Disclaimer: Get lost.
A/N: I swear that there is rebellion against me! Are you people purposely trying to make me murder you?! What on earth am I suppose to do with Dale and Atce? You annoying creatures don't give up, do you? Well, I'll see how this progresses.... *Growls*
*
They had made it. In a single day of incredibly hard marching in boiling weather, they had made it. There they were, concealed by a large sand dune, right beside a vermin horde that would have made any lesser creatures faint. A thousand, maybe more, foxes, mostly black, were spread out before them. What was so incredibly scary was how the silence, the organization, the total picture that was laid before them, totally betrayed the stereotype vermin. It was intimidating. What made matters even worse was the fact that the five hostages were, by pure chance, kept there as well, and yet there was nothing that they could do to help them due to their strict orders. It was tormenting, seeing it all.
Daleria stood still surveying the plane of foxes, taking in the mind bowling scene in quiet fury. Upon closer inspection, Daleria discovered that Cosenet's arm had been slashed badly, and furthermore Willow's ribcage was seen to be hastily wrapped up, meaning the breaking of a rib. The captain winced at the thought, silently feeling incredibly guilty and sorry for all that had happened up to date, but felt still an undeniable anger and hatred towards the entire scene before her. The one responsible would pay in a most appropriate manner thinkable. Remora, Longrunn and Rapieratce strode up beside her after, all surveying the scene of black with grim faces. Twitching a ear at the sight, Longrunn commented,
'We're in a jolly good fix, wot! Lookit the main tent, 'tis way over the other side. Nearly beyond our reach!'
Rapieratce nodded his agreement as he lifted his eyes to scan the upper side of the vermin horde, spying that a tent larger than the others had been erected at the far end of the camp, away from any hills or sand dunes of any sort, totally out in the open and unconcealed. That made matters even worse than they already were. That meant a treacherous movement of the four of them across the entire vermin camp that night, accompanied by swift dispatching and as much stealth as they could manage. That fact only added to the colonel's already immense worry. The entire operation was not going to be an easy one by far. Things were already rocky here, and he did not want to think about the consequences if they were found out or reported by any single vermin. The scum had only need be lucky once. They had to be lucky all the time. Running a paw through his ears in stress, Rapieratce jabbed his paw at a few positions, rambling off observations.
'Sentries are probably bound to be posted around there,'
He pointed at vague area that faced the mountain,
'there,'
He pointed at an area towards the other, westward end of the camp,
'and there.'
He waved at the area directly before them.
'If we are going to execute this operation tonight, according to the Lady's precise orders, we must as well make a bally quick, clean sweep of the entire affair. If we get found out in any way, there is going to be massacre on both sides, something that we cannot have at any rate right now. War will break out before time, and we are to avoid that at all costs. Furthermore, there might be no hope in attaining a cure to Dale's ailment after that, if the cure be lost in the mess. There will be no interference in any other matter in any way, including,'
There he paused and looked meaningfully over at Daleria, who he knew would take action in one way or another if not restrained. The captain had chosen to ignore him there.
'Trying in any way to help those five out, even if the chance throws itself in our face and rams us on the blinkin head with a battle axe. I wish we could, but Consellariel had some bally specific blinkin orders not to. What matters is that we get the bally blinkin herb or wotever and get ourselves out of this before anything ends up worse than it began.'
Remora nodded in quiet agreement, though there was a great sadness in her voice as she spoke aloud. The brigadier had her own misgivings about the matter, as every other beast did.
'What will become of these five, then? I mean, if we don't save them sah, who will?'
Rapieratce sighed angrily at the entire complexity of it all, his temper momentarily flaring up in one of his rare states of intrusion of emotion.
'That's the bally flippin problem! We are here simply to obey the blinkin badger lady, not overrule her orders or sommat like that. I don't know what Consellariel's been cooking up in that mind of hers, but if there isn't a plan to save those five... All I know is that we cannot do anything in that situation if she does not come up with something to solve this blinkin matter.'
The thought of something like that alone was distinctly horrible and gory. Consellariel would never leave the five to Seppak's cruelty, would she...? Daleria hastily banished the idea from her head. The badger lady of Salamandastron was not some cold hearted beast that would do such a preposterous thing like that. Doubt, however, was also making an appearance in her head.
'Couldn't we jus--'
Her sentence was immediately cut off by Rapieratce. His voice was grim and the captain knew that he would be brooking no foolish argument in the matter.
'When the badger lady says no, you know that she means it, Dale. There is nothing we can do, no matter how much we wish we could.'
Daleria sighed in resignment, knowing that Rapieratce was back in his state of listening and obeying. There was no way she was going to get past him and try anything foolish or silly in this operation. There was silence for a while, each hare being enveloped in his or her own personal thoughts towards the issue, Longrunn with foreboding, Remora with sadness, Rapieratce with great stress and worry, and Daleria with hate and desperation. Suddenly, a soft scream broke the quiet. Four pairs of eyes flew down towards the scene below. Willow was to be seen being whipped by Seppak's blade. Daleria immediatley snapped up and was about to take a move forward when Rapieratce grabbed her arm. His green eyes flashed in pain from seeing the sight.
'Don't. I wish I could let you, but
don't.'
