Now that classes are done I have more time to work on the story. I have 3-4 chapters coming up that I'd like to get done before the new year. I'm trying to work on the dialects and accents for my characters so I'm trying some new things. It's a work in progress but I know it will continue to improve.
Thank you all so much for the feedback and the support you are giving me! It helps me stay motivated when writing and want to improve! Please let me know what you think and what I can work on. Enjoy!
The sun's bright rays broke through the trees to the undergrowth below. It was a cold yet otherwise beautiful day. Snow had fallen the night before blanketing the woods along with the helpless vermin deserters. Sathe tried her best to shake off the cold. But the snow made it impossible to find any comfort as she tightened her cloak around her thin frame.
Rolling over she saw Seabane carefully stacking sticks onto a damp fire. Both hadn't slept since their fight with the squirrel and his family. Sathe did her best to ignore the old corsair, she was still seething after he had saddled her with the responsibility of caring for the baby squirrel. The rat was going senile or mad. Although it seemed like every beast around her was mad.
Sathe left the opening of their makeshift tent and squatted next to the fire. She rocked back and forth on her aching footpaws. The snow had been trampled down and turned the dirt beneath her into freezing mud. Her footpaws were frozen, but she didn't want to risk getting her rear wet. She silently cursed herself for not bringing a warmer cloak. All the worries and issues that bothered her in the horde looked far less troublesome now that she was cold and hungry. She glumly rocked herself back and forth until the small fire worked what little warmth there was into her fur.
Sathe closed her eyes trying to remember everything that had happened that long and miserable night. She remembered so much but it all seemed to be a blur. Seabane and Crooksnout had gone to bargain with the beasts inside the cottage. Mukfur, Herrik, and Ruddy went to the rear of the house and attacked, against Seabanes orders. The cottage had gone up in flames and Seabane had blamed her and Mukfur for it.
Why her! Sathe burned with rage. Of all the vermin to lay blame on she should've been the last. Seabane had said it had to do with her lying to them about the river. But she had found it! Eventually. She was also the sole reason most of them were walking and weren't dead due to their injuries. What were her thanks? The burden of caring for this disgusting squirrel! She stared daggers at Seabane but didn't say a word. The insult made her blood boil. She wasn't a maid, or a slave, much less to a Squirrel of all lowly beasts! Seabane still had Marrow on a tight leash and the last thing she wanted to do was anger either of them. They still held their weapons tightly. She would kill them both in their sleep soon enough. Once of course, they made it far enough south.
From the makeshift tent, somebeast broke into a coughing fit. Seabane looked at Sathe. She wheeled about ignoring him and strode furiously to the opening of the tent. The tent was only one in name, it was nothing more than the checkered blanket Marrow had salvaged from the squirrel's home. It was pinned on one side to the only stone wall that hadn't collapsed from the decrepit home. It slanted downward from the top of the wall and was held in place on the ground by stones from the home's other collapsed walls. It did very little to protect the beasts inside from the freezing wind, but it was better than nothing.
Sathe stooped low and stepped over a groggy Crooksnout, who sat leaning against the wall at the entrance to the tent. His arm lay limp in Seabanes hastily made sling. Sathe hadn't tended to his wounds yet. She hadn't wanted to. He groaned as she stepped over him.
Sathe stood half bent over between the prone bodies of Herrik and Silvertoung. Herrik hadn't moved since they made camp early that morning. He had been clubbed on the head severely during their fight with the squirrel. Sathe had used moss to stop the bleeding and wrapped his head in what was left of her bandages. The bleeding had slowed but it was clear to Sathe that Herrik would need a fresh wrap soon enough.
Curled up pitifully next to Herrik was Silvertoung. She lay shivering on her side holding her three kits and the baby squirrel close to her. The vermin, at Seabane's orders, fled as fast as they could into the night. They only stopped when Silvertoung collapsed after hobbling along with her mate. Seabane tried to urge her forward, but she couldn't stand. Mukfur had told him to leave the two weasels and their kits. They were only going to slow them down and they didn't have enough food to feed everyone. Sathe saw true fear in the old corsairs' eyes. Deep down she was pleased. Seabane was the one who had forced them all to leave with nothing but the hollow promise of some better life! He was insane, and it was he who had gotten them lost. They were all going to starve to death if the cold didn't kill them first. He deserved every ounce of misery brought upon him!
Seabane was just about to give the order to leave the weasel family, but then Ruddy stumbled into the low wall of the ancient home. Seabane told everyone to make camp and had Sathe tend to the wounded. Bitterly Sathe had done so, half blinded by the darkness and the snow. It was a miracle that no beast had died. A miracle that only Sathe could pull off. But she along with Seabane hadn't gotten a moment of rest. She was too cold and miserable to do so.
Sathe kneeled and checked the weasel's temperature, along with that of Silvertongs kits. The weasel maid had nothing but her long green dress to cover her, which was dirty and torn from the constant travel. Silvertoung was burning up and her footpaw had worsened as well. The bandage and foot were a blackened red, and Sathe gritted her teeth when removing it. It had grown significantly worse. The cut had deepened, and dirt and debris had managed to get past the bandage making the red and pink of the flesh a deathly black.
Sathe carefully cleaned the wound with snow and applied the rest of her pine salve and dry moss to stop the bleeding. Disheartened she realized that she had nothing to wrap the paw in. She cursed bitterly under her breath and looked around the tent for something to use in place of a bandage. Initially, she looked to see if there was some extra length of coat or cowl that somebeast didn't need. She couldn't find anything decent enough to use as a wrap. Swallowing her pride, she turned and headed towards the fire.
"I need a bandage." Seabane was slow to respond which spurned her disgust.
"Need wot?" Seabane finally said as he turned his eyes from the fire.
"A bandage, wrap, some cloth, ye deaf rat!"
Seabane turned to look back at the fire. "What for?"
"For Silvertoung you dolt!" Sathe spat. She was tired of dealing with this fool. She was tired of all of them. She could leave and they would all die within days.
Seabane said nothing but looked lost as he stared into the fire miserably. This infuriated Sathe. Couldn't he see that she needed it now? It was something that could save that useless weasel Silvertoung.
"How much do ye need?"
"Enough to wrap 'er paw."
"Is it still that bad?"
"Worse now that ye forced her to run through the woods carrying her mate last night. We could've had a warm and cozy cottage all tah ourselves."
Groaning Seabane pulled out his cutlass. Carefully grabbing the blade, he cut his sleeve off and handed it to Sathe.
"Yar, that's one valuable bandage. Use it wisely." He warned.
Sathe said nothing but turned and headed back into the tent. Her prize in hand.
"Why don'ye use yer cloak, ye don't need all of it?" Crooksnout said as she approached the tent. He was now fully awake and had watched their encounter.
Sathe had her cloak, which was better than all the other vermin, but it was the last thing she wanted to give up or damage. It distinguished herself from the rabble she was surrounded by. It was her cocoon where she could hide away and scheme. It also showed that she was better than them, not that they seemed to notice or care.
Sathe said nothing but bumped into Crooksnouts broken arm on her way past, evoking a yelp of pain. She laughed coldly as he rolled in agony.
"Put snow on yer arm, might make ya feel bettah." She mocked. Crooksnout swore at her and went to join Seabane hunched over the fire.
Sathe wrapped Silvertoungs paw as best she could. She could tell that the kits were coming down with a cold. Twinetail and Fenril were both as warm as their mother, and Ripeye had a hacking cough. Sathe could see that none of them had winter clothes and they lay huddled tightly against each other in a desperate attempt to stay warm.
For a moment Sathe felt sorry for them. She remembered being sickly, frozen, and hungry when she was a kit. That moment left as quickly as it came. She didn't want to remember when life was like that. Besides they weren't special like she was, Sathe reminded herself. They were just more vermin scum that stole away another mouthful of vittles from her. They wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for her.
Sathe left the tent and went back to the fire. Crooksnout was holding snow gingerly against his broken arm. He spat when she approached.
"Be happy I jus' saved yer mate's life." Sathe hissed at Crooksnout.
"By wrapping 'er paw? Naw yer just sayin' that because yew needs to feel important." Crooksnout laughed at her. "If ya really wanted to ya could've fixed her paw by now, but ya didn't because ya can't."
Sathe swiped for Crooksnouts broken arm. Half expecting it he moved out of the way. Cursing at her in the process.
Seabane rubbed his eyes with his paws and tried to ignore the two arguing vermin.
"Sathe's too secret an' powerful to do that." A voice came from behind them.
Ruddy bounded around the crouching vermin, his axe jingling from the hip. He spat into the fire and stretched in front of her. He was oddly happy for a beast without a scrap of food. It annoyed both Sathe and Crooksnout to see it.
"Couldn't be too hard to be a seer. But where's the fun in that? Hiding under a stupid cloak like yarr somethin' bettah than us!" Ruddy said as he bounded past Sathe, his tail whipping her in the face as he did so.
Sathe roared and hurled a fistful of snow at the fox. Hitting Ruddy in the head and sending him to his rear. Crooksnout laughed mockingly.
"Shaddap fox! Anybeast with half a brain to swing an axe could've slain that squirrel. Don't speak like ye've done anything." Sathe snapped.
"At least I didn't run from the squirrel like yew did! Ya call yourself a great seer then why didn't you use yar seer magic to see what was going to happen? It's because you don't have any! Ya act as if you do but under that cloak yer just a stupid, lazy, ugly ferret!" Ruddy spat as he hurled a chunk of snow back at her.
Sathe leaped up and threw another paw full of snow at the fox, Ruddy did the same and knocked the hood of Sathe's cowl off her head. They cursed at each other as they threw snow, displaying their colorful vocabulary and poor aim.
Crooksnout laughed at them both and nudged Seabane who weakly looked at him. "Looky here Cap'n. The fox kit and the cloaked coward are fighting over who kin starve to death the quickest."
Seabane turned to Sathe and Bloodclaw as they scrounged about the dirty, frozen ground searching for more ammunition.
"Why don't ye both go looking for some vikkles? The two of ya might find something worth bringing back." He asked them wishing that they would be quiet.
"Or ya might kill each other. Either of which I'm happy with." Crooksnout added.
"Why don't yew go? Afraid ye might hurt yar arm?" Sathe asked mockingly.
"Crooksnout don't know what's edible and poisonous like you do Sathe. Ya wouldn't like him to bring back a bit to eat and have it kill us by the time it gets ter our stomachs."
"It'd slay us quicker than yew leadin' us rat." Sathe said venomously.
"Not as fast as it'll take Marrow to kilt' ye." The great white rat got up after hearing his name. He was sleeping on a fallen log that marked the other side of the vermin camp, a few paces from behind Seabane. Marrow's blood-red eyes focused on the ferret.
Sathe bit her tongue as a chill crawled down her spine. This was a test. That squirrel must have said something to Seabane to have him even think of testing her. Even after all she had done for them, healing their wounds, and keeping them alive thus far. Sure, she might have lied initially about the river, but she had found it, as well as angry otters and shrews. Sathe could find some roots for them to chew on. The last thing she wanted was to be the first of the vermin Seabane let Marrow have his way with.
After a moment of angry silence, she sighed. "Fine. I need to find more pine sap and fresh moss for Silvertoung and Herrik. It'll be hard to find something to eat when we don't have a pot to cook in."
"Bring back what ye can an' take Ruddy wid ya."
"Why?" Sathe and Ruddy blurted at once.
"Because 'e needs to learn how to find vikkles if he's gonna lead his own horde," Seabane turned to look at Ruddy. "An' because he annoys me and if he keeps fightin' then I'll have him fight Marrow."
Ruddy grumbled but stayed silent.
"An' Sathe, yar better not come back empty. Remember de squirrel's life is in your claws. If it dies then you die. An' it'll always eat after we've had our fill." His threat didn't leave room for interpretation.
"An' what will ye be doing when we're gone? I'm tired of doin' all the work while you sit around barking at us like we're slaves. This isn't the horde an' we're not on the Damnation." The barb seemed to stick, and Seabane finally showed some life as he returned Sathe's menacing glare.
"I'm gonna build us a better shelter wid Marrow an' Crooksnout. If we make somethin' that protects us, then we kin hopefully not freeze to death." Seabane stated with an attempted air of benevolence.
Crooksnout opened his mouth to argue but wisely shut it.
"Now find us some vikkles!" Seabane snapped at them reaching for his cutlass.
Sathe spun on her heel and quickly walked towards the forest, Ruddy followed closely behind.
"Remember Sathe," Seabane called out harshly. "Come back with somethin' or don't come back at all!" Sathe quickened her pace.
The soft crunching of pawsteps through the snow was all that Sathe focused on as she searched the forest floor. She hoped to find late-season dandelion, wild garlic, wintercress, ginger, or anything else worth getting her paws covered in snow for. Ruddy toddled along behind her, with very little interest in their task. The fox was focused on hacking at the branches and trunks of trees instead of being helpful.
"Stupid brute." Sathe thought to herself as Ruddy struggled to remove his axe from a tree he had just lodged it in.
As she foraged, she tried to think of a way to escape from these fools. Run away and leave them to slowly wither and die. She was interrupted by a falling branch.
"Stop that!" Sathe snapped after the fox had continued slashing at branches above him. Causing another to fall and almost hit Sathe.
"Stop what? I'm looking for food. An' I'm marking a path when ye get us lost."
They weren't lost. Sathe was too prideful to admit that.
"Besides when are ye going to tell me how to forage? It's been a quarter a day and I'm hungry."
"Would ye listen? No, ye wouldn't! You'd get bored and then do something stupid to get us both killed."
"Ya don't know that." The young fox shrunk from her scorn. It sounded to her that he had wanted to learn. Probably being egged on by Seabane telling the fool he'd be a warlord someday. Unfortunately for Ruddy, Sathe didn't want to be saddled by an apprentice.
Sathe jutted into the fox's face. "Yes, I do! It's the reason we're foraging for scraps in the first place! You, Mukfur, and Herrik ruined everything for all o' us!" The young fox was taken aback by her anger. This was the most Sathe had ever spoken to Ruddy.
"Seabane's mad but for once this whole trip he was close to doing something right," She crept closer. "And you, frogfaced idiots ruined it for all of us!" She roared.
Sathe hated the fact she was defending Seabane when he was the source of their problems. But even he wasn't totally to blame for their failure at the cottage. That landed on Mukfur and this stupid whelp Bloodclaw! It was nice to let out her anger at this pathetic beast.
"Y-y-yew coulda' helped." Ruddy stammered. "Ye could sneak in widout any beast knowing wid yer cloak and all."
"I'm a seer you dolt not a murdering brute!" She cuffed him and sent him to the snow.
"Yer expendable which is why Mukfur sent you to attack the cottage. If der had been anybeast but children in that cottage ye would've met yer fate at the end of that axe!" She hissed at the cowering fox.
"Remember that before ye swing that axe like a warrior." She turned on her heel and left the fox sniveling in the snow.
A short while later Sathe found a chestnut tree nestled amongst several pines. It was a short distance from a walking path, they had managed to stumble across. Ruddy had followed along like a lost babe after Sathe's scolding. The silence was nice; it allowed Sathe to think of all the things she needed to escape. However, she was still annoyed with the fox's presence, even in his silence.
"See these chestnuts on the ground." She pointed to the spiky husks lying in the snow. "Gather all o' em. We kin roast them and make a meal." He nodded quickly, avoiding her glare, and stooped over to gather as many as he could.
With Ruddy now occupied Sathe felt comfortable digging through her satchel. She had gathered plenty of pinesap and moss and had found a few miscellaneous roots and some wintercress. Ruddy had stumbled into some hawthorn and they had picked the plant bare. But they still only found a few mouthfuls.
Sathe ground her teeth. They couldn't survive like this. Even if this was enough for Seabane this wasn't enough for all of them to last more than a day. They didn't even have a pot to cook in. What Silvertoung and her kits really needed was a warm meal. Not chestnuts and some half-dead wintercress.
She leaned herself against the tree and closed her eyes, thinking of a way to escape. Ruddy's tail brushed her foot paw and she stomped on it. He quickly rushed away as Sathe sneered after him. Her anger did little to stop her stomach from growling as she assessed her hopeless situation.
She was silent in thought as she watched Ruddy. When she heard far-off voices.
Quickly she crouched and swung her head around searching for the source, her ears perked. Ruddy had noticed and quietly came to her side.
"Some beasts out there I can hear-"
"Shhhhhhh." Sathe venomously silenced him. The last thing she needed was this oaf to give away their position.
Sathe stealthily slinked towards the walking path. Carefully Ruddy followed.
The two vermin stopped beneath an old pine tree a short way ahead of the noise. They poked their heads around the tree and peered through the undergrowth. Within a stone's throw of the vermin stood two mice and a squirrel. They all wore thick winter cloaks and appeared to be traveling unarmed. On closer inspection, one of the mice was missing a leg and hobbled along strangely. Sathe would have thought it comical aside from the fact he carried a massive sword strung to his back.
Memories from her last encounter with woodlanders came flooding back to her and it made the hair on the back of her neck rise. Panicked she looked around frantically searching for otters or hares hidden behind trees or bushes. She couldn't find any aside from the dark-furred squirrel and the two mice. One of whom had strangely stopped in the middle of the path several paces behind the mouse with the sword.
Ruddy shuffled closer to the path and had both his paws around his axe. Sathe grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and pulled him back.
"What d'ye think yar doing!" She hissed. "We'll be seen!"
"They don't know we're here" Ruddy responded quietly, glancing painfully at her.
Ruddy went silent when he heard the whirring of a sling. He quickly dropped to his stomach as a stone flew overhead to his right. Sathe quickly did the same. Looking up she could see the mouse who had trailed behind was slinging stones at where she and Ruddy were hiding. He was a poor shot by all accounts, but he must have seen them!
She grabbed Ruddy who was covering his head with his paws.
"They've seen us!" She tried to sound less panicked than she felt. Memories from being chased by the otters less than a fortnight ago flooded her.
Ruddy's eyes were wide. "We should slay them before they do us!" He said flustered.
"Are ye crazy!" Sathe struggled to keep her voice down. "They'll kill us!"
"They'll kill you!" A stone landed on the prone vermin's left. Far too close for comfort.
"They've got vittles I kin smell it," Ruddy said in a frenzied pitch.
"An when I slay 'em. We'll have vittles, warm clothes, and a sword to bring back." He grabbed Sathe's arm. "If I decide to come back with all this loot." There was a mad, hungry look in the fox's green eyes.
It scared Sathe to think of what he would do with her if she disagreed or even if she went along with the plan. He had the larger weapon after all. Sathe remained quiet, the fox was starving and stupid. The mouse with a sling had to know where they were, and the one with a sword had the look of a ruthless warrior. If they attacked, they would be dead before they made it out of the bushes.
But the cold and painful hunger in her stomach was enough to make her at least consider the prospect. Perhaps they could catch them by surprise and slay them before the mouse could draw his sword.
"That could work," Sathe thought to herself as she drew her knife that was hidden in the folds of her cloak.
Ruddy smiled wickedly at her and got up into a low crouch. "Wait until they are just ahead of us then jump out an' attack 'em! They won't even know-"
There was a loud crack from above and before Ruddy could finish a branch from the pine they were under fell onto his head. Knocking him to the snow unconscious.
Sathe ran away from the path as fast as she could, not caring about how much noise she was making. She ran as fast as she could from the woodlanders and her comrade. Images and memories of the night at the river and the night of her abandonment of the horde flooded her vision. The war cries, the sounds of spears, stones, and arrows heading straight for her! She could hear it all amongst the clatter of her escape. She panted as she ran. Her hot breath came out in clouds of white. Running and stumbling through the woods as she ran from her attackers once more.
Suddenly her foot caught on to something. She felt horrifyingly weightless before crashing face-first into the snow.
Sathe lay there sobbing waiting for the mouse with the massive sword to plunge it deep into her at any moment. But nothing came. Her cries calmed into a whimper as she dared herself to move. She could only get onto all fours before she fell on her face again. Blood trickled out of her nose and onto the white snow beneath her. Sathe managed to get to her knees before crawling to hide behind a large oak tree. She shook uncontrollably and held herself rocking and crying. She held her arms beneath her cloak and tried to keep herself warm. She felt nothing while she was running, but now it felt as if the sun had disappeared, and she was covered in armor. She shivered for warmth and quietly sobbed, still expecting the mouse to walk around the tree and find her.
After moments of waiting nothing came. In fact, there was nothing at all aside from the quiet noise of the winter forest and Sathe's sniffling. Freezing Sathe got up and looked around. The woodlanders must have forgotten about her. They must've thought they had scared her off. For once not being the focus of attention was a good thing.
Sathe slowly worked her way upright, still pressed tightly against the tree, and peeked around it. There was nothing except the fallen snow and the tracks made from her mad dash.
Sathe didn't know what to do. She was alone in the forest without any sense of direction aside from her tracks leading to Ruddy and the woodlanders. She had dropped her knife in her escape and Ruddy had been carrying a good portion of the food. Seabane would kill her if she returned without the vittles or the fox. She tightened her cloak around her. It was the afternoon and the sun stood high in the sky, but Sathe couldn't feel any of its warmth.
She wanted to run off. Escape from Seabane and the rest of this worthless lot. She was sure she could find some more competent vermin that would see her skills as a seer and beg her to join them. But she was lost, unarmed, with no supplies at the beginning of winter, with another freezing night fast approaching. She also was just attacked by hostile woodlanders which meant there must certainly be others in the area. It would be wise to leave. Seabane and his band were nothing without her guidance. If Ruddy would've listened to her they wouldn't have been attacked! But she was as good as dead if she was caught by the woodlanders.
Sathe mulled over her options in silence. Her paws clenched on her necklace. She groaned.
"What a pathetic excuse for a seer," she thought to herself as she headed back toward Ruddy.
Sathe was careful as she retraced her trail. Every sound she made had her on edge, she was worried the woodlanders would set a trap for her. Woodlanders were ruthless and from what she heard rarely gave a second chance. She wanted her knife and whatever else she could carry. She had no clue if the fox was dead or alive. Everything had happened so quickly she didn't have time to check.
In the back of her mind, she tried to come up with some sort of explanation to Seabane about how his obedient follower had been killed. She wasn't sure he would accept her answer, even though Seabane had no reason to kill her aside from his own ignorance. She loathed Seabane's air of superiority. He was no better than the officers in Zidar's horde they had fled from. Unlike Sathe, the rest of the vermin didn't see the lies being fed to them. With his honeyed words, they'd follow him to the gates of the dark forest. Not that any of them would be going anywhere else. Deserting would mean other dangers. Out of all of them Sathe thought, she would be the most aptly able to survive on her own. She snickered to herself thinking about leaving them to suffer. To see the fear that would paint Seabane's face would be worth more than all the treasure in Mossflower. To hear the hopelessness in Crooksnout and Silvertoung's voice would be sweeter than any honey.
She slowly made it back to the path and the scene of the attack. Sathe scanned the surrounding woods but could find no hide or tail of any woodlanders. They were completely gone. She went to the path and could see that the mice and squirrel's trails continued down it until it curved out of sight. She cursed herself aloud, along with the mice and squirrel for good measure.
"Oooh, my head." Some beast bemoaned from the bushes.
Sathe jumped in surprise, ready to flee when she realized it was Ruddy.
He was leaning against the pine tree holding his head in his hands. Between his ears, a large bump was growing. His axe along with the branch, chestnuts, and Sathe's knife was strewn across the snow in front of him. Sathe could tell that he was still reeling from being hit and an idea quickly sprung to mind.
Sathe marched through the undergrowth towards the fox, an irritated expression worn on her face.
"Yew had to attack them. Yew couldn't have let them pass as I told you they would!" She scolded.
Ruddy remained silent as she berated him.
"Yew couldn't have just listened to me! But no ye had to act like a hero. Now yar hurt and we've lost the woodlanders who are gathering others to slaughter us." She shouted at him.
"W-why didn't ye stop 'em?" Ruddy managed to stammer out.
"Me!" Sathe shrieked. "I told you that you should stay put. I knew that something bad was going to happen if you attacked, but now ye put all o' us at risk!"
"How?" Ruddy asked looking up. "How'd you know?"
"You maggot-brained, flea-bitten, orphaned mutt!" She slapped the fox.
"I'm a seer, I knew what was going to happen because I could see it happening before it did! I ran so that I wouldn't be killed knowing that the woodlanders would be after me! They wouldn't slay a pathetic whelp like you, you're too… beneath them." Ruddy sunk down distraught, remembering what had happened.
She picked up her knife and held it under the terrified fox's nose.
"Do you know what they do to hordebeasts when they fail to listen to instructions?"
There were tears in the fox's green eyes. He shook his head.
Sathe pressed the flat of her blade to Ruddy's neck.
"We kill 'em."
Ruddy could take it no longer and burst into tears. He rocked with sobs as he begged Sathe for forgiveness and to spare him. Sathe listened to his pleas for mercy unmoving. She relished every moment. It was as if she was holding on to a sailor who had fallen into a stormy sea. She was the only thing that could save him from certain death. She held a beast's life in her claws.
Disgusted she pulled the knife away from his throat. Sathe had her fill of his agony. Ruddy fell to the snow choking and sobbing. Sathe looked away hiding her enjoyment.
"I'm sorry! I didn't know, I didn't know! I won't question ye again!" He pleaded through choked sobs.
"Pathetic," Sathe thought to herself as she put away her blade.
"I'm gonna have to tell Seabane. The first rule of leading a horde is knowing when to listen to those who know more than you. Why d'ye think Zidar surrounded himself with beasts like me? If he didn't, he'd never become as powerful as he was." Sathe said pridefully.
Ruddy's sobs turned to plead for Sathe to stay silent about their ambush.
"No don't tell him! He'll never let me become a warlord. He might even have Marrow kill me." Ruddy was desperate to not be seen as a fool. It might ruin his chances of becoming a warlord before it even begins. It would certainly damage his reputation even further amongst the deserters.
"Perhaps." Sathe said rolling the thought around. "But ye did let woodlanders escape knowing our location. It's not something that kin be ignored." She finished wickedly.
"No, please! He'll have Marrow kill me!" The sobs returned in waves. "Don't tell him, I'll do anything! I kin care for the squirrel! I'll slay Mukfur! I'll be yer apprentice-"
Taken back, Sathe burst out laughing.
"Why would I ever want you as an apprentice? Yer a fool who can't even carry an axe!"
She watched Ruddy as she continued to laugh. He was silent, all the excitement from his kill the night prior had vanished. Now he was just another scared young'un.
"You amuse me Bloodclaw." Sathe said as she stifled her mocking laughter. "Yer a fool but yer young and naïve, you could be of some use to me." She spat at him.
"I'll think about your offer as you gather up everything ye dropped. When we head back to camp, I won't tell Seabane about yer failures. But if he gets angry at our lack of food… well," Sathe cracked a wicked smile. "Yer going to take the brunt of his anger." Ruddy nodded swallowing his fear.
"If yer alive after that, then you'll listen to me and do what I say without hesitation or argument." He nodded again wiping his eyes with the back of his paw.
"Now pick this mess up!" Sathe snapped gesturing to what little food was lying in the snow. Ruddy quickly stooped over on all fours to gather everything.
"An' remember," Sathe said as she put her footpaw on Ruddy's back and pushed him into the snow. "If you say a word about this. I'll make you wish that mouse had cut you to pieces!" Sathe stepped over him. She watched the fox scrabble around desperately for the dropped food. Ruddy couldn't see it but Sathe was smiling, already planning how to use her new minion.