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Chapter 13. Tooth and Claw
by Rea
"We have to get out of here." Rea felt an unpleasant churning in her stomach as the indistinct shouting and clang of weaponry drew nearer. "Before anything bad happens."
"I agree," Pearl chimed in, stepping up and placing a paw on Rea's arm supportively, or was she just moving to put a solid object between herself and the disdainful wildcat? "We have to get out."
"Run from fight?" The giant snake with legs flicked out her tongue as she turned her baleful glare on the wolf. "Only a coward rrunz. I must zave my clanmatez."
"We don't even have any weapons. As much as I hate to agree with the old whore, fighting would not be prudent, my dear," the wildcat scoffed. "You can save your little clan some other ti-"
Without warning, he went tumbling to the floor, blood pouring from his mouth. The wolverine's balled fist remained raised a moment more before he dropped it to his side.
When did he…? The wolf hadn't even noticed the giant creature move. Where in the Circle had he learned stealth like that?
"Are you mental?" the wounded feline hissed, sitting up and spitting out a tooth.
"You shouldn't talk to a lady like that," the wolverine growled. "It's-"
"It's not the time for this," the rat butted in, grabbing the cat and hauling him up by the collar unceremoniously, like some criminal he'd just run down. "That's a battle happening right down the hall and it's also the way to the exit. We're going to have to fight to get out of here, so toughen up, lad. You've got claws for a reason."
"But it's true 'bout Ms. Pearl," Zula piped up, confusion written on her features. The dreamsayer ignored her. She was in league with the scaled creatures…She couldn't be trusted.
"But that's ridiculous. We don't have to fight, we could just find another way out, right, Pearl?" Rea protested, turning to the only other sane, polite female in the bunch. The vixen didn't reply, though, her glazed eyes fixed on Aras.
Oh, come on! the wolf growled inwardly, not understanding her fascination. They had a problem to deal with now and the fox was acting as useless as-
"The wolf's right." Sybil sounded a bit grudging in her agreement. "There's no point in fighting when I'm wounded and half of us aren't blood-crazed warriors. Gimme a minute and I can think of…"
A well-built otter appeared from around a bend in the corridor, silencing further conversation. "Keep 'em back, mates! We can't let 'em get t'the pris'ners!" Rea recognized Jibe, and beside him now, Tack.
"You run, t'en, Zattaka!" Rekkua sneered. "I fight alone!" The savage raced down the hall screaming an incomprehensible battle cry, teeth bared and claws ready to tear.
"Stop!" Rea screamed, barely registering that she too was running toward the action in the larger main corridor, arm stretched out to try to grab the vengeful, terrifying warrioress.
"It's that wolf!" Tack cried, surprise registering on his face just before the snake with legs ripped it off. The dreamsayer stared in horror at the blood gushing from the otter's gouged-out eyes, even as his body tried to fight back. He lunged at the giant snake, javelin in a death grip, but she whirled almost gracefully, using the momentum to bring her tail crashing into the otter's legs, crippling him.
"No!" Rea wanted to stop the warrioress as she stamped her footclaws into the otter's stomach, but Jibe beat her to it, slamming into Rekkua and shoving her aside. The wolf tried to grab for Tack's limp form, hoping she could do something for him, but found her progress halted as a pole arm smashed against her side. She rammed into the wall where she felt several ribs crack. Jibe, teeth bared in a fearsome grimace, drew back his weapon for another strike.
"Ye stinkin' cowardly piece o' sharkbait!" the otter screamed, his spittle flying in her face as she raised her arms defensively.
He's going to kill me. Siren, he's going to kill me! Rea thought. And following closely on the heels of this realization as a tiny spark of indignation flared, What the Nightmare did I do to deserve it? Howling lunatic!
"Thought ye might o' been diff'rent," Jibe raged, beating at the wolf with each gulp of air. "Thought we mighta treated ye a bit rough–"
"Stop! Stop it! I didn't do anything, you moon-eyed madbeast!" she barked over his ranting. "I didn't even get a chance to touch him!"
"–but yer one o'em straight through!" he shouted her down. "Didn't get a chance 'cause I won't let ye! I'll kill ye an' yer friends fer doin' over me brother! I'll ki-"
A giant paw descended on the otter's head, knocking him aside as if he was nothing more than a rag doll. The wolverine stood where Jibe had not a moment before and Rea stared up at him with a mixture of fear, pain, and appreciation.
"You all right?" he demanded. His breaths came in short puffs and the look in his eyes told the dreamsayer that he was restraining himself in some way. She had no idea what it was, but it frightened her all the same, just as his quiet attack on the foul-mouthed wildcat had. She knew some more primitive creatures in the Circle still practiced violence against sentient beasts as part of their culture, but could this wolverine…?
"No," the wolf gasped and turned away. This is wrong. It's all wrong! Rea dodged past the creature who both attracted and repulsed her with his familiarity and actions, and found herself confronted with chaos. A ragtag group of squirrels, otters, lemming-things, and miniature rats clashed sword, cutlass, pole, and javelin against a much larger group of weasel-things, rats, foxes, and wildcats.
Jibe lay crumpled on the ground, blood seeping from his head and coming closer and closer to being trampled as the fighting raged around and over him.
I have to save him, Rea thought desperately. Even if it was this one creature, she could help him and then maybe Tack-
"Keep yore mitts off Jibe, vermin!" a voice shouted behind her. The wolf howled in pain as a blade sliced shallowly across her upper thigh. "Don't ye have the decency t'let the wounded be?"
She twisted around, ears forward and teeth bared aggressively, to see a lemming-thing aiming to slash her again. The wolverine head already moved off to brain a few more creatures. "I'm trying to help!" the dreamsayer snarled.
"Like water helps a drownin' beast!" the lemming-thing lunged, but Rea dodged, resisting the intense urge to grab him and throw him down the corridor. It would be so easy with such a tiny, little creature. Like the snake with legs or the wolverine, she could snap his neck and toss his limp body at the others to show them just what she could do to them. Just how much she could hurt all of-
No! The wolf ran, shoving past beasts and trying to ignore the carnage that infested the edges of her vision. Even if Granny was a fool. Even if Papa had no spine. Even if every other thing her elders had force-fed into her mind as a pup proved rubbish, Rea believed one thing for certain: Violence is wrong! And it wasn't go to solve anything here.
The dreamsayer raced past a hare frantically fending off two rats with only one paw while the other held what was left of her entrails inside the gash in her stomach. She jumped straight over a dogfox, no more than twelve seasons, who had lost both legs and was now stabbing at anything within reach with a pitchfork while he bled out, sprawled in the corridor. She shoved past Antonio who had joined the fray and liberated a sword that now held a miniature rat on its end.
"Red Duuuuusk!" An older marten with a patch over her left eye hollered as she stood firm in the center of the corridor and raised a cutlass over her head, blocking Rea's escape. "We've nearly finished 'em, mateys! Push t'the fore an' free th'pris'ners!" The marten's chill blue gaze came down to rest on the dreamsayer's terrified face and with a sneer the elder vermin stepped aside. "Run on, lassy. No need fer yellow-bellied jellyfishes here."
"I'm not…" Tears rose unbidden at the rather tame insult as the wolf flinched and dropped her eyes to her footpaws. I'm not a coward! she wanted to shout at this creature. I'm a dreamsayer. I'm a Lightbringer. I'm a wolf. I'm…I'm covered in blood.
"Never ye mind, girly," the marten sniffed, looking past her. "S'finished. We've won. Ole Cap'n Serpentcharmer an' her crew've won. Red Duuuuusk!"
"Red Duuuuusk!" A hearty chorus of voices returned.
Rea turned slowly, noticing now how triumphant cheers and the thunk of metal on wood had replaced the screaming and clang of metal on metal. But there was something that could not change with this 'victory': the acrid tang of blood in the air.
Twenty-one. More bodies than she had seasons. The dreamsayer had to place a paw over her muzzle to hold down the bile that rose in her throat with the realization and the stench.
"First sight o'battle, lassy?" the captain chuckled, slapping Rea hard on the back. The wolf cringed, the pain of her broken ribs screaming out now that no immediate danger threatened her.
Battle? the wolf thought incredulously. What battle? This is a massacre.
"Ye get used t'it, aye. Naow me own first time I was-"
Rea ignored her and padded forward, trying not to notice the way her boots squelched or the slumped forms that she had to step around and over as she approached the holding cells again. The Red Dusk creatures had taken to breaking down the doors of the other prisoners as best they could. Antonio and the rat shouted out orders to various creatures, trying to sound important. Pearl tied a strip of cloth around a small cut on the wolverine's arm, staring determinedly away from the battlefield. Silisk lounged on Zula's shoulders, surveying the others like a queen and whispering something only the little vixen could hear. The snake with legs paced along the hall, looking into each cell as if searching for somebeast in particular. The feline eyed the more shapely female members of Red Dusk with lustful eyes. Sybil secluded herself in a corner, warning off others with a glare. They were all fine.
How was that even possible? None of them, not one, took a second glance – if there they had looked first, at all – at the carnage before them. They looked, but did they see anything?
"Oi! We got a live one 'ere," Rea turned to see a weasel-thing poking at the battered form of an otter with the tip of his sword. "Should I off 'im, Cap'n?"
"Jibe!" The wolf lunged for the fallen woodlander. Even if the frost-headed moron had beaten her for no good reason, he was somebeast to latch onto. Some concrete thing that she could protect and fix. "I can help him. Just a moment, I can help him!" The vermin backed up, suspicious eyes following the dreamsayer's movements.
Just stay calm, Rea counseled herself as she maneuvered the bleeding otter gingerly so he lay on his back. What's he hurt? His head. That wolverine hit him over the head. What did Granny say about head injuries?
"Water. I need water and herbs," the wolf demanded. No beast moved.
"Does them herbs make the meat taste better, Ms. Rea?" Zula queried.
"Shut up, you sod-brained brat!" Rea snapped, unable to control her temper anymore with the stupidly oblivious vixen.
"Settle, lassy," Serpentcharmer raised her eyebrows. "Ye'll be gettin' no help from us with that one. I hate t'see a beastie sufferin' as much as the next, but I won't bring on th'wrath o' th'Powers by aidin' an enemy."
"But you'd kill him in cold blood," the dreamsayer challenged.
The captain scratched her short muzzle and stretched. "Yep. Better dead on th'floor than alive with a jav'lin in paw an' attackin' me an' mine, I say."
"Why you-" Rea didn't get a chance to tell the old marten just what she was as a weasel-thing started shouting from the direction the Red Dusk creatures had entered from.
"Cap'n!" the lookout puffed. "Cap'n they gots more woodylanders comin'! Score'n a half, at least!"
"Right! Ye heard th'lad, come about an' sail on toward home!"
"But what about Jibe?" The wolf motioned to the unconscious otter.
"Stay if ye want, wolf," Sybil scoffed as she strode past, heading toward the exit with the Red Dusk creatures and freed prisoners.
"Come on, Rea," Pearl urged, grabbing her paw, recoiling for a moment at the sight of the red soaking it, then mastering herself and grasping the paw more firmly. "If-if there's one thing woodlanders do wonderfully, luv, it's taking care of their own." Rea let the vixen pull her along, committing to memory every detail she could about the destruction left in their wake. She hadn't helped any of them. If anything, her escape had led to their deaths.
What by the Starlit Path can I do here?
A sudden stop at the tavern entryway drew her attention back to the present. Just outside the open entrance stood upward of two score otters, squirrels, and hares.
"Set down your weapons and come out slowly, or we'll come in swinging and fast, wot!" One of the hares informed them. "You have one minute to decide!"
"Maybe we can talk them into letting us leave," the wolverine suggested quickly.
"I doubt our arguments as to 'why' would hold much merit after slaughtering more than a dozen of their compatriots, sir," Antonio said. From his tone, the weasel-thing might as well have sneered: 'Are you a moron?' "We'll have to force our way out. I suggest multiple exit points through the windows and doors with-"
"We just need to rush 'em, Toni," the rat cut in and Rea would have sworn she heard Antonio's teeth grinding together at the nickname. "I've seen this sort of thing before. They won't be expecting it, so we'll catch 'em off guard an-"
"Stow it ye clods," Captain Serpentcharmer hissed. And then with a smirk she turned to the rest of the crowd. "Looks like some o' us will be meetin' the Powers, lads an' lassies. But Hellgates or high waters we're gettin' outta this stinkhole. Ev'rybeast fer hisself. Split an' run an' head fer home. Make sure ye've got a couple o' th'new recruits on yer tail so's they don't get lost an' they'll be a shield case yer targeted. 'Member, ye only gotta be faster than th'slowest beastie."
"Ten seconds!" the hare called.
"Wait," Silisk interjected curled around Zula's neck, "what is this 'home' you speak of?"
"Sarky's mansion," the old marten grinned manically. "Red Duuuuusk!"
They charged, some crashing through the front entrance, others through the windows and a side door. A volley of arrows flew as the front runners exited the building and a rat fell back dead onto Rea, a shaft protruding from his neck, as she jumped through after him.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" the wolf cried as she shoved him forward again, acting on survival instinct alone as she tried to keep somebeast familiar in her sights. Up ahead, Sybil, hurt as she was, managed to evade an otter and his javelin by jumping up onto his shoulders and using him to vault herself clear of the frontline. She hit the ground, pausing for a moment to regain her composure, before standing and running forward at an alarming speed. Next, she grabbed the staff of a squirrel who tried to stop her, flashing her teeth as her damaged shoulder took the brunt of the force, and used her momentum to spin him around and dodge past.
Rea didn't have much time to marvel at these agile displays as she ducked and weaved awkwardly, incredibly aware of how large and vulnerable she was. Not to mention my arms and ribs hurt like Astrid's Belt! An arrow skimming her shoulder added an additional pain and the wolf howled out, startling the creatures nearby with her volume and keening pitch.
"I'm sorry!" she hollered as she barreled through a group of otters, ears flat and arms up to protect her head. A moment later, she felt herself clear the main group and looked around, noting how much cooler the air was when not trapped by four score-odd beasts running on pure adrenaline. She spotted the idiot vixen ahead and to the left and hoped beyond reason that Silisk had told Zula to follow one of the members of Red Dusk.
Because Rea had to follow, too.