CHAPTER THREE

Gavin had been travelling with his soldiers and the over one hundred and sixty beasts that had recently been freed from the slave ships of the searats for a little over two hours. The road leading to River's End through the thick Northlands forests was not very well maintained, being constantly mired with puddles of muddy water, jagged rocks sticking up through the soil and roots tearing up the earth and acting as tripwires for any beast not being careful to watch where it was going. Although they made good speed under the circumstances, it was clear that the journey would take a little longer than the shrew had hoped.

Still, it didn't seem like anybeast in the group was complaining. Aside from the occasional grumble when someone stepped into a puddle, stubbed a toe on a rock or stumbled over a root, the faces and voices around him were uniformly bright and cheery. The slaves (former slaves, but it was still difficult not to think of them as such) were so relieved and overjoyed at their new freedom, that any obstacles on the journey to the village seemed so small and inconsequential that they weren't worth thinking about.

As he looked at the creatures from the Seafoam, it seemed, even though they were still as thin and dirty as ever, as if they were somehow healthier and stronger than before, and it probably wasn't just the small meal they'd received at the beginning of their trip. The knowledge that they were finally freed from the whips and watchful eyes of their overseers had infused them with a newfound energy and purpose, quickening their steps to get to their goal faster. It was amazing to see that the creatures that had walked down the gangways of the searat ship looking as if the only thing they could ever hope for was to die relatively quickly in the mines at Baro now shone with hope and determination.

The former slaves had continued to heap praise on their liberators, and some had even broken into a song about freedom that the searats had apparently failed to beat out of their heads during their enslavement. The soldiers escorting them looked immensely proud, and Gavin couldn't help but laugh at the fact that some even seemed to be blushing at all the overwhelming praise and adulation they were receiving. Despite any difficulties they encountered on their trip, the whole crowd was bustling with joy, enthusiasm and optimism, making the longer-than-expected journey seem like a short, pleasant stroll.

Still, Gavin had found the time to talk with some of his protégés about their life and experiences under searat bondage. He was particularly interested in hearing from the inborn slaves from the Albatross: everyone knew the horror stories from the beasts slaving in the seavermin's outlying mines, mills and quarries, but it wasn't everyday you got to talk to someone who'd grown up in the heart of their society.

In particular, he had come across a fellowship of three beasts that seemed to travel together, composed of a young adolescent female badger, an elderly female otter and a male stoat. He started conversing with them, and found out that the badger's name was Myrdden, the otter was called Estelle and the stoat Devon. Myrdden had lost her mother to fever at a young age; she didn't know her father, as she had been the result of a brief relationship that had ended when he was reassigned to a crop tract on a different island. After her mother's death, she had been taken care of by Estelle and Devon. The otteress was the only one among the three who had been born in Mossflower, and had vague memories of it before she and her parents were captured. Her mother was a seamstress and her father a tailor, which was the reason that they were sent to work in various textile plants and sewing shops, and they'd taught their skills to their daughter while in captivity. Devon, younger than the otter but still approaching his middle years, had been made a slave when a cub, his parents having been corsairs allied with the searats. They had tried to betray them and steal a large stock of valuables, but had been caught and executed. The captain in charge of their execution had first wanted to kill him too, but one of the searats working in the crew had taken pity on him and convinced the captain to instead sell him to a slave camp where he could be taken care of by the workers there. He had been sent to such a camp, and was adopted by Estelle, whom he'd regarded as his closest friend ever since. Several seasons later, the two had in turn adopted Myrdden.

They were all from the same compound of workshops and factories on Cerus on the outskirts of a searat town called Khalgory, owned by a rat by the name of Volgun, a former commander who had retired and grown wealthy on selling textiles and clothing across the searat isles. He had been allowed the acquisition of a number of valuable inborn slaves, and had expanded his business further, getting more slaves as time went on, until he established himself as the foremost textile manufacturer in Tratton's empire. He had actually treated his slaves decently, at least by searat standards, giving them proper food, quartered them in specially built barracks that were warm and spacious, had allowed them some free time occasionally and had taken care of those who were sick or injured. When you owned creatures that were less likely to rebel and possessed several specialized skills that could be used in your workshops, it paid off in the long run.

Although slavery had long been an ingrained part of searat culture, Tratton had always held a deep suspicion of them, and wouldn't allow them on the main isle of Terramort, which his empire shared its name with, nor on any ship that he travelled on, being paranoid of revolts and assassination attempts. Estelle had worked on the island when she was younger, but had been transferred off it shortly after the searat king's rise to power.

Myrrden had worked with yarn formation, washing, spinning and plying cotton, wool, linen and hemp, while Estelle had worked with the finished fabrics, knitting, weaving, sewing and embroidering the fabrics into clothing, carpets, furnishings and other items. Devon, not being as skilled as the other two in the more specialized aspects of textile manufacturing, had been assigned to more rough labour, such as unloading the raw fibres imported from other parts of the empire, packing the resulting materials into crates and sending away them to either markets to be sold to the searat public, or to branches of Tratton's military forces that Volgun had made deals with.

As they continued talking, the shrew couldn't help but notice that the badgergirl sometimes seemed rather nervous and glanced about warily at the forest they were journeying through.

"What's the matter, Myrdden?" he asked. "You seem… tense. Is there something worrying you?"

The badger looked a little embarrassed that she'd seemed so frightened.

"No… it's nothing really. It's just the… forest itself."

"The forest?"

"Yes. There are barely any trees on Terramort, or Cerus, let alone forests. This is actually the first time I've ever been in one. It feels so… huge and dark and looming, like there could be something hiding behind every tree."

Gavin was shocked at this, even though it actually did make sense. She had never been in a forest before? He couldn't imagine anyone not having walked under the shade of the pines, birches, maples and ashes, at least not fellow woodlanders (though he did wonder whether these beasts could really be called "woodlanders" accurately). It was another example of how lifelong separation from your ancestral homeland could affect you.

"Oh… I'm sorry, I didn't know. Yes, I guess it must be a rather unusual feeling to walk through these densely packed woods, if you've grown up on the barren searat isles. Don't worry though; we cleared these woods of bandits and nastybeasts long ago. No-one will harm you when we're around."

The badger smiled: "I know that I'm not in any real danger, I'm just so unused to this new land, that's all."

The shrew gave her a friendly but pointed look: "This is the land of your parents and ancestors, young one. I'd say this is your true homeland."

Myrdden frowned, looking a little skeptical at his statement: "I don't know. It doesn't really feel like that. I know I should feel like I've always belonged here and that I've finally come to my true home, but… for all its faults, the searat isles is still the only home I've ever known."

Afraid that she would appear ungrateful (though the shrew had actually had those exact same thoughts himself), she quickly added: "Don't misunderstand me! I'm very grateful to be free at last, and I appreciate being able to see the land that I've only heard my parents and elder beasts talk about. But it's all so very… strange and new."

"Yes, it is," Estelle added. "I mean, we have only ever known servitude and control; I may have been born here in Mossflower and I do have remember a few things about a free life, but I have been slave for so long, long before Tratton became king in fact, that it doesn't make much difference."

"Indeed," the stoat spoke up. "It's a bit like… like escaping from a slave galley in a dinghy: you're finally free of the tyranny of your overseers, but you're lost in the middle of the ocean and don't know the way home. It's liberating, but frightening at the same time."

"Yes," the shrew responded, having pondered about this matter recently, after having first seen the reactions of the Albatross slaves when their freedom was announced. "It's just so difficult for me to image, how anybeast can actually get used to slavery…"

"Understand, we didn't like being slaves, not one bit," Devon said. "But we had never known anything else, we had nothing to compare our lives to, and it simply became the normal state of affairs. But now that we are free, I look forward to being able to do what I want with my life, and I'm sure the other slaves are too."

"Besides," Estelle said, looking at the rag-dressed creatures from the Seafoam walking along them, "in comparison to the poor, wretched beasts from those mines, I think we were very lucky to end up on Volgun's textile plantation."

"Yes, about that," Gavin asked, returning to the subject they'd talked about previously, "you, Estelle, were one of Volgun's senior and most trusted slaves, I gather?"

"I was," the otter responded. "Since I was the one in charge of making the actual garments and the best one at it, I would sometimes sew or weave fine clothes, tapestries. carpets and other products by special order or as gifts for one of the higher-ups in the searat hierarchy, including the ones in the court around Tratton. At one occasion, I oversaw the production of a lovely dress, made of silk bought from merchants from some far-off land I don't remember the name of, for the searat king's wife, Queen Regelline, to be worn to a ball he had organized for his highest officers and allies." She gave a wry smile to the shrew. "I hope you won't have me arrested for 'aiding and giving support to the enemy' for that?"

"I think we can pardon you," the shrew laughed. "Otherwise we'd have to imprison a large part of the slaves that'll be coming to our shores."

"Anyway, it was a large success, and made Volgun several contracts to deliver his wares to Tratton or his officers. Since then he always valued me more than any other of his workers. He gave me greater freedoms, and even offered to allow me to stay in a room in his villa. I politely turned it down; it wouldn't have been fitting to live in comfort apart from my fellows in the barracks.

Sometimes, he would even allow me to make errands to the nearby town, to give messages, make orders for fabrics and materials and to buy some things needed at his workshops. It allowed me to see a little of the world outside of the barracks and factories, and even to pick up some news, gossips and rumours from the beasts I came in contact with."

"Very interesting," Gavin said, "If I may ask, did you ever hear anything about Urthblood from the rats. I'd like to hear what they actually think of him."

Estelle smirked. "Well, the imperial propaganda portrays the badger as a monstrous, blood-soaked conqueror bent on slaughtering all searats, and the war against him as a fight for their very survival. Most slaves who heard about him regarded him as a distant glimmer of hope, and secretly cheered for him in his fight against Tratton, though woe to anyone who was caught doing so. Aside from that, there was little concrete news about him or the wars in Mossflower; the captains and corsairs in the navy were supposed to keep quiet about their activities. Some events managed to slip through of course, despite Tratton's best effort to keep them hidden; in particular, there was that battle at the badger's mountain where the searats lost several large ships, wasn't there?"

Gavin nodded; the otteress was referring to a huge battle last spring when the searat king had tried to invade Salamandastron with the aid of four dreadnoughts, the capital ships of his navy, but had been soundly defeated by a surprise attack from the seagulls the badgerlord had recently allied with, who had come flying over the ships and dropped glass orbs filled with liquid fire and burning acid on them. All four dreadnoughts had been destroyed and nearly a thousand rats killed, in what was the single most costly defeat the badger had dealt his opponent in their war.

Estelle continued: "Well, it's safe to say that most of the rats in Tratton's empire are pretty terrified of the badger; I've actually heard that some searat mothers manage to calm their unruly children by threatening that if they don't behave, Urthblood will come and get them!"

The four beasts laughed a little at this, and then the shrew continued his inquiries.

"So what happened when you were taken to the ships to be transported to us? I take it that Volgun couldn't have been very happy at losing all his workers?"

"He certainly wasn't, but in the end there was nothing he could do; it was a direct order from Tratton, and no-one gainsays an order from the searat king. In the end, he had to let us go. He simply came to us one day and ordered us to pack up our belongings and follow him to the main gates of his compound where a group of soldiers were waiting to escort us to the Albatross."

"To be honest," Myrrden announced quietly, "I actually felt a little sorry for him at the time." On receiving another round of surprised looks, she went on: "Well, he treated us rather well for a slave-owner. We were indeed lucky to be working for him; our life at his textile factory was about as good a life as a slave can hope to get under the searats. With us gone, how will he keep up his business?"

"Maybe he'll just have to hire some actual paid labour," the otteress quipped, not looking very sympathetic with the rat's employment problems, and then gave a stern look to the badger. "And keep in mind, the reason that he treated us decently was because it increased productivity at his workshops and made more profit for him, not because he was genuinely concerned for our well-being. We were workers that he could exploit, nothing more!"

Devon gave a smirk, and then added, "Actually, I don't think he was sorry to see us go just because it would deprive him of labour… You see, Volgun had a special vice that he…"

"Devon!" Estelle gave a hard look at the stoat. "I don't think we should talk about this when Myrdden is around."

"I'm not a child anymore," the badger said, annoyed. "I know all about that!"

The otter didn't look happy at this, but reluctantly allowed the stoat to continue.

"Well, what I was going to say was, Volgun had a certain… fondness for some of the beasts working for him, if you know what I mean…" Gavin's eyes widened and stared at the stoat; so those anecdotes he'd heard where true? "He would sometimes order one of the prettier females up to his villa to spend a night in bed with him. As he owned them, and could therefore legally do whatever he desired with them, there was no way for them to refuse.

And the thing is, he wasn't just interested in girls…" The shrew's eyes widened further. "There were a few times when he called upon a malebeast to give him pleasure." From the tone of his voice, Gavin couldn't tell if the stoat was angrily condemning the rat, or telling it like a particularly raunchy joke. "I have a friend, a pretty fox who's travelling with this crowd today, who happened to catch his fancy in particular. He was actually taken to Volgun's house on several separate evenings, and the following mornings he would return, eyes downcast, walking funnily…"

"That's enough, Devon!" Estelle barked at him. Devon immediately ceased talking and averted his gaze.

"Sorry. I went too far there."

What little respect and admiration Gavin had actually gained for the rat at hearing about how he treated his slaves disappeared in a simmering cloud of rage when he heard that he had done such disgusting things to some of them. It was just as he had thought; no matter how "kind" or "decent" a slave-owner might be, the power to decide over the life and death of his servants always led him to abuse them sooner or later, even in ways that weren't related to the work they did for him.

Estelle did have a few more things to say about the matter. "He never harmed them, at least not beyond the usual physical discomfort such acts bring. He would often try to give them things afterwards, like small gifts or extra free time, which of course only made the whole thing more painful for the beasts he'd taken, as they didn't want to accept rewards for having had to do something so unpleasant and demeaning. I think it was a way for him to feel better about what he did."

Gavin turned to ask the otter about something, thinking about the fact that she had been such a trusted servant to Volgun and had been offered to stay at his house, but he quickly realized how utterly rude and disrespectful it would be, and immediately closed his mouth. She seemed to have noticed however, and knew what he had wanted to ask.

"No. I was probably too old for him. He preferred younger beasts."

The shrew waited for the tension between them to die down a bit, and then tried to steer the conversation away from its recent unpleasant course.

"So, Devon, you're a stoat. You worked alongside woodlanders… eh, creatures like otters, mice, badgers, hedgehogs and such. Was there ever any conflict between you and them, or between the foxes, stoats, weasels and such and them?"

Devon looked a little puzzled by the shrew's question, then pondered about it for a while.

"Well… not really, no. Some of them, usually those who had been taken directly from Mossflower, didn't particularly like me or some of the foxes and the like, and tried to avoid us whenever possible. But when you slaved under the searats, you didn't exactly have much choice in who you'd work and live with, and you had bigger problems than worrying about the species of every one of your comrades. After awhile you usually accepted your fellow beasts regardless of what they'd happened to be born as. Now, I do know that there's some kind of conflict between the… "vermin", I think you call them, and so-called "goodbeasts" in these lands. That's probably why some of them didn't like us over there."

"Yes. The thing is, Devon, that these two groups, the foxes, rats, stoats and so on being called "vermin" and the badgers, hedgehogs and mice being called "woodlanders", have been at each others throats for generations beyond remembrance. The vermin often travelled in large hordes or groups of raiders and pillaged and terrorized the woodlanders, who in turn became hardened and hostile to all vermin, even those who never did any harm, which only cemented the conflict between them.

However, that has gradually started to change with the rise of Urthblood. You see, his goal isn't just to liberate the slaves from the searats, but to end this ancient feud and bring all the species of the lands together. He has recruited many soldiers from both groups, defeated the hordes that previously plagued these regions and allowed the survivors to settle as peaceful farmers and workers, and has managed to create communities where vermin and woodlanders live in peace together."

The stoat was very impressed with these achievements, but also a little concerned about what it meant for him personally.

"So, that village where you're taking us, you don't think the beasts there will have any problems with me being a stoat, or with the other "vermin" in this crowd?"

"I don't think there'll be too much trouble. Unfortunately, there's still some resentment between the two sides in most of the lands, with the old hatreds refusing to die so easily. The place we're taking you to, however, already has a couple of vermin living there, and it's known for its hospitality and friendliness to all creatures. You might receive some colds stares and slurs from some of the beasts who still haven't gotten used to regarding stoats as friends, but it's very unlikely there'll be anything worse than that."

Devon nodded, looking reassured with the shrew's answer. Myrdden, however, looked to the shrew with an inquiring look.

"This just reminded me of something. I don't think all the slaves were released from Volgun's compound."

Gavin was surprised. "Oh? And why is that? Was there someone we or the searats overlooked?"

"Actually, there were a few rats working there. I think they came there the same way as most of his slaves, their parents being rats from Mossflower who were captured and had their children on the searat isles. However, when we were given over to the soldiers to be escorted to the ship, they held up the rats in the group and they were left behind. I thought they were just going to check on them about something and then allow them to continue, but we made our way to the docks and boarded the Albatross without them ever coming. Why is that?"

Gavin cursed at himself; why hadn't he thought about this before? Of course they wouldn't release the rat slaves, since the treaty with Urthblood had stated… Never mind, he quickly had to think of something to say… In the end, he settled on the same excuse the officers who'd went to the other villages had been instructed to give.

"Well… Urthblood felt that, since the slaves had lived for so long under the tyranny and mistreatment of the searats, it wouldn't be wise to have them to travel with or settle in the lands with the rats who'd been enslaved themselves, as they might regard them and their captors as one and the same; it might even lead to violence. As such, it was decided that the rats would be freed after all the other slaves had released. Don't worry; I'm sure they'll come over with other ships in the near future."

Myrdden and her two companions didn't look entirely pleased with this answer, but said nothing more about the matter. Meanwhile, Gavin felt his heart ache over having told the beasts he'd just befriended a bold-faced lie… and over the truth that the lie concealed.

For the rest of the trip, they confined their conversations to simpler, trivial things; the kind of idle matters you talked with other beasts about when you were trying to get to know them. A little over an hour later, they finally arrived at River's End. Gavin presented the freed slaves to the village elders, who welcomed the slaves with kind, friendly words. Before long, many of the villagers scurried about to prepare warm baths, salves and bandages and proper clothes for them, and began preparations for the feast that would be held later that night for the slaves to celebrate their freedom.

Gavin and his troops couldn't stay long; they had to get back to the shore as soon as possible to meet up with their comrades and the beasts they escorted. After a quick meal and some rest, the shrews and squirrels of the contingent sent to the Northlands holstered their weapons and prepared too leave, but not before some of beasts they'd guided to River's End came out to thank them once more. Gavin received another tearful hug from the hedgehog Caful, which he could only return with great care, naturally, and assured him that he would return tonight for the feast and that tomorrow he would take him to Torn to meet his family again.

It was a very heartwarming scene, but Gavin couldn't help but feel rather crestfallen as he gave the orders to begin their march back to the ships. Escorting the slaves to River's End had been easy; now came the truly difficult and unpleasant part of their mission…

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It hadn't exactly been a pleasant trip, but the rats and the squirrels "guiding" them finally made it to the coast after marching for roughly two hours. They didn't actually go all the way to the shore, instead stopping for their promised rest in a meadow on the outskirt of the forest a short walk away from the sea, its waters visible only as a thin, blue-grey line against the horizon, and the actual shoreline hidden by small hills and mounds on the coastal plains.

Kopec and his mother sat down and opened one of their bags to take out some spiced bread and a jar of blackberry jam for a late lunch. Before they began to eat, Nisha insisted that they should give some of their food to the rats in the group who hadn't managed to bring with them anything for a meal. They did so, to the delight of several of their travel companions; they even offered some to the soldiers guarding them, some of which accepted. As they took the bread, Kopec could have sworn that he saw a look of remorse on one of the squirrels; maybe he felt bad about accepting food from one of the beasts he had forced to leave their homes. Then they returned to their spot on the ground, rested their tails on the grass and began to tuck in on their simple, but delightful travel fare.

Kopec had thought they were only supposed to stop at the meadow for a quick break, but they actually had to wait for nearly an hour before something happened. From the thick of the forest, another group of beasts emerged, this time a mix of shrews and squirrels who also looked like soldiers of Urthblood. The squirrels were carrying the same weapons as the ones who'd brought them here from Conwyn, the shrews carrying the typical shortswords and slings common to their kind, and both had those wooden clubs hanging from their belts. The commander of the new arrivals, a shrew, stepped forward and received a salute from Shawn, apparently being his superior.

"Greetings, sir!" Shawn said. "I trust everything went well?"

"It did," the shrew responded. "They were all delivered to River's End in good shape. Sorry for being a little late, but the road was in worse condition than we had expected."

"No problem. Things went well on our side, all things considered. Niven and Gus should be returning shortly; I hope things went smoothly for them too."

The rat wondered what they were up to. Who were Gus and Niven, and what had they been doing? The answer came half an hour later when another group of soldiers, under the command of another shrew, arrived at the meadow… escorting another group of rats.

As he looked closer at the new arrivals, Kopec saw that he recognized some of the rats. They were from Gleamshire, a village not far from Conwyn that he and his mother had visited a couple of times to deliver some of their wares. Not long afterwards, yet another contingent of troops arrived, led by a squirrel, and they too were guiding a little over a score of rats. The new arrivals all looked as low-spirited as the one' from Conwyn, and seemed just as surprised as they were at seeing there were other rats from nearby settlements gathered here.

Noticing their surprise, the shrew who seemed to be the one in charge called for attention and attempted to answer their concerns:

"Well met, everybeast! I'm commander Gavin, and I'm the one in charge of this operation, that I'm sure you've already been told about, of receiving the recently freed slaves, and to guide you to your new homes. If you're wondering why there are so many of you here, some of the former slaves, which I have been escorting to River's End to recuperate from their horrible experiences, are looking to settle at the villages of Torn, Conwyn and Gleamshire. As such, I'm afraid we had to evacuate you from all three villages. Don't worry, there'll be plenty of room for you where you're going."

Kopec was speechless. Did the former slaves coming to Mossflower really hate rats so much that they refused to set their hindpaws in any town where they lived? Could they really not tell the difference between the ones who'd tyrannized them and the ones simply trying to make an honest, peaceful living without doing any harm to others? And if so, why in the name of Hellgates didn't Urthblood simply find some other place in the lands for them to live; why did the rats have to leave their homes? He didn't believe for a second that the reason they were evicted was because there weren't enough room for both of them. There was something very odd about all this, something that Gavin and his soldiers were hiding…

He didn't have much time to ponder about this before the shrew called for them to gather their things and continue their journey; apparently, it wasn't far now until they'd reach their destination. The rats picked up their belongings, gathered their children and loved ones to them, and followed the soldiers out of the woods to the coastal plains.

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Gavin hung at the back of the moving crowd, and called Shawn to him. Trying to keep his voice down as much as possible, he asked: "You know how we're going to proceed with this now, don't you?"

"Of course; we get the rats onto the dock, you talk with that seascum Fargul about how many beasts will be delivered to him, and I'll set up the soldiers in the perimeter of the area. Then you hold a little speech to the rats, trying to break the news as gently as possible, and then we close in and start herding them onto the ships, preferably nudging them along with our paws and the butt of our spears; if it turns bad we may have to use the clubs to beat them into submission. If it turns really bad, we may have to resort to our bladed weapons. The searats will take care of them once they're on the ships, and when we're done, we return to River's End and await further orders from Urthblood."

"Good. Try not to be too violent if things should come to blows." The shrew sighed and quickened his steps. "Well, let's just try and get this whole thing over with…"

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The main part of this chapter doesn't really add much to the plot. It was mostly meant to fill out space and to give us a few more characters to care about other than Gavin and Kopec.

It was also meant to give some insight into the searats' society, family life and culture to make them a little more sympathetic. Volgun is meant to be a morally ambiguous contrast to the terrifying slave masters at places like the lumber mill in TSW; a guy who treats his slaves decently, but mostly does so because it increases his own profits (not to mention being a bisexual rapist).

Of course, seeing as the canonicity of this story is unclear, how much of the description of their home isles and society is accurate is up for grabs. I don't know whether Highwing will contradict the information provided here in future stories, so take it as it is: my own vision of how things might be.