Salamandastron
"Ach, this wee soup ain't 'alf bad!" called Hurqu, supping down his third bowl of hotroot.
The Rogue Crew otters laughed. "You haven't had a drink to cool your mouth off, how do you do it?" Krudeblade asked.
Guzzling a fourth bowl, the goat said, "Och, this is like water to me! Now back oop north we had the real stuff, more 'otroot then soup, an' all supped down! Ach, 'twas the guid soup there!"
The otters chuckled again. "Ah, 'tis dark times," said Thorkrig Axehound. "But Salamandastron has gotten through worst. Blue hordes? Corpsemakers? Oh, they made corpses all right, their own!"
The otters and goat erupted in laughter. "Yer right," said Thirstblade. "Wot d'we 'ave to fear?
oooooooooooooo
"Silvertung!" growled Lord Brawblade, splitting a shield in two with his mighty sword. "The mountain will fall in seven days? Preposterous. Something good will come!"
A knock resounded on his wooden door. Furiously the badger lord wrenched it open, almost breaking the door off its hinges. "What is– Harris?"
A young hare was looking up at the badger with wide tear-brimmed eyes. "L-l-lord, I-I–"
"Didn't you get the disease, you and your sister?"
The hare nodded shakily. "B-but somehow I'm better. Just out-of-the-blue, wot! One minute I was on the verge of going insane, the next I'm completely fine."
The badger nodded. "Things like this happen. Your body must have fought it off, all the good exercise from running."
The young hare erupted in tears. "Didn't 'elp me ole sis! Or General Tenac, or Madame Rhys! Oh, they're dead! Just not breathin' any more. An' the rest of the 'ares in there are g-goin' mad, or dyin', or v-vomitin' everywhere! An' ole Albert's dead, an' Kyle, an'–"
Brawblade sighed in despair. "What are we to do, Harris De Mayne?"
The young hare shrugged. "I don't know, not in the slightest! Lord, wot if the fox wins?"
Brawblade growled in his throat. "He won't. The fox and his blasted horde will die, and we will avenge your sister, and the General, and Madame Rhys, and all the others."
The Swamp
The tent Ergo was kept in fell over, and the tied and gagged mole looked up to find a pudgy toad with a silver crown on her head looking down at him. "Rrrrreb! D'ye the fox wants ye?"
The mole nodded vigorously, then tried to change his head to a shake when Dragwa said, "Good."
The toad queen pulled his gag and bonds off then pointed to the shore. "Crrroik! Run!"
Ergo needed no second bidding. Taking care to not sink in the swamp, he ran as fast as his stubby mole legs would carry him.
ooooooooooooo
The Grubloes, the toads' word for their group of archers, were elite marksmen. They patrolled the edge of the swamp, shooting at any non-toad or non-lizard that came near. The didn't have much targets, but the queen enforced it.
Queen Dragwa was in Toadplace with her council, made entirely up of her younger siblings, with the exception of her uncle, Gogzo, who was the oldest toad in the swamp.
"The fox will pay for 'is tricks!" called Migwod.
"Yes, but we must be cautious," said Gogzo.
"Wot'd'ye mean, nuncle?" asked a toad sister called Burja.
The old toad elaborated. "Whitefox is Bulgum! 'E cood light swamp on fire."
The queen slapped her head with her forefoot. "O' course! Good o' yew to 'amember dat, nuncle."
"So, wot'd'we do?" asked Migwod.
"Crrroik!" called the youngest toad (by like a minute), Sanlo. "We trick 'im o' course! We tell 'im we're 'is friends, den once 'e's surrounded, we kill 'im wid tridents and Grubloes!"
The toads considered the idea, then Dragwa laughed. "But 'e's Bulgum, silly! 'E'll make de tridents an' Grubloe shafts cum back an' 'it us!"
Sanlo let his head hang. "I though it wuz a gud idea. Maybe Bulgums can't make tridents cum back an' 'it us."
Dragwa chuckled. "Jus' wait 'till yer old an' wise like us!"
Sanlo looked up. "I'm so excited! Soon all be all smart like you!"
Gogzo chuckled. "Rrrreb! Wot if we git a Bulgum of our own! Der's got t'be at least one Bulgum in alla de toads inna swamp!"
Dragwa giggled. "See? Nuncle's de oldest, an' de wisest!"
"'Ey!" cried Migwod. "Wot if we set up a testing area fer all de toads to take, to see if der Bulgum!"
"Great idea, crroik!" called Burja. "Let's do it!"
The toads hopped off to their plans, with the exception of Sanlo, who sat squelching the mud down with his webbed feet. "I still think I had a gud idea. Whitefox seems like the kind to think alla toads are guggies" (The toad word for one who isn't too bright) "dat wouldn't t'ink of a gud plan, an' would overlook us as threats. But, 'ey. I'm not old an wise, so I'm probably wro- 'ey, where'd dey go? Rrrreb! Wait up!"
Salamandastron
Alfar Miggory was learning how to care for his katana much better from Amamo.
"Choji oil? Wot kinda name is that, wot?"
"Well, no wonder your katana's in that shape, you 'aven't been usin' Choji Oil!"
"Are all the names from your land like that?"
"'Course not! Now pass me that Nuguigami, please."
"Nuguig-wot?"
"Nuguigami! That soft tissue, put it right there. And keep your Uchiko ball in reach, please!"
"This thing? Ah. Okay, now wot?"
"Now put the Choji oil on your wiping cloth...
"Ah!"
"Oh great, you've gone and spilled it everywhere! Don't worry, I have more Choji oil, it's okay..."
oooooooooooooo
By the time they were finished Alfar was drenched in Choji oil, with a ground stone from the Uchiko ball all over him. But he had to admit, his katana looked much better. "Thank you, Amamo, wot wot!"
"Ah, 'tis nuthin'! Good care of your weapons is most important!"
"So wot 'appened to the claymore I lent you, eh?" came Aar Krullen's voice from outside the door.
The rabbit chuckled nervously. "Err... heheh, weeeeeeeell... I sorta lost the scabbard, got caught in a tree, an' then all my cleaning materials vanished..."
"You lost the scabbard and the cleaning materials when we went over the rapids, an' me sword got beat up afore that!"
"Yes, yes, yer right. But, ye see, I was busy cleanin' all my katana's, an' they were all quite dirty..."
"They were not!"
"They were!"
"They were all in a separate scabbard perfectly made and you hadn't taken them out for a season! And before you put them in, you cleaned them completely!"
"Bah! Fine! I fergot to take care of the claymore! Who knew it would get that dull!"
"I did! When I lent it to you, I said, if ye don't care fer it, it will become to dull to use! Me exact words!"
"No! Ye said 'If ye don't care fer it, it will become so duel, ye can't use it!"
"Aargh! Wotever!"
"Wadda ya mean, wotever?"
Alfar chuckled at the two friends bickering. Decided it was time to break things up, he said, "I was told they're makin' scones 'bout this time!"
Amamo bolted through the door, running after Aar Krullen, leaving Alfar to admire his prized weapon. Holding it above his head, he swiped it down fast, nicking the wood of his bed. "Heheh. I like this- woah!"
A villainous looking water rat head appeared in his window. Giving a yelp, Alfar slashed his katana down, catching the rat on the head, who fell down the mountain with a scream. The hare looked out the mountain and to his horror he saw many water rats scaling the rock.
One looked at him. "Young hare, we will not harm you lest you leave your mountain or sound the alarm. Now, forget about this and return to your life."
Alfar's eyes glazed back as he fainted.
The Shore
"Emperor Vafír Silvertung," said Zäev. "We have completed the trench to the swamps, though one of our workers somehow died, an arrow in his throat."
Sanlo was right, Vafír did not hold the toads in high regard. Believing that they could not have done it, he said, "Blast it! The hares have somehow gotten out, or we have an unforeseen enemy. But how? The Wroots are patrolling the mountain! Maybe they have strange tunnel, if any place would have one it would be Salamandastron. Why didn't we think of that?"
"Now, it may not be the hares. Maybe there's some old hermit on this coast that's our enemy, or a scout that was out when we began the siege, or something similar."
The white fox nodded his head. "You may be right, my general. How goes with the rooting out of the liars, or to use the toad word, banzees?"
The pine marten was glad to give some good news. "Quite well, actually. A few of the blue hordes, mostly, along with Scumsnout the weasel. I'm planning on sending Bloodtoe and Skri to Dethfur's crew."
"Hmm... How much of the Blue Hordes do we have?"
"A good bit over two-thousand, sire."
The fox growled. "Blast it, they outnumber us. We don't have the safety the swamp grants out here.
Zaev shrugged. "Not much you can do. Once we take the mountain we can bring more from the south, then we'll outnumber them."
"You are right, my general. Thank you."
"Hmm... What if- Bloodtoe, what are you doing here?"
The gray rat had a scowl on his blood-splattered face. "Clawd, remember him?"
The emperor and his general nodded. "Aye," said the pine marten. "He's that stoat with the eye patch, right, leader of the gang far south."
Bloodtoe nodded. "He's scummier than Scumsnout. We were investigatin' Dethfur's bunch, an' when we were walkin' back to the tent to discuss our evidence, the stoat attacked us from behind. Killed Skri with 'is sword real fast, she didn't have a chance to block 'im." The rat indicated a gash on his face where the blood was leaking from. "'E' got me here. I tried to turn and attack him, but 'e was running real fast. I through a few knives, but 'e dodged 'em, 'cept that one got 'is shoulder. 'E ran down the shore, trouble, 'e is."
Zaev growled. "Gaw! We were thinking Clawd would do something, but this was unexpected."
ooooooooooooo
Clawd was running for his life down the coast. "Heehee!" He pulled out his long siletto and washed it in the sea. "I could become an assassin, taking out that fox's 'orde! Back in the south we were livin' good, but 'e made us serve 'im. Time fer revenge!"
The stoat finished washing his weapon and began walking inland. Seeing the border of the swamp, he said to himself, "Wot if I got the toads to 'elp? Might be worth a shot."
Going into a run, he wasn't expecting the Grubloe toad archer's arrow that ended his ambitions forever.
