Hope + Furret

Chapter 8

Furret sticks to the shadows that the tropical forest gives him as he travels closer to the Enoinae border. He happens upon a small village that closely resembles one from Rhankobit, but he knows that it is surely across the border because of the change in the color of the wind.

He makes his way though the village, which luckily has a few dark alleyways to hid in. By the time he makes it to the end of the town, he's surprised to see a sign hanging from the front door of one of his regular stops on this road: Three Roses.

"Shut down," he reads. "Shut down? What do they mean shut down?"

"Psst."

Furret hears someone beckoning him from deeper in the shadows.

"Nightstalk? What are you doing in here?"

Nightstalk glances around while adjusting his cloak. "Things have changed quite a bit since you last visited. They got a new guy in charge and he's destroyed what little we had set up here in the territory."

"Damn," says Furret, making sure that he's etra careful to not look at Nightstalk's face.

"Damn is right. The camps are gone, the bars — even the tamer ones — all gone. Senior Manager Renyq made sure that the restrictions and punishments were increased in the hopes of 'making Enoinae a better, safer place'. Yeah, right. That hellhound can go back where he came from off in his magic forest with his pipes and hooplah."

"Hey now, that's a little speciesist, don't you think?"

"Screw speciesism, that rat took away an entire territory from us. He's working on closing the borders too. He's got security teams up everywhere, even along the Followers of the Divine border. Who knows what he's got cooking under the surface."

"Yeah, who knows."

"Anyway, you gotta know it isn't safe here. He replaced the guards with specially trained military folks, if you know what I mean, and has each one carry around a stack of wanted flyers. And guess who's face is on the top of that stack."

Furret covers his face with his hand. "Horsedung."

Nightstalk just nods at him. "Well, I gotta get across the border before they close it up for good. We still have a few gaps where we can escape. You should get out while there's still time."

Furret shakes his head. "No, I'm after Vic. You got any idea where he ran off to?"

"No ideas, brother. Like I said, our web is compromised. He's shut it all down, and he's got fakes planted in every town reporting back to him in case any of us decide to get any ideas. He even turned Onyx against us."

"Onyx? Great fields, he really has got everyone deep in his little pocket."

Nightstalker backs off slightly. "Yeah, they're all just hoping to have a spot saved for them in his little court, that hellhound reject. Anyway, I really do have to go. I have to make it to the border by sundown. Stay safe, brother."

"And may you find shelter," Furret says. Nightstalk and Furret both press their forearms together in a sign of allegiance before Nightstalk disappears.