The Exiles (31 page)

Antrie barely had a chance to get up before Felx was again in his face. With Tomn down, the wolf's confidence started to fail, his large pointed ears dropping to either side of his head. With the exile's strength weakening, Felx was able to disarm the wolf with a few skilful moves.

Finding himself kneeling in the dirt, the stunned wolf could only look on as Felx delivered a blow to his chest with the hilt of his sword. Falling back into the dirt, the winded wolf had just enough energy to look at his chest in shock. The stunning poison flooded his system and the wolf fell into unconsciousness.

Felx was holding still in the final position of his last strike, after a short deep breath he then moved fluently back into an alert stance. Steadying his breathing, Felx turned just in time to see a flash. Katan had discharged a lightning blast at point blank range, one exile was hit and fell to the ground, his fur standing on end and smouldering slightly.

The second exile had jumped back and sunk his sword into the ground, earthing the powerful electrical discharge just in time. With his colleagues all down, the remaining exile knew he was alone. Taking a side-glance at Captain Felx, the remaining exile saw that the end was near, and it would not be happy ending for him. Backing away, the last wolf fighter turned and ran.

The two lions felt the building fear in the young male wolf as he sped away.

Turning back towards the remains of the catapult, Katan walked up to be at the side of Felx. Both pale orange Anthros looking towards the one remaining exile.

Philton examined the two lions carefully, summing up the situation. He had now recovered from his trance and the concentrated storm he had caused was breaking up above him. The dispersing dark clouds were releasing their last bit of rain onto the three Anthros and their tense standoff. The only sound now was the falling rain and the last of the wind. A rainbow flashed briefly across the sky.

Katan fumbled in his pouch, preparing another Shaman weapon, just in case.

Philton recognised both of the lions, having been well informed before entering RefugeCross. It was an uneven standoff and he knew it.

‘Captain Felx, Professor Katan,' said Philton calmly in greeting.

‘And who do we have the pleasure of talking to?' asked Katan sternly. He could sense that this was no ordinary wolf.

‘Just an exile,' replied Philton with a sinister smile.

‘Then I would suggest you surrender,' stated Captain Felx calmly.

Philton simply continued to smile; his eyes were quickly scanning the surroundings to ensure that he was able to retreat.

‘No,' replied Philton calmly. ‘I would suggest that you don't try and follow.' Throwing his hands forward, Philton let loose a barrage of projected emotions. The earth in front of the wolf trembled, and like an ocean wave, the vegetation sprung up in front of Philton and surged towards the lions.

The older academic lion Katan had not been in direct combat often, and had never experienced such an emotional attack. Like a deer caught in headlights, the lion was frozen to the spot.

Captain Felx was unmoved though. The projected emotions flowed off of him like water off a rock. He ran forward to meet the first wave of vegetation, sweeping his sword low to cut the vines as they sprang from the ground to attack him.

‘Katan!' screamed Felx as he was pushed back slowly. ‘Snap out of it!'

Katan shook his head so as to clear it.

Captain Felx jumped back as another wave came in, barely avoiding the ensnaring vegetation.

Throwing his hands up, Katan released some powder into the air. With a quick swish of two small blades a spark ignited a large ball of flames above the older lion's head. Seemingly hovering in the air, the fireball stayed still until Katan threw his weight forward, causing the ball of fire to race off low just above the earth. Captain Felx jumped out of the way as the ball of fire hurtled towards Philton, vaporising each wave of vegetation it hit. There was a flash and another explosion. Both lions covered their eyes with a raised arm. Once the light had died down they could see that Philton had gone.

‘Tricky customer,' said Captain Felx, putting his weapons away.

‘I say we don't try and follow,' Katan suggested, still a little shaken up. Felx smiled at his older friend.

‘Agreed.'

Moving forward, the two adults approached the remains of the catapult. Looking around, there was little left, Philton had grabbed the horses and fled, taking the one injured exile nearby with him.

‘Captain Felx!' called a voice from the rocky outcrop nearby.

Turning, Felx was totally stunned to see Trex appearing from between the large boulders near to the cliff base.

‘Trex? But what in the world are you doing here?' said Katan in complete surprise.

‘I could ask you the same thing,' replied Trex. He had a huge smile on his face, all previous hardships forgotten. Running over to meet the two, Trex couldn't help but give a quick hug to the bewildered Captain.

‘I'm glad you're here though, you just saved us,' Trex said, backing up.

‘But what… wait, us? Who else is here?' asked Felx. He was just calm enough to think straight. Felx had never known Trex to do anything other then on his own.

‘Sara and Sage Filfia are up there,' replied Trex, pointing up towards the cliffs.

Looking up, Felx could just make out Sara still on the ledge. She had regained enough strength to stand up. Filfia, however, was still lying down.

‘Sara?' mouthed Captain Felx to himself. This was just getting weirder.

‘They chased us up there and were going to finish us off with the catapult thingy,' said Trex happily.

‘Wait, how many exiles are there exactly?' asked Felx seriously, coming back to his senses.

‘Don't worry, that's it, the last one is out cold up there,' Trex said, pointing back up to the cliff. ‘I was about to try and attack when you showed up, perfect timing too, the poor wolf turned to look at what was going on and was out cold before he knew it.' Trex grinned from ear to ear.

‘Is Filfia ok?' asked Katan seriously.

‘I think so,' replied Trex, calming down slightly. ‘She was still out when I left her.'

Katan looked over at Captain Felx, who himself was looking as bewildered as the older Shaman was. This was going to be some interesting story.

It took an hour or so to get Sara and Sage Filfia down from the ledge on the cliff. To everyone's great relief the condition of the wolf Sage was stable, but she was still unconscious. In the meantime Sara was recovering slowly and Katan had seen to Trex's reopened wound on his leg. The young lion had almost forgotten about his injury in all the excitement.

Sara found herself suddenly worried again; this time it was about being surrounded by lions, particularly Captain Felx. The Captain had only ‘unofficially' pardoned her from her trespass a few days ago.

Sara was put at ease, as well as slightly confused, when both adult lions thanked her personally for her efforts in saving Sage Filfia.

Trex, for his part, happily recounted what had happened to them over the last few days. The exited lion youth only left out the parts that Sara had told him in confidence, thus keeping his promise to her, much to the relief of the tired wolf youth.

The captured exiles had all been tied together and were sitting back to back. Misha and Flint had also returned, the two horses having regained a bit of energy after a much needed rest.

Though Trex had been happy to tell his side of the story, Katan and Felx had not spoken much about why they had suddenly appeared.

Sara sat next to a small fire, eating some soup Katan had prepared for everyone. Trex was helping Felx and Katan prepare a stretcher on Katan's camel, it would allow them to transport the unconscious Sage Filfia more comfortably.

‘Aren't you afraid that the exiles will attack again,' asked Sara, interrupting the end of Trex's story.

Trex looked over at the seated female wolf, his mind still racing. Trex wasn't annoyed at having been interrupted, he was just elaborating on some of the more exiting bits anyway.

‘The ones that were poisoned should be out for a whole day,' said Trex, ‘and other then the leader, only two of the others would be conscious again.'

‘Yes, amongst them the two most dangerous ones,' pressed Sara.

‘We sent a message as soon as we saw your distress arrow,' replied Captain Felx. He pulled at a rope, securing the stretcher firmly to one side of the camel. ‘Your arrow was so high that perhaps even the wolves at the northern outpost noticed it.'

‘Really,' said Trex, amazed. The outpost was many kilometres away.

‘It will take a few days for lions to get through the wilderness to here,' said Sara, looking worryingly at the surrounding forest. Sara was now able to walk and ride again, but it would be some time before she could fight once more. Though she had seen how the two adult lions could handle themselves in combat, she didn't feel comfortable relying on them when all the remaining exiles were conscious again.

‘What makes you think we sent the message to the lion outposts?' asked Captain Felx with a smile.

Sara blinked, looking over she could see a few small cages hanging on one side of the Shaman's camel. A small humming bird like creature was fluttering around in one. These colourful fast little birds filled the same role as homing pigeons do on our world.

‘I just assumed…' she started.

‘Wolf soldiers should be here in a few hours. Once they're here we'll take Filfia back to Torstberg and head home from there,' Felx interrupted, turning to help Katan. ‘And if that exile leader is as well informed as he appears to be, he'll be trying his hardest to stay out of everyone's way until the situation cools down a bit.'

Sara looked back down at her mug, taking another sip of the thick gooey soup.

‘So why are you here actually? You never said,' asked Trex suddenly.

Katan and Felx exchanged a knowing glance.

Katan stroked his long grey beard for a few moments before eventually replying.

‘Brekiz helped us there actually… He proved that someone had been tampering with the messenger birds and intercepting messages.'

‘You're kidding me,' replied Trex. He was rather impressed that one of Brekiz's conspiracy theories had actually led to something.

‘Unfortunately not, but luckily we got a second message which made us suspicious, so we decided to come and visit the Sage to make sure.'

‘A message, what did it say?' asked Trex.

Katan avoided the question, working instead to modify the saddle of his camel.

‘Let's just say we suspected something was up,' Katan said.

‘Why didn't you just inform Mayor Petrice?' asked Sara in a low voice.

Captain Felx looked down at the wolf, he knew what had happened to her grandfather and could guess the connection; even if Trex had not said a word regarding Sara's reason for trying to save Sage Filfia.

‘Lions are not the only ones who have untrustworthy elements from within, it seems,' Felx said dryly, keeping a close eye on the wolf.

Sara cringed, instantly regretting the question.

‘The message we got warned of… undesirables, within the wolf government at Torstberg. Unfortunately it wasn't specific,' Felx continued.

Sara instantly thought of her grandfather, since when had she been a part of
undesirable
elements. Taking a hurried sip of her soup, Sara managed to burn her tongue.

‘Ouch.'

Ignoring this, Felx turned back to Trex.

‘So we thought we would go ourselves to make sure,' said the Captain.

‘So the lion official in RefugeCross who tampered with the birds is connected with the exiles trying to kill the Sage?' asked Trex, confused.

‘No, the only thing they had in common was that they wanted the same thing.'

‘Sorry, I don't understand,' said Trex.

‘It appears that the exiles are working for someone in the wolf government who wants a new war between lions and wolves.'

‘That's why they were trying to kill Filfia,' said Sara out aloud without even realising it, ‘she helps to lead the wolf councillors who don't want another war,'

The whole thing made more sense to her all of a sudden.

‘That's right,' said Katan, who was impressed with the young wolfs knowledge.

‘Whoever was tampering with the messages on our side had nothing to do with that plan, but when they read the warning they were well enough informed about Filfia to know what it could mean if they let it happen.'

Trex stopped what he was doing and straightened up, he was trying to piece the whole thing together in his mind.

‘War.'

‘Exactly, so why stop the enemy from doing something that you want. They destroyed the message hoping that it would be too late by the time we got another warning.'

‘Why would lions want a new war?' asked Sara, still suspicious.

‘Why would wolves want a new war?' replied Captain Felx.

Sara didn't reply. The whole thing was ridiculous to her, the last war had been fought to a bloody stalemate, everyone knew that, why any Anthro would think that a new one would be any different was beyond her.

‘Who sent the message then? And why didn't they just send it to Filfia in the first place,' Sara persisted, finding the whole thing confusing.

‘I can answer that,' said a quiet voice nearby.

‘Petil!' exclaimed Katan, using Filfia's first name. ‘How are you feeling?'

‘Fine, fine,' said the Sage quietly, ‘quite surprised to be alive actually.'

Katan was kneeling beside his old friend.

‘Thank the Great Spirit that you are,' said the older lion with a smile. ‘Otherwise I would have been in serious trouble with my wife.'

The exhausted Sage smiled slightly, and then turned her head back towards Sara.

‘What is your name?'

‘Sara Kelgorn Ma'am.'

Filfia's eye's moved over to Trex.

‘Trex Tristfull Ma'am,' said Trex, in response to the question in her eyes.

‘Interesting,' said Filfia, recognising the family names. They were quite well known, thanks to Zea being a mixed race cub.

‘Well Sara,' said Filfia slowly, turning to face the young wolf. ‘I did receive the warning, but I didn't realise its importance… I am just lucky that I have friends who are more cautious then me.' Filfia briefly made kind eye contact with Felx and Katan. ‘That is also the answer to your other question. Just as there are some Anthros at work on both sides trying to start a war, there are also Anthros on either side that are trying to prevent one. I am just glad that our group, unlike the others, have good communication between our two races.'

Sara digested this. All of a sudden the whole thing seemed infinitely more complicated. She had just wanted to work for her race, help her kind. In doing something that she had thought was right, she had almost helped to start a war? Sara still wasn't sure of the details, but she did know that war was wrong; it could never be a good idea.

Sara really wanted to talk to her grandfather, had he known this? Obviously not at the start, or he would not have tried to stop it later. She really needed time to herself, time to think.

‘Politics is just nuts,' said Trex eventually, who had also tried to figure out what was going on.

‘That's a very accurate way of putting it,' said Filfia with a weak smile.

‘You had better get some rest,' suggested Katan. He was still worried that Filfia was too weak for all this talking.

‘Ok,' replied Filfia tiredly. Turning her head one more time towards the two youngsters she simply said, ‘Thank you.' Settling back down, she closed her eyes, returning to rest.

It was barely an hour later when a distant horn announced the approach of a wolf patrol. By this stage everything was ready for the departure of the small mixed group. They were only waiting for the wolf escort before moving out.

‘I think I'll head off before they get here,' announced Sara suddenly, getting up. The young wolf felt much better after her rest, and didn't like the idea of having to explain herself to all the wolves who were about to turn up.

‘What? Why?' asked Trex, astonished.

‘I just want to go home.'

‘But you're a hero, there's no reason not to go to Torstberg.'

Sara stopped to face the group. Captain Felx was sitting next to Shaman Katan and looked on with interest at the wolf's reaction.

‘It's more complicated then that,' Sara replied, thinking of her grandfather.

Though she had now achieved what she had set out to do, it just seemed to be getting more difficult to understand and she didn't feel up to the complexity, not just yet.

‘You're not well enough to travel alone,' said Felx sternly, ‘even with the exiles on the run; you are still in the wild,'

Though Captain Felx had no power over Sara out here, the female wolf knew that she would have to come up with some type of argument or good reason before he allowed her to go. Sara couldn't help but become frustrated with the bothersome adult lion, what did it matter to him what she did?

Trex was standing between the two and felt Sara's frustration; the young wolf was too tired to try and mask her feelings.

‘I'll go with her, we live near each other after all,' Trex suddenly suggested.

Felx observed the young lion, noticing his normally carefree expression had taken a determined edge. There was a pause, Sara was about to argue when Felx interrupted.

‘I suppose you two have proven that you can take care of yourselves.'

Sara again hesitated, she wasn't really happy with the arrangement, but there didn't seem to be any other way for her to leave.

‘Ok,' she agreed eventually.

A few minutes later, the two were mounted up and ready to go.

‘Be careful out there, the exiles should have headed north, but then you never know,' warned Captain Felx.

‘We'll be fine,' said Trex confidently with a smile.

‘Sara,' said Captain Felx suddenly.

The young wolf turned to face him.

‘You really did something noble today. It'll be fine.'

Sara simply nodded blankly. Acknowledging Katan, she took one more quick look around before turning Misha in the direction of the woods.

‘We'll drop by on the way down to RefugeCross,' Captain Felx said to Trex with a smile.

‘See you then,' Trex said, returning the grin. ‘Thanks again Professor Katan,' Trex called to the older lion. ‘And thank Brekiz for me as well.'

‘Take care my boy,' Katan called after him.

It was midday as the two youths started their journey back home. Travelling at a reasonable pace the lion and wolf didn't talk much, just enough to be able to set up camp that night, and undertake what was necessary. Sara was lost in her own thoughts; Trex could sense this and was happy to let the wolf have her time while the two of them mulled over what they had just been through.

The two independent youths were both a little surprised that they were so comfortable travelling together the whole time. The last few days had ingrained in them the value of not working alone, and both of them actually enjoyed the other's company instead of being irritated by each other's mannerisms. There was something to be said for being part of a team; it was worth putting up with the occasional annoyances.