Fox in Action!

"Both of you, stop it!"

I couldn't think. What else could I do besides order them to stop? I was unarmed and outmatched by both. It was entertaining to see the heroine jump between a fight to stop it, but I wasn't keen on dying pointlessly. Again.

"What in the Emperor's name is happening here?!"

Several sets of heavy metal footsteps snuck up on me, drawing blank stares from me and the cat boy. Yahime stared at the boy. Her arm was raised and ready to strike, but she'd frozen when pleaded for the two to stop.

"Captain Murus," the boy said meekly. His daggers slipped to his hips and he knelt before the hefty mustached man standing behind me with his entourage.

The man, Captain Murus, was well over twenty centimeters taller than me with a shining bald head. What little dirt brown hair he had seemed to only cultivate on his upper lip, creating a furry mustache that made me question how often he hunted hedgehogs. His armor was round and gaudy, encrusted with jewels and trimmed with what looked like genuine gold and silver. An expensive ensemble more suited for a duke than a random captain stationed at the border of the empire.

"It seems some people around her don't know how to recognize their betters."

A hard leather boot kicked the back of my knee while a metal gloved hand grabbed my hair to shove my head down.

Please don't attack them, please don't attack them, please don't attack them.

I repeated the desperate plea in my head as many times as humanly possible. My only hope was that Yahime could understand the vague intentions transmitted through our bond. Otherwise the town would find itself painted red. Thankfully I saw her kneel in the corner of my eye.

"Now who is causing a ruckus in my town," Murus asked in a greasy voice. "Is that you again, Shiro?"

"Apologies, Captain!" the cat boy, Shiro, cried, prostrating himself in a dogeza.

"And who's this? I thought I'd already had a run with all the women in this shit hole."

"She's a traveler!"

Gelle, one of the guards we'd met at the gate, pushed his way through the other guards to Murus.

"She came with that other one there. They're the ones that brought news of the Seele pack."

"This one?"

Murus knelt in front of me and grabbed my chin in his hand.

"She's got quite the face, though she's a bit scrawny for my tastes."

I grit my teeth instead of spitting on his mustache. What choice did I have? While I was Aurelie, my body was so starved and filthy that it was unlikely anyone would recognize me, which was probably for the best. To him I was just another conquest.

"Should we arrest them for causing a disturbance, Sir?"

Murus's manure black eyes undressed me one last time before he turned away.

"Yes, let's do that. It'll be nice to have something fresh to warm my bed after this goose chase. Besides, if it's all a lie I'll already have the culprit."

A knot clogged my throat as a guard yanked me to my feet. Behind me I could hear them struggling to move Yahime. Shiro could have vanished for all I knew.

"Leave the other two," Murus said over his shoulder. "The kitten knows better than to claw his master and that girl…" He didn't seem to have the words for Yahime.

Fantastic. Maybe I should let Yahime go on a rampage. These are all soldiers of the empire anyways. We'll be fighting them one way or another in the future.

As much as I tried to convince myself, my heart wouldn't let me. I knew avenging Aurelie would result in countless deaths, but saying and doing it were completely different. It was like child telling themself they'll stand up to their bully only to give up their allowance again. Could I really live with the weight of all those lives on my shoulders?

"Just wait here," I said to Yahime under my breath as the guard holding me pushed me the direction of the border wall. "Listen to Bixey when she comes."

***

"…knows better than to claw his master and that girl…"

Bixey bit her bottom lip as she peered over the edge of the wooden stall. The street had cleared at the sight of the mustached human Shiro had called Murus. She didn't know why he was bowing face first in front of the man, but she could ask the kitten that later. The more pressing concern was what to do about Kyomi.

Save her now and go into hiding or save her later after a plan? Bixey considered the variables. Murus seemed to have bought the lie about the Seele. It was honestly surprising to see someone so blatantly abusing their position for personal gain was actually committed to fulfilling their duties. Humans were so strange.

"I'm over thinking this," Bixey muttered. "She would have just swooped in and rescued them. Meanwhile I'm here, stuck on what ifs."

She clenched her jaw. It was easy to hide her anxiety behind dismissive jokes when there wasn't a crisis at hand. A lot harder when someone she wanted to protect had their life on the line.

"Whatever."

Blue balls of flames flickered to life behind Bixey's shoulders and launched themselves across the street. Thick azure smoke filled the air and men were coughing and cursing in confusion. Murus was the loudest, pushing the blame on whoever was nearby and ordering them to extinguish the fire. Not that they could. The fire would burn as long as Bixey gave it mana.

Crouching low, Bixey took advantage of her size and wove between the agitated guards. She couldn't see Kyomi, but she knew that at least Yahime would still be in the same spot. The Dusk was too simple minded to venture on its own. As expected Yahime was still kneeling on the ground.

"Get up already!" Bixey hissed. She tried to pull Yahime to her feet but it was like lifting a statue made of solid iron. "We need to grab Kyomi and go!"

At Kyomi's name the Dusk rose, shedding her husk of clothing and growing to her full height.

"That's not what I was telling you to do, you stupid… Just grab Kyomi without being seen or killing anyone," Bixey paused, remembering the gory forest Yahime had decorated with the slaver innards. "Without hurting anyone."

She was gone.

"Now you," Bixey said, kicking the sputtering white kitten in the ribs. "Get your ass up, Shiro, and take us to the hideout. We have a lot to discuss."

"Bix? What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean 'what am I doing here'? I've been looking for you and the resist—"

Shiro's hand covered Bixey's mouth to cut her off.

"Don't say anything. Murus doesn't know I'm part of the resistance."

"I don't care what that caterpillar lipped monkey knows," Bixey snapped, shoving Shiro's hand away. "Just take us to the hideout already!"

"I'm going, I'm going! But why do you even care what happens to that woman? I thought you hated humans."

"I do! Well, most… I owe her and I'm just paying her back, okay?"

Shiro's blue eyes turned to slits. Had she said something wrong? Was it so strange to be loyal to someone who'd saved her life, even if the person was human?

"Never hate a person because of how they were born. People, whether human or Exiled, should be based on the actions they choose to take, not their origin."

Her mother wasn't a wise woman. But after a millennia of life, she occasionally spouted something of worth and Bixey held those words particularly close to her heart. She'd trusted too many Exiled just as bad as humans to not.

"Just do what I tell you. They're coming."

"No one is—"

His blue eyes widened as Yahime's towering silhouette approached through the smoke. His hands gripped his daggers, daggers that seemed too finely crafted for someone like Shiro, and his fur stood on end.

"Bixey?!"

Kyomi's voice heralded her and Yahime's arrival and Bixey elbowed Shiro in the ribs as the Dusk greeted them with Kyomi hanging like a sack of flour under her arm.

"See? I told you! Now stop messing about and get us out of here!"

11:40:00