A Tale of Three

Chapter 21: War

"Cyrene, come on!" Alba called, hurrying her to leave Omnes's den.

"One second," Cyrene put the scroll she'd been reading on battle plans back on the table.

When Cyrene finally squirmed out of the tight exit she saw her warriors. All of Veilded was cloaked in metal armor crafted in multitude by birds from ages past. It covered their shoulders, head, and back with shiny silvery metal that flowed across them like water. The metal was thin and hard, making it incredibly light. Anglo didn't stand a chance.

"Cyrene! Thank Luna I found you. You have to wear armor," Fida yelled from the noisy crowd. "I sent Vesta to go and get it."

"Why do I have to wear different armor? I'm pretty sure I can protect myself," Cyrene protested.

"Just shut up and put it on," Fida growled. Cyrene turned around to see Vesta, the jaguar who had guided her out of Veilded many years ago, carrying a giant set of armor.

"My queen, you must look like a leader in order to lead a war," Vesta said, giving a small smile to Cyrene.

"Fine, but that doesn't mean I have to look happy about it," Cyrene growled, picking up a silver battle helmet lined with golden runes and swinging it onto her head. It settled around her head and ears, surprisingly light and cool. She picked up shoulder plates with the same design, along with a gorget and cuirass and placed them on her neck and back.

"You look like a leader, my queen," Vesta smiled, nodding her approval. Cyrene stared at her for a second.

"Thanks." She paused. "For this, and showing me the cave years ago."

"We have to get going you know. We don't have all day," Fida said impatiently from beside her. "Please tell me you have a plan."

"I think so," Cyrene said, recalling the scrolls she had read.

"We can't just march in there. They have the Veilded border heavily guarded already. We would lose lots of our warriors if we went in that way," Fida said.

"Can most of Veilded shape shift?" Cyrene asked Fida, her plan depending on the answer.

"In order to complete training the feline has to be able to transform into one bird and one land animal," Fida explained.

"Anglo doesn't know we have magic, so they won't know we can shape shift," Cyrene said, her voice starting to speed up. "They are guarding a border expecting an attack from their level, so none of Anglo is going to look up. If we disguise ourselves as birds, we can fly over them and land in the center of their control, which is Jinx's tree. When we get there, we can shape shift out of the birds, and be in the center of their territory with full armor."

"Cyrene, I don't say this often, but that was brilliant," Fida said, even though the leopardess sounded like she had already thought of that. "You might want to announce it now. We were planning to leave tonight."

Nodding a quick 'thanks', Cyrene jumped onto the rock in the middle, her armor barely weighing her down. It did make an awful screech against the stone, but the sound got everyone's attention. As heads turned towards her, she felt the eyes of the felines staring at her armor. She relished their attention.

"Tonight we attack Anglo. In the high of the moon we will knock down their warriors, and restore the glarings to their former glory."

"Even Anglo?" a voice interrupted. Cyrene looked over to see a young green-eyed lion eyeing her with suspicion. His tail was flicking across the old stone floor, attracting the looks of felines around him.