Chapter 10
Cooperating Convicts
6:00, Day 1
The sun began to rise on Wakestrea Island, melding hues of pink, orange and purple with the cloudy sky. Warm rays of sunlight began to cast themselves onto the forests, creating bands of orange light on the tree trunks. Compared to the storm earlier, the rain had lightened up, meaning more of the prisoners were comfortable leaving their shelters to go search for a way out. Some prisoners were seeking help, some were trying to find those they trusted, and one prisoner in particular was trying to stay as far away from everybeast as possible…
For the past six hours, a small vole, Yos Peonymaid, has been running around the island in a panic. Every sound made her jump, and every distant shadow caused her to hide. She even scared herself with the chain clasped around her neck a couple of times. As she walked along a dirt path, she wondered what she did to deserve this. Had she done anything bad? No. Did she hurt anybeast? No. Unlike the other prisoners who were probably criminals, she couldn't think of any reason she'd be here. It was absurd!
Yos was shaking, she couldn't tell if it was from the rain or the fear. Shivering, she quietly got up and searched the forest for someplace to sleep. Sleep was important, right? But sleeping out in the open would be a death sentence. Plus, she didn't want to sleep on the filthy, unclean ground.
She walked along the path, trying to stay hidden. Granted, staying hidden was difficult given she refused to move away from the path, and the almost impossibly vibrant red poncho she was wearing. She could throw it away, but no. She worked hard to make this, dang it. It showed off how much better at making clothes she was than all the other tailors back home. All the rest could only make basic clothes and quilted blankets as if those had any value. Meanwhile, Yos could make extravagant garments and beautiful dresses. She was simply better than all the rest, and it made her angry, why out of all beasts did she deserve to be here?
Moving carefully to not ruin her dress more than it already has by the rain, Yos walked down the path, looking around for a house or someplace to sleep.
Yos froze. She suddenly heard the sound of beasts talking in the distance. Her head whipped around frantically, searching for a place to hide. She ran quickly, yet silently, finding a spot right behind a massive oak tree that had been split nearly in half by lightning.
Her heart pounded in her chest, fear welling up inside her body as if she was drowning. She could hear the beasts getting closer, and one of the voices sounded angry. Oh no, did they see her?
Yos stood dead silent, listening to the beasts' conversation as they walked nearby.
"We need ter find a gud cookin' pot. I kin make d'best stew any o' youse ever tasted, I swears it!"
"We just ate. I get it. You're a good cook. Congrats. Do we really need to find more food?"
"'Ee found lots o' vikkles an' made 'em well. Oo arr, 'ow didja do it?"
"Heh, learned a bit durin' missions."
"I'm glad you two are getting along and all, but can you please shut up? We're trying to stay quiet, remember?"
"Oy! Let us talk, we're 'aving conversations!"
"Don' worry marm, we baint too loud."
"Yes you two are."
As the voices faded out into the distance, so did Yos' anxiety. She crept out from behind the tree and back onto the path, cringing as she felt her footpaw sink into the mud created by the rain. Shivering, she looked down at the mud and noticed what looked like drag marks from three sets of chains. Oh. So those were three prisoners that walked by. Why were they talking about cooking at a time like this? Mindless lemmings. I wouldn't team up with those three even if somebeast forced me to.
Truth be told, Yos was just looking for any reason not to join up with anybeast. She couldn't trust anybeast, not even the other prisoners. The rest were a bunch of scum anyway, so what was the point in teaming up with them?
She continued walking around the forest for around eight more minutes when she heard the sound of snoring. Huh? Snoring? I don't think any of the guards would be asleep right now, it's too early for that. Who is that? Is there something I can take from them?
Yos crept through the forest, staying as quiet as possible to not wake whoever it was up. Holding her breath in anticipation, she reached the source of the sound. Hiding behind a rock, she poked her head out to see…
Yos tried to resist the urge to groan. Seriously? Out of all the prisoners, why did she have to come across her? Sleeping out in the open was none other than that narcissistic stoat on the ship, Bolgash Wolters. On another note, why did she think now was the best time to take a nap? Was she stupid?
Sneaking as quietly as she could up to Bolgash, Yos looked around for something she could take. There was a dagger lying next to the stoat's head (Now that's just asking for somebeast to stab you), but Yos didn't want it. Food was more important, did she even have food? A quick search of Bolgash's belongings revealed that she didn't have anything else of note. How disappointing. Yos walked back to the dirt pathway, brushing off her dress as she did so. Would she even find anything useful on this island? It all just seemed worthless.
A shrill scream suddenly pierced through the sky; Yos froze with fear. Instinctively, she bolted away from the sound. Who was that? Was that one of the prisoners? Oh lord, please tell me they won't go for me next!
She ran with reckless abandon, aborting all attempts to be stealthy. She had to get out of there as fast as possible, she didn't want to be killed by those guards, she couldn't! After what felt like forever, she finally found a place to hide. A seemingly perfect spot situated on the northern shore of the island.
Little did she know how dangerous choosing to hide there would be.
He wanted to vomit. Lying face down in front of a creepy-looking shack was the body of a rat with a gash in its neck, blood soaking the ground beneath him a muddy red. The rat wasn't wearing a collar so Durkfor knew it wasn't a prisoner, but what did it matter? It was still awful. He wasn't exactly sure what happened, but from the looks of it, some kind of fight happened here. Did one of the prisoners steal a weapon and use it to kill the rat? Ugh, even thinking about it made him nauseous. It was almost ironic when he thought about it. The worst beast in the abbey becoming very close friends with, well, himself? If the situation wasn't so bleak, he would've laughed.
Durkfor put down the bindle he was carrying for a second as he walked around the exterior of the shack. He guessed there wasn't anybeast inside, but it wouldn't hurt to check. "Hello?" He called out. As expected, there was no response.
In the silence that followed, Durkfor couldn't help but think daydream. I wonder how Borsen's doin'. He's probably runnin' 'round, looking fore the other prisoners… He's not actually going to kill them, right? I wonder if he's doin' okay. What am I talkin' 'bout? I'm sure he can handle himself out here, he knows how t'find food, he's an otter, he can fish. Is he stayin' hydrated? Wait, no! Why am I even thinkin' 'bout him right now? I need to focus.
Try as he might, however, Durkfor couldn't focus. He knew Borsen would always stay in his mind somehow. He began to grumble anxiously, pulling on his ears as he did so. Maybe I should find somethin' t'eat. That usually calms me down. Durkfor picked up his bindle and wandered out into the woods in search of anything to eat. Unfortunately for him, he didn't recognize most of the plants that were strewn about. Durkfor didn't know as much about foraging as Borsen, but "Don't eat plants unless yer sure it's safe", was a rule Borsen drilled into his head. In the end, Durkfor couldn't find anything to eat. He debated going back to the glade to grab some apples from the trees, but he didn't want to go back there, his eyes began to water just thinking about what happened there. Did it have to be like this, Borsen? Stop, you're doin' it again. Dang it Durkfor, focus! C'mon, ya've dealt with him leavin' for days on end, ya can handle not bein' 'round him fer just a lil'-
"Achoo!"
The sound of somebeast sneezing in the distance brought Durkfor back to reality, and he was glad to have something else to focus on. Who was that? Durkfor opened his mouth to call out when he froze. It may be true that Borsen wouldn't hurt him, and if what he heard on the ship was true, the other guards wouldn't hurt him either assuming Borsen threatened everybeast (which he could see him doing, easily. Anybeast that hurt Durkfor back at Redwall Abbey, intentionally or otherwise, got paid a visit from Borsen).
Even then, the guards would still capture him if they saw him, right? Probably. He crouched down to the ground and ambled as quietly as he could (which was difficult given his large frame) toward the sound. As he got closer, he could hear the voice more clearly, and they were complaining. A lot.
"Damn it, why do I have to go out here in the rain, searching for some stupid hedgehog that will just yell at me when I find her? Better yet, what if I run into the guards and they try to kill me? Great thinking Kallius, thanks for sending me out here. Ugh, why did Farshawn have to get shot?"
Durkfor recognized the voice immediately, it wasn't hard to remember a voice like that. Relaxing his posture, Durkfor stopped crouching and walked toward the beast from behind. "Hello there-"
Thaddeus Elderbark's eyes went wide, a shrill scream escaped his mouth as he spun around and swung his kitchen knife at Durkfor. Instinctively, Durkfor batted the blade out of his paws. Thaddeus calmed down, realising it was just Durkfor. "What in hellgates are you doing, Durkfor? You scared me, don't do that again!"
"Sorry," the hare apologised. "Nice to see ya here," he commented, trying to be polite.
Thaddeus didn't take it well, he scowled and placed a paw on his hips. "Oh, is it? Is it nice that I'm here? I bet it is. You're probably happy I'm going to die here."
Durkfor remembered why he didn't like Thaddeus. Struggling to stay smiling, he clarified, "No, I meant, I'm glad I found ya. How's it been?"
"Horrible. How else do you expect me to answer that? I'm doing horrible. I'm stuck here, it's raining, I have to find Rianne, and it's just bad. I don't know what I'm doing out here." It was then Durkfor noticed that Thaddeus wasn't wearing his trademark red vest, and was instead holding it like a bag in one paw.
Durkfor pointed to the vest-bag in his paw and asked, "What's that?"
Thaddeus looked down and held it open for Durkfor to see, smirking proudly. Durkfor's eyes went wide as he saw bright red berries with visible seeds in the middle of them in the vest. "Cool, huh? I was trying to find some food and I found a bunch of these by a church in an abandoned town," Thaddeus explained.
Durkfor raised his eyebrows. He had a couple of questions. "Uh, Thaddeus? Ya should throw those out."
"Oh, why? Is it because you're angry that I'm doing more work than you are? Well, guess what, I'm not the one who-"
"That's not what I meant," Durkfor snapped. "Those berries ya found are poisonous."
Thaddeus looked down at the berries strangely. It registered to him how many of those he grabbed and he yelped, dropping his vest to the floor, "I'm not going to die from touching those, am I? Please no!"
Durkfor resisted the urge to snap at him again and calmly explained, "No. Ya won't die just from touchin' 'em, didja eat any o' em?"
"How are you so sure?" Thaddeus asked, ignoring the question, "Are you a berry expert?" Thaddeus began to rub his paws together in an apparent attempt to clean them (like that's going to work).
Durkfor rubbed the back of his neck, "Kinda? Borsen taught me lots 'bout edible and poisonous plants."
"Wow. What a kind and selfless otter," Thaddeus mumbled sardonically.
Trying to ignore that comment, Durkfor crossed his arms and asked, "What was that 'bout an abandoned town?"
Still rubbing his paws, Thaddeus looked up at Durkfor, "Hm? Oh, right. Yeah, I'm pretty sure this entire island is dead or something. That town over there looks destroyed to hellgates and back, and we found a stone tower earlier that's nearly empty. Kept me out of the rain at least, but like that's doing me good now, I feel a cold coming on."
Durkfor cocked his head, "Wait, 'we'?"
Thaddeus looked up at Durkfor strangely before realising what he said. "Oh, right. I found Farshawn and Kallius earlier, and they're holed up in the tower I mentioned. Can't believe they sent me out to look for stuff, I thought we agreed on 'when the storm was over', it's still raining, isn't it?"
Durkfor's eyes lit up, "They're alive?"
"Oh, maybe. Well, Farshawn got shot with an arrow and is bleeding pretty badly. Speaking of which, have you seen Rianne anywhere? They sent me out to look for her. She knows a lot more about healing than the three of us combined."
"Oh no, is Farshawn okay?" Durkfor asked.
"No, I just said she's bleeding. Have you seen Rianne?"
Durkfor shook his head, "Nay- no, I haven't."
Sighing dramatically, Thaddeus picked up his vest, spilling the berries onto the grass as he did so. "Well, if you find Rianne, tell her to come to the tower, we could really use her help. Actually, did Borsen teach you first aid too?"
"He taught me a lil' bit," Durkfor answered, "But it was mainly 'bout how not t'hurt myself and what t'be careful fore," he muttered regrettably to himself.
Thaddeus scoffed and looked up at the sky before remembering it was raining, "Amazing. We should just ask him to come to the tower to heal Farshawn. Oh wait, he's trying to kill us. What a prick. Why'd you even become friends with him in the first place?"
Durkfor's smile was much more strained than before, "He's nice t'me, that's why. Tell me where this blinkin' tower is and I'll head there right away."
Thaddeus spun around and motioned broadly behind him. "It's somewhere past the town. If you see anybeast on your way there, tell them about the tower too. Kallius wants to start a strike force or a union or something."
When Thaddeus didn't elaborate, Durkfor pressed for further information, "... Great. What direction?"
Thaddeus was silent. He stood there unmoving as if he was mentally retracing his steps. Unfortunately, just like many other things, he wasn't good at this either. "What direction is west?" he asked hesitantly. He didn't even know if the tower was west.
Finally fed up with Thaddeus, Durkfor pushed past the mouse and began walking away from him.
Thaddeus watched as Durkfor swiftly walked away. Even from this far, he could see the hare's ears flopping down against his head. "Tch, did I do something again?" He tried to backtrack and think about what he could've done to make Durkfor mad. I called Borsen a prick, but everyone else thinks that, I'm just getting in trouble for being the only one brave enough to say it. I guess I also got lost, but I've never been here before, and I don't leave the abbey if I don't have to, so that's also not my problem. I'm not apologising for not knowing how to navigate forests. These trees all look the same to me.
Sighing, Thaddeus looked down at the pile of berries he dropped. I botched it again, didn't I? Man, imagine what would've happened if I fed those to Farshawn and Kallius. That'd be awful. Then again, Kallius is the one that knows about plants and stuff, why couldn't she be the one to go out? It's her fault… No it isn't.
Thaddeus suddenly heard the sound of a twig cracking nearby, and bolted out of the area. Why did I have to be the one stuck on this island? Now I'm the one that's gotta help Kallius and Farshawn for once. I'm awful at everything, why am I the one that has to do this? I'm going to die here, aren't I?
He looked behind him to see if anybeast was chasing him, but there was nobeast nearby. Was it in his imagination? Maybe. Regardless if he was actually being chased or not, he really wasn't looking forward to the next few days.
Vhynias Sharptail began to smile. He normally didn't smile, but seeing the warm orange glow of the sun was enough to put him in a good mood. Stretching his lanky body out, he turned to the other two beasts in the overhang, about to celebrate making it to morning.
However, when he laid eyes upon them, he remembered that he wasn't with his four other crewmates. No, he was with those two otters that just had to find him in the middle of a storm. Vhynias sighed longingly and sat back down underneath the rock. It was the most awkward six hours he'd ever been in. The otter wearing blue, Miena, kept trying to make small talk with him, but Vhynias got the feeling she was more or less trying to pick him apart and attempting to see if they could trust him. It filled Vhynias with disgust. Yarr from one of those otter holts, if I didn't have a collar around my neck, ya probably would've killed me already. Stop trying to be nice to me. At least the other otter is being upfront with how much he doesn't like me.
In comparison to Miena, Ulfrad Shorepass was cold to Vhynias. Whenever Miena got him to talk with Vhynias, he'd say something passive-aggressive and leave it at that. But y'know what? That's fine by me. We don't need to be friends, we just need to work together for now. But I think we all know what will happen if things get more dangerous. Yup. This is just a temporary pact. Nothing more, nothing less.
Vhynias pulled his long coat over his body as he lay back down on the ground. He missed his crew dearly. Were they doing alright? His stomach began to churn just thinking about them being in danger. I hope Gurn is doing alright, hope she remembers to take deep breaths. I hope Tornear is staying safe. Is Crooked staying safe? He always either makes horrible decisions or trusts the wrong beasts. I hope Bolgash isn't doing anything stupid right now. Ugh, what are they doing right now?
"Oh, are ye awake, Vhynias?" Miena asked from her spot in the overhang.
Vhynias mumbled and turned away from her. "Yup. Do ya need something?"
"How's the weather outside?" She asked.
Vhynias waved his paws out of the overhang, staring blankly at Miena. "Sun's up. Rain's lighter than before, and… yeah."
Miena stood up and padded outside, yawning. "Ye weren't kidding. 'Tis a beautiful sunrise, aye?"
Vhynias felt the fur on the back of his neck bristle. Grunting nervously, he snapped, "Stop trying to be nice to me, okay? This is just a temporary truce, alright? I ain't gonna stick with ya, so please just stop being nice to me, please?"
Miena found Vhynias strange and placed her paws on her hips. "I was just commenting on the weather. Nevermind. I think 'tis important to build some level o' camaraderie with the beasts yer workin' with. If yer uncomfortable with this, I'll lessen it a bit, but I won't stop trying to talk to ye."
Vhynias grumbled and pulled his overcoat over his neck. Why? Please just stop talking to me.
"I can see yer gettin' anxious, wanna leave right now t'find yer crew?" Miena offered.
"Erm," the fox looked over to the side where Ulfrad was asleep. In the six hours between when they found the cave and now, he decided to take a nap. Though, Vhynias was pretty sure he was faking it at times."Isn't he asleep?"
Miena chuckled and crouched down to the other otter. "'Ey, Ulfrad, let's get movin'."
Ulfrad grumbled and slowly raised his head, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. "Wha-? What's happening? Is it mornin' yet?" He murmured.
"The day's not gonna last forever, c'mon," Miena said playfully. As she walked out of the overhang, Vhynias just wanted to disappear. If he had more confidence in his abilities, he would've left these two a long time ago. Alas, he knew it was better that he stayed with these two. How unfortunate.
Ulfrad got up after what seemed like forever and the three of them went off into the forest. Vhynias was in the front while Miena and Ulfrad followed behind him. Vhynias gazed around at the forest around him anxiously as if somebeast could jump out and stab them at this very moment.
"Hey, where are we goin'?" A gruff voice snapped from behind him. Vhynias whirled his head around to see Ulfrad snapping his fingers impatiently. Vhynias grumbled and began to knead his paws together, as he tended to do when he was stressed.
"Answer the question, will ye?" Ulfrad said more sharply.
"I don't know," Vhynias snapped. "I don't know where to find them, much less how to contact them without attracting every single guard to our location." Ulfrad scoffed and stopped talking.
Sighing, Vhynias looked at the forest around him. It would be so peaceful if only he were alone, and it wasn't raining. He didn't like rain, it always made him feel lethargic and dizzy.
"I got an idea," Miena offered, "Should we look around for other caves and places to hide in? Maybe yer friends are hidin' there."
Vhynias tucked his paws in his pockets and looked down at the ground. "Maybe, but I think they're doin' the same thing we are. Walking around to try to find me. I have a backup plan, though," the fox brought up. "It's only if we can't find 'em, because it relies on sound."
"We can't afford to give away our position, that isn't a good idea," Ulfrad commented.
"That's why I said it was a backup plan," Vhynias scoffed. "But random question, have ya heard any birds chirping since we got here?"
Miena crossed her arms, "Hm? No, I haven't. Why?" Vhynias wordlessly reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small piece of wood that resembled a flute. "What is it?" She asked.
"It's a birdcall, a while ago, Gurn came up with an idea for each of us to have one so we can find each other if we're lost. See, ya play a specific rhythm so we know it's us," Vhynias explained, "But I haven't heard any birds chirping, so I'm wondering if it's going to give away our position.
Miena raised her eyebrows, "They didn't take that away from ye when they captured ye?"
Vhynias pulled up his chestplate, "Along with the file, I put it in there. I'm assuming the rest got theirs taken."
"Yer oddly prepared fer somethin' like this," Ulfrad pointed out suspiciously. Vhynias grumbled and put the birdcall to his mouth.
"Should I use it?" The fox asked.
Miena shrugged, "I think 'tis worth a shot, we don't have any other ideas. How bout'cha Ulfrad?"
Ulfrad simply nodded, "If you think it's a good idea, then I agree." Just then, Ulfrad leaned in close to Miena and whispered something in her ear. Vhynias was annoyed at how obvious he was being. Why can't ya just say it's a bad idea if ya think it's a bad idea? Why are ya being secretive about this? Just say ya don't like it. "Go on ahead," Ulfrad said.
Vhynias grumbled to himself before taking a deep breath and placing the birdcall against his mouth. Miena and Ulfrad watched as he began to play an elaborate, yet natural-sounding tune. He repeated the tune three times in total before opening his eyes and placing the birdcall back in his pocket. "How'd I do?" He asked, looking at them for assurance for some reason.
Miena found it odd. Not only did he make a secret compartment in his chestplate to hide tools, but he also put a file and a birdcall in it? What does he think is going to happen to him that he's prepared for this?
"Now, um, normally we'd hear a confirmation tune that would change depending on if they're okay or not, but I think their whistles got taken away when we got captured," Vhynias clarified. Not to mention that Crooked keeps losing his whistle and Bolgash doesn't respond most of the time. "So we just have to stay in this spot for a little while."
Miena grinned, "I'm impressed, yer quite prepared." Vhynias turned away, placing his paws in his pocket. The fox then sat down at the base of a nearby tree, just waiting.
"Shouldn't we hide?" Ulfrad asked. "If we did give away our position, we should hide so we don't get caught."
Vhynias glanced at Ulfrad, "I'll stay here, the two o' ya can hide."
Ulfrad shrugged and began to look around for a place to hide. Miena did the same, leaving Vhynias sitting alone in the forest. The fox tapped his paws anxiously on the ground as he waited for anybeast to arrive, be it a guard or one of his crew.
"Did you hear that?" Tornear Burke whispered.
"I heard it too!" Gurnilal Speareye answered excitedly.
Tornear grinned, "So Vhyn managed to keep his whistle, eh? Well, let's go find him." Tornear tucked his hand axe into his sash and ran forward with Gurnilal in tow. Leaping over rocks and pushing past branches, they ran as fast as they could to the signal.
Gurnilal crashed through the undergrowth to see Vhynias sitting against a tree. The noise startled the fox, and he yelped loudly. "Who are-?" Before he could finish, he was quickly embraced by Gurnilal, who was smiling with relief.
"Oh Vhyn, we're so glad yer okay!" She exclaimed.
Tornear grinned wryly and patted Vhynias on the shoulder, "Nice to see you're not dead yet, eh? Not a scratch on you."
"Yeah." Vhynias pushed Gurnilal off and stood up, his face growing warm with embarrassment. "Um, nice t'also see ya too. Hey, so there's, erm…"
Tornear was confused as to why Vhynias was acting weirder than usual when he heard the sound of chains clanking behind them. Tornear swiftly pulled out his hand axe and aimed it at the two otters standing behind them. The taller otter raised her paws defensively with a friendly grin, "Woah, put that down, we don't mean any harm."
"I don't care. Scram," Tornear demanded, motioning threateningly with his axe.
Ulfrad shrugged. "That's fine by me, c'mon Miena," He turned around to leave, but Miena grabbed him by the wrist before he could walk away. Ulfrad sighed and whispered harshly to the Skipper. Vhynias could hear their conversation from where he was standing, but it didn't seem like the otters noticed, "Miena, I don't think 'tis a good idea to work wit' these vermin. It was tolerable wit' just the fox, but we're outnumbered three to two, staying wit' them is too risky." I mean, that's true, Vhynias thought to himself.
"Aye," Miena whispered back in agreement, "But do I need t'tell ye 'bout the benefits of staying with a group again? Safety in numbers, y'know? Besides, 'tis easier fer all o' us if we all work together." Vhynias frowned, I don't particularly care if ya leave now that Gurn and Tornear are back. Do whatever.
Ulfrad snorted, "Perhaps, but those aren't really benefits when that group is made up o' vermin."
Miena smiled slyly, "Anythin' can be a benefit if yer smart enough."
A thin smile formed on Ulfrad's snout, "Are ye callin' me dumb?"
"What are you two whispering about?" Tornear interrupted suddenly. "Get a move on."
Just then, Gurnilal whispered to Vhynias, "Can we let them stay wit' us, please?"
Not looking over, Vhynias whispered back, "No. Actually, maybe. Why?"
Gurnilal shuffled awkwardly, "Er… I just feel bad 'bout leavin' 'em out there, plus, 'ey could help us. More eyes t'keep a lookout."
"Y'know how I feel about strangers," Vhynias sighed.
"We still 'aven't found Crooked o' Bolgash yet, c'mon, please Vhyn?" Gurnilal pled.
Vhynias didn't answer. Emotionally speaking, he didn't want Miena and Ulfrad to stay with them, both of them made him nervous. However, pragmatically speaking, it was probably for the best that they stayed. That sucked.
Ulfrad rolled his eyes and spoke pointedly, "Doesn't matter anyway, Miena, don't think they're gonna let us stay wit' 'em."
To Ulfrad's surprise, Vhynias spoke up. "Ahem, um, if it's okay with the two of ya, ya can stay with us."
"Really?" Tornear said quizzically.
Gurnilal smiled, sighing with relief.
Ulfrad narrowed his eyes at the fox. "What are ye plannin'? Ye were ready to get us outta yer fur earlier, what changed?"
Vhynias placed his paws in his pockets sheepishly, "I hate both of ya, alright?" Vhynias scratched the back of his ears. That was a horrible way to start an offer. "Okay, I hate both of ya, but if we work together, it helps both o' us, aye? You'll look out for us, and we'll look out for the two of ya" Vhynias tried to hide his reluctance as he spoke. It was clear he was only doing this because he felt like he had to.
Of course, Vhynias being Vhynias meant he couldn't hide it at all, so Miena caught on immediately. The fox could see Miena narrow her eyes at him as if her gaze was piercing into his soul, picking out every single one of his thoughts. Was he being paranoid? He didn't know, but he didn't like it.
Smiling as if nothing had happened, Miena nodded, "Aye right, I can agree to that."
"What?" Ulfrad and Tornear both exclaimed. Gurnilal leaned over and whispered to Tornear. The weasel scowled but nodded in understanding.
"Miena, ye better know what yer doin'," Ulfrad grumbled.
"I know, don't worry 'bout me," Miena responded lightheartedly. Ulfrad snorted in response. Sensing his hesitance, Miena clarified, "They're not gonna hurt us, for now at least. I know the fox genuinely wants to keep us 'round fer now."
"Ye better be right," Ulfrad grumbled.
Ignoring the two otters, Vhynias stood up from his spot and dusted his long coat off. "Do ya have any other weapons?" He asked the two weasels.
Gurnilal shook her head. "Nay. Only d'axe an' d'cutlass."
Tornear shrugged, resting his axe on his shoulder, "That's fine. Gurn and I are the ones with the weapons, so we'll be fine," he glared sharply at Ulfrad and Miena as if he were daring them to step out of line.
"Tornear, stand down," Vhynias advised, "We should just get moving, we still need to find Crooked an' Bolgash somewhere." Motioning for everybeast to follow, Vhynias began to walk north. "Find anythin' interesting Gurn?"
A thin, apologetic smile crossed Gurnilal's face as she looked away from the two otters and walked up to Vhynias. "Tornear an' I found a shack. T'was empty though."
"Huh," Vhynias responded. "Sounds cool. What did it look like?"
As the pair began to walk away, Tornear scowled at the two otters, fingers drumming the handle of his axe. "Vhyn may trust you two for some reason, but I don't. If you try to pull anything funny, you're dead. Got it?"
Miena glanced to the left at Ulfrad, whose teeth were bared in a snarl. Before a fight could break out, Miena interjected, "Like we'd even try, as ye said, yer the ones with the weapons and numbers." Miena held out her paws to emphasise that they were unarmed. "We just wanna work together with ye fer now, alright?"
"Tch," Tornear scoffed, still glaring at the pair as he walked over to Vhynias.
"Ye still wanna work wit' 'em?" Ulfrad asked flatly. Miena smiled awkwardly and shrugged.
"I think 'tis a good idea, but ye know more than I do. If ye ever feel that something's wrong, tell me." The pair followed Vhynias.
Ulfrad dragged his tail behind him miserable as he walked "That fox feels like he's hiding somethin', and I don't trust those two weasels."
Miena cocked her head. "Probably, but just try not t'get into fights with 'em fer now. I was being serious when I wanted us to work together, aye?"
The five beasts moved through the dark woods, casting shadows onto the tree trunks. Vhynias and Gurnilal were whispering cautiously, Ulfrad and Tornear were glaring at each other, and Miena just wanted to make sure a fight didn't break out. The question on everybeasts mind, however, was "would this group survive in the days to come?"
Vhynias didn't have much confidence. He guessed that in a few days, most of them would be dead.
