Once More, Unto the Breach

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

    Chapter 14

I cough Jadin as she fell back off the bed, she had blood
running from her eyes, mouth and nose. Thrysten on the other
hand was slowly waking up. Draz was instantly at Thrysten's
side, Kalie came over to me and Jadin whipping her face off
with a wet cloth.

"Are you all right?" I asked.

She moaned and shook her head slowly. "This isn't as easy
for me as it is for others." She whispered, her voice
getting stronger as she spoke.

Draz spoke to us. "Tell that child that I thank her."

"Fox say's she's an Elf, and an adult." I said with a slight
smile as she sat up on the edge of the bed.

Thrysten coughed, rubbing her shoulder where her wing had
been hurt. "What happened?" She asked, looking around the
room, she focused on Jadin. "And who is she?"

"Draz will explain," Kalie said, standing up. "We'll go for
now. Though Fox want's to see you soon."

She nodded a bit, winching slightly. Kalie tap my shoulder
and I stood, helping Jadin up. Then we all headed out of the
room.

"I'm impressed. I've never seen healing like that, or that
much pain caused by doing it."

I nodded. "She bleed less when she healed Fox."

Kalie have me a sharp look. "What happened to Fox."

"To long of a story for right now," I sighed.

She shook her head, working her fingers through the fur of
her arms. "Why does Fox want Thrysten first? It would make
more sense to heal Ken first."

I shrugged. "I don't know. Though I think he has a plan of
some sort."

She chuckled. "In my experience Fox isn't the best at
planing things. He always seems to miss some major point
that I had to fix before it got us all killed. Except for
last time, he actually did pretty good then."

I shook my head a bit. "Well, I hope what ever he has this
time works, and I'll bet it has something to do with this."
I pulled the packet out of my pocket and showed it to Kalie.

She took it from me. "What is this?"

"Fox thinks it's a poison. I agree with him."

She frowned, sniffing it a bit. "Who for?"

"Krege." I said as we walked into the dinning hall.

"Why is he taking poison?" She asked.

Fox walked over, snatching the packet from Kalie's paw.
"Because he's being feed it by his Prime Minister."

Kalie sat down. "Oh... I see... He's taken over officially
by making Krege sick."

I nodded, sitting myself down along with Jadin. "It works
well too."

"So, he is the one who is doing this."

Fox nodded. "Right, he seems to be taking our forcing Krege
out kind of personally."

"Who?" Draz asked, walking into the room, Thrysten followed
behind adjusting her clothing as she went.

"Salden," Fox said, "Krege's Prime Minister and current
leader of the army's up there."

Draz frowned, sitting in his chair at the head of the table.
"Yes, he would have an interest. It was his son who you
fought for."

Fox groaned. "And he got killed at the end of it."

A connection made itself in my head. "He also blames you for
it Fox."

He looked at me. "Really?"

I nodded. "He almost drooled at the prospect of killing
you."

Fox rubbed his neck. "Nice man." He looked at Draz. "If
Krege was killed, Salden would not have taken charge would
he?"

"I don't think so," He said, "though if he was appointed to
rule while Krege was ill he would be king, unless Krege
died."

Fox blew a bit. "Right then," He threw the packet to Draz.
"I expect that is poison."

He frowned and passed to Thrysten. She sniffed it a bit then
dropped it on the table. "Yes, it is."

"Salden has been feeding that to Draz." I said.

She nodded. "Yes, a growing dose would keep him ill."

"Good then." Fox said with a smile. "I need an antidote that
will get him back to his feet in minutes. He doesn't have to
be strong, just awake, thinking and most of all talking."

"What do you have planed Fox?" Draz asked.

"You're going to surrender." Oriana said from where she had
been leaning against the wall. "Fox and I will take care of
the rest."

"We need the antidote first." Fox said. "Do you have one for
this?"

Thrysten looked at Draz. "It is the same poison dear, and
still a smaller dose."

He nodded. "Yes, we have an antidote. It might be stronger
then you need, but it will help."

Fox raised an eyebrow. "All right then. You're going to need
some kind of guard."

Thrysten smiled. "I can arrange that."

He nodded. "Jadin can help Ken right?"

"I can try and heal him enough so he can be moved back with
you guys." Jadin responded.

Fox blinked and nodded. "Well then. Sora you remember where
we came in, Ken's up there. Both of you get up there and do
what you can. Don't over extend yourself either."

I nodded and started up to the battlements with Jadin in
tow.

* * *

"How exactly will surrendering save us?" Draz asked, leaning
forward a bit.

I grabbed an apple (or something like) from the table and
bit into it. "It gets you to see Salden. The fact is you
have a script you need to follow."

Draz frowned. "What are you planning to do Fox?"

I started to speak, but stopped before I said anything. "To
be honest, I don't think I should say. We already know that
there are spies in the castle. They took Sora and tried to
kill me. Oriana knows and for what we need to do that's
enough."

"And what do we need to do?" Thrysten asked.

"Just get there, and take about twenty solders with you.
Kalie you go with them."

Kalie nodded. "All right."

"Draz, you insist on meeting Salden alone. When you do delay
him, about five minutes should do. Also, I will need the
antidote."

Draz nodded and Thrysten snapped a servant over to her then
sent him off.

I checked my pockets for the gun, I still had it, along with
the clips from before. "Kalie, right here and now, what is
the strongest weapon you have."

She reached over and grabbed what looked like Ken's satchel.
Reaching inside she fished around for a few seconds. There
was a muffled rip then she came up with something I hadn't
expect at all.

She tossed it my way and I looked it over. "A twelve-gage
pump action shotgun. Kalie your a bitch, you know that?"

She laughed and passed over four shells. "It holds all of
them, and that's all I have. It was an emergency weapon. Ken
didn't even know he had it."

I shook my head, taking the strap from the satchel and
attaching it to the shotgun, then loaded it and hung it
under my jacket.

The servant that Thrysten had sent off returned carrying a
small vial half full of a off-white liquid. The servant
handed it to me.

"Give him half of that," Thrysten said, "That should do it."

I nodded, putting it in another pocket.

"Come on Oriana, lets get going." I stood. "We'll meet you
at Salden's camp." Glancing down at the apple I still had in
my hand, I took another bite of it and threw it over my
shoulder as I walked out of the room.

-----

This story is (c) 1997 by Fox Cutter, hardcopy reprints
limited to one a person, all other rights reserved. This
story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission
of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed.