Clan Aqun's predicament

"This wasn't part of the plan," Nelith said, squinting across the valley.

They stood high on the shoulder of a mountain, from which vantage point they could at last see the oni village on the slope far below. What had prompted Nelith's comment, however, was the camp set up before the wooden palisade walls of the village and the sounds of battle that drifted up to their ears.

"No, it wasn't," Fenrir agreed, scanning over the scene below. He couldn't see any fighting within the walls themselves, which boded well for Katari's former clan, but he could tell the camp was quite a large one, even with it partially obscured by the trees. "Katari, what do you think? Any ideas as to what exactly's going on down there?"

Katari frowned down at the tableau beneath them. "If I were to guess, I would say clan Kata has at last decided to make good on their threats of war. I do not understand how they could have mustered a **** such as this, however. They are not much larger than my cla- my former clan."

"Most likely they formed an alliance of some kind with somebody," Fenrir said, choosing not to comment on Katari's slip of tongue.

"What does this mean for us?" Nelith asked, twisting in her saddle to look at Fenrir. "Whoever's attacking Katari's clan, I doubt they'll just let us ride through their camp and into the village."

"Yes, that's unlikely to be a viable course of action," the direwolf replied, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. "But I'd hate to waste all the time and effort of coming here only to be blocked at the end of our journey, and besides, we may be able to turn the situation to our advantage."

"What do you mean?"

"If we help the Aqun clan drive off these attackers, it proves our allegiance in a much more concrete form than a few gifts ever could." Fenrir returned his attention to the scene below. "It looks to me as though this siege has going on for a week or more. What do you think, Katari?"

"Two weeks at the least," she replied. Despite her calm tone, Fenrir noticed a certain tenseness about the way she sat astride her horse.

He nodded. "Did your clan have any considerable supplies laid up?"

"Some, but they would have to be running low by now. The food is laid up against the winter months, not against the possibility of siege, and they could not have had much stored at this time of year."

"Hmm." Fenrir thought that over. "Yes, I think we can work with this. First order of business is to find somewhere to make camp that'll be safe. Until the siege is broken, I don't see us getting into the village without exposing all of you to unreasonable amounts of danger, and I think I'll be more effective out here anyway. You know the terrain around here best; where do you recommend we look?"

Katari took a moment to think. "There is a small meadow in a ravine above the village which should serve our purposes well. We can reach it from here without alerting anyone to our presence, but there is a vantage point only a few minutes from the clearing which will allow us to watch the village and the land surrounding."

"That sounds nearly ideal. Is there a catch?"

Katari shrugged. "Only that it is difficult to reach."

"That will work for us as well as against us. Very well, lead the way." Fenrir stepped to one side, pulling Nelith's horse with him so Katari could move to the front of their little column.

She led them down into the valley, but while still some distance above the village, they turned off the trail and began working their way along the side of the mountain. It was rough going for the horses, but they weren't in any hurry; from what he had seen of the village it hadn't seemed as if the oni Fenrir had come to visit were in any immediate peril, and he would have to wait until after nightfall to make any moves anyway.

They ended up coming into the clearing previously mentioned by Katari from above, the horses practically sliding on their hocks down the steep trail into the tiny basin. An ice-cold stream bubbled and chattered over the rocks, leaping downwards to meet up with its much larger cousin in the center of the valley below. There was easily enough grass to keep the horses fed for a week or so, and there was already a fire ring in a mostly level space underneath an old spruce tree at the upper end of the basin.

In response to his inquiring look, Katari explained, "Certain of Clan Aqun will at times spend a night here." She pointed out another trail that climbed one of the side walls, so faint it was almost invisible. "That leads to the vantage point I spoke of."

"We'll check it out after we set up camp," Fenrir said. "We'd better not start a fire ...unless..." he looked up at the thick branches of the spruce that rose directly above the old fire ring. "Katari, just how well does that spruce disperse the smoke from a fire?"

"If it is dry wood, the smoke cannot be seen from the village at all," Katari replied. "That is why the fire was always built here."

"Thank Carnachias," muttered Koreen. "I don't want to even think about how cold it'd get without a fire."

"Yeah, just imagine, we might be **** to cuddle with the Chief for warmth," Nelith smirked. "Actually, on second thought, are you sure it wouldn't be safer to go without a fire, Katari? I mean, we don't want to take any chances, right?"

"Only if I get to be the one to cuddle his cock," Koreen replied without missing a beat.

"No, I should definitely be the one to cuddle his cock," Nelith said decidedly. "After all, I've got the perfect place to put it where it'll stay nice and warm all night long."

"Yeah, like I don't. Mine is tighter, anyway."

"You wanna bet?"

Koreen stuck out her tongue. "I don't need to bet. He's fucked you so much that your pussy's all stretched out, but mine is still tight as a virgin's."

"That only means my pussy is the exact shape of his cock, so it hugs him perfectly. Yours would be too tight, and he'd have to waste time breaking it in."

Fenrir grinned, but busied himself with unsaddling the horses while Nelith and Koreen continued bickering back and forth in between unpacking their blankets and the other supplies they would need. He knew, as did they, that both their pussies were designed to be tight no matter how small the cock but accommodating no matter how large. Certainly he stretched them out when he fucked them, but give them several hours and they would be as tight as ever.

Hobbling the last horse, he turned its head out towards the meadow and gave it a pat on the rump to send it on its way. It whickered to the others as it hurried to catch up with them, and before long they were all grazing peacefully. Fenrir watched them for a moment, but his attention was quickly attracted by Katari beckoning him.

She led him up the faint trail that led to the lookout point. It was steep enough that they almost had to crawl up the trail, but once they got over the lip of the hill it was considerably easier going through the trees to where the ground fell away again into the main valley.

From here it was much easier to get a good look at the lay of the land around the village. The village itself was built on a gentler portion of the slope than most of the mountainside, though the oni had still terraced a good portion of the land inside the palisade to make the construction of their buildings easier.

Not that there were very many. Aside from a gigantic longhouse and several smaller buildings which Fenrir guessed to be storehouses, there were few permanent structures. Instead, the most popular buildings seemed to be a sturdy kind of tent which reminded Fenrir of a cross between a Mongolian yurt and a Native American tepee.

Other than that, he could see various crops being grown on the terraces, particularly towards the lower end of the village, and open spaces dotted here and there served the oni for training grounds. A stream fed into the village at the upper end, being promptly diverted through carefully constructed channels to serve the needs of the village. It made for quite a pretty picture, or would have had the evidence of war not made its mark as well.

At the lower end of the village, near the main gate, a bloody scene unfolded. Wounded oni, both men and women, were filtering back into the village while others covered their retreat. The besiegers did not seem interested in pushing the fight for the present, however, instead withdrawing back to their own camp. From what Fenrir could see of the battleground, the day's fighting had been bloody for both sides.

He shifted his attention beyond the village, to the attackers' camp. Judging from the number of tents, their numbers were significantly greater than their opponents, and Fenrir could see two distinct patterns on the tents. The tents in the village had their own unique pattern, so Fenrir concluded that the patterns denoted clan allegiance, a conclusion which was substantiated a moment later by Katari.

"Ah, clan Kata has enlisted the aid of clan Issala-Bas. I wonder what was promised that they should have been willing to come so far south." There was a dark note in the small oni's voice, prompting Fenrir to look down at her.

"Is there something special about clan Issala-Bas?" he asked.

"They have a reputation for laying aside their honor when it becomes inconvenient. It is said that many of their members are the exiles of other clans, and that their clan-chief is a kin-killer. Other darker things are said about him as well."

"So they're more or less the worst of the oni," Fenrir summarized. "What about clan Kata?"

"Until recently I would have said they are a clan like any other, aside from their clan-chief's hatred for clan Aqun, but if they are willing to ally themselves with such as Issala-Bas..."

"Hmm. I see two distinct sets of symbols on the tents down there; which belongs to which?"

Katari pointed. "The ones with the boar skull belong to clan Kata. The others are clan Issala-Bas. You see?"

Fenrir nodded. The Issala-Bas symbols were of an oni face, half normal, though twisted in a scowl, and half with the flesh stripped away to reveal the bone underneath. The eye which was missing had been replaced with a circle of bright, almost glowing red, which was 'bleeding' down over the cheekbone and jaws. It was not a pretty sight.

Fenrir looked back into the village. Clan Aqun's symbol was simpler, a black silhouette of a tall, muscular figure with two orbs, one of red and the other of silver, hovering over its outstretched palms.

Katari saw where he was looking. "Our- I am sorry. Clan Aqun's emblem represents balance. The silver orb represents honor, and the red war, or the fighting instinct. I do not know for certain what Issala-Bas' emblem represents, but clan Kata's emblem represents strength, tenacity, and the willingness to face the enemy directly, without trickery or artifice."

Fenrir looked down at her. "Do you wish you were still a part of clan Aqun?"

Katari opened her mouth as if to answer, saw the expression on his face, and closed it again to choose her words more carefully. "No, I do not. My life with you has been richer than with the clan. ...But I admit it is difficult to adjust to being clanless."

"Are you really clanless, though? I don't know if the oni would recognize it as such, but you belong to my family, and is that not a clan in everything but name?"

Katari's head dropped, and when she spoke, her voice trembled a little. "The clans likely would not recognize it, for you are not an oni. But... thank you." She took a long breath and swept several locks of hair that had slipped forward back over her shoulder. "I am not exiled from the clan, anyway. If you should consider my debt to you satisfied, I may return and be a part of clan Aqun again, if I should wish to."

Fenrir frowned. "Your debt to me was-"

He stopped short. Katari had thrown both hands out to him in an arresting gesture, her eyes full of alarm. "Do not say it! ...Please, do not."

"Why not? Just because you're no longer Beholden doesn't mean you can't stay and serve me."

Katari shook her head. "It is not the same. As Beholden, your honor is my honor. There are exceptions, but in most cases your orders outweigh the directives of the oni code. Were I free, your orders might someday conflict with my code, and then what should I do?" There was a catch in her voice at the last phrase.

"If that were to happen, all you would need to do is tell me. I would not try to **** you to do something that compromised your honor," Fenrir pointed out.

The small oni's head dipped forward again, and her voice became so quiet that Fenrir might not have been able to hear her had he not had such sensitive hearing. "...There is another reason. I am glad to belong to you, my lord. I would not have it otherwise."

Fenrir wasn't satisfied. "The last time you thought I was dead, you came within moments of taking your own life. There are many in this world who would be eager to kill me, and a not-insignificant number of them have the power to do it regardless of anything I could do. If I should die, I do not want you to follow me. Not before your natural time."

"...Please, my lord." Katari's face was turned up to his, her golden eyes shimmering in an entreaty more potent than any words.

Fenrir sighed, shaking his head. "Fine, fine. If that's the way you want it."

He looked back down at the village. It was already shadowed in dusk, and soon the same would be true for where they stood. "Let's head back. I've seen all I can from here."

"Yes, my lord." Katari's voice trembled slightly, and she took her place behind him with perhaps a little more emotion than usual.

As they retraced their steps back to camp, Fenrir tried to put aside the exchange they had just shared atop the bluff for the moment and focus instead on the challenge that confronted him in the form of the oni siege below.

With the considerably greater numbers of attackers, it seemed only a matter of time before the defenders would have their fighters wiped out or be **** to give in to avoid starvation. From what he had been able to see, the palisade had been designed to keep out wild beasts and the like, and while it could serve as a defense against an invading clan of oni, it was certainly not ideal for doing so. But he had options for disrupting the siege, and he intended to take full advantage of them.

Nelith and Koreen looked up as they came up to the fire. "So what's the plan?" the older succubus asked.

"For you? Sit tight," Fenrir replied, taking a seat. "I'm going to commence guerilla operations as soon as it gets properly dark."

"What does that mean?" Koreen asked, cocking her head.

"In a word, unconventional warfare. It's about the only way to win against a **** like that, considering my own strength. To try to fight them head-on would end in me getting exhausted and being dragged down, though I expect I'd take quite a few of them with me."

Nelith was more concerned with his response to her question. "We just sit tight? Chief, you don't mean to try to fight them alone."

"I do. But as I said, I won't be fighting in the traditional sense."

The red-skinned succubus shook her head, narrowing her eyes at him. "You realize what happens to us if you die."

"I do," Fenrir repeated. "Have some faith, Nelith. I fully recognize the consequences that would befall everyone if I were to get myself killed. I won't be putting myself in undue danger."

"You sure you can't take at least Katari along?"

"Perhaps sometimes, but tonight the goal will mainly be reconnaissance, so I'm better off going alone."

Nelith fixed him with a long look. "Okay," she finally said.

Fenrir raised an eyebrow. "Just 'okay'?"

Nelith shrugged. "Well, I know you're right; we need to do this. If we can cement an alliance with the Aqun clan, our position at Kharvionas Castle gets a lot stronger, since we actually have someone who can help us defend it. Not to mention trading with them gets us access to resources that could be invaluable once winter rolls around. So yeah, I get it. Me whining about how it's dangerous doesn't help matters, since you're already taking it seriously."

'And this is why she's my second-in-command,' Fenrir reflected. 'The others could probably be brought to view the situation like her, but she got there quicker than most of them would have.'

Aloud, he said, "I appreciate your understanding."

"Yeah, yeah." Nelith pulled some meat off the fire. "You better eat something before you go."

Fenrir grinned. "Yes, ma'am." Out of the corner of his eye he caught Koreen watching the exchange with a conflicted look on her face, but he let her be for the present. Instead he relaxed with his food while the conversation around the fire turned to lighter topics.

Several hours later, Fenrir left the little ravine and began threading his way down towards the village. In his hand he carried a message, wrapped around a small rock. While not nearly all the oni knew how to read the written language of Mavenia, Katari had assured him that several of them, the chief included, possessed that skill and that this method of delivering a message would work well.

He had considered simply scaling the palisade and bringing his message to the chief in person, but the village was sure to be on high alert and especially distrustful of intruders. There was no real need to go to such lengths for the message he wanted to send, anyway.

So once he reached the palisade, he waited until he heard the tramp of footsteps inside and then tossed it over, melting into the shadows once he heard a muttered exclamation from within. Confident that the chief would have the message soon, the direwolf turned his attention to his second task for the night.

This was to reconnoiter the enemy camp and discover ways in which he could disrupt their operations and -hopefully- cripple their fighting power. 'I'm damn glad I chose Assassin as one of my classes. The ability to move undetected has been indispensable so many different times.'

He had several ideas. The question was which, if any, would turn out to be feasible. In the interest of finding an answer he made his way around the village to where the invaders had set up camp. Fires burned here and there, oni still sitting around some talking while others had been abandoned in favor of bedrolls and sleeping furs. The camp was bounded by a thin ring of sentries, so thin in fact that Fenrir could have slipped past them even without the use of Shroud. They were there to guard against a night ****, not a single scout.

Shroud was absolutely necessary once he was in the camp proper, however. Fenrir moved between various campfires, pausing at each to listen in on the conversation being held there. Most of it was what could be expected; warriors complaining about the food, boasting about their feats in the battle of the day previous, and other similar subjects.

Here and there, though, he picked up useful scraps. A biting joke made about the speaker's commander, a passing comment referencing a disagreement between the two allied clans, an argument between two oni that was only saved from coming to blows by the intervention of someone clearly higher in the hierarchy; bit by bit Fenrir put together a rough picture of the condition of morale and the state of relations between clan Issala-Bas and clan Kata.

Morale was fairly high. The oni didn't anticipate clan Aqun holding out for much longer, and the grunts were looking forward to enjoying the spoils of victory. However, a lieutenant at one campfire dropped a comment which seemed to indicate that the command tier was slightly less assured of an imminent victory. Apparently they seemed to think clan Aqun still had some cards left to play.

On the other hand, relations between the two clans were strained, to say the least. The grunts themselves were more or less civil with each other, though Fenrir got the impression that if there hadn't already been plenty of fighting to be had with clan Aqun there would have been considerably more scuffles between the other two clans. But the command echelons were a different story.

Fenrir wasn't sure what was keeping them from each other's throats, but it became quickly evident that both the leaders and their immediate subordinates would have loved nothing more than to drop this alliance in favor of settling their respective differences, preferably with naked steel. In light of this, Fenrir became more curious than ever about how the alliance had been established in the first place.

Still, there was plenty for him to work with here. If he played his cards right, he might even be able to break up the alliance between the besiegers, in which case clan Aqun's survival would be all but assured.

'Well, no point in waiting,' Fenrir thought, moving to the nearest Issala-Bas tent. A peek inside revealed the inhabitants already sound asleep, so he entered on silent feet. A moment was all that was necessary to take a dagger off the belt of one of the sleepers, and then he was outside again.

He turned the blade over in his hands, examining it closely. As he had hoped, it carried the insignia of its owner's clan. A quick mental check revealed he had less than ten minutes of Shroud left; he would have to move quickly.

Staying mindful of the time, Fenrir slipped through the camp to the nearest Kata clan command tent. It didn't house anyone particularly important, just the equivalent of a sergeant, but he estimated that to be sufficient. Inside the tent, he found two bedrolls, both occupied.

Fenrir grimaced; he had hoped for only a single occupant, but this wasn't a dealbreaker. He would simply have to be especially cautious. Moving to the head of one, he knelt, one hand hovering over the oni's mouth, the other holding the stolen dagger above his victim's heart.

The first indication the oni had that something was amiss was a hand suddenly clamping about his mouth and nose and, an instant later, cold steel tearing through skin and muscle to pierce his heart. He was dead before he could even fully awaken, but the instant between the attack and the last moment of fading awareness had still been enough for a convulsive struggle, more instinctual than deliberate.

The other oni snorted, disturbed by the movement, and Fenrir's attention riveted on him even as he finished ushering his first target into the world beyond. The one still living muttered something indistinct, turned onto his side, and went still again.

Fenrir waited for another thirty seconds just in case, but when there was no further movement he rose, leaving the stolen dagger embedded in the chest of his victim. Once it was discovered, it ought to raise quite a stir. Quite a few were likely to think it a framing, which, technically speaking, it was, but that was just fine. It would still rachet up tensions between the two clans and weaken their alliance. But he was now down to three minutes of Shroud, so with all the haste compatible with stealth he exited the tent and then the camp as well.

He only just made it; Shroud failed before he was a hundred yards beyond the ring of sentries, but when a backwards glance revealed no reaction to his passage he began threading his way through the woods back towards camp. 'Not a bad night's work. Now for some sleep, and then tomorrow morning we'll see what comes of my little ploy.'

A trip that goes smoothly, without any complications? I'm afraid we're already well over budget for that. But Fenrir is perfectly willing to make lemonade out of these lemons.
This chapter sets the scene for the oni arc and Fenrir makes his first moves. Now the ball's in the courts of the oni clans, and next chapter we'll see what they decide to do with it. Another moment with Katari also snuck in there; it seems most of her scenes have caught me off guard. They just pop up out of nowhere. Organic storytelling at its best, I suppose?
Act 5 Characters and Stats chapter should be live along with this one, you can find the link here. Beware spoilers if you're currently playing catchup on the story.
Enjoy!