CHAPTER 3

Granden had some food ordered down to the cell for the prisoner, and the kitchens obliged with a rather paltry looking bowl of mashed potato. They handed it off to Granden outside the cell, who then took it in with him alone – having the guards stay outside – and placed it down in front of the rat.

'So,' Granden started again, 'who attacked your ship?'

'Dunno,' said the rat. Granden grabbed the bowl from under the rat's snout and headed for the door. 'Wait! Wait!'

Granden turned back to face the sea rat, still holding the bowl in his hand, his eyebrows arched upwards awaiting a response. The sea rat sighed.

'Look, we'd never seen the ship before. It was at leas' three times as big as anythin' we'd ever battled agains',' he explained, before describing it. 'It had white sails, so we didn't fink it would be too 'ard a job to board when we first saw it comin' over the 'orizon. Then, it got closer, and we realised that it mean' business. We tried to outsail it, but it was faster than us. Simple as that. Dunno how it did, considerin' it didn' have an oar bank.'

Granden retook his seat at the table, and handed the rat back his food, who continued to devour what was left.

'Did you?'

'Did we wot?'

'Have an oar bank?'

''Course. We was pushin' the slaves double time as well. We even 'ad crew fillin' in for the empty benches.'

Granden chose to ignore the fact that Red Raider was a slave ship – the burnt out slave pit in the hull had been mentioned in the report drawn up by the commander of the Salamander Guards. Despite this, no slaves had been found on board.

'What's your name?' the general asked.

'Warbit,' the rat replied, finishing off the remains of his dinner.

'Right. Warbit, you mentioned you tried to outsail the ship. Were you heading towards it or away from it at the time it was sighted?'

Warbit belched unpleasantly. 'Away from it. We was 'eaded for the Western Shore from due east, and they was comin' up from the southwest. Once they got within a couple 'unnerd yards, they flew up their colours.'

'Skull and crossbones?'

'Nah. Weren't black. Er… blue. Plain, 'cept the top left corner. That 'ad a design on it, like, white background with two red and blue lines runnin' diagonally across it. It was like nuffin' I've ever sin before. Nobody goes to that much trouble designin' an ensign.' Warbit tapped the table with his finger business-like, and then folded his arms, waiting for Granden's next question.

'Then what happened?'

'Then it opened fire.'

'With what?'

'Dunno.'

The general's patience was wearing thin. He sat up straight, composing himself, which sent a clear message to his prisoner about the state of his mood.

'Look,' said Warbit, leaning forward, 'it opened up several windows on its 'ull. We thought it was gonna drop oars, but instead these weird black things came out, pointin' righ' at us. Then, we 'eard this sound, like somebody shoutin' an order, and these black things just… well, I dunno. Like… sorta… fire. But it weren't though. As soon as it did… the thing… we felt summint hit the ship, like a high wave, but, several of 'em. It was weird.'

'Had you hoisted your own colours?'

''Course. Cap'n Vallin was an 'onourable pirate.'

Granden snorted with laughter. 'Well, that didn't sound right at all. An honourable pirate, indeed,' he muttered. 'Anyway, when did you and your lackeys make your escape?'

Warbit continued. 'Well, the ship drew nearer, keepin' itself steady, until it got within a few yards off our starboard. Then, these creatures appeared, decked out in fancy clothin' – like a... like a uniform, like you 'ares. It was like a red shirt, with a white sash, and they was 'olding these weird, black weapons, which they aimed at us. Afore we could swing across to board, these black weapons did the weird thing – like those other things that they 'ad – and managed to kill a whole load o' the crew. Once they'd done that a few times, they lowered the gangways.'

Granden was so intrigued by Warbit's story that he hardly noticed how wide eyed his expression was, or how much attention he was paying to the sea rat's broken dialect, or even that his mouth was agape.

'That's when me and the rest of 'em back there decided to make a break for it. We lowered the port side longboat and made a dash for it to the coast. That's when we bumped into your lot.'

Granden rearranged his body's position, pulling his back straight again and resting his locked paws on the table. Now that he had got the story out of the way, he wanted to clear up some of the finer details.

'The creatures on the opposing ship. What were they?'

'Otters mostly. Thought I saw a couple of stoats though. And there was another otter standin' to the stern, wearin' a blue shirt instead of a red 'un. 'E was the one givin' the orders, prob'ly the cap'n.'

'Stoats? With otters?'

'Aye, that's wot I said.'

Granden took a moment to imagine that unlikely scenario, and then his eyes darted back to Warbit. 'What was the ship like? Describe it to me in more detail.'

'Wot can I tell yer? Erm, well, whoever owned it took care of it. The wood had been varnished to give it a brigh'er look, and had painted black strakes running along its sides, and all manner of designs at the bow and stern. 'Ad a figurehead too – it was a wooden carvin' of a badger. As for the sails, well, it 'ad three masts, all square rigged, and the aft mast had a gaff-rigged sail over its stern. Then, on its bow, it had four jib sails. I've seen fully rigged ships before, but none of 'em were that big.'

'You didn't catch the name plate?'

'Intrepid.'

Bannox Granden tried to piece together the situation Warbit had outlined in his mind. His eyes glazed over for a while, the rat sitting rather perplexed, whilst Granden tried to imagine himself in the boots of a crewmate on the Red Raider, watching this towering, fully-rigged ship come abeam. The only thing he struggled to imagine were the "black things" Warbit had mentioned.

Soon enough, he came out of his daydream, and picked up on something which Warbit had neglected to mention.

'Why? Why did this ship attack you?'

'Dunno,' said Warbit quickly. The answer was too hasty to be honest.

'Of course you do,' said Granden, leaning forward menacingly.

Warbit sighed resignedly. 'The flag.'

Granden pictured the ensign Warbit had described. A blue field, with a white rectangle in the upper left quarter, a red and blue diagonal line across it.

'What about it?'

'We'd seen it before.'

The contradiction was stark, and Granden made his displeasure known at Warbit's previous dishonesty. 'You said you'd never seen this ship before! That it was a complete mystery!'

'I didn't mean the ship!' Warbit quickly clarified. 'I mean the flag! Well, not the flag exactly… but, well… it was familiar. It didn' really occur to anybeast at the time, but afterward, we realised that it weren't the firs' time we'd met 'em. But on the boat!' he added quickly.

Granden sighed and leaned back in his chair. 'So. Where was this?'

'There were one difference,' Warbit said, ignoring the question. 'It were just the bit in the top quarter, but as one flag. That was prob'ly the reason why we never realised it in the first place.'

'Where?' Granden asked again, this time with more emphasis.

'Sampetra. They 'ad a little problem earlier in the year with a rebellion, an' they're still tryin' t'get on their footpaws again, so Cap'n Vallin thought it migh' be a raidin' opportunity. We was scoutin' the old tunnels when we came across a group of beasts who seemed pretty surprised t'see us. A mouse, two squirrels… er, an otter… oh, and a few weasels and stoats.'

'All part of the same crew?'

'Yeah. Anyway, they came at us, but we outnumbered 'em, so we were able to kill most of 'em 'cept one o' the squirrels and the weasel who escaped, but they left their loot behind in a chest which had the flag draped over it. We didn' 'ang around to check who they were, 'cause it made no odds to us. That's prob'ly why they attacked us. Revenge.'

Granden stared into the rat's eyes, trying to seek out anything that may have been hidden from him. 'Anything else?'

'That's it. We looted 'em for what they 'ad, and scarpered.'

'What was looted?'

'Usual stuff. Chains, necklaces, weapons.'

Granden believed him. At this stage, there was no reason for Warbit to lie – he could be spending the rest of his life behind bars, and the only thing he could barter for would be his rations. Considering allegiances were not factored into a vermin's decisions, it made no sense for Warbit to owe any loyalty to a captain who, as far as anybeast knew, was already dead.

'Where's your loot now?' asked Granden.

Warbit grinned. 'Why, wanna fill yer coffers?' he joked cheekily. Granden resisted the urge to strangle the rat for suggesting it.

'I ask so that we can be assured it won't lead to a tedious treasure hunt by any of your kind who could use it to build themselves a fancy army,' said Granden monotone.

'We didn' take any wiv us, if that's wot you mean,' Warbit spat back. 'We didn' 'ave time to go and grab the loot. All we 'ad was what was in our pockets when we abandoned ship, and that was confiscated by youse lot when we arrived 'ere. I reckon the other ship must've taken the rest.'

Granden felt somewhat pleased at that. Although he had no knowledge of the ship or its history, the story so far suggested the treasure was back in the paws of its rightful owners.

He stood and looked down at the dejected sea rat. 'I shall arrange for a bed to be setup in this cell, and…' he paused, considering other comforts he could offer as thanks, 'a decent breakfast every morning.'

Granden spun on his heel and exited the cell, closing and locking the door behind him. He then marched right out of the dungeon, and as he did, veered into a small side room which held confiscated prisoner items.

The room was fairly bare. After a time, any metal weapons taken would be melted down and reforged for Long Patrol use, and any non-armoury type items given away if the prisoner died whilst in captivity. Luckily, this had never happened, partially due to the fact that these dungeons had been unpopulated for many years, and before that its occupants had been guilty of trivial crimes and so eventually released. Today, the room's only attractions were a couple of bows and quivers, a variety of ten swords and daggers, and a few bits and pieces also found on the current inmates when they were processed.

Granden fished through the assortment of odds and ends, and found two items that looked like they had once belonged to the mysterious Intrepid and its crew. The first was a small silver disc, with the head of a badger on one side and a tree on the other, and strange words that Granden did not recognise around them. On both sides, in bold lettering, the symbol "X" was embellished. The second item was a medal, probably taken from one of the otters, with two crossed swords on them, and a word that Granden did recognise: "Valour". He turned it over, and saw that it was a little stained with blood, and a couple of hairs trapped in the pin. The general pocketed both items and headed out of the room, keen to study them further.