CHAPTER III
L'aqua was putting on his armor and preparing his great battle spear for action in the main hall with the rest of the defending team. He never missed out on battles, despite his age. He was confident in his son's ability to lead the ambush team, and in his soldiers' ability to face any overpowering odds. He could still remember the days of tireless training he had given to his boys. Even though L'aqua was looked up as the best warrior in the tribe, he knew that he could never stand a chance against Rain or Celtian individually.
As he was securing his helmet, he could hear sounds of battle coming from the back of the fortress. The hair on the nape of his neck rose, as he immediately started to think of possible solutions.
"I need two volunteers…" L'aqua shouted over the chatting, battle ready crowd, secretly worried about his brother, Kincaid guarding the back.
Two otters stepped forward.
"Okay. Blade, Rhein, follow me." They started down the halls. The sounds of battle stopped, but all three could hear the shouting and yelling of wild vermin.
"Hey, I'll go take a peek." Blade volunteered. He carried a formidable sword that looked tiny compared to him. Though looking at him would not reveal it, his best virtue was stealth.
He crept down the hall. He was back within minutes, reporting.
"Vermin. There was about fifty of them in all. They slaughtered the guards. They're with Shadowfang all right, I'd bet my oath on it. Especially since it was Kincaid's troop."
"Right…okay. Blade, Rhein, get back to the others in main hall. Let them know what's been going on here. I'll take a passageway to my chamber. We will regroup there. Got it?" L'aqua said, trying to hide the hurt in his voice at the loss of his brother.
"Aye sir." Rhein said for both of them. He hefted his ash staff, and followed Blade down the hall.
"Burn it, burn it all. You there! Take a score and get to the armory! Take all that you can get!" A weasel named Splitear yelled out. He was commanded to take fifty and spread vegetable oil all over the fortress, and set it ablaze. The woodwork would burn nicely, he thought. He loved his job because he could yell at his lessers as his majors had yelled at him. There was also the fact that he could burn stuff.
A stoat ran up to Splitear, who was helping to light the torches.
"Sir, I saw an otter creeping around here. He was pretty big and he looked like he could do some damage. Should I chase him?" the stoat asked.
"Yes, take four others." Splitear replied only half-paying attention.
"Yes sir!" the half-witted stoat replied, throwing a speedy salute.
"Listen up!" Rhein shouted over the jumble of otters in main hall. He only continued after there was complete silence. "L'aqua is in trouble…we have been invaded. Our guards were…well…never mind what happened to them. The point is that there's fifty of them and only 1 of him. If we don't get there soon, the elderly and the young will all be killed. I don't know what to do about the Death Sickle. I'm just hoping the juniors and the cliff team come through for us." He turned to Blade. "We need to get there quick. Will they be prepared for us?"
"They'll never see us coming. They're too busy steeling and burning." He replied, testing the sharpness of his sword.
"Right. Okay, I want 5 rows, 4 wide. All right, quick march, let's go, move, move, move!
The small combat party moved quickly through the underground caverns, often taking secret passageways to get there faster. They could hear the yells and hoots of vermin from the mouth of the chamber. A burning smell permeated the air. The stench of burning vegetable oil. Blade went ahead to see several stoats and weasels carrying large crates out of the armory and the kitchens. He saw a small, wooden sword on top of one of them. He shuddered, and joined the group again, remembering when he had made that sword for his dibbun son.
The small combat party arrived in the bedchamber if L'aqua. Seven slain vermin lay at his feet. He looked up at his soldiers and smiled, taking off his damaged helmet and casting it aside. "Just in time. Here they come."
All of them could see the smoke coming through the cracks of the wooden door. All they could do was fight bravely, and hope. The secret passages did offer an escape, but none of them wanted that. All of them knew that the infants and the old had all been either slaughtered or taken as slaves. Blade knew this more than anyone.
Quite suddenly, the door splintered and vermin poured into the bedchamber, all-trying to get to the score of warriors. The fire started to spread through the chamber. A battle cry echoed through the chamber, and rang in the ears of the vermin.
"Holt L'aqua!" They all challenged, getting in a tight battle formation, and hoping to escape with their lives.
The five stoats commanded by Splitear to find the large otter had found their way to the base of the cliffs.
"Okay start climbin'!" The first stoat yelled.
"Why don't you, scumnose! There could be otters up there!" another one sneered.
"That's what we're lookin' for, spitface!"
"Hey my mother gave me that name!" another, smaller stoat piped in. They all looked at each other, and started fighting each other, claw and tooth. It all ended with five arrows through their hearts. The five otter-snipers on the cliff congratulated each other.
The Scarlett plowed through the waves, back to the fort. Celtian and Rain stood next to each other on the port side, watching as they drew closer to the beached form of the Death Sickle. The vermin were already locked in tight combat with the cliff team. As the ship landed, only one word ripped through Rain's throat. "Attack!"
The juniors collided with the rear ranks of the horde. Rain and Celtian stood back to back, Rain thrusting and blocking with his standard-issue spear, Celtian using his fists like giant hammers. Rain had lost sight of Ruby in the fray. He fought desperately through the ranks, hacking and parrying everything that got in his way. Celtian recovered two halves of a broken spear, and started beating at his enemies. Rain was thrown to the ground by a ferret with a rusty dirk, but went down a second later from Celtian's clubs.
As Rain stood, he could see clearly a creature that looked like a shadow. He was a ferret, all black, carrying a scythe made of obsidian. He was cornering a single otter, whom Rain could not identify through the dust. He ran at the ferret, dropping his spear to gain speed, and unsheathed his saber for the first time.
After he had cleared the dust cloud and the blood-saturated sand, he recognized the prey of this shadow. Ruby held the hilt of one of her daggers tightly, the blade broken off. The other was nowhere to be found.
Rain raised the saber over his head in a rage, and charged the ferret. "Fool!" Shadowfang yelled in rage. He raised the haft of his scythe into Rain's stomach, just as he had come on range of Shadowfang. He fell down to the ground, holding his stomach, his saber and Ruby forgotten for a split second. He rushed up, just as if the very ground was on fire and looked around. Shadowfang stood over Ruby, blood flowing from a gash in her arm. His dark eyes wandered over to Rain. His deep blue eyes met Shadowfang's black eyes.
"Hah, aren't you in a fix, little one?"
"Rain?!" Ruby pleaded. With that, Shadowfang executed Ruby, and began to laugh. Rain dropped to his knees, tears falling from his eyes. He looked at her eyes, which were still open as they began to cloud over. He closed them for her. He had known her since they were both born, nearly on the same day. Suddenly, he recognized the happy look in the eyes of Shadowfang, as he just stood there, laughing. For this was also the murderer of his mother.