Silver Moon: Bk. 02 Ch. 05

Pam stood there and watched the other Spirit Kitsunes vanish except for Red. He took a brief look around and then waved a hand and the two of them were surrounded by a glowing red orb. She almost touched it but decided not to. There were too many things that needed to be accomplished before she could collapse. If she touched the shield she had a feeling it would do more than just knock her out.

Red cleared his throat. "Pam I only have a few more minutes on this plane before I have to leave so just listen please." He smiled briefly when she twitched as he spoke. "First I am going to bring my Clan Leader here when I vanish. You will need to bring him up to speed. By this he will know that what you say is true." He handed her a lovely necklace that would nest with the other two.

"He is to take over the country much as Alysson runs hers. For reasons that I will not speak about I turned my back for what is a brief time for our kind. It was a significant span of time for the humans of this country. He is going to need your help setting this aright." As he was talking a small red Kitsune appeared on his shoulder.

"The first thing you need to do is teach the wolves of this country. Teach them to be what they should be and not the beaten down people they are. Don't bring them into your pack since you are powerful enough. They need to be taught how to be the roots of the new country that I am depending on you to help create."

For a brief moment he stiffened and his eyes started glowing. Pam would never be able to actually describe the color of the light. When he spoke it was an oddly female voice. "My child I am using one of my Avatars to speak to you. Take heed, a great evil is coming. What your mate has started you needs finish. The wolves will be the rock that the tide of evil will crash against. Train them to be strong for if the rock cracks and breaks a great darkness will encroach across the nations of this world."

Red twitched slightly and suddenly was talking again. He didn't appear to realize that something else had spoken through him. "Take Kasai No O so you can contact me. She can give you some information as well." He took her off his shoulder. "Behave you two or I will talk to both of your parents."

She frowned at him and one tail came out and pointed at Amarish. A little spark flew from the tip towards him as she yipped at him.

Amarish flicked his own tail and there was a little flash of light between the two. He yipped back at her and then crossed his arms and stuck his nose in the air.

Red sighed and rolled his eyes. "That was your one mistake. Lady Pamela will keep me upraised of your actions." *They actually do like each other but for certain reasons they tend to fight.*

The girl hopped over to Pam's other shoulder and changed form to her mid-form and patted Pam's ear. "Soft ears, you's will be nice unlike that stinky boy."

Pam raised a hand and stroked Kasai No O's hair before frowning. "You will be polite or I will deal with you first. No calling each other names or else." She lightly thunked both of their noses before looking back at Red. "Anything else you need from us?"

He nodded. "One more thing before I have to vanish, I have spoken to Amaratsue and he is going to send Geoff and Mari down to assist you. You will need Mari's help to help the packs. Now I must be gone." He formally bowed to her. "May the blessings of the Great Mother and Father in the sky spread across you and your endeavor." With that he vanished and people started moving again.

In front of her was a rather startled looking male Kitsune with nine tails. After a brief glance around he heaved a patient sigh. "Some days I have to wonder what he is going to do next." He shook his head and smiled at her. "I am pleased and honored to meet you Lady of the Clans. I can only assume you are Lord Danilo's mate and this mess is his response to the Emperor annoying him. I have been updated to an extent and Red told me to follow your directions and obey your instructions." He had a wry smile on his face as he said that.

Pam was still feeling pissed off but she was doing her best to keep it under control. "It is as well as his reaction to one of our wolf pups almost being killed when the officer tried to arrest us." Her eyes glowed a myriad of colors which showed her anger. "I will explain later but first we have to take control of the Palace. It is the center of the government and from what bits I heard potentially even a temple. Red told me to take charge of the organizing of the wolves around here and I am going to clean house for you before I do that."

She gave him a rather evil smile. "I am a very effective house cleaner and god help any mice or spiders that make it inside. For the mice I have a special mouse assault squad who do a damn good job." She stroked Amarish as she was talking. "I am going to have the throne cleaned and introduce you and go from there." She waved her hand and the skeleton vanished from the throne and it sparkled again.

She linked her arm through his and walked to the throne and urged him to have a seat. *We can deal with this monstrosity down the road. Simply sit down and let me introduce you.* Somehow she knew his name. Once he had sat down in the throne she cleared her throat and spoke. "I have spoken to Spirit Lord Red of the Red Kitsune Clan. He is displeased with the actions of the Emperor and Clan Lord Milintica is now the head of the new government. All bow down to the new leader of the Red Kitsune Country."

*Maric make sure nobody leaves this room till I say. Trust no one and kill any that resist any of my commands. I do not wish to start the new country bathed in blood but I will do what I need to.* She smiled slightly when he smiled slightly and bowed to her.

Since he was feeling rather irritable himself he decided to use the pack bonds for commands. It would keep the sheeple under control. *The following wolves secure the two side doors...* He continued sending out commands and the wolves reacted with a grace and speed that was scary to behold. It was obvious even the females were trained as lethal fighters. *Bear take two wolves and two Kitsune's and investigate the entrance behind the throne. Keep in constant contact.*

Pam looked around the room and contemplated the officials. "For the moment all of you will remain here till certain steps have been taken. Do not resist my wolves or they have been commanded to kill you. Whatever position you were given won't matter. Your gender won't matter. Your age won't matter. They will kill you." Her colorful eyes swept the crowd. "All females gather to the right of the door and all males to the left. I am going to have you searched for any potential weapons. Females will inspect females to protect their vanity."

Maric assigned several more wolves. *Pam we are starting to get low on wolves. As a suggestion have... The clan leader start calling in his personal troops and then the garrison troops. We should be able to identify the best and worst between the Kitsune powers and our noses and other senses.* He had decided not to try saying the Kitsune's name since he had a feeling he would probably bite his tongue if he did.

Pam didn't physically acknowledge Maric's suggestion. *Good idea.* Her eyes scanned around and found what looked like an officer who had been knocked unconscious. He was just starting to shake off whatever had knocked him out. *Maric bring him over.*

Maric walked over and gently, comparatively speaking, lifted the man to his feet and walked him to the front of the throne after a quick search. "As you ordered Clan Leader here is the senior remaining officer in the throne room. What is your command?"

Pam had been relaying everything she had been thinking and ordering to him so he knew what was going on. He looked down at the man and frowned. "I am the new leader and as such I am taking the name Clan Leader Xipil because I am of the Fire Kitsune clan. You have two choices, swear fealty to me and mean it or be cast out in the streets after being stripped and given a beggars robe. I will know if your oath of fealty is true. If you try to fool me you will be found chained above the gates while your spirit is cleansed with fire."

The officer fell on his face and tried to swear fealty to the new leader only to be told to stand. "From this point on that form of obeisance is considered an insult to your new leader. When you wish to address me look me in the eyes before looking at my chin. This applies to anyone more senior to you and I would very strongly recommend that when dealing with Leader of the Clans Lady Alpha Pamela Legarith. Now look at me, recant your oath to the former emperor and swear fealty to me."

The man was now sweating heavily and the reek of his fear was pungent. He tried looking Xipil in the eyes but simply couldn't and settled on looking at his chin and hoped he would survive. "I...", he had to clear his throat, "I Yolotli request release from my prior oath. I do this to serve Clan Leader Xipil in any manner he finds fit." At the moment he was terrified enough that he was telling the truth. Something about the female next to Xipil scared the crap out of him. She scared him even more than the wolf behind him.

Xipil nodded slightly. "I have sensed your spirit and for the moment I feel you mean what you say. We will review your performance in a few weeks but till then I release you from your former oath and accept your request. For the moment you will report to my military advisor Beta Maric from Pack Alucian. He is to assign several wolves to you. Go to the nearest garrison and order the troops out and to report to the throne room."

Maric had to blink at that and raised an eyebrow very slightly at Pam who gave him a slight nod. "Come with me my good man and we will decide where to start." He clapped a hand on the man's shoulder and called out a few more names as they headed out of the throne room.

~~~

Geoff and Mari had just finished lunch and were debating on what to do next. Gettie was with the children and all three adults were relaxing. The pups were just over a month old and just getting cuter. One thing Geoff was pleased with was the rapid healing of lycan's included post partum healing as well and Mari was definitely up for fun.

Mari leaned against Geoff and smiled since she could scent certain urges. It was almost strange to think that less than a year ago she had been terrified of the thought of sex. Between Dan and Geoff much of that fear was gone though when it did crop up Geoff was so wonderful about not pushing. Uncle had helped a great deal as well.

Becoming Geoff's mate had turned out to be a huge blessing in disguise. She was being allowed to grow into who she could be. Mari was still a submissive but since she had grown up taking care of the house that had been turned over to her. She was now officially in charge of taking care of the house and the nearby estates and she was thriving since she loved the work.

Their thoughts were disturbed when Alysson called for them. *Geoff, Mari, Gettie I need the three of you in my office and bring the babies please. This is urgent.* Her thought cut off almost immediately as she turned her attention to other issues.

Both looked at each other and started to stand. Gettie called from the nursery. "Go ahead while I get the babies ready." She also called for several of the staff to get their tails up here and grab Geoff and Mari's travel bags.

They hurried down to his mother's office and when they walked in Geoff looked very startled. There were twenty men from the family's security force there along with their jump bags. "Mother? Gettie will be here in a moment."

Alysson stood and gave both a good hug before picking up a thick leather folio and handed it to Geoff. Sitting in a chair next to Alysson's desk was the Clan Leaders Kitsune. He had been with the family for at least one hundred years. When he had been gifted to them he had been about Amarish's age and now looked to be maybe ten or so.

He stood as well and bowed slightly to them. *I have been instructed to inform Clan Leader Alysson that Mari's presence is required by Leader of the Clans Alpha Pamela Legarith. You are going to be sent to the country of Melexgalom to the capitol city of Labna. I don't have time to fully brief you hence the folio. In short Leader of the Clans Lord Alpha Danilo Legarith was critically injured. He is in the spirit realm for healing. This happened when the emperor attempted to detain and arrest him. As the end result the emperor is no more.*

He turned to Mari who had turned pale. *My liege's mate is doing everything she can along with others. If he can be healed they will do it. What is to happen is in the hands of the Great Ones. Go with grace and our blessings.* He waved his hand in a circle and the door between Alysson's and Jon's offices vanished. On the other side could be seen the throne room. *Go quickly.*

Six of the Kitsunes went first followed by Geoff and his party, then finally by the rest of the Kitsunes. When they appeared they kept moving forward and piles of luggage were passed through. Mari glanced around and had to raise an eyebrow at the mess. "Dan was rather annoyed wasn't he?"

Pam turned and couldn't help but smile at Mari and Geoff. "It is good to see you though I hadn't expected you quite this soon." She hurried over and gave all three adults a hug and had to oogle the babies for a moment. "Actually the entire pack was a tiny bit annoyed but we can talk about that later. Right now I am cleaning house and have need of an expert with that." She smiled at Mari who snickered.

"No problem Lady of the Clans and more than happy to help. Tell me what you need and I will start cleaning out the vermin and pests." Her eyes traveled around the room and a number of people flinched since they were ice cold.

Pam waved them over to the throne and briefly introduced the new country leader. *We have been using pack and spirit bonds to pass orders. It is keeping the flunkies distracted from doing anything else.* As she was talking the officer and Maric came back in the room with several squads of men. The officer had them form up in front of the throne.

"Clan Leader the Puma company is present and ready for inspection." He again tried to meet Xipil's eyes and failed. After calling out an order the men spread out and stood at their version of 'at ease'. None of them had a weapon that could be seen but that didn't mean all that much.

"Excellent Officer, Beta Maric please select one Kitsune and inspect the troops." *I am most concerned about anything that might smell or feel of any sort of magic. Also anyone that does have a weapon of any sort will be taken aside when done. I want the most trustworthy. I am not worried about training right now since I know the type of training they have.*

Before even being asked one of Geoff's guards stepped forward and bowed to Maric. "After you sir." They started with the first and after a brief mental discussion they decided to start separating them into groups now. As they checked each soldier Maric would sniff for anything that didn't smell right including drugs, alcohol, and dishonesty. The Kitsune was also sniffing but mainly was using his spirit powers to sample the soldier's aura and spirit. By the time they were done with the forty or so men they had three groups. One that was to be immediately discharged, ones that might be of some use, and ones that smelled and felt decent.

Maric had another discussion with the Kitsune before turning to Xipil. "Sir we have three groups, the largest should be escorted to an empty barracks and detained for the moment. The second group would be of use for garrison troops with some refresher training. Some are to green and others too old for regular service. The last group I would recommend as the beginnings of the Clan Leaders Own. With training they should make excellent soldiers."

Xipil glanced at the three groups and contemplated them. "I accept your recommendations for the first two groups. Locate two barracks, one to be used for those that will not meet my standards and secure them. With the second group do the same but don't strip the barracks of everything."

He turned to the third group and he lowered his voice slightly though it remained firm. "As far as accepting those of you as part of my personal guard you are going to have to prove it to me. General Maric is going to be in charge and if you do what he says when and how he says I might accept you. Do our country right and we will do right by you. For now form up in two rows in front of that wall." He pointed at an empty section. "General bring in the next batch after you have dealt with the others."

Maric managed not to roll his eyes. *I am so going to bite one of Dan's tails. I was happy being a Beta and now have a potential mate and have been made a general.* He gave Pam and Xipil a toothy grin. *I's not a happy wolf. Better have a large chunk of beef ready to pacify me.* He called for more wolves and led the men out.

Soon he was back with the next company and they repeated the same process. The officer was summarily dismissed and ordered confined. There were indications that he was beyond being corrupt and they were going to need to investigate.

Geoff and Mari had joined Pam and Xipil at the throne. Bear had reported earlier the back exit led to what appeared to be the Emperors chambers. They were being cleaned at the moment but Gettie and the babies along with a number of Kitsunes had been shown there so they were out of the way in case anything happened.

When the third group came in and Pam immediately stiffened. *Maric bring the third man with the corporal flash to me.* She contacted Mari and Geoff. *He is a wolf and I have an idea to seal him to us and the throne.*

When the wolf followed Maric over he couldn't help but sniff the air and gave a rather bad bow. He scented not only Kitsune on the striking female but wolf as well. The other smaller woman was a wolf but her scent and dominance confused him. "How can I help you ma'am?" He had no idea how to address Pam.

Pam let her face relax and gave him a slight smile. *I know you can understand me this way but do not react to what I am saying this way.* "I have a few questions for you. General Maric informed me that he felt you might have potential for a higher rank." *Is your pack in town and if so how far away are then and how many including women and pups?*

Meztli looked rather startled when she spoke in his mind. The only time that happened was with his mate or on the full moon. "I am just a corporal who is doing my best to make sure my men have they need. I just do my job and follow the orders of those above me." He carefully thought at her. *We don't have packs as such. They are illegal in the empire. We have family groups and there are about seventy of us.* He contemplated that. *There are several that are allowed in on moon nights since they are family.*

Pam nodded. "That is the sign of a good soldier. If you don't take care of your pack they won't support you." She looked at Maric. "General I have need of this man. Assign me six wolves including Suzy."

Pam looked at Geoff and Mari. "I would like to borrow your mate Geoffrey as well as some of your guardsmen."

Geoff raised an eyebrow slightly. *May I ask what for?* When Pam told him he mentally nodded. *That is acceptable.* "Not a problem Pam and I am sure Mari doesn't mind." *You might talk to Maric about making some troops this man trusts available for you as well.*

Mari looked at Geoff and then grinned. "Of course I don't mind. I would enjoy spending some time with Pam."

Pam looked at the man who was about her size. "Sergeant pick eight men from your company to accompany you on a mission for me." *That is if you can trust them. If you aren't sure about them pick a few less. We are going to go and collect your family and they are going to be the beginning of new staff in the palace. I know I can trust a wolf since my mate is an Alpha and if you treat the pack right the pack will support you.*