The Shadows Book One: The War for EarthEnd.

Chapter Four - A Promise to Keep.

Liki Wolfspirit.

PyreFox opened the door to the house and strode out, holding a long piece of cloth in his hand. He stopped and pulled on it harshly while giving a growl, "Come on you!"

Liquid stumpled outward with a squeel and landed against him. He heard her give a chuckle before she looked up at him and standing back up, "Is that REALLY neccesary?" she growled then and pulled back hard.

The Foxen pulled back equally, "Yes it is. Now march." As Liquid past him he whispered, "Take it easy, it's just an act."

Liquid huffed as she walked, her arms tied at the wrists with the cloth of bed covers. Liki fumbled out close behind her as she walked, similary tied to her with the same cloth, and behind him came little Blackpaw tied to Liki with the cloth of the table he had been hiding under. The fact that Blackpaw was actually crying helped create the illusion that PyreFox had just captured them.

He walked to the side of them, leading them to the quarded gateway. The Anubians stood aside for them easily, though they snickered and smiled in evil glee at them, completely buying the act.

Liki kept his head low and ignored his desire to turn around and comfort Blackpaw, who was not entirely aware of the plan, only that he had to follow him. PyreFox led them across the city walls until they were out of sight of the gate, then let go of the cloth and untied them.

"Okay," He whispered, "Let's go a little farther then head inland, to wherever everyone retreated. Hopefully we can create a resistence. I know a few Beasts who lived here, and I'm sure they got away. I also know that they're not about to let this invasion happen without fighting back."

Liquid smiled, "Count me in then, I'm up for some action."

Liki nodded, "I'll help as soon as I'm sure Blackpaw has found his parents." Liki took the young Fangren's hand in his.

PyreFox nodded, "Let's get moving, I'm tired of this uniform and of Anubians."

They walked silently along the wall, Liki now comforting Blackpaw, until they were halfway between the gate they had left and the next, then started their way inland. PyreFox made sure they were not seen from either gate, bushes on the hills they were on helped with that greatly.

But, as soon as they were about to go over the hill, PryeFox gasped as his hand felt like it would fall off from pain. He clasped his left hand and hissed, and immediatly turned around like he would each time something like this would happen. His mark stopped burning him then, but he found himself facing the city again.

"What?" He looked at his mark, "But, I've found help, what could possibly be endangering my promise now?" He growled at his hand like he expected it to answer him.

Liki and Liquid stopped next to him. The Feline crossed her arms and meowed, "Promise? What about a promise?"

PyreFox showed them his paw, the small flame shaped mark glowing slightly to show the danger to him, "My mark, my powers are that of the Pyre. To gain them, I make a promise during a ritual, and I have to keep my promise otherwise my soul is damned to burn in a pit of fire."

Liki was interested, "What kind of promise? Can anyone take the ritual to gain your kind of power?"

PyreFox nodded, "Those that aren't of my people can take the ritual with assistence from one who is, and gain a fraction of the same power, but most who do don't have the same disipline to keep their promise true, and a fraction of the power isn't enough and they usually become greedy and so on and so forth," He sighed, "As for my promise, it's...a personal note...and right now, my mark is burning me, which means if I continue on the path I am I'll eventually break it."

Liki whimpered in sympathy. Perhaps the Fangren did know enough about responsibility to understand, PyreFox thought. The wolf kneeled down to crouch on his ankles, using his feet to balance expertly, "So what do we do?"

PyreFox sighed, running through options in his head and judging the mark's reaction to it. He considered going back to the Anubains, but moved away from that as his mark burned him angerly again. He already knew leaving with the others wasn't the right choice, as that had been what he had been doing just now and it burned him. Should he return to the city and keep looking around it for something else?

His mark stopped burning completely, he could not even feel the usual numbness of unseen cercumstance making something happen to him. Whatever was in the city, it would garentee he kept his promise even in this deire situation he found himself in, and that was way too intecing to leave alone.

"It seems," He stood up from where he had sat down in the bushes, "That I am going back into the city, my mark tells me there's something in there that will help me keep my promise for sure."

Liquid scoffed, "Well good luck with that, I'm going to the hills and find this resistence that's suppoused to be going on." and with that she stared walking away over the hill, vanishing from sight quickly.

Liki sat a moment, then stood up too, "I'll go with you."

PyreFox stared down at Liki, while Blackpaw whimpered loudly and tugged Liki's armor.

Liki patted the young Fangren's head. "Blackpaw, you wait right here in these bushes and don't make any noise okay? We'll be back for you okay? I promise."

PyreFox grimiced as Liki made the promise, "You shouldn't make a promise you don't know if you can keep."

Liki stared back, "But I do know I can, I'm a Shadow, perhaps the last one alive. It will take alot to beat me."

PyreFox's eyes widened, "You mean, you're a member of The Shadows?"

"Yes," Liki nodded, "You know of them?"

"They were an ally of the Pyre a long time ago," PyreFox tried to remember old stories, his eyes straying to the sky, "Unfortunately they would not let us help them with The Grey Circle, as we would've hurt innocents eventually...We usually do..." PyreFox returned his gaze to Liki, "But you're one of them? I see now how you were able to read my thoughts. Gaia gave you her blessing."

Liki nodded agian, "I was taught by Uriay, he survived and hid out in my old village, until it was attacked. My mom and dad were murdered, and he took me in and taught me to fight as a Shadow, though a different family actually sheltered me on Mushroom isle while he did so. He died of old age about a month ago, and I've been on my own since then, trying to explore and kinda bring back The Shadows."

PyreFox listened, a bit of respect emerging for this Fangren. He knew now indeed that Liki held more power then he looked, and his code as a Shadow would never allow him to break any promise, or leave behind any he knew he could help even if it took his life.

"All right." PyreFox nodded, "You can come to, but use your Shadows to shroud yourself, if any Anubians see me with you." He didn't need to go into the details of how much trouble the would make for themselves then.

"Understood," Liki said and knelt down by Blackpaw while PyreFox straightened himself up.

"Blackpaw," He whispered to the boy and sat him down on his rumb, "Stay right here, okay? I promise to you I will be right back."

"And as a Shadow that promise is an absolute garentee." PyreFox added.

Liki smiled and nodded at PyreFox's words, then gave Blackpaw a comforting stroke to his head, "Stay right here, okay?" he repeated.

Blackpaw nodded, giving a small smile but whimped and hugged Liki's legs before sitting down again. "Okay Liki, right here. I'll wait."

The older Fangren smiled again and got up to follow the Foxen back down the hill, giving one last smile behind him to Blackpaw in assurence.

PyreFox walked through the gate alone with no trouble from the Anubains guarding it. As he walked around a corner and out of sight of them into another ally he heard a whisper beside him.

"So," Liki whispered while his form shimmered as he talked, cloaked from sight with Shadow magic, "What is your promise? It must be something very specific if there's something here that can garentee it's safety."

PyreFox kept walking, and Liki could sense that what he was trying to ask was very private, so he only said, "I'm just trying to rationalize why I really came with you."

The Foxen sighed, "Well...there's a girl..."

"Oh." Liki smiled in his cloak, "I had a girl too."

"Had?" PyreFox whispered back, continueing to walk aimlessly in search of whatever it was he was searching for.

Suddenly Liki whimpered as he remembered, "Yeah, she died though..."

PryeFox stared at the empty space where Liki was cloaked, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Liki whimpered again, "I tried to save her but...I wasn't strong enough back then..."

"What happened exactly," PyreFox whispered, "Would it help to talk about it?"

For a moment the Fangren remained silent in his Shadow cloak, until he whimpered and started, "She was too headstrong for her own good...seven years old and five of training as a paladin and already she believed herself capable of taking care of herself. She ran away from home and entered the Dark Forest in her attempt to show us that she could. The next night I heard her howling in fear. The Dark Forest is filled with many evil things, lost souls haunt it and zombies wander it at night. My master had me spend three days alone in there once to test me. The things I saw in there..." Liki became visible slightly as he shivered, feeling cold.

"On the night I heard her howls of fright I dashed back in to save her," He continued, "I followed her scent to find her, but when I reached the end of her trail I was too late...a horde of zombies were already there, and I had no choice but to leave..."

PyreFox listened, a child Liki's age shouldn't have to feel such hardships so early, "It seems harsh that you should feel these kinds of feelings so early in life Liki."

He heard Liki give a small laugh, "The earlier you feel them, the greater the reason you have to listen to them. A Shadow can't feel pity to himself really, doing so is being selfish, and can eventually lead to performing actions that break his code. Feeling it firsthand right away like that gave me the ability to numb the pain of other tragedies, like my Master's death..."

"Your code," PyreFox wondered, "What does it stand for?"

"The basic rule of a Shadow is to never use our power for the side of evil."

"Is that in of itself or just evil in your own opinion?"

"Excuse me?"

"Does your power itself dictate what is evil or do you dictate what you judge to be evil?"

Liki was silent a moment, cunfused by the question, "You're asking if the Shadows themselves will not allow me to do evil by not letting me use them if I try?"

PyreFox nodded.

"Then Yes," the Fangren answered, "If I try to do evil, the Shadows leave me and will not allow me to use their power."

The Foxen smiled, "That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

PyreFox thought a moment, noticing they were appoarching the center of the city now, they stopped by the side of a building and he said, "Imagine that by fighting the Anubians here you will be ripping away any chance for them to survive and continue as a species. That would be an evil, yet you cannot allow them to continue and kill other Beasts and steal land in their attempts to survive, if you do you betray and condemn thousands to horrible deaths at their hands. You must choose between two evils."

"But I know that is not the case." Liki stated.

PyreFox waved his hand dismissivly, "Imagine it so."

"Well, I would still have to fight them I suppose. To me, what they would be doing to others would be more evil."

"Then you would deny them any chance at salvation so they expire and become extinct as a people?" The Foxen questioned.

Liki stayed silent, so PyreFox continued, "You see what I'm getting at? Your power doesn't justify the action like mine does when it comes to my promise. For me it's either do this or I'm damned. For you, you can do whichever action you deem correct, the one that looks to be for the greater good; even if it might eventually cause a great evil, without worry of losing your power. Every single action you do can bring some amount of bad will into the world. Perhaps if you fight here, you'll only spur the Anubians into invading Camelot next, or the citizens will wage war on the Anubians once they retake the city and wipe them out."

There was silence agian and PyreFox huffed, figuring he had duped the Fangren now in thinking about his actions and the actions he would take later on, and he began to turn to walk more toward the large Anubian encampment in the center of town. He took about three steps before Liki's next words stopped him.

"If we are to assume that fighting the Anubians would mean thier extinction like we are imagining," Liki whispered as he still followed silently, "What promise did you make that would justify your actions against them?"

PyreFox stood a moment, thinking of an answer that would not reveal his promise completly. In the end he found none, and he sighed and murmurred, "Her."

And with that he continued to walk into the encampment, entering the Anubian crowd before Liki could probe more. PyreFox proceeded through the encampment with weary eyes, imagining that someone would see through Liki's magic and raise the alarm. At the same time, he searched for whatever it was his mark was wanting him to find here. They silently approached the area that appeared to be becoming a barracks in the base, as Anubians were setting up tents in rows. PyreFox went straight for one in particular at the end of the row that was already set up and entered.

Liki followed behind him and let PyreFox close the curtians. The tent was empty and had only one bed.

"Is this your tent?" He asked silently.

PyreFox nodded, "The Captian's tent. I had signed a contract with the Anubians to be a commander of the army, but had not expected why exactly they were looking for signed mercenarys." The Foxen began to shift through his belongings in the tent.

"Do you have any idea what we're looking for?" Liki asked and began to help with the search, still cloaked.

"Not a clue, I-" PyreFox was cut off as an Anubian suddenly burst into the room. A glass jar fell to the ground as the invisible Liki moved to avoid being touched. The Anubian stared at the now broken glass on the ground.

"So sorry sir!" He gasped, apparently taking that he had caused it to fall by entering the tent too quickly.

PyreFox breathed in relief, "It's okay soldier, why the rush?"

"The General wishes your pressence near the command tent."

The Foxen turned his head confused, "Very well."

The Anubian turned away and left, and Liki let out a breath he had been holding. "Now what?"

"I guess we go to the General," PyreFox said, "But be careful, mages there might feel your pressence."

"Not a chance." Liki said and followed his ally out of the tent and through the encampment again, being careful not to bumb into anyone or hit something with his feet. The command tent was much bigger then any other there, about fifty yards long. Liki imagined how much information was stored in there about what the Anubains were planning to do with the city now, but was distracted when he noticed PyreFox stop before a large Anubian with a spiky helmet.

"You wanted to see me sir?"

"Captian yes." The Anubain smiled and opened the flap of the tent, revealing a amber furred Female Foxen tied to a post inside, clothing torn and obviously abused, her once beutiful muzzle bloody and her eyes closed. She was out cold. "This traitorous merc said she knows you. Do you recognize her?"

PyreFox stared at the Foxen blankly, eventually he answered, "No sir I do not."

The General laughed, "I guess that makes her even more of a liar."

"What are you planning to do with her?" PyreFox asked, "What did she do?"

"She tried to violiate her contract, helping civilians escape. Needless to say she failed in that task. As for what will happen to her now, that will be decided once she wakes up," The General moved away from PyreFox and the invisible Fangren, "That is all Captain, if you really had known her your loyalty would have been in question as well..."

PyreFox stood still and continued to stare at the Foxen tied to the pole before pulling himself away and quickly returning to his tent. Liki struggled to keep up, but he could feel PyreFox's mind whirling with emotions and worry.

Once they were safely in PyreFox's tent, he gave a moment before whispering, "That was her wasn't it? The one you made a promise for?"

PyreFox nodded, his eyes closed as he sat down on the bed with a load thump, tears briming them.

Liki whimpered, "What should we do?"

"I don't know!" PyreFox growled and took a shuddering breath, "I don't know...to think she would have signed up for this, had been here the entire time..." PyreFox punched the bed, "No wonder my mark wanted me to save you! If it wasn't for the fact that they were busy catching her doing the same thing, we would've been caught instead! Now, she's being tortured and possibly worse..."

"Does your mark burn?"

PyreFox stared at his hand and realized it didn't, "No..."

"Then whatever we're doing we're doing correctly to keep her alive. That was your promise right?"

PyreFox stayed silent, so Liki only continued, "Your freeing us was only a part of freeing her. That's why your mark didn't burn then but did as we left. You have help in freeing her now, you and I can easily get her out of the city tonight."

The Foxen stared at where Liki's voice came from. "How do we do that?"

Liki shrugged, his cloak shimmering as he did, "Well, we just do what we feel is right, not much planning to do is there?"

"No," PyreFox laughed lightly through his emotions, "I suppose there isn't."

"Then tonight we'll sneak out and rescue her," Liki said, "And with me that should be very easy to do."