Author Note
Firestar the Warrior: I'm glad you liked the chapter! We shall see if Tragg even gets to see Broge though. *Chuckles evilly*
The Grey Coincidence: Don't worry. I don't plan on killing off characters unless it's good for the plot. It's just that sometimes it's so hard to give certain characters personalities and I was thinking about just giving them a heroic death or something…
I'm kinda glad that you see the slaves that way 'cause that was the impression I was going for.
Waycaster: Same thing I said to Grey, I probably worded that last Author Note a bit wrong. :P Yup, the Grey Warlord draws closer.
Abrahem: I'm glad that you liked the fight. (I was hoping it turned out somewhat alright)
Seakard: There's one slight problem there…Bloodfur got two votes and Bertvar got the other two.
. 15: Thanks!
One-Eye the Wildcat: Yeah, I was originally thinking of having Broge stay dead to be honest. But I decided to drag him from the grave. Er…pages…whatever.
The Theocentric Thulcandrian: I'm glad you like the story so far. I'm also flattered that you think I somewhat kept Jacques' style 'cause that's what I was kinda aiming for.
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SALAMANDASTRON
The flags of the vermin army were flapping toward the west as the horde stood at ramrod attention on the western shore, just out of reach of the mountain's archers.
The hares of the Long Patrol were silent as they watched the vermin, their weapons close at paw.
"What's takin' the bloody vermin so long?" Charlie grumbled aloud from where he was standing with the other cadets, "I almost kind of wish they'd jolly-well hurry up an' make up their bloomin' minds, wot."
Sergeant One-Ear had been pacing back and forth behind the lines of hares when he heard Charlie's comment and smiled, "You just might live to regret wishing they'd make up their minds about attacking, laddie buck. Though I understand where you're coming from, I myself can't stand these long waits before a battle. Wot wot."
Charlie glanced back at the vast army of vermin troops.
"Do you think we stand a chance at all at beating them?" The young hare asked. Most of the other cadets shifted their eyes to the Sergeant as they waited to hear his answer.
Even though personally the Sergeant thought their chances were as good as a mouse trying to knock over a tree with his bare paws, he tried to appear like it was a ridiculous question by saying, "Ha, the real question is do they stand a chance against us! We're the hares of the blooming Long Patrol! Wot. As long as we still have a jolly breath in our bodies, no puffed-up-brained vermin will ever storm their way into these walls, right troops?"
All of the cadets and younger recruits nodded their heads in agreement and a few of them piped up and agreed with the Sergeant loudly.
"You bet, Sarge, we'll kick their scruffy tails back where they came from! Wot!"
"I'll say, we'll blooming fight t' the bitter end!"
"They'll wish they had never messed with us, sah!"
Sergeant One-Ear felt a slight drop of moisture beginning to form around his eye. How many of these poor cadets will come out of this battle alive? He wondered. The veteran took a swift glance at the thousands of vermin waiting on the shore. Come to think about it, will any of us make it out of this alive?
Brushing his eyes roughly, the Sergeant bellowed, "Alright then, troops, turn about an' face the enemy, make sure that they know that we aren't afraid of the bounders. Wot."
He watched with amusement as the young hares all turned around and tried their best to glare at the vermin even though the vermin probably couldn't even see them. Still, it was good for moral, and that's what counted.
He felt a paw tap his shoulder lightly. "I heard what you said to the cadets," A familiar old voice whispered, "You do a great job at keeping their spirits up. Wot wot."
Sergeant One-Ear turned around to see Colonel Brewster standing behind him, a wistful smile on his face.
"What do you think about our chances, Colonel?" One-Ear asked.
Brewster indicated for him to step a bit farther away from the cadets. When One-Ear followed, Brewster let out a quiet sigh, "Honestly, I don't really know. We might make if we are able to hang onto our defenses long enough for the Rogue Crew or some of our other allies to help us. But even then, unless we have a few thousand otters running about, even our impressive army of five hundred hares might not pull through."
The Sergeant had already known this deep down in his gut, but instead of feeling fear, One-Ear only felt a grim acceptance at the Colonel's words.
"What's the plan then?" One-Ear asked.
"Lord Rockfur says that he wants you t' lead a squad of hares an' try to reach th' jolly ol' Rogue Crew and any of our other allies."
"Haven't the vermin already sent soldiers to surround us yet, sah?"
The Colonel paused. "That's a risk I'm afraid you've just going to have to take, Sergeant. I'm sorry."
One-Ear gave a grim nod. "Alright, sah, I'll leave right away."
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Down in a tunnel that led to the mountain's main gates, Eric Swiftpaw was having a problem with keeping a certain beast from leaving the mountain, especially when that certain beast towered over him.
Urthblaze the young badger was armed with a large axe that he "borrowed" from Lord Rockfur's forge room and was trying to pass the Long Patrol hares that were blocking his path.
"Get out of my way," Urthblaze growled, stepping a few paces forward, his eyes were beginning to turn a faint pink as he envisioned tearing through the vermin ranks that had killed his kin.
When the hares didn't budge from their posts, Urthblaze swung the axe off his shoulder where it had been resting. "If I have to, I'll batter a path right through you with my axe shaft!"
"What's going on down here?" A voice suddenly boomed loudly.
Eric looked past Urthblaze and saw Lord Rockfur himself standing there, wearing his forge apron and a slight frown.
"I had been wondering what had happened to my axe, Now I'm pretty sure I know where it went," The badgerlord commented to Urthblaze. "Tell me, lad, why are you threatening to push your way through my loyal Long Patrollers?"
"Just let me through," Urthblaze growled, fingering the wooden part of his axe, "I need to wipe the lands clean of those vermin scum who killed my grandfather!"
Rockfur could tell that Urthblaze was nearly at the verge of bloodwrath, so he tried once more to reason with him. "Come now, Urthblaze, use your head. You wouldn't be able to even begin to dent that army by attacking 'em alone. Just wait and I'm sure you'll get your chance for vengeance."
For a minute Urthblaze didn't seem like he was prepared to back down, but just as Lord Rockfur got ready to try and knock out the angry young warrior before he did something stupid, Urthblaze's eyes finally went from light red to pink, then finally to normal.
"Alright, Lord Rockfur," Urthblaze mumbled, letting the axe fall to the ground, "I'll do as you say. Though don't expect me to like it for one second!"
Lord Rockfur gave an inward sigh of relief. "I wouldn't expect you to." The badgerlord said, putting a comforting paw on Urthblaze's shoulder, "You know, when I was around your age, I was reckless, always ready for I fight. Back then I couldn't even control my bloodwrath." Lord Rockfur paused. "I…did things that I'll regret doing for the rest of my life."
Eric and the other hare guards glanced around, looking rather awkward at hearing their master's confession.
Noticing them, Lord Rockfur hastily tried to change that subject by giving a short cough. "Eh-hem, well, I need to get my battle armor from the forge room, care to join me?"
"I guess," Urthblaze replied, his face impassive. Urthblaze still wasn't exactly feeling happy about not being able to avenge his kin, but deep down, the young badger realized that Lord Rockfur had a point about waiting for the right moment.
Picking up the fallen axe, Lord Rockfur started walking to the forge room. He stopped and looked back to make sure that Urthblaze was following.
"It's alright," Urthblaze managed to smile grimly, "I'm not going to try and sneak out. Besides," He turned to Eric Swiftpaw, "I think your hares would let you know if I tried."
Eric saluted the badger with his spear, a big smile on his face. "You can bloomin' bet we would, ol' chap."
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ON SALAMANDASTRON'S SHORE
Once the vermin army had stopped marching, Baro Steelclaw ordered the corsair ships to drop off the rest of his soldiers onto the beach.
Once he had landed, the wolverine immediately ordered tents to be set up on a few of the large hills surrounding the mountain.
He then called a meeting in his personal tent with a few of his horde captains to discuss their strategy and to accept their orders.
"Eafru," The wolverine growled to a tall, male ermine who carried a longbow and was sitting directly to his left, "I want you to take a few hundred troops an' strengthen the brigade I sent t' the east of the mountain just in case that badger has any ideas of sending his hares out, and make sure to send some of the crow scouts along as well." He paused to point at a certain location at the map sprawled out on the wooden table before them to show exactly where.
He then pointed a long claw at the white-furred vixen that he had first sent to King Bloodfur to give the message of the alliance between Terramort and The Lands of Snow and Ice. "Sanjur, I want you to accompany me along with two-score ermine and a few of our axe-foxes when I go to give the ruler of Salamandastron the terms."
Sanjur raised a paw questioningly. "Should we be ready t' stick 'em full o' arrows in case the meetin' goes lousy, yer majesty?"
Baro seemed to consider her answer for a minute then slowly shook his head. "No, I want them t' trust us as much as possible. If we can get what we came here for then we won't need to fight them at all."
"Now that is quite interesting, Emperor Baro," Blue-Eyes the weasel said as he slid smoothly into the tent. "But what about half of the mountain's vast amount of treasure that you promised my king? Surely you weren't lying."
"Of course not," Baro replied, his face completely unreadable. "If you'd like, you can come with me yourself t' make sure that the searat kingdom doesn't get the short end of the stick."
"Hmm…that sounds good to me." Blue-Eyes responded. "When will we leave?"
"In just a few minutes, ambassador," The wolverine replied. "You should probably go an' tell Captain Hookarm so he can accompany us."
Blue-Eyes hesitated, "Alright."
Once the weasel had left, Baro turned to his captains. "I think my troops have been waiting in this hot sun for too long. It's time to figure out the fate of the mountain."
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When the hares on by the windows saw Baro, flanked by Hookarm and Blue-Eyes, with a troop of three-score guards advancing forward, waving a white flag of truce, they immediately sent word to Lord Rockfur and continued to watch the vermin with suspicious eyes and drawn bows as they waited for their orders.
Once the wolverine reached easy earshot of the mountain he roared out thunderously, "Where is the leader of Salamandastron?! Tell him that I wish to speak with him and give him my terms!"
Baro stood back once he was finished so that his guards could cover him with their large, square shields in case the badgerlord and his hares decided to overlook the flag of truce and decide to try and kill the Emperor where he stood.
The massive iron gates creaked open slowly as Lord Rockfur strode out. The badgerlord was decked out in his finest war-armor and carried a large broadsword in one paw and a large round shield in the other. He was also accompanied by a force of three-score hares armed with pikes and longbows. Urthblaze had wanted to come, but Rockfur had ordered him to stay. Things would get messy fast if Urthblaze started a fight while they were countlessly outnumbered.
The two opposing parties stopped not far from each other and stood silently, trying to take stock of one another.
Rockfur decided to cut right to the chase. "I'm Lord Rockfur, Badgerlord of Salamandastron, defender of the western shore! Who dares marches to my door armed for war?"
"Only a creature that needs a few things of little importance from your mountain," Came Baro's calm reply, "if you hand them over there shall be no bloodshed. However, if you choose to fight…" – Baro glanced down at his claws as he paused – "Then I'll raze your mountain to the ground!"
Rockfur shook his head slowly. "When will you bloodthirsty vermin warlords realize that evil will never win in the end? Ferahgo, Razzid Wearat, Gormad Tunn of the rapscallions, Ugnatt Trunn and many, many more have tried to take this mountain and each and every one of them are long dead with nothing to show for it."
Baro gave a deep chuckle. "Oh, I don't think you've ever seen anything like me, badger. I singlepawedly defeated the wolf lords of the North and took complete control of The Lands of Snow and Ice. I've defeated more enemies than you could count!" The wolverine suddenly reached into his armor and pulled out a small, finely carved piece of stone. Holding it up so that Lord Rockfur could see it, he asked, "Have you ever heard of 'The Game of Armies and Kingdoms?'"
Rockfur nodded his head. "Yes. I've heard of it, I never played it myself though." His eyes turned dark as he added, "I'm normally too busy keeping power hungry vermin in their place."
The wolverine continued as if he didn't hear the last part of what the badgerlord said. "In 'Game of Armies and Kingdoms' there is one piece called the Mountain Defender," – Baro held up the stone game piece and Baro could see that the stone was carved to look just like a small mountain fortress, "The Mountain Defender is an incredibly hard piece to conquer, but after many seasons of playing, I've figured out that if you make sure that the Mountain Defender doesn't get help from any other allied pieces, then you can simply cut it off and keep throwing your worthless pieces at it until it finally falls."
Baro Steelclaws' eyes glanced down at the game piece, then back up to Lord Rockfur. "I'm sure that you understand what I'm talking about, Lord Rockfur."
"I do," Rockfur replied. Slowly he swung his broadsword, as he added, "But I will never surrender my mountain to you or any other vermin scum, so you're just wasting your time by giving me empty threats."
The wolverine emperor sighed. "I was afraid you were going to be difficult. But I that's the way –
Baro was suddenly interrupted as a large crow – one of Baro's scouts – dove out from the sky and landed next to him with a loud squawk. "Crah! Hare-beasts are leavin' th' mountain place!" The large bird declared.
Baro shot a swift glance over at Lord Rockfur and his patrol of hares. "So," He mused, "you tried to sneak out some messengers while you distracted me, eh? Classical 'Game of Armies and Kingdoms' move. It's a pity that the hares you sent will never complete their patrol!" The wolverine let out a savage roar and grabbed his large sword that he had close to paw.
"Spear wall!" Lord Rockfur ordered, and the three-score hares immediately sprang into action. The first two lines of hares held their pikes and spears forward as the archer-beasts behind them let out a quick volley of arrows.
Ten or so of the vermin guards in the front were cut down by arrows as they charged the grim lines of hares.
"Long Patrol to me!" Rockfur shouted. He knew that if they stayed out in the open too long, that the rest of the vermin horde would come crashing down on them. "Fall back! Retreat to the mountain! Keep shooting your arrows at them!"
Regular hares are known for their remarkable speed, but Rockfur had picked only the best of the best to come with him, so when the Badgerlord gave the order to retreat, they bolted off, still keeping ranks and shooting bows. A feat which normal hares would find extremely difficult.
As some of the ermine soldiers leapt forward to chase them, Baro stopped them dead in their tracks with a loud shout, "Stay where you are! They have nowhere to go."
Blue-Eyes – who had so far kept silent through the whole meeting – gave the wolverine emperor a questioning look. "Why not just send your ermine after them? They might get lucky and kill a few of those hares, or even the badger?"
Baro shook his head. "No. Those Long Patrol hares are far more superior then any of our soldiers. I want them almost on the brink of starvation before I send my army against them in a frontal assault. After all, we outnumber them at least ten to one!"
Blue-Eyes glanced over to Lord Rockfur and his troops. The weasel noticed that they were already too close to the mountain's gate for anybeast to catch up with them before they reached it.
"'Never underestimate your enemies strength,' that's what King Bloodfur always says," Blue-Eyes stood and stared at the mountain, "Now that we've started, there's no turning back. The battle for Salamandastron has begun."
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End of Book I: The Warlord Watches.
Footnote: I've divided this story into three separate parts so, The Grey Warlord: Book I: The Warlord Watches has ended. Book II should be out by next week. Happy reading, everyone!