The hot summer sun beat down on the back of the ferret Stripesnout as he hauled another bag of supplies over towards the newly patched up and more seaworthy Nightshade, which was almost ready to set sail once again. It had been a great amount of luck that they had these supplies at all-just their luck that an unusually large tribe of warrior mice, almost three hundred at least, inhabited the caves near the shore. Stripesnout would have thought they weren't there-they had been known to be long ago, but he thought they would have left by now. They had attacked the pirates after a few days, killing about a score of the seabeasts before they were slaughtered. Stripesnout had greatly enjoyed it. A mother mouse had thrown herself in front of babies to save them. He killed her, then threw the babies into the water. He considered himself lucky-he hadn't been assigned to the group of seabeasts that had to fight the male warrior mice, but to the group that attacked their homes while they were away. Another excellent idea of Viands. Who needed to think when your captain was as brilliant as he was? Out of the blue Stripesnout heard a voice from behind the dunes. "Oy, mate, gimme a hand with this here sack, will ye?" The voice wasn't familiar, but it was a big crew. It was probably one of the new recruits. Most of those rats were weak enough to knock down one hand- Something pushed him and knocked him down from behind. Instead of yelling, Stripesnout stupidly started getting to his feet and drawing his saber. It never got out of its scabbard. A knife went through his throat and he died without a sound. * * * Rilar rolled the dead vermin over and took away everything useful-the satchel of food, the saber, a few other odds and ends-and threw the rest into a loose pile. He wiped of the cooking knife the hedgehog family had given him on the dead ferret's shirt, then rolled the body into a small indentation in the sand and covered it, along with all the useless knick knacks he had been carrying. By the time anyone found it, he would be long gone. He crept back over the dune, and for the first time in more years than he could count looked upon the camp of the pirate scum that had killed his family, killed his baby brothers and sisters and parents while they begged for mercy. He looked, eyes red with hate, at the enormous black fox who had run a spear through Goldtail, the first and only other beast he ever loved besides his family. There was no sign of the pirate captain himself. This was not surprising. Probably he both wanted to avoid work and avoid being killed by an arrow shot before any of his crew detected the killer. If there was anything the weasel Vian Blacktooth was besides evil, it was intelligent. His first impulse was to charge the camp and take down as many vermin as possible before he died. But then he decided to hold back. At the first sign of an attack, Vian would get to the most secure spot in the camp, and even a squirrel full of the bloodwrath couldn't fight through the fourscore or so beasts on the beach, along with who knew how many more in the ship. Instead he decided to retreat to the makeshift camp he had built for himself a little way down the beach. He would sit and think awhile, and come up with a plan of some sort. He always did. As he backed up down the side of the dune, something hit him full force in the back. Fighting the urge to cry out in pain, he rolled clear and whipped out the same thick staff he had used to help save the hedgehog youngster many months ago. Falling into the defensive position, he looked up to see what kind of opponent he was facing and how many, and was surprised to see that his attacker was not a searat or other vermin at all, but a mouse! The mouse hurriedly lowered the short spear he carried when he realized who and what Rilar was. "I'm deeply sorry, sir. I'm patrolling around or camp and took you to be a weasel or something of the kind. My name is Zacharius, and you are welcome to stay at our camp tonight." Rilar smiled warmly. "I accept your offer of hospitality, friend. I took you to be a vermin of some sort, for which I apologize. I do need to get a few things from my camp first, a little ways down the shore. If you would accompany me, I would very much like to hear the story about who you are and where you came from, and would be happy to tell my own." "That is tale best left for a later time. But I would be most interested in hearing your tale." As they walked back to Rilar's makeshift camp about a quarter mile away and back, the sky darkened into evening as Rilar told Zacharius the same story he had told the hedgehog family, along with the fact that he had arrived here after trailing the crew of the Nightshade across the land for may seasons. Zacharius was very glad to hear all of this. "Blessed we are indeed to have found you! You are just the sort of beast we need to rid this beach and these caves of the sea scum once and for all. But that will be left for later. Come now, and meet what only several days ago was a thriving, peaceful tribe." They had arrived back along the cliffs, a considerable way further down. The caves here were not the warm, dry, larger variety in the vicinity of the pirate camp. These were barely even caves, scant cracks and crevices in the wall of cold, seawater-sodden rock. Inside these were about two dozen mice, huddling in what rags they could to keep out the still chilly wind. A in front of these, a few scruffy looking mice were hauling in a few fish that they had apparently caught from the sea a few yards away. One of these dropped his load when he saw them approaching. As he strode over to them Rilar recognized both from his looks and the way he carried himself that he was the leader of this motley band. "Zacharius, I'm pleased to see you back safe and sound. When you did not return from your patrol before dark we feared the worst. But now I see you had good reason for your tardiness. A good reason indeed." He looked Rilar up and down, his eyes lingering on the various weapons he carried and noting Rilar's tough, muscular build. "Greetings, new friend. If Zacharius has brought you back here I gather it was to help with our cause. I thank you for this." At this Zacharius cut in. "He has not been informed of our cause, but he has told me his story, very similar to ours." Louis, as he introduced himself, smiled thinly. "Well, new friend, if you are to join our cause I suppose you must know what it is and why it exists." He went on to tell a tale almost identical to Rilar's own. The tribe Louis had lead were peaceful and non-threatening. The pirates landed and when they went to fight them off they slaughtered, down to the last mother and baby. Louis had taken this small group, the only survivors out of over three hundred beasts, to these caves, which he knew about from exploring the beach as a child. Hearing the story brought back memories far to vivid for Rilar to bear. The big squirrel fell to the beach and sobbed. He didn't move for almost half an hour and the mice didn't disturb him. Finally, he rose, the sadness in his eyes masked by the hate for the vermin who had done this terrible thing. "Anything I can do to help is yours. I will stay here until Blacktooth and every one of his scum he calls a crew are dead." Louis nodded grimly. "I understand. We planed to attack them guerilla style as soon as our wounded were healed and we had lain in enough weapons, but we were worried about having enough warriors. Aside from Zacharius and myself, we've only got about half a dozen fighting beasts. Now that we have you, we should have an easier time of it." And so it was for a few weeks. Rilar concerned himself with catching and cleaning fish, tending the wounded, checking, storing, and repairing weapons, and countless other small duties that he had never had since the days when he lived in the pine grove. He realized that the grove was only about a day's journey away, but even as he realized it he knew he could never go there again. There was too much pain there for him. Besides, the small duties and living among a tribe again, even one of another species, was comforting somehow. Not only that, but here, for the first time, he found someone who understood why he had to be a warrior, was sharing in his hate for vermin rather than be appalled by it. He, Zacharius, Louis, and a few other of the mice stayed up late into the night, plotting strategy, how they would attack and where their soldiers would go. At last the day came. Rilar watched with the rest of the male warriors as the women and children piled onto a pair of small boats and set out for a point about two miles down the coast, away from the fighting. He turned to Louis, who nodded and, gesturing to the group of about ten beasts who had stayed behind, Headed down the beach towards the forward camp that they had set up near the vermin ship. He talked over some last minute strategy as they walked. "The ship is packed, and we'll only have two or three days at most. We want to do as much damage as possible without a full-on attack. Sabotage, picking off the vermin who wander too far away, lowering morale and things like that. It should work." Rilar grimaced. "Friend, let's hope it does-for our sake, for the sake of my kin, for the sake of the beasts sailing down the shoreline right now, for everything."