The Ashen Fortress

[Kuzuru]

A thin smile crept across Kuzuru’s red lips as he reentered the waking world. His dreams were usually a source of entertainment as they were filled with carnage and bloodshed too grandiose to occur anywhere but inside his head, however this time, this time was different and not in a bad way either. A girl danced in his brain, a girl made of paint with eyes that reflected every possible colour. He knew not what color her blood would be, but he knew that it had to be spilt. His ever-present hunger, once sedated by Ballad’s execution, was not back in full force. A ferocious beast that gnawed on his innards commanded him to glut himself on blood and anguish. His body shivered at the thought of Luci’s eventual demise.

“Dreams are such pleasant things,” he mused as he climbed out of bed.

Walking through his compound revealed just how lonesome it was. Asides from the gentle grinding of the generators there was no sound within the stone walls. Not that he necessarily minded, but it was quite dull. He called out for Mallory and Charles, but neither answered. He called a few more times as he stepped into the common area. Cinder Salt was enjoying a cup of tea as her master stepped into view.

“Have you seen our two knuckleheads?” Kuzuru asked her.


She took a sip of her tea and answered, “no, I have not.”

“Damnit,” he muttered, “we’ve a job to do and those are the most familiar with Coruscant.”

“Oh?”

Kuzuru smiled and extended his arms, moving his palms in the shape of a rainbow. Cinder’s canine ears perked up in curiosity.

“It came to me in a dream,” he said, “our next target, Luci, a small time gun runner, wanted for the smuggling of goods and fleeing custody, a perfectly whimsical being who’s head will make a fine trophy.”

“You’re going after a smuggler?” the coyotle girl asked.

“Indeed my dear Cinder Salt, would you care to accompany me?”

“No,”

Kuzuru frowned, “and why not?”

She took another sip.

“Salt?” he asked.
She pushed away her drink and said, “well, I’ve been playing along with your games for the last few weeks and you’ve yet to teach me anything.”

“Oh yeah,” he said, laughing, “I completely forgot about our deal, well I’ll tell you what, once my hunger is satisfied I’ll spend a few days training you, but as I’ve said before I have more pressing issues right now.”

Cinder Salt did not respond. Kuzuru flashed a set of finger guns and made a clicking noise with his mouth. He laughed to himself and walked towards the exit.

“At any rate I’ve got to get going,” Kuzuru said, “the early bird gets the worm as they say, ciao my dear Cinder Salt.”

With that he stepped out into the Ashen Steppes, a smile plastered on his face and a jump in his stride. The hunt was on.