Preview

This first part is here to explain the basics in order for this story to make any sense.



First up the Overall Plot – A human knight living in medieval times suddenly finds himself in a different world and discovers that it is home to animal people who can walk and talk like he can but that they’ve been driven to near extinction by an invading human army. He agrees to help the remaining ten survivors in their quest to bring back their people, in return for their promise to find a way to get him home.



The Characters – Only those who actually appear are listed below, unlisted characters would include the seven other Isolders, as well as key figures in the Peronellan army.



Name – Henry

Species/Breed – Human/-, male

Appearance – (readers choice)

Description – A knight of the king’s army in his own (unnamed) world, Henry doesn’t really care about the plight of these ‘talking beasts’ and he’s only helping them because of the possibility they could get him back home. The only reason he didn’t side with the Peronellan humans is because the first ones he met tried to kill him.          



Name – Althalos [Al-tha-los]

Species/Breed – Isolder/Fox, male

Appearance – Red Fox (readers choice)

Description – The undisputed leader of the last remaining Isolders, Althalos is also the only survivor who was officially knighted by the queen before the war, making him the inherent ruler of what remains of the kingdom. He used this new title and power to knight the other nine members of the group so that they would all be equal.



Name – Rowan

Species/Breed – Isolder/Fox, male

Appearance – Red Fox (readers choice)

Description - Small, nimble and highly skilled in the art of stealth, Rowan was the perfect soldier to be promoted into a combination scout, spy and infiltrator. He was successful on numerous missions within Peronell during the war but in the years since Isolde fell, most of his abilities have lapsed as he’s had fewer opportunities to keep them honed.          



Name – Tybalt [Tie-bolt]

Species/Breed – Isolder/Deer, male

Appearance – Red Deer (readers choice)

Description – The only surviving Isolder without a military background, Tybalt used to compete as a cross-country marathoner. When Isolde was devastated by war he became a messenger, relaying intel between outposts before all but one fell to the enemy. Under Althalos’ suggestion he trained in archery and very quickly became an expert shot.



The Locations – As of yet Henry’s kingdom is unnamed. The names of the other two kingdoms are medieval women’s names (that I’ve probably mispronounced).



Name – Isolde [Eye-sold]

Capital – Pentknave [Pent-nayve]

Citizens – Isolders [Eye-sold-ers]

The animal people of Isolde refer to themselves only as Isolders to outsiders as a show of their unity as one people, while amongst themselves they embrace and celebrate the wide variety of breeds and the differences therein. Unfortunately they are nearly extinct but there is still hope that rests with the last survivors.          



Name – Peronell [Pe-ro-nell]

Capital – (no name yet)

Citizens – Peronellans [Pe-ro-nell-ans]

A human kingdom who’s people only supported their king’s plans for war after he lied to them about the Isolders to grow his army. The war was won using sheer numbers as the Peronellan forces rolled over Isolde, the towns and villages not destroyed were claimed for Peronell as the two kingdoms forcibly became one.



                                           

V-V-V And now for the story V-V-V

“Just be sure to come back alive” Althalos said as he embraced the smaller fox, “If you can’t obtain the scroll just get out of there and we can think of something else.”



Rowan answered with a smile “I’ll be fine, I can be in and out before anyone knows we’re there”



“I doubt it’ll be that easy but that’s why you’ve got me as backup” came Tybalt’s voice from behind as he stood up, slinging his pair of quivers onto his back and picking up his bow before moving to stand next to Rowan.



“The same goes for you too, we can’t afford to lose either of you” Althalos stepped up to the stag and pulled him into a hug as well.



“Hey easy foxie you know how I get when someone hugs me and I don’t think now’s the right time for that sort of fun” although Tybalt still returned the embrace.



“Well then it’ll just have to wait for when you come back” Althalos responded with a grin as the two separated, he then turned towards Henry who was standing nearby and tilted his head slightly, raising an eyebrow, “And I suppose if the two of you could bring the human back in one piece it might not be such a bad thing.” Henry frowned and was about to respond before the fox began laughing and was quickly joined by the others in the room, eventually Henry joined in although half-heartedly.



“Oh come on you can take a joke right? Of course I want you to come back safely” Althalos patted Henry on the shoulder, “I want the three of you to take care of one another, we’ll be expecting you all back” he looked at each of them pointedly before pushing the trio towards the cavern exit, “Now you’d better get moving if you want to get to Pentknave while the night is still dark. Good luck!”



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Almost two hours later the three of them were inside the former Isolde capital city of Pentknave, now part of the Peronellan kingdom, looking down the street towards the drawbridge that would grant them access to the palace gate. The journey had been uneventful but they’d had to travel quietly because the city was now home to citizens from Peronell, who had emigrated across their country as the war expanded its borders across Isolde.



“Alright now it’s been three years since any of our people have tried to take back the palace… well it’s…. it’s been three years since there were enough of us to try anyway” Tybalt paused as he and Rowan shared a saddened glance, “But the advantage that gives us is that they won’t be expecting us, hell I wouldn’t be surprised if they thought we were extinct! I suppose we may as well be!”



Rowan could tell that Tybalt was letting his emotions get the better of him and took over before the stag got any louder and attracted attention from the nearby guardhouse.





“Well another advantage is that we’re not trying to take the palace, we only need to take and hold the gate” he looked at Henry, “That’s where you and I come in, once the two of us take the gate, I’ll head in to get the scroll while you and Tybalt hold that position for our escape.”



Henry looked between the fox and the stag, “Why isn’t Tybalt helping us take the gate?”



“Because he’s lousy with a sword and those antlers aren’t reliable enough in close-quarters combat…” this earned a grumble from the stag but Rowan silenced him, “You know it’s true and there’s no use starting an argument” before turning back to Henry, “…don’t worry though the first thing we’re going to do when we get to the other side is drop the drawbridge so he can cover us from here with his bow”



The fox and the human moved quickly towards the divide separating the city and the palace, crouching in shadows and keeping to the far side of the street to avoid the guardhouse. As they reached the edge of the drop-off Rowan paused to make sure Henry was watching, before jumping out over the darkness and landing on an unseen ledge just below the drawbridge. He waved for Henry to follow and after a brief moment of hesitation the two of them were climbing up next to the palace entrance. Rowan dropped to one knee and glanced around the corner, while Henry leaned over him to also take a look.



What they saw were two gates, an outer gate and an inner gate with what looked to be the winches for both in between, guarded by four Peronellan guards. “Okay so… new gates… that’s alright though the plan doesn’t need to change” Rowan took another look, “There’s a door in there to the left that leads to up to the guard tower and the winch for the drawbridge” he pointed up to where the ropes disappeared through slivers in the stone wall, “Are you up for some more climbing?”



Tybalt watched from afar as Rowan lead the way up the wall using the tiniest of footholds on the mostly smooth surface and climbing onto the ramparts with Henry struggling close behind, the stag took an arrow from one of his quivers and readied his bow as the pair climbed up through a side window into the upper winch room.



They could hear voices from the room above them echoing down the staircase though the open doorway but they were alone in this room, “Do you think you could lower the gate while I keep an eye on the humans down there?” Rowan whispered before wincing at his mistake, “I mean the Peronellans sorry, you’re human too but you’re not one of them”



Henry just shrugged off the fox’s accidental insult and whispered back “It looks pretty heavy but I suppose I could…” he looked up at the ceiling “… and what about them?”



Rowan had already dropped down to the ramparts and was looking through the lower window into the gate room, so Henry had to lean out to get to get his answer, “The winch takes all the weight when it’s being lowered, the hard part is lifting it again but we won’t have to worry about that, to lower it just use the big lever next to the winch but take it slow so the whole thing doesn’t just drop to the ground, because that’s what will attract their attention.” Rowan indicated the window above them both, from which very loud laughter began emanating.



Henry quickly moved over to the wooden lever and stood facing the drawbridge, he gripped it tightly in both hands and pulled it towards him but nothing happened, so he tried the other way and the drawbridge dropped. It was much faster than he was expecting and he quickly pulled the lever back with all his might, closing his eyes and waiting for the bang.



“Henry! Henry open your damn eyes you caught it in time, they haven’t noticed yet but they will soon and I need your help to take them out, so lower it the rest of the way down. Slowly! Then cut the ropes just to be safe.”



With beads of sweat on his forehead Henry did open his eyes and looked out at the flickering torches lining the streets of Pentknave before focusing on the task at hand and pushing the lever forward little by little. The ropes moved slowly and soon they stopped with only the slightest thud from below, Henry then pulled out his sword and cut through both heavy ropes just as Rowan popped his head back up.



“Come on we have to do it now before they can raise the alarm” Rowan took Henry’s hand and helped him down to the ramparts before drawing his sword, ducking through the window and dropping in just as the guards noticed that the drawbridge was down.



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The fox landed on the nearest guard and brought his sword down on him as well, dispatching the man before he even knew what hit him and then readying his sword for battle.



“Isolders!” the guard in front of him yelled out upon recognising that the attacker wasn’t human.



Rowan smiled and bowed his head before the guard drew his sword and lunged at him, a move that was easily dodged, throwing the man off balance and giving the fox the opportunity to block an attack from one of the other guards just as Henry dropped in and engaged the third. The clang of metal on metal rang through the arched room as they fought, the sound broken only by a loud crack as Henry used his opponents own momentum to throw the Peronellan over his back and into one of the gate winch levers, snapping it in two and breaking it off at the base. Henry was quick to finish the man before he could get up and turned towards Rowan just as he defeated his own guard, leaving just one Peronellan who was about to strike the unprepared fox.



Henry had barely reacted before an arrow came out of nowhere and lodged itself into the man’s throat, causing him to freeze and clutch at his neck, choking, before falling over dead. Henry looked out through the gate saw and Tybalt walking down towards them, crossing the drawbridge to stand on the other side of the gate.



He threw a smile at the human before turning his attention towards Rowan. “Anything?” the stag asked and Henry turned to face the fox to see his ears perked and twitching as he concentrated on sounds only he could hear.





“No nothing, they didn’t hear us, then again they’re making so much noise up there I’m not surprised.” Rowan sheathed his sword “Come on Henry we need to get these gates open”. The two of them rushed over to the winch for the outer gate and began to turn it, straining to lift the heavy iron as quickly as they could. Tybalt ducked under when there was enough room to do so and assisted in lifting the gate all the way up before using a leg to push the lever to lock it into place. They then moved the guard’s bodies up against the door to block it at Tybalt’s suggestion.



“This could be a problem” the stag commented, crouching down to examine what little remained of the broken lever as they stepped over to the inner gate winch, “There’s no way this will hold the gate up now”. Indeed the lever wobbled loosely and the stop at the base wouldn’t stay between the teeth of the gear below. “We’ll just have to hold the winch in place while we wait”



“Couldn’t we just let it close and open it again when he gets back?” Henry asked, not looking forward to the strain of holding all that weight in place.



“We’ll need to leave faster than we arrived and raising the gate again will take too long, especially if Rowan has company when he returns”. Tybalt waited for the human to nod before the trio lifted the inner gate allowing Rowan to slip into the courtyard and disappear while the other two remained holding the winch.



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Ten minutes had passed and it had already been determined that there was nothing they could use to successfully stop the winch from retracting, neither piece of the wooden lever were big enough or strong enough on their own, the guard’s swords bent and broke and they couldn’t fit one of the bodies between the hand-holds. So the human and the stag had not moved from their post, though the human was having trouble staying still. With his arm muscles burning in protest at their treatment, Henry was now sitting against the winch and using his weight to hold it in place while Tybalt stood beside it and held on with one hand, watching intently for Rowan’s return.



Henry looked up at the stag, following the large arm to the shoulder, noting how the muscles were straining. “How can you stand there for so long holding all this weight with just one arm?”







Tybalt glanced over and smirked, “There’s a lot of power in these arms, legs too, it comes with my breed, we’re excellent runners and there are few others who make better archers… It’s too bad you couldn’t have seen this land before the war… Isolders were such a majestic people, all breeds from the Stoat who were brilliant craftsmen, to the Rhino who looked absolutely terrifying when in full battle armour.” The stag grinned widely as he reminisced but it was replaced with a look of sorrow as he sighed, “I’ve never believed in the stories of that scroll… but there’s nothing else left and the ten of us won’t survive the year… If we die then that’s it, our kind will be extinct and Isolde won’t even be a memory!”



Tybalt took a moment to compose himself allowing Henry to think about the situation he’d been put in since arriving in this world and to wonder what it could have been like if he had shown up before the war.

“If the stories of the scroll are true then this is the only way to get back the world that was taken from us. Althalos believes it will work and I trust his judgement” Tybalt continued having calmed down again, he looked at the human, “Speaking of Althalos, I think he’s growing quite fond of you Henry… he trusted you from the moment he met you of course, you’d be dead otherwise but now he really seems to-”

He was cut off when the sound of alarm bells ringing within the palace shattered the silence of the night.



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“Damn! Rowan must have been discovered. Alright you stay on that winch and keep an eye on the door, I’ll cover us” Tybalt let go of the winch, then stepped into the centre of the room and readied an arrow in his bow. As Henry took the full weight of the gate he realised just how much of it the stag had been holding for him, he was now using his whole body to keep the winch in place but wouldn’t be able to for much longer.



Tybalt scanned the courtyard and the ramparts lining either side before turning to face out into the city just as the door of the guardhouse opened, spilling light across the street. In a second he’d let loose an arrow that struck down the first man out the door, loading another as a cry rang out from within the building and more Peronellans ran through the door and onto the street. As Henry watched, the Isolder archer quickly fired and loaded, fired and loaded, every arrow found its mark and with each arrow removed from its quiver one of the men fell.



The bells were still ringing loudly in the background and Henry was starting to lose his nerve as their change in circumstances got to him. He nearly fell off the winch as someone came down the stairs and collided with the door as they tried to open it, the gate dropping a little as his weight shifted before he caught himself. The barricade against the door was working, if only temporarily, those on the other side had begun to kick and push at the door.



Tybalt’s task was becoming more difficult as he spotted some Peronellan archers run out onto the second floor balcony of the guardhouse while more men came down the street at them. He aimed at the balcony and took down one of the archers before his next arrow dropped the closest running guard. A Peronellan arrow hissed past his ear as he returned fire and didn’t miss. Another arrow flew overhead as Tybalt crouched and took another man on the street, causing the remaining two to run back towards the doorway, though only one made it.



The stag stood back up and took aim at the balcony as Henry adjusted his footing, watching the door shudder with every crash against it and then open slightly as the bodies shifted. Suddenly an arrow shattered against the winch centimetres away from his shoulder and his nerve snapped. What was he doing here? He didn’t want to die in another world, so far from his home and the people he loved! Especially in a war that’s not his to fight!



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In the distance Rowan rounded the corner and was running as fast as he could across the courtyard, one hand holding the scroll he’d gone in for, the other clutching a gaping wound in his side, fresh blood running down his leg and tail leaving a trail behind him. The fox heard running footsteps close behind and turned to see two men running along the ramparts behind him, he quickened his pace and hoped to make it to the gate in time.



Tybalt took down another archer leaving just one remaining as the last Peronellan from the guard house ran back onto the street carrying a shield, he glanced to his side and noticed that the door beside Henry was being forced open even further and the guards on the other side would soon be through. He was caught by surprise as a Peronellan dropped in through the window on the other side of the room but managed to duck as the man swung his sword before knocking him back with his antlers and lodging an arrow through his chest. The stag then quickly fired upon a second guard in the window before turning to check the courtyard and spotting Rowan.



Up ahead the fox saw Tybalt take a few steps in his direction before taking aim and firing two arrows in quick succession. There were two distinct grunts of pain as the arrows found their targets, followed by the crash of armour on stone as one of the men fell into the courtyard behind him. Rowan’s relief was replaced with horror as the gate suddenly dropped partway and he almost tripped over in his panic to reach it before it closed.



Tybalt looked at the gate and frowned before turning angrily towards Henry, where he saw that another Peronellan arrow had barely missed the now terrified human. He shifted position and quickly dispatched the last archer on the balcony and was taking aim at the shielded man on the street when he yelled at Henry, “You only need to hold the damn gate open for a little longer so just stay with me and don’t lose your head!”



Henry vaguely noticed that Tybalt was saying something as the door beside him was finally forced open and the first Peronellan charged through at him. He lifted his sword and blocked the first swing, preparing for the second before the man fell to one of the stag’s arrows, a second arrow knocking the next guard back through the open doorway and into the others trying to get through.



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Tybalt was distracted by another guard jumping down through the window as Henry could take no more… and ran.



The winch quickly retracted and the gate crashed to the ground in front of the running fox who stumbled and fell to his knees as he reached it.



“Nooooo!” Rowan screamed, clutching at the iron barrier for support.



Tybalt dispatched his opponent and stood staring at the gate and the fox in shock before looking around for Henry in confusion.



“Open the gate! Please, please open the gate!” Rowan yelled, tears beginning to flow.



The stag dropped his bow and ran to the winch, gripping it with both hands he began to turn it and yelled out “Damn it Henry you get-” before he was interrupted by a Peronellan attacking through the doorway. He threw his leg out and kicked the man in the chest then had to let go of the winch to quickly retrieve his bow, looking up in time to see another guard ducking through the window across the room.



Rowan looked on desperately and didn’t notice the two soldiers enter the courtyard behind him and ready their crossbows, instead he spotted Henry looking at the scene from the other side of the drawbridge. As the human turned his back the fox thrust his arms through the gate, reaching out towards him and calling in despair.



“Henry, please help us! Come ba – Aaagh!” Rowan stiffened and cried out in pain as a crossbow bolt speared through his chest from behind, quickly followed by another that buried itself into his abdomen.



Tybalt froze upon hearing the fox’s cry and turned to see his friend’s now lifeless body slump beside the gate that separated them.



“No! Rowan!” the stag cried out in desolation, staring at the fox as he lay there silent and unmoving, the scroll, the only reason they were there still held tightly in his hand.



Tybalt’s despair was joined by rage as he looked up to see the soldiers that had taken his friend from him standing in the courtyard, he readied his bow and took aim, tears welling in his eyes and his usually steady arms shaking.



He let loose his arrow and for the first time in the three years since Althalos had given him his bow, he missed. The arrow smashing harmlessly into the gate and breaking in two, he didn’t care though as the shock and adrenaline wore off and he was overcome with grief His bow clattered to the floor beside him as he buried his face in his hands and cried.



Even in his emotional state Tybalt could sense the sudden and imminent danger he was in and turned to see a Peronellan sword being thrust at him.

“Wait-” was all the stag managed before the sword was plunged into his stomach, anything he was going to say was replaced with a silent scream and with another push the sword ran him though.



The Peronellan pulled his sword back out and let the stag’s body drop to the ground as Henry watched from afar. The human looked between Rowan and Tybalt, the guilt of his betrayal crushing down on him before he turned and ran, wondering how he could possibly tell Althalos and the others.



The short trip ahead of him already seemed so lonely. “I’m so sorry guys”