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Connecting the Spots

Tunis was ours and this was enough to severely wound Philippe's ego, it could no longer be denied. A deadly combination of having lost the compromised territories of Carpathia to some robber barons and their nomads; growing unrest over him severing veteran pensions, and now having the dishonor of losing all of Tunisia: the Jewel of the Colonies.

On top of all that, Luce had received a few letters from her contacts back home and they reported a sad picture of Philippe's reign. The Senators of Francia and Iberia were beginning to pay for the military pensions Philippe had axed, making the garrisons and legions there far more loyal to the local Senators. A rumor was going around that when presented with this distressing news, Philippe said, "Let them get their pay in loot!" which was a concerning thing to say during a peacetime your mandate proclaimed to last forever and thankfully, the Western armies were not taking him up on that.

Yes, Philippe was failing. He was failing bad enough that there were stories of him, in a desperate bid for loyalty, enacted Prima Nocta, granting Senators the right to the first mate with a newly married vixen or tod in their province. It was complete bullshit, every damned government in the history of chimera or humans for that matter would tell that little story, claim that that's what the enemy did, but they never actually did it. But the very fact that Philippe's own citizens were making up this story about him showed just how badly he was doing.

Philippe'sinsecurity was manifesting in fairly typical ways, namely the mobilization of his fleet. Galleys were blockading the ports of Tunis and there was simply no way for us to repel them. There were a few war galleys in the port but we certainly didn't have anyone with naval talent to command them and even if we did, they still had us outnumbered.

We were still getting by with shore fishing and leaning on the clans for meat and dairy, but food would eventually start getting more scarce for the size of the city.

But in the meantime, we were keeping order in the city. Discontent was brewing but riots were not erupting yet and the magistrates were cooperating for the most part.

Taj was fast asleep, cleaning to my shoulders. Occasionally she would snore or, most-distressingly, yowl in her sleep. I knew a fair bit of the fennec tongue at this point, but once they started screeching there was no understanding them. Still, I had gotten used to the noises she made in her sleep, even finding them quite adorable in their own way.

Yawning, I squirmed out of Taj's naked grip and got to my feet. A hyena with light-brown fur and black spots was waiting with my robes in his paws.

"Good morning, General!" he bowed.

"Good morning, Prince Folu," I replied groggily.

"Just Folu will do!"

The hyena was large, nearly the size of an average wolf and he looked very much like a savage bandit, as many hyenas tended to look like;but he had such a passive, servile nature to him that you would have mistaken him for a servant rather than royalty. He could have easily strangled me to death with his ropey, muscular arms while helping me into my clothes, but he never once gave the impression of holding any resentment for being held hostage as part of our deal with the Queendom.

"What's the itinerary for today, Folu?"

"Chief Izil has called for a meeting of his-" I gave the hyena a dirty look and his eyes went wide, "-your council, I mean! They're to convene shortly!"

"Very well!"

"B-but first of all, I made breakfast for you!" he tied my robes together and motioned towards the door leading out of our bedchamber and into our tiny, private dining room. "Eggs, fish, and olives!"

I combed my facial fur while looking in the mirror, "Not really in the mood for olives."

"Sorry!" Folu bowed profusely. He reminded me of Galip, except Galip was less energetic about the whole matter. Folu seemed, in his own little way, almost excited to be working as a servant, at least when he was dealing with me.

"Quiet! You'll wake Taj up!" I hissed.

He bit his lip nervously, shaking as he eyed Taj fearfully.

Smiling, I reached up and patted him on the head, giving him a quick nuzzle against the neck. His tail thumped happily against a dresser behind him.

"You can have the olives, if you like."

"Thank you, General!"

I didn't dawdle at breakfast, scarfing down the fish and egg as quickly as I could while Folu daintily skewered each individual olive with a fork before gently placing it on his tongue and then covering his mouth up while he chewed.

Scratching Folu behind the ears one last time, I left my apartment and was escorted down the hall by a pair of fennecs. We went down a spiral staircase and passed by a thick, wooden door that held back muffled, pained screams from within. Two bored-looking fennecs were standing guard, one was smoking a pipe.

"What's going on here?" I asked.

"Ambassador Orompoto is inspecting the captives," twin clouds of smoke billowed out of the fennec's nostrils and he pressed his tall ear up against the door. "Doesn't sound like they're enjoying it."

"That lady is something else, huh?" the other fennec spat. "Hyenas, fuck!"

"Wouldn't mind her working me over like that!"

There was no point in arguing with the Ambassador. We had a deal and I honestly couldn't care if she was abusing captives, so long as she lived up to her end of the deal and I already had Folu as collateral.

Heading down the hall, we reached the neighboring door and my escort opened it up for me. Inside was a small room with a round, wooden table where a pot of mint tea was brewing in the center, surrounded by glasses.

Sighing, I sat down at the seat closest to the latticed window that overlooked the Tunis harbor. Philippe's ships were clearly visible on the horizon, they had us blocked off but the cowardly pirate wouldn't dare make a land invasion, not after we'd proven ourselves thus far.

I poured myself a cup of mint tea and lifted it, sniffing gently at the aroma. It reminded me of Sofia, her and her silly little divination herbs. It was one thing to be away on a campaign but a whole other matter when you were unwillingly on the other side of the Mediterranean. She was safe, as Laurent told me, but anything could happen between then and now. Gods, how I missed her.

Unfortunately, my melancholic mood was made all the more worse by the arrival of the first council member. Ekrem swung open the door and swaggered in, wearing an outfit I had never seen him wear before, a scarlet-red robe with a gold lining along the collar. Atop his head was a silk turban.

"Good morning, Marco!" the wolf cheerfully exclaimed and wrapped his arms around me in a hug.

The wolf smelled like dung, he hadn't washed and I had no idea what was causing his peculiar odor, save for that it was offensive. He probably did it just to bother me.

"You're cheerful today," I pushed the smelly wolf away.

"Why, yes, yes I am! What a wonderful day this is, hm? The Alphate's greatest rival has just lost their finest colony in Africa and now they're set to lose..." Ekrem leaned back in a chair, nearly tipping over and cracking his head against a frowning statue of Canis, depicted as a fox, "...Gods! What options! If you go West you could destroy the foxen monopoly over Gibraltar, but if you go East, why, I bet the fennecs couldn't maintain control over the fox outposts and they'd come crawling to the Alphate for protection! How delightful!"

"The fennecs are going to join the Republic, once I've taken it back."

"Ah, that's good! That's great!" Ekrem smiled and slammed back a cup of hot tea like it was a shot of liquor. "Optimism, that's the stuff that Empires are built on and I've never heard a statement more optimistic than that, Emperor Marco!"

The temptation to scald the white wolf with the pot of tea became quite strong, but I didn't have time to consider that for long, as Laurent soon stepped in, eyes locking on Ekrem silently.

"Laurent!" I cried out, opening my arms for a hug. "How the hell are you?"

Laurent quietly grabbed a seat that was as far away from Ekrem as possible, but did not sit next to me. His tail wrapped around the back of his chair as he silently poured some tea for himself.

"OH CANIS! HELP! HEL-!" a muffled voice screamed from the other side of the wall.

Laurent went still, his ears drooping in fear.

"YIP! YIP! YIP!" the voice barked. "I'M A BAD FOX, MISTRESS!"

Laurent dropped the cup, shattering it and spilling the tea across the table. Ekrem and I laughed, just about the only time we agreed on something.

"Sounds like he's having fun!" Ekrem guffawed.

Paws quivering, Laurent stretched for another cup on the far end of table, but his claws couldn't quite get a grip around it, pushing it away. I intervened, leaning over the table, picking it up and placing it in his paws.

"I don't need your help!" Laurent snapped, flashing me a snarl. I geckered back at him, but otherwise let it slide and sat back in my chair.

"Look at him!" Ekrem sneered at the orange fox. "You weren't nearly this fiery before!"

Inhaling, Laurent reached for the kettle but Ekrem snatched it and held it out of reach.

"Bet you're jealous of him, hm?" Ekrem motioned towards the wall, from which moans and groans of pain and pleasure echoed. "All you foxes are the same."

Bored by Ekrem's typical, chauvinistic boasting, I had begun to drift off but was spurred awake by the sound of porcelain shattering.

Ekrem was clutching at his face, screaming, as hot tea and blood dripped from his whiskers. A flash of orange darted by and Laurent tackled the wolf to the ground.

Laurent thrust his foot into Ekrem's throat, choking the wolf's screams down to a rattle. Laurent raised his fist.

"FUCK YOU!" Laurent dashed his fist across the side of the wolf's muzzle. He reared up his other fist and swung it down as well, alternating his punches with the wolf helpless to resist. "YOU WOLF BASTARD!"

By the time I managed to get behind Laurent and pull him away, Ekrem's face was a bloody mess. His lips were torn open and his eyelids were beginning to puff up. A shard of porcelain was poking out of the right side of his muzzle.

"I'LL END YOU, _WOLF!_I'LL END YOU AND YOUR WHOLE WRETCHED LINE!" Laurent was thrashing violently, trying to break out of my shoulder-lock.

"Calm down, soldier!" I hissed.

Laurent snapped at my hand and I gritted my teeth as his fangs sunk into my paw before he turned his attention back to the wolf. I felt blood begin to weave through my paw's fur.

"Right now..." Ekrem staggered up to his feet and spat blood onto the floor. He smiled and I could see one of his fangs had snapped off, leaving only a short stump, "...your vixen is back in Carpathia letting real canines take her for a copper claw a toss!"

Laurent threw me off and grabbed a large piece of the shattered cup off the ground. Gripping it, he charged towards the wolf.

The door suddenly flung open. Izil's eyes went wide as he entered the room and saw the scene. Laurent stopped his murderous charge dead in his track as he saw the fennec. Luce slipped in behind him, tobacco floating behind her from her pipe, seemingly oblivious to the violence around her or merely not caring.

"Gods help me!" Izil placed his paw on the jeweled hilt of his sheathed sword. "If you two are so eager to kill each other, I'll call a duel right now and we'll settle this!"

"A duel is too good for him!" Laurent spat.

"Too good!?" Izil got between the two and cast them both a fierce look. Despite being smaller than both of them, Izil managed to maintain some authority. "No one is too good to die. I don't care if he's a piss-stain in the desert, if you want to start a fight now we'll arrange a duel, otherwise you're both going to calm down, sit down, and shut up unless spoken to!"

Neither of the two dared argue back against the fennec Chieftain and silently sat down, casting the other a poisoned look but otherwise calling a truce for now. Ekrem did not notice, but Laurent would occasionally fiddle around with a bloodied fang in his paw during the meeting. That trophy would help keep Laurent confident that he was the stronger canine in that scuffle while Ekrem's deluded wolven ego would never permit him to think he lost. Both would be satisfied, for now at least.

I wrapped up a bundle of cloth around my bleeding paw as Izil took his seat at the council table. The fennec's eyelids were heavy, he was not getting enough sleep.

"Alright, shall we commence?" I announced.

"Orompoto,"Lucesighed as shepoured herself a cup of tea, "we're waiting for her."

Laurent's ear flicked in the direction of the noises from earlier. The room was dead silent now, which was a little concerning.

As if on cue, the door opened and the muscular hyena ambassador entered, haughtily lifting her muzzle as if she were arriving at a grand ball. Her right paw was lifted in the air, a golden chain trailing from it and out into the hallway.

"The decision has been made!" she announced, smoothing the skirt of her green dress as she made her way to the table. Her chain rattled against the doorway and we could hear someone shuffling in the hallway. "We have found just the fox to meet the Queen's discerning tastes!"

"May he rest in peace," I muttered snidely to Izil. "So, dear Ambassador, who is it?"

"Slave!" she snarled, barking out the doorway and snapping the chain loudly against the table. "Get in here!"

The chain quivered and the footsteps outside hastened, until the unlucky fox attached to it entered the room.

"Oh no," Izil planted his paw across his eyes.

"By Canis," Luce hissed.

I wasn't quite sure what prompted that reaction at first. The fox looked like a handsome enough tod with sandy, yellow fur and pale green eyes. Perhaps, I assumed, it was Izil and Lucebeing a little embarrassed at seeing the fox wearing what could only be described as the Queendom's crown sex toys. A leather harness was wrapped around his chest with circles of gold studded with diamonds running along its length; attached to his wrists were round, silver cuffs with a rainbow of jewels dotting them. Just in case his submission was not ensured, a tight, golden cage was fastened around his sheath that had small spikes on the inside.

Ekrem laughed at this sight, while Laurent was averting his eyes.

"Well now! What a handsome choice!" I chuckled as I approached the slave, patting him on the shoulder. His fur was as soft as velvet, the hyena had good taste. "You're about to go on a great adventure, are you excited?"

"Do not answer him, male!" Orompoto barked and the fox winced, turning away and covering his face in fear. His tail flicked, revealing a large diamond sticking out of his rear, attached to a butt-plug; before tucking between his legs.

"Ambassador, I know we had an agreement that you would have your pick of the litter, so to speak," Izil uncovered his face and leaned across the table, looking even more tired than before, "but is there anything I can do to convince you to pick someone else?"

"On the floor, slave!" Orompoto ordered her slave and the fox quivered as he knelt down.

"Your excellency," Luce cleared her throat, "are you-"

"No," Orompoto shrugged, weaving the chain between her fingers, "we have made the Queen's choice and a messenger has been sent out to announce Pishi's arrival."

"Surely there must be-"

"Unless General Marco would be willing to replace him, there can be no other alternative," Orompoto smiled at me like a hungry predator, "she would find that false eye of yours to be quite fetching."

Izil looked at me with calm, quiet deliberation. It bothered me.

"What the hell's your problem?" I scoffed at the fennec Chieftain. "Have you lost your nerves? When have you given a shit about the freedom of a fox before?"

"I give a shit about the freedom of a fox when he's the kit of one of the city magistrates who we just secured the loyalty of with promises that we'd return his only surviving son!" Izil lost his cool and snapped, growling. "He's out there you know, right now! Giving fiery speeches about the honorable intentions of General Marco and the city's new fennec overlords! He's too loud to arrest without undue attention and once he finds out about this deal his tone is going to change and we're going to need an entire extra clan stationed in the city to maintain order!"

"We'll ride it out! Meanwhile, we should move onto Alg-"

"There's not going to be a fucking Algeria Campaign at this rate!" Izil pounded his fist onto the table. "The Republic's army has begun reinforcing the city, we're not going to catch them flat-footed again and we won't be able to spare enough fennecs to perform a successful offensive."

"We'll start with supply raids, probe their forces for weaknesses and start recruiting among the city's populace."

"Have you even been listening?" Izil stared at me aghast. "We're not going to be able to drum up the numbers needed! You managed to get a large mob out of Sfox with your rabble-rousing about Yedder-"

"Who's Yedder?" I shrugged, leaning back in my chair. Truthfully, I had completely forgotten the hanged fennec from Sfox entirely. Even writing this, I had to struggle to remember his name.

"-and the poor, oppressed slum-dwellers, but Tunis? No, you didn't get any of that. As far as the people here are concerned, you're just some asshole who helped get their family members robbed, raped, and killed. Why should they join us? So they can get their kit sold to some distant despot's harem? No offense, your excellency."

"None taken," Orompoto narrowed her eyes, "I think the Queen would find that descriptor quite amusing."

"Izil, if we wait that will only give Philippe's forces time to fortify their position. If we stop now and go on the defensive, we will never get moving again."

"We've liberated more ancestral land than any fennec leader has in centuries," Izil waved his paw, "I think that's enough for now."

"What happened to the fennec I knew earlier, hm? The one who passionately spoke of waging total war on the foxes?"

"He was faced with harsh realities," Izil lowered his voice and looked at me, trying to soothe me. "Marco, this isn't over, not yet. But we can't wage another big campaign, not with these conditions. Either we keep what we have now or we lose it all."

"Philippe has our ports blockaded! If we take more ports, we can force him to spread out his ships!"

"Look, if you want to fight that badly," Izil tapped his teacup on the table, "maybe you could take a small force and take some of the smaller, Eastern colonies. Rumor has it that they've been evacuated but if you really want a victory, you can have it. That's the only compromise that I'll accept."

"It would seem that the Foxen-Fennec Alliance has seen better days," Orompoto gloated, grabbing a chair and sitting down in it. She kicked Pishi in the ribs and he crawled in front of her. Orompoto placed her feet atop the fox's back, using him as a footrest.

"I'll bet you can't wait to report back to her about our squabbling," I snorted.

"Quite so!" Orompoto ran a finger along the rim of a teacup. "But I'm also feeling quite amicable, would you delightful canines care for an alternative solution to your problem?"

"If it involved servitude or concessions to the Queendom, you can forget it," I said, which Izil nodded to in agreement.

"What gave you the impression I would ask such a thing?" Orompoto jangled the fox's chain. "From my perspective, both of you are insufficiently aggressive right now."

"By Canis!" Ekrem gasped. "Marco, someone out there thinks you're not aggressive enough! What delusion!"

"Ambassador," Luce cleared her throat, "I'm a little skeptical, I must admit. Do you care to explain your plan in detail?"

"From what I've gathered and my agents are very good at their jobs, Philippe has indeed sent a lot of reinforcements to Africa and he has, as it is quite clear to us even from this room," Orompoto waved towards the window, at a ship in the distance, "that he has begun exercising the full power of the Republic's navy. Tell me, how well do you think Europe's defenses are staffed?"

"You're not serious!" I exclaimed.

"I'm always serious," the hyena grinned, "sail back to Europe and attack."

"With all due respect, Ambassador," Luca shifted in her seat, "we have no navy and even if we did, it certainly would be no match for the Republic's! I am not familiar with the Queendom's navy but I imagine they're ocean-faring ships for the most part, while the Republic has a large fleet of quick galleys, perfect for warfare in the Mediterranean."

"Oh, ho, ho, ho!" Orompoto laughed arrogantly. "We'd never deign to risk our ships in your little war! Not ours, at least!"

"Then whose?" I demanded.

"As it happens, Queen Ayeshatu the Third is quite good friends Shah Levanti and he might be amenable to a mutual arrangement."

"The Leopard Shahdom!?" I blurted out. "Their fleet is based on the Red Sea and they make the dandies in Vulpezzia look positively austere! What would they have to offer us!?"

"I couldn't possibly say for certain and I certainly wouldn't dream of speaking for the Queen's dear friend from afar, but the Shah is only recently crowned and he might have certain ambitions regarding extending the Shahdom's control of certain coastlines."

"Coastlines," I corrected, "you said coastlines."

"Did I?" she whistled.

"Which coastlines?"

"I cannot guarantee anything, as you might know, but I understand they have interest in expanding their control over the Red Sea coast and breaking into the Mediterranean," Orompoto reached under the table and scratched the Queen's slave behind the ear, "now, if only there was some location that satisfied both of those demands, hm?"

The air went still and every muzzle turned to point at me, aside from Orompoto, who was leaning back in her chair, quite content that she had gotten the reaction she had hoped. Rightfully so, she was referring to the Suez Canal, one of the most contested territories in the area.

Ekrem grinned and narrowed his eyes like a fox, "Amazing! Amazing! You hand over Tunisia to the fennecs and now you're considering this! Giving up vulpine interests in the Suez and lifting your tail for the leopards? You continue to surprise me, Marco!"

"Ambassador, please leave the council chamber and take your toy with you," Luce suddenly blurted out with a forced smile on her face. "Respectfully, that is."

"Come!" she kicked her fox slave in the ribs and stood up, yanking the chain around his neck and forcing him to crawl behind her. Flashing a toothy grin at the council, she explained herself. "And I never said anything about the Suez nor anything about the Shah making an agreement! No guarantees!"

With a playful whoop, Orompoto flung open the door and reeled her fox in like a fish as she exited. Luce closed the door behind her.

Taking a hit from her pipe, Luce scowled as her eyes narrowed, "She's good, I'll give her that."

"Please tell me you're going to go along with it!" Ekrem was just about salivating. "This is a delightful new twist in the Tragedy of Marco! Or would it be a comedy?"

As soon as one of his assistants becomes half as skilled as him, he's a dead wolf.

"It would not necessarily be an abandonment of fox interests in the area," Luce waved her pipe around, creating a twisting wisp of smoke, "neither wolves, foxes, nor lions truly control the Suez. On one day, we have a monopoly on trade across it, on others, the wolves cut deals with the lions to undermine us, and on some occasions the lions organize well enough to threaten trade just enough to force us to make concessions.If were we to get the leopards control over the Suez, which we are making a big assumption right now based merely on the ambassador's word;the others would lose as well and we wouldn't provide any guarantee that they'd keep it forever."

"That Ambassador is tricky with her words," I sipped from my cup, "we should not assume anything, but I think we should at the very least, reach out to the Shah for more information."

"Agreed,"Luce nodded.

"What does she want?" I tapped my claws against the table.

"I have no idea," Luce snuffed out her pipe, "for all we know, this could merely be for the Queen's amusement. The hyenas have no interests in that area, so I'm at a loss as to what she's expecting."

"Still, I think we should investigate," I sighed, "I don't like it, but we should look into what she's saying."

Luce twitched her tail and peered around the table, "any objections?"

Ekrem was happily letting his tongue dangle from his jaws, disgracefully letting a thin trail of bloody drool leave his lips. Laurent and Izil on the other hand were more stoic in their silence, merely keeping their lips sealed.

"Alright," I tapped my cup on the table, "lets send a messenger out to the Shah immediately."

"This is going to be great!" Ekrem rubbed his paws together.