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Chapter 8: Coup d'etat

It was all the group of explorers could do to avoid being carried down the streets by the crowd. People had begun to talk about their feats in the recent battle, and none was more exalted then Mark, the black wolf that took out most of the enemy's officers, and threw the troops into chaos.

Whether they would have won without them was neither here nor there, as people flanked the group on all four sides, and pressed in to talk with them. Their presence in the city was noticed; in the distance, a great bell tolled, which drew shock on some faces, but mostly only drew laughter from the crowd. Mark ran to the man he had spoken with before, and asked, "Sir, what's that bell?" the fox laughed, and pointed to a palace built high up on the plateau at the center of the city.

"That's the bell summoning the last remaining vestiges of the city guard to fight us. It should be interesting. Will you join the van?" he asked Mark. Mark thought about it, and, not sure of what to do, he looked to Scott, as if to ask him.

"Well," Scott told Mark, in English, "We aren't supposed to fight people who aren't fighting us, but... What the hell, let's do it!" Mark laughed, telling the cat that he was going to get him killed, and he only had one life. Scott merely raised an eyebrow, still not getting the humor.

"Right," Mark said, to the fox, "Let's do this!" the fox grinned, as Mark swung his rifle up. He lead the group of explorers down a few side streets to an assembled group of men, who were there awaiting orders to take the capital city, by force if necessary. More and more people began to join the group, and those who seemed to be in charge were holding the masses back, as reinforcements in case something went horribly wrong.

The group began to ascend up the main street, which wound its way up to the plateau, and stopped before a great gate of wrought iron. The gate barred their path for only a few minutes, until it was broken open, and allowed the admittance of the poorly-armed "soldiers", who were only recently farmers, bankers, blacksmiths, some with rifles and pistols, and some armed with only pitchforks and tenacity.

Mark purposely stayed toward the back, and allowed the men and women that this war mattered to go first. Within the minutes, the gate through the main outer wall of the palace was breached, and soon shouts came back to explain why. Apparently the guard who had been tasked with defending the palace had seen the masses coming at them, and decided to surrender. The palace was raided, in search of the Emperor, but neither he nor any of his five wives were found. The advisors and cabinet were also missing from the palace, and shouts soon came up to say the war was won. There was to be much celebration that night, and Mark and the others were expected to stay for it.

Unable to say no, Mark and the others spent the afternoon being taken on a tour of the city by a young fox who explained he was the younger brother of the fox who had led the troops earlier that day. When the fox was certain he had shown Mark everything there was to see in the capital city, he led him back to the palace, and there the group of explorers waited. Shortly before the banquet that was to happen, Scott, who was relaxing on a sofa in the luxurious room they had been seated in, looked at Mark, and spoke.

"Under no circumstances are you to eat the food tonight, Mark," he said, seriously. Mark laughed, thinking he was joking, but Scott shook his head. "I'm serious, Mark. We all have had a surgery that stops anything we eat from poisoning us, but you haven't had it, so the food here could kill you. Not saying they'd poison us, but when you come from another planet, you can't tolerate certain things. If you want, you can have it done when you get back, that and the full time respiration device, which allows you to breath, despite the atmosphere type, so you don't have to keep that thing in your mouth all the time."

Mark looked forward to that. The device they had given him was only a slight improvement over constantly wearing a snorkel. It sat underneath his tongue, and made it incredibly difficult to speak normally. He hadn't died yet, however, so it must have been working. Ten minutes later, they were summoned by a volunteer servant, and they found themselves in the main dining hall. Dinner was served, and the ravenous civilians dug in, as well as three of the four explorers. Mark's mouth was watering the whole time, and his tail swished back and forth across the marble floors of the grand banquet hall, as he whined slightly at the aromas wafting off the food.

It's always the soup. Everything went wrong remarkably fast. All around him, peoples' heads fell onto tables, floors, and everywhere else, completely asleep. The fox who was sitting at the head of the main table, who had confronted Mark during the battle shouted, "Betrayed!", and then too slumped down. Mark was the only person who had not touched the food, and he drew his pistol with a shout, before rolling out of his chair onto the floor. Five minutes later, the grand doors flew open, and real soldiers flowed in like water, swords, guns and spears drawn. Mark took cover behind his chair, keeping that and the table between him and the soldiers. The men flowed in, and formed two sections of soldiers three rows thick on either side of the door, with a hole through the middle.

"Oh, shit," Mark said, realizing he was so screwed if these guys weren't on his side, which he seriously doubted they were. He could teleport, but that would mean leaving behind his team, which was not an option. Then he sensed a very slight opportunity when one man came walking down between the columns, and every man stood more at attention. Mark holstered his weapon, and crept along beneath the table and chairs until he could get close enough to do what he was about to do. With another silent ohshit, Mark slid out from under the table, and stood, putting his paws up in the (hopefully) universal symbol of surrender.

Fortunately for Mark, the man in the center of the columns shouted orders not to fire to the first row of soldiers, or Mark would have been shot on sight. The finely dressed fox dropped to his knees, and prostrated himself before Mark, which really confused Mark. When the other soldiers saw their commander on the ground, they also dropped, and Mark had no idea what was going on, until the soldiers began to speak as one.

"Emperor Terrak, our lives are yours, and we serve you, until the end. Do with us as you will, for we are naught compared to you. We live only to serve!"

"Oh... Shit?" Mark whispered to himself. "They think... I'm their Emperor?