35. Flicker.
Smalltooth stumbled and nearly fell, dragging Rowanbloom with him. The ermine was wounded in the head during the battle at Dornal's house, an injury that was bound to leave a scar going from above the left eye and across the top of his muzzle, if he was going to live long enough. Not that it threatened his life, although it certainly sapped his vigor, made his head spin and forced Rowanbloom to help him walking: the weather was the real problem. As footpaws sank in the fresh snow and freezing wind lashed through clothes and fur, the travelers, burdened with their wounded as they were, made slower and slower progress. By the middle of the second day Aldwin had to order turning towards the forest, in hopes that it will offer better shelter and foraging. Rowanbloom was not sure about that.
"Thanks… thank you kindly," Smalltooth said.
The tired squirrel was thinking about whether they can even reach the forest at this rate and almost let the ermine's words fly beyond her ears, but then recollected herself. "Oh. Think nothing of it. Hold tighter onto my shoulder and try not to fall anymore."
Truth to be told, Rowanbloom's back ached badly. Smalltooth was noticeably taller and heavier than her now. To think of it, maybe he was no longer a runt by stoat standards. Either ample, if not always good, food in the last couple of moons in conjunction with hard work allowed for a final spurt of growth, or he was younger than he looked to begin with.
These thoughts made the squirrel remember that there was another thing regarding Smalltooth about which she wondered from time to time. Perhaps now was not the best time for asking. But perhaps a talk could keep the ermine from sleeping on his paws… and push away her own worries for a moment.
"Mind if I ask you a question about yourself?"
"Not like I lived long enough to have secrets… I mean, ask away."
"I thought of this again when I heard that you keep old legends in your memory, just like me, as you know. No offense, but you talk differently from the rest of Marroch's fighters. Like… how can I say it… like an educated beast. Might I ask you who were, er, I mean where and how you got that education?" When the ermine did not answer right away, she was quick to add. "But if I'm sticking my nose where it doesn't belong, or if you're not feeling well enough to talk, you can just say so!"
"No, no. I'm just surprised, that's all. A bit hard to think when your head is split." Smalltooth attempted to scratch his aching muzzle but stopped himself in time. "And nobeast cared to ask this before."
He looked forward, at the swirling snowfall. Talking was uncomfortable but the ermine bore with it. "My uncle liked stories of old battles, and songs, and he played music too. And my parents worked for a wise vixen. She even taught me to read. Ehm, my parents and my uncle were mercenaries, you see... if you didn't guess yet. They all raised me together, Father, Mother, Uncle, and the vixen who hired them… maybe you heard about her: Amber."
Thinking with a head wound was indeed hard. Or maybe exhaustion was to blame. Either way, Smalltooth's thought was lagging just a bit behind his mouth. "And then they all died like witless moths who can't figure out they're flying into fire. They didn't care about me anyway, none of them did. They were all saying they loved me, and they bloody lied."
The ermine bit his tongue, realizing that he said more than he wanted. Pitying himself meant inviting merciless mockery, as he learned swiftly in Marroch's band. But the squirrel did not respond as he feared. Instead, her words were rather slow and contemplative.
"You know, Smalltooth... I did not part with my parents on the best terms when I set off to travel. I think my father was one word away from pronouncing a curse upon me as his final farewell, in fact… Hey, careful!" The two beasts almost fell, as the ermine's ankle turned in the soft snow. After their balance was regained, the squirrel continued. "For a time I was thinking that Father never loved me, only his idea of an obedient and well-behaved daughter, if you understand what I mean."
"And why are you telling me this?"
"Well, time passed, things happened, and I saw that all the dangers Father did not want me to encounter were real. Oh, I still would have left Redwall, had I been returned to that day by some miracle of seasons. But now I see that he really cared about me. He just could not explain that in words that a young and headstrong squirrel could understand. I've never met your parents and know next to nothing about them, but maybe that was the case with them too?"
"Vulpuz' fangs!" Smalltooth hissed. "Indeed, you know next to nothing about them, so don't pretend otherwise! And don't pretend that you care! I know what you're up to, you just want to get into my head, see what makes my heart beat, use me to fulfill your stupid visions, like you did with Kethra!"
The ermine immediately regretted his words, expecting to be thrown into the snow. But Rowanbloom only stiffened. Before she came up with an answer, another beast spoke right behind them. "Stop insulting her, stoat, before I give you something fresh to weep about."
"It's all right, Ewalt," Rowanbloom answered quickly. "I was the inconsiderate and hasty one here. Who knows if I tore a wound open unwittingly."
"Everybeast here bears old wounds, I think." Ewalt snorted. "Sorry for overhearing you two, by the way. I wanted to tell, let me help the stoat walk."
Smalltooth visibly shuddered at the idea. Ewalt snorted again. "Don't be such a coward. I'm not a beast to hurt his comrade, even a comrade I never asked for. To hurt for no reason, at least. And who knows, maybe you'd smell something like a shelter again."
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Not much sunlight managed to reach the earth through the heavy curtains of clouds and snow – and by the time the weary travelers reached the edge of the forest even that sunlight started fading swiftly. Aldwin let Sparth relieve him from hauling Bascinette's sled, to move slightly ahead of the others. Not that the captain could see far ahead in these conditions, whatever his place in the small column was. He had to admit that he badly misjudged the weather in the morning.
Aldwin stopped for a second, to wipe falling snow from his face. How could he be so blind?
"Not the best day for travel, yes?"
The big hare reacted with the speed of lightning upon hearing an unfamiliar voice, and his claymore flew from the sheath as if by magic. How could he be so blind?
He wound his swordpoint almost touching the nose of a strange beast. Its mottled grey shape was melding with tree bark in poor illumination, so Aldwin was stupefied, trying to figure out what this creature was. Then he realized that it was a squirrel – just lacking ears and holding on to a tree trunk in the upside down position, so that their heads were on the same level. Before the captain thought of something to say, Talwar and Mahaira rushed to him, as fast as the snow allowed them, also pointing their weapons at the weird beast.
"Pretty nervous you are, yes? Can you please draw your nasty sharp pieces of metal a bit back, so I can go down at least?"
"Oh sorry, I guess that was rude of me, a warrior's reflexes, wot." Aldwin made half a step back and lowered his claymore, but his eyes remained firmly fixed on the squirrel, watching every movement. "Mind tellin' us who you are and what you're doin' here?"
In a second the grey squirrel ran down the tree and stood straight before the hares. Even now Aldwin could see that he had looks of a long-wandering ruffian – narrow chest, spidery limbs and long claws, coils of muscle and sinew tightly drawn on his frame. He was clad in a ragged, discolored jacket, as dirty-grey as his disheveled fur, a sheath with a small knife bound to his forepaw.
"Beasts call me Flicker." The squirrel bowed theatrically, a gesture that did not fit his appearance in the slightest. "I saw that you lot are in trouble and thought that maybe I can help, yes. Believe me or not, I live not so far from here, and the place I call home can easily shelter that many beasts, yes."
Aldwin did not miss the implication of the squirrel following them unseen for at least some time. His body remained tense, ready to strike, as he spoke. "Nice to meet you, Flicker. I'm Captain Aldwin of the Long Patrol. But I wonder, didn't you see that our company is… quite unusual, wot?"
Beasts who walked further to the rear already were gathering around them, allowing Flicker to see vermin faces for himself even if he somehow missed them before.
"So I did, so I did." Flicker smiled, showing long, yellowed front teeth. "Believe me or not, I don't care. What can I say, I'm a beast of uncommon qualities. Besides, I can always depend on honor of a Long Patrol captain, even if his companions are odd, yes?"
"That's bloomin' true." Aldwin answered. "But can I depend on your honor, Flicker? Don't Northlanders mark exiles, those kicked out for deceit and thievery, by cuttin' off their ears, so that the falseness of their hearts can be seen by all honest beasts?"
The captain spoke levelly, but even a babe could see the danger in his words. Flicker just shrugged and waved his paws, undaunted. "Well, you can't. But what would you rather choose: believing a liar, or freezing here?"