, there was a grudging agreement and the two sides found a common enemy in their distaste or hatred in the Tuk.

That? That Ayo could allow, at least.

Shortly after the tense standstill, one of the quartermasters of the Heart arrived and made arrangements with Ayo and her officers as to where their army would stay. The Bitah'ta had a few lessons to learn about camp management, that much Ayo knew, and when raptors were assigned to help them establish their camp upon Ayo's request, it was initially shunned. At least until one of the raptors pointed out all the weaknesses to the camp they were starting to assemble.

While her own camp was going up, giving her army a place to rest before their march later that afternoon, Ayo was summoned to see the leaders of the Heart. It made her stomach churn for a moment, knowing that just a few short days ago, she was one of those members. She brushed off her unease, however, and acquiesced. She hurried through the rapidly assembling camp where dilos were working alongside red cloaked raptors and allos were being asked, rather than told, to help with larger projects. It brought a smile to her snout.

She was brought to Kibwe's and Sauda's private quarters, flanked by two guards. One snout she recognized though the other was a stranger; she hoped nothing bad happened to the other frequent guard of Kibwe's tent. Either way, she was allowed inside, the guards standing apart and the one she was familiar with bobbing his head respectfully toward her. Within, the tent had been somewhat reorganized and all the old furniture had been removed.

The broken table, of course, she understood - it had been useless after all from the moment Kibwe's forceful lovemaking caused them to snap it half, a memory that brought a brief tug to her lips. The rest, though, made less sense to her, at least until she reasoned that perhaps Sauda just didn't want to smell the dilo all over her private tent. "Leader Feralheart. Matron," she addressed the pair, bobbing her head respectfully before the two.

"Ayo," Sauda spoke first, stepping forward in a small clearing that had been made at the center of their tent. Right where the table used to be, "I don't know how you did it, or what you promised to do it, and frankly I don't care. I misjudged you. I didn't think you'd be able to pull it off, despite what Kibwe told me. For that, I apologize to you."

"We've had round the clock updates on the Talon and Feather. It seemed their march was delayed by further disagreements between them," Kibwe spoke, updating her on what really mattered. Ayo didn't give two feathers for Sauda's apologies at the moment. "But the Tuk... we vastly underestimated them."

"We assumed it would be an easy enough fight, more so as we had equal numbers and were on defense. As it turns out," Sauda shrugged, "it was far less equal than we thought. We lost the base of the ramp in the first few hours and by the end of the first day, we were pushed back to the ramparts of the first floor."

"We assumed the fight would end there. That exhaustion would set in. We were horribly wrong," Kibwe continued where Sauda left off. "It is like those slaves we fought under the Talon and Feather, but..."

"So much worse," Ayo finished with a bob of her head. "I noticed something as well - not only were their slaves drugged like the ones under the Feather and Talon, but they were... different physically from us. I'd almost mistake them as an entirely different species."

The two leaders of the Heart clan looked at one another and nodded, "We noticed some differences as well, of course, but I'm just a warrior," Kibwe explained.

"Sauda, your Clan assassinated a Tuk general that was heading the Talon and Feather early on in the war, correct?" Ayo asked, trying still to assemble all the pieces in her head.

"That is correct, but that was weeks ago at this point, I don't see-."

"Did the assassins report that he was missing feathers?"

"I... yes. He was missing feathers," she frowned, "What does this have to do with anything?"

Ayo ignored the question, not wanting to answer without having more concrete evidence, "Can I have two medical teams assigned to my camp, Kibwe? I have injured, but I'd also like to start a side project after I march on the Claw - I will keep my promise to you, Sauda," she bobbed her head toward the female raptor.

"What is that side project?" Kibwe asked, tilting his head.

"I want to see the bodies of all three of our species. Both under the Tuk and not - so I'm putting in a request to have the bodies delivered to my camp."

It was an odd request without a doubt and she could see that Sauda was uncomfortable with it, but Kibwe merely bobbed his head, "Done."

"Do my people have time to rest before we need to march?"

"Their squabbling has delayed them enough that you can leave tonight, most likely, though we have gotten reports of the Talon sending small forces up to probe the Claw lines. The Feather, however, have entirely refused to march."

"They might be ready to capitulate. Subira always assumed the Feather joined the Tuk in hopes of a quick end to the war," Sauda offered.

"Then my people and I will march tonight after we rest."

"Ayo, there is one more thing," Kibwe spoke, lifting a paw up to stop Ayo before she could depart. "The Tuk are entirely relentless. If the Feather is on the verge of jumping ship, offer them terms. Trapped between four Clans, the Tuk might be forced to retreat. We already sent terms of peace to the Tuk after your departure, and he was returned to us," Kibwe grimaced. "At least, his head was."

"We haven't had a moment to truly rest since the attack started," Sauda amended, confirming Ayo's earlier suspicions. "Even now the Tuk that retreated are reassembling to attack again. Don't worry - the fight isn't out of us yet and we will buy your people the time needed to rest, to save my people, but..."

Kibwe finished, "Our own time is running short. Something has to give."