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Chapter 14...WAR!

Cassius crept quietly away from where he had been eavesdropping at Portia's back wall, shaking his head. The war had come at least a summer to soon, they were not ready, and he feared for his own life now. Oh he could probably run...head North...beg for entry into the Northern packs. He shook his head...not liking the sudden wash of conscious that seemed to be infecting him... He would stay. There was no guarantee that the Northern packs would have good Alphas, or that they would accept his petition if his reputation had reached, and he was about ready to admit, that much as he would like some in heat bitch tail again, he was no longer physically able to be Alpha after this last summer. Staying in the background and watching all the time was all that was left for him. Everyone else was asleep, getting the rest they would need for the dawn battle...He didn't know what the battle plans were, but he'd place his throat on the line that it didn't involve Simeon being shot by his own side.

'Simeon, Simeon...the reason for his pain and humiliation...' he mused, glancing down the vale towards the Healer's hut...lamp light still showing inside that at least one was still on duty, probably with Ruthie, even after he had watched the thrice damned Werecats escort Clawd's body, along with Pawline out of the hut soon after everyone else had followed orders to sleep.

No...he wouldn't say anything. If he stirred the pot now, there would be circle battles and fights before anyone moved, and by that time they could have been corralled into the very trap they wanted to place the humans in, next vale over. Portia may have instructed Nolan to preserve his quarrel until he had a clear shot at his Sire...but he may bottle it at the end...After all, murder was murder and even in the heat of a battle and his life would be sacrifice if anyone spotted his direction of aim. He had not been aware of Portia's other schemes...But she had mentioned on the day before their birthing that she was planning something for them all in order to try and destroy the alliance.

His mind flicked back to the limp form of Clawd being carried away...and back further to hearing him use his last words to give the news no one had wanted to hear. If Fleur, Burley and Jacob were the ones dipping in and out of the weapons store as Portia had implied in her lecture to Nolan...well his death had been needless...And Tashir's...Not that 'The Ghost' shouldn't have died years back...but he had to admit now, he had been very useful recently. He would now guess that they were responsible for the sabotage that had cost lives, but had no physical proof...and his words were worth nothing in the ears of Balthazar or Simeon.

No...He would just watch then...hang close to Nolan, just in case...

~~

"I'm packed," Gussalen said, indicating her knap with her free hand after Pawline and the accompanying Werecats had left with Clawd's body.

Simeon looked up from where he was checking Ruthie's breathing and pulse, "To late...I cannot consciously send you out in the hopes you can pass Rouster's lines without anyone noticing you. It would be tantamount to murder of both you and Henry." He glanced behind her where the aforementioned was waiting in the shadows. Clawd had managed to give the General's name before he lapsed into total unconsciousness.

"What's that about Henry?" Ysmay asked, making him jump a little.

Gussalen leaned heavily on her crutch, "Henry was going to be the one to run me behind the lines," she said, as Ysmay raised her hackles.

Henry slipped out in front of her, protectively, "Dam...It was my idea. I have made my choice in life in the same way as you have with Simeon."

"But she is human!" Ysmay growled, "I turned my head a little when it was obvious you were disobeying me for a fling..."

"No fling...And if we all come through this, I will change her. It will be easier for her to walk on three legs, than on one."

Ysmay stared at Simeon, who just turned his head, "You were hiding this from me?" she demanded.

"I did exactly as you asked love...I requested that Gussalen calm the relationship. She refused, assuring me that it was not just a passing phase, and I agreed to not press the matter further. Henry and hers relationship could not harm the pack, they can only harm themselves...unlike Herald and Furrn. It seems I was wrong there as well." Simeon stated.

Ysmay shook her head, "When the bitches find out, he will be shunned."

Henry barked out a laugh, "Can you not see Dam...I don't give a fuck! If we all get through this next few days, which you know is unlikely...well I don't care if I never see another dripping Vee! Unless the one that drips in front of me is hers! I love her!"

"She is old enough to be..." Ysmay started.

"Old enough to be his grandmother six times over by your standards...bitch!" Gussalen interrupted, "I will be dead from age within a decade, where as he has another three ahead of him. You want to argue ages bitch? Well look at you! Simeon has two decades if he is spared the conflict, and lucky afterwards, while you have at least three before your teeth and muscles fail you...What difference is there between you and your son? He is doomed to watch me die, just as you are doomed to watch Simeon wither in front of you. Are you going to take his throat when he misses his kills? I know that Henry will take mine if I ask him to. I am willing to take the risk of being turned at my age, not for me, but for him...and I tell you this, just as I told your Padwarmer on the day he confronted me. I will die by whatever killed Henry, if he doesn't walk from the forest of blood as a white flag flies from a human pike!"

Ysmay just stared at her, words failing to form as the other pups cowered in the door of their sleeping quarters, "Call me bitch again with that inference and tonality, and Lupinius be damned, I will take both your throats without warning. Henry...You are no longer welcome on your pad with your siblings...get out of my sight!" She turned, pushing past the others into the living quarters, "Sleep all of you! Now!" she barked.

Henry looked askance at Simeon who just shook his head, "I warned you..." he whispered quietly, "She may come around if we all live." He checked Ruthie over one last time, and then turned wolf, pushing past the lowered hessian.

Ysmay looked up at him, growling, "I don't know why I should let you join me as well," she grumbled, "You betrayed my trust."

"I did exactly as you asked. I was not expecting her to confront me, as she has just done you. Henry was planning on running with her as soon as the order was given, and this confrontation would not have happened until after the battles, if at all..." Simeon replied, nosing in gently next to her growling form, "I did not betray you...I just did not tell you of the outcome of your request."

"I will not speak to him again you know, until she is a Were. Pups cannot be allowed to disobey and disrespect their Dams...They are all old enough to move out now anyhow, I am only a couple of moons off my next heat...and that is yours if I forgive you."

Simeon nodded, "Well that is up to you...I did what I thought at the time was right."

Ysmay just looked at him in the flickering light that was filtering in from where the fire burned in the central room, "Sometimes I just don't know about you. One mark I think I know everything there is to know...and the next you present as a complete stranger. I just hope that we both live long enough for me to find out who the real you, is." She nuzzled him before rolling over, her back facing him, "We will discuss litters, when the last human scurries for home."

Simeon just tipped over onto his flank himself, lining his spine up along hers...not saying another word as a nervous sleep devoured him and everyone in the village.

~~

Rouster scratched at the back of his neck as his orderly strapped on his full armour. Just the light of the log fire behind them lit the room, not even the faintest of blushes illuminating the Eastern skyline above the trees. "Done Sir," Belton said quietly.

"Thanks Belton, go ready yourself. I hope this will be the last fight this company has to win before we all end up back at the Capitol," Rouster replied, rocking on his heels to settle his boots.

Belton grinned, "Be nice to see my folks again," the fourteen year old replied with a grin and a salute.

"I agree with you lad...be nice to have a Son of my own before I shuffle off. This campaign has dragged at us all."

"More so for you Sir...But we'll get every last one of these buggers now, and the King can rest easy on his throne. Might even be a bonus in it for us all..." Belton replied, slipping his own lighter leather on over his tunic.

Rouster snorted, "Don't count on it lad...I have not been hearing the best of things from back there, but don't pass that on. I just want to finish this, and then I can retire if they won't have me sit circle as advisor. Just be thankful that there are two Princes already begot if you catch my drift."

Belton saluted, "Not a word Sir...But scuttlebutt amongst the men is there already about the King being a tad loopy...So I tell you that it ain't me saying nowt if summit does reach your ears."

Rouster snorted, "I will bear that in mind then...Now go. I will see you in the ranks in a quartermark. We march when the sky blushes like a twelve year old lass as she sees her husband take his breaches off for the first time!"

Belton chuckled, "I hope to see that one day Sir...these camp followers are alright for your spare change Sir, but I would like the chance at a fresh wench one day..."

"Keep your head on your shoulders and teeth out of your guts, and I will see what I can find for you when we get home. I should be able to pull a few strings."

"Really Sir? Thank you!" Belton replied with another salute as he backed out of the door and thundered down the stairs.

Rouster chuckled, "After I find one for myself of course..." he muttered.

**

Holden looked up as Rouster pulled his horse up next to his, "All set Lieutenant?"

"As set as we can be Sir," Holden replied, casting his eyes over the 2500 men and horses assembled on the fields in ranks before them.

"Good. Plan has not changed since yesterday despite the disturbance last night. Did anyone find a body?" Rouster asked.

Holden shook his head, "You would have been the first to know Sir. I gave orders that those who were trying to track it were to stop half a league past the scratch markers. There was a lot of blood though Sir...there was no way it got very far."

Rouster looked sideways at him, "Still saying it? You so sure it was not a Werewolf?"

"The sentries swear on their swords and bows that what they shot was not wolf shaped and didn't run that way either. It was an animal though."

Rouster snorted, "Let us hope then that they were as on their mark as they say they were. We do not want any nasty surprises. Find anything out where we were ambushed yesterday?"

"Only our bodies...the Wolves had cleared theirs out before we got there, so we don't know if the second one injured was killed."

"Mmm...They seem to be too damned efficient, and I don't like it," Rouster replied, "I wish we had more time and men to find out just what we are dealing with here. Anything else I should know?"

"Well there is this, Sir...The armourers don't recognise its design...but when we recovered the bodies, one of the guys scooted up the trees that they were shot from and found this in a crotch," Holden replied, handing over a rag.

Rouster weighed the bundle in his hand, eyes raised at the lightness before unwrapping it and examining it, "Never seen anything like this myself," he replied after a minute, "Does it fit the wounds?"

"It does according to the Healers. Can't have been fired by a bow, or so the armourers say as there is no fletching...but the head has enough weight to punch through a helmet if fired from close enough. Fired with what and by who is still a mystery."

Rouster glanced at the Eastern sky as it turned a pale blue-grey in colour, "Well we are committed now. Tell the lads to keep their eyes both at their feet and on the canopy. Could with luck just be renegade mercenaries from the far Eastern lands that have accepted gold to fight with the Weres. We know the Wolves can't climb for buggery."

Holden grunted, "Could be I suppose...Hope there aren't many of them. They must be total bastards to fight against their own species for a foreign one. Can't understand how the Weres haven't killed them if they are...It would be out of character."

"This fucking forest is out of character for a wolf territory, and as for Mercs...as long as their purses are filled, they couldn't give a fuck...There is nothing we can do about it now though. We will just have to hope that we are enough to quell them. The troops from the ships were the last the council would commit to this, as the Southern border is getting itchy again from some of the scuttle-mail I have been receiving with the orders. They council want this army back, but won't shut us down just yet as no-one has quite stepped over the lines yet."

Holden snorted, "So no Capitol holiday for us then?"

"I didn't say that Lieutenant," Rouster snapped, "And I want no such shit running the lines. After a campaign like this the council would have to be insane not to allow some R+R for the troops and you know it. Short of war breaking out, I can see a month off."

"Council may not be insane Sir, but the head of it is..." Holden muttered.

Rouster stared across at him, not saying anything until the Colonel broke his gaze, "Thought so. Watch it Colonel or your head will not be your own if words like that are overheard by the wrong people."

"Sorry Sir." Holden stated saluting.

"Nothing more will be said then," Holden shielded his eyes and glanced at the Eastern Horizon, trying to judge the sun as the clouds obscuring it lightened slightly. "Bet get this underway then Lieutenant...sound the march in five. Don't bother with a rear guard, I want everyone to try and punch through to that vale. Garddetownne will have to fight for itself if something happens."

"Yes Sir!" Holden replied, reining his mount in and turning to trot out to the Squadron leaders.

Rouster turned the mystery quarrel over in his hands again, observing the fine workmanship more closely before dropping it into one of the greave packs on his war saddle.

~~

"This is it then," Balthazar said, as Purrsimon and Purrdita sat down next to him and Helewys.

"It is...And I wish it was next season...Even with every possible kitten and pup in the lines, we are still too few really," Purrsimon replied with a sigh.

"Better to die trying to live, than die cowering in their huts," Helewys remarked, turning her head away, "But I too rue this day. I would rather be tail up somewhere on a sunning rock. I do not want to taste human blood in my mouth again. I hope some of the youngsters can control themselves, it does funny things to the Wereborn you know."

Purrdita nodded, "We know...there have been renegade Werecats as well that have had to be dealt with in the past. Outside of battle, if they seek humans as prey, they are eliminated. Everyone knows the laws and the rules...there are no exceptions."

"Any forward reports?" Balthazar asked with a snort.

"Only as we expected...Rouster marched about a mark ago, with him at the back with his commanders like cowards. We have let them pass the scratch lines unimpeded as you suggested, and I would imagine that he is currently scratching his head about the lack of resistance. The forest will be ruined for game where they tread for years as all undergrowth is being hacked through for horse passage. Still want to meet him in the Primrose glade?" Purrsimon asked, "His whole force has marched. No rear guard."

Helewys turned with a toothy grin on her face, "Then auxiliary action B is to be taken."

"The conclave dislikes that...It lowers us to their levels..." Purrdita protested.

"I don't give a fuck. Simeon doesn't want the Primroses and Starflowers destroyed, but that is the best tactical position to meet a large force. We do not have the numbers to run a guerrilla attack campaign. When the sun sets tonight, there are to be two glows in the sky. One from the West, and one from the South," Helewys growled.

Purrsimon sighed, "Very well, it has been signed off anyhow, but you know some of the possible consequences, and I was asked to query you over it again. Twenty of our archers will pack ten tar-bolts each, complete with strikers in addition to twenty normal ones in their quarrels. When they are out, all those that survive have orders to fire the townne, avoiding casualties where possible...Are you sure you don't just want us cats to take out the commanders from the canopy?"

"No...As I said before, and I say again...Cut off the heads and the army will act like a hydra and panic totally. Neither of us want a wholesale slaughter...I want someone with the authority to negotiate with at the end of this, if we prevail." Balthazar stated firmly.

"Yes in regards to the Townne...we will extend the innocents the courtesy they would not extend ours..." Helewys spat, "And as for consequences...well by the time news reaches Rouster that the townne is alight behind him, he will be too fucking busy chasing us into the trap to try and order it to be extinguished."

"Who is going to take that call?" Purrdita asked.

"The trap?" Helewys asked, turning her head away slightly, the tiniest of beads of moisture showing in her eyes.

"Robin is already tending the pilot fire," Balthazar finished for her, "So you can see Purrdita, she is making a sacrifice as well. You know as well as we do that the results of that much saltpetre and ammonia in such a confined space as the fissures could have results that are unexpected. Robin is likely to be on a suicide mission, which is why he volunteered to do it and not one of fighting age."

"He is going to try and run when he ducks the brand on the fuse...but...well..." Helewys said.

Purrdita nodded, "Understood...There are more than one of us not going to walk free of the forest tonight...It is going to take luck, planning and maybe a little help from Felinius/Lupinius to ensure that at least some of us do."

Balthazar snorted again, turning to face the pack and clan assembled behind them and raising his voice, "The time is now! We will win...Step onto the trails or into the canopy with any other thoughts on your mind, and we won't. Yes I am scared shitless...but I will not be cowed like a runt pup in the corner by his littermates. Henry has shown balls defying me and his dam..." Ysmay bristled slightly at the compliment to her errant offspring. "Herald for defying the pack and clan together by bending the law...And both your Ledrene and I know there are others doing just the same thing, to a lesser extent. The pups and kittens of this new generation are stronger, fitter and healthier than for many years before, and with luck they will breed and build a pack that can meet on an equal basis, face to face with the humans in the future. I will offer parlay with the troop leader...if he refuses, well you all know what to do." He turned to face Purrsimon and Purrdita, "Just promise me one thing before we advance, clan representatives..."

"If we can," they replied.

"That should I be one who dies...and I am quite willing to do so...You and the clan will continue the alliance if we win...and work towards a possible mergence in the future. Felines and Lupines will never always see the same points of view..." he turned back towards the other two hundred plus Werecats listening to his every word, "But if you all look into your hearts, you will realise that we have complimented each other for the time we have been working with, and not only been at truce with each other."

"That is for the conclave to decide..." Purrsimon replied.

"Personally...I think it is for the clan to decide...But I will not dictate your politics. I will be giving free vote to each and every surviving member of the pack from the weaned to the elders over mergence." Balthazar stated, getting a shocked stare from Helewys and any other wolf in hearing of his now lowered voice. "But for now, everyone knows what to do! Let's show these bastards that we are not whelplings in a circle!" he shouted.

"Yes ALPHA!" the pack shouted back as Balthazar turned and started out of the vale at pointe.

****

"I don't like this Holden...Things are all too quiet. Has any squad reported any sightings at all?" Rouster commented as they proceeded unchallenged, deep into the Were territory.

Holden shook his head, "You would have been the first to know Sir. Maybe they have all run...seen our superior forces and evacuated somewhere?"

Rouster shook his head, "Not like them to do that. Every other pack has stood firm until the last cub has fallen to the sword. Something stinks about this."

A shout rang in from ahead, and Holden trotted forward into to the lines in order to meet the scout rider who was making his way through the troops at a fast walk. "Sir...There is a clearing ahead with a stream in it...large enough for us to all fit in. A black wolf sits alone at the far side with piece of white hessian in his jaws."

Rouster moved up next to his second in command, "Did it say anything?" he asked.

"No 'Sir! It just sat there silently, watching me. I didn't advance any further...though it's meaning was obvious..."

Rouster glanced at Holden who just shrugged, "You think it wants to parlay?" he asked.

"If it does, we are not in a position to accept. You know our orders. It would mean losing our commissions and pensions at best...Our heads at worst." Rouster stated. "I will meet it on the field though at a distance and find out."

"Is that wise Sir?" Holden queried.

"I will not attack or murder anyone who shelters under a white flag. That would make us worse than the beasts we are supposedly seeking to eliminate. No Werewolf has approached our army under truce before...maybe this pack is led by one that has more intelligence than the others before it...and that in itself is cause for worry." Rouster looked serious for a moment, "Holden, get the squads to split slightly and fan flank the meadow/clearing. We do not want to be the ones flanked if this is a ruse. Archers are to split evenly and position themselves in front of the cavalry which is still next to useless in this blasted forest. I want that meadow to resemble a porcupine if I give the signal, or the Weres moves to attack me."

"Yes' Sir! " Holden replied, saluting and peeling off to set the orders.

Rouster sat up straighter in his saddle and nodded to the scout, "Lead on then soldier...Let us see what our enemy wants of us..."

~~~~

"Continue to report to me the armies manoeuvres while I present terms...Do not show yourselves or attack unless spotted or provoked. My hearing is acute, and I will hear whispers." Balthazar stated to Helewys and Purrsimon as he picked up the white cloth again, and walked forward into the sunlight of the clearing that was rapidly filling with ranks of soldiers and cavalry at the other end.

"I still think they will shoot you on sight!" Purrsimon hissed.

"Only if the commander has no honour...He will at least listen before he attacks, it is the law of war that white flag means talk or surrender. This General is a King's soldier...he will honour the colour of the cloth...I am gambling on it."

Purrsimon shrugged, "We will do as you wish then...They are starting flanking manoeuvers as you predicted they would after the scout retreated."

Balthazar grinned, "Good...easier for you cats to pick off the archers if they are split up, rather than in a group. Lame the cavalry as planned when the last bow drops to the floor if you can."

"So this parlay of yours is false?" Helewys asked.

"Oh no...If the General deals and we all walk away with no blood shed, I will be quite happy. However, we all know that won't happen." He glanced towards the soldiers as their lines parted and a single figure rode forward and stopped, midway between where he stood and the lines. "It is time. Cover me if you can."

Purrsimon nodded and scampered up the big oak nearest the clearing, "We will try..." he commented.

Balthazar strode forward and sat unguarded, six feet from the front hooves of Rouster's horse, "I suggest General Rouster that you dismount so we may talk on an even footing..." he growled, dropping the hessian to the floor.

Rouster started at his name, "We are not on even footing beast when I do not know your name, and you could leap once and rip my throat out."

Balthazar grinned, "My name is Balthazar, and I was once a human," he changed then, standing with a cracking of bones as Rouster's eyes widened, "But I was not of your people as you can see..."

Rouster swallowed at the size of the black slave now standing in front of him, "I see not...Balthazar. You represent the beasts now though?"

"Dismount...and we talk. Yes, I lead the Were people now...they are my people. They are no more beasts than half the men in your ranks. I stand here before to offer you the chance to turn and march away. Tell your King that we are dead or fled from his lands if you wish...but your army will not pass the clearing easily."

Rouster dismounted and stood, one hand on his pommel, the other on his saddle, "You know I cannot do that. I can offer you on the other hand a clean and painless death for all of you. By sword or arrow against the cliff wall...I will ensure that none shall live longer than a few time-parts."

"Consider that offer heard and refused...I was hoping it would not come to conflict, but as happened in my home village all those years ago...some men are interested in only doing what their commanders consider to be right. We will talk again I hope when you are forced to come to me with a white flag raised instead." Balthazar stated.

"And why would I do that?" Rouster scoffed, "We have wiped the kingdom clear of all yours before you."

Balthazar just tilted his head on one side, wolf eyes flaring in his human skull before he dropped to all fours again, "Because you are going to lose this time...Your kind took my family, my home, and my liberty. You took my previous pack, you took my mate's life...and now you come to do the same again here. You have made your choice...I just hope those that survive can forgive you for it..." He turned, cocking his leg to stain the white cloth yellow before walking back to the forest edge without looking over his shoulders.

Rouster remounted and cantered back to his lines, "Archers ready!" he shouted as over forty sets of eyes suddenly appeared in the shadows of the tree wall that Balthazar had disappeared into.

Before he could wheel his horse a single howl started, taken up by many different throats. Chaos and screams enveloped his forces as the hum of vibrating strings filled his ears and every archer with a drawn bow dropped them, clutching at their throats as the air glinted silver with bolts from the canopy.

"Shields! Shields! Fall in and protect the bows!" He ordered as horses began to whinny and collapse, the vicious little bolts finding their marks in hocks and flanks. "Pikemen, take the archers down!" The men were milling around, trying to find a target as the wolves all marched forward into the light, the ones at the rear drawing longbows and beginning to fill his front ranks with conventional arrows that never seemed to miss their marks.

Holden was desperately trying to rally the troops back into order, shouting at the other commanders, when his horse stumbled with a scream, a bolt buried in it's withers, before collapsing and tipping him into the disorganised mess of men.

"Retreat to the forest...protect your heads!" Rouster bellowed, everyone turning from the onslaught to run for the trees.

Balthazar howled his attack, "Rip and run everyone...take the rear trailers down and panic them, then retreat before the treeline. Do not engage with the swords...I repeat...do not engage with the swords!"

The Werewolves poured into the meadow then at full charge, snapping and snarling, dragging screaming men down under them as the first strike turned into the rout that they all had hoped for.

Rouster glanced behind him as blood misted the air, the noise of the battle filling his ears as lupine throats added their own screams of pain where daggers met their marks in defence. More high pitched yowls greeted him in the trees as pikemen brought down some of the unseen archers, some spitting blood and curses while firing the little devices in their paws as they writhed their lives away on the barbed tips of the pole weapons fishing them from the trees.

A series of sharp orders rang out from the Were ranks, and the bolts stopped raining upon them as the wolves melted back into the far treeline, the canopy above falling still apart from the rustling of leaves.

Rouster shielded his eyes for half a mark, his men reforming into a tight group around him as three wolves and another creature that matched what he had seen of those firing upon them carrying packs and stretchers moved out into the sun. They wore bibs of white with red crosses painted upon their flanks, going from wolf to fallen wolf, either calling for bearers, or giving the mercy dagger to those unable to be saved...all while under the protection of eight archers with straining bows, and Balthazar's steely eyes. Holden appeared at his stirrup, his head and sword bloodied. "Report!"

"We lost 90% of the archers and 20% of our horses. The tree archers are a type of cat Sir...they are the ones armed with those bolts." Holden replied, saluting.

"Men?" Rouster queried.

"Aside from the 230 archers, around 150 dead on foot and in the cavalry, Sir...About 75 with the medics now," Holden replied.

"And them?"

"Twenty of the Werecats, as the men have named them...Unknown on injuries..."

"And the four wolves that their Healers have left on the field...and yet they have still retreated. What does that tell you Holden?" Rouster asked.

"That we still outnumber them, and unless surprise is on their sides, they cannot hope to take us by force if we are organised?" Holden queried.

Rouster nodded. "Also that in addition to the parlay attempt...the allies they have in the form of these armed Werecats...the fact that they are armed themselves...and that they have Healers of their own. We are dealing with a whole different class of enemy this time. I would say that we have underestimated them this time." He paused for a moment as Holden and the squad leaders waited for his next instructions. "Get a new horse, stretcher up those that can't walk and send a patrol of ten with them and one medic back to the townne. We follow the packs in a quarter-mark...they will not win the war, though they have won this battle!"

"Yes' Sir!" Holden saluted.

"The rest of you, regroup. If your horses are lamed or bleeding beyond riding, cut their throats. We cannot afford to have a possible stampede following us if they choose to panic any we leave behind." Rouster ordered, closing his ears in sympathy to block out the gurgling whinnies that followed.

~~~~

"Losses?" Balthazar queried as Simeon ran back into the lines, Benedict, Furrdinand and Alice following him.

"Four...Houwl, Grentin, Milton and Louther...Two by sword were dead before I got to them...the others...well..."

"Understandable...better that way than chance them living long enough to answer questions. Purrsimon has reported thirty plus missing from their forces. What of those you have recovered?"

"Given time and luck...and my attendance, they should pull through. Like Ruthie though, any factor could kill them," Simeon reported, as he nodded towards Benedict who was stitching a dagger glance wound up in Aaron's flank.

The black wolf snorted, "I hope we can all give you that."

"So what now?" Helewys asked, moving into the conversation, her muzzle covered with blood... "Not mine Simeon, so don't worry," she stated, grinning, showing her red stained teeth.

Simeon swallowed, "I will evacuate those that can't continue to fight back to the vale where Gussalen is waiting with supplies. Alice will stay there as well. I guess that the campaign will be skirmish now unless we are forced to deviate?"

"As was planned," Balthazar replied, "It is up to Rouster now. He is not stupid...he will have worked out that we cannot win in a straight fight, or we would not have dropped our advantage. Return with Benedict as soon as you can...I am expecting that we will lose flankers in the chase and herd run."

"We too," Purrsimon added, dropping from the canopy. "The Townne should be well ablaze before the injured parties from the army reach it. We have refilled our quarrels and await above you now."

Balthazar nodded, "You find your missing?"

Purrsimon tilted his head, "Yes...All are accounted for now. Furrdinand's team are dealing with the cuts and slashes of those that got glancing blows."

"Take out any remaining archers, and then the horses. Forget the men...I want most of the bastards demoralised and on foot by the time they hit the trap vale...Losing their mounts should do that. Do not fire from above, only the flanks unless they bunch the cavalry in the middle. Our archers will give flank fire from the ground where we can get appropriate cover. This is going to be a straight drive... Get Rouster and his men angry enough with bloodlust, and even if he screams orders, they will not listen," Balthazar growled darkly.

Purrsimon grinned, "It will be our pleasure...We may just win this."

"You would not be here if you didn't think that," Balthazar replied, his jaw dropping to grin as well.

"I will be back as soon as I can," Simeon said.

"We will not be here...listen for the screams and you will find us easily enough. I assume Benedict is staying?" Balthazar queried.

Simeon nodded, "Yes...and Furrdinand."

"Good...If the cliff goes before you make it back, take cover until you know what the result is. You can always bolt for the mountains with the pups that are too young to be fighting. Rouster could not hope to follow."

"You will follow of course?" Simeon asked.

Balthazar and Helewys just looked at him with heavy eyes, "We will be buying you time...If the cliff tactic fails...Alpha. Ensure that some of our pack lives on, even within another."

Simeon's eyes widened as they both turned their backs on him in dismissal.

Furrdinand slipped over and ran his cheek across his flank, "It will not come to that...you have to believe it."

"You heard from Felinius? Lupinius has been awful quiet for me..." Simeon replied with a sigh as he turned to help organise the evacuation of the injured.

"No...but that does not worry me colleague. Go...We will be here when you get back."

Simeon nodded, "See you in a few marks friend..."

"I hope so..." Furrdinand replied, too quietly for Simeon's retreating form to catch.

~~

Portia watched from the shadows, ears cocked to take in the words before she slunk away towards where Nolan sat on the edge of the pack, "Change of plan. Split-slip and follow them...ambush Simeon on his way back. There will be no-one to stop you, and if they find him dead they will assume a stray human had slipped away from the army," she whispered.

"Yes Dam," Nolan replied, unstringing his bow and turning wolf before slipping into the shadows.

Cassius watched the pair of them, and then Nolan vanishing. He almost followed, but an advance horn sounded from the army across the clearing. "Stay alert Healer...I cannot pup sit you...I will ensure the others know who killed you though with my last breath," he murmured to himself as the pack rose as one to show their eyes to the advancing humans.

A second set of eyes above his head observed all, and then took to the highest branches to trace the path back to the vale...

****

---

*SNAP!*

"Well that's the last of them," Helewys grinned as a bloodcurdling scream split the trees two marks later. The last man trap had scored successfully. Her tongue was lolling from the run, as were all those around her.

"And still the ants follow," Balthazar commented.

"Ah ha," Furrdinand confirmed, "Only Rouster and Holden are still mounted. We have lost 15 more..."

"Two more unsaveable, three more injured beyond fighting, and Cassius the coward is missing here. I'm sorry, but Amalie is one of the ones who was to ambitious..."

Furrdinand lowered his head, "Ahh...Where is she?"

"With Benedict...she is lamed badly by a dagger thrust just above her rear knee, but should recover, or so Benedict says if she is operated on."

"I will..."

"...Leave it to Simeon when he returns..." Purrsimon stated, dropping from the canopy. "Choose your clan Healer...We need you for some breaks your trainees can't handle."

Furrdinand stared at the nominal head of the conclave, before dropping his head and nodding, "Very well...but I will be back as soon as I can. My clan knows no shape alliance now..." he replied and loped off to where he knew that Werecat medics were patching on the run before Purrsimon could respond.

Balthazar and Helewys watched him go before turning to Purrsimon, "A little unfair?" Helewys queried.

"Yes and no...The human frontrunners are half a league from the vale entrance. We are ceasing fire after we drop the front two lines...it is in your paws now. I want no distractions if we are going to pull this off."

Balthazar nodded, "We will discuss ethics at the victory feast, horse meat is on the menu!" He replied turning to send up a howl of instruction. "Final drive...Do not enter the vale!" A multitude of howls replied, as most of the pack abandoned their flank teasing and accelerated ahead of the humans.

~~~~

"They are on the run Sir...and the trees are thinning," Holden panted, wheeling his forth horse in to trot beside Rouster's.

Rouster wiped the sweat out of his eyes, "Must be the cliffs...we will be in their camp soon then...they must be going for a final defence. Flatten everything...and I mean everything. No prisoners, no mercy...How many have we lost in this chase?"

"Near as I can tell Sir...Another 400. You and I are on the only sound horses we have left."

"Bring me the Black Bastard's head! We have lost more men with this pack than in the whole fucking campaign! The King will have my badge if we leave even a mewling pup or kitten alive!"

"It will be my pleasure Sir!" Holden responded, saluting before forging through the centre of the jogging army to take the lead point.

****

Simeon loped at a full run back towards where the pack was obviously now being pursued. He was breathing evenly, thanking himself yet again for all the years of running as a human. A movement off to the side caught his eyes, but before he could focus them, the thrum of a bowstring filled his ears as a Werecat shouted from above. "Healer drop!!!" He folded his paws under him, hitting the forest litter and rolling several times to land in a heap as a body dropped from the canopy to intercept the arrow that was heading for his ribs.

*Thunk!*

Simeon cringed as the arrow struck home in flesh, a bubbling scream ripping from his saviour's throat as she was pinioned to the trunk of the tree she had dropped from. Without thinking he gathered his feet and sprung towards where the bow had been fired from, knocking the figure who was shaking in shock to the floor without identifying it, his jaws closing around the Werewolf's throat...or should he say pup's throat. The identifying scent filled his nostrils as blood was drawn, and his eyes focussed upon his son as he soiled himself in fear.

He released, his jaws reaching across to bite clean through the yew bow-stave as if a rotten twig, "One question before I kill you for murder...Why son?" he asked, trying to recall the last time he had actually seen Nolan and his siblings. Portia had always accepted his duty bound prey offerings with a snarl while she was nursing his litter...only giving him their names and warning him to stay out of their lives.

Nolan licked his lips to clear the spittle, out of breath as his Sire pinioned his human form with his weight, "Ask the one you raped and destroyed..." he spat, "And the fucking cats for ruining the pack's purity!"

Simeon shook his head, "Garbage...we would all be dead without them now, and you know it! I was only following orders when I took your Dam...I took no pleasure from it."

"You ruined and humiliated her in front of the pack!"

"I did what was necessary at the time...It is a good job she is surplus to the pack now as soon as this is over, if we win I or Helewys will finish what I made the mistake of not doing in the woods that day..."

Nolan's eyes widened, "You won't! You will have to take my siblings with you as well..."

Simeon cocked his head on one side, "So she has corrupted them as well? The pack and conclave together will decide then. Now turn wolf is you want to die as one...or should I just leave you like you are?" He lifted his weight from Nolan and stood back, awaiting the pup's decision.

Nolan gathered himself shakily, dropping to all fours and changing, "You could just let me run Sire...If you believe the issue to be Portia...'

Simeon shook his head, "I can't. You would be outcast and hunted down. It is better this way...I never thought I would have to do this...Bare your throat son..."

"Neck please...I am afraid of pain...Do what my Dam said you did to Lomas..." Nolan asked, dropping his head.

Simeon snorted, "I shouldn't grant you that clemency...but I will. I hope Lupinius forgives you when he casts his judgement..." He stepped forward without another word and closed his jaws around Nolan's spine like he did the bow...another snapping crunch disturbing the woods as the pup's pupils dilated one final time, and his legs collapsed under him...his Sire's tail being the last thing he saw as his final light faded...

Simeon shook his head, trying to clear the tears and blood from his face as he approached the tree where his saviour still twitched her last moments away. The minute his ears had picked up the burble in the scream, he knew that he had to prioritise stopping a second arrow...as there was nothing he could do. He licked the blood from the Werecat's lips gently, her eyes opening slightly, full of pain and peace as well.

"Why Pawline?" he asked.

Pawline smiled slightly, "I vowed last night that I would follow Clawd one way or another...I was not taken by a Pikeman, and then I heard Portia instruct him to ambush you, so I tracked him and waited. If he had not drawn and loosed the arrow, I would not have done anything accept report his intentions to you...but you couldn't move fast enough." She coughed, more blood spilling from her throat.

"You had your life ahead of you..."

"I am but one of many...you are irreplaceable to both the clan and the pack..." She broke off as a roar shook the forest, the trees shaking under the force of a blast that they both knew was nearly a league away...an evil grey dust darkening the sky until anyone on the ground would think the sun had fallen from the sky early.

"Fuck!" Simeon cursed, his ears ringing.

"Go...you will be needed," Pawline stated, "I will see you again one day Healer...just make sure it is not to soon eh..."

Simeon nodded, licking her face gently again before gripping the arrow in his teeth and pulling it out of the trunk, letting her fall to the floor with it still through her ribs. "Thank you. Do you want me to...?"

"No...let me lie here and fade with the forest...I am in no pain now..." Pawline whispered.

"As you wish...rest well brave one..." he replied, turning and heading towards cries of disorientation and pain filled the trees in the direction of the false vale. Sod his orders...he would not stand bye and let anymore die that need not, even if it cost him his own life.

****

Robin watched the human's frontlines drop under the onslaught of Werecat arrows and bolts as they charged towards the vale entrance. The men falling, causing the others behind to stumble upon their twisting bodies, distraction enough that they didn't spot the Werewolves leading the drag, split to the left and right of the entrance, instead of running through it.

He shielded his eyes, watching the Southern horizon from where he stood on the plateau's edge as gouts of orange flared in the lowering evening light, the thick clouds of cloying smoke that had been rising for over a mark never ceasing to get thicker as the Townne burned freely. He hoped that the slaughter that could so easily be going on there, wasn't. Unlike most Weres he held nothing against the society that he was born in...but he could not deny that what was happening was necessary in order to seal any chance of his current species surviving.

He turned with a cough, his chest aching as he nosed his carefully prepared brand into the small, virtually smokeless fire he had been tending for nearly six marks as the screams of the dying and injured on both sides assailed his ears from the forest below, getting nearer and nearer. He did not know for certain until the pack frontrunners broke cover and split if there would even be any need for what he was about to do. He thanked Lupinius silently that some, if not all had made it this far.

The humans fell for the ruse, a single mounted man leading the charge from the forest's edge, hollering and encouraging the tens of hundreds that poured from the trees forward into the vale trap with him on pointe. He lifted the end of the now lit brand in his mouth and walked forward to where the fuse line had been laid, not wanting to risk a chance of changing from human form in the time allowed, and as a wolf he could still run faster...just.

'Wait...wait...when the front line of the army passes the bend half a league in...over a thousand bottling them up, pushing, squeezing...a second mounted man emerging from the treeline, the waning light glinting on his polished armour...no one following him...A holler from the front mounted man, seeing nothing but an empty clearing and cliffs in front...'

NOW!

He dropped the brand and turned to run...and found himself turning end over end, ears ringing as blood filled his eyes and mouth, his ribs crushed by the shockwave before suddenly the free air and the forest below... 'Well at least it worked...' he thought as he fell into the green abyss of the trees...the last thing he saw was the look of shock on the commander's face as his horse collapsed under him, and his men vanished as the West cliff enveloped them.

To be concluded...