put to death if you so much as scratch me, you fucking beast!"
Wendell's back was bunching with tension at the perceived threat to me, and I knew his control must've been as thin as my own. Cresswell was trying to prowl in front of me, but at the thought of him being stabbed again on my behalf, I leapt up, not from paw but from my feet.
"And what do you think will happen to you if you scratch your princess or one of her Chosen?" I shouted.
The young men gasped, and one stumbled right into the gutter of the street, falling on his ass. The one with the stick in his hand paled and fell to his knees, or seemed to until I realized he was attempting some strange kind of low and humble bow.
"Begging your pardon, Your Highness, we didn't know you were—"
"What should it matter who I am? You have a fellow Kimmerian trapped under that crate. Release them at once!"
Wendell was still growling, but he eased up as I dug my fingers into the fur at the ruff of his neck.
"But they're just—" The man's argument died on his tongue as he looked between the crate—which reeked horribly and made it pretty clear they'd caught a skunk two-natured—and up to myself.
"You heard the princess," Aric said, looking fierce with one hand on the hilt of a dagger.
"Whatever word you were about to use applies to me as well," I hissed.
"A-a-apologies, Your Highness," the one who'd fallen first whispered, scooting forward and throwing off the crate.
Sure enough, a sweet-looking black critter with its white stripe running down its back appeared and scrambled away from the men, more of its horribly pungent defensive smell appearing. But instead of running to safety, the skunk transformed in front of all of us, revealing a massive, scarred man with dark hair and the characteristic soot marks of a blacksmith.
"You four better fucking watch yourselves," he hissed, the men paling. "Get back inside, you smell worse than your personalities."
They were boys really, and were probably just out of school. I hoped the skunk smell clung to them for days.
The blacksmith turned in my direction, lips quirking. "Never can tell, can you? Would've pegged you for more of a kitten type, Your Highness," he said, with a surprisingly gallant bow that did nothing to diminish the oddly flirtatious feeling that rose up from the comment. He vanished back into a skunk and hurried away.
"I suppose I would've imagined him as something more robust," I mused, watching the skunk's retreat.
"What's that look in your eye?" Aric asked, frowning. I smiled and transformed back into my tiger without answering. "Come on, let's get to the barracks."
Cresswell nipped my shoulder in punishment for hunting down trouble, but I ignored him aside from nudging back. This was why I'd chosen Thao's bite in the first place and why I was so determined to join the march.
The rest of the trip through the city was fairly peaceful, there were even a few scenes of the two-natured interacting with their human neighbors, much to the delight of any nearby children. But I noticed there seemed to be fewer animals out than we'd seen at first, and it wasn't until we neared the barracks—halfway between the castle and the thieves' court we'd visited—that I realized why.
There was a standoff between the army and the two-natured. I was tempted to rise up to my human form again to involve myself until I noticed that the army seemed to be facing off itself at first, at least half of the suited soldiers standing in a line protecting the two-natured.
"Your orders are to stand down!" one general bellowed.
Howls and roars and yips answered back.
Would it come to fighting? I knew the two-natured wanted the day to be peaceful, and the men still guarding them were silent, calm guards. I was still debating how I might be most helpful in the situation when a bright familiar cry tore through the air. From a barracks rooftop, a flash of rust zipped down toward the crowd of two-natured, Griffin spying us in the mass and heading in our direction.
Aric raised his arm for her to land on, but before she'd passed overhead the line of army-aligned soldiers, a net was tossed into the air. I roared as it tangled around the hawk's form, bundling and flattening her wings, weights dragging her down to the ground.
"Shit, she's on their side. I'll—Bryony!"
I was leaping away from my Chosen, around