He heard shouting at one point, pushing himself up with difficulty, only to realize it was three soldiers fighting amongst themselves over the noon meal’s rations.
He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, morning had faded into afternoon, the shadows stretching long. He didn’t know what had woken him until another high-pitched howl filled the sky, followed by the screams of a few men.
“They raided the king-damned stores! The fucking beasts stole our food!”
“Why would we steal food from humans? We can feed ourselves without your help.”
“Then why is there food missing from our stores?”
“Why should I concern myself with human affairs?”
“Human affairs? Perhaps you should concern yourself with how you speak to your betters.”
The fight had moved toward the center of camp as the three wolfshifters stalked toward the dozen soldiers that had gathered, glaring down at them like they were nothing. Fox had seen that look in their eyes before, when they’d nearly crushed his head in and thrown him over their shoulders.
“Our betters?” the tallest of the shifters spat the words out. “You are insects beneath our feet.”
“You are here because of what we’ve promised you.”
“You know,” the shifter said, grinning with sharp canines as he looked back at his men. “I think we can just take the land we want without your pathetic little leader’s permission.”
“Chief Commander Harlow might have something to say about that.” The soldier who spoke pulled himself up, trying to look tall, but he had to strain his neck back to look the shifter in the eyes. And even Fox could see the way his knees trembled.
The wolfshifters howled as one, and the soldiers reached for their weapons instinctively.
The shifters’ leader froze, nostrils flaring wide as he saw the men’s hands on their daggers and swords.
“Go back to your camp,” a soldier said.
“You don’t command us.”
Fox was watching now, alert for the first time in days, but a flicker ofmotion in the corner of his eye had him looking up. A condor circled above the camp, its eyes focused fully on the fight brewing.
A soldier let out an undignified shriek, and Fox turned back to see a wolfshifter holding the man in the air by his neck, the dagger he’d apparently pulled lying on the ground at his feet.
“Don’t pull weapons on us, you insect.”
But the damage had been done. The rest of the camp had gathered, humans on one side and wolfshifters on the other, drawn by the yells and the smell of a fight. Fox knew this had been brewing for weeks now. But tensions were tightening to the breaking point, and everyone could feel it. Even the air held its breath. The condor above waited.
They raided the stores, the man had said. The wolfshifters weren’t lying. They had no reason to steal human food.
Fox smiled, lips cracking.Sofia.
And then the tension snapped.
The soldier at the head of the group, who’d originally accused the shifters, pulled his sword. “Drop my man!”
“Gladly,” the shifter said. His hand twisted and clenched. The soldier’s head snapped to the side with a sickening crack. The shifter smiled as he dropped the man’s body, and it crumpled to the ground at his feet.
And then weeks of simmering rage and distrust exploded as the two groups surged toward each other, swords clashing against claws.
Fox nearly grinned as the fighting worsened, watching as soldiers fell like flies. He heard Harlow screaming a command from somewhere behind the tents, and a volley of arrows ascended into the air before crashing down into the tumult. An arrow hit its target, piercing the chest of a shifter. He dropped like a stone, black veins spreading from the wound, and Fox realized these weren’t normal arrows. They were iron-tipped. Harlow had indeed been ready to betray the wolfshifters.
One arrow hit the bar of his cage, and Fox pushed himself back. He heard a growl behind him and saw a shifter slam into his cage. The shifter snarled at him, his clawed hand reaching through the bars as Fox backed away again. “What are you looking at?”
Someone speared the shifter with a sword, hot blood splatteringacross Fox’s face as the soldier pulled his sword back and swung it to behead the shifter.
Fox crouched at the center of the cage, watching the bloodbath unfold, rooting for neither side and realizing no matter who won, he was still locked in a cage and helpless.
