Chapter One
It was going to be the clearest of nights that has not been seen in many days, when the might of Mother Nature's blizzard finally stopped, the dark clouds started receded and the winking stars were once open again to the sight of the earth. Here and there snow drifts were piled high, and snow delicately covered the fine needles of the pine trees, each crystal beautiful and soft.
Footpaws thundered across the icy tundra of the northlands as a female squirrel raced against the bitter headwind and the chilling cold. Strapped to her back was squirrelbabe, who was silently staring about the northern night with open dark green eyes. There was an aurora borealis dancing across the sky in a ribbon of color ranging from red to magenta to turquoise to chartreuse. The squirrelbabe gazed up in awe, too young to know that the pretty lights only illuminated the danger she and his mother was in.
Chasing directly behind them was a tracking crew with a full complement of five vermin scouts, fully intent on catching up with their fast moving prey.
"Hellgates it's cold." panted a rat as he ran. His fellow trackers could only nod in agreement as they defiantly ran against wind and cold. He continued to complain stubbornly against the howling wind, "I don't see the reason why Svar wants us to chase after a squirrel and 'er whelp. I'm freezing my tail off and its blasted hard to run in this snow."
Another rat in the group, the most senior among them, Grange, replied back, "Cuz orders are orders and 'parently the squirrel and 'er whelp' we chasing arfter is the warrior prophesized to free the northlands from us vermin." He gave a little cackle, "Hehehe, like that shrimp of a squirrel can possibly be a threat to the battalions of Taber La Flesche." The motley crew laughed along with their commander as they continued to run after the two squirrels.
One of the scouts, a ferret named Kaiju, fell silent almost immediately after giving a short bark of a laugh. He knew all too well what was going to happen if they managed to catch up with the squirrels. He thought ahead to the part where they are capture; they would be brought before the Tribunes and be charged with endangerment of the country and premeditated rebellion, the most serious of charges within the La Flesche northlands.
Although Kaiju has had his fair share of killings and acts of cruelty common to soldiers, he also had what was considered an unusual conscience. Whenever prisoners were taken out of their cells and thrown to the mercy of the hordebeasts, they would often torture the poor soul before ending the life slowly with a look of pure pleasure on their faces. But Kaiju, if he was walking past or was on the sidelines would take every opportunity to 'spare' the prisoners.
With a grim face, he would walk out to where the prisoner was being tortured, stare down in secret pity, and break the neck with a quick twist to ensure a painless and fast death. Afterwards, he would get up and just walk out of the ring of spectators, silent.
He would never forget the looks upon the faces of those who had been tortured before he came. Most of them had a fearful glint to their eyes, while others were pained questioning looks. But all had that same look of, "Please end this, let me die with at least a shred of dignity." The stares were so unnerving to him that he would often pass his paws across their face, closing the eyes.
Often, other hordebeasts to whom torture was second nature, would then give a growl of outrage and try to give Kaiju a piece of their mind. Claws or steel first. Unfortunately for the outraged beasts, Kaiju was one of the few in the horde who had been properly trained in close combat and swordplay. The outraged never really stayed angry for long, it has always been either death or the fact they will be crippled for the rest of their lives that filled their minds.
Focusing back onto the fate of the squirrelmum and her babe, he very well knew what was going to happen at the end of the tribunal. They were going to be thrown, not into woodlander's prison, but in the horde's military prison or as the soldiers call it, the Annihilation of Reason, where malcontents and mutinous soldiers were starved to the point of cannibalism.
Unfed and living in horrific conditions, those who manage to survive their time in there say that three days on the field full of decaying corpses would've have luxurious, at least there is open space and fresh air to breathe they say.
Kaiju shuddered inwardly at the thought of a female squirrel and her babe being offered to those beasts, not civilized animals. He knew that some of the males within that prison reverted back to base instinct of survival and have not been with the body of a female for a long time. Kaiju wrenched his thoughts away from that area, he would not think about the death of the two squirrels, especially the babe. It was against his every code of honor to hurt the innocent and the young, doing that would be spitting on the memory of Sabine, his younger sister, Pheline his mother, his father, and everyone else that died on that accursed day.
He was brought back into reality from his thoughts when Grange gave a growl of frustration, "Curses on that tree mouse, she made it to the pines. When we reach the trees, split up and cover more ground."
***
The squirrelmum almost sobbed with relief as she felt her paws crunch on the soft snow-pine needle covered ground. She thought about jumping into the trees and hide among the evergreen branches, but then realized she couldn't do it with the babe on her back. She bit her lip and continued running.
Unknowing to her, the temperature had dropped even further and the wind blew even harder, but because of the adrenaline from running, she was giving off so much heat, that every time her footpaw touched the snow, the compressed snow melted into a small puddle of water which then formed a thin layer of frost.
The blood was running in her ears so loudly that all she could hear was the beat of heart and her ragged breath misting in the air. So loud the blood pumped through her body that she was oblivious to the explosions of the trees as the temperature got so low that the sap in the trees expanded and blew off giant fractions of the tree trunk, each fragment sharp and deadly.
Still breathing heavily, she started to slow down until she stopped completely and was bent against a tree, paw stretched out to support herself. She took off the sling that was carrying the babe and put it gently on the floor. The babe started to make a small noise of discomfort as she felt the cold seeping through the sling, the squirrelmum bent down and tickled her nose, gazing lovingly in way that only mothers can do. The babe laughed, distracted from the cold, and swiped at her paw, the older squirrel smiled.
Another tree exploded off in the distance and this time she heard it. She stood back up, ears twitching in the wind and decided that this was not the best place to stay currently. As she bent down to gather the sling and put it on her back, she heard an ominous creak. She narrowed her eyes and stood back up to turn around.
CracccccckkkkBOOM!
Like a clap of thunder, one of the pine trees behind gave away to the cold and exploded in a barrage of sharp wood, hitting everything within its circumference. The squirrelmum took the full force of one of these missiles and was thrown back like a pile of rags onto the ground some distance away. The squirrelbabe was crying from the pressure and intensity of the sound on its small ears, but otherwise unharmed, protected by the sturdy trunk of the pine its sling rested by.
***
When the scout trackers had reached the pine, the group had split up rapidly and began going in different directions. Kaiju trailed behind the two squirrels, using every ounce of his tracking skills passed on from his youth. The tracks were quite clear, but the others had not noticed, in their rush to finish the search and get out of the cold, that the tracks were going south, not in the other directions: northwest, northeast, east, west, or back the way they came…
He continued to follow the tracks until he heard the explosion up ahead, followed by the sound of a baby's wail. Kaiju then rushed forward, disregarding the potential danger the area still contained. He arrived at the scene where a scattering of bark, trunk, and blood told their grizzly tale.
His ears still heard the babe's wail and his eyes located the sling. He came over to the sling to make sure that the juvenile squirrel was unharmed, which she was. Kaiju gave a sigh of relief as the squirrel babe continued to wail. For some odd reason best known to himself, he took the squirrel out of the sling and began stroking her back until she became silent and sleepy, gently he put her back in the sling, and she promptly fell asleep.
As he scanned the area again, his eyes immediately focused on the limp form of the mother who was bleeding profusely, even from this distance, Kaiju could tell that she lost a lot of blood already. As he hurried over to the bloodied squirrel, he stopped short. She was pierced twice by pieces of wood that looked more like lances, once through the abdomen and the other across the femoral vein, bleeding rapidly.
She gestured with what strength she had left for him to come over; he went up to the dying squirrel and crouched down besides her head. Her eyes searched his face and then locking onto his eyes. Compassionate brown eyes met defiant, but pleading green ones in a way that was uncomfortably familiar, Kaiju felt himself flashback.
It was a clear night and Kaiju was doing guard duty in the cold air. Sounds of laughter and chatter reached his ears, followed by an anguished shout of pain. His curiosity aroused, he went over to the campfire where the yell emanated from. As he reached the fringe of the group, he saw to his revulsion, that the hordebeasts had an otter tied to a stake by the campfire. They were poking at him with their weapons, piercing hide each time. One particularly cruel vermin, a thin rat, kept throwing his tail in and out of the fire causing searing pain that could be seen visibly on the otter's face.
Giving a growl of disgust, Kaiju pushed his way through the throng of soldiers to where the otter was, despite jeers of protest. He ignored them and faced the otter who was breathing heavily in pain. Looking Kaiju in the eye and giving a snarl of temerity, he whispered, "Do your worst you foul black hearted trash, you already killed my wife and children. I have nothing left."
Kaiju met his stare giving him a look of contempt for show for the others,
"I am not here to torture you otter, but merely to give you choice, remain defiant and those here will kill you slowly or accept my offer and you will see your family again."
The otter stared long and hard into the eyes of Kaiju, wondering if he would keep his word, then the otter dropped his head in uncertain decision for what seemed to be forever. Finally he spoke in a low voice with his head still bowed and tears dripping like liquid crystals, "Ever since they killed off everything I loved, I have no reason to live, but I will not die for their entertainment. If you can promise me that I will see my beloved Alissa again, kill me now, please."
He looked up with sad entreated eyes, "Please, I beg of you, let me join my wife in eternal rest."
Kaiju clasped a paw on the otter's shoulder, "As you wish, I'm going to knock you out so you won't feel a thing."
"Thank you…"
Kaiju spoke in a quieter voice, "I'm sorry for everything that has happened to you." He tightened his grip on the otter's shoulder cutting off the blood flow to his brain. The otter's head slumped forward, unconscious, but breathing. Kaiju took out his anelace, a doubled edged dagger, and ran the otter through his heart. The otter's body jerked a bit and released a lungful of air, rejoining him with his wife.
Kaiju cleaned his blade and left quickly more disturbed about this mercy killing than every other he had done since he became a horde member. Ignoring the protests and questions from his fellow soldiers as of why he ended their fun, he went back to his assigned guard post to mull over this odd feeling. Out of all the killings he has ever done, none of them still had that look of defiance, the sheer stubbornness to live as the otter had.
*End Flashback*
The squirrel lady swallowed like she had a lump in her throat and whispered an urgent request to Kaiju. "Please…take her, keep her safe, she doesn't deserve the fate of the northlands…" She struggled to take a gasp of air. Kaiju felt compelled to ask, "What is your name treewhiffer?" Using the honor name for squirrels.
With eyes clouding up and breath coming in shorter gasps, she breathed out her last words on this world,
"Azaira…."
Kaiju stood back up and bowed in a sign of respect. Picking up the body of Azaira, he gently placed her against the trunk of the pine tree in an upright position, like she was sleeping. Realizing that the babe might freeze to death in this cold air, Kaiju hurried back to the sling where he, with a definite gesture, picked it up and put on his back.
Realizing that it was death to go back to the hordes of Taber La Flesche, he made the decision that he had been agonizing for the past season and the one that Azaira chose. He turned to the south and began dogtrotting away, leaving the icy climate of the north and the life of a hordebeast.