The Queen of the Tai’far stood silently, a cold smile
on her face as she surveyed the scene before her. The bodies of the feline,
coyote, firewolf and hybrid that had bothered her for so long lay in front of
her, their tortured breathing music to her ears. They had entered her Tower,
and penetrated into her inner sanctum, and now they were battered and beaten.
The firewolf started to rise to his feet, gasping, until a blast of ebony lightning
from the hand of the Tai’far Queen sent him back to the ground, writhing in
agony as the electricity coursed through his body.

“Arrrrrghhhhh!!”

“Zephyr!”

The feline Diane struggled to her knees, pulling a small
dagger and mustering her strength, threw it at Yuira. The Tai’far Queen didn’t
bat an eyelid, a blast of lightning reducing the dagger to ash and blazing through
the young feline’s nervous system the same way it was the firewolf’s.

“You four dare to try oppose me. Even you, hybrid, with
the bloodlust of your corrupt ancestors inside you, don’t stand a chance against
me – I am Yuira, Queen of the Tai’far, and when I’m finished with you all, I’ll
be more powerful than ever before!”

To emphasise her point, lightning began arcing from both
her hands, catching the coyote Abbie and the hybrid Savrin in their arcing grasp
– all four now at the questionable mercy of Yuira, writhing as the electricity
threatened to fry them to death. But it didn’t – the Tai’far Queen ended the
torture by lowering her hands, and stepping forward silently, eyes roving her
victims….grabbing Abbie by his hair, she pulled the coyote to his feet, making
him groan in pain, body convulsing in aftershocks from that electrical outburst.
She held her other claw to his throat, and smiled coldly – she could feel the
coyote’s life-force burning brightly within, a life-force that would soon be
nothing more than a part of her, and she hissed to the others.

“Enjoy your last moments – what happens to this coyote
is going to be your fate!”

The claw at Abbie’s throat began to glow a sickly colour,
and seemed to reach through the canine’s neck, within him. Abbie struggled,
a cry escaping his lips as he felt Yuira’s magical grip slowly and painfully
begin to excise his life from his body. Yuira smiled…and then suddenly dropped
the coyote at the sight of something behind him. That cold smile reappeared.

“You…”

What she was looking at was a ferret, just under six
feet tall, with dark fur nearly mirroring her own. He held a katana loosely
in one hand. He stepped forward into the room, slowly approaching the Tai’far
Queen. His voice was soft, yet carried an undertone of calm determination.

“I’ve been waiting to meet you for a long time, Yuira.”

The Tai’far Queen laughed.

“Oh, I know you have, Sable Flame. Ever since my foolish
mother manipulated your life from when you were born, to your adoption, to the
death of your father! And now it comes full circle….your presence here will
result in your death, as it has been predicted from your birth….”

Sable said nothing, his bright green eyes surveying the
scene in front of him – the battered, broken bodies of the companions he’d only
met twice before during his quest. He looked up, across their bodies, into Yuira’s
eyes. Their darkness threatened to swallow him, and the sensation of a dark
hand over his soul was feelable. The squeeze was even more feelable, and yet
all he did was smile, calmly, as his spiritual defenses flared out, making the
Tai’far Queen raise her eyebrows, a grudging appreciation for her foe’s talents
evident for a split second, as the ferret spoke calmly again.

“So my existence was one…big….manipulation. And now
I’m here, a spiritual warrior with few his equal….and I am going to take you
down…..”

With a swipe of her hand, the air in front of Yuira distended,
blasting Sable and the bodies of Savrin, Abbie, Zephyr and Diane backwards.
Grunts and groans came from the fallen foursome, and Sable merely flipped backwards
through the air, landing on his feet. He raised his sword, and Yuira slide her
robe sleeves back to show her wristblades. And she cackled coldly before speaking.

“If you think you have a chance, ferret, then come and
try your luck!”

A beat, where the ferret assurred himself with a glance
that his companions would live despite their injuries. Then he spoke.

“Alright….let’s dance.”

***

The battle was not going well for the ferret. Unlike
him, Yuira was not restrained by a code of honour, and the weasel was using
it to her full advantage. After their initial charge, where his sword locked
against her wristblades, the Queen of the Tai’far cackled and tried to breath
a red mist into his face. He flipped back to avoid the blinding attempt, and
Yuira’s claw swept the air again, bowling him through the air mid-leap. Only
reflexes honed by years of training stopped him from landing awkwardly. He braced
his legs, then drove himself forward in a low tackle-like leap, blade slashing
at Yuira, only to be deflected by her wristblades.

“If this is all you have, ferret, you truely are pathetic….”

Sable raised his brows.

“What nonsense….”

The next few moments were impossible for the injured
but conscious furmential, hybrid and furs still on the ‘sidelines’. Sable swung
his sword, Yuira blocked, and Sable changed the angle of his swing, only to
have that blocked too. They managed to count around sixteen slash-blocks within
the first few seconds, then lost track. A powerful strike from Sable broke Yuira’s
defenses, but the weasel was far too quick – his blade cut through the cloth
of her robe, but did not meet flesh. The weasel vanished into the shadows of
her room, and the ferret halted, senses stretched to their limits.

Above!

He leapt backwards, and a blast of dark energy impacted
where he’d once stood. Crouched on a hardly visible platform near the roof of
her sanctum, Yuira cackled, and began slinging dark magic in earnest, watching
the ferret dart nimbly about…then watched as her foe, body aglow with green-black
spiritual energy, proceeded run partway up the wall and springboard himself
off towards her. She cackled and slung a ball of energy before disappearing
off the platform. Sable’s eyes widened, and his body spun helplessly out of
control after being hit by the blast. He regained control enough to not break
his body against the wall, springing off of it as his senses alerted him to
Yuira’s presence almost directly below him, and redirected his downward flight,
sword extended. The Tai’far Queen knew he was there, because she looked up and
hissed, leaping backwards – and the ferret’s sword embedded itself several inches
into the stone floor. He tugged it, then, body ablaze with dark energy, Yuira
lunged forward, her wristblade coming out and slashing across the ferret’s throat.

But it was not a finishing blow.

Sable went tumbling, swordless, one hand flashing to
his throat – the cut was nasty, but not deep enough to be fatal. The exertion
was getting to him, and the way Yuira was walking towards him proved that she
too could see his physical wear-and-tear. As he drew himself up to hands and
knees, the Tai’far Queen was suddenly THERE, and a well placed clawed kick to
his stomach sent him rolling. This time, when he got up to his knees, Yuira
stood before him, grinning coldly, lifting her wristblade and licking the ferret’s
blood off it with her tongue, ‘mmmm’ing faintly in dark delight.

“It’s over, ferret. You’re losing blood fast from that
neck injury….even though it wasn’t fatal. Your powers _are_ impressive, otherwise
my dark energy would have killed you. You’ll be a treat when I take your life
for my own…”

As if to prove her point, she dragged the ferret to his
feet by the throat, using both her hands and relishing the feeling of his power
crackling to the fore to defend his body and life-energy. She smiled coldly
at him as his blood ran over her fingers – and then he opened his eyes, smiling
right back at her.

“Don’t count…….me out….just yet!”

The ferret brought his hands up, breaking Yuira’s grip
on his throat, rotating his body rapidly and driving a foot aglow with spiritual
energy into the weasel’s side. She shrieked and staggered, and the ferret began
to follow up with a trained arsenal of kicks, moving as fast as his body would
allow – his vision was already becoming hazy from his neck injury. He finally
brought his hands to bear, bringing them around in an axhandle-like move that
would knock Yuira out – and the weasel stopped him. Her hands closed around
the ferret’s wrists, and she gave him a dark grin as ebony lightning proceeded
to course through Sable’s body, his own powers flaring up and struggling to
compensate as Yuira held on tight.

She could feel the ferret’s spiritual powers and life-force
ebbing and fluctuating wildly, attempting to fight off her deadly attack. She
finally relented, and threw the ferret’s smoking body aside…and she hissed
in surprise as the black-furred warrior staggered back to his feet, using his
ground-embedded sword as support, right up to the point where he pulled it out
of the ground with one hand, the other pressed to his throat – the electrical
attack had semi-cauterized his throat wound, making it slightly easier to bear.

“Is that…all you have….Tai’far Queen….?”

Yuira hissed annoyedly, then a cold smile spread over
her features.

“Hardly, stripling. Your powers are nothing compared
to my full abilities. I’m beginning to think I shouldn’t go easy on you anymore.”

Sable coughed and raised his eyebrows, clutching his
sword in both hands, before leaping up into the air, concentrating his strength
into his attack. Yuira merely smirked and lifted her wristblades to block –
and Sable’s sword, blazing with his green-black spiritual energy, sheared through
the blades after a long moment where it seemed they’d hold. Yuira fell flat
on her rump, and the ferret’s sword was inches from embedding itself between
her eyes.

“Don’t bluff, Yuira – you did, and I called it. You’re
as run down as I am, just better at not showing it.”

The weasel snarled – there was no way to get an attack
in before the ferret could disable her. Smelling the sudden hesitation in her
foe, Yuira smiled coldly once more – and took a gamble.

“So you’ve won, ferret. Why don’t you kill me?”

Sable twitched, and Yuira cackled mentally – she had
him. His honour code would prevent him from killing his opponent, because slaying
a weakened foe was dishonourable – and he’d won without laying a scratch on
her.

“You know, Yuira. You know my honour code prevents me
from killing you, because you’ve been defeated in single combat.”

He continued, eyes locked with Yuira’s once more.

“You are going to get the hell out of my sight, and never
bother us again, do you Understand?”

Yuira was inwardly savouring the sensation of her touch
on the ferret’s soul – his defenses were barely adequate. But she nodded her
head, and unable to press her to be brutally honest thanks to his honour, Sable
nodded his head and turned his back on her, walking towards his companions –
the group had managed to drag themselves up into sitting positions. He lifted
a hand in weary greetings, but the response he got filled him with a momentary
dread – Savrin saw past him and yelled.

“Behind you, Sable!”

***

The ferret couldn’t turn fast enough. Yuira hit him from
behind, her legs wrapped around his waist, and her claws dug into his chest
as she grabbed the ferret, her teeth sinking into the side of his neck, as if
the more of him she exposed to her claws and teeth would speed up the process.
She positively glowed with sickly green energy, and Sable let out a soul-rending
scream as her attack shattered his inner defenses and began to pull at his life-energy.
Releasing the side of his neck, Yuira whispered darkly.

“You’re MINE, ferret.”

The group could only watch in horror as that sickly green
aura spread over Sable’s body, the ferret barely able to stand upright, beginning
to shiver and letting out another, quieter cry as Yuira pulled at his life-force,
savouring the taste of him and his spiritual energies as she slowly and painfully
drained him. His grip tightened on his sword, as Yuira sank her fangs into his
neck again, making him drop to one knee. The sickly green aura glowed around
him, and a green-black aura flickered in and out of existence around the ferret,
and his sword. Again Yuira let go of the ferret’s bloodied neck, and whispered
into his ear.

“I will take ALL their energy…..I have yours…..”

Not entirely.

“You will become a part of me…”

No….thank you…

“…and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

A silence seemed to descend over the inner sanctum –
Sable could feel his life’s essence growing lesser and lesser by the second,
and surprisingly, a smile grew on his pained muzzle. He slowly lifted his sword
arm, and as Yuira began to hiss out a “What are you doing….” he moved with
all the power he still possessed. Inverting his blade, he drove it upwards through
his stomach, the weapon aglow with all the spiritual energy he could muster.
The curved blade sliced keenly through his abdomen, going up through a lung,
and coming out of his upper back – straight through Yuira’s collarbone. The
weasel froze, the sickly green aura fading – and after exerting his willpower
to remove the blade, both Sable and Yuira fell to the ground. The light was
fading from Yuira’s eyes, as she lifted a claw, the sickly aura glowing….and
then she collapsed.

Sable’s world was already growing dim. He could faintly
hear the voices of Savrin and the others, calling his name, and their footsteps,
but he couldn’t respond. His life essence, momentarily restored to its fullness
upon Yuira’s demise, was ebbing away rapidly. Through his dimming senses, he
could feel Diane slumped over his chest, crying, and the others were in shock
– standing over him and looking down at his face, as those bright emerald green
eyes finally lost their living spark.

Goodbye….my friends….

To Be Continued.