Oh! We haven't done a disclaimer for several chapters. I like disclaimers... --rubs hands together--
Disclaimer: Don't own Salamandastron (--sigh--), Sunstripe, scythes, or dibbuns. We do, however, own Chillaxe, Skyborne, Glaybo, Rapp, Ceryss, and Marta. Among other things. I wish I had an otter...
Man.. I wanna otter too.. and mebe a hare... and.. a college degree so I don't have to do schol -. anyways, enjoy everyone! we would've had it up last night.. but FF was being goofy and wouldn't let us upload...
The other slaves stayed a few days before receiving directions and leaving to go to their former homes, but Skyborne remained, readily accepted into the otters' clan.
Talk was started about Skyborne going back to Salamandastron, but Skyborne refused, insisting that this was far more of a home to him than the mountain had ever been.
He did agree to send a note to his parents, telling them that he was safe, but not saying where he was. The otters gave it to a visiting squirrel, who gave it to an otter further north, who gave it to a traveling hedgehog, who gave it to a mole, who gave it to a hare runner that came near his house.
The hare handed the dirty scroll to Lord Sunstripe with a shrug.
"He said it was from a badger."
"We need to get him," Lord Sunstripe said decisively. "He is far far too young to be on his own."
"He's not on his own," Ceyla pointed out. "He said he was with some otters."
"He is not at home, either. Ceyla, he's my only heir! He needs to learn the way of the mountain now, he's past fifteen seasons, already."
Ceyla put a placating hand on her husband's arm.
"Are you sure he's to be the next badger lord?"
"As sure as I've been about anything."
She let her eyes search his face for a moment before speaking.
"Trust. If your son is anything like you, he'll be faithful to tradition and come back eventually. It hurts me, too, but I know he loves us. I know he's safe, and that's enough for me."
Lord Sunstripe looked away, contemplating.
And so, Skyborne stayed with the otters, growing older and stronger, but never losing his quick laughter or his occasional streak of mischief. He traveled to nearby colonies of other goodbeasts with the ever present Glaybo.
Glaybo, as he grew older, realized his true calling for making spur-of-the-moment jokes that no one but himself appreciated. He was absolutely incorrigible in that regard, so people stopped scolding him and just sighed or rolled their eyes.
He accompanied Sky wherever he went, though some say it was only for the food. Sky helped the creatures mainly with tasks that required brute strength, such as plowing the hard ground. While doing these, he realized his love for plants. He started a garden out back of his home; the otters were overjoyed at the plentiful amount of fresh hotroot he supplied.
"Hand me that scythe, Glaybo," Skyborne panted, wiping his brow and turning to the otter.
Glaybo heaved the tool to an upright position and dragged it over to him.
"Sky!" a child's voice shouted, coming through the field.
Skyborne turned to look at the little hedgehog as she burst out of the tall wheat.
"Sky! Sky!" she shrieked, grabbing onto his leg. "Are you staying wif us?"
"I don't know, Marta," he said, trying to gently peel Marta off his leg. "I think I'm staying with the--"
"If I may, cut in, Sky?" Glaybo said with a grin, handing the scythe to Skyborne.
Skyborne groaned, but took it, leaning it against a tree nearby.
"Could I help you with that pointy limpet?" Glaybo asked, observing Skyborne's failed attempts to remove the giggling hedgehog without hurting himself or her.
"Yes," he said gratefully.
Glaybo picked up his staff, artfully wedging it between Marta and Skyborne.
"Now, when I pull back, tickle her," he instructed, then pulled back on the staff, exposing Marta's non-prickled underbelly.
Skyborne obligingly ticked her and she screamed in laughter, immediately letting go.
"You better go on home, Marta," Skyborne said, laughing, "Glaybo and I have a lot of work to do. See you later, okay?"
She nodded cheerfully and ran back through the field.
Three seasons found a large horde marching in the South, a silver wolf at their lead flanked by three squirrels and a mouse. The warlord's seasoned eyes looked at his surroundings, a wood – much more suitable than the ragged desert they just crossed. Stopping suddenly he held up his paw; the horde stopped. Getting down on his knees, he examined tracks that were in the middle of his path.
Otter, and fresh. Obviously made in a hurry. The maker of them could quite possibly still be around somewhere. Chillaxe motioned to his captains and told them of his findings, with the four woodlander dibbuns listening in as well. When he was finished they looked around and nodded, then split up to go find their group and tell them of the plan.
Meanwhile, in the bushes there was an otter who did, in fact, make those prints. He quickly turned around and ran quickly and quietly back to tell his tribe the news.
As Rapp looked at his wife, he could tell she was hiding something. He went over and wrapped her in his arms and grinned to match her innocent smile.
"An'thing y'd like to tell me love?"
She batted her eyebrows at him.
"Well… maybe, but you might not care, then I'd be wasting my breath on nothing and-"
Rapp cut off her sentence by sealing her in a kiss, breaking off he looked at her.
"Then I'll use some of mine too, but I'm sure it wasn't wasted."
She blushed and hugged him, snuggling into his warm chest and smiling widely.
"I s'pose I'll just have to tell ya, then – Pops."
His eyes grew wide and he beamed and put a hand on her stomach. Trying not to look too hopeful, he asked slowly.
"You sure?"
"Positive."
He whooped for joy and picked her up and spun her around, laughing for the world to hear.
Later on showed Chillaxe on the outskirts of an otter tribe, where, it seemed, that he was expected. This made it all the more fun. Someone had obviously been spying on them from the path, as the warriors were mostly facing the general direction of where they were going to come from.
He didn't see any young ones, then reasoned they must be hidden inside their huts. No matter, everyone would be dead soon anyways.
He stepped out from the brush and strode up calmly to the fore line of otters, an innocent frown on his face.
"What's this? Such hostile treatment to a mere wolf! By the way you're treating me, you'd think that I would have some scheme to murder you!"
This got him multiple glares from the opposing side, and one of the ones out in front challenged him.
"So if you have no killing intent, then tell me, why have you come here with your underlings?"
Chillaxe replaced the look on his face with a grin of utmost ferocity.
"I have no intent on killing you. I WILL kill you!" and with that he unsheathed his mighty axe and charged the warriors, thus signaling his horde to follow suit.
A open battle should prove more amusing than the guerrilla tactics they had been using recently. A quick glance over his shoulder showed to him the woodland squirrels fighting as well. The mouse however, was cowering in the tree line, avoiding the scene as much as possible.
"OTTERBAAAAANNEEE!" was yelled wherever the vermin collided with the small force of otters.
Somewhere along the line, Chillaxe had given up on his axe and pulled out his twin swords from their location on his mighty back. Gleaming as they came out, he spotted a delicate head poking out of a hut close to the edge of the village.
He grinned as he walked swiftly and confidently over to the place, not caring to notice a burly otter who had spotted him from the ongoing battle and, with a panicked look, ran after him. The wolf tore off the bark that serviced as a door and glided in, looking around, and taking in the five otterwives who were in there.
"Come to me, or I will come to you!" he challenged, and watched gleefully as a large otter stepped forth with a javelin.
Just what he liked, a challenge.
But soon it was left to only one, who was shaking in a corner; her petite build was unusually bulged in the middle. A knowing light passed across his face as he stepped forward toward her and plunged his sword into the middle of her gut and pulled it out, stabbing two more holes in various parts of her stomach. Then just before he behead her, the look of ultimate suffering that clouded her face was passed to the otter who had gotten to the hut just in time to see his mate and second child die.
"YOU MONSTER!" he cried, as he launched himself at the wolf, who had a devilish look on his features.
The wolf merely swept the point of his sword at his distressed opponent's throat and perked his ear, listening to the sounds of a victorious battle. The otter apparently heard it too, as his face grew distraught.
"Come with me" Chillaxe barked. "You will be our guide to the rest of clans. Now, I suggest you come quietly."
This, however, did not deter the otter; in a last burst of frenzy, he attacked the wolf who had his back turned. They exchanged a few blows, but the otter was no match for the wolf in his state of distress.
He was quickly subdued and was thrown over the wolf's shoulder and carried out of the tent. With silent tears streaming down his face, he reached his bloodied paw out and gazed at the head laying there, looking at him with suffering. He whispered one word before passing out.
"Ceryss."
1,617 words! And PH wrote 981 of them --thunderous applause-- I love the death scene. I absolutely love it. I didn't even have to edit too terribly much, which means I love it even more. --grin--
man.. how's that for a chapter, an increadibly lighthearted one, then a incredibly NOT lighthearted one... I like it!anyways.. if you liked it (or didn't... please reveiw!! only three reviews on the last three chapters.. that's sad guys... and for the three of you who DID review, umm.. wait.. four.. wiat.. I can't remember, but THANK YOU!! you rock. umm... peanut butter cup blizards to reviewers!