Extra Extra, read all the ruff

Howling Thunder Ch29: Ruff Play

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At the base of the stairs I hear Patra call from the back area, “She get up?”

I head towards the wide steps leading to the workshop, “No, it looks like she was up late working so I left her alone.”

The clanging of metal chains thrashing about preludes the entertaining scene of Patra struggling to free them from a crate. Her legs tangled,arms wrapped, as if they were trying to drag her back into the box she finally falls on her butt.

She gives a small sigh, “Um, little help please dear husband.”

With a smirk, “Oh I don’t know, there’s something strangely satisfying about you being defeated by your own materials.”

A dry laugh, “Such a charmer, do you want help with your little game this morning or not?”

Grabbing the sections of chain wrapped around her I create spaces of fog for her to easily get free.

An hour slips by, Ulfa spends her time napping on top of the crate. I would wake her but, I don’t imagine keeping the bird girl asleep this long is so simple. I’m currently locking Patra against the cross to make sure we eye balled the size right and it will hold her weight. At this point I catch a scent that sends my heart rate over the top.

A familiar voice comes from the workshop entrance, “I didn’t think you’d pick up such interesting hobbies Fuzzy.”

Asta stands there, hands on her hips. She's wearing a grey military jacket trimmed with white fur over a slim white dress that is cut low and far shorter than any noble girl would brave. Her hair is cut very short on one side and left long and straight on the other.

I rush over and lift her up, even going so far as to possessively chomp at her neckline.

She giggles with a small yelp, “Hey! Well, I hope you’re always this excited to see me.”

Patra clears her throat, “You just going to leave me hanging hear Nox? Hey there Assy, ya look great in that jacket I sent ya last night.”

Putting her down, “Ah right, sorry,” I go to let down Patra while speaking over my shoulder, “How did you know I was hear?”

Asta grins, “My keen sense of finding my man...Haha, no, I came here to hide from grandmother, I figured you’d show up sooner or later.”

I check patra’s wrists, I might feel bad if there was a bruise...Might, “I asked Walt but all he told me was that you were at the Mage Academy.”

Patra laughs before returning to work.

Asta looks away, “Ah, well, Granny didn’t want me leaving for some reason. Anyway Walther snuck up this morning and happened to let me escape on his way to Sassa!”

She skips over and hops on my back, circling her arms around my neck while I pick up a length of chain to take to the back room. Seems I owe Walt a big favor.

“Good Morning everyone.”

Lupa walks in, you’d never think she just woke up from how carefully her hair and clothes seem prepared.

The vixen on my back tilts her head against mine, “What’s Miss Stick doing here?”

I catch a quick twitch of annoyance on Lupas expression as she forces a smile and walks over to Asta, “Get down, I’ll make some final adjustments to the jacket.”

She actually scampers up onto my shoulders entirely instead, “The girl with a stick up her butt is being nice! Fuzzy, what did you do to her, it's not contagious right?”

Looks like they’ve met before...

Patra brings over a pair of metal cuffs and clamps them on Lupa, “This here is Fuzzy’s third wife after me and you, oh, and she made that jacket.”

Lupa raises an eyebrow at her bound arms, “What's going on here?”

I pull Asta off my shoulders and gently let her down, “We’re interrogating your friend, well, you are anyway. Hope your acting skills are awake this morning. I like the tapestry by the way, show it to me when you’re finished. Hey Asta, did you just walk into the shop?”

She nods while Lupa looks utterly confused. I guess Copper didn’t lock up when he left.

“Let's get set up, someone wake up Ulfa please while I go lock the shop.”

A bit of arranging and we have Lupa pretending to be hanging from the ceiling by her chained wrists. The assassin girl is locked up on the cross.

When Lupa saw her lifted out of crate she only shook her head, “Stupid, bird brained, Cressa… I’m just fine.”

I ask, “Who is her father?”

With an official like tone that seems to ignore her locked up friend, “General Miklos, he also has a son, Kreiz. If she’s here than I guarantee he is the one who got her involved, most of the time she is attached to his hip.”

Suddenly I’m reminded of Akane…

“The idea is to scare her, we need to know who is behind these problems. Also we should try and get what their plan is and where they’re operating out of.”

Lupa nods then looks up, “I’ll get it done, but promise she won't get hurt...and you owe me for this.”

I can already see her wrists are a bit scratched by the cuffs.

Trying my luck I grab her by the waist, “I don’t know, seeing you prideful ladies tied up this morning might be worth the price.”

Especially considering Lupa’s particular outfit seems to be struggling to keep her chest contained in this position.

A sharp pain strikes my foot as she digs in her heel, “I already know you’re just playing so this will be the only thing you’ll feel from me. I imagine Patra’s mother will have a word with you over my price.”

There is a grin wider than I’ve seen on her yet, as if she can already see the amount of materials she is going to order.

I shake my foot and let her go, “Whatever, still worth it. Good luck with the show wifey.”

A single small candle is left lit on the wall. Asta fills the room with cold air and I leave a thick layer of black mist on the floor which also hides that Lupa is standing just fine. We leave the room to stand in the hall, Ulfa’s curse fades as we close the door behind us.

Like we planned, Patra cracks a loud, leather whip in the air and lets out a painful shriek.

Asta giggles and whispers, “let me try next.”

The noise in the hall did the job and woke the Turul girl up with a start.

“What?! Where am I? Lupy! Are you alright?”

Lupa sighs, “Oh, I‘m hanging in here. Why are you here Cressa?”

Really Lupa… whatever.

Asta holds her mouth not to giggle loudly, “I didn’t realize Miss Stick knew how to joke.”

Patra cracks the whip again and lets out another scream.

My wild one pouts, “Hey, I called next.”

Rolling my eyes I peek back into the knot hole in the door.

Cressa whispers, “Brother told me they were sending people into the castle to kill the evil siblings who will steal the throne from the queen. I told them I’d take care of the black monster and rescue you! He didn’t want to let me so I lied to the fellow who got the assignment and took over without telling brother.”

I feel insulted but only because they seem to think we’re lambs to be so easily killed.

Patra cracks the whip, this time Ulfa lets out a pained moan before anyone else can.

Asta stomps her feet but Ulfa only quietly giggles.

The bird girl flinches, “How many women does he have captured here?!”

Lupa rolls her eyes, “Too many...but how did you sneak into the castle?”

She grins, “Brother stole some paperwork from father’s office, he’s never home anyway. With daddy always at the castle we don’t have to worry about our base being discovered. No one would look for us in a general’s manor.”

Oh I wonder how many royal guard captains would pull out their hair when they saw how easy this interrogation is going?

Dumb Would Be Assassin continues, “Just be brave Lupy, soon brother will wash the city of all the other wolves and Yoden will belong to the birds!”

Patra cracks the whip again, finally Asta lets out a moan but the tone is a little... off.

Lupa calls out clearly annoyed, “You idiots, this is a torture scene not a breeding event.”

Copper chooses now of all times to rush in with the guard from up front, “We heard screaming!”

Lupa opens her own chains and walks out of the room, “I’m so done with this. Copper get back to sweeping!”

Noticing the utterly confused bird, “Ulfa put her back to sleep please. Asta lets sneak you back to the tower before Grandmother has me locked away as well.”

She pauses her laughing, “Hey as long as we get locked up together it wouldn’t be so bad.”

There’s a chance I drooled a bit seeing Asta’s expression as she licks her lips, as if Hyndla would let that happen.

To the guard, “crate the girl back up, and ready the carriage.”

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A/n: Hope that was fun for ya lol, these chapters are definitely getting harder to visually present. someday i'll afford an illustrator.

anyway, moving sucks so only one chap til my day off wednesday (probably), still no internet at the new apartment so i did this on my phone. my 50 gallon fish tank broke, sad day.

anyway im trying to make sure I give status updates on my twitter as well as answer questions so toss me a follow if you like.