Chapter 28

It was done and over with, Martin and his band of warriors had fought off thecevil and freed the slaves, all that was left was to burn down the wretched fortress. The freed slaves, built a huge fire to chuck the vermin's corpses in while they buried their dead. As Martin and Raygo helped dig the graves for their comrades, Amalgan and Celesta were throwing the dead bodies of the vermin in the fire. Watching as the flames cooked away the vermins' fur and flesh. A pair of voles who were slaves to the wildcats and their evil horde brought out Zyantu.

"'Ere's another one fer the fire."

"Wait!" shouted Martin. Running towards the voles about to lob the fox into the fire.

"This one gets buried with our comrades who were slain."

"What, why?" asked the vole.

"Because if it wasn't for him, we would be here and you would still be slaves to the wildcats," responded Martin. Martin helped the voles carry the fox's carcass and Martin resumed digging with Raygo. The hot summer son beat down upon the warriors and former slaves' faces. Raygo handed Martin a canteen of water, in which the Warriormouse gladly accepted. Taking a few glups of the refreshing liquid, Martin handed back the canteen and resumed his work. The first grave he dug was for Elkor, his best mate. Raygo's was his for his father. Hamlus and another hedgehog brought the corpse of Saudan.

"Here's another one!" he grunted as the dead old one's body sagged. A pair of squirrels brought the body of Shavana out and tossed it into the fire, and finally they undid the breastplate from Wraythan and tossed the dead wildcat Warlord into the fire. The surviving vermin were all in a line, sweating profusely as Martin and Amalgan marched up and down the line.

"Listen here, you vermin. You have been living a life of cowardice, evil, and troublemaking. Time to atone for what you have done. You will leave this place, and never come back, lead a life of peace and prosperity. As soon as I hit this shield with my sword, you all must leave. The vermin who staggers behind or tries to fight back, they will be slain."

Martin bashed away at the shield.

Bwom! Bwom! Whom!

The surviving vermin ran like as if demons were nipping at their tails. The surviving corsairs boarded their ship, only to be welcome to the freed slaves.

"Get them!" shouted the dormouse. The slaves overcame the remaining corsairs. They tied them up and marched them to lower deck, where they would row their slaves back to their home. Martin, Hamlus, and Raygo saw the Redlyon hoist anchor and set sail.

"Right, now all that is left is to burn this wretched place down. Everybeast, grab a torch and light this place up."

All the freed slaves and all the warriors who helped them escape each lit a torch. Dango raised a heavy digging claw in the air.

"Oan moi com'and, throw yer torchees, ready, throw!"

Everybeast threw their torch at the stone walls, timber, and palace. The entire place went up in a blaze. Martin stayed behind to watch the fortress burn away. Hamlus, Raygo, Amalgan, and Celesta joined him. Martin watched as the fiery blaze roasted Fortress Blakkhart, the Warriormouse turned to his fellow colleagues and nodded to them.

"Let's go on home," he said. Everybeast that stayed behind to watch the fortress burn followed behind Martin. One of them was a fat old squirrel. The old one took an elegant bow in front of Martin.

"Hello, Martin, is it? My name is Gladetail and I am the Chieftain of a little hidden village. Come, in honor of you rescuing me and my creatures, we shall prepare a coming home feast!"

"Thanks, sir. I am a bit famished," replied Martin. The trip to the village was half a day's march, but eventually, the warriors, and former slaves had made it to the village, unfortunately for Martin it was a horrible sight, but he knew it was Wraythan and his horde's fault for making it look like that. The old squirrel chuckled nervously.

"Sorry, Martin. It has been seasons since we've been home, but luckily se have squirrels, moles, and otters to help us out, eh?" he said. Martin smiled and nodded.

"Oh yes, very much so," he replied.

"Good, now let's see if our cook can still make decent grub, after all, we were slaves for ten seasons."

Martin's eyes widened with surprise.

"Ten seasons? Nobeast should be slave to another for that long!" he exclaimed. Gladetail nodded in agreement.

"Aye, but if'n you hadn't come around, we might have been there for an extra ten," said Gladetail, "righto, let's get cooking."