HEY YALL! it's another chapter! I know, you're all jumping up and down waiting to read about your newly found favorite characters! heeheehee, anyways, I'll end the suspence here. ENJOY!
--raises eyebrow-- a little confident that people are in love with it, are we? --eye roll-- well, whether or not you are in suspense or not, here's a chapter in celebration of my finally finishing school. YAY!
Thank you, Clouded Horizon, for your 'little' piece of advice, I really appreciate it! It may not seem like much but it helps the atmosphere of the story. I'll fix that once I get back on my own computer ;D Yes, Lobuck, I intended to put that little comment in there, even though it's not very BJesque. Writing in someone else's style is stifling sometimes; I had to put a little bit more of me in there! Thank you piewolf99 for your encouraging review; I hope you keep reading!
Disclaimer: MOGE IS MINE! --cough-- ahem, well, yes. Sunstripe is unfortunately NOT mine, neither is Salamandastron. Anything you recognize from any books of BJ obviously isn't ours either.
Oh, we neglected to mention where in the timeline of books this takes place! It's after Outcast and before Mariel... well, that's it. I'll let you read, now.
Moge struggled upright, pausing for a moment to straighten his rumpled ear, and hurried after the badger lord.
"Please, sah!" he said, nearly upsetting a stern commander's plate in his haste. "What's the matter?"
"It's nothing, Moge," Sunstripe said, forcing a smile at his wife who was waiting for him at the far end of the table.
Rolling his eyes and quickly saluting at the irate commander whose plate he almost toppled, the hare gave up the interrogation.
"Just like a blinkin' woman," he muttered, filching a plate put from under a young cadet's nose whilst he wasn't looking.
Moge piled the plate high with hardy vittles and plopped down next to Nimblerose.
"Feelin' any better, Nim? Scarred for life?" he asked around a mouthful of pudding.
Nimblerose sighed and began nibbling distractedly at a cranberry scone.
"When I brought him his breakfast this morning I was jolly near frightened out of my wits! I don't understand it; he's always been so kind and now..." she trailed off, thinking for a moment. "Well, now he's got a face on him like a confounded vermin wot stabbed his own blinkin' foot!"
Moge nodded his agreement. At the other end of the table, a similar discussion was taking place.
"Sunstripe," Ceyla said sternly, rapping her spoon on Sunstripe's sparsely furnished plate. "I know something is wrong. What is it; and don't say nothing! Everyone has noticed your mood today. Poor Nimblerose turned terribly ashen when I asked her to tell you I wanted you for lunch. Even Skyborne asked me what was wrong!"
Sunstripe looked briefly upon his only son, who was chatting and laughing uproariously with the younger hares.
"I don't know, really," he said finally after a long pause. "It's just a... feeling. Uneasiness, I suppose, or foreboding."
"But why? There's been no news or even rumor of attack for a season!"
"I don't know why, dear, that's the trouble."
Something suddenly occurred to him and he stopped the nearest passing hare.
"Do you know when the runner is due back?" he asked.
"Aspen, sir? Any moment now, I would expect, wot! She's been gone long enough; I expected her back an hour ago. The bounder probably got distracted by a bloomin' tidepool or some other such thing, wot wot!"
Sunstripe, distressed by this news, got up from the table and made his way over to Saloo; his best and fastest runner. At the moment Sunstripe walked up, Saloo was in the middle of an epic war story in which he saved the day, much to the amazement of his feminine admirers.
"Did you really, Saloo," crooned a maiden on his left, fluttering her eyelashes outrageously.
"Of course it is! I swear by my mother's-- oh, er, ahem. Hello, Lord Sunstripe; lovely day for a yarn, wot?"
The badger lord put an immense paw on Saloo's shoulder and quietly gave him his instructions before leaving the dining hall once more. Saloo excused himself from the table, ignoring the questions, and headed down to the barracks to change into his running uniform.
Dribb the ferret walked behind the line of captains in the front of the horde. Ever since he joined Chillaxe Otterbane he had dreamed of becoming captain, his goal. As Dribb tried to impersonate the weasel captain, Flapear, he heard stifled laughter from the group behind him.
"snigger, look'it Dribb, swaggerin' like 'e's 'ad too much t' drink. Heeheehee!"
"If he swaggers anymore I'd think he'd fall over! Harharhar."
Dribb tried to ignore the comments from the others and went through a list in his head of things he'd do when he was captain. (Which includes things I won't put in here to keep it from going up a rating.)
All of a sudden, from the front of the line a smooth tenor voice sprung up in a marching song.
The woods are passing left an' right
As the horde moves on an' on
Marching marching through the night
As the birds of wing take flight
One by one the critters clear way
As the horde moves on an' on
Right on through the ocean spray
Till the Sunlight's first rays
The song continued for several verses as the horde listened in on Chillaxe's song. Several of them even joined in, but most were afraid to ruin the calming effect of the tune with warbling voices.
Soft tunes like this were always a relief on the ears after hearing the wolf's blood curdling war songs that he sang running to battle. He was an honorable creature most of the time, and did not approve of sneak attacks. When some of the captains argued with him about it once, they went on a walk and never returned…. After that no beast dared to contradict him.
They walked at a leisurely pace, as they hadn't been this far west before and they wanted to know their ground better before they started raiding otter camps. As they went by, the silver wolf made notes in his head where stores of water and food were plenty. He was in a exceptionally good mood at the time, not yelling at any of his horde for being too loud or slow, and none of the villains dared to go up to him in fear of breaking said mood. That suited him just fine; it left him time to think of battle plans and other things.
He let his brain wander through the black hole that was his mind, taking in every thought and idea as if it were light into a depthless void in space. The looks on beasts' faces before they died; some of them tear laden begging for mercy. But no, the warlord had no mercy at all, 'after all,' he'd say, 'you showed none to Browntail, why shouldn't I return the favor?' right before he ended their pitiful begging forever. He had never felt remorse for anything he had done, except letting his maiden get away from him forever.
He forcefully removed the thought from his mind; he would not think of her now. When he refocused on the present, he found it was past noon and some of his horde was lagging behind.
"Rest yourselves for an hour, then we won't stop again until tonight."
Sounds of relief rang out from the group as they sank into the soft soil in Mossflower.
uh oh, heating up, bet your sitting at the edge of your seat, mad at us for ending it and not making a longer chapter. oh well, that's life
until later, and don't forget to review!
-PH
--shakes head sadly-- overconfidence gets you nowhere, young one. I'll laugh at you if people neglect to review just because of you... heehee. Anyway, there's a really pretty blue button down there, please click it!
In Christ,
Billios