FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

II

Ambiguous Nature

The plump rat had arrived a few moments too late, stumbling onto the sandy beach just after everybeast had finished cheering Kurwin's glorious name. The ferret wasn't even standing on the crate and addressing his crew anymore. He was busy chatting with some of his high-ranking corsairs that still held the rank "captain" for the ships they used to command long ago. Razzik hurried as he dragged himself through the sand, panting and sweating, having spent all night running back to his crew to get away from the dreadful lizards. The black rat slowed down as he was a few yards away from the ferret and his lieutenants. A reddish-brown fox with a menacing red right eye saw the wheezing fat rat and chuckled.

"Too late, Razzik. We already had our vittles; ain't nothin' left fer you."

The black rodent huffed. "I don't...this ain't the time, Bloodeye."

"An' why not? While you was out stuffin' yore greedy face all night, the rest of us was busy scavengin' food for each other! Shame you didn't get back in time; we would've shared some wit you!"

Clearly the fox was only going to antagonize the situation. He ignored him and continued to head towards Kurwin.

"CAP'N!! Cap'n, we got big trouble ahead of us!"

Kurwin, almost instinctively, reached for his flaying knife within his waistsash. He and all the other corsairs turned and faced Razzik, the rat collapsing to his knees from exhaustion.

"Wot's goin' on? Have you an' the others been followed?"

"No...no, there are no others, Cap'n! Everybeast that came with me's dead!"

All the corsairs stared at the black rat with both shock and suspicion. He was covered in dried-up blood that wasn't his own, yet he didn't have a scratch on him. Given their nature, the first thing a pirate would suspect was a mutiny in its beginning phases. A very burly light brown stoat with a nasty scowl on his face growled as he approached Razzik.

"Wot d'you mean, everybeast is dead? If that's the case, why are you still standin'?!"

Razzik started to lift his paws, whimpering. "It-it-it's not what you think!"

"An' wot do I think, Razzik? You showin' up here, not a scratch on ya, yet all the beasts that went with ya is dead. There was nearly a score of corsairs travelin' with you!"

Another stoat who was aptly named Stinkfoot spoke up for the rat. "Calm yerself, Ishlin. Let the bloke speak."

"I am tired of beasts like Razzik twistin' everythin' around usin' only their mouths! We are not goin' through another mutiny again because--"

"LIZARDS!!! There...o-okay? It...it was lizards! Monitors!"

The black fox leaning next to a barrel and tossing a knife up and down chuckled wryly. "Yew know that's ridiculous. No monitors 'ave made it this far inland. 'Sides, they're only on Sampetra, 'member?"

"I-I'm not lyin'! They was monitors! They attacked us when we were lookin' for food! They ripped everybeast apart!"

"Except fer you," Ishlin added coldly.

"Tell us wot these 'monitors' you saw look like," Kurwin demanded calmly.

Razzik finally stood up and rubbed his head. "Uh, well-well they was fearsome lookin' things! Really-really big reptiles with long, thick tails! One of 'em broke Remmy's neck just by whackin' 'im in the head with it!"

Kurwin nodded. "And how big are these 'monitors'? Big as badgers?"

Razzik shook his head. "No, most of 'em was about the size of Ishlin. Although there was this one big feller; he was almost the size of a badger."

"Keep goin'."

The gray rat known as Dirtfoot scoffed and shook his head. "Are we really gonna stand here an' keep--"

"Keep goin'," Kurwin said again, loud enough to interrupt Dirtfoot's voice.

"Well, they 'ad these thick scales, they came in all sorts a' different colors--green, blue, uh...a blue one with black spots. They all had these sharp yellow teeth, slobbery mouths an' really foul breath; Dead-Eye's breath ain't even as bad as theirs was!"

The dark fox snickered. "Guess that must be sayin' sumthin' then."

"They just...they wouldn't stop eatin'. After they slaughtered everybeast, they just kept eatin', hackin' their bodies apart an' stuffin' all their flesh down--"

"All right, you can stop now; I believe you," said Kurwin.

"Wot d'yer mean ya believe him?!" asked Dirtfoot.

"I know wot monitor lizards look like, an' I know how they act. Spoke kinda like snakes, yeah? Said stuff like 'zorry' and 'zay'?"

Razzik nodded. "Yeah, somethin' like that. The-the leader of the lizards gave me a warnin' too. He wanted to let you all know that Krassak Ralfur is comin', that-that he's gonna tear this whole forest apart an' be the new ruler...that there'll be no place fer us to run or hide."

Kurwin, surprisingly, just smirked and chuckled softly. "A challenger, eh? Fine. Let the beast make his idle threats."

Ishlin, now believing Razzik's story, turned away from the rat and took his paw off his broadsword's hilt. "Cap'n, this don't sound like some idle threat. Even if it is, them lizards slew fourteen crew members! We can't sit here an' let that go unanswered!"

"He's got a point, Cap'n," said a shaggy ferret who looked like he should've stopped being a corsair seasons ago. "This Krassak arsehole and his lizards killed over a dozen good corsairs!"

Kurwin shrugged. "An' I'll miss 'em. But I ain't gonna stand here an' have my crew run around the forest lookin' for a few measly reptiles to slay. We've got more important things ta do."

"This wasn't some idle threat, Cap'n! I-I think Krassak's serious! I think he's gonna take over this whole forest unless somebeast does somethin' about it!" Razzik said.

"Cap'n, if what Razzik says is true, and we let these lizards go on a killin' spree out of our control, we won't have a forest to rule; the lizards will have already burned it all down," said Stinkfoot.

Kurwin sighed with exasperation. "They're just lizards! Bloodthirsty, connivin', loathsome beasts who kill and devour their own kind! Chances are they'll kill each other before we kill 'em! An' if not, then that's wot all those hares an' Redwallers an' otters an' wotever the fuck's in Mossflower is there for! We're not wastin' time huntin' down some lizards that'll be dead by winter anyways!"

"It's spring, Cap'n. Winter's a far ways away," said Ishlin.

The ferret grinned. "Like I said, the woodlanders will get to 'em."

"But, but Cap'n--"

"That's enough, Razzik! Yore lucky to be alive, considerin' all that's happened! I oughta slay yer myself fer yore cowardice and leavin' yore mates behind to get slaughtered!"

"Th-that's not wot 'appened, Cap'n!"

"I don't need to hear yore excuses! Just be glad I'm in a good mood this mornin' an' don't feel like punishin' you! Now go join the rest of the crew an' get yerself some supplies to carry! We're headin' out soon!"

Razzik didn't feel like wasting his breath. He did like his captain, but there were times when the ferret would only listen to himself and didn't care how hard he was on his corsairs, specifically him. The black rat sighed and nodded. "Yes, Cap'n."

The black fox stared at Razzik as he walked away before she put her knife back in her belt. "Y'know...I do agree with Ishlin an' Stinkfoot, Cap'n. Wot if these lizards--"

"We are done with this conversation, Kronno," he snarled.

All the corsairs recognized that tone. He more or less said "shut the fuck up or I'll cut out yore tongue" in the nicest way possible.

"Awright...so wot's the plan then?"

"This whole lizard affair just confirms how vulnerable we are without numbers. We need more vermin on our side...specifically the Juskarord clan."

Dirtfoot scoffed. "Juskarord? Aren't they just a wannabe Juska tribe?"

"Wannabe or not, they have a large amount of vermin in their tribe. If we recruit them, our numbers will grow, and it'll be easier to trounce any enemies we run into. Unless they've relocated since I last heard about 'em, we should arrive at their camp in a day or two. We've spent enough time restin' on this beach! It's time to start buildin' our new army!"

---

As ecstatic as the corsairs were, they all knew that this new journey would be very long, cruel, and possibly arduous. Not even two hours after the pirates entered the woods, some of them began to get bored. Some creatures were busy twirling their weapons around or double-checking to see if they had enough stones or arrows. Others were busy chatting amongst one another to pass the time, recalling all their past episodes and "glorious" days of being a corsair when they were younger. Two fox brothers could see that a group of rats and ferrets were having trouble walking along the ground and just wanted to rest. So they decided to perk them up a bit by doing what they did best: telling annoying, exaggerated tales of previous battles.

"Oh dear! Looks like somebeast is a li'l bored! Wouldn't ya agree, Islik?"

"Of course I would, Slivik!"

Slivik chuckled. "Did I ever tell you guys about the time me an' Islik got into a fight with pygmy shrews?"

A chubby rat with brownish-black fur sighed heavily. "No, yer haven't."

Slivik laughed. "Well, it's quite a lovely and long story; one that'll pass the time real easily! You wanna start first, brother?"

"Absolutely! So there we were, relaxin' our arses off on a hot summer day, gettin' drunk offa all the grog we stole! What was it, seaweed grog?"

"Fish head. It had all them lumps in it, 'member?"

"Right, right. Anyways, while I was busy practicin' my rapier skills, ole Slivik here was chokin' his shaft! Moanin' all loud an' rockin' his hips--"

"I was not! I was busy takin' a piss! Anyway, so I was pissin' an' suddenly, a bunch of tribal shrews appeared from the trees, screechin' at us and wavin' their spears around! So guess wot we do next?"

The chubby rat closed his eyes and sighed heavily, clearly not caring what happened to the foxes. "What?" he said, very flatly.

While the fox brothers were going on about their stories, the vermin at the front of the group were busy trudging through the woods, fully on alert for any presence of woodlanders. Kurwin wasn't at the very front, but he didn't shield himself with all his corsairs either; he saw it as a cowardly way to defend himself. His first mate, however, was up in the front, walking alongside the trackers and other low-level pirates, scoping out the environment. Trae looked to his left and right, watching as the trackers flared their nostrils and kept a close eye out for anything suspicious. It wasn't until one of them began to slow down and veer off to the left that Trae noticed something was wrong. He held up a paw and yelled out "STOP!" as loud as he could. The corsairs all stopped walking and froze, putting their paws on their weapons. The last thing they needed was to be ambushed from up above by squirrels. Trae and a few other pirates stared at the tracker as he kept sniffing.

"What is it, Longfang?"

The black rat with two hideously giant fangs sticking out of his closed mouth scowled. A very odd and musty odor was in the air, but it didn't smell like any other vermin were in the area.

"Dunno...smells like some snake's nearby."

"An adder?" asked a frantic Kronno.

"Like I said, dunno. But there's definitely some kinda reptile not far from 'ere. Can't really tell; the scent's faint."

"Awright, Turvin, Dead-Eye, go check it out," Kronno ordered.

"Aye," said both trackers simultaneously.

Trae watched as the dark brown stoat and ferret quickly and stealthily began to wander through the woods, seeking out the source of the stench. The weasel smirked to himself before he started to walk towards them, making the black fox raise an eyebrow.

"Where yew goin'? Dead-Eye an' Turvin can handle it."

"No reason why I can't lend a paw. 'Sides, if it is an adder, they're gonna need my help."

Kronno didn't argue with Traegar, mostly because his logic made sense. So the weasel quickly ran towards the two trackers, crouching down alongside them as they crept through the grass and twigs. Turvin and Dead-Eye saw the weasel walking with them and sighed.

"It's prob'ly nothin', Trae. No need to back us up," said Turvin.

"Aye. That's wot me spear's for!" Dead-Eye boasted.

Trae smirked. "Relax. I won't get in yore way."

The weasel made sure he was a few feet behind the two trackers. Both of them continued to walk for another minute before Dead-Eye spotted the beasts up ahead first. All three of them could hear whimpering as well and made out a few figures walking around another figure tied to a tree. Dead-Eye swore. Longfang was right; he did smell a snake, along with what appeared to be two red newts.

"Shite. There is a snake up there."

"Is it an adder?"

"No," answered Trae immediately. "Adders ain't that small. Can't tell if it's poisonous or not, but we should be fine."

"An' wot if it is poisonous?" asked Turvin.

Dead-Eye grinned. "Spear through its head should do it."

"Or we could just leave an' get back to findin' this Juska-wotever clan. They 'aven't seen us; why bother makin' a scene?"

"Cause they're torturin' some beast on that tree. Let's get a closer look."

The three vermin proceeded to creep forward as slowly as possible. The captured beast's whines were getting louder, as were the snarls coming from the two newts and the hisses coming from the snake. The corsairs lied flat on the ground, hoping that the grass would camouflage them well. None of the reptiles had seen them; they were too busy paying attention to the whining creature.

"Sounds like a babe to me," said Dead-Eye.

"Again, why do we care?" asked Turvin.

"Because it's a babe. How'd yew feel if it were yew tied up an' bein' taunted by a buncha beasts ready to eat yew?"

"I'd fight 'em off before they tied me up," she snapped.

Dead-Eye huffed. "Wot d'yew want us ta do? It's yore call, Trae."

The weasel grinned. "I thought you two don't need my 'elp? Yore the trackers; you guys decide."

Dead-Eye and Turvin went silent for a moment, considering their decisions. Dead-Eye chuckled quietly to himself before looking at Trae.

"I'm feelin' generous today. Let's go help the poor feller out."

"Well, I'm feelin' smart today. Let's leave the poor bastard ta get eaten," said Turvin.

"Damn. That's a shame, Turvin, cause I'm feelin' generous today myself. It's two against one; we go help 'im. We gotta be quick about so get yore weapons ready."

"But--"

"Deal with it, Turvin. If the snake's poisonous, it's poisonous. You better kill that thing 'afore it bites one of us, Dead-Eye."

"No problem sah!"

The newts and snake were still oblivious, even as the three vermin started to walk towards them. The average-sized snake was having too much fun hissing and laughing in his prey's face. The victim, a hedgehog no more than six seasons old, was still whimpering and crying, hoping this was all just a bad dream. The bigger of the two newts snickered as he licked his short dagger and placed it against the hog's throat.

"NO!! No, please, I dun wanna die!" he whined.

"Shaddap, breakfast! I'm doin' ye a favour! One swift slice an' you'll be dead 'afore ya even know what happened!"

"Stop talkin' an' get on wif it!" snarled the other newt.

The leader of the trio was about to kill the hog when a loud THUD filled their earholes. The newts' snake companion stopped moving and slithering around. Blinking, the smaller newt glanced at the snake and gasped. A massive spear was lodged in its skull, and blood was running down the reptile's limp body. Both newts stopped paying attention to the hedgehog and gasped when they turned and saw Dead-Eye standing a few feet away, grinning wickedly. The small newt didn't have time to say anything; Turvin struck quick and fast. Being skilled with throwing knives, she tossed two of them at the newt, slaying him instantly as they were planted into his chest.

"Wot--"

The other newt didn't have enough time to comprehend everything. He held out his dagger when Trae rushed forward, dirk in paw. Using his swift movements, the weasel stabbed the newt in the arm, causing him to shout and drop his dagger. Then he removed the dirk from his arm and planted the blade deep into the newt's throat. The slimy creature let out a gurgling sound as blood erupted from his mouth and he shuddered. The weasel growled with satisfaction before removing the blade, and the newt's body collapsed to the ground. The hedgehog stopped crying, but became nervous once he noticed that his rescuers were bloodthirsty vermin no different from the beasts they just slayed. Turvin exhaled.

"That was fast. You'd think they'd be a li'l more prepared or somethin'."

Dead-Eye walked over to the snake's corpse and grunted as he removed his spear from the reptile's skull. He stared at the brownish-black scales and chuckled. "Ya see? Got all worked up fer nothin'! This was just a grass snake, Turvin."

"Regardless, we just took that risk for nothin'. We shouldn't--wot are you doin' now?!"

Trae was standing behind the tree, grunting as he sawed his way through the ropes that bound the hedgehog to it. "No point in just leavin' 'im here after we went through the trouble to save 'im."

Turvin and Dead-Eye watched with surprise as the weasel eventually cut the hedgehog loose. Panting, the hog shoved the ropes away, still shaking as he looked up at the vermin. One was wearing an eye patch and donning a repulsive grin, another was filthy and carrying a throwing knife in her right paw, and the last one had blood splattered all over his face. Needless to say, the hog still didn't feel safe.

"Y...you rescue--"

"If I was you, I'd start runnin' back the way I came," Trae said.

The hedgehog couldn't stop staring at the weasel. After all the stories he heard about vermin, he couldn't comprehend why three of them would willingly kill the beasts who kidnapped and planned to eat him. Trae, getting irritated, crouched down so his muzzle was almost touching the hog's nose.

"Now," he snarled.

There was no need to ask twice. The hog turned around and began to run as fast as his small legs would take him. Just as Trae stood straight up, one of the branches above the weasel cracked and a few leaves fell to the ground. Suddenly, a cloaked beast jumped down from the tree, landing in the soft mud with a squishy thud. In the time it took to blink, the beast had his bow out, with an arrow aimed right for the fleeing babe. Trae saw what the beast was doing and quickly grabbed his arms, lowering them.

"What the hell are you doin'?!"

The beast, a ferret who dyed most of his fur red with black stripes on it, spoke in a soft and monotonous voice. "Killing that babe, if you would let go of my arms, that is."

"Yore not slayin' him! Not after we just went through all the trouble to free him!"

The cloaked ferret slowly turned and faced Trae. Most of his head was hidden beneath the red cloak's hood, but Trae could still see the ferret's menacing amber eyes and the scowl that seemed to be permanently glued on his muzzle.

"Then why, pray tell, did you rescue him to begin with?"

"Because he's just a babe, Bloodbrain! No point in lettin' some newts an' a snake have their way with 'im!"

"So if he were my age, you would have left him to die?"

"Yes," Trae lied.

Bloodbrain was about to call the weasel out on his lie, but by now, he couldn't even see the hedgehog. He sighed heavily, disappointed that he couldn't use his bow. The ferret calmly set his arrow back in his quiver and lowered his bow.

"Shame. I was hoping for a little target practice this morning. Did you three find anything else?"

Turvin and Dead-Eye shook their heads. "Nope! Just a snake an' some newts. No monitor lizards or wotever the hell Razzik said killed our mates last night."

Bloodbrain blinked and nodded. "Then regroup with your captain's army. We've been waiting longer than we should've been."

The menacing ferret turned and walked away from the trackers and Trae. Turvin scoffed and folded her arms.

"Glad somebeast thought my suggestion was a good one. Let's go."

As the three vermin started to head to what was left of Kurwin's crew, Dead-Eye started to snicker.

"Oh dear, the great an' bloodthirsty Traegar Rigglo, set astray by his conscience! S'matter, ya goin' soft on us?"

"Fuck you, Dead-Eye! It was yore idea ta free 'im in the first place! You got a conscience too; you just don't wanna admit it. What, did you plan on searchin' his pockets fer vittles and stealin' 'em after we freed him?"

The ferret blinked. "More or less."

---

The hares were all glad that they finally stopped walking. Ever since the Long Patrol encountered the stray vermin in the woods the other night, they had been roaming around Mossflower for what seemed like forever, only stopping to eat some food, empty their bladders, and void their bowels. But even the valiant badger known as Urthquake knew when he needed a break, and given how weary his army was, he knew it wouldn't kill them to sleep for a few hours tonight. So he and his army all decided to set up camp alongside River Moss. A majority of the hares were sleeping, but there were others still wide awake, always on the alert for any wandering vermin. Those not on patrol were busy bathing themselves or having a bite to eat before they slept for the night. Urthquake, as much as he didn't want to admit it, was gradually nodding off as he sat near the river, watching as the moonlight sparkled off the surface of the water. The badger rumbled and rubbed his head, running a paw down his blue stripe.

"No shame in admitting you're tired, sah. Can't stay awake your whole life, wot!"

The badger turned and glanced down at the chubby dark brown hare in his red coat. Urthquake grumbled and blinked, still trying to stay alert.

"I'm fine, Fenson. Just...bored is all."

Fenson snickered. "You mean irritated that you're not slainin' vermin?"

Urthquake smirked a little. "Maybe."

"Even you gotta call it quits someday, sah. You're not gonna be here forever."

"That's why I want to do what I can now. Can't accomplish anything if my army's spending all their time snoring away at night."

"And you can't fend off vermin if your army's too weary to fight, if their footpaws are red and bloody from walkin' around a week straight without stoppin'."

"Hmph, you're starting to sound like Hollis."

"I am not! That bloated windbag throws a fit if he sees so much as a scar ignored! 'Ooh, let me fix that for you; it'll get infected if I don't!' Tchah, the only beast I know who never relaxes in this whole unit besides you is good ole Stink Mouth!"

"I'm surprised at you Major, badmouthing your caring lieutenant that way--and in front of a Badger Lord too. Perhaps you should be the one who stays up all night on patrol with the gallopers."

Major Fenson coughed a few times and sniffled. "Well, you know, got back problems, eyes goin' bad in my old age, and, err...sleep deprivation is bad for my health, dont'cha know! I'd only slow them gallopin' chaps down; guess I won't be able to join 'em!"

Urthquake rarely ever smiled. At best he would smirk or grin smugly, usually in his own twisted and comical way. He looked down at the hare with a smug grin on his face and chuckled quietly.

"Guess not."

"...I am serious though. No need to overwork yourself, sah."

"Tell you what: I'll stop working so hard when I stop waking up with the stench of vermin filling my nostrils."

Fenson scratched behind his left ear. "Err...I believe that 'stench' might be you, sah. Been a while since you took off that armor and cleaned yourself. Perhaps you should rectify that, wot?"

With all the time the badger spent patrolling Mossflower and the neighboring lands, he rarely found the time to take off his armor and actually bathe himself whenever they stopped at a river. The badger grumbled and scratched his head.

"Fair enough. I suppose a quick bath won't kill me," said the badger, standing up. "But I'm not going to sleep."

"If you say so," said Fenson with a smirk, knowing the giant beast would be unconscious in less than an hour.

The rest of the area around the river was the same. Buried beneath the canopy were dozens and dozens of hares all grouped around campfires. Some were busy walking around the area with bows and arrows equipped--mostly the gallopers and corporals--while others were busy trying to sleep or chow down on the food they brought along or gathered. The same plump hare in the blue coat that kept getting irritated over Bosca's friends not calling him a hare was sitting on a log, sucking his left paw clean. He promptly opened his mouth and belched loudly, much to the annoyance of the hare sitting next to him.

"I was gone for three minutes!"

The giant hare snickered and licked his lips. "Not my fault ya left such a perfectly good dessert just lyin' around."

"That was my apple crumble, Becker! D'you know Friar Gavley made that specifically for me?!"

"Oh my, now that was rude of him! Surely the jolly ole mouse could've made more for the rest of us, wot! Wouldn't you chaps like apple crumble too?"

"Yes!"

"You know I'll scoff anythin' sweet!"

"Crumble? Where?!"

"Yeah, mate! Why didn't the friar make us any apple crumble?"

Becker chuckled. "Y'see, Saron? We all would've loved a bite of that crumble! Shame on you for not sharin' it with us!"

"Fine. Wotever. If you're so 'noble,' why didn't you share it with any other beast?"

Now everybeast around the campfire started to scowl as they stared at Becker.

"Yeah."

"Mind explain' that to us?"

"Did ya 'ave to eat it all, Becker?"

Becker chuckled casually, knowing he could easily get himself out of this situation if he lied hard enough. "Ah, yes...that. Y'see, I did all of you a favour! Good ole Saronso was only gone for three minutes. If I had shared it with you, then we would've gotten into a long and arduous, more importantly, savage argument about who gets what piece, how big the pieces are, who gets the last bite--you get the idea. And in all that confusion, Saron here would've taken her apple crumble and ate it silently to herself while she watched us all get into a big squabble! Therefore, I felt it was only incumbent of me to remove temptation from your lives, by eating all the apple crumble myself!"

Saron stared at Becker with wide eyes, before glancing over at all the young, more importantly, not-so-bright corporals sitting on the logs and scratching their heads. One of them shrugged, no longer upset.

"Oh."

"Huh...makes sense to me."

"Good thinkin', Becker! Now none of us will end up fightin' each other and lookin' like idiots, wot!"

Becker turned and faced Saronso with a satisfied grin on his face. "See, Saron? Gobblin' up your crumble was a good thing, wot!"

Saronso slapped her left paw against her forehead and exhaled. "I'm surrounded by fuckin' morons."

While Saron was busy trying to comprehend the corporals' level of intelligence, a few other hares were busy fishing with spears. Two of them were watching the spectacle while the others were actually standing by the river, hoping to snag some of the fish before they went to sleep. One hare jabbed a spear into the water with a loud splash, but struck nothing. He snarled as he looked at the empty end of the stick.

"You almost got it that time," said a female hare.

"Shut up, Frenquil! You're breakin' my concentration!"

"Perhaps if you hold the spear correctly, it'll improve--"

"You are more than welcome to catch your own bloomin' fish, wot! I've been at this all night!"

"It's not the way yore holdin' it, Captain. Yore not bein' patient h'enough for it. Let the fish come to you," said another hare also hunting for fish.

The captain didn't respond. He just kept staring at the water, watching as the silver-scaled fish slowly swam along the river. The captain grinned widely once he saw a particularly large adult fish that was bigger than his head move through the water. He shouted and stabbed at the water--and missed the fish entirely.

"DAMN IT!!"

The captain turned around and saw that Frenquil and her younger brother Morson were busy chuckling at him. He tossed the spear down and huffed.

"I'm relievin' you two of your duties. Now get your arses down 'ere an' catch some fish!"

Morson nodded. "Yes, of course! We'll get right on that, sah! Stanno, go grab some fish."

The young hare that was busy cleaning blood off his throwing knives looked up at Morson and blinked. "What for? Captain Qwuintuff just gave you an' Frenquil a direct order, not me."

"But you're not bein' productive right now; catchin' fish is more important than cleanin' a little blood off your blades."

"And what the 'ell are you two doin'?! You're just sittin' on your arses expectin'--"

"Whoa, that is your lieutenant you are speakin' to, Sarn't. You better watch your tone!" warned Frenquil.

"Just 'cos you two are lieutenants don't make you any better'n the rest of us!"

"Uh, actually it does," said Morson with a smug grin.

"An' let's not forget, we're both older'n you, little brother," Frenquil added, with an equally nasty grin.

Stanno growled. "Yes, I know. You two remind me every day."

The other hare carrying a spear thrust it into the water and quickly took it out. Then he grunted and tossed the spear on the ground in front of the other hares, with a fat silver-scaled fish impaled on the end of it.

"There, I caught one. Now everybeast shut the fuck up," he snarled.

The captain grinned widely and swiftly yanked the fish off the spear, grabbing it by the tail. He licked his lips and chuckled evilly.

"Good job, Issarck! You troops get the fire started; I'll deal with cleanin' an' guttin' it."

Just as the two lieutenants were about to issue more orders to Stanno, Morson flared his nostrils and scowled as he wiggled his nose. "Lakler's back."

"How d'you--"

"Trust me, he's back. Nasty li'l slob smells worse'n a searat."

Nobeast said anything for a few seconds. The other hares sniffed the air and detected the rotten odor as well, which only confirmed Morson's suspicions. About twenty seconds later, they heard somebeast moving around through bushes nearby. Everybeast turned and saw two hares both dressed in standard clothing: tunics and pantaloons, as opposed to customary Long Patrol clothing. It was easy to tell them apart, given that the hare on the left was very tall and smelled absolutely foul. Morson scoffed.

"See? Told you he was back."

Lakler laughed as he and the other hare joined the others. "Nice tae see ya too! Hope we didnae miss the grub!"

Qwuintuff grunted as he started to slice off a nice piece of filet from the fish. "Nope. Just in time actually."

The tall hare laughed again as he sat down beside Qwuintuff. The other hare could see that Issarck was trying to make a fire and began to help out.

"Anythin' to report?" asked the captain.

Lakler shook his head. "Nah! Well, t'was somethin' odd me an' Elonv found out there. Some lizzy-thingie just walkin' 'round in circles!"

Frenquil glanced over at Lakler and scowled when she saw the hare shamelessly stick a paw in his trousers so he could scratch his crotch. The dirty hare sighed with relief before he continued.

"Didnae see vermin though. Been real quiet tonight!"

"You might wanna send somebeast to check it out. Who knows, could be a scout for a group of bandits," said Elonv.

"And you just left him there?!" shouted Morson.

"Och, no need tae raise voice! Not like me an' Elonv didnae spy on 'im for a guid deal of time!"

"He just kept...walkin'. Goin' over his own footsteps, mumblin' to himself. Bloke's prob'ly not right in the head; I doubt he's a threat to us."

"Still, you left him there without even checkin' ta see if he's dangerous! Go find this lizard, Stanno. An' take Honward with you," Morson ordered.

Stanno didn't feel like engaging in an argument that he knew would result in his brother and sister belittling him like they always did, so he just huffed and stood up, ready to go look for Honward.

"Which way was the lizard spotted?"

"Just keep headin' east 'til you see some fallen beech trees and berry bushes. He's prob'ly still there," said Elonv.

"All right. Save me some fish," said Stanno as he began to walk away.

"Wotever you say!" shouted Qwuintuff.

---

So there the two sergeants were, walking through the woods using only the moon as their source of light. The red-coated hares kept examining their surroundings, making sure that no vermin were around and waiting to spring any traps. Stanno would occasionally see a few flying insects buzzing around the water or clinging onto the trees, but the whole area seemed tranquil. Honward was more relaxed compared to Stanno, but he still had his sling in paw in case there was any ranged fighting involved. A bird flapped its wings and landed on a tree branch, ruffling some of the leaves in the process. The hares heard no hooting or earsplitting squawks, so they assumed that whatever beast was up in the trees wasn't hostile.

"You seem a little edgy tonight," said Honward.

"I'm fine, Hon. Just the regular family problems is all."

Hon snickered. "That again, eh?"

"How the fuck is anybeast s'posed to work around 'em?! They're the kind of hares who make you think twice about becomin' a member of the Long Patrol, wot!"

"They're just pickin' on you 'cos you became a Sarn't at such a young age. You're only three seasons older'n Tike, and he's still a corporal!"

"Seriously?"

Honward nodded. "You knew this would be hard the day you volunteered. Can't just up and quit 'cos you don't like two lieutenants."

"I'm fine with battlin' vermin, killin' beasts and havin' blood splattered all over my face. If it all means I'm protectin' my family, then I'm okay with that. Ain't that the point of becomin' a Long Patrol hare: to keep goodbeasts safe?"

"We all 'ave our reasons for joinin', Stanno. Some of us just like the thrill of it, to be honest."

"Why'd you join?"

Hon shrugged. "Tike an' I've been friends for a while now. Grew up in the same village, played the same games, did the same fieldwork, all that good stuff."

"Then vermin attacked your village an' everythin' changed, right?"

"Not exactly. ...Well, yeah, some vermin came to our village one day--just some bandits travelin' through, wanted to steal our food and stuff. But they didn't last long; my father, Tike's mum, and a few other hares chased 'em off or killed 'em. We weren't leverets anymore, but we weren't fully grown either. Still, we just thought it was cool to see. But there were leverets in the village, and they all saw wot happened."

Honward blinked and shook his head. "They weren't the same after that. Didn't talk much anymore, had a tough time sleepin'; they was always scared bandits would roam through again. So me, Tike, an' a few other hares decided to stand up for the village, show 'em that they have no reason to be scared. Heh, you shoulda seen their faces when we came back a couple seasons later."

"Wot happened?"

Honward grinned. "Let's just say they ain't scared of vermin anymore."

Stanno chuckled. "I bet not!"

The two hares were about to resume chatting about their history when they heard a loud snarl. Both of them grabbed the hilts of their sabres and slowly began to walk forward. Stanno spotted the beech trees that had fallen last winter and exhaled, knowing the reptile was close.

"There's the beech trees Elonv was talkin' about," whispered Stanno.

"And there's our li'l friend," Hon added.

The two hares saw a pale yellowish-green lizard walking around in a circle. Both hares looked around the environment and sniffed the air, still thinking a trap was nearby. But besides the lizard, they didn't smell anything out of the ordinary. Nevertheless, they approached the beast with their sabres drawn. Honward was the first one to speak once he got up close.

"We'll make this simple: put down the knife, an' walk--"

Honward backed away and shouted once the lizard hissed and started to wildly flail around, swinging his knife at him. The long-eared creature easily countered the attacks with his much longer sword and grunted as he tried to slice the lizard's face off. But the agile reptile rolled out of the way and began to back up.

"It's two against one! We oughta just slay ya right now, but we're in a good mood tonight, wot!" said Stanno.

"That'll change very quickly if you try that again! Now where's your group?" demanded Hon.

The lizard growled and snarled as he stared at the two hares. "Group...what group?"

"You're spyin' on us! You must've been followin' us; your group's not far behind, yeah? How many's with you: a score, twoscore?"

"Wot are they: lizards like you, ferrets, water rats, voles?"

The sly and crazed lizard chuckled softly as he licked his blade. "Silly little rabbits..."

"We're hares, for fuck's sake! We gotta remind you vermin of that everytime we run into you?" asked Stanno.

The lizard ignored him and kept backing up. "He's coming...bringer of destruction...chaos...death in lizard form."

"Wot...who's comin'?"

"Krassak...all those lizards...all those-those...they're gonna kill you all...gonna eat you all..."

"Tch! Elonv was right; this guy ain't right in the head."

"Krassak Ralfur...so much death, so-s-so much glory for lizards! You hares...you all die...you-you'll all fall down...die!"

Honward sighed and lowered his sabre. "D'you still wanna slay 'im? Or should we just leave and let him keep babblin' to himself?"

"He is dangerous if anybeast gets near him."

"You all die! Bow before Krassak, mightiest of all Monitors!"

Stanno frowned upon hearing the last bit of the lizard's statement. "Monitors...you mean monitor lizards?"

"ALL HAIL KRASSAK RALFUR!!"

The lizard laughed madly as he lifted his knife and placed it against his throat. Then he slowly sliced his neck open, gasping and coughing as blood began to gush out.

"Wot the hell?!" shouted Honward.

The bleeding lizard was still grinning and chuckling, even as he bled out. He backed up against a tree and slowly sat down, his laughs becoming quieter and quieter. The sergeants could do nothing but stare at the reptile in bewilderment, watching as he eventually bled to death and disappeared into the Dark Forest. Stanno and Honward looked at each other before looking back down at the dead lizard.

"Wot just 'appened?"

---

Urthquake was standing in front of the two sergeants, rubbing his chin after hearing such a bizarre story. "And then he just slit his own throat?"

Stanno nodded. "I know, sir. It's strange, but...wot if he was sendin' us a warnin'? D'you know anything about this Krassak fellow?"

"Why are we even debatin' this?! Some loony lizard spouts out some name and now you two are frightened of it?!" shouted Morson.

"He's right. H'I doubt we should be worryin' 'bout some lizards this far inland. 'Sides, winter just ended; no monitor lizards could survive all that cold weather!" said Issarck.

"Okay, so wot are you all sayin': we ran into a crazed lizard who warned us about this Ralfur guy, then he slit his own throat for no reason? Doesn't make any sense," said Honward.

"No, it doesn't," Urthquake added. "Then again, we've all had our run-ins with beasts who weren't right in the head. Some good, some bad, but they were all crazy."

Stanno sighed exasperatedly. "So we're gonna do nothin', just sit on our paws'n ignore this?"

"Tch! Why shouldn't we? We haven't encountered more than threescores of lizards all in one group in over six seasons! Why should we worry now?" asked Frenquil.

The large badger stopped rubbing his chin and exhaled. "I'm not going to forget about Krassak Ralfur, whoever he is. And from here on out, we're gonna be on the lookout for any presence of monitor lizards."

"But?" asked Stanno, already knowing the Badger Lord wasn't finished.

"But we have no evidence suggesting what that lizard said is true, and even if it is, we don't know where to look, and we don't even know how hostile Krassak is. Given his condition, that lizard might've been exaggerating. We're not wasting time hunting down a lizard that may not even be real."

"And wot if he is real?"

Urthquake shrugged. "Then we'll deal with him and his followers when the time comes. For now, we need to focus on other rumors we do know are true."

"You mean those vermin we tracked down last night?" asked Honward.

"Exactly. The Guosim have been getting attacked by a group of nomads the last several days. They've been getting bolder with each attack, and the last time I spoke to Log-a-Log, he told me he lost a few shrews. The Guosim think their camp is somewhere around the river. It's possible the vermin we slew last night were trying to get back with all the other beasts."

"And I take it that ole fat shrew wants us to 'handle' these vermin for him, wot?" asked Morson.

Urthquake flashed another one of his smirks. "Precisely. Now all of you get some rest. We leave as soon as it's dawn, and we're not stopping until we find this camp."

---

Kurwin's crew, like any traveling group, needed to take a long rest as well. And given that the corsairs were running low on food, Kurwin figured that now was the perfect time for his pirates to look for more vittles. The corsairs were being more laid-back than they should've been though, spending most of their time joking with one another or drinking grog before one of their buddies scoffed the rest. The corsairs were all resting in a deserted section of Mossflower that was occupied with dead trees. All of them built a series of campfires to brighten up the area, while others were busy making new arrows or spears purely out of boredom. Anybeast who saw the scene from afar would've assumed that they were just a group of nomads who were stationed in the forest for the night. But upon getting closer to the beasts and having a good look at their messy clothes and crude weaponry, they would've known right away that they were staring at a group of scavenging killers, nothing more. One of these so-called "killers" was busy snatching off several odd-colored berries from a bush, his mouth watering. Dead-Eye walked behind this corsair and raised an eyebrow after looking at the berries.

"Err, Slipfoot? Yew prob'ly shouldn't eat those."

The fat rat scoffed. "An' why not?"

"'Cos yew'll be shittin' yore guts out 'afore dawn."

Slipfoot stared at the strange berries and suddenly tossed them on the ground. Impatient, the fat rat started to walk back over to the campfire where several other vermin were gathered around. Two of them were just trying to stay warm, while another one was busy cooking fish directly over the open flame. The other vermin were gathered around Razzik and listening to the black rat's grisly tale about his encounter with the monitor lizards. The red-eyed fox just laughed as he spoke to his fellow corsair.

"So let me get this straight: the lizards are big, nasty beasts that are murderous, frightening, an' they 'ave an odor problem?"

The rat nodded. "Exactly!"

Turvin blinked. "Razzik, you just summed half the corsairs in this crew."

Some of the vermin started to laugh out loud, while one of the vermin sitting beside the fire noticed that the flames were getting a little low. The dark brown rat known as Blowhorn grinned and snickered to himself. He stood up and approached the weak flame, turning around as he began to undo his trousers. Turvin reached over and grabbed the rat's paws, stopping him.

"Don't you dare," she growled.

"Wot?! Fire's almost out!"

"So feed it more wood, not gas. I'm still roastin' this fish fer fuck's sake. None of us need ta lose our appetite 'cos of yer arse!" said the beast roasting the fish.

"This is gonna come out sooner or later! Yew guys can't force me ta 'old it in!"

"So let it out away from us, Blowhorn. Go bug Tugger or sumthin'!" said Longfang.

Blowhorn blinked. "Is he busy chokin' that snake of his?"

"You know he is," said Turvin.

The brown rat growled as he spotted the grayish-black rat playing with himself. He snickered as he started to walk towards him. Turvin sighed heavily and rubbed her head now that the flatulent rat was gone.

"You should be lucky, Razzik. At least these so-called monitors weren't annoyin' like Blowhorn is."

"Wh-what did you guys expect me ta do?! Chop off one of their tails an' bring it to you as proof?!"

Slipfoot fished some stale bread out of one of the sacks of food and promptly started to munch on it, trying not to grimace at how hard and bitter it tasted. "Just hard ta believe yer, mate! Ain't heard of a monitor lizard since Ublaz were still livin'! Next you'll be sayin' you spotted a wolverine!"

The beast who was busy roasting his fish took it out of the flame. He could tell that the meat was a little burnt, but at this point, he didn't care. He blew on it a few times and waited for it to cool down before taking a bite out of it.

"Actually, there are wolverines 'round the Northlands."

"Lotta bad shite up in the Northlands, Plaskin. Don't mean there's wolverines crawlin' 'round there," said Dead-Eye.

Bloodeye took a swig of grog. "S'pose there be adders 'n' nasty li'l scorpions up there too?"

"I'm serious, mates! Me and my brother used ta hear stories 'bout 'em all the time!"

"An' those stories is no different from Razzik's tale about these monitor lizards!"

"D'you guys even care that we're fourteen corsairs short? Fourteen of our friends are dead, the-their bodies hacked ta bits and scattered all over!"

Bloodeye huffed and rolled his eyes. "Now yore just exaggeratin'."

Before anybeast could say anything else, they were interrupted by a loud and disgusting sputtering sound a couple yards away, which was immediately followed by raucous laughter and a squeaky yelp.

"DAMN IT, BLOWHORN!!!"

The dark gray rat that was busy pleasuring himself started to stomp away from Blowhorn, grumbling as he pulled up his trousers. Blowhorn followed him, still laughing and taunting the beast.

"HAHAHAHAHA, oh, ya shoulda seen yer face!"

"SHURRUP!! 'Ow many times 'ave ah said not ter bother me when ah'm strokin'?! THAT WAS RIGHT IN MAH EARS!!"

"S'matter, Tugger? Sound made ya shrink?"

"Ah told alla yer over'n over'n over again! DO NOT! BOTHER ME! WHILE AH'M STROKIN'!"

Blowhorn nodded. "Gotcha. We'll leave ya alone whenever yore practicin' yer swimmin'."

Blowhorn ducked right when Tugger tried to punch him. Fed up with the brown rat's disgusting pranks (and irritated that he lost his erection), he stormed off in a huff, mumbling to himself in his squeaky voice. Some of the beasts sitting around the campfire stared at the rat as he walked away, prompting him to snap out "FUCK YE LOOKIN' AT?!" in a seemingly unnatural high voice. Blowhorn returned to the group, still laughing as he sat down beside Bloodeye.

"Really, Blowhorn?" asked Dead-Eye.

The rat stopped snickering. "Yew have to admit: 'twas funny!"

"You passed gas next to a rat's ear while 'e was playin' with himself. I fail ta see the humor in that," said Turvin.

"'Cos none a' yew know wot true humor is!"

"We can be funny without expellin' bodily fluids."

"Or gases!" Dead-Eye quickly added.

Blowhorn scoffed. "Hmph! Sooner or later yew'll warm up to it!"

Razzik rubbed his forehead. "Can we get back to the whole lizard issue?"

"Wot for?!" shouted Bloodeye. "There ain't no lizards, there ain't no wolverines, an' Blowhorn's arse can wake the souls restin' behind the Hellgates. End of story!"

Plaskin took another bite of his fish. "Fine. Forget it. Watch wot 'appens next time we're in the Northlands an' none a' yew are prepared when we run into a wolverine."

"Jus' 'cos yer older'n us an' seen a lot more shit than we 'ave don't make it true!"

Turvin sighed heavily and stood up, swallowing the last of the berries she had been eating. "I'm goin' on patrol since all you guys keep bickerin' back an' forth like two babes fightin' over the last vittle. Anybeast wanna join me?"

Longfang finished eating his chunk of hard stale bread, swallowing with a hard gulp. "Aye, I'll join ya."

The rat and stoat walked away from the campfire to regroup with some of the other beasts who were busy scoping out the area for intruders. Everything around the campfire suddenly became quiet. The only sounds the beasts could hear were the fire crackling and Slipfoot and Plaskin eating their food. Razzik looked down at the ground and sighed softly.

"Don't you even care that fourteen corsairs were torn apart, that they died 'orribly, that some were eaten alive piece by piece? Even if they wasn't monitors...don't you think we should be lookin' for the monsters that did this?"

"Nope!" said Bloodeye bluntly. "To tell you the truth, I hated half of those guys anyway. One of 'em whined way too much--like you do--an' the other was just stupid. He chopped off the toes on his left foot jugglin' cutlasses...fuckin' idiot."

Slipfoot could see that Razzik was looking quite down, so he swallowed the stale chunk of bread in his mouth and snickered, trying to make light of the situation.

"Look on the bright side: if any lizards or wolverines or whatever do come an' try to kill us, we can fend 'em off with Dead-Eye's bad breath an' Blowhorn's farts!"

Nobeast said anything, although Dead-Eye did turn and face Slipfoot, looking like he wanted to carve one of his eyes out. Slipfoot could see that everybeast was still being very silent, so he slowly stood up and awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

"Right...I'll, err, see yew guys in the mornin'."

"I should prob'ly get some sleep too. Last thing yew all need is me plaguin' yore 'sensitive' noses with me breath, right?"

The rat and ferret walked away from the campfire. Plaskin, feeling tired, got up and left as well, taking the filet he had roasting on a stick. He didn't even bother to say anything after the heated argument with Bloodeye. Blowhorn laughed as he looked at Bloodeye and Razzik, who were the only other beasts sitting by the burning logs.

"Guess it's just the three of us, eh?"

Bloodeye huffed. "It's late, and I'm bored of talkin'. I'll catch you guys in the mornin'...unless some bloodthirsty lizards happen to sneak into camp and tear me ta shreds in my sleep."

Razzik looked up at the fox's nasty grin and watched as he stood up and began to walk away. But before he left, he made sure to give Blowhorn a warning, "Blowhorn, if you wake me up with yore gas again, I will shove my daggers up yore arse. Got it?"

"Awright, calm down! No need ta get hostile!"

The vulpine walked away, just leaving Blowhorn and Razzik now. The dark brown rat grinned and shifted over so he was sitting down on the same log Razzik sat on. He put his left arm around the black rodent's shoulders and laughed.

"Guess it's just yew an' me, buddy! Yew know the ole sayin': the rats that stay together, stink together!"

Razzik turned and looked at Blowhorn with a depressed, but equally irritated glare. Blowhorn frowned and turned away, awkwardly scratching behind his right ear.

"Yeah, I'm gonna rest now too. Just make sure ya put out the fire 'afore yew sleep."

"Okay."

Blowhorn got off the log and sat down on the ground instead. He slouched forward slightly, his back pressed against the same chunk of wood, before he raised his arms and stretched, grunting and cracking a couple of bones. Then the rat exhaled and put his paws behind his head, using them as a pillow. Razzik watched the brown rat close his eyes before he blinked and stared into the dying fire. He thought about getting some sleep too, but he couldn't. He couldn't forget about the lizards who tormented him, poked him with their swords, laughed at him after he wet his trousers. Most importantly, he couldn't forget their devilish grins, the blood splattered all over their bodies, the flesh hanging from their mouths...flesh from his own shipmates. As Razzik stared into the fire, he thought he saw those same reptilian faces dancing around in the fire. He thought the crackling he heard were the sounds of his shipmates screaming as they died. Razzik closed his eyes and sighed. He had seen what he thought were the most fearsome creatures ever to walk on land, ever to kill.

And yet, none of his friends even believed they existed anymore.