((Urgh…just…urgh. This chapter…I hate it. I don't like how I wrote it and I don't like what I wrote in it. Pff, curse me and my plots…not really, no cursing me, please. Anyway, this chapter has been through Literary Hell. I have written it, deleted it, and rewritten it about a dozen times, debated for days about keeping what I finally came up it, threw the final result it into the computer's trashcan several times, contemplated the necessity for this chapter for many longs hour…minutes…whatever. I couldn't find a way out of it, so here it is. I'm sorry for the delay; I was having "creative differences" with myself and it just wasn't working. Anyway, I'm not going to give away the 'surprise' I've been so 'careful' about hiding after all this chapter has been through. Read on and don't blame me.
Oh, yes, and take note: I rarely do accents and made no attempt at perfecting a hare's accent in this chapter. In fact let's pretend the only hare in this chapter that talks was raised somewhere like Redwall, and talks normally. I still need names of hares.))
"Oh, come on, Root. It's not going to burn you." Fatefiend called mockingly to the hesitant squirrel, who stayed about a pace away from the ocean with the expression of one staring at a noose. Fatefiend and Redsplash were splashing around heartily in the water, cheerful as cubs offered candy and weaponry. Or, rather, Fatefiend was cheerful. Redsplash was standing waist-deep in salt water and staring morbidly across the ocean, as if searching for something.
"Squirrels climb trees. They do not play in water." Root argued back, lifting his chin defiantly. "Besides, Darkclaw isn't doing it."
"Well, once Dark gets his fur drenched it doesn't dry out for hours, now does it?" Fatefiend replied. "Besides, he's a wildcat. Sissies, all of 'em."
"Ferret…" Darkclaw growled warningly from where he stood safely out of reach of the lapping ocean waves.
"You're all cowards." Fatefiend objected and splashed at the water moodily with his paw. Suddenly, screeching like a deranged heron, he was sprinting out of the ocean as best he could, all the while screaming: "Saltineyes-saltineyes-saltineyes!" without stopping to take a breath. Finally, he reached the part of the sand where he had left his pack, reached in and grabbed a tunic, and began furiously rubbing at his eyes.
"Who's the coward, now, exactly?" Root inquired innocently.
Fatefiend whirled on him, eyes bright red, and then shook himself violently. Salt water sprayed the wildcat and the squirrel, and both voiced their complaints rather loudly. The ferret was not finished yet, though, and charged at the squirrel, colliding with him and sending them both flying into the depths of the water located near the deeply thinking Redsplash. Needless to say, Redsplash got soaked and Root, panicking as he did not know how to swim, latched onto Fatefiend, whose own swimming skills were rather rusty, and forced the ferret under with him.
Fatefiend, not one to take kindly to death threats, intentional or not, promptly punched Root in the nose as hard as he could. After that, Root let go rather quickly and Fatefiend, confused as to which direction was up and which was down, attempted to find the surface. It took him about twenty seconds after going under to reach the surface again, and, when he did, Root had yet to surface.
"Squirrel!" he bellowed, immediately feeling guilty for punching Root. "Squirrel!"
"What? I'm right here." Root commented from directly behind the ferret, as he reached over and grabbed the back of Fatefiend's skull. "Turns out I can swim after all." He informed the ferret, just before forcefully dunking the ferret's head under the waves and holding it there for several seconds.
Darkclaw was about to wade out into the water in an attempt to cool off when he saw Darkwing flying in the sky. With a growl more irritated grunt than anything else, he began a quick walk towards the left. He knew that Darkwing would see and follow, so that he could give the wildcat whatever information he had brought back, and that the three idiots would not notice he was gone. The wildcat was willing to bet that they would keep busy stupidly dumping themselves underwater until one of them swallowed too much salt water and vomited all over the rest of them. That would clear up their little water war rather quickly, if nothing else.
He walked for several long minutes before he deemed himself far enough away that none of the others would bother following. Darkwing descended quickly, but gracefully, and came to a silent stop as close to Darkclaw as was possible without being in range for any of the wildcat's lunges or swipes. The hawk had, obviously, relearned his lessons quickly. Darkclaw was, once again, impressed by the hawk.
"So, what news have you brought?" Darkclaw demanded quickly, in no mood this afternoon to deal with the long drawn out conversations he had previously endured with the hawk.
"Unpleasant news, I'm afraid." Darkwing replied, although he sounded, if anything, smug that Darkclaw's future was clouded. "Salamandastron is preparing for a siege."
"How does one prepare for a siege?" Darkclaw responded. "Who has warned them of this siege of theirs?"
"The same one that's planning the siege: the Nameless One." Darkwing replied.
"That ones does everything backwards."
"And, yet, he still manages to be the sole ruler of his own continent."
"It's a small one."
"And several islands." Darkwing added, "And I think he's attempting to take over this continent as well. He has started his invasion already, you know. Torn villages to the ground and executed several of the badger's Long Patrol hares."
"And I suppose the great Badger Lord Advigilian just decided to forget about the bodies of his creatures?" Darkclaw demanded.
"No, actually, but he's smarter than he appears. I suppose you know that the Nameless One's forces were too many in number to be kept even on his continent without over-eating the plants and animals and rendering his lands useless?"
"I know."
"Well, obviously, so does the Unnamed One, and so he sent his forces all over the land he owned, and the land he was fighting to own. The thousands at his castle are perhaps one thousandth of what he controls."
"Is there a point to this awe-inspiring story of my family's greatest enemy?" Darkclaw asked, his eyebrow rising politely and his tone quite civil. It was this civility that told Darkwing the wildcat was in the mood to kill today.
"Yes, of course. The Unnamed One has never brought all his forces together in one place that any know of. Never. His hundreds of armies have never needed to gather together to overrun anything."
"Get to the point, if you please. I have other business to attend to, you know."
"A coast several days to the south of Salamandastron was the designated landing point of the hundreds of armies that weren't already located on this continent. That's how all the badger's hares died. They were caught and killed when they were found spying."
"You have ten seconds."
"The Nameless One has killed many on this continent, yes, but none of it was impressive. He's sent five of his armies to lay siege to Salamandastron and kill the badger lord."
"I thought the Unnamed One was content with his castle on his continent."
"He doesn't want to keep Salamandastron. All he wants is the badger lord's head so he can properly terrify the beasts of this continent."
"I notice he went for Salamandastron and not Redwall."
"Ah, well, he has no current interest in Redwall. The abbey is, after all, in the middle of the forest. He could use the coast that Salamandastron's hare and badger lord guard. Better landing spot, I believe, than the one he currently uses."
"Ah." Darkclaw nodded slowly. "How far away are these five armies?"
"It's been formed into one army, though there is some dissention, I've heard, between the five generals that used to rule the separate armies." Darkwing fluttered his wings in a passable imitation of a shrug. "They are perhaps six days away, if they march quickly."
Darkclaw nodded thoughtfully. Now that he had heard the Nameless One was after the badger lord's head, the wildcat wanted to kill the badger more than ever. To do so safely, though, he would have to see to it that Redsplash was repulsed enough by the mountain to want to leave within a day or two. If the army was six days away, Darkclaw definitely did not want to be anywhere near here when the horde arrived upon the awaiting hares.
"Send word to Ijuiline that I will soon be traveling through her brother's lands." Darkclaw ordered after thinking deeply for several seconds.
"Shouldn't I just give the message to her brother?" Darkwing asked.
"Oh, yes, if you wouldn't mind being shot several times with arrows." Darkclaw replied calmly. "I'm afraid Ijuiline never told her brother that the war she declared on me was called off."
"Ah. Ijuiline it is, then."
"Yes. Good. How long will it take you to get back here?"
"A while. I'll have to cross an ocean."
"It's a small one." Darkclaw answered. "I'll expect you back in one week. Two at the most."
"To get back here in two weeks I'll barely be able to rest, let alone eat!" Darkwing exclaimed.
"Good, then I won't have to worry about my messages arriving late because you stopped to visit those children of yours." Darkclaw responded darkly.
"You were a child once." Darkwing retorted angrily.
Darkclaw smiled grimly. "Never." He corrected. "Now get flapping, hawk. You have two weeks at the most before I start to hunt down your fledglings."
"Red, what're you doing?" Fatefiend inquired, his tone oddly innocent for one holding another's head underwater.
"I'm looking, Fatefiend." Redsplash replied quietly, detachedly.
"Lookin' for what?" Fatefiend asked, removing his paws from the top of Root's skull and allowing the squirrel to shoot to the surface. Somehow Redsplash's melancholy expression had completely ruined the humor of holding the squirrel under the surface of the water.
"What do you think I would be looking for?" Redsplash replied as Root sputtered and choked and punched drunkenly at Fatefiend, who easily dodged.
"Your sanity, perhaps?" Root did not seem to be in the best of moods after a near drowning.
"No, no, no, Root. If she's looking for something it has to be something she wants back." Fatefiend remarked dryly, rolling his eyes. Root glared at him and lunged, attempting to shove him underwater and drown him. The ferret, showing surprisingly quick reflexes, managed to grab the squirrel's paw and, using Root's own momentum, send him flying several feet before sinking, with a gigantic splash, under the surface.
"You two…" Redsplash said, turning to see the ripples of Root's collision with the water splash up against her. "Really need to remember how old you are."
Fatefiend hesitated, tilting his head to the right. "Actually…" he frowned. "I can't remember…"
Redsplash rolled her eyes. "You can't remember how old you are?"
"No…strange, eh?"
"Stupid." Redsplash snapped back.
"Well, I don't know either." Root retorted angrily, still attempting to rub salt water out of his eyes. "So I would thank you to stop mocking Fatefiend for it."
"You're both idiots." Redsplash remarked grimly and began to wade towards the shore.
"Oy, Red!" Fatefiend exclaimed, "Where do you think you're goin'?"
"Out of the water, Fate. It's only interesting for so long." Redsplash answered darkly.
"Well, you haven't even been under the water! This is supposed to be your habitat, Red. What're you doin' just walkin' away from it?" Fatefiend called after her as she continued her quick wading.
Redsplash froze for a second and then glanced over her shoulder at the squirrel and the ferret, both neck-deep in salt water. "Isn't that what I always do?" And with that enigmatic reply she walked out of the ocean and began strolling in the direction Darkclaw had left them for a few minutes ago, though how she knew where the wildcat had gone with her back towards him the entire time no one could know.
Root scratched his chin and turned to Fatefiend, "What's wrong with 'er?" He questioned, obviously quite confused.
"Oh, who knows? She does this every once a while, getting all dramatic and broody. Don't worry though, mate, it'll pass soon enough." Fatefiend shrugged.
"You ever asked 'er what's botherin' her?" Root questioned curiously.
"Once or twice. All I remember is that she threatened my life and hit me over the head anytime I asked her. So, go ahead, ask her."
"Perhaps not."
"Yes," Fatefiend agreed with a laugh, "Perhaps not."
Darkclaw found Redsplash walking towards him with an irritated scowl across her features and dripping ocean water, leaving a quickly fading path of drying droplets behind her. He had watched Darkwing take flight barely a minute before, and knew that it was possible Redsplash had been watching the meeting, if she were this close. Judging by her expression, though, Darkclaw knew she had not. Besides, knowing the otter as well as he did he knew that if Redsplash had seen the meeting she would have idiotically come running into their conversation screaming at Darkclaw about betraying them all and the like. For one who had managed to survive the Nameless One's slavery tactics, the otter had severely faulty survival tactics.
"What were you doing?" The otter demanded bluntly. "Why'd you leave us?"
"My business is not yours, Redsplash." Darkclaw returned calmly. "If you wish to reach the mountain by nightfall we should start now. It does not appear far, but we all know appearances can be blatant lies."
Redsplash stared at him for a while, a light frown mirroring equally as light suspicions in her eyes. "Yes," she remarked quietly, "Yes, they can be."
"Look, ferret, there is a trail for you to follow. A trail, and you still cannot track?" Came Root obviously amazed voice from a far distance, traveling easily across the sandy landscape.
"Well, forgive me, squirrel for being a brainless idiot!" Quipped Fatefiend from the same direction and distance as the squirrel.
"You're forgiven." Replied the smug-sounding squirrel.
With an audible sigh on Redsplash's part and an inaudible one on Darkclaw's, the two of them began to stroll towards the bickering beasts. They found them easily and, muttering only a few words, began moving as a group towards the mountain. There was not much talk on anyone's part, as Darkclaw was being his usual silent self, Redsplash was contemplating something no one but herself knew about, the ferret was busy keeping himself entertained with five seashells and a rock he had found on the beach, and the squirrel had finally found himself time to think about all that he happened and all that he had not known he knew.
The moon hung heavy and shimmering in a dangerously dark sky, accompanied by the faded glinting of the minuscule stars. Ashen light from the moon's glow brought illumination to the otherwise lightless landscape, and gave definition and reality to the lifeless sand and the few plants that could exist in this sand-ruled climate. The wind moved lightly, as if it barely had the energy to summon to itself its' very breath, noticed by few and disturbing even less. Nothing seemed to stir here, nothing but the mountain's inhabitants a few minutes quick march to the south…nothing had happened here for several weeks, if not months. It was peaceful here, and those that visited were normally intimidated into awed silence when they came. Nothing changed here that was worth noticing, and nothing lived here that was worth breathing…which was why the very absurdity of tonight's actions were so alarming shocking: because this was a place of peace…or had been.
Redsplash had been the one to decide not to ask for shelter from Salamandastron's inhabitants tonight, but to spend one last night out on the sandy beaches. Darkclaw had objected, but he had not been heeded. Fatefiend, perhaps to prove he was worth something to his brand-new friend Root, had spent nearly a full hour collecting the driftwood along the beach. It had amused them all to watch her travel into the foreboding darkness of the night and then, minutes later, come sprinting towards them, eyes alight and paws clutching at pieces of wood longer than he was tall. The fire the ferret had created was a roaring beacon they knew the mountain hares and the badger lord would see, but none of them bothered to care. What could the badger lord do to them?
They sat around the blazing fire; barely able to see each other much less anything beyond the circle of light, and the ferret and otter exchanged stories full of memories and ironic endings about their previous days in the Nameless One's castle. Their tales of failure and near-death experiences were told with such condescending tones that they sent Root into fits of laughter that nearly killed him, and even Darkclaw sometimes smiled, amused at their idiocy if not their story-telling capabilities. It was an oddly peaceful moment for their traveling troupe of terror, and none of them saw the ending of what little peace they managed to create coming.
"Right so then I walk in and find Redsplash attempting to devour her own shoulder-" Fatefiend began with a grin and a laugh.
"I was not you, liar!" Redsplash broke in, offended. "I was attempting to put my shoulder back in place with my teeth."
"Who's telling this story, Red? You or me?" Fatefiend returned, "If I say you were trying to eat your own shoulder, you were trying to eat you own shoulder. Now stop talking and let me finish."
"You're a liar." Redsplash snapped and then turned to Root. "He's a liar." She informed him.
"She's the liar." Fatefiend remarked. "Anyway, so I tell her, rather truthfully, that eating her own shoulder is a rather stupid way to attempt to heal, and she just makes fun of my mask, which, as I've already explained to all of you, was a rather touchy subject as it was a mask of mourning." This last part he said pointedly at Redsplash who glared back at him, not really angry but feigning it quite well.
"How was I supposed to know? Did you tell me? No!"
"So I go towards her planning on, you know, helping her with her dislocated shoulder, and she tries to bite me! What kind of creature attempts to first eat herself and then tries to take a bite out of a ferret?"
"I like ferret meat." Darkclaw rumbled idly. "Nice and juicy."
Fatefiend stared at in complete and total shock that turned slowly to a look of one critically affronted. "Dark! No one here wanted to hear that, least of all me!"
"Just the truth, ferret. Would you rather I say that ferret tastes like rotting duck-flesh?" Darkclaw demanded idly.
"Well…no…" Fatefiend agreed reluctantly.
"There you go, then." The wildcat remarked calmly.
Suddenly, in a move that completely shattered the edgy peace of their fireside talk, a hare bounded out of the darkness and pressed the tip of a spear to Darkclaw's throat. "No one moves or I kill you're leader!" The female hare shouted officially, glaring dangerously at all of them. The bit of sandwich Root had been about to eat fell out of his abruptly limp paws and dropped to the sandy ground.
"Oy!" Fatefiend called in loud objection, "What makes you think he's our leader?"
"He's not?" She questioned suspiciously, while pressing the spear tip harder against the wildcat's neck. Darkclaw growled quietly, almost softly, as he gave the hare a look that said he could clearly snap this spear in two far before she could stab him with it hard enough to give him any kind of serious injury. The hare did not notice and did not care.
"Well, no…I don't think so…" Fatefiend seemed puzzled by this. "I think it's…Red, are you our leader?"
"Depends." The otter remarked calmly, neither the ferret nor the otter very concerned about the spear to Darkclaw's throat.
"On what?" Root questioned, only a bit more nervous than either of the others.
"If that hare has any armed friends in the darkness." The otter responded with a careless shrug as she leaned over, swooped the bit of sandwich Root had dropped out of the sand, and ate it.
Somehow the hare managed to bound clear over the fire and land with her spear forced against Redsplash's neck. "As you can see," The hare's voice was calm but malicious, "I don't not need any friends for you four."
Redsplash sighed. "We're not here to attack your mountain, hare. We only came here to see if all those legends you hear about the place are true to not."
"I assure you, otter," the hare drawled darkly, "They are, and you can even see for yourselves in a minute. The Badger Lord wanted you four taken to the mountain so he can question you as to what you are doing on our shores setting fire to our wood."
"As prisoners to be interrogated you mean?" Redsplash hissed viciously.
"I suggested executing you like the vermin-scum you are, but Lord Advigilian said he wanted you alive." The hare hissed backed.
"We were going to go there anyway, hare, and if you wait until the morning we'll answer your Badger Lord's questions without any trouble, but we will not go as your prisoners." There were a few times Redsplash had been this angry that Fatefiend could remember, and, each time, a couple of beasts had always ended up dead.
"Do you think so?" The hare questioned. "Well, I do not, and the Badger Lord was only interested in the wildcat and the ferret who looks so much like his Unnamed enemy-" at this point Fatefiend paled considerably "-not in an otter who travels with the vermin. I could kill you."
"I don't think your kind has the courage to kill one of mine." Redsplash growled, practically snarling now.
The hare pulled the spear back, as if about to push it through Redsplash's neck, and pandemonium broke out. With a roar, Darkclaw leapt to his feet and flew across the fire, headed quickly towards the hare. Fatefiend pulled a flaming branch out of the fire and jumped towards the hare, waving it above his head in blazing contrast to the lifeless black sky above. Root lunged at Redsplash, attempting to push her out of the way, and Redsplash fell completely over in a reflexive attempt at the threat to her life. Needless to say, none of them achieved their goals.
Darkclaw and Root collided in midair, before crashing into the hare and sending all three of them flying through the night, away from the fire. Fatefiend tripped over Redsplash and went sprawling, neatly lighting his own tunic on fire. Screaming as if it was his skin and not his clothing alight, he rolled over and over in the sand in furious attempts to kill the fire he had created. Redsplash, when tripped upon, was sent rolling towards the fire and only barely managed to keep herself from ending up in the flames.
Several seconds went by as Darkclaw and Root removed themselves from the confusing muddle of hare, wildcat, and squirrel that they had landed in and as Fatefiend, ending the flames, lay there panting in relief. Redsplash sat up and looked around as the squirrel and wildcat pulled free from the hare and each other and rolled away. She was the first up and also the first to see the hare, run through cleanly on her own spear.
"Oh, lovely." Redsplash commented darkly. "I see we've made a great first impression."
"What do you--ooooh…" Fatefiend broke off mid-sentence as he saw the evidence of the gruesome demise of the hare. "Well…better 'er than us, I suppose."
"We'll have to get rid of the body so the Badger Lord lets us in his mountain." Redsplash remarked darkly as she stood up completely and kicked angrily at the sand.
"Oh and do you think he just won't notice when his spy never returns?" Darkclaw retorted, just as angrily.
"Well, what else are we going to do, Darkclaw? Return the body to him with our sincerest apologies?" Redsplash demanded.
"It's not like it was our fault." Root observed. "She stabbed herself with the spear. We had no part in that."
"Right. It wasn't our fault, but how are we going to explain that to the Badger Lord?" Redsplash hissed, furious that they had come all this way to see the inside of the legendary Salamandastron and some stupid hare stabbing herself was going to keep them out of it.
"The Badger Lord Advigilian is excepting a siege." Darkclaw informed them all cryptically without ever mention how he knew this. "There is a chance that he will believe we did not murder the hare, but it is a very small one."
"There you go then," Fatefiend remarked with a shrug. "Luck's always been with us when it comes to matters like this. We just walk up and say we found 'er dead on our way over to the mountain."
"Brilliant plan, Fate. How about you go do that and the rest of us'll just stay behind and watch?" Redsplash demanded acidly, shaking her head in agitated irritation. "You are such an idiot sometimes."
Fatefiend scowled, "Fine, then, Red. I will." And with that he stalked over to the dead hare, pulled the spear out of her lifeless body, scooped the dead hare up, and began to stalk towards the mountain.
"He's not going to do it." Redsplash told Root and Darkclaw confidentially. "He'll get a couple minutes away, turn around, and run screaming back at us because he heard a twig snap."
"If I heard a twig snap around 'ere I'd be a bit frightened too." Root retorted, "Seeing as how the only wood is driftwood."
"Then it'll somethin' else that spooks him." Redsplash corrected herself with an angry glare at the squirrel. "The point is: he'll come runnin' back soon enough."
"May I suggest we attempt to keep the ferret in our sights?" Darkclaw suggested darkly. "He might get lost if he tries to run anywhere tonight. It is a very dark night."
"Not too dark." Root replied, "The moon is shining, at least."
"We should still keep an eye on him." Darkclaw argued.
"Fine, let's go." Redsplash snapped and stalked after the ferret who was quickly disappearing into the darkness.
"You should try not to get so angry." Darkclaw commented mildly. "Emotions lead you to an early death, you know."
"I'll lead you to an early death." Redsplash muttered darkly.
Darkclaw snorted in disbelief and followed the otter as they followed Fatefiend across the sand towards Salamandastron, which loomed imposingly as an even darker shade of black against the gigantic curtain of bluish black that was the night sky.
If Redsplash had been given the opportunity to bet on Fatefiend's likelihood of carrying the hare's body to the mountain everything she had would have been against him even bothering to deposit the hare in front of the entrance. Luck had always been with her on such things, but, for some reason, it betrayed her now. Fatefiend was spotted about half a minute away from the mountain, and by the time he was nearing the entrance a full regiment of hares and the Badger Lord, Advigilian, himself were standing there waiting for him.
Darkclaw, Redsplash, and Root all stood about a minute's walk away from the entrance, having decided, upon mutual agreement, that allowing the badger to get a clear glimpse of Darkclaw would only send the badger into a mad fit. As the Warheart family was infamous for it's fondness of badger meat, badgers typically did not want their prince anywhere near them. Root had wanted to catch up with Fatefiend and take the body from him, saying that the badger would most likely welcome a squirrel over a ferret, but had made no move to approach Fatefiend. So they stood, waiting for Fatefiend to be frightened into dropping the carcass and running, watching with quiet smirks of expectation as Fatefiend approached.
Fatefiend called something up to the badger lord and stepped into the light. As soon as the glow of the torches touched the hare's body, Redsplash felt it in her gut. Her intuition was rarely wrong, and it was screaming at her that something very, very, bad was going to happen. The Badger Lord's eyes went from questioning brown to malicious red and Redsplash, more than any of the others, knew exactly what that meant. Root said later that she was screaming even before the badger began to reach for Fatefiend, but Redsplash did not ever know for certain if that was true.
The hare's body dropped lifelessly to the ground as the badger grabbed the ferret, who let out a strangled, shocked shout, and the badger's paws wrapped around Fatefiend's neck and skull. And then a loud snap echoed in Redsplash's ears that she could not have possibly heard and Fatefiend, too, dropped without any form of life to the ground, the sand flying upwards as if even the ground screamed out in protest at this act.
For a second that lasted far longer than an eternity, time froze. Nothing seemed real because nothing seemed right. Fatefiend would be getting up any second, Redsplash knew, because there was no way-no way-Fatefiend could be dead. That snap was a twig. The badger had dropped him. No. No. No.
Now it was moving. Darkclaw lunged forward. Root started sprinting. But Redsplash was moving past them, unaware that she was even moving. Her eyes glowed red as she flew across the sand, running because she didn't want it to be true…running for reasons she refused to acknowledge and for reasons she did not understand. The sand flew and the moon glowed, and Fatefiend did not move from where he lay in the sand.
The hares relaxed. The weapons lowered. The badger did not move. Redsplash left Darkclaw and Root behind, both of whom were faster runners than she had ever been. The badger lifted his head and looked at the approaching trio. Furiously blazing red eyes met their twin as the two shared a look, blazing flashes of murderous red in a black-and-sand night. And then the badger lord gathered the body of his dead hare into his gigantic arms and reached for the boulder to close off the entrance. It was then Redsplash realized she was screaming, and she could not stop it, even though she was running quickly out of breath.
It took less than seven seconds for the badger to close the door, and it took less than nineteen for Redsplash to reach Fatefiend. She fell to her knees, skidding through the sand, and grabbed him, pulling him towards her. His brilliant blue eyes were open, and he stared at her with the expression of someone mildly shocked and disbelieving. It was the expression he had always worn when Redsplash had called him a particularly nasty name. That thought was, for some reason, unbelievably painful. Redsplash had been tortured by the best torturers of her time. She had been burned, frozen, beaten, stabbed, tricked, tormented, sliced, clubbed, and everything else known to anyone who had ever experienced physical pain. But of all that incredibly pain, this one memory came the closest to breaking her mind than any of their pathetic attempts ever had and that made no sense.
For some reason she couldn't get air. It was like someone was strangling her without touching her. She couldn't breathe. It hurt. Something in her lungs was ripping apart. Nothing had ever hurt like this. Why did it hurt so much? Screams tore from her and she did not know why. Unbelievably agonizing pain dug its' poisoned claws into her gut and shredded apart her insides. Pain like this could not be lived through. Something like this should not exist…pain like this was too much…too much. And she couldn't breathe. And it hurt.
Darkclaw flew past her, throwing himself on the boulder. Roars that would have sent Redsplash, much as she liked to believe she was incredibly brave, fleeing away if she had been able to comprehend it filled her ears and drowned out her thoughts. Something was wrong with the wildcat too. He was furious, and he had never even liked Fatefiend. Fatefiend had never saved his life. Fatefiend had never set his broken bones. Fatefiend had never helped him plot a rebellion. Darkclaw's claws were leaving long scores in the heavy rock of the boulder, and the wildcat was still roaring. Nothing seemed right, and it was so hard to breathe.
"Stop it!" Redsplash screamed, unable to take the noise, unable to take the anger in Darkclaw's roars that mirrored the fury growing in her soul. "Stop it!"
Darkclaw turned to her, furious green eyes flashing murderously. "You're friend is dead, Redsplash. Do you not want vengeance?"
"He's not dead!" Redsplash roared, standing up quickly but not too quickly as she set Fatefiend carefully in the sand. "He's not dead!"
"Then why isn't he breathing, otter? Why has his heart stopped beating?" The wildcat hissed viciously.
With another scream, of hopeless disbelief and futile anger, Redsplash threw herself at Darkclaw, wanting to kill and wanting to die and not wanting anything but to go back in time just so she could say goodbye. She needed something, and she didn't know what. She wanted to rip Darkclaw apart and see the blood, and she wanted Fatefiend to sit up and tell them it was all a joke, and she wanted to go back to her family that she had refused to think about for all these long seasons, curl up in her mother's lap, and tell her about their terrible nightmare, because this could not be real. It was not real. Fatefiend was not dead and Darkclaw had no right to speak such lies. She wanted to kill the wildcat. Needed to kill the wildcat. Or at least to see the blood she could draw from him. That's all she wanted. To see physical pain to make the mental pain make sense. That's all. She just wanted to see blood, and Darkclaw had lots of it to spare.
But Darkclaw did not care what she needed or what she thought she needed from him. He grabbed her by the arm and flung her through the air. She landed hard in the sand and pushed herself up, looking up at him with a snarl of revulsion and defiance written across her features. "Denial is a waste of emotion, Redsplash. Get to the anger. We'll need the anger." Darkclaw growled. And then he was leaving, stalking away across the sand, leaving her there with Fatefiend who was not-couldn't be-dead.
Redsplash scrambled furiously across the sand, reaching Fatefiend's body quickly. She had never been one to hug or embrace her only friend, and Fatefiend had never been one to appreciate anything like that either, which was why it was so strange that Redsplash could not let go of him now. His head was at such an odd angle to his body…he looked so helpless and so naïve. He had never been that in life, not really…perhaps in comparison to some, but he had never been quite so helpless and ignorant as he pretended. And he was so cold now…he had always hated the cold. Redsplash remembered the trip to Darkclaw's northern realm had how the ferret had worn so many cloaks he had barely been able to walk. Fatefiend had always hated the cold…it seemed so unfair that he was freezing now.
Redsplash could not remember the last time she cried, but now seemed like an appropriate time. She had never let herself cry in the Nameless One's capture, though the tears had often threatened to overwhelm her for reasons far simpler than the loss of the only friend she remembered ever having in her life since enslavement. Now was a time she could cry, because Fatefiend deserved it. But now she couldn't, and she hated it. Hated herself. All she could do was sit there, gasping at the air that seemed to have left the world with Fatefiend, and make odd whimpering noises reminiscent of a lost cub in a corner, watching horrors beyond imagining and unable to blink. It was terrible, and it was nothing.
Blue eyes stared at her in confusion, as if asking why she seemed so sad. His expression was too familiar, even if his head was facing nearly straight behind him. She had seen that exact expression on his face so many times. He was dead, but he seemed to be alive. She couldn't change anything, but she would have changed everything if she could simply have brought him back. The badger that had killed him had not known him. Fatefiend had not known the beast that had killed him. It was always supposed to be his father. Fatefiend had told her once that it should be his father, because, after all, his father had given him life. Who better to take it away? But Fatefiend had been killed by a stranger for a misunderstanding Redsplash could have prevented. This was her fault.
"Fate…" Redsplash whispered, moving Fatefiend's cooling body so she could look into his lifeless eyes. "I did this to you…I'm so sorry, Fate. I-I didn't know…I would have gone instead of you. I should have gone instead of you. It's all my fault." She was breathing in sharp hisses now that burned her lungs and throat. "It's all my fault."
"Redsplash…" Came a voice and for half a second of astounding joy and relief Redsplash thought it was Fatefiend, but Fatefiend's corpse was in her paws, and Root was talking to her. "Redsplash, listen to me-"
"Go away!" Redsplash screamed at him, standing, carrying Fatefiend's body, which had seemed to weigh so much more when in possession of life. "Go away and leave us alone!"
"Redsplash, this wasn't-"
"Stop it!" Redsplash cried. "Go away, Root!"
"This wasn't your kill, Redsplash. You didn't do this." Root looked like he was carrying some immense burden that was slowly forcing the life out of him. "Red, this wasn't your doing."
"Red…he was the first to call me Red…" Redsplash looked down at the body in her arms.
"Red, look-"
"Don't call me that!" Redsplash screamed, sounding frantic and furious and insane. "Don't ever call me that again!"
"Redsplash…" Root looked defeated now…beaten. There was nothing he could do, and there was nothing he could change. He knew, though he could not remember it, exactly what it was like to feel like Redsplash did. The commiseration was incredibly painful itself, and Redsplash did not deserve the pain she was feeling. Root was not sure she could handle it, but, if anything, she needed her own mind now. There was nothing in Root's to ease the pain, except for an oddly aggressive memory of a recipe to some kind of poison.
"Go away…just go away, Root…" Redsplash hit her knees, unable, for a reason that Root knew quite well, to stand against everything anymore. Fatefiend's broken neck twisted oddly, and a shriek of dark emotions most kept locked away deep inside until something like this happened pierced the night, ripping from Redsplash's throat as a kneeing wail full of things even she could never hope to understand. Root shivered, and knew he had to leave. There was nothing he could do…not anymore…not after this.
"It wasn't your fault…" Root muttered quietly, turned, and left quickly, easily tracking Darkclaw's path. He needed to find the wildcat. He needed to tell him something he was completely sure the wildcat already knew.
Redsplash watched him go and then transferred her gaze to Fatefiend's astounded blue eyes. They were still bright, though lifeless, and they hurt to look at. "It is my fault…" Redsplash murmured quietly. "I killed you…Fate, I killed you…"