The Lands Of Ice And Snow

A/N: Ok, this is another short story That I wrote in the space of an hour, quite some time ago (around Christmas I believe; in fact Cregga's Madness was actually written on New Year's Eve).This story features on the main villian's homeland from Rakkety Tam. In case you haven't read the novel, I'll provide with some background info.

Gulo the savage wolverine comes from "the lands of ice and snow from beyond the sea". There Dramz, the wolverine king, reigned over a kingdom of ermine and white foxes. Askor and Gulo were his sons, and when he died the one who inherited the "walking stone" would take up the crown. The Walking Stone (fondly nicknamed "Rockbottom") is a tortoise, which has a granite-patterned shell and has a nightie (or so the dibbuns say).

Anyways, my story will take place a few months before Gulo kills Dramz. Obviously there is a port with ships on the land of ice and snow, because references in the story justify it so. However, the castle and other constructions in the story are jewels of my imagination. Also, I will be revisiting some of the characters in the 17th book, like Chaptain Shard, Captain Zerig, etc.

xxx

Gulo prowled the wooden decks, splinters cracking against his frostbitten paws. Back and forth, forth and back. Ermines and white foxes, tens of scores by the number, loaded new ships with cargo, and helped disembark the sailors of the returning ones. A rumble of voices resonated through the port, but Gulo hunted only one.

"So, has yer faithful Herag arrived, bearing any news?" Askor found himself roughly hauled up by his collar and staring into the fierce face of his brother. Gulo spat in his face, "Answer me!"

"Quite the opposite, brother," gasped Askor through the paw squeezing his throat. "He's quite docile now that ye've slaughtered all his family."

Askor was pushed back and knocked over a cart an ermine was pulling along. "Non' o' yer fancy tongue, ye coward," Gulo resonated. "Shoulda done the same thing to ye, then I'd be living a happy life, heh heh."

"Fink yer funny, eh?" lashed back Askor. "Who's laughing-your eejit brain?"

Gulo bellowed with rage and charged forward, his shaggy head lowered. Askor quickly identified this attack and placed his claws in front of him. The dull-witted Gulo had the stumps of his ears dripping blood, as he disengaged himself from his more intelligent brother.

He seemed to step back, as if admitting defeat. Then, with a lightning fast swipe, he zipped his claws against Askor's ribs drawing slits overflowing with blood.

By this time vermin bystanders had been attracted by the commotion and they formed a ring around the two combatants. They set up a blood-chilling cry that set up the mind of the innocent, "Fight, fight, FIGHT!"

"STOP!" The two brothers and their white-furred soldiers fell silent at the strong cry, and all eyes fell on the mighty figure of King Dramz.

Swathed in cloaks and capes of the finest thread, golden, silver, and multicolor, he was thriving with rings, bracelets, earring, nose studs, and toe rings of the finest gold and teeming with crystals and gems, their cast of brilliant luster turning the faces of bystanders away. The crown stood lopsided on his furry head, an artwork of mined steel forged into artistic sculptures of mighty, past wolves of history that had ruled the land. Aware of the beauty he was causing, he strode over to Askor and his brother, and thence demanded to know what had happened.

"Gulo attacked me fer no reason at all," declared Askor. "I swear-"

"Yah, swear to yer being a d& liar," Gulo interrupted. "An' ye'll break that bond too, 'cause ye started it."

At this point Dramz interrupted, favoring his preferred son. "Now, now-let's not argue. I know Gulo had ter start it-why would Asky start it?" Dramz threw a paw around Askor's shoulder fondly. "Now Gulo, ye need to spend a day in the dungeons fer disobeying the rules that support the dignity of wolverines. We don't pick fights in ship ports."

Gulo shot hatred-full glares at Dramz. Oh, he'd kill that one soon enough, his father couldn't escape his wrath for much longer…

xxx

Captain Shard pulled up a chair in the liquor-smelling tavern. Around him were seated: his beloved mate Freeta, his fellow captain Zerig, and other popular leaders of the white fox contigement in Dramz's army. They all gathered around here, once a week, to discuss the latest going-ons and have a good time testing new beverages.

Shard lovingly fingered a small cask of some new merchandise pillaged by the island's ships-a dark bottle of some alcoholic swill with indistinct balloon-shaped figures swimming in the brew.

"Ah mates, try some of this stuff. Ah tells ye this is prime rum imported from some island northeast a' here. Strongest thin' ye ever tasted." The bottle was passed around the table and each fox swallowed a mouthful, and faces reddening, had to agree with Shard.

A few hiccups later, Zerig started conversation, "Didja hear 'bout what happened at the port today?"

Shard was anonymous about those happenings. "No-what happened?"

"I tells ya mates," another fox interrupted. "'Twas a sight tah see! Askor and Gulo practically ripped each other apart!"

"Ye all knows," put in Freeta. "Dramz is getting old, and his heritage will go to one of his sons. Who would thou say deserves the walking stone?"

"Gulo," shouted Shard. "Sure, he might not be smart, but that would give us more freedom around his mind!"

"Askor," put in Zerig. "He was always the less fiercer one."

"Thou should think Gulo," retorted Freeta. "His small brain would give us more power to manipulate like my mate said."

"Askor," replied the one named Herag. "He would treat us better."

Shard raised his glass of wine in the air. "Whoever it is, let's hope it is a good choice…and doesn't lead us to our deaths."

xxx

A word to my reviewers:

Kayla Silvercat: Thank you for your good-sized review. I suspected "illusioning" not to be a word since it appeared on my spell check and I think I am a pretty good speller, but I couldn't think of another word. And the think with Damug breaking his arm, ah man I just screwed up there. Thanks for bringing it to my attention; I might edit it.

Turrluck009: I appreciate your review a lot and you're right it did sound sorta weird for Damug to try when his chances had run out. But I felt like going philological in the end there and I also wanted to show how far Damug's hatred extended for Cregga.

Avlblu: Well, I guess, when looking back on it, I did have a sort of thing going with the dad/father thing. And I did use censorship on the swearwords, because on one side I wasn't to be realistic (imagine how much vermin should swear), but on the other hand I don't really swear out loud and I wanted to keep from using actual swearwords in my fic. And just to let you know, this is far from my actual style and I don't usually write stories in this sort of way (you'll see my writing style when I post "The Seeker's Path", The novel I'm working on) but I like to expirement with different writing styles in my short stories. Anyways, thanks for the constructive criticism (wow, this response was long).

Aelita6349: Well, thanks for the positive review, but to tell you the truth, I haven't read any Code Lyoko, so I would be just as sad as you, when it comes to reviewing Code Lyoko fanfics.

grubswiper: I've put you on my favorites list, too, and your comments were well appreciated. See you around, pal!

Whew! I'm glad that's over and don't forget to review this story too.