Chapter 9
Oaths
"Promise to uphold good at all costs. I've had to do some… unpleasant things to accomplish that. But it was all in the name of that oath. Right now, many good beasts in this world are a victim of evil beasts or poor circumstances. That's where we come in. We're here to make sure that in the end, good triumphs over evil."
Stretched out dizzyingly high above the ocean on the north side of the island was a steep, rocky cliff. The sombre grey ocean crashed against the sharp rocks jutting out from the sea, spraying white mist up into the sky. The forest on top of the cliff was getting pummeled by the rain, much to the ire of one annoyed Art Swiftpaw, and one amazed Midwyng Coeptigo.
"How did we end up here?" Art practically yelled with irritation. "We've wasted so much time walking just to end up here?" Midwyng, meanwhile, was looking down at the sharp rocks and the ocean below, their eyes wide with wonder.
"Woah, that's so much water, water, water. It goes so far, far, far!" They said with excitement.
"Yeah, crazy," Art replied absentmindedly. Holding his free paw over his eyes, Art looked out for any nearby islands that they could possibly sail to. Nope, nothing. "Damn it. Well, this was useless."
Midwyng commented, "You curse too much, much, much… Hey, do you think there's a way to see the rest of the island from here, here, here?" They asked, smirking.
Art crossed his arms and looked behind them at the forest. "Why are you smiling like that? Anyway, maybe? I could try climbing one of the trees to get a vantage point."
"Go right on ahead, ahead, ahead," Midwyng said eagerly. Art scoffed. That stupid bat was definitely up to something, but he didn't really care to figure out what. Gently lowering Midwyng to the ground, Art walked over to what he thought was the tallest tree and began to climb. In a matter of seconds, he found himself overlooking the forest's canopy. If this was any other moment, he might've stopped to enjoy the view, but he couldn't. Not now at least. Right now, it's about getting out of here as fast as possible. There's no time to relax. Not when everyone's life is at stake.
Much to his irritation, however, he couldn't see. What time was it right now? It sure felt like days had passed, but judging from the sunlight (or more accurately, the lack of it), it wasn't even morning yet. "Wonderful, this was very useful," Art muttered dryly to himself. He scurried down the tree and pushed himself off, landing on the damp grass with a thud.
"Hey, Midwyng, we should head more inland. There's nothing around here for a while… where did you go?" As he walked back to the spot where he left the bat, he found that they were missing.
"Midwyng?" Art called out. There was no response.
"You've got to be kidding, I was gone for a minute." Art wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or worried that Midwyng disappeared in such a short amount of time. They were either hiding to scare him, or they were somehow captured in the short time he was gone. It clearly wasn't the latter, but where could they have hidden? There's nowhere to go except for…
"Oh lord." Art ran towards the cliff edge, slowing down in case he slipped on the wet grass. "Midwyng?" He called out, trying to hide the concern in his voice. Crouching down at the edge, he looked down to see…
Clinging against the rough cliff face was Midwyng. The bat's claws were hooked into the many grooves of the rock, keeping them in place as they looked down at the rough waters below. Ice-cold fear shot down Art's spine. Midwyng was going to fall, he needed to do something!
Still, Art managed to keep his voice neutral. "Midwyng, stay right there, don't move, I'll get you, okay?"
Midwyng looked up at Art, their face bore an excited grin, "Oh, took you long enough, enough, enough. I thought you'd be up there longer, longer, longer."
Out of all the responses Art was expecting, that wasn't one of them. "Huh?" It was then that Art realised Midwyng was actually climbing down the rock face, albeit very slowly.
"Yeah, I wanna get a closer look at whatever this is, is, is. Do you see this, this, this? This is so cool, cool, cool!" Midwyng's footpaw slipped, but they managed to steady themselves. They continued climbing down as if this wasn't a stupid idea.
"You mean the ocean?" Art asked, growing angry at this revelation. "Please tell me you didn't send me to climb that tree just so I wouldn't stop you from climbing down."
"Yup, yup, yup," they responded bluntly.
Art bared his teeth in a snarl, "You've got to be kidding me! Get back up here you moron, you're going to die if you keep climbing down!" Can bats even climb? Well, clearly they can. What in hellgates are they thinking? Art thought angrily to himself.
Midwyng looked up casually, "It's fine, I've gotten practice climbing with only three limbs, limbs, limbs."
"That's not the issue! If you fall, you're going to hit those rocks!"
"Maybe, but I wanna see the… you said it was called an ocean, ocean, ocean?"
"That's not the issue right now." Art looked from side to side, then back down at Midwyng. "Can you climb up by yourself?"
Midwyng scoffed bitterly, "Why do you care, care, care?"
"Because I don't want you to kill yourself out of stupidity, are you able to get back up here?"
Midwyng tilted their head, confused. "Yes, and do all squirrels get scared this easily, or is it just you, you, you?"
"I'm not scared," Art snapped defensively, "But get back up here. Please."
Thoroughly confused, Midwyng slowly climbed back up to safety, lying down on the grass next to Art. "Happy, happy, happy?"
"Yes, actually. What were you thinking?" Art asked, his voice shaking mildly.
Midwyng tilted their head, narrowing their eyes at Art, "I was fine, I already told you, you, you. How was your tree climb, climb, climb?"
"Uh, I found out that we're nowhere near anything useful."
Snickering, Midwyng pointed high above them toward the canopy. "No, I mean, it was a pretty high climb, huh, huh, huh? Oh no, wait a minute, you could've fallen, fallen, fallen!" They gasped dramatically, causing Art to growl, "What were you thinking climbing up that high, high, high?"
Art's paw clenched into a fist as he scowled at Midwyng. "That's different, besides, you told me to climb up there. You just started climbing down that cliff like you wanted to kill yourself."
Midwyng rolled over onto their stomach, "Eh, doesn't matter, matter, matter. Don't get mad at me for climbing something high when you did the same, same, same."
"Why are we even arguing about this right now?" Art asked, drumming his paw against the ground. Are they seriously that petty? Please just shut up. "I wasn't mad. I mean, I'm mad that you tricked me, but just shut up. I don't want to see any of us get hurt, and that includes you. So just shut up, okay? I wanted to ask you something."
Midwyng pretended to stab their mouth with a claw (Art found it a weird gesture, but okay) and went quiet. Art pointed inland and began to explain, "I assume that if we want to find the other prisoners we'd either need to go find shelter or head further inland. Either way, we're in a really bad spot because we're at the edge of the island, and in the middle of nowhere. Any questions?"
"Uh, yes, yes, yes. Why do we need to find the other prisoners, prisoners, prisoners?"
Art crossed his arms, "So we can help save them, obviously? We're going to try to get everyone off of the island and back home."
"We, we, we? I didn't agree to this, this, this."
"I guess you don't have to, but if you're just going to be a prick and not even try to help, then you can-"
"No, I mean, can we even trust them, them, them?" Midwyng quickly blurted out. "We don't even know them, them, them."
Art tilted his head with surprise. He was expecting Midwyng to respond with 'I hate everyone and I don't want to help them, you stupid squirrel.' "Okay, first off, I know the other abbeydwellers. Second off, stop being dumb, of course we can trust them. Well, most of them. More importantly, I don't know why any of the other prisoners would try to sabotage us when we're trying to help them escape." Art was quickly getting annoyed by Midwyng, but he grew a little curious wondering about Midwyng's hesitance in not wanting to find the others. "But I want to hear your input, why don't you think we can trust them?"
"My input, input, input? Really, really, really? Well, think about it this way, way, way," Midwyng began, not speaking with their usual sarcasm. "If we decide to work with them, a situation will come where they'll betray us to give themselves a better chance at escape, escape, escape. Besides, just because you've known somebeast for your entire life doesn't mean you can trust them, them, them. Trust me on that, that, that."
"Oh, since when were you concerned for my safety?" Art snapped before quickly apologising, "Sorry. And I get that you've never met them, so sorry for calling you dumb, but I'm pretty sure I can trust all of the beasts I know… maybe except for Brother Thaddeus. Or Brother Durkfor." Okay, now that Midwyng mentioned it, I could see a couple of them doing that. Huh. "But even then, we're all still working together, right? We're all stuck here, getting hunted by the same beasts. We can trust them, but if they even think about betraying us, they better hope I don't have a weapon in my paw," Art muttered.
A self-assured smirk crossed Midwyng's face, "See, see, see? You can't even trust your siblings, I told you, you, you."
Art grabbed Midwyng by the paw and pulled them up, propping them against his shoulder once more. "Oh, they're not my brothers. As far as I know, I don't have any siblings. How do I describe it? Back home, it's like a sign of respect." Even if some beasts at the abbey don't deserve it, Art mused to himself.
As they began to walk, Midwyng feigned annoyance, "Hey, how come when you were calling my name earlier, you didn't call me that, that, that?"
"Because I don't respect you," Art responded bluntly.
Midwyng grinned, "Well you're rude, rude, rude. But you're in danger telling a beast with sharp fangs that you don't respect them, them, them."
"Is that a threat?" Art asked exasperatedly.
"Oh, are squirrels stupid too, too, too? Of course it was a threat, do you need me to explain what a threat is, is, is?"
"Oh, no, I was just going to mention the fact that I have four working limbs, so if you attack me, I'd tear you apart," Art countered dryly.
Midwyng giggled, "Oh really, really, really? Who here has killed more, me or you, you, you?"
Art sighed, "You're counting kills now?"
"Yes, and if we're going by that, I'm clearly better, better, better."
As the two of them walked into the dark forest, they continued to trade insults and threats. In his head, however, Art was focused on how he could get himself and everyone else off this island. Realistically, it would be difficult, but he knew that he'd be willing to do whatever it took, and nothing would stop him from trying.
"Uphold good at all costs." You told me that a long time ago, didn't you, Ravi? Don't worry, I promise that no matter what I have to do, where I have to go, who I have to hurt or even kill, I'll make sure everyone still alive comes back home. That's what heroes do.
Toran Firepool was terrified. There he was, a small, weak otter who'd be an easy target for anybeast that wanted to kill him. In fact, somebeast already tried to kill him. Toran's mind went back to the lake, where he was forced to drown a rat to survive. The young otter shivered and pulled a heavy coat closer to his body. He wanted to vomit. He hated violence, he would always cower in fear every time he witnessed a fight back home. How did this happen? Why did he have to bloody his paws?
He shouldn't be here. He should be back home, fishing with his older siblings, not sitting at the entrance to an abandoned mine. He clutched his bag tightly against his chest and sniffled (Toran went back to the lake to take a bag from one of the bodies, much to Ahlrath's worry, but Toran knew it'd be a good idea to grab one). The memory of his kidnapping rose from his hazy mind and he shivered.
"You idiots! Who is that otter? That's not the target!" A scary-looking wildcat shouted from the bow of a large ship.
The two beasts restraining Toran shuffled awkwardly, "Sorry cap'n Tiviko, we was gonna capture her, but we got caught. We didn't wanna return wit' nothin' so we nabbed the lil' one."
Tiviko drew his bow, "You got caught? Are you two being pursued right now?"
They nodded sheepishly.
Tiviko sighed and rubbed his forehead with a paw. "Just get onto the ship, chain the otter to a bench and shut the door. You know what? It's fine. The beast who asked us to do this is just having a stupid revenge fantasy, and they're not even paying that well. I think it will be fine if we captured her son instead. You two did well." Toran could sense the wildcat was lying through his teeth, but his captors didn't seem to notice and puffed their chests out proudly. "On another note," the wildcat began, "Mess up like that again and you're on 'fishing' duty. Also, I'm taking over the captures from this point on." Once again, Toran could sense a sinister tone coming from the wildcat, but the others didn't seem to notice.
They did as they were told and led Toran down to the brig. As they opened the door, fear shot up the otter's spine. The room was dark and empty. There weren't any other beasts in the room. The walls seemed to creak constantly as if it was ready to burst open and fill the room with water at any moment.
"Alright, sit down." Toran was forced down to a bench as a collar was chained around his neck. Then they left.
Toran was left there for who knows how long in the dark, and though another prisoner wouldn't arrive until two days later, she wouldn't talk to him or anything. He was alone in that room for what felt like forever, and it terrified him. When would he get out? Would they even let him out? What was going to happen to him?
But… if what the wildcat said was true, they were trying to capture his mom. If that was the case, it was better that he was here, right? Toran couldn't stand the thought of any of his family in his place. He loved his family too much to let that happen.
Just when Toran thought he would break down from the stress, a third prisoner was captured, and it was none other than…
He was taken out of his thoughts by the harsh sound of metal scraping against rock as Ahlrath Palaechia pushed an overturned minecart in front of the mine's entrance. The burly mountain hare patted the minecart with a grin and looked at Toran. "Ah reckon it'll be harder fer anybeast t'come in an' kill us." Ahlrath looked at the minecart and tsked. "Though, ah guess it willnae stop anybeast, it'll just slow em down." Seeing Toran's downcast expression, however, Ahlrath corrected himself by saying, "But even if they do get in, we'll be fine."
Toran couldn't help but smile a little. The minecart didn't make him feel better, but having Ahlrath around did. They were among the first three prisoners captured and were seated right next to each other. The two of them grew fairly close in the brig. If there was anything he was glad about in this scenario, that was it.
"How're ya feelin'?" Ahlrath asked as he sat down next to Toran.
Toran shrugged, "Good."
Ahlrath nodded, "That's good." He rubbed the back of his neck, unsure of what to say. Evidently, he wasn't used to being around children. "Wanna play another game?" Ahlrath asked sheepishly.
"Um, Ahlrath? What should I do if somebeast tries to hurt me again?" Toran asked quietly. Ahlrath looked surprised, not expecting Toran to ask that. But Toran was still scared. If it wasn't for that rat going in the water after him, he surely would've died.
"Well…" Ahlrath seemed unsure how to respond. "Yer a child, and ye look small, even for yer age. Ah'd say just run or hide. Use anythin' around ye too, whether yer hidin' or fightin', ye can use your surroundings tae help ye."
Toran nodded as he took in the information. He then remembered how the rat tried to grab him in the water. "Waddabout if somebeast is grabbing me?"
"If ye can't run, try tae fight back as hard as ye can. Use whatever ye can tae get away. Claws, tail, teeth, somebeast forget that they can use those," Ahlrath responded. He motioned to his throat, face, knees and crotch. "Try tae aim here, an' keep attackin' 'till they letcha go. O' course, that doesn't help if they're wearin' armour, but y'know."
Toran nodded. Truth be told, however, both of them had doubts it would actually work. Still, it was better than nothing.
Ahlrath looked into Toran's eyes and spoke gravely, "But first, try tae run. Only fight if yer already been grabbed. Don't be stupid and try tae fight 'em if ye dinnae have tae. Aye? They have swords an' axes, an' yer a child goin' against adults."
"Aye," Toran responded. While he wanted to learn about self-defence, the more he thought about it, the more worried he got. Back home, he was one of the weakest otters in his entire holt. If he ever got caught, he'd have no chance. "What else should I do?"
Ahlrath sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Listen, lad. Ah can show ye some stuff later, but ah havenae ever taught anybeast, so ah dunno what ter tells ye. Ah'll think 'bout it, just ask me in an hour or so."
Toran tilted his head to the side, "You've never taught anybeast?"
"Nae," Ahlrath admitted. "Erm, how strong are ye?"
Toran didn't know what he was supposed to do and punched Ahlrath in the stomach as hard as he could. When Ahlrath hardly reacted, Toran felt his face grow hot with embarrassment.
"That's not how ye punch correctly," Ahlrath commented. "But aye, ah'll think o' somethin' later." Toran slouched over, staring down at the ground with unease.
"Hey, laddie, dinnae worry. Everythin'll be alright." Just then, Ahlrath smiled. To Toran, it was the fakest smile he'd ever seen.
But still, it was comforting to know Ahlrath would be there to help him. For that, he was thankful.
She was alone.
Kallius Placent watched with a heavy heart as she watched Thaddeus Elderbark run into the nearby forest, kitchen knife in paw. Just upstairs, Farshawn Iriswind was asleep on the sofa in the armoury. She likely wouldn't rise for a few hours, maybe more.
Kallius sighed and sat down underneath the front entrance, gazing up at the sky and listening to the rain. She was going to allow Thaddeus to have his wish to go out after the rain had stopped, but neither of them knew how long Farshawn had. They needed to find help as soon as possible. It was a grim situation indeed, but what else could they do? She stood up and gently closed the front door.
The tower's first floor was furnished with a table, stools, a sofa, and four cots, each with a chest underneath. It seemed whoever was stationed here had to live here for a while. It made Kallius sad to think that whoever lived here was probably dead, and it only added to the already unsettling nature of the tower. The abundance of moss growing outside, the furniture being in shambles when they first looked inside, the fact beasts were hunting them, and so many other reasons made this tower feel cursed.
She heard the sound of thunder cracking outside and jumped. Cursed or not, she still had to do something. The way things are right now, we are defenceless. I have no doubt they are going to find this tower eventually, and I don't want to leave. Not while Farshawn is injured.
But if they were attacked, they were in a lot of trouble. Farshawn was injured, and Kallius wasn't a fighter. Hmm… if we can't fight, what about fortifying the tower so they can't get in? She thought it was a fair idea. At least that way, she could let in prisoners if they came to the tower, and keep away the guards if they tried breaking in. Though it wouldn't stop anybeast from getting in, it would only slow them down, so she needed another option. She opened the door that led upstairs and walked into the dining area.
Right above a small window was a rack used for storing knives. One was already given to Thaddeus, leaving two other knives. Kallius reached up and grabbed a cleaver from the rack. She tucked the cleaver in her habit cord and walked upstairs to the armoury. As she walked up the steps, she thought to herself, what was it that we were told in abbey school? A well-planned-out defence can stop even the most elaborate sieges? Redwall Abbey had gone through many sieges, but then again, they usually had more resources than we do right now.
Kallius opened the door to the armoury and walked over to Farshawn, who was propped down on the sofa. Blood was soaking the cushions around her shoulder red. Kallius stared at that red spot and felt her heart drop. Everything just seemed so hopeless. Her friend was bleeding to death, and she didn't know what to do about it.
Using the cleaver, she cut pieces of her hood and tied them around Farshawn's shoulder. "Are you supposed to take off the old bandages and clean the wound?" Kallius muttered nervously to herself. "What am I supposed to do?" The best thing she could think of doing was maybe creating a poultice with plants outside to help ease the pain, but she didn't know what plants grew around here, and that would require leaving Farshawn alone.
Besides tying more bandages around Farshawn's shoulder, she ended up not doing anything else and gave up. Kallius walked over to the ladder leading up to the trapdoor and climbed up. She opened the hatch and stepped outside, peering out at the forest surrounding her. Somewhere out there, there were other prisoners just like her and Farshawn. Scared, hiding, and clueless. There was only so much they could do alone, and she wondered if the other prisoners were trying to find help.
The stone tower rose up high above the canopy. She would be able to see far when the sun came up. I already sent Thaddeus out to find help, but can I do something too? What can I do to gather the other prisoners while keeping the guards away?
Before she could think of a plan, however, she first needed to fortify the tower. Climbing back downstairs, she walked all the way down to the first floor. Luckily, the tower didn't have broken walls like some of the other buildings on the island, so all she needed to worry about was the front door and maybe the windows. The windows were pretty high up though, so she decided to focus only on the door. Kallius went over to the table and pushed it onto its side. She began to push the table toward the front door, grunting with exertion when she suddenly got an idea.
That's right, the room I put Thaddeus in earlier had some useful things in it. Kallius guessed the room was for storage, even though it couldn't fit that much. What she did find inside, however, was a length of rope. If she fully blocked the front entrance, could she drape the rope from the windows to selectively choose who she wanted to let in? It was worth a shot.
After examining the second-floor window, she was glad to see that a beast could fit through that window. Sure, it may be a tight fit, especially for an otter, fox or hare. But even if they couldn't fit, she could just move the barricade from the front door.
Speaking of the barricade, she could tell that part would be bad. She wished she thought of making a barricade before sending Thaddeus out so she wouldn't have to do it by herself, but there wasn't anything she could do about that now. The front door worried Kallius a bit since it was made of wood, but placing enough objects in front of it would work, right? Using all her strength (which isn't much), she began to move various pieces of furniture in front of the door. The tables, sofa, chests, anything she could find.
By the time she pushed the first table in front of the door, however, she was exhausted. Kallius leaned against a nearby wall, panting heavily. There was still a lot of work to do. Pushing the rest of the furniture, tying knots into the rope to help beasts climb up, creating a poultice for Farshawn's wound, and more. But she knew she had to do it. Not just for Farshawn and Thaddeus, but for every single prisoner on this island. While she still had the luxury of relative safety, she needed to do whatever she could to make escape even just a tad easier for everyone else.
But as she worked alone in that stone tower, she wondered, how long would that safety last?
