Author's notes on this revision: I recommend everyone read this version of The Defector, even if they read what got written on the original version. This is because the revised version contains several important plot and characterization changes. I'm also releasing this one chapter at a time, because revising each chapter takes one heck of a long time, plus I don't want to overload new readers. Among the changes: less two dimensional characters (I hope), revised plot line (especially farther in, it starts out the same), better proofreading, better physics, and hopefully better dialogue. This will become more obvious later on.
Dedication and Summary
This fanfic is dedicated to anyone who reviews on The Bellmaker Parody, but I'd especially like to thank my early reviewers, Froster, Constance, sweetstrawberries, and DumbOldDork. As well, I'd like to thank OE for helping out with a nifty evaluation of the original version of this fanfic, my brother (aka Darth Tabby) for his great novels and his advice on this project, and Rustiredd for all the great fanfics he's written. Finally, I'd also like to dedicate this to Highwing, because after writing a 717 page Redwall fanfic for the Redwall Fanfiction Board (and a darn good fanfic at that), he deserves to have something dedicated to him, and Tsar, because being administrator at the Redwall Fanfiction Board must be one hell of a task.
In the original version of this, I put in a long plot description. Now, I'm just going to see this fanfic involves a fox defector who happens to play a major role in one of Redwall's greatest conflicts, but who has a bit of an agenda of his own. It is also set a few seasons after "The Bellmaker" but all of the character used from that book are secondary characters here. Many of them will become major characters for this fanfic, however.
Content advisory: this is probably a PG, but I'm going to call it PG-13 because of the high body count, occasional "interesting" death, some coarse language and a few crude jokes. Yippee!
Prologue
Note: Having Rab and Iris in the Northlands during the prologue doesn't actual contradict "The Bellmaker", since this happens so many seasons before that book.
Five seasons before Mariel of Redwall...
They came up the Scimitar river, under the dead of night. It was enough to strike fear into the heart of most fighters, northlander or otherwise... twenty-eight ships, all bearing the same flag. This was the fleet Nagru sent to deal with his enemies.
Garsider the fox stood on the deck of the Enforcer, possibly the finest vessel in Nagru's first fleet, though certainly not the largest. Garsider was a young officer, the son of two very succesful arms dealers who had made a killing supplying weapons to several warring vermin factions some years back. He was very intelligent, rising through the ranks quickly, much to the annoyance of older but less capable officers. Garsider's knowledge of all but the most exotic tactics in both land and sea combat, combine with his uncanny ability to sense what was going on in a beast's mind made him an major asset to his friends - and outright danger to his enemies.
Turning, he gazed out at the ship running just ahead of Enforcer. The Starhunter, as it was called, was the largest ship in Nagru's first fleet, in addition to be one of the largest naval vessels to operate in Northern waters.
Garsider called across to a rat on the Starhunter. "We aren't in a good position here, Admiral. We're heading upstream, so if they decide to ram us, we're going to be the ones taking a lot of damage."
Admiral Thruster was the commander of Nagru's first fleet, and was absolutely ruthless. Garsider suspected it might have something to do with the fact he was a former searat Captain. He still would be, if it wasn't for the hefty sum that Nagru had paid him to kill off some of his "friends" several years back. However, when dealing with the NDL resistance on water, one needed to hire the best, and there was no doubt Thruster was the best at his trade. At least until Garsider gained some experience. Garsider knew at some point he would have to deal with Thruster once and for all, but for now he had to keep his head low.
Admiral Thruster thought for a second, then turned back to answer. "There's some rapids just up ahead. There's a drop of a few feet down the center and the south side, so any ship coming through has to go through a small passage at the North side. We hide our ships in an area obstructed by the drop off, and wait for them to come through the passage. Then we pound them with fire arrows.
Garsider considered. "It should work. Let's give it a shot."
The fleet come in behind the falls. A fleet to strike fear into the heart of most seasoned fighters. However, no one could consider Thruster's adversary to be one of the "most" when it came to anything to do with backing down.
At first glance, it would have been easy for someone to mistake Admiral Chelsea Gainward as an ordinary crew otter. She was relatively young for a commander, and wore no fancy uniform. However, she had the courage of a badger lord, and the intelligence and cunning many a leader could only ask for. Sometimes she was too dedicated to her cause for her own good, as she was well known for hair raising manouvers, which raised the eyebrows of many commanders who considered themselves more sensible. She was the root cause of Nagru's problems in the Northlands - she knew ever bit of water her fleet operated in, and had taken all comers. She was the one who held the Scimitar river and it's banks from Nagru - the line across every map that seperated the few remaining goodbeasts strongholds in the North from their sworn enemies.
Despite the fact that Gainward had lost two of her 21 ships in the battle so far, she was winning - Nagru's fleet had lost six ships, mainly scouts. Thruster did not know what she was doing. However, she happened to know Thruster's tactics well, which gave her a major advantage. As well, she had eyes in the air. Knowledge in the hands of a Commander like Gainward was a powerful weapon.
The otter lieutenant near her paced the deck of Gainward's ship, the NDL Victory. Knowing that crew morale was important to any mission, she turned to address him, as a ally and an equal. Gainward had never been big on heirarchy.
"Something bothering you, mate?"
"I don't like this, marm. We're still outnumbered twenty eight to nineteen. You'd better have a mighty good tactic to take that on.
Gainward winked. "I do, of course. Leave it to old Gainward."
"Just what do you have in mind?"
"Wait and see. You'll be able to see it a mile off."
That seemed to do the trick. The otter stopped pacing, and Gainward went up to the Victory's bow, only about a foot from the NDL Barchetta, the newest ship in Gainward's fleet. It had only a small crew, since it was a small ship, but it was the fastest vessel Gainward had ever seen. It had a strong hull, too. It would have been perfect for ramming if not for the fact it was such a light vessel - but on a river that was running this fast, it would still be quite the projectile.
The mouse that had designed the Barchetta was among the ship's small crew. He went by the name of Agradson. Gainward lean forward, talking in a quiet voice.
"Everything ready?"
"Yes marm, we prepared that old cargo vessel for it's final mission. When it goes, it's really going to go."
"Good. I'd hate to be in your shoes if it didn't."
"Why should I be afraid?"
"Oh, I just get in a bad mood, sometimes. In addition, there's the small issue that if this doesn't work, we'll have to do things the usual way - and that means fire arrows flying everywhere. We all know how much you love fire arrows, Agradson." Agradson's swallowing could be clearly heard several feet away. Gainward smiled.
"Don't worry, Agradson, I have supreme confidence in you." Gainward turned smartly and went back to her position on the back deck of the Victory.
"Confidence? In me? Who's she kidding?"
The Barchetta's captain, a shrew named Densir, answered. "Oh, she's just kidding around, Agradson. She knows you can't be trusted."
Gainward heard the remark, and smiled. These were real Northlanders. Rogues, you might say.
The massive old freighter came plunging over the drop off after the rapids, almost colliding with Nagru's ships. From his vantage point at the back of the fleet, Garsider saw the freighter plunge over the drop. No crew would have attempted to go over the drop in such a ship. Even well built ships generally did not fair well in that sort of impact, not with all the rocks poking up just under the falls. Indeed, this ship had been heavily damaged on the way down, and Garsider calculated it would sink before reaching a port if not repaired fast. However, this ship had no signs of life on it. A gut feeling told Garsider something was wrong here. He heard a captain on a vessel farther forward ordering his archers into position to bombard the freighter with fire arrows. That was standard procedure, it would drive any hiding crew on the vessel off it. However, Garsider's quick brain ran through the facts and came up with a analysis in seconds. Unfortunately for Nagru's fleet, that wasn't fast enough.
Garsider threw himself flat on the Enforcer's deck, almost not being able to yell out his warning before he hit the deck and the air left his lungs.
"No wait! Don't shoot!"
The commander in the ship farther forward had already given his orders, and it was too late for the archers to stop. About twenty fire arrows hit the freighter. Agradson's modifications to the freighter, as well as Gainward's tactics, worked perfectly. The oil coating on the hull caught fire in a split second, lighting up the freighter's hold, itself full of oil barrels. The hull had been modified too. The wood had been weakened, splintering as a massive shockwave tore through it. A storm of burning wood slammed into Nagru's fleet as the shockwave tossed crewbeasts around and strained structural components. A huge fireball engulfed the nearest ships, taking them out of the action instantly.
Although Gainward's fleet was several minutes up the river, everyone could tell the explosion had taken place. A huge flash erupted into the sky, and the ships swayed slightly as the remainder of the shockwave hit them.
The flash also told Gainward the exact location of her enemies.
It was unwise to try to outsmart Admiral Gainward on her own turf.
Her crew was still shocked by the spectacle, but Gainward was fast to recover.
"Good thing their wasn't forest around that section of the river, mates, or we'd be in big trouble. Captain Densir, you lead the charge. We'll follow up."
Densir called out his orders to a sturdy female otter, who was standing at the Barchetta's bow.
"All right, Hallena, watch out for rocks and the like. Tell me when to turn. Agradson, loose the rigging, and somebeast cut that damn anchor. I want to see what this ship can do on a really fast river.
There happened to be a fairly good wind that night, and the currents were strong from spring run off. The Barchetta took off like an arrow from a longbow, quickly outpacing the Victory and the other ships in Gainward's fleet.
Ensign Iris Riverpoint paced the deck of the NDL Tyrant's Foe. She had been in several skirmishes, but this was her first major engagement. She gripped her longbow tighter, and notched an oil tipped arrow to it. Already, small fires for igniting the arrows had been lit.
"Worried about something?"
Iris turned to the lieutenant standing beside her. "A little, I guess. It's my first time out in a major battle."
"Don't worry. It happens to everyone. You do know how to shoot, don't you?"
Iris gripped her bow and almost sneered at him. "I'm a pretty good shot, actually. How about you?"
"My archery has always been good, but these big longbows take some getting use to. Luckily, they also give us a major advantage. We can shoot from a longer range than most vermin could ever hope for."
Iris immediately took a liking to the big otter.
"What is your name?"
"Lieutenant Streambattle, but you can call me Rab."
Meanwhile, Captain Densir was having a very bad time. The currents and wind gave the Barchetta very heavy steering, and yet he still kept drifting off course. It was taking all his concentration to keep the ship going down the middle of the river. He didn't here Hallena speak.
"Turn hard to starboard!"
Densir didn't respond.
"I said, turn hard to starboard!!!!!!!!!" Hallinna yelled at him.
Captain Densir pulled hard over on the tiller. "Vanguaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrd!"
The shrew's battlecrew cut through the air to the waiting enemy fleet.
Too late. The Barchetta shot past the turnoff and over the dropoff.
What happened next would have shattered the hull of any other ship, but the Barchetta was very sturdy. It slammed full on into the side of the Starhunter, which was already weakened from the shockwave, smashing a section of the enemy ship's hull into pieces. The river did the rest, raging water tearing the Starhunter to pieces in a matter of seconds. It was the last thing the enemy fleet was expecting.
Garsider's ship was one of the few that were in good shape, since it had been at the back and avoided most of the shrapnel. Garsider decided it was time to make Gainward's fleet pay.
"Ramming speed! The other ships should be here soon, head for the north side of the river and cut them off."
The helmsrat moved fast, and soon the Enforcer was moving at a cracking pace.
The Tyrant's Foe navigated the passage just in front of the Victory, and became the second warship from Gainward's fleet to enter the battle. Which was unfortunate. Iris was quick on her bowstring, loosing a fire shaft at the Enforcer's helmsrat, but it was too late to save either vessel.
Without the helmsrat, Enforcer was slightly off when it hit the Tyrant's Foe. Had it been a head on ram, the Tyrant's Foe would have meet a similar fate to the Starhunter. Without a head on ram however, both vessels took heavy damage. They stayed locked together for a moment, then both vessels started to break apart.
The final word in the fight between the two vessels was shouted by Rab Streambattle.
"Fire at will!"
The otter archers on the Tyrant's Foe let their shafts fly at the crew of the Enforcer. Garsider was barely able to jump out of the storm of wooden shafts that seemed to fill the Enforcer's deck, some already covered in the blood of their original targets. He landed in the fast moving water with a huge splash, and immediately set about trying to keep from hitting anything in the rapids. He had to get to shore...
The Tyrant's Foe was leaning at a crazy angle as the ships main hull started cracking. Rab leapt into the water, Iris was not so lucky. She got hit by a piece of falling debris and was knocked clean out.
Luckily, Rab quickly saw what had happened.
"Don't worry, you'll make it to shore. Otters take care of each other, mate!"
Slowly but surely he swam to the shore, pushing Iris with him.
Despite not having Rab's advantage of being an otter, Garsider was able to get to shore, albeit some ways down the river. However, he now had other worries. Being the highest ranked surviving officer in that fleet, Nagru would probably blame him for the failure. Nagru was always looking for a scapegoat. He could try to join another group, but Nagru forces totally outclassed that of anyone else in the Northlands, except for the few remaining strongholds of resistance cells, and those cells were likely to kill him on sight. The only other major force in the Northlands was a ferret by the name of Tangosh, and he was careful not to annoy Nagru, knowing that any false move he made would be the downfall of his tiny empire. It was time to think.
He sat on the bank, wondering how he had gotten pulled into this whole mess in the first place. He didn't even like Nagru much, but at the time he seemed the only commander in the Northlands who had much of a future. It was then that the idea hit him...
Rab came up onto shore. A lot of the crew of the Tyrant's Foe had survived the encounter, because the bulk of the crew was otter, naturally good swimmers. One of the ship's otter medics quickly rushed down.
"Is she okay?"
"She got knocked out, but she'll live. I kept her above water."
"Good. Pass me those bandages, will you? Both of you have some nasty cuts."
Rab looked up. "Part of the Job, mate. It didn't join this fleet for my own health, you know."
Garsider's first officer came out onto shore. Amazingly, the rat had also survived the encounter.
"Nagru's not going to be too happy about this."
"Nagru's not going to get a chance to tell me what he thinks."
"Surely you're not deserting?!"
"I'm not deserting. I'm defecting. I'm not going to take the blame for the fact that stupid commander didn't think things through."
The first officer decided this was his chance. Nagru would reward him for getting rid of a defector, or whatever they were called...
Garsider was one step ahead of the rat however, and already had his bastard sword drawn. Almost before the rat had his sword fully drawn the first hefty blow came. Within seconds, it was over, the first officer breathing his last and Garsider wiping blood from his blade.
Garsider grabbed on to of a piece of passing debris. He hated to get wet, but he had to put some considerable distance between himself and the battle site by dawn, and the river was the best way to do it. As it was, Nagru was probably going to have his family killed off for his failure. He did not intend to join them. There would be a time and place to strike back. He just had to survive. In the hours, days, months, and years that followed, he formed his own destiny. But he could not have possibly predicted the effect he would have on the world, then and in the ages to come.
Dedication and Summary
This fanfic is dedicated to anyone who reviews on The Bellmaker Parody, but I'd especially like to thank my early reviewers, Froster, Constance, sweetstrawberries, and DumbOldDork. As well, I'd like to thank OE for helping out with a nifty evaluation of the original version of this fanfic, my brother (aka Darth Tabby) for his great novels and his advice on this project, and Rustiredd for all the great fanfics he's written. Finally, I'd also like to dedicate this to Highwing, because after writing a 717 page Redwall fanfic for the Redwall Fanfiction Board (and a darn good fanfic at that), he deserves to have something dedicated to him, and Tsar, because being administrator at the Redwall Fanfiction Board must be one hell of a task.
In the original version of this, I put in a long plot description. Now, I'm just going to see this fanfic involves a fox defector who happens to play a major role in one of Redwall's greatest conflicts, but who has a bit of an agenda of his own. It is also set a few seasons after "The Bellmaker" but all of the character used from that book are secondary characters here. Many of them will become major characters for this fanfic, however.
Content advisory: this is probably a PG, but I'm going to call it PG-13 because of the high body count, occasional "interesting" death, some coarse language and a few crude jokes. Yippee!
Prologue
Note: Having Rab and Iris in the Northlands during the prologue doesn't actual contradict "The Bellmaker", since this happens so many seasons before that book.
Five seasons before Mariel of Redwall...
They came up the Scimitar river, under the dead of night. It was enough to strike fear into the heart of most fighters, northlander or otherwise... twenty-eight ships, all bearing the same flag. This was the fleet Nagru sent to deal with his enemies.
Garsider the fox stood on the deck of the Enforcer, possibly the finest vessel in Nagru's first fleet, though certainly not the largest. Garsider was a young officer, the son of two very succesful arms dealers who had made a killing supplying weapons to several warring vermin factions some years back. He was very intelligent, rising through the ranks quickly, much to the annoyance of older but less capable officers. Garsider's knowledge of all but the most exotic tactics in both land and sea combat, combine with his uncanny ability to sense what was going on in a beast's mind made him an major asset to his friends - and outright danger to his enemies.
Turning, he gazed out at the ship running just ahead of Enforcer. The Starhunter, as it was called, was the largest ship in Nagru's first fleet, in addition to be one of the largest naval vessels to operate in Northern waters.
Garsider called across to a rat on the Starhunter. "We aren't in a good position here, Admiral. We're heading upstream, so if they decide to ram us, we're going to be the ones taking a lot of damage."
Admiral Thruster was the commander of Nagru's first fleet, and was absolutely ruthless. Garsider suspected it might have something to do with the fact he was a former searat Captain. He still would be, if it wasn't for the hefty sum that Nagru had paid him to kill off some of his "friends" several years back. However, when dealing with the NDL resistance on water, one needed to hire the best, and there was no doubt Thruster was the best at his trade. At least until Garsider gained some experience. Garsider knew at some point he would have to deal with Thruster once and for all, but for now he had to keep his head low.
Admiral Thruster thought for a second, then turned back to answer. "There's some rapids just up ahead. There's a drop of a few feet down the center and the south side, so any ship coming through has to go through a small passage at the North side. We hide our ships in an area obstructed by the drop off, and wait for them to come through the passage. Then we pound them with fire arrows.
Garsider considered. "It should work. Let's give it a shot."
The fleet come in behind the falls. A fleet to strike fear into the heart of most seasoned fighters. However, no one could consider Thruster's adversary to be one of the "most" when it came to anything to do with backing down.
At first glance, it would have been easy for someone to mistake Admiral Chelsea Gainward as an ordinary crew otter. She was relatively young for a commander, and wore no fancy uniform. However, she had the courage of a badger lord, and the intelligence and cunning many a leader could only ask for. Sometimes she was too dedicated to her cause for her own good, as she was well known for hair raising manouvers, which raised the eyebrows of many commanders who considered themselves more sensible. She was the root cause of Nagru's problems in the Northlands - she knew ever bit of water her fleet operated in, and had taken all comers. She was the one who held the Scimitar river and it's banks from Nagru - the line across every map that seperated the few remaining goodbeasts strongholds in the North from their sworn enemies.
Despite the fact that Gainward had lost two of her 21 ships in the battle so far, she was winning - Nagru's fleet had lost six ships, mainly scouts. Thruster did not know what she was doing. However, she happened to know Thruster's tactics well, which gave her a major advantage. As well, she had eyes in the air. Knowledge in the hands of a Commander like Gainward was a powerful weapon.
The otter lieutenant near her paced the deck of Gainward's ship, the NDL Victory. Knowing that crew morale was important to any mission, she turned to address him, as a ally and an equal. Gainward had never been big on heirarchy.
"Something bothering you, mate?"
"I don't like this, marm. We're still outnumbered twenty eight to nineteen. You'd better have a mighty good tactic to take that on.
Gainward winked. "I do, of course. Leave it to old Gainward."
"Just what do you have in mind?"
"Wait and see. You'll be able to see it a mile off."
That seemed to do the trick. The otter stopped pacing, and Gainward went up to the Victory's bow, only about a foot from the NDL Barchetta, the newest ship in Gainward's fleet. It had only a small crew, since it was a small ship, but it was the fastest vessel Gainward had ever seen. It had a strong hull, too. It would have been perfect for ramming if not for the fact it was such a light vessel - but on a river that was running this fast, it would still be quite the projectile.
The mouse that had designed the Barchetta was among the ship's small crew. He went by the name of Agradson. Gainward lean forward, talking in a quiet voice.
"Everything ready?"
"Yes marm, we prepared that old cargo vessel for it's final mission. When it goes, it's really going to go."
"Good. I'd hate to be in your shoes if it didn't."
"Why should I be afraid?"
"Oh, I just get in a bad mood, sometimes. In addition, there's the small issue that if this doesn't work, we'll have to do things the usual way - and that means fire arrows flying everywhere. We all know how much you love fire arrows, Agradson." Agradson's swallowing could be clearly heard several feet away. Gainward smiled.
"Don't worry, Agradson, I have supreme confidence in you." Gainward turned smartly and went back to her position on the back deck of the Victory.
"Confidence? In me? Who's she kidding?"
The Barchetta's captain, a shrew named Densir, answered. "Oh, she's just kidding around, Agradson. She knows you can't be trusted."
Gainward heard the remark, and smiled. These were real Northlanders. Rogues, you might say.
The massive old freighter came plunging over the drop off after the rapids, almost colliding with Nagru's ships. From his vantage point at the back of the fleet, Garsider saw the freighter plunge over the drop. No crew would have attempted to go over the drop in such a ship. Even well built ships generally did not fair well in that sort of impact, not with all the rocks poking up just under the falls. Indeed, this ship had been heavily damaged on the way down, and Garsider calculated it would sink before reaching a port if not repaired fast. However, this ship had no signs of life on it. A gut feeling told Garsider something was wrong here. He heard a captain on a vessel farther forward ordering his archers into position to bombard the freighter with fire arrows. That was standard procedure, it would drive any hiding crew on the vessel off it. However, Garsider's quick brain ran through the facts and came up with a analysis in seconds. Unfortunately for Nagru's fleet, that wasn't fast enough.
Garsider threw himself flat on the Enforcer's deck, almost not being able to yell out his warning before he hit the deck and the air left his lungs.
"No wait! Don't shoot!"
The commander in the ship farther forward had already given his orders, and it was too late for the archers to stop. About twenty fire arrows hit the freighter. Agradson's modifications to the freighter, as well as Gainward's tactics, worked perfectly. The oil coating on the hull caught fire in a split second, lighting up the freighter's hold, itself full of oil barrels. The hull had been modified too. The wood had been weakened, splintering as a massive shockwave tore through it. A storm of burning wood slammed into Nagru's fleet as the shockwave tossed crewbeasts around and strained structural components. A huge fireball engulfed the nearest ships, taking them out of the action instantly.
Although Gainward's fleet was several minutes up the river, everyone could tell the explosion had taken place. A huge flash erupted into the sky, and the ships swayed slightly as the remainder of the shockwave hit them.
The flash also told Gainward the exact location of her enemies.
It was unwise to try to outsmart Admiral Gainward on her own turf.
Her crew was still shocked by the spectacle, but Gainward was fast to recover.
"Good thing their wasn't forest around that section of the river, mates, or we'd be in big trouble. Captain Densir, you lead the charge. We'll follow up."
Densir called out his orders to a sturdy female otter, who was standing at the Barchetta's bow.
"All right, Hallena, watch out for rocks and the like. Tell me when to turn. Agradson, loose the rigging, and somebeast cut that damn anchor. I want to see what this ship can do on a really fast river.
There happened to be a fairly good wind that night, and the currents were strong from spring run off. The Barchetta took off like an arrow from a longbow, quickly outpacing the Victory and the other ships in Gainward's fleet.
Ensign Iris Riverpoint paced the deck of the NDL Tyrant's Foe. She had been in several skirmishes, but this was her first major engagement. She gripped her longbow tighter, and notched an oil tipped arrow to it. Already, small fires for igniting the arrows had been lit.
"Worried about something?"
Iris turned to the lieutenant standing beside her. "A little, I guess. It's my first time out in a major battle."
"Don't worry. It happens to everyone. You do know how to shoot, don't you?"
Iris gripped her bow and almost sneered at him. "I'm a pretty good shot, actually. How about you?"
"My archery has always been good, but these big longbows take some getting use to. Luckily, they also give us a major advantage. We can shoot from a longer range than most vermin could ever hope for."
Iris immediately took a liking to the big otter.
"What is your name?"
"Lieutenant Streambattle, but you can call me Rab."
Meanwhile, Captain Densir was having a very bad time. The currents and wind gave the Barchetta very heavy steering, and yet he still kept drifting off course. It was taking all his concentration to keep the ship going down the middle of the river. He didn't here Hallena speak.
"Turn hard to starboard!"
Densir didn't respond.
"I said, turn hard to starboard!!!!!!!!!" Hallinna yelled at him.
Captain Densir pulled hard over on the tiller. "Vanguaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrd!"
The shrew's battlecrew cut through the air to the waiting enemy fleet.
Too late. The Barchetta shot past the turnoff and over the dropoff.
What happened next would have shattered the hull of any other ship, but the Barchetta was very sturdy. It slammed full on into the side of the Starhunter, which was already weakened from the shockwave, smashing a section of the enemy ship's hull into pieces. The river did the rest, raging water tearing the Starhunter to pieces in a matter of seconds. It was the last thing the enemy fleet was expecting.
Garsider's ship was one of the few that were in good shape, since it had been at the back and avoided most of the shrapnel. Garsider decided it was time to make Gainward's fleet pay.
"Ramming speed! The other ships should be here soon, head for the north side of the river and cut them off."
The helmsrat moved fast, and soon the Enforcer was moving at a cracking pace.
The Tyrant's Foe navigated the passage just in front of the Victory, and became the second warship from Gainward's fleet to enter the battle. Which was unfortunate. Iris was quick on her bowstring, loosing a fire shaft at the Enforcer's helmsrat, but it was too late to save either vessel.
Without the helmsrat, Enforcer was slightly off when it hit the Tyrant's Foe. Had it been a head on ram, the Tyrant's Foe would have meet a similar fate to the Starhunter. Without a head on ram however, both vessels took heavy damage. They stayed locked together for a moment, then both vessels started to break apart.
The final word in the fight between the two vessels was shouted by Rab Streambattle.
"Fire at will!"
The otter archers on the Tyrant's Foe let their shafts fly at the crew of the Enforcer. Garsider was barely able to jump out of the storm of wooden shafts that seemed to fill the Enforcer's deck, some already covered in the blood of their original targets. He landed in the fast moving water with a huge splash, and immediately set about trying to keep from hitting anything in the rapids. He had to get to shore...
The Tyrant's Foe was leaning at a crazy angle as the ships main hull started cracking. Rab leapt into the water, Iris was not so lucky. She got hit by a piece of falling debris and was knocked clean out.
Luckily, Rab quickly saw what had happened.
"Don't worry, you'll make it to shore. Otters take care of each other, mate!"
Slowly but surely he swam to the shore, pushing Iris with him.
Despite not having Rab's advantage of being an otter, Garsider was able to get to shore, albeit some ways down the river. However, he now had other worries. Being the highest ranked surviving officer in that fleet, Nagru would probably blame him for the failure. Nagru was always looking for a scapegoat. He could try to join another group, but Nagru forces totally outclassed that of anyone else in the Northlands, except for the few remaining strongholds of resistance cells, and those cells were likely to kill him on sight. The only other major force in the Northlands was a ferret by the name of Tangosh, and he was careful not to annoy Nagru, knowing that any false move he made would be the downfall of his tiny empire. It was time to think.
He sat on the bank, wondering how he had gotten pulled into this whole mess in the first place. He didn't even like Nagru much, but at the time he seemed the only commander in the Northlands who had much of a future. It was then that the idea hit him...
Rab came up onto shore. A lot of the crew of the Tyrant's Foe had survived the encounter, because the bulk of the crew was otter, naturally good swimmers. One of the ship's otter medics quickly rushed down.
"Is she okay?"
"She got knocked out, but she'll live. I kept her above water."
"Good. Pass me those bandages, will you? Both of you have some nasty cuts."
Rab looked up. "Part of the Job, mate. It didn't join this fleet for my own health, you know."
Garsider's first officer came out onto shore. Amazingly, the rat had also survived the encounter.
"Nagru's not going to be too happy about this."
"Nagru's not going to get a chance to tell me what he thinks."
"Surely you're not deserting?!"
"I'm not deserting. I'm defecting. I'm not going to take the blame for the fact that stupid commander didn't think things through."
The first officer decided this was his chance. Nagru would reward him for getting rid of a defector, or whatever they were called...
Garsider was one step ahead of the rat however, and already had his bastard sword drawn. Almost before the rat had his sword fully drawn the first hefty blow came. Within seconds, it was over, the first officer breathing his last and Garsider wiping blood from his blade.
Garsider grabbed on to of a piece of passing debris. He hated to get wet, but he had to put some considerable distance between himself and the battle site by dawn, and the river was the best way to do it. As it was, Nagru was probably going to have his family killed off for his failure. He did not intend to join them. There would be a time and place to strike back. He just had to survive. In the hours, days, months, and years that followed, he formed his own destiny. But he could not have possibly predicted the effect he would have on the world, then and in the ages to come.