((Ahh…and, once again, I currpost Martin's personality to better fit with my story. Oh, well, people (and mice) change. And who knows how long he's been dead by now. Maybe he's just going through some kind of crisis.
Anyway. Much turmoil in this chapter. A bit of the generals fighting, a bit of Sade and Darkclaw, a load of Redsplash and Martin, a bit of Root and Martin, a fair amount of Redsplash and Root…and a bit of Sade and Redsplash, if you can call that a confrontation. Personally, I wouldn't. Oh, and Aysini and Sade.))
"Look, Redsplash, you can't go around corrupting the heroes. I won't allow it." The mouse scowled across at he, his arms crossed over his chest.
"I'm not corrupting anyone." Redsplash snapped back, her tone sullen.
"Have you any idea what you're doing to Sadian?" The mouse demanded, not even acknowledging she had spoke.
"I don't even know who that is." Redsplash retorted
"Sadian is the real name of that otter you've got working for you like slave." The mouse informed her coldly, scowling now.
"It's not slavery if they go along with it willingly." Redsplash growled.
"He doesn't have any other choice! For him, his only purpose is to obey the will of the one who the Stone belongs to. That's all he was born for, and that's all he lives for."
"His fault, not mine." Redsplash snapped.
"His fault? His fault?" The mouse looked about a breath away from going into hysterics. Instead of going hysterical he groaned, shaking his head in some kind of negative emotion. "You're going to kill them all, Brighteye. You're going to kill them all."
"Don't call me that." Redsplash snapped. "That's not my name anymore."
"You're insane." The mouse informed her, his paw dropping limply. "I told them your mind couldn't handle the bloodwrath. But did they listen? Do they ever? No, of course not! Not to me!"
"You told who?" Redsplash asked, scowling.
"That you won't find out until you're dead." The mouse growled. "Which, for the sake of the world, had better be soon."
"It won't be." Redsplash retorted. "Especially with that crazed otter. All I have to do is ask him to keep me safe."
"He's the one most likely to kill you at this point." The mouse snapped back. "Did you think you could keep him like a caged bird? It would be like putting a collar on a cougar and calling it your pet."
"Cougar?" Redsplash questioned.
He ranted onward without bothering to explain. "He's got a strict code of what he can and cannot do. He's the only one of that tribe who's dark enough to want to break that code, but he can't. He thinks his gods would torture him for eternity if he did."
"Code?"
"You wouldn't understand it." The mouse said, almost venomously. "You don't believe in anything."
"I don't have to." Redsplash retorted.
"Of course you would say that." The mouse scowled. "You know absolutely nothing about everything."
"You're annoying, for an hallucination." She informed him.
"Hallucination?" He repeated, as if this were the worst insult ever spoken aloud. "Hallucination?"
"Right. Hallucination. It's what you are, isn't it?" Redsplash demanded, scowling.
"No!" The mouse bellowed.
"Then what are you?" She demanded.
"I'm…" The mouse started heatedly and then trailed off. "It doesn't matter. What matters is the that you're corrupting heroes."
"Heroes?" Redsplash demanded, blinking.
"Yes. Two of them. And a potential hero."
"Well, I'm not doing it on purpose!" She screamed at him.
He stared at her. "You expect me to believe you'd feel guilt for ruining other's lives?"
"I don't care what you believe! I don't believe anything, remember?" She retorted.
"You don't understand what kind of situation you are in, do you?" The mouse demanded.
"Of course not! I'm insane! I'm talking to a mouse hallucination who is telling me he's real!"
"I'm a real mouse." The mouse replied, sounding offended.
"Oh? Real mice have names, you know. And…and better things to do than to sit around bothering me every time I fall asleep!'
"I have a name." The mouse sounded very much offended by this point, and also very defensive. "It's a well known name, too."
"Oh, is it?" Redsplash demanded, rolling her eyes. "Well, sorry, I haven't heard about any mice lately. Weak species and all, you know how that is."
For a second, Redsplash thought the mouse would attempt to cleave her in two with that magnificent sword of his. His eyes were about as wide as they could ever get, and his breathing was a bit strained. Redsplash watched him, eyes narrowed and smile wicked.
"You," The mouse said finally, his voice harsh as he pointed accusingly at her with his right paw. "Are suicidal."
"Just want to know if that saying that if you die in your dreams you die in reality is true or not." Redsplash replied, grinning, as she stared over at him.
"Well, it's not. Not in this type of dream." The mouse snapped.
"Then I've got nothing to lose." She told him, still grinning.
"Do you want me to kill you?" The mouse inquired, his expression unreadable.
"Always wanted to try dying." Redsplash answered. "Everyone's doing it."
The mouse stared at her for a very long time. "You know, if you do die you will never see Fatefiend again."
"What?" Redsplash demanded, frowning.
"You and Fatefiend…you're different. He triumphed where you failed. You can't…it won't…" The mouse trailed off, looking both confused and mildly upset and somehow guiltily smug at the expression on Redsplash's face.
Redsplash quickly forced her expression into one of complete boredom. "I don't remember ever losing a fight that Fatefiend won." She remarked coldly.
"See? That. There's where you're different." The mouse shook his head. "I never mentioned anything about a fight, Redsplash. There are some things that aren't about violence."
"Not in this world." Redsplash spat, glaring.
The mouse stared at her. "Do you think there are limits on the world, Redsplash?"
"Everything has limits."
"Everything has possibilities." He responded quietly.
"Except there is no possibility of me ever seeing Fatefiend again, right?" Redsplash demanded.
The mouse hesitated for a very long time. "If you gave up all hope for revenge and spent the rest of your life trying to save the world from itself, then you might be able to see him long enough to say goodbye."
"Goodbyes are useless." Redsplash growled. She was growing angry at this hallucination.
"You think everything's useless."
"Is there anything that isn't?" Redsplash hissed, her paws fists now.
He tilted his head to the side. "In your opinion, I doubt it."
"Do you know my opinion?"
"Everyone knows your opinion, Redsplash. It's the same opinion of every rat, weasel, or fox on the planet. Minus the decent ones, of course."
"I'm not a rat." Everything tilted oddly and was beginning to take on a red tinge.
"Of course not. You're an otter."
"Aren't you supposed to tell me I have the potential to be good? Aren't you supposed to try to brainwash me into fighting all the naughty vermin and their disgusting personality traits?" Redsplash demanded, her voice oddly shrill as everything turned a darker red.
"I think if you want the potential to be good you're going to have to steal your soul back from that idiot ferret that goes around without telling his name to anyone." The mouse replied, his tone almost bitter.
"The Nameless One doesn't have a name to go around not telling." Redsplash replied, ignoring the stolen soul comment.
"Oh, everyone has a name, Redsplash. You have two. I have many. That one just doesn't know or doesn't like his. I have no interest in his wishes or his wisdom."
Redsplash didn't reply at all, but stared across at him. It was hard to concentrate, with everything red and screaming.
"I have others I need to speak to tonight, Redsplash. Time is different for me, but it still exists."
"I'm not holding you here." Redsplash growled.
The mouse shook his head. "I'll have to speak to you again later. Stop corrupting the heroes, Redsplash. Especially Sadian. The last thing this world needs is one of his tribe running amok."
"Maybe it's the only thing the world needs." Redsplash argued, glaring.
Again the mouse hesitated, as if considering. Finally, looking mildly confused and very much surprised, he nodded. "Indeed." He murmured and disappeared.
…
"Squirrel…" The voice came from a distance. Root looked up, searching.
"Who is it?" He asked quietly.
In answer to his question, a mouse appeared out of nowhere. Root stared in surprised, momentarily awed into silence. "Squirrel…why have you let the otter lead you here?" The mouse demanded, and Root's eyes were drawn to the sword at the mouse's back.
"Well…umm…" Root struggled for an answer. "I thought it would be worse if she were on her own."
"And if I told you that by staying you were endangering yourself?" The mouse inquired.
"I already knew that much." Root answered quietly. "Didn't seem like such a bad idea at the time."
"What time?"
"After Fatefiend died. It's not like I have a home to go back to, and I think if I left the wildcat would kill me."
"You underestimate yourself. If you wanted, you could escape the wildcat. He is not as interested in you now as he was before you knew yourself."
"Before I knew myself?" This was utterly confusing. Root tried to concentrate. "I've always known myself."
"You know that's not the truth. You still don't remember, do you?" The mouse looked almost apologetic. "What you did before you forgot yourself?"
Root had the vaguest sensation like something in the back of his mind cringing. He ignored it as best he could. "I remember a bit. Not much." Perhaps it was the feeling of peace the mouse seemed to embody, or maybe it was just the fact that this was a dream, but the squirrel found himself not bothering to keep secrets. What was the point, anyway? What could this mouse do to him?
"Good." The mouse nodded. "Don't go searching for your past, squirrel. There is a reason you forgot it in the first place."
"I chose to forget?" Root asked, frowning.
"Yes."
"But…but why?" Root couldn't imagine anything worse than not knowing. Why would he choose to forget?
"For a very good reason. Perhaps the best of reasons. You must stop searching for your past."
"But I want to know." Root paused and then continued. "I have to know."
"No. Perhaps some of the skills you used to know would be useless to remember now, but what you did, you do not want to remember."
"What? Did I kill someone? Is that it? Did I…murder someone?" Root didn't care to remember that he had already killed two creatures. He forced those thoughts away. He'd been forced into it. He had to believe that. Otherwise…
"Believe me when I tell you that you do not wish to know. You have enough troubles right now without those of your past."
"Troubles? Oh. Yes. The vermin horde."
"And your traveling companions." The mouse added.
"Oh, am I dead?" Root asked. "Did that black otter kill me? Is that why I'm talking to you?" Somehow the concept of death didn't seem so disconcerting…it seemed almost…peaceful.
"No, you are not dead. Though Redsplash's slave will kill you if she asks him too."
"Slave? I thought he was just like a guard or something. Didn't know he was a slave…" Root trailed off, remembering his own slavery. "I think I'll have to talk with Redsplash about that."
"He made himself a slave. If you fight it, he'll only kill you."
"But I thought he couldn't, without Redsplash's order." Root objected.
"He can kill you if you break his Code. Although…" The mouse tilted his head, considering. "He's already agreed to break one of the rules of the Code. Partially, anyway. So he might let you live. I don't know what all he might do."
"He's a strange one. Already plannin' on killing Darkclaw." Root shrugged. "I should probably be referring those two, but I'm a bit tired of death threats from both of 'em. Let 'em kill each other."
This seemed to alarm the mouse. "You don't mean that." He stated, though it sounded more like a question.
Root sighed. "Suppose I don't." He agreed. "But it would be nice if they just disappeared."
"And Redsplash? Do you want her to disappear too?"
"I dunno. She got me into this problem in the first place, but she did free me from the foxes…I owe her something, but I'm not sure what."
"Ah, so you're as much her slave as the otter is." The mouse murmured, frowning.
"I am not." Root objected. "I can choose what I do. I'm not anyone's slave anymore."
"You're not?" The mouse asked. "Then why did you kill for her?"
"I didn't kill for her." Root snapped, remembering the hare and the rat he had killed. "I killed for myself."
"But why were you in those situations?" The mouse demanded. "You killed the rat because you freed the others. You wanted to run. Knew you should have. But you freed them because you owed them, and you killed because they needed you to."
Root decided to give up on that one. The mouse seemed pretty determined he was right. "But the hare I killed for myself." What a strange situation, when he was actively seeking to prove himself guilty.
"Because the otter had lead you to an army. Because if you didn't, the otter would have been executed."
"Because if I hadn't, I'd have been executed." Root argued.
"Be honest, squirrel. If not with me, at least with yourself. By the time you got to the army, you stopped caring about your own survival."
Root stared at him, "That's not true." He objected.
"Isn't it?" The mouse replied.
Root shook his head, because he wanted to deny it. "It's not."
The mouse sighed. 'Think about it, then. I have others to talk to. And remember Root…don't go looking for your past, because there is a possibility that you might find it."
…
Sade and Darkclaw's conversation ended as Redsplash came awake with a growl. Not ever bothering to speak, she stalked out of the tent. Sade stood up quickly, frowning after her. Darkclaw's brilliant green eyes rolled.
Perhaps ten seconds passed and then Redsplash came stalking back in, remembering, apparently, that there was an entire army out for her blood. "You." She growled, pointing at Sade. "Come with me."
"Lover's calling." Darkclaw mocked.
Sade turned back to him and drew a knife. Redsplash grabbed him by the neck and tugged him after her. "Leave the wildcat alone! He's stupid and ugly!" She ranted.
"Well." Darkclaw muttered to himself. "I think 'ugly' was a bit much."
…
Redsplash threw herself down onto the ground far enough out of the army encampment that no one would be around to threaten her life. Not in force, anyway. Sade settled down easily a few feet away, his gaze constantly moving. He still had that pack with him. The one that never seemed to leave his back.
"Could you make a fire?" She demanded, her tone harsh. Really, she would have preferred to be alone, but being killed by rats probably wouldn't help her mood at this point.
Sade left silently and Redsplash wondered where he thought he was wandering off to. It became apparent a few minutes later, though, when he came wandering back, wood clutched in his paws. He dropped it on the ground, crouched beside it, pulled something out of his pack, and went about creating fire with the efficiency he did everything else. It was getting highly annoying by this point. Could the otter do everything? She decided not to care and sunk deeply into her own personal thoughts.
"We shouldn't be out here." He said suddenly.
She looked at him, frowning. "Why not?"
"Rats are coming this way." His answer was quiet and calm as he went about stringing his bow.
"What?" Redsplash had a probably keeping her tone as calm as he kept his. He gestured over his shoulder and she squinted. In the darkness, something was moving. She decided to take his word that it was rats. He grabbed a flask out of his pack and drenched the fire in water. Apparently not caring, at this point, about the smoke. Eventually it became clear that the moving darkness was rats. Seventeen, if Sade could be trusted to count accurately.
"Is this a problem?" Redsplash asked, frowning at him.
"Seventeen rats. Two of us. No. It's not a problem. As long as…do you have a weapon?" He glanced at her, for a second looking doubtful.
"No." Redsplash admitted uneasily.
"This is a problem." He told her and looked back at the rats.
"Figured that much." Redsplash muttered. "What do we do?"
She saw him squint and he slithered forward on the ground a bit. "They have bows and spears. You couldn't run from them. Not without some kind of distraction."
"Could you cause a distraction?"
"I always cause a distraction." He retorted and Redsplash stared at him, wondering if he was joking or not. "But I'd have to leave you here and try to get around behind them. Though they might retreat and catch you. So, to the side. Away from camp so they might go back there." He nodded and moved to straighten a bit.
"You are not leaving me here!" She growled, grabbing the back of his tunic and dragging him back down. "I don't have a weapon."
He looked at her. "Do you know how to use a sword?"
"I learned as a child, but I haven't had one in seasons."
"Bow?"
"Same as the sword." Redsplash growled. "Look, do you have a knife?"
"Yes, but if you get close enough to them to use it, you'll be dead."
"I can throw knives."
"There are seventeen of them. Tell me, do you think the knife will just return to your paw after you throw it?" Apparently he was getting annoyed, though she couldn't tell for sure.
"If you do your job right I won't have to use it!" She retorted.
"I've failed before. Depending on me wouldn't be the best idea." After revealing this piece of information, he sat up again, scanning the darkness. "They're getting too close. I'm going. Take this and run when you feel it's necessary." He handed her a knife, giving way to her request, and managed to disappear into the darkness before Redsplash looked back up from the dagger.
"This life isn't worth it." She mumbled and tightened her grip on the knife, staring out into the dark. Her night vision wasn't near as good Sade's. The few things she could see, like the rats, were just vague lumps.
Minutes passed. Very long, tedious, anxious minutes. And then, suddenly, a full force of beasts burst out of the darkness and lunged at the rats. Redsplash, jumping to the conclusion that this was the actual enemy and quickly deciding not to come to the aide of her fellow soldiers that wanted her dead, she lunged to her feet and began sprinting back to the camp. It did not occur to her to care what had happened to Sade.
…
Sade had never been taken captive before in his life. So it only made sense that one of the few times he thought nothing else could really go wrong in one day, it would happen. He should have taken the proper precautions of course, but he had been in a hurry. The trap he had stepped should not have been a surprise. Seasons of training to pick out discrepancies in the landscape at dark would have let him see the figures crouching in the darkness, if he'd thought to use them. And now, here he was, wondering what was happening to otter known as Redsplash.
It was while he was kneeling weaponless on the ground with his paws tied behind his back and a blindfold around his eyes that he really began to realize how much he hated blindfolds. He could fight without his front paws because his legs were far more powerful then his arms were, anyway, and he knew that his sense of hearing was just as useless to him as his sense of sight, and that he had trained for a situation just like this, but he could fully silence the unease inside him. Which was very, very bad because the last time he hadn't been able to quiet unease it had grown to panic and panic lead to anger. And once he was angry, he tended to forget certain morals requirements of his tribe.
"Wake up the rat general and bring him to my tent." Came a feminine voice, full of anger and contempt.
"Yes, Aysini." Another voice, male, full of reverence. "We found an otter…but not the one you spoke of. This one's different."
"Where is it?" The voice demanded. Sade supposed this was Aysini.
"It is over there. We tied it up. There were guards for it, but it attacked them."
"Before or after you tied it up?" Aysini again.
"Both." Came the voice. Sade smirked inwardly. Ah, yes, at least his training hadn't failed him then.
"Serious injuries?" Oh, this Aysini sounded very much angry now. Somehow that made Sade feel very smug. Very smug indeed.
"A few. We believe two of us have broken ribs, though they could be bruised. Several have minor to serious bruising, and one of us will require stitching on his left forearm." Strange, that they referred to each other with the 'us.' It was almost as if they thought each other one.
"Stitching? Did it have the opportunity to use his weapons?"
"No. It bit one of us."
"And this bite requires stitching?"
"It's teeth went nearly to the bone." Sade could feel the smile twitching at his lips and any of his tribe could have sensed his great mirth, but few outsiders would even notice. He felt no remorse. They'd been trying to gag him at the time, but decided against it eventually.
"Clean the cut carefully. Beware the diseases the uncleansed carry." Now, that was almost insult. The smile disappeared and Sade turned his face in the direction of the voice.
"Yes, Aysini." Again that reverence in the tone became almost unbearable. Was this some kind of priestess of theirs? "And what do we do with the prisoner?"
"I need to speak with the foul rat general before I deal with the prisoner. Chain him somewhere in the camp. He should survive for the few minutes I'll need."
"No guards for it's safety then?"
"It attacked one of us. The children need their vengeance." There was a smugness in the voice that made Sade's mind burn with agitation. He could feel the danger in the air and he welcomed it. After all, now that he'd broken one of the few rules of his tribe he hadn't already shattered into a million pieces and allowed himself to be captured, there was very little honor left for him to protect.
…
Sade felt them surrounding him. For a while they had left him alone. Perhaps thinking he was under some kind of protection, but now they were closing in like darkness after twilight. They'd chained his wrists to something particularly sturdy, and they had chained them in front of him. This was the first mistake they'd made. Did they not understand yet that he was dangerous? Why would they give him the freedom to use his fists if they did not expect him to use them?
The chain was five paces long and he could move around the post, or whatever it was he was chained to, in a complete circle without tripping over anything or being stopped. Stupid of them. Suicidal nearly. Or perhaps he was getting overconfident. After all, he could be surrounded by raging wolves or wildcats. He could be the suicidal one.
They were closing in even more, and he could hear them all around. He could practically feel them around him, and he hated how it felt. Calculating calmly, he whipped his head around frantically and stumbled back, limping on his left leg, deciding to appear panicked and weak. Sade continued limping backwards until he felt his back against the post. Good. No one liked to fight with their back exposed. After all, one swipe to his back and there was little he could do. There were a lot of muscles on his back, and if there were severed…
And then one of them got too close. He lunged at him, swinging with his paws, using the added weight of the chains that kept them linked together, to put more weight into the swipe. Whatever he hit cracked and growled, and he felt it moving backwards. Something jumped at him and he dodged backwards, this time kicking at it. It drew back. Sade heard the hissing of moving air and swung with his paws again, feeling them jolt as they collided with something midair. Again, he drew aside, straining his senses to feel what was going on.
Every time something attacked, he dodged backwards. It only occurred to him that this was a flawed plan when he jumped backwards the final time, and found he had completely wrapped himself around the post. He lunged forward, but felt something sharp dig into his skin. Immediately, blood began seeping out of the wound on his chest. And now he knew why the entire army hadn't mobbed him. Because they had herded him like a sheep until he was practically defenseless. Well. Now that he had been tricked he felt properly angered. He snarled at them and lunged forward as best her could, digging his teeth into the nearest attack. Judging from the gurgled scream, he figured he had hold of the neck and dug his teeth in deeper, ripping backwards.
…
"What is this Aysini?" Kani demanded, looking furious as he stalked into Aysini's tent.
"It is not your place in this army to execute beasts, Kani." Aysini told him coldly, holding her favorite axe carefully in one paw. "It is mine."
"You woke me up to tell me this?" He demanded.
"I woke you up to tell you that the seventeen assassins you sent out after the otter will be executed at dawn for traitorous acts." Aysini told him, her amber eyes glowing. "I thought you might want to be present."
Kani's eyes widened and for a second he almost walked into the trap. And then he recovered, and had the intelligence to appear surprised. "Assassins? What assassins?"
Aysini snorted. "Your lies do not fool me, Kani."
"I didn't send out any assassins." Kani argued.
"No, because it would be stupid, wouldn't it? To use assassins so short after Devman was killed by one. It would be suicide, wouldn't it?" Aysini mocked him coldly.
Kani's eyes flamed with anger, but he didn't say anything. "I sent out no assassins, Aysini, but if you found assassins, by all means, execute them. They certainly weren't under my orders and any beast of mine that acts without orders needs to be killed."
Aysini's eyes flashed. "You would take seasons to cleanse." She informed him coldly. "No loyalty even to your own."
"They aren't mine." Kani retorted. "And how are those 'children' of yours doing lately, anyway? Healthy and alive, I hope."
Aysini caught onto the veiled threat immediately. "Watch who you threaten, rat. Rekth wouldn't mind your death and Kislin is easily persuaded. Of the remaining generals you are in the most perilous position."
"Is that a confession?" Kani demanded.
"To Devman's murder? No. I didn't kill Devman. There was no point in his murder. No cleansing. Perhaps by cleansing those seventeen assassins Devman's soiled death will be forgiven."
Kani's jaw tightened at the mention of the death of his rats. "Wake me up for their execution. As it is, I need sleep. These are troubling times, with maniacs in power."
Aysini's grin was neither pleasant nor friendly. "Maniacs in power indeed, rat." She remarked quietly as he turned his back on her and left.
She tightened her grip on her axe, glanced once again at the impressive amount of weaponry her army had taken from the otter that was laid out carefully on her table, and stood up. Perhaps by now the otter would be intimidated to the point of blubbering, Kani had, after all, kept her waiting a bit longer than she had expected, but if he was as strong as he was supposed to be there might be a bit of intelligence left in him. Aysini hoped it was so. After all, interrogating the terrified was rarely productive and never entertaining.
…
She was surprised when she arrived on the scene to find the otter, bleeding from several cuts, digging his teeth into the wrist of one of her ferrets. The ferret roared and yanked at his wrist, pulling viciously. The otter let go, but not after tearing a bit of flesh from the ferret's arm. He spat it onto the ground and tilted his head. Before the rat that had been charging at him reached him, the otter lashed out with his feet, bowling him over. But that unbalanced him, and several of Aysini's beasts charged in, ripping at him with daggers.
Aysini watched, intrigued, as the otter, his front paws useless as there was only enough slack on the chain for him to move them half an inch or so, lashed out again and again with his back paws until the group of vermin drew back, annoyed. Of course, Aysini's beasts weren't allowed to kill him. Not without her ordering it. If she let them, this otter would be dead in the time it took another drop of blood to splatter on the sand. But the spears and swords had been abandoned for daggers and knives, and that was the only reason the otter was managing to keep his skin on. That and the fact he seemed immune to pain. Perhaps this interrogation would be entertaining after all.
"Children!" Aysini called out, and, immediately, the twenty or so beasts from her army that had been extracting their revenge on this otter drew to her, abandoning the otter. "Who has the key to his chains?"
"I do." Announced one of her captains, holding up a key.
"Good, then release him. His paws are still tied together, aren't they?" Aysini inquired.
"Of course." The captain replied. "Was there somewhere in particular you wanted him to be brought?"
"The interrogation tent." Aysini informed him. "And as quick as possible without any more injuries." And then she left, because there was really no point in here staying and because she wanted to be in the interrogation tent before the otter arrived.
…
It was impressive how the instruments of torture always managed to look almost as painful as they felt. Aysini was staring at them now, reaching out to touch a few. She knew the otter had managed to cause some kind of trouble. It had taken her army entirely too long to bring him over, and, besides that, she had heard what sounded like a scream a few seconds ago. Of course, she was not unduly worried. None of her creatures screamed.
They brought him in unconscious a few minutes after Aysini was starting to get bored. Or, at least, he appeared unconscious as he sagged listlessly between the two ferrets that had hold of his arms, and were dragging him along. Blood was dribbling down one of the ferret's chins, making it appear as if he was drooling blood. The other ferret limped on his right leg. Both of them looked rather unhappy with the captive, who's lolling head revealed a slash on the back of his skull.
At Aysini's questioning glance, one of the ferrets shifted uneasily. "Oh, 'e's alive. Just a little unconscious."
"What happened?" Aysini demanded, golden eyes studying them both carefully.
"Well, he got his blindfold off." The other ferret informed her. "Took us a while to get it back on him, is all."
Aysini glanced at the blindfold, which was completely crimson now when it had been mostly white just a little while ago. She was about to speak again, when the otter groaned, awakening. His head rolled uselessly for a minute and then he spoke, in a voice half growl and half groan, something that sounded startlingly like: "Gimmie."
Before Aysini could respond, or even realize what he had said, he jerked his elbows, which the ferrets were holding loosely at this point, inwards. The ferrets, either startled by the movement or seeing no point in holding on, let go and the otter, whose paws were now tied behind his back again, fell flat on his face. He stayed there for a while, long enough for Aysini to wonder if he had knocked himself unconscious again, and then, once more, he groaned. Pausing, he mumbled into the ground, "Shoulda died as a cub." He informed the earth and then rolled onto his back and sat up slowly, shaking his head. With the blindfold still firmly tied around his eyes, he appeared to be looking around. Finally, his face paused in the direction of Aysini and he tilted his head towards her. That was when she realized he was listening to her breathing.
Aysini hefted her axe casually, staring at the otter. Eventually, she looked back at the ferrets. "You may go." She told them, and they left quietly. The otter tilted his head backwards, listening, she supposed, to the footsteps. After a while he turned his head back in her vague direction and kept tilting his head oddly, trying to hear her again. It was rather annoying.
"Do you know where you are?" Aysini inquired placing her axe down carefully on one of the many tables of torture equipment and picking up a particularly nasty looking dagger, staring down at it curiously as she waited for his response.
"Yes." His voice was calm, even, blank. Aysini's eyes narrowed and she frowned.
"If you knew where you were, what were you doing so close to the army?"
"Rat hunting." Again, his tone was impassive.
"Why?"
"To keep the Carrier safe."
"What carrier?"
"The Carrier." Aysini knew he was mocking her, but couldn't tell it from his face. Perhaps the mocking was in his eyes. Moving forward she neatly cut the blindfold in two, and the bloody material fell to the ground. Blue eyes glanced unemotionally up at her before dismissing her calmly and looking around the tent. His eyes skipped without reaction over the grotesque shapes of the torture devices and settled, with the slightest flash of irritation, on his weapons.
"Those are mine." He informed her.
Aysini glanced over at the table full of weaponry. "Yes."
"I'll be taking those back when I leave."
"You think you'll be leaving?"
"Yes."
Aysini looked down at him, and, after a while, he sighed a bit and looked up at her. He was hiding everything particularly well, she noted. His eyes were like a thick sheet of ice. But ice only obscures what's underneath; it could never hide it fully. All she had to do was concentrate hard enough and she could see straight through the ice. What she saw surprised her a bit more than what the other otter had been hiding. This one was completely insane.
"You think I would unleash insanity upon my army?" She demanded.
"Your army is insane." The otter retorted, the tiniest bit of a scowl forming in his eyes. "Worshipping a Blood God or whatever darkness it is you devote yourself too. Is that not insanity?"
"What is it you worship, then, little otter?"
"Justice."
She snorted, nearly laughing out loud. "Justice does not exist."
Instantly, whatever emotions she had been able to read became nonexistent. He was completely ice now. Strange, that he could do that. "Does it not?"
"No. It is as flawed as you are unclean." She responded, shaking her head. For a while she had nearly believed this one to be intelligent. Or at least more intelligent that the masses of outsiders she was forced to endure these days. But, no, this one was as stupid as the rest. Justice. What an idiotic concept.
"But that is your opinion." He replied.
"And opinion shapes the world."
"But only one beast's world." He answered. "Unless you have some kind of power over my opinions, yours do not matter to me. To you, justice is flawed. To me, you are flawed."
"I have the power to torture you to death."
"Then you have the power to corrupt my mind and ruin my flesh, but that has no power over what I believe. Torture me, if you like, but it won't change my belief that justice is flawless. I might eventually tell you my mind has changed, but it will just be another lie because my beliefs won't change."
"You just invited me to torture you." She informed him.
"Yes, but if you were going to torture me anyway, now, at least, I will have invited you to do so. Better I give you the power than have you take it from me."
She stared at him for a while. "You are very much attached to power."
"It shapes the world."
"I thought we agreed that opinions shaped the world."
Again, the tiniest hint of emotion in his eyes, though this was much more a smirk than anything else. "Opinions are power."
For some reason Aysini felt like laughing. This crazy one before he was not without a sense of humor, even though he hid it well. But. She was here to interrogate him and, though this conversation was lively, there were some things she needed to know. "Is the Carrier a beast?"
"Yes." He answered, once again playing perfectly calm.
"Who is it?"
"An otter in this army. I believe you would call her Redsplash if you knew her."
Aysini blinked. "And what is your connection to her?"
"She carries the Stone of Khalidian." He answered and then decided to add on. "And with the Stone's power she had ordered me to guard her."
"So, this stone has power of you?" Aysini demanded.
"Over all the otters in the world." He replied.
"Then it was rather stupid of you to tell me about it, wasn't it?"
His eyes smirked at her. "No, because there is nothing you can do with it. The Stone cannot be used by a fox, only by an otter. And if you attempt to force the one with the Stone to give an order, my tribe will slaughter you."
"You have a tribe?"
"Yes."
"You reveal a lot of information for someone I haven't even stabbed yet." Aysini told him, staring down at the dagger she still held in her hand.
"By the rules of my tribe, if any of us are ever captured we can't lie to our captors, nor can we disobey an order given by them, unless it breaks another rule of our tribe."
"I could make you kill yourself, couldn't I?" Aysini questioned, already seeing the answer in his eyes.
"Of course."
"For one so obsessed with power, you do not have much of your own, do you?" He didn't answer her, so she continued. "Could I order you to kill that Carrier of yours?
He snorted. "Just asking me to would overrule the fact that you've captured me and I could kill you for it."
"Very protective of the Carrier, then?"
"We were raised to believe the only reason we were born was to die for the Carrier when the right time came." He answered calmly.
Aysini stared at him, frowning. "You don't believe that anymore, do you?" She inquired.
He gave her a glare that would have intimidated her if she could be intimidated anymore. Now it simply made her smile.
"Answer me." She ordered.
Again, he glared. It surprised her that he was not answering. Had he not said he had to obey her orders?
"I order you to answer the question." She spoke quietly, and watched the fury in his eyes shimmer behind the ice.
"I refuse." It was strange, the way he could say something cataclysmic without showing any emotion.
"Did you not say that, by the rules of your precious tribe, you had to answer me?" Aysini inquired, frowning at him now, her grip tightening on the dagger.
"I cannot tell a lie and I cannot break the rules of my tribe. If I answer you, I will have to choose which law to break. I choose to break neither."
"And break a completely different law?" Aysini demanded.
"It is a small law." He retorted, with that sense of humor he only showed in his eyes.
"And will you keep it secret from your tribe?" She was leaving entire gaps in the conversation. Gaps she would have been forced to cover with any other outsiders. Her children understood her. Rekth, even, could comprehend her when she skipped from topic to topic, reading the answers to questions in the eyes of others. If this otter was confused, he hid it far too well.
"No." That answer she had already known.
"And what punishment will you receive for lawbreaking?"
Somewhere beneath that river of ice in his blue eyes, something twitched. Cringed. Blazed. "It will be minor."
Aysini found herself smirking. "I didn't ask what degree of punishment it would be." She informed him. Of course, she should have known better than to expect him to answer to that. With an inward laugh, she spoke again. "What punishment will it be?"
He tilted his head as far back on his neck as it would go, and then rolled it back and forth. Loosening the muscles. For a while he stared impassively up at the top of the tent, before tilting his head back towards her. His tone was blank, but somehow portrayed rigid cold. "Such questioning into my tribe's ways will eventually allow me to claim Right of Silence." He announced.
Aysini blinked at him. "Which would, undoubtedly, give you free reign to try and kill me." She mused aloud.
A nod. "And every one of those blood-mad fanatics you keep in your army." A smile flashed in his eyes. Quick and sadistic.
Aysini placed the dagger carefully back in its place and grabbed her favorite axe. It whistled as it slashed the air, and met the otter's neck with enough force to immediately open a cut. But she did not kill him, because if he was guarding Redsplash, than there was reason enough to keep him alive. "You have little chance of killing me." She informed him. "And no chance at all of killing my children."
"You have no idea what I'm capable of." Came the impassive response.
"And you have no idea of what I'm capable of." Aysini retorted.
"Checkmate, then, fox."
Aysini shook her head. Completely insane, this one. He was actually smiling. For the first time she had seen, he showed emotion openly. And his smile was less than comforting. "Go." She ordered, taking her bloody axe from his bleeding neck. "Take your weapons and go back to that otter you guard."
He stood up easily and, in a movement even Aysini found difficult to follow, whirled and crouched, efficiently using Aysini's own axe to cut the binding on his paws. In any other creature she knew, excluding herself, it would have been awkward. This otter made it look like a dance. He turned again, calmly, and walked silently to the table full of weaponry.
Completely insane.
The pack, not exactly weaponry but placed on the table like everything else, he grabbed first. For a second he seemed to weigh it and then shrugged it onto his shoulders. After that, Aysini lost track of his movements. They went by quickly. How he managed to walk without tipping over from all the weight was a secret Aysini knew traced back to his tribe and whatever methods they had used to train him. At least he had the grace to chink lightly when he walked though, after two steps, he paused to adjust his pack and was silent, once again.
She thought he was going to leave without speaking, but, nearly out of the tent, he turned back to her. In his paws was a knife, and the knife flew quickly. Aysini tilted her head to the right, and the dagger whistled by. It would have gone straight through her ear if she hadn't moved.
"I'm not an idiot, fox. Nor am I one of your creatures. I will not be manipulated. Not by you. Not by anyone." For one who had just thrown a knife, he was surprisingly calm. "I will never be manipulated. Never."
Aysini only blinked. "Never again?" She asked.
For the briefest second, fire flashed under the ice in his eyes, and Aysini found herself smiling. Yes, she thought to herself, never again. By the time the thought was fully formed, the otter had already disappeared into the darkness, but the smile on Aysini's face did not disappear for a very long time.