((So. I have a couple announcements:
1. This story will have a sequel. Yes. I'm turning the whole thing into a trilogy. Should be fun.
2. I've started writing a story about Fallen, and've already posted the first chapter. 's called Sprit Fading.
3. I will eventually write a story about Fatefiend, before he met Redsplash. No idea what it'll be called.
4. I got in a hurry, so I didn't edit this very well.
Yeah…that's pretty much all I have to say.))
…
Redsplash arrived on the scene still protesting the rat's insistent yanking on her arm. Then her eyes fell on Sade who appeared to be juggling several severed heads while standing atop a mountain of corpses. "Oh, unholy bastard of-" she turned to Aysini and Rekth. "What did you do to him?"
"We did nothing." The golden-eyed fox snapped, her axe tightly clutched in one paw. "The demon was set loose. What were you thinking, otter? Keeping a demon locked up behind a cage of sentiments?"
"What are you talking about?" She demanded. "You had to do something! What? What did you do? Call the Stone a pebble?"
"No. He broke. What did you say to him? What did you say that made him finally understand?" Aysini demanded.
"I said nothing!" Redsplash snapped. "He went to sleep!"
Aysini nodded slowly, staring into Redsplash's eyes with that disorienting stare. "Then we have no choice but to kill him." Aysini announced. "Execute him now, Rekth."
Rekth turned to the archers and was about to call out when Redsplash gave out a small shriek of fury. "No!" She bellowed. "You can't! Leave him alone!"
"Such protectiveness of a demon when you are not one yourself? Let him die, otter. Don't you understand that death is all that he has left?"
"No! You can't have him! He's mine, damn you! Mine! Mine to kill! Not yours!"
"Then kill him, otter. Let him die on your blade. At least then he could justify himself to his nonexistent gods." Aysini snapped.
Redsplash's eyes flashed a furious red. "You can't have him!"
Aysini's golden eyes widened in surprise and she drew back slightly, the look of a creature who had finally seen something she had believed in all her life. "You? No. It cannot be you. It could never be you."
"Aysini…" Rekth started uncertainly.
"He must be exterminated." Aysini, the general, was arguing with a soldier. "He cannot be allowed to kill more soldiers!"
"I can make him stop." Redsplash snapped, the red fading slightly. "I can make him play nice."
"He must die, otter. Either now by arrow or later after we've tortured the truth out of him. If you have any sentimental attachments to him, you would spare him the torture. Arrows are much kinder than knives." Aysini replied, her tone freakishly calm.
Redsplash considered. Considered. He can't die, she decided, I need him to help bring down the badger. "Why kill him after you know the truth? Give him back to me."
Aysini stared at him. "You are far too cold, otter, for one whose eyes run the warmest of colors."
"I won't let him die." Redsplash growled. "I need him."
"No." Aysini remarked, golden eyes disgusted. "You need his skills. You need his strength. If you needed him, otter, you would not want him to endure so much pain."
"We all feel pain, fox. Why should he have to feel any less than the rest of us?" Redsplash demanded, furious.
"Because that one has already suffered far more than you ever will." Aysini retorted and turned her back. "But you can have him once we know the truth, if he survives. Call your servant off, then."
Redsplash glared at the fox's back and then turned to stare at Sade. "Oy!" She bellowed. "Oy, Sade!"
Sade seemed to twitch oddly, as if someone struck him in the stomach with a hammer at the same time a frigid wind whipped past his neck. He turned towards her, blue eyes wide. It seemed oddly as if he was staring at his own grave. There was fury on his face and confusion as well, but it was mostly overwhelmed with dread. For Redsplash, who had never seen a real emotion on his face, it was a revelation.
"Look, Sade, I dunno what they said to you, but you've gotta calm down! Put the weaponry away!"
Sade stared at her with wide eyes that flashed with hopelessness and then slowly drained to his typical blankness. The bloody swords went back into their sheaths at his back and his head bowed, shoulders hunching.
"Do you really think that by taking his swords away you made him any less dangerous?" Aysini demanded, her entire expression screaming of insanity. "Order him not to fight back."
Redsplash glared at her, her lips drawing back in a snarl. She hated the she-fox. For a second, the urge to lunge at her and rip her throat out became nearly impossible to fight.
"Redsplash." Darkclaw's voice, in her ear, quiet. "Get that lovely reddish tint out of your eyes and think. I know it's hard for you, but it's rather necessary at the moment."
"Wildcat!" Redsplash bellowed turning on him and clenching her fists.
"Listen." The wildcat whispered furiously, his green eyes blazing over her shoulder at Aysini or possibly Rekth. "Get that little slave of yours to answer their questions and make sure you're there the entire time he is. The foxes might decide he's too dangerous and execute him and if they try that, you'll need to be there to order him to defend himself. Don't let them kill him."
"Why do you care?" She demanded, angry.
"Fail at this and I'll kill you. Understand?"
"Why do you care?" She bellowed but Darkclaw was already walking away, headed towards the remnants of Kani's army.
"Otter! Order the demon defenseless!" Aysini growled.
Redsplash, furious at the way things were going and at how she didn't understand any of it, stalked over to Sade. "Don't fight them. Any of them. Understand?"
He looked at her, blank and empty, and nodded. "Of course."
"Good. Let's go." And she grabbed his forearm and yanked him towards the foxes.
…
"Root." Darkclaw kicked the squirrel awake. "Something has happened. How loyal are those ferrets to you?"
"Pretty damn." Root murmured in a confident, cold voice that was not at all his own. Then he rolled over yawned, and blinked. "What's goin' on?" He asked in a tired, curious, half-whine that was far more fitting.
"Things I don't like." The wildcat snapped. "Tell those ferrets that Kani is dead, Rekth has converted to Aysini's corpse-mutilating religion, and all beasts in this army are now under Aysini's control."
"That's not…happy." Root observed, sitting up slowly and cradling his aching skull.
"Indeed not." Darkclaw rolled his eyes. "Fortunately for them all, I'm far stronger than the she-fox and am instigating a rebellion."
"Good f'you, mate. Always knew you had it in ya." Root congratulated him, still holding his head.
"Yes. Tell those ferrets that unless they want to be enduring Aysini's Cleansing they'll have to join up with me."
"Won't they be killed if they join you and you're defeated?"
"I won't be defeated." Darkclaw snapped and then grinned. "And, besides, how is death worse than being tortured and buried alive?"
"Oh. Right. Forgot about that." Root nodded. "Wait…hold on…why am I helping you? Isn't that kinda like signin' up to die if you fail?"
"Kind of like it, yes."
"Oh. I'm on your side, then?"
"Yes."
"You on mine?"
"Not exactly."
"All right." Root said agreeably, standing up and swaying a bit. "Long as we've got that figured out."
"Good. Now. Go tell the ferrets and have the ferrets tell everyone else. I've already got the rats out working on it."
"'ow come the foxes haven't come to chop your head off yet?"
"Because they're busy interrogating Sade."
Root stared at him and then blinked several times. "I imagine that's where Redsplash is?"
"Yes."
"Good. She'd better keep that one alive. I spent way too much time healing him if he gets to die now."
…
Rekth and Aysini had led Redsplash, who was leading Sade, to a tent and then gone to stand outside the only entrance and argue loudly over the proper methods of torture. Redsplash, who had never been to Aysini's interrogation tent, was staring, open-mouthed in disbelief.
"Don't be afraid." Sade's voice, cold and distant, was loud in the silent tent. "They aren't going to torture you."
Redsplash turned back to him, frowning slightly and sighed. "Why did you kill the rat, Sade? Or, at least, why did you do it so openly?"
"I needed to be caught. I need to be killed. I cannot kill myself because I have not been shamed enough. But I am afraid of what I will do if I am allowed to live." He looked up from the ground, eyes tinged slightly with a question. "Would you kill me?"
"No. No, I can't. I need you to help me kill a badger."
"Ah." Sade's eyes went back to the floor. "Perhaps after that I can die."
"You're a strange one." Redsplash informed him as she went to examine a strange little instrument. "You wouldn't happen to know what this is, would you?"
"Pliers." He answered distantly. "Crush small bones, rip out claws, those are heavy enough to use to break bones, or to beat someone to death, though I doubt that death is their purpose."
"Huh. And this?" She pointed at another one.
"Choke pear. It goes into the mouth and metal spikes come out."
"Whoa. Ruins the whole thing, doesn't it? I mean, isn't torture supposed to make you talk?"
"Torture can be used for information or as a way to execute someone." He paused. "Also, for amusement."
"That's disturbing." She looked around again, still shocked by all the pretty little torture equipment that she'd never become familiar with. "What's the purpose to all of this? I mean, pain, yes, but carrying all of this around? Wouldn't some needles, knives, and a bit of fire work?"
"Intimidation, Carrier. They think that by filling a room with sharp metal that they can scare me." A brief, tense silence. "They fail."
"You're just odd. I'm not even in danger, and I'm nervous." Redsplash snapped. "Here you are, about to be tortured and you don't care?"
Sade looked around slowly, coldly. Finally, he looked back to her. "I've seen worse, lived worse, and done worse. How can I be afraid?"
"Um, I dunno, by having the basic instinct to avoid pain?" Redsplash snapped back.
Sade's eyes filled with something. Some indescribable emotion that Redsplash had never felt and would never understand. His eyes dropped to the ground.
She walked forward, grabbed his chin, and jerked it up so she could look into his eyes, smirking at the emotion in them. "So you're not perfect…"
"No." He agreed, anger on his face and in his voice but not in his eyes. His eyes were far too bitter for anger. "And damn you all for ever asking me to be."
Redsplash stepped back, suddenly unsure of everything. Her brain seemed to be screaming, screaming something she couldn't quite comprehend. A voice echoed over and over, refusing to fall into a language she would understand.
It seemed to her that Fatefiend was trying to tell her something, trying, somehow, to speak to her while she was awake. It seemed terribly important. But all she could hear was him screaming something from a distance. She could not make out the words and, half a second later, they were gone.
Rekth and Aysini burst into the tent and Sade tensed, turning his blue eyes on them. "So, what's your name, mate?" Rekth inquired.
"I have no name." He replied.
"Sade, come on." Redsplash rolled her eyes. "Answer the questions."
Sade glanced at her then back at the fox, tilting his head towards Redsplash just enough to show quite clearly that he was only going along with this to humor her. "My name is Sade."
"Is that your real name?" Rekth demanded with a smirk.
"Is that really what you wanted to ask?" Sade retorted.
"Asking questions is bad for your health right now, mate." The male fox told him with a small little smile.
"Than I suggest you stop before you get hurt." Sade answered with a small little smile of his own that did not affect the emptiness in his eyes, making Redsplash shiver. It was like seeing a smile on a corpse.
"Was that a threat?" Rekth inquired calmly as he watched Aysini placing her axe carefully on a table large enough to hold a wildcat.
"Does it have to be?"
"Alright, mate, give up your weapons."
"You first." Sade replied blankly.
"Now." Aysini snapped and then turned to Redsplash. "Tell him to follow our orders."
"And give up my own power over him?" Redsplash demanded. "I don't think so."
"Do we have to torture you as well?" Rekth inquired in a strangely friendly tone.
"I would not try it." Sade replied. "Because that would give me full rights to kill you."
"Order him to give up his weapons now, otter, or we'll torture him until he's dead." Aysini snapped.
Redsplash glared. She could give Sade the chance to kill the foxes. But then she'd lose the army, and she'd needed the army to keep the hares occupied while she killed the badger. So…"Sade, get rid of those weapons, will you?"
Sade strolled over the table Aysini had abandoned her axe on and began the long possess of divesting himself of his weapons. Before he was done, both Rekth and Redsplash were gaping in alarm. "How do you walk, mate?" Rekth demanded.
"The same way you do." Sade replied.
Redsplash's eyes were locked on Aysini, who had built a small fire and seemed to be heating a piece of metal in it. "So, I was thinkin', and tell me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't torture just be kind of useless? I mean, I can get him to tell you whatever you need to know, you've already promised not to kill him, and it requires energy to torture. Not to mention there's the whole screamin' bit that always gets on everybody's nerves, so, 'ow 'bout we skip the torture?"
"No." Aysini snapped.
"You must not know how fun it is." Rekth added.
"Why would I scream?" Sade inquired.
"Because it hurts." Redsplash was rather tired of the whole insanity side of Sade.
"Yes." Sade shrugged. "But we've all be hurt before."
"You're insane."
"Aren't you?"
"Fine! I don't care anymore! And what exactly are you going to do with that fire?" Redsplash was now yelling at Aysini who was still hovering over the fire.
"Do you know what cauterization is, otter?" Rekth inquired politely.
"Uuuh…yes!" Redsplash snapped. "But what're you gonna do? Cut off an ear and shove his head in the fire?"
"Paws, actually." Aysini broke in calmly. "He is not a danger to us if he cannot strike us."
"I have teeth." Sade pointed out in a conversational tone.
Rekth snorted. "We can pull those out."
"I'm not going to let you ruin him!" Redsplash raved. "I need him to help me kill!"
Aysini snorted. "Well, then, I suppose our deal is off."
"An' don't think about orderin' him to kill us." Rekth moved freakishly quickly and had his scythe pulled back against her throat, just breaking the skin. "Because it'd really be a stupid thing to do."
"I hate it when this happens." Redsplash complained.
Sade looked about ready to go psychotic again and kill everyone, when a bloodied ferret came running in. "Rekth!" He yelled. "We have a problem!"
"Yes. And we're dealing with it. Please leave." Rekth snapped.
"No! It's the wildcat! He's got everybody convinced you're going to sacrifice them because Aysini told you so!"
Rekth sighed and looked to Aysini, "Did you tell me to sacrifice anyone?"
"No."
"See?" Rekth turned his gaze back on the ferret. "Clearly, captain, it is a rumor."
"But the entire army is comin' this way ready t'kill you!"
"Oh. That's a problem." Rekth agreed, glancing uneasily at Sade. "Well…what're my soldiers doin'?"
"The five or so that decided to fight instead of betrayin' you? Gettin' executed for not goin' along with the wildcat! I managed to get away. Aysini's troops're distracted with that Cleaning thingy, but the wildcat is leavin' em alone anyway. Said if they got you two, Aysini's troops would be useless."
"A lie!" Aysini hissed. "They'd fight 'till they were all dead!"
"Yes, but I had to say something to get them to follow me. And it wasn't even very hard." Darkclaw announced as he strolled in, both broadswords drawn and with Root, armed with a bow with an arrow already at the string, following along. "Kani's army was terrified of going to Aysini, and Devman's and Kislin' were easily persuaded. Most of your's, Rekth, came over quickly as well. Four armies against yours, Aysini? They would all die." Darkclaw smirked as he decapitated Rekth's captain. "Like that one."
Aysini reached for her axe, but Sade caught her by the throat and wrapped his arm around it, strangling her. "Calm down." The otter suggested.
"Let her go!" Rekth snapped. "Or I'll kill this one." The scythe cut into her neck and Redsplash yelped a curse.
Sade faltered, his grip loosening and Aysini broke free, grabbing her axe, but backing away from Sade and the wildcat. Root pulled the string back and aimed at Aysini's heart.
"Idiots, please. Violence is not necessary." Darkclaw remarked in an annoyed tone. "I would rather you, Aysini, just take your troops and leave."
"What about Rekth?" She hissed, her golden eyes glancing towards the other fox.
"Him I have no use for." Darkclaw shrugged. "But he can go as well."
"You'd send trackers after me and kill me." Rekth growled. "Aysini has her army, but I would be alone. Easy prey."
Darkclaw blinked at him. "Is it my fault you failed to inspire fanatical loyalty in your troops?"
"I'd rather kill the otter and whoever else I can before being killed than be hunted down and executed." Rekth informed him with that mocking smile of his. "Less demeaning, you understand."
"You would come with me." Aysini announced suddenly.
Rekth glanced at her. "Gotten over you obscene hatred of me, have you?"
"I hardly think now is the time to discuss your relationship." Redsplash forced out, sounding muffled and choked. "But, by all means, go. I hope you'll be very happy together. Have lots of little psychotic children."
Rekth released Redsplash and moved almost too fast to follow to go and stand by Aysini, who gave him a quick nod of acknowledgement before tightening her grip on her axe. "How many archers are waiting outside to kill us?" She demanded.
"None. There's no one. They're all far too busy liberating whatever alcohol they can find. And, besides, I'd kill you myself if I wished you dead. But I don't. I would rather the Nameless One know of this than to just wonder what happened to his siege of Salamandastron. Gives me more glory."
"I will not go back to the Nameless One." Aysini snapped. "I stayed because I swore to go with the four generals. Three are dead and one has no army and thus is not a general. I am free from my oath and will go back to my freedom."
"Well, fine. I suppose the Nameless One will figure it out. He is astoundingly intelligent, I've heard."
"Indeed." Aysini looked at him and seemed to be considering. Finally, she nodded to him. "We are not enemies. Inadvertently or not, you have freed me from an oath I never intended to make and you have not harmed my army. If you had, I would have know of it, but you have not. So, Warheart, our families continue to mutually benefit from accidents."
Darkclaw blinked. "That would make you a daughter of Xalis, then,
would it not?"
She nodded to him. "It would. I wish you luck badger hunting. I
understand they are particularly appetizing."
"If they're killed young enough." The wildcat agreed.
Aysini nodded. "Then perhaps I will meet you again, Warheart. May it be on better terms. I have always found your line to be particularly…entertaining."
"Indeed."
"Come then, Rekth." Aysini moved forward gracefully. "We have mutiny to commit."
"Do we?" Rekth asked politely as he followed along. "Death to the Nameless One, then?"
"No. Not that mutinous. We do not have enough troops for that."
"Oh, too bad. Was really looking forward to killing the bastard." Rekth lamented as they stepped into the brightness of midmorning.
"Perhaps someday." Aysini replied and they foxes were gone.
"Root remind me to tell the seven I ordered to follow and assassinate the two foxes that it is no longer necessary." Darkclaw ordered, turning green eyes on Root.
"But, why? What if they come back and-"
"They won't." Darkclaw told him confidentially. "She was of the Xalis line. Why she didn't mention this sooner, I do not know. Warhearts and those of the Xalis line do not betray each other."
"Why not? Everyone else betrays each other." Root pointed out.
"Because the Warhearts would not be alive if not for wolves, and Xalis was the only fox ever allowed to run with the wolves."
"Oh." Root rolled his eyes. "You Warhearts make no sense, did you know?"
Meanwhile, Sade was carefully bandaging the cut around Redsplash's neck. "It was not deep." He told her. "But it is still dangerous. Do not talk unless it is absolutely necessary."
"Here, lemme see that." Root shoved the otter out of the way. "You can't even take care of yourself."
Sade stared at him, blue eyes narrowed slightly.
"Why'd you kill Kani, anyway? Seems a little extreme. I mean, he had bad breath an' all, but, really!" Root shook his head disapprovingly.
"I killed them all." Sade replied as he went to his weapons and began arming himself yet again. "Kani, Kislin, Devman. Devman destroyed a small village I was in and I wounded him before escaping from his troops. When I followed him here, I killed him as his murdering of the village beasts went against justice. After killing Devman, I realized Kislin was far too intelligent and killed him as well. Kani was a danger to the Carrier."
"Aw, he's insane too!" Root exclaimed in a falsely cheerful tone. "I surrounded by insanity!"
"Who's forgotten half their life?" Redsplash demanded and winced, apparently realizing why Sade had suggested she avoid talking.
"Over the line, Redsplash. That was over the line." Root snapped.
"I'm to take a nap." Redsplash announced suddenly.
Darkclaw glanced at her. "A nap?"
"I've had a traumatic experience. I plan to sleep it off."
"Mmm, good idea." Root agreed exuberantly. "Sleep it off."
Redsplash peered at him suspiciously. "Are you ever sober?"
"Now what exactly would be the point in that?" Root demanded. "Seems…" he shivered visibly, "uncomfortable."
"It is." Sade agreed.
Root gaped at him. "Is the emotionless wonder admitting to some kind of emotional preference?"
Sade's blue eyes narrowed and he looked at his paws, staring at the tattoos. "My name is Sade." He announced suddenly, lifting his chin and looking almost surprised at his own daring. "Sade."
"I think he's cracked, mate." Root whispered loudly to Darkclaw. "Ya might have to take care of that one."
"No!" Redsplash snapped. "Leave him alone!"
"And Red cares for her slave." Root shook his head. "Who needs to be sober when the world isn't?"
Redsplash glared. "Gonna go sleep!" She informed them all and stalked out, Sade following along in a listless sort of daze, a half-smile on his face.
"I swear everyone's crazy but me." Root muttered. "I swear it."
…
Redsplash was halfway settled on Root's large mountain of pillows when Sade entered in the tent. Immediately he froze, sniffing at the air and getting the strangest expression on his face. His eyes and face were completely blank again as he went around the tent, eyes narrowed and constantly moving. Finally he kneeled on the ground right outside the tent, staring at the sand for a minute before lunging to his feet and sprinting off, leaving Redsplash behind.
Root wandered in half a second later. "What was that?"
"I have no idea!" Redsplash snapped. "He's crazy!"
"Right." Root nodded. "And you're not?"
Redsplash pointedly closed her eyes and pretended to go to sleep.
"Oy! You're on my pillows!"
"I'm wounded."
"'s no excuse! Get off!"
"No!"
…
Fallen was an hour's walk away from the vermin camp when he heard footsteps behind him. Fast footsteps. Light footsteps. Someone with training. The kind of training he'd gotten long ago.
He whipped to the right and whirled around quickly to face whoever was chasing him, only to see a black blur flying towards him. Fallen barely had time to realize how well trained this creature must be to react so quickly, when his own training took over and he grabbed the flying beast, attempting to use his attacker's own momentum against him and catapult him into a tree.
There was a moment of what seemed to be the attacker's surprise and then, somehow, the attacker slipped out of the hold, landing lightly on his feet far out of reaching distance. Blue eyes burned with blankness and two swords came hissing out of their sheaths and were flying at his neck.
Fallen's own sword was out and defending him in the half second it took for him to realize what was happening. Metal screamed and flickered and Fallen realized he couldn't win this fight. Not, at least, while the other otter had the advantage of two swords.
He lunged backwards and felt his back connect with a tree. A quick, frenzied, glance upwards revealed a branch just low enough that he could grab it. He threw his sword and the other creature dodged, giving Fallen the second he needed to lunge into the tree, climb upwards hurriedly, and grab his bow, take an arrow out of his quiver, and aim it at the creature below him.
Only to find the other otter was doing the exact same thing to him, his swords magically back in their sheaths.
"What do you want?" Fallen demanded, struck by an odd sense of familiarity.
"What were you doing in a vermin camp?" The otter demanded, his voice harsh. "What were you looking for?"
"Nothing you need to know about." He retorted. "And nothing I will tell you."
"If you do not tell me what you were doing, I will kill you."
"I would kill you first."
"Doubtful. Judging from out previous skirmish, we would probably kill each other at around the same time."
"Probably." Fallen agreed.
The otter nodded. "So, I will ask you one more time before taking my chances." He paused, almost as if he were considering something particularly upsetting, before continuing. "What were you doing?"
"How did you know I was there?" Fallen inquired.
"Because you used tricks I was taught before I learned to speak. Obviously you did not expect me to be here which either means you were just looking for something to steal," he studied him briefly, "unlikely. Or you were looking for one of the other three in the tent. A wildcat, a squirrel, and a mouse."
Fallen snorted. "What was that? A trick? A mouse? In the company of a Warheart wildcat? It is an otter, her name is Redsplash, I am tracking her to kill her, and if you value your own life, I suggest you leave the otter now. Because I won't hesitate like this again."
Two arrows flew at the same time and two otters dodged exactly the same way. Their training failed them.
Fallen felt the arrow pierce his shoulder and fell back to his flight instinct, allowing himself to run back to the relative safety of the mountain. He did not hear anyone pursuing him but that meant absolutely nothing. He knew anyone with the kind of training it took to be that fast and track him this far could be as silent as they wished to be.
…
For a while, Sade was thoroughly incapacitated. The arrow had simply grazed his neck and he had bandaged that rather easily, but his many and various other wounds had all decided now was a lovely time to act up. Besides that, his blood seemed to have had a conference and decided the only way to lead a full and healthy life was to abandon Sade's body as fast as possible.
Typically, this would have been a minor inconvenience. But ever since that idiot ferret had…had talked, he'd had a hard time concentrating on anything, as if his brain itself was avoiding thinking. And now, now that he lay bleeding on the forest floor, his brain seemed to have decided it was the perfect time to reevaluate his current situation and come up with something he'd never had to deal with before: opinions.
…
"Sade? Why don't you laugh anymore?"
"I am not allowed to."
…
"Sade?"
"Yes?"
"How long have you known that I was not your real father?"
"I have always known."
"Who told you?"
"Childhood enemies with connections to the Elders."
"What did they tell you?"
"That I am a demon and that I will destroy the world."
"Do you believe them?"
"I believe nothing my peers say to me. They are foolish and afraid of dying."
"Are you?"
"No. Should I be?"
"Most your age fear death."
"Death has never worried me. Life is far more dangerous."
…
"Why are you bleeding so much?"
"I forgot the laws."
…
"I do not think we should trust him. His father-"
"Was his father. They are completely different creatures. We kept this one under strict watch. He is completely loyal to us."
"You know what she says about it."
"What? That you can never completely break someone to a system when they are as young as he is? She is insane and senile. It will work."
"But what if it fails?"
"Hopefully Havoak will be back by then. He will authorize his execution."
"Are you sure? They were very close."
"If we fail, Havoak will have him killed for his own good. Minds break.."
…
"Sade? Sade why don't you smile anymore?"
"I've forgotten how."
…
"What do you know of your father?"
"That he was a disgrace and a runaway. The only creature to successfully elude us for as many seasons as he did."
"You say 'us.' You do not count yourself on his side?"
"He betrayed us. Blood relation means nothing to me."
"And what does your mother say of him?"
"She will not speak of him. She fears to. Have you threatened her?"
"Yes. Does that anger you?"
"Why would it? She is just my mother."
"Some would be angered."
"Some would thank their mothers for being born."
"You would not?"
"I would not."
"Does it not anger you that they killed your father?"
"No. He had to die. He was a betrayer."
"Do you know how they killed him?"
"There is only one way to execute a traitor. I know it."
"And do you know how long he lasted?"
"Seventeen days. The longest anyone ever has."
"Do you know why he betrayed us?"
"The Elders killed his children. The first born son and the third born daughter, who, by tradition, were to be the fighters. The two were offered up as sacrifices to the Justice Goddess. Then I, the only surviving sibling, was taken from my father's house to be a warrior. He had not expected any of this and claimed the Elders had betrayed him. He left, taking the Stone with him."
"Do you know that, if he had not left you behind, the Stone would belong to you?"
"Yes."
"You would have never had to gone through those last phases of your training. It is your father's betrayal you have to blame for all those intricate scars of yours. The Stone would rightfully have been yours."
…
"Where are you going, Sade?"
"Somewhere far from here, Dwynwen. I may never come back."
"You're as bad as Havoak! Why does everyone go away and leave me here?"
"Because there is nothing else to do."
"I hate you!"
…
"Redsplash…it occurs to me that someone is missing." Root murmured, yawning.
A pause as the otter yawned back and shifted on her half of the pillow mountain which they had divided down the center. "I told you. Darkclaw's off being all evil genius-like with those captains of his."
"No…someone bleedy."
"'Bleedy?'" Redsplash demanded incredulously. "Oh! Sade! Damn! Where'd he go?"
"I vaguely remember some kind of psychotic otter running past me in a…northsouthern direction?"
"'Northsouthern?' Was he spinnin' in circles, Root?" Redsplash inquired, smirking.
"Look, Red. Just be glad I'm reasonably coherent, alright?"
"It's Redsplash, Root."
"Whatever you tell that sick mind of yours, Redsplash."
Redsplash stood up slowly, swayed dangerously, and yawned again, nearly falling over. She kicked Root in the ribs. "Get up. We're gonna go lookin' for Sade."
"Why does everyone involve me?" Root demanded. "Why does everyone always involve me?"
"Because you don't have anything else to do. Get up."
"I hate you." Root announced as he stood up wearily. "And your mother."
"I'll tell Sade you said that."
"Oh, no. You can't go attackin' me through him anymore. Specially not if I'm goin' through all this trouble findin' him."
"What trouble? You're still half-asleep."
"D'you know how to track?"
Redsplash hesitated and went to stand outside the tent, peering down at what appeared to be billions of footsteps. "No…" She admitted as Root came up beside her.
"Well I do, and I'm not helpin' unless you promise never to order Sade to hit me over the head again. Because it hurts, and my head hasn't been in the best condition lately anyway."
"Aw, you were stupid to begin with." Redsplash snapped. "But fine, I won't tell Sade to hit you anymore."
"Good."
…
It was a strange thing, peace. Here he was wounded and battered, and he was finally at peace. He'd never known peace before. Like so many things, he'd never had a reason or a chance too. But…it was…was indescribable, because he'd never learned the proper adjectives. Who taught warriors how to feel peace?
If this was death, he should have died a long time ago.
"I told you I'd find him!" A voice. Recognizable. Not a threat. Go back to sleep.
"I didn't say you wouldn't, did I?"
"No! But some comments were made that I'd like taken back!"
"If this is about the whole thing about the pineapple…"
"It was hurtful!"
"Look, Root, just help me pick him up, alright?"
"Are you joking? No! Not until you apologize!"
"I'm not apologizing! Look at all this blood! Look!"
"Throwing his blood at my eyes is not helping your case!"
"No. But it was fun."
"I'm gonna kill you."
Threat. To the Carrier. Wake up.
Sade sat up quickly and, seeing Root crouched beside him staring at him curiously, slammed his forehead into Root's skull. The squirrel fell over backwards and let out a brief scream of anger. "You said you wouldn't let him hit me in the head anymore! You said!" He cried.
"I did not. I said I wouldn't tell him to. That was completely his own decision." Redsplash smirked. "Not that I minded, of course."
"Oh, of course not." Root snapped moodily. "I suppose you'll still expect me to help you carry him back to camp?"
"You wouldn't leave a wounded otter out here to die, would you?"
"Only if it was you." Root muttered poisonously. "And don't hit me again, Sade!" He added as he scrambled backwards, barely avoiding Sade's kick that would have broken his nose.
"Really, Sade. We're gonna need him to get you back to the camp." Redsplash remarked in a mildly reproachful tone. "Tell me…did the shrubbery attack you?"
Sade hesitated, clearing his thoughts, killing the strange murmurs in the back of his mind. Everything turned blank and cold again. "An otter is tracking you and plans to kill you."
"Someone wants to kill Red?" Root gasped, mockingly shocked. "My goodness! Why?"
Redsplash looked at him and an eyebrow arched upward. "When someone finally kills you, I will spit on your corpse."
Root looked to Sade. "Isn't she charming? I mean, who would ever want to kill such an innocent, friendly, morally righteous creature? She's the very picture of perfection!"
"Root?" Redsplash inquired, in a dangerously polite voice. "I never promised not to have Sade slice your tongue out."
Root rolled his eyes and grabbed Sade's arm, pulling. The otter eyed him with a doubtful expression that seemed to hint at some kind of sarcastic mockery. He was definitely not moving. "Get up, mate. If we don't get back soon I'll miss out on the festivities." Root informed him in a vaguely pleading tone. "Come on. Please?"
"You can leave me here." Sade informed him calmly. "I will most likely survive the walk back."
"Did I ask you to be difficult?" Root demanded, offended. "No! All I want to do is get you and the other idiot back to the camp where you'll be safe and then I want to go get so completely drunk that I think I'm dyin' again."
Redsplash's eyes lit up. "Y'know, squirrel," she drawled, "sometimes I really like the way you think."
Root glanced at her. "Oh, great. I can see this gettin' real ugly real fast."
…
"You were born fat. You'll die fat. Only the maggots'll love you."
"Might as well be loved by something." A pause. "You're ugly."
"You're callin' me, ugly? When was the last time you looked in a mirror, squirrel? Or has your reflection committed suicide yet?"
"Only, because it caught sight of you."
Sade wondered how long the two could insult each other. They were quite adept at it. Only…something seemed off. The squirrel seemed nervous, edgy, and the otter almost irritated and distracted. And every now and then they would pause, as if waiting. Waiting for what, though? Perhaps there was supposed to be someone else. Someone else to answer. Someone missing.
"You sure you're fine, Sade?" Root inquired suddenly.
Sade froze and ran a mental check of all the wounds that could currently be a problem. "Yes."
"Not something a good kick to the back of the head wouldn't cure anyway." Redsplash observed cheerfully.
Sade turned his head to look down at her. "Death?"
"Sleep." Redsplash snapped. "How insane do you idiots think I am? I spend all this energy making sure you live and you think I'm going to kill you?"
"With all due respect, Redsplash, you've done stranger things." Root pointed out. "And by 'all due respect' I mean as disrespectfully as is possible."
"Root, has anyone ever shown you exactly what a choke pear is used for?" Redsplash inquired calmly.
"Uhh…." Root glanced around nervously. "No…"
Redsplash's grin was the very embodiment of evil. "Good."
Sade froze and reached for the two swords on his back, but relaxed almost as quickly when seven vermin appeared from the foliage.
Redsplash, however, was not as calm. "Who're you?" She demanded.
"The general sent us off to find you three." A weasel informed them. "Says he's tired of you three jus' gallivantin' off whenever you please and somethin' else about eatin' someone's relatives."
"That'll be Darkclaw." Redsplash sighed. "I suppose he has proper control of the army by now, does he?"
The weasel nodded. "He does."
"And I suppose he said if we didn't come back willingly you were to take us back?" Redsplash inquired.
The weasel frowned. "Maybe…"
"And I don't suppose he was stupid enough to just send seven, so…Sade? Where are they?" Redsplash turned to the black otter.
"All around us. There's at least thirty and most of them are archers."
"Lovely." Redsplash commented dryly. "He is, of course, still planning on attacking the badger?"
The weasel hesitated, uneasy. "'s what he said."
"Well then I have absolutely no reason not to go back. Do you, Root?"
"Besides that I'm marching to a war I have no part in, can't leave, and wouldn't have anywhere to go if I did?" Root inquired, his tone bitterly upbeat. "Why, no!"
No one asked Sade. But, then, Sade wasn't at all sure he could have replied all right now, since logic and the tiny whisperers in the back of his mind had finally gone to war.
…
"Are you going to tell us where you got this arrow from?"
Hares. They never did quite know when to shut up. "No."
"Are you going to tell me where you got the arrow?"
Badgers. Never really had to shut up, considering they were bigger than just about everybody else. "No."
Just because they were bigger didn't mean he couldn't kill them just as easily. A slashed throat, a pierced heart, a broken skull…
"Would you at least tell me how you got out of my mountain?"
Suppose he ought to. "I climbed out the center and down."
"I've seen hares who've lived in this mountain all their lives break their necks just attempting what you say you've done."
Salamandastron Badger Lords. So arrogant and powerful. They know the future, so they think no one else can guess. "It was the quickest way out."
"And where, exactly did you go?"
"I told you I came here to kill."
"And did you get to your prey?"
"No." A guard from one of their tribe. A half-tested warrior that bore a startling resemblance to-
"Then who gave you the arrow?"
"No one of any consequence."
"Right. An' me grandmum was a duck."
"Explains the facial features." Strange creatures, hares. Never quite can tell what they're thinking.
…
Darkclaw was out plotting world domination or something equal as foolish. Root was out getting very very drunk. Sade was bandaged and seemed content to sit, propped up on pillows, staring at the tent entrance, and Redsplash was watching him, coldly curious.
"You're allowing yourself the use of pillows?" Redsplash demanded suddenly, murdering the silence. "Won't it ruin your posture?"
"There are cuts on my back I must allow to close." He informed her. "And, to do so, I cannot strain the muscles."
"Oh, too bad." She mocked, feeling herself falling back to the cold shell she'd been hiding behind lately. "Poor thing's in pain."
"Yes." He agreed. "But pain can always be ignored."
She stared at him, eyes narrowed. "You know, Sade, Darkclaw just might not care and Root maybe to drunk to notice, but I know something happened. You weren't like this a day ago. You didn't feel back then."
"I do not feel now." He informed her.
"I saw emotions in your eyes." She snapped. "I know you can feel."
"I can, but why would I wish to? Emotions are idiotic things that interfere with your judgment." He blinked blue eyes closed and paused before opening them again. "Besides, I have lived most of my life without feeling a thing. The problem with feeling something now is that I would have to feel everything I have blocked out first. I lost control this morning, and I do not wish lose control again."
"So, what? What're you going to do? You can't go on like that forever."
"I don't plan to. My plan is to die at the mountain." He turned to look at her. "You only need me to help you kill the badger, correct?"
She stared. It sounded heartlessly cruel when he said it. Did she really intend to just use another living creature like that? Was there no line she wouldn't cross. "Yes. I only need you to help me kill the badger."
Apparently not. It was a strangely liberating moment when she realized she had no morals left to heed. Strange in that it felt more painful than joyful.
"Then, if I do not die in the battle, would you kill me afterwards?" His tone was calm, blank.
"You want me to kill you?"
"I want nothing. It is simply necessary. My training has failed. I am broken and would not be able to keep logic and emotion separate for longer than twenty days. I cannot be sure what will happen if I lose control again, so for your own safety I must ask that you kill me after the badger is dead."
"Can't you do it yourself?"
"Not honorably. If I cannot die honorably than I cannot allow myself to die at all."
Redsplash wanted to refuse. Killing was all well and good, but this seemed too much like…like throwing away a broken toy. Only, it wasn't just some toy she would be throwing away, it would be a life.
But…life had stopped meaning anything to her the second Fatefiend lost his.
"Sure, Sade. I'll kill you."
…
"Sade? Sade why don't you smile anymore?"
"I've forgotten how."