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Alex was lost, stupidly lost. His whole life had been lived in the city, and he knew better than to ramble aimlessly beyond the safe confines of Fox Town, where the more well to do congregated. It was especially stupid to wander outside the enclave of one's kind alone. Where am I? How long have I been walking?, he wondered. He had lost all track of time and direction as he wrestled with his inner turmoil.

This was not a good part of town. Dilapidated buildings, tipped over garbage cans, graffiti and broken streetlights attested to its working class poverty. It was late and getting dark, and none of his kind were around, just bears - plenty of hulking, scary bears. Being but a small fox, he was acutely aware of how vulnerable he was right now. Small even by the standards of his own kind, he was absolutely dwarfed by the people around him. A few of the passing bears gave him strange looks but fortunately most ignored him. Damning himself for being such an introverted homebody, he regretted not learning more about these other parts of the city. He didn't even know anybody with a car to come pick him up. Wracking his brain for anything he knew about the bear folk, he could only remember that they were prone to bouts of philosophical rambling, spiritualism and were easily enraged. Remembering this last fact almost made him piss his pants.

Focusing on bladder control kicked his memory back to the reason he was here. He blamed it all on his girlfriend ... well, ex-girlfriend anyway. She had dumped him earlier in the day in a bad way, and something broke inside and set him walking. He knew the reason she left him, and intellectually it made sense, but she was his first lover, so it hurt in a way that reason couldn't master.

There was no way they should have ever hit it off. Other than being the same species, they had little in common. Her name was Cassandra, and she was wild and rowdy; he was cautious and quiet. They only hooked up because they worked at the university admissions center together. She processed student loan and scholarship applications. Alex helped students find scholarships. He was very good at finding things and loved the detective like feel of researching obscure scholarship opportunities and matching them to the needs of individual students. It was a satisfying feeling to help others. As a bonus, it gave him the chance to meet people of other furry races in a safe environment. He had an academic interest in all the races because he was trying to major in evolutionary biology. Thus, the origins of the separate races and their synchronous evolution were fascinating subjects to him.

The other reason they hooked up was that she had just broken up with her previous boyfriend. He was creep, who hit her a lot. Alex picked her up on the rebound; she was hurting, lonely and momentarily fragile. He knew that. It was kind of a sleazy move to make but she seemed so exciting and in need. Having always been naturally shy around females, Alex had never had a girlfriend before. When he summoned the courage to ask her out, she seemed surprised and amused and had said, "So you do like girls after all. We were beginning to wonder here." He was never quite sure what she meant by that, but it didn't really matter, since, she wanted sex as bad as he did. She practically tore his clothes off on their first date. Being a twenty-year-old virgin, his cock led the way, and common sense was swept out with the tide of hormones. Things were great for a couple of months. She doted on him and taught him things that he would never forget.

Then it started to go sour little by little, and the fundamental incompatibility of their relationship manifested itself like the smell of a dead rat in the apartment wall. She liked sex violent. She was not violent to Alex, but she asked him to do things that he thought bordered on the dangerous. Spanking her with a riding crop while she sucked his dick was one thing. He wasn't sure about it, but it seemed harmless enough. Taking her from behind on her knees with her arms pinned behind her back was rougher than he liked, but he did it. She wanted him to mount her from behind and bite her neck like a cat. Embarrassed, he did it and she had such a powerful orgasm that he did it again and even drew blood from her neck accidentally. Cass loved it, but he wouldn't do it anymore. He was afraid of how far she might make him go.

He refused to slap her when she asked, so she began to do things that were deliberately designed to make him angry. She was good at that game and almost got him to hit her, but the most he could bring himself to do was yell at her to stop. Being so gentle by nature, he found it all very confusing and frustrating. Sometimes, he discovered he just couldn't get hard with her. That scared him. She was gorgeous, with nice firm tits, an athletic body, the shapeliest ass he had ever seen and an insatiable sexual appetite. She was messing him up, but he couldn't seem to get away from her. The end came mercifully when she asked him to urinate on her. He drew a line in the sand, not a yellow one in the snow, on that request. How could he piss on something so beautiful and perfect as her body? It was like vandalizing a masterpiece work of art. That was when she told him they were through and that she was going back to the guy who beat her. She didn't say it that way, but that was what Alex heard. He was trying to be nice and be a good boyfriend, yet she would rather be with someone who was abusive. That hurt. Dumped for being the good guy. Dumped in favor of an asshole.

Rationally he tried to tell himself it was for the best. They could never have had a lasting relationship, but his emotional self was in tatters and left a quivering wreck by the experience. The pain of loss and abandonment was too much to endure, and he couldn't do anything but sulk in his now empty and lonely apartment, so he went out for a walk. Walking had always calmed him, allowed him to think clearly, sort things out and fix his brain the same way sleep repaired the body. Unfortunately, tonight he had too much sorting to do, too many new and terrible emotions to resolve, and he walked too far.

So focused was Alex on the misery of his ruined relationship that he once again had lost track of his surroundings and collided with another pedestrian. Alex went down on his ass as if he had rammed a furry wall. The other walker had merely stopped at the collision, and not because Alex had been any impediment to his forward progress, but because Alex had knocked to the ground one of the grocery bags the giant had been carrying. Looking up to see who he faced, Alex was astonished to grasp the size that some bears could achieve. A towering pillar of dark brown fur and muscle at least seven feet tall loomed over him. On any other occasion, he would have thought it funny to see someone so big and fearsome dressed in a dirty, white wife beater t-shirt and baggy old basketball shorts, but somehow the seediness of his attire induced more fear by adding a subtle undercurrent of lower class brutality. The pronounced grizzly-like hump on the back of his shoulders added to his terrifying aspect.

"What t'e hell youse t'ink youse doing, you dumb ass dog?" he growled, and literally, it was something between a growl and a roar.

"I'm so sorry. It's all my fault." Alex scrambled back to his feet, dismayed when he did that his eyes weren't even level with this monster's chest. "Please, let ... let me pick up your stuff," he stammered hoping to mollify the bear.

"If anyt'ings broke, youse gonna to pay for it in a bad way, little dog." There weren't many other bears about, but the few that were had now stopped to watch the spectacle. That made Alex even more anxious, but what really unnerved him was the bear's constant use of the racial slur 'dog'. It was obviously insulting, but also so morally reprehensible to use such epithets in public, that the sheer audacity of hearing it from another forced Alex to imagine what other depravities this cretin was willing to commit, possibly even physical violence.

"I'm sure nothings broken. Here let's see." Anxious enough about being dumped by his girlfriend, lost in a hostile neighborhood and now confronted with a potentially violent thug who could crush him as easily as he could compress cotton candy, Alex accidentally grabbed the basket by the bottom. Lifting it up resulted in emptying the contents onto the concrete sidewalk. Alex observed each item fall in terrible slow motion knowing he had just made the most dangerous situation he had ever experienced somehow terribly worse. The nature of the tumbling contents fueled his already negative perception of his opponent's moral debauchery. Cans of cheap malt liquor plummeted out accompanied by bags of corn chips, a titty magazine with big breasted cat chicks on the cover, several packs of cigarettes, a jar of pickles and a bag of gummy bears. The last item would have seemed ironic and perhaps funny to Alex if he wasn't so sure that he was about to die.

Several of the cans of beer hit edge on and the foul smelling contents fizzed and shot out under carbonated pressure. Of course, some of it sprayed across the bear's stump-like legs and feet; the rest began to pool around and soak his copy of Kitty Titties. Alex really didn't expect the pickle jar to survive, but did it have to shatter completely and further ruin the dirty magazine and soak the packs of cigarettes? Somehow, that just seemed unfair. I might as well just jump up and down on the fucking corn chips and eat his damn gummi bears, he thought hysterically.

There was a stunned moment of silence that only comes when people are so astounded by a totally unexpected event that the brain pauses like a slowly buffering video, trying to decide how to react to the bizarre stimuli. Alex was fixated on the gummy bears for reasons he could not fathom. He loved gummy bears, but if he lived through the next five minutes, he was sure that he would never be able to eat them again. The bear was quicker to recover, and this time the ursine really did roar. It was a paralyzingly loud and deep bellow that struck primal terror into Alex's little fox core.

"Fuckin' stupid mutt! I'll kill ya!" A heavy clenched paw swung round towards Alex's head. He could think of nothing to do but duck down low and dive between his attacker's legs. Small, but agile, Alex was on his feet again before the bear could turn and grab him. Alex had never been in a real fight, and this opponent was the wrong one with which to start, so he ran. The enraged grizzly ran after him with surprising speed for his bulk. Two of the passerby bears, who had been watching Alex's pathetic encounter with amusement, tried to stop him, but he vaulted several garbage cans escaping their massive paws by inches.

"Get t'at damn dog!" Alex heard the earth shaking sound of many bear feet pursuing him, but he dared not look back. More were in front of him, so he turned down an alley praying that it went to another street. He nearly tripped over a wino in the alley and barely cleared his massive bear beer belly while inhaling the horrible stench of urine, body odor, booze and vomit. Weaving around dumpsters, pallets and other alley detritus, he was rewarded with the view of another street. His pursuers were farther back now, delayed by the obstructing wino, but still shouting angrily and still hot for the chase.

Exiting the alley, he ran left. This street was narrower and more deserted than the last street, but he could see some bears farther down the block in each direction. As soon as the mob behind him left the alley, they would no doubt call on these bears to help catch him. He had to hide. Frantically trying doors on the left, the first three were locked. Desperate, he turned the knob on the fourth door and threw all of his pitifully inadequate weight against it thinking he would break it down if it were locked. It opened, and he fell inside. Jumping back up, he slammed the door, threw the deadbolt and pulled down the shade over the window. Some obsessive-compulsive part of his brain made him flip the 'Yes We're Open" sign to 'Sorry, We're Closed'. How that would stop a determined ursine weighing nearly four hundred pounds, he had no idea. The absurdity of it made him laugh nervously as he backed up as far from the door as he could get until he bumped against a long wooden counter.

There were a few terrifying seconds when the crowd paused briefly outside the door with their hulking shadows eerily illuminated by a flickering streetlight. The doorknob turned and the door shook, but the deadbolt held. Apparently satisfied, they moved on, and for the first time since he found himself in Bear Town, he felt less fearful. It wasn't much, but less fearful was the best he could manage and far better than hysterical terror.

Searching about to understand his surroundings, Alex found himself inside a dimly lit store full of curiosities and antiques scattered about on tables, in cabinets and on bookshelves. More interested in an escape route than in the contents of the store, he began to move around the counter behind which a door was located. He hoped that it might lead to another exit. When he rounded the counter, he was startled by the sight of a figure covered in wool shawls seated in an old wing backed chair at a small table lit only by the pale glow of a standing light fixture with purple trumpet-shaped glass light shades. Fearing it was another bear who would only want to destroy him, he jumped back bumping against a bookshelf, and old musty books fell about him.

"Skitterish little t'ing ain't cha," said the first non-hostile voice Alex had heard in this part of town. The voice was almost pleasant, like a kindly old grandma's, and indeed when the figure dropped the shawls that covered her head, he saw that she was an old skunk woman. Much of her black fur had turned to silver gray. Wearing bifocals perched on the edge of her snout, she smiled kindly showing a mouth surprisingly full of perfect teeth. She beckoned Alex to come forward. Alex tried to pick up the books feeling guilty about breaking into her store and then knocking things over.

"Never you mind t'ose, pup. T'ey's wort'less. Ain't nobody want junk like t'at in t'is dig'tal age. Come here and let old Vladlena see you close wit' her tired eyes.

Compelled by her soft and pleasant demeanor, he complied. She took her time looking him up and down to the point where he actually felt a little embarrassed. He wasn't wearing much since he thought he might run for a few miles when walking had cleared his mind, so he only had on running shorts and a tight fitting running shirt.

When she seemed satisfied with her appraisal, she spoke again, "Quite the looker, ain't cha? I bet the lady foxes cain't keep t'eir paws of an at'letic stud wit' such unusual auburn colored fur. Pretty green eyes, too. My dear late husband had eyes like t'at. Girls swoon for that color, don't cha know?"

Alex was embarrassed and his ears involuntarily went flat against his head and his bushy tail tucked down between his legs. "Well, uh ... actually .. it's really more like ..."

"Ahh, Vladlena sees the trut' now. Troubles wit' love is cha problem. I can fix t'at."

Alex didn't like this crazy old skunk prying into his private life and just wanted to get back home ending this nightmare evening as quickly as possible. "Yeah, sure. I got those problems, but that's not my real problem. My real problem is that I am lost and ..."

"Silence!" she commanded, and so sudden was the change in her demeanor that Alex was compelled to comply. "T'at ain't cha real problem. T'at is a symptom of t'e bigger issue. Give me cha paw." Alex hesitated, unsure if he wanted her to touch him. She was starting to scare him a bit. Perhaps misinterpreting his pause, she said, "T'e left one, please. It's connected to the heart. T'at's important."

Not knowing what else to do and afraid to upset this possible benefactor, he stretched out his left paw to her over the small table. Grasping it with a surprisingly strong grip, she forced his paw open and inspected his pads and digits carefully, muttering incomprehensibly in some foreign language that Alex didn't recognize. Then she went silent and began rocking back and forth in her chair humming to herself.

"Look. I need to get home. I would like to call a cab now. I have my own phone. I just need a place to wait a bit then I'll ..."

She had not been listening to him, and did not release her grip on his paw. Instead she instructed him to sit. A small wooden chair sat aside the table. He dragged it closer with his foot and sat down across the small table from Vladlena whereupon she finally released his paw. Striking a match, she lit several candles and placed them around the table, then set some incense to smoldering. The pungent and spicy smoke made Alex's head start to spin. The dizziness only increased when she lit up some kind of water pipe and took several long drags from it, exhaling the acrid smoke across the table at Alex. What the hell is she smoking? Something illegal probably. I am really in the wrong part of town, thought Alex.

As if understanding his thoughts, she answered his unsaid question, "T'is help Vladlena focus her powers. 'Tis why I am here. I knows cha are wonderin' how a skunk lady lives in Bear Town." Alex had been thinking that thought. "Vladlena has a gift t'at she uses to help ot'ers. Bears are very spiritual and philosophical folk." Alex was about to interrupt and say what he thought of their disposition based on his brief experience, but he was interrupted by the mind reader again. "Oh, 'tis true t'ey are quick to anger and can be quite violent, but when t'ey are calm, t'ey can be quite profound and respectful of t'e deeper senses."

Continuing with her previous thought, she explained, "My late husband was a bear." Alex could not hide his amazement. Though not illegal in this land, interracial marriages were illegal in many places and at a minimum were a huge social taboo everywhere. "Ha!", she laughed at his surprise. "Didn't t'ink an old lady could be so scandalous now did cha?" Alex did think it was scandalous and perverted. He was getting embarrassed just thinking about this little skunk lady and some huge bear getting it on. He could only stammer out useless, flustered words.

"Well ... no. I mean yes?" His confusion just made her laugh harder and louder and brought on a coughing fit that she calmed with another long drag on the pipe.

"I will spare cha the details of our relationship, poor pup. My husband was well respected in t'is community, and my gift makes t'e folk 'round here tolerate my presence."

"Gift? What gift? I don't understand."

"T'e gift to help people see what t'ey need to see." Now he realized that she was some kind of psychic. Despising this sort of irrational mumbo jumbo, he tried to protest that he didn't believe in predicting the future, speaking to the dead or whatever weird powers she was about to claim she had. Continuing to talk though, without giving Alex a chance to speak, she said, "My gift to cha is a readin'." From under the table she produced a well-worn deck of cards and began shuffling and cutting them one pawed like some old time riverboat gambler. The motion was mesmerizing. Combined with the dizzying effect of the hookah pipe smoke and incense, Alex was spellbound. With a deft series of flicks of her right thumb, she dealt five cards face down in front of Alex.

Staring Alex in the eyes, she bid him turn each card slowly from the edge nearest him up and over until that edge was near her. She named each card as he did so. "Upright ace of cups. Deat' reversed. Lovers reversed. Upright six of swords. 'Tis as I t'ought." On the last card, though, she paused as it was revealed. "So t'at's how it's gonna be, eh. Cha are a difficult one, pup. I see 'tis gonna be a hard night for all of us and maybe some ot'ers."

Wondering what the problem with the card was, Alex looked closer. It depicted a wheel on an axel with a paw crank, all of which was supported by a crude wooden frame. On the wheel were primitive representations of three strange creatures: a monkey wearing a kilt, a stylized fish with finned legs instead of a tail, and at the top of the wheel was a sphinx holding a sword. If he understood the orientations she had been assigning the cards, this one was upright. Curious now, he asked what it meant.

"Abandoned cha skepticism have cha? Does cha want to know what t'e cards mean?" If nothing else, Alex thought she was putting on a pretty good show, so he decided to play along and nodded his head.

Smiling that perfect smile again, she put a finger on the first card. "Upright ace of cups. Love and new relationships. T'at's good."

How wrong could these cards possibly be? thought Alex.

Her finger moved to the next card. "Deat' reversed."

"That's bad, right?"

"Whose doin' t'e readin', pup?", she asked leaning over the small table for emphasis until their snouts nearly touched. Abashed, Alex sat back upright in his chair. She continued. "Not necessarily. In cha case, it means resistance to change. I can see t'at. You don't know what cha want so cha fights it." She made no move for a moment just staring at Alex and making him uncomfortable. He really wanted to know now what the other cards meant.

"What about the others?"

She smiled again, secretly pleased with something. The finger slid slowly to the next card until it rested between the two depicted lovers standing apart under an angel on a cloud. "Lovers reversed. Did cha lose your love, pup?" Alex nodded sadly. "Today?" He nodded again. "I see." The finger moved inexorably to the fourth card. "Upright six of swords." A man was poling a small craft across a shallow lake. "T'is is good. T'ere is hope. Cha can change and achieve what cha need ..." The finger moved to the final card but did not touch it as it had the others, "... and t'is gives cha t'e chance to do it."

Alex was puzzled and perhaps getting a bit high on the fuming smoke that was enveloping him. "I don't understand."

"Pick the card up." Alex did as she commanded. "T'is card ordinarily means good luck and abundance. When drawn as t'e last card as it has tonight, it does somet'in' more. Study the card closely. Don't take cha eyes off it."

Alex inspected the card diligently as instructed. It had a Roman 'X' at the top above the picture and the words 'LA ROVE DE FORTVNE' along the bottom, but it was not the words but the wheel and the animals that captured his attention. The card seemed crudely drawn with poor perspective. The animals looked as though they had been sketched by someone who had never seen the beasts and had only heard descriptions of them. Yet as he continued to observe, the detail seemed to improve, and he had to blink his eyes in the dim light to try to catch the transformation. Yes. Definitely. The monkey's tail looked more realistic and the fish had lost it's ridiculous ears. He could now see individual scales along the fish's body. The fur on the sphinx almost stuck out from the card's surface. He thought it must be one of those old time double image cards that showed a different picture depending on the viewing angle, but no matter how he turned it, the resolution just kept on improving. Captivated by the effect and Vladlenas's droning voice urging him to keep focusing on the card, his eyes stayed transfixed.

Either the card grew or his vision narrowed. He wasn't sure, but soon all he could see was the ever more realistic illustration. There was no shop anymore. No chair. No table. No incense and smoke. There was just the wheel and the animals upon it, and a vast desert of sand dunes stretching off to the horizon in every direction. It was warm now, and the sun was hot on his furry back. His feet sank into the dry sand reminding him of a summer day at the beach. He stood upright as the support of the chair vanished from beneath him.

He yelped like a pup when he realized what these sensations meant. The shop was gone. Vladlena stood beside him on the top of a giant sand dune in the middle of an endless desert. Impossibly, the wheel was real in front of him, and the fish, monkey and sphinx all stared at him with curious eyes that moved and blinked. Scared, Alex grabbed Vladlena by the arm. Instantly worried that he might hurt the old woman, he found instead that she was surprisingly strong considering her apparent age. She let him hang from her arm with no sign of discomfort.

"The shop. Where did it go? How ... how did we get here?"

Vladlena patted Alex on the head, and smoothed down the hackles that were rising in fright on the back of his head and neck.

"'Tis all part of t'e readin', pup." Taking him by the arm she led him closer to the wheel to where the large wooden crank stuck out from the axel. "Spin t'e wheel to earn cha chance, pup. Go on."

With his head clear of the smoky shop's air and traumatized by the spatial dislocation, Alex was feeling less cooperative. He tried to yank his arm from her grasp, but she held him tight. How this old lady could be so strong he didn't understand, but he didn't want to be part of whatever this was anymore. "No. Take me back. Make this go away. Whatever you have done, undo it now. I just want to go home."

Vladlena shook her head. "Deat' reversed. So resistant to change, cha'll even take the bad when somet'in' good might be waitin' in front of cha. Now spin t'e wheel so we can get on wit' t'is. T'is tired old lady would like to get back to her bed afore mornin'."

Alex was about to refuse again, when the monkey on the wheel spoke. "You got cloth ears, little doggie? The smart lady said spin the damn wheel. Too dumb to do that little trick, you stupid mutt?" So dumbfounded by the spectacle of a talking monkey, he could only stare at it with his mouth hanging open in astonishment. Monkey's didn't talk. They were the nasty, feces-throwing animals at the zoo. He hated them. They were ugly and disgusting. Thank the Maker they never evolved into true people like the foxes, skunks, bears and the other races. If they had, thought Alex, then they might be just like this disgusting, insulting, vile little creature.

Continuing his tirade, the monkey expounded upon his harassing monologue, "Haven't you taught this puppy to speak? Speak, boy! Speak! Ha! Ha! What a dumb dog. Turn the fucking handle already. It's hot as a furnace here and I could use the breeze. My balls are baking in the sun, or did you not notice that I'm stuck on this wheel with my bare ass pointing up in the air?" While the monkey spoke, the sphinx gazed down with and enigmatic smile, and the fish seemed to grin with its bulging eyes and blew bubbles out of its mouth as though it were laughing.

"Hush now, monkey," chided Vladlena. Putting Alex's paw on the handle, she directed Alex again to turn it. "T'ere isn't much time." Genuine concern was evident on her face, but Alex ignored it.

"No. I won't. This is too weird, and I don't want to play along with whatever game you have going. You want my money? I'll give you everything I got. Just let me go."

"Too late, dumb ass dog," interrupted the monkey. "Why don't you chase your tail for a while or fetch a stick? You can't seem to do anything else useful."

Now Alex was really getting pissed off at the monkey. "Let me go," he said to the Vladlena. "I want to kick that little bastard in his furless balls."

Vladlena did not reply to Alex, but instead turned to search off into the distance to their right. Alex followed her gaze. The sand in the far distance was moving. Without reference objects for scale, it was impossible to tell in this monotonous wasteland how far away anything was, but whether close or far, something huge was moving just below the surface of the sand. It wasn't moving towards them at first, which was comforting. Its current path would take it away from them. Knowing something that big could be beneath their feet terrified Alex.

To Alex's further horror, the monkey began shouting to attract whatever lurked under the dunes. "Hey, shark! Over here! There's a tasty little fox roasting nicely in the sun. Come to dinner!" Deepening Alex's terror, the thing under the sand turned and began moving towards them with frightening speed. An enormous black and green leathery hump broke the surface briefly exposing a series of spiky fin like features before dipping under the sands again.

"T'e wheel, pup. Spin it now or we bot' die here." There was genuine fear in her voice, which more than anything else she could have said or expressed, made him grab the handle again and turn it with all of his strength. Slowly at first, but gathering speed, the wheel spun, and the three strange beasts turned with it.

"At last," exclaimed the monkey. "That's cooling the old butt cheeks down a bit."

As the wheel spun, Alex was gripped with the sensation that he was spinning along with it. It was as though his insides were being whipped in a blender. No case of vertigo could ever feel as bad as this. Dizzy as he was, he could see the sand shark's surface disturbance continue to accelerate towards the wheel until it was within thirty yards. Without warning, its wake vanished and the sand was calm as though the beast had dived deeper. The spinning vertiginous feeling that was upon him grew worse until he thought we would puke, when suddenly a wall of leathery flesh and huge triangular teeth rose up around Alex and Vladlena, completely engulfing them and the sand around them. Falling down into the gullet of the beast, Alex was overwhelmed by the vertigo and became senseless.

Alex never felt himself hit bottom, yet he was lying on the ground in a tangle of bodies. One of them was Vladlena, recognizable because of her distinctive black and white markings. Another person was present, though, and the stranger was clearly a fox with his or her arm uncomfortably and embarrassingly between his legs. Grabbing the arm and pulling it free, he was surprised to find it was a prosthetic. He was even more surprised when he recognized the owner of that arm.

"Dawn? What? How? Am I back at the University?" he asked hopefully.

"Alex? Is this another dream?" She seemed as confused as he was. "I was asleep, and my phone rang. I checked and there was a picture message. When I opened it, it ... it came to life ..."

"Let me guess," interrupted Alex, "There was a wheel, a rude monkey, and a shark in the sand."

Dawn's mouth hung open. "How did you know what I dreamed ... or maybe am still dreaming? Did I go back to sleep? I felt I was falling. That happens when you sleep, right?"

"T'is ain't no dream, pups," said Vladlena as she stood up brushing dirt and dried leaves off her clothes. "Everyt'ing cha see around cha is real, and evert'ing t'at happens here to cha is real including deat'." To Dawn, she said. "T'e cards brought cha here, cause cha and t'e pup's fates are intertwined."

Regaining his senses, Alex began to explore his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was that Vladlena was dressed differently and so was he. The Skunk had a long colorful dress with a bright red cape-like hooded shall that buttoned to the front of her dress. His own clothes were more modest in style and made of rough wool and consisted of khaki colored baggy pants held to his waist with a simple cord, a lose shirt of similar color and a long flowing hooded cape of dark brown. Old, weathered leather boots covered his feet.

Dawn, the lady fox who worked in the university's main library, was dressed similar to Alex. How she got here or why she was here baffled him. Had Vladlena sent her that message? He didn't remember seeing her using a phone or a computer. If she did do that, then why? Dawn and Alex were only tenuously connected to each other because Alex used the library's research facilities so often in his job. She was a pleasant, but shy and reserved lady, perhaps eight years older than Alex. She might have even been pretty except for the scarring on the left side of her face, a glass eye on the same scarred side and a prosthetic lower left arm. All were the result of a car accident that nearly killed her when she was younger. Alex had always found her deformities off putting and uncomfortable to think about, but tonight, in this strange place and under these frightening circumstances, he was desperately glad to see anyone familiar. He even found himself unconsciously holding her real paw in his for emotional support. Perhaps she needed the same support, because she held his paw in return and did not reject the contact.

The rest of their surroundings slowly revealed themselves as though an outward expanding sphere of reality was creating itself around the three travelers. They were standing on a cobblestone walkway against a multistory brick building of ancient design on a wide avenue lined with buildings of similar age and architecture. It reminded Alex of the corny medieval themed tourist town in the mountains south of their home city of Stadtoff. That tourist trap catered to people who liked to pretend they were eating and drinking in some quaint foreign land lost to time. Here, though, Alex could see no false facades. These buildings were either really old or ... well, Alex wasn't sure he was willing to consider the alternative.

Huge oak trees lined either side of the street. Everything was lit by burning torches in sconces on the fronts of the buildings, braziers full of burning wood and the lanterns that nearly everyone carried. It was dark here as it was where and when Alex had come from. His eyes had to adjust from the stark contrast with the blazing noon sun of the desert. In addition to the lights of the various fires, the sky was clear and the full moon gave a pleasant gray glow to the scene.

Music intruded into Alex's consciousness. He noticed a small quartet of male foxes with a mandolin, fiddle, flute and drum singing harmonically to an unfamiliar tune. Many foxes were milling about in small conversation groups and dressed garishly, similar to Vladlena. The weirdest part, though, was that everyone was wearing a mask of some kind. Some were simple, only covering the wearer's eyes with minor ornamentation like feathers, sequins or garish paint. Other masks covered entire faces with visages of wild animals or grotesque parodies of fox facial expressions. A few covered the entire heads of their wearers like helmets and depicted outrageous animals like lions and crocodiles. Some were dragons or other beasts from myth and legend.

Loud conversation, laughing and more music from elsewhere assaulted his senses with growing intensity as elements of this reality continued to emerge into existence like a slowly rasterizing image. This was some kind of celebration or street party. All the people around them were foxes, like Dawn and himself. Their long bushy tails were a dead giveaway even for the foxes whose facial features completely hidden.

Alex was beginning to believe that this dream or hallucination, or possibly real experience was not occurring in his present. It was not even happening in his own past, but in some far distant past. He had never been a scholar of history, but he knew that far enough back in time about two hundred years or more ago, the furry races were segregated and mistrustful of each other. They waged war for dominance and even genocide. Vladlena seemed to be the only alien person present. Alex thought that as long as she did not do anything strange or out of the ordinary, she might be tolerated. As if perceiving his thoughts and deciding to maximize their danger, she proceeded to do just the opposite.

Drawing a dagger from somewhere inside her dress, she looked at Alex and Dawn and said "Cha have to prove me innocent and save me from being executed in t'e mornin' or we's all dead." Without another word, she plunged through a group of people towards the center of the street and was lost to sight. Too stunned by all that happened to them tonight and by the old skunk's bizarre behavior, Alex and Dawn stood rooted to the spot.

It was Dawn who spoke first. "Alex, what's going on? Is it true that this is real?" She nervously ran her paw up his arm and shoulders and touched his face. "You sure feel real. I thought this was a dream at first, but I've never had a dream where I was aware it was dream before."

Alex was enjoying the way she had caressed his arm and face, so innocently and gently, yet compellingly sensual. Why had he ignored her for so long? Was he really so shallow that he was turned off by her deformities? Was he just too damn shy and reserved? Shaking his head to clear away the confusion, he said, "It's not a dream. I've had lucid dreams before, but I always wake up the second I realize it is a dream." Gesturing at the people and town around them, Alex continued, "This has been going on way too long. I don't know why you are here, and I am only beginning to think I might understand why I am here, but that lunatic skunk lady is the key. We have to go after her and ..."

A vixen's scream and angry male shouts from the direction Vladlena had run interrupted Alex. He and Dawn struggled to push their way through the suddenly dense crowd that was gathered around some disturbance in the square just down the street. Applying his elbows generously and saying "Excuse me" so many times that he began to sound like an idiot parrot, he managed to drag Dawn by her prosthetic arm to the inner edge of the crowd. To his dismay, Alex saw Vladlena being held firmly at the wrists by two very large fox males who were dressed like soldiers. Each wore a shiny metal breast plate, a helmet and had a long sword in a scabbard at their sides. Vladlena still held the dagger in her paw, but it was dripping blood. Face down on the ground, lay the body of a male fox; blood from his chest pooled and was beginning to congeal in the cobblestone street.

Another official looking male stood looking at the body with his paws on his hips. He also carried a sword in a scabbard at his side, but wore no armor. Instead, he was clothed in a blue and gray uniform with many shiny brass buttons and high black leather boots. On his head he wore a tricorn hat with red and white stripes stitched on one side. On the front was a brass medallion emblazoned with two crossed swords surrounded by a wreath of intertwining fox tails.

The crowd was staring at the scene in hushed amazement, but then someone shouted, "The skunk witch killed him. I saw her. Burn her! Burn her!" Several others began to take up the "Burn her!" chant and confessed that they had also seen the foul murder. Two angry males moved forward from the crowd, and the officer with the hat stepped in front of them with his sword drawn.

"Back! Back, damn you!" He produced a small metal whistle and made a surprisingly loud screech with it. The crowd fell back a bit before the tall and imposing fox with the sword. They hovered expectantly as if they might try rushing past him until the stomping feet of soldiers and shouts of "Make way for the City Guard!" could be heard. The officer continued to brandish his weapon about at the angry milling mob to hold them back until six more soldiers armed with pikes forced a path into the circle surrounding the crime scene.

Alex felt Dawn's paw slip from his grip as she moved over to read several parchment proclamations nailed onto a community bulletin board. He barely noted her absence. He was too astonished by what Vladlena had done and troubled by thoughts of how he could meet the skunk's mandate to save her by morning. He wondered if they would really die here if he couldn't prove her innocence. A natural problem solver, he was already working for a solution, and he found himself examining the scene more closely, trying to figure out what had really happened.

Despite the additional soldiers, the mob was still angry and surging forward. They were only held at bay by the tall officer's sword and the soldier's pole arms. "Get her out of here ...," shouted the officer to the two soldiers holding the Vladlena, "... or she's dead. We'll have a quick trial and hanging in the morning, but no one gets lynched on my watch. To the dungeons with her. Move!" He grabbed the knife from Vladlena has she was hurried away by her two captors. Four other soldiers cleared a path down the street with aggressive jabs of their pikes, forcing the onlookers to jump back and fall over each other. The tall officer shouted one last command to them as they forced their way through the crowd. "Send some men back to collect this body!"

The officer stood shaking his head for few seconds then turned to the crowd. "Does anyone know who he was? Why he was here? Anyone?" The gawking onlookers all shook their heads.

Alex took advantage of the silence and strode forward to inspect and confirm something he had seen from the edge of the crowd. In addition to the pool of blood under and next to the corpse, there were small puddles of blood leading away up the street in the opposite direction the police had taken Vladlena. There was also a hint of some foreign odor in the air. Bending over, he touched the bloody trail and brought the tip of his now crimson finger to his nose. Cat. He was sure of it. He has smelled their acrid musky odor often enough when they came to him seeking scholarships. Typically from impoverished families, they were some of the students most desperate for financial aid and, because of their background, were just a little dirtier and smellier than everyone else was.

When Alex looked up to the much taller officer, he was met with a scowl that was bordering on a snarl. "Uh ..." Alex wasn't sure how to address this male. Was he 'Captain', 'Officer', 'Constable'? Best to play it safe, he thought. "Good Sir, I think there may be a mistake here. You see, there's ..."

"Who the hell are you? Do you know this victim?" He was menacing and stern, but did not seem on the verge of violence as the bear in the wife beater had. In fact, Alex thought he detected a bit of openness to anyone who could help this situation.

Emboldened by the seemingly mild response, Alex continued, "I am Alex ..." Dawn was unexpectedly at his side interrupting him.

"'Brother Alex', if it pleases you, Street Sergeant," she said and bowed slightly to the officer. "I am Sister Dawn. We are of the Galeerde order of the Maker's Church."

Clicking his booted heels together and bowing slightly at the waist, the officer said, "Street Sergeant Dom Leerdling, Sister." He seemed impressed by Dawn's mention of the name Galeerde.

It sure as hell impressed Alex. How did Dawn know what to say? "My apologies for interrupting you, Brother Alex. Please continue your investigation." Dawn winked at Alex so the Sergeant couldn't see. Puzzled, but unsure of what else to do, Alex decided to explain what he thought he knew to the Sergeant, hoping Dawn would stop him from saying anything too ignorant that might reveal who they really were.

"I think a cat was here." The sergeant cocked his ears forward in surprise, but said nothing. "Smell this blood. It has a distinct cat scent to it." The sergeant smelled Alex's finger somewhat reluctantly.

"It smells like blood to me. I do not know what cat blood smells like. Never get any closer to the vermin than I have to, and they are not welcome here in Bystadt anyway. Soldiers might know. Some of them have probably been in battle and killed a few. Might know what their blood smells like."

"Never mind about the smell," said Alex pushing on past the sergeant's skepticism. "I can do a test to prove it. I see you have a pistol in your belt. Do have spare powder for it?"

"Yes," He answered hesitatingly. "Why?"

"If you let me borrow some, I will explain and demonstrate." The officer handed a small leather powder pouch to Alex, who then set about making three small piles of powder on the street. In one pile, he mixed in blood from the knife, in another pile he mixed in blood from the puddle by the body, and in the third pile he gathered blood from the trail of drops that led down the street. As he worked, he explained what he was doing. "Cat blood and fox blood are different. They use different anions to carry oxygen effectively..." a kick from Dawn alerted him to his gaffe of injecting inappropriate scientific terms. "I mean ... different humors in the blood. When burned in the presence of sulfur, these different ... humors will cause the flame to have a different color. The fox blood will burn red and cat blood will burn light green."

Alex borrowed a lantern from one of the nearby masked revelers, who were watching the proceedings with rapt attention. Removing the candle, he lit each pile of blood soaked powder in turn beginning with the blood from the corpse. It burned bright red. Next he lit the pile with the blood from the departing trail. It glowed green. The crowd murmured approval at the spectacle.

The Sergeant removed his hat and scratched behind his ears. "Well, I will be damned. That is something, but so what? A cat was here and somebody stabbed it. Who would not? I would."

Smiling Alex lit the third pile that contained blood from Vladlena's knife, and the flame was green just like the blood from the mysterious other person. The sergeant still seemed puzzled so Alex explained what he thought was obvious. "Vlad ... I mean the skunk lady stabbed the cat, not this dead fox. The cat must have stabbed the fox. We just have to follow the trail of blood, find the cat and the knife, do this same test, and we have the murderer. The onlookers applauded, and Alex felt compelled to bow, absurdly proud of his performance."

"Incredible. Absolutely incredible," exclaimed Sergeant Dom. "I have heard tell of the marvelous ancient knowledge that your order has preserved and the advances in understanding you have made, but I never thought to see it demonstrated in front of my own snout."

As Dom was speaking, several more guards arrived followed by a cart and some laborers to collect the body. Dom began shouting orders relating to the dispensation of the body and dispersal of the crowd. The distraction gave Alex a moment to confer with Dawn in private. Talking as quietly as he could with his muzzle against hers he asked, "Where did you come up with that cover so quickly? That was amazing. He really thinks we are some kind of genius monks."

Dawn blinked demurely. "I know a lot about this time period. I majored in history. That's why I'm working at the library. Not many employers are looking for history majors. Besides, while you were talking to Sergeant Leerdling, I read the proclamations on the community board. That told me a lot about what is going on here. The year according to that board is 3145 and we are in Bystadt, which is the original name for Stadtoff."

"Whoa. Wait. The present year is 3532. Are you saying we are almost 400 years in the past in a medieval version of our own city?"

"More like a pre-renaissance version, but yeah."

"Time travel? That's crazy."

"It could still be a dream."

"More like a nightmare. Maker, I wish it were, just so I could wake up in my own bed and be done with this disaster. This is hopeless. How are we going to save Vladlena?"

"What do mean hopeless? You were brilliant figuring out there is a cat assassin about. We just need to do what you said. Find the cat. Find the knife. How hard can that be?" Her confidence in him was reassuring, and forced him to assess her with greater scrutiny. She was smart and seemed to like him. What were his feelings towards her, though? He was so screwed up from the painful and recent rejection that he rebelled at the thought of even considering another relationship. Letting bitterness win out for the moment, he pushed those thoughts aside as Dawn continued speaking. "How did you know to do that trick with the blood and powder anyway?"

"I am working part time on my biology degree. Evolutionary Biology. What I did is basic Biochem lab stuff."

"Well keep it up, detective. We need to solve this case. I don't want to die here." Alex smiled at her confidence in him, and a portion of bitter reluctance melted away.

When the body was on its way to wherever they were taking it, and the square was mostly cleared of gawking revelers who voluntarily moved on to a less morbid place to continue their celebration, Sergeant Leerdling asked Alex to lead the way as they followed the trail of blood drops. Four of the soldiers dutifully marched behind them. Dom loaded his flintlock pistol while they marched. He loaded a second pistol and handed it Alex.

Alex was confused. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Shoot anyone who tries to kill you."

The trail was not hard to follow. I helped that Alex was conditioned to cat scent. Vladlena had clearly hit the assassin somewhere vital because he had lost a lot of blood during his escape and left an easy to follow trail leading up river. At the edge of town, the trail ended at the door to an old mill, which derived its power from a giant wooden wheel in the river. With silent gestures, Sergeant Dom sent three of his men around to the back to prevent escape of whoever might be inside. The remaining soldier, Dom, Alex and Dawn moved to a small shuttered window near the front door, peered inside and listened. The interior of the mill was dimly lit by a couple of lanterns hanging from support posts. Giant gears driven by the huge water wheel were attached to the gristmill. Though the wheel was turning lazily in the current, the gears inside were immobile.

A wounded male cat lay on a bench. He was surrounded by three others, one of which was a female cat. The other two were foxes, both male. One had an eye patch. The other wore a half-face mask from the masquerade. All of the assassins wore the same black clothes with black hooded capes. Both cats had fake fox tails attached to their cloaks. Alex could only tell they were cats because they had their hoods thrown back. The villains were talking loud enough to be heard through the window. Though heavily accented, even the cat was speaking in the Fox tongue for the benefit of her fox conspirators.

"Well, he's dead," said the fox with the mask.

"Yeah, but did he do the deed?" asked the one eyed fox.

"He said he did, idiots," admonished the cat.

"You say he did. We didn't understand a flippin' word he mumbled 'afore he died."

"He was dying, fool, so he talked in Cat. You expect a dying person to struggle with a foreign language to utter his last words? Now shut up and listen to me! You got your gold for your part in this. You stay in line and take whatever orders I give you to prepare for the invasion, and there will be plenty more." Both foxes expressed greedy eagerness over the prospect, wagging their tails absurdly.

The cat continued, "Our mission has been a total success. Not only did he stab the fox spy through the heart, the idiot constabulary thinks the crazy old skunk who stabbed my comrade did it. They have no idea who the spy was or why he was here and no idea we are here to sabotage and raise havoc before the fleet arrives in two days. My comrade even managed to recover the coded invasion plans. I doubt the foxes would have figured out in time what they were anyway, but it was a nice touch. Pity such a good agent had to die. I would have gladly sacrificed both of you instead!" The foxes recoiled at her sudden animosity towards them, and their tails stopped wagging.

"But you need us. The masquerade helps you hide for tonight, but it's bloody hard for a cat to sneak about unnoticed during the day," posited one eye, proud of himself for understanding his contribution.

"It's the only reason you two are still alive," she replied betraying no emotion.

Dawn dragged Alex from the window and exclaimed as quietly in his ear as she could, "Oh, great Maker!"

"What? What is it?"

"I just figured it out. The date on the bulletin board - 3145. That is in the old Fox calendar. The calendar was revised after the end of the Race Wars at the beginning of the Great Unification. That date is off by 46 years. The real date in our modern reckoning is 3099."

"So?"

"You really don't know how important that ... this year was ... is in history?"

"Never paid much attention to history. I always liked math and science better."

"That was the year of the last cat invasion. They had secretly amassed a fleet and army to conquer the lands of the fox people. It was timed to begin with the week-long Autumn celebration of the masquerade. They would have succeeded if one lone spy had not learned of their plan and returned to Bystadt to warn the Duke, who put the fleet, which was tied up in the harbor, to sea to intercept and ultimately destroy the cat fleet. Even though they still landed a massive army, their assault collapsed without naval support and supplies. That timely warning was pivotal in history. When the cats were defeated, it paved the way for racial unification two hundred years later. If the cat's had succeeded, everything would have been different. The wars may have continued for many more centuries. Fox kind may have been wiped out. Surely you have heard of the battle of 3099 and the exploits of Admiral Marin Helten? There's a statue of him on campus, for the Maker's sake."

"Oh, yeah. He's the swashbuckling guy who swings onto enemy ships and kills the cat pirates." She had one ear back and one forward in consternation. "What?"

Dawn glared her disapproval. "He did not swing on ropes, which are called 'lines' on ships anyway. He was a brilliant naval tactician, who defeated a vastly larger navy. You need to stop watching low brow adventure vids and read some history."

Chastened, Alex agreed. "Yeah. OK. It helps a lot to know this stuff, but I have you here. Together we are the perfect crime solving team." He hugged her, and she hugged him back. It felt good, like something that was always meant to be, and Alex felt himself softening inside towards this shy vixen.

"The dead fox in the square must have been the spy trying to deliver the message and the plans. Alex, we have to tell the Duke what we know so he can dispatch the fleet, and he needs those secret plans to know where to send the fleet. Admiral Helten could not have won the battle without that intelligence. If we don't do this, our future won't exist. We might not exist."

Before Alex could think of a strategy to get the secret invasion plans or discuss it with the Sergeant, events spun out of control. There was a pistol shot from behind the mill, and the sounds of steel clashing on steel.

"Quick. In the front," Ordered the sergeant, and he and the one remaining soldier led the way through the front entrance. Watching the back door where all the noise and commotion was coming from, the cat and the two foxes in the mill were surprised. Dom fired his pistol and the one eyed fox staggered backward knocking over old stacked timbers and somehow engaging the gear drive mechanism that hooked to the water wheel outside. The gears began to turn slowly with an ominous creaking sound like the bones of some giant dragon that just awoke from a hundred years of sleep.

The Cat was less startled by their sudden entrance and swung her pistol about to shoot Dom. Whether by bad aim, or by Dom's sideways dive, the bullet missed the Sergeant and struck the soldier fox in the chest, dropping him instantly to the floor. The pistols being too slow to reload, both Dom and the she cat dropped their pistols and drew their swords. She threw off her cloak and fake tail to allow more freedom of movement for their duel. Still holding the secret plans in her left paw, she engaged Dom with her sword in her right. The two became a whirling pair of dancers with clashing steel. Fast and nimble, the Cat pressed the attack, but Dom's defense was excellent. She was unable to break though; every thrust and lunge was met with a perfect imposition of the Sargent's blade. He returned his own occasional riposte, followed by cuts to her thighs and shoulders; however, neither could gain the advantage."

Having never shot a pistol before, Alex could only hope for the cat to stay still long enough for him to at least attempt a shot. So intent was he on waiting for the moment when there was no chance to hit Dom, that he failed to notice the masked Fox sneaking up on him from around the gears. At the same moment he fired, Dawn shouted a warning, and Alex ducked as a sword swiped over his head taking the tip off his right ear. The bullet pierced the Cat's left paw and she dropped the invasion plans. Alex was hard pressed to avoid the thrusts of the masked fox, who fortunately was a lousy swordsman. Yet he had the weapon and Alex didn't. Taking advantage of his opponent's wild swinging style, he lunged inside the reach of his sword, grabbing the wrist that controlled the weapon. It was a good move but Alex was not strong enough to wrestle with this traitor. Alex did manage to disable the traitor's sword arm, but he wasn't ready for the back paw slap that sent him reeling backwards to land in between two cogs on a great horizontal gear wheel. His head struck the wooden axel, and he was stunned senseless. The swordsman advanced to finish him off as the turning wheel slowly carried him away.

The masked xox stopped when Dawn hit him across the back with a piece of timber. It clearly hurt him, but he was still standing. Dawn figured she had not hit him hard enough or in the right spot; when he turned around, the board swung upward and caught him right between the legs. Dropping to his knees, he was defenseless as he clutched his damaged testicles with both paws. With all the muscle she could muster, she smashed the board on the side of his head. He fell like a marionette with its strings cut. Panicking, she searched for Alex, and saw the great gear was carrying him around to where another huge vertical gear joined it to keep it turning. He was only seconds away from being crushed, and she couldn't get to him. Dom and the Cat were still at it, and they were blocking her access to Alex. Then she spied another horizontal gear turning the vertical gear. Running over to it, she gave no thought to the consequences as she shoved her left arm in the mechanism.

The gears caught her prosthetic arm and nearly yanked her into the machinery along with it. The solid titanium core of her artificial limb was stronger than the wooden gears. The larger gears stopped abruptly, and the smaller gear, still driven by the force of the unstoppable river on the paddle wheel, began to shear through its own wooden cogs one after another with explosive force. Dawn covered her face and turned her back to protect herself from the splinters that drove painfully into the fur on her arms and back. When the last cog was broken, she retrieved her now bent and mangled prosthetic arm. For the first time in her life, she was glad she had lost her arm in that accident. Maybe it was destiny, she thought. It allowed her to save the life of the fox she had been secretly mooning over for nearly a year since he first walked into her library. Now that she had met him under more intimate circumstances and had shared this adventure with him, she was sure that she loved him. He was smart, sweet and caring, and hopefully liked her, too.

The cat was discovering Sergeant Dom's fencing strategy. He clearly had the greater endurance and was trying to wear her down. The rear door was locked, but now someone was trying to beat it down. By the accents of the voices, it must be more fox soldiers. She had hoped her other two cat assassins, who probably stumbled on them and started this fight, would prevail, but fate was not being kind to her today. As soon as she and the fox sergeant parted from a round of attacks and counter attacks, she turned and ran up the stairs to the loft. Dom followed.

Finally allowed access to Alex, Dawn ran to him, and found him groggily rubbing the back of his head. His paw came away bloody. So joyful to find him alive, Dawn began licking his face and muzzle. Noticing her ruined left arm Alex asked, "What happened to your arm?"

"I had to stop the gear." Alex turned and saw the ruined gear futilely turning to no effect and realized how close he had come to being crushed. The physics of what happened wasn't hard to unravel. Impressed, he turned and pulled her towards him and kissed her deeply and passionately. Dawn returned the kiss and would have let this moment last forever if the sounds of renewed sword fighting upstairs hadn't reminded them that there was still at least one assassin on the loose.

Two Fox soldiers broke in the back door just as Dawn and Alex were trying to get up to climb the stairs. Dawn cried in pain from the many splinters protruding from her body, and Alex still felt dizzy from the blow to his head. "Upstairs! Quick! The Sergeant needs help," demanded Alex. Used to obeying orders, they complied and ran up the stairs. Alex began pulling out the worst of the splinters from Dawn's good arm and back. As he did so, the sacrifice she readily paid on his behalf was not lost on him. She was smart, inventive, brave, and the more he looked at her the more beautiful she became to him.

"Thank you," he said. There was an awkward silence, then Alex thought, What the hell? I've been an idiot. Vladlena said I was too resistant to the change I need, and she sacrificed herself for me to have a chance for positive change. Now Dawn has sacrificed herself in the same way. I won't be a fool and throw that away. After the last splinter he could remove without tweezers and needles was out, he kneeled down in front of Dawn and clasped her good right paw between both of his. "I love you, Dawn. Really and truly, with all my heart. I'm sorry it took something like this to make me realizes that. I should have asked you out a long time ago. Could you love me in return?"

Dawn's eyes watered up, but she refused to cry. Her voice betrayed her though, and she could only squeak out "Yes." They hugged, oblivious to the fight raging above them until a scream startled them and they heard horrible crunching and snapping sounds from the other side of the wall where the water wheel shaft entered the mill.

The two soldiers returned from the loft. "Sergeant Leerdling was stabbed and fell into the river. I think he is lost. We pushed the cat into the wheel. She is definitely dead. We saw lots of blood in the water." Alex and Dawn were aghast at the news that the sergeant was gone. Not only was he their best hope to save Vladlena from execution, they had both come to be fond of the tall fox. He had been fair to them and seemed to believe in their cause.

"What do we do now?" asked Dawn. "Why would the Duke believe us if Dom Leerdling is dead? The Duke has no reason to trust us."

"I don't know, but we have to try." To the soldiers he said, "We need to see the Duke. It is important, and those were Sergeant Leerdling's last orders." That part was not true, but the soldiers didn't need to know that. They knew that something important was happening and were eager to be told what to do.

The journey back to Bystad was even slower than the journey out to the mill mostly due to Dawn's injuries. Her shoulder was sore from the wrenching motion of the wheel and the barrage of splinters it took when her false arm stopped the gears. Her prosthesis may have been made of titanium, but the rest of her was still fur, flesh and bone. She also needed treatment for the shrapnel soon before it became infected.

Sunrise was only a few hours away when they reached the Duke's palatial residence. They were escorted into a sitting room and told to wait until the Duke decided to see them, if he decided to see them. A precious hour passed with no sign of the Duke. A healer was sent to tend Dawn's injuries. She removed the last of the splinters and treated her wounds by flushing them with alcohol. Dawn endured the treatment stoically and tried to puzzle out the coded secret invasion plans that they had found on the floor where the cat assassin had dropped them when Alex shot her paw.

Dawn was clearly frustrated. "There was something recorded in history about the code used for this this message, but I just can't think of what it was." Alex tried looking at it, but it was just jumbles of letters.

"Maybe it is just a simple substitution code. You know, one letter substituted for another."

"No. I am sure there was more to it than that, but even if I do remember, this is probably written in Cat, and I don't know how to read that."

"We have to figure this out soon. You said that without understanding these plans, the fleet can't defeat the cats. If the spy was the only one who knew the code, then we have to solve this or ...," he didn't finish the thought.

Happy that Dawn was being cared for, but unhappy about being ignored by the Duke, Alex began to storm about the residence demanding loudly from everyone he met to see the Duke immediately. Fearing that he had become a maniac, the servants called the guard, and two soldiers grabbed Alex and began to drag him to the door to throw him outside. Yelling at the top of his lungs, Alex continued to shout for the Duke until an even louder, more commanding voice cut through the din.

"Silence! What is the meaning of this? Who dares disturb my sleep?"

The guards snapped to attention and dropped Alex. Looking up, Alex saw the Duke at the top of the stairs. Though in his bedclothes, he was an imposing figure, tall and muscular despite his age and sporting a significant paunch. He had long fur that extended down the sides of his face and even trailed off under his chin to form a beard like a goat. Alex ran to the foot of the stairs before the guards could stop him and threw himself on his knees.

"Good Duke. Your Excellency." He wished Dawn were here to tell him what words to say. "I am Brother Alex of the Galeerde order. Sister Dawn, who is in the sitting room, and I have been aiding Sergeant Leerdling find and foil saboteurs and assassins who have been sent here by the cats ahead of an invading army." He managed to get all of that out before the guards were upon him again.

With a commanding gesture with his paw, the soldiers relented in their assault on Alex, and stood at attention on either side of him. The Duke descended the stairs until he was standing just two steps above Alex, who was still on his knees. With his bright golden eyes fixed on Alex's green eyes, he scratched at his beard. "That's quite a story, Brother Alex. Galeerdians, eh? Where did you say Sister Dawn is?"

"In the sitting room, your Grace."

"Then let us join her there and hear this tale in more detail."

Dawn stood and curtsied when the Duke entered with Alex and the two guards. Clearly concerned with her injuries, the Duke waived her to be seated and sat in a large overstuffed chair across from the sofa upon which Dawn sat. Alex joined her on the couch. The Duke dismissed the doctor, but had one guard stay and told the other to fetch the two guards who had returned with Alex and Dawn.

Stifling a yawn, he asked them to tell their tale and spare no details. Alex and Dawn took turns telling him of every nuance of the night's events, leaving out only the detail that they were from a different time and place, trying to maintain the fiction that they were a monk and nun. The Duke was most disturbed to learn of Sergeant Leerdling's death.

"Damn it, but he was a good man. He recently asked to woo one of my daughters, and I was inclined to accept. His loss is a grievous one." The two guards from the mill entered as the Duke spoke. He questioned them and verified many details of Alex and Dawn's story, but he was still skeptical.

"It is clear to me that something nefarious happened tonight. There was a murder in the street and the most likely suspect is in the dungeons awaiting trial and execution this morning, which is not far off by the color of the horizon. Foxes and cats have been killed along with one of my best sergeants. You say you heard talk concerning an invading army, but no one else can verify this. You have these papers that supposedly are a coded copy of invasion plans, but no one can break the code. You are asking me to send the Navy out to intercept an armada, but you can't tell me where the armada is.

"Do you really expect me to do that? Do you know what it costs to put the fleet to sea? How would I convince Admiral Helten to do that anyway? Do I tell him a monk and a nun asked me to? Madness. Complete and utter madness. I can ask that the Shore Watch be encouraged to be more vigilant and watch for invaders, but without details and more proof, I can't act on this in any meaningful way. You can try to save your gypsy skunk friend in the dungeons if you want, but I doubt you will have much luck. Her kind are not welcome here, and without someone like Leerdling to vouch for you and her, I am not inclined to intervene with a pardon."

Dawn and Alex were crushed. They pleaded for him to see reason, but the Duke held up his paws. "You have probably less than an hour to tell me what is on that paper. That is your only hope of convincing me. I am not an unreasonable fox. If you can give me proof, then I will act. Your order is well respected. I trust you to solve this riddle." Rising from the chair, he continued, "If you do not ... well, you may stay here until after the execution of your gypsy friend, then you must return to your monastery."

Dawn cried on Alex's shoulder. He knew he had to do something, but he couldn't think what. As the Duke reached the door and the guard opened it for him, they heard loud voices from the hallway. The Duke paused and then yelled to people in the hall.

"Get him in here, and fetch that doctor back or I will have you in the dungeons. Run you idiot, run!"

A fox was carried into the room by two guards. The injured fox was dripping water from his soaked garments and clutching at his bloody shoulder. To Dawn and Alex's everlasting relief they realized that it was Sergeant Leerdling.

Alex and Dawn rose and made room for Dom to be laid on the sofa propped against pillows. They were so happy to see their friend alive that they forgot for a moment about their peril and the mission they had to complete. The moment was not wasted, however, for the Duke was moved by the sincerity of this touching reunion and was now more inclined to believe this story. The Duke cleared his throat, somewhat hesitant to interrupt. When he had their attention, he asked Leerdling to vouch for their story.

"Every word they have said is the truth, I am certain, my Lord. A huge armada and army are on their way. The cat assassin confessed as much before she died. Only the fleet can stop it."

"Yes, but where is the armada? Where will they strike? We have to know. We can't break up our fleet to search for them. If the size of this armada is as you suspect, we need to know exactly where it is and have all of our ships in one place to have any hope of destroying it."

"At least call Admiral Helten here and begin preparations. If the fleet is caught at anchor then all is certainly lost," urged Dawn.

"That is a wise course of action. Very well." The Duke gave orders to have the Admiral summoned immediately. "I just don't see what good this does us without the plans decoded. You say the murdered spy is the only one who knows the code?"

"Yes. I thought the she cat assassin might know. I was trying to capture her alive. I am afraid she was killed also," said Dom bitterly.

"Blast it," fumed the Duke as he paced about in a growing rage.

Sergeant Dom sighed and clutched at his injured shoulder. "I fear that the year 3145 will go down in history as a very bad year for us."

Everyone jumped when Dawn shouted, "The year! That's the answer. The year. I remember." She was dancing about and Alex had to grab her and pull her away from the others.

"Dawn. Calm down. They think we are crazy enough already."

She was giggling almost hysterically, but finally calmed herself. "It's the year, Alex. I remember how they broke the code. It is a letter substitution like you said, but it alternated every other line in a four line sequence based on the year."

"So 3145 is the answer or 3099?"

"Neither. It was based on the Cat calendar for this year, and I know that. It was 3249."

"So in the first line you look at the third letter and that is number one in the substitution sequence and the second letter in the second line and so on?

"Yes. Exactly."

The doctor arrived while they were talking and began working on Dom Leerdling's shoulder.

Alex and Dawn approached the fuming Duke. "We have good news, your Grace. We think we have figured out how to solve the code. We need someone who can interpret the Cat language, though."

So excited was the Duke, he slapped Alex heartily on the back and nearly knocked him to the floor. "Excellent work, Brother Alex!" Gasping for breath from the blow, Alex had no response. Oblivious to the impact of his action, the Duke sent more runners out to find an interpreter and drag him out of bed if necessary, but not to return without one under penalty of death.

As Admiral Helten and other important military and political foxes began to arrive, Dawn and Alex became eager to depart and rescue Vladlena. Dawn could not resist, though, introducing herself to the Admiral, who turned out to be quite handsome, dashing and charming just like he had been portrayed in the ridiculous adventure vids that Alex liked to watch.

As the interpreter began deciphering the plans, they knew that they were no longer needed and begged to go to Vladlena. Sergeant Dom insisted on accompanying them in spite of his wound, which he claimed "...wasn't so bad that he could not walk a short distance with his friends."

In the dungeons below the Court of Justice they found Vladlena no worse the wear for her night's confinement. She was as abrasive and spry as ever.

"So, cha worked it out t'en, pups? Bot' of cha?"

"Yes," Alex and Dawn said together holding paws and couldn't help but laugh.

"T'en let's go home. T'is old lady needs her beauty rest."

"Something tells me you aren't as old as you claim, or if you are, then you are younger than you should be," observed Alex.

"T'at sounds like some kind of compliment. Cha got the hots for old Vladlena, pup?" That made everyone laugh, including Dom.

Saying goodbye to Dom was hard for Alex and Dawn. Knowing that they would never see him again made the parting tougher on them than him. He could not understand nor be allowed to understand who they really were. For all he knew, they might venture back again this way one day, so he bid them "Farewell. You probably have saved us all. Until we meet again." This made Dawn cry and she hugged him, careful of his shoulder wound.

Alex shook Dom's paw. "Thank you for helping us. I consider you a hero and a true friend. Farewell."

As Alex, Dawn and Vladlena walked out into the new day that was dawning, Alex asked, "How do we get home?"

"We just has to walk out of' sight of any people who belong here in t'is time and place, and t'e reading does t'e rest."

They were about to turn a corner and lose site of the pedestrians beginning to stir with the first light, when Alex called a halt. "Wait a minute. I need to know. Will we remember any of this?"

Vladlena didn't answer. Instead she stepped around the corner and vanished into a swirling vortex that quickly disappeared until the air where she had been was normal again.

Dawn gasped. Alex put his paws around her slender waist and put his snout next to hers. He was distressed. "I'm afraid. I'm afraid that we will forget. In one night, I have come to love you so deeply, that for me one night is not enough. A thousand aren't enough. I want every night with you for the rest of my life."

"I want that, too, Alex," she replied with tears in her eyes.

They kissed, ignoring the stares of the other passersby. They kissed as if it was the last kiss they would ever have, only stopping because they knew that they would be returned to their own time and space as soon as no one was looking at them.

Alex had more to say. "If you remember, go to the library first. If I remember, I will go there first."

"You could just call me or send an e-mail."

"No. I have to see you in person. What if you don't remember and get some creepy message from me? I won't risk that. I don't want to lose what he have or ruin any chance to try to win it back. I have to see your eyes. If I see your eyes, I will know whether or not you remember. I can see the love that is there right now."

"You are really a romantic, you know that?"

"I am now. I was an idiot before. Promise me, the library."

"I promise."

Holding paws, they stepped around the corner. The hideous vertiginous feeling engulfed Alex again. He held onto Dawn's paw as tight as he could, but it was stripped away from him. He found himself back in Vladlena's shop siting in the small wooden chair in front of the little card table. The skunk was nowhere in sight. The tarot cards were gone and the candles had been extinguished. The incense had long since burned itself out. Everything else was as he remembered it except that now it was early morning, and the shop was well lit by the growing daylight. He had his running clothes on again. The bloody cut on the back of his head was gone. The tip of his ear was as it always had been. The loss of the evidence of his struggles worried him. Was it not real then? Had none of it happened? Was it all just a dream? Could he win Dawn's love again under different circumstances? Despair and worry settled like a poisonous shroud upon him. He would gladly give up the tip of his ear if meant it all had been real.

He thought of finding Vladlena and asking her, but figured she wasn't going to tell him anything more. Why else would she have left them alone back in time? He was tempted to look up Dawn's number and call her, but could not bear to risk her not remembering. He could not bear the pain of hearing her confused voice wondering why he would call her out of the blue. If he had to rebuild this relationship again, he wanted to be able to start the relationship right. He had to be careful. He had to get to her in person, so he called a cab. The pile of books he had knocked over last night was still on the floor, so he placed each one carefully back on the shelves while he waited for his ride to arrive.

Alex stepped through the ornate wooden university library doors and paused. He could see Dawn's desk, but she was not behind it. She had promised to come to the library. She must live closer than the cab ride Alex had to take from all the way across town. She should be here if it had been real. Did this mean she had forgotten or that it had just been his own unshared dream? Despairing, he sank to his knees on the cold marble floor and shed silent tears until a familiar paw came to rest on his shoulder. "What's the matter, my time traveling detective?" Turning, he met her eyes. It had all been real.

[End]