Blackclaw nearly jumpedout of her skin, or that was what it seemed like. She did jump and spin and turned toward me with her claws out and ready. Then she saw me, saw I was relaxed and unarmed, and she settled, claws vanishing.
“Legs?” She laughed. “I should have known you’d not be far away.” She hesitated only for a moment before coming to me and embracing me. I returned the gesture. She had certainly become quite the beautiful woman, though it seemed her time here had worn heavily on her.
“I don’t want any of this to be true,” she whispered. “But I’d rather know the truth than keep believing a lie.”
“I know,” I said and we drew apart. “So, let’s see this friend of yours.”
Blackclaw nodded. “Just to be safe, both of you better return to your avatar forms, I’ll carry you to her unseen.”
Silence and I did as instructed, and were put in a pouch the draw-string pulled not completely closed so we’d have an escape if needed.
Then… we trusted ourselves to the care of this old friend, not knowing where we were going, feeling only the jostling of the pouch at her hip. We heard a bit of muffled discussion then the bag was carefully being moved and opened. Silence and I clambered out and returned to our forms.
We were in a larger room and Blackclaw’s “friend” turned out to be Ursa, the second of House Grizzly. I didn’t know all the members, but I knew her; she was hard to miss. One of the few women I knew who were taller than I was, over six feet of powerful physique, with cropped blond hair and stunning, deep blue eyes.
She started when she saw me… just as I was shocked to see her.
“They are my friends,” Blackclaw said quickly. “Please don’t hurt them. Just… listen with your gift, and we’ll all know what the truth is.”
Ursa calmed quickly, though I felt the latent power in those strong limbs. She was a full-figured woman like Blackclaw, just a little bigger and taller in all aspects. Strong and powerful and beautiful. She nodded. “I’ll listen.” But there was a threat in her voice. It was clear she didn’t expect to believe our story.
Ursa sat in a large chair and watched us keenly.
Blackclaw nodded to me.
I told them my tale.
The way Ursa twitched her nose from time to time made me believe she wasn’t so much reading my mind as… smelling the truth of my words on me. Perhaps it was both?
Either way, when I finished, she looked just a bit stunned, shaking her head slowly. “I can’t believe it,” she said slowly. “But, I… have to believe it. Not a word of it was a lie. Still… how could our own Royal family be betraying us like this?”
Only then did I relax. I saw Blackclaw do the same, finally knowing we weren’t lying to her.
Ursa looked at me for a long moment. “I need to take this to Grizzly. And… I’ll need to do some internal… housecleaning to see if we have any traitors working for the Royals in our midst. That will take some time, but we are with you, Legs of House Spider. Anything you need that we can provide we will.”
“Can you recall your troops from the front?” I asked quickly.
Ursa frowned. “No… that would let the Royals know we were against them instantly. Perhaps it would be best if we played along for a bit to see what we can find out. But I’ll let the commanders of our troops know they are not to fight or support those at the front in any way. We don’t want to make things worse.” She sighed heavily. “How could we have come to this?” she breathed. “And you have no idea why the Royals are doing all of this?”
I shook my head. “That piece of the puzzle has eluded us. We do know they’ve been killing Nobles and their Lumani — somehow — because they knew too much. So, be very careful in how you move.”
Ursa nodded to that. “It will take us a bit of time to get our house in order. How can we contact you?”
“Send a pigeon for mundane things, but they can be intercepted, so… for most things, we have a member of our House, Fin, who will come and go regularly to keep you up to date on events and carry messages back and forth. We’ll need to bring him up from the village to someplace safe in your keep so he knows where to transport himself to. That’s his spirit-gift.”
“Very useful.”
“So is yours.”
Ursa smiled. “Indeed.” But her grin quickly faded. “It would be best if you were not seen here. We’ll arrange to have your Fin brought to a place, but otherwise, you should go for now. I am not certain of everyone in my house yet. Some of the newer members from Blackclaw’s cohort, have always been a bit… odd. I wouldn’t want to give anything away.” She sighed. “I do not like using my gift on members of my own House. I like to think I can trust them, but now… I will do what I must.”
I nodded to that.
We were bundled into Blackclaw’s pouch again and carried back to her room. It was only once we were there, and the door latched shut, that we returned to ourselves and spoke freely with Blackclaw for a time before leaving.
We summoned Ant out from the hole in the wall, and Blackclaw tried not to drool over him, though I could see the instant attraction in her eyes. He remained to one side, while the three of us sat on her large bed and caught up on things.
“So…” I asked after enough other talk that I thought it safe. “You and Ursa are… together?” I smiled. “I’m happy for you. She seems like a wonderful woman.”
