FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

As always, I want to thank my reader-gryph Mythril Silver for helping me proofread the chapter. As well, this chapter ends slightly abruptly, with even more of a cliffhanger than usual, because it was actually split into two. It was starting to get too unwieldy of a chapter - over 15k words - and it was safer to split it to make deadlines!

---

Path Of The Fang

Saturday, June 9th, 739 BSO; 12:49 PM

The camp was a swirl of activity, commanders from every camp rapidly giving orders. Kibwe and the Matron from the Claw stood at the eye of the storm and Ayo pushed her way through the chaos of thousands of troops rapidly gathering themselves for a forced march. She had wanted more time to talk about her findings with Kibwe, the Claw Matron, and perhaps the leaders of the other Clans as well, but that would all have to take a backseat to the current news.

The Seers had finally marched and were within a day from the Tuk, forcing their allies to march. Ayo looked around and saw several red-cloaked members of the Heart replacing their cloaks with the blue of the Claw, confirming the harem gifting that Ayo expected to happen.

When she finally stood beside Kibwe and the Matron, they both turned toward her and Kibwe gave a silent nod to confirm the information she had heard, as if the state of the camp wasn't enough in and of itself. "How long?"

"If we are lucky? We can force march to the Tuk's pyramid in two days," Sauda spoke as she emerged from the Heart's command tent to stand beside her now-mate, Kibwe. While the distance wasn't so grand as to truly require a whole days march, Ayo guessed that they were expecting resistance of some sort. Unlike her path through the lower city, the route to the central pyramid complex that was the Tuk's wouldn't be planned out as well or as safely.

Fortune may favor the bold, but that didn't mean Ayo had to like it. Sauda took her leave with a respectful bow to the Matron of the Claw, a nuzzle against Kibwe and then shoving her way past Ayo. Ayo frowned, wondering if the female raptor knew where Kibwe had been the night before, but she brushed it away to focus on the task at hand.

"I can gather my people in about an hour and be ready to ma-,"

The Matron of the Claw held up a paw, quietly silencing Ayo with the motion, "That won't be necessary. This was a war started by raptors and it will be finished by us, too."

Ayo opened her snout to speak and then snapped it shut again in aggravation before Kibwe spoke up, "Matron, Ayo here has helped the war effort for the Heart from the start."

"Be that as it may, she and her kind are... distractions. Distractions we don't need marching forward," the frostiness that was directed toward Ayo wasn't there at all the day before, so Ayo determined, rapidly, that it wasn't her species that the Matron took affront to. She assumed, rather, that her 'daughter', Sauda, had informed her in private this morning about Kibwe's infidelity. Ayo snorted and shook her head.

They would deny letting her march with them because the two females were worried that Kibwe's attention would stray once more, and with the season rapidly closing for all fertile females in the city (save a few who had out-of-sync clocks, in a manner of speaking), they didn't want to lose out on fully sealing Sauda's role as Matron of the Heart.

It made Ayo want to lash out, yell at them and tell them both that Kibwe was hers no matter what they did, but she bit her tongue and respectfully bowed her head. "Then I request that my people stay here, to keep the peace."

The Matron opened her snout to speak, but Ayo raised her paw to silence her this time. The look she got warmed Ayo's heart from how frosty it was, 'See how you like being manipulated, bitch.'

"Your people just fought a nearly genocidal war. If the Talon tries again, you won't have the numbers to fight back, even with the members of the Heart now switching Clans."

The Matron opened and closed her snout several times, before snorting and giving a slow, stiff bob of her head in agreement. She would allow it, though obviously, she wasn't comfortable with it. "Very well, Ayo."

"This way," she spoke, turning her head toward the black feathered monstrosity of a male that was Kibwe, "if things go sour, you can still come to us for help."

Kibwe's snout was grim, clearly sensing some unspoken tension but equally being at a loss for it. Ayo wanted to snort at his ignorance but decided to leave him in bliss instead. Kibwe acted more on instinct than most raptors did, so to him taking his mate, even one that no longer was that by law, was still his right and desire both.

Ayo left the eye of the storm, shoving her way toward her commanders that were assembling themselves. The red and yellow cloaks of the Heart and Feather respectfully were gathering their things, making Ayo arch a brow at Jahi in particular. He shrugged his shoulders as Ayo approached him.

"Orders. We're to return to the Heart."

"And the Feather? They don't belong to Kibwe," or, more likely Ayo thought, Sauda.

"No, but they'll listen to the hierarchy."

Ayo frowned at that even as an idea started to form in her head, "Where is Kali?"

Jahi paused in thought before it clicked, "She left early this morning. She was drilled for information by Sauda Razorheart and released. Last I heard she was heading toward the Feather complex once again."

Ayo nodded and turned to leave, but was stopped by a gentle paw coming to rest upon her shoulder. She turned around to face Jahi once more, who bowed low to her in respect.

"It was strange to serve under you, Feralfang, but an honour nevertheless. I see now what our Leader saw in you so many months ago. I hope our paths cross again."

"As do I, Jahi. May you stay safe."

"And you, Ayo."

She moved rapidly toward Dejen who was giving orders to the confused underlings under him, all while Umid and Yeva both stood nearby doing the same. He turned toward Ayo with a frown at the expression she wore, the large allosaurus sensing that the news he was about to get wasn't about to be any good. And he was right, at least for the most part.

"We've been sidelined," Ayo spoke, leading to a grunt from Dejen and a snarl from Umid who had overheard. Umid and Yeva both moved closer to what was obviously now an officer's meeting, their subordinates getting everyone else ready at their command.

"I figured as much," Yeva spoke, bobbing her head as her ashened crest pinned to the top of her head. "Sauda Razorheart sent me a letter this morning telling me she was sorry to hear about such 'heartbreak', but that I was to report to my old harem and march for the Heart."

Yeva snorted. "I wrote back that I died and can no longer serve my harem as a result," and in a way, she was right. Goldheart died that day, leaving her golden plumage behind with her in the process. She leaned in against Dejen and closed her eyes for a moment. "So what do we do?"

"I convinced them to let you stay as... security. To ensure the Talon won't march on the Claw again."

"Do you really think the Talon would do that again?" Umid asked, the green male taking a step in toward Ayo's right. He was leaning in closer to her, though he had the sense not to press in as close as Yeva was to Dejen.

"Frankly? No. If their commanders are under the sway of the Tuk, they'll march to save the pyramid - I'm assuming. I frankly don't know what madness grips that Clan, but it isn't anything good."

The others frowned in confusion, and Ayo rapidly brought them up to speed. Each of them paled at the news of what her medical experiment discovered, and Yeva made a quick religious motion with her paw as if warding off unwanted ills.

"I've never heard of anything like that," Umid spoke with a frown.

"None of us had. The Tuk had become extremely secretive over the last few generations, but none of the Clans really took notice," Yeva spoke. "They didn't even welcome new harems or members of harems, though they released a few."

That made Ayo's interest peak for a moment, even as she had opened her snout to talk about her plan. She made a swift detour, however, at that, "Was Jahi one of them?"

"I..." Yeva paused, snout creased in thought for a few moments before giving a slow, but unsure, bobbing of her head. "I believe so."

"That might explain it then. The neon-green of his crest feathers and display feathers is an... unnatural shade of green. More pleasant than what I've seen with the Tuk, but certainly not anything I'd seen outside of him."

"So you think whatever causes it is from being... what, in proximity to the Tuk? Would Jahi be... contagious?" Dejen asked, stealing a sidelong look at Yeva as if afraid she might suddenly start glowing.

After a moment of thought, Ayo shook her head, "No. Jahi's... mutations were much less than any others. It is almost as if there is something within the Tuk's pyramid that is causing it, or perhaps proximity to other infected members. Jahi's seemed to have stopped at feather mutation." Though he did retain them, which was a step more than most Tuk did.

She shook her head once more, however, and rapidly explained her plan to the three of them. She was going to chase down Kali and attempt to get the Feather involved in the fight against the Tuk. When she had, she could then order in her own forces, since she'd be fighting for the Feather, not the Heart or Claw.

"Devious. I like it. Play the raptor's game against them," Umid spoke while taping a claw to his chin, a gleam of respect and something else in his eye as he did so.

"Play Sauda's_game against her. I gathered she never liked me for the attention Kibwe gave me, but to go this far? It's something else," it was almost as if the pair had forgotten that she had saved the Claw the other day and that Sauda had been the one to _implore her to do it.

"Whatever the case, we'll keep order here one way or another. Good luck, Ayo," Dejen spoke, bowing his large head down further until he was nearly eye level with Ayo. Quite the feat, given the nearly four-foot height difference in the pair.

Saturday, June 9th, 739 BSO; 5:02 PM

Ayo was once more traveling by herself and, in a way, it was almost liberating. No supplies to worry about, no army to try and order around, and no second guessing her orders. It was just her and keeping her own hide intact, and that was something she had been quite capable of her entire life. Sure, that hide now sported several new scars, but it was still in one piece and that was the important part.

However, the direct path soon became a problem - while the Claw and the Feather pyramids were directly linked in a bend-like shape, Ayo had hardly gone half of the distance before she had to stop and rethink her approach. The Feather had, at one point, occupied a makeshift barricade along the route and while Ayo wasn't part of the Heart any longer, she doubted the raptors atop the ramparts were going to be any happier to see a strange dilo. That left her with the option of ducking through the maze-like streets of the lower city, around any barriers that the Clans may have erected in their self-preservation.

She almost felt like a stranger in the lower city, which in and of itself wasn't exactly a mystery, since this was a part of it that she had never been to. Like the Clans themselves, each 'district' of the lower city had their own cultural identity and heritage. At a glance, she could tell that this area was a bit seedier than the one she had grown up in, the streets nowhere near as well kept and whores practically on every corner. Prostitution wasn't something illegal or even truly frowned upon, but it certainly wasn't something that was usually flaunted on street corners, at least not without a powerful dilo at the head of the brothel. Here though? It was something else altogether.

At least twice she felt the tug of claws in against the leather of her satchel, making her quite glad that it was the genuine thing rather than some cheap knockoff, as that kept whichever dilo was attempting to rob her from doing so. Ever since the event with Yeva, she had started to keep a collection of herbs and other alchemical ingredients with her, just in case she needed them - useless to a thief, but quite valuable to her.

After getting turned around at least twice, she eventually found her way out from the cesspit that was the lower city near the Feather pyramid, and she decided she thoroughly wanted to wash afterward. She put that thought aside and pressed on, navigating her way around several barriers halfheartedly set up to ward against a force approaching from the lower city, taking several side alleys that hadn't been watched due to how narrow they were.

The Feather was defending against an expected army, after all, not one stupidly-brave dilo.

She approached one of the main entrances to the pyramid, attempting to look as non-threatening as she possibly could, but even that earned her two speartips pointed in her direction and challenging snarls. She tried to remain calm, though, and give the two raptors as few reasons as possible to harm her. "I am here to see Kali."

"Kali?" guard one spoke; a brown feather, "There are lots of Kalis. What is their last name?"

Ayo cursed herself, not entirely sure of what it was. She frowned before pressing on regardless of that, "I don't know. She was involved in the attack on the Claw, however."

The brown feather looked her up and down while the second, a grey, spoke up, "That could still be any number of 'Kali's."

She shook her head, "Just tell her that..." Her first name was too well known and could possibly raise alarms, or worse, tempers. "Tell her that Feralfang is here and needs help."

"Feralfang? That's an odd fucking name," the grey spat, shaking his head while looking sidelong at his companion. The two seemed to silently commune, or perhaps the brown just deferred to the grey, whatever the case he continued, "I'll go see if Kali will see you. Stay here."

"And no funny business," the brown feather spoke, keeping the tip of his spear aimed straight at Ayo's chest. She crossed her arms and attempted to stand still as a statue as the grey feather left.

That posturing only lasted so long, though, and as daylight ebbed to darkness and whatever natural light that slipped through the cracks of their stone ceiling vanished, replaced by the soft bioluminescent flora of their underworld realm, Ayo got impatient. She started to pace and even the brown feather started to look bored, telling Ayo that this wasn't the traditional running around. It must have been nearly two hours later when the grey feather returned, grunting and silently escorting Ayo inside.

"Kali is on trial for treason. Seems you picked some great friends, 'Feralfang'."

Ayo blanched at that, wondering just where the grey feather was escorting her, but she didn't have to worry. Up one level and she was introduced to a guest chamber, something that clearly was meant to hold more than just one dilo. Perhaps it was meant to hold visiting harems and dignitaries, but with the war on, the scents within were faint and muddled. It certainly hadn't be used in weeks. "Make yourself at home. It could be a while."

Tuesday, June 12th, 739 BSO; 12:00 PM

'A while', as it turned out, was three days. Ayo was permitted to roam the grounds around the pyramid and allowed within her floor and the one below it, but no higher. All upper chambers were for Clan members and slaves only, the latter of which truly rubbed Ayo wrong. Either as a direct insult or unthinking idiocy, Ayo was waited upon by collared slaves, people of her species all wearing iron around their throats. At first she was put off by them, but eventually, she grew angry at them.

Not for their station in life, which they couldn't change, but rather for how meekly they accepted it. She had never been a slave, nor had she ever known any growing up, so to her their surrender to their position was a sign of great weakness. It was only after watching them one afternoon that she saw their meekness and subservience was bred into them, that any free will and urge for freedom was bred, beat, or otherwise removed from them over time.

What caused her to learn such a thing was seeing a collared dilo refuse to deliver her food - calling it an indignity that he should have to serve one of his own. That dilo was cuffed over the snout and Ayo, wisely, kept her own snout shut despite the urge to scream.

She learned, as well, that there were more kinds of slaves than just household, watching as slaves took care of tasks and chores that made her back ache just from watching them. There were even powdered and dyed slaves that had been sent to her chamber (again, either idiocy or insult, she didn't know which) and offered themselves to her for the night.

She had, of course, politely declined them all, but allowed them to stay the night in her chamber when she saw the unease spark in their eyes at her not accepting them. Several tried their luck anyway, pressing themselves against her or brushing their hide to hers when they thought she wasn't paying attention, but she eventually made it clear that she actually wasn't looking for companionship of that sort.

Many of them, she learned, came from similar backgrounds - either born into slave families within one of the Clans or sold to the Feather from the lower city to pay off debts. Some were just sold outright when the number of mouths to feed became too high for a family to handle. The oddest, though, were those that expressed an earnest like for what they did, saying that if they lived in the lower city, they'd probably have turned to petty crime if lucky, or end up dead if they weren't.

All of that, however, took a backseat to Kali finally entering the guest chamber and immediately slumping upon the nearest surface, not even addressing Ayo in the process.

Ayo had, in the time since arriving, recalled her full name - Kali Pridefeather, but she certainly didn't look fitting of that last name now. She was disheveled and tired, her feathers pointing in all odd directions and her eyes were bloodshot. She silently took a drink from one of the slaves that Ayo allowed to stay within her chamber, and drank it down in one gulp.

"I don't know what drove you to come here, but bloody hell if it didn't raise even _more_questions."

Ayo frowned at that and leaned back in her chair, perched upon the beam connecting the forelegs of it while her tail was tucked out the hole in the back. She had a half-eaten meal of jungle monitor and crushed ants before her, but she found her appetite entirely gone now as Kali entered the picture.

They weren't friends, Ayo knew that, but it seemed their fates were now tangled up in one another. "The council of the Feather, in their... wisdom, have merely removed me from my harem and knocked me down two floors, into a weaker harem," their position within the pyramid, Ayo knew, was as much symbolic as it was practical. The higher your position within the pyramid, the higher your position within the harem system more often than not.

"The third was screaming for my blood and a swift march back on the Claw, but cooler heads prevailed."

"I hope those same cooler heads agree with my proposal then."

Kali arched her brow at that, leaning forward and grabbing a piece of meat from Ayo's plate, stuffing it into her maw, "Total surrender?" Kali proposed, half-jokingly.

"To jump ship, as I suggested to you back in the Claw."

Kali froze then, mouth half agape and still full of food. She rapidly swallowed and then started to shake her head, "No. No no no no. If they could barely come to an agreement over me, with the third calling me a 'traitor' and... other things I'd like not to repeat to a stranger, I can't possibly see them agreeing to change sides."

"We won't know until I try," Ayo offered, leading to Kali shaking her head further.

"You saved my life - so let me save yours. You walk into that chamber, and the only thing that might happen in your favor is that you get laughed out of it."

Ayo frowned, already done dealing in hypotheticals. "Can you get me a meeting or not?"

Kali paled further and closed her eyes, staying silent and still for several long seconds before she gave a slow bob of her head, "Four PM. Today. And if you're going to come to your own funeral, clean up first," she commented grimly.

Tuesday, June 12th, 739 BSO; 4:00 PM

Ayo took Kali's advice and bathed, taking advantage of a slave for that and that alone, letting them get the spots of her that she otherwise couldn't. When the male that was assigned to her bath tried to press himself sexually upon her, she brushed it off at first - at least until she felt something other than a brush move across her cloaca. A snarl quickly taught the male that she didn't desire that, however, and he swiftly, meekly returned to washing her.

At the end of it, he and another slave both helped her dry off and applied soft, cinnamon powdering to her hide. It was a rich scent and one that added a sharp spice to her natural one. She quite found she liked it, nodding her head at their choices. The male slave looked along her frame approvingly - too approvingly - but turned his eyes downcast once more at a glare from Ayo. The female slave merely cuffed him over the head and ran him out of the room, talking rapidly to the point of Ayo being unable to keep up with their conversation.

Thus cleaned and lightly scented, she entered a chamber that was frighteningly familiar. It was set up in the same fashion as the Heart's, though somewhat smaller. The Feather wasn't the largest Clan, after all, and the size of the pyramid showed as much. While the upper two floors showed signs of recent construction, hinting at growth, the pyramid - and thus the chamber she was in - were both smaller than the Heart's by a respectable margin.

Kali was standing in the center of the chamber, animated and rapidly speaking with whoever was before her. The Matron or leader, Ayo assumed, but she couldn't see which. She stepped up behind Kali, her presence acknowledged to the room by a spear-butt slamming into the ground by a guard outside. Kali seemed all too eager to get out of the limelight, looking back at Ayo and nodding her head before moving to the side.

Instantly Ayo's argument left her snout and she understood why the Feather stayed doggedly to their course all at once.

The female before her had to be this third that Kali had mentioned, but Ayo already knew that her words would fall upon deaf ears. She had to adjust her plan of attack and already she had questions. The biggest one, of course, was why a _featherless_was leading the proceedings.

"Where is the Matron? Or leader?" Ayo questioned first, bringing the female before her to tilt her head as if Ayo had just asked if the sky was blue.

"Unable to attend, but of course. If you merely came to this council to ask about their wellbeing, we'll pass it along - but surely there are faster channels than this to do it in," the featherless female spoke, clearly more diplomatic than the Talon leader had been, but no less problematic for that.

"Why?"

The featherless raptor flustered, before snorting, "I don't see what business of yours that is, but if you must know - the leader perished early on in the campaign and the Matron is... indisposed. Complications with her most recent clutch, the poor thing."

The words seemed honest and genuine, but Ayo noticed that the expressions the raptor wore didn't match. She wasn't concerned for either of them and was just going through the motions.

"Humbly, I request that my meeting be delayed until the Matron is able to see me, then."

The featherless before her paused in thought, looking down at the dilo as if trying to place her. Finally, with a click of her tongue, she did, "Ayo. I thought I recognized you. Still a troublemaker for your delusional lover?"

Ayo bristled at that, feeling heat rise to the surface as she flushed, but she squashed down her reply, giving herself time to think before she opened her snout, "We have parted ways for the time being. I am working for my own cause," that was as much truth as it was a lie, and she hoped that the intermingling of the two would keep anyone from picking up how much in either direction the truth actually was.

The featherless raptor arched the ridge of a brow before waving her paw, "Nevertheless, the Matron is indisposed for the foreseeable future. If you have nothing to say before this Council, I must kindly ask you to leave."

Kindly was the last thing that raptoress was, but Ayo kept her mouth shut and bowed her head, turning around and leaving a stunned Kali behind. Kali rushed to catch up with her and once they were out of the room, Ayo slowed her pace so they could walk side-by-side. "Could you get me into the Matron's chambers?"

It was a lot to ask of someone who was practically a stranger and not even a part of the same Clan, and Ayo worried that it might be enough to keep Kali from doing the right thing as the raptor at Ayo's side tensed, clearly wanting to say no to the whole idea. Though like Ayo, Kali could tell that something was wrong, it just took someone from outside of her Clan to really make it click.

With a snarl of frustration, she looked around to confirm no one was around, before she then looked down at the dilo, "If I get pushed down even further in the ranks for this, I will eat you."

Ayo snorted at that and stayed quiet, following after the raptor as she started to lead the way through the twisting halls of yet another pyramid. Thankfully, the Feather's complex seemed to be far more straightforward than the Claw's, meaning the trip only took twenty minutes at most, rather than nearly an hour. Still, they had to stop many times during the journey while Kali ran interference with patrolling guards or roaming raptors.

Since the Feather never fully committed to the war, there were far more raptors here than Ayo had expected, giving an illusion that there was no war beyond the walls. Every tapestry-like door they walked by contained a room filled to the brim with raptors, all feasting or fucking. Well, when they weren't conducting business, anyway. To an outsider, it all seemed extremely hedonistic.

Though as she moved on, she noticed that raptors conducting business were quite rare. Rarer than it had been before the war, though perhaps the Feather just functioned differently than the Heart in that capacity. Though if not, it left the idea of just how economically strained the raptor Clans were becoming due to the war.

When they ended up at the top of the pyramid, they came to their first major roadblock. Flanking the chamber door were two guards, a fact that made Kali frown. Obviously, that was a newer addition, but what bothered Ayo more than that was that both of them were featherless. She didn't doubt that the pair of them answered directly to the raptoress downstairs, and that made the whole situation even more suspicious to her.

Ayo, for a moment, thought that she'd have to fight her way in, but she knew she stood little hope of doing that against two fresh raptors that were fully aware of her coming. She was a decent fighter, as her being alive would attest to, but she knew that part of that was luck and she truly didn't want to try it if she didn't have to.

Kali, thankfully, had a better idea, though it was one that made Ayo flinch from the moment she suggested it. "I think we could get inside, but it'd require a slave collar.

It took Ayo all of a moment to piece that together, and she rapidly started to shake her head. She had flashes of putting one on and then getting lost in among the crowd of slaves, losing her identity. All of it was unwarranted panic brought to the surface by the past few days, but nevertheless, the image stuck there at the forefront of her mind.

Kali was still talking beside her, no doubt trying to convince her (or talk her out of it), but Ayo knew that there was truly no other way, at least no way that would remain bloodless. She closed her eyes and sighed softly before turning to face Kali, lifting her paw to silence the still-talking raptor. "What do I need to know?"

Tuesday, June 12th, 739 BSO; 7:32 PM

It required the pair of them to return to the ground floor of the pyramid to prep, Kali talking to a raptor who was clearly the head of all of the slaves, distracting him while Ayo slipped within the chamber and grabbed one of the iron collars that bore the symbol of the Matron upon it. Kali had described that each collar bore a specific symbol on it that designated what role they fulfilled, and while Ayo hadn't noticed it on the slaves she had interacted with earlier, she certainly did when she picked up one of the collars in her paws.

She slipped back out with a nod of her head toward Kali, who slammed her paw upon the table she was in front of it with a snarl before turning away, leaving the slaver behind in a perplexed state of existence, clearly not understanding why Kali was angry at him.

The two moved to another, empty room and Ayo handed the collar to Kali who swiftly inspected it before giving a sigh of relief, "Good, this is the right one. I would have hated to have walked back in there again..."

"You and me both," Ayo commented, not wanting to return to that room any time soon. Rather, she wished she could burn it down, but she took several deep breaths to calm that urge, to push it below the surface until she nodded at Kali and tilted her head up.

The collars could never be put on properly by oneself, requiring someone else to do it instead. In this case, it required Ayo to trust Kali as the iron kissed up against her throat and then came to rest around her neck. The panic and urge to fight didn't kick in until she heard the metallic clasp at the back shutting with an audible snap; as if telling the species wearing the collar that they now were property.

All at once, Ayo felt claustrophobic. She felt the walls around her close as much as the collar had about her neck and every instinct rebelled, trying to lash out as her paws grasped about the collar and tried to tug it free. It took Kali grasping her shoulders and shaking her to slowly clear the haze, claws still wrapped in a death grip around the iron about her neck when her eyes regained focus upon Kali's snout. "Ayo?"

Ayo closed her eyes and tried to take deep breaths, but with her eyes closed, she started to see flashes of her life as a slave. Fictional, of course, but they lingered there in the darkest corners of her mind.

Separated from her family at a young age, with an iron collar tucked just tight enough around her neck that every step she took reminded her of it. Just tight enough to be uncomfortable without limiting her breathing. All of her anxieties bubbled to the surface, as the flashes in the darkness of her mind showed her that her masters were all featherless. No, not quite. Every raptor she came across was featherless. She was one of a million slaves for a regime of featherless raptors.

Her eyes snapped open and she once against focused on Kali's snout, Ayo finding her mouth suddenly very dry. She licked her lips and nodded her head slowly, "Let's get this over with."

Ayo swore that the trek back up to the top of the pyramid took twice as long as the initial trip, even though they were moving with far less caution than before. Every raptor that saw the pair turned their snouts away, seeing just another raptor delivering a slave to their job. Just another animal on a leash.

If she could change anything when this was over with, she vowed that this would be it. To be seen as something less than she was, when she was already seen as subpar, was a feeling that she just wouldn't forget. It clung to her hide like mud and no matter how much metaphorical scrubbing or self-assuring she did, she could not press it aside.

Eventually, however, her wandering mind was forced to focus upon the task at hand when the pair arrived back at the top of the pyramid. All at once Ayo's doubts took a backseat to actually having to do something, her mind racing as she tried to think of what she had to do and how to approach it. How to convince the Matron to switch sides in the war, all while there was a nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach that something was wrong beyond that solid door.

Kali stood up a bit taller beside her and placed a paw on the small of her back, shoving the dilo forward and causing Ayo to stumble for a moment in the process. The pair hadn't talked about what to do at this stage, but Kali seemed to jump right into the role, snapping at her and directing her forward. Once more the collar around Ayo's neck directed her, forcing her to meekly take steps forward while the small voice in the back of her mind tried to reassure her.

The two featherless guards seemed to snap out of their haze upon being approached, going from being half-asleep to aware in half a second as their speartips lowered to point at Ayo's chest. Ayo nearly snorted at that, wondering why they aimed their ire at her and not at the raptor that didn't have a collar.

The words that were exchanged between the three were quick and forceful and Ayo tuned them all out, just trying to keep herself from suddenly screaming and running off in a random direction. No matter how often she adjusted her collar, she just couldn't find a way to keep it from chafing against her hide. Eventually, she felt a firm press against her back as she was shoved forward, stumbling for a moment before she caught herself.

"So, you two numbskulls finally understand?" Kali spoke as Ayo shook her head, trying to clear it of the inky darkness that clung to the edges of her mind.

"Fine," snarled the featherless on the right as he pointed a single digit at Kali, "But if this slave doesn't respect the Oath of Silence, it is your head."

Kali snorted, "Every slave understands the Oath of Silence, isn't that right?" Ayo, to her credit, took it literally and stayed quiet at the question, before Kali nodded her head. "See?"

The raptor on the right, who seemingly took the lead, snorted and bobbed his head, "Fine. But only she is permitted. Your job ends here, at the door."

"Of course. Why the hell would I want to watch a slave clean a room? What am I, some kind of," her eyes roamed over their featherless forms, "freak?"

The two stiffened at that and Ayo was worried that Kali's tongue might have just gotten them in trouble, but instead, it just caused one of the two to grab Ayo by the wrist and tug her forward, opening the door a crack to shove her through it unceremoniously. Ayo nearly ended up on her snout as the door slammed behind her, and even the sturdy wood didn't entirely block the argument outside. Kali was buying her time to search unwatched, and Ayo didn't plan to squander it.

Thankfully for Ayo, the search was easier than she would have thought in such a large chamber dedicated to one harem. Rather than being occupied, it was eerily empty with the exception of one body who lay upon its belly. Initially, Ayo was worried that whoever it was may be dead, but upon approaching she heard muffled words and saw shallow breathing from the form.

Kali had quickly described what the Matron looked like when they were ascending the many floors of the complex, and Ayo had little doubts that this was her. The Matron's feathering was black and white, giving her quite the unique contrast and making her very easy to identify at first glance.

Ayo's collar was forgotten entirely for the moment as she finally had something else to consume her focus, rushing over beside the Matron and rolling her over on her side. The first thing Ayo noticed was slime against her foot as she moved herself to lay beside the Matron, but she ignored it even as it clung stubbornly to her hide. When the Matron was no longer laying upon her belly, the words she mumbled became clearer but still disjointed. Only one of them made sense and it was also the most frequently uttered word, 'clutch'.

Ayo went through a mental checklist and was glad that even slaves were permitted personal pouches, though she imagined they usually carried various tools needed to complete their tasks. The Matron was no doubt being drugged by a powerful sedative, and after the experience with Yeva, Ayo had dug into every resource she could to understand how to counteract any such poison.

True, it wasn't the sedative that had 'killed' Yeva, but it had certainly complicated things nevertheless.

While she didn't have a proper alchemical lab within the Matron's chamber, she had everything she needed to pulp the different ingredients and mix them together into a foul-smelling, and no doubt foul-tasting, paste. When it had set for a few minutes, she moved back to the Matron's prone, mumbling form and gently grasped her tongue 'tween two claws, extending it outward and applying the paste in long strokes with another digit, coating it top and bottom before pushing that tongue back within the Matron's snout and holding it shut with both her claws.

Saliva would cause it to break down from a paste into a fluid, though Ayo wasn't sure how long it would take to process through the raptor's system. All accounts that she had read about varied greatly from one to the next, being anywhere from five minutes to three days. She really, really didn't have three days, however.

She stayed where she was, inspecting the Matron's body and cleaning up the slime which, Ayo discovered, originated from her cloaca. It was only then that she put two-and-two together, causing her to frown and wonder if the raptor had miscarried or had laid in her drugged out state. Regardless of which was which, Ayo didn't see eggs or eggshells about, leaving her even more baffled. But at least she had something to do, and she occupied the time waiting by dabbing a damp cloth (Thankfully, every top-chamber seemed to have a private bath) along those slime-coated feathers and the lips of the Matron's cloaca.

There was no intimacy in the touch, just that Ayo was attempting to return some dignity to the female beside her. Afterward, she sat beside the Matron of the Feather, checking her breathing, pupil dilation, heart rate, and other similar things. Whenever she heard a noise at the door, she'd tense, ready to jump up and pretend she hadn't been doing anything, but no interruption or accusation ever came.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there in the dark, the dim lighting allowed in from the outside world fading until only faint silhouettes could be seen about herself. Her thoughts kept straying, jumping from one thing to another and never staying on one topic long enough for her to comprehend, let alone figure out how to resolve the issues lingering in the back of her mind. Of course, the muffled mumbling of the Matron didn't help her anxiety and unease any either, since the word 'clutch' was repeated to the point of Ayo never wanting to hear it again.

It brought up the worries about her own clutch. She knew without a doubt that she was nearing her time to lay, as usually the hormone shift accompanying it brought on strange, anxiety-ridden concepts and thoughts, and she easily fit into that at the moment.

Before her mind could spiral even further, however, the body next to her started to sluggishly move with a groan. It was progress, at least. Ayo rushed over to the water and grabbed a small, bronze-worked cup along the way. She filled it to the brim and moved back to the Matron's side, slowly tipping it into the other female's maw. The Matron sputtered and coughed once or twice and Ayo slowed down the flow to a trickle, until finally, the Matron's eyes snapped open, aware and conscious for the first time since Ayo had entered the room.

The Matron reacted on instinct alone, grabbing Ayo by the throat and pressing the iron of that collar further against her hide. As much as she had wanted to remove it, she couldn't reach the clasp to work it by herself. She coughed, suddenly having the cold metal pressing in against her windpipe as the female beside her shifted, adjusting until eventually, her foot pushed in against Ayo's chest instead, at least removing the extra weight that pinched her collar right up against her trachea.

The raptoress shook her head, looking around through half-aware eyes as she tried to blink away the grogginess that was left over from Ayo's cure, not to mention having to adjust to the darkness of the room. It took some time, but Ayo stayed quiet - reminded of just how dangerous her situation was whenever the Matron's scythe-like talon tapped up against her chest.

"You. Dilo. Who sent you?" The Matron's words were clipped, sentences short and to the point. Ayo wasn't sure if that was her usual way of speaking, or if she couldn't manage more at the moment.

"I came of my own accord."

"Lies. Medicine was used. Slaves don't have."

"I'm not a slave."

"Collar says otherwise. Tuk spy?"

At least that part was comforting. It seemed the Matron already was against the Tuk, "Came from... Heart Clan. My name is Ayo," she almost lapsed into the short, clipped speech herself; it made her idly wonder if her ancestors had spoken in that way.

"Ayo. Ayo who took Kibwe? Ballsy. Larger internals than most males." The foot let up pressure on her chest, at least somewhat.

"You can... look at it that way. I came here with Kali. Kali Pridefeather."

"Kali loyal. She was fighting, though."

"Yes. We let her surrender, let her return with her head held high," Well, that part wasn't entirely accurate, but she decided not to mention it. "She is helping me. The Tuk are-,"

The Matron snarled, her foot leaving Ayo's chest in the process as the raptoress' eyes flared. "Where clutch?"

"I... don't know, Matron. There was none when I came in."

"Awiti promised help. Came with... others." The Matron frowned, shaking her head again.

Ayo wasn't sure who Awiti was, but if she had to guess, she would assume it was the featherless third she had met below. If that was true, then, "Awiti, is she your third? If so, I have a feeling your clutch was... taken." That was the kindest solution to it, too. The worst, Ayo feared, was that they were destroyed. Whatever long-term game the Tuk were playing, it obviously didn't have the long-term of the other Clans in mind.

With Ayo's words, the Matron's eyes ignited. She went from being clouded and unsure toward suddenly having a purpose. She looked at Ayo and snarled, stalking toward her and Ayo wondered if she had made a misstep somewhere. She was ready to fight back if she had to, but the Matron merely shoved past her, pushing a paw against the cold metal of the collar in the process until Ayo heard the click of the mechanism releasing.

At once, that collar fell away and Ayo rubbed at her throat, feeling chafing in against her hide there for just the brief few hours she had to wear it. The Matron snorted at her and moved toward the door, making Ayo open her snout to warn her about the two guards, but the dilo was too late. The raptoress shoved open the door and the two armed guards on the other side were stunned at first, before attempting to react. Clearly, their loyalties lay with Awiti.

They never had a chance. Ayo hadn't seen a raptor move with such anger as the Matron before her, and before Ayo so much as had a chance to blink, one raptor lay crumpled upon the stairs with his neck at an odd angle and the other was tossed off the edge, thrown down several stories with a grisly thump of their body impacting the stone.

Kali, it seemed, hadn't gone far and when she saw her Matron moving down the stairs with fire in her eyes, she bowed her head low in submission and respect. The Matron grunted, looking Kali over for a moment before nodding her head. "Need a new third."

Kali beamed at that, standing up straight and her pride recovered. Ayo took a step forward to join the two females and the Matron held out a paw. "Feather problem. You stay here."

Ayo frowned, wanting to argue, but a look from Kali silenced her and Ayo nodded her head slowly. Truthfully, she didn't mind, she was feeling tired and sluggish as it were, as if wearing that collar had sapped all her strength. That and the fact she was gravid, she had to admit, though only a slight swelling to her overall form hinted as much.

As the two raptors left to gather loyalists and reclaim their pyramid, Ayo was left not knowing what to do or where it was safe to go, so she returned to the Matron's chamber and, promptly, ended up passing out on the nearest comfortable looking surface.

Wednesday, June 13th, 739 BSO; 3:42 AM

Ayo was brought awake with a sharp poke in her side, making her jump up and groggily try to figure out where she was. She hardly recognized the chamber now that it was lit by several candles, but once she did she was suddenly reminded of why she was there in the first place. She whirled around and relaxed as she came snout-to-chest with the Matron. "The Tuk supporters have been killed to the last," The Matron spoke, seeming to have recovered her mental acuity.

Ayo flushed, realizing that she had invaded the private space of the Matron, but the latter made no mention of it. Instead, the Matron of the Feather kept speaking, "Kali mentioned what brought you here and after seeing just what the Tuk were doing to me and mine, I don't see why we'd continue to support them."

With that, at least, Ayo got good news. But that didn't mean that the Feather were quite throwing themselves in with the Seers, Heart, and Claw. It just meant they had shifted toward neutrality, and Ayo knew that she'd need more than a pledge of neutrality from them. "Will you be joining us in fighting the Tuk?"

There was no hesitation in the Matron's answer, "Yes. We compiled information about the last few weeks, while I was kept drugged," the Matron's features changed to one of pure hatred, snarling as her tail lashed about behind her, "Every clutch that was laid in the last three weeks was taken by Awiti. Everyone assumed it was for their safekeeping, but after what Kali said and reports from our slaves," she hesitated at that, clearly seeing the distaste that came over Ayo's snout at the word, "They reported massive amounts of crates being traded to the Tuk about two weeks ago. No one thought anything of it then, but now..."

"Now you think it is your Clan's eggs," Ayo finished.

The Matron nodded. "So yes, we're going to war with the Tuk. It will take us some time to assemble, but we will march with what strength we have left."

Ayo hesitated, knowing that she couldn't speed up the process any, but she needed to return to the Heart and their march. Already she had been stuck here for four days without any news from the front and she feared the worst. "I have a request to make."

The Matron arched the brow of a ridge and snorted, "Most would be happy just to hear we are marching, but..." The Matron bobbed her head, "I owe you for saving my life."

"I request that Kali Pridefeather and her harem join me as I return to the Heart."

That made the Matron frown, "She is my third. I hardly see how giving my third to the Heart is a fair trade."

Ayo shook her head, "I am not part of the Heart, not anymore. I am Ayo Feralfang and I have no loyalties to the Clans. By joining me, she would be joining as an... interest for the Feather. And I could tell the Heart that I'm marching with the full authority of the Feather behind me."

The Matron lifted a paw, tapping a claw to her chin in the process as she looked Ayo straight in the eye. It took every ounce of Ayo's will to not look away from the stare of someone that, instinctively, she knew was her superior. But that was years of ingrained subservience speaking and not who she, herself, was. She didn't look away.

"She would remain part of the Feather?"

Clearly, the Matron just wanted Ayo's confirmation of that fact, since it was obvious by then, but Ayo nodded her head. "Fully part of the Feather, free to return at any time."

Perhaps not at any time, but Ayo wasn't about to argue semantics and exact details. Having extra bodies at the moment was enough for her, and seemingly, the Feather Matron didn't see any issues with it. "Tell Kali that I approve, then, and inform the Heart of our arrival within the next week. We don't need our new-found allies turning around and attacking us, after all."

Ayo nodded her head in agreement before turning and leaving. While her mind was aswirl with new questions and worries, she pushed them aside to focus on the here and now: she had to gather Kali and march back to her own people, then rejoin the Heart and Claw on the frontline.

With any luck, she would get back before Kibwe did anything reckless.