Secret Agent Bat

[Kali]

"You just HAD to volunteer for the tough assignments, didn't ya?"

Trent gave his rope a tug, making sure it was still secure, less the down pour of water dislodge the grapple. The FTN saw the storm as a boon, granting them the cover they needed for such an operation. The rat dangling hallway up the wall of the arena however, merely saw it as a pain in the arse.

Every FTN member had a place to fill in the organization. Inkpaw had his charisma, Lady Eve held her influence like a weapon and Trent... was a tent maker.

One who could climb a rope and lacking seniority. It made him the perfect choice for a potentially dangerous mission. Apparently the spies couldn't get to where he needed to go with out blowing their cover or... something. The rat really wished he had asked more questions before embarking on this fools errand.

With one last heave, Trent pulled himself over the rim of the arena. He pulled a grey mask about his muzzle to conceal his identity and took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

"At least the bloody hawk can't fly in this weather..." is the only comforting thought Trent could come up with.

An instant later lightning struck, lighting up the sky and the outline of Thunder as the hawk swooped down upon the rat from behind...

><><><><><><><


It wasn't thunder that woke Kali up but the alarm of a warning bell, echoing through the hallways and playing murder with her sensitive hearing. She squeaked in alarm, falling from her perch and landing on her head.

"Who, what, where?!" The bat leaped to her feet, ready to defend herself from the mass of slaves around her. Their faces were obscured by the darkness of the night but Kali could sense confusion that mirrored her own.

"Line up. Everyone line up!" The voice of a guard cut through the panicked mutterings of slaves. "Form up." The guards were alert, arming themselves with torches against the darkness.

"What's going on?" Kali's frantic voice was almost lost in the noise. The beasts were quickly shuffled out of the drag under armed guard. "Where are they taking us?"

Her unanswered questions only allowed room for more questions to grow. Were they in danger? Were they being ushered off for a nightly game? Did they discover the FTN members in their ranks? If so, was Kali about to be executed?

Amid all the confusion, Kali almost missed the sound of pouring rain against the stone outside. It must have been a real gully washer to be heard this deep into the crater.

Forming a tight line the slaves are led through the hallways until they come to a supply room. Directed by Hargorn, beasts were given a wooden bucket and assigned into groups before being sent to another area of the Crater.

Slowly it all came together, the rushed atmosphere, the rain, the buckets.

The arena was flooding.

Messengers from other parts of the arena confirmed this, shouting their orders loud enough to be clearly heard.

"The pumps on section two have failed, sir. We need more beasts!"

"Water is getting into the scorpion pit and they are going wild. We need more shield bearers to herd them!"

"Nire says our heads will all roll if the arena doesn't open for the tournament tomorrow..."

Kali didn't have long to watch Hargorn become flustered, as much as the sight brought a smile to her face. A bucket was roughly shoved into her open wings before being ushered off with a small group towards the underworks.

Even there, in the underbelly of the arena, the sound of distant rain and thunder was muffled by sand and stone. It made Kali long for the days when she could just walk outside and feel the rain upon her skin. She had no idea how much she would miss such simple pleasures.

"You. bat. come with me." Kali twisted her head around to face the guard as he grabbed her by the shoulder, yanking her off her feet and down a side hallway. The guards leading them to slaves to the underworks did not argue.

"What good is one lone bat going to do? Fix a leak in the ceiling?" Even Kali couldn't tell if she was asking a serious or sarcastic question.

The rat opened a door to a room for cleaning supplies, gently pushing her inside.

"A lot more than you realize," said the beast waiting for them.

Kali's eyes widened to the sight of Inkpaw. The chubby baker looked different without his traditional apron. Instead he was dressed with a red tunic and sleeveless leather jacket. Kali couldn't tell what the animal the leather was made out of.

"Please, don't ask questions. We have a situation and not a lot of time to deal with it."

Kali was taken aback by the marten's serious nature, by the bluntness of his voice. This was not the Inkpaw she had come to know.

"We lost an operative."

Nothing good ever came from a sentence that began with 'we lost an operative'. Kali bit her lip to keep quiet as the marten continued.

"His name is Trent. Grey rat, head shorter than you are. He had an assignment infiltrating the storage shed on the top of the arena."

"What was his assignment?"

"That doesn't matter. Not anymore. He was attacked while scaling the wall, by Thunder."

The name of the hawk was enough to send shivers down Kali's spine. As did all of Nire's pet birds really.

"We think he is still alive," the guard crossed his arms. "Somewhere on the top of the arena. Reports are sketchy, but guards saw him fall from Thunder's grasp."

"The entire arena is on lock down as the guards search for him though," Inkpaw added.

Kali's eyes lit up. She was already a step ahead of Inkpaw in this math equation. Two plus two equaled one dead bat. "W-wait a moment. You want me, to rescue this rat?" Her voice squeaked higher than usual as she stepped backward.

The marten and rat exchanged glances. "If possible, yes. We need you to fly up to the top of the arena, and fly Trent to safety."

"Whoa, guys, hold up here. There are so many things wrong with this plan I don't even know where to begin. W-why not use Ratty McGuardRat here to go find him. O-or Kentrith! They can blend in a lot ea-"

"We can't get him out of the arena," Tegue said bluntly. "Too much ground to cover to find him, too many chances to blow our own cover. If we go after him, it would only be to kill him."

Inkpaw was quick to explain, "The other option is being captured and tortured to death until he gives up the names of his fellow FTN members. Trust me, Kali, he would rather we gave him a quick death than betray the Cause."

That did nothing to quiet the horrified look playing out across Kali's face, so the marten continued. "We are hoping that you, as a flying beast, can spare him either fate. But..."

"You will have to kill Trent if you cannot rescue him." The rat finished. Kali had the sense that both beasts were giving her a sugarcoated version of events. Even so, her stomach was being tied into knots. Suddenly, Thrayjen's attitude towards rebellions made just a little more sense to Kali as she began backpedaling to the door.

"This can't be happening," she said, wings pressed against her belly and forehead. "You can't ask me to do this. You said it yourself, Inkpaw. I am just a bard!"

"And you said you were prepared to do whatever it takes to free the north," The marten countered. "I'm not going to pretend this isn't a lot to take in. But the longer we wait, the longer Nire has a chance to catch Trent first. So I need to know, are you in?"

Kali seemed to shrink where she stood. She closed her eyes, summoning what was left of her courage to reply. This was beyond her skill set. By definition bards were made to be the complete opposite of stealthy. If even one beast spotted the 'exotic' fox-bat, it was a short trip to Nire's office and from there, a shorter trip to Thunder's gullet.

"What do you need me to do..."


><><><><><><><><


"You expect me to fly someone out, in this?" Kali flailed her wing at the open door. Rain pounded the arena outside so hard she thought the very rock might split open from it. Even here, at a service entrance to the mid-level of the arena, rain water was pouring into the hallway.

"If it's any consolation, birds can't fly well in this either."

"Tell that to Thunder."

Inkpaw laughed but kept his tone serious. "You have a thirty minute window to search for tent up top then you need to be back here. After that, this area won't be a safe entry point for you."

"Or I could fly off and never see this place again." Kali smiled. Such a lovely thought that was soon squashed by Inkpaws next statement.

"Yes, and in the morning, after you are found missing, Nire will make an example out of everyone you ever cared about by executing them in the tournament."

The bat's thoughts drifted to Komi, to Minerva, to Kentrith and Inkpaw. Even Rose... to a point.

"Still, I wouldn't blame you." The marten patted the bat on the shoulder, "Most important... stay safe."

"Inkpaw, I-" Kali never got to finish before he shoved her out the door.

"Go. Now! While your window is still open."

The bat chirped as she was met with torrential rain. She shielded herself with her wing but to little effect. "Of all the ways I expected to die in the arena, drowning was not one of them." She stretched out her wings, trying to get altitude, but the storm would not let her. She would have to take a less direct approach to the outer rim of the arena.

Stepping out into the stands of the arena, Kali kept low, ascending the stairs two or three steps at a time. Darkness fell upon the arena like a shroud and would only be banished by the crack of lightning. For brief moments at a time the arena was lit up. The entire pit resembled a rapidly growing lake, the stands rivers gushing into the center.

There was a second source of light though, one which Kali chose to avoid. Patrol beasts used lanterns to guide their way, searching diligently for the intruder, and by default, Kali.

Keeping her belly to the ground, Kali flattened herself against the top of the stairs, holding her breath as a patrol passed by.

"Clear." A beast shouted and Kali instantly recognized the voice.

Maybe it was the rain and darkness, maybe the bat's own adrenaline coursing through her veins, but Drake looked far more terrifying than he ever looked. The goofy, fat bellied fox was replaced by a beast on the prowl, eyes set forward as if he were on the hunt.

Kali wondered if Drake could really bring the axe he carried against her. If he would even hesitate before attacking her if she were caught here.

It was a question Kali was determined not to find an answer to.

The moment the patrol went by Kali darted from her hiding place, closing the distance between the stairs and the stone supports of the next level in a heart beat.

It was still not quick enough.

"Hey! There!" A guard shouted, spinning about to point at where the shadowy bat was a moment earlier. With brutal efficiency and training the beasts closed in on the stone pillar, searching all sides of it for an intruder.

By then Kali was already ascending the pillar above them. "I could have sworn..."

"It's fine." Drake said with strained patience, "The shadows are going to be playing tricks on all of us tonight. Just keep on the look out." The fat fox glanced upward into the shadows above him.

Kali gripped the pillar tighter, trying to will the shadows to conceal her. This was a horrible idea. This was such a horrible idea. She was going to get caught and then she was going to die.

No... that wasn't quite right.

She was going to get caught and then the FTN would send a beast into her cell to silence her before she could rat them out to Nire. Of course, Kali only realized this now, after it was too late to escape her fate.

The armorer below however merely turned away. "Shadows are playing on us all tonight. Come on. Let's get this finished so we can get inside, aye?"

Kali finally let out the breath she had been holding. She rested her head against the pillar, fighting the urge to run back to the exit before climbing higher. Now sheltered from the rain in rafters of the upper level, Kali was given a chance to plot out her movement.

Getting to the top of the arena was the easy part. Finding Trent... not so much. She peered into the night, spying the vague shape of the store house. There was no guarantee that Trent would go there, especially if he was just attacked by Thunder. Would he try to run instead?

"Hey Kali, we need you to save a rat but have no idea where he might be." Making a note to ask more questions the next time she engaged in espionage, Kali clung to the edge of the rafters. She stared up at the sky, knowing that she would be sharing it with her natural predator.

The bat had to admit, the temptation to just fly off into the storm was nearly overwhelming. It wouldn't be the first time she had flown in such weather. She would have to sing for a while until she got enough money for a new lute! She could get her life back on track, find a job with someone who would appreciate her singing.

She glanced off to the side. It all seemed so... selfish. Caring about something as silly as her singing career when beasts had real problems here in the arena. No, even if she did strike it rich outside the Crater, Kali would never be able to enjoy it while her friends suffered here. All that was important now was freeing the beasts of the Crater, and if that meant sacrificing a slim chance at freedom, then so be it.

Kali took a deep breath. It was now or never.

Kali let go of her perch, falling for momentum before stretching out her wings and gliding upward, the rain making it difficult to stick her landing. She tripped on the slick roof, landing with a loud splash. She yelled, instantly regretting it before scrambling for cover, which there was very little of.

And yet, more than she was expecting.  She had never seen the arena from this angle. It was pleasing to know that there were more than flag poles to hide behind but also chimneys, banisters and arches along the side of the building.  There was even a groove cut into the stone work as a sort of pathway for beasts to walk through safely.

There were also guards. Their lanterns gave away their position. The lanterns were unmoving, the beasts choosing to guard the stairwells leading back into the arena rather than braving the treacherous hike across the rooftops.

Kali gave them a wide berth, dropping into the groove and crouching her way across the arena proper. It wasn't a tall groove, just deep enough to cut a pathway through the otherwise flat stone roof. It was also, Kali noticed, not flooded with water.

"Trent." Kali dared to whisper as she walked. "Trent... Trent, where are you?" Come on... Treeeeeeeent." Where could a rat hide, thought Kali. Where would she hide from Thunder? from guards and the reach of their lanterns? Where could a beast hope to hole up for an entire night? The store house would be a poor choice. It would be the first place the guards would look. The tool sheds scattered across the roof tops as well. A flag pole? Please.

Kali paused, "Where... wouldn't I hide?" Her head drifted downward. The water was surprisingly low for all the rain fall beating against her head. Water that flowed away from the stairwells. With time running out, Kali was running out of options.

Her search eventually took her to the gutters, long square openings carved into the rock and slanted to divert water out of the pathway and out of the arena. "Too small to get my fat but in there..." Kali leaned downward to peer inside, but it was too dark to see into. "But if Trent isn't as large as Thray..."

Kali paused, for a brief moment the rain seemed to stop, like passing under a large leaf during the storm. She looked up in time, lightning illuminating the sky and the deadly shadow of Thunder passing over head before he circled back towards the arena. Kali threw herself against the half wall of the pathway right as the bird landed on the decorative arches that lined the ledge of the arena.

His claws hooked into the ledge, holding him there like a gargoyle. He looked larger up close than even Kali imagined. His keen eyes surveyed the top of the arena left to right, seemingly immune to the rain and darkness.

They would have no trouble finding the bat right under his nose.

Kali clamped a wing over her muzzle to keep herself quiet, even as she heard the beast step off the ledge and onto the rooftop behind her. His shadow loomed over her as he leaned forward to peer into the groove.

His head was craned to the left, where Kali had been, and was slowly swiveling back to the area under him.

Go. Now.

Kali wouldn't call it a voice prompting her to action, just instinct. Without a second thought she leapt out of the groove, throwing herself behind a chimney.

The birds head snapped in her direction. She could here the scraping of his talons against the stone as he drew near. Kali's eyes turned wide, heart beating a thousand times a minute, she felt like she was going to faint.

She tensed, crouching low before leaping around the corner of the chimney, she darted behind another chimney right as the bird came around the opposite corner.

There was no time to second guess her actions as Kali danced with the bird through cover. He was on the hunt now, and just a step behind the bat.

And she was running out of cover.

"I know you are here."

Kali nearly shouted out in alarm. It was the first time she had ever heard the hawk speak, and his words were surprisingly soft.

"I can smell your fear."

Both beasts circled around the same chimney now.

"I will kill you." The words seemed to pierce deeper than any blade, "And then... I will eat you. Surrender, and I will make sure your death happens in this order..."

Kali wanted to cry. She wanted to cry so badly. This was so unfair. Inkpaw could have at least given her a weapon, for Martin's sake!

Actually, attacking the beast would probably get her killed even faster. And running... Running was a death sentence. And there was no where left to hide from her natural predator.

Kali paused.

The hawk was hunting her, right?

An instant later the hawk doubled back, his horrible beak twisted into a feral smile at finally outwitting his prey.

His face drooped when Thunder found nothing there. Kali had to imagine the expression because by then she was already bouncing off the top of the chimney and gliding for the edge of the arena. She grabbed the decorative stone work, using it as a pivot over the side where she hung over the side, but out of view from the hawk.

She could hear him hiss in frustration before he took flight again. The sound of his wings beating against the storm was moving away from her, however, not closer.

Limbs weak and shaking, Kali pulled herself over the ledge and back into the arena. She was right. The hawk was never hunting her. He was hunting the rat, who was completely incapable of performing the maneuver she just made.

"At least I know he's alive..." and now she knew where he was. At least, she had a vague idea of where the rat could hide from both guards who were too cowardly to brave the rooftops and from a hawk with a birds eye view of the arena.

What she lacked was time to search every gutter however.

But even that yielded a solution as Kali studied the flow of the water on the pathway. It stood to reason that if the water was backing up in one area then something was blocking it. It was on her third such gutter that Kali finally found a vaguely rat shaped shadow stuffed into the gutter.

"Trent? Trent? Is that you?"

The shadow replied with a groan.

"Well, I'm running out of time, so... I declare you to be Trent." Kali reached in, securing her wing tips on Trent's shoulder. She pulled the rat free of the gutter one painful inch at a time.

"Trent! Trent! I was sent here to rescue you. Inkpaw sent me. Can you walk? We need to get out of here..."

"I-inkpaw..." The rat groaned. His movements were weak, slow. "Y-your Kali... the bat. Inkpaw talked about you..."

"That's good! Mean's I'm doing my job as a bard. Now up you go. We need to get you up on your feet and-holy..." The bat clamped her wings over her muzzle before she could finish the swear, finally realizing that the rat's tunic was not originally colored red.

"Pretty gnarly... eh?" The rat coughed up blood as he laughed. "Cursed h-hawk got me good..."

"W-what? No. Nooooo. You're fine. Tip top shape. Just got to get you on your feet and... then fly you to a doctor..." Kali struggled to prop the rat up into a sitting position.

"Doctor ain't gonna fix this, lady..." Trent laughed bitterly. "Inkpaw n-never should have sent you... I was... was dead the moment that..." The rat took a sharp breath as Kali helped him to his feet.  "C-can't believe he actually sent... sent you. Always... regretted... not stopping you from joining the arena..."

"Well, you know Inkpaw. He's always got a plan, right? Master spy and what not?" Kali began walking the rat down the path, even as he growled.

"Inkpaw is a bloody baker. I'm a tent maker and yer a bloody bard. You really think any of us have a plan? Really?"

The bat had no reply. She didn't want to spend energy arguing with a dying rat. And there was that horrible thought building in the back of her head, that the FTN really was run by just bakers, tent makers and bards and none of them had any idea what they were doing.

"Hey now, if you believed that, you wouldn't be here on the roof top, uh... what ever it was you were doing, right?"

Slumping against the half wall of the groove, Trent laughed. He laughed harder than he probably had in his entire life, Kali thought. "You mean dying?" He cast his head up into the sky filled with rain and lightning. "Banner." He said, "I came here to... leave a calling card... on a n-new banner. It was important, for the tournament tomorrow.. My first r-real mission and I screwed it... screwed it up..."

"N-now don't say that! Y-you have a new mission now, alright? Survive! You don't want to fail that one, let me tell you. All I got to do is... um... fly you, off the arena..." Kali looked the rat up and down, eyes lingering on the many holes the hawk left in him. Holes turned into gashes when the rat escaped his grasp.

Her eyes finally returned to Trent's and instantly they both came to the realization that she wasn't getting him off this roof top.

"Miss Kali..."

"Don't." Kali began, seriousness creeping into her voice.

"Miss Kali..."

"Don't you dare. This is my first real mission too. Get you off this roof. S-so... so I am going to get you off this roof!"

"I'm dead, Miss Kali," the rat said flatly, a small smile forming about his lips. "There is only one thing left to do..." with shaky paws the beast drew a dagger from behind his back. He offered it to the bat.

"I'm not killing you." She said with horror.

"Didn't ask you to." Trent wavered on his feet. "Yer, going to need a weapon more than I do, in case the guards block yer path." Trent coughed, "Now you listen here, Miss Kali. In wee bit that big ol' bird is going to circle back. He's going to find me, and when he kills me, they will stop looking for you. Wait a few moments and get back to where ever you need to go."

"Trent, I..."

"I'm savin' your life, bat." Trent was more insistent. "If I can die... doing something honorable like that... it would at least give it some purpose, you know."

The memory of the Crimson Tiger came back to Kali. Trent was the second beast asking her to let them die for honor.

Fighting back tears, Kali turned her head away. But took the blade.

"Don't feel bad, there is nothing more you can do here. Just tell that fat, lazy tailed baker to name a bloody pastry after me."

The bat only nodded in reply. She hugged the rat, squeezing him tight before leaving his side. Trent quickly disappeared in the rain the further she flew from him.

Kali couldn't bring herself to look back.

Coming to the ledge of the inner rim, she peered through the darkness to find her exit. All it would take is one quick glide to get there.

And yet.

Kali Hesitated.

She lifted her head to the store house across the way. She still had time to make a quick stop at the store house to deface the banner, she was sure of it.

All she had to do was be brave enough to finish Trent's mission for him.

Sacrificing stealth for speed, Kali arrived at the side of the store house quickly. She looked both ways for Thunder before circling around to the front, cursing when she found the large double doors to the store house to be padlocked.

So she continued searching for a way in. The building was larger than she expected, with an even larger building attached to the end of it. She felt exposed, scurrying around the side of the store house until she came to the far end.

Like the front, there were large barn like doors. But these were left unlocked.

Knife thrust into the sash about her waist Kali opened the doors just wide enough for her to slip inside. Tongue in cheek, she pulled the door closed once again, turned around...

... and nearly screamed.

It turned out, that big second building wasn't an addition to the store room at all.

It was a roost.

Four large barn owls sat on perches above Kali, sleeping. Kali couldn't fathom why they were here, nocturnal beasts that they were. Maybe they could not fly in the storm. Maybe Thunder wanted the glory of hunting down poor Trent all to himself. Maybe they were just lazy. Maybe Kali didn't care because there were four giant fricken owls standing before her.

It was every childhood nightmare coming back to haunt her all at once. All she could do was stand there, wings spread out across the door and jaw slack as she stared in horror. Out of the corner of her eye Kali saw a small hole in the far wall. Now all she had to do to get to the store house would be to cross a blood stained room filled with four... giant and... deadly...

Kali let the thought trail off. "Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, no."

Deciding the banner wasn't that important after all, she began to open the doors just wide enough for her to slip back outside, and wide enough for the blood curdling scream of Trent to drift through the room.

Somewhere outside on the arena, the hawk had caught its prey.

Kali didn't have time to mourn the passing of the rat. She threw herself behind bags of feed as the owls came to life. Out of all their frantic chirps and barbaric hooting, Kali caught but one word mentioned in common tongue.

"Prey?"

"Prey!"

"Prey! Prey! Whoo?"

"Thunder! Prey! Prey!"

"PREY!"

Kali sat there, behind the bags of feed, fighting the urge to curl up into a ball and rock back and forth. She was officially in over her head.

The birds slammed into the doors in-mass, struggling and clawing at each other to get out of the doors first. The frightened bat took the opportunity to flutter her way around the edge of the room to her own source of escape. The hole in the wall, just behind the feeding trough filled with seed.

In her haste, Kali knocked over a bag of seed. She didn't stop to see if the owls had heard her, she just dropped into a belly slide for the hole slid on through.

At least... most of her did.

Kali chirped as she stopped halfway through the hole, right about the waist. She let out a low growl as she sucked in her gut to pull herself through...

... and still remained wedged in the narrow hole.

"Prey?"

The word chilled Kali to the bone. One of the owls had stayed behind, head twisted around to glance over his shoulders. "Whooo? Whooo? Prey?" Kali could hear the birds talons scrape against the floor but it was muffled by the words of Drake.

"My armor is no good if you are too fat to fit into it."

Kali bit her lip. This is so unfair. After everything she had gone through, the countless dangers, the battles... to be done in because she ate one too many pastries?

Well... perhaps two too many pastries... or four... not to mention all the extra fruit when she got to the Crater, or the comfort food she splurged on after being thrown to the games.

Kali could just cry. "This isn't happening..." She said quietly. She gave herself one last tug, "I am not dying like this!"

She pulled herself through, bits of wood cutting scraping into her side as she came free. She was on her feet in an instant, throwing herself against the wall and holding her breath as the eye of an owl peeked through the hole. "Who?" The voice sounded disappointed. A moment later she could hear the owl move away.

Eyes wide, Kali slumped slowly onto her rump. "I want to go home..." She curled into a ball, wings drawing her knees to her chest. "I want to go home." She rocked back and forth until Kali remembered that she was on a time line. She couldn't break down, not yet.

Standing on shaky legs Kali began to search the room. It was filled with tools and props. The baskets the owls carried rose pedals with, shovels and buckets to... presumably clean out the roost behind the storage house. And banners. Oh, the banners there were. Trent never mentioned which banner he was going to deface, but she had a pretty good idea.

She found the biggest, most fancy banner she could see and began to unroll it from the wooden peg it was wrapped around. "Oh my..." She said, eyes saddened by the crime she was about to commit to such a beautiful piece of art.

Imagining the look on Nire's face made it easier to deface such a pretty thing. She drew the knife, about to carve FTN through the fabric, but hesitated.

Somehow, FTN just seemed... lacking in impact. It would only serve to spite Nire at this point. No, Kali wanted to inspire the gladiators. To give them...

Her eyes lit up, and the knife began to cut words into the fabric.

After Kali was done, she began the laborious process of rolling the banner back up. "I still got time. I can still make it back."

"Prey!"

Kali's ears twitched to the muffled sound from the roost. Dagger at the ready, she peered through the hole to see Thunder burst through the doors, followed by the loud hoots and calls of the owls behind him. He squawked loudly, triumphantly tossing the limp body of Trent into the room as a trophy.

An instantly later the birds fell upon the rat...

And began to feast.

Kali's eyes twitched. She backed away slowly, away from the sounds of the birds grizzly meal. She came to the big double doors of the store room. She pushed on them with all her might. But they would not budge.

"Why do we have to be out here?"

Kali stopped as she heard the voice of a new beast on the other side of the door.

"They caught the bloke who was sneakin around, right?"

"Nire's not taking any chances. He wants this place secured."

"But we'll catch our death of cold up here in dis storm!"

"Shut yer muzzle, rookie. You won't be up here that long..."

"No, but you will be here long enough." Kali said quietly, too quietly for the guards outside to hear. She slumped against the wall, cradling her head in her wings and cried.

She wasn't going to make her window after all...