Major Roslyn bathed under the cold cascade of water. Her hooves were firmly planted on the slippery rocks below as the small waterfall pounded down, washing away the smell of metal and male musk. She hated having been stationed with these men. She was the only female in the whole platoon, and it drove her nuts. But then again, if it weren't for her, they'd have lost the last few fights with the humans. Damn humans!
The water pounded at Roslyn’s knots in her shoulders and back, bringing a soft groan from her. They'd been fighting the humans for the last year. The humans kept saying they only wanted the unused land on the southern most continent, but everyone knew they'd soon want more then that. It was obvious considering how long they'd been fighting. All monoshifters of human decent hate their predecessors. They see humans as filthy, greedy, worthless, and weak creatures made by an evil god. And then Monos, the God of the monoshifters, reached out His hand to Earth to transform only those who were worthy and had no greed or evil in their hearts. At least, that's the mythological version. What it really was nothing more than an alien virus that had fallen from space on a comet. It had space for two strands of DNA, and when it latched on to one, it latched on to the next one of any similar species and combines them to create its perfect host. The host can change back and forth between fully one creature or the other but the default form becomes one that mixes the two. It must always find a humanoid host and an animal host.
So Roslyn figured her ancestors were a hunter and an unfortunate deer who became dinner. Her parents had long hammered into her mind that humans were bad and evil, and thus far nothing had proved Roslyn’s prejudice wrong. In fact, this recent war only reinforced it.
As she finished up, Roslyn took the towel she had brought with her and held it over her head as she shook her body. The water sprayed everywhere around her, which was why she had to make the towel higher then the spray. She then rubbed herself, trying to dry as much as possible before having to put the armour back on. She hated armour on wet fur. Unlike the wolves, deer didn't like fighting with M.A.S. machines. The Mobile Armour Suits felt constricting. So they wore armour that resembled the ancient knights, but with different metals and new upgrades.
She was rubbing her crème coloured belly when she heard a twig snap. Her large, ripped, pierced ears perked immediately. Her black, pierced nose flared, and her huge golden eyes scanned the area. The short hairs on her body stood on end and her short, white tail jerked erect in alarm. She was about to leap for her gun when a wolf emerged from the bushes. He seemed somewhat disoriented and confused.
Roslyn hurriedly wrapped the towel around her body as she barked at the wolf that was easily twice her size. "You there! What do you think you're doing? There's a war going on! Where'd you come from? There aren't any villages near here." She narrowed her large round eyes at him, staring at his green ones. Green was rare among wolves. And his fur was a bright red. He had a white chin and his paws where white, but he was otherwise the reddest wolf she'd ever seen. His fur was somewhat curly, which was an odd feature she'd never seen before.
The wolf blinked at her a few times, as if he couldn't understand her. Then he mumbled something and pointed behind him. "What was that?" Roslyn took a step closer, still tense. "... join the war..." was all she heard from the young wolf, and she snorted.“Well, you look like you could use a few years more to grow, but I suppose we can use every hand in fighting off those parasites. Head north for about a quarter mile and go to the big tent on the hill. If anyone gives you trouble, tell 'em you already talked to Roslyn. I'll be there to deal with your paperwork soon as I'm done here. Off you go!" She waved her hand to dismiss him. Despite how confused he looked, he gave her a decent enough salute and headed off the way she'd pointed.
As she strapped on her armour, she thought about the encounter. The young wolf was little more than a boy, maybe no more than 18. And it wasn't so much confusion on his face as concentration, as if he was listening to a language he'd just learned and trying to remember all the words as she spewed them out at him. She shook her head, sure that it was just that he was scared and probably forced to join by a stubborn father who cared more about family pride than his son's life. Oh well, it wasn't her problem. She'd only lost a dozen men under her charge, and that was spread out over more than three dozen fights, most of them just squirmishs. The humans seemed like they were getting tired, and just wanted to prevent the monoshifters from killing them all. Their ships had left them, driven away by otter ships. Roslyn really had no desire to slaughter them, and would rather wait for their ships to come back and get them. So the boy had a good chance of surviving under her command.
Roslyn made her way back to camp and marched up to the command tent. The soft black paws on her planning table was not what she had been expecting. The black form that melted into the shadows of the tent corner was obviously well muscled, and the golden eyes that stared out at her from that darkness sent chills down her spine. The only part of him really visible was the red collar around his neck that boasted all his awards and metals.
Roslyn saluted ridgedly, looking straight ahead. "General Desire, sir, I was not expecting you, sir!"
She heard the purr of his wicked amusement and it made all her hairs stand on end. More than likely he was here because the humans had not yet been wiped out. The general was a cruel panther, and that was how he had gotten to the top, by not caring about the charges below him and sending them all to their victorious, but tragic deaths. If ever there was a metal for killing more of the army while hiding behind everyone and barking commands, he'd be the first to get it and add to all those other shinies around his throat.
"I rather like what you've done with the place, Major. Given it a 'feminine' touch." He batted at a golden scarf hanging from the top of the tent.
"Just thought it'd give the place a more home feel, sir. I'll have it removed immediately." Roslyn could just leap over the table with her knife drawn and place it between his ribs. If only, if only.
He purred that evil purr again. "No, no. I think it's fine. It keeps the men from missing home and not getting to the real business at hand." His soft voice turned hard as his paws slipped to the floor and his black form oozed out of the shadows, his broad, unmarred face very suddenly inches from her scarred and nicked muzzle. If only she'd had warning she'd have removed her piercings. She'd learned her lesson the first time she'd laid eyes on him not to have them in his presence. She resisted flicking one of her scarred ears where it was obvious a few of the pierces had been torn out.
"The humans are still threatening the western flank! They're spreading out onto the land, and from what we can tell they look like they're digging in and getting ready to settle! And you know why?" Roslyn steeled herself. "Because a cute little doe decided that she was going to rise up the ranks by raising her fluffy little tail for all the superiors and then slack on the real work once she got where she wanted to be. Tell me, Roslyn, are the men here so satisfied with you that they don't want to get this war over with and come home?"
Roslyn grinded her teeth. What a snake! Killing him would be such a pleasure. But she had to speak, no matter how choked with the anger she was. "The humans are putting up more of a fight then we thought, sir," she spat the word. Her ears burned with anger at his words. She had once been a little tipsy with a superior officer and Desire had found them in the back alley at an awkward moment. But that was certainly not how she had made her rank.
Desire showed his pearly fangs in a cruel grin. He knew he'd struck a nerve. "I expect the whole battalion to up tomorrow first thing at sunrise for inspection. If one person is missing than...." He stood straight and let the sentence trail. She knew what would happen. He'd have her shipped back to the capitol and he'd toss her into a court marshal.
Roslyn saluted as Desire moved toward the flap. "I wonder if other areas of your body are as pierced as your face?" He said it softly, and Roslyn knew that if he saw them on her again she'd likely have another scar to explain to the newbies. Desire vanished out the flap silently, like the panther he was.
Roslyn grabbed the nearest thing she could and threw it against the ground. The ancient telescope shattered at her hooves. "Fuck!" She knelt down to pick it up when some large white hands reached down as well. She looked up to see the young red wolf. He didn't look into her eyes. He picked up the pieces and stood up with her. "Thanks," she said as she took all the pieces from him and set them on the table. "I'll guess you heard all that."
The boy didn't really make any movement. "Some of it," he said simply, though she caught a bit of an accent. Obviously he must be from one of the outer villages that had come up with there own language. Yeah, that was probably it. And in order to join the army you had to know the common language used by all the monoshifters. He'd probably just learned it.
"Well," she sighed, scratching at her ear, "I think I won't accept you today. With Desire here, life will be the nearest thing to hell on earth as is possible, and I'd rather spare you the torture I went through as a rookie under him. I think you'd ought to go home and come back in a few years when you've learned the language better and can grow in the mind a bit more. If you want I'll write an official letter to your parents if they are the ones who made you come." The boy gave her that odd look again, and it took him a moment to reply.
"No parents. I have nowhere to go." He raised his hands helplessly. He seemed relieved that she at least understood he didn't speak the Common Tongue fluidly.
Sighing, Roslyn began to remove her piercings. "Well, then, I suppose you can stay. But now that the general is here, you'll have to really work hard and you might actually be sent out to kill the humans. I'd much rather let their ships come back and get them, and get the war over with that way, but as long as Desire has a say in it, there will be no ending this until every last human is dead."
The wolf looked down at his paws. "We want home," he said softly. Roslyn looked at him strangely. "They. They want home," he quickly corrected himself.
"They want to go home," she corrected him fully, hoping to help him learn the language faster. "Alright. Well, I'll get the paperwork for you to sign and them I'll have Smitherson get you suited up."
**********
The sun rose on a little less then a thousand troops. All M.A.S. machines had been polished and oiled, all armour shined, all weapons loaded and oiled. Desire walked the ranks, everyone standing at ridged attention. One young wolf was slouching just a bit. As soon as Desire passed him, he gave a roar. "50 laps around the perimeter! Now, soldier!" Terrified, the wolf quickly made his way out of the ranks and started running. "Anyone else wish to slouch?" Backs stiffened just a little more.
Roslyn followed behind her general, praying that his inspection would not last much longer. Just about everyone had stayed up all night to make sure everything was perfect. She was angry. Angry at his undeserved pride and rank and angry at the way he treated other people. As long as he wasn't in pain, he didn't care about others.
At the back of the line, the young red wolf stood, carefully mimicking everyone else. The buck beside him gave him a sidelong glance, his round eyes wide in fear and puffy in exhaustion. When he caught a glance of Desire, the buck started to tremble. The red wolf's nose twitched with the strange scent of fear. Desire sneered at the small buck, and at a soft growl, the buck could no longer contain himself. Just about everyone in the camp could smell his release. Desire, with a smug, cruel smirk, sent the buck to follow suit of the other young wolf around the camp before he was allowed to wash himself, which was torture for a deer, one of the cleanest of the monos.
Finally, with the sun high in the sky, Desire dismissed the troops and retreated into the command tent. "I just can't believe that man," Roslyn said angrily, her ears laid back. The red wolf came to stand next to her. "He comes from a planet where predatory monos hunt prey monos. So does Bali and he knew that! At least he didn't pick on you, Paltrick. I was really worried he'd pick you out of them all because of your fur. Guess he was too busy enjoying Bali’s torment." Paltrick touched her armoured shoulder tentatively. She looked up at him.
"He is angry to himself. He is coward. And he is angry." Roslyn gave him a bewildered look, then smiled. "You are wiser than your years. I guess he is mad at himself. Well, we'll have to put up with his anger until the war is over. He has orders to stay."
****************
A month had passed. Every morning everyone was up with the sun to be inspected. No matter how Roslyn tried, Desire would not relax the command. And he found great delight in tormenting Bali, who always stood next to Paltrick. As the days wore on, the poor little buck was on the verge of breaking down under the abuse, which Roslyn was helpless to stop.
In another week, Desire ordered a small company of soldiers to march to the border where the humans were holed up. He wanted to launch a sneak attack after a few weeks of no fighting.
Paltrick was one of the ones chosen. He had insisted on wearing the type of armour the deer wore. The bright green, gold trimmed armour suited him much better. There weren't as many buttons and levers to learn. Roslyn insisted on joining her troops out on the field, while Desire stayed behind in the safety of the camp. So they packed up their supplies and marched out onto the battlefield.
After several days of searching for the humans, they very nearly stepped on them. Gunfire was sudden and took the monos by complete surprise. Firing back, the monos raced for cover, several of them falling along the way with screeches of pain. Paltrick was caught in the middle of it, unsure of where to run. He jumped behind a M.A.S. that was firing back, offering cover to those running. He's heart pounded and everything seemed to slow down, all the creatures running past him, gunfire and death and blood all around him.
Looking up, Paltrick noticed Roslyn zipping between trees. Paltrick tried to stand to yell for her, but a bullet whizzed past his head and he tucked back behind the machine. He turned to return fire when he heard a screech and looked back to see Roslyn fall. A human rose up from the ferns, a machine gun pointed at the doe's head. His heart pounding, not caring about the bullets rushing by, Paltrick leapt up and dashed at full speed toward the man. He gave a primal snarl as he drew near, which startled the human. He raised his gun only to have it grabbed and torn from his hands and a big clawed paw slammed into his chest, throwing him to the ground. Paltrick put his paw on the chest of the man and held his gun to the human's head. In that moment, looking down at the man, peering into his eyes, as green as his own, he knew for a second what it meant to truly be a beast. He squeezed his eyes shut as he pulled the trigger once, feeling the body under him go limp.
Without looking at the man, he turned and quickly slung his gun over his shoulder and grabbed Roslyn. He lifted her, throwing her over his shoulder and running for cover, one of the last as the M.A.S. lumbered into retreat after the other troops, trying to make themselves the targets as the bullets weren't strong enough to penetrate them.
Paltrick didn't slow down, not even when the gunfire was far behind him and he was out in the open woods. He could feel hot fluids running down his armour. He dared not stop until they got back to their small camp. He rushed in amongst the small tents and right past the guards, straight to the tent set up for medical use. He dropped her to the bed and quickly rummaged through the medical supplies. With expert hands, he picked out all the right tools and proceeded to remove the bullet from Roslyn’s shoulder. Several soldiers came after him, looking on in disbelief. When Paltrick had fished out the ball of metal, he quickly shaved the area, disinfected, sewed and bandaged it, all the while ordering the other soldiers to quit gawking and hold her down as she thrashed.
Finally, when she was peacefully passed out, he sat back and stared at her, thinking about the man he had murdered. Leaving behind an old life. He closed his eyes and stayed beside Roslyn, night after night, through her fever and her screeching. Through gunfire and explosions which always drew closer and closer, his gun in his hand, but he didn't leave her side.
At last, having lost nearly half of their numbers, the troops packed up and headed back, not caring about expected punishments from Desire. Paltrick carried Roslyn all the way back to base camp. He marched her straight to the medical tent, laying her on one of the cots. As he stood straight, Desire slipped into the tent and stood behind the wolf. "The bitch just had to get herself in a pickle, didn't she? I ordered you all to keep fighting. She was hardly worth disobeying those orders."
Paltrick, his fur standing on end, did not turn. He was good at keeping quiet. Since he had been learning the language all this time, he had learned not to talk too much so that he didn't seem stupid, especially around the general. The panther sneered at his silence. "Well, since you are all needed, no matter how useless you are, you're safe for now. Notify me as soon as she's up." He turned and vanished out the tent.
For that whole night Paltrick stayed by her side. It was around the darkest time of night when the wolf was awakened by Roslyn. "What... what happened?"
"You were shot. I brought you back. The bullet did little damage." He brought her a little water, even though she had an I.V. drip in her arm.
Roslyn looked at him intently as she drank. When she was done, she peered into his eyes. Paltrick quickly looked away as he sat on the chair beside her bed. He suddenly wished he wasn't there. "That human. The one who shot me. He looked... just like you. The same green eyes. His hair was all curly and red." Paltrick buried his face in his hands. "When you came out of the woods, you were right next to the war zone. You hardly knew the language." The young wolf said nothing in his defence. Roslyn sat up and touched his snout, raising his head to look at him. "You... you were a human, weren't you? You were one of them! And that man...."
"Was my only brother." Paltrick felt tears in his eyes. "I was the medic, this was my first assignment. We weren't supposed to stay long. But our ships left. All we wanted was to leave. But one by one we were being killed. They wanted me to learn the monos language so I could negotiate with you. Then I was to patrol with my brother. While I was taking a piss, a werewolf leapt out at me. His teeth were going for my throat, but I raised my arm and he bit me. My brother shot him, but in just a few minutes, I was just like him... just like this. My brother told me to run away, told me to go to live amongst you. He told me if he ever saw me again, we would be enemies."
Roslyn gently wiped at a tear that wetted his thin facial fur. She drew him into her arms. His strong arms wrapped around her as he shuddered in grief. His life previous was gone now, totally, utterly gone. His enemies had become his family, and his family had been slaughtered by them all. How could life be so twisted?
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The whole camp could hear General Desire's angry roaring from the command tent as he reprimanded Roslyn for returning from the suicide mission he had sent them on. After about an hour, Roslyn came out of the tent and stomped back to her tent. Everyone got out of her way. She didn't come out again for the rest of the day.
As evening came, and Roslyn still had not emerged, Paltrick quietly slipped to her tent. "Major?" he whispered outside her tent flap.
He heard her sigh and shift around inside. "Come in, Paltrick." He entered slowly, blinking as his eyes dilated to the darkness inside the tent. He saw her figure lying in her cot, facing away from him. His nose could just barely pick up the scent of tears. He came over to her bedside and knelt down, sitting on his long heels. He stayed where he was, quiet, motionless, waiting. Finally, Roslyn gave a shuddering sigh that she had been holding in. "The fucking bastard is going to court marshal me for not obeying his orders."
"I... I don't know if mono justice stayed the same as human justice, but in our society, the soldiers under the commanding officer can stand in court and testify for their commander...."
"No. It didn't stay the same. It took steps backward." She turned and swung her hooves over the edge of her cot, sitting up. She looked up into Paltrick's green eyes. They captured her big round brown eyes, holding her captive in their predatory depths.
She looked away, sighing deeply. "I will face the committee alone, with no defence, no army at my back. I wish we weren't so backwards."
Paltrick shifted, moving slightly closer. Roslyn looked up at him again, his snout but inches from hers. Her hand came up to touch his face before she knew what she did. She drew him close, slowly, their eyes fixed. For a moment, a sweet, short, intimate moment, their lips touched. It was such a wonderful moment, so perfect, so filled with emotions that it made both their hearts pound.
Then the moment passed. Roslyn turned her head away. "I don't want to get you in trouble. You should go."
"Roslyn...."
"Go! That's an order. I am still your Major."
With a deep breath, he stood and headed for the flap. He stopped and turned back to look at his Major. He then stood straight as he could and gave her stiffest, most perfect salute he could muster. "You will always be my Major, no matter what anyone says. I'll follow you to Hell, sir."
"Hell is where we're headed, private. Good night."
Paltrick frowned, but left and returned to his tent, which he shared with the skittish Bali. Bali was up and pacing. He looked up at Paltrick with wide eyes, like he was being hunted. Paltrick waved his hand at the buck before climbing into his cot, staring up at the tent ceiling.
"Oh, Paltrick, if the Major is court marshalled, then the General will get to have his fun with us while they find another Major to replace her. I just know he's gonna eat me if no one is around! He ate a third cousin of mine years ago! What if he catches me alone? What if...?"
"Bali..."
"What?"
Paltrick propped himself up on an elbow to look at the buck. "He won't eat you. And the Major is not going to be court marshalled. You'll see. Now just go to sleep. We have a 6 mile run tomorrow and you pacing around doesn't help me concentrate."
Mumbling, Bali crawled into bed and covered himself with his blanket. He, like all the bucks, took hormones to prevent their antlers from growing while they are soldiers. He continued to mumble, but it didn't bother Paltrick so much. His groin really did tingle, but he didn't feel like pleasuring himself. He felt like slipping back to Roslyn’s tent... but he respected his Major, and he was not going to disobey her orders. With a deep sigh, he cuddled into his blankets and fell asleep.
*********************************
The sun found the whole platoon standing in formation with General Desire wandering among them. They had already taken their run and now waited for more torture.
Desire picked out a few wolves to pick on and sent them off to dig trenches around the camp. Patrick watched intently. The ones Desire had picked had been up all night on duty and were absolutely exhausted. They could barely stand much less dig. And Roslyn, standing in formation with her troops, could do nothing. But Patrick could see her trembling at the front of the line with rage.
Before he realized it, Desire was next to him, staring down on Bali, who gave a pathetic little whimper as Desire growled. "You call this armour clean? Haven't I told you that every inch of armour is to be oiled and polished? Look at these straps!" He grabbed Bali’s shoulder straps, his claws carelessly extended, jerking Bali’s bad shoulder, making him give a yelp of pain. He had taken not one, but several bullets to that shoulder. "You are not to make a sound unless I give you permission, you doe!" He continued to verbally beat Bali.
Without any warning, Desire found strong white hands wrapped around his throat. Paltrick lunged forward, all his strength focused on killing the damn panther! His claws dug into the general's flesh, his eyes glazed with rage. Desire tried to break his grip, but he was no match for Paltrick's wrath.
He fell backward, taking Paltrick to the ground with him. They struggled as the rest of the army quickly got out of their way. Roslyn screamed at Paltrick, ordering him, but he didn't even hear her. He could feel Desire's sharp claws ripping into his muzzle, tearing at his face in desperation.
Finally, the panther got his legs under Paltrick and kicked as hard as he could, ripping Paltrick's grip from his throat, throwing him so distance away. They both quickly leapt to their paws, glaring at each other, Desire gasping for air, blood dripping from Paltrick's face.
No body could move, not even when a shot rang out and Desire stumbled, his eyes wide in shock, part of his skull missing, before falling to the ground. It was dead silent as everyone stared at the panther's body, utterly shocked and unable to comprehend the events that had just happened. It wasn't a full minute before the next shot rang out that caused everyone to leap from their dumbfounded trance and run for their weapons as humans poured out of the woods all around them.
Roslyn screamed orders, leading the charge against the invading force. Gunfire and screams melted into a strange melody, blood making the ground slick, shattered bits of bone poking out of the earth like spikes. Death was the only one to win in this last, recessive battle. The humans put their all into this fight, knowing their ships were never going to come back for them. And Roslyn couldn't help but weep.
The battle soon moved on deeper into the forest before Roslyn realized Paltrick was not among them. She scanned the area; a wisp of red fur on the ground had her running back to the camp, slipping to her knees beside Paltrick. A single gun shot to his chest leaked more blood than she could stanch. She cried out for a medic. He choked, his eyes looking up at her as she put his head on her lap, trying to help him breathe. "It's going to be alright, Paltrick, it's gonna be ok. The medic will be here soon. You'll be ok."
Paltrick grabbed Roslyn’s hand with a bone crashing grip, blood dripping from his nose as he choked, his eyes staring intently at hers. "To... Hell... sir...." Blood gurgled in his throat.
"Yes, yes we're in Hell, private, but you're gonna follow me back to Heaven, you hear me, that's an order! Don't you give up!" She cried out again, ordering any medical personal to her.
When she looked back at him, the look in his eyes brought tears to her eyes. "You... you will... always... be my... Major. I... I will... tell my bro... brother about y... you."
"No! No, not yet! You'll not be seeing your brother yet! Not yet!" A medic arrived, quickly rushing to the two and pulled out a laser to try to close the wound and stop the bleeding.
Weakly, but determinedly, Paltrick gave a salute, choking, gasping. He went into shock, convulsing violently, blood pooling in his mouth. The medic tried to give him medicine to bring him out of shock, Roslyn sobbing orders to him to stay with her.
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The war was over. Just like that. Every last human lay dead. Roslyn and her troops were hailed as heroes, but not a single one of her soldiers showed up at their own parade. They lined up along one row at the grave yard in full battle armour, standing at ridge attention, saluting one by one as Roslyn slowly made her way down the row, touching every single tombstone. Then she stopped at the last one and placed a single Drasintine glowing rose against the tombstone that read, "Once a human, always a monoshifter. To Hell and back."
After bowing her head for a moment, she turned, standing, and called to her troops. And anyone within a mile heard the responding cry of her loyal soldiers. "TO HELL AND BACK!"
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