((Mwhahaha. Took forever again, I know. I was distracted. As an added bonus, I didn't edit this. Also, I am not a doctor. I've had stitches before (lots more than I'd've liked) but I am not an expert. So I might be a bit off with the medical stuff. Oh, and lots happens in this chapter. Relatively. More than the chapter before, anyway. It feels a bit rushed, I think, but it balances out with the way the other chapters have been dragging.
I'm staring school again on Monday so it'll probably take even longer to finish these chapters.
Besides that, there's nothing else to say, really.))
…
"Darkclaw, do you think you'll ever get married?" The question, voiced in a surprisingly innocent tone caused the wildcat's head to spring up so quickly his neck cracked. What exactly had the squirrel had to drink?
"Whatever spurred you to ask that question had better die quickly, squirrel. My future is not a topic of discussion open to you." Darkclaw snarled.
Root peered across at him, blinking. "You do get defensive quick, don't you?"
Darkclaw snorted. "Of the two I would prefer offense."
Long minutes passed and then, once again, the squirrel piped up. "Well, I suppose you'll have to get married. I mean, Fatefiend told me you were royalty, and something about a realm being rightfully yours…so once you get that back you'll have to get married, right? To have heirs?"
"One need not marry to have children, squirrel." Darkclaw retorted viciously.
Root gasped and gaped at him. "But wouldn't that cause a scandal?"
"What is court without scandals?"
"I'm going to get married." Root said suddenly, changing subjects.
"And rue the day, too." Darkclaw remarked.
"And then I'm going to be happy." The fierceness in his tone caused Darkclaw to blink and search the squirrel's face. Ah, so that was it. The squirrel wasn't happy here. Maybe even depressed. Interesting.
"Don't count on it. You'll be dodging your wife and running from your children within a few seasons."
"Will not." Root countered.
"I'm not going to argue with you." Darkclaw snapped moodily. "Shut up and sleep."
"I'm going to get married." Root responded in a voice more than half yawn.
"Gods help you if your wife is anything like that lovely specimen of feminine delicacy we travel with." Darkclaw retorted.
Silence. Then, "Darkclaw, I don't think I have to point out to you how drastically unfunny that really was." Darkclaw chuckled to himself, vastly pleased at the cold and terrified sound in Root's hollow voice.
Just then, that "lovely specimen of feminine delicacy" burst into the tent at full sprint, tripped over one of Root's pillows, and fell, screeching curses that caused Root to bury his head in either embarrassment or disgust, face first into Root's mountain of pillows. Immediately, what appeared to be feathers exploded into the tent and by the time Darkclaw had lit a torch, the entire tent was full of them.
Root scurried down the mountain and grabbed a violet pillow, gutted down the center, and held it to his chest as if it had once been a close friend. "You killed my pillow!" He announced in a mournful wail.
Redsplash struggled to her feet and looked around frantically, a dagger clutched in her paw. "Oh, damn. Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn!" She hissed.
"What?" Darkclaw inquired casually.
"I forgot Sade!" She exclaimed.
"How does one manage to forget a blue-painted shadow that weighs more than you do?" Darkclaw asked, never blinking.
"It's not as difficult as it sounds!" Redsplash shouted.
"You killed it!" Root shouted again.
"It's impossible to sleep anymore, did you know that?" Darkclaw asked of both of them. "I'm not getting involved in this crisis. If your little shadow is stuck out all alone in the dark somewhere you can chase him down and good luck. I am getting some sleep."
"Your concern is touching, wildcat." Sade remarked from the darkness outside the tent, his shape nearly invisible. He turned to Redsplash. "However did you manage to arrive here only half a minute before I did? What could have taken you so long?"
Redsplash scowled at him, looking faintly embarrassed. "I got lost." She admitted.
"You got lost." Sade repeated. "Of course." He stepped quietly into the tent.
"Lose a fight?" The wildcat questioned, staring at the bleeding otter before him.
"Several." Came his blank reply.
Redsplash was gaping at him. "You know, you could've just run with me. Those rats were fat. They'd never have caught us if we ran fast enough."
"It wasn't the rats who caught me." The otter seemed almost offended by the very idea, except for the fact that no emotion showed on his face and Redsplash didn't know if he could be offended.
"Find yourself a batch of particularly vicious trees, did you?" Darkclaw inquired, apparently forgetting about his oath to sleep.
Root scowled down at the wildcat from his vantage point on his pile of pillows where he clutched the ruined violet pillow and glared hate on Redsplash. "Don't mock the trees, Darkclaw. They get their revenge for it later."
"Yes." Darkclaw returned, an eyebrow raised. "And so does wine."
"Not what we were talking about." Root retorted.
"How is it that your skin is still attached?" Redsplash had hold of Sade's right arm and was staring incredulously down at a particularly nasty gash.
For a second it seemed like his eyes were smirking, but it must have been the fire from Darkclaw's torch flickering across his eyes. "These are but scratches. You worry far too much."
"Scratches?" She demanded, sounding grievously insulted. "This is not a scratch." Now she was prodding at the cut on the underside of his wrist. "This is how beasts attempt suicide."
"That will heal quickly." Sade returned and, being emotionless and calm the entire time, removed his limb from her grasp. "If I bandage it."
"You know how, then?" The squirrel asked. "To bandage all those cuts and keep it from being infected?"
Sade stared at him. "I know enough to have survived."
"That's not what I asked you." Root replied, blinking. "I asked if you know how, because if you don't, I do and, seeing as how there's no way we're getting any sleep unless Red's calm, and Red's not going to be calm until you're properly bandaged up, I'd help you."
"My name," Redsplash growled, "Is Redsplash." But she was ignored.
Sade glanced down at the multiple wounds. "I have survived this long."
Root rolled his eyes. "Yes. I already knew this. All I'm asking is if you can keep yourself from bleeding out and staining the tent or wasting my time later when you're delirious with infection and there's not much I can do."
Sade stared at him for a long time and then, blankly, turned to Redsplash. Root's head swung around to the female otter too. "You can't be serious." Root muttered. "What is this? Are you asking her permission?"
"Don't be an idiot, Root. What would he need my permission for?" Redsplash growled.
"If this tent isn't silent in five minutes…" Darkclaw let the threat hang in the air ominously, though no one noticed because no one listened.
"Look, you two, whatever this strange little slave ritual is about, can you just solve it? All I want is to get to sleep." Root grumped.
"Then sleep!" Redsplash shouted.
"I'm not a slave." Sade remarked impassively at the same time.
"That's it." Root snapped. "I'm not helping. If those cuts get infected, we're chunking him out of the tent because I refuse to listen to his deranged ramblings when the fever takes him." And with that he burrowed into the pillows and was not heard from until late morning.
Darkclaw nodded to himself, growled forbiddingly, and then, passing the torch that was the only light source to Sade, went into the shadows of the tent and curled into a tight ball.
Redsplash glanced at Sade. "I don't know much about healing…" She admitted, frowning uneasily.
"Don't trouble yourself." Came his blank response. "I am more than capable of surviving these scratches. I would suggest that you sleep."
Redsplash scowled at him and hesitated, but then shrugged and went back over to the corner she had claimed as hers. Perhaps a quarter of an hour went by before the light went out. But it was a lot longer before Redsplash finally got to sleep.
…
Kislin stared at the sunrise, shaking his head. Something about it seemed…foreboding. Far too much red in the sunrise today. He frowned and settled onto the ground, uneasy. Things were going on at this camp. Dark things.
Devman had been murdered. Strangled. And no one had seen it. In an army numbering well into the thousands, that was quite a feat. Kislin hadn't believed it at first. Someone had to have seen Devman dying. But no one had. Not one of the creatures had come forward, even with a false accusation. That was not normal. Devman would have said they were frightened, but perhaps even he wouldn't have known of what. What could scare an entire army?
The answer: Kani. Aysini. Rekth. They certainly scared Kislin. The belligerent rat general who beat his own species and murdered the others. The maniacal fox with the army of religious fanatics. The joking assassin whose daggers appeared out of nowhere and whose smiles never seemed to disappear. Kislin knew he was not one of them. All his life he had been a leader. The one others turned to when they did not know what to do. He had never had a childhood. But, among these three, he felt like a child in the middle of warring giants, and he knew the only reason he was still alive was because they saw no point in killing him.
He was their balance, in a way. He was what reminded them that there were other creatures in the army besides themselves. Or, at least, he reminded Kani and Rekth. Aysini never forgot her "children." Every now and then, when Rekth and Kani were being particularly vicious, Kislin would speak. They would stare at him like just remembering he was there and then remember who they were and what they were. Generals. They couldn't let personal feuds go too deep. Even Kani would not risk his own army.
Kislin shook his head. He knew that when they came to the mountain he would be useful. Rekth was an assassin. Kani was a sailor. Aysini was a raider who took what her army needed and burned the villages to the ground. Devman had been the one who knew of sieges, having gone through five successful ones and lead three himself. Kislin had lead one and was experienced with open warfare. Eventually the other three would need his knowledge. Eventually.
As it was, he just stayed out of their way now. Devman dead. And they were so caught up in their feuds and their functions that they did not realize the threat. Their siege-genius was dead. All they had now was Kislin. Kislin who they did not notice unless he forced them into it.
The Nameless One had thought he knew the five of them when he put them together as one army, but he had not seen the five of them for nearly seven seasons now, except for Rekth who had been his assassin until three seasons ago. The Unnamed One must have thought they would each contribute something, but it had never worked that way. Devman and Kislin withdrew from the others, Aysini never got involved, and Rekth and Kani argued fiercely with each other over absolutely nothing just to see who would lose control first. Sometimes it drove Kislin mad. But it was a madness he could never show.
Sighing, Kislin gave the sun one last, annoyed look, and turned to head back for the encampment. And that was when he came face to face with death. Death didn't seem too alarming in first glance, but it became pretty frightening when Kislin saw the dagger. By the time he started to scream it was already over.
The beast knocked him over and started stabbing him. Screaming at the pain and in desperation, Kislin fought. But it was like fighting fate. His actions had no effect. And the stabbing hurt so much. Made him scream louder every time he felt the blade slash into him.
It took him perhaps thirty seconds of the nonstop pain to realize this creature wasn't stabbing to kill. Just to hurt. To hurt badly. And then, with an almost casual indifference, the beast slashed the large muscles on the backs his lower legs and the largest muscles upper arms, leaving him unable even to crawl very effectively. With a practical nod, the creature stood up, sheathed the dagger, and walked away.
Kislin screamed for a help that would not come. Tried desperately to slither forward, but only for a few seconds. Blood loses itself quickly when there is so much thirsty ground to be quenched. His last thought was of his childhood, and he should have never left the plains.
…
Rekth was only mildly concerned when his creatures told him Aysini was executing rats. After all, as long as they weren't his to worry about, then they could worry about themselves. He wouldn't have been concerned at all if his captains had not told him they were Kani's rats. That wasn't good. Of course, Rekth and Kani had always argued, but it had been one against one. If Aysini was throwing herself into the rivalries among the generals, than things would get out of hand. After all, there was only so much one army could take.
He decided not to watch. If anything would set Kani off, it would be two foxes smirking to themselves as his rats were slaughtered. The fox hadn't bothered to ask why Aysini was executing Kani's rats and why Kani had allowed it. Stupid, he knew, but he felt tired today. Tired of nearly everything. So tired that he couldn't even sleep.
Grumbling like an old mouse who had lost his cane, Rekth went to Kislin's tent. After all, who better to bother than the one no one bothered to notice? The fox had barely noticed himself how the other general liked to fade into the background. But now that Devman was dead and all alcohol belonged to Kislin, Rekth wasn't about to let Kislin fade too far away.
But, when he got to Kislin's tent, he found it empty. Grabbing hold of the nearest beast, a terrified little stoat, Rekth demanded very strong wine mixed with whatever they could get their paws on. What they brought to him singed his throat, but it was sufficient. Gave him enough energy to curse and spit it out, anyway. And at this time of morning was there really much more you could ask for?
The wildcat appeared out of nowhere, looking grim and rather unpleasant. "Rekth, I discovered something…unappetizing."
Staring blearily down at his flask, Rekth nodded. "What a coincidence. So've I."
"I think you should see this before someone else does." Darkclaw continued.
Rekth glanced up at him. "Is it something that I don't want to see?"
"It is something that you have to see." The wildcat retorted.
Rekth's mouth bent upwards into a smile. "Have a sip." He suggested, holding the flask up to the wildcat.
Darkclaw took it, drained it, and threw the flask over his shoulder quickly. "Come on, fox." He commanded and started walking, leaving Rekth behind to gape at the empty flask and the fact that the wildcat wasn't vomiting his insides up all over the pretty grass.
…
Rekth stared at Kislin's mutilated body. It was grotesque. Even when in his worst of moods, Rekth hadn't done something like this. Severing muscles was all well and good, but cut either the legs so they crawl or the arms so they stumble. Both? What was the point? Kislin would have bleed out so fast he couldn't have slithered far. There was no pleasure in the kill. Just…just cruelty.
"How did you say you found this?" Rekth inquired calmly, staring at the wildcat.
"I went to see if I remembered this part of the journey." Darkclaw rumbled. "I did not. It appears to me that you've been marching in the wrong direction."
"Long direction." Rekth replied absently as he kicked Kislin over onto his back and winced at all the knife wounds that leaked blood. "Circling around to come in from behind. Easier to cut off their routes of retreat that way."
"They will not retreat." Darkclaw retorted.
"We know. Devman said it was some kind of mental thing. Make them realize there is no way out and that's the only thing they'll want." Rekth shrugged.
"Did he know much about sieges?" Darkclaw asked quietly.
"Yes. Him and Kislin. The rest of us…" Rekth shrugged, crouching beside the body in an attempt to recognize the type of knife that would leave these type of cuts.
"Has it occurred to you that there might be a reason the siege leaders have been killed?" Darkclaw demanded.
"Who would do that?" Rekth retorted. "Who would be brilliant enough to come up with a plan like that and stupid enough to carry it out?"
Darkclaw's only reply for a while was a snort. And then, when Rekth stood up, wiping Kislin's blood on his pants, finally spoke. "Who wouldn't?"
"I wouldn't be sayin' things like that around Kani." Rekth muttered. "Aysini's not particularly interested in you unless you threaten her creatures, but Kani…he thinks you've insulted him. And, besides that, he's an insecure bastard."
"You two fight then, do you?" Darkclaw asked shrewdly. Rekth eyed him, frowning. Oh, he should shut up now. Walk away and pretend this never happened. Or kill him. Slit the wildcat's throat in the middle of the night because the cat was too smart for his own health. But, then, Rekth was too tired now for such idiocy.
"Nonstop. Naturally, Kislin was the one who kept us from killing on another." A smirk crossed his face.
Darkclaw seemed to consider this. "So, if this continues, you or Kani will be the next to die." He observed.
Rekth blinked. "And why is it that your brilliant incite into the criminal mind spares Aysini?"
"It's rather obvious." Darkclaw appeared rather annoyed that the fox hadn't caught on. "Whoever's doing this wants the army to fail. Killing Aysini would lead her creatures to revolt against the rest of the army. As it is, two generals against one fanatic army would win easily enough. And then it would be a pathetic army that arrived at Salamandastron, but it would still be an army. One general in command of a terrified army versus fanatics…"
"So, let's go for the positive outcome on this one. Say, Kani dies and then Aysini. Her creatures revolt, army goes to chaos…whatever happens to me?"
"If you're smart? You run. If you're not, you die." Darkclaw retorted.
The fox smirked and Darkclaw's eyes narrowed. Something had just been said there that was of drastic importance, but now it was Darkclaw not catching on. And he didn't not like that feeling. Did not like it at all. Still smirking, the fox spoke. "I'd best go tell Aysini and Kani before they stumble upon this and blame each other."
…
"And, you know, back before squirrels were invented, everyone just wandered around listlessly wondering why no one had big enough tails." Root watched Redsplash, who was staring at him blankly, as he spoke.
"Squirrel, I think you're brain has been permanently influenced by alcohol." The otter told him quietly.
"You'd think that, wouldn't you?" He retorted and was about to launch into a story about a drunken flying squirrel and his multiple collisions with this conniving trees and his uppity in-laws, when the other otter came stalking into the tent, back from his brief hourly jaunt around the encampment to make sure, apparently, that nothing important was happening. Only, this time, the front of his shirt was drenched in blood. Redsplash thought, for a wild second, that he had gone out and killed someone without her, but then he lifted the shirt off and stared down at the bandages he had wrapped tightly around his stomach. Very little of it was white, and, when he pressed a paw against the bandage, the crimson splotch expanded, and even more of the white bandage was dyed red.
Root lifted an eyebrow. "You said you could heal yourself." He accused.
"I can." Came the bland reply as blue eyes were lifted to stare into Root's green ones. "Do you have a needle?"
Root blinked. "Oh, come on, it can't be that bad. Otherwise you'd've bled to death by now." He blinked. "Probably. Maybe." He paused and then scowled. "More than likely."
Sade blinked at him. "You need rest." He decided.
"Need sanity." The squirrel retorted. "And don't go sticking yourself with needles. Knowing my luck you'll end up gutting yourself and Redsplash well go on another rampage."
"Rampage?" Redsplash demanded, glaring suspiciously.
"Don't act all innocent, Redsplash. You nearly killed yourself the last time someone you knew died, and, drama-addict as you are, who knows what you'll do this time?"
"Sade, hurt him." Redsplash snapped. "Hurt him lots."
Sade gave her a look for a second and then took his dagger and started up the mountain of pillows. Root scurried down it. The otter jumped from the top of the mountain and landed in front of him. Before the squirrel could manage escape, the otter slammed the hilt of the dagger into the back of the squirrel's skull. Root crumpled, unconscious.
Redsplash scowled at him. "As in with pain, not unconsciousness." She growled.
Sade stared at her and then glanced down at his bloodstained shirt. "It will have to be later." He told her. "I have lost too much blood."
Redsplash stared at him. "What?"
It appeared, for a second, that he was having a hard time standing straight. "I need to rest." He announced.
"Well, I'm not stopping you." Redsplash snapped. "But I'm going to go see if I can find Darkclaw. Stupid wildcat wandered off."
Blinking twice in rapid succession, the other otter gave her a very long look. "Then I will go with you."
"I thought you were busy bleeding to death." She retorted poisonously.
"I'm sure I can spare some time for you." There it was again. That damn sense of humor of his that wasn't obviously a sense of humor at all.
"Oh, lovely." Redsplash growled. "Come on, then." And she stamped out of the tent, Sade following quietly.
…
"So it was the wildcat that killed him." Kani was taking this surprisingly well. He looked merely questionably sane rather than outright and completely mad. Still, Rekth watched him with a raised eyebrow, frowning.
"I doubt it." Rekth shrugged. "Didn't seem to me like the type to show off his kills."
Aysini was silent. "How will we deal with the soldiers?" She demanded slowly. "Devman and Kislin's creatures. What will be done with them?" She was changing the subject, but Rekth decided against mentioning that. It was unsteady ground they were prancing across now, and he didn't want to be the first one to fall and be swallowed up by it.
"Well…" Rekth shrugged. "We split them up into three equal-"
"I only want the rats!" Kani objected.
Rekth blinked at him. "All right…Kani gets the rats, and then Aysini and I split the remaining number in two. Easy. Simple."
Kani's eyes narrowed. "I don't trust you, assassin."
"I know." Rekth frowned at him. "But there's hardly anything I can do about that."
"You're taking this too easily." The rat looked on the verge of accusing him of murder again.
"What? Should I perhaps throw a fit and accuse everyone in the tent of murdering a general?" Rekth demanded. "Should I pin all my anger on a hapless otter? Or, maybe, a wildcat much bigger than I am? Would that appease your suspicions, Kani?"
Kani scowled at him. "You're jokes are not amusing, fox."
"That one wasn't a joke." Rekth retorted.
"Silence." Aysini stood, and something glistened in her golden eyes. Something like…laughter. "We will stay here for three more days." She announced. "I will need that time to train the new soldiers."
"What're you gonna do to 'em?" Kani demanded suspiciously.
A smirk. "Cleanse them."
Rekth tilted his head back and to the side, meeting her golden gaze with his narrowed one. He'd heard that term many times, and had seen many "cleansings" of ones Aysini deemed unworthy of admittance to her little cult. Never before, though, had he seen a "cleansing" of possible soldiers. This would be, to say the least, interesting. Rekth would welcome his soldiers with, of course, a massive amount of alcohol and several bonfires. A few beasts inevitably got a little too drunk and fell into the flames, but what was a revel without a decent amount of deaths?
"Am I invited to this cleansing, then, Aysini?" Rekth inquired, smiling a bit.
She stared at him and smirked. "You may observe, if you wish." But she said it with a tone that was decidedly too amused. Rekth knew he was getting himself into something dangerous, but couldn't find it in himself to care.
"Good." He murmured and heard Kani growling curses.
…
Redsplash had found herself a place out of the encampment and was sitting there. The other otter was somewhere around her. No doubt bleeding to death in silence. Damn him. Sighing, she glanced around for him. There. He had abandoned his shirt again along with the bandages and was in the process of threading what appeared to be string through a needle.
"What are you doing?" Redsplash demanded, scowling. She had turned him back on him for a minute, and here he was, preparing to mutilate himself with a needle. Sometimes he was like a child. A child that could kill far too easily and take pain far too well, but a child anyway. And if that was annoying, Redsplash couldn't remember what was.
"Stitching up a wound." He replied calmly and glanced down at the gash on his stomach.
Redsplash eyed it expertly. Having lived through several wounds in her time, she was very much well-informed when it came to what required stitches and what did not. "Without an anesthetic?" She asked finally. He did not answer. "Tell me, is this fascination with your own pain a new thing, or has it been around a while?"
He turned to look at her. "Stitching will close the wound sooner."
"It doesn't need it." Redsplash objected. "It'd heal by itself eventually."
He nodded. "But this will heal it faster."
"Why does that matter?"
"The quicker I am healthy the better I will be at defending you." He retorted blankly and, once again, directed his gaze on his wound.
Redsplash glared at him. "I am perfectly capable of keeping myself whole." This time he only looked at her and she could tell he didn't believe her. The bastard. "Besides, how'd you get that, anyway? Where were you last night?"
"Conversing with a fox." Came the expressionless reply as he stretched out carefully and brought the needle to his stomach.
"I forbid you to do that!" Redsplash bellowed at him. The needle froze. "And which fox? Rekth? Why were you talking to him for?"
"The other fox general." He told her. "Aysini."
"Oh." The fox that made her nervous. She scowled. "Why?"
"Because her creatures attacked the rats that were about to attack you, and, in the process, caught me." The needle was still hovering over his stomach.
"Put that damn needle down." Redsplash ordered. The needle dropped to the ground beside him. "How'd they catch you?"
"They set a trap." He informed her. "I walked into it."
"Wasn't very bright of you, was it?"
He looked at her and, for a moment, Redsplash reconsidered insulting the otter. After all, he was rather quick when it came to killing others. "I was distracted by your defenselessness." No matter how dull his tone was and how empty his eyes were, Redsplash could still feel the insult in the words. It made her very angry.
"I am not defenseless!" She objected loudly, practically screaming.
"Where are your weapons?" He asked blankly.
"Weaponless and defenseless are not the same thing!" She growled.
He blinked and reached into his bag, pulling out a roll of bandaging. Redsplash watched him wrap it around the gash so tight it was amazing he could breathe. Standing up slowly and gripping the needle in his paw, he carefully snapping off the thread and held just the needle. "Do you intend to fight in this war the army is marching to?" He inquired quietly.
"I'm going to kill the badger." She told him coldly.
He blinked at her. "And do you know how to fight?"
"Yes, I know how to fight." This was all rather irritating. She wished he'd shut up.
"Brawling and fighting are not the same thing." He was mocking her. She knew it, despite the fact that he sounded completely impassive about it. Viciously she wondered if she could order him to stab himself to death with that needle of his.
"One works as well as the other." Was her only reply, despite the anger she felt at him.
"If you wish, I can teach you how to fight." He offered emotionlessly.
She scowled, considering it. It took her about a full minute to realize this was probably a good idea. After all, she was about to go to war and she hadn't been to one of those for a very long time. Actually, she'd only been to one, and she wasn't sure that even counted. Besides, in all honesty, she could probably use his help. And it wasn't like he could laugh at her if she tripped over herself and nearly died. He didn't show any emotions after all.
"Uh…" She considered it for a second longer and tilted her head. "All right."
…
The number of rats Kani added to his army was about a quarter of what Aysini and Rekth got. Each. But, then, they got the "lesser" species. Ferrets, weasels, stoats, and the like. Snorting and rolling his eyes at the look on Rekth's face, Kani led the rats away. The rats looked thankful. After all, no one wanted to end up in Aysini's army. And Kani didn't blame them. The golden eyed fox was a demon. No one wanted a demon as their leader.
Rekth watched him go with mild interest. The idiot rat's army was much smaller than Rekth's and Aysini's now. Perhaps he didn't care, but it was still a weakness. Sighing, the assassin turned to the fanatic. "So, Aysini, how're we going to do this?"
Aysini glanced at him. "Simply divide them in half." She replied.
"Of course, but, no offense to you, very few of them are going to want to be in your army." Rekth shrugged disarmingly when she sent him a suspicious glance. It was just the truth.
"They fear the Cleansing." Aysini remarked. "As well they should."
Rekth blinked. "I've got an idea." He announced.
She blinked at him in a way that spoke a lot more than she did. "Do you?"
"Oh, don't be alarmed, Aysini." Rekth suggested with a grin. "It's a good one."
"What is it, then?" She demanded.
"We split them up telling them that one group is for me and the other is for you, but then we switch them, and I take the group that was supposed to be for you and you take the larger one full of the cowards that snuck over after we divided them."
Aysini scowled at him. "You give me the cowardly ones, Rekth?" She demanded harshly.
He snorted. "Aysini, we both know the cowardly ones won't survive your Cleansing and we might as well get rid of them now. I certainly don't want them in my army."
Aysini considered this. "I suppose…" She rumbled.
"Good." Rekth exclaimed. "Let's get started splitting them up then."
…
Root found himself staggering out of the tent at sunset. There was a revel going on around him. Rekth was welcoming some new members to the army. Tiredly, Root wandered where the fox had found new recruits, but didn't spare much thought for it. His head ached fiercely, and he wasn't all that sure it was just from the wallop to the back of the skull he'd taken when Sade had knocked him unconscious.
"A squirrel!" Shouted a ferret and lunged forward, brandishing a wickedly curved sword.
"Where?" Root retorted listlessly and looked around, swaying just a little bit. Perhaps that whack to the head had been a bit stronger than he'd originally thought.
"Wait! Calm down Nokec!" Bellowed another. "That's the squirrel we were telling you about."
The first ferret looked doubtful. "The one who drinks wine as if it were water?"
"Aye. That'd be the one." Agreed a third.
"Nice to know I'm remembered." Root replied serenely and settled next to one of the ferrets who passed him a bottle of something. Glancing down at it, he shrugged, lifted it, and drank.
…
They were being buried alive. The very idea made Rekth's tail twitch. First three droplets of blood were flicked onto their forehead, then they were chanted over, beaten when they trembled, made to dig ridiculously deep holes, and now they were being buried alive.
"Aysini…" Rekth was standing next to the fox as she watched her "children" nail beasts, some screaming at the tops of their lungs for mercy, others petrified into silence, into coffins that were being lowered into the holes they had dug. They had, literally, dug their own graves.
"If you do not have the stomach for this, you may go." Aysini snapped.
"I was just wonderin' if they did this to you." Rekth replied, defensive. What right did she have to dismiss him, anyway?
"To be fully Cleansed is to bury the sullied side of your soul underground." She responded distractedly.
Rekth snorted. "I feel sorry for whoever tried to bury you."
"It took three of them. I killed five." Aysini snapped. "But they kept me down for five hours. These will only stay down three. Still. The majority will die."
"You're awful calm about that." Rekth observed.
"They will go to the Dark Forest Clean of the dirt that mars them." Aysini's voice was violent with conviction. "It is the best anyone can ask for."
"Most just ask for eternal happiness and go with it." Rekth watched wide-eyed as a particularly hysterical stoat was forced into the coffin by four brawny ferrets.
Aysini glanced at him. "Few who watch the Cleansing can speak. It is nearly unheard of for them to speak in sarcasm."
"My mother will be proud." Rekth breathed. "Oh, look at that one. He's gotten his paw nailed to the wood." The weasel he was talking of screamed in pain and terror.
"Ah, that one will not last the hours." Aysini observed. "Though I see a surprising amount who will."
"How does this work?" Rekth asked. "Aside from the Cleansing and the burying and the religious side of it. Is it just that they go crazy from fear and the inadequate air supply?"
She gave him a long look. "We do not question how our Gods use their power."
"You don't talk of them much." Rekth answered. "For one so devoted, you rarely even mention them."
"That is because we are not supposed to acknowledge they exist. For fear of outsiders such as yourself speaking Their Names and Sullying them."
"Well, I'll keep it all quiet if it's that big of a secret." Rekth promised. "Don't like secrets that big myself, though. They have a way of stabbing you in the back eventually."
"You speak of Dasnrion." She informed him.
Rekth blinked, surprised. "I speak of what?"
"The day when the Outsiders Sully the Names of the Gods and the Gods destroy the world for the Outsiders' impudence." Aysini replied calmly.
"Huh." Rekth considered this. "I hate it when a small group ruins it for the rest of us."
Aysini and Rekth watched in silence as the last creature, a particularly wiry ferret that kept squirming out of his captor's arms, was caught and placed, surprisingly quietly, into his coffin and buried in the ground. Rekth suppressed a shiver. To be buried alive…to feel the dirt slamming onto the wood above you and know that, even if you were to break free, you would still not find air…
"I'm hungry." He announced determinedly.
"If you are going to eat, now would be the time." Aysini replied. "When the children Rise, we will have a difficult time of controlling them. Also, some of the corpses will ruin what hunger you have."
"I've seen the dead before, Aysini." Rekth retorted dryly.
"Perhaps." Aysini stared as her children continued to pile dirt on the buried. "But those that cannot take the Cleansing often take it upon themselves to end their lives."
Rekth frowned. "You took their weapons from them…" Of course he knew what she was going to say next. He didn't say it himself, though.
"Some die of blood loss when they rip themselves apart with their claws." Aysini replied blandly. "Others we die up who have died due to lack of air because they screamed it all away with the pain of self-inflicted wounds."
"Huh." Rekth blinked. "So, do you not eat?"
"I have already eaten." She answered. "But if you desire food, my children can bring you nourishment."
Rekth nodded slowly. "That would be appreciated."
Aysini gestured and, in a freakishly short time, one of the dark-garbed and blood-splattered beasts brought him a steaming cup of…something. Rekth stared down at doubtfully and then, with the suspicion of a fox drinking from a goblet offered by another fox, sipped it. Astounded by the taste of it, he drank it down quickly and scowled when he saw the bottom of the goblet. Still, deciding not to get greedy, he tossed the goblet back to the beast who had given it to him, and glanced at Aysini.
"I won't ask what was in that." He said decisively.
"Good." Aysini replied distantly. "If you were to vomit it up, my children would take it as an insult."
Rekth looked at her out of the corner of his eyes and scowled. She ignored him. "How much time left?" He demanded.
"They have been down for fifteen minutes and seven seconds." Aysini replied calmly.
"How'd you know?" Rekth demanded, curious.
Aysini turned to him. "When someone buries you underground for five hours, Rekth, you develop an amazingly accurate internal clock." She told him.
"Oh. Right." Rekth shrugged. "Suppose you would."
…
Darkclaw stood in the middle of Rekth's revel, stony and silent while everyone around him shrieked and moved about excitedly. This army was in danger, he noted. Not only did they not know who their enemies were…a fact emphasized by their ready acceptance of Root without questioning him nearly enough, but their generals were dying. One by one. And viciously. These kills were not simple slit throats. It appeared as if someone was enjoying their pain, but not enjoying causing it. That didn't make near enough sense and Darkclaw bared his teeth at the world, irritated by it.
To make it all worse, Darkwing was very nearly late. Tomorrow would be the last acceptable day. After that, Darkclaw would have to go roaming across the continent, find some twittering little birdies, and kill them slow enough to leave an impression. And leaving Redsplash and Root alone in this army would not be a good idea. Especially considering that they attracted trouble as bleeding babes attracted sharks. Redsplash did have Sade to guard her, but Redsplash with power was nearly as unfortunate as Redsplash defenseless. Her inability to keep herself out of danger coupled with a false sense of complete security was going to cause a lot of trouble. It would be better for everyone if that stupid hawk just showed his face tomorrow.
And, despite all of this, Darkclaw couldn't help but be amused. If he intended to take over this army, it would be pathetically easy. Though he would have to convince Kani and Rekth to kill off Aysini's entire army before he took control. The golden-eyed fox seemed far too insightful to allow rebellion. But, then, Darkclaw had already begun poisoning Rekth's mind against her. Or, at least, had playfully planted those terrible seeds of doubt. The problem was there seemed to be something that kept Rekth from considering Aysini as a threat. It might be simply that Rekth didn't want to bother with killing her, but Darkclaw had noticed the interest in Aysini's entire army. The idiot fox had cultivated himself a fascination with Aysini's religion. Like a cub watching his first kill, he didn't seem to possess the ability to look away.
Well.
This was a challenge, then. But if it weren't, Darkclaw would hardly be interested. It had been a long time since he'd been in a situation where he actually had to think about his next move. This would do him good.
Baring his canines in a smirk that caused several to stare in agitation, Darkclaw stalked purposefully back to the tent. He needed to talk to Sade.