The Ankh City War: Chapter Two - Call To Arms
#2 of The Ankh City War
Second Chapter. This story is easier to understand if you read the first chapter.
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~* Disclaimer *~
This story series is full of furries and adult themes. Read at your own risk, and not at all if you aren't legal age yet.
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The Ankh City War - Chapter Two
Call To Arms
By
MythRat
The sky outside the window was still dark when Jackson woke, Kessha still curled in his arms. He ran a paw through her long black headfur and she smiled in her sleep, pulling closer to him and pillowing her head on his black furred chest. Jackson sighed softly, glancing out the window again at the slowly vanishing stars. It was winter and the sun rose later in the day, so he guessed it was about six in the morning. Something had woken him, but he couldn't remember what it was. A soft knock at his bedroom door reminded him.
"What is it?" he said softly, trying not to wake his mate.
The door opened just enough to admit the red and gray furred head of his Second Rank, "We've got a guest. Someone from Julian's pack, he says it can't wait."
Jackson sighed, letting his head fall back onto the pillows. It was way too early for this kind of thing, "Alright, Jesse. Tell him I'll be out in a second."
"Right," was the short reply as Jesse ducked back out of the room, shutting the door softly behind him.
Jackson sighed again and carefully got out of bed, not wanting to wake Keesha. She stirred slightly but stayed asleep, grabbing a pawful of the blankets and pulling them close to her. The black wolf smiled softly and kissed her gray and black furred cheek, "Sorry, baby," he whispered, "I've got business to take care of." He walked over to the dresser, pulled out a gray t-shirt and put it on along with a pair of slightly worn blue jeans. He grabbed his black leather jacket off the chair by the door and pulled it on, taking a moment to run a paw through his headfur in an attempt to straighten it before heading out, pulling the door shut behind him quietly.
The rest of the pack was already out in the living room, their guest, a rather large timber wolf who was white with the exception of one gray patch over half his face and one ear, sitting on the beat up couch near the door.
Jackson sized him up for a moment before he spoke. "And you are?" he asked shortly, annoyed at being bothered so early and not worrying about hiding the fact.
The timber wolf smiled a bit, "Conner. Second Rank of Julian' pack."
"And you're here at this ungodly hour of the morning because...?"
"Because we have a problem," Conner explained, his ears turning back slightly, "it's a small problem at the moment, but it could turn into a really big mess if it's not taken care of quickly."
Jackson sighed laying his black ears back against his head, this was going to take a while. He sat down in a cushy chair opposite his guest, crossing his arms, one ear flicking forward. "Julian's pack is good sized and pretty strong. If you guys can't handle this 'problem' I doubt we can be of much help."
Conner leaned forward for about half a second before several warning growls from Jackson's fellow pack members made him rethink the move and settle back again. "We don't want you to handle the problem for us, we need your help. A group of humans-"
"Humans?"
"Yes... about twenty of them," the timber wolf continued, holding back a growl at being interrupted, "have set a camp just inside the woods on the eastern edge of the city. They're hunters... and good ones. They know how to track and they have very good aim, one of our boys found out quickly enough."
Jackson scoffed lightly, "I doubt a few bullets would slow down one of your boys very much."
"These humans aren't using bullets, they've got bolt guns and Blake's got the burning hole in his shoulder to prove it."
That made the black wolf balk. "How the hell did they get a hold of bolt guns?"
"We don't know," Conner said softly, "but we can't get that information without your help."
Jackson sighed heavily, humans weren't much of a threat, even those that were hunters. But these sounded experienced... and they were obviously well armed. This could turn out badly if they got into the city, but he wasn't sure if it was worth risking the lives of his pack. He ran a paw through his headfur and stood. "Jesse, Gant, come with me," he ordered as he strode out of the room and down the hallways so their conversation wouldn't be heard.
"I don't know if this is worth the risk, guys. Hunters are trouble enough, but if they've got bolt guns I think we're a bit out of our league."
Jesse nodded, "There's no way two packs are going to be able to stand against twenty experienced hunters with bolt guns. Even as big as Julian's guys are, half of us'd go down before we even got into the camp."
"But if we don't at least try, it could put the whole city in danger. We just got a good hold on this territory and we're not strong enough to fight for something new in some other city," Gant was quick to add, odd-colored eyes intense.
Jackson considered both opinions. Jesse was the best at military tactics, but Gant made a good point. "So we need more than just us and Julian's boys to win this. I'll call in a few favors and get us some more fighters. Good enough?" Both agreed. "Alright, sounds good."
He went back out and took his seat in the chair, his Second and Third Ranks returning to where they'd previously been standing.
Jackson chose his words carefully, knowing making an enemy of Julian's pack could be deadly, "We'll fight beside you, but on one condition."
Conner's ears turned back for a moment in annoyance, "What condition?"
"On the condition that you will bring other allies into the fight. I can call in a few favors, but I can only bring about six more to fight and that won't be enough against twenty hunters with bolt guns," the black wolf explained calmly, "I know that Julian has at least three other packs he can call in to fight. Do that and we will join the fight."
Conner considered a moment, but ultimately, the choice would be Julian's, "I'll need to talk to Julian, but I think it can be arranged."
"Fair enough. Let us know what he decides," Jackson stood, giving his pack a quiet signal to move out of the way of the door. Conner stood slowly and gave a short nod before heading out the door. Jackson sighed heavily and started to walk back to his room.
"Jackson, where are you going?" Nick, a red wolf and the smallest in the pack, asked.
The larger black wolf ran a paw through his headfur and kept walking, "Back to bed. Let me know when that Second Rank comes back." He took off his jacket once he was back in his room and tossed it back onto the chair, laying his shirt and jeans beside it and climbed back into bed.
Keesha woke slightly and cuddled closer to her mate, resting her head on his chest, "Where'd you go?" she could tell he was tense and it worried her, "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing, Keesh, don't worry about it," he smiled a little and kissed her lightly, "Just go back to sleep."
"If it's worrying you, it worries me," she said softly, running her claws through his headfur, "Now tell me what's wrong."
He thought a moment, he really didn't want her to worry, but if he didn't tell her, she'd just keep bugging him about it until he did tell her. "There are some hunters that have shown up in the east woods, there's a lot of them and they have bolt guns. Julian wants us to help him take care of them."
Her soft emerald eyes went wide and her voice dropped to a trembling whisper, "They have bolt guns?" she laid a hand on his cheek and turn his head to look at her, "You can't fight them if they bolt guns, Jackie, you can't." She was sitting up on her knees now, resting one hand on his chest, eyes pleading with him, "Please, don't fight them... please. We can't lose you."
He sighed and sat up, hugging her close to him, "Hey, hey, calm down, Keesh. It's gonna be alright. I promise you, nothing's going to happen to me. I'm going to call in a few favors and get more to fight, with any luck Julian's going to do the same. We'll take care of it fast and easy, ok?" Something else she'd said caught his attention, "Wait a minute... 'we?'"
Keesha's eyes dropped for a moment and she buried her face in her mate's neck, "Y-yes... we," she said softly, putting one of his paws on her stomach, "There's at least three... maybe more." She looked up at him and giggled at the expression of sheer shock on his face, "Don't look so surprised, Jackie. You've had me on my back every night for the last eight weeks, you can't tell me you didn't expect this."
"Well I did... just not so soon. You haven't even gone into heat," one ear turned back and the other stood out to the side in a quizzical expression, "Have you?"
She nodded, ears back sheepishly, "About three weeks ago. But you had me that night, it stopped before it even really started." She looked up at him a bit worried, "You're not mad, are you?"
Jackson laughed softly and held her close to him, kissing her softly, "Of course not. This is wonderful news, Keesh."
She smiled a little, "Good." Her expression turned a little playful. "And Julain was here and you didn't wake me up?" she scolded and gave him a light whack upside the head.
Jackson glared a bit at her, mirroring her playfulness, "No he wasn't here, he sent his Second."
"Conner?"
"Yeah."
She grinned a bit and slipped an arm around the black wolf's waist, "You know he wanted me for his mate a few years ago? Julian punched him so hard he broke Conner's jaw."
"Really? Wow. I knew Julian had a temper, I never thought he'd attack his own Second Rank."
"He'd attack any male that tried to lay a paw on me. You should know that better than anyone," she reminded him, absently petting his black furred chest.
"Yeah," he agreed, rubbing the back of his head, feeling the fresh scar from when Julian had whacked him with a steel pipe. "Well, I want to get a little more sleep before I have to deal with more business."
She smiled and cuddled close to him, "Alright."
He growled contently and fell asleep with his mate's head nestled in his neck, his arm laid protectively over her stomach, and thoughts of his future pups filling his dreams.
(Next Chapter - Allies)
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