Halronde strolled in to the King's private chambers the next morning and stopped in surprise, "Milord!" he exclaimed looking at the bandaged and some what bruised King, "What happened?" He looked around and noticed Balizar was no where in sight either, "And your companion?"

Rassnor, looked up and motioned to his advisor to take a seat, the expression on his face both smug and satisfied. He stretched and yawned, smiling hugely. "I ordered Balizar to stay in bed today. Last night we," he smiled again thinking about it, "had something of a party you might say."

Halronde looked askance at his King, "He will live I trust?"

Rassnor laughed, "Oh, he'll live alright, though I dare say I put him through his paces last night!"

"You don't look to good yourself Milord, if I say so myself. Perhaps you should stay in bed a while as well."

"If I stay in bed, I suspect I'll spend all my time fucking my toy and neither of us will get any rest," Rassnor laughed, "which is what we spent all morning doing, despite the bandages and the healer's warnings. No, I'll take care of business, though you can cancel any audiences, wouldn't do to show up looking like this in public today. People might get the wrong idea."

"Yes, they might think your pet won one for a change."

"Hardly! Though it wasn't easy, it was truly a wonderful fight, you would have appreciated it greatly, we must have fenced for hours."

"Two and a half according to your guards, they peeked once just to be sure no one was trying to murder you in your bed."

Rassnor smiled and nodded. "He is without a doubt the greatest fighter I've ever had to face, and the look on his face when I beat him," Rassnor's face glowed, "surprise, then pride. I think his skills have returned to what they were that day I first fought him, but still I am his better, as I was then."

"And then?"

"Well then I just did lots of nasty things to him," Rassnor snickered. "We're learning the limits, or maybe I am. It will be a long time before we can play like that again, but I daresay that was one night we'll both remember fondly for years to come."

"From the scars alone I\x92d wager," Halronde chuckled. "Anyways Milord, the call to raise the levy has gone out, and I've put our quartermasters and blacksmiths to work on fixing up what's in the armories. Chetarack assures me that by next week's end we should be able to field the bulk of our troops with proper equipment, assuming the lads in the levies have managed to keep their gear in decent shape."

"What's your confidence in that assessment?"

"Fairly high Milord. In the last levy exercise the troops came in with their goods well cared for, and your captains were sure to reward those who had taken good care."

"What words has Luten?"

"Well, he's sent out a few new spies and orders. But he doesn't think he'll have any good intelligence from that for us for at least a month."

"By then the battle may have been joined," Rassnor grumbled.

"Exactly, so his aim is to try to gather intelligence on how they're responding to that."

The King nodded.

"However, he did add that he has a report from one of his agents due in about 2 weeks. With a decent messenger he thinks he could get that one to you in the field just days prior to your planned attack."

"Really? That would be valuable. Inform Luten that I will hold any attacks until I get his report."

"I will let him know Sire."

"And your feelings?" Rassnor asked looking up from his breakfast."

"Well, the way their Ambassador was behaving, I think they're spoiling for a fight. If we've convinced them we're weak, and if your belief's that they intend to invade us are correct." He smiled, "Well, our neighbors won't be upset if this war is started by Gundor."

Rassnor nodded, "Self defense will make them feel more secure than if we just start this one ourselves. I'd prefer not to have to worry about our other borders, even if our other allies have been behaving themselves."

Halronde nodded.

"Well lets go see what my other advisors have to say," he yawned then and standing up, stretched. "Then I think I'll see about a nap in the barracks. Oh make sure someone sends food into my pet, he lost a lot of blood last night, I wouldn't want him to get sick."

* * * * * *

Balizar yawned and leaned back in the saddle. They'd been on the road for several days now, traveling to the Kingdom's northern frontier. His Master had split up the army into several smaller groups, not wanting to give away too much with a single large troop movement, also not wanting to damage his own lands with so many furs afoot. The hardest part at this point was maintaining any semblance of stealth. The extra troops that had been stationed along the border were now making sure no one left heading to Gundor, who might carry word of the troop movements. They would make camp in the hills tonight, a few hours ride from the border, the bulk of the troops would wait a day's ride further back in a town. That many just couldn't be hidden from prying eyes.

"Messenger!" Came the cry from the rear of the line. Bal sat up alert and turned to see who was coming up from behind, letting his steed drop a little further back to place himself between his Master and whatever might be approaching.

A few moments later he made out the approaching rider closing in fast, guard's colors apparent on both fur and beast. It was one of the smaller spry cheetahkind from the southern part of the kingdom, they tended to be easier on the ridingbeasts then the tigerkind, so were often employed as messengers. He flagged the rider down as he approached.

"Message for his Majesty!" Saluted the rider.

Balizar nodded and escorted him up to Rassnor, keeping his mount in between the two. He wasn't expecting anything, but it was good to keep in practice.

"Sire, message from Master Luten!" The cheetah announced as they drew alongside.

"Finally! Pass it over."

Doing so, he saluted and rode off a ways to await any return messages.

Rassnor broke open the tube and shook out the message, taking time to read it twice before passing it over to Schorky, the Captain of his Guard who was serving as his second in Command on this campaign. Halronde had stayed back at the castle to keep an eye on things in the King's absence.

"Good news Master?" Balizar asked.

"Very, Gundor's got an invasion army on the move, they're convinced we'll be a pushover. They'll probably hit our border by tomorrow."

Balizar quirked an eyebrow, "And this is good news how?"

"They've got an army of one thousand heavy Calvary, I know that's the cream of their forces, and five thousand foot. Most of that is levy."

"We'll have five thousand total, and three thousand of that is levy."

"Yes," Rassnor purred, "But we have three thousand spread along the border, all of whom are regular troops. I'll send out runners to draw them together tonight."

Balizar blushed, "I had forgotten about them Master."

Rassnor grinned, "I'll be sure to punish you tonight then. Plus I'm willing to bet my levies are a lot better then theirs. Gundor hasn\x92t fought a war in decades." He waved over his Captains, "We need to start planning our little surprise for these people, don't you agree?"

"Oh definitely Master," Bal chuckled, "Definitely."

Rassnor looked down into the Valley, watching the lead elements of his 'Border Guard' fighting a retreating action against the Gundor and fleeing in apparent disarray. He watched as the last two were cut off and then surrendered. His orders had been clear, surrender rather then be killed, complain about the terrible conditions, and the lack of supply from Sarajat or the King. This road was the fastest way to the capital, it was the logical path for Gundor's army to take.

"Well, shouldn't be too much longer Master," Balizar whispered, tail flicking in agitated excitement behind him.

"Yes, it shouldn't be. Do you like your present?"

Balizar glanced down at the sword Rassnor had given him that morning, and smiled in disbelief once more, "Yes Master, I love it! How in the world did you get a Zhinatao Blade? And an enchanted one no less!"

Rassnor smiled, and reached over to rub his pet's armored ass, the one he had only hours before fucked so nice and deep. He rumbled as the Leopard's tail hiked slightly, unconsciously. "It's been in the family for over a hundred years Pet. I don't use it because it's too small for me."

Balizar nodded, he fought with two broadswords, but Rassnor was so big he used two bastard swords. He often found it interesting that neither of them normally used a shield. He looked back up at the tiger, "Over a hundred years? How'd it come to be here?"

"Well, after learning about you, I had the scribes do some searching of our history. You're not the first Zhinatao to grace the throne of Sarajat," he purred, "And guess what sexy?"

Balizar, leaned a little closer, "What?"

"I'm a direct descendant. Seems she managed to mix it up with one of my ancestors and gave him a son."

Balizar stared for several seconds, mind racing at the implications.

"Surprised?"

"It makes sense Master\x85" he began, "I'd never heard of black tigers before coming here, and I see small traces of my culture in yours."

Rassnor grinned and pulled his pet close and gave him a long and passionate kiss. Which Balizar heartily returned, pressing his armored body against the hardness of the tiger's own armor. They lingered a bit then turned to watch as the main body of the invading army entered the valley.

"It's time Master," Balizar panted, excited.

"Yes, it is my Pet," Rassnor purred and gave the signal for the archers to begin.

When the first volley was sent, the invading army was already well down into the valley. Rassnor and Balizar being at the far end. That first volley caught quite a few by surprise and caused quite a commotion in the lead ranks. The heavy Calvery fared fairly well for all that most of the arrows were sent their way, quickly snapping their shields up over head and protecting many in the main body. The levy troops fared much worse however, taking quite a few losses before harried sergeants got them to pull together and find cover.

At that point Rassnor signaled his forces to charge, coming down the mountain sides and also attacking the front of the column. The plan was to spilt the heavy Calvary at the rear off from the less seasoned troops in the front. Apparently the cream of the Gundorian forces, namely the heavy Calvary, didn't like to be up front with the lowly foot, and so the foot soldiers were set on heavily while pikemen using the advantage of the pass kept the heavy Calvary bottled up away from them.

Balizar roared with glee as he ran down the side of the hill at his Master's side, closing viscously with the enemy and beheading a shocked wolf before quickly taking the arm off another one. He roared again with challenge plowing into another hapless soldier who only learned how badly outclassed he was as he died.

Rassnor however was doing even more damage, the heavier bastard swords in his strong paws cleaving and beheading on every stroke, not a single defender could stand against him either and they quickly fell back from the huge tiger cutting a deadly swath through their forces.

Balizar smiled ferally as he watched his Master fight, keeping to his side and making sure that his Master's flank wouldn't be attacked as they drove side by side towards the command banners of the invading army, the King's guard filling the gap behind them, all fighting as viciously as their leader.

Rassnor laughed to himself, caught up in the bloodlust of the battle, as he drew closer to the command elements of the army before him, they were in the vanguard of the ground troops, and the Calvary was trying hard to reach them. The fighting was getting tougher now, as these were the regular soldiers now, not just the levy troops. He checked on Balizar at his left, the leopard appeared to be in bliss, spattered in blood and his blades moving with deadly speed catching the afternoon sun in sudden flashes. Rassnor's own blades moved in deadly syncronicity to the leopard's it seemed. They fought together well and the pile of dead and dying at their feet and behind them gave ample evidence of this. The troops he and his pet were dispatching were getting more and more willing to give ground the deeper into them they got. These soldiers had been told they would face an easy battle, and now they were facing death fast and gruesome.

He slowed his advance a minute, and let the opposing side draw back a little more, he could see the fear in their eyes, they were facing the horsemen infantry now, and he knew that Balizar and himself must look like a pair blood speckled black demons. He took that brief moment to raise his swords in signal to his standard bearer who passed the signal for the next phase of attack, and the second wave popped out of concealment to attack the heavy Calvary, making an obvious attempt to flank them and block off any retreat.

The Gundorian heavy Calvary and the troops nearest began to pull back, in an effort not to be flanked and possibly trapped in the valley moving them farther from the foot soldiers. Apparently more concerned for their own high born hides than their foot. Twenty minutes later the column had been split in two with the lead elements, a full two thirds of the force encircled.

Rassnor signaled again, and the same call went out and the sound of a large group of Calvary approaching thundered through the valley and convinced the rear contingent that all was definitely lost and to go into full retreat as calls of 'Quarter' were heard starting to come from the levy troops and the other foot soldiers. By the time the Calvary, which in fact was just the unmounted transport beasts of the supply train reached the lead elements, the retreating forces were too far away to see they had been tricked, not knowing that the ambushing force was barely larger than them.

It had been four hours now, all of this taking a long time to play out, but the both of them were so caught up in the fight and the battle that time had little meaning. It didn't last much longer then as the whole of Rassnor's forces now focused on the remainder, which was highly demoralized at seeing themselves abandoned by their elite.

Balizor looked up at his Master as the last of the enemy captains threw down their swords and surrendered. "It seems you have carried the day Master," he smiled.

"We were lucky pet. If they hadn't been so cocky this would not have been such an easy win." Rassnor looked around at the battlefield, his own losses had not been light, but the enemy's were considerably worse, especially among the levied troops, whose performance had been terrible. Rassnor's own levies had suffered more than his regulars, but no where near as bad as Gundor's. Their performance had actually made him proud.

"What next Master?"

"Lets get these prisoner's under some kind of guard, and disarmed before we head after the departing forces."

Balizar nodded and cleaned his swords keeping near his Master, just incase some senior officer who had surrendered decided to try to be a hero.

None who saw the blood spattered leopard did of course.

It took several hours to form the prisoner's up and detail a guard to watch them. Rassnor split the surrendered soldiers into three groups, the levied troops who were told that as long as they behaved themselves they would not only be allowed to return home once things were settled, but told that their good behavior would allow their families to keep their farms. Considering what usually happened to the peasants who made up levies, this raised their hopes tremendously.

Next were the professional soldiers, who were made to give their parole and made aware of the dire consequences of what would happen if they broke it. This group was separated from the others being probably the most dangerous. Rassnor had not decided what he would do with them yet, they'd have to be sorted through in time but he made sure they were informed that unlike Gundor he would not execute them for doing their duty as long as they obeyed their parole and followed orders. Balizar noticed quite a few of the officers looked enormously relieved at that.

Then there were the commanding officers and the few nobles that had been taken. Most of the nobles and senior officers had been with the Calvary so the group was less than fifty. Those Rassnor sent under guard back to the castle to be interrogated and possibly held for ransom.

"Why only possibly?" Balizar asked.

"Well, I intend to replace a good deal of the nobility with people sworn to me. Some of the nobles of Gundor my family has had favorable dealings with in the past, all of those will most likely be left in power, depending on ho much they fight. So a lot of these prisoners probably won't have anyone to ransom them. As they were invading my country, a few will probably be imprisoned, exiled or maybe even hung. I'll have to see what Luten's intelligence comes up with though before any Royal decisions are made.

"The real jewels are with the group fleeing to the north. Several of those will be hung, along with the King of Gundor unless the coward is willing to face me in battle." Rassnor growled.

"Think we can catch them before the border?"

"Depends on how well the light Calvary is doing. We're done here, so lets be about it!"

Rassnor detailed a full third of his troops to deal with guarding the prisoners, not wanting to take any chances. Of the eight thousand Rassnor had started with, he'd left one thousand light calvary outside the valley to work in two separate groups to harrass the Gundor heavy calvary when it retreated, or to stage a rear attack on them if the trap hadn't been successful. They were ordered not to close for serious fighting, just keep making raids and short attacks to keep them from regrouping. With several hundred dead, and nearly a thousand wounded, he was left with about five thousand effective, and while many of the wounded would be able to serve as guards, he felt that three thousand was more than enough for what he needed to do.

"Four thousand isn't much to try to take all of Gundor Master." Balizar noted as they rode off to catch the other enemy group.

"Well pet, in about a week or two I'll probably be able to recall most of the group left behind, and figuring even heavy losses I should have about six thousand."

"That's still not a lot, Gundor must have at least four to six thousand in reserve. And who'll watch the prisoners?"

"The prisoner's will all be marked, and escorted back towards their homes. They'll be told that if caught fighting again, they'll be killed, their families farms will be taken, and their womanfolk will be made into brothel slaves. On the other hand if they behave themselves and stay on their farms, the will be allowed to keep their lands."

Balizar thought about that a moment. "Does give a bit of an incentive to the farmers to behave."

"Yes, and after the way these guys fought so poorly, and were so easily cut down by us, I doubt any will ever willingly pick up sword again."

Balizar nodded, of the four thousand or so levy the Gundorian's had brought with them, nearly two thousand had been killed. A good deal of the rest were injured and all were totally demoralized. He could see the other advantages of letting them go home, word would spread of the defeat, as well as the mercy showed to the commoner's by Rassnor once they surrendered.

"Now news of the invasion and this victory will probably cause quite a few people to decide to enlist to defend the country, so I'd be not at all surprised if I didn't have another ten thousand ready to fight in one months time."

Balizar blinked. "That many Master? That soon?"

Rassnor laughed and nodded. "We have a tradition of awarding soldiers with land in captured territory. So a lot of farm boys who figure they won't inherit will see this as their chance to make something of themselves."

"That makes a good deal of sense."

It took a full day to catch up with the retreating army, the Gundorian's had been pushing their mounts hard to escape, managing to even cross back into their own country before the bulk of Rassnor's army caught up with them. But the harassing attacks of the light calvary, had taken a fair toll on them and there was a limit as to what their heavy riding beasts could take.

"Luck is with us Milord!" One of Rassnor's Captains reported as they finally closed to within sight of the enemy. "Another few hours and they would have made refuge at Denill Fort."

"Luck nothing Captain," Rassnor smiled looking over the lay of the land, "This is where all the years of training and dedication pay off, I have to say I'm proud of my people today."

The Captain nodded and Rassnor quickly ordered the repositioning of his troops to best take advantage of the terrain. The light Calvary was concentrated on the far side of the Gundorian's now to if not hold them, at least slow them further while Rassnor's army made a two prong attack to the rear and the left flank.

The attack was brutal, Rassnor's forces attacking initially from horseback, slamming into the Gundorian's as they turned to face their attackers. Discipline was still strong with them and none attempted to break and fight pass the light Calvary blocking their escape.

Balizar once again road in on his Master's left side, but in this heavier clash and battle was unable to keep his horse as close as he would have liked. The heavier mounts of the Gundorian's gave them a slight advantage at first, but all the beasts were tired on both sides and it wasn't long before Balizar found himself on foot, along with a great deal of the enemy. Balizar didn't mind fighting from a mount, but greatly preferred his own feet, which allowed him to use his weapons to far greater effect.

The rush of the battle came to him once more and the bloodlust took him fully. He cut a swath through the enemy towards where he had last seen his Master moving with deadly skill and determination.

Rassnor himself was fully taken with the bloodlust at this point and abandoned his mount intentionally to allow himself to once more bring both of his bastard swords into play. The ground had turned so muddy from the churning hooves and blood that beasts were starting to founder and trip and he had no desire to become pinned in the saddle like several enemy soldiers he had already killed. After cutting the legs out from under several riding beasts and dispatching of their riders with unbelievable speed, many of the enemy themselves dismounted, and riderless beasts fleeing the carnage added considerably to the confusion.

Balizar gutted another riding beast as it went by, then turned to slit the throat of another, and take off the leg of it's rider. He let the riderless beasts go by, moving forward towards where he guessed the enemy commanders might be, and as the field cleared more spotted the tall dark killing machine that was his Master and worked his way towards him. He wished he could have concentrated on his Master's fighting, it was exciting to watch him move, almost dance, with such a deadly grace. But he had his own part in this battle and he doubted any of the enemy would oblige him with a break.

Rassnor looked over as Balizar drew near, the two of them joining up and going back to back as both sides got reorganized now that the majority of fighters were on foot. He noted about the same time that the enemy did that the nearest soldiers of his guard were a good fifty feet away.

"Surrender, Rassnor, and we'll let you live!" cried out one of the enemy commanders as the fighting circled around the Tiger and Leopard. They were now fighting back to back, a sword in each hand, blades flashing as they both parried and dodged, lunging one way then the other, bodies falling at their feet.

"Maybe you should surrender!" Rassnor laughed and took the head from another soldier, pressing his attack towards the commander who had spoken. "For if you face me, you shall certainly die!" He growled and ran another horseman through, causing the officer to blanch and draw back further.

Rassnor smiled, an evil sight as he advanced further on the officer, working his way closer, his pet at his back, the two of them an untouchable force of death and destruction. None could get close enough to touch them without exposing themselves to either his or his pet's blades. And those blades struck true many times, wounding and killing, the blood flying from the metal. The horsemen soldiers were getting less and less willing to press their attack against the pair and the King's guard was drawing closer now, as Rassnor beheaded yet another horseman soldier and came face to face with the officer who had yelled.

With no choice but to fight he did, and Rassnor was impressed that the officer actually lasted almost a minute before he killed him.

"Quarter!" Yelled the soldier next to him as Rassnor pulled his sword from the dying officer's body. Rassnor shifted his attack to avoid the surrendering soldier only to hear 'Quarter!' shouted from the one he was advancing on. A second later cries of 'Quarter!' started to fill the air around him and Balizar as the troops laid down their arms.

A few moments later and the whole of the contingent had surrendered, a cheer going up from his army.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you are magnificent Master?" Balizar purred up at him.

Rassnor laughed and pulled his pet to him, giving him a kiss and noticing that they were both covered head to toe in blood and gore. "Did anyone ever tell you what a sexy little leopard you are?" He rumbled back.

Balizar smiled back and Rassnor bent closer to whisper in his pet's ear, "I promise you my pet that the first chance I get, you'll get yours." He snickered softly.

Balizar smiled wider and purred as the King's guard joined them.