The girls looked blankly at Sepp.
“What I mean is, we could use their help.”
It’s not that simple,” Sabrae finally told him.
Valvela shook her head too. Sepp still didn’t understand their objection to his thinking.
“Every strong hunting party needs good men, right?”
Valvela stood up.
“Come Sabrae. This human does not wish to be our Alpha.”
Sabrae drooped her ears and looked to Sepp, then to her sister. The younger wolfess reluctantly stood up and walked away with Valvela.
Sepp watched the two sisters begin to leave into the cold night. Was Valvela angry with him?
“Wait…” Sepp got up and strode in front of the wolves.
“I’m from a different world that’s all. Uh, in my world only Humans can talk. I’ve never seen wolves like you and I don’t know your customs.”
That was true, and it was the best chance he had at keeping the girls around, which he wanted to do.
Sabrae looked up at him first, the royal blue markings along her thigh glowing gently. She smiled and her tail wiggled to and fro, and she looked at her big sister for approval.
“Then protect us from outsiders,” Valvela said.
“I will.”
So that’s how it was. Maybe these creatures ran in packs like the wolves in his world. Sabrae came over to his side.
“That’s good,” she giggled. “I never seen anyone else who can kill a Raider all by himself! We’d better keep him around!”
Sepp ignored Sabrae for a moment and stared into the older sister’s gray eyes. Valvela stared back, but her challenging expression flashed away when she looked down into the snow. Then she looked up with a polite smile. Dietrich hoisted the fawn up over his shoulders and motioned the girls to continue walking with him through the desolate woods.
“What name may we call you by, sir?”
“You can just call me ‘Sepp.’”
“Alright. Master-Sepp.”
Changing Lands
“We’re going back to Dalaam! And you’re gonna give those back!”
“No! You’re stupid! We gotta take everything we can!” Asril hissed back at Tanjung.
The stolen items in question were little triangles of rice wrapped in green bamboo. At the core were tender cuts of what had to be goat meat. Asril had sneaked the triangles into her old briefcase as they left Dalaam, despite the monkeys’ hospitality and help. The four of them now had plenty to eat for days and more, but it seemed to be at the cost of Tanjung’s friendship.
“We’re not going to continue together if you’re going to steal everywhere we go!” Tanjung shouted.
Hex turned around and shot both felines a stern glance. Tanjung then suffered in silence as the four of them continued on through what seemed like an endless mountain chain between themselves and the impregnable refuge of Ahuran.
As always, the landscape was shifting. Dalaam had been the most welcoming place by far. The monkeys gave an aura of tranquility that matched the narrow emerald valleys where they lived. The winding rice terraces quickly made way for arid pockets and dusty mountain trails. Unlike in the lowlands, races here shifted suddenly. One village was of monkeys, the next a sinewed but small breed of feline.
“They’re called Lynxes.” Hex’s steady voice tossed itself over them like a blanket. “And we’re coming to the Kasharki Kingdom.”
Hex seemed to know everything, and he was now leading the way. Asril was glad for that. “It’s this kingdom, then one more.” He called out.
“Are these people nice like the monkeys?”
“Not even close.” Hex brought out his map to show Tanjung. “See why? We’re basically skirting the realm of those tigers we encountered in Preena. That’s why these Lynxes are so paranoid.”
There were no caravans, and it would probably take forever to get through. Nobody ever let them stay for too long, either. On the good side, there was no sign or even talk of monsters.
The temples shifted, too. Until then, all the temples she’d seen were big, elaborate and with funny looking roofs, and people were in them all the time. But in Kashkari, the temples were small and usually no one was there, although there were statues of deities. Hex usually didn’t let them go in the temples to look for help.
Tanjung already picked up a short sword from a smithy. Asril herself was carrying a dagger all along, and Tari bought a similar weapon, too. Hex didn’t have any weapon. No knife or sword or anything, which was weird, but no one challenged the fox on it. Night went by slowly for Asril. It was hard to find sleep on an empty stomach, but sleep eventually came.
The first town appeared in the arid valley beneath them. It was a collection of red and white rectangles pressed together at the foot of the hill, and buildings got sparser as one’s eye followed them out, until they looked like no more than feeble imprints upon the sand.
Camp was any place off the road that was flat enough. Hex took one of the rice rolls and tossed it to Tanjung, who was setting up by the tent.
“Here, take it. They’re pretty good.” Hex said. Tari had already helped herself.
Tanjung cautiously unwrapped it.
“I’m sorry Asril. For getting mad at you.”
Asril huffed back at him.
Tanjung sat down by Hex after the tent had been erected.
“So… What’s the Kitsune land like?”
Their orange leader sighed. “Not good anymore. Monsters everywhere.”
“How’d that happen?” Tanjung asked.
Hex put down his cup. “It’s a bit of a story. Many years ago the monsters, greenskins mostly, were thrown into the desert by my people, some other furres, and, some others. The legend is that many people united against the Greenskins.
“Why?”
“I don’t know. It was a long time ago. We threw them into the Talamakan Desert. We kept them from going east. Some of our other friends kept them from going west, into Tagarovsk. You know, the big forest. Well, together, we kept the monsters in the desert, fighting with themselves and killing each other.”
“So what happened?”
“Some things. We stopped hearing from our friends in the west. About a hundred years ago. Soon the Greenskins stopped fighting one another and came straight for us Kitsune. Even with our, uh, weapons, we couldn’t keep the Greenskins out by themselves. My house sent my newborn brother away right when the outbreak started.”
Tari perked her ears. “Why just your brother? Why not both of you?”
“Well… My family is one of the ruling Kitsune houses. They sent my brother away so that one of us could survive no matter what happened.”
The three of them looked at Hex. Now some of his story made sense.
Antwerpen
“Jochen? Hello?”
The line went dead a second after he saw a bright white flash in his mind’s eye. Sepp Dietrich knew he had some medical issues, but hallucinations were not supposed to be one of them.
The dazed Gruppenfuehrer inched the solid, black receiver away from his ear. Peiper’s voice had been absent for a moment now. Somehow, Sepp found himself transported from his improvised headquarters inside of a Belgian farmhouse, outside to the quiet desolation of the Ardennes Forest.
“Steiner!!! Wisch?!”
No response. He placed the earpiece down on the ringer, which still sat on a desk. Some other random things from the farmhouse were there, too: A Mauser, leaflets of bikini-clad girls ‘confiscated’ from the Americans, and the latest cable tape from Feldmarschall Rommel.
How did this happen? Did he get knocked out and wake up outside? If no one was around, then there was only one thing to do: March to the front all by himself. Someone there would be able to help him find the SS Panzerkorps.