The Winter Tiger

by L. A. Frederick

  ‘Because you’re my best friend and I need you.’ Star stood and unlocked the door, the screeching of rusty metal brought about more jeers and howls from the other Wolves, which Star ignored. ‘But you must respect my orders and authority otherwise we’re all doomed. If I cannot trust you to follow my orders who can I trust? If you openly disobey me how long do you think it’ll be before others do? I need you to set the example and be a leader by following, does that make sense?’

  River stood, a waft of faeces and urine followed him as he approached, his black fur was matted and full of thick clumps. ‘Yes, I do. I am sorry. I won’t betray you again, I promise.’ River went to hug Star, who quickly stepped back.

  ‘OK, OK, you’re free.’ Star grinned. ‘But no hugging till we get you bathed and changed!’

  The Wolf duo chuckled hard and the weight of Lupus lifted from Star Wolf for the first time.

  He was ready for war.

  15. The March of Tigers

  One of the most beautiful sights in the entire galaxy was without doubt a Tiger army stood in formation, ready and waiting. Perfect lines, even numbers, still and gleaming in black and gold. The military base inside the southern wall of Tigris housed more Tigers ready for war than in living memory.

  On paper they were the Elder Three’s army.

  In reality they were slowly becoming the Winter Tiger’s.

  His recruitment drives had been paying off.

  Better still he had allowed the foolish Band of Breeds, as Star Wolf’s ragtag group called themselves, believe the Tiger forces were around the twenty thousand mark. Before him lay closer to one hundred thousand trained killers, Tigers loyal to the death, Tigris-bent on eradicating any threats to them across the galaxy.

  These zealot warriors all believed in the creation of a Tiger dynasty like no other, and here they stood on the cusp of war. Winter could see the passion and desire to begin in each soldier he walked past. At his side followed Blackfire, a battered and bruised Hitback who’d fallen silently back into line after the Hexadome, and the murderous twins Oakenclaw and Steelclaw.

  Winter had special plans for his personal death squad.

  ‘Summon all of the captains to the war room,’ Winter spoke as he continued to walk down the lines of Tigers, whose stony visages only tightened as he approached. Obedience and loyalty were lucrative traits to instil on his warriors. His words echoed high into the vast structure hundreds of feet high. ‘Tonight is the night we go to war!’

  His final words were met with a thunderous cheer, ‘Uh-ra, Uh-ra,’ boomed for minutes on end, from the voices of a hundred thousand Tigers itching to begin the slaughter. Winter’s delight was only heightened when he caught Blackfire’s disgruntled glare, the jealously all too obvious, and the downtrodden gaze of Hitback’s swollen muzzle. Hitback would welcome his new task of that Winter had no doubt, it’d keep him occupied and away from Winter for a time, which was prudent at present.

  ‘THE BEAR IS THEIR STRONGEST weapon,’ Winter stood at the head of yet another war meeting, outlining his plan that had layers none in the room could even appreciate, ‘with the weakest homeworld. Let’s start there and cut off their greatest asset from his own kind.’

  ‘Surely the Lions are stronger?’ Oakenclaw’s outburst came from the shadows of the long, narrow room. The moment the question left his mouth Winter’s gaze flashed to him, forcing Oakenclaw’s eyes downward. There he stood playing with his long braid.

  ‘Brother we cannot attack Leo!’ Steelclaw took one pace forward and vaulted a steel dagger across the room, well above the seated captains and several feet away from his brother but nonetheless it had the desired effect and silenced his brother and the murmurings in the room.

  ‘Thank you’ said the Winter Tiger and Steelclaw, the brains of the twins, stepped back into the dark wings of the room with a respectful nod.

  ‘I admire your courage, Oakenclaw. You are of course correct, the Lions are their greatest fighters.’ Winter’s paws flexed thinking on the Lions and the slim possibility he would get a chance to battle the Red Lion once more, a battle for the songwriters for sure. ‘But we do not yet know how many Lions they have at their disposable and we cannot attack Leo for the same reason they cannot attack us. World Cannons as brilliant as they are are rather inconvenient to a quick and easy victory.’

  ‘Is that why we didn’t plant Atomic World Bombs on Lupus and Leo when we utilised our entire stock?’ the Tiger who spoke was perhaps one of the oldest in the room, a veteran of many battles given his scar riddled face and near-total black and grey fur. At a glance, he could pass for a White Tiger had flecks of orange still not sprouted from his ears and nose. ‘Wouldn’t that have been a swifter and cleaner resolution rather than all of this theatre?’

  The first question was a fair one albeit plainly stupid. The second one was a personal dig at Winter, and everyone in the torch-lit room knew it.

  ‘I mean for Tigris sake look at this damn room!’ The old Tiger stood. ‘Turn on the lights! What’s with all the torches in the walls and medieval furniture! We are the most advanced race in the galaxy and your vanity and need for quirky luxuries has us looking like preening Peacocks no less!’

  Now the grizzly old Tiger, Lasgole the Winter Tiger learned later on, had moved into blatant insubordination. Perhaps he was too long in the tooth to care, perhaps age had caused him to forget himself, either way it was a mad outburst that caused a moment of hesitation from the Winter Tiger.

  The room descended into silence.

  All the captains around the table and Winter’s death squad stood in the shadows pinned their eyes on Winter. He bought himself a moment to think by standing and turning to the window behind the head of the table, a two-way mirror that looked out onto the open hanger that housed their army.

  ‘Perhaps you’d like to lead?’ Winter’s question was nearly drowned out by the electrical swoosh of his Serpent’s Blade being unsheathed and turned on. He spun to stare down the outspoken Tiger who blanched, stumbling back and knocking his chair to ground with a rattle on the stone floor. ‘Before you do, I will answer your questions so you’re fully informed, seems only right,’ Winter took on a theatrical tone, damned if he was going to be called out by some pompous old fool. This one was still in the pockets of the Elder Three.

  ‘Do you have any idea how we plant AWB’s?’

  The Tiger picked his chair up and shook his head.

  ‘No, well let me elucidate here.’ Winter snapped his claws and a digital display popped up in the middle of the table. ‘Show me the plans of Earth before its destruction.’ He turned back to Lasgole. ‘Not so medieval, now are we?’ Lasgole shrank into his chair and sweated profusely, he must’ve known where this all leading but made no attempt to leave.

  Winter held up his Serpent’s Blade and pointed the humming red tip at the 3-D image of Earth, a framework of the planet in bluish-green lines. ‘For the effect to work fully you must dig as close to the centre of a planet as possible, heat and soil structure both playing a big part in this, are we all ke—’

  A flash of neon red lit up the room.

  Lasgole gawped down at the perfect circle, a laser gun wound in the centre of his chest, before slumping lifelessly onto the black onyx table. Dalfang stood on the opposite side of the room, the laser gun in his hand wafted with steam. He lowered the weapon, calm personified and returned to his seat. ‘Apologies, General Winter. He was wasting your time and I’m afraid I couldn’t abide that level of insubordination to our leader any longer. If anyone in this room doesn’t know how an AWB works,

  then they don’t deserve to be in here.’

  Nods and murmurs of agreement met his words.

  ‘Apologies for the interruption, my lord.’ Dalfang lowered his head.

  ‘Not at all.’ Winter sheathed his Serpent’s Blade. ‘Now let’s get to the good stuff.’

  It was Blackfire who moved, again, to remove the fresh corpse from the room. Winter made a mental note of Blackfire’s
lack of interest in battle plans, what it meant he couldn’t say. Blackfire certainly didn’t have enough support within the army to mount a serious challenge. He had been too cruel during his reign as general and many still harboured ill feelings toward the veteran Tiger leader.

  Winter balanced death and reward equally on the same set of scales. The Tigers lived in the knowledge that success meant riches, in whatever form they desired, and that failure well, they’d rather die in battle than return a failure.

  ‘So Brunneis Ursa will be where we mount our attack, we surround the planet, leaving one route into the atmosphere, thus allowing us to choose and know the exact location of the Wolf forces. If they do not take the bait, we will flank around them and force them down onto the planet. I also have a few surprises in store should they be required.’ Winter returned to the window to stare out at the troops, who remained in formation. ‘Prepare your ships. You each have a thousand soldiers at your command. Listen for my orders and follow them exactly. If you do this, we shall win this war and swiftly. Now.’

  Behind him the scraping of chairs and whispers of Tigers leaving the room continued for several minutes. Winter didn’t bother turning to acknowledge anyone. Only when he was sure the room housed only himself and his death squad did Winter turn around, ‘Hitback will you join me? The rest of you can leave.’

  Steelclaw smirked as Hitback passed him, he was never one to miss a trick and enjoyed nothing more than handing out pain or witnessing it, Winter knew he was a Tiger bred for war and nothing else. What a shallow existence.

  Hitback strode, slowly, to the head of the table. ‘Of course, General Winter.’

  ‘Have a seat.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Hitback grimaced as he shuffled into a chair, his back cracking as he did so.

  ‘My you are in a state, aren’t you?’ Winter sat back in his seat, tapping his claws on the table. ‘Are you fit for duty?’

  Hitback’s bloodshot eyes bulged before he started stammering words, ‘Uh, uh, yes, yes of course I am General!’ His frantic speech split the stitching on his bottom lip, blood dripped onto the smooth black stone table. Hitback’s eyes shot to the blood before he quickly wiped it away with a black tunic sleeve. ‘A little banged up but that’s what happens when you grapple with the best. I thank you for the lesson.’

  ‘Exceptional Hitback.’ Winter had to admit it was fast thinking and seemed sincere. ‘I have a task for you.’

  ‘Anything, just name it and I shall see it carried out in your name. I am your second-in-command. Here to serve you, you needn’t ever worry about a challenge from me.’

  As was the Tiger way, get beaten by the best and fall in behind them, strength was craved and pursued but ultimately followed. Winter knew it was why they were the highest race in the galaxy, no other species would in-fight the way Winter and Hitback had and come out stronger. It was the primary reason the Lions failed in the Apex Wars, pride and the desire to be number one got in the way of their primary goal; ruling the galaxy in their species name.

  ‘I want you to sneak onto Brunneis Ursa, before we arrive.’

  Hitback clenched his wide jaw, the five wire-thin scars on his cheek twitched. ‘And do what exactly?’

  ‘I have an inside creature within their merry Band of Breeds,’ Winter knew he had two but why divulge an extra secret, ‘let them all arrive. I need you to contact them and deliver a message for me.’

  ‘Who? And what’s the message?’

  Winter chuckled, ‘all in good time. Get to the planet and as close to the House of Bears as you can and contact me then. I want to make sure the entire Band of Breeds has arrived before I divulge the details. You’ll need to act fast as comms on and off the planet will become incredibly difficult once we begin.’

  ‘Understood.’ Hitback kept his voice low and his eyes pinned to the table.

  ‘And at least this way if you’re captured and tortured you won’t have any information to give up.’ Hitback flinched as Winter spoke, only a slight shuffle of his forearms, but enough to reveal his dread. ‘That’s not a problem is it Hitback?’

  Hitback turned his gaze up, a steely determination had found his face, ‘of course not sir, I am yours to command. You do me a great honour with such a task,’ he coughed, ‘and once I have completed this task what am I to do?’

  ‘Why that’s obvious old chum, kill as many damn animals as you can, Wolves, Bears, and any other species stupid enough to be down there. I want you to rack up a body count worthy of remembering.’

  ‘Of course, my lord,’ Hitback stood, bowed and exited the war room, leaving Winter to stare out on his gorgeous army of black and gold.

  ‘I’m coming for you, Star Wolf.’

  16. The Wolves At War

  The blaring of sirens woke Star, sounds he hadn’t heard since he was a pup. ‘It’s started,’ he muttered as he rolled out of bed and away from Sky. It was the third such night they’d spent together, and probably the last. Sky’s pained, tear-filled expression mirrored Star’s thoughts. ‘The Tigers have made a move.’

  In less than thirty seconds Star had donned his uniform and bolted out into the castle courtyard. Each corner, way up on the ramparts, housed a speaker that droned on repeat. One of the scouts had sounded the alarm.

  ‘Are they here on Lupus?’ Star couldn’t believe the Tigers had slipped the World Cannons. To have spent so much time, and resource, building a defence system for it to fail at the first hurdle was gut wrenching. Had the Lions betrayed the Wolves and created a dummy system?

  ‘No, one of your comms towers picked up a distress call,’ the Red Lion said, and he gave Kodiak a sideways glance. ‘On Brunneis Ursa. The Winter Tiger and his mob have arrived.’

  ‘What!’ roared Kodiak. He was even bigger now that he wore thick chunks of metal armour. The long shards of metal had a purple tinge folded into them, a glorious suit of armour. One that housed the raging Bear’s entire frame and didn’t impinge on his movements. Kodiak darted toward Star, to the point Star thought he was going to attack, only to be stopped short when the Red Lion stepped in front of the Bear. The pair of them on hind legs had the Red Lion a head shorter than the Bear and yet the Bear was the one to flinch and step back. Probably on account of the Red Lion’s right paw being wrapped tight around the ruby Lion head pommel of his sheathed sword. ‘Calm down Kodiak, now is not the time for mad panic.’

  ‘Indeed,’ Star said, able to breathe now he realised a Bear wasn’t going to crush him. ‘What information do we have? How many Tigers have landed? Have they attacked? We cannot head in blind. You there!’ Star ushered a handful of Wolves to him. ‘You get the alarms turned off, we’re all up now!’ A black Wolf spun and sprinted away on all fours, in spite of his hind legs being in leather boots and slipping under the slushy mud and ice. ‘You bring a full report and the scout who received the distress call to Lupenroad,’ the Wolf hesitated, ‘now!’ before obeying and running out of sight as if his life depended on completing the task.

  Their lives did depend on processing and acting accordingly.

  To the final Wolf, ‘instruct all Band of Breeds members to meet by Lupenroad and have them ready their armies to depart at once. We must move swiftly to aid the Bear, isn’t that right Kodiak?’

  The hulking head of Kodiak, covered in thick, fluffy brown fur, nodded accompanied by a guttural, deep growl. ‘Be quick about it, the Tigers shouldn’t be on my homeworld.’ With a single swipe of his left paw he decimated the wooden roof and winch of a nearby well. The shattered structure collapsed, crashing down the stony abyss to splash way underground. ‘Not without me anyway! I will be aboard Lupenroad, do not make me wait too long,’ Kodiak turned his back on Star Wolf and the Red Lion, ‘or I might just take your ship.’

  ‘Over my dead body,’ snarled the Red Lion.

  ‘Yes.’ Kodiak kept walking through the heightening snowdrifts before turning back. ‘If necessary.’

  The Red Lion went to moved but Star stopped him. ‘Leave him. He’s
not going anywhere without us, Lupenroad only works for me. Gather your kin. I am going to need you to lead the attack.’ Star turned his muzzle away from the Red Lion. He didn’t want the legendary creature to watch him well up with tears. ‘I am no great warrior.’

  ‘Not yet.’ The Red Lion turned Star’s face back around to face him, ‘stick with me and we will create a Wolf worthy of song. We will be ready to leave in one hour.’

  ‘One hour,’ Star repeated, more than anything to reaffirm the timeframe for commencing war in his mind.

  ‘THIRTY WARSHIPS HAVE been sighted, several already landing on Brunneis Ursa, their capital has been overrun and captured. From the reports we’ve amassed.’ The Wolf giving the report glanced to Shadowfang stood opposite him on the wet tarmac in a thick black coat, ‘And from the Intel the Leopards have supplied this would indicate this is a third of their forces.’

  ‘We can take them!’ River said. Star’s friend had become his latest shadow. A Wolf always eager to appear positive, Star knew he was trying too hard but that made him love him even more. It was a great comfort to have River back in their ranks, despite the errant looks some of the senior Wolves, including Ash, gave River anytime he spoke. Star sensed River was aware of the scowls and harsh words behind his back but kept a brave face on things.

  ‘Yes, we can,’ Star agreed, more than anything to offer support to his newly returned friend. With all the talk of traitors and how he would be betrayed Star was desperate to cling to his friendship. ‘If we’re careful, we don’t want to overcommit. This could be a trap to lure the bulk of our forces in and then sucker punch us elsewhere. Even here.’

  ‘Lupus is off limits now,’ the Red Lion assured Star, ‘the World Cannons won’t fail you.’

  ‘We’ve not ran a field test yet have we,’ replied Star, bristling in unison with most of the circle made up of the Band of Breeds, the snow was hammering down now, and visibility was at an all-time low. Would such weather greet them on Brunneis Ursa? Star thought that might play into their hands but begged the question why the Winter Tiger would select a planet more suited to Wolves than Tigers.