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// CH 2: Into the Fray 
// Story: Salt and Sapphire 
// by SirReal 
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"Why don't we just take you, furry chicken? More us than you, and you'd make fine gem slave." The pack which surrounded the dirty, battered gryphon chortled in agreement, eager to beat and chain the idiot who willingly waltzed into their mines. All but the leader.

"Thank you for the kind offer, but regretfully I will have to decline." Despite his nonchalant appearance, the gryphon's shifting eyes and perked ears betrayed his unease. "I've already played the part of a slave, and I must say you dogs are harsher taskmasters than even Madam Barb. And that's not an easy feat, believe me."

Mirth, the Alpha, a dog who wore a Glasgow smile and was mean and muscular, glowered at the intruder, trying to get a bead on him. He was hiding something. He shouldn't've been this tranquil. The gryphon's piercing brown eyes, filled not with fear, but determination and rage, found his and the two had a silent battle of wills.

"Your command, Boss. We can rough him up a smidge before sending him to the mines," said Yorm, his Beta. Growls reverberated from the walls; the glare of sharp teeth reflected from pools of saliva; muscles tightened, prepared to spring.

Then Mirth stood. Just as suddenly as the advance began, it stopped, every one of his subordinates looking at him questioningly.

"We've had a lot of prisoners in our mines, but none of them came of their own accord. Why're you here, little bird?"

"Well, it's certainly not to skimp on your hospitality, mutt."

"I can have Yorm here pluck your feathers one by one before we roast you over a fire."

The gryphon grit his teeth. "No need for any of that."

"Why are you here?" Mirth repeated.

"I have something that you might find useful."

"What could you give me that I don't already have?"

The gryphon tapped his beak. "Well, that depends, uh..."

"Mirth, Alpha of the Frayed. It'd behoove you to remember that, you overgrown pigeo―" Mirth silenced his Beta with a glance, returning his gaze to the intruder.

"...Right. Mirth. Little wonder I didn't guess that from your cheery disposition. At any rate, I can offer you..." The maverick reached inside his satchel, an action which caused the guard dogs to raise their maces. "This!"

Mirth felt his patience thinning. "That's just a coin."

"Right you are, Mirth! But not just any coin; this is a coin from the bowels of the Pack of the Sapphire."

Mirth snarled. "Lie to me again, bird, and I'll personally ship you to them as a gift! Something as scrawny as you could never dream of escaping a pack as large and bloodthirsty as them."

"And next you'll say something as scrawny as I could never dream of retrieving an intricate map of their mines." By now, everyone was more perplexed by the gryphon than they were hostile. Before Mirth could snap them out of that and order him to be pummeled for wasting his time, however, the bird retrieved a folded up piece of paper from his satchel. He unfolded it, and unfolded it, and unfolded it, until finally it was revealed to indeed be a very large, very intricate map.

"That still don't tell me anything about why you're here. What in Tartarus am I supposed to do with this!"

Yorm had taken a seat next to the map, studying every detail with a glint in his eyes. "Boss, they even have their caches mapped! Gold, weapons, prisoners, even their supply of sapphires and gems!" The other dogs crowded around, the gryphon backing away, forgotten.

"We could be rich beyond our wildest dreams!" said a grunt.

"Yeah, and we'll have the rep of tearing apart one of the most feared packs in the region!"

"We'll be the top dogs!"

Cheers and hugs filled the mines, the dogs elated at the prospect of being rid of their pesky competition.

"Enough!"

At Mirth's shout, all again went quiet. His eyes were settled on the smirking gryphon.

"What do you have to gain from this?"

"First off, I have one less pack of dogs trying to enslave me. But the question isn't about what I have to gain, it's about what I have to lose. And to be quite frank, I have nothing to lose. All that is important is I want the Sapphires destroyed, and I couldn't think of a better way to accomplish that than with a rival pack."

Mirth growled. "I want him in chains. He gives you any flak, make him kiss the ground. Then we'll head out and find the Sapphires' mines."

The gryphon panicked when two large enforcers beset upon him, grabbing him by his arms and making to drag him off deeper into the mines. "Wait! You need me!" Mirth ignored his cry. "You will all die without my guidance! Your young, your able, and your elders, all damned to the same grisly fate!"

The Alpha's ear twitched. One of his enforcers slammed his fist into the bird's stomach, causing him to cough and heave. "And what makes you so sure of that?" asked Mirth, turning toward the prisoner.

The gryphon spat. "T-They will come for you in the dead of night and slaughter you while you sleep."

"I doubt that, gryphon." Mirth waved the enforcers to let the intruder go, leaning down over him. "They don't know where our hideout is."

"And you don't know where theirs is, either. Have you thought of that?" He looked around the room. "There is a mole amongst you! Open your bloody eyes! How else could the Sapphires grow to their size without intimate knowledge of the workings and structure of the opposition?" Looking back into Mirth's eyes, the intruder continued. "And yes, that includes the location of your hideout."

A deathly silence permeated the room, only broken by the panting of the winded gryphon.

After a long, tense moment, the quiet was broken by Mirth. "When?" he softly whispered, but this question thundered through the very foundation of everyone's souls. "When do they plan on attacking?"

"I don't know. But it will be soon. It could be tonight, tomorrow, or a week from now. Tartarus, they may already be waiting outside! You're wondering how I found your mines in next to no time with no familiarity with the forests of Warg's Pass, correct? Well, they too will arrive when they are prepared to exterminate the Frayed."

Mirth stared off into the distance. When it became clear he had nothing more to say, Yorm gulped. "Then that means..." He growled. "We have to ready ourselves." He turned to the nearest dogs, barking orders. "Call in every able-bodied dog from their shifts! Wake them if they're asleep! Put a weapon in the hands of everyone; our defense is the top priority!"

"No. You must attack them!" Everyone looked at the gryphon as though he grew an eye in the middle of his forehead. "You will not have the opportunity after tonight. The thought had wormed itself into the minds of those imbeciles that they should devote today to a preliminary celebration. That's how I managed to weasel my way out under their noses.

"They've been drinking and partying the day away for their victory―a victory that is assured if you do not strike first, and with everything you have. They all must die tonight while they are out of commission if you lot are to see the end of the week."

Mirth looked down at the gryphon as he picked himself up, dusting off his feathers to no avail. "Yorm."

"Alpha?"

"You had the right idea, but make sure every dog is ready to raid, not defend. Get a scout too. We'll leave a few behind for the scout to warn in case we fail and the rest need to jump ship."

"Sir!" The place became a flurry of activity, Yorm giving commands to leaders who then carried them out with their underlings.

"And you." The gryphon frowned. "Do you have any idea who the mole could be?"

"You really should focus on attacking the Sapphires first."

"Not with the possibility of a leech in my ranks! Do you know what that information does to morale?"

"They'll be plenty encouraged with death as an ultimatum!" Gobrend hissed. "Look, I don't know you mongrels, nor do I wish to work with you. This is something that must be done for the good of the both of us. But what I do know is that your little 'leech' will not stick around when the executioner's axe hovers overhead.

"So, who do you know who has rank, status and autonomy? Someone who'd benefit from your fall?"

Mirth's eyes widened. "It couldn't be..." His hair stood on end as fury welled within him. "The bastard!"

"Hey, hey, calm!" Gobrend said, grabbing Mirth's wrist. "I have an idea who you imagine to fit that description, and you have every right to want to flay him, but let's not jump to conclusions just yet. Right now―look at me!―right now, you must lead these dogs, your soldiers, and focus on surviving the night. You can root out the rat after the Sapphires no longer are a threat."

As much as he wanted to tear the suspect limb from limb, Mirth couldn't help but find reason in the bird's words. Taking a deep breath, he put his anger born of betrayal on the backburner in order to more clearly comprehend the situation at hand. "You're right. I hate to say it, but you're right. Alright, I'm calm."

The bird smiled, pulling his hand away. "Glad to hear it."

But one more thing bugged Mirth. He didn't know why it bothered him so much, but there was a question he wanted answered since the strange little gryphon had so boldly marched into his mines.

"I got one more thing to ask... I never got your name, gryphon."

The gryphon's smile grew wider. "I've been waiting for you to ask that." He then bowed in a courtly, practiced manner, swiveling one wing around, bringing his beak to the floor. "Gobrend Grasstalon, at your service."