CHAPTER NINE: ATTACK! (part one)

Verduaga stood at his high window, looking out over the Kotir grounds. "I see no movement in the fields."
Chokepaw stepped up to the window and gazed out. "You're right, Milord. What do you want me to do?"
The wildcat turned on his heel, scarlet cloak swirling as he left his ferret Captain at the window. "Form up patrols, arm everybeast, and give them whips. Beat those idling woodlanders into submission, and if they resist, don't hesitate to slay them."
Outside, woodlanders crouched in the fields, hidden by the vegetation. Scrawny mice, moles, and hedgehogs gripped scythes, pitchforks, and any other tools that could be used as weapons. Nearby, otters and squirrels pawed javelins or tested slings and bows.
Verduaga leapt up on a stone pillar and looked on as the patrols filed by. He cut a handsome yet barbaric figure. The wildcat wore loose black pants of silk, which hung to mid-shin and fluttered slightly in the breeze. Over a chainmail vest he wore a leather jerkin, belted at the waist with black adderskin. His bloodred cloak was fastened at the throat with a plain brass clasp, and it flew out behind him as the wind picked up. His green eyes narrowed as he peered into the crop fields. Was that a spearhead he saw gleaming in the sun, or perhaps a broken and discarded scytheblade?
Twenty patrols, each with fifteen soldiers, fanned out to find the workers. Verduaga's ears suddenly turned toward the fields and his eyes burned with fierce intensity as one hundred woodlanders sprang out of hiding, yelling and waving their tools as they charged the patrols.
"Throw down those whips and draw your weapons!" roared Verduaga. He leaped down to the main doorway and shouted inside, "All soldiers to the crop fields! Put down the rebellion!"
Knowing that their food came from the woodlanders' farms, the soldiers were only too willing to stop the uprising. Shortly, two hundred more weasels, ferrets, and stoats joined the fray.
Chokepaw was at Verduaga's side, laughing almost amusedly. "Why are they attacking us? They know our power and training is superior to theirs!"
He had barely finished speaking when an arrow zipped out of the crops behind the enslaved woodlanders and buried itself in his throat. As the ferret Captain of the Guard fell lifeless to the ground, another group followed the arrow out of the field. Otters bellowed war cries as they ran powerfully forward, slinging stones at the vermin until they were close enough to stab with javelins. Soldiers who were about to strike down shovel-wielding farmers were abruptly slaughtered by stones, squirrel arrows, and vicious javelin stabs.
Verduaga could see that if this disorganized state continued, the woodlanders would soon destroy his army. The wildcat drew his scimitar and shouted, "Withdraw and form up, now!!"
The vermin stepped back and formed a line behind the dead and feebly struggling wounded. They could see that for every woodlander slain, two vermin had been killed. Verduaga found himself suddenly short one hundred beasts.
The woodlanders formed into a line as well, staring stonily at their enemies. Suddenly, another beast rose out of a wheat field.
Verduaga was somewhat taken aback at the sight of this new creature. It was a big badger wearing shiny armor and a heavy, dangerous-looking battleblade at his side. The wildcat remembered suddenly that his older brother Ungatt had been killed by a badger many seasons back, and he decided to watch his step. "So, badger, are you the leader of this rabble?"
Barkstripe was surprised at the size and savageness of the wildcat before him, but he knew that he had to keep his head in order to hide the fact that he was no warrior. The badger bared his teeth slightly and pawed the huge sword at his side. "There are rabble here, wildcat...but they're not under my command," he growled softly.
Verduaga shouldered his way to the front of his horde. "Let's see, then. I challenge you to a duel of commanders!"