Something Wicked

**"Something Wicked"**is the fourteenth episode of *War* and the 63rd episode overall.

The episode was published on March 28, 2021.

In the episode, a letter to the Granite Bloc warns of "something wicked" in Cervidium. A Prince of Leprolia learns firsthand of this evil.

## Appendix

Episode Title Card**A:** Map of the War, 718**B:** Canisian Royal Family, 718**C:** Felexan Royal Family, 718**D:** Leprolian Royal Family, 718**E:** Highland Castle, West Terrier, Canis**F:** Talonclaw Castle, Tabitha, Occupied Felexa**G:** Burrow Court Palace, Sylvia, Leprolia
## The Episode

*—Diary of Lana Loudoun—*

*-May 27, 718-*

*As of this evening, Mom and I have lived in O Camp for one year. Ripper no longer feels like home, especially after seeing images of the town turned into an army fortress. The place we yearn for is long-dead, just like the old Cartonia. We can never return to Ripper as it was, and I cannot say where I will be when this war is over. Although as it rages on like this, I wonder if there will even be an end at all. Wouldn’t that be a true embodiment of hell? A never-ending war that claims all lives…*

*Reflecting on this first year in O Camp, I can say I’ve accomplished a lot. I am now the manager at the Administration building and coordinate most of the village’s public activities. Mom and I have completely redecorated our cabin to our liking. The difference is startling, but in all the right ways.*

*I am turning 32 this year, and although it isn’t important, I am hoping to meet someone while I am here in O Camp. So many pigs of my age are already married with children, and I am not. I think my contributions to the war effort are more significant than my own relationship status; however, it is something I’ve been thinking about more. There’s a nice gentleman at the administration office, but I don’t think he notices me.*

*Anyway, for now, O Camp is home. We are a tight-knit community, and we know we are safe for the time being. The parrots have not had much luck pressing further south, and they have not yet broke into Ursus. The only part of Ursus that is occupied is Cape Alyaska.*

*I have yet to see a battle, or visited a battlefield. I can only imagine the horrors…*

—Central Leprolia—

—Kingdom of the Rabbits—

-August 11, 718-

Hundreds lay dead upon the battlefield, which had once been a wheat farm before the war. Azure Oldman and his father, Glaucous Oldman, were themselves engaged in the carnage against Cervidium. The deer were hoping to maintain their northward momentum, having already conquered the lower half of Leprolia. The rabbits were desperate to stop their advance. The cows of Bovo were on their way to this battlefield, but Azure imagined the deer would be forced to retreat by then.

The rabbits fired another round of guns, and lobbed a set of bombs at the approaching flank of deer. The bombs blasted a few of them back, while the gunfire knocked over a good dozen.

“AGAIN!” Glaucous shouted.

The same wave of attacks commenced, and Azure geared up for a Cervidian counter. As the troops prepared to attack again, something zoomed overhead. Azure instinctively ducked, his neck turned to the sky. The Cervidians had launched something from their trenches, like an enormous flying parrot. Azure watched as it banked left and unleashed something over the rabbits. The flying gizmo collapsed to the ground as a mist came down upon them.

“GAS!” someone screamed. Azure saw Glaucous further down their line, aiding a retreat to the trenches.

The deer had dropped gas over them, and Azure could definitively assume it was poisonous. He began to run as the smoke enveloped him.

The gas tore at his lungs, causing him to suffocate. He did not stop running, tripping over a few dead bodies. He at last tumbled into the trench, and someone pulled him into an enclosed barrack.

“Water!” he gasped.

“No!” a medic cried. “Water might exacerbate the gas’s affects on the body. He must wait it out.”

“Please,” Azure begged, but the medics ignored him. Every part of him burned, and his vision began to blacken. He slipped into the abyss, unsure if he’d ever rise from it.

—Highland Castle, West Terrier, Canis—

—Kingdom of the Dogs—

“What’s this?” Maximilian Walters asked Crown Prince Thumper Connelly, who had taken over the duties of royal secretary after Scott Wells was convicted of high treason and imprisoned for aiding Queen Libby Connelly in assassinating Victoria Vixen.

“It’s a letter recovered from Phantish-Occupied Capricon,” Thumper explained. “Two elephants found it in a messenger bag wrapped around a dead cat who was probably trying to cross into the occupied territory. The letter is dated March of this year, which is likely when the cat died.”

“Poor lad,” Max sighed and took the letter. “Why are you bringing it to me?”

“It’s addressed to us.”

Max stared at the envelope.

*To Highland Castle*

*URGENT*

“Not urgent enough to send a telegram, I presume,” Max remarked. Thumper shrugged. “Have you read it?”

“I have,” Thumper said. “I think you’ll find it intriguing. I wanted your opinion before we bring it to Bentley.”

Now Max was intrigued. He unfolded the paper inside. There was no address line, only a message.

*March 5, 718*

*At the risk of my own life, I write this letter with the hope of it reaching Canis, whose good King I believe to be one of the only who can help me. There is something wicked in Antlerstag, a terrible secret that I uncovered three years ago. My punishment for unearthing this fresh hell was my own perdition, and I have been imprisoned by my husband. It pleases the Stag to move me to former Felexa, and now I reside in a glorified prison in Talonclaw Castle. I have not seen my husband or son since being taken from Antlerstag.*

*I know not what is going on here at Talonclaw, but I imagine it is the same as Antlerstag. There are hundreds of us, all prisoners of war. New arrivals come by the dozen, and none leave alive.*

*Please, I beg you for help. Liberate us from Talonclaw and from our suffering.*

*With hope,*

*Doe Deirdre*

Max’s eyebrows went up.

“Deirdre?”

“Shocking, huh?” Thumper added. “I didn’t even know Deirdre was imprisoned.”

“You believe this?” Max posed. Thumper cocked his head.

“Yeah…oh…you think it’s fake?”

“I trust nothing from the Summer Sun. They have sent us many false leads before. This might be a ploy to lure us into Felexa. Then again, it is convincing.”

Max tapped his pencil against the desk. *There is something wicked in Antlerstag*…he wondered what Deirdre meant by that. The Stag was regarded as wicked, but she wouldn’t write a letter to tell them that. This message was also penned months ago; it was likely that Deirdre was discovered and killed just as the messenger was. Or moved elsewhere.

“Let’s show this to the King. There are regal qualities to the handwriting, which supports the authenticity.”

As the pair wandered into the main hall of Highland Castle, Max knew the letter could be sensational if it were true, and part of him wanted it to be genuine for that fact. The Granite Bloc needed ammunition against the Summer Sun to increase the fervor against them. After Queen Libby’s complicity in the Victoria Vixen assassination was discovered and subsequently revealed, Bentley had hoped that Psittancyna and Cervidium would turn on Vulpus and Scuridiae for conspiring to start the war. When that did not occur, and neither Cervidium nor Psittancyna released any sort of statement about it, Bentley knew that they did not care. The initial causes of the war were now so distant and scarcely referenced—unless for propaganda purposes—and every nation had a new stake in the battle.

Bentley was in his study, staring at the corner and jumped when Max and Thumper entered. He quickly composed himself, and Max ignored his frequent glances at the corner. Bentley acted differently when he was alone, or thought he was alone. Max had caught him on two occasions talking to someone who wasn’t there, and it didn’t take many guesses to figure out who.

“Doe Deirdre?” Bentley exhaled after he read the letter. “The Stag imprisoned his own wife? Why?”

“She says she found a secret,” Thumper said with a shrug. “It must have been a pretty big one.”

“Something wicked in Antlerstag,” Bentley repeated. “She didn’t say Lyme. She said Antlerstag. The castle itself. I wonder…”

He got up from his desk to pace behind it. His window overlooked the valley and the lake, which Bentley visited often. Always alone. In fact, several years back he purchased one of the beaches and made it private property. It was even patrolled by cameras.

Every monarch had their secrets, it seemed. Max did not believe Bentley’s were nefarious, as it appeared Stag Ellis’s were.

“I sympathize with Deirdre,” Bentley mused. “She’s a kind woman, who I think may have even been on my side after Victoria’s death, though she didn’t publicly express it. Her husband is rotten, as we know now, and she likely found that out too late.”

“What will you do?” Thumper asked. Bentley pursed his lips.

“I’m tempted to do something, but there’s no way we can reach Talonclaw Castle surreptitiously. Our best bet to save the Doe is to continue our defenses against the advancing Summer Sun and with luck we’ll be able to retake Felexa.”

Thumper and Max nodded in agreement.

“Have you shown this to Queen Roxanne?”

Max sucked in his cheeks.

“No…but we should.”

“Indeed. I’ll summon her.”

Queen Roxanne II of Felexa was ruling in exile, joined by her brother Lionel Lazoy, sister Zamora, mother Jacquetta, and about a hundred members of her household. All had escaped from Felexa after the Summer Sun’s surprise betrayal. Hundreds of additional cats fled the territory before the Summer Sun closed in, with some seeking asylum in Canis. Others had dispersed into other nations, going as far as Equine Isle to avoid Vulpine, Cervidian, Scuridian, or Psittancynesian persecution.

After several minutes, Roxanne entered the study with her mother, Jacquetta. Bentley handed her the letter.

“Talonclaw Castle is being used as a prison?” Jacquetta cried. “How disgraceful.”

“And no news of Giulio,” Roxanne whimpered. Her husband, Giulio Lazoy, never escaped before the palace fell to the foxes six years ago.

“That looks like Deirdre’s writing,” Jacquetta pointed out on closer inspection. “Obviously it could be a forgery. Do you think it’s a trap?”

“My instinct says yes,” Bentley admitted, “but I cannot guess what wicked she’d be referring to. Anyone would want to be rescued from captivity. Unfortunately, I don’t think we can assemble any sort of rescue or reconnaissance mission.”

“Understandably,” Roxanne intoned. “Our priority is taking back the Kingdom of Felexa itself, not risking countless lives to save one individual. As kind of a woman Deirdre is, she’s married to the Stag and most likely will share his opinions. And that son of theirs…”

Roxanne feigned gagging. “*He’s* wicked.”

Jacquetta comforted Roxanne by taking her paw.

“We’ll get Giulio back…”

Roxanne tossed back her head and smiled at the others to mask her worry.

“Thank you for sharing this with me. Let me know if anything changes. I’ll return to my chambers.”

Max and Thumper bowed in her direction as the Lazoys left. Bentley had granted them generous quarters, and after Queen Libby was thrown out of Highland Castle, Jacquetta moved in. Bentley and Jacquetta seemed to be getting along famously. They played cards almost every evening.

“Well,” Bentley sighed. “Another day, another mysterious message from within the Summer Sun. Let’s hope there’s not another one.”

—Burrow Court Palace, Sylvia, Leprolia—

—August 14, 718—

-3 Days Later-

Celeste Oldman took a wet cloth and dabbed her husband’s head. Azure Oldman had not come to since he was rescued from the gassed trenches of battle. His father, Glaucous, had thankfully also survived. But it seemed the vast majority perished, especially anyone who came in contact with the poisonous gas from Cervidium.

“Biological warfare,” King Cottontail murmured behind Celeste. Glaucous was with him, both staring at the ill prince. “The deer have stooped even lower.”

“I’m surprised it’s not of *Vulpine* origin,” Glaucous remarked. “But I suppose the deer are wicked in their own ways.”

“Ah,” Cottontail said, “that reminds me. Bentley sent over a letter he recovered from a dead cat, which he believes comes from Doe Deirdre Elkton.”

Celeste turned around and stared at them.

“Must you discuss that here?”

Cottontail lifted his white eyebrows. He leaned on the cane he had recently started using in his advanced years.

“My apologies, Celeste. We’ll go elsewhere.”

“What’s this letter?” Glaucous asked as the two left.

“Apparently there’s ‘something wicked’ in Antlerstag,” Celeste heard Cottontail reply in the hall. “Perhaps it was this gas…”

Celeste gripped Azure’s paws. She silently willed him to wake up, to recover. His condition had improved since being taken back to Sylvia, but there was always the chance that his unconsciousness would persist.

Azure and Celeste met two months before the war began, back when everything was normal. Once Leprolia got sucked into the war, he became a General in the Leprolian army. They married in 712. Celeste only saw him now and then, as he spent most of his days in the trenches. Her greatest fear was that he would die or become wounded, and now she was living that horrific nightmare.

He suddenly took a sharp intake of breath, then a slow exhale. His fingers flailed for a brief moment. Celeste waited, but he didn’t do anything else.

Something caught her eye outside. She glanced at the window, saw nothing, and resumed dabbing the wet cloth over Azure’s forehead. After a few seconds, she slowly looked back at the window.

It was snowing.

In August?

Her knees cracked when she stood. She ambled over to the window. A slight flurry was coming down, which was impossible. The weather was too hot for this. She peered closer at the substance. It must be dust or ash. It would be rubbish for there to be snowfall in Leprolia in August.

She returned to Azure’s bedside.

—Antlerstag, Lyme, Cervidium—

—Kingdom of the Deer—

Stag Ellis was sitting on the edge of his desk, listening to the Martial of the Cervidian Army explain the recent use of poisonous gas in battle against the rabbits. Apparently the launch apparatus was a success, and the gas deployed properly. However, wind blew the gas back into the Cervidian trenches.

“—and there were no survivors.”

The Stag gaped.

“*None*?”

“Several Leprolians escaped, but our troops didn’t anticipate a need to evacuate, and the gas enveloped them. Only those further down the trench lines survived, but most are sick now.”

The Stag was silent. When he approved the gas’s use, he knew there was no cure for those afflicted, and he didn’t see a need for gas masks since they were launching the gas into the other trench.

“So…” the Martial continued, “if we want to reuse the gas, we either have to develop a vaccine to protect our own troops, or distribute enough gas masks for everybody.”

“The latter,” the Stag said at once. “That’s easy enough, isn’t it?”

The Martial shifted uncomfortably.

“Not quite, my Stag. The gas we developed…permeates through most gas masks. We’d have to create new ones. It might take time.”

The Stag groaned.

“Fine. Halt the use of any gasses against the Granite Bloc until we can figure out this special mask you speak of.”

The Martial bowed, but did not leave. The Stag lifted his eyebrows.

“Well? What else?”

“The Doe,” the Martial mumbled. “She’s been caught sending letters again.”

The Stag knocked his fist against the desk. She was really testing his patience.

“How many this time?”

“Two. One to Phantine, and one to Bovo. We intercepted them both. She warns of, and I quote, ‘something wicked in Antlerstag’ but does not elaborate further. They were identical and now destroyed. Does she…know?”

The Stag shrugged his shoulders.

“She appears to have seen the dungeons and the subjects, and wrote about it in her diary, but I don’t think she really comprehends what is going on.”

The Martial nodded with relief. The Stag was frustrated with Deirdre. She had to meddle where she didn’t belong. She had to stick her nose in the Stag’s affairs. Many times the Stag had to remind her that she was just the Doe of Cervidium. She was no Doe Regnant. Her power was minimal, nonexistent. She never understood how this war was going to help Cervidium claim greatness and glory for generations to come.

“We can no longer keep her imprisoned. If just one letter gets out…”

The Stag pulled a dossier from Talonclaw Castle and read over the list of noble prisoners there. The most notable were Doe Deirdre and Giulio Lazoy, husband of Queen Roxanne II of Felexa.

“Has there been any success yet?”

“At Talonclaw?”

“Anywhere.”

“Ah,” the Martial sighed. “No, my Stag.”

The Stag took a deep breath in annoyance.

“Very well. Then we shall try our next hypothesis. I approve the invincibility experimentations on the Doe and King Consort, to be conducted on the first of September.”

—Burrow Court Palace, Sylvia, Leprolia—

—August 21, 718—

-One Week Later-

When Azure woke up alone in his bedroom, he had jolted into consciousness. As he did so, shooting upright in bed, a flurry of snowflakes burst around him. At first, he thought it was a dream or a figment of his imagination, but the snowing did not stop. It was literally snowing inside his bedroom, and he was causing it.

Azure did not understand it, not even remotely, but somehow he had developed some new ability. An unnatural, uncanny, supernatural ability.

Celeste knew, of course. She burst into the room shortly after he woke up and saw the snow. She was horrified, but came to the most likely reason faster than Azure: the gas had drastic side effects. It left him with the ability to conjure snow.

But Azure had soon learned that his blessing came with a curse. He was constantly hot. If the snow touched his skin, it would do nothing to cool him down. He had the air conditioning cranked up in his room and fans directed at his bed.

“Can you control it?” Celeste asked as they ate breakfast in silence. He had refused to see his father and grandfather, not until he was able to prevent the snow from spitting out of his hands.

“I don’t know how.”

“Try…imagining it gone.”

Azure angled his head at her.

“I’ve tried that.”

“Okay,” Celeste sighed. “Maybe just calm down. You’re probably scared and worried…”

“Of course I’m scared and worried!” Azure cried. “I’m a freak of nature now! The deer have cursed me forever! How am I supposed to live…? I am expected to one day take the throne of Leprolia. No one will support an accursed king.”

“Will you tell your parents and the King?”

Azure shook his head.

“No. I can’t. They’ll imprison me. Run tests on me…”

“That is ridiculous!” Celeste rebuked. “They are your family, and they love you. This is not your fault, nor your doing. Maybe the King can find a way to help you.”

“I really don’t—“

The door opened, startling Azure. He gasped, and a puff of snow shot across the ceiling, raining over the openmouthed stare of his mother, Carolina Oldman. She slammed the door.

“What’s happened?” she stammered.

Celeste filled her in, leaving nothing out. Azure waited for mother to run from the room, raising the alarm, but she instead locked the door and hurried to his side.

“We mustn’t tell anyone else. If the deer find out that their gas has this side effect, they may harness its use against us.”

“What of the King?” Celeste asked. “Surely we must tell him…?”

“No,” mother stated. “If Azure cannot control it, then it is a danger. You’ve been telling everyone he’s still ill, Celeste?”

“I have. So that we’re not disturbed.”

She said the last word with an inch of contempt, as mother had interrupted them.

“Well, I’m sorry,” mother said without sincerity. “When you hear your son is ill, you want to be by his side. You’ll understand that when you have children.”

Azure and Celeste exchanged glances. One of the first things they discussed was the concept of this affliction being inheritable by offspring.

“We’ll work on finding a way to control the snow,” mother decided. “It only works indoors?”

Azure nodded, but Celeste cut in.

“No, he once made it flurry outside.”

Mother inhaled sharply.

“We cannot allow that.”

Azure thought for a few moments as mother and Celeste discussed ways to prevent others coming into his chambers.

“Were there any other survivors? Of the gas?”

Mother tipped her head.

“One that we know of. He’s in King Cottontail III Hospital. Why?”

“There’s the chance he was afflicted too.”

Celeste gently touched Azure’s fur.

“I haven’t heard of any snow in the hospital.”

Azure sighed.

“Do we know his name?”

“Oh…I can’t remember,” mother replied. “I’ll find it for you.”

—Highland Castle, West Terrier, Canis—

Thumper Connelly yawned as he climbed the stairs to the upper landing on his way to see Evangelina. She was with her tutors learning sciences. She seemed to have a penchant for science and math, as opposed to language and history. They were opposites in that regard, but Evangelina was more like her mother in some ways. Though she was dead, her biology was still a part of Evangelina. Thumper tried not to think of Esme, who he often thought of as his biggest mistake. Nonetheless, their relationship, loveless as it was, resulted in Evangelina.

At the landing, Thumper veered down one of the lesser-used corridors as a shortcut. If he went the other way, he’d likely pass Felexan Princess Zamora Lazoy’s favorite spot and have to engage her in droll conversation. Not that he minded, but right now he just wanted to get his daughter and unwind.

He rounded the corner and abruptly stopped.

Two courtiers were kissing on a windowsill. A dog, and a cat.

He gaped, unable to move. He had never seen interspecies romance since Victoria and Bentley. And even then, he never saw them intimate.

A noise escaped his throat, and the two courtiers scrambled off each other.

“Your Highness!” the dog gasped as he dropped into a bow. The cat shakily curtsied. Thumper raised his paws.

“S-sorry to bump into you like this. I was just passing through.”

He flashed them a smile and walked past.

“Actually,” he said suddenly, turning. “You’re not exactly…hiding, are you?”

“Highness?” the dog whispered, his face terrified.

Thumper’s tone was calm and casual, because he was.

“This hallway is not frequently traveled, but that doesn’t make it secure, you know? There are far more private places for you in this castle, yet you were…together…up here. That means you have some sort of comfort from punishment, even though the law still makes interspecies relationships illegal.”

The cat and dog simply stared with wide eyes and frightened expressions. Thumper chuckled.

“I won’t tell on you. I’m just asking a question. Do you feel comfortable? Safe, I mean?”

The dog nodded.

“I don’t think that the King would…disapprove.”

“You’re right,” Thumper replied. “Bentley would love this. In fact…”

Thumper paused to think over what he wanted to say. “In fact, I think I will tell Benny what I’ve seen. Now, don’t look so horrified. I won’t say who. I’ll just let him know that there are people in this castle who love other species. Oh, so sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself. Do you two love each other?”

Their faces blushed. The cat grinned goofily.

“I love him,” she whispered. He looked at her with affection.

“I love you too,” he muttered.

“My heart!” Thumper cried demonstratively. “Right. Well, I’ll go see Benny. It may be high time we put this question before Parliament.”

“What question?” the dog asked.

Thumper was already heading down the hall. He called over his shoulder,

“Should interspecies love remain illegal? Because I think the answer is no!”

—Burrow Court Palace, Sylvia, Leprolia—

—August 25, 718—

-4 Days Later-

Celeste was right. By remaining calm, and not letting emotions consume him, the snow subsided. As he practiced over the coming days, he found it was surprisingly easy to control the power. He could make it snow around him, in the room, in the next room, even outside. He practiced in moderation, to prevent anyone noticing.

Mother located the only other survivor of the gas, who was actually a soldier Azure recognized: Trent Mallon. At first the name was only slightly familiar, but Azure remembered him from the southern trenches when Leprolia still controlled their entire country. Mallon was notably the soldier who helped the Lazoy royal family escape Felexa. Though Azure was pleased to hear that Trent had survived, he was less enthused to know that he also probably had an affliction.

Mother and Celeste brought Trent to Azure’s chambers after he had been discharged from the hospital. He had bandages over his arms, but otherwise appeared to have escaped without injury.

“Your Highness,” Trent said with a low bow. “It’s an honor to be in your presence again.”

Azure smiled with as much force as he could muster.

“Please, sit.”

In Azure’s eager anticipation, flurries sparked at his fingertips. He stuffed his paws under his legs.

“I will be candid with you, Trent. I have asked you here because I…have reason to believe that the gas Cervidium used has a horrible side effect. You are a survivor of the gas. Have you experienced any noticeable side effects?”

Trent was placid. He shrugged.

“Not that I’ve noticed, your Highness. It was painful, and I couldn’t breathe. They put me on a ventilator, and for a while I was unconscious. But I’ve come to. I see you’ve recovered as well.”

Azure bit his tongue.

“Trent…I can understand if you’re scared, because I am too.”

Without moving his paws, Azure made it snow in the room. Trent watched in amazement as the flurries came down around him. He stuck out his paw and caught a few.

“Snow,” he gasped. “How beautiful…”

“How wretched, you mean,” Azure corrected. “It is a curse, not a blessing. I am a monster now.”

Trent stared with empathy. Then, without warning, his light yellow fur turned blue.

Azure jumped out of his chair. Trent was amused. His fur switched to orange, then green, then polka-dotted yellow on pink.

“Pretty cool, huh?”

Azure was stunned.

“When did you notice you could do this?”

Trent ticked off on his fingers.

“Well, almost immediately. The nurses thought it was a constant trick of the light. I think in the end they thought it was a prank. I figured out how to control it. Just a matter of manifestation. There’s a slight caveat though. When I woke up, I was colorblind.”

Azure gaped.

“What?”

Trent picked up an apple from the basket on the table.

“I can’t tell you if this is red or green. Everything is in black and white, like an old movie. I have the useless power to alter my own appearance, so long as I can remember what colors look like, at the cost of losing my own colored sight. What’s your cost?”

Azure told him how he could not get cool. Trent grimaced.

“Oh, that sounds awful.”

“We mustn’t tell anyone,” Azure urged. “Not even the King knows.”

Trent took a deep breath and nodded.

“I think that might be best. Of course I will follow your direction, Highness.”

“Call me Azure. I think if we’re going to be allies in this we might as well be intimate.”

Trent grinned.

“Sure thing, Azure.”

They spent the next hour talking at length about their new powers, and the implications of such abilities. If the deer continued to use the gas, there would be more of those affected, with a wide range of powers. If harnessed correctly, they could be used by the Granite Bloc. But at the moment, changing fur color and creating snow wouldn’t do much.

“Do you still have family?” Azure asked Trent. The question was a heavy one these days; a family of seventeen could be whittled to one in the course of a single battle.

“I do,” Trent replied. “My father is a farmer near the Bovish border.”

“I will see that you are honorably discharged from the army so that you may return to him. We must protect each other, yes?”

Trent nodded.

“Respectfully, sir…my father and I do not necessarily have the best relationship. Would it be possible for me to find a position in the capital?”

Azure assented fervently.

“I will appoint you to my own household, if it pleases you.”

“It does!” Trent beamed. “Just don’t put me in charge of interior design. Everything’ll end up grey.”

—Chamber of the Commons, Highland Castle, West Terrier, Canis—

—August 26, 718—

-1 Day Later-

King Bentley II was not allowed inside the Chamber of the Commons, per Canisian tradition that the Commons was a separate entity from the Crown, the main source of its power. There was a separate room adjacent to the Chamber where Bentley was permitted to sit and listen to the debates on the floor below.

Thumper Connelly was leading the debate, arguing that it was time to overturn the centuries-old ban on interspecies love.

“We have the opportunity today,” Thumper boomed into the microphone, addressing all the members of Parliament, “to make Cartonian history as the first nation to legalize interspecies relationships and marriages. Love is the cornerstone of a happy society, and those that have fallen in love with others outside of their species are just like everyone else seeking a better life. For centuries we have seen those struck by the arrows of speciesal passion oppressed and ignored by the law. I put forward today an amendment to repeal the Limitations of Marriage Act, which was enacted shortly after the birth of the Harmony Crown. Let love be love, and there be no restrictions.”

There was ardent applause, and Bentley’s heart skipped a beat.

“That sounds good,” Victoria noted, her ghostly ear pressed to the wall. “I guess there’s been a shift of heart.”

Bentley was smiling, amazed. The shift had happened slowly, beginning in the capital and spreading. Sympathy toward Bentley’s failed relationship with Victoria increased as his personal popularity recovered and his effectiveness as military leader praised.

“My Lord of the Opposition,” the Master of the Commons addressed, “do you have a counter?”

“I do not, good Master.”

“Does anyone have a written counter?”

“Aye.”

Bentley couldn’t tell who it was, but thankfully the Master said his name.

“The Right Honorable Representative from Shepherd.”

Victoria winced.

“He’s against us…”

“Thank you, good Master. I would like to refute the Crown Prince’s earlier argument that public opinion is now for interspecies relationships. A poll taken just last May indicated that 47% of Canisians disapprove of interspecies marriage with a further 55% responding that they do not support any change of law. Until this number becomes an overwhelming majority, I do not think it is justified, or appropriate, to consider such a change.”

The Commons jeered, which was music to Bentley’s ears.

“I would like to respond to that,” Thumper stated, and the Master gave him the floor. “The Right Honorable Representative from Shepherd brings up a fair point, and I myself read the results of that survey. But it only sampled members of the northern communities. A poll recorded in February of this year, sampled mostly from the capital indicated 87% in support of interspecies marriage. Furthermore, the members of this house are all representatives of their districts. If you have received specific instructions from your constituency to block this measure, then by all means please exercise your diplomatic right. If not, then I encourage you to join us in making history!”

The Commons cheered.

“Would anyone else like to speak on this matter?” the Master of the Commons posited. No one responded. “Very well, the clerk will initiate the vote.”

The representatives recorded their votes electronically. Bentley and Victoria waited quietly. Bentley reached for her paw, but she was unable to take it.

“All the votes are in, good Master,” the clerk said.

“And what has the Commons decided?”

Bentley held his breath.

“The nays to the left, 36. The ayes to the right. 93. The ayes have it, and the measure is passed.”

The Master of the Commons slammed his gavel to raucous celebration. Bentley’s paw flew to his mouth. Victoria clapped her paws in delight.

“The ayes have triumphed! The Limitations of Marriage Act is henceforth repealed. Interspecies marriage will take legal effect in the Kingdom of Canis on the first of September.”

—Talonclaw Castle, Tabitha—

—Occupied Felexa—

-September 1, 718-

Doe Deirdre’s quarters in Talonclaw Castle was once a guest bedroom. If she closed her eyes, she could picture the furniture and amenities laid out for a royal guest. Now, the room was stripped bare except a measly cot, a table, a chair, and a chamber pot. By now, she had written a letter to every single Kingdom of the Granite Bloc, but heard nothing in reply. She could not even be sure that any of her letters made it to their intended destinations.

The window was barred and boarded, but a small hole remained in the bottom where Deirdre could see into the courtyard. Mass graves had been dug, and filled with corpses. Her imagination was a dark place nowadays, and her brain reasoned that these bodies were victims of the Stag. That whatever calamities were occurring beneath Antlerstag had since moved to Talonclaw.

She never left her cell, and she never saw anyone besides a string of jailers. The only clue she had to the palace’s occurrences were the bodies dumped in the outside graves.

The door scraped against the floor as it was pushed open.

“Come.”

A deer with a large gun, pointed at her. Deirdre rose from her cot and followed him into the hall. This was it. She was going into the grave too.

A cat was handcuffed in the corridor, completely naked and emaciated. He was shaking. Deirdre inspected him as the deer cuffed her too.

“Giulio?” she gasped. “Giulio Lazoy?”

The cat glanced up, his unmistakeable face fearful. The deer pushed them both forward, and they stumbled.

“Where are you taking us?” Deirdre demanded.

No one responded.

—Highland Castle, West Terrier, Canis—

The first interspecies marriage took place in the Sanctuary, attended by the entirety of the Commons and government. Bentley was the officiant, and the courtiers Thumper caught kissing were the bride and groom.

The cat was one of Roxanne’s maids, and the Queen of Felexa herself offered to serve as the Maid of Honor. Madonna Jacquetta, Princess Zamora Lazoy, and Evangelina Connelly volunteered as  bridesmaids. On the groom’s side, Thumper, Maximilian Walters, and Lionel Lazoy were groomsmen. Their own friends and family rounded out the rest of the bridal party.

Bentley beamed at the dog and cat, holding paws upon the marriage alter. Everything felt right, as things should be. The ceremony was televised, to be broadcast across Cartonia.

“Dearly beloved,” Bentley announced, “we are gathered here today on this historic day to join in eternal matrimony the lives of Rich Ghaoil and Mildred Amore.”

Victoria was dressed in her usual white gown, though this time she had on a wedding veil, and was standing directly in front of Bentley. He wished she would move out of the way so that he could concentrate.

After the vows and assents of marriage, Bentley held back tears as he proclaimed to different species for the first time,

“You are now married under the legal auspices of Canisian law.”

The room erupted in applause, and Rich and Mildred sealed their marriage with a kiss.

Victoria tossed back her veil, and vanished.

—Talonclaw Castle—

—Occupied Felexa—

Giulio’s screams died down, and Deirdre couldn’t stop hyperventilating. Her adrenaline was through the roof. What had they done to him? It sounded as if he was boiled alive.

The guards held her still, not even permitting her to sit. Her knees knocked against each other. She bit down hard on her lip and tasted blood.

They were deep underneath Talonclaw Castle in a basement. A placard outside a set of double doors read “Lab.” Were they running tests? When she first got here, a guard said the pile of bodies in the pits were “failures.”

She thought back to the dungeons in Antlerstag beneath the secret parlor, lined with cells of suffering Cartonians. Had those been test subjects, mutilated in the experiments?

The double doors opened and a deer doctor ambled out in a bloody lab coat. A gurney was wheeled out, Giulio’s body upon it. They had hastily thrown a white sheet over him, but he bled through it.

“Another failure,” the doctor remarked casually to an attendant. “Who’s next?”

Deirdre wanted to scream.

“Deirdre Elkton, former Doe of Cervidium.”

The doctor glanced at her.

“Ah. Yes, bring her in.”

Deirdre protested and fought as hard as she could, but after years in captivity she had grown extremely weak. They easily strapped her onto the operating table. At least they wiped off Giulio’s blood. Her arms and legs were bolted to the table, and her head was held in place by a horrible iron shield. The doctor affixed a series of gadgets to her body, and inserted two needles.

“Adjust the phosphorus content by fourteen,” the doctor instructed one of his assistants. “We’ll try that.”

“What are you doing?” Deirdre gasped. “What are these experiments?”

The doctor did not meet her gaze.

“You are the lucky number…3547 to undergo invincibility testing.”

Deirdre gasped. How many?

“Invincibility?”

“Indeed,” the doctor replied, consulting his clipboard. “Gag.”

Deirdre was in an absolute panic as they wrestled a gag into her mouth. Her breathing was uneasy and scattered. They gave her a sedative, and for the first time in years, a calm came over her.

Her eyes lolled back and she slipped into happier times. Playing with Barrow in the gardens with Ellis chasing after her, picking her up and swinging her around. Dinner with his family. Learning to cook together. Harmonious Holiday Galas. Parties. Intimacy. Love.

Gone.

“Begin.”

Deirdre’s eyes burst open as liquid drained into her veins, causing excruciating agony. She screamed in pain as her body attempted to reject the serum. She wriggled against the constraints, but was held tight. Something burst in her chest, and she screamed even louder. Her throat seared with torment. The noise was muffled against the gag.

“Stop.”

Her vision gave out, and she couldn’t see anything for a while. When she tried to move her arms or legs, she found she couldn’t. They had gone numb, or were they gone? They could have cut off her arms and she wouldn’t have even noticed. She couldn’t see anything except the ceiling.

“Gas.”

Something was strapped over her face, and then she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t even scream. She was suffocating! As her heartbeat slowed and death approached, the mask was removed and oxygen returned.

“Serum.”

The doctor injected her arm again, but she only felt a prick. The doctor loomed over her head, his eyes wide.

“Heartbeat?”

“Steady.”

The doctor tore off his face mask. He was openmouthed.

“She’s alive…”

Deirdre was slipping into unconsciousness. Her brain was willing her to sleep, though instinct was begging her to stay awake.

“This could be a success,” the attendant whispered. The doctor hastened around the table.

“Scalpel.”

“What are you doing?”

“Making an incision. If it worked…it’ll heal at once. She’ll be invincible.”

Deirdre’s eyes traveled over to the doctor, who was holding a scalpel over her arm. Then, he jammed it into her shoulder.

She screamed, and the air around her suddenly ignited. She recoiled as fire blasted the equipment, incinerated the gag, and immolated the doctor. She felt flames at her fingertips, though she wasn’t burning, and heard the agonizing shrieks of the doctor and his attendant.

Deirdre lay there, alive but scarred, gasping for breath, two corpses burning on the ground beside her.

## Production

### Continuity and Story Arcs

This episode is notable for introducing BioFreaks, though the term was not yet coined.

The Cape of Alyaska, invaded in “Buried in Satin,” remains the only portion of Ursus occupied by the Summer Sun.

Prince Azure Oldman of Leprolia was gassed by the deer during a battle. The poisonous substance warped his biology and gave him the ability to control snow. This affliction is shared by his distant descendent, Slate Oldman. Azure was previously revealed to be a BioFreak in his first guest appearance in the season 1 episode "The Blizzard Wizards." As the affliction is hereditary, all subsequent Oldmans from his line have been able to bend snow.

Another victim of Cervidium’s gas was Trent Mallon, who previously appeared in “Infamy” helping the Lazoy royal family escape Felexa.

The ban on interspecies marriage was overturned in Canis after an overwhelming vote in the Canisian Commons Council. Canis therefore became the first nation to legalize interspecies marriage.

Doe Deirdre Elkton remained imprisoned in Talonclaw Castle and sent letters begging for help. Though Canis received it, nothing was done. Deirdre was later operated on to test invincibility. Though that was not achieved, she not only survived but also developed the ability to bend fire.

Giulio Lazoy, last seen in “Infamy” defending Talonclaw Castle as it fell, spent six years imprisoned in his home before being subjected to the gruesome experiments of the Stag. He perished as a result.

### References

The Monarch of Canis not being allowed inside the Chamber of the Commons is a reference to a similar tradition in the United Kingdom; the sovereign may not step foot in the House of Commons. This was implemented after King Charles I stormed Parliament in 1642 and attempted to arrest five of its members.

The Stag’s experiments are partially based on Nazi doctor Josef Mengele’s experimentation on Holocaust victims.

## Trivia

* The title of this episode is a quote from the Shakespeare play *Macbeth*: "by the pricking of my thumbs, **something wicked** this way comes."
	+ The line was quoted in Doe Deirdre's letter to the Granite Bloc: "*There is **something wicked** in Antlerstag*.*"*
	+ It is subsequently spoken by other characters in reference to that letter.
* The parliamentary procedures of the Commons is based on the United Kingdom’s House of Commons and the United States Senate.
* Rich Amare and Mildred Keter are named after Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple that successfully overturned federal and state bans on interracial marriage in the landmark 1967 Supreme Court case *Loving v. Virginia*. The characters’ surnames both mean “love” in Scots Gaelic and Italian.