Sorry about all this intense emotions and stuff, but thing are really in a twist, and still will be for a bit. Hope you guys are enjoying it though. This I think will be the last of my really big stories for Buck, well, without Beast anyhow. But then again I might be wrong, and come across another idea. That is yet to be seen. By the way you guys are free to give me any suggestions for future stories. I'd appreciate it of course :)
It was midday by the time the Wild family landed their tired and bothered pterosaurs on the outside of the gates. The family was tired and upset, trying to hold it together until they knew the extent of what was happening.
It took Buck and Calamity yelling at the top of their lungs to get the guards' attention, while the rest of the family watched quietly with grim faces. When the gates finally started to groan open, it only took a few inches for the family to slither through, and the guards closed them slowly behind.
Inside was complete chaos.
Calamity gasped and grabbed at her nose to stop herself from gagging, while her father and Adrian swore quietly.
Weasels, stoats, minks, ferrets etc. were either carrying some bodies, (Dead or alive, Buck could not tell), pacing and mumbling to themselves, huddling in family groups and weeping...but there was sounds of yelling in the distance, the occasional clack of bone swords or the snap of a piece of wood...even a rare scream of pain. Buck frowned more and more with what he could see and hear.
And their arrival didn't go unnoticed. The creaking gates must have alerted them to the arrival, because heads turned, heads raised, or heads lowered, in anger or fear, again Buck couldn't tell. Eventually there was movement, and then voices raised. "It's the Wilds! They're back" "They're home..."
"It's Buck!"
There was plenty of joyous cries and faces, but mostly they were quiet, and some were angry. There was yells of anger and hatred, blaming the wild family for it all. Buck felt Calamity latch onto his arm as an injured male stepped forward and hissed at their passing. He patted her paw for comfort, knowing that there would be worse to come.
I was stupid. We never should have left...maybe this wouldn't've happened if only we'd stayed...
Buck thought, but then he could imagine Adrian, calmed and collected, say that the Village had to learn to be independent of their help... But Buck just wasn't sure anymore. He could only look around at the bloodied and tortured faces, and blame himself for it all. When Lucy saw someone unconscious on the ground, she rushed over, ignoring the mammals that backed away, either looking hopeful or scowling at her. Buck internally challenged them to dare insult her, but the mammals must have read his mind, because they glanced at him watching his mate carefully.
Lucy immediately looked at Buck. "I need to get her to the healing shack-,"
"Healing shack is full." an older female stated, a hard look in her eyes that was thankfully not directed at them. Lucy's breathing started to increase and Buck could see her trying to work things out.
"What happened?" Adrian asked, and to Buck he sounded quiet but in the silence surrounding them he might as well have yelled. A dozen mammals were about to answer at once, but a deep voice caught everyone's attention from the distance, and approaching quickly.
"Buck! Buck are you really here!?"
Buck's ears pricked. "Abu?" He called.
The crowd which surrounded them moved aside for the burly weasel to barge his way through, and Buck had to control himself not to sag on the spot at the sight of his friend's condition. There was blood all the way through his fur and tired lines were carved through his face.
"Abu!" the whole family chorused when he came into view. Calamity let go of her father and ran to him, and the larger weasel took the red teenager into his muscly arms.
"Abu...the blood," Calamity said quietly, stepping back with wide eyes after letting him go. She had some on her fur now as well.
Abu shook his head, "It's not mine. 'alf the villagers are covered in some blood or other, bu' only a few actually go' hi'."
"Got hit by who?" Cabe asked quietly. Everyone around them looked at each other nervously, and there was plenty of clenched fists and tightened jaws at the question. Only Abu was able to look at them evenly and simply say,
"Tyrants."
Abu led them through the village towards the healing shack, gaining looks from whoever they passed, and started explaining.
"We found most o' th' guards knocked ou', bu' some o' them have been killed, an' we sen' out a few more t' find the scouts, an' found 'em tied up as well."
Buck's family closed closer to him, for they were starting to gain a following crowd, probably wanting to see Buck's reaction.
To what though? the village or...or is there something more?
"How did the Tyrants manage this?" Adrian asked, already resorting to his reasonable, straight thinking mentality.
Abu hesitated. "We don' know exactly, bu' claws are all pontin' at Fin and 'is legion. They've been locked up, facin' trial."
"When?"
"We were hopin', when you guys go' here. We knew you'd turn up eventually so...an' now you're 'ere, we can ge' started on it, after... well after you..."
"After what Abu?" Lucy asked sternly, but the smith stayed quiet. They eventually reached the healing shack. When they entered, Lucy was about to go off and start her healing work, but Abu grabbed her arm and shook his head slowly, looking sad.
"You'll wan' t' see this first." He mumbled quietly, and Lucy look at Buck in such sadness, that he instinctively stepped forward and wrapped his arm around her, then looked at his friend and nodded.
Instead of Abu leading them to a certain bed, or up to higher levels, he led them to the back to a heavy wooden door, and opened it. Buck and Lucy swallowed together, and Cabe whispered behind them to Cal,
"What's down there?"
"The insane areas...and the..."
"Morgue." Buck and Lucy finished together.
As Abu led them down the stone and dirt slope, Abu started explaining again.
"I advise tha' only Lucy and Buck see this...she wasn't jus' killed... but... she was..."
"It's okay Abu..." Cal said, "We can handle it."
"Can we?" Cabe asked in a whisper.
Already the air down here, deeper than usual burrows, was stale and the walls felt heavy on either side, and Buck felt the whole world resting above them. Buck feared that some bodies of the deceased were going to split themselves from the dirt and reach at them with claw tipped skeletal paws...
Buck shook his head of the nightmare that made his throat clench in fear. He could already feel the heat of tears behind his eyes, while only minutes ago it had been heat crawling up his chest and neck in anger... a new rage.
How dare they...
But there would be time for that later. Right now, Buck knew they had something a lot worse coming.
Abu nodded at Calamity's reassurance, and started again.
"She wasn't just killed, but strung up an', like a piece o' prey, they cut open her fur and skin, flayed her on the spot." He growled, sniffling tears back, and his paws turned into fists.
Buck's eye went wide with horror. Did Abu?.. Did Abu take her down from where she was hung himself? Was that why all the blood?
"They only left her face alone."
"Those bas-," Calamity started her rage-filled rant, but Cabe grabbed her arm, and then took her paw and they walked together, Calamity blinking back tears with a silent snarl on her face.
"How do we know it was Tyrants?" Adrian asked calmly. Jai whirled on him unexpectedly.
"Who cares Adrian!? That's not what's important right now!"
"Jai!" Buck barked simply, and his son crossed his arms, pouting in annoyance, and unlike his sister, his tears flowed free on his face, but a similar anger was there. Buck could have sworn that flecks of red glimmered in his eyes, but soon they vanished and his shoulders dropped.
"I'm sorry." Adrian said, looking at the ground, and Buck saw a glimpse of the passionate teenager for a moment.
"It's fine Adrian." Lucy said. "Besides, it's a viable question. Abu?"
Abu hesitated, looking cautiously at Jai, as if he had seen the same thing in his eyes that Buck had... then he blinked and continued on, leading them deeper.
"They had used 'er blood to make a mark on the wall...a red eye with a serrated sword stabbed through i'."
Everyone knew what that meant. Buck suddenly realized that no one had said specifically that they were talking about Sasha. Abu must have known...known that they knew.
Finally they started passing closed doors, until they reached a certain one. Cal, Cabe and Jai were about to enter, but Abu shook his head.
"I'll stay out here with you." Adrian said. Calamity nodded, but Jai crossed his arms again and went to lean against the opposite to the door. Calamity and Cabe sat against the wall next to the door, Adrian standing next to them.
It wasn't as long as Cal thought for her parents to emerge. Then again... nobody would want to be in the same room as the body (Sasha, her name is Sasha), if she had been treated as badly as Abu told it. Everyone headed out once again, into the humid air above. Humid, but not suffocating, not like the stagnant air below.
Once above ground, everyone went their separate ways, Cabe, Cal and Jai off to do their own mourning, Adrian towards the Council Chambers to investigate what they were doing there, Lucy went off with a face of determination to see to the injured, and their father... no one knew. He wanted to help Lucy but she said it would be better if her and her healers did it all themselves. They had other, less effected by the events, who could help them with lifting and such. Cal had seen how hurt Buck had been by that, but she suspected it was more because he would be a little lost without Lucy. Sasha had been a dear friend, but Lucy could mourn after she helped stop the deaths of more innocent mammals.
Buck watched his kids, including Cabe, wander off. Lucy went back into the healing shack to clean up so she didn't infect any wounds with dirt and grime, while Adrian went off to do his duties in the Council chambers.
So Buck and Abu decided to go back below the healing shack, and see where Trudy had been chained.
The insane area was rarely occupied, and soon the ones who were insane either passed away or were banished. They only locked away the truly insane, psychotic and dangerous behavior, outbreaks of violence and talking nonsense while hurting others. There was a difference between 'strange behavior', and actual insanity.
Again Buck couldn't help but try shrink away from the walls, even keeping his depressed tail off the ground, when usually he would be dragging it when he felt like this. It may be rarely occupied, but the place just felt... sick. Buck's stomach lurched thinking about a deranged Trudy, but Abu had reassured him that the guards they had posted reported that she had only been crazy for an hour or so, before she had exhausted herself and gone to sleep. After, she had woken and cried, pleading to get out. They had unchained her, but kept her in the room still, giving her food and water.
"Bu' she still migh' have t' be locked up, Buck. After we'd tried takin' Sasha to the other room, Trudy had gone completely nuts. Thrashin', kickin', screamin', scratchin'. She hurt a lot o' weasels this mornin'." Abu said worriedly, but Buck shook his head beside him.
"No, she was jus'... dealing." Please let that be the truth. To have to put Trudy down? If she couldn't be revived?
Buck wanted to be certain to himself, but that flash in Jai's eyes had been more worrying than it should have been. He didn't want to see a similar thing that was in Regal's eyes, in either his son's or Trudy's. Calamity had red eyes, sure, but they shone, they didn't flash or glimmer. Buck had known for a long while that she wasn't a worry, but Jai was harder to get to for him. Always had been. He was far more open to Lucy, but still closed off for the most part. Only Cal knew what they didn't and even then she'd occasionally come from trying to talk to him, shrugging and shaking her head.
There was an old saying, watch out for the quiet ones, but Buck was only ever wary of those he felt off about...and he never felt off or wary about Jai...Did he?
These thoughts were wrapping around Buck's heart and starting to strangle it as he walked, following Abu. Finally he resorted to shutting off his mind and simply following on default settings.
Eventually they came to the only door that had a ferret and a rat standing outside the door. Buck recognized both, but knew the smaller-than-usual rat more than he knew the ferret.
"Toby?" Buck asked.
"Buck? You're here!"
Buck nodded, looking the youngster up and down. 'Youngster' was maybe stretching it; he was only a year or three older than Cal, but he'd proven to be an extremely useful scout in the years he'd been around.
Ever since he was young, Toby had been smaller than all the other kids, making him a victim to frequent bullying, even little Cal had occasionally sniggered about 'such a little cutie' he was. This had forced him to run away from the village on many occasions. He had ben terrified of dinosaurs and other dangers, so became a very nimble tree-dweller, who Buck eventually took on and trained as a scout. Now here he was, with a bandage around his shoulder and smaller cuts around his muzzle and bits of fur missing.
"Don' tell me you were one o' the scouts caught?" Buck asked quietly. Toby rubbed his arm and looked down, ashamed.
"I'm sorry Buck. I should've been able to see them, to stop them-,"
"Don't run yourself down." The ferret said sternly, who then turned to Buck. "He's being ridiculous about it. I've told him over and over, they had mud in their fur and were experienced in the jungle..."
"But so am I! That's the point of our job anyway, to stop them before they can do something to the village. And now look!" Toby slouched against the doorway, a paw over his eyes and the other gripping his side with such force Buck thought he'd break his own ribs.
"Listen to 'im." Buck said gently to Toby, indicating to the ferret. Toby looked up, grimacing in pain and annoyance at himself. "I know what it's like to blame yerself. There were other scouts too, righ'?"
Toby reluctantly nodded. "Three."
"Then it means Mace took extra special care to avoid our attention. Besides," Buck stood up straight, and looked from the door to Toby, "What are ya doin' 'ere?"
Toby's grimace turned to a frown, and his voice and eyes lowered, "I've known Trudy for a long time. I was one of her students. She would scare some of the other kids off if she saw them being mean to me. I was taken back here from where the scouts were tied up this morning, and heard about what had happened to Sasha, so went to check on Trudy. When I saw how crazy she was being, I helped them get her in here and volunteered to guard her door. The others didn't like it, but I insisted. I didn't want it to be some shit of an Above-grounder." He growled.
"Not all of them are like that." The ferret said. "Ferris and Sol, some of Coal's main crew. Coal himself. About a third of them knew nothing about it, and a couple of others knew but didn't want to participate. They're the ones that told us about Fin."
Buck nodded, then faced the door.
"She's calm for now, don't worry." Toby said, and added quietly, "Do you want me to go in there with you?"
Buck knew that Toby just wanted to go in and see Trudy for himself, maybe try and help his teacher, but Buck wanted to be alone at first, then he'd invite Toby.
"I'll go in alone at first." Buck said. "Just give us a minute, okay?"
Toby nodded, then the Abu opened the door.
There wasn't the horrific scent of blood, or faeces, or a stench of sickness within. No, it just smelled of dirt. There was lots of small candles high on the walls, too high for anyone to reach up and hurt themselves, providing enough light.
In the corner, with her head hidden in her arms and her legs drawn up, was a mattered and messed Trudy. She didn't move when the door opened, nor did she shift when it slowly, as if reluctantly, closed behind Buck.
Buck looked fondly at the female he'd grown to call sister.
"Trudy." He said softly. Trudy's head snapped up faster than Buck predicted, and he jumped back a bit, starting to wonder if shutting the door had been a mistake. But then he saw her expression of surprise, and then she was suddenly on her feet.
"Buck!" She yelled, and it was with such desperation, anguish, so much pain, that Buck immediately felt tears come back to his eyes, and he nodded. Trudy leaped at him and hugged him around his middle, and Buck held her as well, and they both cried.
"Sa..sha...she's..." Trudy tried to say through the panicky sobs of someone who was in shock.
"I know, Trudy," Buck said through a strained voice, "I know."
They cried like that for a while, then they leaned against one of the walls and stared at the door. They didn't say anything at first, just a comfortable silence of Buck feeling a certain relief, a relief that she had not gone rotten. He hoped that it would not change over the next few weeks and months...probably years.
"I hurt some others, Buck." Trudy said quietly, devoid of all sobs and strain in her voice, but tears still seeped slowly and calmly into her fur.
"I know that too." Buck said, and was about to nod his head, but the energy dissipated and his head remained still.
"What's going to happen now?"
"To what?"
"To everyone. To Fin, to the above-grounders, to us, to you, to the others, to me?"
Buck sighed. "I dunno. I guess Fin will face trial. We'll have t' go after the Tyrants, ge' that Above-ground girl back that I heard abou' when we go' back. Maybe deal with the Tyrants. I doubt they'll throw ya behind bars Trudy." Buck tilted his head to look at her. "You weren' the only one tha' hurt others. After the... the killin's, there was maddness everywhere. No' many had known it was Tyrant's, so they all blamed their enemies an' such. If they tried to pu' you behind bars, they'd have t' put away half the village along with ya."
Trudy nodded, and it was left at that. Eventually Buck and Trudy felt well enough to get up, so they went to the door, and Buck knocked on it loudly, and it was opened. Buck saw relief cross their faces when he appeared fine, and Trudy only hung her head sadly.
"Can she come out now?" Toby asked Buck and Abu, hopeful.
Buck looked at Abu, who nodded at him. "If it's okay with Buck here, than yeah, she can."
"I think she's fine...well, not dangerous." Buck said, and looked back at Trudy, who tried a smile, but it dropped quickly.
On the way back to the surface, Trudy didn't say anything, but tried her best to let Toby know she was well enough. She would ruffle the tuft on his head and give a small smile, or nudge him with her elbow when he said something nice.
Toby wasn't beeming, but he certainly seemed less glum than he'd been when Buck had first seen him.
When they made their way up, Lucy was moving through the healing shack expertly and giving orders like a military leader to her team of healers, who moved quickly, but with a dullness in their eyes which suggested they were doing this to avoid thinking... to avoid feeling.
Lucy stopped when she saw Trudy, and both females ran to embrace.
"I'm sorry I can't be with you two at the moment, I just have so much going on here I-,"
"It's fine Lucy. We'll see you when you're finished." Trudy said, looking fondly at her sister in law. None of them mentioned that Lucy probably wouldn't be finished with this for days. When they exited the healing shack, Trudy said she would go off to find Cal and the others, so Buck decided he might as well join Adrian in the Council chambers.
Walking through the village was like walking through another version of hell. The condition was so much worse than what Buck had first predicted. The trip to the chambers took longer because Buck had to break up several fights on the way, and also try get some attention of other weasels to someone he had found injured mammals, or if they just didn't look well.
There had clearly been some fires lit onto other weasels property, and some stables had been burnt to the ground, but since Regal's attack with the fire eighteen years before, the weasels had water stocks all over, and the attempts at a large fire had failed clearly because of it. When Buck finally made it to the Council Chambers, there was less destructive noise behind him. He had made a small difference, but he'd come across some guards and mostly unharmed scouts and ordered them to start combing through the village to break up more fights, shut down the stores where mammals had easy access to the sap-drink AKA alcohol, and search through homes for injured or deceased mammals.
Buck didn't know what to do about kids though. Or the traumatised. After the fire and war eighteen years ago, everyone had banded together for support and those who were traumatised had more or less been mentally healed.
But the village had grown. There was far more mammals than there was back then and this was a far worse occurance. This hadn't just been Regal followers versus Buck followers, bonded or broken.
This was a ripping, wrecking, confusing jumble of blood and hatred, suspicion and cross words of the most outrageous proportion. It wasn't simple like it was back then. There wasn't a clear line between who was evil and who wasn't. Well, there was, but those enemies weren't out in the open yet. They weren't known.
They could be hiding for all Buck knew. What ever happened to the days when they'd come out and fight for the sake of fighting? Now they were teaming up, creatig sneaky aliences and Buck couldn't even think of what else. He wasn't built for this. Wasn't made for this trechery. That's why he had run away, but he couldn't escape this, he knew that now. He was adapted to the simple life of adventure, fighting off simple things, and loving his family. This...he didn't know if this was beyond his abaility.
Buck took a deep breath before he entered the council chamber, suspecting that behind the heavy doors would be just as much chaos as there was behind him. Finally he nodded to the guards who had bandages wrapped around their arms and middle, much like most of the mammals. They nodded to him with respect, and then opened the doord, and Buck immediately flinched away from the noise that erupted before him. He walked in tentatively, feeling his hackles rise and his body tense.
At the giant table there was all the council members, above and below-grounders, (minus Fin and a few others) and they were all yelling and screaming about the events that had occurred. There was swearing and insults, threats and cross words. Buck could see Shanae at the end of the table, one of the only ones sitting down, with her paws over her eyes, looking exhausted. Buck shook his head in despair, then glanced at the roof. They had replaced the lanterns that he, Cal and Lucy had destroyed, and they hung with less splendor but looked like they had extra vines added to them.
Allowing himself a small smile, Buck made his way out of the chamber again, then up to the jungle above the chamber where he and his wife and daughter had escaped the chamber. They had cleverly covered the hole with dirt, but it only took a few minutes for him to dig it away.
Once there was an opening above one of the lanterns, Buck slithered through the hole and onto the sticks and vines of the lanterns fixtures. He watched the events from above, not needing to shrink away from the noise anymore as the dirt around him absorbed it. He stayed there for a few minutes, liking the whole situation less and less. It truly was mad down there, and Buck was uneasy about the fact that he was no longer the crazy one. There was outrageous accusations being thrown back and forth, some of them backed up decently, but others were just grudge-thrown accusations with no sense at all. Buck himself and his family came up many times as a cause of the trouble, but Shanae would always raise her head at these and bite them back for it, explaining that their absence and activities had nothing to do about it.
Buck's guilt increased as he watched, especially when Shanae slumped back into her chair, as if she had given up on it. However, the fights did not die down. If anything, the tension grew worse. Every single mammal in there had a weapon, and some came dangerously close to using them.
Buck finally sighed, knowing that if he didn't do something soon, another terrible thing would follow. Buck realized with a frown that Adrian wasn't down there, like he said he would be. Buck searched the crowd, through the fur coats and sometimes the cloth of clothing for the silver, but he was not there. As a last minute decision, Buck looked at the other lanterns, and low and behold, Adrian was perched on the next lantern over, watching the crowd the same as Buck. He had his arms crossed, shaking his head, and would face palm at a particular comment. Buck shook his head with a grin, then cut away a small piece of wood from the lantern he was in, doing no damage to the structure.
He tossed the wood in Adrian's direction, too high above the mammals below to catch any attention. But it certainly caught Adrian's as it bounced off his arm. He flinched away from it, then glanced up through the gap he'd created, the same as Buck. When he saw nothing there, he frowned deeply and then looked around, then caught Buck's eye. He looked between the events below and Buck, the events, then Buck, the events again, and then finally settling on Buck, and allowed himself to smile. Buck pointed a claw up to the jungle above, and Adrian nodded, then started moving up the lantern, Buck doing the same.
They met between the two gaps, laughing as they got closer.
"This is madness." Adrian said, indicating to where they had just crawled from. Buck nodded with a chuckle, and put his paws on his sides.
"Why is it so funny though?" Buck asked. Adrian shrugged, laughing even more.
"I honestly don't… I mean, with everything going on and that's happened, really we should be…I dunno, angry? Upset? I just don't know any more Buck."
"You and I both."
Adrian managed to calm himself and then sighed with a smile.
"Well, should we try and calm things down?" He asked.
"Can we leave i' for a bit longer?" Buck said, using his claws to indicate the 'bit'. Adrian raised an eyebrow and shook his head, so Buck shrugged and said,
"Was worth a sho'."
Together, they climbed into the gap Buck had made, as it was more directly above the table where the chaos was happening. They cut away two of the vines and then slid down quickly, landing directly onto the table. Everyone was so shocked that the chamber silenced immediately, Above-grounder and Below-grounders alike staring wide-eyed. Buck turned his head so he was looking at Shanae over his shoulder, and gave her a reassuring smile, as she too had raised her head and was staring. Buck swore he could have seen glistening moisture in her eyes, but he ignored it. She, like everyone else, had every right to cry.
"Isn' that a bit better, don't you agree Adrian?" Buck said, pacing along the table. Adrian nodded dramatically.
"They can't be completely stupid then." The silver added.
Faces scrunched up, but no one said anything. This was a strange situation, and everyone was afraid of making the wrong move. Besides, Buck's friend had been killed in the events, and they weren't sure as of yet, if he was dangerous or not. One wrong word, and the rusty might just snap, and no one wanted to see that. None of them doubted for a second that this was very thin ice they were all on.
"Now, pray tell," Buck said calmly, but then he raised his voice to a yell, "How in DEVILS NAME, did the BLOODY TYRANTS get into the village!" He stomped his foot down once, making the whole table vibrate, and many of the mammals jumped back from it in fright. No one was looking defiant anymore. Only Adrian kept an expressionless face, analyzing the crowd around him. He had lost his humor as well, standing still and letting Buck pace the table.
"We're gone for, wha'? Two weeks? Maybe? And then this happened." Buck held his arms out, exposing the sight of his knife held in his right paw. He dropped them to his sides
again, but flipped and brandished his knife lazily, as if wondering about the universe.
"You guys couldn' handle anythin' without us for a week and a half, and it ended up gettin' one of my closest friends KILLED!" Buck stared around, his eye sparking dangerously.
"You're the one who started it!" Someone spoke up. Buck whirled at the voice, and Adrian turned calmly towards it. Magnus had stood, but it didn't give him any advantages at Buck's current height.
"I did not." Buck growled. "If anything, tha' bloody alliance did this. Arranged marriage? You had t' be kiddin' yerself if you thought for a second that I was gonna allow that."
"It wasn't up to you." Magnus countered. "This was for the good of the villages."
"No it wasn't." Adrian spoke up, with a sly look of mockery on his calm features. "This so called 'alliance' was something that we all could have done without. Instead, it's only created a blood bath. We rescued Ivory and Cabe from the situation, and while our backs were turned, you suddenly all tried to scratch each other's eyes out. The only way to solve this, seems to be to find those responsible for allowing the Tyrants into the village."
Buck put a claw to his chin after Adrian's speech, looking around. Then he said with a mocking smile, "Where is Fin by the way?"