NPC's Story

... A few hours later....

A Spotted Coronation

Lord Print Corvus stood before the people, dressed in white formal wear. "My friends, Lords and Ladies, and all felines of Mercia." He spoke somberly and loudly enough for the crowd of people below him to hear him. "The King is dead!"

The crowd let out an audible sigh, and within seconds, felines began to cry and moan. For today, a kind of beloved King had left them. Among them, some even let out snarls of surprise while others just stood there, shocked by the news. And finally, one of them stepped forward. A lone cougar. "Why? What had happened? If his illness was to take him, why hadn't you announced it's low survival rate to us earlier!?

Behind the cougar, the rest of the crowd stepped forward as well to shout their outrage.

Soon, the whole place was in uproar and it didn't show signs of getting any quieter until Lord Crovus shouted for the crowd to settle down.

Finally, the felines fell silent.

"It was not his illness that took him away from us. It was his treasonous sons!" Lord Corvus shouted, and with a great deal of what looked like anger, slammed his paw into the podium he stood behind. "Both, Prince Korso and Prince Everett had conspired to rid the throne of their father, King Helios. I was too slow to act when I found it out myself."

The crowd of felines stilled, shocked by this news.

"This morning, Prince Korso had stabbed his father to death with a sword. And no one would have known if I hadn't walked in and seen it with my own eyes. In a great fit of anger, I attacked him and killed him. But alas, I was too late. King Helios passed away in my arms.... And in the far side of the castle, a few of the guards had come upon Prince Everett. He had been trying to find his brother Prince Soren and kill him. Luckily, we stopped him just in time, but strangely enough, Queen Mina and Prince Soren have not been seen since. No doubt, she had gone into hiding to save her youngest from his murderous elder brothers."

The crowd was still at a standstill. What were they to do without a King?

"However, Prince Everett has escaped. And with current evidence that we have found, it suggests that Queen Mina was aware of the coup but did nothing to stop it. And with Prince Soren gone and suspected to have been fatally wounded by Prince Everett, he is most likely dead. I, as the right hand of the King, will ascend to the throne as King and I will take revenge! Prince Everett is hereby stripped of his title and is wanted, dead or alive for treason! The same goes for the Queen!"

Below him, the crowd roared in agreement. They too wanted revenge for their dead King.

In his ears, all he could hear was the beating of his heart.

It beat like a drummer's nightmare song.

Why? What was going on? WHY!?

In his mind, he saw an artisan all in black stand and brandish a paintbrush. On it, black ink dripped off onto the floor, and with a flourish, the user splattered all that he could see. Weaving it back and forth so that everything was being blacked out in the black ink. Then, he heard silence.

Unaware of his dangerous predicament, or his unknown savior's sudden struggle to save him, he stayed blacked out.

Unfortunately for Nellie, the troops were getting closer. Their near silent pitter patter of paws on cobblestone only added to the panick stricken atmosphere.

Though, with her sudden tackle to save Everett's life, adrenaline coursed through her and she succeeded. Everett slid and tumbled slightly under the sentry bridge, except for his tail that flashed golden amber in the sunlight. If it wasn't hidden the shadows, the sentries may see and descend upon them like vultures. In the end they would be finished.

This would have most likely happened if a nearby unknown tiger peasant hadn't rushed through the stalls of fearful merchants. No doubt, trying to take advantage of the chaos to steal some valuables. However the guards didn't know this. They just mistook the tiger peasant for the prince trying to flee the scene. Of course to them, all tigers must look the same from behind. Poor fools.

The sentries immediately took chase after the tiger thief, taking them away from where the Prince really was. How fortunate for them.

Under the sentry bridge's shadow, Prince Everett groaned and barely started to blink his eyes open. A huff of pain was soon expressed with a flinch that was followed by him bring his front paw to his side, where blood seeped slowly. A slash that he had taken from the sword of Corvus.

*****

Meanwhile, it took Jana awhile to realize that she wasn't being followed. Where had the strange tiger and cheetah gone? Maybe she could sniff them out if she was really serious. Maybe they could offer her money to help them?

Jana panted. She had been running quite a bit, and through difficult pathways that would make it hard for the guards to track her and the others.
"Well, it looks like we're free. Come on, I know a place where we can... hide..."
Jana's sentence trailed off as she realized that the prince and the cheetah girl were nowhere to be found. When running, she hadn't bothered to look over her shoulder. The she-wolf cursed, smacking a hand to her forehead, and then stealthily retraced her steps in order to not be found.
At last she found them hidden under a sentry bridge. She took a few steps back and, making sure she was in shadow, sprinted into an acrobatic roll under the bridge. Since she'd moved so fast and in shadows, any guards would have had a hard time noticing her.
Once making sure nobody had noticed, she turned to the two of them. She immediately noticed a cut on the side of Prince Everett. It wasn't too deep, but it was bleeding. A sword wound. Jana tsked quietly. "See, this is what happens when you don't run away from a conflict you can't win." Rooting around in one of the hidden pouches she kept on her person, she took out some cloth bandages and a waterskin. She carefully poured a dribble of the water onto the wound to wash it out, and then began to wrap the bandages around Everett's torso. "I may not know much about healing, but certainly enough to get by," she whispered. "This bandage should hold long enough for us to get out." A blotch of red soon appeared on the side of the bandage wrap.
"However," Jana continued quietly, "I'm no expert, so we out to get out of this city quickly so we can get Prince Everett here to a hospital." Spotting a dirty, damp and torn cloak that someone had discarded, she took it and put it on the prince to mask his features. "Now come on. Stick to the shadows and follow me this time, I know a way out. Trust me."

The last to jump onto the trolley, Everett steeled himself for what happen, as he landed.

The world was red with pain, and it didn't help that the trolley jerked forward a little, sending him careening into the stranger in front of him. His shoulder!

It was a miracle that he didn't let out a yowl.

These future moments would forever be etched into his mind. The jerking of the trolley, and the squishing and squashing of those all shoved inside it. Strangers were unknowingly hurting him, their new crown prince meant for the throne. Somehow, he found that funny. This was then followed a silent hiss once the trolley jerked to a final stop.

Looking out through the window panes and the in between passing strangers, he saw the small spotted leopard. Kosovo.

Everett hunched in on himself and maneuvered he way off the trolley.

Once off, he started limping after Kosovo, not noticing that all the constant movements had kept his shoulder wound from healing. The blood was already beginning to seep into the blanket tarp like thing Jana had covered him with.