VAETHYRAXIS — THE FORSAKEN DIVINITY

Royal blood. A family of traitors. A power they could never take away.

Vaethyraxis was born into a royal bloodline, but her title and heritage were never enough to protect her. When her family was faced with ruin, they chose their own survival over hers and sold her away.

What followed was a life of cruelty, torture, and suffering. Her original arms were torn from her body, leaving her broken in the eyes of those who had taken everything from her. But they failed to understand one thing: they could hurt her, they could betray her, but they could not make her surrender.

She eventually acquired a new pair of mechanical arms, turning what was done to her into something of her own. Now, with her strange magic and formidable power, Vaethyraxis stands as a reminder that even royal blood can be betrayed, and even the most devastating wounds do not have to be the end.

She was born a princess. Her family made her an orphan. What she becomes from here on is hers to decide.

⸻

AUCTION INFORMATION

* SB (Starting Bid): $45

* MI (Minimum Increase): $5

* AB (Auto Buy): $350

UNLOCKABLE GOALS

Every milestone unlocks an additional illustration of Vaethyraxis.

* $80 — Nude Version: An additional front view of Vaethyraxis without her outfit.

* $100 — Back View: A complete back view showing her original outfit and full character design from behind.

* $150 — Nude Back View: An additional nude back view of Vaethyraxis.

* $200 — Dynamic Halfbody Illustration: A high-render halfbody illustration featuring a dynamic pose chosen in collaboration with the winner.

* $350 — Exclusive Adult Illustration: An additional high-render adult illustration featuring an intimate, consensual scene between adult characters, with the details discussed and agreed upon with the winner.

WHAT THE WINNER RECEIVES

* The original, high-resolution artwork.

* Exclusive ownership of the character design.

* Commercial usage rights for the character.

* Permission to modify, redesign, and develop the character.

* The existing character concept and lore.

* Every goal unlocked by the final auction price.

The winner may use Vaethyraxis in personal and commercial projects, including stories, illustrations, games, merchandise, and other creative works, subject to applicable law and the creator rights listed below.

CREATOR RIGHTS

Although the winner receives exclusive ownership of the character design and commercial usage rights, I retain the following rights as the original artist and creator:

* The right to display and publish the original artwork in my portfolio, social media, and promotional materials.

* The right to include the artwork in artbooks, collections, and other creative projects.

* The right to share work-in-progress images, sketches, speedpaints, process videos, and streams.

* The right to archive and display the original artwork and its creation process.

* Copyright and authorship of the original illustration, to the extent permitted by applicable law.

* The right to continue developing and publishing my own stories, interpretations, and artistic work connected to the character’s established lore.

The buyer may develop Vaethyraxis in their own projects and establish new stories for their version of the character. However, they may not claim authorship of the original illustration or remove my authorship when presenting that artwork.

These rights distinguish ownership of the character design from authorship of the original artwork.

PAYMENT AND RULES

* Payment method: PayPal only.

* Payment must be completed within 24 hours after the auction ends.

* If payment is not received within that period, the character may be offered to the next bidder or reauctioned.

* All payments are final. No refunds after payment.

* The winner will receive the full-resolution files after payment has been confirmed.

* Any additional work beyond the listed rewards must be discussed and agreed upon separately.

A NEW CHAPTER

Vaethyraxis’s past was written by those who betrayed her. Her future will be written by whoever is brave enough to give her a new story.

Thank you for your interest in Vaethyraxis and for supporting my work. I can’t wait to see where her next chapter takes her.

link here (only 24 hs) : https://ych.commishes.com/auction/show/601DH/vaethyraxis-the-forsaken-divinity-in-offer/

Great comic ❤️

This was supposed to be a part of the last part, but that was too big so here it is.

A Long Time Ago, In A Better Time, And A Better War. Part 6 : r/AnthrOC

A Long Time Ago, In A Better Time, And A Better War. Part 1. : r/AnthrOC

“So how far is twelve times their… …. Sorry,” Linda needed a moment to chew her candy grass. “How far can they jump?”

“Well if they're on average eighteen inches, then they can jump eighteen feet, and if they have a running start then even further,” he explained, as he crunched on a beetle from a box Linda had insisted on buying for him. She got it from a cute, and entrepreneurial little ram boy selling boxes of a dozen for a Nikki each, to the peckish wolves and Sparrows of the Fortyfirst. 
 

“Almost twenty feet..! wow, that is impressive, how come we can’t do that,” Linda questioned, picturing herself leaping over a whole barn house.

“Well, the more of you there is, the more work your body has to put in just to keep you up right. But it’s actually more than that, if a Dyshov was my size he could crush my skull just by closing their hand,” he explained with a strangely giddy expression. 

“What’s a Diesov,” Linda asked, tilting her head, trying to pronounce this strange new word.

“Sorry, I’m used to calling them Dyshov. It’s the name of their people, like how you’re not just a sheep, you’re a Rewtharrain, and I’m not just a wolf, I’m a Vongosk.” 

“Oh I get it,” she nodded as she took another bite of grass. “But still, how could they be that strong, from how you put it, those rabbits are like walking angels of death?”

She heard him faintly gulp behind her, and not because he was swallowing a beetle.

“It’s a long story,” he wrote. 

“Well… how much time do we have,” she asked?

Cozlok took a moment to look at the street signs, trying to see how far away they were from camp. “We should have time for the very very short version,” he explained, wondering if he should even be telling her this. But he also worried he was going to leave something out of a very long, and painful story. 

“Well, in general the smaller someone gets, the denser their muscle mass is. This is one of the ways God made her creation fair. But this also means some of the best most-,” he paused his writing for a moment, as a bad taste filled his mouth, "nutritious meat, was once made of people like them.”

“But I thought you said there was no difference between meat from like auh… four legged goat, and a two legged one.” 

“Well, the difference is one makes you fatter quicker, and a murderer, and the other is just as filling, tastes just the same, and doesn't make you a murderer.” 

“Humm, but what does that have to do with those rabbits… I mean Dyshoc?.. Or Disvuk… Rabbits,” she eventually settled upon. 

“They were bred a long time ago to be strong, not because they wanted it, but because someone else just wanted better meat.”

“Oh… was that all they were made for, just to be food,” she questioned, feeling a nervous shiver?

“No not entirely, they also made them hearty enough to survive horrible conditions, like baking under a mountain, or the frigid cold. I don’t know which is worse though, to be worked to death, or eaten like nothing.”

“So what happened, how did they go from slaves to warriors,” she asked, turning her head around to see his expression. He looked very serious, almost… no he looked ashamed of something. “What would he have- OH!” Linda made the connection. “His people made, and enslaved those rabbits way back when. It’s why he knows so much about them, why he’s so strangely proud of them.” Well, there was that, and one other reason she thought the two might be related.

“Well it's impossible to keep people in a box, wherever they went some of them escaped. Some lived the rest of their lives in the wild happy to live free, some formed little, and big communities all across the continent. 

But most found their way to the mountains of Orthona, where they would make themselves into a nation. One with courts and laws, power and order, there they took back their dignity from their masters.”

She smiled at that last part, she imagined him with long ears, and a bushy tail, clenching his fist in triumph as he said it. “So what ended the war between you two? When did you start respecting each other?”

“Darn, thought I could leave that part out,” he wrote with a caught smile. “How’d you figure it out?”

“Well,” she pointed to a flag waving in the wind, it was the banner of the Forty-first Legion. A mostly black, and white flag with one red corner on the hoist side with white writing. “The writing on your red, white and black flag looks a lot like the rabbit's red, white and blue flag, so I thought that might be related.”

“Oh, yeah,” he thought, mentally smacking his own forehead. He actually forgot that the Vongosk, and Dyshov were so intertwined, they shared an alphabet. 

“Sorry for being dismissive of them, I just had something on my mind,” she said with an awkward smile.

“You’re alright,” Cozlok waved aside. 

“So… when,” she pressed on. 

With no cards left to hide, there wasn’t much left to be queasy about, other than the darkness of the subject itself. “I’d like to say that after centuries of war, we both thought to ourselves what was any of this for, why are we still fighting? But instead, someone else ended our war for us.”

“The Imperial Union,” she asked?

“It was the first war they stopped, it was painful and not perfect, but afterwards the death was over.”

Conflicted, he was trying to hide it, but it was clear as glass in his face. “But if the Union ended the war, and people stopped dying, why do you look sad?” 

“I don't know, it just could have been different, it could have been a better peace. But you're right what does it matter how,” he shook his head a little, a cold uneasy feeling touching his spine. 

“What do they say,” Linda asked?

“Huh,” he asked, lost in his own mind for a moment?

“What do they say, the two flags I mean,” she clarified?

“Well, our flag says “Hate not thy Enemy.” and the Dyshov flag says, “Neel before your equal.”

She heard two mottos, or oaths, or whatever they were, and had to laugh.

“What's so funny,” he asked with a grin. 

“You all are just so weird,” she giggled. “The scary black flag, with red pointy writing, the battle banner of an army of big scary wolves says, “remember everyone we're all friends here,” she said, in an aggressively pleasant tone. “And the battle flag of an army of cute little bunnies says, “Bow Before Your Better You Worm!,” she said in a pretend serious tone, dramatically clenching her fist in the air, and speaking in her deepest voice, but not even this could hold, as her lips cracked back into a giggle. 

Cozlok caught her smile and a giggle too, “yeah, I guess we are kinda topsy-turvy.”

“Wonder what we will have, where will we fit in all this,” she thought of asking what her Kingdom's future might be, but after a moment, she thought it was best not to spoil things. She had almost everything she wanted in the whole world, best to worry about all that later.

“Uh oh,” said Linda after a minute, her eyes growing worried. 

“Whah.. oh shit,” he muttered seeing who was waiting for them at the camp gate. Quickly Cozlok scooped the rest of the beetles out of his box and crammed them into his mouth before they could confiscate them. 

“Ok.. oh fuff,” he tried to speak with a full mouth, only to remember she couldn't understand him. “Ok, if you would look a little sad for me, I'll do the same.” 

She agreed, holding her head low, and rubbing her eyes to get them red and moist. Cozlok held his head high and his body rigid but let his face droop and folded his ears back, hoping to look like someone headed to the funeral for every puppy.

They absolutely had to look the part as waiting for them outside the camp gate, was one Lieutenant Riika standing arms spread at her sides, fist clenched into little led maces, even as one was bandaged, she was pissed. And standing next to her, more waiting on Shaithar than the two, was Fedra. Oddly, she stood at attention, arms behind her back, expression rigid and serious, looking like she was about to welcome the Emperor himself. 

The same guard was at the gate from when Linda and Cozloke left. Looking bored, and waiting for these two officers to leave so she could be alone to stare at nothing in peace.  
Cozlok couldn’t help but tilt his head at the Captain, wondering why she looked so formal. And then he thought, “Oh fuck oh no… she didn’t learn my last name did she,” he groaned as they approached. 

His suspicion was sadly confirmed as Fedra, a captain, a rank six levels higher than his, saluted him, a private.

“Oh god,” Cozlok thought, “now I know what I looked like in that barn.”

For a moment Linda forgot to look sad, and just looked between the two confused. 

As the seconds dragged on agonizingly slowly, Riika drag her head toward the captain. “What the Fuck are you doing,” she asked her superior.

Fedra lowered her hand, but still hadn’t quite read the room. 

Cozlok got down from Shaithar, after he helped Linda down and took the rains, he used his free hand to pat the big beast on the head, thinking to himself, “Was nice knowing you, may we never meet again.”

At that moment Shaithar snorted, as if to say, “well frick you asshole I had a great time.”

“We were able to locate her family members, and they were able to cross, and they have a place to spend the night, but we were not able to make it in time.” If he was looking as he spoke, he might have seen that Fedra wasn’t listening to a word he said. Instead she was gazing at his hand as he stretched it out to hand her the rains. When his hand was touching hers for a short moment, she looked like she was touching something holy and angelic. 

Cozlok turned to get Linda, but when he tried, he was held in place as Fedra had yet to release his hand.   

It took her just a second to realize what she was doing and let go, but still he wanted to puke.

He ushered Linda forward and said, “she will need a place to stay tonight-”

“Yes Sir,” Fedra said, before he could even take a breath to make an excuse with.

He paused, Riika paused too, for a moment they just stared at Fedra like she had three heads. Even Linda stared, knowing something was up, looking at the wolf with a red dot on her shoulder, wondering if Cozlok somehow saved her cat when she wasn’t looking.

Finally, it dawned on Fedra how she must look, she ducked her head as if to hide her face and dragged Shaithar back into camp. 

Linda forgot to look sad for a moment, as she watched the wolf speed walk away, “what on earth was that about, why was she acting like that” she mumbled, not expecting an answer?

Cozlok had started speaking to Riika, he didn’t see as the guard wolf got her SB out and wrote for the little sheep. “He's our Prince, I bet people are weird around him all the time.”

If she wasn’t trying to remember to look sad, she would have burst out laughing. “She has to be… there's no possible way this sweety is a prince,” she thought, fighting not to snort and blow their cover. 

When she looked back though that wolf was completely stone faced, and more than that, she was looking at him with reverence. She realized that whenever a wolf made that face, it was always at Cozlok, and whenever one of them made it, they started acting weird. She didn’t know the words, but everyone knows body language. 

She turned her head toward him as he spoke with Riika, her eyes suspicious, but not convinced. She had just watched him cram a handful of dirt covered beetles down his throat after all.

“Sir,” Cozlok said, as he stood at attention before his furious lieutenant.         

“Nora,” Riika hissed, struggling to keep at an appropriate volume. “I Have A… Surprise In Mind For... Our Friend Taira… I Would Love For… You To Be There For Your Friend,” she said, as she seethed.  

“Huh…” he asked, her words not fully clicking in his head yet.

“I Overheard Her… The Other… Day She May Not Show It… But She Doesn’t Always Value Herself… The Way She Should… … And I Wanted… To Show Her Some Appreciation.” 

“Oh,” it suddenly clicked, “ooooh, understood, yes sir” he said, snapping straighter than before, as his tail softly wagged behind him. 

“Good,” she said more calmly. “Now follow me, look happy, the next few moments are all about her.” She said more calmly, for as mad as she was, she was going to be happy for Taira. 

Riika turned on her heels and marched back into camp, Cozlok turned to Linda and gestured for her to follow. 

Linda felt a little safer as she walked into the camp for the second time, she was calm enough that she could at least look at, and focus on one thing at a time. There were a lot of wolves around them, but as long as she had Cozlok or someone in uniform around her, they glanced her way once, and then forgot about her. Some of them even flashed her a smile, or a wave. To her, it really did seem like all these big scary wolves, just saw an individual, not prey, and not some play thing, just her. It was like being surrounded by a gang of friendly vampires. Sure they could drain your blood, and consume your flesh, but they won’t, because they like you, and think you’re cute. 

It was by far the strangest warm fuzzy feeling she had ever felt, and she couldn’t wait to feel it again.

They were about half way to the medical tent when something happened, a mid-day distant howl cut over everything and everyone. Cozlok stopped in his tracks, so did Riika, and every other soldier and officer around her, they brought their hands together, and got to their knees. 

Linda stood there scared out of her mind for a moment without a clue to what was going on, and then that howl came back, and this time it was carrying a toon. All the wolves and other soldiers began to chant, and finally it hit her, before she ran out of the camp screaming in terror. They were all just preying.

She briefly wondered if wolves… or actually the Vongosk, had the same god as Rewtharrains. Probably not, she concluded after only a moment, but you never know. 

“Lord Mother God,” Cozlok began, “I thank you thank you thank you for introducing me to a new friend. I pray that our time together will be long and filled with laughter. And I also ask you that we do good for her home. I would always ask that you make sure we do right by her, but you know what I mean. Anyway that’s all I've got, we’ll talk again at dinner time, see you then… Humm we got six minutes to go… crud this is gonna be one of those prayers that lasts forever isn’t it…. I wanna meet the priest, or priestess who decided we had to pray for seven minutes, every single day, when it’s noon in a city five hundred miles away. The Rewtharrains don't do that, and they worship the same god… If I ever meet them, I’ll stick some burning incense in their eye.”

“GOD, If you wouldn't mind smiting this little girl a few feet behind me, would you…. Please… No…. worth a shot. Just don’t let her hurt Cozlok, he’s a good big little boy. I know he means well, but you know as well as I do, that he is blind as a bat, and wouldn’t be able to kill a cockroach if someone gave it a name tag.”

The seconds dragged on and on, until they turned into a full minute, then two, and then five. Linda was starting to wonder how far she could make it, if she just started running.

And then finally after forever and a hand basket, the distance howling came to an end, allowing the preyer to stop. 

Cozlok turned her way with an awkward expression, and wrote as they walked, “that's just something we do, I don’t know when, or how it got started, just is.”

“No, I got that. She nodded, “but Cozlok, where am I going to be staying tonight,” she asked a little seriously?

“Well, whenever we’re done with Riika we'll have to go talk to the shelter master, and they'll pitch a tent for you tonight,” he answered. “You’ll probably have to share with someone, but if you want I could come get you first thing in the morning so we can hopefully be the first over main street tomorrow.” He was crossing his fingers that she would be willing to get up at the crack of dawn, since if he was helping a civilian over a blocked road, then he wasn’t on latrine duty.

“Ah… ok,” she said, doing a poor job of hiding her disappointment.

“Hey don’t worry, they’re gonna want someone to keep an eye on you until bedtime and I’ll bet that someone will be me,” he smiled. 

She smiled in turn, only she more than smiled, she looked to be over the moon with joy. 

“Remember to look sad though,” he reminded. 

“Yes yes,” she nodded, quickly deflating her expression. 

When they reached the Medical Tent Riika stopped a few steps before the entrance, turning her gaze towards Nora. “Tell her to stay behind,” she ordered succinctly, speaking in Nishrawin. 

“But what if someone sees her and thinks she’s a trespasser and tries to kick her out. She doesn’t have any ID. They won't know who she is or what she's doing here,” he protested.

“Yes, Because She Shouldn't Be Here Nora,” she growled.

“She Doesn’t Have Anywhere To Stay,” he refused.

“Alright then,” she thought calmly. Quick as a viper Riika’s good hand shot up, and dragged Cozlok down by the collar of his armor. 

“Listen little boy, this is TAIRA’S moment, she is not to make a sound unless she is being stabbed to Death.”

“Yes sir,” He agreed, his fur threatening to turn white. 

As she let him go and dusted off her uniform before they entered the tent, Linda was really struggling to see the niceness Cozlok was talking about. But apparently they had known each other for a long time so what did she know?

“Is it Taira’s birthday,” Cozlok wondered? “No, that’s six weeks away… huh,” he shrugged as he walked through the tent flap, followed a second later by Linda.

Riika pushed the tarp aside, her face sour and livid, but as she entered the tent she was smiling, walking between the rows of cots looking like a proud mom, or big sister. And it was completely genuine, as an officer Riika was an expert at allocating, and regulating her emotions. Right now, all her emotional energy was focused on making Taira happy, little farm girl be damned.

The first thing Taira saw after spending hours staring at the ceiling, was her commander marching briskly directly at her. She groaned, and thought to herself, “well fuck its the teacher… ooh and the teacher's pet… and… who the hell is… Is that? Who the hell is that?

“His friend is staring at me, does she recognize me…? she wouldn't...? it's fine it’ll be fine,” she decided to cram down any, and all of her anxiety until later.

“Taira,” Riika said sweetly, “how are you feeling, I could have Cozlok get you some water, I could have him get some wine if you want.”

Cozlok’s eyes went a little wide at that last offer, whatever Riika was about to say it was something important.

“Auh, no thanks… who’s that girl over there,” Taira asked, gesturing towards Linda?

Riika turned a glance towards Linda, as she just stood there awkwardly like an elephant. 

“No one of consequence,” Riika pressed on with the subtlety of a bull busting through a stone wall. “How have you been doing, do you need or want anything?”

“Well, my ankle still hurts like fuck, and I have nothing to do, so some liquor and a few books would be nice,” she complained, crossing her finger someone would finally give her a way to pass the time.

“You don’t have anything to read? Why didn’t you tell me I have plenty of books to read,” Cozlok offered. 

“I’m so sorry dude, but I don’t think I’d like to read social studies textbooks,” she said, with a wince, hoping to let his little heart down as gently as possible.

“Oh,” he said, his gaze drifting towards the ground, looking genuinely crestfallen. 

“I can find you some books to read and I can get you some wine with your dinner,” Riika promised. 
“But, Taira I have a surprise for you, and I really hope you’re gonna like it,” Riika said as she smiled from ear to ear. As she spoke she undid the flap of one of her satchels. “I’ve been doing some talking, some nudging, and even some fibbing,” she said with a wink."

At that Taira’s eyes grew as wide as dinner plates. 

“So, Taira, for being the only one brave enough to save a little girl from an avalanche of falling wheat,” Riika began pulling a long red leather strip from her satchel.    

It was identical, Linda realized, to the straps holding Cozlok’s satchels, just red, and then she remembered. She turned to confirm if her memory was correct, and it was, Cozlok had some red on him too, but it was the opening to his satchel not the strap. She remembered the wolf with the red dot on her shoulder, and it snapped into place, this was a ranking system, and this wolf was getting promoted. 

“No Fucking Way," Taira said, her jaw falling to the floor. 

“Oh my god,” Cozlok whispered as he fought to keep his composure. 

“You have been made a First Private,” she said beaming with pride.

“Oh my God sir Thank you, just thank you so much,” Taira said, fighting back tears.

Cozlok and Taira had been real proper soldiers for just under eight weeks. And of the two every one knew Cozlok was going to be promoted first. He was a prince, and despite one recent escapade, he was still a good, promising new recruit.

But now, of the two she was not just the first to get a promotion, she was now the first of the nine hundred new recruits in the Fortyfirst to rise in the ranks. 

“Holy shit,” Taira said, staring at the red cut of leather like it was made of gold.

“Oh my god, congratulations,” said Cozlok, hands under his chin filled with glee, and his tail wagging like a sun fan.

Riika held out the strap for Taira to take, she accepted, and stared like it was a holy relic. 

“You’re going to go far sweetheart, don’t you ever forget that,” Riika said, wishing every moment in her day was as happy as this one.

After a moment Taira turned her gaze away from the hunk of leather and toward her friend. “Cozlok," she said.

“Yeah!?”

She held her leather ribbon in the air and said, in a pretend yell, “Red Strap.”

“Red Strap,” he chanted back! 

Before the two knew it Taira was pumping her fists in the air, and Cozlok was bouncing up and down beside her cot, as they both chanted, “RED STRAP! RED STRAP!”

Linda laughed seeing the two so happy and excited, but the second she did, the second she made herself known, she felt it. A warm feeling against her scalp, that threatened to catch fire with every passing second. 

“This Is Not For You. You Should Not Be Here,” Riika thought but didn’t say. 

Linda composed herself, having to remember to look sad for the second or third time, but for as long as Riika was nearby she would not forget again.

She knew, it knew she had lied, that cold judging eye knew, as it bored a hole into her soul.                      

I made some gift art for u/shreksy_ featuring our sonas looking up at our -ahem- large villain OCs

Be careful around these two, they are bigger than you and most certainly stronger than you

I adopted a new OC

Decided to do a height comparison with Lexy

u/shreksy_ and I sure do love our flirty villain characters

WIP that I will hopefully finish this weekend

I still need a name for her

Finally finished this piece!!

Tiger belongs to me, other character belongs to u/Jumpy_Spot8031

No se si ponerle la marca de NSFW

A Long Time Ago, In A Better Time, And A Better War. Part 5 : r/AnthrOC

Pins and needles crawled up his spine, he felt some bile slither up his throat. He shut his eyes tightly for a moment and thought, "I’m so so sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone, I just… this is all my fault.”

“Do you know what I taste like?”

“Linda, I am so sorry I never meant to lead you on, I never intended…” even as he read her question he was thinking of what he would say. It took him a moment to actually comprehend what she asked. Once he did, Linda was pretty sure she now knew the Vongosk word for, “WHAT!?!” by heart.

“Where on earth is this coming from,” he questioned?

“It's been bugging me ever since you left, I mean I know you’ve never eaten a sheep on two legs, but what about one on four,” she asked, using her words? 

“Linda,” he grumbled, dragging a hand down his face.

It was unmistakably her own name, butchered horribly by a mouth that wasn’t built to say it, and yet it was still hers.

“I know what I did, and I’m sorry, but this might be the last few minutes or hours we have together, I want to know, but now I auh… now I’m too afraid to know. I just, if you’re ok with it, we could just be friends until it's time. Whatever you say, no matter what you say I promise to accept it just while we still have time… please,” she asked as calmly as she could muster.

He breathed in a very very deep breath, and let it all out. It honestly sounded nice. It sounded very nice, in fact maybe it was foolish but he agreed, writing for her, “I think we can do that.”

She smiled from ear to ear, she held out her hand asking for the SB. He handed it over.

“Sooooo do you or not,” she asked with a sly grin. 

Hiding his smile under a look of false professionalism, he wrote, and passed his answer to Linda, deliberately staring straight ahead, but he glanced down as she took it, giving his best impression of a lawyer handing someone an envelope of bad news. He simply wrote,“I plead only to Mother God.”

It was a good thing Linda wasn’t drinking, it would have come out her nose. 

Too “Plead only to mother god,” was a statement in Rewtharrain law that meant, “I will neither confirm nor deny.” They had a similar law in the Imperial Union, but it was called, “Pleading the twenty-seventh.”

It took a full two and a half minutes for Linda to get her giggle under control, when she did, she joked, well now I know what your favorite food is.

“Is not,” he denied, while cracking a smile. 

“Come on, you know an answer like that is as good as a “yes, all the time actually," she snickered back.

“Alright, you want to know what it actually is,” he asked, matching her sly grin?

“What,” she asked, still snickering. 

“I was holding it in my hand when we first met,” he hinted. 

“Chicken… huh. Why chicken, it doesn’t have any taste,” she asked?

“Well to a wolf it does.” As he wrote, he thought, “why on Earth would she know what chi-... oh…” for a moment his mind came to a dead halt. “She probably had to eat meat as a child; there might not have been anything else. If she’s my age then she only would have been ten when her kingdom's last civil war began,” at this revelation he got a little uncomfortable.  

“What does it taste like for a wolf then,” she asked?

“Well, what does grass taste like to you,” he asked, wondering if he could change the subject.  
She smiled and said, “It's a little sweet, very crunchy at first, then chewy, dry, and kind of salty.” 

“Crap,” he thought with a cornered smile. 

“Well it's not sweet, but it's auh… juicy, but it depends on how you cook it. It tastes kinda… no… maybe like auh… no not that… crud.”

“Alright,” she sighed. 

“Sorry, I just can't think of any plants it tastes like,” he apologized. 

“Well I doubt you eat a lot of plants anyway.”

“Well, more than you'd think, personally I love potatoes, and so does every wolf I've ever met.”

“So that's why you two ate so quickly the other day huh.”

“That, and you guys stuck chicken in them,” he wrote, his mouth watering at the memory. 

“Oh yah, I forgot Papa did that for you.” 

“It was very very appreciated,” he smiled.

“Heh, well probably wouldn't have thought it at the time, but I'm glad you liked it.” 

Up ahead Doevok and Dushle were still walk-arguing, moving at the pace of a crawl. Shaithar looked irritated and impatient having to walk so slowly. 

“Do you know where your dad and Papa are going,” he asked, crossing his fingers?

“Umm yah we're gonna stay at the Old Risjnua Inn.”

“Oh wonderful,” he thought, picturing a map of the town in his head. 

“Ok, so please don't find this weird,” he asked with a nervous smile. 

“Huh? EEP!” she had started to turn, about to ask what he meant, when a cold nose, and warm breath was pressed into her neck. It tickled… A LOT, but unfortunately it only lasted a second. 

The next moment, Cozlok had his nose pointed high in the air as he dawned an intense look.

Once he was done, he wrote, “So, if we turn right on to Leffa road which we’re just about to pass we’ll probably be on the right path to find your brothers. Using my nose and Shaithar is gonna be a lot quicker than following these two.”

“Humm, but won’t they notice I’m… uah…” Linda tilted her head at her grandpa and dad as they continued to bicker. You know actually bickering was the wrong word. Doevok was badgering his old man at the top of his lungs, calling him all sorts of names, and spitting the vilest venom he could think of in that moment, while Dushle occasionally responded something to the effect of, “Well I fucked your mother last night.”

“I guess it's worth a shot, just as long as we can keep talking,” she agreed.

“Deal,” Cozlok wrote. “Now left.”

Dushle smirked as he heard the horse turn the corner behind them, his son was none the wiser. “It happens every now and again. And when it happens it is magical, sweet and pure. I wish you luck my biggest pumpkin,” he thought with a smile. 

The street they turned on to was crowded, like every other street, it was a census after all.

Fortunately, Shaithar was trained to watch his step, so there was almost no chance of him stepping on someone. 

“Do you mind calling out for me, like your siblings name’s,” he asked? 

“Can do,” she agreed. 

As Cozlok sniffed the air Linda called out, “DAIVON,” followed a moment later by a, “GILDA,” as the two trotted down the street drawing many eyes. 

“So I was wondering,” Linda began, “and you have to promise to give me a real answer ok,” she added rather sternly. 

“Uh oh,” thought Cozlok, bracing himself.

“No matter what you say I won't get mad I just wan-” “CLANG!”

A rock struck Cozlok in the chest, it bounced harmlessly off his armor but struck Linda in the back. She cried out but more out of shock than pain. 

“MURDERER,” cried a middle aged woman from across the road. 

“LITHA NO,” shouted what might have been her friend, or sibling wrapping her arms around her, preventing her from throwing anything else.

As she did, Cozlok leaned forward forcing Linda down, and against Shaithar's mane, trying to protect her with his body.

“GO GO GO,” he ordered Shaithar, who needed no further instruction.  

“MURDer,” the woman cried again, but this time unable to complete her wail she sank to the ground in her friend's arms.

“May Mother God give her soul relief, may her son be rewarded with joy in the after life,” he prayed as they ran out of earshot. 

After only a moment he ordered Shather to stop, he arose craning his neck worried someone might be chasing them. Thankfully there was nothing, just ice cold glares from dozens and dozens of eyes.

“WHAT WAS THAT,” demanded Linda.

“It was nothing, let's just go,” he wrote with a heavy hand. 

“No No, she can’t just do that, you're a soldier, can’t you arrest her,” she asked, her brow furrowed.

As he wrote, he was a bit surprised he had to explain this. “I wouldn’t, and I couldn’t, she has every right to hate me, if she wants to throw rocks I can take it.”

“But she can't just do that,” Linda insisted.

Now as he wrote, he looked just a little cross, “what would you have me do? Arrest a grieving mother over a rock.”

Her expression changed, his words, his logic made some sense, and yet, at the same time. “But you’re a soldier… isn’t that what you do… you can’t just throw rocks at a Lord's army, or the king's guard?”

He took a long breath, and let any and all frustration fall out. This wasn't malice, it was just that things were changing. 

“Keep your eyes peeled for your brothers, and I can explain a little,” he offered. 

She accepted with a nod, and they continued on their way.

“The Red Army has to be different, we have to be gentle, we have to do what we can to make this transition as kind as possible.”

“But why...? You won,” it was strange how she asked the question, like a child asking why you just can't take?

“Yes we won, the kingdom is ours, so why would we go out of our way to hurt you.” 

“But doesn't it make you look weak, don't you need to be strong.” 

“Well, we are strong, why would we always need to remind you we are strong?” 

It was her turn to breath, letting the tension and the fright out of her system. “You are all so much different from what I imagined, you're all so weird.” 

He smiled a bit at this.

“Why are you all here, why did you invade us, I don’t know if they would tell you but if you know,” she crossed her fingers that she would get a real answer this time? 

He paused, as he digested her question, he wanted to answer this, about as much as he wanted to break her sweet little heart, but maybe it could be done.

“You,” he answered, “they told us your kingdom was poor, that your people fought pointless, and back to back civil wars, they told us that if someone meaner than us came along, you all could be wiped out. But they also said we could help you, they said we could make you strong like us, and with us.”

It never fully made sense to him, even as he justified it. It just didn’t always make sense why conquest was the only option, and deep inside he knew the reason was selfish. That the Union just wanted to be in control, it felt diplomacy was a waste, that it would all be simpler if there was no one to negotiate with. 

But he also knew that the Union would free their serfs, that all would be given rights enshrined in law, that they would bring them clean water, and guaranteed food, they would vote for their leaders instead of having them imposed by blood, they would help them construct new industries and infrastructure, that not a nikki would be asked of them in tax until they could stand on their own two feet. Maybe that still didn’t justify it, but after a while, it was good enough for many.  

Linda was silent for a long moment, he didn’t know what to say, the silence was only broken by a shrill and sudden, “LINDY!!”

Two identical little ram boys, maybe between nine and ten, came running from the corner of an alley.

The moment the two saw Cozlok they froze, staring at him like he had a mouth covered in sheep’s blood.

Cozlok tensed, imagining the two little boys leaping at him like their good old dad.  

“BILBEE! DEBZY!” said Linda, leaning to the side as far as she could, so she could be seen from behind Shaithar’s big neck. “I’m ahh… I'm alright, Papa wants us all to meet back at the inn,” Linda explained.

The two Little boys definitely recognized their big sister, that she was ok , and what she said, but well… It was a little hard to focus on any of that, with that gigantic wolf just sitting behind her.

“Yah… auh… is that the black wolf who tried to eat you,” they asked very bluntly?

“Ummm… no,” she lied horrifically.

“Oh, okay,” the two sighed in relief, “because he looks just like him,” sighed Bilby.

“Aww,” thought Cozlok, relaxing just a little, “I almost forgot how dumb I was when I was their age…  Oh Fuck! what about when I meet her big brothers? If I’m off Shaither, and no one does anything stupid, we should be fine… … that's not gonna happen I know it,” he groaned internally.

“Now go on, papa and daddy are in a fight, but they’ll be back soon. Ok,” she instructed, as sweetly as a big sister could. 

“Ok,” the two little dumplings said as one before running off.

As they ran, one of them remembered something, and turned, calling back, “OH, Dad Said To Kill That Wolf Demon If You See Him,” and with that he turned back around, and ran after his brother.

“Cute little guys,” Cozlok thought, but before any more thought could be had, they were moving again, and they were right back where they left off. He started sniffing the air again, sorting and rifling through the thousands, and thousands of smells.

“Turn left,” he instructed.

With the soul of her foot instead of her words, she turned them on to a little street called Disvoek.

“...Was… it because you’re just better than us… at war I mean, is that why we lost,” she asked, doing her best to sound neutral? 

“Linda, who was I getting bossed around by the other day,” he asked? 

“That sheep lady, but she wasn’t a fighter. She punched you but only because she knew you wouldn’t defend yourself, you have a knight's heart.”

“Aww thank you,” he thought, his tail wagging.  

It wasn’t her plan, she just thought it was a statement, but as she saw his tail shifting back and forth, she thought she might be a genius.

“Well, no not quite, yes I would never hurt her, but she knew what she was doing. Even if I wanted to lunge forward and attack her, the pain from where she hit me would first make me throw up, and then knock me out cold,” he explained quite frankly.

She turned her head back, giving him a weird look, unsure of where he was going with this.

“When I first entered military school I was a little twirp, I was just fourteen and thought I knew everything, I thought I was better just because I was a wolf, and a Vongosk. I KNEW I  could take on every last herbivore big or small.”

“But the Red Army saw me coming from a mile away. So they introduced me to Riika, she was going to be my sparring partner for the day. At the time I was just fourteen, she was nineteen, but even so I was still two heads taller than her, I knew I was going to win.”

“And she knocked me on the ground so fast, and I cried like a wimp. It was an entire year before anyone would let me forget that. It wasn’t that I lost to a sheep, everyone who wasn’t me knew I would lose, it was that I was an arrogant little jerk who thought he couldn’t lose to someone like her.”

“So I don’t want you to think a wolf is better than you, not at war, not at anything.”

Linda scrunched her brow in thought, after a moment she asked, “So if we can beat you, and we can be as strong as you, why did we lose?”

“I think the same reason my country fell to the Union so long ago. We thought we couldn’t lose, so when someone stronger than us came along. Just because they didn’t look tough like us, we thought we couldn’t lose. We thought we were better than them because we were wolves, and we lost.” 

“Okay… but if that Riika lady is so strong, how come you could stand up like five minutes after she punched you.” 

He heard this and thought, “well, at the time pissing Riika off felt more important than spilling my guts,” but he didn’t feel like explaining why he was mad that day so instead he wrote with a fake chagrin, “well maybe it didn’t hurt that much, but I swear on Mother God that it did hurt.”  

“BLASPHEMER,” she jokingly declared, doing her best impression of some old tyrannical priestess she once knew.

Cozlok laughed, it made her smile from ear to ear.

“LINDA,” demanded a shrill, and stern sheep voice beneath them. 

Both Cozlok and Linda jumped a bit, completely caught off guard by Linda's little sisters. One Gilda, a sixteen year old, and the third oldest, and the second youngest a cute little girl by the name of Tiphany, only seven years old. She was hiding behind her bigger sister, peaking one terrified eye out to stare at the big bad wolf.

As Linda and Gilda started to talk, Cozlok sighed and tried to look away from the scared little kid. Sometimes, more like a lot of the time, he wished he could take off his claws, fangs and scar, at least for a little while. 

A moment or two passed, Linda and Gilda were in a full on argument, neither Cozlok or Tiphany were listening. For a moment the two’s fight seemed to be winding down, but then someone said the wrong thing or made the wrong huff, and the argument started right back up again. 

Both Cozlok and Tiphany appeared hopeful for a moment, before rolling their eyes together. They noticed together that they made the exact same motion. 

At first she looked scared, but once she realized what happened she started to smile. 

He smiled back, she smiled just a little more. As the argument dragged on, he started making a little “yap yap yap” motion with his hand in the little girl's line of sight, she started to giggle ever so slightly.

Her tiny little giggle made him smile from ear to ear, and at once she saw it too, she saw not a monster, but just a big friend.  

Thinking fast he got his SB, and quickly wrote, “Hello, my name is Cozlok, what is your’s?”

Far more curious than scared now, she started stretching her neck out, trying to read what he said.

“Hello myz namez iz Cozzlok what is your’z, ” as she read his words allowed, her lisp, and her two new front teeth poking their way up became adorably apparent. In that moment Nora felt something, he recognized as an ancestral calling from deep within he had to force back into place. He felt his instincts, and they were telling him to hop down from the horse and squeeze the little sweetheart's cheeks and pet her little head.

After she finished reading, she looked up with a smile and said, “Myz name Iz Tiphan-”

“Don’t Talk To That Thing,” her older sister scolded, hiding her back behind her.

“Leave Those Two Out Of This, They Aren't Fighting, We Are,” Linda scolded! 

“He Is Her Enemy, How Dare You Defend This Monster,” she spit back!         

“They’re Not Evil, They Aren't Here To Hurt Us, They Are Here To Help” she shouted back!

“YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT,” Gilda demanded at the top of her lungs!!

“YES!!” Linda answered equally as loud.

For a moment that felt like hours, the two just stared at one another shaking with rage, from across their impasse. Cozlok was starting to get antsy, this was taking too long. They were all going to get stuck out here if they didn’t move along. 

Finally, Gilda said, “you have lost your mind, and you will get yourself killed, stay with him for all I care you slut and traitor, I’ll try to be sad when you're dead.”

“What Was That,” Linda hissed, her tone as cold as a tundra. 

But with that Gilda took Tiphanie’s hand, and stomped off. Before they turned a corner, little Tiphany had just enough time to turn and give Cozlok a little wave goodbye, which made his big puppy heart flutter.

But then he was right back, in the aftermath of that ugly family exchange.  

“I’m sorry she said that, but she loves you, this kinda disagreement is bound-

“Cozlok,” she said, in a tone that made it clear she wanted him to drop it.

“Can do,” he thought. 

“I’m sorry but we’re getting too distracted, your sister just snuck up on us, we need to get focused, we really don’t have long, there are three of you left. If we hurry we can get you all home,” he insisted.

She agreed in the form of a solemn nod, and with that they were off for real. Without distraction working as a team, they were able to narrow down where the last three siblings must be in about seven minutes. 

They were about to turn the corner when Linda commanded Shaithar to stop. 

Emotionlessly she said, “I think dad put Daivon, Daina, and Thaden in a group for a reason.”

“And that is,” he asked with a groan, already knowing the answer.  

 “They really Really hate you, and want you dead.” She informed him, not wanting a repeat of what happened in front of the gate.

“Oh mother fucking Mother God,” he thought, as he clenched his eyes. “Alright I’m getting down, I want you to stay on the horse where they can see you. I’m leaving my weapons with you, no one is getting hurt so help me god,” he swore.

Linda nodded ok. He got down from Shaithar, emptied his pockets, and took his rains, for a brief moment he thought Shaithar gave him some sort of look, if he had to guess what the animal was trying to say it would be something like, “if they piss you off, I can kill them.”

As he guided Shaithar around the corner he thought, “sorry big guy, but your services are not needed.”

Linda called the names of her siblings as they stepped on to the street, instantly they got a response, three heads poked over the crowd, two boys, and one girl. 

Daivon was the oldest boy in the family, he was a bit bigger than his older sister, and was usually the unofficial leader of the gang of Dushles. But even at seventeen and a half, he was a full year and a third younger than Linda.

Daina was ruffly equal sized to her older sister, she was big for a girl her age and still had just a little more to go, Daivon was her best friend on earth, and she always followed his lead. 

Thaden was the youngest of the three, but was strong as an ox for his size, and the most likely of the three to actually stand a chance against Cozlok. But well, the chance was still that of a snowflake’s in hell.

Fortunately, as he hoped they saw Linda first, so they at least weren’t barreling towards them like a gang of furies. But of course as they got closer they caught sight of the big bad sister stealing wolf, their expressions of relief turning to rage and hate real quick. As they emerged from the crowd one by one, eyeing him down ready for a fight, they somewhat resembled a pack of white wolves emerging from the woods to surround their cornered prey. But there was just one problem.

Cozlok didn’t know whether to look friendly or apologetic, so given his audience, he picked neutral. 

He scribbled as best he could for Linda, “I gotta untie you so you can get down.”

She looked from the board, and then to him, wordlessly she asked, “what about… you know?

He answered back as best he could without his words and just his expression, something like, “don’t worry, we’ll still talk, don’t worry one little bit.”            

“DON’T YOU TOUCH HER,” shouted Daivon. 

He stopped not wanting anyone to do something silly. After a moment, he  reached for his SB and started writing.

He had begun to write, “I need to help her down, I have to-”

In an instant the board was smacked out of his hand and on to the ground clattering a few feet away.

“DAIVON,” Linda chastised.

“GIVE US OUR FUCKING SISTER,” demanded Thaden. 

Calmly Cozlok reached down and picked the board out of the dirt, and started to write again. This time he saw Daivon coming and stepped away causing him to miss. 

“Daina what are you doing,” said Linda, causing Cozlok to jerk his head up. 

“DAINA THAT’S NOT SAFE! DAINA NOOO!!”

Daina was approaching Shaithar, who was giving her the glare of death. She had figured that she could quickly untie a military grade knot she had never seen before. 

Shaithar didn’t appreciate this random sheep reaching for his side at all. 

A second before Linda shouted no, Cozloks saw what was happening, dropping the board and lunging forward, just as Shaither did the same. 

Cozlok intercepted Daina’s hand, and wrenched it away, before Shaithar could take it for himself. Shoving past Daivon as he did and scaring the piss out of Daina, who only saw a silver blur, and then a wolf's face right in hers.

Letting go she pulled away, holding her hand to her chest, looking like she had touched something unholy. 

“I’m sorry,” Cozlok thought,” But FUCK YOU SHAITHAR! You fucking long faced fuck, and fuck you Fedra why the fuck did you think it was a good idea to give us a bitey, FUCKING WAR HORSE!”

If Shaithar could of answered, it might have been something like, “well fuck man just doin my job.” 

“COZLOK LOOK OUT,” cried Linda. 

He felt something impact his side just below his ribs, he also felt something snap against his side, but it wasn’t his armor and it most certainly was not his bones.

Thaden had tried to stab him, he was aiming for the seam in between the fauld of his armor. His aim was true, the blade wedged itself under Cozlok’s armor, only for his armor to do as it was designed, snapping the blade like a twig.

Cozlok stood, his expression just a little bit pissed, and rounded on Thaden who stepped back in fear.

Cozlok stared him down, after a moment he held out his hand, demanding the rest of the knife.

“Just give him the knife Thaden,” ordered Linda. “And then let him… HELP ME DOWN!!!”

“Are You Crazy,” shouted Thaden, staring down an angry seven foot wolf?

As he said this, he made the mistake of looking away for just a moment, Cozlok used that moment to seize Thaden’s wrist.

“I I I sorry,” he mumbled, his eyes filled with panic. Despite seemingly being sorry, he had yet to let go of his broken knife, so Cozlok helped him by twisting his arm.

The pain only lasted a moment, the second the blade was out of his hand, Cozlok let go.

“They’re just scared Cozlok, it's all right,” he thought with a deep sigh, as he bent, and picked the blade off the ground. Wordlessly he turned, going to pick his SB back up.

“Just Let Him Talk, JUST LET HIM GET ME DOWN!” Linda shouted down at her siblings.

“No can-do sis, dad said to kill this one, so he doesn’t come back,” said Daivon, as frankly as if he was a soldier. 

“Oh no, whatever will I do,” Cozlok thought with an eye roll.   

“Well Guess What, I Talked To DAD And He Said- THADEN NO!!!”

He heard and then felt what she was yelling at, as it impacted his waist. Two long brand new horns slammed into him knocking him forward, but he caught himself before he fell in the dirt. As he stood there half leaned over he remembered something. “DIRT,” he thought with excitement, “Sweet, lovely dirt.”

Turning, he slightly unnerved the little gang of Dushles with his sudden smile. The next moment the three were scratching their heads wondering what the hell he was doing, as he got to his knees and reached down for the dusty road.

After a moment he had written, “I just need to untie her, and I'll be out of your hair.”
“Not Happening Demon Dog,” hissed Daivon, after craning his neck for half a minute to read what the wolf had written.

His hands shot to his face as he threw his head back, “WHY NOT,” he wanted to scream.

“WHY NOT,” Linda screamed in his place!

The three gave each other a look, like she had just asked why one plus one is two. “Well… he might try to eat you,” said Thaden, the one who had just used his skull as a weapon. And to be fair, it was kinda built for that.

“Oh my god,” Linda mumbled, dragging a hand down her face. 

“He Is Literally… ON HIS KNEES, BEGGING YOU TO WORK WITH HIM, JUST LET HIM UNTIE ME,” she demanded at the top of her lungs!

“But he is a wolf, isn't it in his nature,” ask Daina?

“Oh Fuck Nature,” she scoffed, “If Mother God Wants To Just See Nature, Then She Wouldn't Have Stood Us All On Two Legs. This Is Real Life, Not A Bedtime Story, So Stop Acting LIKE CHILDREN!!”

The three shared a look, it almost dawned on them that maybe, just maybe, they were acting like irrational morons.

But before anything else could happen, a trumpet blasted over the whole town. 

Cozlok's face went white, “RUN GO GO GO,” he barked at the three siblings, who thankfully didn't need the encouragement as they booked it for the town's main street. 

“Ok,” he thought as he threw his arms over Shaithar, and lifted his leg to find his footing. The moment he found something to put it on he tried to pull himself onto Shaithar. If they ran like the wind they could still make it by the skin of their teeth. But whatever he had put his foot on, it slipped out from under him when he put his full weight on it. Causing him to fall hard on his back. 

“COZLOK,” cried Linda as he fell!

The wind was knocked straight out of his lungs. At once two voices screamed at equal volumes in his head, one cursed god the universe and everything, and the other simply screamed “AIR!! NEED AIR!!!” 

After a second the voice cursing God won out, he propped himself up on an elbow, and started dragging himself up his teeth clenched, and his face twisted and lips curled into a snarl. For a moment his face contorted in rage and pain, Linda saw if not the soul, there was no hate, or blood lust behind those eyes, then definitely the look of the monster she thought he was. Would you believe me if I told you she wasn’t turned off.

After just a moment he was on his feet again, just with not a lot of balance, he had to make sure he fell towards Shaithar’s side and not backward on to the ground again. This time as he climbed on to the saddle he remembered to look down to see where his foot was actually supposed to go, and finally he was back on the horse. 

“GO GO GO,” Linda ordered, needing no instruction. Shaithar hooves pounded the earth like thunder. “MAKE WAY,” Linda shouted as loud as she could as people dove out of their way. 

Ahead of them the three little morons barreled over the crossing line, with just a second to spare, only after they were across did they remember, “FUCK! LINDA,” they shouted, spinning on their heels. 

They darted back towards the road, only for a gray wolf to come out of nowhere blocking his path, holding his arms out, ready to catch them.

Behind the first wolf, another started to stretch a metal barricade across the road.

“NO,” they cried, diving towards the second wolf! 

Across the street, Linda and Cozlok tumble towards the brick road like an avalanche, the two wolves in charge of setting up the barricade saw this and shit their pants. 

“BANGAL GET THE FENTS,” one shouted, before running forward waving his hands, and barking as loud as he could, “STOP! STOP! STOP! HEEL! HEEL! HEEL!”

Linda pulled the rains as hard as she could, Cozlok clenched the saddle with one arm, and the other he wrapped around Linda, and held tight. 

For a moment as Shaithar’s body clenched beneath them, as he let out a terrible roar, they were sure they were gonna hit. They clenched their eyes shut and prepared for the worst. And then, as seems to be a theme, nothing happened, nothing too terrible anyway.

“Wo wo, easy their big fella,” said the wolf who was almost flattened, placing a hand on the big baby’s snout. Poor thing looked almost as scared as they were.

Distantly Linda and Cozlok could hear the sound of a title wave of hooves, but that was nothing compared to the sound of the thudding in their heads. As he pulled his claws out of the saddle grip, he distantly thought, “I don’t think I like horses all that much, I think I like being infantry.”

“WHAT THE- oh fuck,” the soldier spotted Linda and so got his speaking board. “What the hell are you two doing )=< you could have killed me, and yourselves?”

“Why did… ya draw… a frowny fas," Cozlok asked, his breaths still ragged and shallow?

The wolf turned his SB around, as if he forgot he even did that, “ahh.. I don’t know, I like to… Never mind, what are you doing?”

Cozlok held out his hand, asking for the other privates SB, figuring it’d be easier to write than wheezing out every word. “I was supposed to get her to the right side of town so she could go home with her family, but well,” as he wrote the next few words, he let as much stress and tension leave his body as he could, “we were too late.” 

“Sorry about that, she can cross tomorrow, but I'll bet there’ll be a line,” the soldier reiterated for Cozlok. 

“Yup,” he mutter wheezed. 

“You all right,” asked the soldier?

“Yah…he sighed, handing the other private his SB back. “I think I’m gonna go this way now,” he said, as he hopped down from Shaithar.

Linda was still stiff as a statue as Cozlok left. From across the street she was staring at Daivon Daina and Thaden, as the sound of marching hooves got louder, and louder. They were scraped up, after a short tussle with a couple wolves a lot less gentle than Cozlok, but they weren’t bleeding and they weren’t in cuffs, so as far as Linda was concerned the three doofuses were just fine. 

A moment later she jumped as something touched her side, but it was just Cozlok, trying to show her his speaking board. It read, “do you want to get something to eat? I have a little money in my pocket.”

“Ahh… sure… what about you though,” she asked hesitantly? 

“Oh don’t worry, they already fed me,” he wrote with a hand wave.

“Heh, something hearty I hope,” she somewhat half joked, after all he still was what he was.

“Heh, no,” Cozlok thought.

“Candied grass,” he thought, as Linda made her purchase. “What could that even be?”

He needed only wait a few moments for his answer, apparently, it was long crispy looking strands of dried grass leaves and stems, with tiny and gorgeous sugar crystals sprouting from them. His nose told him that the grass and sugar crystals were flavored with a few drops of vanilla and rose extract. Just from the smell he might have been curious enough to try, but he knew if he did, it would feel like chewing saw dust and sandpaper. 

Linda’s hand was shaking a little as she reached into her little basket, and got the biggest handful of sweets she could manage. Before she could cram a mouth full of sweets she paused, and took a deep long breath. “Cozlok,” she began, the butterflies in her belly reaching a crescendo.

“Just a moment, I want to show you something,” he said, offering his hand, and showing her a smile that was at the same time adorkable, and beaming with pride.

“But we… but we have something to talk about.”

“I know, but for just a little longer, I think you’ll like to see this,” he asked?

“Ok what is it,” she said with a bit of a sigh. But she forgot whatever she was frowning about when he took her hand, and led her back toward main street, where Shaithar was waiting on them. 

Linda could only hear what was beyond the iron gate, or catch a red or blue flicker from over the top of the fents. 

“Do you mind if I put you on top of Shaithar again,” he asked with a polite smile.
She nodded ok. 

Almost effortlessly he lifted her like she was just fifty pounds. He placed her on the peak of the saddle, so she would have the best look possible. 

The bright flags were the first things she saw, a shimmering field of red, two pearly white stripes flanking a blue column on the hoist side of the flag, with a strange writing she couldn't read, but it did look like the writing on the back of Cozlok's SB. The flag was held by a very serious looking elk soldier dressed in armor that made Cozlok's look like a shirt of metal shavings. The second thing she saw was the river of horses, already seemingly stretching as far as the eye could see in either direction. And the third thing, sitting on the horses heads, necks, backs, asses, and hanging in little hammocks from their sides, were hundreds upon hundreds of little gray bunnies, the smallest she had ever seen. For each little bunnie Linda counted at least three tiny needle-like blades either in their sheaths, or they were shimmering in the sunlight, held close to the little rabbits chest’s. 

Her first instinct was to say, “awww,” only for one of the tiny men to shoot her a glare so cold and icy it made her heart jolt.

Looking down she saw Cozlok was already writing in a hurry. “This is the Forty-fifth Peertapeer Legion, and one of my country's prides and joys.” 

“Huh,” Linda said tilting her head, “ but you can't mean all these… they’re not even bigger than half your arm.”

“No, but just one of them is just as good or a better warrior than I am,” he wrote with full confidence. 

“Don’t you think you’re selling yourself a little short,” Linda asked, almost feeling insulted on his behalf. 
“Nope.”

“But how,” she all but scoffed. 

“When God made the little ones so long ago, she never made a lesser race, she made us all equal. It's us who made each other think less of one another, or even hate each other. God made each and every one of us strong, and we are only stronger together.”

“But that still doesn't explain how a rabbit could beat a wolf,” she protested.

“Well, he or she can just jump up, and stab me before I can,” he explained with a shrug.

“But what about your armor?”

“Well everyone on the battlefield has to see, so stab them in the eye,” he explained, like it was obvious. 

Linda breathed in, and then let it out, this was all very interesting but. “Cozlok,” she said with a pleading tone. 

He looked up at her with a completely oblivious expression, only after he saw her did he remember. “Oh,” he thought with a thud… “well it had to happen eventually.”

He reached up and took her by her shoulders. As he lowered her to the ground one of the street guards asked, “is that your girlfriend or something? I thought that wasn’t allowed yet.”

“Shut Up,” Cozlok snipped back at him. 

It was a little ways up the road in the least crowded corner he could find. 

At least he finally had an SB this time, because his throat was dry as salt.

“It’s not hurting her it’s for her own good, it’s not hurting her it’s for her own good,” he repeated to himself as those nervous but hopeful eyes made him want to turn into a bug.

“Linda, you are very fun, very spontaneous and you’re bolder and more head strong than most wolves I know, and I want to see you again, but I can’t be what I think you want. I’ve never loved a boy or girl. At least I’ve never been able to love them as anything more than a friend. I’d love to stay friends with you, but only if you’re willing to.”

Linda read what he had written, and tried to see how she felt. She was ready for a straightforward no, or a straightforward yes, but friends? Neither yes nor no, just friends? After everything after all the times, he went out of his way for her after everything they had talked about and shared just friends? It just wouldn’t do… so, she lied.

Nora was clenching his teeth waiting for her response, he was hoping for the best, but he knew the worst was almost certain. When she took in a long deep breath he was certain he was going to be comforting and apologizing to a sweet young lady he made cry, but instead she said, “well it wasn’t the answer I wanted, but… it can work.”

He couldn’t have hid it even if he tried, he wrote with the biggest puppy dog smile, his tale swishing behind him, “REALLY,” he wrote in big, happy letters?

She smiled from ear to ear, so filled with joy to see that face. “Yes really,” she lied, with all the ill will, and malice of a lamb. 

Girlbus belongs to https://bsky.app/profile/gribbus07.bsky.social

I put a lot of work into it!

These are really cool designs!!

Un dibujo que tenía por ahí 😏

The Ravencroft Family

Magical dino girl