The Furred Reich Read online

  “You know, what’s best is I actually took this from the lead headhunter today…”

  Reince held up a slip of parchment and showed it to the other two.

  “What is it?”

  “Instructions for our friends the headhunters. Says they’re pulling back to town tomorrow.”

  “Huh? What for?” Kasha asked.

  “Important baggage train is coming in. Probably carrying people and a lot of stuff.”

  “Nice. So maybe we can go back into Goldgrass and find some more of our friends while they’re busy.”

  “No,” Reince said. “We’re not doing that… Starting tomorrow we’re going to get serious.”

  “What?”

  “We’re going after that baggage train tomorrow. When we do, it could stop the invasion right there. The monsters won’t even be expecting us.”

  Reince had beaten the morning sunrise, and in silence the three of them crossed the gully back into their tribal home. The plains were empty today.

  “Where do you think they all are?” Meiss asked.

  “If the orders were right they’re close to our village. The baggage train should be further east.”

  The three of them walked for hours against the sunrise. Just as Reince had said, the Grimeskins were nowhere to be found on the flat lands today.

  “There it is guys…”

  A long line of horses, oxen and big carts streamed by in the far-off distance. Kasha squinted and saw headhunters’ silhouettes on each side.

  “There’s got to be a whole damn column of throwers,” Meiss complained.

  “We’d have to kill a lot of them to even get to the good parts,” Kasha shook his head.

  Reince growled in frustration.

  “No. We’re not going to get another chance like this. We’ll have to sneak on, ah, hey! Look at that! At the end of the train!”

  Coming up well behind the baggage train were some wooden vehicles rolling. Even at this distance the wolves could hear their faint creaking.

  “What’s that?” Meiss asked.

  “What the hells do you think it is? Come on…”

  “I don’t know!”

  “Remember all those exploding rocks? Those are the vehicles that threw them at us,” Reince said.

  “We go, and we take them. Then use it on the baggage train.”

  “Right.”

  It sounded like a crazy idea, but if it worked…

  Kasha doubled over and followed them to the green chain moving on ahead. Reince pulled out a stolen hand ax as they neared their target. Three trolls were guarding the last wooden vehicle. Alongside the vehicle were felines, each of which were in some armor and pointy helmets.

  “Who are those?”

  “Prisoners, must be. Don’t think about it, just go now!”

  Reince threw his ax at the troll farthest away. Kasha and Meiss bolted out and pounced upon the throwers before they could even fight back. The Grimeskins dropped. Reince’s ax must have hit, as well. The cats jumped back. Two unsheathed a knife and one aimed a bow at Kasha.

  “We can’t let you have this…” One of the cats said. “They’ll kill us if you take it.”

  Reince growled at the cats. “Just pull! Keep moving the wood and stay quiet!”

  The cats looked at each other for a second, then complied.

  “See. We don’t want to keep this thing of yours. We just want to fire it a couple times,” Reince told them.

  “Keep pushing!”

  The cats put their heads down and tugged onward.

  “…And you felines are going to help us with that.”

  The cat looked suspiciously at Reince, who was already examining the catapult.

  “Ah-ah. Don’t even shout for help,” Meiss growled. “Or you’ll be dead, too.”

  “I wasn’t going to,” the cat frowned from beneath his triangle-shaped helmet.

  “Is this loaded?” Reince pointed to the catapult.

  “It is.”

  “Kasha, get up there. When I say so, cut the rope. We’ll aim at the supply cart in the middle.”

  “Just wait,” the cat said. “You can’t just fire it. It won’t hit.”

  Reince narrowed his eyes at the cat.

  “Here,” the cat said. “Let me calibrate the distance first.”

  “You know if you sabotage this, your life will end,” Reince warned.

  “I know,” the cat replied. He came up to the catapult and made a square over his eyes with his paws, then adjusted the shaft of the catapult.

  “There. Try it now.”

  “Here it goes…” Kasha said to himself, and cut the rope with a hand ax. The rock went hurtling like a meteor into the baggage train. It hit the ground with a thud, and the explosion clapped through the train, smashing wood and strewing people and goods all about.

  “Direct hit! Time to go!” Reince shouted over the screams.

  “Wait!” The lead feline called out.

  “Could you… punch me? They won’t believe our story if I’m not injured.”

  Reince smirked and decked the cat in the eye, knocking him cold onto his stomach and throwing off the cat’s helmet. The three wolves sprinted off into the grass for shelter.

  Gully

  “You think this is going to make them angry?” Kasha asked.

  “Heh. They should’ve thought harder about that before bothering us,” Reince answered.

  Kasha looked back to see the smoldering mess now well behind them. He wondered if anyone back in the village even knew about all the resistance the three of them were doing.

  “One of these days. We’ll get back there. Back home,” Meiss said to Kasha.

  For now, their new ‘home’ was a hideout on the other side of the gully.

  “Keep running. You can bet they’re behind us,” Reince interrupted.

  Kasha looked back. If the Grimeskins were there, Kasha didn’t see them. They would soon be at the gully, where he and Reince would be plotting their next move against the Grimeskins.

  “Do you see that?”

  Kasha spotted a bad omen. Far ahead of them, the large, warrior Grimeskins were pushing through the sunflowers, with their backs turned to the wolves. That meant the monsters were already in Shattered Paw territory, on the other side of the gully.

  “Get down!”

  A hand ax flew at them and narrowly missed Kasha’s head. Two wolftaurs leaped out in front of them. A green ax thrower rode atop each one.

  “Now we got you… I knew we’d finally get them, boss!” One of the throwers screeched out.

  “There’s nowhere to run now, wolfies! This land is all ours!”

  “Kasha. Meiss. Run off,” Reince whispered.

  “But—”

  “Just go. It’s the only way.”

  Reince took the blood-stained hand ax and flung it at one of the throwers. The wolftaurs leaped at them and Kasha took off with Meiss toward the precipice.

  “Don’t look. Don’t look, just go,” Kasha said to Meiss, and pulled him down. Within a moment Reince’s screams echoed all through the bottom of the narrow valley, following them as they ran. It went on for minutes.

  “Gods damn what are they doing to Reince…” Meiss cried out.

  “We can’t… We… We just keep going. Keep going and forget all this,” Kasha found himself answering.

  The two of them sprinted through the seemingly endless gully until the sun began to sink.

  “Come on, stop,” Kasha broke their silence. “I can’t go any further.”

  It had been hours since the two had spoke. Meiss nodded and sat down on a flat rock.

  “Kasha? I don’t mean to say anything, but where are we going?”

  It was a fair question.

  “Well. I heard if we follow this gully it eventually leads to the forest wolves. Somewhere. Not sure where.”

  “…And that’s where you think we should go?”

  “Yeah. I do. You don’t have to come with if you don’t want.”
/>   “…Just kind of hard to leave the only place I’ve known.”

  “It will be harder for Grimeskins to find us in the woodlands. Maybe we can organize something there. Find others.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Should be more food there, too. I haven’t eaten all day.”

  The two wolves picked themselves up and continued down the gully. Trickling water piqued Kasha’s ears, and the source was soon revealed to them: The mouth of a tiny stream. He looked into the distance and saw the stream widen out from his vantage. Moonlight bounced off the dark, churning water.

  Kasha dipped his paw into the briskly-moving stream. Growing up, he’d heard several times that the way to the forest wolves was to follow the gully river to its end, then trek north for seven days. Meiss seemed to have the same idea.

  “Follow this stream, right?”

  “Right. However long that takes,” Kasha said over the voice of a hooting owl.

  The tiny creek opened up as the two wolves walked along it. Fingers of running water joined with the stream, until the current kept both of them from the deeper parts. They passed a pair of oak trees as some point far into the night. They stopped and looked at each other for a moment.

  “You as exhausted as I am?”

  “Yeah. Let’s sleep here. It’s safe as any other place.”

  Kasha dropped his weapon and fell into unconsciousness before he could even notice. He was exhausted, and his mind was happy to get the rest it had been deprived of that day. Sleep came quickly and easily.

  “G’hahahahaha!”

  He was shocked back into wakefulness by a laugh right ahead of him. He sprung to his hind paws to see a hulking Grimeskin standing before him. Kasha leaped back and noticed Meiss was gone.

  “Meiss!”

  That was when Kasha felt another monster behind him, and it was too late. He turned around and felt a hard, green fist slam into the side of his head. Kasha spun around and landed in the water. His vision blacked out as he felt his body being pulled underneath the current.

  The Pass

  Asril was awoken by Ani’s short, panicked breaths.

  “I… I just can’t fight this anymore…”

  The five of them had been hiking to Dalaam by foot over the last four days. Ani had been able to keep up for the first few days, but it was becoming more and more difficult for her. She hung her neck down to the ground and broke into crying. Tari, who had been by her side the whole time and usually had encouraging words for her friend, had no response this time. Ani had been sick since the camp in Miao. But at that time there were more pressing matters.

  Asril scurried out of the tent and woke up Hex.

  “Ani’s getting worse, Hex.”

  Tanjung got up and crawled into the tent. He came out with a grim look.

  “She can’t get up. I’m going back to the pass to ask for help.”

  Tanjung glanced over to Hex. “Don’t try anything while I’m gone.”

  Hex rolled his eyes at the self-appointed leader and then went in to look at Ani for himself.

  “It could be anything. Blood-poisoning, infection, influenza. I hope they have some assistance back there but I doubt it.” Hex shook his head. “Our leader is probably just getting us into more trouble by giving our location away to the Tigers.”

  He detached an earthenware cylinder and handed it to Asril.

  “There’s a pond due west of here. Fill this up and come back. Ani will appreciate it.”

  “Wh-how do you know it’s there?”

  Hex tapped his moist, black nose in response. “Just head west. It’s close, I promise.”

  There was no need to ask twice. Asril didn’t want to be around for all this. What was the point? There wasn’t much she could do and she didn’t really know Ani that well anyway.

  Asril followed the sound of croaking frogs and soon found herself at the pond. Upon seeing her, a school of swimming ducks scattered and squawked. She dipped her container into the pond. Thoughts of leaving arose. She didn’t really know any of these people; they were only sitting in the woods waiting for either the monsters or the tigers from Preena to come get them.

  Then she realized what a big mistake she made over the last few days. This world was every furre for themselves. If she abandoned the group now, she could probably get to Dalaam on her own, without the risk of being caught.

  Hmm. But what about after? And what was waiting for her at Dalaam? Asril sighed, lifted the cylinder and covered it. She was a fairly skilled thief, but knew precious little about the world around her. Best to stay for now, but only because of the unknown in Dalaam. Maybe she could ditch the group later. Hex seemed to be the only person who actually knew what he was doing. This group felt less safe with each passing hour.

  Leaving the pond, a big golden fish wiggled by her through the clear water. She huffed at it and kept going.

  Asril came back and eased the fresh water into Ani’s mouth. Her face was pale and her shivers were a rattle.

  “Tanjung will be here soon. He’s getting help for you, Ani.” Tari choked out. She was more panicked than Ani was by now.

  “Tanjung is probly gonna get us all killed.” Asril murmured, stepping out of that tent as soon as she could.

  The ‘leader’ still wasn’t back, but Hex thankfully hadn’t bolted yet.

  “Hey.”

  “Hi.”

  Asril plopped down next to him.

  “So what’s really over there? In Dalaam?” Asril cocked her head up to him.

  “Monkeys.”

  “Come on.”

  “The Monkeys keep to themselves. They live in these mountains so how can they not? A few years ago they were pretty hospitable. I only hope it’s still the same now.”

  It was hard to ask, but…

  “Hex let’s just get out of here. Before Tanjung gets back. You and I can prolly make it. These three won’t.”

  Asril scooted closer to the golden fox. If safety could ever be bought…

  Hex flashed his bright eyes and looked at the thief.

  “Tanjung’s a good person.”

  Asril huffed and slid away. Maybe she couldn’t get what she wanted from Hex so easily…

  “Asril…”

  “What!”

  “Were there fish in that pond?”

  “Yeah, big gold ones. Why?”

  “I was going to fish for later tonight but no one would be here to look after Ani and Tari.”

  Hex pulled out a simple fishing rod from his bag, telescoped it out and handed it to Asril.

  “No thanks I’m a cat I can do it myself.”

  She huffed again and sauntered off.

  By the time she returned, it was at least mid-day and the pond was almost transparent. It wouldn’t take long to catch a fish, but Asril took her time and pounced on two: A red one and a gold one. She tossed them both over her shoulder and made her way back.

  This time Tanjung was there. His face was stony, and so was Hex’s.

  “Ani didn’t make it.”

  Asril had never seen someone die before, but there Ani was, stiff in the tent but finally relieved of the pain she was in. Tari was still there, sobbing in grief.

  “I… saw her go…”

  “It’s OK Tari, we have to let her rest now.”

  Tanjung and Hex carried Ani out and began digging her resting place. Ani was buried in her clothes, and Hex chopped a cross from wood, tied it together and marked Ani’s grave. It was really the best that any of them could do. The remaining four of them gathered in a small half-circle.

  “She suffered, but it’s over for her now.”

  “Many women in my country have suffered a fate far worse than Ani has.” Hex spoke up.

  “I’m sorry, Ani.” Tanjung said. “Sorry I couldn’t do more. We’ll miss you.”

  The four of them ate in silence and then left Ani in the camp.

  They hiked on mostly in silence now. Days went by, the air got thinner and snow began to sprinkle down on
them. But after a long trek the four of them finally came upon the Golden Monkey between the mountains.

  The monkeys probably saw the party of four coming from a distance. Still, they stood in front of a big snow-covered gate which blocked the road. Tanjung walked ahead, where two short ‘monkeys’ with short, thick brown fur were waiting for them.

  “Hello,” Tanjung said cautiously. “May we come in?”

  The two monkeys looked at each other and smiled to the cat, as if they were waiting for them all to show up. Unlike in Preena, the gates to lofty Dalaam opened for them.

  Kharkov, 1943

  A single Messerschmitt fighter plane whizzed by overhead and cut into the thoughts of Sturmbannfuehrer Jochen Peiper. The thermometer outside read -28 C, but nobody in the SS-Leibstandarte needed to be told that. He stared out of the window as they passed by dreary Isbas and muddy snow. They definitely weren’t in France anymore.

  A couple days ago most of his regiment detrained at Kharkov Railway Station, and already Peiper’s regiment had seen its fair share of battle. When Jochen arrived a day later, he saw columns of retreating Germans and Italians marching in the other direction. It must have looked like that in Napoleon’s time, too. The rumor was that Kharkov was to be abandoned. The men of his battalion must have heard the same rumors. He got off the train and pulled up his hood, covering his face from the howling wind.

  Just a moment ago Jochen got off the phone with Oberst-Gruppenfuehrer Sepp Dietrich, who gave Jochen the most dangerous mission he’d ever heard of. A stranded Wehrmacht division was trapped 20 kilometers behind the line. Jochen’s battalion was to break through the enemy line at a point of his own choosing, wheel south and east, and cross the Donetz River to make contact with the division in Zmiev.

  It didn’t end there. The division in question had about 1,000 wounded men. Jochen and his battalion were to help the wounded, load them onto ambulances, and pull them all back across the Soviet lines and into friendly Ukraine.

  “There’s a reason I’ve chosen you for this task, Jochen.”

  Sepp Dietrich’s gruff voice poured through the receiver. Dietrich was several ranks higher than Peiper, but informal relationships, such as was the case here, were not uncommon in the Waffen SS. For a moment Jochen recalled his father, who often slapped him for breaking a ridged rule, and then slapped him again for crying. In a Prussian home, few shortcomings were worse than weakness.