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From: Fox Cutter <lmb@ieway.com>
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Subject: FUR: AFiW: Singularity Collapse, Chapter Six
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 20:50:37 -0800
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===================
The lion is back from Vegas, and this time with more cash then I
started with. Woo-hoo! I had a fantastic run at Baccarat right before
I left and made a nice bit of cash.
So, because I'm in a good mood (and because its also been three days)
I've posted the next part of Singularity Collapse!
As is always the case, this story, as well as the whole series and all
of my other stories can be found at my web site.
Enjoy!
--Fox Cutter
Writer of "A Fox in the Works"
http://www.chaos-keep.com/
======
A Fox in the Works
Singularity Collapse
By
Fox Cutter
Chapter Six
"I simply can not let you go," Alexander told me from over
the table.
I rolled my eyes, glaring at the young man. "I have to go
after her. She is my friend and she is in trouble because I
asked her to be here with me. That means it is my
responsibly to see that she is safe."
"However that maybe, I simply can not put you in that kind
of risk," the King insisted.
"What risk?" I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest. I
hadn't touched any of the food that was sitting on the plate
in front of me, I was too cranked up and annoyed.
Zain let out a sigh as he looked at the two of us. "It's
simple really; the Priest's kidnapped your friend to get to
you. If you go after her you play right into their plans. We
simply can not risk you like that."
"And how is that your choice," I asked through clenched
teeth. "We have horses, supplies, and we don't really need
your help."
The King shook his head, "You are in my kingdom, so you are
under my rule, and I will not risk you to these people. In
fact I want all of the remaining Priests removed from the
Palace by noon."
I smashed my fist on the table jumped up from the chair,
"Damn it, she is my friend, and there is no way I will let
you simply abandon her out there. If she can be saved, I
damn well will save her!"
Alexander looked at me, surprised for a moment as his eyes
started to narrow, anger burning over his face. "I see," he
said as he leaned back in the chair, the fork in his hand
bending as he clenched his fists.
"Fox, sit down," Zain told me. "Alexander, count to ten," he
told the King.
I said nothing, but sank back into my chair, glaring at the
young man across the table.
The older man sighed and looked between the two of us. "I
understand what you are saying, Fox, but we just can't allow
it. Allowing them to kill you after you saved the King's
life would be the worst outcome. But I also agree that we
just can't leave your friend out there without a rescue."
I gave him a curt nod, but said nothing. The King was
equally silent.
Zain leaned forward over the table, looking past me to where
Ravindar stood behind my shoulder. "You can not go, but your
bodyguard can. He can go after your friend, and take a small
group of palace guards with you."
It was Ravindar's turn to snort, "My job is to guard Fox. I
would be very uncomfortable in leaving his side."
"Don't be," the King said, having regained most of his
composure. "With my guards here and the Priests removed he
will be perfectly safe, as safe as I am."
I leaned back, taking my glasses off and pointedly cleaning
them on the front of my shirt. "That guarantee has already
been proven false," I said as I returned the lenses to my
face.
"That particular problem has been solved," Alexander said
with a frown.
Rising to my feet, I looked back at Ravindar. "I would like
to talk about this with Ravindar before we do anything," I
told the two men as I turned past my bodyguard and walked
out of the room. The disguised tiger followed after me, with
Rhea rising from the floor to join us.
Once the door was closed I turned around to look at my
friends. "I don't like this one bit," I told them as I
crossed my arms over my chest.
<<I'm not thrilled with it either,>> Rhea replied, pacing
against the far wall of the hallway.
"I don't want to leave you here by yourself Fox, not after
what happened last night," Ravindar said.
"I won't be alone, I'll have Rhea here with me," I said.
She flicked her ears back. <<I'll have to stick at your
side, and keep an eye on the shadows at night>> she said.
"Yes, they move when you're not watching them," I said as I
rubbed my chin. "I'm calling an abort on this whole mess;
let's get Samantha and go home."
Ravindar nodded, "That sounds reasonable. Do you wish me to
go to find her?" he asked.
"If that's the only way we can do it, it's the only way. I
just wish I knew why he wanted me to stay here. I just don't
buy his logic."
<<It seems spurious to me.>>
"Nor do I, but it might be best to play by the rules until
we have to change them," Ravindar said, his fingers tugging
nervously at the laces of his shirt. "I don't like leaving
you alone."
I shook my head, "Of course not, and Elena would kill you if
sie knew," I told him as I rubbed my hands together, working
the joints until they made a satisfying crack. "Something is
going on here. One benefit of staying is that I can try and
work it out."
Rhea came up to me, and butted her head against my hips,
<<Are you sure that's wise?>>
I shook my head, "No, I'm fairly sure it's not, but what
choice do we have? I think your right," I said, addressing
Ravindar. "It's best to not rock the boat until we have to.
We'll stay here. You will go after Samantha. Finding her is
more important than my safety, OK?"
He nodded, but with a frown. "OK, we'll do it that way...
for now. Next time I will bring a set of radios with us, so
we won't lose contact if this happens again."
"Good, good. I should have thought about that in the first
place." I sighed and ran my hand through my hair, then gave
my head a shake. "This isn't the first time that this has
happened on one of these trips, so I should have known
better."
Ravindar patted my shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up about
it, Fox. What's done is done. Lets just make sure that this
is the last time," he said with a half smile.
I nodded, and turned around, opening the door and stepping
back inside the room. "Fine," I told the young King,
"Ravindar will go after Samantha. I'll stay here, but once
they return we are all leaving."
A smile played over Alexander's face as he nodded his head,
"That's perfectly acceptable," he said with a smirk, clearly
pleased that he had gotten his way.
* * *
It was past noon when Ravindar rode out of the Palace, with
Rodrick's tracking spell and three of Alexander's best men
at his side. I watched him leave with a feeling of
trepidation, a frown on my face as he vanished into the city
below us.
This wasn't the first time that he hadn't been at my side,
but it was the first time we had been separated, as opposed
to my ordering him to stay behind. It caused a knot in my
stomach as I looked back at the stone walls of the Palace.
"It's just the two of us now," I told Rhea, reaching down to
the pet the scruff of the lioness' neck.
<<It's almost like old times, just with the two of us, and
not the one of you,>> she said to me, her ears flicking at
my touch.
I nodded and started across the courtyard, watching the
people move around us, parting to allow us to pass. "I was
hardly solo. I usually picked up a companion when I was
running around the Multi-Verse," I reminded her.
She nodded, keeping at my side, filling Ravindar's familiar
position at my back. <<I remember,>> she replied.
We walked up the short flight of stairs that led to
Samantha's room, the sound of my shoes hitting the stones
echoing in the small space. The pads of Rhea's paws were
quiet as she moved up the stairs, but she found each step
narrow enough to make it difficult for her to navigate them.
At the top of the stairs I paused for a moment to think,
then nodded towards the left. "The room is that way," I said
as Rhea made it up the last step. Without a further word we
walked down the hallway, moving around the servants until we
came to the room. As I had ordered, there was a guard at the
door, looking a little relieved when he saw us.
"You can take a break if you like," I told the man, though
boy would have been closer to the mark. He barely seemed old
enough to shave.
"Thank you, Sir," he said and hurried off.
Taking a deep breath I pushed the door open and walked into
the room. Everything was the way we had left it, down to the
body on the bed and the open secret door. The fire had
finally died, leaving warm ashes in the fireplace and the
smell of soot in the air.
The flies had already arrived.
<<What are you looking for?>> Rhea asked as I closed the
door behind us.
"What happened," I replied, looking around the room.
"Something seems a bit off in here, and I want to know what
it is."
<<Are you sure this is the time to be dabbling in detective
work? Granted you are a forensics geek, but you really don't
have the skills to do much,>> she told me as she walked over
to the fireplace sniffing softly at the stone floor.
I chuckled and walked around the bed, counting the casings
on the floor. "Right, and you aren't trying to see what you
can smell, huh? You are just as curious as I am about this,
admit it."
She flicked her tail at me as she nosed around the raised
stone hearth around the fireplace.
Bending over I picked up one of the casings. One that was
slightly bent, it looked like from being stepped on. "Her
gun ejects to the right, doesn't it?" I asked.
Rhea looked up, her ears flicking back as she thought about
the question, <<I think so,>> she said.
I nodded, setting the shell back down on the stone floor,
and started to count them off as I walked from right to
left. "Lets see, so she was running towards the door as she
was firing, assuming she started by the bed," I said making
a guess with what information I had.
<<She was standing near the fire, having a cigarette. From
her scent I would say she ran towards the bed, getting about
here,>> she said as she nosed a spot on the ground that was
half way between the bed and the fireplace. <<After that
it's blurred by the scent of the gunpowder,>> she said.
I nodded, following the path of the discarded casings from
the bed to the door. I had a view right down the open secret
door from only a few feet away from the main door. "This
must be the shot that hit the guy in the passage. He was
probably standing in the doorway, that would explain the
blood on the wall."
<<You're guessing,>> Rhea said as she came up to my side,
her nose still close to the ground. <<Not that I'm doing any
better. I can tell where she fired each shot, and it smells
like she hit the ground here,>> she pawed at a spot near the
door.
I let out a hum as I laid down next to the spot, looking at
the floor around us, noticing one of the casings was pressed
up against the wall about three feet behind us. "That's odd,
how did that get back there?" I asked as I turned around
taking a closer look at the shell, "She would have to have
been shooting at the door for that," I said.
Rhea came up to my side, rolling her head back as her ears
twisted down, <<Or she was on the ground when she fired the
gun, look at that.>>
I glanced back at her and then twisted my head to follow her
line of sight. I found myself looking at a bullet hole in
the ceiling above me. "Her gun must have gone off when they
tackled her," I said.
<<They? You sure it wasn't just one person?>> she asked as
she moved around the edges of the room.
With a laugh I rose to my feet, "She's just like you, it
would take more than one person to take either of you down,"
I told her as I walked over to the casing, bending down to
look at it.
<<Very true,>> she replied as she started to sniff around
the base of the bed.
"Interesting, looks like there's something on the brass," I
said as I picked up the casing. "If I had to guess, I would
say that it's burnt skin. It may have hit someone when it
was ejected."
<<That is interesting, but probably useless,>> my sometimes
sister replied. <<That's odd-- from the smell of it they
came out of the passage, but left through the door.>>
I stood back up, placing the casing back on the ground. "Why
would they do that? The whole point of using the passage was
to get them out to the stables. Why go out through the
door?"
<<Maybe that wasn't the point of the passage, maybe the
point was to get them inside of the Palace,>> she told me as
she sniffed around the hidden door.
I sighed, shaking my head, "But they were in the Palace, so
how did they do this...? I think we are missing something
here."
Rhea chuckled and shook her head, <<Of course we are; if we
knew everything we would be done by now,>> she told me.
"Right, right," I said as I walked over to the wooden door,
leaning my back against it. I turned my attention to the
body, which so far I had been trying to avoid. He was
sprawled out over the bed, his feet towards the fireplace
and his head next to the hidden door.
I frowned a bit, walking closer to the body, bending down to
look at it, still staying a few feet away. "He was shot in
the head, and in came out the back," I said as I looked at
the wall near the fireplace. "So... where is the bullet, and
where is the rest of his brain?"
Rhea lifted her head, looking at the body as she moved
around to the far side of the bed, sniffing at the floor.
<<I don't know, Fox,>> she told me as she looked back at the
body.
Turning my head I looked at where Samantha was taken down,
then back to where the body had to have been standing to
have been shot. "You know, I'm not sure that she could have
shot him from where she was... she could have, but the
position seems wrong. It could have been another stray shot,
but I really can't tell."
The lioness sniffed around the wall then turned around to
look at me, her head rising over the top of the bed. <<I
can't smell anything of the room on him. Fox, I really don't
think he was killed in here.>>
"Then where was he killed?" I asked, rubbing my chin.
"Something is really screwed up around here. I think someone
is yanking our chain."
She nodded as she walked around the bed, her nose close to
the ground. <<I can smell him here, over the other scents,
and two... no three others with it, and they came in from
the door,>> she said batting at the wooden door with her
large paw.
I nodded, walking over to the door and pulling it open,
"Right, then.... let's see if we can find out where he was
killed, and how he got here," I said as I stepped out into
the hall, nodding to the guard at the door.
Rhea sniffed at the trail, moving slowly along the floor as
I keep at her side. We started down the corridor, moving
deeper into the Palace. After we rounded a corner I frowned
as I saw what looked like spots of blood on the floor.
"Getting closer," I said as we continued to walk, following
both the scent and the few spots of blood.
She paused for a moment to lift her head and let out a heavy
sneeze, <<I'm going to need a decongestant after this,>> she
said in annoyance.
"I don't know if we have enough of a dose for you," I told
her as I looked closely at the floor. "On the other hand, I
think the blood trail goes into this room," I said, walking
a few steps forward and pushing the door open.
It opened to a wide room, with only a few scattered items in
it, and the strong smell of blood and urine. "I think we hit
the jackpot," I said as I walked back out into the hall,
grabbed one of the magical lights that lined the wall and
brought it into the room with us. On the far wall was what
had to be the dead man's brains, giving the already gray
stone a dark gray cast. A thick pool of blood sat on the
floor, as well as some bloody rags.
<<So, what do we do now?>>
I frowned as I stood just inside the door looking at the
mess in front of us. "This is a setup. Nothing that looks
like it happened actually did happen. Whoever the dead man
was, he was executed in this room, just so he could be left
on Samantha's bed. They came in through the Church, but left
through the Palace. This isn't about Samantha, it's about
framing the Church!"
Rhea growled softly as she pressed her body up against my
leg. <<Why, and who would do that?>>
I blew air through my teeth as I reached down to pet her
ears. "I don't know, but I want Ravindar back; he's on a
wild goose chase."
<<So, what do we do now?>> she asked.
"We go talk to the King," I said as I turned around and
stalked out of the room.
* * *
They were waiting when we got to the Throne room, but not
really for us. Alexander was there, sitting on his throne,
the one next to him, where his queen should have sat, was
empty. Rodrick was standing next to him, and the pair were
talking to each other in hushed tones, with Zain waiting
near the empty seat. A dozen guards stood in the room as
well, jumping to attention as Rhea and I barged in.
Alexander smiled as we entered, waving Rodrick away. "Have
you learned anything new, Fox?" he asked as he stood up from
his throne. Rodrick walked away from the King, moving down
to stand in the middle of the room.
"Quite a lot," I said as I walked across the large room. "I
think someone is screwing with us, all of us, and is trying
to start a war between you and the Church."
The King shook his head, "Fox, the only people trying to
start that war are the Church itself."
"Why do you believe that?"
The young man gave me a smile and sat down on the arm of his
throne. "You really aren't aware of much, are you? The
Church wants the war to start again, and they will stop at
nothing to do that."
"Why is that?" I asked.
He laughed, "Because we are suppose to win, it's what is
written in the holy books. The treaty we have keeps us from
wining, and if we don't win it's clearly not God's will."
"Then why kill Astadia? Why kidnap Samantha? None of this
makes any sense!" I snapped back at him.
Zain chuckled, a dark and deep sound that echoed thought the
room and sent a shiver down the back of by spine. "The
Highest killed Astadia to anger her family, so they would
attack us and start up a new war. An action that is already
occurring."
I frowned, looking between the two of them, "And what does
killing Alexander do to help this?"
"It angers the public, and allows the Church to take over
the rule of the country. That will insure the return to the
war," the King said.
"None of this makes any sense," I said with a shake of my
head. "I don't think the church took Samantha, but someone
wants it to look like they did. Frankly I can't see why they
would want her, or want to get to me. This is crap."
The King leaned forward, an amazed look on his face as he
watched my protests. "So you believe something else is going
on?" he asked me.
"Without a doubt in my mind," I replied.
He nodded, rubbing his chin slightly as his eyes flicked
over me, then looked behind me for a few moments before
focusing on my face. "It's understandable; you clearly
aren't familiar with the Church and there methods, or what
they can do. They don't think like we do, they just do what
they believe will get them what they want."
I let out a soft growl as I looked at the young man. "And
what do you want?" I asked.
Alexander smiled and laced his fingers together, resting his
chin on top of them. "I want quite a few things, most of
which I now have. There are others that will take some time
to gain, but I will gain them."
"I'm going after Samantha," I told him, felling like I was
starting to get my balance again as I faced up to the King.
"I was an idiot to let Ravindar go alone, but that's a
mistake I can fix," I said as I started to turn around.
<<Fox!>> Rhea yelled, panic in her voice, I snapped my head
around to look at her in time to see a bolt of magic ripping
through the air, leaving a trail of glowing smoke back to
Rodrick's hands. I dived to the side, but the attack wasn't
meant for me. Instead I watched in horror as the magic
crashed into Rhea, throwing the lioness to the side and
rolling her over the ground.
Pulling myself to my feet I started to rush towards my
sister, but was stopped when two of the guards jumped on me,
pinning me hard to the ground, and knocking the breath from
my lungs.
I tired to free myself up, watching Rhea as the High Mage
ran to her. She was still breathing, in long heavy breaths,
but her body was still and her head was twisted to the side.
The spell had knocked her out cold.
With a yelp I was pulled to my feet, the men holding my arms
tightly, causing me a good amount of pain. As they turned me
around the King came in sight, and he was smiling at me.
"You are not going anywhere," he said with a smile as he
started to walk towards me. "At least not until we find out
a few things from you first."
A new growl rose from my throat as I glared at the young
man, watching him approach me with a worrisome gleam in his
eyes. "Let me go, you bastard," I said, pulling at the men
on my arms, their legs twining around mine, locking them in
place.
He shook his head as he walked up to stand a few feet in
front of me. "Oh, no, that's not what we are going to do. I
want to know who sent you here to interfere with my plans."
I shook my head, "Plans? Screw your plans! We just happened
to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sorry," I
replied.
Alexander sighed and shook his head, "Hardly. Your timing
was too good. You couldn't have been there if you didn't
know ahead of time what was going to happen."
"I've done this dance before, and you aren't that good of a
partner," I told him with a smirk.
The King lifted his eyebrows and looked back over his
shoulders at Zain, "So, where do you think we should start?"
The light-skinned man looked me over, his hands crossed
behind his back as his eyes drilled into me. "His feet, he
won't be using them for a while."
I let out a soft hiss as I bit my lip. It had been years
since the last time I was tortured, and it had not yet been
long enough. I twisted in the grasp of my captors, trying to
get my arms loose as I unsheathed my claws. I was going to
give them some real hell before they could break anything.
"He has some magic on him," Rodrick said as he walked around
me, his handing reaching out to hold just inches over my
chest. "It's weak, but I can still feel it."
"Remove it," Alexander ordered.
The Mage nodded and placed his hand against my chest,
pushing down through the neck of my shirt to take hold of
the dragon stone pendant. I let out a gasp as he touched it,
a smile spreading over Rodrick's face at my reaction. With a
hard tug he broke the necklace holding it, and pulled it
free of my body.
I fought the change as it came over me. It was just some
part of my mind that was causing it. The pendant was just a
crutch, it wasn't the source of my power and I could keep
myself from changing if I just fought hard enough.
I succeeded, but only for a short moment as my form shifted,
flowing as I gained a tail, fur sprouting over my body as my
muzzle and breasts grew forward. In a moment I was one more
a female lion-morph.
Alexander and Zain jumped back at the change, looking of
shock and disgust on their faces as Rodrick cocked his head
to the side. "Interesting, very interesting," he said, as he
looked me over, then back at the pendent. "I've never seen
an illusion spell like this one, and this seems to be the
key to it," he said as he looked down at the pendent.
"Destroy it," Zain snapped.
Rodrick spun around to look took at the man, "Are you crazy?
This kind of magic is priceless!"
The King frowned, "If it can make that thing look like a
human it's simply too powerful. Destroy it, now!"
With a sigh the Mage let the pendent drop to the stone floor
where it landed with a metallic thump, and brought his heel
down on it. It shattered the stone and split the pendent in
two.
I growled again, this time with more force as I pulled at my
captors, feeling my arms start to slide in their grasp. My
fur and overall smaller form that I had as a female, allowed
me to start to move. Sadly as soon as I did the guards
tightened their grip, pulling me back hard, shaking me hard.
Alexander turned his head away from me to look at Zain.
"What do we do about this? If this is what Fox, is it's
pretty clear that it wasn't the leader of the group. Then
who was?"
"I am not a thing," I said.
Rodrick walked over and hit me on the cheek with his fist,
snapping my head to the side and causing me to snarl. "Shut
up," he told me.
"Get pissed," I said with a growl as I turned my head back
around to glare at him.
The Mage shook his head, and let out a sigh. "My, my, aren't
you clever."
"What do we do with it?" Zain asked.
The King let out a long breath as he looked back at me, then
to his advisor. "Clearly we can't get anything from it, it
may act smart but can not have any real intelligence," he
said, then paused for a moment. "Give it to my guards, they
haven't had a play thing for a while," he ordered.
I twisted again, "The hell you will!" I yelled.
"Shut that thing up!" The King yelled back.
Rodrick smiled and walked to me, waving his hand in my face.
I snapped at his gloved fingers, but he moved them just out
of range. With a few more words I felt a cloud fall over my
mind, and I slumped down, barely conscious against their
arms. As I lost my fight to keep my awareness I could hear
Rodrick ordering Rhea to be taking to his room.
Then all was lost in a sea of gray.
* * *
Alexander let out a sigh as the guards dragged the
homunculus out of the throne room, it's head lolled to the
side and eyes unfocused.
"How the hell did that thing get into my palace?" he
demanded as he returned to his throne, dropping into the
chair with a thump, her hands clenched into tight fists.
Zain frowned as he walked over to his King, standing next to
the queen's empty throne. "Well Your Majesty, she was part
of the group, a group which we now know had two homunculi in
it. I wonder why they were pretending that it was their
leader."
"So we would ignore the real leader, Ravindar," the older
man said as he looked towards the King. "A plan which worked
in every way."
Alexander sighed and shook his head, "Apparently so."
"Why Ravindar?" Rodrick asked as he looked over the shape of
the fallen animal, watching as the guards attempted to move
it. "Samantha clearly has the power to create either of the
two we have seen; she's probably the leader of the group."
"Doubtful," Zain said as he sat himself down on the arm of
the empty throne. "We all saw the tail that she had, and how
it moved. I doubt it had anything to do with her magic, but
was the result of her disguise being incomplete. She is just
another homunculus, the only real person of the group is
Ravindar," he explained.
The King let out a sigh, "And we sent him off after his own
toy," he said with a frown. "So... how do we salvage this
situation?"
"We keep going as we always have," the older man said as he
tapped his fingers together, running the possibilities
through his mind. "Samantha will still be killed on the
grounds of the Church, and Ravindar will still discover it.
As long as the illusion on her holds, the plan will still
work, and we'll still have control of the Church."
Alexander nodded his head, then sighed. "I want to know why
they were here. Search their room and all of their things. I
want to know everything about them! Let it be know that the
Priests succeeded in killing Fox, and that his killers will
be executed tonight at midnight."
Zain nodded his head, "I'll make the announcement," he said.
"Sir," Rodrick said as he looked up from his examination of
the lioness. "I would like to accompany this one to my rooms
so I can study her. There's a lot I could learn from it."
The King waved his hand at the Mage, dismissing him.
He nodded, and helped the guards to move the large animal.
Its weight was greater than he expected as they pulled it
out of the throne room.
Alexander rubbed the corner of his eyes, a snarl escaping
his lips as he looked at the mess in the room. "I want to
know how their weapons work. If we can use them to our
advantage we could win the war once the attack comes."
"I'll do what I can," Zain said as he stood up and walked
out of the room, mentally preparing the announcement he was
going to make about the 'death' of the King's savior.
To Be Continued...
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This story is copyright 2005 by Fox Cutter. Hardcopy
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