Q&A Sessions for Orders and Conscience

Epilogue: Part One

Umbitr crashed through the forrest, cradling Tal'nera in his arms and trying not to let the branches and leaves smack his wounded form that much.

"Hold on," Umbitr gasped. "Hold on, Tal'nera. We're gonna get to to safety. Just hold on."

Tal'nera let out a faint screech of pain. Umbitr didn't have time to let him transform into a humanoid form, and it was somewhat easier that he only had to hold a falcon in his arms rather than a roughly 59-kilogram adult human.

Especially when he had to deal with his own problems. While escaping, a member of the House of Land had bit the back of his thigh and Umbitr had lost his grip on his gun. Now he only had access to a handful of kitchen knives that White had let him borrow, and his own combat knife. Along with that, he was leaving a blood trail that was detectible by his pursuers.

It didn't matter that much, though. Umbitr burst through to the clearing and made a mad dash to the open doors of the Dropship. Behind him, several angry guards and maybe even Tal'nera's parents were chasing him, desperate to make sure that Umbitr didn't run off with a House Successor.

Umbitr yelped with pain as someone lept forward and dug their teeth into the wound that the guard gave him as he was escaping. He crashed to the ground, then pulled out his knife and stabbed the fox, feeling a twinge of guilt as he recognized it as an old training partner.

He scrambled back to his feet and scooped up Tal'nera, wrapping the blanket more tightly around him. The blood from Umbitr's blade stained his gloves, it wasn't so bad.

What was bad was that the attack gave the others time to catch up to Umbitr. Umbitr cried out in pain as several others sank their claws and fangs into his flesh.

Come on! Umbitr thought, adrenaline masking some of the pain. I can't fail or this is for nothing! They'll kill us for this outrage!

But the simple fact was a numbers game; he was outnumbered fifty to one, plus the fact that he was protecting Tal'nera's injured form-

Wait. Instead of running, he could do something else They thought that he was kidnapping Tal'nera. No one else knew of their relationship. "You aren't going to like this," Umbitr said in a low voice. The falcon in his arms blinked once and Umbitr went into action.

He whirled around and held Tal'nera out in front of him, yelling, "One step closer and I'll break his neck with my bare hands!"

That caused most of the pursuers to halt in their tracks. Umbitr was breathing heavily, his heart pounding in his own ears. "Stay back! You, I see you! Get on the ground and stay there!"

His plan worked, until it didn't. One of his pursuers must have been feeling edgier than the rest and leapt forward, maw wide open and blood on their teeth. Umbitr yelped, stabbed them in the mouth, and ran back to the Dropship, with the doors closing tightly behind him.

"Fly, fly, fly!" Umbitr screamed.

"What else do you think I'm doing?!" K'dela retorted. "Get in a seat and mind the crates!"

It was only then that Umbitr noticed the piles and piles of wooden crates stacked along the walls of the Dropship. "Exactly how many of the supplements did you take?"

"All of them. I cleaned 'em out. It'll take them a while before they will risk sending anyone else on a mission."

"Son of a gun," Umbitr breathed. "Son of a gun."

In his arms, Tal'nera shifted slightly and looked up at Umbitr with hazy eyes. A twinge of something made Umbitr's chest constrict and he wrapped the blanket around Tal'nera, cradling him and letting his warmth spread to Tal'nera's battered and tortured form.