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Warol leaped with ease on top of the wall’s edge. He couldn’t imagine what humans thought they were keeping out. Maybe it worked against common predators, but certainly not against Ragoru. Every time he saw a sanctuary village in passing with its silly walls, he’d chuckled to himself, but he was surprised the Citadel itself had such flimsy protection. He looked down and saw the eight glowing eyes of his brothers waiting in the darkness below. He knew they would be able to see the yellow gleam of his own eyes and know that he’d made it safely.
Turning his attention back to the matter at hand, he peered into the mass of the Citadel, the somber buildings rising like shadows everywhere. There had to be hundreds of structures nestled there, intersected with stone roads. The scent of filth and human waste drifted up to him, and he caught sight of small rodents scurrying through the dark nearby. An unfamiliar creature with a long tail jumped onto a short wall between buildings, its eyes reflecting in the light of a street lantern. It looked at him, arched its back and hissed with anger before bounding away. Warol watched the small predator dart between the buildings with curiosity but dismissed it when no alarm sounded.
With no other disturbance nearby, he slipped off the wall, aware of his brothers’ presence as they dropped down beside him. Refuse was littered everywhere, and amid it rotting food. It was no wonder there were so many rodents. Warol curled his lip with disgust as he picked his way around the worst of it. He certainly did not want to step in anything foul.
“This is disgusting,” Kyx growled in a low voice, but he didn’t offer any further commentary as they moved quietly on the narrow roads, keeping as far as they could from the lit areas.
Warol slowed, his ears drawing forward as they passed a skinny female sleeping in a small, sheltered area with two tiny, painfully thin offspring nestled against her. The small family was dirty and clearly starving. His heart wrenched at the sight.
In all his revolutions spent hating humans, he never knew there were those who suffered among them in such a fashion. This female had no mate to care for her. Somewhere a Ragoru triad would have been joyous to receive a female and rogs into their den, but in this human Citadel they were abandoned to sleep in the street and live among the vermin.
Rager’s hand dropped on his shoulder. “Keep moving, Warol. There is nothing we can do for them.”
Warol turned his head and met his lead’s eyes. “Maybe not, but we must spread the word among the triads wherever we can. There are so many lonely triads. Many would accept a human as mate, I think, especially when there are females here who are not adequately cared for. They would risk stealing into the walls of the Citadel to find a mate to care for.”
Rager inclined his head in silent agreement and with that small offering of support, Warol moved on, leaving the small family asleep and unaware of their passing. After some turns, some of them claustrophobically small for Warol’s comfort, they came to the main stone path. His eyes widened as tall buildings stood all around them. Now that they were among them, everything seemed even bigger.
How were they ever going to find Arie? He couldn’t even guess where to start. Any one of the large structures could contain their mate, and with the overwhelming muddle of scents in the Citadel he was at a loss at how to even begin to track her.
They crept among the buildings, scenting the air as they passed among them, inspecting them carefully before moving to the next before taking refuge in dark, hidden spaces during the day to rest. The stench of dirt and squalor seemed to seep into Warol’s fur as the days passed, and his ears frequently pricked at the sound of human voices rising in argument over meager belongings. On their fourth day in the city, they moved further into the interior of the citadel where there were large grassy spaces that frequented among the neatly spaced buildings there. From even further into the citadel, he could detect a wash of something floral like vast spaces of spring blooms when the wind turned just right, but it was far from where they were currently at, and still there wasn’t even a hint of Arie’s distinct sweetness.
Warol gritted his teeth. Though his frustration had been mounting for days as they tirelessly wandered the Citadel, he could feel it now coming to a head when a movement and a loud clatter at the corner of intersecting paths in one of the grassy spaces with its neatly planted trees attracted his attention. Two oblivious males laughed as they pushed another human of diminutive size. Not as small as the younglings he’d first seen taking shelter within the arms of their mother, but doubtless an older human offspring. Warol growled quietly under his breath and, without waiting for permission from Rager, he crept closer. One of the bulkier males shoved the youngling again, his voice threatening.
“Look here, kid. I gave you until midnight to bring me your profits, didn’t I? I think I was being quite generous with you, considering you owe us a debt.”
The young male stumbled but he regained his balance quickly and straightened, though his voice wavered with fear. “Sorry, Jase. I’ve been trying. It was slow today, and I still have to give a small tithe to the Thieves Guild. I will pay you back, on my honor.”
The other male snorted. “Thieves Guild, is it? What’re they going to do for you now?”
A small smile twisted on the youth’s face, showing where he was missing teeth. “Mister, take care now how you speak of the Guild. You may be the night watchman on the payroll of the Order, but you are only alive because the Guild suffers your existence while they aim for bigger fish.”
“That so?” the first male laughed and lifted a blade, the edge catching the light. Although Warol had seen the bone blades used by Emala and Arie, this one gleamed unnaturally. “And where are they now? They don’t care enough about one boy to save him, that’s what I see.”
The young male’s shoulders drooped, but he held the male’s gaze, his eyes flashing with defiance. “Be assured they’ll pay back any injury you do to me. The Guild looks after their own.”
The blade moved close to the youngling’s thin neck and Warol decided he had seen enough. With a low growl, he pushed from the shadows and stalked toward the males. Plucking up the one closest to him, he saw little more than the white of the male’s eyes as he gripped his struggling body with his lower two arms while his upper hands wrenched the head. Quick and brutal, the crack of snapping bones was obscenely loud in the quiet of the street, as was the thump of the male’s body as it hit the ground. There was nothing more than a gurgle of surprise from the other human and that was due to Rager rounding upon the male and effortlessly tearing his throat out with the claws of one hand. Warol winced as his lead’s icy gaze narrowed on him but did not regret his decision.
The youth’s mouth dropped open as he stared at them, his eyes widening as they grew round. Warol wondered if the young male would now call for help and winced expectantly. He had not thought that part out. All it would take was a shout and the youngling could alert any humans who were nearby. Still, Warol could not bring himself to kill him. His muscles tensed in preparation to flee but to his surprise a wide smile broke over the dirty face.
“Ragoru. Bless me, an entire triad here in the Citadel! I always knew you weren’t the monsters that the Order was claiming. Lots of whispering in the lower streets say that and more—rumors mostly brought from merchants I suspect. I’m Tim, at your service. I’m indebted to you for your help there. My gods, the Order would shit kittens if they knew you were here.” He leaned forward eagerly. “Are you here to bring down the Order and kill the huntsmen?”
Warol cocked a nervous ear toward his brothers, uncertain how to respond. He didn’t scent any lie on the young male, but it could still be human trickery at work.
“You are not afraid?”
The youngling gave him a lopsided smile. “Perhaps I would be if I ate up everything that the Order spat out, but we’ve been hearing rumors and stories for some time. And really, when you live in the bottoms, encountering a Ragoru doesn’t always seem like the worst that can happen. Not when there are plenty of humans who will kill you and do worse to you for their amusement all because they can. Besides, it always struck me a little odd the way the Order is always harping and hollering when never have any of us ever been threatened by your kind, and there are many who have traveled through the wilderness with tales to tell. And, I can’t imagine you would come all this way to eat me when there is plenty of large game right in the woods.”
Rager stepped forward to sniff speculatively at the male. The human hesitated briefly at the sight of their triad’s lead, but Warol didn’t sense a significant amount of fear coming from him.
“We have no interest in eating you or staying here at all. We are searching for our mate,” Rager growled down in reply.
The boy’s brows knit together. “I hadn’t heard tale of any female Ragoru being brought into the Citadel by the Order. Or any word of Ragoru nearby at all beyond the usual complaints from the huntsmen.”
“Our mate is human,” Kyx said with a smile. Though he was now terribly scarred, the boy returned the gesture and grew noticeably more comfortable. A thin hand went up to his stringy mane to scratch his scalp.
“A human, you say? That sure is something. I dare imagine many women would be happy to have a triad care for them rather than working as Guild beggars and worse. We all serve our purpose, mind you, but it is a hard life being a female alone.”
“We’ve noticed,” Warol bit out. “Our mate doesn’t look like the starving females we’ve seen here. Have you seen any new females brought recently into the Citadel? Huntsmen stole her. She would have likely arrived in their company. We caught up to one of her captors already.”
