A/N: I have no excuse for my long absence. Not really. I knew there was trouble when I started putting this chapter off like it was a sink full of dishes. And what happens when I avoid writing? I avoid everything that reminds me of the responsibility I hold towards you - the reader. That includes the other writers, the reviews I've gotten, and just... everything in general. I'm very very sorry to all of you that took the time to publish your words and got no response from me. I really am and that was selfish of me.

From here on out, though, nothing but clear skies. For those of you that I neglected, you will get a message from me in the next two days in the form of either a review or review reply. Now, you will see that I clearly struggled with writing this chapter but go ahead and review it fairly. I am comfortable with putting my name on this chapter but I really don't think it's anywhere close to my best. Either way, here it is...

But not without special thanks to all of the past reviewers: Free Thought, Professor-Evans, WildIvy15, Blackish, Anonymous Human, Airan's Enigma, Quaver Ava, Bladesniper13, and Cairn Destop. Even specialer thanks to Free Thought for nagging me about updating and for helping me make this week's chapter passable. :)


Tangle

"Every man carries a shadow; not his body only, but its imperfectly mingled spirit. This is his grief. Let him turn which way he will, it falls opposite to the sun; short at noon, long at eve. Did you ever see it?" - Henry David Thoreau


I woke up.

The wash of blue told me it was just dawn. The wood-and-straw ceiling was blank and bare. I looked to my side and saw that I was somewhere higher off the floor. It seemed that the runt and guppy gave me the cot. Speakin' of those two, a huge lump o' breathing blankets on the ground by the door. Inlo. And against the wall, Rall was snoozin' like the useful beast he was.

No spirits, no Keetch, no eerie silence, no creature sniffing around the ground to grind my mind t'bits.

My fur felt sticky, my eyes stung when I blinked, my cheeks and nose throbbed, my mouth was parched with a touch o' blood, but I had worse mornings.

At the very least, I wasn't in any danger. But as safe as I was, Keetch was somewhere out there battling against the shadows and the demented thing that would scarf down his soul. My last sight of him he was beggin' for my help and, for the first time, real afraid for himself. He'd probably never been so frantic... not since we lost Marko.

I squeezed my eyes shut and gulped, wondering if I was just losin' my mind or if it was all some kinda sick dream. But I had a throbbin' feeling in my gut that it was real.

The second I sat up I felt like hucking out everything left inside o' me. The insides of my neck felt like a twisted, sticky dishrag. Syruppy sweat dribbled down my face. I groaned and put a paw to my head as I shoved my footpaws down and pushed m'self to stand. I only staggered two steps before I gripped a nightstand for balance. The thing wobbled under my weight and its legs clattered with the floor. The sound was enough for the dozin' mongrel.

"Miss Miria!" The runt was already trippin' over his blankets to get at me. I waved him off and regained my balance, tottering over to my pack and spear.

"I need to get outta here." I nearly puked when I knelt for my things. My pack felt like it was loaded with boulders and my spear felt too big for my grip.

"What?" Rall was also getting to his footpaws. "What are you doing up?"

"You must rest," Inlo insisted.

"Get outta my way," I growled, pressing all my weight against the door before the lousy thing finally juttered open. I was free, but there was a scramble of pawsteps behind me. First was Inlo's gait, heavy and booming and especially slow when goin' through the door. Rall came close behind and I heard his fancy little belt buckle clacking as he fumbled to put it on.

"Miria!" he called. "Just hold it for a second!"

The host mouse family opened the door ahead of me and stepped out only for me to shove 'em back inside. They had nothing to do with it. It was between me and the nightmare boiling inside Verdill. No Inlo, no Rall. Once again, it was just me and Keetch.

I felt my strength returning and my heart started to thrum faster'n'faster. I pummeled my way through the front door and out into the open. The air clung to my fur and weighed me down, the orange sunlight spilled over the quiet sky, and I felt so out of breath and so, so cold. I had barely made it ten paces when my paws shook and my teeth chattered while my insides turned to jelly.

"You must stop!" Once free of the crammed hallways and doorframes, Inlo was quick as lightin'; or, at least, he seemed that way to my dizzy sight. He barred my way and I tried to walk 'round him. Where it took me three steps, he had to take one step to match. I coulda gotten through 'im if I was at my best but it was like my brains were jammed with cotton.

The only thing gettin' through my head were Keetch's words. You have to leave!

I had to leave. I had to.

"Miria."

I whirled and saw Rall standing behind me, arms akimbo in a fake look of peace. I knew that stance, though. The hares did it when they had me cornered on the island. Well I got caught once and I wasn't gettin' caught again.

"Don't try to stop me!" I snarled. By the way I got my beating last night, my face was gruesome enough that even a smile would make him wet his pants.

"Nobeast is trying to stop you," the runt rumbled behind me.

I whipped my head back to face him and held my chin up. "Then why are you blockin' me?" My throat felt raw and my lungs shriveled like raisins.

"We worry," Inlo explained, taking a step back. "You are wounded and..."

"Just lemme out!" I raved, waving my spear and pack in the air with all my might. "I don't have time to muck around like this!" I feigned a lunge and Inlo stepped back, whimpering with his tail flopping on the ground.

"Miria!" Rall yelled. "Just stop and talk to us. We'll-"

"Just calm down!" I yowled. "Everybeast calm the hell down!" The guppy just gaped at me while the villagers began appearing out of their doorsteps. With my pack's strap at my left elbow, I slammed my palm against my chest and held my spear up with my right paw. "I jis' wanna leave. Is that such a big problem?"

Silence.

I glanced around and my eyes burned every time I blinked. There, standin' off to the side, Verdill was gawking around with the rest of the crowd. His jaw was moving but nobeast paid any attention to him. That time, I was the ravin' lunatic.

If only they coulda seen what I saw.

The black tendrils were all around him, some wrapped around his neck and some stroking his cheek. A set of paws appeared out of the dark figures - long, twisted, skinny things wrapped in black velvet. Worst of all was the giant, black-toothed grin that sprouted from behind Verdill's ear. The cracked, laughing lips moved, whispering evil things... things that made the hedgehog drool while his eyes bugged out.

I wanted to scream at the crowd. I wanted to scream at them to open damn their eyes and I didn't realize there were tears until I felt the droplets on my footpaws. I didn't stop to wipe my face or anything. My paws shook too much and I thought I'd choke on my breath. Keetch was out there somewhere, maybe even torn to pieces and all I could do was cry.

"I'm going to leave!" I heaved, swiping my spear so that everybeast could hear it cut the air. "I'm gonna leave and I'll kill anyone who tries to stop me. That means you, runt!"

I swerved around Inlo and that time he didn't dare block me. My shoulders were shaking and all I could think about was Keetch. Was there a reason why I hadn't seen or heard him after I woke? If he was gone, would I ever know it? Would there be some gut feeling that something was missing? Or would I go on, always seein' him in the corner of my mind only for it to be a regular dream or just my imagination?

What would it be like without him?

To be completely alone?

A putrid stream marked the very edge of the village and I sloshed right through it. I didn't care if the water splashed over the hem of m' tunic and I didn't stop when I slipped. I didn't even have time to curse when my footpaw and knees stung with every step. I charged on 'til my breath ran ragged and torn, 'til my legs were gonna crumple or turn to useless dough, when sweat and tears and snot dribbled down my face like a blasted waterfall.

Is he safe? I wondered. Did I do enough?

Keetch was always been around. My brother was always his favorite but that skinny vermin never stopped lookin' out for me. If he was gone then what would I do with m' scummy life? What'll be left of Marko? Of my damn parents?

"Miria!" The guppy's shrill, naggy voice echoed out behind me.

"Miss Miria!" rang Inlo's call. I looked behind me and saw the bloodtrail that traced my way back. They came in little broken spiderthreads of crimson, each step stamped with sloppy liquid lacework on the ground. Huh! Even a mole could'a followed it without a problem.

"Miria!"

I saw Inlo bounding up to me first. The packs strapped to his back made him look like some barbaric mountain and I swear I could'a felt the ground shake from his fat weight. I turned away before he could see my face and kept on hobblin' along.

"You bleed!" His voice practically landed right on top o' me. The runt swooped in front of my face and pinned my arms tight to my sides. If I was well I would'a sliced him in two. I had to keep going.

"Lemme go!" I howled, kicking my legs as I thrashed around. "Lemme go! You! Don't! Under! Stand!" He was some poor kid that had a pike on the end o' his fishin' line. His eyes bulged but the scare made him grip me even harder. I had to keep going.

"Miria!" Rall snuck up behind me and grabbed hold of my legs. I tried to catch him in the snout but he got away with it. I screamed and gnashed my teeth and threatened to shove my spear down their throats. I even sank my teeth onto Inlo's arm but he barely even flinched as they forced me to sit on a log. They were going to ruin everything.

"Hold still! I said hold still!" the guppy ordered.

"No!"

"Your leg is wounded!" Inlo, empty-headed as ever, still blurted the obvious. "Be still!" I struggled even harder when Rall circled one arm around my ankles to fish around his pack. That fight didn't get me anywhere, though. I was exhausted and my head felt like it was being drowned in a keg of grog. Keetch was gonna die.

Both of my so-called companions were killing me. Inlo held me on his lap, wrapping me in a disgusting hug like I was some tantrum toddler. Rall, on the other paw, knelt in front o' me while fussing over the tiny little cuts on my knees and footpaw. The damn villagers didn't even know how t'make their streams safe. I hoped a bunch o' them drowned in that knee-deep water.

"You gotta lemme go," I panted, struggling with twice the effort and half the heart. It only lasted a second, but it was enough to jostle the cloth Rall'd pressed on my pretty little scrape. "Please."

"Be still, be still," Inlo soothed. His breath felt hot and sticky in my ear.

"You idiots!" I said behind clenched jaws. "It's a matter of life and death."

"What life?" asked the runt. I wanted to tell him. I wanted to just shout everything. But they wouldn't believe me. They'd just call me a loon like the villagers did Verdill. Hell! Even I wondered if I'd snapped.

"Let me walk and I'll tell ya."

"No," the wolf replied evenly.

As for stinking Rall, the otter just kept to his work, makin' a fine tangle outta the bandages while he saw to my ankle. I could only watch as the white fabric folded over the cut so that red bloomed over it. The wound was only half the length of my finger and just about the same width. That was a lot of blood for a tiny cut. He wrapped another layer of bandage right on top of it, so I couldn't see how much blood anyways. My scrapes were double the size of coins but they were shallow at least. All the while, I struggled and cursed and threatened and worked to hold back the wave of vomit buildin' up behind my throat. The only thing distractin' me from unleashing my stomach was the mincing pain of bandages tightening in knots.

"Now that you've calmed down," Rall said, finally finished with those damn things, "I want t'know what in Seasons has gotten into ya."

My mouth was thick with nauseating spit - a sure sign of a good puke back on its way. I swallowed it down and grimaced at the aftertaste. "First, you let me go."

"No." For the first time, his green guppy eyes were serious and a little dangerous. A little.

"Then I won't talk," I bargained.

"Fine." He sat down on a log and plopped his elbows on his knees. "We can wait. But you don't look like you can - for whatever reason."

I struggled again but it was like being locked between two mucking boulders. "I don't have the time."

"Do you know who else doesn't have th' time for nonsense?" he asked coldly. "Me. I don't anymore."

"Oh boo-hoo!" I jeered, thrashing one more time for a last-ditch rebel act.

"D'ye know why?" he pressed. "Because I followed you into this fool's quest and besides plodding along and dodging snaps from ya, I have to go explain to villagers why you went bonkers in the middle of a feast. Inlo and I had to convince 'em to let it go. Great Seasons! How'd you even survive on your own?

"And after all their generosity, you go blow it off on some deranged rampage," he said. "You don't deserve any favors. The villagers do. But since we're outta their fur and they're all the jolly better for it, I think you owe me'n Inlo the truth for dragging your sorry rudder out of last night's scrap."

It was faster just t'get the truth out. But what if they thought my mind'd gone broke? They could drag me back to the village so I could 'rest up' and get my head back together. No better way to doom Keetch. But still, the truth was maybe the boot to the rump that would get us as far away from the village as fast as possible. Or it could get me wound up in some confinement.

I swallowed back a scream of curses. They wanted somethin' interesting to listen to? Fine. Fine!

To hell with it all. Me, Keetch, Brink, all of them, and all of it.

"There's a ghost back there," I blurted. Both of 'em might as well have been made of stone.

"It stays with the damn hedgehog," I continued, just t'be clear. "That's why he's he's gone mad. Anybeast'd go mad if they had to live with that slimy, black thing." I'd never breathed a word about spirits to anyone before. Not to Kilmar, not to anyone. Hell, when we were brats Marko'd keep his mouth shut about Keetch unless he was with me. As much as I didn't hate my brother, even I thought he was a little looney.

Rall looked at the space above my head where Inlo's face'd be.

"Well?" I stressed. It was all out in the open now - some o' it, anyways.

"Ghosts like Martin the Warrior?" the otter asked, clampin' a sweaty paw over the red pommel of his sword.

"Seen 'im once," I admitted.

"To see the spirits!" the wolf marveled. With the back of my head pressed against his chest, I felt every syllable rumbling through his windpipe before he said 'em. "It is a gift!"

"Oh, shove a spear through your tail!" I scowled. "It's no walk o' daisies and perfumes and lace. It's a nightmare. Now lemme go or I get the gift of seeing that ghost again." There was another pause.

"Miria, what did Martin-"

"NOW!" I hollered. The runt let go and I nearly fell on my face. I swiped my spear and pack off the ground and scrambled back on my footpaws.

"Miria!" asked the mighty warrior of ninnies. "What did Martin say to you?"

I trudged on. "He told me to use your sword," I said over my shoulder.

"For what?"

"For sticking it up your ass, is what!" I ran. Or at least, I tried to. I only got three steps in before that damn minnow barged in my path with a paw on the hilt.

"You're not leaving here without explainin'," he declared.

I rolled the spear shaft in my palm. "I'll gut you where you stand!"

"You don't even have the balance t'cross a bridge," he shot back, unsheathing his sword by a claw's length - just enough that the metal reflected the sunlight straight into my eyes. I blinked back and shook my head while I felt a dozen veins pop behind my eyeballs.

"Do you really want to face me right now?" he asked. I swiped my spear horizontally and he stepped back right as I cut a deep Z shape where his body oughta have been. My arms worked good 'nough but my legs and balance belonged to a drunken sailor. All it took was a kick to my shin to knock me on my knees so that I could spit outlast night's fourth-rate feast. Instantly, my mind cleared and I could think and see and feel with clarity. My face was all sore and busted up, but I was fine besides that mess.

My neck suddenly went cold and my skin twitched where the metal touched. I glanced up and saw Rall lookin' down his crinkled potato of a nose while he tickled my throat with his blade.

"Don't try to attack me," he said. "Ever."

"Friends!" Inlo yelped. "Peace!"

"I'm just surprised that it's the first time I tried." I set my footpaw down on the ground and braced my knee to push m'self back to a stand. Rall lifted his weapon and took a minced back to sheathe the glorified letter-opener. Just like that, the little prissy thought it was over. Well it was, but only 'cause I was tired of him.

"So what did Martin really say?" the guppy demanded.

I spun on my heel and started back down the path in a pace between a job and a fast walk.

The deranged duo kept up with their pestering. "What did he say?"

"What spirit do you run from?" the runt asked. "Why must we fear him?" I don't fear him. Keetch does. Did. Does? Dammit! There was nothing left. I had Marko once. Just Marko and I knew that if I just had him that I would survive. But he didn't just die. He flipping jumped to his death. And Keetch isn't just gonna disappear into the mist. He was gonna be held down and suffocated by shadows while the thing snacked on him, shearing chunks off'a him while the fox screamed and begged me to run faster.

Run faster.

If only those two morons...

"Then could you just explain-"

I wheeled upon them. "What else do you need to know?" I screamed. "I didn't ask ya to follow me. I don't want ya to follow me. I'm bolting from a bloody spirit that wants to eat souls. You don't like it? Then go find somebeast else to stalk!" I was panting by the time I was done; the guppy and runt just gawked at me, watching as I began to shake and that weird, disgustin' mix of sweat-tear-snot started greasing my face again.

There was a pause as big as both their brains put together. Then Inlo started flapping his jaws 'round. "I was only curious."

I didn't have anything to say to that. No more time to waste. I wheeled around and went down the road again, my footpaws and heartbeat racing with the thoughts of Keetch. And Marko. And Brink. And my parents. And Kilmar. And the island. And all the dead bastards in the world and where they were rotting in Hell.

If one of 'em stopped, I kept goin'. If I stopped, we all stopped. Only Rall and Inlo talked to each other when the speed was right or during my quick breaks. More things about Martin the Wart and all the beasts he'd nightmared into finding pearls and swatting crows and how he sent Keetch to the North to die - sent him up North to be crushed by a fallin' castle.

By the time the sun set we were already leagues away from the hop-trop village and the slobberers who called it home. I wanted to keep moving, I wanted to keep Keetch alive, but more than anything else, I wanted t'know if there was even a point to try anymore.

Only one way to find out.

"I'm going t'sleep," I announced. I found my corner twenty paces away from all their noise as I hunkered down to a sleep. I didn't feel like taking a doze, though. My heartbeat made sure of that. And if it wasn't for my pulse, the bumpkins were yammering to themselves as they tossed firewood together. Rall'd taken to the ghost thing real calm, but I guess if you live in a castle that really believes in a ghost mousie, a haunting wasn't much of a shock. And the runt? Seeing dead things was a gift? Then what the hell was a curse?

"You think she's really asleep?" Rall asked in a hushed voice. A beast could hear him a hundred paces away, but considerin' the size of his gob, I guess it was hushed. I kept my ears pricked and my back turned to 'em.

"May be."

A pause. "After all her puking and hysterics, I think she'd be tuckered out."

"She was eager for rest," Inlo agreed, huffing into the flames to 'breathe life into it'.

"You think her brain's turned to puddin'?" the guppy asked. The pot calling the kettle black.

"Miss Miria only sees spirits. There is no pudding in the brain."

"Wait a tick. Only sees spirits? Is that normal to you wolves?"

"It is a rare gift."

"Somebeast goes off her rockers, says a ghost is out t'get her, and you just believe it? Just like that?"

"Why do you still follow her with your doubts?"

Rall snorted something like a tough-sounding swear. "Naw, mate. I don't doubt the spirit of Martin is out there. I just don' think he'd show hisself to Miria before me."

"Is it because Miss Miria is not from Redwall?" he asked.

"Well..." the guppy struggled. "Not really. More like she's awfully prickly. She's not noble or kind or wise or anythin'," he clarified. "Nothing like the great warriors are supposed t'be."

"I see," Inlo drawled. "It is said that only the wisest creatures can see the other side. Miss Miria is many things but not wise. Experienced, maybe. But not wise beyond her time."

"So either she's a hero in disguise - a really good disguise - or she's some kook," Rall sighed. "Either way, she's had us fooled."

Huh. Hero or fool? I'm neither, but why ask the question when they both mean the same damn thing? I screwed my eyes so tight that my entire face scrunched up with 'em.

"Hey dungheads, my ears still work!" I snapped. A guilty, relieving silence happened and I squirmed a little bit to curl into a tighter ball. No matter what happened, Keetch needed to stay alive. If I could just reach him I could maybe heal his wounds. Did ghosts even bleed? I remembered dragging Marko's broken carcass out of the bottom of the well and stupidly wonderin' if he'd greet our parents with a bloody face. Keetch was definitely watchin' me then. He's always watching. But what was banging through his mind when Marko dove headfirst? Did ghosts even cry? If they did, was the vermin an exception?

"Miria!"

The next thing I knew, the snow fox was right on top of me and throttling me by the shoulders. "Miria!" he whispered, his eyes wide and wild. Dark tendrils slipped and slimed at the edges of his face, oozing shadows as some high-pitched squawk of a laugh echoed all around.

"Get up!" Keetch ordered, latching onto me like a flea. "Get-"

A single blink broke us off.

He was gone.

Everything was dark.

Gates! How long was I asleep? I was lying on my side with my neck against a rotting log. "Keetch?" I mumbled as I sat up, practically breaking m' sore neck as I glanced around the bleak dark forest. The campfire blaze was practically all I could see, though. Two shadow-filled figures sat in front of it, one large and one smaller. I squinted and put a paw up to block out its glare.

"Rall? Inlo?" I half-whispered.

The runt was the first to answer. "Yes?" My relief shriveled when my instincts caught up to me. Something was still out there. Keetch was still alive- I could still feel his dead paws clutchin' me by the shoulders. But there was something behind him- something close enough to touch him and us.

"Put out the fire!" I hurled a pawful of dirt at 'em but it was like powder in the wind. "Put it out!"

"Good Seasons," Rall cursed.

"But why-"

"I said put it out!" I raved, turning my back to the light and glaring at the surrounding shadows. "Who the hell knows what's out there?" Keetch knows. That monster knows.

"Wha'tre ya waiting for?!" I screeched. "Put it out!"

"If anybeast is out there, they're hearing your voice before they see the fire," Rall said in a scathing tone. "Now shaddup!"

"Come on! We're goin'!" I threw my rucksack on over my shoulder and grabbed my spear.

"We cannot walk the path," the runt squealed. "It is dark."

"Which is exactly why he'd come after us now!"

"Nothing's coming after us," Rall snapped. "It's all in your head."

"It's not!"

"At the rate we've been dashin' 'round by your orders, who's gonna catch up with us?" the otter said.

"What?" Good point.

He crinkled his nose. "Well that outburst at the feast must've knocked some of your brains out."

"I'm not crazy. We just need to keep mov-"

"No."

But he'll die. "But your Martin the Warrior tol' me-"

"There is no way that Martin would talk to you before he'd get t'me," he huffed.

I couldn't walk it alone. Not in the dark. Not in the bottomless, gathering, living dark. Keetch was snatched in my dreams. It took him from me and I didn't walk far enough. Not nearly far enough. "When've I ever asked for anythin'?" I demanded. "When, Rall? Please."

He clamped his mouth shut and I knew I'd won. That good feeling didn't last long, though. The monster made sure of that.

Twigs snapped in the distance. The hair on my neck pricked higher and higher with every crunching, lazy, thumping footfall. Branches rustled and Inlo's lips peeled back into a cruel snarl. My claws dug deep into my palms and I didn't feel my blood crawling down from their wounds. I inched closer to the fire where the others were. Rall stood up, unsheathing his sword in one quiet motion.

"Who's there?" he called. Then he whispered to Inlo, "What do you smell?"

The wolf swiveled his ears and dipped his nose higher into the air and away from the firewood. Somewhere out there, the bushes and branches crackled as loud as our campfire. Beyond the shadows of trees, a long pillar of darkness drew itself along the dirt ground and pointed straight at us.

"He's here," I gulped.

"Inlo?" the guppy's voice climbed higher with urgency. "What do you smell?"

"One beast," the wolf said through clenched fangs. "A villager... and..."

"And what?" Rall stressed.

"And..." Inlo breathed deep and ended up more agitated. "Something new." His tail bristled and burrowed itself between his legs. "It is not a good scent."

Out from the foliage, the bent and ragged figure pulled itself away from the wilderness. It didn't make him any less frightening. It didn't make him any more a woodlander. His back was hunched, leaves and branches were tangled in his spikes, the darkness threw itself over his face though we could still see that his snout was twisted and broken. He- it... held its arms out in front of him, his claws gnarled and half-curled like he was clinging on to an invisible boulder.

For such a stumpy thing, it had such a long shadow. Long and thin, like it was stretching out just t'touch us.

Rall spoke up, his sword nowhere close to its scabbard. "Do you need help, friend?"

"I-I want..." Its voice was small and sickly but that didn't help our nerves. "I want..." He raised a chipped claw. The shadow started swaying. Rall's gaze roved between the shadow and the stranger, shadow, stranger. He knew it and I knew it. It was unnatural. Our minds could see something wrong but we didn't know why it was off. Movement flickered in the corner of my eye. My own shadow was not my own.

And then I knew.

While Rall and Inlo's shadows cast away from the campfire light, the stranger's shadow stretched towards it without a single taper. My shadow? It stayed close to the fire, squirming as far away from the unnatural thing as it could. Keetch was alive, hiding behind me as he always did.

"What do you want?" Rall boomed.

"Speak!" Inlo snarled, ears flattening while his hackles rose even higher.

The creature didn't even flinch. Hell, I couldn't see his eyes but I was certain he didn't even blink. "I want," it rasped, "It's in her. I want her." The last word was clear as crystal. No mumbling, no whispering, no wheezing. It was the only time his voice was normal but that one tone set a chill washing through me.

"So hungry," it rattled. The hedgehog's bulky body lumbered forward, stumpy arms reaching out and groping the air. I saw his face. It didn't match. Tiny, sunken, beady eyes soaked in tears and fear. But the mouth- the mouth curled and twisted with rows of gnashing, rotting teeth.

His shadow led the way and I edged closer to the fire.

"Stay back," I yelled.

Rall and Inlo stepped towards the hedgehog. Eyes of terror, mouth of glee. I don't know if it was conscious or not, but they stayed clear of its shadow.

"Leave peacefully," the otter ordered.

"Or you die," Inlo finished, tail still tucked between his legs.

They might as well have not said anything. They might's well have not been there at all. It just kept its terrible eyes on me. It wouldn't listen. It would never listen. Not anymore. I gave my spear a little pop in the air, caught it in the throwing position, took aim, and swore under m'breath before hurling it straight towards the monster. But Verdill snarled and dashed forward, cutting the distance between us with impossible speed. The spear whistled past my ear and buried itself in the spot where the hedgehog was standing just a second ago.

The madbeast was racin' on all fours, his head lolling like his neck'd snapped. Slobber dribbled down his lips and his hungry teeth snared the empty air. "I want it!" he howled. "I want it I want it I want it!"

I clenched my jaws and raised my arms to block my chest and face. My legs moved on their own and I scrambled backwards. The possessed Verdill and his demon shadow were all I could see. Even when I kicked up the embers, I didn't even know I was in the fire until it was too late. The heat snapped at my leg like a hundred nails slapping into my flesh.

The madbeast was outta my thoughts as I screamed and stumbled to the side, landin' on my paws and knees. It was all shouts and snarls after that. Inlo stepped forward, smashing his knee into the creature's face. The normal thing would've been to squeal or clutch his head or even curse. It didn't even yelp. Like a spider, it bounced off its back and onto all fours, bounding toward Inlo with a wild grin too big for his face. Even the wolf fell back in fear, skittering backwards until the thing veered back to me.

I reached for the knife in my belt but I was too damn slow. It grabbed my arms with its vice grip and he collapsed on top of me, jaws snapping above my face as he went. "You can see!" he screeched, the blood on his ugly snout oozing onto my face. His jaw was broken and he shouldn't have been talking. "You saw!"

"Ge'rroff!" I screamed, flailing my limbs to beat him back. He was so heavy. It was like a giant rock sitting right on top of me and my arms of twigs. I was gonna snap and when I did, it was all over.

"Keetch!" I begged.

WHAAP!

A big, meaty sound. Verdill's limbs jerked like a puppet on strings and his eyes rolled back to their whites. His dead weight pitched forward on top o' me, changing direction when Rall yanked his sword outta the hedgehog's spine. The otter's mouth was wide in horror and both paws strangled the hilt.

"I-is he dead?" he asked stupidly. A ghost doesn't need t'be alive to attack. The next thing I knew, my knife was finally in my paw.

I plunged my blade deep into his skull.

A claw twitched.

His brains squelched as yanked the knife out and slammed it down into the back of his neck.

"Take-"

Stab.

"- this-"

Stab.

"- you-"

Stab.

"- crazy -"

"- muck-sucking -"

Stabstabstab.

"- bastard!"

I took the knife in both paws, held it over my head, and stuck him some more. And again and again and again and again and again and again-

"Miria! Stop!"

And again and again and again, cursing and yelling for the entire world to hear.

"Stop!" Strong, huge paws grabbed my wrists and I tried to wrench free before they pried the knife from me. My paws didn't know what t'do after that. They just grabbed my knees and refused to let go even when the blood pooled all around my legs and singed bandages. I was breathing so hard that I couldn't think. If it makes sense, I was breathing so fast that I couldn't breathe.

Something dark began to swell and ebb around the carcass's mouth. I sat and stared, heaving air through my lungs as I tried to understand what I was watchin'. The stuff eeked out slowly, a thin tendril snaking out of the dead thing's nostrils like a blind worm. I was frozen on the spot and the two idiots with me didn't even notice it. The shadow squirmed, seeking something. Seeking life. I inched away slowly, careful not to make any sudden moves.

The fire crackled behind me, throwing copper light onto the figure, making him grow and shrink with every flicker. Then I noticed another thing emerge, that time from my own shadow. The blobbish shape merely grew, twining until it found its way to the dying enemy, stretched itself out like a gaping mouth, and engulfed it, bulgin' as it swallowed the pathetic thing.

After the hell the spirit'd put us through, he didn't even make it sound worth it. He went down the hatch without even a peep. No scream, no noise, no burp, no nothing. My shadow just shrunk back, folding itself neatly back to its right shape like it was slowly relaxing. Keetch. The one time he fought back and the battle was already done. I just hoped his little snack would give him diarrhea.

Speakin' of that, Rall was looking like he was just about to soil his rudder. His mouth kept flapping open and shut but no sounds came out, his fishy eyes were glazed more'n usual and his double-hold on his hilt was so loose that a toddler could'a disarmed him.

"Mister Rallbrook?" Inlo whispered. He just gaped at the dead body like it fell outta the flipping sky.

My turn. "Rall!"

That snapped him out of it. He looked at me with a blank, confused look. "I didn't mean t'kill him," he sniveled. The 'warrior' glanced back at his victim and shook his head. "I didn't."

"And I didn't mean t'stab him so much," I snorted, still working on getting my legs t'stop quivering. "No use for a squeamish swordsbeast."

"What is he?" Inlo asked as he inspected my handiwork. It looked like somebeast slathered bloody mashed potatoes all over his separated neck and shoulders. "He was... he was strange."

"Cut the tripe. He was the ghost I was talkin' about. The one I tried t'warn about before you called me crazy."

Rall, brilliant beast that he was, said, "But he's... very real..."

"Ghosts don't need t'be alive to kill." And you don't need spirits to drive ya mad either. "Ghost or not, he meant t'kill us. He had what was coming." I kicked the corpse in the ribs just in case.

"Stop it!" the fish-face snapped. "Don't you have any respect?"

"Respect? For a beast that tried to murder us? Do you hear yourself talk?"

The wolf stepped away from it, nose wrinkling with distaste. "Its strange scent... It's gone now. What must we do with the body?"

"He needs a proper burial," Rall decided. The look on my face spurred him to talk even more. "But it's not ours to give."

"No," I snorted. "You can't mean-"

"His sister cared about him," he pushed. "If not for him, then for her. She's a goodbeast and she needs this."

"So we just knock on her door and tell her what?"

"She will swear for our deaths," Inlo agreed. "We killed her flesh and blood."

"I killed him," he said, raising his blood-slicked sword like we needed proof. "I did the hard part. If she'll blame anybeast, it's me."

"And lose an entire day of travel? Just dandy! No wait- two! One to get back, another to trace our way back to this spot."

"Glad to see you can count," he retorted, shaking his head at the corpse. "And you two can go off on your own, but I'll carry him back and do everything myself if I have to. I c'n always catch up." We both knew he was bankin' on Inlo changin' his puny mind. And really, with the way the catfish's whiskers drooped almost as low as his tone, there was no way the runt was gonna turn him down. Cheap acting.

We argued for a long time, dressin' our wounds and grimacing at the gouging claw marks while we were at it. In the end, we knew we couldn't split up - not after that big spook. But Rall didn't budge and Inlo wouldn't bother takin' a side. Cripes, there was no reasonin' behind 'em. After all Rall's whining, I finally did what I had t'do to get him to shut up (besides stick my spear through his neck). We'd have t'drag the hog's fresh carcass back to that hell-pit of a hamlet, tell the slack-jaws what happened for all the village's wonderful little conveniences. Gates!

I couldn't tell if it was t'make the bumpkins feel better or to help Rall sleep at night.

It was his first kill, though. Probably the first death he saw. Why beasts felt guilt for this kind of scum, I didn't have a clue. But then again, I wouldn't know. I'd killed too many beasts to remember that feeling.


C/N: Finally! Now Jade can stop bothering me with this chapter and just mind her own business- or go bother some other poor schmuck. Either way, I don't care. That chapter was loooooong. Almost 7,000 words even without the author notes and character notes. Look, I'm tired and I don't want to deal with you clingy readers anymore. Just... type your complaints and leave 'em there for Jade to look over. If you don't do that, it's no skin off my nose. Now get lost.

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What're ya still doing here? What the hell do you want?

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You want to know when the next chapter's out, eh? It comes out when it comes out. Tough luck, get out.

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Fine, FINE! Thursday. Jade's gonna try updating Mondays and Thursdays to catch up.

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What?! Do you want my blood, too? Just. Get. Outta here!