Niamh—Queen For An Hour

	Niamh was shocked to find that the battle outside had drawn a crowd of curious spectators.  Half the foxes in Cearnach had to be there, clustered around the still-open front gate.  None of them paid any attention to her as she pushed her way through, except to struggle with each other to fill in the gap she left in her wake.  Some of them had even left the safety of the walls to get a better look.
	She reached the edge of the crowd in time to see Ciara leap at Marcan.  As they struggled a sharp crack, like a branch breaking under winter ice, echoed across the field.  Niamh couldn’t see any obvious cause of the noise, but she saw Embarr reel and collapse.  By the time she understood what had happened, she was already running.  Her hip was agony but she bit the side of her tongue and ignored it.
	Ciara and the fat priest were on the ground and Niamh could see that Ciara had her teeth sunk into his fat throat.  It wouldn’t last, though.  Ciara wasn't a soldier and she was too soft hearted to really hurt anyone no matter how dangerous they were.
	Niamh forced herself to run faster, but it wasn’t enough.  Marcan was easily twice Ciara’s size and he could use both of his arms.  He got his feet under her and kicked hard, throwing her off.  Ciara hit the ground on her back, hard enough that Niamh heard the vixen's teeth click together.  Ciara was back on her feet at once, but she was swaying and she shook her head like she was dizzy and couldn't focus.
	Niamh got to Ciara first, and she scooped the girl up in her arms.  Marcan made a grab for them, but Niamh lifted Ciara up and rushed back out of his reach.
	“You should have gone back home when you were given the chance.  You have no right to interfere,” said Marcan.
	He lunged at them again.  Ciara wriggled out of Niamh's arms in time to kick the fat priest in the stomach.
	“If your brother knew what you'd done in his name, he'd be ashamed of you.  Do you really think he would have wanted you to kill so many people?” she said.
	She struggled out of Niamh’s embrace and drew the sword at her belt.  The engraving on the blade glowed like fire in the sun and left little trails of light when Ciara moved.  She handled it a little awkwardly and, even when Ciara freed her left arm from the sling, Niamh wasn’t sure the girl could really use the sword.  But Ciara slashed at Marcan and and, by luck, she cut him across the chest.
	“You’re the one who's an abomination.  You will leave my city at once and never return or I will kill you,” said Ciara.
	She rested the tip of the sword against Marcan’s chest.  The fur on the back of Niamh’s neck pricked with fear and she put a hand on Ciara’s wrist.
	“You don’t need to do this.  Give the sword to me and do things the right way,” she said.  
	Ciara snorted and shook her head, but she didn't look at Niamh.  She was too busy watching Marcan, who had put his hands around the tip of the sword.
	“Get back to the city.  You'll be safer there,” said Ciara.
	“You don't want to do this,” said Niamh.
	“Everything that's happened is all his fault.  Look at Embarr.  He's dead, Niamh, just like my father.  Just like everybody I loved back home,” said Ciara.
	Her eyes were full of tears and she was shaking.  Niamh had never seen Ciara this angry before, and it frightened her.
	“None of this would have been necessary if Connor had only listened to me.  He was too soft, and he knew Blackpool was going to come back again.  It was only a matter of time.  So I had to show him that what he was doing was going to get more innocent people killed,” said Marcan.
	“You wanted us to come back.  You have to have us to hate so you can live the way you do.  It's the same for us,” said Sabia.
	“Everything I did was for the good of the city,” said Marcan.
	Everything around them had stopped.  All of the soldiers were still standing around with their weapons raised, but they weren’t looking at each other anymore.  Even Sabia was too interested in the fight between Marcan and Ciara to bother with the people around her but Niamh knew if Ciara killed him, they would die next.
	“She's too close to her past, here.  She's going to lose herself if you don't remind her who she really is.  In her heart,” said Fiachra.
	Niamh half turned, and her brother was standing behind her, alive and whole like she'd never thought she'd see him again.  He scratched at his wrists, which had been rubbed bare of fur, but otherwise he looked unhurt.
	“I don’t know what to do anymore.  I’ve been so lost ever since we left home,” said Niamh.
	“You do know.  It's the same thing you've been trying to do all along,” said Fiachra.
	“She’s just angry,” said Niamh.
	“She’s been angry before, but I've never seen her pick up a weapon.”
	“If I grab her now she'll never forgive me,” said Niamh.
	“If you don't she'll never forgive herself,” said Fiachra.
	 They ran together, ignoring the shouts of the predators all around them.  Niamh got to Ciara first and, for lack of a better plan, grabbed the girl's tail and pulled hard.  Ciara yelped and flicked the sword up as she tried to keep her balance.  The point barely missed Marcan’s throat and Niamh saw the priest's tail curl between his legs in fear.  Fiachra took hold of Ciara's sword arm and pried at her fingers, trying to get her to let go.  Ciara writhed between them and tried to bite.
	“It isn't fair.  After everything we've been through together,” said Ciara.
	“We aren't going to lose you now,” said Niamh.
	“What about all the people who have died?  What about Alana?  Or Embarr?  He was given to me to keep me safe, but I was supposed to protect him, too.  Now he's dead, because I failed him,” said Ciara.
	“You couldn't help him.  But this isn't the time to give in.  I don't think Embarr, or your father, would want that,” said Niamh.
	Ciara twisted her arm to make Fiachra let go and nearly caught him with the blade of the sword, but he didn’t let go which knocked her off balance.  She fell backwards into Niamh’s arms and she wasn’t strong enough to free herself a second time.
	Niamh fell back a few steps, dragging Ciara with her, and Fiachra moved in to help her.  Between them they got Ciara lifted off of her feet.  Then, it was probably time to run again.  Except that Niamh wasn’t sure if she could, or if Cearnach would let them back in.  Marcan had regained his composure and he smirked at them.
	“Like I said, children have no place on the battlefield.  But if you want to play with weapons I’ll be glad to show you how it’s done,” said Marcan.
	The fat priest drew a dagger from his belt and came at them.  But Emer, now dressed in a long robe, stepped out of the crowd of onlookers into Marcan's path.  He snarled and moved to step around the child but she followed him.
	“That’s enough from you.  This girl Connor’s daughter, and you will treat her with the respect that is owed to her,” said Emer.
	Her voice quavered with fear, and she sounded like the child she was but it was enough to make Marcan stop and stare at her.
	“You don’t know what she is.  If you had any sense you could see it for yourself.  If you give this city over to evil you and all who follow you will be cursed by God,” said Marcan.
	“That is for Her to decide.  But you are not Bishop here here any longer, by my Lady's order, and there is nothing you can do to us now,” said Emer.
	The young fox turned her back on Marcan and she gave Ciara a quick curtsey.
	“The city is yours,” she said.
	“That will never be Queen.  People won’t stand for it,” said Marcan.
	“I think they'll listen to me for now, and that's long enough.  It's time for you to leave,” said Ciara.
	Marcan puffed up angrily and bared his teeth to challenge her.  But by now a few more foxes had split away from the rest and they surrounded Marcan with their weapons drawn.
	It didn’t take long for some of the foxes to bind Marcan’s hands behind his back.  They did so with surprising enthusiasm, though after a sharp bark from Ciara they held back from tying the ropes tight enough to injure him.  All but one of them surrounded Marcan and herded him away from the city.  The one who stayed put his hands on Emer's shoulders and the girl looked up and smiled at him.  Ciara recognized him as Marcan's laggard bodyguard from earlier.
	“You won't have to worry about being hanged now,” she said.
	“We only followed him because the city was being attacked.  We would have followed Fithir if she had been willing to lead us, but she isn’t a soldier.  She didn't even come out of her room,” said the soldier.
	“She has better sense than that,” said Ciara
Ciara slid her sword back into its sheath with a sigh.  The front of her jacket was still flapping loose and she could no more fasten it up herself than she could pull herself together.  Niamh started to fix it for her, but Ciara shied away and yanked open another button.
“We aren’t done here,” she said.
	“I know.  As long as there are people they are going to keep fighting each other, no matter who gets banished, or who’s in charge.  But it’s cold out here and the last thing you need is to get any sicker,” said Niamh.
	Niamh put her hands over Ciara’s chest to keep her warm, and she could feel all of Ciara’s ribs through her flesh.  If they made it back to Oseille she would have to do something about how scrawny her vixen was.  She snuck a button closed and Ciara closed her eyes and huffed a cloud of steam into the frigid air.
	“I suppose I have to go and talk to Sabia now.  She killed my father and now I have to be polite and pretend everything is okay, just to see if she’ll go away,” said Ciara, and her mouth twisted sourly around the words.
	Ciara buried her head against Niamh's chest and she wept quietly for a moment, her tears hot against Niamh's fur.
	“I’m sick of the smell of predators.  I just want them all to go away,” she said.
	“Of course you do.  You’re weak and scared and that isn’t going to change.  That’s lucky for you,” said Sabia.
	The old lynx got down off her horse, with some help from one of her officers, and  walked across the field to pick up the gun.  Niamh could feel Ciara's pulse quicken and she tightened her grip on her vixen.
	“You can have your little peace if you want it so much.  You're too much of a rabbit at heart to be any fun.  But you don’t think it will last, do you?” asked Sabia.
	“No. Not while people like you are still alive.  But that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth having.  Maybe I am weak, but I’m not heartless, and I’m sick of seeing people die,” said Ciara.
	Sabia stood the gun up on one end, and fished in her pockets for little bags of powder and shot.  Little puffs of powder spilled out between her fingers as she pulled them out and the smell of it made Niamh’s nose wrinkle.
	“No, you aren’t heartless are you.  Your problem is that you care too much,” said Sabia.
	“You’re worse than Marcan was.  At least he was capable of caring about someone besides himself.  You even ignored your own daughter until after she was dead,” said Ciara.
	“Except that I know what I am and I’ve never told anybody any different,” said Sabia.
	She looked up at Ciara and smirked a little, like she’d had a sudden thought that amused her.
	“Your parents wanted to get rid of you so badly they didn’t stop to think about what they were doing, did they?  Oh, it kept you safe I’m sure, but it wasn’t just a daughter they lost, was it?  They lost their last chance,” she said.
	“If my parents made a mistake maybe it was because they realized that nothing was as important as other people.  That’s why I’m still alive, and that’s why you got Alana killed,” said Ciara.
	Sabia snapped the gun up and pointed it at Ciara.  She had it reloaded now and her finger was already tightening on the trigger.  All it would take was the slightest twitch.  Niamh squeezed Ciara’s arm until her fingers ached, but she wasn’t sure she could even walk anymore and running was out of the question.
	“You have no idea what I went through with that girl.  I did everything for her, and she stabbed me in the back,” said Sabia.
	“You never listened to her,” said Ciara.
	“Because she always wanted what I couldn’t give her,” said Sabia.
	“She only wanted you to love her,” said Ciara.
	Sabia lowered her gun and turned to go back to her horse before Ciara could say any more.  She walked easily through the cluster of soldiers and none of the Cearnach fighters made any attempt to stop her.
	“You aren’t going to let her go, are you?  She attacked us,” said a solider.
	“We attacked her, too.  If it doesn’t stop here, then how much more are we going to lose?” said Ciara.
	Once they were moving, it didn’t take the lynxes long to clear the field.  Ciara stood perfeclty still and watched until they were out of sight.  Niamh stayed with her, and they held each other as the tension drained away.  Ciara cried a little and Niamh wiped Ciara's eyes and tried to soothe her.  Ciara didn’t take any notice, though, and she kept watching the empty field until even the smell of the cats had started to fade.  Then, she shook herself, pulled herself up, and raised her head to kiss Niamh on the bottom of her jaw.
	“What do we do now?” she asked.
	“Now we go home,” said Niamh.