Chapter 98: brought to you by the Master of Disguise--I lika da juice

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Tell me why--Ain't nothing but a heartache! Tell me why--Ain't nothing but a mistake! Tell me why I never want to hear you saaaaaaaaaay! I want it thaaaaaaat waaaay! *que pretending I'm not old enough to remember when that song was popular and get back to the story*...Aren't I not turtly enough for the turtle club?

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"What's going on?" Winston asked the guards outside the newly erected wall encircling the City of Beasts.

The leopards, grasping long spears similar to the ones carried by the Rabbits, looked surprised. "Tiger King, did you not know?"

"I would have seen any messenger on the road; there were no beastmen sent to warn us." Even standing back with the rest of the caravan, Neara could hear the confusion in his deep voice. She knew the Ape King was behind this... but she didn't know what it could mean for her yet. They weren't attacking Winston on sight, which was good, but maybe it was just a ruse because he had the force of the caravan behind him? Would they turn on him if asked?

They exchanged looks and one of them mumbled something.

"I will speak to him immediately. I brought plenty of salt for the new year." Winston turned back to the caravan and nodded. The two leopards waved their spears awkwardly and the gates started falling apart? No, the logs were being removed individually to form a pathway large enough for several beastmen to pass through at a time.

"What the hell?" Orson whispered to Neara as Winston approached, his face unreadable.

"Oh... I never told you..." Guilt flooded Neara and she wasn't sure what to do.

"Told me what?

"How I got to the mountain." Well, this would be the start of another war, and even as weak as Orson was, she was sure with his temper that he'd march straight into Ape Castle and try to kill the Ape King.

"Neara, your hair." Winston flexed his hands and long claws slowly unsheathed themselves.

"What about it?" She fumbled with the ends, pulling it into a side ponytail and wrapping it around her fist.

"I don't know how you were kidnapped by the Rabbits, but I know the Ape King had something to do with it. We have to disguise you, or he'll attempt your life again." His voice was monotonous, deadly and sharp.

"You were kidnapped? You stone-headed..."

"They'll notice me talking to you, please, let me help." He didn't reach for her, or even move as he waited for her answer.

Looking at the guards, still ineptly handling their spears, and back to Winston, she nodded and held out her fist. He must have moved so quickly she didn't see, because the hair fell around her fist and stuck to her shoulders in itchy clumps. Winston disappeared back into the caravan with a last rumbled, "Meet me at Tiger Castle."

"Well... we can't have this." Orson's voice cracked several times as he stared at her shoulder. "If we're going in disguise, you can't be as obsessed with me as you are."

"What?" Neara tried to catch up with what had happened. The hair still clenched in her hand meant... wouldn't they smell her? Wouldn't she be familiar? It's not like she had a low profile in the City of Beasts!

"Cut the cloak." Orson grabbed it from her and ripped it in half, exposing her legs and threw it into the dry riverbed next to them. He inhaled and blew the hair from around her shoulders and motioned for her to drop her handful, which he kicked dirt and grass on top of. "Not that anyone will go sniffing, but this will be easier." He spat into his hand and grabbed a dark powder from his fanny pack (she couldn't really think of it as anything else). Mixing them together, he stooped and quickly sketched the design of a small ram's head on her calf, blowing on that as well to make it dry. "It won't fool anyone who looks close, but nobody's going to look twice at you." He ate the rest of the mixture and spat it onto her face.

"Orson!" She stage-shrieked at him, lifting her hands to wipe it off.

His hands, like stone, closed around hers and held them at her sides. "No. They need to think you're ugly. It doesn't make much of a difference to me, but they need to think you're ugly. You left here beautiful; they won't suspect a thing. Now act like you hate me."

"Orson, what the..." He gently pushed her and they walked forward with the rest of the caravan.

Several beastmen oogled Ethel, perched daintily on the bear that carried her. Even the guards turned around to watch, giving Neara a chance to sneak inside. She'd never been good with directions... where was Tiger Castle?

"Maybe you just lost yourself on a walk outside the city." Orson mumbled as he prodded Neara in the right direction. "And keep the cloak tight around your shoulders."

It wasn't hard; with the sudden and unwelcome exposure of her legs to the sun, she felt basically naked, even with the leather shorts on. Beastmen stared at her walking by, eyeing her legs appreciatively, but turning in disgust when they saw her choppy hair and muddied face.

"Stupid predators wouldn't know a good thing if it ground them into dust and pissed on it." Orson's withering monologue continued all the way to Tiger Castle. An Ape beastman approached, jumping slightly when he looked at Neara.

"I... um, what is your business at Tiger Castle?" He looked young, having no stripes, but Ape beastmen didn't normally get stripes, which made the two on the Ape King even more incredible.

"What does it look like?" Orson growled. "I'm here to watch over the female brought by the Tiger King."

"Female? I hadn't heard of..."

"You wouldn't, would you? I bet they never tell you anything."

Neara coughed quietly and they both looked at her. "I want to see the new female." her voice wavered, but she thought she did alright.

"I... she isn't here..." The beastman's eyebrows shot up when she spoke and remained there as he avoided looking directly at her.

"Obviously." Neara tried to roll her eyes and, because she wasn't looking in a mirror, didn't know if she succeeded. "But I'm not going to wait in the hot sun until she gets here. I want to sit down!" Her voice whined and she affected a bratty accent, or maybe she just mimicked Rosa...

"Better listen to her or she'll start screaming." Orson warned, backing up a little to emphasize the point.

"There isn't, we really don't..."

"I'm bored talking to you. I'm going inside." And if she was slower in her haughty brush-off than she would have liked, the Ape beastman didn't chase after her, so she thought it was a dramatic enough exit.

The two beastmen mumbled something behind her and Neara's steps faltered. Should she not have done that? The doors were unguarded... could she really just walk in? After seeing the fortifications around the City, and even an Ape guard outside the Tiger Castle, she didn't know anymore. Orson quickly caught up to her and gently pressed her elbow.

"Where did that come from?" He sounded pleased.

"I copied what I thought other females would do... was that ok? Was he mad?"

"Mad? No; he told me, 'I'm sorry you have to deal with such an ugly female' after you left. I didn't correct him. Nobody needs to know what's under this powder." He let go of her arm and continued walking a step behind her. "Just don't stop for anyone until we get to his quarters."

The pair wandered through the castle until they got to the fifth floor. More guards, Tiger and Ape, stood at the foot of the stairs. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm going to see Winston. Everyone says he's ..., um, the ugliest beastman in the City. I want to see for myself." She wrinkled her nose for effect and squinted her eyes.

The two beastmen looked uneasily at each other. "Tiger King isn't here..."

Shoot, what would Rosa say next? "I just saw him enter the City, don't play games with me."

"We're not; we didn't know he was back." The Ape looked at the Tiger beastman with a frown. "I heard he'd been attacked."

The Tiger beastman looked offended. "A four-stripe getting attacked? If it was a feral, I haven't heard of one stronger than that snake who was here a few months ago."

"You don't think ferals get stronger than that," the Ape sneered.

"If you're so smart, why does your King only have three stripes? If you're so smart, you should be off guarding the City than an empty castle."

The Ape blushed, his eyes flashing dangerously.

"Maybe I'm just a beastman with only one stripe, but that's one more than you have."

Orson pressed Neara's side and she took a step forward. Neither beastman noticed her. She took another step, and another. They continued arguing. She walked up the stairs and their fight faded away.

"This is bad. Ape King is starting to control the City."

"Starting? Where have you been? He was already controlling most of it when I got here; now he's just weeding out everything and everyone else." They passed empty corridors and even emptier rooms. Neara only took a second to look in each, although she knew all trace of her 'witchery' would have been thrown out. Orson's scowl could have cut through stone. "I'm worried about Winston."

"What?"

"He's a predator; he's even more stone-headed than me. Ape King will manipulate him, if he hasn't already. He never said a bad word about him, even when Ape King tried to have him killed."

Neara thought about this as they searched through the rooms. Almost everything had been gutted, from furs to clothes to her inventions... all gone. Would Winston notice when he got back? Would he care? Ugh, she couldn't think like that... although her stomach sank when she thought of their passionate embrace in front of the castle, rather than filling with butterflies like it used to.

"So do you want to wait in your old room?" Orson stood near the window, gazing out at the dried fields.

"It's ok if you want to stay here, I mean, I don't have a preference since my stuff is all gone, well, our stuff, not that you didn't have stuff here too. You had your herbs and everything and those are gone..."

"Neara..." His eyes met hers and she looked down at his chin, his ears, anything but the way his eyes tried to pierce hers with meaning. "What happened?"

Tears obscured her vision and she tried blinking them away. Nope. She turned and discreetly swiped at her cheek.

"I know you're crying; I'm not an idiot." He waited, then sighed. "You haven't talked about it at all. I tried waiting, but I need to know."

"I know. I want to tell you. It's just..." Her voice got harder to control, little shivers creeping into the syllables and she gulped against the corset around her throat. Her shoulders heaved as she forced herself to breathe, trembling with every exhale. "I don't want to think..."

Orson stayed by the window, his eyes empty. "It wasn't Winston, was it?"

"No," she murmured, tears brushing against her lips now.

"Then who?"

"Neara." Winston rumbled into the room and stopped suddenly a few feet away. His entire body arched towards her. "Why are you crying?"

Oh great. Now he was going to see her with ugly hair and an ugly face and...

"Do you want me to comfort you?"

"Winston, what the hell happened?" Orson's voice came from her side and she buried her face in her cloak to avoid looking at him. The tears fell faster at the intense hatred in his voice.

"I just got..."

"No, I mean with the gods-damned castle. Apes crawling everywhere, everything gutted, Neara got kidnapped."

"My beastmen weren't loyal to me." His voice sounded tight. Neara fought the urge to collapse to her knees, knowing it would draw their attention to her. She had to get herself under control before they noticed her again. Breaths drew raggedly through her mouth like she tore them from the sky.

"You think? You really think so?"

"Yes. If they were loyal, she would have been kept safe. I don't know how she left or what happened, no beast will tell me, but I will find out."

"That was sarcasm you... ugh!" Orson barked in frustration. "We need to do something about the Ape King, Winston, or he'll kill her."

"They must have disguised her bond if even you couldn't find her. That could only be the magic of the Ape King. He has... "

Orson mumbled something and Neara finally steadied her breaths.

"Why would you ignore her?"

Wait, is that what he said?

"I didn't want... to think about her."

Frick, well, here come the tears again.

"There's no shame in thinking about your mate."

"What would you know about mates, Winston?"

The silence fell like a guillotine. Even her emotions stopped, but she couldn't appreciate the break.

"Nothing at all. I only know how a beastman is supposed to feel about his female, and I haven't heard anyone claim they avoided thinking of her." Winston's voice didn't sound happy. Obviously, but what did she expect? That he would be happy to have his bachelor status pointed out to him again? But why wasn't he more mad? If anything, he sounded tired. From the walk? She hadn't noticed any scars or anything... "In any case, we have new Kings to think about."

"New Kings? Already? I thought you..."

"I am still Tiger King, but Leopard King and Wolf King have been replaced."

"I don't know anyone strong enough to topple four-stripes; you were their only threat and you left on the salt trade."

"I don't know the Leopard King, though some say he's the last King's son. I don't know if that's to be believed or not. Wolf King is one of his younger ones named Felix. He's relatively weak and I don't know if he had it in him to slay his father. It may have been an accident."

"You predators are so..." Orson inhaled deeply. Neara slowly lowered the cloak from her face to look at his. Skin devoid of color, and eyes hard like an emerald. He looked stubborn, like he was about to do something stupid and didn't want to be talked out of it. "Ape King obviously kidnaped Neara, although I don't know how he got her to the mountain or what the stupid Rabbits have to do with it. Ape King is trying to take over the City. He already tried to kill you once; I wouldn't be surprised if it happens again."

"He did."

Neara dropped the cloak completely in shock and looked up at him again. "What?"

He turned soft silver eyes on her with a slight smile on his full lips. "Yes; after I left on the salt trade, I was hunted by Wolf beastmen. I killed most of them, but left two to return to their homes."

"Why would you do a predator-brained thing like that?" Orson growled, his arm twitching towards Neara.

"One was mated and the other was just a child. I knew..."

"So a stone-head and a moss-heart. Gods, we're hunted." Orson slapped his forehead.

"Why did you come back?" Neara asked quietly, trying to sound inoffensive. It maybe wasn't her business? But he'd tell her anything, right? Maybe not since it'd been a few months since they'd seen, or even talked to each other, but what if he didn't feel the same way? What about Ethel?

Winston stared at her for a few seconds, though it felt like minutes. "I am Tiger King. I went with the salt caravan, and I brought them back. It's my duty."

"Your duty to a damn maniac. Might as well have foaming-mouth." Orson grumbled.

"I still have my mind."

Orson breathed in deeply and looked at Neara. "For the third time, what in all the gods' names were you doing in the mountain?"

Winston tensed slightly. "I would like to hear as well, although I don't have much time. Ape King has summoned me."

Orson slapped his hand across Winston's mouth. "Shut up; she's been taking every excuse not to talk." He narrowed his eyes at Winston to drive the point home and Neara's stomach felt sick. Winston's eyes opened in surprise, but he didn't move.

Well, Orson was normally abrasive, but from a distance. No wonder Winston felt a little weird at being slightly manhandled. Beastmanhandled?

"I know that face, and you're thinking about something else. What happened when I left?" Exasperation panted through his sentence like a tired horse.

"Ape King came and called me a witch, made this mental projection... made a picture for everyone to see about a volcano erupting and disaster coming to the Valley because of me. They kicked me out and I wandered around until I was found by a Rabbit. They brought me back to the camp and I almost got, well, ok, I did get kidnapped by a Scorpion but it was only for a few minutes, then they rescued me and smelled others coming so they decided to try and circle towards the Sheep Village since I had a Sheep mate mark. More Scorpions came and they had to hide me, then Aetius said he was going to take me ahead of the party and disguise my scent and we were alone for a few days and went into the mountain and apparently they kidnapped Shay and killed her baby, but they said we could leave in a few months, they just wanted us to have a litter of babies for them and Shay said yes, so i felt like I had to say yes, but also I was kind of..." She shot a look at Winston, her face red and her voice dropping so soft she could barely hear it, let alone think the words. "...pregnant already. Then we tried to escape and... you guys kind of know the rest."

Embarrassment burned in her stomach and legs. She wanted to sink to the floor. No, sink THROUGH the floor and keep on going until she fell out of the planet. She'd bucked against mating with Winston for so long and when he said he liked her, she should have done it then because maybe he would have sensed her, but... ugh, how was she supposed to know this would happen? She didn't want to pressure him into mating with her just because she was the only one who was nice to him! And what if he and Ethel really were good for each other? They seemed to get along and she was gorgeous with her dark blue eyes and silky blonde hair... how could she compete with that? The tears stuck behind the humiliation in her throat and stung her ears. Why did they sting her ears? Why did she feel like she was being attacked by hundreds of tiny ants? She couldn't breathe! The lump in her throat was going to crush her.

Like swallowing stones, she inhaled rapidly, but nothing seemed to fill her lungs up. In, in, in, in, but her lungs stayed closed. Thick arms wrapped around her, the heat melting away the lumps in her chest and mouth... unfortunately letting the tears out. She gasped with sobs and couldn't focus on the smooth skin under her face, the white hair cascading around her face and if he trembled beneath her grasping fingertips, she thought it was herself. She felt every inch the monster she knew he thought of her. She'd broken his heart... all because she didn't move fast enough.

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