Chapter 13

• *Underground Army*
• For eight days, reports had been heard that a unit of Dorasea warriors, along with them, a fleet of Emperor Baldwin's Ancillae fighters had advanced along the cliffs. Heading South, through Taodfen Forest. The impression had been that their target was Yahda Cliffs.
• There wasn’t one group that had not made fun of the Dorasea warriors, as reports told stories of how loud and obnoxious they were. Even a few Underground assassins felt sorry for the Ancillae fighters as they were the one who had to be lumped in with them.
• At the top of Yadha Cliff the Underground Army had been stationed. “Commander, do you think we should help them?”
• Commander Oxen glared at the group that was at the bottom of the steep hill. “Get me the two-way communicator. Those fools are going to get themselves killed.” With only two minutes of studying the group, the commander could see why the other units had poked fun at the Dorasea warriors. Turning around he directed his feet towards the fighters. “I need to get every nomadic vampire in hiding before they see you and the others.”
• Rider glanced over at his companions, “I am not scared of Emperor Baldwin's army. Until Red Fang or Big Daddy says we are under the emperor's command … we are nomads!”
• “Well, those igits are not going to see that way and may think you are unregistered vampires and will kill on sight.” Commander Oxen stated his truth.
• Chuckling, “When was the last time you saw unregistered vampires mingling with shifters?” Rider pointed out a fact.
• “They are not all that smart. The emperor's army has been known to kill first and ask questions later. They may not value your company, but I do!” Commander Oxen was about to turn when Rider’s words stopped him.
• “Oh, commander!” Rider dramatically placed his hand on his chest. Softening his tone to sound like a female, “I didn’t know you had a heart and feelings for me.” Chuckling he batted his eyelashes. "But I do have to tell you, I am taken!"
• The group erupted into laughter. Snorting, “more of a heart than you!” Turning he strolled toward the main tent, “if you are not going to take my advice, at least stay close to a shifter. At least until the ugly calms down.”
• Pushing the flap open the commander strolled into his tent while he waited for the runner to get to him. As he was pouring himself a new cup of coffee, Ziggy entered with the portable communicator.
• “Place it down on the table son! I will let you know when I am done with the communicator.” The commander said not once looking at the runner.
• Placing the two-way communicator down on the table the runner had left the commander to his thoughts.
• Motioning his feet to the table as he blew on his coffee. With his other hand, he picked up the receiver. Pressing the button to speak, “Ox to Eagle!” He placed the receiver down, knowing it would take time for a runner to get to Eagle. "Why would you morons not stop the igits from coming my way?" Commander Oxen pushed the air out of his nose. Wrinkling his forehead he knew the reason behind the other units not stopping the marching party.
• If there was any leader who was stationed on the cliffs, it was he who was not scared of the emperor or his army.
• Sighing, the commander pondered on what he was going to do next. With several options open to him, he first needed to find out if he had to play nice or if he could let the wolf out and play. It had been a while since he had a chew toy. Snickering to himself he continued to drink his coffee.
• “Commander?” Rider opened the flap, “the fools will be here in 15 minutes.” He was chuckling, “bleeding fools are struggling to get their supplies up the side of the hill.” He shook his head back and forth as he continued to laugh.
• “Did they spot you?” Commander Oxen glanced at the two-way communicator still hearing nothing but static.
• Clearing his throat, “Foz might have laughed out loud when a Dorasea fighter rolled all the way back down the hill. Maybe … possibly … yeah they know we are here.”
• Pinching the bridge of his nose.
• “Oh come on commander, he bounced before he got to the bottom, it isn’t like he died or anything major happened! It was hard for us not to laugh!” Rider tried to defend himself.
• Snorting, “I should not be surprised!” Getting up from his spot. “Let’s go!”
• Opening the flap the commander spotted his runner, “Ziggy, stay with the communicator. When Eagle responds, bring the communicator to me. Have a cup of coffee if you wish while you sit and wait.”
• Politely nodding his head, with a smile Ziggy entered the tent, doing as he was told.
• Pounding the earth with his feet he stopped marching once they came to the ridge. Looking down, he noticed that they were roughly five minutes away from the top.
• “Should … we … maybe … you know, help them out?” Rider said as he shrugged his shoulders. "It would be a nice thing to do!"
• “You're such a caring soul!” Snickering, “Let’s get them up to the top before the sun sets!” The commander told the group who had formed at the top of the hill. "Or before one of them happens to roll down the hill again causing you all to laugh."
• "It was humourous the first time." Silvia began to laugh, “I was kind of hoping we get to see one of them bounce back to the bottom again.”
• “Move!” Commander Oxen said as he chuckled. “They will need to get up here before the sun sets.”
• The men and women directed their feet down the inclined slope, as the commander locked eyes on the individual who he could only assume was their leader. The vampire seemed as impressed with the Dorasea shifters he was. If this was their idea of discreteness, the enemy would have killed them all by now. Complaining out loud ... shifting the soil around so it fell below them. "Do these fools not realize that vampires have acute hearing? They are going to be the first to be killed when the unregistered vampire gets here." The commander muttered to himself.
• The emperor's fighters may not have said a word. However when the commander spotted them all glaring at him. He knew they had heard him. "Case and point!" He muttered as he kept his eyes on the emperor's warriors.
• Lifting the corner of his lips a vampire glared at the commander and then to the shifters. At the same time, the vampire and commander shook their heads.
• The Dorasea warriors were huffing and puffing as the Underground fighters began carrying their supplies up and on their shoulders.
• “Show offs!” A Dorasea warrior muttered.
• The group was laughing as the Dorasea warriors still struggled to get up the side of the hill. Even though their supplies were no longer in their backs and arms.
• Commander Oxen glared at the Dorasea warriors, gauging them as they reached the top of the hill. Breathing heavily, many of them dropped to the ground complaining that they had not signed up for climbing a hill.
• Shaking his head he muttered to Rider, “they are going to get themselves killed before the end of the month.”
• With his back to the group, “I think our daughters could do a better job.” Rider smiled ear to ear, “what do you think we should do next?”
• Commander Oxen shook his head as he studied his friend. “We are not using them as bait!”
• Rider flung his hands into the air, “that wasn’t my first thought.”
• Motioning his feet toward the emperor's army, “it was your only thought!”
• Rider was grumbling words the commander could not make out as he neared the vampires, “I am Commander Oxen, this is my crew. Who is in charge of this …” He glanced back at the fighters who were still nursing their feet and back, “them?”
• “You're a shifter?” A vampire was eyeing him up and down.
• “You’re a vampire! Now that we know our species … who is in charge here?”
• “Commander?” Foz came running to him with the two-way communicator, “Eagle is on the other end.”
• Taking the receiver from the Ziggy, “pompadours has made landfall.”
• “We know, we've been keeping an eye on them. Be nice, we don't need friendly fire.” Eagle's voice was loud and clear.
• The commander glanced at the vampires and then at the Dorasea shifters. Off to the side, Rider was laughing, “remember commander … be nice!” Everyone had their sights on the commander knowing all too well his temperament.
• Turning his back to the Dorasea warriors, “Eagle … the children can get up the hill better than they can. One of them rolled and bounced going down the hill, you can’t expect me to …”
• With a hint of humour in his tone, “Be nice!” Eagle repeated his order.
• As if the funniest joke had been told, Rider howled with laughter.
• “Eagle … I thought we were to kill the enemy, not feed them!” Commander Oxen said into the receiver.
• As hard as the emperor’s warriors tried, they began snickering. Pinching the bridge of his nose, “Be nice Commander!” Eagle let out a sigh, “Right now we have to work together with the emperor’s army. There is a group of unregistered vampires emerging out of the Gold Forest. It appears they are going straight to Commander Wrangler.”
• "Barnacles!" Commander Oxen hissed, bringing the receiver to his lips, "Over and out!"
• Handing the receiver back to the runner, the Commander glanced once at the Dorasea fighters who had caught on to the insults that were spoken about them. Bringing his attention back to the vampires one of them had stepped forward.
• “Name is General Vourt, and I am in charge of this group. Over there Captain Jit is to make sure the shifters listen to the orders of their alpha.” General Vourt closed his eyes and shook his head.
• Commander Oxen turned around to look at the shifters. “Who is Captain Jit?”
• All eyes went to one singular individual, standing up Captain Jit had crossed his arms over his chest. “I am in charge!”
• Snorting, “I can see! I am Commander Oxen and this is my army.”
• Giving back the same attitude, “clearly! And what makes you think you can give orders around here?” Captain Jit took a step each time he said a word.
• “I didn’t say anything about giving orders, but since you asked so nicely …”
• "Ohhh … I love this part!" Foz brought her hands together. "Let the dick measuring begin."
• Dropping his cloak to the ground, Commander Oxen did a half shift.
• The emperor’s army stood with their mouths open as the Dorasea warriors could not believe what they were seeing. Stepping back, Captain Jit submitted to the commander's power.
• Chuckling, “that would be why you are going to take orders.” Foz said as she pointed to Captain Jit.
• The Underground warrior laughed at the expressions of the Dorasea and Emperor’s warriors. “What? Haven’t you seen a half shift before? Ah …” Rider said as he snapped his fingers, sliding his head side to side, “that's right, only a well trained strong shifter is capable of doing this.” He clicked his tongue, “and that wouldn’t be you!” He narrowed his sit on Captain Jit and his followers, with one hand on his hip the other hand he snapped his fingers each time he waved his arm in front of his body.
• Shifting back, “what happened to being nice?” Commander Oxen glared at his friend with a smile on his face.
• Belly laughing, “That order was only given to you!” Rider said as he stood up.
• “Well … if I have to be nice … so do you!” The commander brought his attention back to the Dorasea shifters. “I can't see why Alpha Relzeiros would send you this way. You are not warriors, you are children!" Pinching his nose, "Get yourselves settled … there will be a hot meal once your task is completed.”
• Foz had her hand up in the air, “actually … I think the order to be nice was towards the Ancillae fighters!” Everyone motioned their head towards the vampire group. “They don’t smell of desperation!”
• The Ancillae fighters looked at their leader then back to Foz, slightly they laughed as the glared at the ground below their feet.
• Daring to speak out of turn, “And what if we don’t do as we are told?” A warrior had his lips curled spitting out each word as if it were acid.
• Forcing a smile, “you will be sleeping under the moon with an empty belly.” The commander took a step forward. “This isn’t Dorasea anymore BOY! You are on my turf now, in the wild we do things differently. General Vourt would you join me? It seems I have to be nice!”
• Stepping forward, “if this is your version of nice, I would hate to see you on the battlefield.”
• The commander led the way to the main tent of the campground, opening it up the vampire was impressed with how organized things were. Pulling out a map of the location, Commander Oxen started to point out all of the campgrounds that the Underground fighters had occupied.
• “I have to say I am impressed. I did not know a shifter could be this well organized. With everything I have seen at Dorasea, I thought all of intelligence had been breed out of your species.”
• Laughing, “domestication has the tendency to do that!”
• “And the nomadic vampires? You all work together?” General Vourt asked, trying not to sound as if he was interrogating the commander.
• “I am sure Alpha Relzeiros has spoken about us!” The Commander wanted to know what information the alpha had given without handing over the information himself.
• “The alpha did tell the Princes that the Underground Society were not like the other kingdoms. They had … how do I say it? A primitive lifestyle. He might have also mentioned that humans, shifters and vampires live all together. Though I find that hard to believe, until we arrived here.”
• “Everyone who arrives is given a place to stay. The basic needs are met. Opportunities are offered to see if the person or family wants to advance in the society. It doesn’t matter if they are nomadic vampires, shifters or humans. We all have the same basic needs to live. Shelter, food, fresh water and clothing.”
• "It is interesting, considering there is a lot of ... hostility between shifters and vampires. To get all the species to work together, that must have been a challenge in itself."
• "In all honesty, no it wasn't that hard. Considering the Bloodrose bloodline is a mix of humans, shifters and vampires. They are the founders of the Underground Society after all." Commander Oxen had a big smile on his face.
• "Interesting!" General Vourt hummed for a moment while he was thinking, “How long do you think your armies can hold off the unregistered vampires for?”
• “Much longer than those fools out there.” Commander Oxen pushed the air out of his lungs. “They will get themselves killed before the day is over.” He tapped his finger off the table while he was thinking. “They have it in their minds they are fighting off a human or another shifter. They are dealing with vampires!”
• “You know that as much as I do. It appears to me those who were trained by Rimvan Longarm are better skilled than the others.”
• Commander Oxen smirked, “that is because we understood the importance of working together. Answer this! You must have known the quality of this group of shifters. Why are you out here?”
• "The truth! The princes and alpha believe they are defects. Have challenged every order that is given to them. No respect for the alpha or the emperor." General Vourt replied not once taking his sight of the commander.
• "What did you do to be stuck with that group?" Commander Oxen chuckled. “Lose a bet?”
• Smirking, "I might have taken one of the prince's favourites human a while back. In my defence I was more ... how do I say this ... better in the bedroom." General Vourt said as he grinned from ear to ear, "I still have the girl too! So I will take the punishment."
• "Well if you are going to be on the cliffs, I should at least direct you in a location that is needed. No point in putting our units together when there are plenty of locations that need to be covered."
• “Prince Odolff wants us to continue moving forward until we get to Gold Forest. Thought, he did not know that this setup was here.” General Vourt was thinking, “I should get a hold of Prince Odolff and see if his orders remain?”
• Pointing at the map, “If there is trouble, each campsite is a 20-minute dash from the other. We do need more ground covered.” Pointing at the map, “This section is a blind spot as well as here. It is a three-day trip. The terrain is rough but there are no hills.” Again pointing at the map, "If Prince Odolff wants you to head to the edge of Gold Forest, along this terrain.” He glided his finger along the paper, “he must not know that the location has softer soil. The moment you step onto the location, everyone would be waist-high in mud. That is why we are not situated there."
• "Would the alpha have knowledge about this?" General Vourt seemed a little upset.
• Laughing, "he is a good fighter, but he is not a hunter or nomad. Only during the winter does it become like this. During the warmer season, the mud is knee-high."
• Hissing, "I see!" General Vourt glanced at the flapping door, “We will leave in the morning. The men will belly ache the whole time, but if that section is not covered, we need to go there. Eagle said unregistered vampires are heading this way."
• Commander Oxen pointed at the map. "This is the area they are heading to. Commander Wrangler is in charge of 730 men and women there. We figured the unregistered vampires would come out of the forest roughly around this area."
• "That is along the cliff edge." General Vourt had his sight set on the map as he was thinking. "Can I use your two-way communicator?”
• Standing up, “One moment and I will get the two-way communicator!” Standing at the door, he called for his runner. "Ziggy, I need the two-way communicator!"