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No Time for Sorrow

Chapter 38

Ettoras remained in the dungeons of Canderly for another week before Motsumi, Palesa, Yeneneshe, and Kayya were led in as prisoners. He watched with a sinking heart as Yeneneshe and Kayya were put in the cell beside him. Palesa was roughly shoved into the cell opposite Ettoras, and Motsumi was put in the cell opposite Prince Florian.

As the guards left with breastplates and keys jingling, Ettoras didn't know what to say and stared at the others with his heart in his throat. They were captured. They were going to be executed and Zeinara was going back to Wychowl with Jule.

"Oh, Ettoras," Kayya said with a laugh that echoed in the hollow silence. She looked at Ettoras with a sad half-smile and a lick of her white mane tumbled into one slanted eye. "Why the poo poo face, huh? Chin up."

Ettoras smiled in spite of himself. It was good to hear Kayya's voice again. "They didn't hurt you, did they?" he asked her, but he was looking at Yeneneshe. The females didn't seem to be injured. Yeneneshe and Kayya both appeared wholly unharmed, though their manes were mussed and their clothing wrinkled, as if they'd struggled against their captors.

Yeneneshe was looking at Ettoras as well. He thought she looked concerned, even frightened for him. But when their eyes met, she hugged herself and looked away.

"We're fine, Ettoras," Palesa said from across the hall.

Ettoras looked over to see Palesa standing at the bars of her cell, and he didn't think she looked fine at all. Blood was running from her lip, her gray mane was mussed, her left eye was bruised, and her deerskin dress was torn. Her eyes - usually so bright with a smile - were tired and unhappy, but she smiled as if to reassure him. Ettoras hated seeing her so battered and beaten, but she hardly seemed to notice her own injuries, as she was studying Ettoras with a worried frown. He realized in that moment how much she cared about him.

"What happened to you?" Ettoras looked at the others. "How were you captured?"

"That would be Hawkeye," Prince Florian said with a weary nod.

Everyone looked at the prince of Curith, and so did Ettoras, his ears slowly pricking forward.

"Hawkeye?" Ettoras repeated.

"Little vixen cunt 'hired' by Tabitha to be her secret weapon," Florian elaborated dispassionately and examined his nails. "I say that with sarcasm, mind you, because Tabitha pays the lunatic in walnuts or some rubbish. She's an adept sorceress, very powerful and very vicious. She also has a voracious appetite for young dick." He laughed shortly. "Surprised she hasn't been down here to sink her claws in you, actually," he said to Ettoras without looking at him.

"He's right," Palesa said resentfully. "We were set upon by a powerful sorceress. We were hiding out in the plains when she attacked our camp out of no where, ranting about Zihma's tears and how it was her sworn duty to cut us down. She was too powerful, even for Motsumi." She glanced furtively at the elder fox, who was sitting quietly in his cell.

Ettoras thought Motsumi looked better off than Palesa, though. He didn't have a scratch on him, though his paws seemed to be shaking with fatigue, and his mane was a flyaway mess. His deerskin skirt was also torn, and Ettoras thought he looked very tired, despite the fact that he was staring unflinchingly at Prince Florian, with zero regard for anything around him.

Palesa also noticed Motsumi's staring and swallowed nervously. But her eyes darted to Prince Florian, and after seeming to recognize him, she glared.

Prince Florian slowly realized he was being glared at. Ettoras didn't doubt he could feel the stares like a burn. The prince of Curith went very still and looked at Motsumi and Palesa in complete bafflement, his mouth hanging open, his eyes wide.

Ettoras watched the others, waiting for something to happen. What was going on here? He glanced at Kayya and Yeneneshe, but neither of them seemed to have a clue. Kayya shrugged, and Yeneneshe shook her head, just as puzzled by the silent showdown.

"Bloody hell," Florian said at last. He pushed his mane back from his face and craned his neck to stare harder at Motsumi and Palesa. "It's . . . it's you. I recognize the scent. The hell are you doing here?"

"We came here to kill you," Motsumi said darkly and lowered his eyes to the cold stone floor and his blatant words made Florian go still. He spoke in the language of the dogs, crisp and slow. "Though I realize now it is something I should have done myself. Because of me, these young beasts will die. . . ." He lifted his eyes and glared at Prince Florian. "Because of us."

Prince Florian laughed sourly and leaned back against the wall. "Boy, you foxes sure know how to hold a grudge, don't you? I sucked your dick - clumsily, I'll admit -- and you want to kill me."

Motsumi's chest tightened. "As if it were nothing!" he practically shouted. He waved an angry paw at Palesa. "And what about Palesa, who you raped before my very eyes!"

Palesa gripped the bars of her cell and glared at Prince Florian between them. But her eyes slowly softened and she looked at her mentor sadly. "Motsumi . . . don't you think it's time to forgive? Awn on din, nala fa."

Let it go, honored father.

Motsumi closed his eyes and squeezed them tight, as if with pain. He put a shaking paw to his temple. "I c-can't let go. I wish it were that easy." He opened his eyes and glared at Prince Florian again, who was looking genuinely ashamed.

"Alright, I was a brat, I'll be the first to admit it," Prince Florian said. He looked Motsumi in the eye and said in earnest, "I'm sorry."

"He means it," Ettoras added.

Palesa glared irritably at Ettoras. "Stay out of this, cub."

"No," Motsumi said in a low voice. "Ettoras is right . . ." He looked at Florian with surprise. "He _does_mean it. You have grown a heart, and yet I have not Seen this. How can it be?"

Florian frowned. " . . . what d'you mean you haven't seen it?"

"Since you . . ." Motsumi blushed, "put your mouth on me, I have been psychically connected to you. For years, I have seen you in visions that cause me great pain. I . . . just wanted the visions to end." He shook his head. "But the visions never showed me you had grown a compassionate heart. I find myself . . . at a loss."

Florian shrugged. "Maybe the visions brought us together so you could see for yourself."

"That . . ." Palesa gave a soft, amazed laugh. "That is astoundingly insightful." Her voice was hoarse, and she sounded pained, as if it were difficult to speak. Ettoras hated seeing Palesa injured and defeated. This was a female who had fought a lion with her bow alone! Whoever this Hawkeye was, she was someone incredibly dangerous.

"Not insightful, no," Florian said with a laugh, though it was clear he was flattered by Palesa's words. "My family was always banging on about Ayni, but what the hell did Ayni ever _really_do for any of us? My father was too blind to see she was just using us. I decided to do my own research, learn something about the other gods. According to your stories, Zuu'ma sometimes grants visions, in order to impart wisdom and the like."

Palesa nodded, still clearly impressed. "That is true. Does this mean you have turned your back on Ayni? Or do you still walk in her fire?"

"Walk in her fire," repeated Florian with a short laugh. "I just love the way you foxes talk. Bloody hell." He took a weary sip from his flask.

Palesa frowned reprovingly at the liquor.

"I'm not trying to become a Guide, if that's what you're asking," Florian elaborated. "I'm just . . . pondering things. What do the gods want? Why do they play these games?"

"The first step when becoming a Guide," said Motsumi somberly, "is learning to accept that we know nothing at all."

Florian snorted. "What's the point becoming a Guide then? Sounds like the blind leading the blind to me."

Motsumi only smiled. "That is precisely it, my son. We are blinded by Zuu'ma's light and so see nothing. No beast can ever truly grasp the infinite wonders of our world. We walk as Zuu'ma's instruments, trusting that she can see what we can not, allowing her to act through us, to impart wisdom through us. It is Zuu'ma who guides . . . not her Guides."

". . . ah," Florian said, and Ettoras thought he sounded sincerely intrigued. He looked at Motsumi and Palesa with interest now, and the Guides looked back at him, both very pleased that he was listening.

Ettoras didn't understand how Florian could find sense in what was being said. As he understood it, the gods were helpless to act directly in the moral realm, so they manipulated everyone like puppets! What was so mystical and profound about that! He bit back his anger, not wanting to draw attention to himself, and he noticed Kayya watching him with sympathy. She was the only one who had noticed his silent rage and looked as if she wanted to comfort him. But Ettoras did not want her comfort. Kayya was very devote to the goddess Eden and Ettoras knew she pitied him that he couldn't find peace in faith. He only found anger. Where was Hildrith'el? Why had she stopped protecting S'pru?

"Wait a minute . . ." Kayya said slowly. She looked at Palesa and her ears pricked forward in her white mane. "Didn't Hawkeye scream something about Zihma?"

"That is right," Palesa answered but paused as it dawned on her. Her eyes danced over Kayya curiously. "Zihma . . . the dark side of Eden."

Kayya stared unhappily at her feet, and Ettoras knew she was silently coming to terms with the fact that Eden - the goddess she loved and revered - was taking part in the game of the gods. And with no regard for her life.

"Hawkeye is working for Tabitha," Motsumi said wearily, "yet I find it hard to believe that a servant of Sorrow is here by coincidence. Zihma likely wants the artifacts --"

"And has sent Hawkeye to collect," Palesa said bitterly.

"You lot had the artifacts?" Florian said in surprise. He shook his head and peered down the neck of his flask. "Guess it's not exactly shocking. You disappeared the same night the stone disappeared from our vault. Grandfather always said you'd stolen it. Kept sending spies into Howlester looking for the bloody thing." He laughed lightly. "But you two weren't in Howlester, were you?" he said in amusement to Motsumi and Palesa.

"Why'd your family have the stone anyway?" Palesa asked the prince curiously. Ettoras thought she spoke the language of the dogs as crisply and precisely as Motsumi, and he envied her ability to speak it fluently. He hated how foolish he sounded every time he spoke their language.

"The weapons were supposed to stay in Skkye," Motsumi added.

Florian snorted. "As if Ayni would tell my family how she got the artifacts. If she stole them like a clumsy hen, I doubt we'd be impressed. One day, she just gave the stone to my grandad. Said a child of water was coming, and when she came, we should use the stone to destroy her. But only if she interfered with Curith. We weren't to use the thing for anything else."

Listening to Florian talk, Ettoras scowled: Ayni had given the Carringtons the stone so they could kill his mother with it.

"Of course," went on Florian, "Azrian never interfered with Curith. Zihma saw to that when she sent her son to stop her."

"And now Zihma seeks revenge for the death of that son," Palesa said unhappily and looked at Ettoras with worried eyes.

Ettoras went still. ". . . I hope you don't mean what I think you mean."

"It is all the more reason for us to escape this place," Motsumi said darkly. "If Zihma's servant seeks to destroy Ettoras, we must be away before she has the chance."

"No doubt Hawkeye's manipulating Tabitha to get the artifacts from her," Florian said with a chuckle and a shake of his head. "Lucky for us, that'll take some time. Once Tabitha gets her mitts on something shiny, she doesn't let go. And if Tabitha doesn't let go, Hawkeye might twist her arm. Maybe that bint will finally get what's coming to her when all of this blows up in her face."

Motsumi looked at Florian intently. "How much time do you think we have?"

Florian shrugged. "Tabby's a stubborn old cow. So maybe . . . a year? Ha. But once Hawkeye's got her paws on the artifacts, we can kiss them goodbye. Jule's got a shrine to Maret in his cellar, you know. Once Hawkeye gets what she came for, she'll be gone. Just like that."

Palesa's ears pricked forward, and she and Motsumi exchanged grim glances.

"Then there is little time," Motsumi said, sitting forward. "We have to find some way from this place."

"How do you know about the shrine?" Yeneneshe said into the silence, and everyone looked at her in surprise. It was the first time she had spoken. She sat hugging her knees, ignoring everyone else as she stared intently at Florian and repeated the question, "How do you know?"

Florian cleared his throat. "When I first came here," he said, his white chin wagging in the darkness, "Jule blathered on about how he didn't want to hurt me. Said if I joined Maret and turned against my father, we could unite to take Varimore." He shrugged lazily. "The offer was tempting, I'll admit. But also bloody stupid. Don't think the fool understands exactly what Maret is after. She's already got Varimore. All she's got to do is make certain Zeinara goes back home. She doesn't need Ayni for that. Doesn't need Jule either, really."

"Don't underestimate him. Jule is thinking two steps head," Palesa warned the prince. She had left the bars of her cell and was sitting in the gloom, against the wall. Her cell was nearest the blaze of the torch, and the effect caused one of her eyes to glow in the darkness, while the other eye was illuminated in the light. She looked like a masked creature, and her voice was just raspy enough to make her seem otherworldly. "The marquis thinks to make Curith an ally. If he is to become king of Varimore, he will want the Carringtons on his side."

Florian shook his head. "If that's his aim, he's going about it all wrong. . . . unless he means to off me as a favor to my father. In which case . . . he's going about it all right," the prince of Curith added bitterly and glared at the floor.

"Whatever Jule's intentions, for now, we focus on our escape," Motsumi said to the group at large. "I can not express my sorrow and shame for having brought all of you into this."

"There is no time for sorrow, nala fa," Kayya said, smiling across the way at the elder fox. "Weeping never produced anything but tears."

Ettoras saw Yeneneshe roll her eyes.

"I dunno," Florian said with a shrug. "A good sob makes me feel better on occasion."

Kayya laughed.