by Adam Browne
“No, lad of course not-”
“I tell you as I’m standing here, Grand Prefect Nikita tried to kill me! He did this to me!” Tristan spread his bandaged arms and paws. “I’ll be scarred for life, Werner!”
“I believe yer! I do!”
Silence.
“I’m… I’m not sure of anything now,” Tristan said, dipping his chin and collapsing onto the seat again, paws clasped and thumbs twiddling. “If Nikita will dispose of me like an insect after all I did for the cause, how will he treat the Den Fathers? I… I know beasts will die, as in any great change there will be violence, I accept that. But I was told we would work with the Den Fathers for change, holding the white-imperium as leverage so Thorvald and the others would have to come to Nikita’s table.”
Werner trotted across to the dusty bar and leant on it a moment. Checking the time again he whirled round. “Look, Tristan, you may as well know the truth. All of yer may as well know, now it’s too late to stop it.”
“Stop what?” Heath said, pushing up his specs.
“I didn’t want to tell yer,” Werner excused, looking to all, “I didn’t want yer to know in case things went south, see? You lads can’t be held responsible if you know nothing; you can deny everything with a conscience at any future trial. So, if you don’t wanna know what I know, if you wanna be able to live a quiet life and not have troubled sleep, leave now.” The Politzi Chief looked Heath over, “That goes double fer you, Professor Heath.”
“I’ll stay, thank you,” the bear said.
“Aye, as you will.”
Everyone else stayed put; rats, hogs and all.
“Well?” Tristan growled. “What is it?”
Werner heaved a sigh and rubbed his jaw, “I’m one of the few that knows, outside of the inner circle. See, Nurka had to tell me, he needed my help to get proper maps of the Gelb mines so he could spring Prince Noss out. I wanted to know the truth. I forced it outta him. The truth I said, or I’m-”
“Stop bragging and get to the point, hog!” Tristan growled, rising up, stepping forward. “I understood Nurka was to disrupt the Summit and keep the Den Fathers away long enough for Lupa to fall to Nikita, whereupon negotiations for an Impartialist government and a free hyena state would begin. Now what is it I’ve not been told?”
“The black-imperium, mate.”
Tristan scoffed, “Is to contaminate the Elder Trains and cars. It’s to keep the Den Fathers trapped at Hummelton-”
“No, they’re gonna use the balloon!”
Tristan’s eyes squinted, “Yes, to drop the propaganda-”
“No! Well, not just that.”
“Then what, Werner? Spit it out, pig before I hit you!”
Heath’s jaw dropped. “Ye gods,” he gasped, removing his spectacles, “they’re going to make black rain.”
*
“Euuugh,” Sara stirred.
Despite everything, tiredness had overcome Sara last night and sent her off beside Bruno; she awoke now in the near-darkness of Josef Grau’s oppressive carriage to find her old friend’s metal operating bed empty.
“Bruno?” the little wolfess gasped, spreading her clammy black paws on the bloodied steel. “Bruno, where are ye!”
“They’re in the van,” said Eldress Brynn, down to the right.
Sara stood and looked at her. Someone had wired the noble Eldress to the van, her paws being now attached to the bumper in front of her. Ulf knows when she had awoken after the almighty blast Olivia had delivered.
To think Olivia had such power and without the slightest training to temper her. It was frightening.
“Let me go, Sara,” Brynn whispered, squirming and looking over her shoulder. “Quickly!”
Sara shook her head a little. “Ah cannae do that yet.”
“You must! Your Father will wonder where I am-”
“Ah don’t believe he sent yer, nae Mum. You did this by yerself. You could even be a conspirator.”
“Conspirator!”
“Maybe. Maybe ye think Bruno can stop them.”
“He’s a monster, Sara-”
“Ah’ll let you go soon enough, but you’ll nae hurt him, nae tell anyone where we are.”
“They know where I am.”
“Oh aye? If anyone did they’d have come straight here,” Sara countered. “Now be quiet, Eldress, or Ah’ll have Olivia zap ye again!”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“After ye tried tae kill Bruno Ah would nae care if she killed ye, and that’s a fact. So shut up!”
Sara wasn’t sure herself if she was blustering or not, but it sounded pretty good, so she left things at that and hurried round the van.
“Bruno?”
The doors were shut; she tugged them open.
“Brun-och!”
A huge metal wolf loomed large beneath a dim overhead light, taller and broader than any Sara had seen, with lensed eyes of gold and a black Prefect’s mantle set with a brooch of shining white-imperium. Sticking up from his back was a dirty great ash-stained exhaust pipe and the shining hilt of a huge black sword that was somehow very familiar. His nose was a grille, as with any Howler, only larger, and he looked to be sealed inside his armour completely, chin, neck and all.
Olivia and Josef stood either side, like squires dressing a wolf knight of old, only they were twisting valves and checking pipes rather than tightening belts and buckles.
“Bruno?” Sara hazarded
The giant’s metallic ears swivelled and his blank eyes focused on Sara, as if he had been daydreaming and just that second noticed the doors had been thrown open.
“HEY,” he said, his voice tinny, augmented, coming through a speaker perhaps, and yet with all Sara recognised it at once, that carefree, light, yet deep back of the throat knell that was Bruno. “YOU ALL RIGHT, YEAH?”
“By Ulf it’s you,” Sara gasped, paw rising to her neck. She stepped backwards, eyes roving, face twisting and frowning, baffled and afraid, relieved and appalled. “This is the Eisenwolf mantle?”
“An eisenpelz; isn’t it magnificent?” Olivia said excitedly. “I helped Josef put it back together.”
“Indeed, Olivia was most helpful,” Josef mewed at Sara, his face as smug as it was triumphant. “I believe we three have come to the conclusion I have been much maligned. I am not a heartless butcher; ask Rafe yourself! I help him cope with his affliction daily. He would be dead without my help!”
Olivia walked over to Josef, “It’s all right, Sara. Everything will be all right for me now. You’ll see.”
Sara looked between them, and knew at that moment something terrible had come to pass whilst she had been asleep.
I’ve lost her, Sara realised.
Stepping forward, her paws resting on the van’s chrome back bumper, Sara Hummel looked to the only cause left to her in this van. “Ye all right in there?” she asked. “Is it you in there Bruno, or is it Rafe Ah’m talking to?”
The Eisenwolf said nothing for a time. “I FEEL… ALL RIGHT, ACTUALLY,” he sniffed, noncommittally. “WHAT WAS IT YOU GAVE ME LAST NIGHT?”
“A family secret,” Sara said.
Bruno rolled his mighty shoulders, “WHATEVER IT WAS, THANKS FOR GETTING IT.”
“Just use this second chance wisely. Don’t get in trouble again. All right?”
The Eisenwolf said nothing.
“Promise me?”
“I… I CAN’T DO THAT. I HAVE TO PROTECT LUPA. THAT’S WHAT I’M HERE FOR, WHAT I WAS GIVEN THIS GIFT FOR! YOU DON’T HAVE TO UNDERSTAND… BUT DON’T GET IN MY WAY.”
Sara backed away at the rebuff. “Ah didn’t mean tae get in the way; Ah know what you have tae do, Ah do,” she claimed, meekly at first, but coming back to the van with growing confidence. “Just remember, Bruno… Rafe… whoever ye are in there, that you’re nae a monster for what beasts say ye are, but what ye actually do. There are beasts that care for you out here, even if ye cannae remember us so well. Even if ye nae even remember our names, we remember y
ours, and we’re watching you. You fight for Lupa, aye, but do right by us; don’t do anything we’d be ashamed of! That’s all we powerless beasts ask.”
Rafe’s ears twitched and swivelled. “JUST CALL ME BRUNO, YEAH? SINCE YOU KNEW ME BEFORE.”
Sara guffawed and dipped her chin, “Aye, that Ah will, ye great lump.”
Rafe looked to Josef, “DOC, I CAN HEAR A TRAIN STARTING UP.”
Josef checked his pocket watch, “That’ll be the Bloodfang’s imperium engine warming up. Amael is planning to leave before the hyenas choke everyone.”
Rafe somehow looked alarmed, even through an unmoving helmet – it was all in the ears.
“Oh don’t worry,” Josef assured him, “Janoah’s going with him. She’ll have this carriage attached to the Bloodfang train before they leave. Amael trusts her, and will be too busy to check inside. He’ll have no idea that his fate has been sealed until you walk through the door and arrest him and all the conspirators, or kill them if they resist.” The cat sighed, “Either way it’ll be quite… quite glorious.”
Rafe looked to Sara, then back to Josef.
“I’LL ARREST THEM,” he asserted, “SO THAT THEY GO TO TRIAL. NOT KILL.”
“You’ll do whatever’s expedient-”
“I’LL DO WHATEVER’S RIGHT, MATE,” Rafe asserted, “RIGHT BY ALL LUPANS.”
Sara chuckled, “Aye, now that’s mah Bruno.”
“We’ll see,” Josef huffed. “Now stop fidgeting and let me finish preparations.”
*
“No!” Tristan howled. “This is insane!”
“It’s the way it has to be, lad!” Werner replied. “War is about killing the enemy any way you can; the winner can sort the history books out and make a nice story later. Believe me, the Howlers have done it enough times now. When Nurka flies over Hummelton all the Den Fathers, and I mean all of ‘em, will be dead and gone. Lupa can start afresh under a true Impartialist regime-”
“But all the innocent beasts! There’ll be cubs and-”
“Casualties of war, mate! Casualties of war. Like my family; murdered by Howlers, and my pal Casimir’s too and Bruno’s no doubt. Aye, and they came back too, the Howlers, and took Bruno from Casimir, as if taking everything else from them two weren’t enough already.” Werner shook his jowls. “And I helped ‘em do it, to my shame. I helped ‘em. Janoah thinks she’s made it, thinks she’s all that. She’s clueless! Aye, she’s had it now, along with all the rest of ‘em. They’ve all had it this time.”
“This isn’t going to happen. Not in my name!”
“Aye? Well too late now, Donskoy! You knew what you were getting into when-”
“I knew nothing of this!” Tristan bellowed, grabbing Werner and shaking him by his jacket lapels. “By Ulf, what do you take me for? Sara’s there you fool, her whole family, all her little sisters. I love her!” The wolf shook his teary face, “This ends now, do you hear me? It’s not too late to warn Thorvald. I suggest you get out of town, Werner, because I’m calling time on this conspiracy and when I return I will kill you myself if you’re not gone-”
Crack!
In a flash of imperium and puff of ash, Werner fired from the hip, hitting Tristan in the stomach. The already wounded Howler fell silently, bending-double at the pig’s trotters.
“Tristan?” Heath shouted, kneeling and cradling the groaning wolf. “Tristan!”
“Anyone else got any funny ideas?” the quivering Werner shouted, stepping backwards and grabbing a second pistol from a pitted table. “Eh? Eh?”
“No chief,” one of his rat followers said, paws up. “We’re with yer all the way.”
Others voiced their approval.
“The hyenas can do as they like!”
“Aye, down with the Howlers!”
“Kill ‘em all!”
“Good lads,” Werner approved. “I knew you were with me. We’ll take this city, and our revenge, you’ll see!”
*
“Janoah?”
The wolfess turned from the window overlooking Hummelton.
“Come in!”
Amael stepped in. “Time to go,” he said, crossing the generous Hummelton quarters, complete with four-poster bed and an en-suite.
Baffled, Janoah glanced out the window at the quiet early-morning town. “The Summit’s not even begun yet.”
“We’re not attending the Summit,” Amael whispered.
“I thought we were going to put in an appearance and then leave on some pretence-”
“That’s what Nurka’s been led to believe, but I do not trust that he will not come early to get rid of me as well as the rest. So we’re leaving now.” Before Janoah could say anything, Amael raised a paw, “It makes no difference to the Summit, it will go on regardless. And even if it doesn’t everyone will be here when THORN strikes and… well… that’s that.”
Janoah moved close to Amael and whispered, “What exactly are the hyenas going to do anyway? Are they hiding around here waiting to leap out with black-imperium gas bombs?”
“Humph! Always so clever, yet you haven’t worked it… out?”
Amael trailed off somewhat and looked to his right, at the bedroom’s en-suite.
“Do you feel that?”
Janoah wrenched Amael’s attention back with both a paw to that chin and some accompanying flattery, “You’re too devious even for me, Balbus.”
“Indeed,” the Den Father cackled, the en-suite forgotten in favour of Janoah’s ruddy visage. “I’m glad I can still surprise you. Grab your things and meet me out front, my love. If anyone asks there’s been an emergency in Riddle-”
“And we’re going home to sort it, I know, I know.”
A nod, a smile, Amael kissed Janoah and made to take his leave.
“Oh, the Alpha’s carriage!” Janoah hissed, grabbing Amael’s arm and leading him to one side.
“Carriage?”
The Prefect explained, “On the end of the Eisbrand train, the last ALPHA carriage. We should take it. I can have it moved; I have the authority, just as long as you say it can be shunted onto your train, of course.”
Amael woofed, “Whatever for, wolfess?”
“It’s full of millions of lupas and white-imperium, my dear,” Janoah said, tidying Amael’s cloak. “All of Adal’s worldly possessions. He’ll shortly be dead and shan’t need them. It would be a shame not to take a lasting souvenir of my employment under him.”
“Hahahaha, Janoaaah!” Amael cooed, stroking her lovely chin. “And yet you say I am more devious?”
After a kiss the Den Father took his leave, saying, “My car’s out front. Hurry, and be discreet, the fewer eyebrows raised the better.”
A nod.
Once she was ‘alone’ and quite sure Amael’s corona had receded down the Hummel corridors, Janoah turned to the window. “You can come out now.”
The en-suite door to her right creaked open and Vladimir emerged.
“You kept your corona about as dampened as a roaring Greystone furnace,” Janoah scoffed. “He must’ve thought it was Duncan or Horst next door that he could feel, definitely not that ‘weak pen-pusher’ Oromov.”
Vladimir grunted and bowed a little, “I’ve carefully cultivated that reputation for just such times as now. He doesn’t see me, even under his nose.”
“Nor me,” Janoah replied, turning and adding, “I hope.”
“I didn’t hear him say what THORN is going to do.”
“No.”
“But… you suppose it is the dirigible?”
“That’s where I sent our boys, so it had better be.”
Vladimir spread his paws and growled. “How could you not get it out of Amael? He was right here and yet-”
“It would have been pushy and suspicious. I don’t try him too hard, Vladimir.”
“You did to save Rufus!”
“Because Amael knows I love him. That was genuine.”
Vladimir paced around, armour clinking. “That’s a fine thing, but what a
m I supposed to do if the balloon appears on the horizon? How will I know if Uther and Linus failed, or if it’s even a threat at all? If I advise Cora to shoot it down and all that rolls out of the burning wreckage are two dead cats of royal blood I will be as good as ant-food and Lupa at risk of war with Felicia!”
“Do as you will,” Janoah said, grabbing her rapier, her pistol and her helm from the bed. “Word may yet come from Rufus and the boys, if not… do as your conscience dictates. I’ll do as mine does; a wolf can do no more.”
“You, a conscience? With that Eisenwolf monster you and Josef keep under the stairs? Don’t make me laugh.” Vladimir came up behind Janoah. “You know… I wouldn’t be surprised if you know exactly where the attack will come from and that you plan to go all the way with Amael, leaving me and everyone else to rot here-”
Janoah whipped round and slapped him.
Vladimir weathered the blow, wiped his nose, sniffed, whilst Janoah donned her helmet and trotted out the door, leaving the Grand Howler unsure whether he had merely insulted the Prefect, or sailed too close to the truth.
*
Janoah exited Hummelton Den and, with a last glance back at the ancient castle, joined Amael in the back of his car. The Elder Trains always packed a car and some monos in an engineering carriage so the Den Father could venture abroad; Vito had brought his gorgeous Bloodfang-emblazoned, smooth-seated, luxurious private car – now it was Amael’s.
Soon all of Lupa would be, for keeps.
Several other presumably conspiratorial Bloodfang Elders were in the car with Amael already.
“Janoah?” one spluttered, recognising her from her years as a Bloodfang.
“Elder Duval,” Janoah replied.
“What is the meaning-”
“She’s with us, Elder Duval,” Amael replied, raising a paw but not his voice, not yet.
“But she’s with ALPHA, Den Father.”
Now the thunderous voice was raised, “As is Grand Prefect Nikita! But he is one of us also, as are hundreds of others across Lupa and beyond; ALPHA, Greystone, Bloodfang and Eisbrand, even Hummel. Today is the day the righteous Howlers put aside their petty differences and rise up as one pack of the just, putting an end to the stinking corruption!”
