Surya did not remember how he'd ended up where he was. One second he'd been at school, getting ranted at by his teacher (a singularly unintelligent owl) for not answering roll call. His siblings had then been scolded for speaking out of turn (in an attempt to remind the idiotic avian that he was a mute) and the rest of the class for sniggering. Then something had burst from the door and made his teacher faint. He had gone dizzy and the next thing he knew was darkness.
An all-devouring darkness that weighed a tonne and seemed intent on squeezing the life out of him, slowly. It had happened before of course, ever since he'd had a particularly bad fever a few years ago. Any kind of horrible shock made him go dizzy. Sometimes the sensation lasted a few minutes- but twice it had lasted so long he was worried he'd never get out of whatever it was.
This was not one of those times. There was a sensation akin to being shoved out the door, and Surya awoke. He blinked blearily, before shaking himself into life. He was surprised to find that he was being stared at.
Crotos Quillus was in a very good mood. Despite the fact that Licky was behaving very strangely and had been uncharacteristically trying to shake him off, the raid had been successful and they had managed to catch one plump elephant, two little fox kits, a tiger cub and a boar. Elephants were always prized- if only because their size made them perfect for most menial tasks. Tigers were great bodyguards, known for their loyalty as well as the sheer toughness of their breed. Foxes and boars were not particularly impressive- but profitable nonetheless.
He rubbed his paws together in glee, and wearing a massive grin that would have been charming if not for the shape of his teeth, addressed them. "Greetings children! I am Captain Crotos Quillus, your new owner. Until I sell you of course." The porcupine raised his paw. "Now, now, there's no reason to cry. You will come to no harm under me, and there will be some rations to go around so you shouldn't go hungry. Sure you don't have any freedom, but freedom is overrated."
The children blinked. Some whimpered, others shivered and Surya curled in on himself.
The slave captain placed his paws on his hips, a small scowl growing across his face. "Now, what did I say about crying?"
"My Lord!" Crotos' face visibly fell. He did not have the time for this. "My Lord! As you can see my prophecies have bore us fruit! Now we must sacrifice something in a show of gratitude!" She pointed a webbed finger at the elephant. "Him! We must sacrifice him!"
The elephant- who was female- began to sob into her large ears.
"Don't cry! No, no! Don't cry!" Crotos snapped, pulling out a dirty piece of cloth. "Here, wipe that away." The porcupine turned and glared at his fellow slaver. "We are not sacrificing anyone!" He leaned close and whispered. "Do you have any idea how much elephants are worth!?"
The toad drew herself up and hissed softly. "A sacrifice must be made. The boar."
"No!"
"Why throw good flesh at your Gods? I say we eat the boar." This was the Weeper, recovering from a minor concussion. He was unstable at the best of times- the bitter headache did not help. Nor did the fact that Crotos Quillus had been making fun of him since he'd woken up. "He is rather fat, and I'm sure his flesh is succulent."
Now the boar began to sob.
"Give him the tissue!" The porcupine snapped, waving his paw wildly. Then, glaring fiercely up at the Weeper, his face contorted in rage he proceeded to shout. "That boar might as well be made out of solid gold! And we can't eat gold!"
"That runt won't make it to Ashtar! Look at him filthy, fat, ugly- barely any tusks. He isn't worth half a rupee."
Quillus turned to the quivering boar. "Don't listen to him kid, you're worth exactly fifty-seven ruppees." He turned back to the Weeper, raised a finger and with a resolute stomp of his foot (in case his words needed added emphasis) said "No!"
The Weeper snarled. "Give me the fox then! I need some meat." The leopard levied his spear.
Surya froze in fear, and instinctively clutched at his little sister, as if she could possibly do anything to help him.
At that moment Licky chose to return to her master's side. The massive bear growled, and stood over him protectively.
"No!" Snapped Putana before Quillus could. Before the porcupine could raise his eyebrow the witch was squeezing at a young fennec's cheek. "This fox is magic- I can smell it, it is all around him. A kind of mist, an odour-"
Surya was pretty sure he didn't smell. He'd washed himself rather thoroughly the night before.
"If he is magic then it is better that we kill him. Step aside witch." The Weeper raised his spear, and found Quillus staring down at him from atop his bear's head. Licky stood on hind-paw, one of her arms raised to be brought down upon the feline.
"If he's magic he's worth double! Scratch that triple! No, no. More. I'LL BE RICH!"
"With all due respect." The leopard spat disrespectfully. "Magic foxes are deadlier than they seem." He pointed to his burns, his voice lowering to a hiss. "It was because of them that I bare these scars!"
"Or because you don't know how to cook." Quillus taunted, poking his tongue out mockingly. "You'll leave my foxes alone, or I'll give you some more scars to bear." He pointed down at Licky, who promptly bared her massive fangs.
The Weeper snarled, but backed down.
Satisfied, the slave Captain turned to his witch. "Tell me Putana, what is it you see?"
The toad brought Surya uncomfortably close, and stretched her long tongue across the fennec's face. The kit tried his best to squirm free of her slimy hands, but to no avail. The amphibian's eyes bore into his. Surya did his best to avoid hers, but he was otherwise unable to pull free. He ft himself going green and wanted to retch and wipe away at the saliva that clung to his fur. But he also felt faint- tired, dizzy.
In a voice brimming with theatrical force Purana spoke. "The magic fox will make you rich. Take him north. Then take him south. Take him with the others- his unwilling companions, take them all south, where flames rise high, high into the sacred heavens. Throw the fox in a cage and leave him to rot. Then the gold will come. The gold will come. Caves of gold, piles of gold. Gems, jewels and seas of coins. Muahahahahahahahaha!"
"Can I have the other fox then?" Snarled the Weeper.
Surya felt his insides drop as his sister began to whimper.
The porcupine hopped off his mount and drew closer to the captives. With a smile that was almost kind, Quillus patted the young vixen's head. "Don't cry. You have no reason to. The Weeper isn't going to eat any of you- because if he does, he knows that my bear will eat him." He snapped his fingers hard. "Get them some food. And Weeper- get lost."
The leopard snarled- but a snap of Licky's jaws made him think twice about protesting further.
"And Putana- get me a map. We're going North!"
Dianbo pulled himself out of the rubble. Somehow his glass paw was still intact, what was more miraculous was that his bones were also fully intact. It was a good thing the roof was made of reeds- and mud bricks were rather light and brittle. Sanjay too, emerged from the rubble, coughing and waving away at the cloud of dust. Both jackals shook themselves.
"I didn't do so bad, eh Kung Fu Master?"
Dianbo scowled. "This is no time for jokes. They were after the school, if we hurry we might still catch up." Picking up his whip Dianbo sprinted towards the school- ignoring the dilapidated gate that hung haphazardly from it's hinges.
"You know, I'd say that a little joke or two would be really useful to lighten the tension a bit."
As always Dianbo ignored him. The jackal found no trace of the raiders, but the signs of battle were hard to miss. There was no blood, but there were clawmarks and ripped up pieces of parchment, broken bottles of ink and discarded quills.
"Mister Diablo?"
The jackal spun on his heel and found one of the fennec kits poking out of a drawer. His tiny paws were shaking but relief was evident on his face.
"Are the raiders gone?"
The kit nodded, his lips quivering. "They, they took my sister and-" His face was so horribly contorted that the fox could not speak more.
Dianbo gently patted the kit's head. "It's alright. I've handled raiders before. If your sister's alive I'll bring her back in no time."
"I-if she's alive!?"
That was the moment Dianbo knew he'd failed at comforting. "No-no that's not what I meant. I mean-"
Wailing broke out behind him and an owl clad in the garb of a professor was releasing tears by the gallon. The avian threw it's wings around Dianbo and pressed it's wet face against the frowning jackal.
If there was one thing Master Flying Rhino had not taught him it was how to deal with people- the rhino master had not been particularly good at that either. Gently prizing the owl free, Dianbo pushed the avian aside.
That was the moment Sanjay decided to show up, along with the rest of the school's shaken population.
Upma was filed with questions.
"Where are my other children?" Demanded the fox-family's mother.
"Why didn't you stop the brigands?"
"Why is there a giant stain on my trousers!?"
Luckily as the foreigner, Dianbo did not have to answer anything. That was Sanjay's job. This gave Dianbo the time he needed to gather his map and a small bag of supllies.
"If only we had a great warrior!" Wailed the owl professor who Dianbo would never learn the name of. "Someone to protect our people." Dianbo's ear gave an annoyed twitch, but the jackal ignored him.
"Hey, where you going?" This was from Tian Yi, who now raced to catch up to him.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to track down the raiders, bring them to justice and save the children."
"In that order?"
"The children are my priority. I've been doing this for a while now. Not long ago I had to fight off a squad of assassins."
"Did you win?" She asked, her eyes widening in surprise.
"Well, yes." Even if the target had ended up dying later on anyways. That wouldn't happen this time.
"Mind if I come with?"
The question took him by surprise, and before he could answer, Sanjay was next to him, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Well, their parents are taking it well and Aryan hates me a little more- but it's not like I stopped him from changing pants. So, we're going on a rescue mission now, right?"
Before Dianbo could open his mouth, Tian Yi spoke. "Well, me and Dianbo were just setting off now, but you can tag along if you want."
"Sweet!" The jackal quickly patted his pockets. "Alright, I'm set."
"Hey, Shade!" Tian Yi waved the black jackal over. "Wanna go on a rescue mission?"
He shrugged non-comitally but came over regardless.
"Maybe Aryan would like to come too?" Dianbo muttered through gritted teeth.
"Nah, he doesn't like Sanjay." Shade replied, having heard him.
Dianbo sighed softly and shook his head. There was no stopping his siblings. Besides, it was not his siblings he had to stop, it was the raiders.
If one good thing had come of the raid, it was his newfound purpose. He had a job to do. And he would do it. For the children and Master Flying Rhino's legacy.
Footnote I'm very proud of this chapter. There is a... surprising amount of foreshadowing here- or at least an unprecedented amount for me. Some of you may know what's going on with Surya and Licky at the beginning but that'll be explained later on.
Funnily enough I foreshadow a lot- but never manage a good pay-off (though that is mostly because I never *get* to the payoff).
Self-appreciation aside- why is the Weeper so flesh-hungry? For starters the Kucha (his former tribe) as a group are all semi flesh-hungry, the Weeper has a concussion and his scars were given to him by a boar-like creature (babirusa are a species of deer but I digress) though Bian Zao and Taotie helped (and they're both boars). Foxes? He hates foxes too :P
Now I talk about my influences. Back when I wrote Village Champion in it's original form, I started reading some of the Redwall books. Or re-reading in some cases. And they were... A huge influence. Quillus', the incompetent slavemaster- based 50% on book vermin. You hate him, but at the same time don't *hate* him. He was also based a bit on Romans but I dropped the ball on that and decided to kick it away here (I have *other* romans now). The signatories should be apparent enough for those familiar with Redwall- and made even more clear when the bandits are brought into play.
Enjoy