The Winter Tiger

by L. A. Frederick

  ‘Thank Lupus,’ Star embraced his friend, his stomach had lurched moments prior at the thought of losing him, ‘you’re hurt.’

  ‘No worse than I gave out.’ River grimaced through the words.

  ‘Fantastic, he lives.’ the Night Badger grunted.

  ‘So, it would seem the Band of Breeds is somewhat divided,’ the Red Lion spoke low, ‘and it would appear we’re about to lose a member.’

  Star turned to the sound of a creature in agony. At the smoky ruin of the gate, Kodiak was slumped down on his knees with twenty Tigers in a circle behind him with lasers pointed at the base of his skull.

  ‘Give up your futile efforts and we’ll free the fat Bear,’ instructed a scarred and mean looking Tiger. Even from several hundred yards Star could see the smirk-cum-scowl on the bloodied Tiger’s cruel face.

  ‘What do I do?’ Star whispered, sinking into the cold snow.

  NIGHTFALL HADN’T BROUGHT about any demands, instead it had ensured Star’s retreat, they had no choice but to fall back into the meagre security of the forests. Still communications with their fleet were down. Given the night sky was now a mesh of stars, unidentifiable vessels and explosions it was impossible to tell which army had won the battle in space. Surely if the Wolves had prevailed they’d have sent more reinforcements down to the surface, Ash and Sky would’ve insisted upon it, which led Star to the conclusion that the Wolves had lost. Sky and Ash were most likely dead, and it was entirely his fault, he would never see his l—

  ‘Don’t be so sure.’ The Red Lion was sat beside Star, both of them propped up against the trunk of at least a thousand-year-old oak tree judging by the size. ‘If the Tigers won up there, they’d have poured down to the surface to finish us off.’

  ‘I’m sorry I didn’t realise I was talking aloud.’ Star truly hadn’t realised.

  ‘It’s quite alright.’ The small fire before them illuminated the Red Lion’s vast features and wild orangey-red eyes, his words took on a wistful tone. ‘Talking to one’s self is the first sign of a great leader,’ he chuckled, ‘or madness, I forget.’

  Star snorted.

  The Red Lion stared out into the darkness of the forest, the only signs of other creatures the occasional fire. Fires were stupid if in stealth mode but given the Tigers knew they were here, and Star had laid out extensive lookout posts at the edge of the forest he thought they’d be alright.

  ‘We have fifty thousand troops down here.’ Star tilted his up. ‘And that again up there.’ The question burned and hurt to ask but he needed to share the worry. ‘How many do you think we’ve lost in this battle?’

  The Red Lion purred, a deep guttural sound. ‘Hard to say up there but you said we were winning when you came down and no Tigers have descended from the skies like the plague they are so up there I’d remain positive, but down here...’ he trailed off, turning his massive head away, the crimson metal of his cuirass complained as he did.

  Star let the only sound in the vicinity be the crackling of the warm fire, but it wasn’t long before he had to finish the Lion’s sentence, ‘Less so.’

  The Red Lion unstrapped his greaves and tossed them down beside the fire. ‘Indeed. I believe we lost two or three thousand alone in that idiotic Bear’s charge.’

  ‘He was only trying to protect his people.’

  ‘Yes,’ the Red Lion snapped before calming a little. ‘Aren’t we all? What you didn’t see was that their initial surprise ambush took out at least five thousand of our troops and yet the Tigers losses were so few. Fifty thousand down here versus five thousand at best and on day one they’ve shattered us.’

  ‘I didn’t realise Lions gave up so easy.’ The Night Badger stood in front of the pair, on the opposite side of the fire, the only time the diminutive Badger would tower over anyone during this battle; unless of course he’d killed them. ‘No wonder you lost first time round. Do they call you the Red Lion cause your cheeks flush with embarrassment when you flee the battle!’

  The Red Lion had leapt before Star moved an inch, way over the fire crashing down on the other side, missing the sprawling Badger who’d rolled away into the snow. The Night Badger’s axes were out. The emerald kiss glistened in the firelight. The Red Lion rounded, hauling his long sword from its scabbard. ‘Truth hurt huh?’ Star couldn’t believe the foolish Badger continued to push the Lion so hard.

  ‘You’re right.’ The Red Lion tossed his sword on the ground before the Badger. ‘But not in the way you think you smug little rodent.’ He returned to his seat besides Star. The Night Badger took, sensibly, a spot the other side of Star as the Red Lion continued. ‘We lost first time round, by default and leaving the galaxy to its own devices but you are wrong about present day.’

  ‘How so?’ the Badger’s gravelly voice had a strange humoured sound, not something Star heard often from perhaps his most loyal and most grumpy follower.

  ‘I haven’t given up, th—’ The Night Badger grunted getting a sideways look from the Lion that would’ve melted stone to mush. ‘The Tigers have shattered us today, but we can use that to our advantage.’

  ‘Oh, aye, how so?’

  The Red Lion turned his gaze on Star. ‘Perhaps if this fat Badger shuts up, I can explain. But before I do,’ a dagger left the Red Lion’s paw, skimming past Star and slamming into the tree behind the Night Badger, missing the top of his head by an inch. The Badger’s eyes went wide as he spun to stare at the dagger, ‘if you ever question my loyalty to this cause again the next one will be between your eyes.’

  ‘Fair enough.’ The Night Badger burst into a throaty laugh, soon followed by the Lion and Wolf as they settled in to hear the Red Lion’s plan, Star liked the sound of what came next.

  18. The Ruin of Brunneis Ursa

  As the night progressed Star ventured through the various camps ensuring everyone was aware of the plan the Red Lion had suggested. It was genius and would play on the endless ego of the Tiger, though it did also feed the Red Lion’s as well.

  During the early hours, dawn crept over the forest and brought a fine mist. In that period Star managed to track down all of the unaccounted-for members of the Band of Breeds. They had all remained vague as to their whereabouts during the battle. The Scarlett Fox, the March Hare and Bloodhound all claimed to have got separated during the initial melee, which was believable given the accounts provided by those willing to discuss how the Tigers had come at them with force.

  The Tigers had covered the outer lands of the House of Bears with landmines, the results gruesome and damaging for any advance through the gate. After the mines had gone off grenades and cannons had peppered the open fields surrounding the high walls from where the Tigers mounted a brutal assault. The Wolf forces hadn’t been able to progress an inch outside of the forest. It had only been when Star arrived and witnessed Kodiak pierce the gate with a bazooka that they managed to gain access to the House of Bears; a suicide mission as it turned out.

  ‘Blow the horn,’ Star instructed to a wearied Wolf beside him, the Wolf nodded before breathing deep and pushed as much force as he could through the instrument. The bellowing noise flew across the misty battleground and had the immediate effect of drawing dozens of Tigers to the ramparts. ‘Let’s hope this works.’ Star patted the Red Lion on the back.

  The Red Lion winked before stepping forward, in his finest armour which he’d spent the past hour polishing. ‘What say you, filth!’ he continued to march out into the open. ‘Shall we settle this here and now, in accordance with the old ways? Many a battle of the Apex Wars was handled in such fashion,’ Star had heard the tales and knew the Red Lion had won countless duels of which he was about to suggest.

  An eerie silence met the Red Lion’s request, the only sound the gentle rattling of the wood that had been reinforced at the gate overnight. That was a closed door to Star and his Wolves once more and even if they had broken through again close to five thousand Tigers awaited them.

  ‘Come on, choose a champion and send him forth.
If he bests me, we shall be on our way but if I should best him you clear off and return to Tigris never to bother these folks again.’

  More silence met the challenge.

  As it lingered to an intolerable level Star began to march forward to stand beside the Lion, only to be dragged back by Bloodhound and the Night Badger, they both remained quiet merely shaking their heads. Star turned to see the Scarlett Fox pinning him with a hard stare before indicating with a nod that Star should turn back around.

  The clearing cloudy white sky was suddenly blotted out, darker than the deepest cave, by a barrage of thousands of arrows ripping through the air. The Red Lion remained like a statue as Star gawped on open-mouthed. Arrow tip after arrow tip smashed into the ground, all short of the Lion by a good twenty yards. He turned to reveal the sharpest, biggest set of teeth Star had ever laid eyes on. ‘Watch this,’ was his reply as he hefted a longbow from his back and notched an arrow of his own. Pulled back tight the arrow loosed, whistled away at a rapid pace, before slamming straight into the chest of a Tiger stood up on the rampart.

  ‘You’ve gone soft since the Apex Wars,’ thundered the Red Lion. He’s taunting them. ‘Please don’t tell me your cowardice has finally won out. Is there no one inside who will challenge me?’

  This question brought about a screeching of iron hinges.

  The battered gate was being drawn open.

  Stood in the emerging mist was a Tiger Star recognised all too well.

  ‘Hitback.’

  A monstrous Tiger, bigger than the Winter Tiger as Star recalled, he strode forward with a long sword in his right hand and shield in the other.

  ‘Perhaps we will get a duel for the ages,’ Shadowfang stood beside Star, another whose whereabouts during the opening siege were sketchy at best but Star didn’t have time to worry about where the members of the Band had been wandering off to. A cold misty breath left Star, he realised he’d been holding his breath before letting out a big gasp.

  ‘Hitback, sweet Leo you look awful.’ The Red Lion drew his sword, the scratching steel drawn forth shimmered crimson in the sliver of sunlight sneaking onto the imminent battlefield. ‘Lost another fight with a Persian Cat! You’ve let yourself go old fellow, what happened to the strapping twenty-something Tiger who could’ve best the Winter Cat at will! I see he’s still sending you to do his dirty work.’ He sighed, before charging forward. ‘Still a dead Tiger will result either way.’

  Two long swords crashed into each other with tremendous force, the clank rattled through Star’s ears, and so it went for several minutes neither creature backing down or falling away. Hammering blows met, dodged or parried at will but one thing was clear, one of the fighters was tiring...

  As the scrap continued Tigers and Wolves and their followers all watched on, some of the Tigers had ventured outside of the gates and onto the edge of the battlefield. Laser fire would tear into them, if Star just ordered it, but that wasn’t the done thing. These legendary warriors had their codes to uphold. Star had to admire the majesty of the battle and that if all sides stuck to the agreement thousands of lives would be saved.

  ‘Finish him!’

  ‘Kill him!’

  ‘Cut his head off!’

  The bloodlust was up within his Wolf ranks, for they too sensed the end was near. The Red Lion’s latest riposte knocked the shield from Hitback’s grip, with a flurry of blood and roar of anguish. The Tiger slumped to his knees, rolling at the last second to evade the arcing swing of the great long sword the Lion wielded as if no more than a toothpick. As they attempted to carve each other to pieces the tension on the muddy grounds could’ve also been cut with a blade. Star fought back the words to advance, they sat on the tip of his tongue, but the Red Lion had warned him against the act. Others amongst the Band of Breeds were less keen on adhering to the codes of ancient wars.

  ‘Now!’ roared a Tiger from atop the ramparts and followed a barrage of laser fire that started tearing into the masses of creatures watching the showdown.

  ‘Fall back,’ yelled Star, laser out and returning fire as he retreated to the meagre sanctuary of the dank forest. As he reached the treeline he slipped down the snowy trench and face planted onto a root. He shook off the throbbing in his nose, blood dripped from a scratch across his wet, black nose. ‘Open fire from here, pin them back!’

  To Star’s delight, most of their forces had made it back, including the Red Lion

  who dropped his smouldering shield when he shimmied in besides Star.

  ‘That went well I thought.’ the Red Lion’s mane was slick and wet; the battle had taken something out of the legendary fighter. Neon red bolts shot past and clattered into the trees a few feet back. ‘Shame I didn’t get chance to cut his damn head off but at least its drawn them out a little.’

  The battle raged on for quite some time. Star couldn’t say how long, he was too preoccupied firing or ordering troops into position. Today they had fanned out as far as the forest allowed them, which gave them a good one hundred and eighty degrees to attack the House of Bear fortress. Given the great hall was built at the base of a mountain range gave them no hope of flanking or surrounding the Tigers. If what Kodiak said was true there were tunnels carved deep into the mountains, secret escape and transport routes that the Bears used over the years that led out to a great lake on the other side. When Star asked if they could use these tunnels Kodiak had insisted they were sacred to the Bears, and that it’d take at least a week to trek around to find them.

  ‘The damn fool’s probably never used them before,’ complained the Night Badger when he’d heard Kodiak. ‘The showboating idiot would never have snuck around back. Too busy parading himself as the greatest Bear who ever lived and now look at him, he’s dead or worse.’

  ‘If we could only get a message to our fleets.’ The Scarlett Fox had ducked in besides Wolf, Lion and Badger. After hours of fighting the Scarlett Fox’s usually flawless crimson attire was tattered, torn and soaked through. A nasty gash ran across his brow. ‘I slipped in the blasted snow,’ his shrill, eloquent voice faded out into a near-silent laugh. He traced his thin pinkish-red tongue across his lips, a sly grin appeared. ‘Shall I make a dart for the atmosphere?’

  ‘It could be suicide,’ Star had already thought about returning to space but if all that waited were Tiger spacecraft then he’d be dead or captured in minutes.

  ‘Ah, yes, but it could win us today’s battle,’ the Scarlett Fox’s reply was sharp, he seemed skittish to Star, was the battle taking its toll. That can’t be it!

  ‘No,’ Star said a little too forcefully, getting glances from every creature in the vicinity. ‘We’re pressing them back here. We need every able-bodied creature fighting. If they make a charge, we need our most skilled fighters ready, that includes you, Scarlett.’

  The Fox bared his teeth, before stomping away down the line, his lustrous tail swishing as he left.

  ‘Perhaps I could venture up there?’ It was Bloodhound’s turn to request, or offer in his case, to leave the battle and inspect space. ‘I command no forces down here or up there, I’m a lone creature in this war. Somehow we must find out what is going on up there otherwise any victory down here could prove short-lived.’

  ‘Will everyone stop asking to leave the damn battle!’ Star couldn’t contain his anger anymore. He expressed it via standing to get a better angle and unleashing shot after shot, until he overheated his laser gun. It cracked, hissing and fizzling in his hand.

  ‘As you wish.’ Bloodhound bowed and shuffled away down the trench, never looking back.

  ‘Anyone else want to leave?’ Star all but screamed. Wolves, Badgers and Foxes all turned before returning to firing at will, they had the Tigers penned back and the defences were crumbling. They’d managed to pick off a good hundred Tigers in the aftermath of the archaic ballet of single combat. ‘No? Good.’ Star’s rage fuelled him into decisive action. ‘Shall we take back this House for the Bears?’

  ‘Screw the damn Bear
s,’ the Red Lion said. ‘Let’s take it for Star Wolf!’ he leapt out of the trench and grabbed his shield and slung it onto his back, charging forward on all fours. As he drew closer to the wall he skidded to a halt, swinging his shield around to block a barrage of both bullets and laser fire. Once steadied he slammed the shield into the dirt and ducked in behind it, the bloodied grin that fell across his face sent a shiver over Star’s fur. The Red Lion began pulling grenades from his armour, vaulting them with impressive skill to land at the base of the iron and wood wall, the odd one hurtling over the wall. Explosions began following at regular intervals, including several high-pitched cat shrieks.

  ‘Follow the Lion!’ Star called out. ‘Shields, grenades, bazookas. Form a line.’

  The affect was devastating and the more creatures that flooded forward the worse it got for the Tigers. Their ability to unleash fire diminished on account of having to tend to the half-destroyed wall, extinguishing fires and falling back to evade further explosions. We’re winning.

  Moments after the exhilarating thought popped into Star Wolf’s did the battle truly turn, with the entire front wall collapsing in a spectacular puff of smoke. It began with the creaking of wood and groaning of iron before every creature on either side of the battle paused as the sounds overpowered the fighting, finishing in a shattering crescendo that brought about an eruption of cheers from Star’s forces.

  ‘Attack,’ and with the order the forest emptied and out poured close to forty thousand creatures Wolf, Badger, Fox and Leopard sprinting in unison, some on all fours others on hind legs. The unity and ferociousness with which they attacked stunned Star, who’d hung back, not through cowardice he told himself but through morbid fascination. He was living the tales of old, the stories he grew up on as a boy. They weren’t how he envisaged them. The stench of death alone was enough to ruin any magical notions of war he previously held. That, coupled with the incessant ringing in his ears, which he later discovered had burst, left him slumped and exhausted too tired to move forward anymore.