­Author's Note: O.K., readers and fellow authors, here are some things you need to know about this story. First: yes, I know all vermin are supposed to be evil, but the beginning of this story takes place a couple hundred seasons after Brian Jacques' books do, and some of the customs have changed – but it's still medieval, just to tell you. And the rest of the story takes place a couple thousand years after Jacques' books…O.K., I guess that's enough. Oh, yeah: yes, Kara is a pure ferret, and no, she doesn't have the same accent and Kurda and her family, because they live in the far north, and they've adapted there for a long time.

All the characters in this story, and the plot, belong to me, so no stealing! Other than that, I hope you enjoy this fic, I spent a lot of time working on it. See yah, plz R&R!

Chapter 1

It was by far the worst day the northern lands had seen in quite a long time: the rain was coming down in curtains, so thick it was hard to see through it – although it was nearly impossible anyway, because the rain would pound mercilessly upon a creature's eyes, so much so that it was painful to keep them open. The small ruts and ditches in the ground were all overflowing with waters; it destroyed the dirt paths travelers used, turning them into nothing but sucking mudholes. The streams and rivers swelled, and as the rain pounded the earth without signs of tiring, a flood began to look inevitable.

However, a flood was the least of the worries of the small, hooded figure that still ran along the muddied path, despite the fact that it tripped every now and then, falling forward into the sucking mass. But it didn't stop for long – the figure would just rise, and continue to slip and stumble along the path, sometimes with its arms out to stop it from tripping. If anyone had been watching, they would have stared at the hooded creature in puzzlement, because no one in their right mind would be running around on such a horrible day, in such a horrible place.

But Kara of Kreel was in her right mind – she just wasn't in the right place. And, as she ran, panting and gasping for breath, along the path, she thought she would never be in the right place for as long as she lived.

The ferret was clad in a black cloak, its hood, which was too big for her head, drawn up. Underneath all the mud and slime, her fur was a pure white colour, and she had beautifully-set coral pink eyes. She was a pure ferret; but she had no idea of this. Actually, Kara of Kreel very few ideas, on very few subjects. But she had an idea right now, and a subject: escape from Tirreg, and his army of vermin, the Haera.

She had only one thought that drove her madly onwards: she knew if she stopped, even for a light sleep, she would be caught and brutally slain. Kara was cold, wet, hungry, covered in slippery mud, and she would have given her right paw to be anywhere else in the world than where she was. But she knew she couldn't do that; a long time ago, in a different place, she had given up on wishes and dreams. Her parents had always told her to wish, and to dream, and also to believe in herself, in order to fufill her destiny. But her parents weren't there – it seemed to the young ferret as if their existance had been thousands of years ago, when really it had only been four or five seasons. The worst seasons her young life had ever seen.

Suddenly, without warning, her legs gave out, and she fell heavily into the mud, inhaling some of it through her nose and mouth. But she didn't even have the strength to spit it out; she lay there, breathing heavily, her vision flickering, becoming a hazy greyish void. Her mind began to spin, and she tried to grasp the most important fact she could think of: she had to get up, and run, before the Haera arrived. But no…she could barely raise her aching chest to draw breath. It was all over. She might as well let sleep overtake her, in her last moments of her pathetic, miserable existance…

Flashback

Kreel was a beautiful little village, with a bustling community – every day, creatures would be hurrying around, journeying from the village sometimes by cart, but mostly by foot, and returning days later with fresh produce, which they kept in their cellars, in case of hard times. But, even though Kreel was in a particularily dangerous back of the northern lands, it saw very few hard times. The residents were relaxed and cheerful, skilled in the ways of farming; they knew very little about battling, because their lifestyle was so peaceful it hardly applied.

There was a little hut on the far north side of Kreel, with a cooking pit out the front, which had been used the night before to cook a plump quail. In this hut lived a family of ferrets – pure ferrets, to be exact. They were skilled farmers, no matter what the seasons, and they knew how to live off of what they could get.

Kara was a small ferret, with pure white fur and bright, eager, coral pink eyes. She was relaxed and laid back – many times, Kreelians had seen her sitting on the steps of her parents hut, playing on a little reed flute and singing in a beautiful voice a song that had been passed through her family for generations:

"Over the rolling waters,

'Cross the dawn that slips through the night,

Up and down the hill and forest,

Until day sheds its light.

Looking for a home to go to,

Somewhere bright in the sun,

Where the berries are ripe and the apples are pure,

A place where we can always run.

Nowhere dark and fearful,

Where the light is gone and the evil prevails,

A home where the cages are broken and gone,

And the darkness tries to come and always fails.

'Neath the hills and across the oceans,

Down in the meadows and fields plenty,

Come there by day, when the dark seeps away,

And you shall be sure to find me."

Sometimes, as well, she would go off and play with her two brothers and two sisters – they would wander into the grove of trees nearby, chasing birds, racing, or just playing among themselves. So it wasn't strange to see the four siblings travelling togethers towards the grove of trees, talking loudly and laughing. Their parents didn't mind – it gave them time to themselves, so they could farm and clear the land. That day was no acception – that one day, the day that would change the tides of Kara of Kreel's life…forever.

"I want to swim!" Kara's younger brother, Yari, insisted as they walked towards the tall, leafy trees.

"It's not warm enough to go swimming," her older sister, Lekira, admonished. "Besides, learn to compromise – nobody else wants to go swimming in that cold river."

"And remember what Mom said?" the youngest sister, Mira, piped up. "She says, if you goes in the water where it be's really deep, you sink – and mebbe get blown away!"

Lakira rolled her eyes skywards, but Kara smiled and patted her younger sister on the shoulder. "Don't worry, we're not going swimming," she said – then, an idea suddenly came to her head, and she smiled. "But we could play another game," she said slyly.

"Another game?" Kara's oldest brother, Sashu, shook his head slightly. "There's not one game out there we haven't tried, and at least twoscore times, too."

Kara's smile widened. "Have you ever heard of Four Finders?"

Her siblings shook their heads and looked at her curiously, so she explained it to them. "Four Finders is a game when four creatures cover their faces, while the fifth hides. When the hider finds a hiding place, they have to shout 'Four Finders!', and the finders will have to go out and try to find them. Every once and a while, the finders will shout 'Hider!', and the hider will answer, 'Four Finders!' The finders have to try and follow the sound of the hider's voice, to find them. When they find the hider, they pick a new creature to take their place."

"I wanna be hider!" Mira shouted, as soon as Kara had finished speaking. Lakira turned to her and glared.

"Kara gave us the idea, so she gets to be the hider," the older pure ferret said, as they entered the trees. Then she turned to the Kara. "All right, we'll cover our eyes, while you hide."

"Okay," Kara said, smiling in anticipation as her siblings turned and covered their eyes, beginning to count. The pure ferret ran along the grass on the tips of her footpaws, so they wouldn't hear her as she darted around. She knew exactly where to hide – she had wandered around the grove so many times, she knew every inch of it. She ran into a part in the trees where the foliage was very thick, then stood at the foot of the tallest, thickest tree of all. It was a huge old oak – it was at least twice as thick as the others, and its branches spread more than three times as wide.

Kara dug her claws in, pulling herself onto the tree, and climbing it, as fast as she could. She climbed past the lower branches, to the ones where the foliage was thickest, and sat on a branch, looking down. She couldn't see anything – so they couldn't see her, either. It was perfect.

"Four Finders!" Kara shouted at the top of her voice, smiling to herself as she did so. A ways away, she could here scramblig and yelling as her siblings ran around, looking for her. The young ferret took out her reed flute, and played a little tune on it – not loud, though, only loud enough that she could hear. She was totally oblivious to the eye that had been watching her, that whole time.

Kara waited. And waited. Time passed, and as she sat on the branch, listening, she could not hear the sound of her siblings anymore, and no one had even shouted "Hider!", not even once. The pure ferret listened closely, and heard nothing but the sound of a light breeze blowing through the leaves around her. She began to feel worried – this wasn't normal. Then again, they could have been playing a trick on her – but she doubted it.

Kara lowered herself off of the branch, climbing down the tree and dropping to the ground. She looked around, surveying her surroundings. Nothing.

"Lakira!" she called, cupping her paws to her mouth. No answer. "Sashu? Lakiiiiira!" Still nothing.

Kara wandered back through the forest, retracing her steps. Suddenly, ahead of her, there was a small crackle as a branch broke underpaw. The ferret smiled.

"I know you're there," she called, sprinting forward. "That wasn't nice, I was really-"

Kara stopped in midsentence – not because someone had forced her, but from total shock. Her body stopped functioning for a brief moment, and her heart skipped a beat.

There, in front of her, where the bodies of her siblings. They were covered in blood, and had been stabbed in various places: their chests, necks, backs, stomachs…heads. Their eyes were wide, and their mouths were open in shock. Kara took a step forward and stumbled, falling to her knees. She was crying unconciously, tears poured down her face as she touched the arm of her younger sister. Cold. Dead. Murdered.

Suddenly, someone grabbed her – a rough paw was placed across her mouth, and the another hoisted her up. She screamed, but it was muffled by the paw. She was pulled back, and cold fear sprang into her heart as a voice right next to her ear whispered, "Shut up an' be still. One more move like that, and I'll run yer through."

Kara was still crying as the paw was pulled away from her mouth, and the creature grabbed both of her arms, pushing her forward from behind. "Quit blubberin'," he snarled – it was a male voice. "It's started – when we get yeh back to Fortress Krott, ye'll 'ave somethin' t'blubber about then."

"Who are you?" Kara sobbed, her footpaws moving clumsily as she tried to walk straight. "Why did you kill them? Why?"

"Shut up!" The creature whirled her around, and she saw it was a roughly-clad weasel, right before he slapped her in the face. "Don't ask questions, y'hear? Don't ask questions! Now, turn around an' walk!"

Kara turned around, tears streaming down her face. She had never been more frightened in her entire life – she had absolutely no idea what was going on, and the fact that her siblings were dead hadn't quite sunk in yet, because it was so horrible to try and grasp it.

"Finally," the weasel muttered, as the trees began to thin. "I thought I was going to miss the fun."

Kara didn't know what he meant, until she heard it – the distant sound of screams, and cruel laughter. Cold dread gripped the young ferret, and her stomach sunk.

And there it was.

Right in front of her eyes, Kreel was being destroyed. Fire reflected in the pure ferret's eyes as she watched the cabins and huts of the village burning, flames licking viciously away at the woodwork. Vermin of all kinds were plundering the camp – weasels, foxes, rats, stoats, and other ferrets were running in, stealing objects from the huts, then lighting fire to them. The crops they had grown were trampled – the vermin had destroyed them. The smell of smoke was overwhelming, but another smell was even stronger in the air.

Blood.

All around, there were dead bodies – blood was oozing out of them, and screams rent the air as the vermin, weapons at hand, murdered the innocent farmers. Laughter mingled with the screams, and the smell of the smoke mingled with the smell of the blood.

Kara wasn't aware of anything – the smell of death in her nostrils, she fell to the ground without even knowing it, her eyes rolling into her head as she passed out.

Pain. Death. Sadness. Labour. Imprisonment.

These were only some of the things Kara of Kreel felt after she was revived. There were only about ten creatures left alive from Kreel – and she didn't know any of them, whick meant one thing: her parents had been slain, too.

Then the march – the march to Fortress Krott, a huge castle built on a large hill, ruled by King Tirreg – an evil fox. It was run by the Haera, a group of at least a thousand vermin, who bullied and sometimes even tortured the unfortunate slaves who served those of the higher order of Fortress Krott.

Kara remembered vividly there first day she had arrived – all it had been was one backbreaking task after another, and at the end of the day she had wept well into the night, for her friends and family, and the others of her homeland.

Five seasons past.

Kara was only twelve seasons of age, but she was one of the strongest at Fortress Krott…and the only one from Kreel who was still alive. She kept to herself at the Fortress – she thought that if she made any friends, they would die anyway, and bring her only more sadness. The pure ferret had developed a terrible hatred of the Haera, especially their leader.

So, it was that day – that fateful day in late spring, where she had finally unlocked herself from the chain of creatures working out in the fields, and finally escaped. Of course, they had come after her – first hundreds of them, then groups of fifteen, and slowly it dwindled down – but then Tirreg himself had gone out looking for her, leaving the second-in-command of Fortress Krott, a weasel called Garret, in charge, and taking a score of his most faithful soldiers with him.

Kara had been forced to flee as fast as she could, without sleeping – for the Haera and their leader were following her, night and day, determined to find her, and kill her.

Then one day, a horrible rain had broken out, and she had been forced to following the path, out in the open. The rain had continued for almost three days…and the Haera were catching…they were going to find her…if she didn't wake up…

End of Flashback

The Haera had picked up the tracks of their quarry on the path a while ago – they knew they were getting close. The vermin were running along the side of the path, so their progress wouldn't be hindered by the sucking mud.

Tirreg was a tall, powerful fox, with reddish gold fur, his tail ending in a black tuft. He was clad in a dark green tunic, belted by a snakeskin sash. His royal sword was thrust into it – it was razor sharp, the hilt made of silver, and glittering with brightly-coloured jemstones. He had been following the pure ferret that had escaped from his fortress for almost six days – and he was never going to let her escape.

"Sire, look o'er there!" one of the Haera cried, pointing to the path. Sure enough, not far away was a dark lump in the path – it had to be her.

"Encircle her!" Tirreg commanded, running ahead of his soldiers, drawing his sword. The commander couldn't help a smile creeping onto his lips – he had dreamt of this day, the day he would bring justice to the only one who had ever defied him. He was going to destroyed her.

Kara was never sure what had caused her to wake up – maybe it was some sixth sense in the back of her mind, or maybe she had heard them calling to one another. But she knew it: the Haera had finally arrived.

The pure ferret rolled to the side, just as a club hit the ground…where her head had been a moment before. She stood upright, undoing the clasp at her throat and shedding the cloak. Then she drew the long, curved dagger from her belt, gritting her teeth. They had found her – she could not outrun the Haera, now that they had her in their sight. But she was prepared to fight – fight her hated enemies to the death.

The one who had attacked her was an ugly-looking rat, and he looked shocked by her immediate recovery – so she moved in, swinging the dagger. It cut the unsuspecting rodent's throat – he gurgled, dropping the club on his footpaw and not even noticed. He clutched his throat, falling backwards.

"She's killed a Haera!" another vermin screamed in rage. "She must die!"

"Tirreg! Tirreg! Kiiiiiiiillll!" The vermin were chanting as they swarmed Kara, swinging their various weapons. The pure ferret couldn't see through their massing bodies – they pressed against her, and a sword gashed her arm. She cried out in pain – the pain mixed with her fear, and rage…and suddenly she felt a horrible anger well deep inside of her.

She hated them – they had destroyed her life, killed her family, and slain her friends and neighbours. They had made her waste five seasons of her life in Fortress Krott, whipped her, yelled at her…in her entire time at that fortress, all she had known was grief and anger. A madness she had been surpressing for so long was suddenly unleashed – she became a killing machine.

"Kreeeeeeeeell!" Kara bellowed at the top of her lungs, bulling forward – she swung the dagger around wildly, causing death and injury wherever she hit. The vermin were forced to scatter, for fear of being slain by the mad ferret. Distantly, she heard the voice of Tirreg: "Kill her, you fools! Kill her! I didn't come this far just to watch you cowards run away! Kill her!"

Kara felt no fear, only rage – and as the vermin crowded around her once more, she swung her dagger even faster, screaming, "I am Kara of Kreeeeeeel! I am never going to die! Neveeeeeer! I am going to kill you, all of you! Kreeeeeeel!"

Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of white light – at first, Kara thought it was only her seeing it, that something was wrong with her vision – but she heard the vermin scream, and they scattered once more.

"What in hellsteeth is that?" one of them cried.

"I doesn't matter what it is!" Tirreg howled. "Just kill her! Kill-"

The light intensified…and that was all Kara remembered. Just a blinding flash of white light…then nothing.