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"Come on Svara, it's been two days! We have to go back! Kar'na could be in trouble!"

"You heard my orders, Kiri," Svara said, giving the wolf a sidelong glance. "I am to get you to Arlea. Kar'na told me to wait here for a week. If he doesn't show, I'll take you through Undefryn Pass, back to the guild."

"But what if he's in trouble?"

"He's definitely in trouble," Svara snorted. "It comes with being a master assassin."

Seeing Kiri's distraught face, Svara's gaze softened and he tousled the younger wolf's head.

"Cheer up. He'll be fine. Kar'na's been through worse. Much, much worse. Did he ever tell you kids the tale of Winterwrath?"

"No," Ari answered. "Kar'na never really told us anything of himself."

"Literally just his name and the fact that he's an assassin," Kytra offered. "Something that you neglected to tell us, by the way."

"I was embarrassed," Svara said, looking down. "How would you have liked to tell a bunch of strangers that you were an assassin who was in that mine for failing a mission?"

"Wasn't it supposed to be a really tough mission?" Aryn asked helpfully, looking at Svara.

"It was," the fox answered. "One that I was in no way ready for. A mission that Kar'na himself had pulled when he was my age, but nobody else. I was determined to prove that I was as good as he was."

"And how old were you?"

"Are you," Svara corrected. "That was just...a month ago? I can't remember. Either way, I'm only eighteen. A novice."

"And Kar'na did a mission like that one at the same age?"

"Yeah," Svara nodded. "When he was eighteen, he made a high-level infiltration and assassinated the slaver who had ordered the kidnapping of his mom. That mission had been ranked master. Immediately I wanted to be like him. But Kar'na had a drive and skills that he had discovered a while back, in Winterwrath."

The others stared at him expectantly, including the newer group of slaves. The slaves from the underworks and J'inuan, whom Kar'na had also insisted they get out.

"When Kar'na was a child of...six, I believe, slavers attacked the city of Winterwrath. Only, these were no ordinary slavers. This was a small army of slavers, come to make a fortune on the people of the city. Some they wanted to take for slaves, some they wanted to kill, some they wanted to maim. Overall, it was a disaster. Kar'na had been at home with his mother. When the slavers came, she told him to hide. She pushed into a closet, left him a knife and told him to use it if the slavers came for him."

He paused and the others tried to picture how this would've been to a six-year-old wolf pup. The shouting, the screaming, the panic.

"Kar'na heard his mother scream as the slavers came for her. They took her away and, as far as I know, Kar'na never saw her again. But that's irrelevant. The slavers ransacked the house, tearing it to pieces. Kar'na's father wasn't present for this. He was already an assassin in the guild and was there on duty when the attack occurred. When one of the slavers flung open the closet door, Kar'na, in a fit of panic, lunged out, stabbing the knife right through the slaver's eye socket. A child of six.

"After the death of that one slaver, the other three in the house ganged up on him. He killed them all. After the assault, when Kar'na's father arrived with a group of eight master assassins, they cleaned up the remaining slavers and found no survivors of the city. Except one."

"Kar'na," Kiri breathed.

"Kar'na. The wolf's dad, fearing the worst, went into his house, hoping at least for the bodies to bury. Instead, he finds his son, hiding in the corner, a knife in his hand and the bodies of seventeen slavers near him. He went to go pick him up, but Kar'na nearly killed him. He'd almost gone feral. When they finally got him to calm down, he told them what had happened."

Svara paused and looked at everyone around the circle.

"Imagine what that child had gone through. He'd been present for his mother being kidnapped. His home being destroyed, his city burned. He had killed, not one but seventeen people. All when he was six years old. His father took his son to the guild and stayed with him for a week, before setting out to find those who had done this to his son. And to find his wife. He searched for weeks. Nothing. It was as if they'd vanished into thin air. He returned to the guild. From pretty much that moment on, Kar'na dedicated himself to his training, determined to avenge his mom. He finally took his first assignment at age eighteen, performing a high class infiltration into Parai and assassinating the slaver who'd ordered the entire thing."

"The only reason anyone let Kar'na go on a mission like this was that a mind-studier said that he might never have recovered if he didn't bring at least some level of closure. The Kar'na you know now was not the Kar'na everyone knew five years ago. That Kar'na was not living. He rose at sunrise and trained until almost midnight. He ate at meal times and only spoke when spoken to, usually answering in monosyllables. His father said that Kar'na never slept restfully if he wasn't pushing his body hard all day, thrashing and screaming in the night. When Kar'na killed the slime that had ordered the whole raid, he returned to the guild and everyone saw something unusual for Kar'na. A smile on his face. He used the Rednari dialect and muttered, "Iep si apari da."I have won. With that, the wolf collapsed. He slept for a whole day and on his waking, he was someone totally new. He smiled. He joked. He had fun. He was a person again."

Svara sighed and leaned back..

"An interesting side note, the guild didn't kill all the slavers immediately after Winterwrath. Some they took back to the guild and questioned. A couple said that the house with Kar'na within had been mostly skipped because of something known as 'The Demon of Winterwrath." A vengeful spirit inhabiting the body of a young wolf was killing all who entered. They believed the house to be cursed."

"This is all true?" J'inuan asked.

"Every word of it," a new voice confirmed.

Everybody jumped and looked up. Sitting in one of the holes in a wall that helped comprise the ruin known as the Lonely Tower, was a grey-furred, fox-like figure.

"Tes'ali?" Kiri asked, hoping he had the wolf-fox's name right. Also hoping that this was indeed the wolf-fox they'd met in Parai, just outside the city of Saskin.

"Hey, not bad," the older one said, dropping down beside them. "I'm impressed you actually remember me."

Kiri smiled, happy that he indeed was right about the name. Also, after being on the run from so many people, he was happy to see a friendly face.

"Now I don't know any of your names," Tes'ali said, his eyes narrowing. "But I know there were definitely less of you the last time I met you. And...Svara?"

"Hey Tes'ali," Svara said.

"Surprised to find you still alive," Tes'ali commented. "Popular rumour at the guild says you're dead."

"Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated," Svara said dryly. "Now, what are you doing here?"

"Literally? I was looking for this group. With the route they probably would've been taking, I expected they'd have to cross the Lonely Tower. One of the only ways through the mountains after all. Now, where's my brother?"

"Honestly? I don't know," Svara answered. "We all got captured in Juxtpa. Kar'na broke us out and told us to head for the Lonely Tower. We're supposed to wait here for a week and if he's a no-show, head on to the guild."

"Through Wolf Clan territories?"

"No, through Undefryn pass."

"Well," Tes'ali said, a frown creasing his face. "That makes a tricky situation. How're your supplies?"

"Not good," Svara admitted. "We have some, but our supplies are almost non-existent. We've been scrounging the local environment, but not much has occurred."

"I have an idea," Tes'ali said, looking at Svara. "How about I leave you with a pack of supplies and take these slaves to the guild headquarters. You can stay here and wait for Kar'na. Then, you and Kar'na head back when he shows?"

"No," Kiri said. "We're staying. We're going to wait for Kar'na."

"Kiri," Svara said. "Tes'ali's got a good plan. I think we should follow his advice."

"Yeah," J'inuan agreed. "Kar'na will show and he and Svara will just meet us at the guild hall."

"That's not going to happen," Kytra butted in. "We _need_to wait for Kar'na. He's got to come back!"

"And he will," Tes'ali said. "Trust me, I know my brother. He'll show."

"If it's all the same to you, Master Tes'ali," Ari said politely. "I think we'd rather wait here with Svara for Kar'na. The others are probably a different matter. Am I right?"

"I really want to see our homeland," the otter slave from the underworks nodded. "Kar'na could be a while in showing."

"Are you guys sure about this?" Svara asked. "I doubt I'll be able to find enough food, even with Tes'ali's supplies. Kar'na won't mind if you've already gone ahead..."

"We're sure," Wraith said. "We're sticking with you."

"Well then," Tes'ali said, his mouth twitching into a small semblance of a smile. "I guess that's decided then. Well, I best make haste. Come. Those who are coming with me to the guild, come along."

The five slaves broke away from the group and went along with Tes'ali. Now there were only eight of them.

The group watched until Tes'ali and his group had disappeared from sight down the road. The night was still and the air cool. Crickets chirped.

"Well," Svara said quietly as the others turned to look at him. "I guess it's just us now."

It was on the third day from this event that something new occurred. The group was sitting around the fire at the base of the lonely tower, idly chatting, telling stories and performing feats. The slaves loved watching Svara scurry to the top of the Lonely Tower by climbing, before leaping off into the deep river.

When Kiri expressed interest in climbing, Svara had laughed and told him it had taken the young fox assassin a long time to learn that skill. Then Kiri climbed to the top of the tower, much to everyone's delight.

"How did you do that?" Svara asked, laughing. "The last wolf I ever saw climb that good was Kar'na himself."

"Now I have a problem," Kiri confessed. "I can't get down."

"No worries," Svara said, still with a big smile. "Behind you in the tower is a staircase. You can just walk to..."

He stopped and tilted his nose to the air.

"We're not alone," he said quietly, so quietly that Kiri had to strain his ears to hear him. "Everybody! Hide!"

The group did as they had practised, with Wraith and Ari pulling a dampened blanket over the fire, extinguishing it without so much as a puff of smoke.

Then, the two females took the blanket with them as they fled to go hide in one of the bushes. Tyra dove and hid behind a rock and Kytra dove in the river. Myra and Aryn climbed a tree and hid in the branches, their green scales camouflaging them perfectly. Svara whisked his way to the top of the tower, easily beating the wolf's time.

They ducked down below the edge of the parapet and waited, peeking out from between bricks in the wall.

Stumbling into the clearing, a figure in Falskin guard armor staggered forth. He bent over the remains of the fire and muttered, "Curses. They were here. They must have moved on."

The figure, looking all for the world like he'd had to fight all the world, walked over to the base of the tower and sat down heavily with a grunt. He took off his helmet, revealing a familiar face below the visor, albeit dirtier and bloodier than any had seen him before.

"Kar'na!" Kiri cried, already running down the steps of the Lonely Tower. "You're back!"

"Kiri?" Kar'na asked in surprise as the wolf ran over. "You're here?"

"Obviously," Kiri laughed as everyone else about the clearing started coming from their hiding places. Svara leapt from the top of the tower, plummeting into the river, where a startled-looking Kytra leapt out of a second later. Myra and Aryn climbed down from their branches, with Myra having no problems but Aryn just tumbling down. Ari, Wraith and Tyra emerged from their hiding places to rush over to the white wolf.

"You're all here!" Kar'na cried out in delight, giving a slight cough. "I had half expected you all to move on."

"Not without you," Kiri said. "We'd never leave without you."

"Good to hear," Kar'na laughed. He looked around and his smile turned to a frown. "Where's everyone else? J'inuan, Tas'ofey and the others?"

"They were picked up by Tes'ali," Svara explained. "He was headed down here to wait for you and these guys. But he took them back to the guild. He was willing to take them all, but these ones _insisted_they stay with me and wait for you."

"Ah," Kar'na said. "That's good."

He coughed again and Svara placed a hand on Kar'na's armoured shoulder. The fox looked into Kar'na's golden eyes and said, "You don't look to good."

"I had my difficulties," Kar'na admitted. "My escape wasn't as easy as I'd hoped."

"You can tell us all about it," Svara said, already beginning to undue the straps to Kar'na's armour. "In the meantime, Kiri, help me get this armour off."

"So after this, I had no choice but to leap off. The other guards were coming and there was no way I could've fought them off. So I leaped from the wall into the river. It nearly drowned me, but I managed to get out. From there I set off for the Lonely Tower. Guard patrols were everywhere and I actually got caught by one too. But, I escaped."

All was silent for a bit as the others digested the information of the story they'd just heard. It was quite a tale.

"So, you were almost killed for refusing to turn us over?" Aryn asked Kar'na, glancing over at his sister. "Why would you do that?"

"You made your choice," Kar'na said, wincing as Svara and Kiri continued to clean up Kar'na's myriad wounds. His sword wound was, again, split open and he had a few all across his body too, including a sizeable slice by his ear. "Drysenn and Sanvar needed to understand that. Whether a right choice or a wrong choice, a choice is a choice."

"And do you think we made the right one?" Myra asked quietly.

"That's not for me to say. The choice you made, good or bad, is your own for you to determine. In due time, I suppose you'll find if it's the right choice."

Myra didn't seem to like that, but Aryn nodded, apparently thinking it over.

"How'd you get this wound?" Kiri asked, hoping to change the subject, as he pointed to a small, bleeding mark, just above his ankle. "Unlucky dagger slice?"

"Believe it or not," Kar'na laughed. "I got that one from a crab. A crab!"

Everyone burst out into laughter, though Kar'na's quickly turned into a coughing fit.

"I had just leapt off the wall and was pulling myself onto the shore, when the stupid thing decided to attack. It sliced my skin with one of its pincers. I had to give it credit."

A few mild chuckles followed this statement and Kar'na smiled. Svara and Kiri kept up their work in silence, cleaning the wounds and checking for more.

"Did Tes'ali leave you guys with anything?" Kar'na asked, briefly biting his lip as Kiri and Svara washed an extra-sensitive wound. "A pack of supplies or medicine? Anything?"

"A pack of supplies," Svara answered curtly, not really focused in the conversation. "There was some food, some herbs for tea and a bit of medicine. Ari, would you grab the medical herbs?"

"I got it," Kytra said, walking over to the bag. "Which ones are the medical herbs?"

"In the vials," Svara said, glancing over. "Every vial except the ones marked with the word 'tea'"

Kytra rummaged through the bag a minute before finding the vials needed. He carried them over to Svara.

"Thanks," the fox said, taking the vial with a smile before turning back to Kar'na. "Now, hold still. This will hurt..."

Kiri woke up with a yawn and looked around. Everybody else was still asleep, with the exceptions of Kytra and Aryn, who were talking by the Lonely Tower. Kytra had been assigned for morning watch, which Aryn offered to help keep him company through. The two had become quite good friends.

Kar'na and Svara were not far away from the grey-furred wolf, both of them sleeping curled into a ball, thick tails over their noses. Not far from them, Ari, Wraith and Myra were all curled up sleeping.

"Morning Kiri," Kytra greeted quietly, nodding in the wolf's direction.

"Good morning," Kiri answered with another yawn, as he looked at the dim sky of really early morning. He wasn't used to day travel yet, despite having lived most his life in it. A week with Kar'na had certainly changed many things.

"Tea?" Aryn asked, equally quietly, gesturing to the pot boiling the water just above a small fire. It wasn't a large pot, just a little bigger than Kiri's hand, but it fulfilled its purpose of boiling water just fine. The rule was that if you drained the pot for your tea, you had to refill it with water again.

Kiri poured the water into one of three wooden cups Tes'ali had left behind when he took everyone to the guild hall and added the leaves. His personal favourite tea type was known as Fentari, which was silver-coloured and had a somewhat spicy taste, though in the best of ways. Not spicy like the one fruit Kytra had tricked him into trying years ago.

The wolf walked down to the river and dunked the pot in, filling it again. Then, after he had returned the pot to its mounting and collected his tea-cup, he went down to the river's edge with it to sit and think.

Barely a month. Thirty days, if he was correct, since they had met Svara. From there, it had only been four more before they decided to escape the tyranny of the slave drivers. They'd met Myra the next day, escaped with her and her brother, almost been captured and met Kar'na and Tes'ali. Then they'd gone together to another city, escaped and been captured again, escaping from that one too.

Kiri chuckled. It seems like escape was in their nature.

He sipped his tea, briefly savouring the spicy taste, before he heard footsteps behind him. Twisting around, he noticed Wraith coming down the slope to the edge of the riverbank, where he was sitting.

"Hey," she greeted quietly. "Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all," Kiri said, shuffling over a bit.

The puma sat down on the edge of the water and dipped her feet into the fast-flowing water. Though the water was quite cold, she didn't seem to care.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked after a bit.

"I don't know," Kiri answered. "Mostly about how our lives have changed in just a month."

"Half the time it doesn't seem real," Wraith agreed thoughtfully. "Feels like we're just...living a dream and then...we'll wake up to find ourselves back at the mine."

"Where the cycle would repeat," Kiri chuckled. "I, for one, would do an escape like this in a heartbeat. Anything would be better than that...existence at the mines."

He took another sip of his tea and Wraith nodded. Nothing more needed to be said.

"So..." Wraith hedged a few minutes later. "What're you going to do when we reach the guild?"

"I have no idea," Kiri confessed. "I was originally just hoping to get free and rejoin our people. But apparently, society is different in Arlea. We don't have a unified people. Just various, bickering tribes of exclusively one species."

"I was talking with Kar'na and he said that the few cities that exist in unity usually get toppled by slavers or taken over by the tribes."

Kiri nodded. Though he hadn't asked Kar'na himself, he had no reason to doubt Wraith. Why would she lie?

"There is one place where the species all get along just fine," Svara said, coming down to join them. "The Assassin's Guild doesn't play favourites."

"Aren't they all assassins though?" Kiri quizzed.

"Point taken," Svara conceded. "I suppose not everyone would want to be an assassin. Still, that's where you find the most people living in harmony."

He paused, seeming like he was thinking for a second and Kiri and Wraith waited for him to continue.

"Oh, right. I came down here to tell you two that Kar'na's up and we're breaking camp. He feels rested enough to continue on."

"Got it," Kiri and Wraith said in unison, before looking at each other and laughing. They followed Svara back up to the camp, where they were greeted with the sight of everyone getting up and about. Beyond the trees, a warm glow was occurring, signalling the rising of the sun.

"There you two are," Kar'na said, smiling at them. "I was wondering where you were."

"Just down at the riverbank," Kiri said. "We were talking about stuff."

The grey wolf looked down at the cup of tea in his hand and gulped the rest of it down. It had cooled considerably.

"Alright," Kar'na said, glancing around quickly. "I assume Svara told you we were packing up today?"

The two nodded and Kar'na continued.

"We're changing our route slightly from the original route I had planned. Originally, I wanted you guys to head up through Undefryn pass if I didn't show. We're heading through territories owned by the Wolf Clan."

"Why, Kar'na?" Svara asked.

"Because the tribe's alpha and I know each other. I hope they'll just let us through without incident. It's a more direct route to the guild headquarters."

"I know," Svara said. "I was just wondering why the change in decision?"

"I want to make it back to the guild by tomorrow. In time for the graduation of the new apprentices. It's almost a necessity for the masters to be there."

"That makes sense," Svara nodded. "Then let's be off."

They walked for a long time, with Kar'na calling few breaks, despite the fact that he obviously needed them most. Eventually the forest they had been in turned into a rock-studded forest, with large boulders and a myriad of smaller rocks peppering the forest.

"We're in the foothills," Kar'na announced softly. "This is good. Means we're at the edge of the Wolf Clan's southernmost border."

The group nodded and they continued on. It wasn't much longer beyond this point when Kiri started to feel a little uneasy. The young grey wolf kept his eyes roving through the underbrush, sure he'd spot something there. But he never did.

From the way the others were glancing around, it was obvious they felt something too. Despite the fact that they were now in Ch'kiliil-held lands, Kiri felt exposed without his hood up.

"I don't like it," Kytra muttered, coming up on Kiri's right. "It feels like they're watching us."

"They probably are," Aryn concurred, joining the two of them on Kiri's left. "They'd be fools not to."

The reptilian Sanvar'a siblings kept their hoods up, in contrast to the others. Kar'na had warned everyone that the wolves wouldn't be too welcoming to the reptilians, what with them being natural enemies, so it would probably be best to hide themselves.

A snap in the woods caught everyone's ears and heads jerked in that direction, eyes roving. But they saw nothing.

Kiri turned back to look down the road and nearly leapt out of his fur when he saw a wolf, with the exact same coloured fur as he himself had, standing in the middle of the trail. He was wearing a loincloth and nothing else. In his hands, he held a single spear.

The warrior's face was painted with symbols and markings, obviously designed for religious or intimidation purposes.

"Hrinty!" he cried, planting the blunt end of his spear firmly in the dirt. "Tyhek ek trita tyil ip tyha Vinp Fn'y! Nawiya!"

"P'eayt!" Kar'na cried back. "Ec Kar'na ip tyha'kik keyk alawent! Eani'wakty ta'cek keiy tyi kectnil tikik tryhiI'wawh vetyh cil p'eaytk ha'a."

"What are they saying?" Kiri whispered to Svara.

"Not entirely sure," Svara whispered back. "Wolfspeak has never been high on my list of languages. I think basically the one told us to turn around. We're trespassing and Kar'na asked to pass through."

"Ti'ik tyhiI?" the tribal asked, his snarl turning to a frown. "Vhi tyhaka p'eaytk? Tyhac?"

He gestured to the rest of the group with his spear.

"He's asking if we're his friends," Svara said.

"Ilak," Kar'na nodded. "Tyhaka cil p'eaytk."

The wolf stared at each of them for a bit, eyes scouring over each one. When he looked at Aryn and Myra, appearances still kept beneath their cloaks, his frown returned and he turned to Kar'na.

"Vhi tyhika?" he asked, gesturing to Myra and Aryn with his spear. "Vhil tyha tek'wekak?"

"Svara?" Kiri prompted as Kar'na gave a reply to the tribal wolf.

"He asked who Myra and Aryn were," the fox replied. "Kar'na's assuring him first that they are not his enemies."

"Myra," Kar'na said, glancing over his shoulder to the reptilian siblings. "Aryn. Take off your hoods."

The Falskin siblings reluctantly did so and the wolf's eyes widened and he stared at them for a second, before turning back to Kar'na.

"Iliwa ca tyh'ty tyhaka yity ayaceak!" the wolf spat. "Yt ilaty tyhail na tyha pafa ip I'wa ayaceak?"

"He's asking why if we're not their enemies, why we have two with us."

"Tyhaila akfety tyha kroca ty'yil va!"

"Kar'na just explained that they're escaping with us," Svara said quietly.

The wolf stopped and tilted his head, seemingly thinking. He looked at Myra, then Aryn, then back to Myra again, before sighing.

"E fyity tyw wiap waak," he sighed. "N'waty yait yha fy e naty iliw v'yta tyh waw Iaw tya'etyi il. Fica!"

He turned away from them, gesturing down the path with his spear. Then he started off, Kar'na following behind him and gesturing for the rest to follow them.

"What's going on, Svara?"

"They want us to go with them," Svara answered, staring heavily at the back of the wolf. "I think back to their tribe."

"Exactly what I was hoping wouldn't happen," Kar'na said. "I was just hoping to cut through."

Kiri looked around him and noticed a bunch of painted wolves emerging from the forest, weapons kept in ready poses as they encircled the group and herded them after the leader.

"Well," Kiri said, looking at Kar'na. "At least they don't plan to kill us, right?"

The look on Kar'na's face was far from encouraging.