Likewise, what with the ruined outer wall, Star had ordered multiple ships and troops be positioned by the crumbled defences away from the mountain, facing back out to the forest and the landing bays. Knowing the festivities were guarded made him relax, though he only truly relaxed when he saw Sky enter the great hall. Before he realised he’d done it Star had bolted from the head of the table, previously reserved
for Kodiak and embraced Sky in front of everyone.
Jeers and Wolf whistles echoed up into the rafters, followed by raucous laughter and the continuation of song. The hall was stuffy, the air rich with cooked meat, beer and sweaty animals; Star savoured every scent, glad his nostrils weren’t filled with the iron tang of blood for once.
‘I missed you,’ he whispered in Sky’s ear.
‘You too.’ Sky’s silver fur and lavender eyes were perfect in the candlelight. ‘Shall we?’ They moved back to the head of the table and ate and drank and were jolly. Star couldn’t remember a happier time, not since he first stood up in the Council of Worlds; now a shut down and derelict group. No one would dare venture onto that planet for fear of the Tigers wrath.
‘I should be at the head of the table, this is my hall, I am the Great Bear reborn.’ Kodiak was chuntering halfway down a table to Star’s left. The Bear’s complaints were loud enough to be heard over the boisterous tune being played, a bouncy song about the Night Badger who sat sullen a few chairs down from Star. He was a Badger who didn’t know how to celebrate. Kodiak had been drinking heavily the way he swayed and slurred as he spoke made it all too obvious.
‘Such an imperious Bear he got caught!’ taunted a black Wolf, whose tunic was coated in beer stains, from the back of the hall.
‘Who said that?’ roared Kodiak, sliding the bench he sat on backward. The wood screeched in protest and fell onto the stone floor. The clatter halted the musicians and singers at once. ‘Come forward and face me if you dare! None of you stood up to the Tigers the way I did! Did any of you face them, singlehandedly for your race!’
Silence met his barrage.
Star eyed the Red Lion who was edging closer, from behind, to the Bear with his hand around the hilt of his sword. When the Lion caught Star’s eyes Star shook his head, which was met with pleading eyes from the Lion. On the other side Shadowfang, tailed by the March Hare stepped closer, they too had their hands on their weapons. Strange that so many of the Band of Breeds should be armed at a party, Star couldn’t see any other weapons in the room.
‘Kodiak,’ Star stood, five hundred eyes turned to him, ‘your bravery is not in question here. He is right,’ Star addressed the room, with a mug of beer in hand, ‘he was the only Bear I saw fighting out there.’ Which begged the question what all the other Bears had been doing, ‘Kodiak fought alone for the Bears. It is the Bear race who should be ashamed, not this brave Bear before us.’ Star turned back to Kodiak once more, the authority in his words was dizzying. ‘Perhaps Kodiak you should take your anger elsewhere, it is misdirected in this room of fine warriors like yourself. Perhaps you should speak to the Bear.’
Kodiak growled, scanning the room with crazed eyes, Star noted the Bear wiggle the claws on his upper paws. Stood upright he towered over everyone in the room. It was only when he noticed the Red Lion, and perhaps Shadowfang, that he sighed deep relaxing his muscles. ‘Perhaps I will.’ He exited the hall and no sooner did the door slam shut than the music started up again as if nothing had happened.
‘Well played,’ Ash spoke from Star’s right.
‘Agreed,’ River added.
Star sat back down and tucked into the cooked meat from all manner of mindless species, he saw why his father in later life had opted to eat his meals this way. Raw and primal had its purpose but the flavours before Star were delicious, coupled with copious amounts of beer he unwound over the next few hours. Gone were the aches in his shoulders. Gone were the knots in his belly.
Tonight, a huge weight had been lifted from Star.
It was a massive step toward winning the war, and with minimal casualties.
‘It won’t always be this easy,’ the March Hare had snuck up besides Star, the Hare clutched at his pocket watch, attached to yet another extravagant and colourful waistcoat. Out of armour the Hare still sported his lethal whip and ankle holsters full of mini daggers.
‘Expecting trouble?’ Star enquired, half-listening to the Hare and to the conversation River and Ash were having about their parts in the battles of air and land.
Over the noise of the crowd Star thought he heard the March Hare mutter ‘always,’ but when he turned the Hare was gone.
‘What a strange animal,’ Star muttered to no one.
‘What? The Hare?’ When Star glanced up again the Scarlett Fox had replaced the March Hare, he couldn’t help but jump a little, which brought a shrill laugh from the Fox. ‘Hare’s are a rare breed, you’re quite right but I must say the March Hare is probably the most mercurial creature I’ve ever encountered.’
‘Didn’t you try to kill him once.’ Star’s drinking had removed a filter in his brain that stopped him repeating idol gossip.
‘Indeed.’ The Scarlett Fox leant in close, and with him came a pleasant orange zest fragrance. ‘But haven’t all our species tried to kill each other at one point or another. Universal Beacon or not a primal animal still lives within all of us and its voice whispers kill or be killed.’
Star turned to eyeball the Fox, inches from his own face, a wicked grin spread over the Fox’s sinuous orangey-red muzzle. Beneath the table Sky placed a paw on Star’s hind leg and squeezed.
‘Enjoy your evening, Star.’ The Fox stepped back and bowed theatrically, drawing looks from dozens of creatures. ‘I might go looking for that Hare and see if I can’t kill him once and for all!’ He laughed once more; nearby Foxes joined his laughter. ‘Good night.’ The Scarlett Fox exited through a side door, and that was the last Star saw of the Fox that night.
‘Pay him no mind, that one’s always got death on his morbid little brain.’ Shadowfang was lounging in a high-back chair, which he’d dragged from the raised dais, down below Star in the front row. He was the only creature away from the raised platform and head table who had a chair and didn’t sit on a bench. ‘Hare, Fox,’ the Leopard’s smooth words had a hard edge to them, an edge that had surfaced after the massacre on Agnus, ‘all these little animals are the same squabbling over something or other. Whatever happened to love and harmony.’
That brought a few sniggers from every species nearby, apart from the three or four glorious Leopards in earshot. Star couldn’t deny the Leopards were a majestic race, silky-smooth fur, fine garments and alluring scents and something else, something magical...not that Star truly believed in the stories of shamans and witches. It was just he’d started to see more of the galaxy and the unbridled possibilities that must lie out there in the big black.
‘So, the Leopard and Tiger have never squabbled?’ Star asked in between sips of beer, some of which found its way down his tunic, darkening the already dark grey material.
‘Ha,’ Shadowfang clasped his paws together, some fine silver jewellery rattled on his left wrist, ‘very sharp,’ he smiled to reveal those impossibly long fangs, ‘though I think you’ll concede when a Leopard and Tiger clash no one would describe it as a squabble.’
‘No, I’d call it a catfight!’ the Night Badger said. Star could never tell if the Badger was the funniest creature alive, with the darkest sense of humour, or if he was simply the angriest Badger, nay creature, in the galaxy.
The Badger’s jibe brought raucous laughter, including Shadowfang himself.
‘Perhaps I should go seeking one of these catfights?’ Shadowfang stood, rolling his neck and flexing his paws before downing his beer and slamming the mug back onto the wooden table, ‘What would a fight between a Badger and a Leopard be called? A slaughter perhaps, or a cull?’ That wasn’t meant as a joke, even Star knew the word cull had deep-seated issues for the Badger race. Shadowfang
cleared his throat and bowed. ‘I’ve said too much I fear, too deep into my cups. Let’s see what I can find lurking in the night.’ His near-black eyes levelled Star with their intensity. ‘You never know what’s waiting in the darkness.’ And up left another member of the Band of Breeds.
‘Good night, Shadowfang.’ Star raised his mug. ‘You fought well today.’
Shadowfang nodded as he exited the great hall.
Beside him Star could hear the Night Badger grinding his metallic teeth, but he remained motionless, glaring at the Leopard’s back as he walked out the room.
‘You know I actually think you’re quite good at this leadership thing.’ River leaned into Star’s ear, slapping a paw on Star’s back. It was good to have the old River back, loyal and ready to fight. An uncomplicated creature, which was a blessing given Star was surrounded by so many complex characters who adhered to their own secret codes.
‘I think you’re drunk,’ teased Star Wolf.
‘Agreed,’ River and Ash spoke in unison, before downing their respective drinks. Sky tutted at the pair of them, it was a fond sound, a relaxed sound.
‘Enjoy it while you can. At first light we load up and return to Lupus, we’ve already lingered here too l—’
A cacophony of screams broke out from outside the great hall, so loud it bellowed over the music, which halted once more. Panic had broken loose outside. Laser fire, gunfire and explosions boomed at regular intervals.
‘What’s going on out ther—?’
A thunderous popping followed by a cracking of wood pierced Star’s words as the door to the great hall shattered into a million pieces. The creatures in the vicinity were dead on impact. Most didn’t even have time to call out in terror. Those further into the belly of the hall weren’t so fortunate, dozens lay sprawled out on the stone floor covered in splinters, huge chunks of wood protruding out of arms, legs, cheeks, everywhere.
This time the odour of cooked meat was charred soldiers either burning to death or burnt to death. The tortured screams punctured the air amidst continuing fire outside.
‘Tigers!’ someone outside the hall roared.
‘How is that possible?’ Star had positioned guards and firepower in every direction.
‘Someone’s betrayed you.’ The Night Badger flipped the table over before them, just in time for it to absorb multiple gunshots from the shattered entrance, ‘That’s not important right now! We’ve got to get you out of here.’
‘Form up, back here,’ Star Wolf instructed and as many creatures that were alive and able sprinted to the back of the room, dragging tables and chairs with them. In seconds a makeshift barrier had been formed. Not that it would serve them much good, so many of them were unarmed. The trio of Lions and the Night Badger were
armed but they wouldn’t be enough.
Still, the relentless fighting and fearful screams echoed outside the hall, the sounds of a city in disarray and being sacked. A floating wall of smoke drifted in from the ruined doorway, laser bolts illuminated the misty grey in sporadic fashion. Everyone in the hall huddled to the back wall, waiting. Star pointed at the two doors at the back of the hall and Wolves darted to the left and a Fox and Badger to the right. Each creature perished the moment they opened the doors, which were slammed shut by those who followed the dead.
‘We’re trapped,’ Star muttered as a dark shadow began to shift its way through the smoky wall before them.
Kodiak marched in, wearing full armour and pointing a cannon directly at Star. ‘I told you that’s my seat.’
The fire was thunderous, ripping through the air and slamming into its target;
Goldtooth, the sulky Lioness, had reacted first and peppered Kodiak’s armour with crimson laser bolts. The Lioness didn’t wait for anyone else, charging forward screaming with fury and lashing out with a blade. Laser bolt and blade both bounced off of the huge Bear’s armour with ease and he followed up with a crunching backhand that vaulted Goldtooth off her feet.
Blackfang followed his mate only to be met with thirty Tigers pouring in alongside Kodiak. The Red Lion’s anguished cry bellowed over all other noise; the legendary Lion burst forward all too late. Lasers from every direction tore into Blackfang and Goldtooth, ripping their armour and flesh to shreds. By the time the Tigers ceased fire all that was left was two piles of crushed armour and Lion body parts, which began mixing in with all the other creature’s gore on the stone floor.
The Night Badger opened fire, pushing back several of the Tigers.
Ash and River had scurried over the tables and grasped the fallen Lions weapons, which dwarfed their Wolf paws, and began peppering the Tigers too. The trio created enough chaos for the Red Lion to also draw his sword and press forward, his fury came out in every ferocious swing of the mighty blade. Star could barely see over the table and had no weapons of note nearby, until he noticed the torches on the wall and an abundance of spirits strewn across the back wall.
‘Rags, alcohol, fire,’ he ordered at everyone around him. Leopards, Wolves, Foxes and Badgers scurried to the wall, tearing down awnings and stuffing them into the bottles. Moments later makeshift grenades were sailing through the air, with greater effect than Star had envisaged. The amassing fire coupled with the Red Lion’s one creature assault on the retreating Tigers and Kodiak gave those inside a brief break from ducking laser fire.
‘We need to free an exit,’ the Night Badger instructed a trio of bloodied Badgers next to him, Star flicked a paw for more Wolves to follow. ‘Well, at least you know who your betrayer was!’
Star hurled a flaming bottle as hard as he could and took immense pleasure when it crashed straight into Kodiak’s nose, briefly setting the Bear’s face aflame. The growing fire brought such an intense heat that Star’s eyes streamed with tears and his lungs filled with thick smoke but at least it pushed the Tigers back.
‘We’re going to die in here!’ screamed Sky in between tossing the last of her supply of bottles. ‘And soon if we don’t think of something!’ Her silver fur was slick with sweat and already getting covered in soot. ‘That damn filthy B—’ A whooshing ripped through the enveloping smoke and tore through Sky’s uniform, bursting out the other side and into the last remaining awning of the Bear on the back wall.
Sky slumped, blood spurting from her shoulder.
Star collapsed down beside her. ‘No, no.’ Cradling her in his paws, the pair of them became soaked in blood. ‘It’s just a flesh wound. Medic! Do we have a medic in here?’
No one even turned around.
They were all too preoccupied trying to stay alive. The Night Badger was crouched down behind the three Badgers, who were now dead, that he’d requested help him. The bodies piled up around them. Of the five hundred in the hall no more than one hundred remained.
Star tore off the sleeves of his tunic and wrapped them around Sky’s wounded shoulder and pressed down front and back, despite her whimpers, as hard as he could. ‘It’ll stop.’ He smiled. ‘I promise. The Night Badger will free us.’
Sky gave him a tired glance, her eyes fluttering to stay open. A half grunt of approval left her throat before she shut her eyes. She was still breathing, at least Star thought she was until her whole body convulsed and white foam poured from her mouth. ‘Sky? Sky? Wake up!’ Star shook her. no longer sure she was breathing.
‘She’s gone lad.’ The Night Badger hauled Star up and away by the fur on the back of his neck. ‘Come on. We’ve got to go, I know a way out, but we have to leave now. It’s just you and I left!’
Star didn’t know how long he’d been holding Sky for, so lost in his own mind to notice the catastrophic casualties they had continued to ensue. River and Ash were sprawled out in the middle of the great hall, both coated in blood and motionless. The only creatures moving by the entrance, the Red Lion and Kodiak locked in a furious sword fight. From behind them a group of fifty Tigers stood watching, cheering and taunting the grief-stricken Lion as he hammered aimlessly at the Bear who was struggling to f
end off the attack.
Kodiak kept turning to the Tigers with pleading eyes, but they remained in a semi-circle encouraging the Bear to fight.
‘Red!’ The Night Badger roared at the top of his voice, splitting the battle in two. Every Tiger, Kodiak and the Red Lion turned to regard the Badger as he stood, his head just poking over the top of the crumpled wooden barricade that had protected them for minutes at best.
As the Red Lion turned his glorious orange mane fluttered in the blustering wind. His gorgeous eyes of fire were full to bursting with tears. Star Wolf staggered to his feet, locking his own eyes filled with tears on the Lions who smiled before bellowing, ‘Go! For Star Wolf!’
The Red Lion let loose a roar, primal personified, dropping to all fours and charged Kodiak. In a swift lunge and swipe of his claws he clattered the Bear back into the Hall’s wooden timbers, splitting them on impact. The entire front half of the building collapsed in a puff of dust; Star shut his eyes waiting for the entire structure to come crashing down on his head.
When he opened them, the fire had been blown away, only a few smouldering embers remained now that snow peppered the dwindling blaze. The Night Badger hauled Star up on his shoulder and Star found he didn’t have the will to protest and before he knew what had happened the Night Badger bolted out of the side door away from the fighting and fifty yards later tossed Star straight down a well.
The whole time he fell without noise, simply looking up to a moonlight sky full of snowflakes. A bone-crunching impact greeted him, and the world descended into darkness and cold, ice-cold.
‘HAVE YOU LOCATED HIS body yet?’ the Winter Tiger snapped at the latest captain to report his Tigers hadn’t found Star Wolf dead or alive. The reality of the massacre was that most creatures had been butchered beyond recognition. Winter’s Tigers had devastated the forces of their enemies. It didn’t matter to them who stood in their way; they did not discriminate when it came to handing out death.
The Winter Tiger Page 18
