orders.

  "Let's go see," Tevra said. "I suspect something foul is lurking

  in this place, and that it's been masked from us. I'm starting to think

  this is part of a bigger scheme, and we weren't supposed to survive

  our encounter in the city—or this part of the plan was moved up

  because we did survive it. I just don't understand why. "

  Najlah hissed. Irrelevant. Knowing why would not change the

  problem. Why can be answered later, when the bones are bare.

  Tevra shot him that look of wry amusement Najlah was

  becoming intimately familiar with. "We say 'when the dust has

  settled.'"

  When the wind calms, Barkus added. Funny how many

  different ways you can say the same thing. He sniffed delicately at a

  pool of blood, then padded over to another. There is something very

  faint in the blood. Barely there. I've never seen so much blood. It's

  like it was gushing out of them, but I see no… bits and pieces… of

  the sort you'd get from such a wound.

  "Gushing…" Tevra's brow furrowed. "Like the blood couldn't

  stop flowing. Like it couldn't clot and was running thin."

  Barkus growled deep in his throat, hackles rising. Or that, yes.

  Najlah clicked and rumbled. What?

  "It's a type of snake venom native to my home," Tevra replied.

  "It keeps blood from clotting, so victims often die by bleeding to

  death. Favored by cheap assassins and the like because it

  guarantees death, or near enough, and covers for a lack of skill. It

  can be administered orally, via a poisoned blade, dumped in open

  wounds… Whoever did this, they're nasty pieces of work."

  My venom does the opposite, Najlah said with a series of

  chitters. It turns blood solid; just about the only thing that slows some

  of the creatures in Tahjil down.

  Barkus sniffed the air. They also seem to be gone, if they

  haven't attacked us yet.

  Best not to make assumptions, Najlah replied. They could be

  biding their time for something. We need to find the bodies. That will

  tell us much. He prowled onward, following the blood where it went

  from pools to drag marks, around the corner down to the first part of

  the barracks, where the officers slept, if he recalled correctly. Ajith

  had dragged him here once, but Najlah hadn't been interested in the

  piddling efforts of human soldiers until he'd been introduced to the

  Shifter Corp he'd joined. All of whom would be useful right now, but

  they were still incapacitated from the beating they'd taken on the

  Shide.

  Should I have my people come help us after all? Barkus

  asked.

  Najlah chittered. It won't be necessary. These fools are

  forgetting one very important thing, and I am going to laugh as they

  die. Tevra and Barkus filled with curiosity and gave him looks

  demanding explanation, but Najlah wasn't in the mood to share.

  They could figure it out or find out with everyone else.

  "Cagey brat," Tevra said with a huff of laughter.

  Crafty hornless, Najlah replied. I can't help myself. Not that I'd

  try. He flicked his tongue out, but before he could say anything

  further, the stench of blood grew even sharper, combining with a faint

  hint of early decay.

  Najlah charged toward the scent, slamming through a cracked

  door—and spilling into a room where bodies had been stacked like

  slaughtered animals awaiting butchering. Of the parties responsible

  for the bodies, there was still no sign.

  "So much death," Tevra said, eyes filling with tears. "Why?

  Why is all this necessary? What is so wrong with me that my family

  would authorize a mass slaughter? Why not just keep trying to kill

  me? I'm not worth all this."

  Barkus rubbed against his thighs, and Tevra sank a hand into

  his thick fur. Najlah stayed on alert, as he was hardly the 'hold onto'

  type for such situations. Especially with his spikes out. That wouldn't

  end well for anyone.

  Tevra sniffled-laughed. "There are antivenins for that type of

  poison, and if Restuel is anything like home, they keep it on hand."

  Najlah scoffed. As though he'd let anyone live long enough to

  receive an antivenin.

  Barkus and Tevra chuckled softly, but levity was hard to

  maintain in the face of so many bodies piled up like trash. It was

  sickening. Almost frightening. On the rare occasion a dragon started

  exhibiting such behavior, the bitch herself put the blood-crazed

  dragon down, and recompense was paid to the wronged families.

  "We'll do much the same, though there's no den bitch to do

  the deed," Tevra said. "Come on, let's explore further. I feel we're

  walking into a trap, but what can we do? Avoiding it won't get us

  anywhere."

  We survived the last one, Barkus said. Barely, but we did.

  We're better prepared this time.

  Najlah just laughed.

  Leaving the room full of bodies, they prowled onward, Barkus

  taking the lead this time, Najlah taking up the rear. He rarely visited

  the armory, but whenever he did, it was bustling with life, as active

  as a den with a day-old litter. This quiet was awful. These humans

  had done nothing wrong. These deaths were pointless and wasteful

  —they were mean. Najlah tolerated much when it came to violence

  and blood, but not meanness.

  When the guilty parties got what was coming to them, he was

  going to enjoy their suffering, and later their remains. They didn't

  deserve burial.

  Eventually, they passed through the barracks and into the

  pavilion that divided the barracks from the armory. There was more

  blood here, a distinct trail leading beyond the closed doors.

  As they reached the center of the pavilion, the doors behind

  them flooded with figures, each one dressed in black and scarlet,

  their faces masked. They looked stupid. Najlah chittered his

  contempt, tail flicking with the promise of coming violence.

  The pavilion filled with more people than the three of them

  could ever overcome, the doors to the barracks closing with a

  resounding boom, sealing them in. As traps went, it was predictable

  and boring, but effective.

  "Why are you doing this?" Tevra demanded. "None of those

  people needed to die! None of them! If you wanted me dead, you

  should have focused on me, not killed hundreds of innocents."

  No one replied, simply braced to attack, dozens against a

  small trio. Many of them would die, but they'd still carry the day.

  Unless Najlah changed up the odds.

  Even as curiosity and confusion from the other two filled his

  mind, Najlah rested on his haunches, threw back his head, and let

  out a series of sharp, piercing, barking cries, the adult version of the

  cries kits used when they were scared or in danger and needed help.

  That cry usually brought their mother.

  The adult cry summoned horned brutes to defend the den

  when the danger surpassed what the hornless could handle. This

  particular cry was going to summon Ajith, a horned brute whose

  bitch had just given birth.

  Even as one of their assailants cried out to launch the attack,

  a deafening roar filled the sky, seemed to make the building shake,

  causing more than a few to swear, even drop their weapons. Some

  had the sense to try and flee, but they were still struggling with the

  doors they'd barred themselves when Ajith came into view.

  Najlah moved out of his way, climbing up on a pedestal meant

  for officers supervising training, and rumbled for Barkus and Tevra to

  do the same. Once Ajith landed, his only thought would be kill the

  threat, protect the den, and it wouldn't do to accidentally be in his

  way.

  Besides, from this high up it would be much easier to enjoy

  the show.

  Ajith landed right in the middle of the fray, crushing and

  smothering several assailants right from the start.

  After that, it was a bloodbath: teeth and tail and horns. He

  gored several in a single sweeping motion, crunched several others

  in his jaws before spitting them out, blood trailing down his long neck

  to drip and pool on the floor. His tail took care of the ones

  desperately trying to get the doors open, slamming them so hard

  their bones shattered like dry sticks.

  As the bloodbath calmed, and Ajith rumbled that the danger

  was over, Najlah slithered down from his perch and went in search of

  a snack.

  "Where is the bastard in charge of this mess?" Ajith asked.

  Najlah hissed, looking up from his chosen meal. "There was

  no leader we saw. Pretty sure he, she, they, whatever, hid at the

  back. "

  "Here," Tevra said. "His coat… well what's left of it… has the

  right insignia. Those two over there—" He pointed to a couple of

  humans that were definitely in more than a couple of pieces, "would

  have been his second and third in command."

  "Thank you," Ajith said, and Najlah conveyed the words

  before returning to his snack.

  Tevra watched, looking a little queasy, but his shoulders set

  and eyes determined. "You really will eat anything, won't you?" he

  asked, a thread of humor in the words. He moved hastily out of the

  way as Ajith prowled close, standing by the wall closest to Najlah,

  leaving Ajith to his victory meal. "Why do you eat them?"

  "They don't deserve the honor of being burned or buried.

  Enemies are eaten, devoured, reduced to nothing but a pile of

  stinking shit."

  "More efficient than locking them up in a cell to be forgotten,

  dying a slow, wretched death," Tevra replied. "Or being left to freeze

  to death on a mountain."

  "The Shiden haven't done that for a long time," Barkus said.

  "As you say, more efficient to just have done. That being said, are

  there any alive for questioning?"

  Ajith looked up from his meal. "I hear a couple of heartbeats

  over there, in the north-east corner."

  Najlah rumbled and went to investigate, digging through

  bodies before he finally found the people still alive. One had a few

  broken bones, the other some deep cuts, but both would probably

  live, at least long enough to talk.

  He shifted, and together he, Tevra, and Barkus got the two

  figures up out of the mess and placed where Ajith could easily grab

  them to haul off elsewhere.

  Tevra sat down on a bench by the far door, looking gray and

  tired. "Is this normal for you, Najlah?"

  Not at all. Tahjil is full of violence, of course, but not of this

  nature. I never saw anything like this until humans showed up.

  "Yes, that sounds depressingly accurate." Tevra sighed. "I

  really hope we soon figure out why this particular batch of humans,

  humans I called friends and allies and countrymen, went to all this—"

  he gestured angrily to the bloodbath around them "—to get to me."

  Ajith growled. "I think this is a matter of consolidation. It's…

  how does Korla say it…"

  "Two birds, one stone," Najlah replied.

  "Upset relations between your two countries and get rid of

  me?" Tevra said. "Also given the amount of people they just

  slaughtered, the royal palace is at a significant disadvantage right

  now. I would imagine you're not going to look too impressive to the

  Shiden right now, either."

  "Leave the Shiden to me," Barkus said. "We know all about

  these petty little games humans like to play. They've tried it before to

  pit packs against one another, or us against the humans at the base

  of the mountains who have enough sense to live and let live, unlike

  the rest of the continent."

  Najlah chittered.

  I'm sorry humans are so stupid, Tevra said, shame and

  remorse washing through him.

  "We're being harsh," Barkus said. "If all humans were terrible,

  I do not think our fearsome brute there would be married to a

  duchess and best friends with a king, or have moved here, where he

  and his brother are nearly always cold."

  Najlah flicked his tongue out, eyes swirling with colors. There

  are benefits. Like cows. Pretty, sparkling jewels. Wolves. Brute

  princes who like to do as I tell them.

  "You're a brat," Tevra hissed, face burning.

  Najlah just flicked his tongue, eyes bright with amusement.

  "Quit your flirting," Ajith said. "Hornless, I swear. Look this

  mess over for anything useful. Have those two make certain nobody

  goes in or out until I've spoken with His Majesty."

  "Yes, yes. Go away already. You did your job, now return to

  your bitch like a good little horned brute."

  "I will throw you through a wall again, don't think I won't." Ajith

  scooped up the prisoners and used his back legs to lunge into the

  air, where his enormous wings took over, lifting him into the sky and

  carrying him away as quickly as he'd arrived.

  Tevra sighed. "No wonder you were so amused earlier. This

  bloodbath is going to haunt my sleep for months. Possibly years. If I

  look too long at any of it, I might start screaming."

  Najlah hissed. Not nearly as bad as the day your

  contemptable countrymen assaulted a young bitch and left her for

  dead.

  "No, I would imagine not," Tevra said. "I heard about that, and

  hearing was enough. It makes me even more baffled that my people

  are trying to tangle with you a second time. There's only two of you

  this time, and they're still losing. Pathetic, really." He sighed. "We'll

  go watch the door. Have fun in here, I guess."

  "It will be all right, Tevra," Barkus said, and drew him close to

  kiss softly, even sweetly, like a horned brute trying to get out of

  trouble with his bitch.

  Breaking apart, Barkus cast him a look. "You are a brat. If you

  want to trade out at some point, you know where to find us. I've had

  my share of picking over corpses."

  Tevra looked ill. "One or two, maybe. Not like this."

  "Let's go," Barkus said, and led him away, leaving Najlah to

  forage through blood and bodies for something useful, though he

  had no idea what useful might look like. Hopefully he'd know it when

  he saw it.

  Three bell tolls later, Najlah had a pile of 'useful,' and people

  had begun to arrive to help clean up the mess. They were pale, and

  more than a few fled to throw up or otherwise lose their composure,

  but those that remained set to work with grim faces, cataloguing the

  dead to inform families, pulling whatever identifying marks they could

  off the enemy soldiers to send off, while still more people set to the

  grisly task of clearing the bodies away and cleaning up the carnage.

  Najlah made certain his pile would not be thrown out, but

  delivered to Ajith, and then availed himself of a few small snacks

  before finally departing, ignoring the looks that garnered him.

  Enemies deserved only to be devoured and shit out. If he could, he'd

  eat every last scrap in the hall, as not a one deserved an honorable

  burning or burial. Unfortunately, even Ajith couldn't eat that much. At

  least they'd died far from home, never to see it again. That was a far

  worse fate than being turned into lunch.

  Barkus and Tevra were nowhere to be seen in the hallway, but

  that wasn't terribly surprising. They'd probably been dismissed once

  other people arrived, and Tevra especially had needed the break.

  Najlah made his way outside and rinsed in the first fountain he

  came to so he wouldn't track blood all over the palace. He tended to

  get yelled at for that, and getting yelled at was annoying. Once he

  was as clean as he was getting until he could crawl into his fire, he

  headed quickly through the palace to his chambers, rumbling in

  approval as he could smell and feel the other two were there.

  Where else would we be? Barkus asked as he slipped into the

  room, not bothering to bestir himself from where he lay sprawled on

  the bed. Next to him, head on his shoulder, was Tevra, sleeping so

  hard Najlah could glean no dreaming thoughts. He's wrung out. For

  all that he can hold his own in a fight, he is not used to our levels of

  violence. Even I was impressed by what Ajith can do in a very short

  time with very little effort. I cannot imagine what he'd be like

  expending the full weight of his abilities. I’m amazed you get into

  fights with him willingly.

  Najlah chittered. Brotherly squabbles are nothing like real

  fights. Ajith was the finest horned brute in our den. Mother was sad

  to see him go, but she also highly approved of Korla, and all the

  Tahjili agreed we should have a presence here, especially after all

  the bloodshed. He went over to the fireplace and climbed into the

  flames that someone had built up for him, rumbling as he curled