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Once again, I'd like to thank my editor gryph Mythril Silver for helping me make my writing better than it normally is. Every typo they catch is one less you all have to deal with, after all! They have recently come into a job, however, that restricts editing times while my own life has taken a turn for the busy, so while Following The Heart will continue, it will be at a one-per-week pace.

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Rise Of The Fang

Tuesday, June 11th, 739 BSO; 7:55 PM

Each step was agony, a constant reminder of the failures of the campaign, a spike of memory that flashed briefly but brutally before his eyes. He scrunched up his snout and pressed forward, down the dark halls of the pyramid. His pyramid.

He eventually came to a small chamber, housed in the very center of the complex, the beating heart of his people that no others got to see without his express permission. The two guards flanking the door bowed their heads in reverence to him and stepped apart, giving him room to walk within. He felt age upon his old, weary bones and he was grateful that both of the guards had the wits to stay quiet about it.

Lining the room were his loyal followers, prostrate and silent in their worship of the object at the heart of the chamber. He grasped the staff in his paw all the tighter, using it to offset the protest of his bones as he quietly navigated his people. None of them so much as look up or addressed him and that was right and proper - his own ego took second place to that of the priceless object at the very heart of the temple.

'To think that full, public worship of the thing used to be commonplace,' he snorted in distaste, moving toward the faintly glowing stone. It looked like a crystal at first glance, but it was certainly unlike any other crystal that he had ever seen; all while it emitted a holy, green glow. One that was mirrored in each loyal follower. It was currently surrounded by eggs, dozens upon dozens of them cradled close to it, the offspring of his followers now bathed in the light of the shard.

Just being so close to the shard seemed to heal the aches and protests of his body, making him stand up a little taller, to stride about younger than he was. Who cares that they had all lost their feathers? It was a small thing compared to all of the wonderful gifts it bestowed upon its most reverent of followers, such as a lengthened lifespan. The male was glad that he was addressed only by a title, allowing his true identity to fade into time. Only brief flashes of a young priest, obsessed with the shard before him now, reminded him of days gone by. That was several lifespans ago, however, and that male? That male was dead.

Eventually, one of the black-cloaked priests approached him, bowing their head in respect. He waved the admission away, approaching the shard directly as the priest spoke.

"Most Holy Prophet," he started, inflating the Prophet's ego even further at the title given to him. The proper title. He brushed the priest aside and slid a claw along the surface of the shard, closing his eyes as he felt the power reverberate through him, shuddering in nearly orgasmic delight as it did. Like every other time he needed answers, the shard provided them, speaking to him and guiding his actions. It had yet to truly misdirect him and he trusted it more than any raptor he had met. It soothed his worries and directed his ire, giving him far more vision than Subira could ever hope to have.

It didn't speak in a traditional sense, insofar as it never used words. Instead, it was pictures and loose concepts that washed over him, something that could break lesser minds and, indeed, had; novices that thought they could understand the shard like he could.

He had put each of them out of their madness.

He broke the contact with a shudder while the priest and any others that had looked upon him looked away. It had given him the answer and left him aroused by the euphoric bliss he felt. He licked his lips and turned toward the priest, "Make arrangements for the advance forces to come home, as we'll soon have guests and I want to give them a proper welcome."

The priest tilted his head in confusion even as the Prophet stalked over to one of his followers, prone before the shard. He grasped her body and shoved her down fully, making her shudder in delight as she was chosen by him - and by extension, the shard. "Prophet?"

The prophet lowered himself overtop of his follower, dragging his tongue along her featherless neck and shuddering as he found himself pressed inside of her. He closed his eyes in bliss and snarled his reply to the priest even as his body started to rock with the motions of pleasure, "Subira comes."

Tuesday, June 11th, 739 BSO; 7:55 PM

Ayo paced back and forth before her commanders, listening to their brief reports about the day. It had been hard to sleep with the sounds of battle, but somehow she had managed and from the looks of the snouts around her, each of her officers had as well. Dejen, Yeva, Umid, and as a final surprise from Kibwe, the guard from the night before - Jahi Stoneheart. The male stood at an impressive height, smaller than Kibwe but still a head over any other male raptor that Ayo had seen, all while covered in brown feathers that were flanked by nearly neon-green highlights.

The big part of him being assigned to help her, of course, was that it put Ayo's numbers up by one more division, giving her an extra thousand troops, all of which were raptors.

"Sauda is leading the defense for today. She is stalling for time, not trying to press for victory like Kibwe had been," Jahi explained, looking down at a series of maps given to them by the Heart Clan. They had already made a basic plan for their attack on the temple and Jahi's news put Ayo's mind at ease. Kibwe would be safe, at least for today.

"Is everyone ready then? If so, I see no other reason to delay."

Each of the officers nodded their head in kind and Dejen spoke up, "It's a good thing, too - whatever goodwill our followers and the Raptors had is eroding without something to fight."

"Then let's give them something to focus on, shall we?" Ayo spoke, dismissing her commanders - and friends in the case of two of them - as she rubbed at the bridge of her snout. Already she had six bodies delivered to her makeshift command tent, Kibwe having convincing the medical teams early that morning. She itched to prove that their looks weren't the only things different between them, but that would have to wait.

She found a great irony in the fact that one of those bodies belonged to Iyapo, however. It seemed the elder male got the 'retirement' he desired, and Umid was quietly left to mourn on his own time for his father's passing. Unlike raptors, dilos did traditionally know their parents, raised in small family units. It seemed that that was true even for the rare offspring of the Bitah'ta.

She turned away from the six bodies lining tables within her tent and stepped outside, arriving before a mass of bodies all being ushered into ranks and rows. She looked along their numbers and found it amusing that the addition of so many raptors actually helped her cause, the mixed species of the Bitah'ta seemingly trying to match their discipline while they stood side-by-side in silent rows; as if trying to prove themselves superior to the feathered ones.

Umid's willingness to learn meant that he was taking pointers from Jahi, whereas Yeva and Dejen seemed to lead more by instinct than training, assigning their own personal sub-lieutenants. Despite the fact that Yeva led mostly dilos and was a raptor, they seemed willing to follow her and Ayo wasn't sure if she could chalk it up to Yeva being female or for being...well, Yeva.

Ayo nodded her head and looked down at the Heart cloak in her paws, turning it over before tossing it aside, discarding that part of her life. She'd never forget it, but she wasn't part of the Heart anymore. Now she was Ayo of... she didn't know yet, and that would come later.

"We have a bunch of raptors to save," the raptors of the Heart Clan roared their approval while the mixed species grunted, shuffling a bit, "And we have a bunch of raptors to outshine, too!" That one got the mixed species to roar, all while there was friendly heckling from the raptors about it - even Jahi and Yeva got involved, the former shaking his head and Yeva sticking out her tongue at her commander before Ayo raised her throwing spear over her head.

One perk to working with the raptors was that her followers were now properly equipped, as every creature before her - be they Raptor, Dilophosaurus, or Allosaurus, raised a spear over their head in near unison. Mind you, the allo's spear looked like a toothpick in their large paws, but she had little doubt that it'd be a deadly throwing weapon for them.

The next two hours or so were spent marching, going from the ground floor of the Claw pyramid and hiking their way up the twisting ramps and staircases that occasionally narrowed to two abreast, cluing Ayo into how the Claw held out for as long as they did. Here, at these narrow stairways, even a token defense could hold out against a sizeable army for quite some time, but it seemed that time hadn't been friendly to the Claw.

The Claw pyramid was the smallest of the bunch, but even she was getting exhausted as she approached the upper floors of it. Her legs burned with the effort and she was panting once she and Yeva turned off of an outer stairway and into the inner chamber. All at once she went tense, rapidly moving forward as those behind her did the same.

Aligned in front of her were rows of warriors wearing the yellow cloaks of the Feather Clan, each holding a spear braced before them. Ayo was now very glad that they seemed to be posturing, rather than trying to actively kill her - as to why, she wasn't entirely sure, but there had been reports about disunity between the Feather and their allies, and perhaps this was the fruit it bore.

It wasn't until Jahi entered the room that the ranks of the Feather parted, however, and a lone female strode forward, holding herself confidently as she strode toward Ayo's line. Her fighters were on edge, unsure of what to do and itching to fight, leading to several dilos snarling without her ranks. As the female neared their line, she stopped within speaking distance but, wisely, well enough away that she couldn't be jumped upon by one of the Bitah'ta.

"Heart Clan leader, I am Kali Pridefeather, third of the Feather Clan. I seek to talk terms with you for our safe passage."

Jahi snorted at that and shook his head, pointing instead at Ayo, "You'll need to talk with her, Kali."

That made the tawny feathered female start for a moment before she turned to face Ayo, looking the dilo up and down and frowning momentarily in confusion, a confusion that Ayo was quick to break.

"I am Ayo -," Ayo what? Raptors were all about posturing and even their names were part of it. It was something that had bothered her for the past few days, even if she had never directly addressed it. Just by having the shared name of Feralheart, she received a modicum of respect and recognition. Without it, she was just... Ayo of the lower city. A Dilophosaurus like any other.

"She is Ayo Feralfang," Yeva spoke up for her, making Kali look quickly at the female raptor before once more at Ayo.

Ayo, for her part, rolled with it even as she wasn't sure where the title came from. She was trying to think of something that wouldn't associate herself with the Clan system, and while obviously there was no Fang Clan, it was based upon it. Still, she couldn't argue the results, as Kali bowed her head respectfully before Ayo, not seeming to question the fact that the 'Fang' didn't exist.

"Very well, Matron Feralfang," Kali spoke with only slightly hidden amusement, "If you are the leader of this expedition, I would like to talk terms of surrender."

"Is this for you, or the entire Feather Clan?" Ayo asked, striking straight to the heart of the conversation without dancing around it. Like Kibwe, she had no times for political nicety - more so when it had hurt her so many times already.

"I... for us," Kali spoke, standing up straighter and looking Ayo straight in the eye, "Each of us is willing to fight and die to the last, however, if you deny it. If that happens, you'll lose your chance to save the Claw."

"Explain," Jahi barked.

"We have refused to join them, but the Talon is marching up to finish off the Claw. A... last ditch effort, if you will. Their leader is under no illusions - he will die for it, but if the Claw is removed..."

"The Talon will gain favor with the Tuk," Ayo finished with a faint snarl, looking the female before her up and down. "And lose any they may have with the Seers and their allies."

"Exactly. The current commander is absolutely loyal to the Tuk, which is... strange. Just a few weeks ago he was arguing against this whole damned campaign," Kali frowned before shrugging, brushing it off as something that wasn't her concern. "So what do you say, Matron Feralfang?"

Ayo paced even as more members of her combined forces poured in behind her, posturing and snarling at the opposing raptors. She had to make her choice before one side or the other did something stupid and she nodded her head, "Fine. A small part of Jahi's raptors will escort you and yours down."

Kali breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed, her followers following suit quickly afterward. "Not so quick," Ayo spoke, making the raptoress tense once more as Ayo moved closer to her.

"I will let you surrender, but I want terms," it was time for her to set the terms and while Kali remained tensed, she nodded her had. "I want you to present yourself before Sauda Razorheart, Matron of the Heart Clan, and tell her exactly what happened here. Everything," Kali went pale at that, knowing that her guard would keep her to that promise.

"Unless," Ayo probed, already seeing the willingness in Kali's eyes, "you commit one of your commanders to help me liberate the Claw." Kali's hope faded at once, shaking her head furiously.

"That would be political suicide!" Kali hissed, making Ayo arch the ridge of her brow.

"Would you rather it be actual suicide?"

Kali paled at that, pacing slowly back and forth while chewing on her bottom lip, giving Ayo time to press on, "You do this, you show that you don't support the extremists of the Tuk. You'll gain favor with the Seer's allies. And it would give your Clan a reason to jump ship."

Kali still was uncomfortable, despite knowing most of that to be true, sighing faintly as she turned to face Ayo, "My head or my rank, is that it?"

Ayo shrugged, "Nothing is fair in war, Kali." She knew that more than most.

Kali tensed again before turning around, calling over one of the yellow cloaked males that were under her control. She rapidly addressed him in hushed tones, making the male snarl by the time she had finished. He looked over at Ayo, who stood with arms crossed and thick tail swaying, before diving back into the argument again.

By the end of it, the male's head and crest were both lowered as he approached Ayo, bowing his head respectfully, if reluctantly, before her. Before he could open his mouth to talk, however, Ayo cut him off, "I am not your direct commander. Introduce yourself instead to Umid," she waved to her right, where Umid's people were gathering themselves. "You'll serve under him."

The male raptor bristled, clearly wanting to lash out at not just having to serve a dilo, but then being pushed even further down the line than that. But one glare from Kali silenced him and he, along with roughly sixty yellow cloaked raptors, joined Umid's ranks. "Thank you, Kali. Jahi's lieutenant will escort you to the Heart Clan."

After arrangements were made for Kali's extraction (and political suicide), Ayo started to plan the ascent toward the top floors, hopefully before the Talon utterly wiped out the Claw. Ayo didn't understand the end-game for such a thing since wiping out a Clan doesn't remove the Clan, it just gets remade down the line with a leader picked by the Clans, and supplemented by various harems. Perhaps the Talon hoped to win favor if the Tuk won by wiping them out, but even that didn't sound correct to Ayo.

Perhaps Kali was speaking the truth, and the Talon leader just had gone off the deep end. Whatever the reasoning behind it, Ayo had to press on. She quickly had Umid press his newly acquired raptor for information about any traps and the fastest route upward. She ended up splitting her forces in two, with Yeva and Umid following her while Jahi and Dejen took a secondary way up, hoping to trap the Talon in a two-way or even three-way pincer with the help of the Claw.

Tuesday, June 11th, 739 BSO; 9:32 PM

Like most creatures of the city, Ayo was in fair shape. Not in the same shape as Kibwe or Jahi, perhaps, but she never considered herself out of shape, at least, not until she got to the top of the Claw pyramid in a forced march. The only moment of pause she got was when she reached a new floor, letting her troops pile in behind her and organize briefly before they marched up again.

Even the jungle-living members of the Bitah'ta were panting by the time the heard the dull echoes of combat, putting an extra rush into their pace as they ran up the winding outer stairway of the Claw. She cursed the raptors and their construction with every quick step she took, eventually turning the corner at the top and coming to the chamber housed there.

Much like the chamber at the top of the Heart pyramid, it was a personal chamber for the leader of the Clan. The normally closed door was bashed in; something that would have taken no time at all due to the fact it was made of just wood. It caused them to filter in one at a time and despite whatever protests Umid echoed behind her, Ayo pushed in first. She was faced with a scene of utter carnage as cloaks of blue and teal clashed.

The Claw's blue was formed in a ragged line across the center of the chamber, facing both doors in a V shape. At the center were younger raptors, all circled by a ring of bow-wielding Claw members, shooting their arrows over the head of their comrades. Ayo quickly saw a small line of black-dyed raptors without any cloak upon their shoulders at the center of the Claw line, dealing death all around them. The bodies of the Talon were stacked high around them and their bodies were equally red with gore as it was black.

The rest of the line, however, was slowly wavering under the last-ditch attack by the Talon. One of the few clusters of troops left in reserve spotted Ayo and her followers piling in through their door while Dejen ducked into the other one. Panic rushed through the Talon line for a moment, at least until a male at the center of the line snarled at them and they meekly returned to their ranks, and that was when everything came together.

The male at the center of the Talon line was wearing the teal of the Talon, yes, but he was featherless. A member of the Tuk, given to the Talon to ensure they fulfilled their duties, and by way of harem politics and leadership, every raptor would follow his orders until the death. It didn't surprise Ayo in the least to see him at the center, wading into the black-dyed specialists of the Claw and fighting like a creature possessed.

It made no sense to Ayo, her mind having a few moments to process everything while her forces assembled in the tight chamber, at least as many as could fit. The Tuk had denied the Claw the chance to surrender their young and now they were directly involved in the campaign to kill them. Several generations of raptor youth, all killed for their personal gain, but Ayo couldn't fathom why. Wouldn't such a gap harm them just as much as any other Clan?

She shook her head, not having the time to truly piece it all together. A quick glance at Dejen and then at Umid and she knew that their forces were assembled. Both Yeva and Jahi remained outside, on the stairway and directing their forces to trickle in as needed.

The chamber gave the Talon the advantage despite being outflanked, having crammed the majority of their people inside of the room. It meant that when Ayo, Umid, and Dejen charged forward, they were hemmed in and lacked the room to really fight as they were used to. The only good thing out of it was that these feathered raptors died much quicker than the drugged-out followers of the Tuk, a spear to the stomach injuring one and leaving him on the ground to whine his pain to the ceiling.

Unlike usual, she didn't throw the spear. Instead, she used it as a jabbing weapon to keep her distance in such a cramped space. It was awkward at first, not being used to using a weapon in a traditional sense rather than the weapon that was her body, but as she saw the damage it dealt, she kept with it. Eventually, every other dilo took her example and even a few of the raptors that had joined in that sported the red cloaks of the Heart. Dejen and the other allos, of course, lobbed theirs - preferring to wade into the fight while using their size and weight to their advantage, acting like battering rams in the process.

Still, the hastily made spear would only last so long and eventually, it snapped in half, the tip of it lodged in some raptor's neck. It was never made well enough to endure the trials of combat, after all, but Ayo saw the potential of such a weapon if they were made sturdier than they were. Forced to engage in close combat after her spear broke, Ayo moved her way toward the center, where even now the featherless raptor at the head of the Talon was fighting as if possessed, trying his damnedest to get past the black-dyed agents of the Claw.

Ayo, taking a moment to catch her breath while some of her comrades pushed past her, watched as the featherless raptor and one specific dyed-one danced back and forth, snarling and hissing at one another. She watched as the dyed raptor grabbed one of the vials that were on a bandolier-type strap over her shoulder and lobbed it at the featherless raptor, the male ducking to the side and the vial sailing free to smash into the face of another teal-cloaked raptor.

At first, she thought that raptor screamed just from the impact, but she soon saw his face start to just... drip, melting off from the fluid that clung to it. It sickened her and let her know that her earlier guess about those vials had been accurate, that they certainly weren't friendly.

Like most battles, Ayo couldn't recall most of the details once she got truly stuck in, tail and claws lashing out at anything her instincts identified as not a member of her pack. All three creatures that had survived and thrived in their underground world were pack hunters of one sort or another, and perhaps that was exactly why they all thrived and worked, mostly, together - instinct realized that they were all one. One pack.

So there was no hesitation in her when she jumped to the aid of a dilo she didn't even know the name of, all because he was part of her pack. Instinctually, the beast within knew they were all part of her pack - not just members of a pack she belonged to, but rather that they all belonged to her. They were hers to guide and protect and that same instinct led each of them to be subservient to her.

Raptor, dilo, or allo, it didn't matter, as in that moment they were all hers and she was theirs, a bond that led to even the most hateful members of the Bitah'ta to leap forward to save a raptor. She even saw the yellow-cloaked members of the Feather jumping in to save the red-cloaked members of the Heart, Clans that were enemies just hours ago.

When eventually a breakthrough did happen on Dejen's flank, that same unspoken bond and leadership joined with the Claw, and while both sides recognized that they had different leaders, they had the same prey - the Talon. It was an unspoken agreement for the two packs to work together, slowly whittling away at the Talon's numbers until only their core remained, desperately fighting on all sides to keep the front safe as they attempted a breakthrough against the black-dyed raptors before them.

Those black-dyed raptors had gone from numbering in the fifties or so to numbering in single digits by the time Ayo finally got into a position to help, flanked by Umid and an unknown raptor on the other side. The latter was quickly cut down by a stray arrow, leaving Umid and Ayo cut off from the rest as the pocket once more closed around them. Being cut off from their leader, however, only seemed to spur the mixed forces further, cutting down teal-cloaked raptor after raptor.

The featherless male of the Talon and that black-dyed raptor were still locked in their fight, an impressive feat considering the number of bodies on both sides that had tried to tip the favor one way or another. Each of the interruptions had fallen to claw, talon, or fang and yet the two continued to fight, panting with exhaustion and yet neither giving an inch.

That changed in a heartbeat, however, as Ayo approached. The black-dyed raptor ended up distracted, her eyes looking away for a moment while the featherless male feigned one way and then lashed out with that scythe-like claw on his foot. The razor sharp talon caught the black-dyed raptor on the thigh, cutting through muscle and making her snarl in pain. The black-dyed raptor went down, alive for the moment but injured in a way that kept her from fighting.

The front opened rapidly after the last of the black-dyed raptors went down, and several teal-cloaked raptors rushed forward toward the line of archers; all of whom tossed down their bows and prepared to defend the young behind them.

The featherless male seemed to almost be gloating about his victory, no matter how costly it would be, while stepping over the prone body of the black-dyed raptor, planting his foot firmly on her throat and tapping that talon against it. He leaned down and whispered something Ayo couldn't hear, not that it mattered; he could have promised them the moon and it wouldn't have changed a thing.

Umid jumped in to save the black-dyed raptor who that joint 'bond' had identified as the leader of the Claw's forces. The featherless male turned around, fluidly whipping his tail about and catching Umid mid-flight, sending his frame crashing into a row of nearby bodies which left leaving Ayo and the featherless male staring at one another. The Talon's leader stepped off of the Claw's, all while taking a step confident step toward Ayo.

"I was there," he snarled, gritting his teeth, "I was there the day that Kibwe accepted you as his whore. It will give me great pleasure to fix his mistake."

Ayo didn't bother to respond and instead closed the gap as quickly as she could before doing a half-spin, attempting to use her tail to knock the male off his feet. The male merely snorted at her, taking a step back to allow her tail to harmlessly skirt past before he used every muscle those powerful legs of his had to let him jump upon her.

Ayo felt like she had just run into a wall, the impact sending her backward and firmly onto her back underneath the featherless male. Rough, pebbly hide pressed against her own smooth one and made her squirm at the feeling of it. So close to him as she was, she saw that his hide was tan underneath all the streaks of gore that coated his form, and every inch of him repulsed her. Kibwe, Yeva, even Jahi or Kali were all proper raptors - this... thing was a mockery of them all.

That didn't stop him from being dangerous, however, and she felt sharp stings in her hip from where one of his talons buried itself in her hide, the male adjusting himself to try and getting a killing blow. Ayo struggled underneath, squirming herself about on her back until she was able to get one of her legs free from his weight. She bunched it up against her frame and lashed out with it, catching the male squarely on the cloaca and making him snarl in pain, taking several stumbling steps off of her.

That gave Umid the chance he needed to rejoin the fight, recovering from his previous smack and no longer seeing stars, he propelled himself onto the raptor's back, burying those twin fangs into the raptor's neck until he could taste blood. The raptor shook himself, trying to dislodge Umid from his back and failing to do so. Instead, he unbalanced himself, leaning back and allowing gravity to carry him onto his back, and onto Umid.

Suddenly finding the wind knocked out of him from the impact, Umid was once again stuck seeing stars and the featherless raptor once more was able to get himself to his feet. It gave Ayo enough time to do the same, however, wobbling to unsteady legs that were exhausted from the journey to the top of the pyramid and from the fact that she hadn't truly had a day of rest in the past two weeks. The claw marks from Amadi upon her snout flared up in agitation and that was the _least_of her current injuries.

The featherless male and Ayo started to circle one another, probing each other and showing off in the process, but unlike when she and Kibwe did it, there was no grudging respect or admiration in the featherless one's eyes - only hatred. It was a look better mirrored in Amadi's eyes than any raptor's and it turned her stomach, bringing her momentarily back to the day and causing her to lash out without thinking, acting purely on instinct.

The raptor once again moved easily out of the way, proving to have every advantage over Ayo, but then again, her brute strength was never where her power truly lay. Instead, it was in those she could rally to her cause, to convince to fight for her through deeds that were far beyond her station. So when the raptor moved in on an unbalanced Ayo, he found himself toppled off balance by a raptor of ashen feathers.

Yeva had, at some point in the fighting, gotten herself into the chamber. She was fresh to the battle, Ayo noticed, hardly even winded and without a single feather discolored, but that scythe-like claw on her foot? That sported streaks of red; the featherless raptor having found himself sporting a new, large gash over his thigh that made him favor one leg over the other. That was all it took for Yeva to have, and keep, the upperclaw.

Soon, the raptor's featherless body was a tapestry of lacerations, each telling a story of Yeva's claws. She stayed highly mobile, darting back and forth and forcing the featherless male to use that injured leg of his, scrunching his snout up in pain each time he put his weight upon it. The blood loss started to slow him down further and soon Yeva had to dart back less and less, staying up close until she could work her jaws around his neck.

Even then, in the death grip of another raptor, he tried to fight back, snarling protest and weakly clawing at Yeva's chest, leaving shallow cuts under her ash feathers as she tugged her head back and brought his throat with her, tearing it out with a snarl.

The raptor opened his snout, either to scream or speak, but the noise was lost to Ayo in a death gurgle that caused blood to leak down his chest and bubble in a froth from his lips, the raptor slowly moving forward and eventually collapsing against Yeva's form, thoroughly coating her in blood before he collapsed upon the ground.

With the leader of the Talon dead, the chain of command cycled down to another teal-cloak, one who snarled and brought his followers to a stop all at once. It took the Claw-Fang forces some time to comprehend that, and several more teal cloaks ended up perishing in the process. Ayo could at least appreciate the harem politics for that and that alone, that the raptors always knew their place and position in their Clan - it left Ayo to wonder who would take over if she was to die. Dejen, most likely.

Ayo brushed that thought off and rapidly approached the fallen black-dyed raptor, though by this point they were equally red. Ayo leaned down to help and was brushed away by the dyed raptor with a growl, directed more in frustration at herself than anything Ayo had done. The black-dyed raptor slowly stood up, leaning upon her injured leg awkwardly before she stalked down two of the surrendered Talon members.

She showed those two no mercy, shoving the Talon raptors over, one after the other, and ripping their stomach open so they'd die a long, slow death of bleeding out. The black-dyed raptor smudged her paint and cleared away some blood, showing the brown feathers beneath while they leaned over to spit on the screaming raptors. It was brutal, but Ayo knew instantly why the female had done it - those two had the gore of the young upon them, having broken through the line of archers.

"We thank you for your timely aid, Ayo," the black-dyed raptor spoke, the voice clearly feminine in origin, though Ayo couldn't tell over the reek of blood and the masking properties of the dye. "We only wish it were sooner," she spoke before turning around and slowly making her way to stand before Ayo.

"I am the Matron of the Claw Clan," the black-dyed female spoke, "what little is left of it, that is," she spat.

"I apologize, Matron. The Heart got here a few days ago but found itself under attack by the Tuk," she looked sidelong at the surrendered members of the Talon, all of whom were looking down at the ground with their crests pinned back in anxiety, awaiting their fate. "It wasn't their fault," Ayo spoke, making the Matron before her tense.

"Wasn't their fault? They attacked my people, slaughtered my Clan members and members of my harem, right in front of my snout!" she waved one claw behind her at the bodies of the dead, including those of several younger raptors that hadn't yet earned their feather and now never would, "How is this not their fault?"

They both knew how the pack and harem hierarchies worked, with clear lines of leadership that transitioned over to war, hunting parties, or the like; but the featherless raptor was Talon and all responsibility, at a glance, therefore lay with the Clan as a whole.

Ayo had the task of disproving that, "Their leader wasn't a member of the Talon," that caused the Claw to snarl expletives, all of them outraged at such a suggestion that potentially could let the Talon off the hook. Not entirely, of course, but it could potentially deflate their current rage. None of them wanted that at the moment, however, and instead wanted a clear-cut target to vent their rage on now.

"How? How is he not a member of the Talon?! He wore their colours and led their troops!"

"Did you notice anything physically different about him?"

"He's featherless - so what? There have been featherless raptors before within the Clans, it's a genetic condition."

Ayo ignored the Matron and turned toward one of the Talon raptors who had their eyes downcast and their crest pinned to their head, reeking of anxiety and fear in equal measure, something she could scent even over the blood. "How long ago was he harem-traded into your Clan?"

"I... how did you know he was?"

Ayo moved over to the featherless raptor and rolled him onto his side. His body was covered in blood and that pebbly hide of his torn in more places than she could count, but she saw that sickly green tinge to his hide, something that told her it was more than just a genetic condition.

"He's from the Tuk. My guess is that the Tuk made a trade of him and his harem in exchange for the Talon's support," Ayo spoke, tilting her head toward one of the teal-cloaked raptors who nodded his head.

Whatever reply the Claw was going to make was interrupted by a red-cloaked raptor shoving himself to the forefront. Ayo was about to snap at him for breaking rank, and by the look of Jahi's snout, he was as well. The raptor, however, paid no heed to those looks, panting rapidly to try and catch his breath, "Kibwe sent me. The Tuk have been routed." That report sent a chorus of cheers through those wearing the red of the Heart but left the rest to silently wonder why. Even Ayo was at a loss, since the last she saw, the Tuk still could hold their own.

Regardless, it spared her from having to argue for the Talon, as the runner from the Heart informed Jahi that he was to take possession of prisoners until Kibwe and the rest of the Heart could figure out what to do with them. For the most part, Ayo was happy to let Kibwe take control of things, even if it was remotely, and acquiesced to the request. After a brief period of time, the Claw Matron grunted and bobbed her head, clearly eager to rip the remaining members of the Talon apart, but obviously wanting to avoid the fallout of doing so. At least, for the moment.

As Jahi started to escort the Talon out of the top floor of the pyramid, Ayo ordered most of her own people to follow suit, leaving behind only herself and her commanders, plus a small group of guards for each them. Without the Talon in the room, tensions gradually started to fade away, though each of them was kept partially on edge due to the sheer reek of blood from how much of it stained the floor of the upper chamber.

Already, the remaining members of the Claw were going about gathering the dead, separating them and clearing space in the main chamber for more movement without tripping every few seconds. It was during this moment of relative peace that the Matron approached Ayo in private, while the rest of her group were either leaving or helping with recovering the dead and dying, "Ayo, I apologize for the way I behaved, but you must understand - those children were our charge. The loss of so many... it cuts deep."

Ayo bowed her head respectfully before looking down at the Matron's leg, but the Matron merely waved her concerns away. Ayo opened her mouth and then closed it again, before settling on what to speak of, "Kibwe will no doubt want to speak to you about harem mergers, to rebuild your numbers. Would you like an escort?"

The Matron looked around at her remaining numbers, now only in the double digits to low triple and seemed almost to deflate all at once. She gave a slow shake of her head, "I will assemble a few of my own and we will go down with our heads held high. This fight broke everything but our pride," she commented with a bob of her head. "If you see Kibwe, let him know that I will be there early in the morning."

The Matron smiled, "If not, well, he'll see me then either way." After all, she had to know that Ayo no longer reported specifically to Kibwe, and she didn't seek to rub that fact in.

After a few moments longer of polite yet idle, chat Dejen approached the pair and bowed his head respectfully before letting Ayo know that her dead, dying, and injured had been gathered. With that, Ayo bowed her own head respectfully to the Matron, a sign of respect that the Matron herself returned as Ayo's people started to shuffle out of the top floor in earnest, all while they carried those that could not walk upon litters.

Wednesday, June 12th, 739 BSO; 2:32 AM

It was far past midnight by the time her people returned in full to the camp, and they were exhausted by the time they had. The strain of the march and of battle both took their toll, and going down the maze of stairs that the Claw used to keep their pyramid safe was no easier than going up, leading to a few exhausted bodies toppling over the edge and taking the direct, but lethal, way back down.

She nearly joined those sorry sorts, taking a misstep at one point that had Umid grab her and tug her back. If she hadn't been so exhausted, she might have snapped at him for how close he dragged her, deeming it further than necessary, but as it was she brushed it off and thanked him, even with her hips nearly 'tween his thighs due to proximity and positioning. Only after he let her go and bobbed his head did she realize she missed that already, the warmth and desire that Kibwe showed her so frequently. It was enough that she figured she was just seeing things in Umid's smile and body language, a desire for her.

She shook her head and moved on, happy when at the end of it all she was back in her own personal tent, too tired to care about anything else. She knew she should have gone to Kibwe and told him about the Claw Matron coming; she should have started on her pet project with the six bodies still waiting in the central tent. She also knew she had a hundred and one other things to do, but sleep and physical exhaustion demanded her attention first and foremost and she practically collapsed upon her snout.

Ayo had barely closed her eyes when the flap to her tent was opened and she heard the tapping of a raptor's claw behind her, announcing the arrival of someone to her tent. She had two guards posted outside, courtesy of Kibwe, so she knew that whoever it was wasn't here to kill her, but she kind of wished they were. Fighting would require less brainpower than talking, after all.

With a groan, she rolled over from her belly and came to rest upon one hip, before nearly jumping up in a rush at the snout before her. She kept her cool though, despite every urge screaming not to, and merely offered the raptor in the entrance a dramatic yawn. "I'm sleepy. It's been a long day, after all."

Kibwe shook his head and still wore the same grin he had since stepping in, grasping two bowls of food. He stepped forward, placing one on the ground beside Ayo before moving himself to lay down beside her. Unlike Kibwe's tent, Ayo's personal one had no furniture, partially because it was hastily assembled and assigned, and also that she never brought any with her.

"Hungry, too, I imagine," Kibwe offered. As if on cue, Ayo's stomach rumbled from the smell of meat and broth that had been set down beside her and she grunted acquiescence toward Kibwe before she scooted herself sideways to take a piece of meat.

The next few moments passed in relative silence, the only noise that echoed being the pair of them eating while laying on their sides. When they finished, the silence that followed was broken by Kibwe speaking up, "So, Feralfang, huh?"

Ayo flushed, opening her mouth to speak before closing it again, stirring the broth in the hope of finding another piece of meat to delay her from replying. When none was found, she pushed the bowl aside and bobbed her head, "Yeva's idea, though I'm not against it you know. You raptors are all about your pomp and circumstance - about fluffing out your feathers and showing you're bigger than life."

Kibwe snorted, shaking his head, "Oh, is that how you saw me these past few months? I never would have known."

Ayo rolled her eyes, rolling her body partially toward him to shove his with a levering of her tail, "You're the exception, for the most part. But even you have that massive ego, featherhead." Some would even say that his was larger than most.

Something that he grunted at in acknowledgment, though he didn't respond aloud. Instead, he scooted himself in closer to her frame, making her have to lift up a hip to rest it on his thigh. The position was somewhat awkward for their bodies, but they had made it work in the past. Ayo shivered at the proximity to him and then tried to suppress it, push it down and lock it away, but Kibwe noticed before she was able and she soon felt his tongue on her neck.

She wanted to resist, to tell him that it wasn't proper because it clashed with everything - raptors weren't encouraged to mate outside of their harems and dilos rarely mated outside of their family unit. While occasionally that family unit can include more than one male and more than one female, they certainly weren't part of the massive harems raptors could occasionally have.

"Wait..." Ayo spoke, even as her body pushed itself flush against his just from the proximity and scent of him alone. Every part of her wanted it, but nevertheless, she tried to be strong, "What about Sauda?" she asked and Kibwe snorted, hot air blowing over her neck as that tongue of his traced up along the blue-purple colouration of her hide.

"She left for the Claw pyramid, to ensure her mother is fine," raptors didn't know their offspring, not really, but it wasn't uncommon for females to adopt another promising female and raise her akin to a daughter, to one day replace her role. Males, on the other hand, traditionally fought and postured for their hierarchy.

"Yes, but..."

"Shh," Kibwe rumbled, curling himself around her. She shuddered and at the feeling of hard warmth in against her tail, lost herself to him once again with a gasp of desperate pleasure.

Wednesday, June 12th, 739 BSO; 10:00 AM

Ayo stirred to the sound of drums. It was something that she was grudgingly getting used to, even though she still desired to shove that drum up the raptor's cloaca for waking her up. At least it was a decent time and not the crack of dawn, though when she woke she found herself alone. Kibwe, she knew, had slipped away during the pre-dawn hours, returning to his own camp after rutting her into the ground.

She pressed her snout in against the ground where they had rutted and inhaled that rich, mixed scent that was laced with the earthy smell of the soil. It brought a smile to the edge of her lips. She had a busy day ahead of her, however, and she knew her commanders would be at a loss - they had won their fight, after all, and now all of them were awaiting orders. Was the war over? That was the big question floating around the camp ever since the events of the day before, but Ayo doubted it.

She stood with some difficulty, her legs wobbly from the motions the night before. She also felt sluggish and, as she thought about it, she knew she had the past few days. She moved out of her personal tent and toward the command tent, mulling over different things as her tail swayed behind her with every step she made. Five-month cycles, that was the average, with a differing ratio of about a month either direction.

The last time she had laid, it was in early February. That would explain a lot, she figured - she was nearing the end of her current cycle. The sluggishness was a byproduct of that, she knew, and she knew she'd be through this cycle within the next two weeks, three tops. Less if she was lucky. Being gravid as a hen wasn't a pleasant experience, but it was one every of-age female went through at least twice a year, regardless of their sexual experiences.

She brushed the thought away entirely as she entered the tent, finding three raptors standing around nervously while looking at the six bodies she had ordered saved from the battle two days ago. She had asked Kibwe to give her his brightest minds for it, and he hardly hesitated. Bright though they may be, however, they clearly had reservations about it all, one of the three stepping forward and trying to use his height, size, and species to impress the dilo.

That, of course, all failed - but she humoured him as he spoke, "We've been told, partially, what you intend to do. That isn't medicine!"

She knew one of them would take that line and, frankly, she would have agreed with him just a few months ago. Any previous medical knowledge was learned by way of opening up jungle monitors, which were assumed to have a similar internal anatomy to the three sentient species. It was the basis for all modern medical operations, and in fact, she had books of those works inside of her tent.

Even when a body was torn open by battle, the insides aren't tampered with. It was against one of the Tenants of the Tuk to consume the flesh of a sentient creature, and somehow that got perverted over the centuries into it being a taboo to open a body up, or even try and put it back together.

Elixirs, bandages, herbal wraps, and other tinctures were all the realm of alchemists and doctors. This, to every raptor here, would be a straight-up perversion of both religion and medicine.

"Perhaps not, no. We aren't saving any of these souls. But maybe we can learn what is wrong with the Tuk."

The raptor before her frowned, shaking his head, "Nothing is wrong with the Tuk. Yes, the specimens here have a defect, but..."

"Defect my hide. If it was just one or two of them in a thousand, I'd believe it - but surely you saw the bodies piled up among the dead. They," she pointed at a raptor, "all lacked feathers. They," a gesture at the dilo and allo in turn, "both had sick, grey-green hide that glowed as much as the hide the Raptors have."

She turned after her comment, gesturing a paw over herself in the process, "I don't match that colouration. Even green dilos don't match that... that perversion of a colour."

The raptors shuffled uncomfortably, before the lead one spoke again, "What are you hoping to prove here, dilo?"

"Ayo," she snapped at him, "I'm Ayo Feralfang," clearly, these raptors hadn't heard of her before now. That wasn't a bad thing, per se, but it also proved that they must have had their heads stuffed far up their cloaca for the past few months to miss so much political turmoil. Or perhaps just with their snouts pressed into a book.

The lead raptor frowned, clearly understanding that he should know the name, but being unable to place it, "Very well, Ayo, what do you hope to prove?"

"That whatever is causing them to look like this isn't just an isolated incident. And that it is more than just outer looks."

The raptors were still uncomfortable, but they knew they had been given a straight answer. At least once she started to give orders, they all snapped rapidly into motion, no longer having to think and instead just having to_do_. Each of them, it seemed, was willing to break taboo so long as it was someone else instructing them to do it.

She ordered each of them to study the old writings first, to see how the heart, stomach, liver and other pieces of anatomy were meant to look according to the jungle monitors, and then she tasked one of them with opening the healthy, feathered raptor. Two of the medics gingerly lowered the litter with the body upon it to the ground while the third dipped the talon upon his foot in a bin of water, cleaning it thoroughly. He then brought it up to the dead raptor's throat and cut from the neck down to the cloaca.

The first thing all of them saw was that the detailed sketches within the book hardly mattered an inch. Oh, the pieces of the body were all there, yes, but the sizes and locations were vastly different. The four spent the next fifteen minutes translating the text and the body parts therein to what was in front of them, making a slew of newer notes in the process.

Now committed as they were, they moved with silent skill from one body to another, slicing up Iyapo and then the allosaurus, revealing their internal organs as well. The three species were similar, but the size of each organ within was obviously different. One of the raptors even remarked at the internal reproductive organs of the raptor, noting that the internal testes were nearly as large as the allosaurus'. Ayo snorted at that fact, but it was brushed off as a minor find.

Next was the featherless raptor, his body laid down right beside the feathered one and opened in a similar fashion. All four snouts leaned over the opened body and one of them swiftly left, rushing outside the tent to vomit. Ayo couldn't blame him, as she wasn't quite sure what she was looking at either, but it all screamed wrong.

The internal testes that had just been commented on, as an example, were half the size of the healthy raptor's, leaving Ayo to wonder if sterility could be an issue with the Tuk. The main difference, however, was strange growths over every other organ, and the fact that they were all... rearranged. Oh, the heart was where the heart should be, but pushed further over to one side. The lungs were a bit further down, the stomach resting further back. It was as if something had stuck their claw inside and swirled it all together, leaving behind a somewhat accurate representation of how it was meant to look.

Each of the organs was also faintly glowing a grim, otherworldly green.

Recovered from the bout of illness, the third raptor returned and the four worked in silence once more, opening the remaining two and noticing much of the same - misplaced organs and growths everywhere within. One thing Ayo pointed out was that the rate of decay on the Tuk's side was... lesser. As if the bodies hadn't been dead as long, but she knew from a fact that they had been out there just as long, if not longer, than any of her own. It was almost as if the body was trying to heal itself, even though it was clearly dead.

They shared notes and comparisons and two of them even slipped out to get another body that had yet to be burned, returning with another featherless raptor (she learned it belonged to the Talon commander that had died the day before) and cutting him open, too, finding a similar state within. It proved her right about it being more than just outside looks, but it gave her more questions than answers.

Why did the Tuk look like... like monsters? What could cause such a strain of mutations, and why did no other creature seem to suffer for it? Was it madness that led them on, or something else? All of those questions took a backseat, however, as a Heart scout stuck his head into the tent and uttered six simple words.

"The Seers are attacking the Tuk."