The Birth of the Outcast
By Katie Sullivan (aka Snowfur, aka KatieScarlet)
Swartt slouched moodily against a cushion. He, Swartt Sixclaw
the Warlord, had been driven from his own tent. No one had dared ask him to leave,
but he knew when he wasn't wanted. Now he found himself huddled one of the
Captain's tents, waiting. His wife's agonized screams reached him through
the bitterly cold night air. Nightshade was attending to the laboring ferret in
Swartt's tent.
Swartt pulled the blanket tighter around his shoulder and nursed
his crippled sixclaw. The cold air penetrated his gauntlet and sent daggers of pain
shooting through his ruined paw.
A particularly loud shriek from Bluefen pierced the air.
Swartt frowned. I'm in pain, too, he thought, but I don't
carry on like that!
Suddenly, a new, entirely different cry reached Swartt's
ears. It was the cry of a
healthy ferretbabe!
Swartt set his jaw. Good. Maybe now she'll be
quiet. He yawned and blinked heavily. It had been a long night.
Swartt nodded off against the cushion. Before long, however, his slumber was
interrupted by Nightshade's voice. My lord?
Swartt blinked open his eyes and looked up at the fox by the tent
flap. he
snapped.
Would you like to see your son? Nightshade asked, holding
out a tangle of
woolen blankets.
Swartt looked disinterested, but Nightshade approached anyway.
Look, my lord, she said, reaching into the blankets and producing a
minute paw. He carries your mark.
Swartt stared. Indeed, the babe had a sixclaw just like his
own. Well, almost...
The Warlord felt a pang of irrational jealousy.
He needs a name, Nightshade implored.
Swartt sniffed disdainfully. I don't care what
you call him, vixen. Caring for young ones is a female's job.
Sir, about that...you should know, Bluefen's very
weak. It was a very hard labor. She...may not survive.
But Swartt had turned his back to the seer and the newborn and
settled down to sleep. Dismissed, vixen, he said in an unconcerned tone.
Nightshade silently slipped out of the tent, taking her leader's tiny son with
her.
