And yet another filler chapter. Don't worry, this'll be the last one for awhile. In this chapter, Mokeet goes into great detail about his past life. In this narrative, the name of Weylan's father is also revealed (out of necessesity). Also, a charatcer figures out just who Hood is, (but he ain't tellin'!) The scene is also gets set for some action! So enjoy!
Chapter 32
The horde marched onward. Mokeet and Mattimeo were painfully aware of the fact that each step bought them closer to the time to act, a time they weren't ready for yet. And as more time went by, the more painfully aware they became that the likeliness that they ever would be prepared in time was not good.
And there was no need to tell each other this, because they already knew. So they were silent. Mattimeo sat in one corner of the cage-on-wheels while Mokeet took another corner, watching the land around him move by.
Mattimeo watched the otter, thinking what it must have been like to live life like this for so long. Obviously, Mokeet had grown numb to most of it, because he took most of it in stride. However, Mattimeo wondered if this image was only a kind of mask, one that hid what Mokeet really felt.
And this thought somehow lead to the realization that Mattimeo didn't really know all that much about Mokeet's life. Just that he was a sea otter, had a boat, was friends with Weylan's father, and had spent the past several years of his life in this cage.
The rest was blank.
Mattimeo hesitated asking for several moments, but then upon realizing that there wasn't much else they could be doing and that the matter wasn't going to leave him alone, finally did.
"Mokeet," he began softly. "Excuse me if this seems intruding, but I was just sitting here thinking, and I realized that there isn't much I know about you."
To Mattimeo's mild surprise, Mokeet chuckled. "I guess tis only fair." the otter said. "I already know quite a bit about ye, I suppose it's time ye know all about me." he pause, getting his thoughts in order. "Where should I begin?" he asked out loud, mostly directed to himself.
But Mattimeo answered anyway. "How about at the beginning?" the mouse said. "Like, what holt you belong to."
Mokeet chuckled again. "I don't really 'ave one." he replied. "I guess I'm a bit like Weylan's family. Must 'ave had one at one point, but fer some reason or another, don't no more. Me parents always said twas a 'olt Tewis, but don't know anymore after that."
He paused, remembering those long lost times. "I led a good life, I think." he continued. "Lived by the sea, learned to sail, like me father. Great creature he was. Helped me build me boat, just before he passed on to the Dark Forest. After that, I just sailed wherever I pleased, met a few other creatures, but never stoppin' to really settle down."
"Then I met Weylan's father, Jude." the otter sighed. "He was a great creature too, Jude Riverstryke. Fer as long as I knew 'im, he thought more of others than 'imself. Also had real good nerve. 'ere he was, lookin' fer his lost family, but was doin' it so calmly, that at a first glance, ye think he'd was just wanderin' around, not a care in the world."
"Anyway, I had pulled me boat ashore to get supplies, and he happened to stumble upon the camp. We were instant friends. I guess it was because we had a bit in common when it came to heritage. Jude asked if he could borrow me boat, to search for his 'olt, and I told 'im I'd do better than that and do the sailin' fer him. All he had to do was do the lookin'."
"We were at it fer two whole seasons, goin' on three, before we stopped. We had gone to every place I knew of out there at sea and no sign of Jude's family. An' it was approachin' winter time, which was the worse time to go sailin' up north. And yet Jude wanted to continue." Mokeet paused, so entranced in his narrative that he had forgotten his surroundings, almost to the point he was reliving his past life. "I think that's wot I admired in him, was the fact that he didn't want to give up. In fact, even after I talked him into stoppin' I don't think he ever did stop thinkin' he'd find them. It was like he had some sixth sense and knew that somewhere, they were still alive."
"Regardless, though, I talked him out of continuin'. We went ashore and made camp long enough to ride through the worse of the winter, then we went our separate ways, both goin' south. Me by sea, Jude, by land. We agreed that after four seasons, we'd meet up at that spot up north again and have a small Hullabaloo, just the two of us."
"In-between those times, I went down south, like I said, and met up with a small seaside village where I docked. Nice folk down there, helped me enlarge me boat and got a small crew in the process. Good times, it twas. But just like I agreed to do, I went back up north agin to meet up with Jude."
"And meet up we did, each of us tellin' wot we did durin' the seasons as we sailed back south again where it was warmer. I was thrilled to hear that Jude now had a wife and liddle Weylan to go back to. Made me set plans to get meself a wife and a liddle pup."
He trailed off, his cheerful persona suddenly fading. "Plans I never got to do." he said. "We set ashore briefly to resupply, and were partyin' and eatin' havin' a grand ole time."
He paused yet again, staring off into the distance. "Then Toka came."
"It happened very quickly. We didn't know wot hit us. The camp was instantly surrounded. Toka took me and Jude captive, killed wot little crew I had, sank me boat, then burned wot poked out of the water still, and ordered his horde to make camp. He wanted to interrogate us."
Mokeet sighed, and Mattimeo got the impression that this was the part that haunted the otter the most.
"I was first." Mokeet continued mournfully. "I was more terrified than I think I'll ever be again, and told Toka everythin' I knew, plus some. That otter treasure must 'ave slipped out in the process, because suddenly Toka wanted to know everythin' about it. But I knew very liddle about it. So Toka brought in Jude."
Mokeet's voice suddenly cracked and there was a long pause.
"You don't have to continue." Mattimeo assured him.
But the otter shook his head, forcing himself to pull himself together before continuing. "Jude did not say a thing. Not one bloomin' thing. He just stared at Toka." Mokeet's voice cracked again, yet the otter continued on persistently, "Toka was outraged, demanded he be told wot he wanted to know. But Jude refused. So Toka...tortured...him. M-m-mercilessly. And y-yet Jude did not open his mouth once. He...he simply glared at Toka, right up to the very end when Toka killed the pore beast in his an-anger."
A long silence followed, to be broken by Mattimeo.
"How do you know this?" the mouse asked, already suspecting the answer.
"Because," Mokeet replied. "I was there fer the whole incident."
They both fell silent again, Mattimeo not daring to press the matter further, almost regretting asking to begin with. But Mokeet continued again, determined to get it all out.
"I never forgave meself fer that." the otter said. "Jude died honorably. Terribly, but honorably. He told Toka nothing, as it should've been. It should've been the same fer me. I should have done the same as Jude, refused to tell Toka anythin'. But I was so afraid for my life, mine, and no one else, that I didn't. And now look wot's happened. Weylan, left without a father, and his mother, left without a husband. Redwall and all of Mossflower, it's fate now in jeopardy because I was a coward. And in the process, I lead Toka to exactly wot he wanted, the very place he wanted revenge against. All because of me. Me, and that stupid, stupid, treasure."
Another period of silence fell, but was cut short as Mokeet spoke one more thought.
"That treasure should be buried fer all time, and never retrieved." the otter said. "Too many creatures have died because of it. It should be buried and left there to rust and decay into nothing, and take it's murderous memories with it. No amount of gold and riches is worth all the killing that has been done just to get it."
And with that, Mokeet fell silent, and did not speak again for the rest of the morning.
As the day wore on and the sun began to reach it's zenith, Toka called for the horde to stop, to get a bite to eat for lunch before continuing onward. Like his prisoners, the warlord was sensing that he and his horde were getting very close to the treasure, and wanted to know just how close they really were.
So he decided to interrogate them and find out, while dining with Hood, whom he asked to be present so to learn how interrogation was done in the horde.
They started with Mattimeo, who proved to be of no use. The mouse was holding too much of a grudge against the evil ferret to provide very accurate answers, and Toka was holding too much of a grudge against Mattimeo to have the patience to deal with it. Not wanting to risk harm to such a valuable prisoner just to get a small tidbit of information, Toka ultimately decided to move on to Mokeet.
When Mokeet was brought into the tent under the usual guard, he found Toka laughing uproariously at a joke he just told, while Hood, who sat nearby poking at his food, chuckled weakly. He did not seem interested in the roasted woodpigeon he and the warlord were sharing, and was drinking the powerful blackberry wine Toka had provided sparingly.
Despite the state of depression Mokeet and driven himself into that morning, the otter found all of this curious, and only told him that there was more to this mysterious creature that what met the eye.
"Ah, Mokeet," Toka said, with a stifled giggle. Mokeet realized that the ferret had possibly consumed a bit too much of the wine and was beginning to loose his usually cool, composed, attitude. "Know why you're here?"
"No." Mokeet answered bluntly.
"Well, I'll tell yeh then." Toka said, as he took another long guzzle of the wine. "We..." he gestured to himself and Hood, who was silently watching Mokeet, "...want to know how close we are to the treasure."
"Very close." Mokeet replied, again being purposely blunt.
"Good, good," Toka said, not really noticing. An accent was starting to bleed into the ferret's sentences. "I figgered we were. We've been marchin' fer, wot, four days now?"
"I thought it was three." Hood obediently replied.
"Ah, wotever." Toka said, dismissively and took another long drink of the wine. "Just so long as we're gonna get there."
Mokeet was starting to become shocked. Toka was actually drunk, a very unusual trait for the intelligent warlord.
"More wine, if yeh please." Toka suddenly asked, holding out his now empty goblet. It was then that Mokeet noticed that it was Hood who had control over the wine as the creature poured a large amount into the warlord's cup.
"Told yeh you'd like this stuff." Hood said while setting the flask aside but not getting more for himself.
"Oh, immensely!" Toka agreed, downing the contents of the cup. He seemed to have forgotten Mokeet at the moment. "Are yeh goin' to eat that?" the ferret asked Hood, pointing a claw at the uneaten portion of woodpigeon in front of Hood.
With almost a disgusted look, again surprising Mokeet, Hood pushed food towards Toka who began eating it with a gusto.
"So," Toka began, licking his claws, "Wot are yeh goin' to eat, if not this? Yeh can 'ave wotever yeh want."
"Do yeh have hotroot soup?" Hood asked, almost hopefully.
This did not go past Toka unnoticed. "Ain't that an otter dish?" he asked.
"Aye." Hood replied. "I have a certain amount of fondness fer it. See, once I came across an otter lodging. No one was in there at the moment, so I took a look around. Found some hotroot soup, and being out of food at the moment, took it to eat. Liked the stuff ever since."
"Fair enough." Toka said, buying the story, but Mokeet was now giving Hood an odd look. "Hotroot soup, ain't that a common favorite among 'em otters?"
"Aye." Hood replied again. "'Otters are cold-blooded until they get some hotroot soup,' as they say."
"Wot did ye say?" Mokeet asked slowly, caught off guard by Hood's peculiar statement.
"Mokeet!" Toka exclaimed, just now noticing the otter again. "Wot are yeh still doin' 'ere? Yeh can leave, now, yeh know."
Mokeet's guards took this as an order to take Mokeet back to his cage, both exchanging puzzled looks about Toka's actions. Mokeet seemed puzzled too, but for different reasons.
Suddenly, it all came together.
For the first time in what felt like days, Mokeet smiled broadly. Hood was not who he claimed to be. And the single sentence Hood had said in reference to the hotroot soup proved it.
For only one creature could've known that statement.
That afternoon the horde marched again, but at a slower rate, since Toka knew that they did not have far to go.
Again, Mattimeo and Mokeet sat in the cage and watched the scenery go by.
"It's a pretty afternoon." Mattimeo noted softly. "Prettier than your typical autumn afternoon."
"Mm." Mokeet grunted, only half listening.
"It's too bad we can't go out and enjoy it." Mattimeo added.
"Mm." Mokeet said again.
Mattimeo gave the otter an odd look. "Are you all right?" he asked. "You've seemed a bit...distracted, as of late."
"Tis nothin'." the otter replied, but he gave Mattimeo an odd look, to which Mattimeo returned with a puzzled look.
"If you know something..." Mattimeo began, but was cut off.
"I know nothing!" Mokeet said, almost too quickly, then looked warily at the guards. They ignored the two prisoners.
Mattimeo was about to press the matter further, but was again cut off as the cage-on-wheels came to an abrupt halt.
"Wot's goin' on?" Mokeet asked, changing the subject.
Mattimeo turned around and took a look. He saw that the woods were thinning out slightly, opening up to a very large meadow.
Mattimeo gulped, as Mokeet looked at the mouse expectantly.
"We're here." Mattimeo explained. "We're at the location of the treasure..."