Captain Santain released a rush of air as he walked into the ruined camp. He had recognized the stench of death from a great distance but had expected there to still be beasts alive when he arrived. He looked upon the carnage with a disappointed sigh. Corporal Thimblebrand bounded up from the snow-covered foliage before stopping in shock.
"Bloody savages." The hare Corporal muttered beneath his breath as he found his way toward the Captain.
"Never seen the aftermath of battle have ye corporal?"
"No sir."
"Well, this will be a good first time, wot." The hare Captain stepped into the clearing with a defeated huff.
"Don't ye think we should worry about an ambush, sir?" Corporal Thimblebrand asked from the cover of the trees.
"Naw. By the looks of these beasts, they've been dead since this morning. And whatever bugger did this had enough sense to hop off before we arrived."
The corpses of vermin lay scattered about the red snow. As Captain Santain walked through the camp, he instinctively felt the need to grip his rapier. A small circle of tents lay trampled next to the body of a ferret whose entrails were ripped from her stomach leaving an empty cavern in its wake. Her intestines were wrapped so tightly around her throat that her bloodshot eyes bulged from her skull like a sprouting bulb. Several paces from the ferret lay a rat whose back was punctured with scores of dagger wounds. As if that weren't enough his throat was slashed so that his head remained attached to his body by only a clump of flesh. The Captain knelt next to the corpse of a vixen whose headless body had been hacked into pieces. A few paces away her head was stuck to the end of a pike that was skewered with the heads of several other vermin. Blood dripped from their eyeless skulls as their mouths were opened in a noiseless howl. Captain Santain had to avert his eyes to prevent himself from retching.
Just past the horrible totem was a fox and what Captain Santain could only guess was a mink. The two bodies were shirtless and tied to the tree by a rope that held them up by their neck. The fox had an incision down the middle of his chest from his collarbone to the bottom of the rib cage that was opened like one would open a pouch of goodies. His lungs and entrails were strewn down the length of his body into the red sea of slush. Santain noted that the foxes' liver and heart were missing. The mink didn't look anything more than a bloody rag. His skull adorned the pike as his dark fur and muscle were ripped from his body in dirty sheets and discarded but not before the marrow in his bones was scooped out. What was left of the bloody bones of his arms and legs were frozen to the sickly red bark of the tree.
"Savages" Captain Santain shuttered to himself as he turned from the tree.
Corporal Thimblebrand looked lost as he knelt next to a stoat who couldn't have been much older than him. The stoat had been cut clean in half at the waist and his face had been bashed in so that his mouth, nose, and eyes were an unrecognizable hole in his head. Upon seeing the mink and the totem he retched. In a flash, Captain Santain was at his side.
"Easy lad. Get it all out o' your system."
"Wretched bastards, wot!" The skinny hare exclaimed before retching again. "How could they do something like that t' their own kind?"
"I don't know lad, they're vile creatures." Captain Santain murmured putting his comrade's arm around him with a grunt. "Bukko yer just gonna have tah harden yer heart when we find the motherless wretches who did this and put them down!"
The hare could barely respond as Captain Santain hauled him over to a nearby tree and helped him sit.
"Drink from yer cantine laddie. Wash that foul scent from yer mouth and ye'll feel as light as a lark, wot."
Poor chap, he's not got the stomach for battle. Captain Santain thought as he watched the Corporal gulp down mouthfuls before spitting some out. Ye can't blame the lad. The hare Captain had to remain composed, although this butchery was too much even for him.
"Take a rest son. We've got a long journey to go."
"Wot about the scum who did this? We must stop them before some good beast shares the same fate." The Corporal said with a quiver in his voice.
"I don't think this was a random attack, Corporal." Captain Santain gestured to the tree he leaned on. "The ropes at your footpaws tell me this was an act of revenge."
True to the Captain's words there was a pile of rope that was wound about the tree. A mess of footpaws roughed up the snow beneath them that led around the tree and into the brush beyond.
"I bet these vermin captured a few beasts from another band. When that larger band marched over here they butchered the vermin that started this." Captain Santain added, taking a swig from his canteen to settle his stomach. "I could be wrong, perhaps the vermin that were tied to the tree were the prisoners. When the horde came looking for them and found their compatriots, they snapped. It certainly wouldn't have been the first time vermin have stooped to such depravity."
"They're disgusting bastards." Corporal Thimblebrand responded as he focused on his waterskin.
"For such a butchery, they certainly didn't want any beast following them." Captain Santain responded looking at the trail though the puffs of white that obscured his vision.
Control your breathing Captain. He reminded himself.
"I don't mean tah question you, sah." Thimblebrand's voice seemed to regain some of its composure. "But some rope and a trail intah the woods don't scream revenge killing, wot."
"Perhaps not Corporal. Usually, the scum takes trophies after such slaughter, and the vermin were missing their tails along with weapons." The corporal's face went white as a sheet.
"D'ye think there's more of 'em, wot?"
"I know there's got to be bloody well more of them!" The captain hissed, scanning the trees around them. "It doesn't seem like an ambush due to how they were slain. This can't be some vermin bum who decided he wanted to kill. Whoever did this had a purpose or wanted to send a message."
"For whom? It didn't look like a single vermin survived the attack."
"I don't know Corporal." Captain Santain said, looking back toward the bodies. "But those dead vermin are lookin' like they've skipped a meal or two. An I've never known their kind to turn down some food."
"D'ye think they're like our friends at Redwall?" The hare Corporal spat with a vile look in his eyes.
"I don't know. But the only beasts vile enough to even fathom something like them would be a hordebeast. And if they were starving deserters then a horde must be close by."
A branch fell to the forest floor some distance behind the two hares. They leapt to their footpaws unsheathing their swords.
"Are ye feeling well now lad?"
The skinny hare nodded his head. "Aye sah. I'll feel as free as a fish in the sea once we get outtah here, wot."
"Agreed. I say we track these savages back to whatever lair they've crawled from. Then make a report to high command once we make it home, wot."
"Sah, what should we do about the bodies?" Corporal Trilloway asked. "Feel like it's wrong tah leave these beasts like that, wot."
Santain looked at the remains of the vermin. He felt a slight sense of pity for the wretched victims. It was a horrid way to be killed even for those scum. But the Long Patrol hares didn't have a shovel for a grave, and Santain didn't want to waste any more time. He still had a message from Redwall that needed to be delivered.
"We don't have a shovel or a spade, lad, not that we'd be able to break ground. I'll cut the fox and … mink from the tree. But we must get going."
The younger hare didn't seem convinced.
"Just remember these beasts would've ripped yer guts out and strangled yew with'em if you were in the same spot." Captain Santain said as he took the younger hare's arm and turned him away from the carnage.
"Don't feel too sorry, it's the least they deserve."
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