Vytyl was one of many worlds bearing animals, but this world contained dires. Predatory mammals, wolves, tigers, and bears. Their lineages supposedly traced back to dragons. Dragons had perverted the eggs of evolution, so there was no such thing as a normal wolf. These dires were beasts, such as the one running with the flailing otter in her mouth.

The creature squeaked, not yet murdered. This otter was demonic in nature, not a dire, as dires got sick from eating dires of any other species. But the beast wasn't expecting to kill her, not soon. She blended into the darkness with her black coat. Her crimson underbelly may expose herself, especially in this snowstorm. Yet she didn't stand still. She slunk down an alley.

Flames illuminated her form, enough for a wolf with a canary coat to spot her. She was across the road, on the side filled with rampaging wolves. "Swillow, we have to split up. I have somebody to rescue, you go on ahead."

Swillow scoffed, and put the otter on the ground, pinning her. "You choose an invasion to go and save somebody? You want to go looting during a hyena invasion, that's bad enough, and now you want to rescue somebody too?"

"I can do it alone, it's my new boyfriend," she said. Swillow remembered her talking about a new boyfriend a few times. She never gave clear details.

"About time you stopped hiding him from me, I'm sure he'll be nice in his own way." She bit down on the otter's nape and dashed down an alley. Swillow didn't trust any wolf in this town. Wolves weren't even supposed to form civilizations. Wolf packs consisted of a mother, a father, and their babies. Not this kingdom monstrosity. But she discarded the thought.

Canida smoked in the flames set by the hyenas. Dires had magical abilities, which Swillow used. Fire traced her paws, and melted some snow before she touched it. Sometimes turning it to steam. Her breath glided in visible form, wafting in cold air.

A hyena in the distance incited caution. This hyena skulked, darted his eyes to anything in sight, and implied his own wariness. Must be his first time pillaging. If she didn't bother him, he wouldn't bother her. Not that he'd see her, or smell her as her scent washed away in the wind. But as a preventative measure, she ducked underneath a bank of snow.

Crunching footsteps made her get flatter. Hyena boy stood on a snowy hill, looking down. Swillow rushed upwards to meet him. How would he know she wasn't anymore a resident of Kingsbirth? He'd attack her if she didn't strike first.

He snapped at her neck. Missed by several inches. He snapped again, but at the otter who squeaked and kicked. Swillow retaliated with a glasgow kiss to the hyena's mouth, probably busting his teeth as he slid down the hill and into a pile of snow.

Swillow gave him an honorary salute, then came upon a crevasse leading to a frosted over valley. She stayed idly until Citrus came, with an unwelcome visitor.

Swillow squeezed the otter so hard her eyes bulged. The visitor said, "I think you and I go back a bit." The wolf's color matched the nearby ice making him almost perfectly camouflaged. His sleek fur shed most of the snow off.

Swillow backed up. She spat out the otter, and Citrus pounced before she made a clean getaway. "Wasting? This is a joke right?"

"I know you have some bad blood with him, but he's going to help out. He's going to the Decay." Swillow wasn't moving. Borderline catatonic. "These hyenas, you know, are from Hyenkayd. The Decay hyenas would help us out."

Wasting said, "I know that this is a lot to ask from you Swillow. I know that you never want to see me again. But this is what we have to do for the kingdom." He turned back to Citrus. "We need to get to the Divorcing. Our main concern has to be food. River's too cold right now, but first we need to get down the crevasse, go that?"

Flames flared behind Swillow, crafting a wall taller than all three wolves. "I got it, how about I simply melt us down?" The flames encircled the three and nearby snow melted.

"Swillow, stop," Citrus said. "He's my boyfriend now. I've been meeting him in private and we got together. Police officer is a forbidden romance when I'm a feral, so that makes this kinda hot if you know what I mean."

The flames got brighter and hotter. "I think this is hotter," Swillow said. Wasting didn't react too much, and turned snow into water with his own magic. He doused the flames. Swillow regarded Wasting as he strolled past her. Citrus only gave her a small, sorry glance before descending, and soon Swillow joined them into the darkness.

*

Swillow hopped rock to rock. Most of the rocks made stark contrast against the bright snow. Daybreak was arriving, tainting the snow in a variety of colors. She jumped onto a purple patch, causing a hars crunch, which was cool.

The smoke wisps provided reminder of the burning village miles away. Said village turned into a pinprick of orange against a periwinkle canvas. A well deserved fate according to Swillow. Weeks of hyena invasion stirred up wants of investigation. But the effort to organize retaliation, in a big country like Canida, proved too much. It would take weeks at least.

Citrus hopped up next to Swillow. "Wait, Swillow." Swillow didn't bother acknowledging her. "You can't turn him away forever. I love him."

"Why?" Swillow asked, snarling. Citrus didn't stand down, even if Swillow was taller and bulkier than she was.

"I also thought he was a bad guy when I met him. Thought he was an arrogant mutt. But I think after fourteen years he's changed and come a long way, Swillow."

"Tch, you're pretty naive. I thought that a Snow would know not to trust anybody. Any wolf with a brain would notice he's a weasel. No offense by the way." That was towards the otter, who Wasting now carried.

Wasting passed the otter to Citrus, and confidently approached Swillow. "Swillow, I know that you don't like me, but I did what I did for reasons. I'm actually a major catch, not that you'd see that. You're still that bitch who thinks she's got something important to say."

Swillow opened her mouth. Wasting waited for what she had to say, but Swillow only breathed in his face with a twisted smile on her mouth.

Wasting turned his head away, nose contorting and cringing in disgust. "Have you never brushed your teeth since you still lived in Kingsbirth?" Wasting asked. "It smells like somebody crawled up and died in your mouth."

Swillow said, "Speaking of crawling up and dying, when are we going to tear into this little otter here who is playing dead so we won't eat her?"

The otter perked up. That may have actually been her plan. Wasting said, "You go ahead and do your dark magic, eat her how you do, Slaughterhound."

"Wait, no, if you don't eat me, I can bring you to where the rest of my pack is! I can tell you where in the Divorcing you can find the otters." The otter grasped her paws together.

Swillow said, "Desperate plea. Should I believe you're willing to let us massacre your family for meat because you can't accept dying?" The otter nodded. "Say, Wasting, what should we do with somebody who's willing to turn their own family over?"

Wasting said, "I know why you're asking me, don't think I didn't catch that. But in any case, I doubt if her family could trust her that we can. I think it's probably best we eat her now."

The otter said, "It's a gamble, but if I'm being honest, you will have more to eat than you could ever need."

Wasting said, "You have no idea how much we need to eat. I can eat pounds upon pounds of food, way more than something like you could feed."

Swillow said, "I mean, simply the energy to keep up our body heat is astounding. Holy crap, I mean, I can eat more than Wasting can. Think about the energy it costs to heat up the snow too since I'm blazing the Tundric Wasteland down."

Citrus exchanged the otter with Wasting. "That's right, that's what we're drinking, the ground Swillow has walked on. Sorta like if she was a wolf of worship, and she might be, not doubting that."

Swillow said, "Are you sure that I'm not a wolf of worship? I happen to be rather grand and glorious. If it was my choice, I'd have worshipped myself.

Citrus smiled. "If anything, I know that you are a wolf of worship. I know that in some way you are definitely a being that should be worshipped but that you will never fully be understood by anybody. In any way. Can you accept that?"

"I accept that term and I accept those conditions, that I have fully listened to. Thank you for saying that right now Citrus."

"No one ever looks at the entire terms and conditions," Citrus said. "Glad to know you do." Wasting gave Citrus back the otter.

Wasting said, "I know you two like your jokes that are frankly inappropriate at this point. But I think we need to focus on how we're gonna cook this little creature. And we need something to wash her down with. I am not drinking water that's been touched by Swillow's dirty feet. No one wants to drink that," Wasting said.

Citrus said, "He's a picky eater in case you didn't know that. Or a picky drinker as it may well be." Swillow shook her head.

"I know that, he's always been like that. He hasn't changed a bit." Swillow breathed in Wasting's face, and said, "Isn't that right?"

Speeding up, he said, "You can brush your teeth for once, Swillow. If you want, next village we get to, I'll buy you toothpaste. It's a marvelous invention. You should check it out."

Swillow said, "I guess I can go and find us a river to drink from. You have to figure that the Divorcing is somewhere nearby."

Citrus said, "Cool, might give Wasting and I some alone time together, if you know what I am saying." Swillow snarled and shook her head.

"Sick. I don't think I want to know what you're saying," Swillow said. Too bad she already figured out Citrus was talking about sexing up Wasting. Gross concept, her best friend and that jerk. She deserved somebody so much better. She had a right to find it disgusting because it was grotesque. Who could understand why she wanted him in any way?

*

The rushing of the river entered Swillow's ear drums before sight of rushing rapids entered her sight. The water was covered in piercing rocks, but still the river was so calm that most of it was clear as crystal. She found a pond at the end of the Divorcing river, which had frosted over. No reason crossing it. Ice was thin at best.

Upwind came a draft, and she sniffed it. That was a canine scent. She sauntered up a snowy hill, tracing it to source of origin. Almost didn't locate the struggling, white creature with a purple tail tip and paws. It was a fox tangled up in a net, which prevented her movement.

The fox spotted her."Please help me out. My name is Snofall, and some otters attacked me, before tying me up." Swillow stood shocked. "Some otter named Granyt offered to help me find others to eat as I had already eaten several of her kind. But when I got there, I was ambushed and now they've left me out in the cold. I think that they said something about already filling a quota? Do you know anything about that?"

Swillow pondered the information. "Goodie, the otter we have was trying the same thing. Without your help, I couldn't have foiled her plans." With a claw, she tried ripping apart the net, then when that didn't work, she set her claw on fire before snapping the bindings. "That is your reward. If you want, you can come with my pack."

Snofall swished her tail and said, "Thank you." Moment of hesitation, then she said, "You are pretty kind you know."

Swillow said, "Not at all." Snofall retreated almost instinctively at that information. "I'm called the Slaughterhound for a reason."

Snofall said, "All of us get all kinds of names. That simply means somebody saw you as a Slaughterhound."

Swillow said, "I am not what others say I am, that's right. But that doesn't mean I am good simply because they are wrong about me being evil. I think that I am evil, but I have come to terms with that assessment."

Snofall gave an awkward stare away. "I think you're way better than you want to admit. You didn't have to free me but you still did."

"But it wasn't like I risked anything to help you out." Snofall put a paw on Swillow's chest. Swillow felt a bit warm from the touch.

Snofall said, "You don't have to. You don't have to be a martyr to have helped out. You don't have to always be risking yourself."

Swillow said, "Thank you Snofall. You are the kindest fox I've met all day. Only fox I've met all day as a matter of fact." Knowing her scouting mission was done, she asked, "Can I ask what you've been doing out here, and why you got caught?"

"I've been running for a while now. Not from anybody or anyone, but I've been trying to see all that there is, and get my mind clear. So if you want to know about the status of your invitation, I want to tell you I'm good to go."

"Neat, now all I need to do is call for my friend and for her escort. I cannot allow their sexing to keep going on. It's an insult to me, having to think about it."

Snofall visibly had second thoughts of going with Swillow. "I don't know how you think friends work. But I can tell you that I didn't need to know that. I still barely know you."

"I know, right?" Swillow gave out a loud wolf howl, one that could be heard all the way back at the burning village if necessary. "That should get them back here, soon as they're done doing the jig of baking mabies."

"Stop talking about your friends having sex. Who talks about that without their friends being nearby?" Snofall asked. With a breath, she said, "It's none of your business anyway what they're doing, not at all, Slaughter."

"My name is actually Swillow. It also is my business. That because I could end up with something from this." She avoided the word she wanted to say. "Do you know how to handle puppies? Because I don't, never had them. Probably should get started, I mean, us dires get into heat for the Winter, and I've been thinking about taking one of the hyena invaders to a nice house, you know what I mean."

Snofall said, "In that case, Swillow, I have had to deal with kits before, I have babysat. You aren't even becoming the parent in the first place, at best a godmother. Sounds more like your friend and her boyfriend are having the problems, not you."

Swillow gave an indignant snort. From a nearby bank of snow, came Citrus and Wasting. Wasting carried the otter in his mouth, then dropped her. "What is it?"

Swillow said, "This otter's trying to get us caught in a trap. Her tribe is baiting us with her. I only found out because this foxy fox got caught in a trap." Snofall's mouth fell open at being called a "foxy fox".

Citrus said, "In that case, I guess we should only eat her right now." She paused and fixed her sentence with, "The otter, not the fox." Snofall gave a quick grin, obviously a big fan of not being a wolf's stomach. The otter wasn't too disturbed for some reason. Ice cracked near the ponds.

Wasting waved a paw at Snofall. "My name is Wasting. My girlfriend is Citrus, and I guess you've already been acquainted with Swillow."

So Swillow took the otter, and pinned her to a rock. Citrus came up, ready to rip her throat out. "Do you have any last words?"

The otter said, "I swear, that I Granyt, declare it is too late to eat me as you're about to be surrounded right now."

Swillow heard more cracking ice from the pond. "Say, Snofall, where exactly were you led before you were assaulted by a bunch of otter guards?"

Snofall said, "Here, that's why there was that net." Swillow nodded, and glanced at Citrus who glanced at Wasting. The three all nodded like bobbleheads as the cold wind rushed past.

Otters shot forward from the snow, while others buried from underneath the snow. It wasn't threatening to see only one otter, but a thousand was technically a small army. But not so technically, too much for even a wolf to handle at any point.

"You canines, keep thinking you're all so big," one otter said. "How about we teach you all a lesson about eating us?"

"That you're tasty?" Swillow asked. Several water spells shot from the pond, rocketing towards the canines. Swillow summoned up flames in a circle around them, protecting them from a certain splashing from the otter magics. Being wet in the cold was dangerous. Citrus leapt over the flames and bit down on an otter before ripping him apart.

Swillow and Wasting followed suit. Wasting tripped up first, and had a net thrown on him. Citrus ran to support him, but several otters threw a net over her. Swillow wasn't sure when Snofall was caught, but it was after she herself was. Swillow felt herself on the ground, a heavy net on her.

*

"So you thought you could get away with eating a bunch of innocent otters," one guard said. While it was phrased as a question, it was said like a statement. He jabbed at them with a spear, forcing them down the snowy trail. "I guess you won't be saying that once you're taken in as a sacrifice, will you?" The other guards left, and Swillow wasn't feeling too hot. Literally, because she was soaking wet, but also because she knew Wasting and Citrus may share a dark fate with her. They had murdered only one otter. Was she about to die right now?

"Usually we don't have to kill you," an otter said. It wasn't normally a threat, most kingdoms in Vytyl didn't do executions. There were even pacts against it. But when it came to feral lands, they could play by different rules. Major civilizations such as the United Canine Kingdoms, or Canida for short, may have had to play by Tandyar's rules, but not some no name pack.

Citrus whispered in Swillow's ear, "I have a plan. I know how to get us out of this. Simply wait for my cue, got that?"

Swillow nodded. She told Wasting, "Citrus has a plan, make sure you listen when she gives the signal." Wasting whispered to Snofall, probably the same information. But also that Swillow must have had something foul for lunch for her breath to stank that bad.

Swillow heard voices. "Do you have our offerings?" No telling where those voices came from. Sounded like they came all around. But the voices sounded deep, imposing, and exaggerated. Almost like a cartoon version of a villain than anything serious.

"Yes, and you promise you won't hurt our kind?" It was obviously a mayor otter asking this. "We only do this in exchange for our protections."

"Provide for us bountifully, and we assure you otters, that you will all be alright. Provide us criminals, for we need their souls." Snofall did not look amused.

"They are not actually offering us up. These guys are getting majorly conned by somebody," Snofall whispered. "I can tell you straight up nobody sounds like that naturally."

Swillow told Citrus, "Okay, so here's my cue, Flashbang this place, and I'll burn this place down. Wasting, take some Divorcing river water, and rain it down on everybody. You all got that plan, need me to repeat it, don't need me to, good, let's go."

Kicking up some flames, Swillow took backstage as a guard came towards her. Snofall shook her tail at him, sending a gust that blew him back. Must have known Lightning or Wind magics. Wasting shot up pillars of icy water, before allowing it to rain on the otters. Citrus shot a ball of pure light from her mouth.

"Cover your ears," Swillow warned everybody. "No, wait, then you can't run away, never mind." She wanted to qualify with more information, but then there came a hissing sound. The orb exploded, and Snofall, who had never known of the spell, saw the light in its entirety. With snow having reflected the light, Snofall was understandably stunned. But after that came a boom, like thunder chasing lightning.

Swillow snatched Snofall's tail, and threw her on her back so Snofall could ride her. The light blinded the otters, and probably the voices too as they all shrieked in pain. "Keep running until you see the light of day," Citrus said.

"Good that I'm not running then," Snofall said, having seen the light of day. Or the light period. Swillow was hoping Snofall was secure on her back right now.

Swillow said, "In all fairness, it's probably not the best idea to do a Flashbang out in the open of snow, but it prevented everybody from seeing us."

Citrus sniffed the ground. "I smell the scammers. Can recognize that awful scent anywhere, and I know what they are, and they're coming closer. If I'm right, I can stop their advances, but I need you all to duck behind these hills of snow." Warily, the remainder of the pack did so. It was time to see if Citrus' theory was correct. She wasn't filling them in on any plan, and Swillow wasn't sure why. She could only see the tail of Citrus, as she was flicking it around, a bit impatiently.

Snofall asked Wasting, "Do you think we can trust her? Do you think she has her information right?"

Wasting only nodded, but took it back verbally. "She tricked me, and I'm an officer. So like a coyote, she must have some wily. But at the same time, I don't know if that's the case, or I am simply easy to trick."

"I'd have voted on easy to trick," Swillow said. "I know who you are and what you're like, Wasting." Wasting turned to face her but she exhaled dog breath straight into his face, and it was clear he wasn't learning any lessons soon. Wasting crinkled his nose and turned away. Point taken, but now the pack got a fresh provision of doubt.

*

Citrus scouted the threat as she came down the Wasteland. She hopped from a hill to a tree, gaining a vantage point. She judged correctly. It was a pack of mustelid beings. Bipedal, with four digits on their hands and feet. Smooth snouts, and rounded ears. Large ears, so they could hear better. Padded hands and feet. Marks of a crimson, residents of a distant planet Voto. The twin of Vytyl. Why would one be after her?

Common Draconic was the main tongue across both planets. But Citrus used a more primal barking to attract the approaching crimsons. They scanned the area for the source of the barking. Barking didn't mean much, it mattered a lot on the context, that's why no Dire used their primal tongues. Her plan was to take advantage of their sensitivity. Crimsons had great senses all around, but that backfired a lot.

This gaggle of crimsons had perhaps fifteen members. They ran towards the source of the noise. Then they saw her. She ran towards the bank of snow that her friends were at. Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself. This was called a Shrieker, the mother of Flashbangs. She spat her out, and the Shrieker spun.

It was a piercing sound that rented the air. This was a note so high that it would shatter glass instantly, and so loud that it would resonate into the bowels. She'd rarely used it. Sometimes she'd come upon accounts that it'd make somebody instantly evacuate their bowels. That was an exaggeration. Plus it was plain gross. But it sounded damn hilarious.

Afterwards came a brilliant light. Some of the victims screamed about their newfound blindness, while others their newfound deafness. One recoiling crimson tried covering both her ears, and her eyes, before settling on covering her ears. The gaggle stumbled around while Citrus bounded down to Swillow, Wasting, and Snofall.

"Drop your socks, and grab your rocks. Don't want to stick around with those crimsons lurking." The hill of snow had protected Wasting, Swillow, and Snofall, from the full effects of the Shrieker. Still, the three couldn't entirely hear her commands. Citrus figured that out after a second, so she repeated the commands, but louder. "Moving on, lurking crimsons, come and I'll get you food!"

Swillow said, "I'll melt the snow to slush to mislead them. Citrus will have to take charge for now." Citrus nodded to that and ran ahead. She could see Swillow turn into a red blur, which preceded orange flames. The Slaughterhound headed off a different way to mislead, and ran for about a thousand meters before figuring she did a good enough job. Her flames flickered in the gust, teasing they'd turn into tidal waves.

Snofall made the snow sink in. Quicksnow traps, which meant if anybody stepped into one of the areas it would act like quicksand. Swillow could melt her way out if she got out, so that wasn't an issue.

Swillow arrived with many powerful leaps. Their hearings had all returned by now. She stood in front of them and said, "Didn't take that long. Still, crimsons are secretly convincing the otters to offer up predators. Do you think that the otters are getting taken advantage of?"

"Technically an otter and a crimson are somewhat similar," Citrus said. "I think that they were simply born on different planets, that's the only reason why they don't share DNA or anything. But they're still mustelids."

Swillow said, "Can they technically be considered true mustelids if they aren't on the planet mustelids originated?"

"How it's decided is that they're in a category known as mustelid like to other species," Citrus said. "But unless you're planning on large scale galactic travel, I doubt it will matter. None of our species has access to alien spacecraft."

Wasting said, "I think it's more important we start hatching a plan for what to do now. I can barely see past all of this snow, and I don't think we can stay right now. We have to establish a shelter for the night, find a food source, and we travel next night."

Swillow paused and said, "The crimsons are still lurking around." She pointed, and since crimsons got their names from the colors of their coats, it was pretty easy to spot one in snow. Coming closer was a purple figure in the distance, hyena shaped. "That explains it, crimsons are working with the hyenas, that must be it."

The hyena bit down on the crimson's arm and threw him to the ground before ripping his throat apart. "I guess not," Swillow said.

Wasting said, "They could simply be play wrestling. But that is a lot of blood. Gross, I mean, that's not coming out of the ground. That's some wicked wrestling. I guess we shouldn't stick around too long." The remaining canines nodded, and went further into the wasteland.

"There's a temple up ahead we can hide in." Snofall pointed to it. The temple took the same colors of snow and ice for camouflage, but the others accepted this.

Swillow told Snofall, "I guess that will have to suffice for right now. Suffice as in, you know, ice, it's a pun."

Wasting told Citrus, "Don't you dump me for her. It would break my heart and my ego if you did that. That's simply sad. It means you didn't love me at all and were only using me for my money, for my benefits, that and also only for sex."

Citrus put a gentle paw on his shoulder, and gave him a loving gaze. "Don't be ridiculous, Wasting, I would never use you only for sex."

"Thank you. Wait a second." Dire blood was yellow like a banana, which is exactly the color Wasting's face turned. Citrus gave Wasting a quick grin and kept walking.

But Snofall wasn't pleased as they approached the temple. Sort of like she had a secret. "So, Wasting, Swillow, what happened between you that makes you dislike each other so much?"

Swillow glanced at Wasting, but Wasting gave a nod. A go ahead that she could tell the story. If he had any problems with her version of events, he'd give his own later anyway. Citrus shook her head, having heard it a thousand times. "He's my brother, and we were both officers in Kingsbirth of the wolf kingdom. So during patrol one day he framed me for a murder. But I guess that wasn't that bad." Snofall already seemed shocked. "I mean, I did actually commit the killing."