Sixclaw
Chapter 41
THE HELLSCAPE
Deyna ran through the lower decks of the Seahammer as the ship teetered on its massive wheels. The former Taggerung needed to find Nimbalo, and Henbit as fast as possible.
Deyna's searches led him to the ship's infirmary, which, contrary to popular belief, was more than a box of wound tape and a rusty saw. There was a tall ferret in a bloody white jacket and spectacles, and the large space was decorated with organs in jars. All of this was not noticed by Deyna, as he ran towards the desert rat. Henbit was on the table, the broken wreck of his javelin launcher embedded in his stomach.
"What happened?" asked Deyna, who was in shock at the sight of this.
"I don't know. One second I was fine, the next there was fire everywhere, and I got thrown from the tower and fell on this."
"You got bombed, mate." said the ferret, who then turned to Deyna and Nimbalo. "I've done all I can to keep him alive. I'm sorry, but it would be best to just make him comfortable."
"I can hear you," said Henbit. "Don't worry, mates. I'll see you in Dark Forest."
Blackpaw stayed silent as the desert rat breathed his last, but Deyna was able to catch one word, spoken barely as a whisper: "Witnessed…"
Deyna hadn't been close to Blackpaw's second in command, but he knew that the rat was good and kind hearted. He didn't deserve to die. thought Deyna.
Blackpaw, Nimbalo and Deyna stood up, and began to walk. This walk took them to the map room, where Bootbrain and Sixclaw were coordinating a rendezvous with One-Eye and Longtail.
Deyna understood immediately what was going on. "Where are they?"
"One-Eye is with the western artillery squad, getting treatment for an arrow wound, and Longtail is on the front lines, taking out foot soldiers." said Bootbrain. "I've sent messages to both of them,and they have agreed to meet us here, behind enemy lines."
At this, the stoat pointed to a spot on a map, marked with the letters DQ. "Dragon queen?" said Nimbalo.
"Yes." said Sixclaw. "Cut off the head, the body dies. Keep it simple, stupid."
"Got it." said Blackpaw. "But there's literally an army surrounding this bastard, how do we get through that?"
Bootbrain sighed. "Seahammer. We evacuate the ship, then drive her straight through the front lines. We can run them down, those idiots won't stand a chance.
"Alright, how do we get it close enough to where we can get through the infantry without artillery fire wrecking us all?" said Sixclaw.
"The Seahammer's hull has a metal sheet between the wood, it will hold up for a bit. Plus, we will be concentrated in one area in the middle of the ship, so we will be able to last longer." said Bootbrain. "Also, One-Eye and Longtail will arrive at roughly the same time as us, so there will most likely be a mutual diversion."
"Well, that seems to be a good plan." said Sixclaw, who clapped her paws once. Now, who's ready to get themselves killed?"
It was no surprise to anybeast there that the idea went over like a lead balloon, but the war party began making the preparations for what would inevitably be their deaths.
R&R!