Equestria Trainers' Society: Work For Hire

For the whole time that they had daylight, the raiding party set up their temporary camp and divided up their equipment to each of the teams. It was like some bastardized version of Hearth’s Warming Eve, wherein everyone present got something granted to them to use in the upcoming operation, from the most important minotaur, to the lowliest diamond dog.

As promised the day prior, the members of the support team each got their own Antlertean made net launchers to use in the likely event that they would have to get involved, while the minotaur passed around clubs that doubled as shock batons, thick bovine sized cuffs to restrain captives, and staves with claw-like devices on the end that looked similar, but sturdier, to something animal control might use to corral a dangerous beast. The infiltration and suppression teams got the most of it although, as their part in the start of the mission was the most vital. They had been given bags full of devices, brief explanations on how each one worked provided by a small group of Antlertean slaves brought along to assist the operation in whatever tasks the other creatures present were too busy or too uneducated to do themselves.

The gryphons were expected to commit each function to memory, which was evidently harder for some than others, as some were asked to show how some of their gear worked, and none of the ones asked could get it down right the first time. Anya was not one of these randomly selected gryphons, but she felt that she had understood everything and didn’t need a refresher course. However, one gryphon who did need a small remedial course was Gallus, who had some small problems working a handheld torch that would be used for melting open door locks.

Anya was pleased to discover Gallus would be part of the infiltration efforts, as his team would be making sure every house would have a way for her team to get in, so they could do their part to either prevent the yaks from fighting back at all, or failing that reduce the number of combatants to a minimum. It might have been the best job for him, since the team’s objectives included not engaging combatants, and bailing the moment that any action started. None of the gryphons were supposed to get into fights with the yaks, but this team in particular was expressly told to not even humor the thought of participating if things got active, thus making them the most likely to get out of this unharmed.

It took until the sun started to set until the last minute training was complete, and at that time the Antlerteans started handing out small sacks to each gryphon and diamond dog there, each containing a pure black outfit they were told to wear. A lot of gryphons grumbled about how they could have been handed these things back in the warmth of the facility, in turn were told that they waited till now because they would have stuck out easier in the white show if they had been wearing them all along, and they couldn’t risk the yaks spotting what was going on not too far away from their fortress city. Fortunately, this was why the minotaur had set up tents, so at the very least the gryphons didn’t have to endure the frigid winds of the mountain they were on while swapping from one set of clothes to the next. The diamond dogs, on the other hand, didn’t require a shelter to swap attire, and just did so the moment they got them.

By the time everyone was done, the sun was down, and the moon was rising, and when Anya saw what the moon looked like, she was surprised to discover that even the alicorn princesses in Canterlot were aiding in this attack. Surely not knowingly, but the two regal pony sisters had meticulous schedules for all acts in their kingdom considered ‘natural’. Plant growth, animal population, weather control, these were all things that were stringently controlled by the governing bodies of Equestria, and typically only affected those within the kingdom itself. There was one function that ponies managed though that had an effect on the whole world, and that was matters of celestial management.

So when Princess Luna rose a full moon, all neighboring kingdoms would see the night as she intended, the pale light of it basking down on everything below. Every so often though, the opposite would happen, and for reasons known only to the princess of the night, a New Moon would arise, casting the world into shadows for a single night. That was what was happening now, as the outline of the moon was barely visible, and the outside world was much darker than usual. Not pitch black, as the stars in the sky provided a small amount of light, but enough that one’s range of visibility would be limited, especially if a creature you were trying to look at happened to be wearing black.

These types of events were never announced publicly, particularly so malicious forces could never exploit them, and a creature’s first assumption would be that this was something the minotaur couldn’t have planned for. Yet, those in charge started giving out orders as if this was the signal to begin. Did the Society’s sources go so deep that they infiltrated Canterlot Castle itself?

That seemed to be the only explanation, but also felt wrong. Anya had to blame her own lack of knowledge in the matter, but something this great in importance was the kind of thing that the princesses should have shared with no one, for the very reason as to what was about to befall Yakyakistan.

Whether planned or a fluke, the fact of the matter was that it was time to sound the horns and go to war, or in this case quietly seize the Yak kingdom in the name of the Minopolis. At the command of their minotaur raid leaders, the individual groups of gryphons spread their wings and took flight, while the diamond dogs made their way underground, each heading to their positions, while the bulls themselves started making their way to the front gates. Hopefully, by the time the minotaur got there, said gates would be open, the yaks would be subdued, and the mission completed.

The steps for it all were simple. The infiltration team would go in first, given a ten minute head start to do their part, getting houses open and finishing off by dealing with the entrance to the kingdom. The suppression team would then go in, regroup with the diamond dogs, and perform their task. Meanwhile, the support team would wait on standby until the raid team, also known as the minotaur, forced their way into the kingdom and started dealing with all, if any, combatants remaining.

This had been told to Anya a number of times now, but she had to repeat it in her own head over and over because she couldn’t mess this up, and there were so many parts that could be messed up. Now that she had gotten close to the end of her arrangement with Rubric, it was worrying that the outcome of this final task, and thus the fate of her friends, hinged on the success of this hostile takeover.

Was it impossible or even unlikely that they could topple a long standing kingdom like this one? With all the planning and preparation the minotaur put into this, and experience they said they had conquering other civilizations, Anya wanted to believe this would not be as difficult as it seemed it should be.

“Ok, this is far enough.” the one eyed gryphoness said to the two others under her command, being their flight to a stop above the city.

Here they would have a bird’s eye view of the torch lit streets below, while the darkness of this night made it next to impossible for them to be spotted in return. The other gryphons were already taking up stations in the open sky as well, with only a fifth of the total avian forces descending upon the large Yak city.

“Good luck…” Anya muttered to herself, directing it towards Gallus more than anyone else in the group, hoping nothing happened to him, while his team did their tasks unnoticed.

Gallus followed his team leader down as they glided down into Yakyakistan, his unit, like so many others, being at the command of a hen from Rubric’s contracted gryphons. Unlike Anya and Gilda, the blue gryphon had not been put in charge of his own unit or squad, despite having improved greatly since he got serious about being a hunter. It was ok though, as Titanius had told him it was not his skill that prevented this, but his lack of experience.

He was still young, and had never done anything that exhibited leadership abilities. He hadn’t even gone on a capture mission to abduct a creature for the Society before this, and thus it wouldn’t have made sense for him to be in charge of other, more qualified gryphons. That he was permitted to be a part of this big mission, one that guaranteed him a huge payment upon its success, spoke volumes about how much trust his boss felt about his improvement. It was that trust that gave him confidence that even if he was just a bit player in all this, he would perform his role so well that it would be impossible for others not to notice.

Looking over his squad, following their formation, Gallus felt the excitement coursing through his veins. With all of them in their black infiltration suits, they looked like some professional team that could bring a nation to their knees, with his own suit being somewhat unique to cover his body more than the others, due to his bright blue feathers needing to be completely concealed. He was even given a black mask, which he couldn’t help but think made him look cool.

Feeling this hyped up about himself, and what he was doing, Gallus was already envisioning himself moving about the city like a shadow in the streets, breaking into houses like a master thief, and preparing his boss’ targets for conquest. He could already picture himself getting his first payment, and how it would shoot him out of the status of ‘poor’ to ‘well to do’. It wouldn’t be enough to get him everything he ever wanted, but it would be a good start. There would be plenty of jobs after this one, ones that paid less, but would be far easier. After all, what could possibly be harder than taking over a nation?

“Listen up team,” said the team leader, holding Gallus’ full attention, “I see a space near the center of the city that looks like it has low patrols. Follow my movements, and keep quiet. Not so much as a wing flap.”

The unit dove downwards, their beaks practically pointed to the earth as they quickly made their way to the ground, pulling up only a few dozen feet from making contact with it so they could fluidly touch down. The flight training they all had for this had paid off, as it was not a maneuver any winged creature could manage to do, and as soon as they landed, they made their way into the closest dark alleyway they could find, within what looked to Gallus like a marketplace for the massive yak kingdom.

“Step one, complete.” the infiltration leader continued, “Onto step two, everyone pull out your maps.”

Each gryphon reached into a pouch at their waist, shuffling through their equipment to pull out a map of Yakyakistan provided to them, while the female gryphon grabbed a red marker from her own. Assessing the situation, the lead gryphon took each map and marked on each one how he wanted to divvy up the work. Drawing lines on each other gryphon’s of what area they were responsible for, before handing them back to their owners.

“Here are your assignments,” she said, “Any building inside where I marked on your map needs to have at least one entrance opened. Once you’ve gotten something open, use the bottle in your pouch to mark it.”

Gallus reached into his pouch, and pulled out a small spray bottle that the team leader was talking about. It was only a common perfume bottle, but inside had a substance that held a particular scent that the minotaur had been using to train the diamond dogs. When it was time for the suppression team to come through, they would use the dogs to spot the openings for them, and whatever they would do after that was not something his team had to worry about because they’d be long gone.

“As a final reminder,” the hen added, “Don’t do anything stupid. The minotaur have promised each of us a fair share of whatever value these yaks and their possessions are worth to them. Don’t take anything, and don’t try to capture a target hoping for a bigger payout. Just get in, and get out. Easy money.”

The members of the infiltration gave a nod, some with a bit of an eye roll, since this was about the hundredth time they were told not to go scrounging for extra coins.

“If everything’s clear, I’m gonna go deal with the front gate, and in about ten minutes I’ll send the signal to let the suppression team know that they can start.”

The group knew that it wasn’t expected of them to be done in ten minutes, only that by that time the next team would be coming in to take care of the buildings they had gotten open. That was what the scent marking spray was for, so the two teams would not get in each others’ way.

“Well then, let’s get to work.” said the leader, dismissing each gryphon to their tasks.

Since they were in the middle of the Yak’s large capital city, each member of the group had to fly off in different directions out of the alleyway to get to where they were assigned. Now separated from the rest of his unit, Gallus took to flying slightly above the rooftops, in order to spot where the guard patrols were, and to use the tops of the buildings as cover as he made his way to the closest spot in Yakyakistan that looked like he’d be able to work undisturbed.

Okay, Gallus, the gryphon thought to himself, We just need to open a few windows and unlock some doors, and we make it back a hero. It took Gallus a moment to dwell on what he had said, and how it didn’t reflect the activity he was participating with. Or whatever. Heroes are overrated anyways.

Gallus was not so lost in his line of work that he believed he was a good guy in this. He was pragmatic, though, and didn’t really care what side he was on, so long as it was the one that won. That the yak women would spend each day of their lives after this one in chains, living out cycles of being bred and giving birth, while the men would spend their days toiling as slave labor, didn’t have the same moral impact as it did with Anya. Besides, every time that he heard about Yaks they were always depicted as ‘wooly barbarians’ with a strange obsession with things being ‘perfect’, living out in the middle of a frozen tundra. Using his own species as a baseline example of cultures no one cared about, he couldn’t think that anyone really cared about what happened to creatures that fit such a description.

It didn’t take long for Gallus to spot a place to begin his mission, landing several yards away from a patrolling night watchman who was turning a corner. He figured that with that yak leaving the area, he’d have plenty of time to do his job unseen. He dove his hand into his pouch, pulling out the Antlertean made magitek torch he had been given, before going to the first house of many he would visit that night.

All he had to do was aim the device at a doorknob or window lock, and supposedly within seconds the metal would melt to the point that it couldn’t properly keep the passage shut. Pressing down the button like he had been shown, he found that it was not that simple, as the doors were a bit sturdier than that of a pony made one, but he figured they’d have to be when one of the national pastimes of Yak culture was destroying their own stuff.

“Honestly…” Gallus said quietly to himself, as he watched the strong metal slowly turn to soup, “If all they do is break stuff, being ruled by the minotaur might do them some good.”

Gyphons typically lived in broken down homes due to their national poverty, and knowing that another species would break things on purpose, requiring sturdier houses in order to not sleep out in the cold, did annoy him a bit. Gryphons scrounged and scraped for every scrap they could get their hands on, yet these yaks were purposely destroying the things they had while thriving in these frigid lands. Gallus couldn’t help but be a bit bitter, feeling that these creatures had never known hardship if they could be so flippant with their property.

After a little over a minute, the door was finally breached, a hole now in the place of the knob that had been there prior. The simple locking mechanism that had been inside it was now little more than droplets of iron flown down the side of the wooden divider, hardening quickly in the cold air to form small beads of metal that clung to the structure they once sealed. Testing that he was finished, Gallus lightly pushed the door, and while it was a bit heavy, it gave enough for the gryphon to show it could no longer protect those inside from the intruders yet to visit them that night.

“One down,” Gallus said, applying his scent spray on the door, “And what looks to be fifty-nine more to go.”

It was going to be a long night if he kept up at this pace, taking well over an hour, which he felt couldn’t have been the intended estimated time for him to complete his task. He was supposed to get in and out, leaving shortly after the suppression team arrived.

“Have to start looking for alternative entrances,” Gallus whispered to himself, finding the front doors both inefficient and more compromising to break open, since he had already seen a patrolman walk down the street in front of this house.

Slipping into the spaces between the yak huts, Gallus began seeking out windows, and found that he had much better luck with them. The yaks used thick glass to prevent the cold air from leaking through, but even the toughest glass was no match for the heat of his torch. It was far less resistant compared to the metal of a doorknob, while being sturdy enough to not shatter outright, allowing him to make holes just large enough for him to reach in and open a path inside. After that, he’d pack up some snow, use it to block the hole to keep out the winds that might alert the residents of the home that there was a break in, and then spray down the scent for the diamond dogs to track later.

Doing it this way saved him so much time, and once he got a rhythm for it, he ended up cutting down the time for each of his his break-ins to around forty seconds. When it was nearing the time for the suppression team to be signaled in, he was already done with half his assigned targets, having never come close to being spotted by the guard or anyone inside the homes.

“There,” the blue gryphon said, completing yet another one of his cycles, finishing with the spraying around the window frame, “On to the next one.”

Gallus, knowing that soon he’d have the next group of gryhpons following on his heels, had no desire to slow down. He was, both metaphorically and literally, a man on a mission, hoping to be the first to finish up and leave. Marking off another house on his map, he zipped over to the next location as fast as his wings could take him, making a beeline to the first window he could spot. As he had each time prior, he set down right next to the windowsill, and pulled out his torch to get right to work.

When he went to start though, he found his eyes drawn to something just beyond the glass, and what he had seen made him immediately duck around the wall of the window. There, on the other side, was a yak. He had landed at a bedroom window for the first time that night, having lucked out at each other house to approach windows leading into living rooms or kitchens. The idea that he might have been seen freaked out the gryphon, but at a second glance he could see that this yak was so soundly asleep, it was snoring. The thick glass of the window was enough to dim the sounds, which was why he didn’t notice it upon approach, but as his back pressed against the outer wall, he could feel the vibrations that came with the sound of each inhale.

“So this is what the minotaur are after,” Gallus muttered, as he took a closer look at the Yak, and discovered it was one of their females. Not that he had to look too hard to figure this out, as her breast and pussy were on full display, the bovine sleeping in the nude, with a blanket hardly covering her body.

The yak cow was slovenly sprawled out atop a bale of hay she was using for a bed, which Gallus assumed was because their kind would break any bed or mattress they had, either by their sheer bovine weight, or just for fun. Her arms were positioned above her head, and her legs dangled over the side of the hay in a way that made her thighs spread wide open, putting the mound between them on full display. Her hair was done up in two long braids, with one ended up hanging over the edge of the hay as well, while the other went through the valley of her chests to drape over her stomach. Moving on to her body, it was a bit on the plump side, especially in those big breasts that seemed huge even for a girl as big as her. A lot of her presumed mass might have been an assumption on Gallus’ part though, as she had a layer of the wooly fur that covered practically everything from the neck down. Still, he felt that even shaved down the thickness of her body probably would have put the glass windows he had been melting to shame.

Gallus didn’t know for sure, since he had never been around Yaks, but judging by the minotaur he had met, he guessed that this cow had recently reached adulthood, perhaps being around the same age as him. If he was correct, then that meant that she would not be exempt once a minotaur got ahold of her, and being collared and caged would be the least of her problems before the coming of the dawn. He wondered for a moment if she was what the bovines considered attractive, or if she was more homely in their eyes.

The gryphon male had to admit, the sight of her naked body was getting his own blood pumping, but that was because this was his first time seeing a girl like this, and more importantly, the first time of him seeing tits on display. He was not completely new to a sight like this, as he and Gilda both lived in the same house back in Griffonstone, and he had on occasion stumbled in on her not fully dressed, but this was different for a few reasons. The first being that Gallus saw Gilda as a grumpy older sister, thus diminishing any attraction he could have towards her, and the second being that Gilda lacked an important feature that this cow had, which was breasts. Gryphons were part mammal, and seeing as his own sex organs fell in that category, an attraction to the sexual features of other mammals was bound to occur.

For a second, as he continued to take in the nude bovine before his eyes, he humored the idea of buying this cow with the money he’d get from this job, working towards that fantasy of his where he lived in a nice home with lots of servants tending to his every need and desire. The idea of domesticating her, stripping her of her barbaric ways, to transform her into a submissive and obedient maid was a thrilling thought. Perhaps he could ‘gift’ her a golden nose ring, with a blue ribbon that matched his feathers tied to it, in which he could pull to summon her whenever he wished.

He didn’t consider the idea that trying to have sex with a woman of that size, her weight alone more than triple his own, would be difficult to say the least, or that his own dick was comparable to her sex holes as a pencil would be to a loop of a finger ring. He didn’t even factor in that the minotaur were not likely going to sell the yak’s outside of Minopolis. All he was focused on was that he was gradually coming to the conclusion that he liked what he saw.

“Wait a second…” Gallus said, pulling his eyes away from the yak cow to recollect his thoughts, “What am I doing? I’m supposed to be getting these houses opened.”

Gallus came to the realization that he had been standing there, losing precious time, for nearly a minute now. He allowed himself to get distracted, and was falling more and more behind by the second. For all he knew, the signal had been launched, and the suppression team was already making their way through town. He had to get back to business, and worry about whether he could get his own personal yak slave later.

Pulling out his torch, he approached the glass pane again, ready to melt his way through as he had several times prior. He turned on the device with a press of the button on its side, and its crystal battery ignited the tip. It was at this time that Gallus noticed that there was a light sound that was coming from the flame, one that had heard prior, but didn’t put any thought into since he was the only one around to hear it. He wondered if it was enough to wake the slumbering yak, but quickly came to the conclusion that if her snores couldn’t breach the glass, the sound of his torch shouldn’t have been an issue either, at least till he made his way through.

Gallus approached the window, torch in hand, and pressed the fire to the glass. At first, everything went as expected, a hole in the pane was being formed, and soon he’d have access to the turn lock on the other side. He was almost all the way through, but suddenly the yak stirred. The gryphon immediately cut the fire off, ducking behind the side of the window again, keeping an eye on her movements, only to see her turn away from him, her backside pointed towards the window, but still asleep as far as Gullus could tell. It was as if she was trying to distract him, with both her actions and her body, her large ass now being presented for him to look upon and admire.

The gryphon wanted to stay focused, and to get this window done so he could move on, but this yak really was enticing to look at. He had to take back his thoughts from earlier. There was no way this yak could be considered ugly among her kind, not if she could pull so much of his attention away from his task. It was hard to pull his eyes away again, but he still had to wrap this up and move on, so he gave a glance back to the melted glass to see what he had already accomplished, looking at the latch on the other side that he needed to unlock. That’s when a certain detail about it came to the gryphon’s attention.

Gallus had been undoing latch locks all night, so he was familiar with what position they had to be in to prevent entry. This one, however, looked to already be in the unlocked position. He gave it a closer look, and it was in fact not secured at all. This particular yak must have seen no need to lock it, or simply forgotten that night. He had wasted all this time, and it was on something that had already been done for him

“This dumb cow,” he said aloud, needing to blame something else for his own ineptitude in this situation, while his hand instinctively found its way to his face, knowing its owner was the one to blame in this situation, “I can’t believe I got held up over something so stupid.”

If there was ever a yak that deserved the fate about to befall her, it was this one. At least, that’s how Gallus felt as he shook his head and got his spray bottle to mark this spot for entry. The suppression team would have no issue getting this one subdued.

“I really hope she’ll be available for later,” said the gryphon, pulling out his map to see which house was next, “And that she’s cheap.” After marking off this distraction from his to-do list, Gallus looked around to get his bearings straight, having forgotten which way he was even supposed to go next, another thing he was blaming the distracting yak for. “I can’t make heads or tails of this from down here.” he said with a sigh, leaning against the glass of the window as he used his torch to get a better look at the details on the paper.

With a single flap of his wings, the gryphon shot up into the air to get a better view, not noticing the movement happening right behind him as he rushed to get to his next location. The yak he had been spying on stirred awake right as Gallus took his leave, the light from his torch hitting the back of her eyelids too many times now for her to stay asleep. Sitting up on top of her bed of straw, she groggily looked to the window, not seeing anything but the deep dark of a moonless night. Still, she had to assume the light she had sensed was coming from somewhere, and outside was the reasonable source, since she knew about the patrolling guardsmen.

The yak maiden went to close her window curtains, but as she pulled them closed, she noticed the damaged part of the glass, right in front of the lock. She was too tired to want to inquire too deeply into it, so instead she simply secured the lock closed, assuming that what had happened to the window was not that big a deal to begin with, before flopping back upon the bale of hay beneath her, and going back to a sound sleep.

Meanwhile, high above the city, the gryphons that made up the suppression and support team waited for the signal to begin. There was supposed to be a dimly lit flare shot out from the city once everything was set, but fifteen minutes had passed and there was no sign of anything.

“Hmm…” Anya hummed to herself, trying to remain patient. She had anticipated that there may be a delay, not expecting her kind to be the most punctual of creatures, but five minutes was pushing it.

“Relax,” Gilda said as she heard the older hen make discomforted noises, having grabbed a cloud from she had spotted to sit on, since she was not going into the city until the suppression team did, if she’d be entering Yakyakistan at all, “The dweeb and his team are probably finishing up right now.”

“I hope so,” Anya replied, happy that Gilda was not being antagonistic right now. “I just wish we could see what was going on down there.”

While gryphons were part bird, none present were the type that were good night hunters, which was perhaps a small oversight from the minotaur when sorting the teams. Anya and Gilda themselves were eagles, and while they had incredibly good eyesight during the day, that meant next to nothing at night. As such, none present could tell if anything was actually happening in the yak city. They could see the lights of the patrolling yaks’ lanterns weave through the streets below, but that was about all. That the lights weren’t moving around as if in a panic or like they were chasing something was about the only indication that things haven’t gone south.

“You could always go in ahead of the signal if you’re worried,” said Gilda, “If you don’t mind stepping on the toes of the infiltration team.”

“It’s not the whole team I’m worried about,” said Anya, “But the team leader is the one in charge of keeping track of the timer and setting off the signal. He’s also in charge of making sure the front gates are open, so all that needs to happen for this to go wrong is for him to get caught in the act.”

“Yeah…” Gilda replied, giving a tone of unease as she pretended she was aware of that detail beforehand, when the truth was she had been in her own head when for most of the briefing for the mission, “Now that you put it that way, that’s not a good sign.”

“I’ll give them ten more minutes,” Anya said, hoping that the flare would be launched any second now, “Any longer than that, and even the bosses should notice something’s wrong.”

“So you’re saying we should back out after that long?” Gilda asked, not happy to hear she might be losing out on her big payday.

“No,” Anya replied, “If I have to, I’ll lead my team in ahead of time and complete our end of this mission the best we can. Besides, I don’t think the minotaur would appreciate us backing out, even if something wrong has happened.”

Anya was pretty sure that abandoning this mission would lead to the dreaded contract breach, but there was more to this for her than that. Even if Rubric let it slide, Anya couldn’t potentially leave Gallus behind, or allow the friends the Society enslaved and sold to have to wait even longer for her to rescue them.

“You hear that you two?” Anya said, looking at the two other gryphons in her squad, “Ten more minutes, and we’re going in. Get ready to go to work.”

Anya looked to the other gryphons in charge of the suppression efforts, and while they didn’t enjoy that the hen was asserting herself into command of the entire unit, they could not argue against her opinion on the matter. If they didn’t want to get hunted down by the Society for desertion, and more importantly, if they wanted to get paid the gold they had been greedily lusting after for months, they were gonna have to enter the city, signal or not.

Back in Yakyakistan, Gallus had taken a perch upon one of the roofs, inspecting his map carefully as he tried to get back on track. He didn’t know why, but it was much harder to navigate at this point, the dark of this night combined with the similarity of the yak’s huts conspiring against him. He didn’t even know which way was the starting point anymore, and thus he had no point of reference of which way he had come from and which way to go.

“How did I fuck up this badly?” said Gallus, scolding himself. He had gone from being proud of his progress, to kicking himself over his blunder.

It was getting to a point that he felt that he’d be better off picking a new point at random, but he was worried that he’d retread ground he had already covered, or accidentally going into another gryphons designated area. He wondered how many had been melting off the front door locks, and how many had been doing windows like him, and it made him think that he might end up ‘unlocking’ houses that had already been hit.

All of this because he let himself get distracted. He felt so stupid, like he was letting down his until and, more importantly, his boss by falling so far behind. “Come on, there has to be something I can look for that I can use as a landmark.”

Checking the map again, there was a building that looked a bit bigger than the residential buildings near where he left off. The only issue was finding any of them. Yakyakistan was not the smallest of places, and wandering off in any direction could get him more lost. If he flew in a single direction, he could just end up at the outer wall, far away from where he was supposed to be. His only other option was to try and locate one of the others in his group, which would be embarrassing to have to admit that he got turned around and needed directions. At this point though, he really didn’t have the time to let pride get in the way. If the mission was complicated, or even failed, due to him refusing to ask for help, that would be far worse than a temporary feeling of humiliation.

Putting away his map, Gallus went into a low altitude glide above the homes, on the search for any other gryphons. He zipped around the city as fast as his non-flapping wings would take him, not too worried about being spotted, as long as he didn’t make noise by flapping his wings, he blended in perfectly with the sky above. Other gryphons weren’t wearing a full body black outfit though, so he would not have as hard a time seeing them as anyone else would him.

Keeping his eyes to the space just above the roofs, he kept an eye out for any sign of movement, scanning the horizon they made, only occasionally looking down for a split second to check if someone was in an alley below. Each passing moment made him more determined to locate one of the other gryphons, as his disappointment in himself grew. A minute or two passed, and his determination was starting to turn to discouragement, but that’s when he finally saw some movement out of the corner of his eye. Gallus immediately turned himself toward it, and saw that it was one of his group standing atop a building. While it took far longer to find them than he wished, he still thanked his lucky stars that he was able to find anyone as he flew himself right towards the gryphon.

He floated in quietly, waiting until he was about to land to announce his presence by saying, “I’m so glad I found you”. The gryphon jumped slightly, which was not unexpected by Gallus seeing how quiet he had been on his approach, so he quickly followed up with “Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you, but I got turned around, and lost track of where I’m supposed to be. I’m sure you’re about done by now, so could you show me where we are on your map, so I… can…”

Gallus’ words came to a slow stop, as the gryphon he had found turned to him. From a distance, in the dark of this night, he couldn’t tell which gryphon it was. Now that he was this close though, he knew exactly who it was, as it was the infiltration leader. He had to take back the thanks he had towards his luck from earlier, as this was by far the worst person he could have encountered, short of coming face to face with a Yak. Had he ran into anyone else, he might have been able to bribe them to get them to forget this interaction happened, and save his reputation. He had to assume that the one in charge of this part of the operation had higher standards though, and would not be so easily swayed from reporting his mistake to Rubric and Titanius.

The hen, still startled, looked Gallus up and down before exhaling and relaxing. “Oh, it’s just the rookie.” she said, oddly addressing herself instead of Gallus. It didn’t take long for her to address the gryphon male though, as the next words out of her beak was, “Of course it would be someone like you to wonder back this way.”

“Wander back?” Gallus questioned, “So you’re saying I’m-”

“Still in your section,” the hen replied, “Just back near where we first grouped up.”

Gallus looked around, and while there were a few buildings between him and it, the blue gryphon could barely see where the center of the yak’s fortress city was. Taking out his map, he quickly gauged where he was, and thus where he needed to be.

“Oh, thank you,” he said, truly grateful, “But hey… I know I messed up, and I’m way behind schedule, but is there any way that you could not tell the boss, or anyone else about this. I’ll be gl-.”

“Yeah, sure.” the gryphoness said, “Just go and get your work done, and I won’t tell anyone what happened.”

“Really?!” Gallus said, raising his voice slightly above a whisper to exclaim his surprise and appreciation.

Gallus could hardly believe that this gryphon was letting him off the hook. After all the ridicule he received from practically every gryphon that worked for the Society, he was expecting to have to pay for this like it was some sort of service. Now he would be able to save face, maybe even get his tasks finished before anyone noticed. Getting them done before anyone else was probably out of the question, but if Gallus worked quickly, then he might be able to leave before anyone noticed his delay. As the leader said, he was the rookie of the group, and thus being the last one out really shouldn’t be seen as strange.

The blue gryphon spread his wings, ready to get back to task, but before he took a flap, something dawned on him. The gryphoness had revealed to him that he was near where the infiltration group had started, a place he and all the others in his group should have been far away from at this point. Everyone, including the leader.

In fact, she was the only one who shouldn’t have ended up back here, as it was her job to take care of the front gates, and ensure that the minotaur could enter in with no problems. Turning his head back to the hen, looking over his spread wings, he spotted her bending over to pick something up off the roof, and while the darkness of this night still made it difficult for him to see more than a few feet away, he was close enough to identify the large sack in her hands.

“Hey…” Gallus said, keeping his wings up like he could bolt any second, using his feathers to hide the fact that he was slowly reaching into his item pouch, “Did you activate the signal flare yet?”

The gryphoness paused, “Wondering if you missed it and the suppression team is gonna catch up to your work? Don’t worry, I haven’t fired it yet.”

“Why not?” Gallus said, carefully undoing the zipper of his pouch so that it barely made a noise, “You said we had ten minutes, and it’s been a lot longer than that.”

“Well, I got caught up with something myself.” the hen replied, knowing from the start that her being here was odd, but hoping Gallus wouldn’t bring it up. She also could not assume that Gallus didn’t see the bag she was now holding, “Got put on a special mission to secure some things before the raiding party got in here.”

Gallus couldn’t help but think that was a lame excuse. While this was the center of the yak city, this square didn’t have anything here that seemed important enough to need a single operative to gather up for the minotaur before they came in and took over the nation. Just stalls and stores for yak merchants to sell their wares. If the yaks had something of such great value that it had to be collected by an infiltrator, like a treasure or magical artifact, the gryphon male could hardly believe it would be located there.

Thankfully, Gallus didn’t have to debate his thoughts on this for too long, as the hen spoke up again, “I guess you’re not buying that, are you?” She wasn’t even trying to hide that she was up to something nefarious anymore, something aside from the nefarious act she was being paid to do, “Look kid, if you really want to know, I’m fleecing the place. Grabbing anything that looks shiny or valuable, and letting these cows duke it out on their own.”

“Why though?” Gallus asked, his hand now in his pocket, his fingers wrapping around his torch, the only thing he had that could be used like a weapon, “Like you said, all that stuff can’t possibly be as valuable as what the Society will pay us.”

“If this mission succeeds,” the infiltration leader said, “And personally, I don’t think the minotaur have what it takes to beat these yaks. If they did, they wouldn’t need us to do pretty much everything for them.”

“So you’re gonna cut and run just cause you think we’ll lose?” Gallus asked, mostly to keep the hen talking at this point.

“I’m hedging my bets,” the hen said, gripping her bag of stolen goods more tightly, “And on top of that, I’m just done working for that crystal pony bitch. We do all the grunt work for her business, and we don’t even get to see our money until our contract is up. That’s if she even intends to pay us to begin with. I wouldn’t be surprised if she made a deal with the minotaur to add us to their breeding stock the moment we stop being useful to them. You’re a swallow, you know they see us as things they can fuck for the right price.”

The hen’s words were the kind that struck true to Gallus… or at least they would have before his private conversation with Titanius. Ever since that point, the bull had only shown him respect, and served as a source of motivation for the young adult gryphon. He couldn’t think that the bull would do that if his fate was to be bound, gagged, and put on the slave processing lines. This hen was only saying what she could to get him to see things her way.

“You know, I think I’ve stolen enough stuff for myself,” the hen said, assuming this point was far more believable than her prior ruse, “How about you go ahead and snag yourself some spoils, and we can both get out of here with something. Then we can leave everyone else to fend for themselves.”

“And what about the Society?” Gallus questioned, finally pulling his torch out, finger laying lightly against the activation button, “You know they’re gonna try and find us once they realize what happened.”

“Please,” the hen dismissed, “The crystal mare sends gryphons to do all her dirty work, and after this operation goes bust, and the others learn they’re not getting paid for it, they aren’t going to do shit for her.”

“So it’s not just your assumption that the minotaur will lose,” Gallus said, “You’re banking on it.”

“If that’s how you want to see it kid, sure.” the gryphoness replied, “But let’s face it, if the minotaur could get through those gates, they wouldn’t need someone to get them open for them, and I was the only one given that job.”

“Then how about this,” Gallus said, finally turning to face the hen, his torch hand behind his back, as he extended his free hand to distract her eyes away from the other, “Give me what they gave you to do that job, and I’ll let you go. I won’t say a word about what you are doing, and you can just go M.I.A. So long as the mission succeeds, I doubt they will care that one gryphon left.”

The hen thought for a moment, and then used her own free hand to undo her item pouch from her hip, “Fine, if you’re that dead set to lick bull dick, I’ll let you do it. You had better make sure they never try to come after me ever again though. After this, I’m a ghost.”

“Deal.” Gallus said, taking steps towards the gryphoness.

The hen followed Gallus’ example, and walked to him as well, the arm with her pouch stretched out to his own open hand. The two were getting to a point that their hands could touch one another, and it looked as if the pass would take place without issue. Gallus’ talon tips were little more than an inch away from the strap, and he felt he could just snatch it away if he wanted, but he decided it would be best to wait. Another step was all it took, and his hand was right beneath her own, the strap in his palm.

He wrapped his fingers around the strip of leather, but the moment his grip was firm, the hen made her move. With a fierce tug, Gallus was pulled forward into a stumble, with the hen then releasing the pouch completely to grab something else, that being Gallus’ throat.

“There you go, little boy,” she mocked, digging into feathers and flesh with her own talons, “You got your pouch, but I’m not gonna risk letting you go so you can tell the minotaur what happened here. I think cutting your neck open and letting you bleed out in the snow is a much better way to make sure I’m never found out. Like you said, they won’t care if a gryphon, or two, goes missing.”

Gallus could tell this hen was not kidding, the intent to kill in her eyes. He was ready for this though, and with a press of his thumb, his torch ignited. Without saying so much as a word, he lifted his arm towards the gryphoness, the light from the hot flame catching her eyes the moment it rose above the height of his hip.

The gryphoness quickly removed her claw from Gallus’ neck, not expecting he would attack with a torch, but having noticed that he was hiding a hand that could have had anything in it. As the arm continued to arch upwards into now empty space, the hen retaliated by swinging her bag of stolen items up to chase after it, hitting Gallus’ claw so hard it knocked the flame producing item out of his grasp and into the air, flying off the roof.

“Idiot!” the hen yelled victoriously, as her swing carried on, “You think I didn’t see what you were planning?! Any amateur could see you were hiding something!”

Gallus knew she was right. The way he positioned his body while walking to get the pouch, it would have been hard for anyone to not notice it, even in the dark of this night. That goes doubly so for a gryphon, who always assumed some level of treachery from others. In fact, that is what he had been hoping for.

As the bag of yak treasures started to drop back down, and the gyphoness reached forward to make another grab for his throat, Gallus did the only thing he could think of to beat her. Slamming the now empty hand down on the sack, he gripped it as firmly as his fingers would allow, while at the same time stomping his foot down on the surface of the roof so hard that he lost his footing again - only this time, he was falling backwards. The gryphon male tumbled down the slope of the yak hut, the bag still clenched in one hand, and the hen’s pouch in the other. The hen, employing her own death grip on the bag, ended up falling forward after him, and together they both fell over the side of the roof’s surface.

The pair of gryphons flailed in the air, the gryphoness trying to flap her wings hard enough to stop her downward motion, but finding the combined weight of her bag and the male gryphon was too much for her to lift, especially since Gallus had taken to curl up in order to brace for impact, basically making him dead weight. Of course, the hen could have released her bag at any time, but her greed was so strong that she didn’t see it as being an option. So, with there not being that much distance between the height of the roof to the ground below, both Gallus and the gryphoness ended up hitting the unpaved dirt of the yak streets in seconds.

Gallus landed, as he planned, on top of his wings, while his former team leader ended up meeting the ground with her shoulder, doing the only thing she could think of to absorb the impact. As for the bag, the hen found she could no longer keep her vice-like grip on its mouth once the pain of the fall struck her, so she was forced to release, thus allowing everything inside to spill out.

“No!” the female gryphon cried out, watching all the coin and shiny trinkets she had spent time collecting scatter in so many different directions that it would be impossible to get everything together again. “You fucking bastard!”

The gryphoness stumbled back to her feet, the idea of grabbing even the smallest bit of her ill gotten goods becoming a distant thought in her mind. Instead, something else came to the forefront of her thoughts. If there was one thing that could rival a gryphon’s greed, it was their pettiness, and at that moment a deep desire for revenge was replacing the want for riches she once held. Seeing Gallus on his back, writhing in pain worse than she was, the hen made her way over to him with the intent of making him pay for interfering, seeing it as her only way to get ‘something’ out of her efforts that night.

“Do you know how much you’ve cost me tonight?!” the gryphoness yelled, dropping down on her knees at Gallus’ side, so she could get her arm back into range of his neck.

Gallus, in quite a deal of pain, watched as she bent over him, her eyes filled with unblinking rage and murderous intent. She was going in for the kill, and wanted to capture every moment of the act. The blue gryphon had to admit, his wings hurt worse than he hoped they would after his stunt. It felt like he might have broken something, which was all sorts of not good at that moment. However painful it was for him to even think about moving his wings, he wouldn’t be needing them for what came next.

Waiting for the last moment, as the talons of the gryphoness nearly clamped down to issue his last breath, Gallus turned to his side, at no small cost of pain for him since he had to roll onto one of his wings in the process, and pointed the last thing he had at his disposal at the treacherous gryphons’ face. Before she could react, Gallus shot a heavy mist of the scent spray right into her eyes.

Whatever was in the bottle, Gallus had to assume that since it produced a scent, it had to be more than just water, and prayed that the substance would do something more than get moisturize her. The reaction was instant, as the hen recoiled away, grasping and screaming, while her eyes produced tears to try and wash away the heavy irritation they felt. Not knowing how long this would last, while also noting that the sounds of their conflict had drawn attention as lights appeared inside the windows of the surrounding houses, Gallus forced himself back to his feet, winching from the ache in his wings, before running away from the hen in the first direction he discerned.

“I did it.” he said in an excited whisper, slipping between another set of houses as soon as he could, fishing through the stolen pouch as he made distance away from his defeated enemy.

He didn’t know if the gryphoness would get caught by the yaks, or if she still had the ability to fly after the injury, but he knew that she had been beaten. However, he knew that this was not the end of his troubles. With possession of the infiltration leader’s supplies came her responsibilities, since she had purposefully neglected them herself.

“Here it is.” Gallus said as pulled out the signal flare, heavily panting as he kept up his sprint.

Aiming the device to the sky, he activated it, and sent out the long overdue announcement that it was time for the suppression team to do their part of the mission.

“And next,” Gallus said, continuing to run as fast as his legs would take him, folding his wings to try and minimize the pain, trying to tune it out with thoughts of his next important mission, “To deal with the main gates.”

“Woah!” Gilda shouted, as those who had been waiting for the signal just got an up close experience with it, as the flare shot right past her, luckily avoiding her and the small army of gryphons waiting in the sky with her. “The fuck?! Weren’t they supposed to fire that thing away from us?!”

Anya, while just as surprised as Gilda, took the incident a bit more calmly. Even had the flare connected, it probably would have bounced off harmlessly, but it wasn’t worth telling Gilda that when it was time for her to get to work.

“Ok everyone, look lively.” Anya said, addressing each squad among the suppression team, “It’s showtime.”

With that said, the gryphoness became the first to descend upon the yak city, with others following shortly behind her. They dove down sharply, each more than ready to do their part in this attack. Pulling up only when they got close to the rooftops, the different squads split up and found some place quiet to land, staying far away from a part of Yakyakistan that looked more illuminated than the rest, with house lights coming on and lanterns from the patrol converging there. Anya was a little worried that someone had fucked up, and was being pursued. If that was the case, they would just have to tough it out until Yakyakistan was overtaken, as it was not the job of the suppression team, or any other, to rescue someone in trouble.

As Anya and the two gryphons working under her touched down, the one eyed hen quickly took off a backpack she had been wearing, and started rummaging through it. While the infiltration team had to pack light, and thus only needed a small pouch to carry all their items, the suppression team’s job required a variety of different equipment to get done. The first of these items, when taken from the bag, held the appearance of a metal ground spike, etched with the Antlertean symbols they put into all their devices. With the insertion of one of the deer’s battery crystals, the pointed rod started producing a low level vibration.

Now that the device was active, Anya shoved it point down into the dirt, getting it about a third of the way in. The trio of gryphons waited patiently, knowing what came next wouldn’t be instant, but they didn’t have to wait more than a minute before a hole opened up directly under the rod, making it fall into the darkness of the earth below. Seconds later, the head of a diamond dog poked up, and looked around to see who was around the hole. This one was not one of Anya’s group, being a boston terrier looking male, and once the dog understood that he was displaced, he excused himself by saying “Wrong hole”, before diving back in. Seconds latter though, a more familiar dog popped their head out, as Claire made her appearance onto the scene.

“We found it,” she said with her snout pointed into the pit her body was inhabiting, and shortly after she was pushed out by a large white paw that had to belong to the great pyrenees.

Next climbed out Mattie, taking a moment to look around and take in her surroundings. This place was completely new to the diamond dogs, so she needed to get her sense of direction. Taking a few sniffs in the cold night air, Mattie commented aloud, “Yu’s bird shore got the place stink’in. Coud trak dat scent a moil out.”

“Well good,” Anya said, “That means the infiltration team did their job. Now what about you?”

“D-dog team got par’ one dun ages ago,” Mattie answered, referring to a job they were expected to complete prior to the suppression team’s arrival. They were to make a series of tunnels under the city, from one side of the city walls to the other, to give the dogs a means to get around the city easier, as well as a place for them to attack from and slip into if needed. “Got paths run a’ through dis place.”

“Good,” Anya said, happy things were going smoothly, “Then it’s time for phase two.”

The older gryphon reached into her bag, and pulled out another Antlertean made device, this one less magitek, and more a simple chemistry project. It was a glass canister, about the size of a jam jar, except a bit taller, a pale blue fluid sloshing around inside it. Of all the items the gryphons’ bags held, this was what the majority was comprised of. The liquid inside was, as the deer had put it, a compressed gas that would expand the moment the glass was broken. Within seconds, a yak hut would be filled with the gas, which they were told was a powerful anesthetic that could knock out even a bovine if inhaled long enough, which was the intended purpose after all.

“Ok, everyone knows what we are doing, right?” Anya said, not giving anyone a chance to say yes or no before saying, “We’re gonna use Claire here to sniff out the entrances made for us by the infiltration team. Meanwhile…”

“Me an’ mah bigga mate will fala’ from dow bellow,” Mattie said, knowing her part.

Her ability to track vibrations would be used to locate patrols as if they had radar, which would be how they’d avoid detection for as long as possible. Each squad had at least one dog decent at this task, that would try to work to relay information back and forth with one another and their squads. If for some reason they were about to get caught in the act, that’s where the pyrenees would come in, using her strength to trip up, distract, and misdirect the guards long enough to let the gryphons slip away.

“Boi the way,” Mattie said, “Ey’s suggest we’s dun go that way. Lotta heavy foot falls.”

The dog pointed in the direction where Anya had seen the patrol lanterns earlier, and it only confirmed what she already assumed; That someone had gotten caught, and now had half the city guard in hot pursuit.

“Noted.” Anya said, not wanting to go anywhere near that mess, “Now let’s get on our masks, and get to work.”

Anya reached into her backpack once more, and this time was joined by the rest of her team doing the same with their own bags. Each located a gas mask stowed in their equipment, each custom made to fit their respective owner. These were supposed to protect the wearers from the effects of the gas should it seep out into the streets, a very likely possibility. The only one who didn’t put theirs on immediately was Claire, since her nose was needed to locate where access to the houses were, but she did have it hang from off her collar by the strap so she could put it on the moment she started feeling tired.

With a nod to each member of this squad, Mattie dove back underground, and Claire started sniffing around, heading off towards the closest house with the gryphons hot on her tail. It was not hard for the spaniel to locate the source of each scent, the gryphons either finding an unlocked door or cracked open window they could toss one of the gas canisters into before quickly shutting it tight.

After a few houses, the trio of gryphons started a pattern between them. One of Anya’s underlings became designated bag carrier, holding one of their packs for the others to pluck the gas canisters from, while the one eyed gryphoness and the other gryhpon she was commanding took turns following their guide dog, tossing one in, and staying behind for a moment to make sure that the container broke open. It was steady and efficient teamwork, the likes Anya had never seen from other gryphons outside of this operation. Catching sight of other gryphons occasionally, seeing them likewise finding quick methods to drop off their gas grenades, before heading off to their next location.

Anya didn’t like the idea that the cooperative and coordinated actions of her kind were the results of the Society’s training, but it was strangely nice to see gryphons not bickering, fighting, and putting down one another for a change. Of course, this was only because there was a large amount of money on the line, and was sure things would revert back to status quo the second the others got paid, but it was still a unique experience a gryphon really didn’t get to see. Now if only they could apply that kind of effort into fixing up Griffonstone, Anya thought to herself, tossing yet another canister into a window with a melted lock, then chasing after her team before they could get too far away.

By all accounts, the first phases of the minotaur’s attack was going far better than could be expected. House by house, the creatures of Yakyakistan that were sleeping in their beds were being put into such a deep sleep that nothing would be able to awaken them for hours. The infiltration team, save for two particular individuals, had wrapped up and were making their way out of the city. The minotaur themselves were making their way on foot, the lightless night allowing them to cross the snow fields around the fortified city unseen, preventing a full alert from taking place up until now.

Outside of a single point of intrusion, which was deemed an act of burglary by a gryphon hen, judging by the scene discovered around the culprit, the yaks had no clue that anything wrong was happening. With the diamond dogs warning the gryphons of any approaching yaks on patrol, the avians were able to stay out of sight, leaving only the smallest traces behind that would go unnoticed by the wooly bovines.

To all those still active within the city, it really did seem like the minotaur had devised the perfect plan. All it would take was subduing the patrolling guards to completely overtake the Yak’s nation, and that would happen once the minotaur arrived, coming right through the front gates, which would be unbarricaded and ready for them to walk right through on their arrival. Not everything had been done to plan though, as one of the groups discovered first hand when coming upon a window that was still locked.

“Er! Erah!” a gryphoness grunted as she strained to open the barrier of glass that kept her from her last gas canister, and being able to make her exit.

Her team had decided it was best to split up, as they used all three of their dogs to track the scents left by the previous team. It was a little harder to avoid the patrols without one acting as an underground lookout, but since most of the patrols were dealing with some unknown issue elsewhere in the town, employing a bit of caution all that was needed to get from one hut to another. Her team would have been the first done, if not for this one window.

Giving it a few more tries, to make sure it wasn’t frozen shut, the hen stepped back and looked at her problem, “Rover, are you sure this is the right one?”

A gray diamond dog in a red vest stepped forward, sniffing at the window, “Yesss, this is the one. It has that scent sprayed right here.”

The gryphon gently pushed the dog aside, and looked over the window, examining the glass. While a lot of houses she had visited had different means of entry, the windows in this area had mostly been melted through, something she only noticed because she spotted snow being packed into the holes. With a brief examination, she spotted a part of the glass that had been melted, but only partially.

“What happened here? Did they stop part way?” the hen asked, having no clue what would have caused someone to half ass the job this badly. “Typical… We’re gonna have to find another way in.”

The hen thought about the situation, and what she could do to rectify it. Then a thought came to mind, one that she figured was as good as any other.

“Hey, Rover,” the gryphoness said, canister in hand, “I don’t think they got any floor boards in there. Think you can just tunnel your way inside, and toss this thing at the closest wall?”

The diamond dog took the glass container, and considered the situation, “Should be easy enough,” he said, “But…”

“No buts,” the gryphon hen said, “I want to get out of here before the fighting starts, and you said this was the last house that you could track a scent to. Now get in there.”

The diamond dog grumbled, knowing that there would be no bonus for him for doing this. Still, he wanted to be done with this job as much as the gryphon, so he relented and dug himself a hole into the canine made tunnels beneath Yakyakistan.

“Tell Rover to do bird’s dirty work…” the dog grumbled to himself, having to burrow a new path to get under the locked up yak hut. “Rover will do it much better than bird ever could.”

It took a minute for the Rover to get through the stone foundation, but the moment his claws got through to the other side, the dog tunneled upwards knowing he would get inside, breaching the surface as quickly as he vanished into it. He poked his head out, intending to find the closest wall and chuck the canister in his possession at it as instructed, but while giving the room his quick scan, his eyes came across a set of hooves barely an inch away from his newly formed hole. Seeing them made the dog freeze, then look up as he traced them to their owner.

There, looking just as shocked as the dog did in that moment, was a large female yak, fully nude, and likewise fully wide awake. She had gotten up from her hay bale bed, unable to get back to sleep after being disturbed earlier, and had gone to her kitchen to her a large glass of milk to help fix that problem. As she stood there, looking at the terrible creature that was trespassing in her home, she no longer saw a need to get back to sleep, as the fear inside her removed any desire to sleep entirely.

“Uh… Sorry…” the dog said nervously, trying to slip back into his hole without further incident, “Wrong hou-”

Before he could finish, the yak cow screamed at the top of her lungs, seeing this creature for the intruder it was, if not knowing the purely malicious intent of the reason it broke into her home. This scream was loud enough to sound through the walls around her, and make it out into the streets, hitting the ears of nearby guards to alert them of a second issue they would have to deal with that night, and that was one problem too many. Reaching for horns they had at the waist side, those within range of the scream sounded the alarm, which created a chain reaction where the patrol that heard that sounded their own horns, and so on until every guard and every ungassed resistant of the yak’s isolated nation was awake and alert.

It was the end of any stealthy and non-violent attempts to subdue Yakyakistan, caused by an unforeseeable mistake. Now the true raid had begun, and those still within the city would come to know that they had just left the eye of the storm.