Revolution from Above: A Cat Among Dragons Novella by Boykin Alma

Author:Boykin, Alma [Boykin, Alma]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2014-04-16T04:00:00+00:00

<<Hold still, damn it,>> Zabet ordered as she finished adjusting Rada’s armor. The mammal gave a loud sigh as Skeet poked his muzzle in for the third time in ten minutes, then retreated again.

“Zabet, this is a war council, not the Imperial coronation. I’m not supposed to look pretty,” Rada complained quietly. They were back in their shelter. Kirlin and his mate found other quarters and the Lord Defender had made it clear as crystal that the first person to complain about, or to try and take advantage of, the females serving with Kirlin’s troops would find himself answering directly to Lord Ni Drako, assuming the females left enough of him. After watching Lady Kirlin and Zabet practicing bare forefoot combat, the males kept their thoughts and their forefeet to themselves.

Six sixts had passed since the first attacks and the initial invasion. The Defenders, augmented by lords Shu, Kirlin, and Beerkali, now numbered over four thousand well armed and fairly well disciplined troops, backstopped by the Imperials. Lord Ni Drako issued a public call for the surviving nobles to join the Defenders in ejecting Gray’s Raiders and bringing the traitors to justice. Eighteen minor nobles and two more Great Lords had answered that call to rendezvous with the Defenders. Rada and Beerkali considered the number a good start, even if most of the newcomers seemed ambivalent about getting involved in “the Lord Defender’s war” without a great deal of reassurance.

Zabet studied her pet with a critical eye, then handed Rada her weapons’ belt. <<Knock ‘em dead,>> she ordered. <<But let Beerkali and Shu do most of the talking. Kirlin will antagonize too many people with his intensity.>>

“And I won’t?” The Wanderer adjusted her throat guard and grimaced at the too-tight fit, then picked up her helmet. “I know what you mean, boss. Be back in a little while.” She gave Zabet’s ears a quick scratch as she left.

Captain Keersar and Sergeant Biss fell in behind the Lord Defender as the mammal made her way to where the other lords were gathering. This has to be the strangest moment in my career to date, which is saying a lot, she thought as they walked between shelters and trees towards the open area in the woods. By tradition and Court protocol, Lord Ni Drako fell within the ranks of mid-level courtiers, well below the Great Lords such as Kirlin and Beerkali. But when trouble hit she outranked everyone except the King-Emperor himself. So at this moment, the highest-ranking creature in the camp was—a female mammal mercenary foreigner! If only I could use that rank to bring them to the Defenders’ side, she wished. But if it were easy, everyone would do it. Rada pulled on her gauntlets but carried her helmet. She couldn’t hear as well with it on.

The Lord Defender took ‘his’ place with ‘his’ allies, facing the assembled nobles. Corporal Schriik had an unsuspected gift for electronics and with the help of Kirlin’s com specialist and some Defender technicians had

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