Kassandora sighed and set off to Sokolowski’s frontline in Raptor One. The Waeh problem could wait, the fact the front lines weren’t moving was a bigger issue entirely.

Fer let go of Anassa’s hand and looked at her sister. Anassa straightened and rubbed her wrist, in any other situation, she would have made a sour face and some defensive comment. Not now, the Anassa standing before her was the Anassa written about in the history books: Cold red eyes that boiled in fury, black hair to make the night jealous of its darkness. A glare that sent men running for their lives.

And Fer knew she stood in the same manner. A battle was one thing, there was honour in that, it was a test of wits and strength. A spy was another entirely. They all knew it, not a single member of her family claimed ownership over the rule, it was as obvious as saying grass was green or blood was red: Traitors died first.

“Logar, Traian, assemble a hunting pack.” Fer growled, her voice deep and slow. Kassandora wasn’t the only one who could lead. “Anassa, don’t kill them yet.” Anassa nodded.

“I’ve not touched them, I’m just looking at them.” She replied. Fer nodded and walked past her sister, almost a head taller than Anassa, with the golden mane falling past her hips.

“Go to Zalewski.”

Anassa didn’t even take a second to reply, she said immediately, her eyes on Fer’s. “I’m there.”

“Tell him to assemble the men, everyone in the camp, civilian or not. Everyone, tell him to line them up.”

The Anassa in Zalewski’s tent prodded the man’s shoulder. He was listening to music on his headphones and didn’t notice her appear behind him. Zalewski reacted as any of Kassandora’s generals would, the man froze for a moment, looked around in front of himself, suddenly wary, and then turned to look up at Anassa.

General Zalewski stood up instantly and saluted Anassa. In a dark green shirt and shorts, standard dress for when out of battle. “General Zalewski at attention Goddess Anassa! How may I serve?”

“Assemble the troops, every man, woman, child, I don’t care if you have talking dogs here. Anything that can speak, whether they’re drunk or sleeping. Me and Fer are doing an inspection of the troops.” Anassa stared at the man and the clapped her hands. “Well? Pronto! Do you know what that means?”

Zalewski blinked and nodded hurriedly. “It means fast.” He said, then realised what those words actually meant. “I’ll go right now!” He turned and ran out of the tent, already issuing orders.

Fer walked back to Zalewski’s part of the army with sixty beastmen that Logar and Traian had assembled. Officially, they were all part of Zalewski’s army, but with Fer here, the man took great caution with the beastmen as to not overstep his authority into Fer’s realm. Fer assumed Anassa faced the same problem when she was dealing with sorcerers. Anassa appeared in the air, floating next to Fer so that their faces were at equal heights. At this pace, the woman would have had to make some ridiculous jog to keep up with Fer’s pace. The beastmen behind them could do it easily though, hoof and claw and paw tore up the jungle’s dirt beneath them.

The birds stopped singing and animals moved out of their way as Fer walked. She could hear them, forests had always been loud, and jungles were louder. Small beetles would scutter into their hiding holes and the red ants of this land would break their organized ranks to make space for the hunting pack.

It was a short walk, it had never been too long for Fer. She could devour the distance in a matter of minutes if she tried, but usually it was a twenty minute traversal. Today, it was half the time. Circling a huge tree with a thick canopy, Fer finally emerged to gaze at Zalewski’s camp. Sprawling, organized, with Kassandora’s touches that every army of hers possessed. Campfires in front of every tent, some with pots hanging over them. The soldiers had been cooking meals. A few had tried to stash away their bottles of booze, Anassa would most likely not notice it, but the smell was obvious. They had tinned soup for food today, it smelled of duck and tomatoes.

The Lemur artillery trucks were parked in several rows. Zalewski had been forty-eight of the vehicles. Fer wanted to meet her engineer friend clerics to get their opinion on the new vehicles. Unfortunately none of them had been assigned to this front. Eight helicopters sat there too, civilian models, but standardised. Kassandora sent a different model to each army to ease the sending of spare parts, Zalewski got the heaviest units, huge helicopters with massive sliding doors all painted black, the only marker to delineate them were two striped lines on either side, each helicopter had a different colour combination. They were ex-Cleric vehicles, not the ones donated by Kirinyaa’s wealthy. Ekkerson got those.

The tents were divided in Kassandora’s usual style, she preferred sprawling encampments made for ease of movement over Maisara’s tight box layout which stuffed as many men as possible in a tight an area as possible. Roads had been cleared by the engineering brigades, then smoothed down with bulldozers, although they were just dirt.

Zalewski, being a man chosen for leadership by Kassandora, was fast. Very fast. Fer knew that even if she tried, it would have been a push to assemble the three thousand beastmen who had been sent to the frontline. Zalewski somehow managed to get the whole camp of ten thousand, with a quarter of that number again in civilians and logistical troops, assembled into formation by the time Fer got to the camp’s northern edge, where a massive amount of jungle had been felled to create a gathering square.

And more than ten thousand men had been assembled there. It wasn’t his whole army, it was merely the eastern-armies command division. More men would be coming soon, and Zalewski had split the army up to cover the entire front. It would have been impossible in the past when battles were merely huge brawls of men swinging swords at each other. Numbers had been the deciding factor then. Now though, with Kassandora’s guns, each division was close enough to support its neighbours, but far enough to project a sphere of influence around its position and stop Maisara from circling them.

Fer sighed as she stared at the men, this would take longer than she imagined. Anassa set herself on the ground as another copy of Anassa brought over the three maids. Fer turned to her beastmen. “Make a half-circle away from me, keep them inside.” The wolfmen all smiled with snarls that twisted the fur and skin over their faces in unnatural ways. The bullmen merely grunted. Three darkfurs had tagged along, that was usual whenever Fer left her camp, beastmen were naturally curious creatures.

The beastmen made an arc and Anassa deposited the three maids into that half-circle. Three tall girls, it was the first time Fer saw them. She had admonished Anassa when the woman said they were tall, but these girls were in fact tall. Easily as tall most men, it did not sit right with her either now. They wore black dresses, standard wear for maids, and looked terrified… Fer narrowed her eyes at them. But it wasn’t the fear of confusion or terror, there was no anger at the injustice coming from their scent. It was merely fear and worry and resignation.

Fer was sure they were spies through and through, only people who got in trouble and knew about it smelled like that.

Zalewski approached the two Goddesses, brought about a salute and stood at attention. The sun reflected off his shaved head. “General Zalewski reports Command Division has been assembled!” He said in a loud voice, the nine thousand soldiers stood at attention immediately, the banging of boot on boot as loud as an explosion. It echoed a few times against the trees before disappearing.

“I’ll take it from here.” Fer said. “If anyone runs, they’re yours Ana.” Anassa made a terribly cruel show-smile. She rarely made it in private, it was more for her public image. It had the effect it always did, the soldiers and civilians who saw it grew pale. One logistics man started shaking. Fer walked to the middle of the crowd and roared. It silenced the few nervous whispers questioning what was happening.

“I am Fer!” Fer shouted loud enough for even those at the back to hear. “Anyone who runs is considered a traitor, you cannot outrun me. I will catch you, and we will hold a summary execution on the spot.” Zalewski’s eyes widened in shock, but he held his mouth shut. Good for him. Fer was in no mood to play games with spies. “Understood?!” Fer shouted.

“Understood Goddess Fer!” The entire division responded.

And Fer got to work. She walked to the first man of the first rank, leaned in and smelled him: Human, dirty, sweaty, but human. “Sit.” Fer said. The man took a moment to react and then sat, his legs crossed. Fer already moved onto the second: human again. “Sit.” And so he sat. And third sat. And the fourth. And the fifth.

And the fiftieth. Fer sent a random man from the first rank into her pack. If they were shapeshifters, she didn’t want them to run, so she sent one man wrongly on purpose to calm them down. One rank was done in ten minutes. The second in eight.

Fer was starting to doubt herself when she got to the two-thousand mark. And then she came across a man. Tall again, taller than the men by his side, with an angular and handsome face. Fer didn’t even bother leaning in now, the smell of man was obvious and using her nose so much made her more aware of it. But this man… she smelled him: Dirty, absolutely slathered with cologne and cigarettes, so much as if he was trying to hide his scent. But there it was though, he didn’t have the soft and sweet smell of humanity on him, he had the tang of fox. The same that had been on Anassa’s fingers.

“Go.” Fer said. The man closed his eyes and nodded in resignation. The smell wafting from him said the same, it wasn’t fear, it was simply the pathetic scent of a creature that had given up. Of easy prey that wouldn’t fight back. He walked slowly past the sitting men and into the half-circle her beastmen had made, there were eight men there now. And two Anassas hovered above it, red dresses swaying in the day’s light breeze, then another eight were spread out around the division and watching for any movement or sign that someone would run.

And Fer smelled the next man. “Sit.” She found another fox in the six thousands. It took her two hours, but the entirety of Zalewski’s troops were sat down. And Fer moved onto the civilians. Two foxes were hidden here, but Fer picked out another half-dozen men. Zalewski himself stood still as he watched the proceedings. He didn’t speak, he didn’t ask a question, he merely stood and waited: Kassandora’s man through and through.

Fer returned to the half-circle. The bullmen had poor noses, better than humans, but poor. “Wolfmen!” Fer shouted. “Line up!” Fer walked into the group of soldiers and civilians she had picked out and smelled them. Fox and human, when the two scents were next to each other, it was so obvious even a child would catch it.

The wolfmen lined up, a few had brought rifles, most had merely come. If they needed guns, Fer would have told them to bring guns. “You and you, forwards.” Fer picked out a human and a fox. Both soldiers, the fox was noticeably taller though. And more handsome. Fer looked at the man’s face, handsome in an almost artificial way. Handsome like a painting, without imperfections and with smooth skin that soldiers didn’t normally have. Not a skilled shapeshifter then. They walked to the line of wolfmen. “Smell until you can tell the difference.”

The forty wolfmen circled around them and started to smell. Fer gave them a minute. They had to learn at their own pace, hurrying them up would only lead to mistakes later. Eventually Logar stepped away. Fer pointed to the group that had been captured. “Count them, don’t say it out loud.” The foxes must have realised what was going on, their postures were absolutely dismal. The humans were merely confused and afraid and unsure.

Another wolfman finished, he got the same command. And another. And another. And they all did. They finished and lined up. “How many?” Fer asked them.

All forty replied at the same time. “Seven and thirteen.” Fer smiled to herself, they were quick learners indeed. If any of them would have answered differently, her ears were sharp enough to catch it, but they all answered immediately as the pack had been trained to do. And all of them sounded absolutely confident in themselves.

“Good.” Fer said. “Return.” They returned to the semi-circle as Fer walked over and smelled Zalewski. It was simply to make sure. He was human, as human as they came, with the distinct scent of Kassandora’s blessing, something like a spicy mint. Very much like her sister, that smell.

Fer walked into the centre of the group. She towered them all, almost twice their height again, and patted a soldier dressed in camouflage shorts and shirt. “Return.” The man blinked at her, opened his mouth and blinked again.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“To the ranks?” He asked.

“To the ranks.” Fer confirmed, there was no reason to be brutal with people who simply had the misfortune of being picked out by her to teach her beastmen how to differentiate scents. She walked away from the man as he took a shaky step away from the semi. Another man returned. The third one almost seemed ready for it. Eventually, all thirteen humans left. The seven foxes looked at themselves, one of Anassa’s maids shook her head. Resignation and defeat and acceptance and fox: that was their scent at this point.

Fer crossed her arms and stared at the maids, at the two false-soldiers and the two false civilians. The question was, how did they get in? Fer pointed at one of the soldiers, the maids were easy enough to figure out. They had been kidnapped, killed and buried somewhere. But soldiers? The man stepped forwards and Fer turned to the sitting division, all on the ground, all in silence and fully concentrated on what was happening. They had grown easy now that they realised they weren’t in trouble. “This man’s team, stand up!” Eleven men from the third rank stood up, all in dark green resting clothes. “Come over here!” Fer shouted.

And so they came. Slowly, unsurely, but they came. The Anassas in the air merely kept watch. Fer didn’t even look at the fox pretending to be a man. The team formed a single rank and one man stepped forwards. Lean and muscled, all Kassandora’s training had made them all. “Corporal Skaski, Team two, first platoon, third brigade, second command division!” He half shouted. Fer looked over at Anassa, the woman merely rolled her eyes. Fer gave her a smug grin, she absolutely knew that Anassa had no clue what the man was talking about! Haha!

“Have you engaged in battle?” Fer asked.

“No Goddess!” Skaski replied.

“This man.” Fer pointed to the soldier. “Who is this?”

“Private Samminth! Under my command!” Fer nodded and crossed her arms.

“Did Private Samminth disappear recently?” The corporal raised wriggled his eyebrows as he thought.

“There was a time two days ago when he was missing in the evening, but he had a reason.”

Fer tilted her head to one side as she questioned the man. “And that was?”

“He got lost in the jungle.” Skaski replied sheepishly. A few of the men from his team tried to contain a laugh. Fer nodded, that was a good reason indeed. If the man had said he needed to call his wife or other ridiculous lie, that could be investigated further. What was there to say about getting lost in the jungle? The man got lost and that was it.

That would be fine, if this Private Samminth didn’t smell like fox. Frankly, Fer was disappointed. If Fortia had sent shapeshifters in, she should at least have made sure they didn’t smell of Ihon red fox and Kirinyaan moon-eared fox instead. “Your Private Samminth is dead.” Fer responded. “Return to the ranks and mark him down as a casualty, assassination.” Skaski looked at Samminth, then at Fer, his team fell silent. There was no laughter now, but no one would question a Goddess. Maybe Kavaa could be debated with, or Helenna. But not someone with the reputation of Fer.

The team saluted Fer, and then returned. Fer spun back around in a theatrical fashion to the seven foxes standing in that semi-circle. “The game is up!” She said loudly, she made sure to lay a fun tone on. It was over at this point. “This is what will happen. You will reveal yourselves, or I will reveal you for me.” A tone like that was worse than a command, a command dignified. Fer granted them no dignity, this was no better than playing with dolls. “You have ten seconds, unless you need more time, then do ask. I’m in a rather good mood right now.”

No one asked. “Ten.” Fer raised her hands. “Nine.” None of them made a move. “Eight.” The three maids looked at each other. “Seven.” Fer grew bored. “Six-Five-Four-Three-Two-One.” Fer finished off quickly, each word curling into the next. “You had your chance.” Fer said, she took large steps to this Private Samminth. The man smelled of resignation and depression.

In an instant, her hand wrapped around Samminth’s neck. It was a quick movement, Fer spun with him in her hand and slammed him into the ground. The beastmen sneered at the sight of the man getting injured. The humans all looked shocked, Zalewski obviously didn’t like the show Fer was putting on. And Private Samminth.

Private Samminth groaned with the sultry voice of a woman. Fer lifted her foot and put pressure on his… hers? Its chest. A rib cracked. Then another. And Samminth screamed in a high-pitched tone only a terrified girl could do.

And then, Samminth changed. Two tall ears burst out over his head, as tall as Fer’s, but fluffier and red. A tail burst out from his rear. Then another. Four tails in total, all soft and thick and as large as a man’s leg. Fer applied the pressure as Zalewski briskly walked over. All the disdain he had for Fer punishing his men had washed away as he stared at the transformation. Samminth’s hair grew until it reached his waist, it was a vivid orange, the sort foxes usually had. Eyes turned a vulpine yellow, nails extended and grew, clothes became loose around the waist and tight around the chest. Fer kept her foot on the fox’s stomach the whole time. “Please don’t kill me!”

“What’s your name?”

“Ra-Raiko!” Fer turned her head as the copies of Anassa disappeared until only one was left. She appeared by Fer’s side.

“Raiko.” Fer said and gave the fox a kick, the woman tumbled in the red dirt. “Lovely Raiko, lovely indeed.” She changed gazes from the woman to Zalewski. “This is why we needed a show, your men needed to see this.” Fer leaned down, picked up Raiko by her neck and showed her off for the whole division to see. “No one is allowed to be alone outside of the camp from now on. If you want to leave to pick oranges, then take a friend with you. If not, you will end up like Private Samminth, wherever he is, most likely in this woman’s stomach.”

“I-I don’t eat people.” Raiko said as she grabbed her torso. Fer dropped her and lowered her tone to Zalewski as Raiko curled up into a ball between them, tails wrapped around her and ears brought close to her head as she nursed her broken ribs and burst into tears.

“Have a Cleric heal her. I want them alive.”

“Yes, of course.” Zalewski immediately ran off to fetch medical Clerics. Fer turned to the other six foxes and crossed her arms. The game was truly up now, if they thought they could get away before, then Raiko’s defeat must have put them in their place.

Fer took a step and started counting quickly. “Ten-Nine-Eight-Sev-“ All of them started to change. Tails appeared, ears burst out from the tops of heads. The tallest of them had five tails, she had been one of Anassa’s maids, the shortest was still as tall as a woman, and that fox only had two. Fer smiled to herself, all most creatures needed was a little bit of fear and they would cooperate.

“That was easy.” Anassa said quietly from Fer’s side. Fer ignored her sister and walked in between the fox-people.

“I could smell you.” Fer said as the fox-people fell silent. She had heard stories of these in the past, they didn’t feature in the Great War as their island nation of Ihon was always in a state of chaotic war with itself. Not anymore apparently. “Normally I put spies down.” Fer took a step and the fox-women took a step away. “But today, I’m feeling rather generous. You people hold no allegiance to the White Pantheon, why spy for them?”

The fox-women all exchanged looks, rather, all of them looked at the one who had five thick red tails behind her. The woman sighed. “It would break our contract.” She said.

“Do you know who I am?” Fer took a long step to come face to face with the woman. The fox was taller than a man, but she only reached to Fer’s waist.

“You are Fer, Epan Goddess of Beasthood.” The fox said slowly, as if picking every word to make sure it was correct. She obviously smelled of fear, but the way the other foxes were looking at her made it obvious she was the leader here. Leaders got brave when they had to talk for others, that was only natural.

“And you?”

“My name is Asano.” The woman said glumly.

“And her?” Fer extended an arm out to her sister who was watching them.

“Anassa, Epan Goddess of Sorcery.”

“So you’re aware of us.” Fer said and Asano nodded slowly, she had brilliant orange-yellow eyes. “So I have to assume you know exactly what your contract means to me.” Asano replied with another slow nod. A few of the beastmen growled as Zalewski and two Clerics guided a healed Raiko back to the party. “What does it mean, Miss Asano?” Fer regained control of the situation as she saw Asano’s eyes stray to Raiko.

“Nothing.” Asano said slowly and Fer smiled.

“Exactly. Nothing, so if you please.”

And Asano shook her head, mouth still, eyes of the verge of tears. Fer sighed. Sometimes, a little bit of fear was needed to get people talking. All animals needed it, animals respected strength, it was that simple. Fer stood up and turned to Anassa. If they knew of Fer and Anassa, they would know of their other sisters too. “Ana, call Neneria.”

Anassa raised her eyebrows in surprise as Fer monitored the fox-women. Every single one of them had the blood drain from their faces, they all shared looks. The smallest girl, the one with only two tails, tugged on Asano’s arm. “Please…” She whispered quietly.

“Neneria?” Asano asked slowly.

“My sister. I have four big sisters, Neneria is one of them.” Fer said happily. “Asano, you will break eventually under me, it may take a week, it may take a month, or a year. You will break and then you will serve as a meal.” Some of the wolfmen chuckled at that. Fer was glad they knew her so well that they could improvise like this. “But I do not have a week, a month or a year to waste. Neneria will arrive today, the dead do not bother telling lies.”

Fer thought about how to further drive the point home. “Neneria is, as you would call her, the Epan Goddess of Death, but I think Death gets us all, no matter what continent we’re from.” She finished and smiled at the fox woman. Asano’s hands were shaking.

“Please don’t.” Asano said quietly.

“Do you know what Neneria does?” Fer asked. “I think you do, you were aware of us enough to hide from me and get under Ana’s nose for four days.” Fer gently patted the woman’s shoulder. “Good job, most people wouldn’t manage a day. I’m proud of you.” It was the exact sort of sarcasm that crushed utterly.

“I have Neneria on the phone!” Anassa appeared close to them, holding her phone in a hand.

Neneria’s voice came through the speaker, as bored and flat as the Goddess of Death always what. “What do you need me for Ana?”

“I need you actually.” Fer said, tears burst out from Asano’s eyes. Her ears collapsed on her head and her knees started to shake. The girl with two tails was already crying, but trying to hide it. Her face was buried in her eyes and Raiko was gently holding her shoulders. “We’ve captured spies.” Fer said as she held Raiko’s gaze.

Neneria merely sighed over the phone. She wasn’t even playing a character, that was as honest as Neneria got. “And they’re not talking?” Neneria asked.

“You’ve read my mind.” Fer made sure her happy tone was completely incongruent with the cold expression on her face.

“Nothing to read, not our first time we had spies.”

“Please…” Asano said quietly. “Don’t, we have souls.” Neneria heard her.

“Charming.” Neneria said. “I collect them. What are they?”

“Ihon fox-human hybrid.” Fer said and Neneria chuckled.

“You mean Kitsune?” Fer rolled her eyes but Neneria saved it. “I don’t have any of them, nice to add to the collection.” Asano collapsed to her knees and started crying.

“Please don’t! We! I’ll! Just me then! Let them go! They’re children!”

“We all die in the end.” Neneria said over the phone. There was some emotion in that tone now, Neneria was enjoying herself. Although Fer was too. This feeling of complete victory almost compared to the sensation of a victorious battle. The girl with two tails broke free of Raiko’s grasp and hugged Asano, they started speaking something in a language Fer did not understand.

Anassa did though. She interrupted them. “Don’t bother with that. You can talk, or Neneria will make you talk.” The kitsune looked up in horror at Anassa after they realised she could understand them. Fer smelled the fear on them and decided they had been pushed enough, she gave them the lifeline out.

“You talk now, I’ll send you to Arascus. He’s much more merciful than I am.” Fer held out her hand to Anassa. “Paper and pen Ana.” Anassa tutted at being used like a delivery girl, a copy of her appeared on the other side of Fer, then disappeared. A moment later, the Anassa here had a pen and paper in her hand. She passed both to Fer.

Fer wrote in her scrawl of handwriting. It wasn’t pretty, but it did the job, and she had never bothered to master it in the way her sisters did. These girls spied on us, but they helped too. Don’t kill them, send them home. And then she drew three dashes, it was supposed to be a claw mark. Her signature. She showed the note to Asano to read and then held it out of reach. “Information first, what are you spying for?”

Asano took a deep breath. The scent of resignation poured from her as if she had just showered in it. The fox-woman had been crushed utterly. She wiped tears from her eyes and proceeded to speak. “We were reporting on your locations and movements.”

Fer whistled and crossed her arms. “Truly phenomenal that, it really makes me think, could I ever work that out?” She looked up at the sky and put her finger on her chin. “I think I could.” Asano resigned herself further, she swayed from side to side, and her tails stretched out to prop her torso up.

“It’s…” Asano slowly said. “You promise not to send us to Neneria?”

“I promise.” Fer said easily.

“Really?”

“If this is trite, you will go, if this is important, you will be back in your temples by next week.” Anassa said coldly. “Now speak, Fer is patient is but I am not.” Neneria chuckled over the phone.

“The objective was to enrage you and get you out of position. Waeh is hunting you. When you advanced far enough, he would capture you.” Fer nodded. That did sound like a plan, and she had seen what Waeh did to Kassandora back at the meeting. It was the sort of thing Fortia would come up with too, she didn’t like battlefield deaths, much better to hold a public execution.

“And Fortia sent you to spy on us?” Fer adopted a more diplomatic tone, now that Asano had cracked, you needed to apply a little bit of pressure to crack her open. Push too hard and you destroyed the egg. “On me?” Fer raised an eyebrow. “Did she not tell you who I am?”

Asano recovered some more at Fer’s softer tone. “She warned us to stay away from you so we did, and we were only supposed to be here until today.”

“Why?” Fer asked.

“Because Kassandora is heading to the middle army today.” Asano said slowly. “Sokolowski’s I think.” She mispronounced the name. Fer looked to Anassa. Anassa looked to Fer.

“Call.” Fer said immediately. Anassa dropped the call to Neneria and rang Kassandora instantly.

They waited for that buzzing tone. Once. Asano hugged the little kitsune with the two pale tails. Twice. Raiko collapsed onto her knees. Thrice. The call dropped. Anassa rang again. Once. Another of the fox-women gave up and collapsed onto the ground. Twice. Zalewski shook his head. Thrice. Fer’s heart started to beat faster. The call dropped. Anassa rang again.

Once. Twice. Thrice.

Anassa rang again.

Once. Twice. Thrice.

Anassa rang again.

Once. Twice. Thrice.

Zalewski spoke up. “She’ll be on the plane. There’s no signal up there.” Fer thanked the entire world that the man had an answer which wasn’t the worst situation she could imagine.

“When does she get there?” Fer asked.

“Today evening, she’s supposed to be here tomorrow, but it could be delayed depending on Sokolowski’s situation. That’s what she told me.” Zalewski said. Fer looked from him to Anassa. Anassa looked from her phone to Fer.

There was only question that Of Beasthood needed to ask. “Can you make it before he does?” Anassa did not reply, she turned, took a step and disappeared. Fer saw appear above the treetops in the north-east. Then she took another step and disappeared. There she was, a black dot in the distance. And another step. And Anassa was gone from view.

And Fer was left on the ground.

Hopefully Little Kassie had a plan. There was no way to defeat Waeh in open battle, not when he had a power as terrible as what he displayed.