Open Into the Foxes' Den

[Daniil Ryalor]

Daniil watched in horror as Caden drove the dirk toward the bookkeeper's eye. He felt nausea and revulsion rising in his gut, sickened by the prospect of Caden - gentle, protective Caden - inflicting such gruesome violence. When Alwyn stepped in, his disgust only grew, though it now shifted targets. House Ryalor had, at least for the past thirty years, opposed slavery in all its forms, save for prison indenturement. Chattel slavery of the kind that Alwyn was threatening upon the fox was especially repugnant to Westisle sensibilities. Daniil himself had helped the western fleet to catch slave ships headed for the Imperium, and now his cousin was wielding the institution as a weapon?

His relief when the bookkeeper yielded did not quite settle his stomach, and when he looked out the window, the stench of the nightstuff hit his nostrils. He gagged, then retched, dripping bile and his meager breakfast out onto the street below. He wiped at his lips with the back of his paw, tears in his eyes as he looked to Alwyn. "Fine," he choked out, "you got what you wanted. How are we supposed to get out of here?"

 

[Caden S. Freemont]

When Alwyn called for Caden to halt, the marten stepped back. He kept his blade in paw. He listened to Alwyn and the older todd interact, but when his gaze flicked to look at Daniil, he stopped listening. For several long moments, he did not care at all what was happening between the two foxes or whether they retrieved the key. He saw the disgust and horror upon Daniil's face, and Caden would have done anything in that moment to roll back time by a minute and make a different choice. Shame washed over him. He wondered if perhaps it would be better for him to walk back down the stairs and let himself be engulfed by the flames.

The marten let out an explosive exhale and fairly slammed his dirk back into its sheath as Alwyn retrieved the key and directed him and Daniil to leave. With a curt nod to the Lieutenant, Caden turned and went to the unbroken window. He could not look Daniil in the eye as he shoved open the window and pointed down to the full cart. At least somebeast had the inclination to toss several broken bales of straw on top to soak up some of the stench.

"There is our way out." His voice sounded to him like it came from another beast at a distance. "It's a soft enough landing to keep us from getting injured."

He reached a bloodied paw to Daniil. Through the haze of rapidly increasing dissociation, he saw that his paw was shaking. "Come on," he said softly, finally managing to lift his eyes to look at the todd and wondering if Daniil could see the remorse and guilt that wracked him. "I'll help you up and we can go together."

 

[Daniil Ryalor]

Daniil nodded, his mind racing as he looked down at their landing zone. "Got it," he confirmed. He started to move, then paused. "Wait." He glanced at Alwyn to make sure he was turned away, then, mustering his courage, he quickly kissed Caden on the cheek. "I didn't want to wait to do that once we're covered in dung," he murmured. He squeezed Caden's paw, adding, "Now I'm ready."

 

[Caden S. Freemont]

Caden had not expected that. He stared at Daniil with a whirlwind of conflict spinning through him, wanting to sink into the moment and allow it to reassure him while simultaneously experiencing a sensation of dread shooting through his gut. Lifting his free paw, he brought it to the todd's cheek and leaned his head down so his forehead rested gently on Daniil's. He stayed there for the briefest of moments, letting himself relish in the contact with the fox and wanting more, but it could not be, not then at least.

Pulling away, he gave Daniil a pained smile. "Now I'm ready, too."

Together, with Caden taking some of the weight from the fox's injured leg, they clambered onto the window sill. Paws held fast together, they jumped.

The landing was just as disgusting as Caden expected, and he bodily wretched once he and Daniil had extricated themselves from the cart. Swearing under his breath, the jack moved away from the burning building as he stripped off his sewage-coated shirt and vest, then did his best to use them to wipe off his trousers before tossing them aside. Still, however, the material and stench was thick in his fur in places and would not be coming out of his pants any time soon. He didn't know if he would ever feel fully clean again. He looked to Daniil.

"You okay?"

Glancing up, he adjusted his glasses on his snout and waited to see what Alwyn intended to do with the two captive supremacists.

 

[Daniil Ryalor]

Daniil winced as he crawled free of the muck, stripping off his own coat and now-soiled rainbow ascot with some degree of sorrow. Both would be impossible to clean after this; at best, they would need to be burned. His eyes widened as he recalled his mother's blade, and he frantically tried to wipe as much filth from the hilt and scabbard as he could with the lining of his jacket. Only then did he recall the bandage around his leg wound.

"Gates," he swore, looking down at where blood and filth were mixing in the fabric. "Can you help get this off me? I daren't try to cut it off myself."

 

[Caden S. Freemont]

Caden tore his gaze from the window and went to Daniil. The todd's inquiry brought his attention to his own wounded arm, which would also need a thorough cleaning were he to keep from getting some horrid infection. Pushing the thought of the potential of losing the limb to infection from his mind, he indicated for the fox to sit. Once Daniil was on the ground, and doing his best to ignore the heat of the fire engulfing the bottom floor of the building on the other side of the alleyway, he supported the todd's leg as he gently unwound the makeshift bandage, being careful to keep the filth far from the wound.

He heard voices from the entrance to the alley just as he finished with his task, and he looked up to see six foxes from the tavern walking towards them and pointing to the second floor window. On the ground and partially hidden behind the cart, Caden was certain they had not been seen yet. However, the coveted desk drawer lay out in the open amongst the wreckage of the desk. If the supremacists went to investigate it, he and Daniil would be spotted.

"Come on, Alwyn," Caden hissed under his breath.

Unfortunately, at that moment, something from the lower level exploded with a shattering of glass and wood, slamming into the cart, consuming it with fire, and catching Caden and Daniil in the conflagration. The marten hauled on Daniil and they both tumbled out from behind the cart, batting at flames on their clothing and fur. In the open now, the only reason they had not been immediately seen was due to the fact the group of foxes were also hastily trying to put out fires on themselves. One had been knocked to the ground entirely. Caden knew he had to act quickly.

"I need your sword," he muttered to Daniil. Tossing his dirk to the ground beside the fox so as to not leave him unarmed in case his plan went awry, Caden took the katana from its sheath at the todd's assent. A fleeting stab of guilt shot through him as he gripped the hilt of Vaelora's blade. Then he bodily shoved the flaming cart of sewage at the group of supremacists.

It hit them unawares, the one of the ground being entirely overtaken and two others bowled over as the remaining three managed to dodge to the side. Where they dodged to, however, they suddenly found themselves facing a nightmarish-looking, shirtless white marten covered in blood and soot and shit with red eyes that shone with a mad light reflecting the roaring, hot flames, sword flashing in paw. He cut two of them down before they could even draw their weapons. The third managed to draw a cutlass as Caden stumbled on one of the foxes on the ground. She was engulfed in flames and screaming horribly as she writhed about in agony and rolled directly into the marten's legs. The cutlass-wielding fox darted in for a killing blow to Caden's midsection.

The sound of steel on steel rang out, barely audible above the screams and roar of the fire as Caden parried. He danced away from the flaming vixen on the ground and put distance between himself and the cutlass-wielder. From the corner of his eye he saw another of the foxes recovering from being hit by the cart who had unfortunately managed to escape being lit on fire. The beast was moving further into the alley, directly for Daniil, sword drawn. Caden swore and sprinted after him.

 

[Alwyn Ryalor]

Alwyn missed the kiss on the cheek and the nuzzling between his cousin and Caden as he trudged back to the staircase to pick up Veltra, glancing down the stairs as he did so. Fire had already begun to make its way up the bottom of the staircase, and was halfway up. He would have to go soon. Grabbing the unconscious vixen and placing her on his shoulder, he hurriedly moved back to the office, closing the door behind him, then propped her down next to the stunned older todd. He then moved towards the window, to see how his cousin and Caden had faired. Daniil and Caden looked, quite literally, like shit, but seemed to be alive and able to walk, for now. All he would have to do now is figure out what to the do with the elderly beast and then he could toss Veltra down. Not the best plan he had in his life, but it was working, and then everything went to ‘Gates so fast he barely had time to process it. Escape plan, gone. Caden, in danger. Daniil, in danger. It was only thanks to his Guard training that he was able to think and move quickly and arrange things in order of priority.

Kitsune’s divine arse!

Daniil first, he had no weapon, was injured, and the fox was coming towards him. Alwyn picked up his poleaxe, holding it with both paws as he took aim, and then stepped forward and flung it with all the might he could muster from his youthful muscles. It sailed through the air, spike first, and embedded itself directly and deeply in the back of the fox, the force of the blow and the penetration causing him to stumble sideways past Daniil, bleeding out his back, before hitting and slumping down against a wall, moaning in pain.

Caden was fighting one of the other ones, but Alwyn had precious little time and hoped the injured marten could hold his own long enough against one beast. Four of the approaching foxes were dead or wounded thanks to the flaming cart and the efforts of both him and Caden, one was occupied, but the last one was slowly recovering from her daze. It would not be long before she would get up and move to attack a defenseless Daniil or double-team the injured marten, and he could not chuck his broadsword the same way he had his poleaxe.

‘Gates, ‘Gates, ‘Gates.

Quickly moving over to Veltra, then slashed even more off of her clothes, leaving her rather scandalously clad to the point that mothers would cover their kits’ eyes, and then smacked the butt of his sword against the elderly todd’s head and knocked him out. Using the remains of Veltra’s clothes, he tied a quick rope around them, not enough to seriously bind them, but keep them together, and then dragged them both towards the door, Veltra on top, the older todd on the bottom. Then, he flung them out onto the street. The older todd landed with a sickening crack, taking the brunt of the fall for Veltra, who, moaning, rolled off to the side, the fabric coming undone having served its purpose.

As the fire behind him now started to burn through the door, and as the last fox finally recovered, Alwyn winced internally, sheathed his blade, remembered his training, and then jumped out of the second story window onto the street, landing on his feet and then quickly rolling as he did so. It was not completely perfect as pain lanced through his left leg, but the adrenaline kept him going as he moved to position himself between Daniil and the vixen, who came at him with a cutlass. Blow after blow was quickly exchanged, but Alwyn was slower than usual due to pain lancing across his leg, and suffered several slashes against his arms, most of glanced off the armor. She did, however, pull off a surprisingly quick feint and a powerful thrust towards his left arm, which pierced the brigandine-and got stuck it in, the vixen trying to pull it out for a moment, before the right handed slash to her neck by Alwyn's broadsword decapitated her, spraying blood across the Guard Lieutenant's face and armor. Alwyn winced in pain as he pulled the blade out-not something one was normally supposed to do, but if he left it in, it would cause even more damage while moving. Glancing at Daniil to make sure he was okay, then he used his blade to slice off a piece of the dead vixen’s clothes and stuffed it into the wound as he looked up, hoping to see Caden victorious-he had been so occupied on saving his cousin and the fight he had not been watching what had happened there.

 

[Daniil Ryalor]

Daniil hadn't even been thinking when Caden asked to borrow Requiem - he'd pulled it back-handed from its sheath and thrust it into Caden's paws, stepping back and letting Caden get to work as he tried to staunch the blood flowing from his wound. It was less likely to suffer an infection now, yes, but he was more likely to have a repeat of the disaster in the Slups. Unfortunately, that left him totally unarmed, and unable to defend himself as one beast broke free of the fray and came for him.

Before Daniil could even brace himself to make some desperate attempt to fend off his attacker, a familiar halberd landed in the beast's back, sending him stumbling past Daniil. A few moments later, a pair of foxes tied together with an improvised rope landed gracelessly, and seemingly painfully, on the cobblestones. A moment later, Alwyn stumbled through his own landing and straight into a conflict with a vixen.

Daniil didn't consider himself a sexist beast; he knew that femmes could be warriors, ones surpassing the males around them, and indeed, his own blade stood as proof of that. Still, something in his sensibilities recoiled at seeing how viciously Alwyn fought the femme, the brutality of the kill and the carelessness with which he disgraced the corpse to bandage his own wound all leading to affront. He stared at Alwyn in horror, hardly able to gauge how his younger cousin had become this unapologetic, almost flippant killer. Who had made him into this? How had Daniil missed the transformation from the little kit who used to spar him with his wooden toy katana?

Daniil averted his eyes, turning instead to check on Caden, to make sure he and his mother's blade alike were both unharmed.

 

[Caden S. Freemont]

Seeing the fox running for Daniil go down with a poleaxe in his back, Caden pivoted towards the todd with the cutlass. He was charging at the marten, just steps behind him. Caden ignored the grating pain in his left shoulder as he blocked a downward, hacking slice of the cutlass. The fox was strong, and without full capability of either of his arms, Caden knew he would need to rely on speed and ending the fight as quickly as possible before his limbs gave out completely. The katana was lighter and weighted differently than he was accustomed to, but the jack moved with efficiency nonetheless, using quick footwork to pivot to the fox's unguarded off-paw and flick his blade upwards to slice his arm to the bone. Or, Caden blinked in surprise, completely slice off the fox's paw. Well, it is a nice sword. Teeth bared, he turned the blade again and ran the fox through. His opponent fell with the strangled yell. Caden tore the katana from the beast's midsection, then stabbed it into his face to hasten his death.

Forearm bleeding freely through the makeshift bandage and sharp pain lancing through his shoulder, Caden breathed heavily as he turned back to Daniil and walked towards him. He noted that Alwyn had made it into the alleyway, as had the vixen and older todd, though they looked far worse for wear. Alwyn was now bleeding as well. Caden held the katana out to Daniil hilt-first.

"Thank you," he said hoarsely. He coughed with the smoke rising from the building and the fiery cart. "I'm sorry, I don't have anything to clean it with. Everything is covered in blood or shit. Or both."

He collected his dirk from the ground and turned to Alwyn. "We need to go. I don't like our chances against more of those bastards."

 

[Alwyn Ryalor]

Alwyn saw the look of horror-even maybe disgust-on Daniil’s face as he turned to check on him after finishing off the vixen and addressing his own wound, but he suppressed the complicated emotions that arose from that as his training had conditioned him. He could deal with that later. First, Caden, then, the mission. Luckily for him, the marten, despite being injured and with an unfamiliar weapon, managed to not only hold his own, but even managed to defeat his attacker, cutting him down with the same sort of precise brutality that he himself had the vixen. He wondered, for a moment, if Daniil would judge Caden as harshly as he seemed to judge him, but he quickly brushed that aside. Focus on the mission.

Hurrying over to the desk, Alwyn reached beneath his armor with his still intact dominant right paw, and pulled out the bronze key. Shoving it into the reinforced compartment, he was rewarded with the clicking of a lock, and shelf fell open. There, in the midst of a variety of papers, was a bound black leather ledger. Exactly what he needed. Grabbing it, he shoved it underneath his armor, close to his heart, relocked it, and then took the key with him and replaced it to where it was before. With luck, no one would realize anything important was missing, even if they broke into the compartment. They would figure the old todd had it, if they knew it existed at all.

Standing up and walking back over to Caden and Daniil, he was about to nod, but stopped as he looked at Veltra and the older todd. The elderly beast was knocked out, and probably had more than a few bones broken, from the fall. Kneeling, he tried to slap the older fox in the face to wake him up, but that did nothing, other than to confirm he was alive as let out a pained unconscious moan.

Kitsune damn it, with the wound I now have, I can only manage Veltra, and…

He looked up at Caden, who seemed to be barely standing through his wounds, and Daniil, whose wound was severe. The older todd presented a problem. He doubted they would be able to take the beast in his condition now, and, if they just left him here and let him live, he would squeal to his associates and have them change the cipher before his mother’s agents could break it, meaning all these lives lost and their wounds would have been for literally nothing. Alwyn had wanted to take him in alive to have an easier time decoding the cipher after some “persuasion” by his mother, but, he likely could not walk, and he doubted his cousin had the strength to carry him right now.

His training called for him to do one thing, but looking at his cousin gave him pause. He loved his cousin, and did not want to seem like even more of a monster than he already was to him.

“We do need to go…” Alwyn started carefully “...but...we cannot leave him here...not...like this...otherwise all these lives would have been for nothing…if he alerts them to the fact that I got their ledger and they change their cipher...”

Hopefully, Caden would help Daniil see reason, or his cousin would get it on his own.

Hopefully.

 

[Daniil Ryalor]

Daniil watched Caden's movements, surprise coursing through him at the fluidity the marten demonstrated with the blade. He winced a bit at some of the ways in which his mother's sword was handled; Caden fought like an easterner, his style all wrong for this shape of blade, and there were moments when Daniil feared that it would break. Still, by fortune or ferocity, the end result was Caden standing alone, blood dripping from the blade.

Daniil accepted Requiem as it was returned to him, his eyes tracing the blade in an obsessive search for nicks or chips along the edge. Then, finding none, he carefully drew the blade's flat along his lower arm, then flipped it to repeat the motion, imparting the blood onto his own fur. A part of him heard his cousin's statement; the other part of him, tired and overwhelmed and just wanting to get out of the chaos and bloodshed and fire and to find a good place to cry, couldn't muster the will to care anymore. "Do what you must," he stated listlessly. Carefully he sheathed his mother's blade, glad that, at least, Caden had treated it with care - and that Alwyn wouldn't need it for the grizzly task he must perform. Daniil would rather have disemboweled himself with the blade than let it be dishonored in striking down a wounded, unconscious, bound civilian. He turned to Caden, exhaustion coming upon him as he rested his face against the warrior's shoulder, his eyes welcoming the temporary darkness.

 

[Caden S. Freemont]

"Ow," Caden muttered as Daniil pressed his head against his injured shoulder, but he did not move the fox. Instead, he brought his arm gingerly up to the back of the todd's neck and held him. His mind was racing as he recalled the words of the old supremacist before they had jumped. Of course the beast had to die, but this entire scene was messy--the evidence clearly stacked up to somebeast having stolen something. They would need to cover their tracks better. Caden closed his eyes and let his head rest on Daniil's for the span of a moment.

"I'm really sorry, Daniil, but I need to help Alwyn," he murmured, unable to stop himself from twining his fingers in the fox's neckfur briefly before letting go and pulling away. He could have stayed there much longer, could have held Daniil much closer, were circumstances not as they were. 'Gates, he was getting in too deep with the todd, and he seemed completely helpless to stop himself.

He turned to the Lieutenant, mouth set in a grim line. "We need to make this look more ambiguous. Somebeast might suspect what happened if we leave this scene as it is. We need to kill him without leaving any marks. I don't think I can get the leverage with my shoulder as it is to break his neck. If you can manage that, Alwyn, otherwise we suffocate him." Caden pointed to where Alwyn had tucked the ledger. "Tear out the pages and keep them. We'll stuff some of the other papers in it, then put it on the old fox along with the key. We'll throw his body back into the building and let it burn. Even if they do find his charred corpse and search it, they'll see the ledger on him and suspect he died trying to escape the fire. Less likely for them to change the cipher that way."

 

[Alwyn Ryalor]

Alwyn knew that Caden was right, of course, the proper thing to do would be to smother the old todd, and, honestly, he deserved it. Who knows how many poor beasts he and his comrades had killed, dumped in the sewers of the Slups, over the years? ‘Gates, he probably had helped to orchestrate or even was directly involved in killing Ryalor troops when his father was attacked, and, while Alwyn was not exactly on the best terms with Talinn, his beasts were good ones with families who were still mourning their loved one’s deaths at the hands of supremacists like this. But then he looked back at Daniil, remembering his horrified expression, and his current one where he looked like he was going to shatter in a way that might not be able to be repaired. He was not tough enough, not yet, to be able to handle this kind of thing when it needed to be done. Alwyn had planned to gradually ease him into the training, get him to understand the importance of following the chain of command and most orders, of the importance of finishing the mission, but of course all this had to happen before then.

If he sees the both of us murder a defenseless, elderly beast without a trial, then toss his corpse into a fire, no matter how vile he is, no matter for how good of a reason...

Alwyn suppressed a groan as he turned his attention towards Caden, his green eyes flickering with a bit of uncertainty and concern. He was, despite everything so far, not quite so hardened as his father, who might have just killed the beast and gotten on with it, despite it severely traumatizing Daniil. He cursed under his breath, then whispered to Caden.

“That’s the sensible and right plan to get us out of this…” he glanced at Caden’s pants “...literally shit situation, but, there are other considerations. With the proper ‘encouragement’ by my mother, breaking the cipher would be much easier with a beast who knows how to read it, and...to hell with it…”

He sighed, still keeping his voice low.

“Daniil over there, he looks like he is going to fall apart if we do what we both know we should do here. He idealizes beasts and already we may be walking on thin ice that is cracking as we speak. If we kill this todd...like this…” He shook his head. “He is not ready, not yet...if...I know you are injured, and I have no right to ask or command you since it would significantly worsen your wounds for his sensibilities...but…”

 

[Caden S. Freemont]

Caden sighed heavily, perhaps the heaviest, long-suffering sigh he had uttered that evening. He glanced Daniil's way. Alwyn was right, of course. His cousin was cut from a different cloth than them, and already Caden was unsure just what would come of their relationship given what had happened that night, what Daniil had seen him do. He looked away to Veltra, then to the old todd, assessing their size and weight.

"I've done worse for far worse beasts. I'll take this over hurting him even more." The marten went to the rail-thin elderly beast and crouched down beside him. Grabbing his arm, he hauled him up and over his broad shoulders and stood with a grunt. Pain lanced through his left shoulder where the fox's weight settled on it, causing him to catch his breath, but he shook his head and set his jaw.

"Let's go, then," he said, voice clipped, gaze forward. 'Gates he needed to lie down. Preferably with Daniil beside him, and he held onto that pleasant thought to keep himself upright.

 

[Alwyn Ryalor]

Alwyn nodded gratefully at Caden, any frustration he might have had from earlier going away as relief washed over him. He valued his relationship with his cousin. Picking up Veltra, and swinging her over his uninjured shoulder, he suppressed a wince from his own wound-it hurt like hell, but, he had learned long ago to be able to power through it, and he could not look weak when Sken’s son was doing the same but in even worse condition. Approaching his cousin, he gave him a quick nod.

“We need to leave, now, Daniil, how is your leg? We have our paws full, but if you can lean on one or both of us, we should be able able to make it Pyrostoat.” He asked, his voice genuinely concerned as he glanced down at his cousin’s wound.

 

[Daniil Ryalor]

Daniil limped away from his cousin and... whatever Caden was to him, his eyes roaming over the street in search of some distraction from the events occurring behind his back. The nauseous feeling had not quite left his stomach. He'd studied the ideals of what it meant to be a warrior in the Fyadorian tradition; he'd learned the codes of old Fyad, made upholding his honor and that of his family his very being. Now, to see the heir of his house, his own cousin, behaving so dishonorably...

He knew that such tactics were used, even in dynastic Fyador. There were warriors trained specifically for such honorless approaches to combat - ones not unlike his Aunt Dusk, come to think of it. Had he misunderstood entirely what Alwyn had been training for? Rather than a knight of Fyador, had Aunt Dusk raised her son to be a shadow warrior like herself? He found he couldn't trust his own perception of this anymore, and turned that perception outward instead.

There was the shattered remain of a board tucked just inside an alleyway, apparently discarded. It wasn't in great shape, but it was just the right size to tuck under his arm as an improvised crutch. He was just about to reach for it when Alwyn approached him.

Daniil nodded to the board. "I can move myself, I promise," he confirmed. He grabbed the board and tucked it snugly under his arm, testing its strength. Hardly the most sturdy thing, but it would hopefully bear him to safety. "I can lean on this," he confirmed, looking between Alwyn and Caden. To his surprise, the prisoners appeared to be still alive. He couldn't quite keep the relief and gratitude from his eyes as he looked between Caden and Alwyn. "Thank you," he whispered.