CHAPTER 6
Sakari's eyes fluttered open, warm water splashing her muzzle and filled her muzzle with the strong salty taste. She groaned and got up to her hands and knees, spitting the water out with another a groan. “Ah-Ah gods...” She whimpered and struggled to stand up. “Wh-Where the hell....am I?” She  looked around, her legs shaking as she began to walk. The whole land around her was bathed in an odd, blood red light and black smoky clouds blocked out much of the crimson sky. “Zerataph...what've you done?”  She whispered as she walked. Crossing her arms over her chest and shuddered as icy wind cut through her messy fur. 
The white sands gave way to charred grassland, black ash covering the ground as far as the eyes can see. She limped across the plains for what felt like hours. The eerie silence rung in her ears. She fell to her knees and panted lightly, her whole body felt so heavy and the tattered armour didn't help at all. Lifting her head, she saw a village standing in the distance. She growled and stood up again, walking as fast as her body could muster.
Passing into the village, she saw that many of the buildings had been destroyed and charred. But it looked like there was no bodies, and she was glad for that.
She came up to one of the more larger buildings and slid the door open, hearing it grind on it's tracks. “This...is...” She mumbled and walked in, looking around. Every surface was covered in soot and dust. Moving further into the house and slid the next door open. On the right side of the room was a futon pressed into the corner, dust covering the pillows. On the opposite wall stood a small desk with a shield hung on the wall, dust coating it's reflective surface. Stepping closer, she saw a sword buried under soot and dirt. Picking it up, she brushed it off to expose a half melted wolf head, spider-webbed emerald eyes staring up at her.
“M-Mom!” she barked and dropped the sword, a low ringing echoed. She fell to the floor and slammed her fists on the wooden floor. “Dammit! How could you do this? This is your home. Your family!” Sakari cried, tears staining the dirty floor.
“Stand up! Show your hands!” A hissing voice spoke sharply behind her.
Sakari jumped and grabbed the katana she'd dropped and spun around. She saw a flash as an arrow flew beside her head, thunking dully into the wall behind her.
“Drop your weapon!” He spat, quickly knocking another arrow. She dropped the sword, raising her shaking paws. The mountain lion stepped forward, his features hidden by a hood. “Sakari? Is that you?” He said, relaxing the tension on his bow.
The wolfess blinked. “Ferain?”
The mountain lion pulled off his hood and smiled widely. “Oh gods, I can't believe it. He said and dropped his bow, dashing to her and wrapped his arms around her. “I thought you were dead. We both did.” He pulled back and smiled widely before picking his bow back up. “What happened? Where've you been?”
“I don't remember. Last thing I remember before I woke up was...fighting Zerataph in Opochtli.”
Ferain's eyes widened. “Opochtli...That was over a month ago, Sakari...”
“That's...that's impossible.” Sakari stepped back, stumbling over the sword handle and fell back onto the futon, dust billowing up around her. “What happened?”
Ferain reached down to help her up again. “After you fell, Zerataph destroyed Opochtli before disappearing. We barely made it out ourselves. After that....” 
He was cut off by a vixen walking up into the house. “Ferain, What's taking you so...long.” Her voice faded as she looked at Sakari.
“Keelya.” He raised his paws as she passed him and stomped up to Sakari.
Keelya swung her paw, slapping the wolfess across the muzzle. “Where the hell were you!? How the hell can you think you can abandon us like that!?” She barked and flicked her tail, it fluffing in anger.
“Keelya, I-I never meant to...I-” She received another strong slap. Sakari made to retaliate only to have one of her daggers pressed against her throat. “What the hell is wrong with you? I didn't want to abandon you. If I could have been there, I-I would have.” She swallowed, holding her paws up.
Keelya's eyes were filled with tears. She lowered her weapon and dashed outside, leaving the two alone in silence. “What's wrong with her?” She growled and rubbed her reddening cheek.
Ferain lowered his head and rubbed at his neck nervously. “Well, after Opochtli was destroyed, we continued to Ternal to find the sword. It was there Sakari, in the temple at the center of the city... Zerataph was there waiting for us. He told us that he had one more dragon to collect, but that it was under the strongest lock. When he tried to grab the sword, it sparked and actually threw him away. He tried to threaten us and even bribe us. We wouldn't take any of it.
That's when the fight started. We fought for hours until...Yulya got struck by his sword. She used the last bit of energy to teleport us outside the city.”
Sakari fell back down on her futon again, the cloud of dust billowing up once more. “Oh-OH gods...” She whispered, her body shuddering slightly. “I'm... Damn it!” She barked and slammed her fists down into the pillows. She coughed as the dust filled her nose and throat. “If I had *hack* been there *cough*” Ferain patted her back. “If I had been there...” Sakari said with tear filled eyes. “None of this would happened! He's gone too far!”
“Sakari. There's nothing you could do, Nothing any of us could have done.” The mountain lion said and lowered his head. “He's...too powerful.”
“But he's not a god. Zerataph can be stopped, and I'm not going to stop until I've stopped my brother.”
His ears shot up, tail stiffening “Your brother!?” He spat in surprise. “Zerataph's your brother?”
Sakari yipped and lowered her head. She avoided his eyes and nodded, rubbing her arm lightly. “Yeah....yeah. He is my brother...” The wolfess whispered shyly.
Ferain lowered his head and toyed with the end of his bow. “Well...as long as it doesn't keep you from fighting him...” He stood up with a kind smile. “And long as Keelya doesn't hear about it, I think we'll be fine.” Ferain offered his paw to her.
Sakari smiled and took his paw. “Thank you Ferain.”
“Anytime, Sakari. We'll be there for you. But lets get headed out, we have to take you to our camp. Wait till you see it.” The cougar smiled and walked out the door.
Sakari looked down at the sword and flicked her tail about quickly. She scooped the katana and followed Ferain out of the door. “Camp? Is it just you two?” She followed the cougar, looking around the village, feeling her heart drop again. “What happened here?”
“No, there's hundreds of survivors, we all live in an encampment between Here and Heirtol, hidden from Zerataph's troops.”
“Troops?” She paused as she followed him, causing him to pause and look back at her.
“Yeah, After taking over at Ternal, he created soldiers from ash. There are a few actual dragons in his ranks, most likely turned by his false promises of a golden age.” He couldn't help but chuckle. “But the entire capital is surrounded by walls now, so it's almost impossible to get into. Almost. We've got an inside mad that will help us get inside and into the castle.”
Sakari flicked her ear, looking down at her sword. “Are you sure...we can trust him?”
“Of course. He came to us from HaiKhan. Thanks to him, we know exactly what's happening inside.”
Sakari's stomach fluttered lightly as her friend spoke. But she just nodded and forced a smile. “O-Okay. If you trust him, then so do I.”
“Great. We'll stay at camp for the night, recover. Then we'll be leaving first thing in the morning.” he said as they came up to a deep valley, black trees stood in the bottom of the valley, blocking out any view of the bottom. They walked down the steep hill and through a cleared path through the charcoal forest. Sakari's eyes widened lightly as she saw a make shift village with tents and shacks built around a small clearing. She looked above them and saw that branches blocked out much of the red sky. Torches gave the small village a bit of a golden glow. “Alright. Lets get you some new armour.” He smiled, looking over her tattered leather she still wore.
Sakari looked down and sighed, gently rubbing her paw over her father's armour. “Okay.” was all she could saw as she followed the feline towards the back of the camp.
A tall cobra was standing over an anvil, hammering on a piece of glowing steel. “Seth!” Ferain said loudly to be heard over the sharp ring of metal on metal.
The cobra dipped the finished metal into a vat of water before lifting the dark tinted goggles. “Ferain.” He nodded. “Who'sss thisss?” he said with a slow hiss, his long fingers tightening around his hammer.
“Sakari. She's a friend.” He said and waved his paws. “Sakari, this is Seth, He keeps us all armed and protected. She needs some new armour, as quickly as you can.” Ferain spoke with amazing confidence to the larger reptile.
“Of coursse. I'll get ssstarted on it now.” He pointed down to the melted wolf's head. “Do you need that sssword repaired too?”
“Ah. N-no I've taken care of it. It's...as sharp as it was the day I got it...” She said and lifted the sword, looking down into the blade, watching her eyes in the metal.
“Very Well. I'll come and find you once your armour is finished.” He bowed slightly, flicking his long tail, turning to the furnace to start on the armour.
They walked towards a larger building near the back of the camp. The walked in to find Keelya standing over a table in the middle, her claws tracing around a map rolled out on the surface. “Hey Keelya, we're back.” Ferain said as he stood the bow against the table.
“Yeah. I can see that.” She spat and pushed away from the table, walking passed a curtain that separated the two rooms of the shack, her tail waving back and forth in agitation. 
“Don't mind her, She'll come around.” He sighed and looked down at the map. “I hope” he muttered. “Well. We'll be heading north tomorrow. Ternal's only a day and a half's walk from here. “ He said, pointing at the mark that indicated the camp before sliding his digit up towards the central capital. “We'll then meet Seraphii; our inside informer, just outside the west wall”
“Wall?” Sakari leaned against the table with a heavy sigh. 
“Zerataph raised them after we'd teleported out. He's also constructed a giant castle over the shrine.” Ferain said and pulled another map. “Seraphii made this for us. Most of the castle is unoccupied and barracks for his soldiers and the towns people that he keeps as slaves.” He made a larger circle around the outer rooms of the castle. “But up here is what we're after. It's on the highest level of the castle.” He said and pointed to the largest room. “The sword is encased in crystal under the throne. It's usually always guarded, so Seraphii will help us there, I'm still not sure how yet.” He said and waved his long tail. 
“I don't know. If...if I had to be honest. I'm still nervous about your contact. “It's not settling with me. But...” she lowered her head.
“It'll be okay Sakari. He's the only chance we have. And if everything goes as planned, we'll be in the city in no time. Posed ready to get the sword and strike Zerataph down.” He smiled encouragingly, pulling her back from the table. “Let's get something to eat before we come back to finish preparations.” He leader her back into the camp and over to a small mess hall.
Sakari picked at her food, heating little despite the hunger pains in her belly. Once they'd finished eating their fill, they returned to the planning room to prepare the rations and equipment they'd need for the trip.
Tying up the last back, Sakari looked up at the door to see the cobra stepping in. He held in his hands a blueish-silver chest plate, the metal shining weakly in the dull torch light. “Here you go. It'ss a bit heavier. But It'll be ssstronger than anything you've had before.” He hissed as Sakari peeled the tattered leather armour and gi top off and set them on the table. Pulling on the cuirass, she was amazed at how well it fit her, the interior padded well to keep the steel off of her pelt. Moving her arms around, she couldn't help but smile at how little the steel hindered her motions.
“This is amazing work, Seth. Thank you.” She said as the cobra lifted a pair of leggings and bracers to match. 
“Jussst doing my job. Good luck, and ssstay sssafe.” He bowed again before turning around to leave them to the rest of their Preparations.