Redwall: The Krimson Traitor

Chapter 4

After Raski had led the young fox away, Azrahai elected to stay behind and inspect the longhouse interior. It was a curious structure; filthy and ill-repaired as it was now, it was still clear that it had been built by expert craftsbeasts. He imagined that once, long ago, the building could have been described as ‘homey.’

As Azrahai was busy examining the huge dining table, one of his soldiers approached and presented him with his knives; both thoroughly cleaned of fox blood.

“’Ere’s yer knives, boss.”

Azrahai looked the soldier over as he took back his weapons. She was a tough-looking ferret, her face marked with the remnants of colourful tribal tattoos. From her accent, there was little doubt that she was one of the local conscripts his father had recruited a few seasons back.

“What’s your name, soldier?”

“It’s Fethra, boss.”

“Well, Fethra…” Azrahai sheathed his knives as he spoke. “My rank is ‘general,’ not ‘boss.’ You can either call me that, or call me ‘sir.’ Understood?”

“Err…”” Fethra faltered under Azrahai’s hard tone. “Unnerstood, gen’ral.”

“Good.” Azrahai waved his paw dismissively. “Now, go report to whichever officer you’re supposed to be serving under; I want to be alone.”

After the ferret had hastily scrambled out of the longhouse, Azrahai let out another tired sigh. I’ve been doing a lot of sighing lately, he thought absently as he leaned against the cluttered dining table.

Indeed, a lot had happened in recent seasons to wear on the Krimson General’s mind; his sister’s disappearance, his father’s recent illness, and Shiril…

Azrahai shook the thoughts out of his head. There was still work to be done here, even as decisive as the victory had been. He would need a clear mind in order to lead properly. Pushing himself away from the table, Azrahai took one last look around the longhouse before stepping back outside.

By now, the dim morning light was beginning to give way to the clear blue skies of another spring day. Azrahai looked north, towards the center of the village, where his officers were gathering the captured foxes – what appeared to be about a score-and-a-half creatures altogether. There, Raski and another younger coyote guard named Haskil were pacing around the prisoners, while the vermin soldiers under their command stood by, watching the prisoners like hawks. Likewise, from its perch atop one of the nearby wooden huts, an actual hawk sat watching the proceedings with unblinking bronze-coloured eyes. Occasionally, foxes could be seen to steal visibly nervous glances at the bird and their captors.

The only tribe fox that didn’t appear to be frightened or upset was the young silver that Azrahai had so recently named Nihil, who sat chatting amiably with Vatcha. When he noticed Azrahai watching from across the distance, the fox’s eyes turned up towards him…

And Azrahai’s breath caught in his throat. Those eyes… He’d seen them in the dark of the longhouse, but he hadn’t truly noticed them. Out here in the daylight, the soft golden yellow seemed to flash across the space between them, filling Azrahai’s mind with a confusing and inexplicable sense of dread. Self-awareness kicked in quickly, transforming the fear into mere confusion and embarrassment. What was…?

“General?”

It took Azrahai’s best effort to not jump in surprise. Turning around to face the speaker, Azrahai found himself silently thankful for his face-concealing scarf; at least nobeast had to see how flustered he was.

“Yes, Didier?” Azrahai made his best attempt at keeping his voice even as he addressed the bulky beaver engineer who’d startled him.

“Was there anything you wanted doing around here, eh?” Didier rapped his flat tail on the ground to punctuate his question.

“There was.” Azrahai pointed north-east, towards the mine. “When the troops are done scouring the mine for creatures, I want you to take an escort through to do a proper inspection. I want to know what shape that mine’s in and how to get it running properly again.”

After the beaver had made his salute and shuffled off, Azrahai allowed himself yet another quiet sigh. He looked over to Nihil, who had returned to his conversation with Vatcha. What in those eyes had caused him to choke like that?

It’s just all this stress, Azrahai. Nothing to waste time worrying about.

Hoping dearly that that was true, Azrahai walked over towards the place where the prisoners were gathered. Stopping about twenty paces off, he signaled until he caught Raski’s attention.

“You wanted me, General?” The coyote called out as she trotted up.

“Yes; I need a report of what we’ve gained here.”

“Well, sir, we seem to have won ourselves some very lovely filthy hovels.”

Azrahai crossed his arms, annoyed. “Don’t start this with me, Raski.”

“My apologies, sir.” Raski threw her paws up apologetically. “I just thought you’d be in a better mood for jokes, is all.”

“Well, I’m not. Just give me the numbers, and try to do it professionally.”

“As you wish.” Raski pointed to the mass of foxes behind her. “As you can see, we’ve captured thirty-two foxes. We only lost four of our own in the fighting and killed eleven of theirs, so I’d say that’s a pretty good payoff.”

“What have our soldiers found in the mine?”

“Slaves – mostly moles - just like the Ranger said. I don’t know the exact numbers yet, but one of the minks said it must have been a little less than twenty.”

Almost as if Raski’s words had summoned them, a small crowd of bedraggled creatures started to filter through the mouth of the mine. Besides the moles, there were also two mice, three squirrels, and a hedgehog among them. Azrahai counted sixteen creatures overall.

Azrahai walked over as the slaves were being herded in a rough circle by the red-cloaked minks and fishers that had led them out. As he was looking the group over, one of them – a mouse child – called out to him.

“Are you rescuing us?”

The taller mouse next to him (presumably his older brother) elbowed him to be quiet, whispering sourly in his ear. “I wouldn’t count on it; this looks like another pack of vermin to me.”

“What are your names?” Azrahai demanded, pointing towards the two mice.

The older brother shot Azrahai a suspicious look. “You’re the leader of this lot?”

“I asked you a question, boy. Don’t make me ask again.” Azrahai put a hard edge into his voice, hoping it would get him some cooperation before he had to resort to force.

It worked; most of the older brother’s nerve seemed to fail him. “I… I’m Farren, and this is Dustin.”

“Good…” Azrahai gave an inward sigh of relief…

“I want to go home!” Which turned into a sigh of resignation as the mouse called Dustin blurted out his desperate question. Farren elbowed his brother in the ribs again, but the damage was already done.

“And where would ‘home’ be, little one?”

Dustin gaped up at the red-scarfed creature, clearly too frightened to say anything more. Farren stepped in for him.

“We lived on a farm a ways south of here. These foxes came and burned it down, but we want to go back and rebuild it.”

Azrahai gave the mouse a doubtful look, but there didn’t seem to be any evidence to contradict that story. “If that’s the truth, then…”

“Uhm, sir?” A meek voice drifted from behind.

Azrahai turned to see Nihil standing there nervously. “Is there a reason for this interruption?”

The fox gulped and nodded. “He’s lyin’ sir. I ‘member when those two got ‘ere; they came from a raid on the west road, not the south.”

Just what I need…

“Thank you for your honesty, Nihil.” Azrahai did his best to sound pleased.

Turning back to the two mouse brothers, Azrahai saw Farren glaring daggers at the fox who’d spoken against him. He couldn’t blame him.

“So would you mind telling me the truth, mouse?”

Farren spat in Azrahai’s direction. “I’d mind seeing you boil your rag-wrapped head, vermin!”

Azrahai massaged his temples through his scarf. “Raski, take these two away and keep them well-guarded. We’ll put them to the question when we bring these foxes back to Castle Sarim.”

Raski and one of the minks dragged the two struggling mice away from the rest of the group. Afterwards, Azrahai turned his attention to the rest of the group.

“As for the rest of you, you will all be allowed to remain here – under the supervision of our troops – to continue working this mine as servants of the Krimson Empire.”

“’Servants?’” One of the squirrels spoke up this time. “You mean you’re going to make us slaves again!”

“If you want to put it that way, yes. But under the Krimson, you’ll be treated with far more dignity than these foxes likely ever did, so I’d consider it a blessing.”

“And what in the name o’ spikes is the ‘Krimson Empire,’ anyhow?” It was the hedgehog.

“It’s simple; the Krimson Empire is the greatest source of order in the world.” Azrahai turned his gaze towards the now-trembling hog. “And all of Mossflower will be a part of it, willing or not.”

And whether we want to or not. Azrahai couldn’t help feeling ill.