Redsand Canyon proximus

mereo grew smaller as if fulfilling arsenio's curse.

germanicus moved faster, a run to stretch his muscles. a run to make him feel whole.

mereo turned to red and feral lashings of snow. his chest sought breath.

but he did not stop, moving faster and faster while something like hate began to burn deep within the cage of his chest.

always stealin these if we don’t have one ^^

Fennec had noticed that Germanicus seemed different since Reyson’s departure. He spoke less, came home tense, and was frequently gone. Physically he was still there, but something she wasn’t sure she should press into weighed on him.

She shouldn’t have to. It couldn’t be about her, because if it was, he’d promised to tell her. It still sat uncomfortably with her.

Fennec couldn’t see him running, or recognize him from this distance by sound or scent, but she heard someone’s paw steps at a tearing pace distantly. She stopped to listen and her back prickled with a rare feeling of envy. No matter how well she adjusted and lived with the situation she’d been given, there were some things she would never be able to do.

Fennec’s mind went to Figment, then, like it had more and more frequently lately. It was hard to regret anything anymore, but she would regret leaving him behind for the rest of her life. Especially if he never found his way to her again.

She sat down to listen to the running, deciding her gardens could wait. Maybe, if she listened long enough, she could imagine what it was like to fly the way they did.

i love it!

germanicus had thought that the run would burn from him the anger.

and yet what it did was only stoke such fires more harshly, his breathing a bellows for the furnace of a long-awaited fury.

in his mind, he thought of editum's battles.

and then he thought of how he had accomplished nonesuch in his time here. the victory in the vale? muted. the confirmation of mereo? ruenna had abandoned him and all his children besides, save valiria.

what had he done?

what would he bring to the underworld? what legacy?

he was nothing, a grizzled officer fallen so low as to be scorned by a mercenary he himself had once hired.

pride. it licked up in green flames, it choked into the reddening darkness and turned it sickly.

the imperator drew up with a sharp stop, heeling into the red sand as he had trained for climbing. a dismount. he strode toward fennec with hard steps, the picture of a soldier roughly pulling gloves from weathered hands.

there was a god in germanicus and it was one of pride. the sin of it, tangled into titles, into lineage, into action. it was by what he had always measured himself. and now it lay strangled. shattered. damaged. 

"i want that fucking pharaoh dead," he hissed into her ear without preamble.

She recognized him as he approached, and despite hearing his anger in his stride, she was still a bit taken aback by the tone he hissed in her ear. The words themselves weren’t as much a surprise as a confirmation of something she’d wondered for a while. Ever since the poison.

She didn’t let her surprise at the abruptness show, mainly because it was too quickly transformed into thoughtful consideration.

She’d killed before and she’d killed for less. Fennec had thought she would need an argument when the time came, but was slightly surprised at herself that she suddenly did not. If Germanicus wanted him dead then there was a reason for it. And she didn’t care about that so much as she cared that she was involved.

Interesting.

You want her to replace him. Fennec replied quietly, her ears twisting while she did so to monitor around them. She didn’t hear anyone present - and she would note the moment that changed. This wasn’t the kind of talk anyone else needed to be privy to.

How? She had her own ideas. But first she would hear his.

something like fear gripped his gut when fennec answered so calmly.

her golden face held a reflective nature. his fury condensed itself to a pool of embers in the pit of his heart. he took a brusque stance beside her.

the southlands were populated with more foliage than the smooth, open redsand areas of the earlier barracks. and part of speaking about assassination was accepting that spies accompanied the territory.

the eagle's gaze searched among the tight-set ironwood pines. he was too filled with that frenetic vibration to sit. when the needles broke underfoot and their wintery fragrance drifted up, he spoke again. "i think she is more than eligible as a replacement. but i fear her ambition will lead to carelessness. she is young."

and once she sat upon that throne, would the divine power in which her people believed come to her, filling her with the same arrogance?

he cleared his throat. "but i do not know yet know how. or when. i feel it is not time. with reyson gone and several defections, we do not have the forces to hold all where it needs to be held and also protect mereo."

but he did not think ramesses would capitulate.

He backed off. That was an even better sign. If his anger had held through the explanation (she’d assumed it wouldn’t) then she’d have had to worry if he was too compromised to know if he would regret it later. Another reason she only cared if she was involved; she wanted to make sure Mereo was safe in whatever actions he took. Her future was tied to this place now. So was her son’s.

When you had me keep the poison, I wondered what use a General might have for it. It isn’t a weapon for war. It could be, but war was messy, and poison calculated. When used messily it could destroy more than they wanted it to. I trust you. If you think it needs done, and at a certain time, then I have no reason to doubt it. He wasn’t a killer. He didn’t have the emotional temper that Bronco had argued with, but something else.

There was a lot about Germanicus she couldn’t see yet. But she knew he wouldn’t want this unless it meant something.

germanicus braced himself with a brief pacing step.

"when i asked you to keep it i was not thinking of pharaoh. at the time, perhaps. but i felt there would be a time when i needed to know its properties."

and the time was nearing.

the crux of it was that it was not pharaoh's own deeds which had moved the imperator but the words of the greek man.

but he did not want to delve into that now.

"suppose i took two men and entered the palace at night. killed him and those who stood with him." he snorted lowly. "then i would only be the killer on the paywatch of a new pharaoh."

it must be poison.

"what kinds do you have, fennec?"

So Fennec had come to the right conclusion based on the wrong assumption. At least, aside from a vague conversation with Makono, she hadn’t ever intended to drive things forward without confirming.

She didn’t like the idea of their being visibly involved at all. It has to be her. Or it has to be a mystery, one that she can call whatever she wants to. Anything we did to put her on the throne would make her seem too weak to hold it. It would look like she was a puppet of Mereo. Fennec didn’t know Akashingo as well as Germanicus did but she knew what she would do if she were in that position.

I have some that are less sure and some that are more. Most are the same as the one we talked about - they affect the muscles and the mind first. But I have one that is less obvious. Oleander. She’d found and tested it recently, finding out that the rabbit sounded as if it had just fallen asleep after being too tired to flee.

At a high enough dose, they might not even notice.

the imperator was unsure what to make of his wife. she spoke with the same poised confidence she had always possessed.

but now she talked of death and poison without so much as a single outward hesitation.

he grunted to the truth of makono being the one to place herself in that vaunted, terrible place. "maybe we should be the ones to place her there."

germanicus spoke the thought and released it in the next breath.

they were meaning to do this. his yellow eyes flicked to her face, and for a moment he was cast in a vulnerability he did not like nor expected.

"taking a man's life is one thing. taking that of a pharaoh is quite another."

For the first time since they’d started in on it, Fennec felt a touch of distaste towards the plan they spoke about. She had no reason to care about the Pharaoh, but she quite liked his daughter, even from their brief meeting.

She trusts us as an ally. But anyone else knowing would set her up for failure. She could destroy the man for him. She wasn’t sure she could destroy the pack. It had almost sounded as if that was what he was considering, and she hoped that she had misread it.

A life is a life. A pharaoh is a man. She was suddenly, vividly, reminder of her conversation with Niamh all of those years ago. What it meant to kill. It isn’t different. Just make sure you can live with it.

She didn’t want him to resent it after, or her for allowing it. There wasn’t any honor in this; he would have no chance to fight back. If it succeeded he wouldn’t even have the chance to know the danger existed.

"but to his people, pharaoh is a god."

divine, with god-endowed power. he did not know how latently this ran in mereo but he was not certain that he could convey this to fennec.

this pulse of cultism among the people who had spawned the goddamned man.

"i can live after." the imperator's voice was resolute. "can you?"

she had not seen death in the same way, and yet after this he did not think he could doubt her again.

That just means they are easily fooled. Fennec replied, but despite the harsh words, she didn’t necessarily blame them. If no one could be convinced a pharaoh was a god, then who would believe a blind woman was a witch?

She was comforted with the amount of certainty in his confirmation. She had to think about it a minute because every response that came naturally was guarded. As much as she loved sarcasm, this wasn’t the time for it.

I have no reason to care about him. And if his death is nothing but a positive for the things I do care about, then I have no reason to give it another thought.

It wasn’t as if she ever dwelt on the girl she’d met, or the unknown stranger who may have been poisoned by the mother seeking justice. Whenever they crossed her mind it was always in these circumstances, and it never deterred her from taking similar actions again.

Everyone made choices.

germanicus gave a soldier's grunt of acknowledgement and fell into his own thought.

"and the heir. you trust her to do this?" how many times had they met? did she see the racing line of the prince's ambition? did she sense that it might one day turn into a gilded garrotte?

did he fear such?

it was clear that ramesses must die. 

what remained unclear was what would follow.

She called, while you were out, and seemed honest. I wouldn't call it trust. I do think she sees the value in allies. She couldn't say if the Pharaoh did, but from the give and take she'd seen so far, what wasn't apparent spoke volumes.

You know them both better than I do. If he didn't trust Makono to do this then she wasn't sure it was a good idea in the end. She would rather simply cut ties completely and enforce their own independence than try to topple a pack that they had no intention of claiming or holding.

Then again, she didn't know why he was so insistent on it now.

in the end all depended upon makono and her ability to be true.

"who i do not trust will be the one chosen as her counterpart," he said quietly. 

he knew the ways of that ancient line and loathed it. "the stamp of ramesses will not easily leave even if he does."

he was done. he stepped and stretched and snorted. "will you come on patrol with me, wife?" the imperator asked. general, she had called him. germanicus enjoyed its sound.

She didn’t know what he was talking about. Fennec knew nothing of their customs, but she knew the girl she’d met wouldn’t do anything she didn’t want to. That was what Fennec trusted - any moves she made, she would make them to her own end. That kind of wolf could be counted on to be predictable. And reliable, as long as goals aligned.

Wife. It sounded impersonal. She nearly let it pass as his current mood, but stopped short.

Will you tell me why you want him dead? It didn’t need to be now, but she was interested.

because he has cost me face.

because i have always hated him.

because i have always loathed my own weakness.

"because his father was the enemy of mine and his continued existence reminds me of the shame i carry."

not a lie. not the truth she thought.

look; the eagle pinioned and made a pet in pharaoh's court!

it was where a good essence of the man had come to die.

it was where he had lost crowfeather.

"this shame has taken so much from me."

he swallowed and shifted. "and now your husband aches for battle, fennec."

if he could not say all of it he would say this, dragging reluctant torchlight to the sum of anything he had ever measured as glory. or as worthy of respect.

There could be no way that was all of it. An assassination isn’t a battle. She wasn’t particularly taken with this answer. And pride isn’t a reason to kill. Not on its own. This had to be more than an old grudge and a desire to avenge some wish of his father, right? Or did his ideas of tradition really go that deep?

And if so, what did that mean about his family’s other beliefs? She would have been an enemy of his father’s too.

I know he threatens us. I don’t know how. She hadn’t met him yet, but if Germanicus wouldn’t tell her, she might need to go and find out for herself.

"assassination has always led to battle." he was growing terse now, tense as fennec circled the oozing stump of pride's tree only recently beheaded.

but his wife was perceptive. germanicus did not suffer fools, let alone in such partnerships.

he was not certain how to answer her.

and the thing between he and epoch, kept.

germanicus exhaled and shook his head almost disbelievingly, exhaling harshly through his nose. 

and for the first time there was not an answer, not one he recognized as logical.

"i feel beholden to ramesses, inside myself. that is why i want him dead. i have lost companions to his edicts and seen another mauled. my own might dwindles due to my association with him and yet we have more years ahead of us before makono's debt comes due."

"so yes, fennec, i see pride as a reason to kill. to remind akashingo of who we are and to forestall any genetic treachery."

Either he wasn’t being honest still or he hadn’t thought through this plan of his. Fennec imagined a little of both was true. But she also thought he was more emotionally invested than the reasons he gave would lead to, and the anger he’d come to her with was blinding him still to how much his words contradicted themselves.

An assassination prevents battle if it is done right. It leads to it if it fails. Normally she wouldn’t push herself into his military affairs but she wouldn’t risk him putting the pack in jeopardy on a plan he hadn’t thought through. If you wanted a battle you would declare your intentions to him, that Mereo and you are independent. You’d face him and let him respond. But you aren’t willing to do that.

An assassination wouldn’t serve his pride. If he wanted a glorious battle, and independence, twisting their packs up in more lies wouldn’t help those either. A thought occurred to her then, one that wasn’t entirely welcome. But it stayed. What did this Pharoah know that made Germanicus afraid? And what did he want to hide so much that a soldier would choose a backstab over an honest challenge?

"no. i am not." his yellow eyes burned. "i want him to die and i want to see it. assassination is the compromise."

a killing carried out by pharaoh's own blood; how could this be trusted?

"akashingo does not have the abilities of mereo. it would not be a battle either way. letting his daughter smite the final blow keeps us from walking to war and there to be more bloodshed than necessary. these are still makono's subjects."

he was only speaking now in anger. that was fennec's privilege to see it, dubious and ill-tempered as it was.

"i brought this to you so that we might seek a plan. i would already be on the march with my soldiers tonight otherwise."

Despite his anger, Fennec remained cool and neutral. She didn’t know where this came from still, but as long as it wasn’t directed towards her she didn’t care. He could hate the Pharaoh all he wanted.

It matters because if you are doing this for your pride, then an assassination does nothing. I don’t want to give you this and then have you regret it. The only real betrayal of any emotion was the impatient twitch of her tail. I’m no soldier. I’d rather avoid the costs of battle, but even I know that there’s no honor in that. Most would call it a coward’s way.

She didn’t want to dictate this for him. But she did, silently, want to know more. Before all of this happened she might pay the Pharaoh a visit.

Even if they aren’t an army, if they would follow him over her, you are removing that choice. If you would rather avoid bloodshed than do this honestly, I’m fine with that. I just want to make sure it gives you what you want.

She still didn’t know why Makono mattered, if this was about Mereo’s independence. The could declare themselves isolated and leave Akashingo to sort out their inheritance within its own ranks. And I want to meet him. He was already upset; might as well lay that out now. She’d be doing it with or without his blessing, but she wanted him to know.

give him things?

then the mention of cowardliness, and it so echoed arsenio in his mind that he felt the sting of rawness behind his throat.

he wanted to answer that it was indeed cowardice and also far more grace than ramesses deserved.

unlike the redstone man, germanicus had not slept since the mention of that girl. unlike he who stood and said he would do it again, the eagle was tormented.

fennec's next words ground everything to a halt. "what?" and this time his yellow eyes did flare with something like irritation, meant for his wife. "i know that you have been listening to me about the danger he poses," the imperator insisted in a tight voice.

the pride in him begged no second blow.

You’ve told me what he has done. You haven’t told me why he’s dangerous now. You said yourself that Akashingo has no soldiers of their own. So yes, I’d like to find out what threatens us and who I would be killing. Earlier in this conversation she hadn’t cared, but somehow things had changed.

For the first time in this conversation, she also got a little irritated. Unless you think that I’m less capable than Reyson. This statement came with a bit of a warning.

She’d enjoyed his protectiveness in the past, but right now, the tone was off. Fennec wasn’t interested in hiding behind him. If she was a part of this plan then she would know the things that he did. Even if she had to find the answers herself.

"you and reyson are not comparable. he is a soldier, while you by your own words are not."

a soldier recognized their dispensability. that included himself.

"you are not only a soldier, you are the counterpart to his enemy and with considerable thought given to his execution."

did she mean to go anyway? germanicus was not fool enough to attempt forbidding her, but now panic slammed into the back of his heart.

would she truly jeopardize herself?