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Flames at Balaton

We're trapped.

My claws shredded bedsheets and I passed the strips to Galip and the fox slave so that they might tie them together. I was a machine, no more intelligent than a windmill.

We're trapped.

There was no room in my mind for any other thoughts. Whenever I might stray to the upcoming battle, all I could see is a swarm of wolves on horseback pouring in through the gates with no escape.

Smoke was already starting to fill my lungs, even if we escaped this wretched pagoda, what would be waiting below for us?

And so I would retreat, back to the basest analysis of the situation.

We're trapped.

Was this what those lion cubs were thinking before their end?

"Get back to work! TIE THOSE SHEETS!"

Galip winced at my words but the orders of his Alpha helped steady his paws.

My words were forceful but hollow on the inside. I yelled because it seemed like the correct impulse to take.

"Marshal!" Guy held a sheet up to his snout, coughing into it. The air was starting to grow black and a sweltering heat enveloped us. There was no time.

"I know!" I shouted and covered up my nose. "Out the window! NOW!"

Livio grabbed the rope of bedsheets from the slaves and hopped out the window, carefully edging onto the ceramic shingles of the roof below. One step at a time, slowly, too slowly, he crept towards the lip.

Just before reaching his destination, Livio slipped and there was an awful clatter as one of the shingles slid free. My beloved Lieutenant managed to catch himself, kneeling on the ground for a few seconds, tail bristling.

I was afraid to so much as utter a word of encouragement for fear it might distract the fox and send him, and our only hope of escape, plummeting to the ground. We all were silent.

True to form, Livio did not need a pat on the head to keep him motivated. Withing seconds, he had the rope tied around the horns of a dragon statue mounted on the corner of the roof.

"Marco! Go!"

I gave my wolf a quick lick on the nose, hopeful that I wouldn't lose him the minute I got him back, and slid onto the roof.

My boot shattered a tile and I began sliding down, stopped only by Livio's paw snatching me by the shoulder just as I was about to slide off into the void.

"You're getting old and clumsy, Marshal!" Livio laughed. I never knew a fox as lackadaisical as him when things were at its worst.

As I righted myself up, I couldn't help but catch a glimpse at the horizon. The wolves were not mere figures enshrouded by dust, they were close enough to make out the visages of their faces. A vanguard of light cavalry were charging towards the palace walls, hoping to take me out.

Vito was beginning to split the army, spreading them into two fronts to face the oncoming foe, while also sending another batch to the palace.

"Focus!" Livio slapped me lightly on the cheek. "Live now, worry later!"

He was right, there was no time to worry about possible death when certain death was merely right behind me.

Grabbing the top of the sheet rope, I swung down.

It wasn't long enough, not even close. I was looking at two broken legs if I dropped from the bottom thread of it onto the ground.

But again, an uncertain death was more appealing than certain death.

I swung towards the pagoda and dropped.

My shoulder bounced off of one of the lower roofs and I rolled down, crashing into the cobblestone two stories below.

I had not hit my head but I was immobile for a good bit after landing. The wind had been knocked out of me and my chest-plate was dented badly, pressing up against my lungs.

Still, I counted myself lucky as I twitched my fingers and my toes. I was whole and that was all that mattered.

The world was spinning as I sat up and was relieved to see myself surrounded by foxes dressed for battle and not a horde of wolves lording over my fallen form.

Livio was by the gate, barking orders to reinforce it. The gates were flimsy and I feared it would not be enough.

"Alpha!" Galip's soft voice exclaimed as he scampered on all fours towards me, gleefully licking me on the cheek.

Pushing the wolf away, I stood up, catching sight of the fox slave from earlier, flipping a rowboat atop him to hide.

"Where's..."

Agonized screams rang out above us and I turned just in time to catch a flaming figure slam into the ground.

"Guy!" I screamed, rushing over to the body, acrid smell of burnt fur in the air. "Help him!"

Guy was still as we beat the flames out of him with an Alphate banner and splashed him with sand and water. I feared he was dead and as much as I did not trust the fox, I needed as many allies as I could.

I could not lose him.

He was covered in oozing burns, most of his fur gone, but his eyes flipped open the moment the flames were gone. His eyes were still as bright as the flames pluming from the pagoda as he looked over at me.

"Why..." Guy rasped, "...why...?"

"You're okay," I reassured him, wincing as I noticed a piece of his femur sticking out of his leg, "it'll be okay, we'll get you better."

"Why...why...why...?"

"Soldier!" I grabbed a young fox who had been lingering nearby by the tip of his ear. "Find a medic! There has to be one in the palace!"

"Alpha!" Galip interjected, still on his knees before me. "May I-"

"Speak! Yes!"

"I know where the palace surgeon is, I can take-"

"Lead him there, now!"

Galip arose and led the soldier towards the main palace, his naked gray fur on display for everyone to see. The few wolven servants still hanging around must have been quite shocked at seeing their former master in such a state.

Or perhaps, knowing Galip, they were unsurprised.

I had to leave Guy's side, there was nothing more to do here. Nothing more to say either, as the formerly golden-furred fox was just saying the same word over and over in his delirium.

It was time to make a desperate stand.

There was no rampart on the walls, only a gatehouse. I had a few soldiers escort me there, climbing up the stairs to meet Livio and Sister in a narrow wooden room overlooking the entrance.

"Well..." Livio spat out the turret, "...we've really got a knot up our ass right now, don't we, boss?"

Just as I have mentioned it in my memoirs numerous times, I shared my wisdom with my officers enough times that they were likely sick of hearing it. One such nugget of wisdom was my never-ending hatred for allowing yourself to be on the defensive in fixed fortifications. We were living my worst nightmare right now and this glorified spa had some of the worst fortifications I had ever seen. A horse could probably kick the gate open, hell, a wolf knocking on it could probably cause the gate to fall off its hinges.

Vito had sent a small unit here to reinforce us and they were stationed outside the gates in a pike-wall mixed with crossbows. It was too risky to let them in now, not while the howling horde of light cavalry was almost upon them.

What could I have done?

We were trapped.

Sister had her bow ready to snipe the first wolf that came into view, but it would not be enough. Every dead wolf was a good wolf, but it only meant something if we got out of here alive.

More, Vito, we need more. Damn you!

What was the point of complaining? Vito had two fronts to worry about, I would have probably done the same and focused on the more immediate threat.

All of a sudden, the answer seemed so obvious and it was so integral to my skills as an officer: counter-offensive. Don't let them pin you in your hole, abandon the palace's flimsy defenses and strike first, put them on the defensive!

That is what I would have normally thought, but between the surprise attack, falling out of a burning building, and everything else, the thought had come later than it should have.

It came right when the wolven cavalry met our foxes.

Their horse arches swept by in a line, firing arrows while the lancers in the cavalry formed ranks on all sides. The foxes were surrounded.

A good fox spearwall can hold off the enemy for hours but these were not ideal circumstances. The nomadic archers were moving too fast and the lancers were too far for the few crossbowfoxes to hit them enough and the wolves knew it. A damned orchestra of joyous howls was ringing out, they were toying with their prey, whittling them down until they were weak enough for a final strike.

I did not look away. They were under Vito's command, not mine, but I owed them to watch their last moments.

Part of the spearwall faltered and the unit was not quick enough in reforming their ranks. That was all the wolves needed to pounce.

Lancers poured into the gap of the army, stretching out the wound as they ran foxes down. The entire thing collapsed into chaos and a sea of gray was soon crashing up against the walls.

"LET ME IN! BY CANIS, LET M-" a voice screamed at the gates before he was suddenly muffled.

More howls and I could not help but hear grunting as well. There was no more foxen resistance outside, all were either killed or captured. The unlucky fox who begged for us to save him was pinned up against the gates, mounted by a wolf who had claimed him as his bitch. A few other wolves were pissing on the walls, marking their conquest.

They knew we didn't have long before we fell.

Not even Sister driving an arrow into one of the wolf's skulls was enough to deter their elation. One death now meant nothing compared what they were about to inflict on us.

I couldn't even see how Vito's forces were doing, we were blind and now there was truly no chance of escape.

We were trapped.

Being caught on the receiving end of a siege was a harrowing thing, words cannot describe the fear and uncertainty that comes with it. It was enough to almost make me feel sorry for all the lives I had taken from sieges that I led, but of course, they were always given the choice of surrender in exchange for their lives.

There was no surrender here, only torture and death, and that was if I was lucky. I could not predict what horrors the nomads had in store for me but if they were smart, they would have my head and be done with me.

Every pounding on the gate was like a drumbeat counting down to the end of a song. The wolves had little more than axes as siege weapons but they would eventually splinter through and there was nothing more we could do than have a few soldiers fire arrows at them from the gatehouse.

I'd taken the moment to catch what little silence I could in the shade of a storage shed. Only for a few minutes to catch my breath and then it was back to inspiring my foxes. The pagoda still burned bright, completely engulfed by flames and the whole area was as hot as the deserts of Africa.

"Marshal," Livio turned the corner with a glass bottle with a clear liquid in it, "care for a sip before we're sodomized?"

"Sure," I sighed, taking the bottle and sniffing it. It was plum brandy and smelled like rotten fruit. I flinched, but did not hesitate in taking down a swig; predictably it tasted just as bad as it smelled, "my father used to drink this shit back in Carpathia. The house reeked of it."

"Yeah?"

"He already put us into debt trying to make it big as a merchant and then he drank us further into it," I took another pull before passing it back to Livio, "the wolves rendered our debt void and he promised that he'd be more responsible."

"Already know where this is going."

I nodded, "First thing he did was go and buy a fancy dining table so we could keep up appearances of wealth, wealth that we never had in our entire lives. He kept on spending money on enterprises and when those failed, he'd spend even more on drink. Joined the army and promised myself that I'd never end up like him, ended up paying off all our debts before I was thirty."

"They never change," Livio scratched at one of his bald spots and chugged some of the brandy, "at least most of them don't. I don't want to end up like my parents either, don't want to be a soldier forever either."

"What do you want to do instead?"

"Nah, you'll laugh."

"Try me."

"Maybe another time," Livio looked off the side, "you were talking about your pa?"

Inhaling, I closed my eye as the sounds of fighting got louder. The wolves were not in yet but they were definitely giving our foxes at the gate a hard time.

"I think he couldn't face reality and that was his problem," Livio passed me the bottle and I waved my paw, "I think I'm done doing that."

"Drinking?"

"If we survive, I'll drink again," I muttered.

"And how about the opium?"

"Oh, I've been off the stuff for months now. Just take a bit to help me sleep, that's all."

Livio looked at me with a questioning glance.

"What?"

"Nothing," he muttered and took one more swig of the drink, "more for me then."

Drinking wouldn't help me now, nothing would. I was a fool for leading us on this little raid. What was the point of reuniting with my rightful property when I'd lose my army, my sister, and my life?

The pounding at the gates was louder and I could hear wooden shrapnel cracking off. Foxes screaming, wolves howling in victory...it was out of my worst nightmares.

My family fled the wolves from Carpathia only for me to return and be hunted down by them instead.

A weight tapped against my hip, my saber clothed in its scabbard...

"Marco," Livio suddenly whispered.

My ear twitched as I broke out of my panicked trance and found ourselves surrounded by silence, as if we were in the eye of a storm. The fur on the back on my neck bristled and a chill ran down my spine, when that silence washed over the battlefield, every good officer knew that something big had just happened.

The only question was who did it favor?

That split-second of silence felt like an eternity of holding my breath, waiting for the first sign to reach us.

And when it did, it was of wolves yelping.

"What the hell is going on?" Livio snarled.

"Vito..." I gasped, "...Vito must be here!"

I swung around the corner of the building, sprinting towards the gatehouse. There were still several foxes manning the gates, but they were not struggling to keep it together beneath a barrage of wolven axes.

As if on cue, a support beam from the pagoda broke away from the burning building and slammed into the ground seconds after I passed it. I peered back quick enough just to make sure Livio was okay before ascending the staircase.

"Marshal!" a soldier saluted. "We've-"

Pushing the soldier aside, I leaned into the turret to see for myself whatever twist of fate awaited us.

The wolves were still outside the gates but were facing away from us in a defensive posture. A few riders broke away to the left, vanishing beyond the wall in a panicked retreat but the other nomads readied their bows for the foe off in the distance.

Things quickly became clear that this was not Vito arriving to the rescue.Even if my one eye had been half-blind, I'd have been able to tell the riders of the horses kicking up dirt in the distance were mostly too short to be foxes and their white robes shimmered in the last rays of sunlight.

A horde of fennecs armed to the teeth with bows and lances, along with a few cheetahs and lions. There was no mistaking who this army belonged to, it was mine. My long-lost African army, finally reunited.

And there she was, out of all of the warriors, I spotted my lady-love. Taj was leading the charge, bellowing a fierce war-cry. She unleashed the first arrow and a storm followed.

For the first time during this siege, the wolves suffered severe casualties. Arrows thumps into them and their horses, armor shattered like a clay pot, and the grass was painted red with blood.

"Don't let them steal all the glory!" I grinned and patted a soldier on the back. "Get some target practice in! Whoever feathers the most wolves gets a bonus!"

I stood back and let the few foxes who could fit in the guardhouse twang their crossbows out the turret, occasionally cheering as they tagged a wolf. There was really no vantage point for me to judge the little competition, I believe when it all came to an end I declared it a tie and gave them all a small bonus. Everyone was a winner that day.

Except for the wolves, of course.

A magnificent Alphate pagoda was up in flames, a distant cadet-relative of the Kutlars was once again under my foot, and the cruel nomads who pillaged this land were about to face a shattered defeat.

And once this battle would be over, the army of the rightful ruler of the Fox Republic would grow even larger.

Nothing would stop us now.