She picked up her pace. As she went down the alleyway, she heard shuffling on the rooftops. Birds, scaring me like that! She calmed her heart and she kept on moving.
A shadow jumped over the wall and dropped in front of her. It was a man. He wore rags across his body; they were dark and stained—hard worked and hard washed—and patched together many times. His mouth was covered, as was his fur and body. But his claws were extended, making him someone from one of the fe- line clans.
She turned to find two others had dropped from the roofs be- hind her.
Panic took her as she looked at them, thinking of the fears that her mother had put into her mind, telling her what would happen if someone with bad intentions was able to get hold of her.
Keze grabbed her cloak and pulled it tighter around her, as if it would ward off the three attackers.
“Give us your concoctions!” the feline man in front said.
“I-I don’t have any,” Keze said, trying to fight the fear and the tremor in her voice.
“Look at you—out here with your fine clothes and jewels, walking as if there is nothing wrong. We know you nobles are hid- ing the cures,” one of the men behind her said. He had to be from the bear clans based on his size, girth, and the claws that protruded from his hand. The other looked to be from the reptile clan, with their thin body and the way that the cloth over their mouth moved as their tongue had to be moving underneath.
“We might be poor but we’re not blind. Look at you—perfect- ly healthy, even with all of the plague going on. What did you take to heal you?” the bear asked.
“They must’ve started it, like the rumors said,” the reptile said.
The feline’s claws extended more. “Give us your concoctions or tell us how to cure the plague. There is no one around to help you and we don’t want to hurt you.”
“I don’t have any concoctions. I don’t know how to cure it. Please don’t hurt me. My father is sick and I want to go to the healer in the trade district to see if I can get a cure from him.” Tears ran down her face, fear gripping her. She could feel death wrapping around her back like a cold embrace, calling out to her, promising to take her away from this.
She had been scared before: scared for getting caught doing something she knew she shouldn’t be doing, or now when she saw her father withering away and her mother having to work so hard and then crying in her study when she didn’t think anyone was looking.
This was a new kind of scared as she felt her life hanging in the balance between these three’s decisions.
There was the sound of wings; she barely noticed it but the fe- line’s headdress moved as their ears twitched around.
“What is that?”
As the sun was going down, the shadows were hard to see through, making it hard to see in the sky.
There was the sound of wings being folded away as a new shad- ow dropped from the sky between the reptile and the bear. With two strikes, the shadow moved, knocking out the bear and the rep- tile. The force of the blows made them hit the walls on either side as the man shot forward. Keze saw the armored man as he pushed her to the side and grabbed the feline’s hand as he moved past. Us- ing their armor and his body, he threw the feline man into the wall, making them let out a painful breath. The man grabbed them and tossed them down the alleyway, between the two others.
“Damn, seems like I’ve still got it,” the knight said, giving Keze a thumbs-up.
She gave him a thumbs-up in return.
“Don’t worry, little miss. You’re all okay. I just need to talk to these three right here,” the knight said.
Keze nodded. It all happened so fast she didn’t know what to think.
He stepped past her and she saw his cloak moving. She could see a faint tree on his back. The branches were brown, with hints of gold; the leaves a brilliant green as it seemed to move with the breeze, capturing one’s attention and making their mind calm down.
“All right you three, for attempting to mug someone else, threatening violence in a time of chaos, and disturbing the peace, I punish you with community service in this time of need.”
The bear started to get up as the shadows behind him moved and chains looped around his body, holding him down.
“They’re killing us and you want to defend them! You—!” The bear’s head seemed to have cleared enough for him to see just who their attacker was.
“Human?” His word came out like a cold whisper, like a cold bucket of water on the two others and Keze.
She had seen humans from afar—a few traders who came down from the coast—but she was never allowed to meet one in person. She was in a high position; if they were able to capture her, she could be used to pressure her parents.
Now she studied the man. A new fear gripped her, one that had been instilled in her by her parents. She no longer felt safe around this human, thinking of the cruel things that she had heard that they had done. She remembered the expressions on her father and her mother’s faces when they had talked to her about humans who had attacked their people, sold them into slavery, that ravaged their cities and that had started this bloody war that had claimed count- less lives.
She knew that they were bad people, people who would use and destroy others to push their own gains. They were sneaky and they were cunning, filled with lies and deceit. How could someone who had to use the strength of others and the familiars be noble or right?
Without knowing it, a sneer had appeared on her face as she looked at this man.
He must know who I am, looking down on me and trying to use me to turn against the people of the city. Does he want to use me as a hostage?
“Been that way for a few hundred years and aim to do so for a few hundred more. Do you have a defense?” the human asked.
“A defense?” the feline asked.
“Just kill us, you coward!” the reptile hissed out.
Their clothes had been skewed so Keze could now see more de- tails of their faces. These were younger men, ones who showed signs of hard work and labor.
“I do not kill unless absolutely necessary, my dear reptilian friend,” the man said in an amicable voice as a pressure weighed down on everyone and then dissipated, making one feel relaxed. “Now, why did you attempt to mug her?” The Knight asked.
“She’s a noble—they’re hoarding all of the medicines,” the fe- line burst out.
The others nodded.
“Our families and the people we care about are sick. We want- ed to help out. We knew that the nobles had to have stuff to help them. We didn’t have a plan—we just wanted to do something,” the reptile said.
“We were around the castle, looking to see if there was any way to get medicine to help out our families. Then we saw her moving through the streets. There’s no way anyone but a noble would have a cloak like that, with silver and gold thread and fine silks,” the fe- line said.
“We didn’t mean her any harm. It was just—with her refusing that they had any kind of cure and her being perfectly healthy—we’re not dumb, just poor and weak. She was looking down on us.” The bear dropped his head, ashamed.
The would-be muggers all looked at the ground in shame. “We just wanted to help our families,” the feline said.
“Your reasons are good, but still, if you let your emotions take you away, as our bear clan friend said here, you could’ve hurt some- one. What do you think that the nobles would have done if you had hurt one of their children?”
“They’d have come after us with everything that they have,” the reptile said after some long seconds.
I just wanted to get something for my father. Keze started to see how shortsighted her goals had been. I should’ve told Mother, or got some guards to come with me. Maybe they would have told me to wear
clothes that weren’t so easy to identify, or sent a messenger out to the healer. Keze’s head was a mess.
“Your judgement stands. You will be drafted as emergency members of the Skalafell relief and crisis team
. Throughout this time, you will help and assist the people of Skalafell.” Purple runes appeared around the men’s wrists and latched onto them.
Slave collars! Just what kind of monster is he? Keze, who had been edging away, now turned and fled, running as fast as she could down the corridor.
“Little miss, make sure you go home!” the man yelled after her, making her run even faster.
She ran as fast as she could, dropping to all fours. Her mother had told her to never do it, but now she needed the speed as she ran no different from a cat, ripping her dress in the process.
People watched her go by as she ran through the streets, before running into a patrol.
Seeing them, she nearly fell apart in relief. Her heart had been through so much she didn’t know what to say to them as the leader of the patrol looked at her in alarm.
“Little Miss Keze, what are you doing out here? What hap- pened? Form up! Defend the city lord’s daughter!”
The guards all moved around her as the guard captain checked on her and then picked her up, all of them moving toward the city lord’s castle.
***
The three men had a dull look on their faces as they touched the collar around their wrists, looking as if their life were over.
“Slavers,” the reptile spat.
“Okay, so the first order of business: we need to know how af- fected people are, so you three will need to recruit people into our
ranks and go door to door to talk to the people, see how they are, how their families are,” Anthony said.
The three of them looked at the ground.
“Eyes up here!” Anthony’s eyes flashed green for a moment. Bruce appeared on his arm, snorting and looking at the trio, putting pressure on them through their bloodlines.
The three were startled as they looked up at him.
“I have taught hundreds of beast men and I have fought beside thousands of you. I have called many of you my brothers and my sisters. I will save as many people in Skalafell as I can, if it is the last damned thing that I do. If you dare to get in my way or you look to shirk your duties, then you are useless to me. What you do here will decide the fate of your loved ones. It will decide the fate of Skalafell. The longer we mess around here over our differences, the more people will die. Do I make myself perfectly clear?” His voice rang out with the punctuality of a training officer.
“Sir,” the bear answered.
“If you do as you say, we’ll agree,” the feline said. The reptile nodded, agreeing with the feline.
“That is fair. Now, we need to know how many people are af- fected and the severity. Do you know the stages of the plague?”
“They cough some, get wheezy, then really tired. Then the cold sweats and these red bumps appear,” the feline started.
“Scales are shed and their hair falls out,” the reptile added. “Then they waste away into nothing—they go not long after,”
the bear said, his voice bitter and annoyed.
“Okay so, tired and cold sweats stage one; red bumps, scales and fur falling off stage two; and death stage three. Categorize people according to that. Gather as many people as possible to go house to house, check on their neighbors and the like. Also, we need to know the condition of their food and water. As we go on,
we will collect food from people and disperse it out as needed, as well as water. What are your names?”
“Mai,” the reptile said. “Jun,” the feline said. “Ubi,” the bear said.
“Okay, Jun, you go and check on the different wells. I want to know their condition and how much water they have. Mai, go and talk to your friends and see how many you can recruit to help us. Ubi, start going door to door and make a system for categorizing the people and their need for food and water. Mai, as you get more people, send a third of them to Jun to check the wells, and the rest to Ubi.” Anthony turned his head to the side as Solomon warned him that there was another crime being committed.
“Get to work. Do not hurt others unless they are going to hurt you and help out those you see in need. Make sure to cover your mouth and noses—it’ll protect you from the plague more.”
“How will we get the information to you?” Jun asked.
“In the square near the south gate, the one that has the legion- naire’s memorial in it—on the eastern wall, there will be a marking like this.” Anthony showed his Guardian emblem, making sure that they all saw it. “Place your notes on it and new orders will appear on the wall,” Anthony said. “If you have people who don’t have a job, send them to the wall and they will be given a new job. Don’t fail this city.”
With that, Anthony ran past them and over their heads. They turned, seeing the tree on his back as Dave’s wings spread out from his back. He jumped into the sky with the setting sun and shot across the city.
Solomon had spread over the city like a net, but he was only able to communicate short ideas to Anthony. He needed more in- formation and people to help him. First he needed to stabilize
Skalafell, to arrest those trying to or those who had committed a crime; then he would use them to affect change in Skalafell.
“Two birds with one stone.” Anthony soared over Skalafell. The city now fell under his jurisdiction; he watched over every alleyway and every major road. Solomon was being strained to his limit, but as Anthony had been awake for longer, his power was starting to re- turn; one could see this with his ability to materialize Dave’s wings and awaken Bruce.
In the square he had talked about, shadows converged together to form a black Guardian symbol that looked over the square. The eye seemed to look at everyone who passed as they scurried away.
Underneath the eye, words appeared, marking an area for jobs and an area for information.
Anthony dropped from the sky, using Dave’s wings with one burst of strength to arrest his fall. He landed in front of a young member of the rhino clan.
“Ah, look out! Sorry about this.” Anthony punched them in the face.
The “young” rhino was still massive. His eyes rolled back up in- to his head as he fell backward, making a dull noise.
“Ouch.” Anthony passed them and headed into the store. The little bell rung as he opened the door. “Ah, I do like a cute little doorbell—though, looters, not so much,” Anthony said as several people looked at him, all with sacks in their hands as they stuffed goods into their bags.
“Get him!”
“Time to go to work!” Anthony stretched out his gauntlets as he met the first attacker with a kitchen blade. He grabbed their arm that they’d extended out as if their arm were a spear.
“First knife fight, I’m assuming.” Anthony hit their knee and then punched them in the face, making them see stars.
They cried out in pain, falling on the ground and holding their broken nose as they forgot about the knife that Anthony kicked, sticking into a wall.
Two more came at Anthony. Their bodies were too big in the smaller space, making them crash into each other. Anthony dodged to the side and tripped one, sending them into the other. They went down in a mess of limbs, now trying to make sure that they didn’t accidentally stab each other.
Anthony started to whistle as he administered jabs and kicks to the uninitiated. Against these untrained looters, he just had to use the small shop around him, making it hard for them to move and get away from his attacks. He used the least amount of force to knock them out or leave them with a rather painful, but superficial, wound that hurt them enough to stop fighting.
“Hmm, real Timarea jerky. Ah, I wish I had taste buds still.” Anthony sighed as he held a package. One attacker’s blade went past his head, sticking into the wood of the cupboard. Anthony punched them in the jaw, sending them stumbling back and releas- ing their blade before he sent a kick right between their legs. The others on the floor in pain all winced as the kangaroo kin looked at Anthony, tilting his head; he went pale and dropped to the floor, letting out a pained groan/breath filled with suffering.
&n
bsp; “You can tuck them in but not that far.” Anthony pat the kangaroo’s head and walked past him, wincing even though they couldn’t see his expression.
Right in the cajones! Ugh, sorry, dude!
Anthony cleared his throat as he looked at all of them on the floor, some trying to get back up. “All right, you lot, listen up! I ac- cuse you of looting, trespassing on another’s property without their permission, as well as breaking and entering, threatening violence in a time of chaos, and disturbing the peace. You could have really hurt someone with your kitchen appliances! How do you plead?”
“Guilty,” their voices all called out. They looked at one another, not sure where that answer had come from.
“Very well, then I will punish you with community service in this time of need. You will put back this store how it was exactly and repair any damage. You will have to tip everyone who you buy items from ten percent for the next two years. If they do not accept it, then you will have to give that money to a charity of your choos- ing.”
Anthony cast his binding and collars appeared on them all. “Now, you three will report to a fella called Jun.”
***
“What are you doing?” a legionnaire asked as Tommie rooted around in the campfire.
“Ah!” Tommie nearly jumped out of his skin as he looked at the legionnaire and his five friends with him, all holding onto their weapons.
“I’m sorry—I am getting the charcoal and the animal fat from the fire!”
“What do you need that for, gnome?”
“Well, if I put them together, then I can use it to make a kind of soap.” Tommie looked at his feet awkwardly.
“What do you need soap for?” The legionnaire’s eyes thinned. “Well, for the people in Skalafell—see if I can make soap and
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