"This weapon will create a concussive field as it hits a target. Blue jays are absolutely insane. No wonder there are so few of them!" Stone looked at his companions,"I have seen granados before but these are different entirely. The aviary…"

"...is insane," Freya finished.

"Quite right, Miss Kayli, now the question is, can you shoot one? They're quite heavy."

"I'm willing to try."

"I wish Sam or Chip were here, they’d be easily able to do this," Stone said, looking towards River.

"Sela is still too far away to help. Chip is still… training recruits."

River had to concentrate to get the second answer. Freya worried that they were going to stress her oaths too far.

"How long?" Stone asked, a twinkle in his eye.

"One day. He must be near the encampment we are heading to."

Freya saw the retired otter smile.

"Remember that he can only fight against beasts and in self defense."

"Less glory for him, then."

The group was following the convoy on their chickens, leaving a small gap. River would stay with the convoy, her oath making her useless in this fight. She could heal their wounds, but nothing more.

The fact that she had let them in on the oaths binding some or her actions, made Freya trust her more. She didn't have to put herself in that position.

Freya would provide overwatch, leading chicken freya and two others to the right spots. She would use her temporary bonds to pull them to her.

River hadn't yet taught her the weave for the fire spear, but as she would be flying badly, she didn’t want to attempt a new weave at the same time. It would have to wait.

"Please, take care, we need those like you to become druids," River said.

Her pained expression awoke something inside the young mouse. Freya got a little choked up and then caught an updraft. She was glad that the single tear she shed was obscured by her height. Even with her strong vision, River wouldn’t see her in this state.

They’d passed by a giant evergreen that provided exactly what a lady needed, cover and concealment. A lady mouse could appreciate those things. Before the chickens were to flush out the cats, she had to find out where they were.

The bond between herself and chicken Freya felt strong. Chicken Freya, now had a purpose and wanted to help. Perhaps being helpless against a giant foe, like the bear before, had emboldened the beasts. Or the stirring within the chicken's breast could be some motherly instinct. Freya didn’t know, only feeling the calm confidence of a killer chicken.

She shuddered at that feeling, flapping ever higher until she reached the treetops.

Flying felt easier now than it had, and Freya was grateful that they had spent some time training in Yellowrock. That brief time had paid dividends, and she felt more confident now on her second flight of the day, even alone. Before long she was searching from where the scouts were to where she imagined them to be.

Freya scanned the trees and the underbrush, slowly and methodically working her way towards the point at which her party was trailing the convoy.

A glint caught her eye.

The cats were impossibly too close, creeping along the end of the convoy.

Freya immediately jerked the bond, stirring the chicken's wrath.

Today, they would beware of the chicken.

Patrol Leader Shin Yeung watched the carts of roaches carrying supplies for the war effort against his people. War leader Alexa would be pleased with his bounty, and would surely shower the young Cat with trinkets.

For hours the scouts had circled the slow moving roaches. With their strong feline hindlegs, they’d easily overtaken the supply train multiple times, waiting each time for an opportune moment.

The calico cat felt the sun and moon pendant on his chest, a match for the hilt of his sword. A swordmaster from the Marquisate, he hungered for battle. It had been weeks since he’d had an opportunity and now with the small amount of forces guarding this convoy? Both he and his sword were ready to be sated.

His three companions sat behind him, awaiting the flick of his claws that would indicate it was time to go.

But for the tasty bluejay that had flown up in front of the convoy, he suspected that this would be an easy ambush. The bluejay that had stayed behind, a surprise guest for him, looked pale and sickly. They would eat her last.

A sudden spicy aroma filled his nostrils and he was alert. He drew his blade and assumed the warrior's gait.

A concussive blast forced him off his feet, disorienting him. He bled from his ears as he stood to assume a defensive posture.

“Blue jays are absolutely insane!” An otter riding a chicken yelled, though Shin Yueng only heard him faintly. The chicken had- impossibly- circled around to flank him, and as he turned, he heard the familiar sound of another blade being drawn.

No sooner did he stand than ahead of him another sun and moon marked blade announced itself, this one in the hands of an elderly mouse.

Shin Yueng scoffed.

He would die for this insolence. The mouse reached only two thirds of his height and though the blade was distinct, he did not recognize the stance.

“Let’s see what it takes to earn the sun and the moon on the other side of the wall, mouse.” Shin Yeung roared, moving to attack.

“Gladly,” his foe said, drawing nearer.

It seemed that the mouse had a death wish. Shin Yeung drew in a deep breath, catching the earthy tones of his enemy before steeling himself.

Shin Yueng launched into the cat's advance, his pointed blade half defending, his left paw outstretched.

“Would that you could sate my hunger, but perhaps your beast will do as well.”

Blade clanged on blade as they met. The surprising resistance behind the mouse gave Shin Yueng pause.

A moment passed and the mouse began his offensive, striking deft movements into the air, missing a few times by inches.

Shin Yueng moved on the defensive, retreating away from his concussed allies. They were either dead or incapacitated, it mattered not at this point. All that mattered was this.

A flick of the mouse's blade drew a fine line of red across Shin Yuengs cheek.

The shock of the mouse drawing first blood took him aback. Never before had any cat even come close to striking him. To see a mouse push him on the defensive, even as he attempted to play his own game?

His sure footing became even less certain as he stepped farther and farther back.