Sorry I didn't update. I'm just lazy that way.
Thank you, reviewers, for supporting this fic!!
Dustin's mind was racing as the two ferrets tied him to the tree.
No...I can't stay here...I have to find Julian...what if these guys got him...? No! They couldn't have...
One of the ferrets gave the ropes a pinching tug and the boy winced. Nodding in satisfaction, the ferrets sat on either side of their prisoner, silently daring him to make a sound.
Tears of anger and pain stung Dustin's eyes. He kept thinking of the mouse corpse, wondering if it had been something like him, wondering what it had done to anger Swiftshot...but most of all, he wondered if his brother was all right, if he had also been thrown into this mysterious world.
Time passed. Most of the vermin camp was sent to scout the best route back to their ship, or so Dustin heard, and the rest stayed as sentries. Dustin became acutely aware of the fact that he hadn't eaten or drunk anything since before last night. The ropes binding him to the tree seemed to want to make him part of the tree itself; whenever he tried to move, the bark dug into his back. He was bored and tired and hungry; he started noticing the most insignificant things.
Jadin and Twomark aren't identical, he thought. Jadin has a scar across his forehead and Twomark has bandages on his left hand.
"This is ridiculous!" he murmured, unable to keep quiet any longer. "Where am I? Who's paying you to do this to me? What did I do, anyway? I told you I don't know what Redwall is!"
"Shuttup!" One of the ferrets—Jadin—leaped up and struck his face with a firm paw. Clenching his jaw shut, Dustin refused to cry out. He had been beaten up by several school bullies before his family had moved to New Jersey, so he knew full well how to take pain.
He also knew how to stop it.
"You hit like a girl," the boy snapped.
The ferret twins looked at him at the same moment. "What's a girl?" Twomark demanded.
Apparently, they weren't intent on doing exactly what Swiftshot had told them to do.
"Where I come from, it's the opposite of what I am," Dustin replied.
"That must be a good thing, then," Jadin snorted.
Twomark was slightly more suspicious. "Does that mean that a girl is a beast like us? Or is it like you?"
"He just said it was the opposite of him, Twomark," said Jadin. "And the opposite of this...brat...must be a beast like us!"
"I wish," Dustin muttered faintly. "Look, while you're arguing—"
The ferret twins glared at him. Jadin punched him again. "Shuttup, I said!"
"Listen..." Dustin twisted his hand so that it could reach into his pocket. He pulled out all his money. "I got...fifteen bucks. Fifteen bucks! Will you let me go for that?"
"'Bucks'?" Twomark snatched the three five dollar bills from the boy's hand. He squinted at it. "What's this, eh?"
"Lemme see!" Jadin grabbed the money and sniffed it. He wrinkled his nosetip. "Smelly parchment...is this your money?"
"Yes!" Dustin clenched his fists. "It's all I have! Will you take it and let me go?"
The ferrets scoffed in unison. "Where you come from, beasts must be daft," Jadin said. "Money is gold an' silver, not parchment!" With the last word, he crumpled the dollars together and tossed them into the fire.
Dustin was so shocked at this that he couldn't speak.
The rest of the day was a clutter of pain, arguments, beatings, insult-hurling, exhaustion, and more things that Dustin was too hungry and tired to think about. He never remembered how he managed to sleep that night. He could only recall awakening with painfully stiff muscles and a bone-dry mouth. The places where Jadin had hit him on his face were swelling, he could feel it.
Firelance was standing before him. Dustin could barely resist the urge to spit at him...but his mouth was dry. The rat turned to the ferrets. "Untie him from the tree but bind his hands. Cap'n's ready to go."
The twins bowed. "Yessir."
Dustin shut his eyes and bowed his head. If there is a God...
"So, milord," Coral said. "What d'you make of him?"
Julian, Coral, and Dawson were standing together by Lord Apache's forge. Julian's eyes grew bigger and bigger as he watched the badger hammer a chunk of metal to spear-point thinness.
"How does he do that?" he whispered to Dawson, who elbowed him back into silence.
"Has Julian been any trouble?" Apache asked, thrusting the spear into a low vat of water.
"No, sah!" Coral answered.
"Chap's quite entertaining, doncha see," Dawson added.
"Just so long as he doesn't interfere with your duties as a member of the Long Patrol." The badger nodded. "Good. If you have nothing further to report, you are dismissed."
"Yes, sah!" The twins and Julian turned to leave.
"Wait, Dawson," Lord Apache said suddenly. "I need to have a word with you."
Dawson closed the door after the others. "Yes, milord?"
"Stand at attention!"
"Sah!" The leveret stood stiffly as Apache set his mallet aside and continued.
"Tell me the truth, Dawson," said he. "Do you think he is some species of vermin?"
"No, sah!" the hare exclaimed. "I could vouch for his being on our side any day of the season, aye, any day!"
The badger lord nodded. "That's good. But keep an eye on him. Once, when a badger lord let down his guard and allowed a vermin into this mountain, a host of bad things began to happen."
"May I ask what vermin it was, milord?"
"May I ask why you don't remember what you were taught about this?"
Dawson bowed, feeling an embarrassed flush creeping into his face. "I'm sorry, sah." A long pause. "Am I dismissed?"
Apache sighed as he turned back to his work. "One thing you still need to learn as a Salamandastron hare, Dawson. Silence. You do not ask me to be dismissed. I dismiss you when I wish."
Properly chastened, Dawson nodded and understood. "Yes, milord."
"And you are now dismissed."
"I still don't understand where you're from, Julian."
Julian, Coral, and Dawson huddled around a window overlooking the beach, watching the waves rise and fall. Just above the horizon, the sun was about to set, dyeing the water a soft reddish hue.
Although many of the Long Patrol hares were still rather curious of Julian, they all agreed that he would bring them no harm. He acted innocent as a leveret, one said. Besides, Julian could eat as much as anybeast hares in Salamandastron, a feat which had immediately won him the hares' respect.
"I told you." Julian leaned forward. "I'm from New Jersey."
"Do they have hares there?" Dawson demanded. "And is that place anything like this?"
Julian thought a moment before replying, "No. I don' think so."
Dawson scoffed. "Pity."
"How old are you?" Coral asked next.
"Umm..." Julian narrowed his eyes as he counted on his fingers. "I'm seven, I think. Seven years old."
"Years?!" the siblings exclaimed together.
"What's that in relation to seasons, eh?" Dawson scooped up a rock and flung it towards the sea. It landed almost five pawlengths from the waves. "Ha! Beat that!"
Coral sighed. "I wouldn't even try, brother, you've got the best throwing arm of anyone around." Dawson looked as if he'd burst with pride.
"I dunno how long a season is," Julian was saying.
"Me neither, little chap."
"If a certain hare remembered his lessons, then maybe he could," Coral teased. Dawson hung his head as she turned to Julian. "A season is about three moons."
Julian clenched his fists. "How long's a moon?"
The twins exchanged glances. "I don't know," Dawson said finally. "Maybe I should have a chat with my teacher and ask him, eh?"
The three stayed by the window for a while longer before being called to bed.
"My crew!" Captain Swiftshot called from the front of the group. "We'll rest here tonight!"
With groans of relief, the vermin threw off their packs and dropped to the ground. Some of the more adventurous ones slinked off to do some foraging, but the rest went straight to sleep. Firelance tied Dustin to the tree nearest to where the captain decided to rest, and then went to confer with Swiftshot.
"I don't particularly like the looks of these trees," the captain told him quietly, but loud enough for Dustin to hear.
"I hope y'don't mind me askin'," the rat began nervously, "but why are we stoppin' 'ere, then?"
Swiftshot ignored him. "Post lookouts around the entire camp, and tell them that if they fall asleep, I will skin them alive."
His words, full of cold certainty, made Dustin shiver.
Firelance also shivered. "Y-yes, sir, I'll get right on it.
Gradually, as the night went on, the vermin camp fell asleep. Dustin stayed awake between the dozing Twomark and Jadin, wracking his brain for an escape plan. In all truth, the boy was too scared to try any of his ideas.
I just wanna go home... he thought, then chided himself for sounding so childish.
Tightly as he was bound, Dustin found the night sounds strangely lulling. His eyes drifted closed, and he would have fallen asleep...
"Attack!" came a bellowing command.
Dustin almost had a heart attack as the woods came alive with countless shrieking forms. All around him, Swiftshot's crew was stirring themselves into action.
"All rats to the camp boundaries!" Firelance ordered. "The captain needs you in a full circle. The rest o' ye, string those bows! Move it, ye sorry excuses for pond scum!"
"Firelance, it's that spikehog gang we hit a few days ago!" exclaimed a small rat nearby as he drew his dagger. Dustin stared in shock as a huge club smashed into the rat's neck. The vermin fell backwards, dieing without knowing what had hit him. Dustin swallowed hard and looked away. His heart and head were pounding furiously.
Animals that he recognized as giant hedgehogs were charging the camp from all sides. They were throwing clubs, slingstones, arrows, anything that was within paw's-reach of them.
"Surround the prisoner!" Captain Swiftshot's voice carried clearly over the confusion. "Jadin, Twomark, don't let them free him!"
The ferret twins hastened to obey, nocking arrows to their bows as they did so. Suddenly, a huge missile—a club—crashed through the trees. It had been thrown so skillfully that it connected with both ferrets' heads. Before Dustin could react, another club whacked him over the head.