Hi folks, mammals, and programs; been some time to get this together, and I'm not truly happy with it but it is time to turn it out into the world for others to see.



Raid and Respect

Chap 3: Talk, Fame, and Names

My ears rise a touch at the sounds of multiple footpaws approaching. I set myself down where I am facing the door across the room from me.

“Enter!” I call at the knock on that door.

It opens and two warriors, one raccoon and one wolf, guide their charges into the room. Those mammals are a deer doe and fox tod. Three fox warriors follow behind them. All of them were on our cross world raid and the ones involved in capturing these two. The cervine and vulpine both have their hands bound in front of them. At that sign of high regard, I feel the ghost of a smile on my face. The clothing that they wear is new, plain in appearance, but fitted for them. A leather collar encircles each of their necks and on those bands is the symbol that declares that they are my property, as well as a few other things.

“Release them!” I command.

Quickly, their bindings come off.

“Now, leave us!”

As they do, I see the raccoon give the doe a longing look before he leaves.

“He’d take her as an Honored slave, if not a mate, if he could,” I figure.

After they leave, I wave doe and tod to a couple of chairs set several feet in front of me.

“Be seated,” I say.

Both look at me in surprise. The reason for that is that I spoke to them in their own tongue. After settling themselves, I proceed.

“I have studied the common tongue of your people and used some Magi weaving to better impress it in my mind. Be aware that it is not close to being as complete as your own level of it. Also, there are meanings in it, as well as in my own tongue, that do not, I believe the term is, ‘translate’, well or not at all. They will remain so until they are pointed out so they can be explained and understood,” I tell them.

Next, I gave them a brief, very brief, talk about my world.

“I’ll tell you more as time goes by. And you’ll learn more by being out and about in this world.”

The doe, for the fourth time, reaches up with one hand and tugs at the collar around her neck. The fox appears to not even notice the one around his, though I have no doubt he is very aware of its presence.

“Your collars mark you as my property,” I tell them. “They, also, ‘say’ that you are from far lands and that you are honored slaves.”

“Puts us a step or two above the common ones,” the tod puts in.

“Yes. As such you have some more freedom in doing things that you would not have otherwise. This is the best I can do for you at this time. You are in a strange and unfamiliar land. Both of you need time to learn the tongue and your way in it. In time, I will see about freeing you, if that is what you wish. For now, the collars give you some protections that you would not have if you were free.”

They look at me; her with some uncertainty shaded with a touch of suspicion. Him showing nothing.

“He is the more dangerous of the two, and not just because of his warrior skills,” I remind myself.

“If we are freed, can we be returned to our world?” he asks.

I expected this. It’s not what I want but knew it would be brought up.

“If you do well,…”

“And we’re still alive,” interrupts the deer.

A quick nod her way.

“…I don’t see why not,” is my answer. “Reweaving the Magi pattern to open another gate to your world will take some time. The gathering of energy for it even more so. It will, Spirits favoring things, take a year, mayhap a little more, to be ready.”

The doe’s expression shows less distrust. The tod’s remains unreadable. Now is the time.

“You will have quite a welcome awaiting you when you return,” I tell them.

“Huh?” questions the doe.

“Yes. You have become very well known among your people.”

“’Well known'…in what way?” asks the fox in an even tone.

“Your…broadcast, I think is the word, mammals have sent your images out for all to see while telling them of your battle feats against the warriors,” I tell them.

There is a puzzled expression on the cervine’s face while I get a narrowing look from the emerald eyes.

“It would be best if you see and hear it for yourselves.”

Taking a crystal from one pocket, I set it on one of its points on the table in front of me and start it spinning. Almost immediately, what is impressed within it begins. The likenesses of a well dressed, by their world’s measure, bull moose and snow leopardess appears in the air above the whirling gem. They are seated behind a large round topped table with a drinking vessel, for each of them, sitting close to them on it. Behind them is a…’projection’ of their great city to include a wide expanse of forested and open land around it. Above and off to one side of each mammal is an image of the deer doe and the fox tod. The doe in her best, I presume, work clothing. The vulpine in his guard’s dress to include that fighting stick (almost seven hands long) with a handle set in one side of it, hanging from a loop in his belt. The names of the two are…written(?) above their images. Then, the scene changes; one sees in a room as if up against the ceiling. What is seen is the doe moving and dodging, with surprising agility, the raccoon warrior determined to capture her. She throws anything she can lay hands on and it is all aimed at his face and head. And, as he described, she grabs up a large box shaped item, swings it at him, and hits him on the front right side of his face. I can see him staggered by the blow and, seeing her chance, the deer dashes by him, only to run into a wide flailed arm and be drawn against his body where he gets his other arm around her. She kicks him. And she strikes him with her fists, all of those blows are aimed at his head and face. If not for his helmet with its front nose and muzzle protection piece she could, correction, would have done serious damage to him. She is shown still fighting and struggling as the raccoon uses his greater strength to overpower her.

The scene changes with the point of seeing similar to that of the room with the doe; this time showing a room with 30+ mammals, almost all female, in it. Their heads come up and they look around as they hear noises. The tod has just walked into the room and goes to a door to look beyond it. A paw goes to the handle and he draws out that stick. At the same time, he is calling for everyone in the room to get out as quickly as possible. Seconds later, he is fighting the warriors at the door and the people in the room, at first hesitant, are swift in doing as he ordered. The room is emptied in some 10 or 11 heartbeats. This leaves the fox still battling back the four trying to bring him down. Pushed out of the doorway, the wolf manages to catch hold of that stick and yanks it away. Immediately, the tod brings his hands and arms up, held in and close to his body, while backing away until he blocks that other door. He spends the next couple of minutes using that open hand and side swung fist fighting skill to fend and fight off the warriors.

“He’s buying time for the escaping mammals,” the moose says.

Finally, he is overwhelmed by the four and brought down where he is bound. They stand him up and, knowing that their other prizes are gone, march him out of the room. Again, the scene shifts; it is in the room where the gate is located. One plainly sees the skunk woman, with her counting beads, standing to one side of it. Over several minutes, raiders with captives and booty go into it. The deer doe is clearly seen being forced through it. A bare three minutes later, the fox tod and his captors do the same. Then, I see myself at the gate where I raise the pipe whistle to my lips and blow on it several times. The remaining warriors, some with more captives, come and go through. The skunk woman tells me all the warriors are accounted for. My left arm moves out in front of me then I sweep it side to side as I fire my detection spell to confirm that everyone from our world is, indeed, back in our world. Then, we leave and the portal closes a moment later. I reach to the spinning crystal and pick it up. The images above it fade and vanish.

“See, your fellows admire…”

I look to the doe.

“…your spirit. And…”

I look to the tod.

“…your warrior’s heart and prowess.”

The doe has a stunned expression on her face, the tod’s is grim looking.

“The security ‘unintelligible’,” she whispers.

“The new UHD ones. They caught it all,” says the tod. “The news(?) mammals(?) will play and replay that for weeks, maybe months.”

“Everyone in the WORLD will know who we are and what we look like!” the deer fem states, her expression, now, one bordering on panic. “If we go back…”

“The ruling(?) class(?) mammals will grab us, ‘debrief’/interrogate us using everything that they have to squeeze every last dram(?) of information out of us. Likely put us in isolation for a few years to be sure we don’t bring back any kind of unknown plague with us. Then, there’s all the other ruling(?) classes(?) that will want to get hold of us for the same reasons. And even if they release us, they will be the…milder ordeal compared to having to fight off the news and talk show types. Then, there’s battling down the public in general,” the vulpine says.

In the ensuing silence, he turns his head to look at the deer woman.

“You’ve seen what Gazelle and other high end “unintelligible” put up with. Imagine that but many times worse!” he says to her.

“We’re ‘twisted(?)/turned(?)/spiraled(?)’! It would be safer to…”

The doe stops in midsentence.

“Safer to stay here?” the fox finishes.

He looks to me.

“That is something yet to be determined,” he says, his green eyes on my violet ones.

His expression is back to unreadable and eyes boring into mine are largely the same but, there is something there. It is then that I remember that I know so little about him.

“Does he suspect?” I wonder.

Those eyes narrow.

“Just how did you get that recording if you need such a long time to set up to open another portal?” he asks.

“Because the weaving…spell needed to see into your world requires much less to be done than opening up the gate to get there,” is my answer.

He isn’t buying, though it is the truth.

“I studied your world by using this before deciding where to open up the portal for the raid,” I say. “I needed to do more, much more, after I decided to acquire both of you in order to learn enough of your language to be able to talk with you well. It was during that time that I saw and heard the…’broadcast’ involving the two of you and decided to impress this one onto the crystal.”

I effect a look of confusion on my face.

“I do not understand,” I say. “What both of you did, the showing of your warrior spirit and…”

A pointed look to the fox.

“…and skill put you in high regard in the eyes of my people. By all of what I see and can make out of what is said it appears…looks like your people admire you as well. Why are you, now, so…reluctant to go back and accept their honors and praise?!”

Again, they look to one another, looks of, what I interpret as, some kind of disbelief on their faces. Then, they return their attention to me.

“That is something we will try to explain when there is the time,” says the vulpine.

Pause.

“As we will be together I suggest we give our names,” I said.

There are several heartbeats of silence. Then…

“My given name is Summer,” says the doe. “My family surname is…Wolfe.”

Immediately, she snaps her head around to where she is looking at the fox tod. Indeed, she’s actually glaring at him, as if daring him to say something. I really do need to study and learn a LOT more of this pair and their ways of thinking. The two of us look to the fox.

“My given name is Nicholas, Nick for short,” he says, at last. “My family surname is…”

He looks at the doe, an expression of amusement on his face.

“…Wilde.”

The back corners of Summer’s mouth pull up some at that.

“Thank you,” I say. “My given name is Judith with my family name being Hopps.”