Chapter 412: CHPT 412: Two Birds, One Stone, Much Blood....
A plan had been made. Claude and his hybrid pack's time as desert roaming nomads was always destined to come to an end. It seemed now was the time. They'd put a considerable amount of space between themselves and the demonic massacre in the Vada District. Wherever Ronin roamed was a part of that. And the fear of being found would be minimized inside the walls of Camaco. Even the strongest Hero had to move rationally when it came to places beyond their jurisdiction. But that didn't mean they were free from suspicion and mistakes.
Such things had to be minimized. Cities weren't kind to Shifters-- especially a place where blood sacrifices of all things was seen as the best outcome. The goal was to get in and out, and then take to the waters that were so close he could smell the saltiness of it. And then, it was back home. A world of wonder was bound to such an idea. One he couldn't consider at the moment. Time was of the essence....
"You almost ready?" Cassidy's voice echoed from behind Claude as he changed.
"Yea, yea. Nobody's clothes fit correctly... dammit!" Claude groaned as he tried to fit into Rollan's dark green sweater that he was borrowing for the night. In length it was fine, but his bulk made the sweater sit on him like a second skin. He could feel the threads strain and rip with every breath he made.
"You are an awfully large man, you know? They may not even have clothing for you to begin with..." Cassidy replied.
Claude wrapped his hands and wrists in his leather bindings and tied on his cloak, "Clothing for me isn't the goal. I'll walk in there naked if I have to."
Cassidy chuckled, "Oh yea, I'm sure the lonely old ladies with a colony of cats will appreciate that... HA!"
"[Indeed. Maybe we should refrain from drawing unneeded attention-- and heart attacks. I don't know how Camaco's manslaughter laws differ from New Gloria's.]"
Claude pulled his spear out of the ground and froze after turning to face Cassidy.
The Bounty Hunter wore his usual garb. A black t-shirt under a leather hooded longcoat that hid all manner of firing weapons along with a quiver of arrows and bolts at his back. Claude couldn't see anything above the bottom of his nose due to the low coverage of his hood, but he could feel the mans eyebrow raise in confusion as he stared.
"Yo?"
"What if drawing attention is the best way....." He thought aloud in reply to Arne's words.
Cassidy shook his head in confusion, "You speaking to the animals again, partner?"
Claude came back to reality, "Something like that. I'm changing the Camaco entrance team."
Cassidy smiled faintly, "You're getting another crazy ass idea. Sounds fun."
Twenty minutes later and Claude was back outside with Cassidy, Diamondback waited beside him while he sat in front of the Glorian Lion.
"Interesting choice." Cassidy commented.
"Purposeful choice." Claude explained, "The search for me and Ursula probably involves a PitWolf-- aside from a tall man with black hair and a buff girl. If I go into Camaco riding a Primal with a Hunter and Lion, we're essentially removing suspicion to anyone that's heard word of the search for us up north."
Cassidy nodded, "I see...."
"And you...." Claude explained as he looked into the Glorian Lion's slitted green eyes, "You have the most important role."
The Lion purred and licked his long and gnarly nose, "I need you to be my eyes. In the shadows they can't see you.... people tend to do things when they think no one is watching. And that's what we need to watch out for. That's why I need you for this."
"Freaky...." Cassidy commented as he watched the Glorian Lion sit. Their eyes began to switch between each other, mirroring, copying, studying.
Sure, they were conversing, but something much deeper was taking place at the same time, whether Claude knew it or not.
"Help me as you have been..... and I'll do my best to do the same. Fight for me and I'll fight for you." Claude said.
The Glorian Lion nodded faintly.
As Claude stared at the beast, he found himself remembering their first meeting, back in SkyHaven. So far from here, and here she was.
Claude smiled faintly, "You were never going anywhere to begin with, were you?" He held his hand out.
The Glorian Lion let out a purring meowish noise as she placed her paw in his.
FWSHHHSH!
The Glorian Lion erupted in light forest green energy that made it's auburn fur glow in the dark of night. Claude's own energy flared in response, as the two mixed and intertwined. Then, it was gone, falling like glowing verdant snowflakes shimmering in their mixed shades of greens and whites.
DING!
[You have Tamed an Adolescent Glorian Lion!]
[Fenrir is pleased with your continued embrace of all things Monstrous.]
[(Strength of the Jotunn) has been boosted further beyond its initial awakened state]
"So, you are there still... watching me, Fenrir?" Claude thought as his eyes suddenly lost their feline slits.
"What?" Cassidy asked.
"Nothing. Let's go."
***
"You sure you don't want us to come? I know Camaco-- better than the both of you probably.... and Rollan is.... charismatic." Ursula said as Claude and Cassidy prepared to head to Camaco. They were just leaving when she came stomping out of the encampment.
"Rolling with a group as large as ours is a statement. Even if it's just four people. We all look crazy as hell. Plus, who's going to stay with Canis, Piet, Ma and the others? They're with us now, so they deserve back up all the same." Claude explained.
"Plus, Claude wants to have me alone for a reason." Cassidy explained.
"What?" Ursula questioned from where she stood in the sand. The backdrop of the green dome made her tanned freckled skin stand out in the dark.
"Me. Alone. He wants to know I'm not here with an ulterior motive that could end all this. If it's just me and him in a City both of us aren't known in, he minimizes risk and can ask questions... he can also kill me if I don't give any answers along the way and I have no hostages close to him like the little Satyr boy. He's killing two birds with one stone here. Ain't that right, wolfboy?" Cassidy questioned.
Claude side eyed the Hunter. Damn his perception. "Yea. I am. Anyway, trust me, Ursula. We should be good. We'll be back in a few hours."
Ursula regarded him differently for a moment, "You were serious.... about what you said earlier."
Claude didn't reply directly and shook up with her, "Stay safe. Run a scenting and marking perimeter every two to three hours. Stay connected to the pack bond. If you hear, smell or see anything. Run. Wherever you go, I'll find you."
Then, he was disconnecting from their hug, taking up his spear and jogging off to join Cassidy who rode on Diamondback as if the Primal was a horse.
Lupine Alpha, Hunter of unknown origin, Glorian Lion and Magical Dinosaur. What a group.
***
What a group, the guards at the walls into Camaco seemed to have the same thought written plainly on their faces as Claude and Cassidy approached.
Claude didn't think approaching running on foot was a good idea, so he and Cassidy switched, and he now rode Diamondback. Cassidy walked ahead with their newly tamed Glorian Lion. Along the way, Cassidy suggested the name Loba. He said it meant she-wolf in another language.....
It felt fitting considering the fact that the Glorian Lion seemed to enjoy the company of canid creatures. It felt fitting for another reason, one Claude didn't understand until Cassidy began speaking with the guards in another language. He was led to assume it was the same language Loba meant she-wolf in.
Spanish. Cassidy spoke Spanish-- quite fluently at that. Although his accent was a bit different from the guards in their unique armoring. They wore metal armor shaped in the snarling heads of feline creatures similar to the one blended into the shadows beside them. The metal of the armor was black but smelled of blood. Ornate bright blue and red feathers streamed from the tops of their helmets and thick shoulder guards. It almost looked ceremonial when combined with the spotted pelts at their hips and the circular small shields locked into their gauntlets. Even their weapons were different.
They looked like they were from a different world.
"Alright." Cassidy suddenly said as the guards walked over to the massive doors and began pulling them open.
"We good?" Claude whispered.
"We have sacrificial offerings. In other words, we have gold, wolfboy." Cassidy said while looking down at the Kobold carcasses held in Diamondbacks jaws.
As soon as the gates opened, the smells of rotting and blood filled his nose in ways he'd never experienced. It seemed to be rising from the earth. It made his skin tingle and his stomach growl.
"Holy hell..." Claude thought as they entered.
"[I'm quite glad I never came to this place. Dear gods.]"
Claude rode in on Diamondback, his eyes never held to one sight for long. The place was so different from anything he'd seen thus far. Even so he fit in better than most places-- minus the Primal he rode. The people looked similar to him. Dark bronze skin, black and brown thick hair. But where Claude was lanky and covered in fatless muscle, the majority of the men and woman walking around Camaco were of shorter and thicker stature. The Heroes looked powerful-- Heroes he later learned were called Yaotl or Warriors from the street art and Cassidy's explaining. Warriors. They looked strong. As did the city itself.
All remnants of the Old World were seemingly gone. No old skyscrapers eaten by monsters and reborn by man. No busted roads and metal skeletons of buildings left standing forever. Everything was of it's time. The buildings were fresh, white and cream colored with coned rooftops and tight intricate shingles. Homes sat in close fashion, jammed together, and built upon further by the people within.
The streets they traveled on were wide and comprised of packed sand with stone and gem borders. Each stone was designed with the face of a screaming bat. It would've been beautiful if he was ignorant to the depiction of who he was looking at.
"[Followers of Camazotz.... everywhere.]" Arne commented as they passed a number of holy places.
Buildings as big as entire apartments back in SkyHaven, made with black and red stone and lit by bloodred flaming pikes that lined staircases seemingly a mile long. People dressed in suit and robes walked in and out of the buildings carrying bowls of blood and other religious objects of significance. They froze whenever they saw Claude and Diamondback and watched him for a while, some even followed behind in interest before slowly sagging off.
The area was seemingly of high class despite how close they were to the edge of the city. Things didn't begin to get truly dark until they passed their first Altar.
"Here." Cassidy explained as he stopped at a dead end.
At the helm of the dead-end, a well sat. As wide as a building and as foul smelling as a dump. The well was made up of stone weathered by the sands and blood dried to it's surface. Behind it, a statue sat with its ruby gem eyes focused on the inside intently.
It was large. Eight feet tall even in its crouched position. It had hands for feet and claws on every finger as long as knives. Each arm was lined by wings that looked almost like weapons in the way they lined the arms. No fur-- or details of such a thing. Only smooth stone representing skin and muscle. Its ears stuck out from the sides of its head, deep and cavernous-- detailed in ways he didn't enjoy. It's nose a flat piglike set of orifices with holes as big as Claude's eyes. The rest of its features were hidden behind a mask of bone and a crown.
Claude didn't need to look into the well to know what he'd find. He led Diamondback over to it. It took some work, but the Primal ended up dropping two out of the three carcasses inside. As they landed in the bloody waters within, he could've sworn he found something slithering and pulling them deeper into the crimson waters.
[Fenrir doesn't appreciate you praising other godly figures....]
"Oh come the hell on." Claude thought to himself.
As the System notification disappeared, Cassidy's voice came from behind.
"Well, I guess it's time we talk now, huh?"
Indeed, it was.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
_Avatar0FFury_
_Avatar0FFury_ YO! We back! Let me know what you think and thanks for reading! Also thanks for the powerstones sonuis, Shazac, Bop_, Alex99, BlackRabbit_4378, shadowwolf1928, Demosura, Ominous_Reader, Bored_Soule, krissch_, drachenk1nd, Alex_Walk, Fuang, OSIRIS, and TheLucidParagon!
Also if you have any ideas for Camaco or it's Warriors lmk! I'm mixing concepts and designs from Aztec and Mayan origins that i find interesting.
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