Salt and Sapphire

by SirReal


The Exit is an Entrance...

Dearest Taliana. Her eyes sparkled with the brilliance of emeralds. She was a proud creature, one with grace befitting her stature, while also being sharp enough to put even him off balance. It was little wonder that she was able to so easily steal his heart. In much the same way, it was little wonder she so easily broke it with naught but a desperate plea the last time they spoke to one another. He could still remember how those beautiful eyes lost their radiance when he announced his departure.

Gobrend blinked away the memory. Now wasn't the time for sentimentality.

He, Mirth and Yorm were situated outside the entrance to the mines of the soon-to-be-defunct Pack of the Sapphire. A small scout who went by the terribly bland name of "Razor" had been sent to search the perimeter for anything suspicious. They were at the edge of the dense Ravenwood Forest, and the entrance to the cave was at the base of a bordering mountain. It was perfectly hidden.

"This it?" Yorm asked for the third time.

"Yes, this is the place," Gobrend answered yet again, his patience dwindling.

"No guards stationed outside, plenty of foliage for concealment, and an entrance leading into possibly narrow mines to slow any frontal assault to a complete standstill. We'd never have found this place on our own..."

Gobrend looked at the Alpha of the Frayed in astonishment. Mirth looked down at him and for a moment the two shared a moment of begrudging respect. "Fantastic observations, Mirth. I'll be sure to toss you a bone when you're done here." Mirth huffed, turning his eyes back to the front.

"I'm getting tired of your disrespect, bird," hissed Yorm. "Nothing's stopping us from gutting him, Alpha. He's no longer needed!" Mirth responded by centering a withering glare at his Beta, who wisely decided to not press the matter.

"He's right," Gobrend said. "I am no longer needed. I was actually planning on leaving you dogs to your devices after showing you the way. So, if you'd be so kind as to let me go..."

"You're going nowhere until the Sapphires are cleaned out, Grasstalon. I can't have any wild cards here."

Gobrend fought back a smirk. "You flatter me, truly. But what can a gryphon as small as I ever hope to achieve by fighting a single one of you dogs, let alone two packs of you? You have nothing to fear from me."

"There's a difference between fear and caution, Gobrend. I'm more worried about what's going on in that conniving head of yours, so I'm keeping you on a leash for now."

Gobrend reached for the offending object around his neck. "Speaking of which, this is demeaning. There really is no need for―" a rustling came from the bushes. Mirth shoved Gobrend out of the way, him and Yorm raising their maces toward the disturbance.

"Two," said Mirth.

"Eight," replied the voice.

Out of the bushes stepped Razor, looking at the Alpha and Beta with confusion.

Mirth lowered his weapon. "Razor. Be quicker about the call-out next time."

Razor nodded.

Gobrend looked at Mirth with a question on his beak. "Not much you can do with this info, so I'll tell you: First thing’s first, whenever we leave the mines we coat ourselves in dried clay to mask our scents. When we send scouts, to make sure they aren't spies we give a number from one to nine, and they add that up to ten. They don't answer quick enough, or they look confused, they get clobbered."

Yorm looked at Mirth in askance before turning to Razor. "What's the news?"

"The two other tunnels birdbeak here pointed out were where the map pointed to. Took a bit o' searchin' an' a bit o' diggin', but they're definitely there. Problem is they're tunnels that ain't seen as much use and are a bunch smaller'n the main entrance."

"Then they're useless," growled Mirth. "Damn! We could have used them to our advantage otherwise. Trap and starve them in their own mines." Gobrend's eyes lit up at that, unseen by the rest.

"Maybe we can, I dunno, jus' make some poison gas an' toss it inside those. We won't even have to fight anyone!" Razor proudly declared, sure his genius plan would impress the Alpha. He looked into Mirth's eyes and found that his genius plan had, in fact, not impressed the Alpha.

"He's got a point," said Gobrend. Razor's tail wagged unbidden. Mirth and Yorm only stared at the gryphon, Mirth wondering whether his head struck a rock when he shoved him. "If we had poison gas, it's the way I'd go. But just because we don't doesn't mean those tunnels should be completely disregarded."

"I can't stretch my forces too thin based on what-ifs, Gobrend."

"Mirth, give me the benefit of the doubt here. I've yet to fail you, after all," Gobrend said with a wry grin. "Here's how I see things: we could make use of the rear entrances, and our options are to either go in loud and stupid or smart and stealthy.

"The first option involves you and your ragtag motley crew attacking from the main entrance and providing a distraction, allowing a smaller group to sneak in from behind and cut them down while they aren't paying attention; the second involves the use of one quiet group of maybe one or two who sneak in first, kill as many as possible, and you all wait for
small window of time before falling back to option one."

"But wouldn't the second option need someone small enough to fit into the―" he bit his tongue when he saw Gobrend's smug expression. "We'll go with option one then."

"But Alpha!" Razor whined. "I like the second one a lot more than the first. It's less dangerous overall considerin' they'll already have a bunch smack-dead before they all get a chance to retaliate."

"And the more time we spend arguing out here, the less time you and yours have to prepare your assault and get a clean victory over this scum." Gobrend tugged at his leash. "Come on, what do you say, friend? You'll trust me since our goal is one and the same?"

"I can't trust you not to wake them up and tell them we're waiting for them outside!" Mirth growled.

Gobrend recoiled as though struck, fury glowing in his eyes. "Look at me, Mirth! Tell me you believe I was treated kindly by them during my stay!" he said, gesturing to his dirtied and thin body. Mirth narrowed his eyes. "I can assure you they will not see another day if I can help it. Not a single dog will be making it out of those mines, I promise you that."

Mirth frowned. "You'll go with an escort." He pulled a key from his vest pocket, unleashing Gobrend, who thankfully rubbed at his neck. "And they'll kill you if you try anything funny."

Gobrend shrugged. "I'll take what I can get."

"We need to get this underway. That way I can be rid of you, and I'm sure my dogs are itching for this fight.”

"Shall I, Boss?" Yorm said.

"No, Yorm. You're staying right in front of the rest of us for this raid."

Yorm blinked, his tone becoming defiant. "But― But Betas don't lead advances―!"

Mirth snapped his jaws, nearly taking off his beta's nose. Saliva poured from his mouth as he glowered over his quivering packmate. "Save your 'buts', Yorm. You talk lots about loyalty and respect, and I feel you need to put yours on display." He looked back to his scout. "Razor, you stay here. Someone'll come out to update you on the situation when this starts and you'll go back to our mines to either warn them to leave or to bring everyone else to help."

"Yes, Alpha, sir!" said Razor with a salute. Yorm was dangerously quiet.

"I'll send another few dogs to help you out, Gobrend. Don't get them killed, or I'll hold you personally accountable."

"I'm unarmed."

"And you’ll stay that way."

Gobrend reeled. "What!? How am I to help if I can’t even defend myself!"

"You don’t need to worry about anything other than guiding your escorts through those mines. Come on, Yorm. Let's get this done." Yorm followed close behind, fists clenched.

Razor looked to Gobrend and shrugged. “C’mon then, birdbeak. Sooner we start, sooner we're finished. Then you’ll be on your merry way.”

Gobrend eyed Razor’s neck for a long moment before closing his eyes, chuckling. “Yes, yes you’re right. Wouldn’t want to keep everyone waiting, would we? Lead the way.”