Open Into the Foxes' Den

[Alwyn Ryalor]

As he happily let the tattooed vixen snuggle into his arms, Alwyn relaxed a little. After an initial challenge, he seemed to be fitting in, and his offer of the vixen to the other todd seemed to have smoothed things over. He likely would not be invited to the inner circle of things for a while, but, if he kept coming here over time, he would likely be brought into the fold. The information he really wanted was likely upstairs the manager’s room, the ledger for the place and any letters that the nobility backing these groups might have sent, but he had time to get that without violence or trying to pull off some kind of stealth mission. Of course, they would not be so stupid as to directly fund the supremacists, likely using multiple layers of intermediaries, but every layer they could peel back-and prove-was valuable. Connect enough dots, and the Empress would have what she needed.

And who knows, maybe that vixen will get Daniil out of his shell. It’s a little odd he does not have a wife for his age, or, really, that he has not had any vixenfriends, but we can start with a little company at first and get him out of his shell. Aunt Vaelora would not have wanted him to be alone forever.

Alwyn gave the todd an approving nod as he talked about his first kill, although internally he was beginning to hate these beasts already. He was not a saint, but he did not enjoy killing, and his time in Amarone had left him something of a genuine patriot-the murder of the innocent Fogey doing his job did not set well with him. Amélie was wicked smart and ruthless, but she was (generally) just and her reasoning for the why the Imperium had to move the way it did was sound-at least as far as he knew of matters of governance.

Just before he was going to reply, however, a commotion erupted at the table with Daniil and Caden.

What in the actual Kitsune’s Fluffy Tails?

A look of shock flashed across Alwyn’s face as normally his mild-mannered and reserved cousin snapped and even threatened to strike Veltra. He had never seen his cousin do that before, except when he ruminated on the murderer of his mother. What the hell had the vixen said? He had been too far away to hear exactly what had passed between them as his attention turned toward his new “friend”, but it had seemed to start off well-enough.

At the suggestion his cousin was some kind of dandy, Alwyn almost struck out the todd right then and there, barely able to hide his emotions despite his years in the Guard, the embers of his fury flaring up at the insult towards his cousin. Daniil was a different kind of masculine but that did not make automatically him such, not that Alwyn had anything against such beasts-and surely his cousin would have told him? They were close. The suggestion that he was one just because he suffered from trauma…

He did not have further time to ruminate as the mood in the bar changed from relaxed to tense yet again, and he could tell that there was some kind of negative “intar-sehc-tohnal-ity” going on here with this group. He had found such talk painfully boring in all honesty as he listened to the MinoNice’s reports to the Empress while on guard duty, but maybe there was something to their theory. The typical Vulpine Supremacist crowd did not like free and equal mustelids and woodlanders since they considered that to be unnatural, likewise, it made sense they would include “prissies” as the todd called it to that as well.

Things were going to escalate, and he did not think he would be able to smooth things over this time. The mission was to get those documents and the ledger, and the mission came first, but he was not going to let Daniil suffer any harm, and, while he did not know Caden particularly well, he liked him too.

He glanced over at the tavern crowd, and did not like the odds in a conventional fight in such a crowded space. If it were in the open, with room to maneuver, or a small chokepoint, he, Daniil, and Caden could do various different tactics, but this was the worst of both worlds. Big enough for the latter to be hard to pull off, small enough for the former to be impractical. While he knew the three of them were more skilled than any of the crowd individually, they could grapple them and drag them down quite easily here with the numbers. He had to find some way to get them to a better position, and he doubted they would be able to fight their way out the door, so he had to get some control of the situation.

“I need to relieve meself, but once that is done, we can start. Make sure you get some beasts to block off the door so they can’t skip away. Dandies are just as bad as the others in my book.” He replied, voice low as he excused himself from the vixen with remorse, and made his way towards the back of the tavern, mind racing, grabbing his polearm as he did so as to not leave it unattended.

Kitsune damn it Daniil, why are you and Caden here of all places? If you needed money to go to a better place, you could have came to me. You know I would have covered it if you just wanted to go to dinner with a friend.

 

[Caden S. Freemont]

When Daniil sprung up, Caden was only moments behind him. His paranoia at the possibility of being set up was waning, as Daniil's responses were far too sincere and rapid to be a ruse. Paranoia, however, was being replaced by a sense of urgency about their situation as a whole. We need to get out of here.

The heavily tattooed, hulking fox Caden had pointed out earlier stood and moved to their table with a swiftness that belied his size. He was a full head and shoulders taller than Daniil, and he glared threateningly at the grey fox. "Oi. Is this todd giving you trouble, Vel?"

"He said he would hit me!" she cried, backing away.

Caden was already moving. He stepped around the table and placed himself beside and partially in front of Daniil, close enough that his left shoulder brushed against Daniil's chest. His used his left paw to press back against his companion, hoping he understood the cue to take a step back.

"No one was going to hit her, right Daniil?" He kept his gaze on the big todd in front of him, noting the knife was sheathed his the fox's belt. "It was all a misunderstanding. We can just go and leave you all to your evening."

The large fox scoffed. "The fluffy, white weasel thinks he's going to leave. Minute you walked in here, you were a deadbeast, weasel." He reached forward to grab the front of Caden's shirt. Caden turned to his right to avoid the beast's paw, backing into Daniil as the reaching fox lurched forward, unbalanced. The marten neatly grabbed the todd's outstretched limb and dragged him past, his other paw going to the fox's belt and relieving him of his knife. Staggering and stumbling into Daniil's chair, the todd took a moment to whirl around. He went for his knife, but growled when he saw it in Caden's paw.

By this point, the entire tavern was on their footpaws, all attention on Caden and Daniil. The marten took hold of Daniil's wrist and murmured to him, "We may be beyond reasoning with them at this point, but I don't like the odds of this fight. Any ideas?"

 

[Daniil Ryalor]

It went so quick. Daniil realized his mistake the second the massive todd approached them, but he found himself frozen in place. He was bad at confrontation, he always had, his tongue swelled up and his mind raced about, unable to find anything to say. Within moments the conflict had escalated, ending with Daniil and Caden surrounded by hostile beasts. This time Daniil didn't stop himself as one paw went to the hilt of his mother's blade. His mind swam, the immensity of their predicament crashing down upon them. His eyes scanned the room, making note of Alwyn's absence, as well as the door leading, hopefully, to someplace filled with fewer hostile beasts. "The back door," he murmured. "We make a push, you in front, I'll cover your back. Wherever it goes, it has to be better than here."

 

[Alwyn Ryalor]

Alwyn, in the meantime, had already hurriedly moved to the back of the tavern, supposedly looking for the washroom, but in reality trying to find any kind of advantage or an exit-unfortunately, he found none, just one set of stairs going down, and one set of stairs going up. Even if there -had- been a back exit on this floor, getting Caden and Daniil there through the crowd without any kind of distraction would still be extremely risky. Muttering a curse under his breath, he decided to take the staircase down first-perhaps there was some kind of basement exit? He should have reconnoitered the building ahead of time. A stupid, rookie mistake not to-he had figured he was not going to get into a fight, but he should have planned for it. If there was, though, all he had to do was then figure out a distraction.

As he descended into the basement, lit by various lamps on the walls, he instead found a basement cellar filled with several large casks of alcohol, and several smaller boxes of them. Sadly, though, no apparent exit. He also found a very grumpy looking large fox with a truncheon, who stood up and moved towards him menacingly

“Ye lost or something mate? Only tavern staff down ‘ere. No free drinks!”

Guess I will have to turn around, this was entirely fruitless and time is of the essence, we’ll be lucky if we get out of here with just a long recovery at Pyrostoat….Pyrostoat...Pyro…

An idea clicked in his head.

Putting his poleaxe to the side, he approached the guard with both paws open, smiling.

“Ah, my mistake friend, I was sent down here by the bartender to-”

The slight relaxation of the guard was all he needed. A paw to his broadsword, and a clean quick slash across the beast’s neck sent him stumbling back, gurgling as he choked on his own blood, and then fell in the middle of the basement. Alwyn sheathed his bloody sword, sighing as he did so. He did not want to spill blood, but he had little time. Grabbing his poleaxe, he took the axe head and started smashing the large alcohol casks open, quickly, one at a time. Then, once that was done, he glanced over at some bottles of Fyadoran vodka, then at the corpse of the guard, and another idea popped into his head. Boy, had hated being assigned to the Fogey riot patrol position for a while, but now his experience there was coming in handy. Taking his broadsword and quickly cutting strips of fabric from the dead beast, he then pried open six of the bottles in a small case, shoved the fabric in them, and then took one lamp from the wall, opening it and throwing one of the candles into the flowing alcohol, as he hastily grabbed another one, his weapons, and rushed up the stairs.

Leaving his poleaxe at top of the stairs to hold the second lamp, the candle, and the small crate of vodka bottles, he rushed back down the hall to Daniil, Caden, and the crowd who had formed around them, just in time to watch the fighting begin between Daniil, Caden, and the front line of the crowd.

Great Kitsune, help me.

Putting down the crate and grabbing one of the vodka bottles, he opened the lamp and lit the rag, then flung it straight into the middle of the crowd. A large todd, set completely on fire, screamed, running around and spreading even more of the flames. Grabbing a second one, he shouted at the top of his lungs as he flung it into the crowd again, beasts scattering this way and that to try to avoid the rapidly spreading fire.

“Friggin run Daniil! RUN! To me!”

Frig, frig, frig, frig Alwyn mentally cursed as he tossed more of the makeshift fire bombs into the wooden tavern. He hoped the second floor had windows, and that he could grab the documents before the whole place burned down.

 

[Caden S. Freemont]

"Okay," Caden said, letting out a slow breath. "To the back door, then. Just stay in contact with me, no matter what. We get separated, we're dead beasts, and that wasn't in my plans for our evening out together."

He was not keen on entering into a fight he wasn't getting paid for, even less so when he had a beast with him who he was afraid to lose. And Caden was realizing it was not simply because he felt he owed an unspoken life debt to Daniil. It was a genuine desire to protect a beast he felt was a friend and perhaps something else that he felt fluttering in his chest for the todd pressed against his back. He did not care to define it in that moment, only use it to hone his focus and resolve to get them through this alive. He squeezed Daniil's paw encouragingly, then released it.

In one swift motion, he whipped up the knife in his left paw and it went sailing into the upper chest of its owner. Then his paw was on his dirk handle and he was drawing his weapon, wishing he had a sword, but the shorter blade would have to do. The large fox coughed in surprise, blood spattering his lips as Caden bodily kicked him into the first line of attackers. He kept his forward momentum, gauging the distance to the back of the tavern and how many loose ranks of the enemy was between them and their destination.

He lashed out with the dirk before the nearest fox could finish drawing his cutlass, and the beast's sword arm was flayed to the bone. That strike turned immediately into another as Caden swung up and stabbed the long knife into a tattooed neck. Then he was ducking a wild swing from a club, feeling it strike his shoulder rather than his head--a blow that was enough to cause him to nearly drop his weapon. He staggered hard back against Daniil, but gritted his teeth and sliced horizontally low through the club-wielder's midsection. Caden nearly slipped in what escaped the disemboweled fox's body to spill onto the floor, and in that single, off-balance moment he felt somebeast grab his sword arm and try to drag his dirk from his grip.

Then there was screaming and fire and he heard Alwyn's voice booming above the din of the crowd. Caden tried to wrestle with the fox who had his arm, but another two dove on him, taking him to the ground. He saw the flash of a knife, and he was forced to lift his right arm and take the stab to his forearm to protect his throat. Caden let out a strangled yell of pain as the knife sliced into his flesh.

 

[Daniil Ryalor]

It was madness. Daniil had pulled his blade, swinging wildly at every beast who drew near, but there were too many of them coming at him - and then the room was on fire. Alwyn was screaming for him to run, Caden was crying out in pain as he was mobbed by attackers, and Daniil could barely hold his own. A cry from Caden distracted him at a critical moment and he took a slash to the side - fortunately not where his most recent injury was located, but up a few inches on the opposite side, and fortunately a glancing wound. He hissed and focused on cutting across his attacker's chest, sweeping up in a diagonal slash that sent the attacker falling back in shock as he was split open.

He turned and swept his blade across the back of the one currently attempting to stab Caden, his bodyguard training taking over. He needed to protect Caden before all else; that was his only job right now. He kicked one of the foxes in the jaw, slashing the other across the back just above the tail, and then drove his blade down into the ribcage of the first while it was exposed. He felt a searing pain as somebeast drove a dagger into his leg, and he slashed blindly at his feet until the beast stopped. The Vulpinists were distracted by the flames, a few of them trying to stop them from spreading and save the bar, buying the trio some precious time. "Move," Daniil urged Caden, grabbing for his paw and lurching toward Alwyn, trying to keep his wait off his injured leg.

 

[Caden S. Freemont]

The fox's dagger still stuck in his arm, having managed to lodge itself between the bones of his forearm, Caden had to force himself to lift his injured limb to take Daniil's paw. He propelled himself up even as he was pulled, and the marten realized he was still yelling in pain as he brushed against Daniil on his way to stab a fox in the chest who was trying to catch the todd's unguarded flank. There was something wrong with how his shoulder moved as he stabbed forward--whatever damage the club had done caused a burning pain to radiate down his arm with each movement, though it seemed minimal compared to the seething agony stemming from his right forearm.

Caden moved with Daniil, now protecting his back as the grey fox took the lead in their charge towards Alwyn. Smoke was beginning to fill the room, and as more of their attackers dispersed to extinguish the flames, the beleaguered pair found themselves with a significantly clearer path to the younger Ryalor. In their wake they left the dead, dying, and injured.

"Alwyn," Caden gasped when they arrived at the Lieutenant. He cradled his bleeding, injured arm against his torso. Blood spattered his white fur and fine clothing. "Tell me your plan doesn't involve burning us alive in here with these madbeasts."

 

[Alwyn Ryalor]

Alwyn continued lobbing the makeshift firebombs, spreading fiery death, destruction, and chaos as far and as wide as he could to disorganize the supremacists until he ran out of the bottles, and then drew his broadsword and began to assist in clearing a path for Daniil and Caden to reach him, eased a little at first by the chaos and element of surprise-two large males went down in a blink, skewered by a horizontal slash across the chest, then a piercing thrust through the heart. As he withdrew his blade, he watched his worst fear happen-Caden getting dragged down by superior numbers, but more than that, Daniil’s instincts taking over. He winced as his cousin took two blows, one glancing, and one more serious, then the cool rage took over. Green eyes burning much like the flames around him, he struck forth like a hurricane to clear the way for his cousin and his friend.

As Caden and Daniil reached him, Alwyn shoved them behind him, full instincts as a bodyguard of the Empress taking over-it helped too that he was uninjured and more heavily armored than either of them with his partial plate and brigandine. Parrying a knife thrust with his broadsword, a smooth counter-riposte took the life of yet another todd as the smoke and flames began to rise ever higher.

“There’s no back exit-the only way to go is up. We will not make it out down here. Stay behind me. Go down that hallway until you reach where my poleaxe is, and then we will figure something out from there.” Alwyn replied, eyes focused on the new threat coming towards them. The three vixens from before, except now wielding stilettos and roundel daggers-deadly if they could get within range.

“Ladies…” Alwyn warned wearily as they approached, already adjusting his footwork and backing into the narrow hallway to force them to come at him one at a time-mostly “...step away and go outside. I normally would love to get into a tussle with you all, but not this kind. This does not end happily like what I am used to.”

“Aye, it won’t end happily for ye, species traitor,” hissed the tattooed vixen “you took our home. We ain’t got anywhere else to go-but maybe if we kill you, your nancy acquaintance, and that mustelid, we’ll get enough to get a new start elsewheres. Reston’ll pay us well.”

Reston Vulpino, the very same who tried to assassinate my father. Likely a fake name, but if I can grab one of these vixens to get a description or even a meeting with him later…

“Whatever he’s paying you, I assure you I can double, even triple it. You-”

“I ain’t listening to another word out of your damn lying mouth.”

Blades flashed between the two foxes as Caden and Daniil slowly made their way down the hallway.

 

[Daniil Ryalor]

Daniil gasped as they reached the relative safety of the hallway, taking a moment to lean against the wall, clutching at his leg wound. The blood was seeping from it, not gushing, so it hadn't hit an artery, but it was still painfully throbbing with every step. He glanced down toward the end of the hallway, toward Alwyn's poleaxe and the stairs, and groaned at the thought of trying to ascend anywhere right now.

"You should go," he told Caden, barely raising his voice above the din. "Asta needs you. She can't lose another father. I'll only slow you down."

 

[Caden S. Freemont]

Caden stood between Daniil and Alwyn, glancing back as the Lieutenant engaged the vixens. He shook his head and turned back to Daniil. His voice was tight with pain and hoarse with smoke inhalation. "We're both getting out of this, yeah? I'm not going anywhere without you, Daniil."

Sheathing his blade, the marten used his left arm to reach out to the todd, wincing at the pain as he lifted his shoulder. "Come on, lean on me, we'll get there together."

As Daniil leaned into him, arm wrapping about his shoulders, Caden took a portion of the fox's weight into him so he could hobble along towards the stairs. Despite everything happening, the various threats to their lives, the pain lancing through his arm where the dagger was lodged, he felt a warmth spreading through his chest at the close contact and sensation of Daniil's arm gripping around him. Focus, dammit.

By the time they reached the staircase, Caden could feel blood from his arm soaking through his shirt where he held it against his torso and beginning to drip to the floor. He leaned into the wall and looked back to Alwyn, hoping the fox was following them.

 

[Alwyn Ryalor]

Alwyn, meanwhile, was having his way with the three vixens, although most decidedly not in the manner that he liked. Although he was taller, stronger, had armor, and had the advantage of being in a tight corridor with a longer blade and good training so he could take them one by one, the fight was vicious and he could not let his guard down for a moment. The vixens were surprisingly quick and powerful for beasts of their size and gender, and although their daggers were unlikely to seriously hurt him with slashes except if they got a lucky strike across the face given they were meant more for piercing thrusts, they could make it through the lighter brigandine he wore on his limbs, and if they grappled him...well…

The first vixen clearly had some kind of formal training, given her tattoo and the way she moved. Their footwork mirrored each other for a few moments, before she screeched to unnerve him and move in for a quick slash to his face. Alwyn easily parried it given his superior position, but that did not stop her from trying another few attacks, forcing him back a bit as he did so along the corridor, but he was able to maintain the proper distance. He really did not want to have to spill her blood. Another flashing slash blocked-and Alwyn was thinking maybe the group might give up as she shoved her back and she fell over-but the next vixen who had been with the larger todd moved like lightning the moment she did, so fast he did not even have time to react, except for a slight retreat based on training and muscle memory. A piercing two-handed stab towards his more lightly defended neck.

The calculated and precise backpedal proved to be successful and saved his life, the sharp dagger plunging into his breastplate-denting it and even possibly slightly penetrating it, though not the gambeson underneath. It suck to his armor, and the vixen looked up at him with piercing blue eyes and a snarl. Alwyn responded by a hard bash of the hilt of his blade against her face, and was rewarded with the sickening sound of a nose being broken, and several teeth flying, as he then kicked her back and onto the tattooed vixen, who was just beginning to recover, knocking them both back into the bar.

Veltra, the vixen who had insulted Daniil, wasted no time in her own attack, although she was clearly not as skilled as the other two. A wild slash here, an attempted stab there, and one particularly foolish outstretched paw thrust saw Alwyn parry and disarm her with the broadsword, and then break the arm with an unarmed kata. She howled loudly, and Alwyn used this time to grab her, turn her around, and hold his blade to her neck. She attempted to bite his arm, which she succeeded in, but her sharp fangs were no match for the brigandine leather and plate which she chewed at futilely.

“LET ME GO YOU SCOUNDREL! TRAITOR!” She shrilled.

The other two vixens, meanwhile, recovered, albeit with bloody faces, and both held, and stared, daggers at him.

“You take one step towards me and I will slit her throat. I’m not above killing femmes.” Alwyn growled, nicking Veltra’s throats and drawing blood as he did so, green eyes hard and frozen. Were any who knew his father around, he cut almost a spitting image of him in that moment, albeit with a darker coat. “Now...this place’ll burn down soon, and if I were you, I would leave. Before anyone gets hurt in a way they will not be able to recover from.”

The two vixens glanced at their friend, the todd, and then around at the tavern that was increasingly fire-and-smoke filled. Then, they looked at each other, nodded, and ran the opposite direction.

“YE COWARDS WHAT IN THE KITSUNE’S NAME ARE YE DOING ABANONDIN’ ME HERE! IF I GET OUTTA HERE I’M GONNA-” She managed to yelp, dropping all poise, before Alwyn brought down the hilt of his sword on her head, knocking her out, and then slowly dragging her back with him, although he kept his eyes forward in the event any more foes came. The smoke was now much more intense, and he had to fight back some coughs, as he reached where Daniil, Caden, and his poleaxe were, before turning around to look at them.

They looked like hell, both of them nursing actively bleeding wounds, although he could not tell how bad exactly, but if it had hit an artery, one or both of them would have been dead by now without bandaging. Throwing Veltra to the floor unceremoniously, he pulled out the dagger embedded in his breastplate with some difficulty, leaning down and cutting some of the fabric off her shirt into makeshift bandages, offering one to Caden, and then attending to his cousin’s wound. Wrapping it around it as best as he knew how, it should stem the bleeding-for now-although it would not stop the pain. When that was done, he glanced down at the breastplate just to double-check that he was not wounded, and felt a bit into the gambeson. It had only made it about a quarter of the way through. Still, he frowned. He had deliberately bought a cheaper one to fit in with this crowd, but he could have selected better. Kitsune help him, he could have done a lot better today.

“Right…” He sighed, gesturing to the stairs, and then the vixen.

“We’ve got to go up to get out of here, and I was sent here on a mission to grab some documents from this place. This one…” he pointed to the pretty, unconscious vixen strewn about on the floor, now with a tattered dress “...has to come with us for interrogation.”

He paused.

“Did my mother put you up to this as some kind of distraction for me? Did Grosvener sent you here to do some recon? Damn them both if so, they should have known what would happen sending you into this Foxes’ Den the way you were. It’s a dedicated Vulpine Supremacist hangout.”​

 

[Daniil Ryalor]

Daniil winced, hissing between his teeth as Alwyn treated his wound. "Please," he managed to get out. "Caden. His arm. Help him." He wasn't the best at field medicine, and while he knew to press a bandage against the wound, how to best tie it for mobility and such was far beyond him. He looked down at the unconscious vixen, horrified first at Talinn's request - then at the revelation thrown their way. "Oh. Ohhhhhhhhh." He groaned, throwing his head back. "That makes so much sense. No, we weren't here for you at all, Alwyn, we though this place was a gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaainful locale for a quiet drink between two off-duty officers." He winced at his own narrow save, looking at Caden apologetically.

 

[Caden S. Freemont]

Caden managed a pained shrug in Daniil's direction. He was not sure if the todd was attempting to cover for him or if Daniil wasn't fully out to his cousin, but now was not the moment to determine the intricacies of the interaction. He rotated his lower arm to get a better angle for pulling out the dagger. The metal of the blade grated on bone and he felt himself becoming lightheaded with the pain, his vision narrowing to a tunnel, the sounds of his surroundings becoming oddly muffled. If mobility and potentially needing to use his arm was not a concern, he would have left the dagger in until they got to the hospital. However, the situation necessitated a different course of action, and with a silent count to three, Caden tugged the knife from his forearm.

He wasn't fully aware of sitting down, or perhaps his legs buckled, but the next thing he knew he was on the ground fumbling to wrap the strip of shirt Alwyn had tossed to him around his freely bleeding arm. The Lieutenant knelt to assist him. Caden nodded his thanks, cursing under his breath and eyeing the vixen with an unreadable expression.

"Vulpine Supremacists? 'Gates, that does explain a few things." He hauled himself to his footpaws and went to Daniil's side. "Looks like we're going up; go ahead and lean on me again."

With Daniil's arm wrapped around him again and partially bearing the todd's weight, Caden allowed Alwyn to lead the way up the stairs. The marten clenched his jaw against the discomfort at seeing the unconscious vixen borne upon the Lieutenant's shoulders. Not particularly for the fact that she had been injured and taken captive, but rather at the concept of an interrogation. He only hoped he and Daniil could make it out and part ways with Alwyn before such things took place.

Smoke had already begun to permeate the upper floor, and ahead they heard somebeast coughing and swearing from an open doorway and the shuffling of paperwork and slamming of drawers. Caden slowed to a halt as the floorboards creaked underpaw. The sounds from the room stopped. He carefully shifted Daniil so that he could draw his dirk, ignoring the throbbing in his left shoulder as he did so. Unarmored and injured as he was, the marten was not keen on taking point into the room, letting the armored Lieutenant lead the way.

 

[Alwyn Ryalor]

Oh, Daniil, Alwyn thought, not second-guessing his cousin’s word for a moment, although he did give something of a mildly irritated look at Caden, who should have known better with his more worldly experience, although that faded when remembered that the last time the instructor was here when was he was a kit, and would not have known of the threat that the Supremacists were and still are, the two of you...well, none of that matters now that I am here. I will get you to safety if I have to die trying.

After making sure that his cousin was safe, family first, after all, he immediately went to help the pine marten, although he could not do much beyond helping him tie the bandage, a beast could only remember so much and when working to protect an important beast, they usually had one, or even multiple, dedicated medics. He wanted to sigh in frustration, remembering what Alexei said. One could be an expert in a few areas, or competent in some more, but one beast could not do everything.

This was not supposed to end in a fight!

“They have been a problem, on and off, for the past thirty years, mostly in the Imperium, but now even a bit in Westisle,” Alwyn informed Caden “...they were mollified a bit at the removal of Brudenell and Ullyanov, a stoat and a wildcat, from their positions, and at the coronation of a fox as Empress, but…” he paused, throwing Veltra once more unceremoniously onto the top floor, before retreating down the stairs and grabbing his poleaxe and then taking the lead as neither Caden nor his cousin could properly fight with how they had been wounded “...they have not been very big fans of some of her policies, as you can imagine. They even tried to kill my father multiple times, since he has had a...complicated...relationship with them.”

Alwyn quieted down as he and Caden heard noises, noises that worryingly stopped as they approached. Raising his right paw, indicating he was going to take the lead, he prepared himself with his short poleaxe. Best to barge straight in to give him the most room to maneuver, given the length of his weapon.

As he moved forward, the door began to shut, but that attempt was met by Alwyn’s brigandine boots kicking it hard open. As he barged into the room, he shouted.

“PAWS UP OR I’LL THWACK YE IN THE FACE!”

The lone occupant, sent staggering backwards a bit until he found his footing, was a lean, older fox, who quickly looked at an open desk drawer, then back to up to Alwyn, then back at the drawer.

“Don’t you da-” he started, but the older fox was surprisingly fast, slamming the drawer shut with a click and a locking sound just as Alwyn brought the wooden side of the poleaxe across his face with an audible THWACK, knocking the older beast to the ground and against the wall and dazing him, although not with any permanent damage. Alwyn had needed him alive, both for questioning, and to find the relevant documents.

“Kitsune damn it all…” he whispered, hoping against hope what he was looking for was not in the locked desk, although the odds of that were not looking good. “CLEAR!” he shouted, letting Caden and Daniil know it was safe to enter. There was, at least, a silver lining, in that the room had two large windows which opened up to an alleyway of some kind. They would not burn to death at least.

Kneeling down next to the dazed older fox, Alwyn set his poleaxe aside and grabbed his shirt.

“Listen, you, I will see that you make it out of here alive* if you tell me how to open that drawer and give me what I want. Maybe you can even-”

The older beast, although stunned, was resolute, and spit directly in Alwyn’s face, chuckling at him. Alwyn resisted the urge to smack him across the face, or stab him right then and there. That damned elder todd knew how to open that desk. Wiping the spit from his face and standing up, he turned to face Caden and Daniil, who likely saw at least that part of the exchange, an irritated look on his face.

“Right, before we can go, and we need to go soon, we need to open that desk and get the ledger, one way or the other, finding a key, finding how to open the damn thing…” he glanced at Caden, expectantly, although with a bit of hestiation. “I, uh, in order to get information out of unwilling beasts...there are specialists for these things...it was not part of my training…I've never actually, you know, before...”

*Much like his father, though he would never admit it, Alwyn tended to never outright lie, only leave out certain details. Like that he would indeed make sure he got the fox out of there alive...but what happened when he reached his mother, well...

 

[Daniil Ryalor]

Daniil winced as he followed after Alwyn, leaning on Caden for support. The full situation was becoming clearer and less appealing at the same time. Had he just misunderstood the directions they were supposed to take, or had the beast giving them intended harm upon them? He wasn't sure anymore as to which was the case, and he didn't think he would ever get the chance to learn. Not if they didn't get out of here alive.

As Alwyn encountered the problem of a locked dresser drawer, Daniil looked to Caden helplessly. "Do you have any ideas?" he asked quietly. "My only thought is to try to cut the bolt, but I think that would damage my mother's blade more than it would help."

 

[Caden S. Freemont]

Caden looked from the desk to the old todd, to Alwyn, then to Daniil. He did not look away from the grey fox for several long moments. His paw that held his blade twitched. Blood was already seeping through the makeshift bandage on his right arm and running down to drip off his clawtips. What Alwyn was suggesting was nothing Caden hadn't done before. It would have been simple enough, really, to get the old todd to talk. But the thought of doing such a thing again, even putting on the guise of the beast who would threaten to do such a thing in front of Daniil, felt like a rupture deep in his chest that boiled into white hot anger. He looked away from Daniil, growling in frustration. The sound rumbled from his chest to his throat, and he strode towards the old todd.

Before he reached the beast, however, Caden sheathed his dirk and picked up the desk chair. He stepped around the desk to one of the windows and, grunting through the pain in his arm and shoulder, slammed the chair into the glass. The window shattered.

"Help me get the desk through the window. The drop to the ground should be enough to smash it open," he said, chest rising and falling with more frustration than exertion. He glared down at the old todd on the ground, red eyes flashing in anger. "If it doesn't fit, then we do it Alwyn's way. I don't have the proper blade for removing thumbs, and I wouldn't ask Daniil to use his mother's katana for such a thing, but my dirk would do fine to take an eye."

 

[Alwyn Ryalor]

The older todd laughed openly at Caden, spitting out a mixture of blood and phelgm from where Alwyn had smacked him across the face, trying to aim for Caden’s feet. He smiled afterwards, two front golden teeth visible as he did so, then gave the son of Sken a most obscene paw gesture.

“Ye won’t break me or the desk so easy, you musky Musty. I’ve endured the stink of yer kind me whole life, nothing ye can do to me ain’t already been done.”

Alwyn glanced again at Caden, as if to say are you sure you just do not want to go with the first option I had planned? But then he glanced at a nervous Daniil, and he reconsidered his earlier proposal. He cared for his cousin, but this sort of work, well, it required a certain stomach...if he were a better todd, he would not even consider it, but growing up in his family, especially with his mother and father who never seemed to hesitate at taking the lowest road possible...sometimes it was hard to escape one’s heritage.

“All right, careful Caden...I’ll carry most of the weight...now...over to the window…now...you just lean the back up a bit, I’ll toss it out, can’t put more weight on that arm.”

The two more veteran soldiers lined up the desk with the window-it would fit, if barely. Giving Caden a nod, he and the marten lifted at the same time, and chucked it out the window. It landed in the alley with a loud crash, splinters flying everywhere, and for a moment, Alwyn was hopeful it would come apart. But, although the desk seemed somewhat damage, from what he could tell, the compartment retained intact, although Alwyn’s nose twitched at a rancid smell. He noted, next to the window, a cart of...nightstuff as they called it, and then he judged the distance from the second floor to the street without having to jump into that cart. ‘Gates, if he tucked in and rolled, maybe he could make it, like he had been trained to. But Caden and Daniil, with their wounds? They land with the slightest imperfection and those injuries could go from treatable to permanently disabling. Not to mention Veltra...he was not liking what was increasingly looking like their only escape plan.

The older todd behind them laughed.

“Ahaha, traitor and you musky Musty, you think we would be so dumb to make it that easy for ye? No one’s bustin’ into desk that short a sledgehammer, and ye ain’t got that kinda time. I see yer wounds, and soon the whole district will’ll be swarmin’ looking for ye. Even if you kill me, ye lost.”