The King's Men

Chapter 10

As the men settled in to their tents, Shayne stared up at the tarp of his. He was sharing the tent with Waren. Ikuno and Hiroshi were sharing another tent. Sook was sleeping in his own dog tent, which Shayne could definitely say was as, if not more, lavish than the human tents. He could say the same for the cat tents.

He turned to his side to flinch, seeing Waren studying his face.

"Wh-what is it?" he asked.

"Tell me, what do you think of Ikuno and Hiroshi?" Waren asked.

Shayne made a questioning face.

"What do you mean? I mean, they're two of the best people I've ever met in my life. I would never meet anyone greater than them, I guess."

"What do you mean by 'I guess'?"

"Well, I still don't know if I'll ever meet anyone better than those two. They've been close to me since I was five. But I still have a whole life in front of me. There will be people I will meet, and people I'll have to say 'bye' to. But if there are people better than Ikuno and Hiroshi, then those would surely be far and few between, though probably not impossible."

"What are you, a grandpa?" Waren asked jokingly, then he looked thoughtful.

"What would you think of the person that they might like, when they begin to like someone? What sort of person do you think they would like?"

"I can't decide that. But if I absolutely had to guess what sort of person would be their types, I would say that Ikuno would probably like someone that could easily stand on the same ground as him, or someone that can also take the lead if he can't. Hiroshi would probably like someone who could put up with his temper, or perhaps someone who makes him calm when he's upset."

Waren started chuckling quietly.

"What's so funny?" Shayne asked curiously.

"Aren't you just describing yourself?" he chuckled.

Shayne's face warmed.

"That's not what I meant!" he whispered loudly.

Waren just turned himself around, still chuckling, saying "Good night, Your Highness."

Shayne huffed and turned the other way as well, closing his eyes and slowly falling asleep.

When he woke up, light was streaming through the opening in the tent flap. Waren was not in the tent,  so Shayne assumed he was outside.

Shayne got up and walked out the tent to see Vanessa, Sook, and Kisa playing around with a ball made of straw, what seemed to be a form of "fetch" except Sook was also throwing the ball to Vanessa and Kisa. So, sort of like an energized "catch".

Vanessa spotted Shayne and waved him over.

"Shayne! Wanna join us? Sook has a cool ability that lets him instantly go from one place to another in short distances! Watch!"

Shayne watched them, smiling as Vanessa threw the ball behind her, and Sook - who was in front of her about ten feet away - instantly disappeared, reappeared to grab the ball in his jaws, and reappeared in his original place, the ball still in his mouth.

He applauded, laughing.

"Great job, you guys!" he called.

Vanessa waved at Kisa and Sook, who continued playing without her, as she walked up to Shayne.

"There's someone I want you to meet," she said, grabbing Shayne's hand and leading him to the right, towards one of the larger cat tents.

When he entered the tent behind Vanessa, he could see that Waren, Ikuno, and Hiroshi were already in there.

At the other end of the tent, there was a large, sleek feline. It was a beautiful-looking cheetah, its fur shiny in the dim light and its posture as it sat was absolutely regal.

"This is our clan's leader of the cats, Ina," Vanessa introduced.

Shayne bowed, rising only when Vanessa signaled him to stand again.

"It's nice to meet you," Shayne spoke sincerely.

The cheetah nodded its head, seeming to understand Shayne's formal greeting.

With that curt greeting, Ina flicked its tail toward the door, got up, and curved its back so it was no longer facing the humans, but nor did it have its back completely to them.

Vanessa bowed a farewell and led the men out of the tent.

"We have a leader of the felines, and we have a leader of the canines," Vanessa said as they exited the tent. "It is in this tent here."

She pointed out a tent just across from Ina's tent.

The men entered the tent after Vanessa, a bit surprised to see Sook in the tent, wagging his tail.

They looked upon the pedestal-looking seat, and saw a wolf with shiny, black fur and was seemingly grinning from ear-to-ear.

"This is the leader of the canines, Kyl."

The men bowed, and the wolf nodded curtly, turning its attention back to Sook.

It began to howl something, and Sook replied with howls of his own.

Vanessa giggled. "Oh, Kyl is a very playful type, you don't need to tense up around it too much."

"How come the leaders of the felines and canines are refered to as 'it's?" Ikuno asked curiously.

"They tend to identify as gender neutral, and to avoid love conflicts, so there is no favoritism when choosing the next leader. It is a bit of a pain for them, but that's how they work."

Shayne and the others nodded.

They all exited the tent.

A bell chimed through the encampment, and Vanessa's face lit up.

"Who's ready to go hunting?"

Author's Note:

Hello, to those still reading this. I'm sorry for the late updates, and how slow the story's progressing. I would love to have it progress faster, but before then, I have to find the ideas and time to use those ideas in this story. It's slow, but I hope you all consider it worth it. ^^

So, I'm still going to let you all decide between smut or no smut. I have one vote for yes on smut, but I want to get others' opinions before jumping in with this. I do still have plenty of chapters before it can happen, though, so we still have some time. I'll let you know when the time comes when I'll be making my final decision.

Anyways, I hope you all like the story so far. I promise that the romance will come sometime soon, maybe a couple more stops or so, but until then, please be patient with me and the story.

Thank you for reading this super-slowly updated story, and for putting up with me. ^^' I admire you all for being so patient~

I hope you continue to enjoy this story! :3
-Vanguard12😋