Chapter 37

The Status Quo


Even after he left the town and found the rest of his original group, Tiviko Polonuk couldn't stop looking over his shoulder. Without his bow, he had to rely on his dagger. Unfortunately, while he knew that he was skilled with the weapon, he still needed to be wary of a few prisoners.

I barely managed to capture Ahlrath using my bow and some traps. I have no chance against him with just a dagger. Borsen better be doing his job so I don't have to fight him.

Arthur's volatile, and he has a weapon. I guess it'd depend on what mood I find him in.

Gurnilal's strong, and if Vhynias is with her, she'll pose a threat depending on what the fox decides to do. Maybe I'll look for Vhynias, next.

Bolgash has skill, but she's too cocky to use any of it, so really, she's nothing to worry about.

Noruth's strong, but he's slow. I should still keep an eye out for him, though.

Tiviko would be delighted to learn that Noruth was dead, Bolgash was injured, and Vhynias was dead while Gurnilal was alone, rendering her mostly helpless for the time being. However, he didn't know this, so he stayed in a bad mood.

The wildcat growled and shook his head. He needed to get back to the task at paw, which was searching the spot they had come across. Normally, for something like this, he would've just quickly skimmed it and carried on. However, there were signs of life nearby- blatantly obvious ones at that.

Tiviko stretched his arms above his head and glanced towards the tent that sat near a set of ruined docks. He decided to take a peek inside and found a raft. Not only that, there were freshly placed materials inside the tent. There was even a belt wrapped around two stones and a flail stuffed into the corner. On a side note, the wildcat couldn't help but chuckle. Admittedly, he knew very little when it came to ships and maintaining them, but this raft looked like it could barely go five tail lengths without sinking to the bottom of the ocean. Even if this all turned out to be some elaborate bait for an ambush, he was surrounded by beasts willing to protect him so he wasn't worried. It wasn't as if losing them would be any problem. He made sure to keep the beasts that knew the most about sailing on the ship.

Anyway, Tiviko walked up to a weasel examining the raft. She looked over as the wildcat approached and nodded. "Oh, hey cap'n."

"Hello." He kicked the raft lightly with a footpaw and asked, "So, how is it?"

The weasel snickered. "Looks like a sorry excuse fer a vessel. But I'd reckon ye could repair it an' make it to one o' d'other islands, which I'm guessin' they're gonna do."

"Ah. Well, that'd still be bad. I don't care if they toss themselves in the ocean on a sinking raft or starve themselves to death on a separate island, but we don't get paid if there are no corpses."

"Is that what they asked fer?"

Tiviko nodded, even if he thought, who else would ask for the kills to be confirmed, their parents?

The weasel flashed a thumbs-up and resumed examining the raft. "Oh, by d'way cap'n, that reminds me, Jence told me that they came up wit' a new game t'play wit' d'dice they found in the storage. Tried it myself, it was fun. Ye should join us fer a game sometime!"

"Oh, did Jence finally come up with a fair and playable game that we can actually win?" Tiviko asked, forcing some playfulness into his voice.

"Aye, I know," the weasel laughed. "But yeah, ye should join us."

Tiviko feigned a smile. "If you say so, it sounds fun."

"Nice! Oh, and Haolyn told me to pass on a messa-"

"I'm going to go check out the docks, tell me later."

"Oh, see ye then."

"Bye." Tiviko waited until he was outside the tent to mutter a curse. Dear lord, these beasts were unbearable to be around sometimes. The last time one of his crew asked him to spend time with them, it ended up being less fun than getting thrown overboard and floating on the water for days before starving to death. As it turned out, Tiviko was quite content staying alone in his room during his free time, but everyone else got bored easily, especially since Tiviko was the only one who interacted with clients.

It keeps them loyal, he told himself. Sure, but it doesn't mean it's awful to endure.

Now, onto the main point. Evidently, there were prisoners using this place to store the raft and any extra supplies. Since they weren't here right now, they would likely return later. Tiviko scanned the area. Besides the destroyed docks and the carts, there didn't seem to be that many places to hide. The treeline was too far away for what he was planning. However, he then walked over to the docks and looked down. There was a small platform of rocks underneath where a few beasts could stay. Perfect.

Tiviko clapped his paws and called out, "Everybeast, gather around. I have a plan."

Within seconds, the rest of his group had made a circle around the wildcat. Wasting no time, he laid out his orders, plain and simple. "The four of you standing over there will hide underneath the dock for any prisoners to return. Understand?" Tiviko pointed to four beasts that were both expendable (then again, that could describe this entire group) and that he trusted could wait for hours on end without moving. One of the four was also the weasel out of sheer pettiness. He was not in the mood for any of this right now.

"Got it. What do we do if nobeast comes, though?"

Tiviko grumbled to himself before answering. "Stay here until midnight. If nobeast comes by that time, then you can meet back up at the ship. Alright?"

The four beasts nodded. Tiviko led them to the hiding spot and they sat down. It was a bit cramped, but they could all fit. Tiviko headed back to his group and motioned for them to follow. With a decent party left behind to watch the docks, Tiviko felt comfortable searching the island yet again for more prisoners. Meanwhile, the four beasts left behind were content to wait for the prisoners to return. Even if it wasn't the most fun thing to do, Tiviko told them to, so they wouldn't argue.


Unbeknownst to the ambushers, however, two beasts had already returned to the tents. Luckily, they did so out of sight. Squatting by the treeline, Ulfrad Shorepass whispered a sharp curse as he motioned for Miena Dawnraft to leave. "Damn vermin! They're here!"

Miena grimaced, looking at the folded tarp she held in her paws. "Oh, stick us with a pike an' throw us in a river. Where are we supposed to put this?"

Ulfrad scowled. The guards just had to come to this spot out of all the places on this island. At least fate was oh so gracious enough to wait until they returned with more materials before sending guards to the raft. Ulfrad was carrying one of his flails with one paw and a shovel with the other. Not to mention one of the bags that Miena had found earlier.

Aye, we should've travelled lighter. Then again, if we left our stuff inside the tent, we would have to leave 'em behind. Ulfrad sighed. Aye, this is irritating either way.

As Tiviko's group began to move, Miena motioned for Ulfrad to duck down. "Let's hide until most of them leave," she mouthed.

Ulfrad nodded. The only positive of the situation was that they arrived just as the group was leaving, so they didn't have to wait long. Tiviko did stop at one point and sniff the air, but luckily for them, getting your face slammed into the road by an angry mountain hare is bound to mess up your senses for a bit. The two otters sat frozen in the bushes as Tiviko eventually left while the beasts following him moved loudly through the undergrowth.

Ulfrad snorted once it was safe to make noise. "Well, that's a lot of vermin. Did ye hear how loud they were? That's exactly why I ain't travellin' with a large group again."

"Uh huh. Safety in numbers, sure, but ye move louder and slower. Speaking of which, my arms are tired." Miena adjusted her hold on the tarp and motioned for them to evacuate the area.

Although the lack of chains made moving quieter, it still wasn't silent with the amount of stuff they carried. Ulfrad slung his metal flail over his shoulder and looked around. "We need t'find someplace to put this until they leave. Any ideas, Skipper?"

"Aye, but I'm not looking forward to it," she said humourlessly. "We could stuff 'em in a log or something, but that's a lot harder to keep track of since we've never been here before. I say we go with someplace recognisable we don't have to mark ourselves. There're a buncha carts over there, so there's likely a mine nearby. Maybe we should go there?"

Ulfrad nodded. "Anywhere besides here, at least."

"Ye got that right."

Once they were far enough away to speak normally, Miena glanced back and snorted. "So, we just have to wait 'till they piss off and leave, aye?"

"Aye, I think so. From what I heard, it would be around midnight."

"Wonderful." Miena rolled her eyes and adjusted her grip on the tarp. "I know what ye said earlier, but in hindsight, it prolly would've been a neat idea to bring Kallius and the kid wit' us. At least we'd have servants to carry this rubbish," she said in a sudden regal tone.

"Nope. Can't risk it. We would've been spotted if they were here too."

"I was making a joke, I don't actually think of them like that."

"I understood it, I just wish ye'd stop makin' jokes at times like this."

"Aye, ye told me earlier." Miena sighed. "Y'know, I've been meaning to ask, are ye alright? Ye've been acting pretty snappy."

"I'm not-" Ulfrad paused, realising that no matter how he answered, it'd prove Miena's point. He took a deep breath. On further reflection, maybe he'd been a bit irritable, but in his defence, it was pretty warranted. "Sorry, I'm alright. Probably would've been better if we'd never met up wit' that fox, but we don't have to worry about that anymore."

Miena laughed dryly. "Oh really now? Y'know, two or three of his mates're still alive, aye?"

Ulfrad scowled. "So what're ye sayin'? We still need to get rid of 'em?"

"Get rid of- no, that's not what I was saying at all!" she snapped. "I'm saying that if they figure out what happened, we're in trouble. The fox seemed really special to them, and as history has proven many times, beasts can be, well, vengeful."

"What difference does it make?" Ulfrad asked coldly. "They're against us whether we killed their leader or not, and their behaviour at the temple proved that they're volatile." The otter shook his head and sighed.

Miena snorted. "Sounds like ye just don't trust anybeast."

"That's not true. I trust ye. I trust the abbeydwellers, too. I just doubt that a few of them would be useful."

"Okay, at a certain point, I feel that we need to rethink our selection process because this entire thing would be a lot easier to handle with somebeast other than the two of us."

"I never said I was against it. I just said that we can't have anybeast slowin' us down."

Miena grinned. "Aye, but I wouldn't exactly call most of the beasts in the brig properly trained fer situations like this. Maybe we ease up a bit, aye?"

Ulfrad immediately wanted to say no, but if it was Miena telling him this, he might as well think about it for a bit. Strangely enough, however, his mind wandered to a certain mole. Bless Noruth's heart fer thinkin' we can work wit' the vermin and give everybeast a chance, but he's naive.

Something that kept sticking out to Ulfrad, however, was that Noruth was still willing to give him a chance even after he admitted to knowing that the otter had left him in the forest. For the briefest moment, he even wondered what would happen if he was in the mole's position. No, surely he'd give himself a second chance, too. He knew what he was like.

Ulfrad shook his head before he could continue this line of thought. There wasn't any need to think about it too clearly. It wasn't as if thinking of the "what-ifs" could be helpful right now. He needed to stop overthinking it. All he needed to know was that everybeast, even your best friend, might stab you in the back one day, and that vermin will always end up betraying you. Those were the two simple facts in the world, and no matter how many beasts thought otherwise, they couldn't change.


43 seasons before the ship's crash


It wasn't any one event that inspired that line of reasoning. Heck, there wasn't some grand tragedy that made him believe this either.

Ironically enough, it was a matter of trust.

Just like everyone else growing up, he was a stupid kid. A kid who just so happened to befriend a fox around his age. Although everybeast around him would constantly say that he shouldn't trust vermin, he couldn't figure out why. This one seemed fine, at least. Eventually, however, he was caught meeting up with them and was punished. As well as that, he wasn't allowed to see them ever again.

Ulfrad sat on the grass, rubbing his eyes boredly while eating lunch with his father and his friends. He was beginning to miss his fox friend, but something felt off to him. There had to be a reason for their distaste for foxes, right? Ulfrad looked up at his father and asked, "May I ask somethin'?"

"Aye, go fer it," his father replied.

"Why am I not allowed to see my friend anymore?"

At this, his father sighed. A few of the other otters looked over as well. "'Tis fer yer own safety. Ye can't ever trust a fox."

"Or vermin, fer that matter," somebeast added.

Ulfrad's father nodded. "Aye. They're a dangerous, savage bunch. Ye can't reason with vermin, Ulfrad. They're thieves, murderers, an' torturers, all of 'em."

The young otter shivered. "Really?"

"Aye, so do me a favour an' never get involved with them again. If ye do see one, tell me."

Ulfrad was willing to believe it, but curiosity got the better of him. "Do they really do all that? I've never seen one torture or murder somebeast."

"Ulfrad," his father said sternly, "just trust me, aye? Ye can never trust their kind."

"Never? Not even nice ones?"

The older otter snorted. "They're never nice. If they are, 'tis usually a ruse."

To Ulfrad, it seemed like a matter of "don't trust them just because I said so", even if they were like his friend. However, that raised the bigger question, if somebeast as nice as that fox was actually evil, what about the otters in front of him? What stopped them from sticking a knife in his back? It was just a stray thought, but when he thought about it a day later, there wasn't anything stopping anybeast from hurting somebeast if they really wanted to. Of course, he'd never say this out loud. As he grew older, this same sentiment of "don't ever trust vermin" kept getting parroted to him, and with the lack of any other thoughts, he just kind of accepted it. After all, if everybeast around him was saying the same thing, and otters generations past agreed, then why wouldn't he believe them?

He still never asked that other question, though. What was stopping anybeast around him from stabbing him in the back? He never got a solid answer to that one.


8:30, Day 2


Ulfrad sighed. He almost felt sorry for Noruth. For whatever reason, the mole was way too trusting, even to him. Though, he had to admit, it felt kind of nice having him around, even if he was a naive moron. Hm. Maybe if we do find him, we'll let him come along. We'll see.


Kallius Placent was surprised at how good Toran Firepool was at staying hidden. Anytime he saw tracks or heard sounds in the distance, he seemed to have a basic idea of what to do to ensure they weren't caught. When Kallius thought about it, she didn't like the implications of a beast as young as he knowing this kind of stuff, but she decided not to ask. She merely thanked the otter for helping them avoid the guards.

The two took a break by the river, and Kallius made up for Toran's work by foraging stuff for them to eat. It wasn't much, but it was definitely better than nothing and more than some of the other prisoners had been eating.

Still, she was tired. Kallius rubbed her eyes and stared at the grass. Even now, Thaddeus and Farshawn's faces wouldn't leave her mind. The last time she spoke with Thaddeus was a little over a day ago when she convinced him to leave the tower to go find help. Meanwhile, the last she heard of Farshawn was her bloodcurdling screams when Borsen was carving into her. The hogmaid shuddered and buried her face in her paws.

She looked up when she felt a paw prodding her shoulder. "Hey," said a small voice, "Are you okay?"

Kallius looked over at Toran, who drew back slightly. If nothing else, at least she had Toran with her. "Yes, I am fine," she smiled weakly.

Toran tilted his head and looked at the water. "Sorry about your friend."

"'Tis fine," Kallius mumbled.

Toran fidgeted with his tie for a moment before asking, "Um, will you be good?"

"I am not sure," she answered honestly. "Why are you asking?"

"Well…" Toran held out his tie, moving it between his fingers as he continued. "Are you hungry?"

"We just ate, so no. Why?"

The otter turned away sheepishly. "I dunno. Usually, that makes beasts feel better," he mumbled quietly. Kallius' expression softened. Toran turned back and asked, "Can I do something to make you not sad?"

For some reason, that set Kallius off. Tears formed in her eyes. She hugged her legs to her chest as the faces of beasts she would never get to see again floated through her mind. She wanted to tell Toran how she felt, but she couldn't unload that on a kid. Besides, Farshawn and Thaddeus always depended on her to be the stable one. She couldn't break down here. She wiped her face and nodded. "I'm fine. Thank you for asking, though."

Toran continued playing with his tie, but he didn't say any more. Kallius was about to get up when she heard rustling behind her. Toran heard it too. The two whipped around and saw two more prisoners standing behind them. One was a vole wearing a red poncho, and the second was a brown rat in a vest.

Yos Peonymaid and Crookedfang had found them. Both of them held daggers.

Kallius stood up and stepped in front of Toran. However, she immediately felt guilty in doing so. She was supposed to trust these two, they were prisoners just like her. Still, the daggers were concerning, so she didn't move away from Toran. "Hello," she greeted, trying to keep her voice calm. "Can we help you?"

Crookedfang grimaced and loosened his grip on the dagger. "Er… hello."

"Hi," Kallius mumbled awkwardly.

A tense few seconds passed before Kallius decided to break the silence. "Um, do you need something?"

"Uh…" Crookedfang droned on, lowering the dagger bit by bit.

Eventually, the vole, Yos, decided to answer for him. "No, sorry. 'Tis been a tense day or so. Apologies for the scare, we weren't expecting to see anybeast here."

Kallius' heart calmed a bit. See? Everyone is just scared. Nothing to worry about as long as we can work it out. "Oh, by Martin, am I glad to see other prisoners here. Are you two doing alright?"

"Aye," Crookedfang blurted a bit too quickly. It was a strange response made even stranger when Kallius noticed the bandages wrapped around his entire right arm. Actual bandages. Not the ones that she and Farshawn made from their habits.

Didn't the wildcat have bandages with him? Kallius thought to herself. They must've stolen it from the guards, right? That must've also been where they got the daggers. They looked in too good of a condition to have been scavenged from the island. Still, Kallius found herself pushing Toran back more. "So, um, shall we stick together? For safety? I see that the two of you are armed."

Crookedfang nodded. "Aye, we uh, have these daggers."

"Where did you find them?" Toran asked suddenly.

The rat paused. "Well, uh, we found 'em, uh, somewhere's where-"

"We found them on a body," Yos quickly answered.

Toran tugged on Kallius' hood and whispered, "I think we should go."

Kallius wanted to agree, but what if these two really were just scared? Guilt tugged at her throat like a noose, preventing her from leaving. "No, I want to give them a chance," she whispered back. Toran grimaced as Kallius faced the two beasts, forcing a smile on her face. "I apologise, I do not think we got to properly introduce ourselves. My name is Kallius."

The small otter looked Crookedfang directly in the eyes and mumbled (in what Kallius could swear was a lot softer than anything she'd heard from him before), "Hello. I'm Toran. Are you going to help us?"

Crookedfang turned away, murmuring uncomfortably. Toran's gaze lowered to the dagger in the rat's paws, which he tucked into his sash. Yos frowned ever so slightly and that's when Kallius realised she didn't lower her dagger at all. Kallius cleared her throat. "And, your names are?"

"Crookedfang."

"Yos."

Once again, the conversation was at a standstill. Kallius hummed awkwardly and clasped her paws together. "So, shall we get going and we can catch each other up on the walk? Oh, for that matter, we were planning on… actually, we do not have a great idea of what we want to do, yet," she lied. "What about you two?"

Yos looked up at Crookedfang expectantly. The rat glanced back and forth between Kallius and Toran, ears splayed back.

Toran pulled on Kallius' hood. "I think we should-"

Crookedfang lunged, wrapping an arm around Kallius and wrenching her away from Toran. The otter screamed.

Yos raised her dagger and swung at Toran. He stumbled to the grass with a yelp and crawled towards the river.

Kallius screamed and thrashed in Crookedfang's grip. With only one healthy arm, Crookedfang couldn't grab his dagger while restraining Kallius, but he undoubtedly had the strength to hold her back.

Yos looked up just as Toran dove into the water. Groaning from stress, she turned towards Kallius. "Keep her steady," she ordered.

"Stop! Please! Help! Help!" she shrieked. No matter how much she struggled, Crookedfang wouldn't let go. Kallius shut her eyes as she saw Yos raise her dagger again.

She heard a splash to her left proceeded by a yelp. When she opened her eyes, she saw Toran pulling Yos away. Even though he was a child, his being an otter meant he was still larger than Yos, a vole. However, Toran slipped on his wet paws, dropping Yos into the water with a panicked splash. Toran's eyes widened once he realised what happened. He shuddered violently, backing away immediately.

With Crookedfang's focus now on the river, Kallius kicked the rat off her. She ran towards Toran and pulled him away from Crookedfang. "Toran, are you alright?"

The otter shook his head. Tears formed in his eyes as he stared at the vole struggling in the running river. "Not again… We have to help her, please!"

Crookedfang turned to the vole and then back at the prisoners he and Yos just failed to kill. His expression hardening, he promised, "I'll get 'er."

Kallius watched as Crookedfang tucked his dagger into his sash so he could retrieve the vole. She tilted her head. Yos dropped her dagger when Toran grabbed her. Thinking quickly, Kallius grabbed Yos' dagger and stuffed it in Toran's bag. While the rat was pulling Yos out of the river, she moved to hide Toran's view of what was happening. "Toran, take a deep breath, alright?"

The otter's breathing hastened. "B- but I don't-"

"I'll do it with you. Come on, in… out…"

Toran did as he was told, albeit shakily.

Kallius nodded and glanced over her shoulder. "Good. Alright, Toran, she's getting out of the water, alright? Nobeast is getting hurt. Deep breaths again. I will do it with you. In… out…"

The two repeated this until Yos was pulled safely to the riverbank. Kallius turned around to face the rat and vole, who seemed to notice that one of their daggers was missing. After checking one more time that Toran was okay, she stood up and stared down Crookedfang and Yos. These two just tried to kill her and Toran, and while that was detestable, that wasn't the only thing that caught her attention.

For the first time in a while, she was truly, genuinely angry. Her fists clenched by her sides as she glared at the two traitors. "What is wrong with both of you? Do you realise what you are doing? Did the wildcat put you up to this? Is this how you got the weapons and the bandages?"

Crookedfang nodded sheepishly. Kallius continued. "How can you sell out your morals to team up with the beasts who put us here in the first place? I saw your faces. Both of you knew this was wrong, yet you went through with it anyway! You tried to kill a child! How could you?"

The rat clutched his head. "I dunno! I'm-! Dey promised me my friends'd be spared, okay?! I dunno what to do! I don' want 'em t'die!"

Kallius grimaced. The rat's expression was one of desperation. Farshawn and Thaddeus' faces floated through her head again. Crookedfang may have been wrong, but to an extent, so was she. "That… that is horrible. I am sorry for your friends. But I still think there is a better way to save them without helping our captors."

Crookedfang gazed shamefully at the ground. Kallius and Toran began to walk away, but before they left, Kallius spoke. "For what it is worth, I hope you find your friends and all of you get home safely. If both of you change your minds about working with the wildcat, just know that it is not too late to do so."

"Easy fer ya t'say," she could hear the rat mumble.

And with that, Kallius and Toran were off. After what had happened, neither wanted to be around them, but Kallius still felt guilty about leaving them behind. Once they were far enough away, Kallius looked down at Toran and sighed, "I am sorry. I should have listened to you."

"It's fine," Toran mumbled.

"Are you alright?"

Toran shook his head. "I don't want to hurt anybeast ever again. I was so scared, but even if I go home, I'll…" he wiped his face. "Do you still think everybeast will work together? I want them to. I hate this. I don't want to fight. I just want to go home."

Kallius closed her eyes. She was doubting it at this point, but Crookedfang's betrayal seemed to stem from one thing: fear. If there was a way to alleviate that fear, could there be a chance for everyone? Being in a group would certainly remove the paranoia of being alone.

Still, the knowledge that prisoners were willing to work with the guards lowered her confidence. Even if everyone got together, one beast could ruin it if they stepped out of line.

She shook her head. No, she needed to believe. That was the only thing she could do, anyway.