((School got me. I'm sorry. But, the good news is I'm back. Christmas break, you understand. I'm updating everything, including Vengeance Born which I haven't edited in for a very long time. Oh, and I started a new story, which explains why Ghost/Fallen is the way he is. It's called Spirit Fading.

Fatefiend gets to say an awful lot in this chapter mainly because he doesn't get to say anything for a very long time. And also because this is the last chapter (I think) that he'll be one of the main characters in. So, say goodbye to Fatefiend. He's moving on.))

…

"I can't believe I'm dying…" Redsplash whined, sitting down on the mist-covered ground, and scowling unhappily. "What is? A sickness? Am I sick?"

"Yes."

"What kind of sickness? What's it called?"

"Stupidity." The ferret told her, twirling the sword distractedly.

"Fate!" She snapped. "Don't make fun of me! I'm dying!"

"Well, yes, but it's your own bloody fault. Goin' to kill a badger lord, are you? Enlisting as a soldier in my father's army?" Fatefiend shook the sword at her threateningly. "You're just very lucky my father's messengers are so stupid, or the generals would've gotten that message about you and captured you on sight. Seriously, Redsplash, what do you hope to accomplish? If you're goin' to die, couldn't you die fighting my father? I mean, fighting a badger? What's the point? He's just going to rise up as a legend and you're going to rot on the battlefield as carrion."

Redsplash scowled angrily up at him. "For your, Fate. For vengeance."

"Oh, forget about me." He suggested blithely. "I'm dead. I don't care about vengeance, only about you. So abandon this idiotic quest and get on with your life."

"What life?" She demanded bitterly. "Without you, there's nothing left."

"Nothing left?" He exclaimed, sounding vaguely offended. "What do you mean there's nothing left? You promised me we were going to Redwall after this. Just because I'm dead doesn't give you any reason to go around breaking promises! Go to Redwall, Red. I'll never get to see if their food is as good as the fables, but you will. So, go."

"No. I'm getting vengeance. I don't want to be alive anymore." She stared up at him. "I'm ready for it to be over now, Fate. I'm tired of it all."

"Oh, boo hoo. I'm tired of sittin' around listenin' to the mousie go on an' on about how the world's fallin' apart and how it's all your fault, but you don't see me goin' off and killin' myself over it, do you?"

"You can't die, Fate."

"Did you ask about my ability to die? No!" He stared at the sword thoughtfully. "You know what I'd like to see, Red? I'd like to see you save the world. Just to show the mouse he can be wrong every hundred seasons or so. Just because I know you can."

"What's the world ever done for me?" Redsplash demanded.

"That's not how it works, Red, and you know it." Fatefiend told her solemnly. "We had our fun. We escaped from my father and we swore we'd never be heroes, but, Red, there's things you don't know about me. Why do you think the mouse let's me stay up here with him and the rest of the 'Oh, but I saved the world against an infinite amount of vermin plus one, so I win!' group? I'll give you a hint: it's not for my charming wit and astounding good looks."

Redsplash glared at him. "You're talkin' nonsense, Fate. Oh, but I guess you're allowed to get away with that, seein' as how you're dead!"

"'m not talking nonsense, Red." He stared at the sword again, seeming to be bewitched by the shine of it as he tilted it one way and then the other. "I did my heroics. As a cub, back when it mattered the most. I did my great valiant deed. Oh, I suffered for it, too, as heroes should. And then I met you and you completely corrupted me." He grinned, still staring at the blade. "But they forgave me that. Said you were corrupting all the heroes and they couldn't hold it against me."

"What are you talking about?" She demanded, annoyed and still worried about the whole dying prospect.

"Some things I did in the past, Red, that got me where I am. A few stupid things I did for the world that're the only reason my father isn't in complete control of it yet." His smile turned bitter and he lowered the sword. "But I think I'd take them back, if I could. Because I never realized that by saving the world I'd have to condemn you."

"What?"

The ferret sighed heavily, the sword and his eyes both directed at the ground. "Red, it was never fair. You know that, don't you? That it was never fair?"

"That what was never fair?" Then she snorted. "Never mind. Nothing was ever fair."

The ferret nodded, that same, strangely bitter smile settling over his face again. "Yes. Nothing was ever fair. But, Red, I never meant for it to end up like this. Everyone's going to die, except him." He snarled then, something he had rarely done in life. His lips drew back, his green eyes flamed, and he snarled in fury. "Except for that bastard father of mine. He's going to kill them all, and you're going to help him."

"I am not helping him!" Redsplash screamed, jumping to her feet, unable to believe the accusation.

Fatefiend's head snapped up, and he glared at her. "What are you doing in his army, then? What are you doing killing one of the last true enemies he's got left?"

Redsplash blinked, staggering back a step in surprise. "But, Fate…" She said, her eyes confused and her tone frantic. "But that's different. That's about you."

"And I'm his son, Redsplash. I'm nothing!" His eyes flamed again and then he sighed, staring at her sadly. "Don't you understand that, Redsplash? I'm not alive anymore. I'm nothing anymore. I'm just a ghost. You don't have to get vengeance for me. I don't want it and it'll damn you for good."

Redsplash glared at him. "I was under the impression I was already damned."

"And what idiot told you that, Red? The mouse? What do you think he knows about being damned? He wasn't born vermin and he was never broken by one. I was. I know exactly what being damned is like and you," he gestured at her with the sword, "are not damned. Not unless you go to that mountain. Then there's not hope for you. Ever."

"I'm going, Fate. I don't care what you say, I'm getting revenge!"

"For what? For what he did to me? Redsplash, I'm past being killed. I don't care anymore!"

"For what he did to me!" Redsplash bellowed. "For what he took from me! For everything! For never having to go through what I did and for killing the one thing that got me through!"

Fatefiend stared at her, considering and cheerless. "Is that it, Red? Do you think you can't survive without me? Is that what you think?"

"It's not your business what I think!" Redsplash snapped, turning away from him.

Fatefiend watched her, green eyes haunted. "You're wrong, Redsplash. You could survive without me. You just don't want to."

"If you're dead why don't you just stop talking to me and go sleep in that grave I made for you?" Redsplash snapped."

"Maybe I will." Fatefiend said quietly. "Whatever I do, it's not your concern anymore. You've already decided what you're going to do, and I won't stay with you. Not if you're just going to die. I've already died once. I'll not do it again. Not even for you. Goodbye, Redsplash."

Redsplash whirled around, but he was gone. Or, rather, she was gone. Back into a normal dream. Far, far away from Fatefiend who had finally decided to leave the living alone.

…

Redsplash woke up with a headache. She had the strangest feeling she was supposed to remember something…something important and depressing, but couldn't figure out what her memory was trying to tell her. Eventually, she decided to just give up on it and open her eyes. She wouldn't miss one more gloomy thought. She had plenty to keep her nightmares fed.

Sitting up slowly and wincing against the bright light of midmorning, the otter surveyed the tent. Sade was sitting with his back freakishly straight, turned so that he could keep an eye on both the entrance to the tent and on her.

"You're supposed to be asleep." She accused.

He turned so he was staring fully at her. "Am I?"

"Yes." She nodded, very much convinced of this, despite the fact that her foggy brain refused to think straight. "Root said…Root said you needed to rest."

"The squirrel is right." He blinked. "I do need to rest."

"Then why aren't you?"

"Am I not?"

"You're not asleep."

"I do not have to be asleep to be resting." He told her calmly, and Redsplash was reminded of his following her around yesterday even when he seemed ready to faint. He was oddly stubborn for an otter who couldn't even be bothered to have an emotion or two every now and then.

"I think you should be asleep." Redsplash told him doubtfully.

"It would not be wise."

"Could I order you to sleep?"

Sade looked at her blankly. "You could issue the order, but there are some things I cannot accomplish."

Redsplash rolled her eyes. "Look, Sade, I survived for seasons on my own. I do not need a guard right at this particularly moment. So why don't you just get some sleep now and I'll wake you up if I decide to do something particularly suicidal?"

He gave her another of those blank looks that conveyed just how stupid he really thought she was and how little he really believed in her ability to protect herself. "I did not say I would not sleep. I said I could not."

"You didn't say anything." Redsplash snapped. "You just talk in funny riddles and never say what you mean."

"I mean nothing."

Redsplash gaped at him. "You-you are…" She found herself speechless for a second and this just worsened her mood. "Impossible."

Sade just blinked at her and turned his face towards the tent opening. It seemed that he mumbled something. Something that sounded distinctly like: "I have no name."

"What?"

Sade turned back towards her. "Did you have a question?"

Redsplash just sighed and stood up. "Do you have any idea where Root is?"

"He did not return after leaving last night." Sade glanced at her. "I could find him."

"Do that." Redsplash ordered and Sade started to stand. "No! Wait!" She shouted and glared angrily at him. "You are supposed to be resting." She wondered if he had deliberately tricked her into that, but it didn't seem likely. What interest did Sade have in Root?

"I do not think finding an unconscious squirrel will be too entirely exerting."

"You're staying."

Sade stared at her and the subtly shifted his gaze downward, grabbed a long knife from his boot and began to sharpen it diligently.

"Will you stop working?" Redsplash snapped. Did this creature not understand the idea of lazy relaxation?

He glanced up at her and slowly returned the knife to its spot.

"Good." She grumped and rolled her eyes. "Honestly, why don't you ever just rest?"

"Because rest is a waste of time and an opportunity for an enemy to use the time you're wasting."

A blink. "So," Redsplash started with a grin, "when'd we start gettin' chatty?"

"What?"

"Normally you don't answer questions. Especially with full sentences."

"I don't answer questions from the wildcat or from the squirrel." He answered, completely ignoring the second part of what she said.

"Oh, so you'll answer my questions."

"Of course."

"Oh, right." Redsplash shrugged. "Seems rather strange to me that you have to do whatever someone with this little rock tells you to."

Sade turned his gaze towards the light, his eyes narrowing. "There are a few things that we would not have to obey."

"Like what?"

"I can't answer."

"Can I order you to?"

He seemed to smile without actually moving his lips. "No. You cannot."

"So I won't know if I'm breaking these little rules until they're broken?"

"Yes."

"That's just stupid." Redsplash snapped, meaning it very much. "If you don't know you're breaking the rules when you break them, you didn't do anything wrong!"

"You did not intend to do anything wrong, but intent has nothing to do with right or wrong. You can have the best intentions possible and still commit injustice." Sade told her, his face and tone blank, but still managing to sound a bit smug.

Redsplash scowled and sulked for a while. She hated how Sade never said what he meant. Just went on and on in some nonsensical rambling using words she could barely understand in ways she couldn't grasp. "So, what happens if I break these rules?"

"Depends on which of them you break."

Well, that was rather straightforward. Good for him. "Oh? And what if I break the most sacred of those little rules of yours?"

"Then I kill you."

All right. Perhaps that was a bit too straightforward.

…

"That's it!" Redsplash announced, having enough of sitting watch Sade staring out of the tent, jumping to her feet. "I'm going to find Root."

Sade started standing but stopped when Redsplash glared. "Am I to stay here?"

"Yes!" Redsplash snapped. "And if Darkclaw shows his ugly face…ask him where exactly he thinks he's been these past couple hours! Leaving me alone with the psycho who never talks! I can't believe…" Her voice trailed off as she stormed out of the tent. Sade watched her go, his eyes unreadable.

A few seconds passed. "Psst! Sade!" Came a whispered, earnest tone. "Sade! Is she gone?"

Sade blinked. "Redsplash is no longer in the tent." He answered calmly.

"Oh, good." Root's shadow could be see lifting itself up from where it had been crouched all morning outside the tent, walking around, and then into the tent. "Good thing she's not the observant sort or anything." He muttered, his tone relieved.

Sade glanced at him. Root had seen better days; one of which had obviously been yesterday, or, more specifically: last night. The squirrel looked about ready to fall over at the slightest gust of wind. "I assume you had a reason for hiding?"

"Of course I did!" Root answered, as if insulted at the very idea that he would cower without a reason. "Every time Redsplash talks to someone, she ends up yelling. I don't think I could handle her screaming at the moment. Seeing as how I'm in my last hours and all."

"Are you?" Sade inquired politely.

"Yes." Root revealed, collapsing onto his pillows. "My brain is eating its way out of my skull. It's rather uncomfortable."

"I suppose it would be."

"But I learned my lesson, Sade." Root said earnestly, as if somehow everything would be all right if he could just convince someone that he'd learned. "When the ferrets offer you something and won't tell you what it is, don't drink it. No matter what they call your mother."

Sade just stared at him, unemotional as the rock that had brought him here. Root rolled his eyes and sighed heavily, shifting in the pillows. They clustered around him as if they lived, as if they were worried about their squirrel owner.

"Not much of a talker, are you?" Root inquired, paused for a reply he doubted would come, and then continued. "Can't say I blame you. It's easier to be quiet all the time than it is to speak out."

Sade was silent. The squirrel did not seem to require a reply. In fact, if anything, he seemed to be pleased that the otter was not responding. Because, if the otter did not respond, then it was so much easier to think he wasn't listening at all.

"But, you know, I've been thinking lately about it's the things we love, or the things we need, that get us in the end." Root burrowed even deeper into the pillows, several of them falling over him. It was a miracle he could still talk loud enough to be heard, nearly completely covered with cushions. "Like our hearts. They keep us alive, but when they stop, we're dead. Or air. Our lungs. Our friends. You love them unconditionally and they kill you when you turn your back."

"Those that do that are not friends."

"Close as I'll ever get." The squirrel muttered resentfully. "What friends do I have?"

"The ferrets?"

"Only because I'm a squirrel in an army of vermin."

"Redsplash?"

Root snorted. "She only had one friend. That was all she has room for in that shriveled heart of hers. And he's dead. She's selfish and stupid and violent. How Fatefiend ever managed to befriend her, I don't know."

"The wildcat, then."

"Yes." Root laughed a tiny, bitter laugh. "Darkclaw. He'll never admit it, though. Probably kill me in the end just to prove he never cared. Stupid wildcat knows me from before and I can tell we used to get along. Sometimes he says things that don't make sense. Like he's talking to someone who would remember something, and has me confused with them. Once he asked me if I knew how to bring someone back from the dead, like he actually expected me to know. But I can't remember anything from before."

"From before what?"

"From before I can remember. You see, there's a certain point in my life when I just can't remember anything earlier. Used to think I was from some happy family, you know, and had just been dropped on my head when the foxes stole me, but now, I don't think so anymore. I mean, Darkclaw keeps saying he knows me, and there was that one squirrel in the forest…and then that crazy she-demon of a fox." There was a lengthy, tense pause. "I think…maybe I was evil." Root pushed the pillows off his eyes and looked to Sade. "If you…if you were evil in the past, does that mean you're evil now?"

Sade stared at him, considering what to say. In the end, he went with something as close to the truth as he thought was safe. "According to my tribe, creatures such as otters and squirrels and rats are incapable of change. If you are born evil, you will stay evil until you die. But our gods can change, and we continuously strive to become as gods."

"Anyone ever managed to change?"

Sade stiffened, but Root did not notice. "There is a differing of opinion in my tribe on that matter."

"Really?"

"Yes, but it is a long story and-"

"Tell me." Root turned bloodshot eyes towards Sade in a vaguely pleading way. "I want to know if we can change."

Sade didn't answer. He knew better than to speak of his tribe, or to speak at all when it was unnecessary. Those lessons had been rather easy to learn.

"Please?"

"No." It was a simple word, but not one he got to say often.

"Aw, come on Sadey, I wanna hear the story!"

Sade did not comment on the squirrel's mutation of his name. In fact, he did not comment at all, but simply straightened his already perfectly straight back and directed blue eyes once again at the entrance to the tent. After all, the squirrel, especially in his current condition, was no threat at all.

"Oh, bloody fine then, bastard." Root sulked silently for a few minutes. "Sade…you wouldn't happen to have anything to drink, would you?" He asked suddenly in a particularly whiney voice.

Sade reached into his bag, which was propped up next to him, and tossed a flask to the squirrel, who didn't catch it quick enough and hissed when it thumped his chest. The otter listened as the squirrel struggled with the flask, attempting to open it with clumsy paws, and then listened to the squirrel gulp it down greedily.

"This isn't water." Root announced in surprise, his tone tinged with suspicion.

"No." Sade agreed. "It is not."

"Wha' is it?" Root asked, his eyelids dropping oddly, his green eyes panicked.

Sade's gaze locked on the squirrel's, and he blinked calmly. Root struggled for a moment before drooping, falling unconscious. His head lolled dully, and his breathing raced for a second and then slowed.

Sade nodded slightly and turned his gaze back on the entrance. The squirrel certainly wouldn't be asking any questions anytime soon.

…

"I leave for ten minutes, and you kill Root!" The deranged she-otter was yelling at him. Again.

"I didn't do anything!" Darkclaw objected, dead-tired and quickly growing aggravated, his ears flattening back against his skull in anger. He had not slept last night, far too concerned by this news of betrayal. He had wandered the camp, listened to the screams of Aysini's "Cleansing," grown bored and tired, and had arrived back here only to find the squirrel breathing so lightly he didn't appear to be breathing at all, sprawled on the cushions with a grim expression on his face. The other otter had been here too, of course, but he had been easy to overlook from his position in the corner.

"Oh, right, Root just died on his own, did he?" Redsplash bellowed, standing on the very tips of her toes to scream directly in his face. He fought back the urge to slash her face right off her skull, but only because he was tired. If he were not so tired…

"He is not dead." Sade spoke up emotionlessly. "He is asleep."

"How would you know?" Redsplash demanded, whirling away from the wildcat and turning to face the otter, a scowl in her eyes.

"I know." He replied evenly.

Redsplash suddenly looked suspicious. "Did you knock him unconscious?"

"No."

"What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing."

"I'm going to sleep now." Darkclaw announced darkly.

Redsplash snorted. It was still midmorning. But, in the interest of more interesting things, she decided to ignore him. "What did you do to Root, Sade?"

"I did nothing." Sade replied blankly. "He came in, drank from a flask, and became unconscious."

Redsplash caught sight of the flask near Root and picked it up. It was amazing it hadn't tipped over. She looked at it dubiously. "Darkclaw-"

The wildcat snatched it grumpily from her paws, sniffed it cautiously, and then rolled his eyes. "Oh, clam down, otter, it's just a sedative." And upon revealing that piece of delicious information, he took a small swallow, carefully placed the cap back on the flask, and dropped it, staggered for a second, and then crumpled, asleep.

"You figure he would just lie down and wait like the rest of us." Redsplash growled resentfully, kicking at the wildcat for a second before turning to Sade, who had already placed the flask in his bag and was sitting there blankly.

"And don't you try to look innocent." Redsplash snapped at him, feeling oddly like a very harassed mother trying to keep up with three very rambunctious cubs. Sade turned his gaze on her, not reacting at all. "What did you do with that drink?"

Sade blinked up at her. "I put it where it could not be accidentally ingested by someone unaware of its effects."

Redsplash mouthed the words after he spoke them, eyes narrowed. Finally she grunted. "Right. Well, you make sure it stays there."

"I will." He answered impassively.

"Good." She glanced at Root and Darkclaw. Biting her lower lip, she seemed to be considering something. Her eyes snapped to Sade, and her teeth clenched viciously on her lip. Sade watched it all blankly, his mind analyzing everything.

"Stay here." She commanded. "And…and drink some of that…" She gestured with her paw, obviously distracted, and then walked out, visibly agitated by something.

Sade waited for a second, reached into his bag, and swallowed some of the mess in the flask before putting it back into the bag. Only the slightest bit of fatigue settled over him, and he could have ignored it easily. After all, he had been made immune to all the poisons and sedatives he carried a long time ago. But he had been commanded to stay here, quite clearly, and there was no point in being awake. The Carrier was not here to be guarded, and he didn't care at all for the squirrel or the wildcat. His body did need rest and, though he would usually not indulge it so, there was little else he could do right now. Resentfully, he let himself slip into dreams.

…

Darkclaw was waiting for someone. He did not remember who and was not sure exactly if he had ever really known. For the first time in several seasons he was content knowing nothing and that, more than anything, made him realize he was not awake, or at least not himself. There was always the possibility he had been drugged or beaten over the head. Traveling with the company he had been keeping lately seemed to lend itself to those types of "accidents."

"I can't believe it's come to this." Complained a weary voice that seemed to echo across the plains Darkclaw stood knee-high in. "Seven seasons ago everything looked so possible."

"Who are you?" Darkclaw inquired calmly.

"That is none of your business." The voice told him sharply. "All you need to know is that I am very annoyed with you."

"Is there any specific way this will interfere with my life?"

"Don't you try that!" The voice scolded fiercely. "You're stuck here until I'm through so you might as well listen!"

"If it is not important, than I would rather I get some sleep. This is a rather shallow state and I would rather-"

"I am far past carrying what you would rather!" The voice bellowed.

Darkclaw blinked. "Remember to breathe." He suggested. "You seem to be in danger of passing out."

There were several long seconds when nothing could be heard. And then the voice spoke up, his tone venomous and bitter, "I need something form you."

"Oh, do you?" Darkclaw asked, his smirk on his face as well as in his tone.

"Yes." The voice was grudging, almost openly antagonistic.

"And whatever could you want from me? And, more importantly, what will you give me for my assistance?"

"That depends very much on if you accomplish the task."

"Obviously."

"I need you to keep the black otter alive."

"What?"

"Exactly as I said, wildcat. I need Sade to live."

"Is he in any particular danger of dying?" Darkclaw inquired, thinking about the otter. He was injured, it was true, but he did not seem the type to be easily killed. In fact, he seemed to be quite the opposite, much as it annoyed Darkclaw to admit it.

"Yes. Far too early."

"For how long, exactly, am I supposed to keep the otter alive?"

"Until you reach the mountain."

"And, if I do this, what exactly will I be given?"

There was a brief, furious silence. "You'll need my help someday, wildcat, believe me. I'll save you when it comes to that…if only to keep you as far away from me as possible."

Darkclaw considered this. The idea that this was just a dream was dismissed almost immediately. The wildcat was well aware of what dreams felt like, and this was not a dream. So. Keep the otter alive…well, it made sense, didn't it? Sade's only purpose was to keep Redsplash alive and he could do a far better job of it than Darkclaw could these days, especially since the squirrel seemed to be slowly remembering who he really was. Besides, they couldn't be more than two days from the mountain. What trouble could the otter get into?

And besides that, if he failed and the otter died then he wasn't really losing anything. Redsplash would probably have another emotional tantrum but that hardly ever affected Darkclaw very much. And if he didn't fail, then his life might be saved someday. So this deal didn't really matter anyway. It seemed almost like a waste of his time.

"I'll consider it. Let me sleep."

"Consider-"

"And your ruining my sleep won't help me decide in your favor, either, so I suggest you let go of my dreams. Now."

There was a growl and then a shift, and suddenly Darkclaw was dreaming as he was meant too.

…

"Oy. Otter. Me and you need to have ourselves a talk."

Sade stared at the scowling ferret in front of him. He blinked. "Do we?"

"Yes. I may be banished because the mouse found out about my conversation with Red, but I can still talk to you and it's about time that I do." The ferret was not a threat. Harmless, really. He had no weapon and was lightly muscled. Sade was only vaguely interested and so he did not answer.

"Don't think you can try that whole 'I'm-a-quiet-scary-demon-thing' on me, otter. I am not scared of you."

Sade glanced at him and found, to his surprise, that the ferret was telling the truth. Even the wildcat showed grudging unease around him, but this ferret was absolutely not afraid. In fact, if anything, he was furious and annoyed.

"Yes, that's right, not afraid. I'm dead, so there is absolutely nothing you can do to me. Now, seeing as how I'm banished and everything, there really isn't anything I can do to you either, but the mouse will remember I'm here eventually and you just wait till he does. He's been hiding you from me for these past couples of your days, but I heard your thoughts floating around out here and if that's not disturbing I don't know what is. Here I am, banished, minding my own business, and your thoughts come floating out and invade my personal space!"

Sade decided the ferret was very much insane.

"I am not insane!" The ferret bellowed. "Stop projecting your thoughts out here!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, don't you play innocent! Your whole tribe does it, but none of them go so far as to push them all the way out here! I can't even sense your emotions they're so far out there. It's not healthy! And I don't want you around Red! She's going to try to be like you and-and I won't allow it!"

"Why would the Carrier attempt to imitate-"

"Because she'll be sitting there and she'll think to herself, 'Oh, you know that Sade idiot doesn't seem bothered by his friends dying or by his ruining the world! I think I'll be like him so I don't feel bad anymore!' and then she'll try to be an emotional retard like you and she does not deserve to be an emotional retard!" The ferret was screaming now.

"I suppose you have some kind of sentimental attachment to the Carrier."

"Don't call her that, you bastard. She's my friend and I'll be damned before I let you ruin her anymore than I got to!"

Sade blinked at him.

"And I'm not jealous!" The ferret added suddenly. "Don't you even think about thinking that one, because I'll hear it!"

"I thought nothing like that." Sade retorted, though he was certainly thinking it now.

"Oh, shut up." The ferret snapped and then crossed his arms over his chest, scowled, and stomped around in a circle. "Look, otter, the mouse might have some grand design going on that he won't tell me about, and it might involve you living, but I don't want you around Red. You take that necklace and you run off somewhere."

"I cannot. It is against-"

"I don't care. You take it and you run back to your tribe with it or…"

"Or?"

"Or nothing, because I'm banished and dead, but you just wait until you die! I'll kill you good!"

"You will kill me…good…after I'm dead?" Sade inquired politely.

The ferret scowled. "You know, just because I've withdrawn from Redsplash doesn't mean I won't haunt you for the rest of your life."

"Will you be carrying on like this for a while?"

"Nice try, but you can't wake yourself up until I'm done. I'm banished, but I can still hold you here."

Sade blinked and tried to rouse himself. Tired again. Failed. He turned cold eyes on the ferret. "Let me go."

"No."

"I'm guarding that otter of yours. Let me go."

"Oh, I know very well what you're doing! And if you were just guarding Redsplash, I'd have no problem with it! But you've got some strange concept of justice those psychotic Elders of yours forced down your throat and you've convinced yourself you've got to-"

"Silence." Sade commanded. "You cannot speak of them that way."

"Oh, I can't?" Fatefiend inquired, his tone mockingly civil. "And why not? Because if I say it aloud you'll realize you've been thinking it all this time?"

Sade jerked as if he'd been hit. "I…" He broke off and shook his head. "I have not!" He cried, emotions flashing across his face in startling succession for someone who had not showed an emotion for seasons now.

Fatefiend glared at him, eyes cold. "Idiot otter, you can lie to yourself all you want, but you can't lie to me. I can hear your thoughts."

"You're lying." The otter accused. "I would never think that!"

Fatefiend suddenly frowned. "Oh, wait…what're…uh-oh." He looked up as if staring at someone. "What d'you mean, mental breakdown? Oh. Oh. Ummm…" Fatefiend's eyes traveled nervously to the otter who seemed to be shivering violently and clutching at his skull. "Uh, mousie? We might have a problem…"

…

"Rekth!" The rat was terrified out of his wits, his eyes wide and his paws reaching insanely for the fox as Aysini's creatures held him back. "Rekth! Rekth!"

"What is this, Rekth?" Aysini demanded, furious. "It interferes!"

Rekth shrugged, unnerved and irritated. "I have no idea. That rat is not part of my army. He's Kani's."

"Kani's?" Aysini repeated, eyes narrowing with some half-formed suspicion.

"He killed him!" The rat screamed. "He killed Kani and he's crazy!"

Rekth and Aysini looked at each other and then, immediately, Aysini gestured for the rat to be released. He fell, scrambled in the dirt, and then was running towards Rekth, swerving away from Aysini as if she could steal his soul if he got too close. "Rekth!" He screamed. "He won't stop! He killed Kani, and he keeps killing!"

Rekth grabbed the rat by the shoulders and gave him several very violent shakes, causing the rat's skull to snap brutally around. Finally the rat was silenced and hung from Rekth's paws, dazed. "Now, rat," Rekth said, his voice very quiet. "What exactly has happened?"

"Jus' killed Kani." The rat muttered tiredly, panting heavily. "Just…just cut his head right off. We went after 'em. Tried…tried to get him, but he's so crazy! An' he won't just go away. He keep standin' there, like he's waiting for something, and we can't stop him. He keeps killing us. An' I don't…we don't know how to stop him."

Rekth nodded and dropped the rat in the dirt. "I'm afraid, Aysini, that we must depart from the Cleansing." He told the other fox calmly.

She nodded, her golden eyes flaming. "Yes." She growled. "They do not need me anymore. My children know what to do."

"If you don't mind," Rekth said with a small smile, "I would very much like to stop by my tent to grab my scythe. I do not like the idea of investigating this unarmed."

Aysini nodded, her lips drawn back in a snarl as she hefted her axe. "I think, for once, we agree."

…

Rekth and Aysini stared at the figure for what seemed a very long time. The otter, they decided, was completely insane. He was completely silent and completely bloodstained. Corpses lay at his feet. So many, in fact, that they could not tell if Kani was even among them. They would just have to take the rat's word for it.

Kani's rats were in a curious state of terrified rage. They would charge the otter and be, somehow, beaten back, and then they would crowd together, screaming in anger and pain as they saw their comrades decorating the pile of corpses at the otter's feet. And they would hang back, scared and furious and so confused, and then, suddenly, one of them would lunge forward and the rest would follow, shrieking. And the otter would calmly wait until they got within range and then strike out at them, those two swords of his turning into twin blurs around a large, more vicious blur as he moved faster than even Rekth's well-trained eyes could follow, slicing and ripping and killing.

The rats were staying back now, swarming around Rekth and Aysini until Aysini, furious at being crowded, split one's skull open with her axe. And then the rats fell back even further, wailing and screaming and snarling and, in all, making fools of themselves. The otter stayed on top of the mound of corpses, his eyes traveling to Rekth and Aysini. A small smile lit upon his face and he wiped the blood from his eyes and mouth with a bloodstained sleeve before kneeling down to fish through the corpses, seeming to be searching. The two foxes watched impassively and then let out twin hisses of outrage as the otter came up with his prize: Kani's skull.

"Who is this?" Rekth demanded, hefting his scythe and growled in carefully controlled outrage. "Who is this demon?"

Aysini stared, her mind and memories working together to make strange conclusions no one would ever be able to understand. Finally she snarled and reached for the nearest rat, dragging the blubbering beast forward. "Get me Redsplash!" She screamed. "Get me the she-otter!" She threw the rat away from her and he crumpled in a heap on the ground. "NOW!" She bellowed and the rat lurched to his feet, scurrying off.

The otter looked to the two foxes, a mocking smile on his deranged face as he waved his twin swords invitingly.

Rekth stared back at him, an eyebrow raised in quiet challenge. "Someone get me some archers." He commanded. No one moved. He turned to the rats surrounding him, a scowl forming quickly on his face. "Someone get me archers now!" And five or six scurried off to find archers, forgetting completely that they were archers themselves.

Aysini and Rekth made eye contact and then turned back to the otter. The otter who threw Kani's head up and then swung the sword in his right paw like a bat and sent the head flying to smack into Rekth's chest.