You take Tula with you and encounter none other than Akaina, the king's spymaster!

You consider your options. It isn't wise to leave Ross unsupervised for too long, nor the rest of the mercenaries. But Tula isn't going to care to do anything you ask of her. There is a bit of a 'wolf, sheep and cabbage' problem here like your old tutor had once presented you to teach you logic.

Ross still chafes under your control, and it is only the promise of a rich payment that is keeping him here. Really, he's an awful man, to still harbor YOU any ill will after he not only demanded sex from you while you were a captive, but got rewarded with a promotion for it! He can't do much of his own initiative, but if enemy agents were to approach him with true or false information showing that Aldergrove is not as outnumbered as they look, he'd happily turn against you. However, he fears Marzena, and rightly so.

Then there is Tula. Tula isn't actively disloyal at the moment, but even though she's still more or less your friend, she is also willful, stubborn, impetuous, vainglorious... the list goes on, really. Leaving her on her own is tempting her to seize command of the army to do something reckless. If she jumps at some supposed opportunity and dashes the army against castle walls, the outcome won't be much better than if Ross had fomented an active revolt against your control. Tula can be kept in check by Ross, who has actual military experience, unlike her, and because he has the kind of crude, boorish, thuggish personality that's needed to get through to her. Conversely, Tula is a good target for Marzena's social (or rather, anti-social) impulses and enough on her hedonistic wavelength to keep her good company.

Marzena is a madcap jester and does everything for amusement. If she's ever left alone for too long she'll start playing with black magic, thinking that she's helping. And yet... at the end of the day she is a better and closer friend to you than the other two, so you'll have to leave her in charge, for the moment. She'll keep Ross too afraid to do anything damaging, whilst you bring Tula. Besides, in case it is necessary to lay in quiet wait for some time, Marzena will inevitably spoil things by chattering and making amusing comments about things (you can't stop her, either; she'll just pull you into it like she always does).

So, you and Tula set out on horses with Elena, the busty redheaded priestess who is serving as your latest whore, trotting behind on a mule, along with half a dozen of Tula's most trustworthy knights as an escort. You and Elena, of course, are riding sidesaddle, but Tula at the head of the group is riding like a man.

She takes notice that you're falling behind and doubles back to huff loudly at you: "Come on, Zoe!! Are you a countess, or a princess? Who is going to see you riding 'improperly' out here? Get yourself in a proper position and buck up, already! That simpering churchwoman can catch up and point us in the right direction if we don't find the meeting place ourselves. Time is wasting!" When you wave her off, she continues shooting off her big mouth: "What, are you afraid you'll compromise your ladylike grace and poise?"

"Yes, actually!" you wrinkle your nose at her. "Bad habits are easier to pick up than they are to break."

"Well, perhaps you'd be readier to try if I told you that, when you're not wearing armor, being properly in the saddle during a hard gallop feels almost like being shagged! Truth, I've known more than one would-be female squire who blushed and went limp, and failed her riding course out of the embarrassment and distraction!"

Curious, you're momentarily tempted, looking down at the fine white steed under you. But then you click your tongue and shake your head. "Pfft. That seems rather crude and improper, not to mention unnecessary. If I wanted a climax of pleasure, I'd go find someone to fuck. Letting a lowly beast take care of it is a repugnant idea."

"Well," Tula says, riding closer alongside you, "there was that one time with the beastman in the foyer last year..."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, TULA!" you shriek, scaring your horse and nearly getting thrown. "No one is allowed to know about that! Damn it, you have to say such things when this nosy whore-priest is riding close by? She might have heard you!"

Elena crouches low on her mule and moans in dismay. "Ohhhh. I... surely you know that one dedicated to the holy mysteries would never resort to simple gossip! And with all due respect milady, I would appreciate if you did not refer to me in that way even if it is technically accurate..."

The barn Elena went to is rather out of the way, nearly an hour on horseback, in the midst of a small village that seems utterly abandoned, with every house and shop boarded up. Leaving the horses tied up outside the edge of town, you, Tula, Elena, and four of the knights approach as stealthily as a bunch of armor will allow. The barn is disappointingly empty and after a quick search, you settle in behind a manger to see if anything comes of this tip.

Just as it is looking like you should have brought some brandy and perhaps a nicer dress to stoop to flirting with one of Tula's reverse-harem of thirsty landless knights, the barn door swings open with a squeal with jovial chuckling voices. Several figures in camouflauge-dyed robes sweep in, one carrying a slain doe over his shoulders. Before Tula can lunge up and shout a battlecry you lean over and grab her shoulder, holding her in place.

They would seem to be two men and a woman, all with voices that are just a little odd to listen to... the sort of accent that nonhumans tend to have. While one begins gutting the deer, the others can be heard muttering about the 'next round of deliveries' and 'drop-off points' and so on. What is more revealing is when one lifts a trapdoor hidden under straw in the barn. "Aye, still at least twoscore sheafs of arrows down there. So long as we keep busy whittling hafts, we have enough spearpoints to make another ten this week, easily. Keep trickling them in like this and there'll be no need to go for resupply. Countess Orban's army will make their move or retreat long before then."

"Yes, well," the female starts to say. But your neve reaches its limit and you snap your fingers.

Tula bursts out of the manger and draws her sword, licking her full, sensual lips in a challenging gesture. The other knights behind her don't have nearly her poise but they're well armed enough to make an intimidating display all the same, one at your side and the other three blocking off the exits from the barn, two with blades drawn and one with a bow. You yourself don't deign to draw your fancy arming sword and come out with your arms folded, taking long, broad steps to show off your mostly exposed legs with white silken stockings coming out from under the revealing slits of your dress. "Raise your hands!" Tula shouts.

"Shhhhhhit." the woman who'd been speaking whirls to look at you. With her hands up you can see that she is wearing very a very tight, supple leather outfit that is a bit too soft and snug around her curves to be armor. Her hair, ears, and tail are a muddy brown, and there are pointy feline teeth poking past her upper lip. The other two along with her are also beastmen - one with a wolf's tail and teeth, and another with caprine, hooved legs and feet and a pair of jutting horns from his brow. And, sure enough, that one draws a blade quickly and charges with a braying bellow.

The catgirl and the other one make a run for it, but don't get far. The knight at your side blocks the goat-man's rush, and although the latter is skilled and gets quite a few hits in, they can't get through plate mail. The knight is knocked down, but while the rogue beastman is trying to wedge his sword through a gap in the armor, the other knight comes up behind him and stabs him through the chest. The wolf man fights defensively but finds himself outnumbered two to one and surrenders. The catgirl puts on a very flashy show of acrobatics and dagger-work, fighting with Tula. She manages to put a long cut along one of Tula's cheeks and gives her a couple of painful pokes through gaps in her armor. But plate armor is an obstacle that almost no amount of fancy footwork or panache can overcome, and soon the woman has tired herself out. To her credit, rather than simply killing the cat as she tries to surrender, Tula settles for smacking her repeatedly with the flat of her blade... while she tries to surrender.

"Stop, stop already! I give up!" she yowls, raising her hands for mercy, and you yank Tula back rudely by grabbing her braided hair. "You'll want me alive."

"And why is that? I see no flag and no heraldry in here." you say disdainfully. "You're just a bandit who tried to flee justice. Gord, Turzer?" you say to two of the knights. "Rig up a couple of nooses. And be quick about it, I still haven't consulted with the cook about tonight's dinner."

"Ok, c'mon, be serious," the catgirl doesn't sound as worried as she should be. "You know who I am. Cut the charade and let's talk honestly. I halfway expected it might come to this anyway, and I came prepared to act as an under-the-table diplomat."

"Just another mercenary, I suspect. Soon to be a dead one." you say lightly, turning around.

"No! ....ugh, I forget, you're even newer in your position than I am in mine. I guess you actually don't know who I am." the catwoman says insolently. "My name is Akina. I'm the chief of King Bryce's personal spy corps."

"Huh," Tula says, thinking. "Actually, I think she may be. I recall hearing that the spies were being led these days by one of these cat types who managed to fuck and suck her way into the position shortly before the succession."

"Well," Akina says, rubbing her bruised cheek and arm, "YEAH, but, y'know, not the way you make it sound. The fucking that a good spy is supposed to do, so as to get valuable information out of rival lords and their retainers, not of her own hierarchy for shallow self-promotion. Baroness Tula and Countess Zoe, right? You two sure aren't the most popular in the Crownlands these days, particularly among noblewomen. It was because several of them, uh, 'talked' my gracious liege into sending me to help deal with the problem of your war against Aldergrove that I'm here."

Akina leans against a nearby wall, sighing. "And," she raises an eyebrow, smirks, and fixes her slitted catlike eyes on you, "the fact that the recently abdicated Countess of Undrek, Zoe's mother, just came into the capital a month ago with a huge pregnant belly bursting out through her petticoats, and had scarcely recovered from birthing the brat before she was going around claiming he was the son of the previous king and ought to be given land and a title, had something to do with it too. That didn't exactly endear her, or you, to Bryce either. Especially not given the lack of a notable resemblance to the brat, which is why she's been confined as a semi-permanent 'guest' at the castle. Oh, congratulations on your new baby brother, Countess. I would say half-brother, but I think it's probably been hundreds of years since any siblings from the Orban family had the same father, so..."

"I shall NOT tolerate any slander of my dear mother, no matter how plausible it may be!" you say loudly, raising your nose. "And I don't know what those prissy stuck-up cunts in upper Itheria have against me. Well, I suppose that turning my city into a continent-renowned high-class red light district rather undermines their ability to keep a tight leash around their husbands but that's just business, nothing personal. Suppliers undercut suppliers. Anyway, Akina, assuming you are who you say you are - you aren't a noble of any sort, just a petty bandit who happens to work for the king. You'll note that young Sirs Gord and Turzer haven't halted their progress winding that noose together," you point with your thumb, "and that nor have I commanded them so to halt. Anything else of importance to say before I have you killed for supplying Aldergrove's militia with weapons?"

"A couple things, yeah!" Akina says, still speaking in a chipper voice. You must confess, she is rather charming and you find yourself taking a liking to her immediately. "I, or Bryce, was always going to let you find out that we'd been subtly and deniably aiding your enemies down here. You ought to take that as good news, really, since it means he doesn't want to overtly take sides. Count Mace did start this fight, after all, and on a woman-to-woman level, I suspect Bryce has a soft spot for your family's 'fill the kingdom with whorehouses' approach to governing. This way the King can't be accused of favoring you by letting you do as you pleased without lifting a finger."

You click your tongue. "You're talking a lot but saying little, kitty. You haven't told me what I want to know, which means I really should go ahead and have you killed or at least tortured. But, out of recognition for the..." you roll your eyes, "joyous news of my new sibling's arrival... I'll give you one more chance. Lady Irene. A young woman from far to the north. Spotted by this flame-haired scold of a woman," you push Elena out into the open, making her stumble, "before she got to her new full-time occupation of becoming an altar for anonymous cocks to anoit with their 'holy water' in exchange for 'tithes', in this very barn, speaking to you. Just a few days after she manipulated me into marching into an ambush by Aldergrove's mercenaries and nearly being killed by a bunch of naked, sword-wielding barbarians."

"Ah." Akina strokes her chin and smiles, swishing her tail. "So that's why you're so upset. Uh... well, shit. Normally in times like this, faced with an angry, vengeful lord, I like to offer to let them 'teach me a lesson' in the privacy of their bedchamber and things go from there... I suppose it's too much to hope that you like girls that way?"

You nod, smirking. "It is, I'm afraid. Though if you'd been caught a year from now, you might have been lucky enough to be able to barter yourself to me like that. I did actually find myself enjoying licking out my vassal Baroness's pussy a fortnight ago after an eventful night in an inn..."

"ZOE!!!" Tula, red faced, shouts at you, and by the way she waves her arm you're briefly afraid she's really going to strike you with her broadsword. "SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH! None... none of you louts listen to her! You neither, cat-bitch! Nor you, priestess! Countess Orban is just making up nonsense for banter! I'm a proper, red-blooded lady knight, not some heathen amazon! Straight as a pike, I am, and there's a dozen men who could tell-"

"Shhh, shhh, alright, I'm sorry, Tula." you can't help but giggle, enjoying getting her back for earlier on the ride over. "But no, Akina, you spreading your legs on my bedroll is NOT an acceptable alternative currency to the truth. Now out with it; you put Irene up to all of that, didn't you? Which means that, no, you weren't just 'making a token effort' at interfering in this conflict like you were saying... you were directing it from the start. Start talking, Akina."

"Erm.... ahhh..." Akina drags her foot in the dirt and lashes her tail, quite like an alley cat that's been backed into a corner. "I have my higher loyalties to consider, you know...? Um... I've got at least a couple of minutes until you can get that noose in place and me in it, now let me consider..."