Author Note:

Waycaster:

As for the battering ram, I agree with you that there are definitely far better war machines out there. However, the mountain *does* have a right to be afraid. After all, *I'm* their author. Anything can happen. Mwhahaha! :P

And as for Brewster's U turn… Lol, yeah, I think I most likely wrote those lines at two seperate times. :P

I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter!

Happy writing to you!

000000000000000

ABOARD THE GUTKEEL

The sunlight peeking in through the cabin window woke Broge from his slumber. The shrew rubbed his eyes with his paw and yawned. Then suddenly, he jerked up into a sitting position.

"Fates be praised!" he said aloud to himself, "The blasted storm is finally over!"

After the Gutkeel had managed to slip away from Terramort, a storm had come howling down from the west without warning, driving the ship on with its mighty winds. If any corsair ships had tried chasing the Gutkeel, it would have become almost impossible for them to find them in the raging waves.

Now, however, after four days, the storm had finally left.

Abe Hardspike waved a friendly paw to Broge as he came out of the captain's cabin.

"Ahoy there!" the hedgehog called, setting down the mop that he had been using to scrub the deck. "That was quite the storm we had, eh?" He smirked.

"Aye," Broge nodded. He sighed as he breathed in the fresh air. "Seen Sharpblade around?" he asked. "I've been meaning tae talk tae him."

"Still sleeping, I think."

"Okay, thanks. I'll go get 'im."

On the morning of the second day of their voyage, there had been a brief scuffle over who was going to be in charge while they were on the Gutkeel. Many of the former oar slaves weren't eager for the idea of Slashblade being the leader -even though he had the most experience sailing out of them all. Some of the slaves weren't prepared to take orders from a vermin, no matter how much the others vouched for his loyalty to the cause.

In the end, they had taken a vote and it was decided that Broge was the captain. After all, they had reasoned, he was the beast they looked up to on land, why not on the sea as well? However, Broge had insisted that Slashblade be made the first mate.

The scarred shrew went below deck. Slashblade had taken to sleeping in the first mate's quarters.

He knocked on the door.

"Buzz off," Slashblade mumbled irritatedly from the other side of the door. "I'm tryin' t' sleep."

"It's Broge," the shrew replied. "I need tae talk tae ye. The sea's calmed since last night."

A few brief moments later, Broge could hear sounds of movement as Slashblade got out of bed with a groan. The stoat opened the door and came out, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

Broge indicated for the vermin to follow him up the stairs. The two creatures went into Broge's cabin, and the shrew spread a map out on the table.

"Ye've had more experience about seafaring then most o' us," Broge explained, tapping his claw on the map. "How far would ye say are we from land?"

The stoat squinted his eyes. "Hmm. It's hard t' say. Mebbe a few days off the West Coast, mebbe closer. I'd have t' study the charts a bit fer a better guess."

Broge nodded. "Okay. Let me know when ye're done. I'll give ye some room tae work. I was going down tae check on the larder, want me tae fetch ye any vittles?"

"A nice cup o' seaweed grog would hit th' spot, thanks" the stoat replied. "An' maybe some fresh biscuits too, with some nice strawberry jam if there's any."

"Strawberry jam? On a pirate ship?"

Slashblade sniffed. "Of course, why wouldn't there be? Vermin like t' eat well just as much as woodlanders, don't y' know?"

Broge rolled his eyes. "I'll see what I can find."

000000000000000

NORTH DUNES

Lord Nightwrath held up a paw and the company behind him grounded to a halt.

"We'll rest here for the time being and wait for the scouts to report back."

Elmblade and a couple of moles had gone ahead a day ago. So far, there had been no sign of them.

The mole warriors obeyed the new order, gratefully plopping onto the ground as they rested their footpaws.

Rones took a swig from his canteen then smacked his lips.

"Mmm. I don't know when plain ol' water tasted so good," he said, handing the canteen to Rosebud. "Here ye go, Lassie."

The band had made a makeshift bridge from dead logs once the river narrowed enough, then crossed over onto the south bank. Nightwrath had explained that there was a swamp on the north side, one filled with cannibal reptiles, and said that he wanted to avoid them altogether if possible.

The female shrew sipped slowly, mindful not to drink too fast. She wiped a paw across her mouth when she was done. "I'll be glad when we catch up with those slavers," she said. "All this walking isn't doing wonders for my poor footpaws." She wiped sweat from her forehead. "I guess Nightwrath is waiting for Elmblade 'n' the scouts tae report back afore we press on, right?"

"Aye, I think so." Rones stood up. "Let's go ask him."

The badger was talking with Zartac, Axburr, and Dunagan. Nightwrath had talked a lot with the former hedgehog slave ever since he had escaped from Bertvar's gang. Dunagan had told him all he knew about Bertvar's slave trade business.

Nightwrath looked up as Rones and Rosebud came walking up to him.

"Ah, Rones, Rosebud. What can I do for you?"

Rosebud replied, "We were wondering if any o' the scouts returned yet?"

The badger shook his head. "They haven't. I'm going to guess that Bertvar will have a ship waiting for him on the coast, either to sell the slaves to the captain, or to transport them elsewhere. It wouldn't make sense otherwise. Why would he head to the sea after all if not to cross it? Whatever the case, I'm not prepared to follow them across the sea."

"How can ye say that?" Rosebud demanded, her paws on her hip. "We can't have gone this far for nothing! Tragg 'n' Flugg are countin' on us!"

"I'm afraid that there's nothing I could do," Nightwrath replied. He held up a paw, forestalling Rosebud's retort. "However, I'm sure that either the Rogue Crew or the Long Patrol would be willing to help. My moles aren't exactly fond of water, so we wouldn't be very much help unless we were on land, anyways. But don't worry, we might be able to catch them before they reach the sea."

An hour or so later, Elmbalde and two mole scouts reported back in. The moles were sent to Lord Nightwrath, but Elmblade was allowed a few minutes respite with his friends.

"What did ye find?" Rones asked Elmblade. "Have we closed the gap at all?"

The squirrel paused from wolfing down a chunk of nut bread, a gift from the head mole cook, and looked up.

"Ach… I'm not sure." He wiped his mouth with his jacket sleeve. "We found tracks on the southern shore, just past a bunch of wicked looking rapids, which means that Bertvar's gang left the boats and struck out south for some reason. But what's really confusing is the tracks themselves."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rosebud scratched her headfur.

Elmblade shrugged. "It's kinda hard tae explain. We'll 'ave tae see what Nightwrath makes o' it all first."

A short while later, Axburr came over to Rones, Rosebud, and Elmblade, and told them that Lord Nightwrath wished to see them.

"The vermin seemed to be headed to Salamandastron," the badger told them. "Instead of following their tracks directly, we'll march toward the mountain. It'll be quicker, and hopefully we'll close the distance between us."

"But why in fur's name would the vermin head tae Salamandastron o' all places?" Rones asked with disbelief. "They couldn't be that stupid. There must be some sort of mistake. Why would they do something like that?"

"My mole scouts believe that, guessing from the tracks, the slaves are actually in a separate group, which could mean anything, really, though I have my suspicions. But I'll wait until I've seen more. If we do happen to arrive at the mountain, and the vermin aren't there, we should be able to get help from the Badger Lord. I've heard that Rockfur's a noble warrior. He'll surely help."

"What if the vermin are long gone by then?"

"Then they're gone I guess. I'm sorry, but what do you expect me to do? I'm doing my best. Once we're at the mountain, things will fall on the mountain's ruler to help you since this is his territory."

He nodded to Zartac and Axburr.

"Gather the troops. Let's be off."

000000000000000

SALAMANDASTRON

All of the early wakers in the mountain were in the Mess Hall, wanting to get first dibs at breakfast, before all of the other creatures woke up.

Lord Rockfur was talking with Chief Askarr Bonecrusher, along with Keva and Baglarr, when Private Eric came running into the hall, his feet making a padding sound as they hit the ground.

"Sah! Sah!" The hare's chest was heaving as he skidded to a halt in front of his Badger Lord.

"What is it?" Rockfur rumbled, "What's the matter?"

Waiting a few moments to catch his breath, Private Eric babbled out, "Sah, it's the vermin! They've built some massive machine of some sort and are headin' our bally way!"

The hall was instantly filled with an uproar at the hare's words. Sea otters, Long Patrollers, and slave refugees who had been waiting for breakfast began to run about. The warriors gathered their weapons.

Lord Rockfur had immediately left the hall, Chief Askarr and a small group of otter and hare warriors right behind him, trying to keep up with his long strides.

"Officers!" The Badger Lord boomed from over his shoulder, "Prepare your squads! Fortify the crater! Somebeast find Colonel Brewster, tell him to gather the refugees so that we can keep them all together, and make sure they're safe. I'll be at the main gate!"

"We're comin' with ya!" Askarr said, gripping his axe eagerly. "If there's a chance for me 'n' my lads to poke the vermin in the nose, then we'll want to be there!"

00000000000000

Tragg and the rest of the woodlanders were awakened as a small group of hares came in and began to wake the sleeping creatures who were still asleep.

"W-what's going on?" one of the smaller voles asked.

"We're under attack," one of the Long Patrollers said aloud to the confuzed creatures, "Don't worry, please try to remain calm. Everythin' is under control. We are simply movin' everybeast to another location."

"But why?" A scarred otter asked, glancing fearfully around the room, "Aren't we safe here? Why would you move us if everythin' is shipshape?"

The hare held out his paws as the panicked murmurs began to increase.

"We're moving all of the non-combatants to the same place, so that it'll be easier to keep track without a bunch of beasts running about underpaw. I repeat, there is no need to be alarmed."

All the beasts were led out into the hallway, where an officer was attempting to organize them as well as he could.

Tragg caught sight of Flugg and Tilda talking, and he made his way through the crowd to them.

"I guess I'm staying." Tilda smiled slightly. "I couldn't leave you two to have all the fun of fighting off the vermin without me, could I?"

"That's great!" Tragg grinned at Flugg as he elbowed his cousin jokingly in the ribs. "With the three of us together those vermin will be running with their tails between their legs!"

"Let's go ask that badger for some fancy weapons then, eh?" Flugg rubbed his paws together.

000000000000000

Blue-Eyes had to admit, there were a few elements to Baro's plan that he thought were fairly clever.

Baro had emptied several of his ships of their oar slaves. He chained the woodlanders together and was using them to haul his weapon. When dawn had arrived, the hare sentries became aware of the activity on the shore close to the mountain's gates, they had hesitated to release arrows on them, for fear of accidentally hitting their fellow woodlanders.

The Smasher was a great battering ram, made of wood with a thick metal cap on the end. It was suspended in the air with chains. All four of its wheels were ridged with iron teeth. The slaves and the vermin pushed it along a track -a simply made one of flat wooden planks. Both the tracks and the Smasher had been constructed beforehand, but had been taken apart and rebuilt.

The combined forces of mercenaries, corsairs, and Snowlanders were assembled. Two-thirds of the entire force was absent. They had been deployed to the north and west of Salamandastron's base, surrounding it. If everything went as planned, they would attempt to swamp the crater top from all sides, while the ram did its work on the gates.

"Looks like our dear friend has decided to join the party," Blue-Eyes said aloud to Hookarm, pointing up at the distant shape of Lord Rockfur. The Badger Lord could be seen surveying the creatures below from one of the windows above the gates.

"Harhar! Aye," Hookarm agreed. Grinning, he drew his cutlass and pointed it in the badger's direction. "Ahoy there, Stripey!" he called, "How's th' view?"

"You know that he can't hear you, right?" Blue-Eyes asked, giving his companion a deadpan look.

"Of course 'e can't." The searat grinned. "If he could, then I wouldn't 'ave called 'im Stripy. Ye can never be too careful with badgers…"

Blue-Eyes simply rolled his eyes in reply.

There was an unnaturally loud whistling sound, and the two corsairs looked up to see an arrow flying through the air to land onto a patch of empty sand.

"That's the first signal," Blue-Eyes said, unsheathing his rapier. "It won't be long now. When the flags are raised, all Hellgates is going to break loose."

000000000000000

Lord Rockfur gazed out at the Smasher from the window, his eyes narrowing.

"Major Phillip," he said, "Gather a score of beasts and barricade the gates with anything you can find. I don't know if that monstrosity will actually be able to break through, but I'm not taking any chances. I'll be up on the crater."

"I'll take some beasts with me and help defend the gates," Keva said to Askarr, "We'll keep those buggers out."

"Good lass," Askarr said, embracing his daughter. "I'll take the others and go with Rockfur. Come up an' join us when the gates are secure, eh?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Keva grinned, shrugging her bow off her shoulder. "Besides, there'll be a lot of targets that need hitting –moving ones."

000000000000000

Amber clutched her spear's shaft tightly as she stared down at the vermin gathered below. Her nose twitched. She and the other cadets had been stationed on the far side facing the sea, but she could still see the vermin from her position. They were rather hard to miss after all.

"Lots of the bloody scoundrels, eh wot."

She looked up to see Colonel Brewster's smiling face. The old hare patted her shoulder and said aloud to the other soldiers gathered on the wall, "But we'll give 'em a licking they won't forget! Ain't that right chaps?"

A scattered cheer went up.

"What was that?" Brewster yelled, pretended to clear out his ear. "Did you all say something? Speak up for pudding's sake! Will we beat those vermin cads or not?"

"Yes, Sah!" the hares all shouted as one.

Brewster winced at the volume. His eyes moistened and he brushed away a stray tear. No matter how many battles he'd help command, the thought of losing any of his cadets left a pit in his stomach. All he could do was prepare them as best he could for what lay ahead."That's more like it! Keep calm, chaps, the Long Patrol is a hard nut to crack, as the vermin are about to find out."

The colonel paced the lines of beasts, offering bits of encouragement here and there, especially to any wet-behind-the-ear cadets, or beasts who he knew had never fought before.

The otter and hare warriors stared down at the vermin below. The vermin, in turn, stared at their commanders. Both sides were waiting. Nobeast knew if they would be the one to survive and live to celebrate their victory, or if they would be one of the many beasts who would die this day.

And then there was the sound of two arrows, both whistling as they shot across the sky. The vermin commanders who heard them ordered their flag bearers to raise their pennants and flags, the movement spread to the other vermin companies as they passed on the signal.

A single horn blared, and the vermin soldiers surged forward, screaming out war cries and brandishing weapons. They ran up the mountainside, some falling to the defenders' arrows, their bodies ignored as their companions jumped over them.

"Hold your positions, chaps!" Brewster yelled. "Here they come!"