Chapter 14

  *Thump*

  *Thump*

  Graham’s heart beat loudly in his ears as he watched Fleur fall to the forest floor. All sounds disappeared and he could feel his throat tightening. His breaths became short and ragged. His blood ran cold and he lost his grip on his sword, which fell to the leaves scattered about the forest floor. He could no longer see the Rat, whom Graham watched vanish directly before his eyes, the yellow grin still plastered upon his narrow face.

  Graham couldn’t take his eyes off of Fleur. She seemed to still be breathing, but was losing blood quickly. A red river traveled towards him while he still lay on the forest floor, afraid to move. The shock quickly turned to anger, then to desperation. He scurried over to her, placing his paw onto the stab wound, located high on her torso. It seemed the Rat missed her heart, but she had still passed out from the shock of the sudden stab and the sudden blood loss. Graham knew this would be fatal, and soon, if he didn’t do something to save her.

  All thoughts of Barbary left his mind for the moment, for if she died, what would be the point of Graham continuing on? For what is the moon without the sun? A pale ghost of the past. Of what could have been. Trapped in an inescapable darkness that only the purest of light can penetrate.

  Graham didn’t even notice Hould crawl over to where Graham was kneeling over Fleur, putting pressure on the wound in her chest.

  “Go. The Rat is still nearby and watching us. You have to kill him. I can’t fight anymore right now. Go. I’ll take care of her.”

  Hould looked at Graham with an expression he hadn’t seen before. It was one of pleading, trust, and hope. Graham steeled himself at Hould’s proclamation, nodding resolutely before turning to where his sword had fallen from his paw.

  Once again, he admired the carvings that adorned the hilt and guard. A Rabbit carried a basket of vegetables, waving towards a couple of Mousefolk working in the fields with their tools. On the other side, two Squirrels were frozen in a ceremonial dance, with a group of Badgers sitting and celebrating, drinks in hand. Otters and Frogs swam up and down the handle, an elegant display of their underwater prowess.

  Gripping the handle, Graham took a deep breath and surveyed the forest around him. Looking for something. Anything that would give away the Rat’s position. Maybe he could somehow lure him out? Well no matter what he did, there’s no way that Graham could stand a chance unless he were able to match the Rat and beat him at his own game. There was only one way to do that.

  Graham closed his eyes and cleared his mind. He started channeling the Spirit Energy and Vital Energy mix he would need to make this spell work. He was trying the same quickening spell he used against the Snake. He had to be faster. He had to strike at the smallest openings. Might as well learn a bit from the creature that almost killed him, after all. Channeling the spell, his clear mind was interrupted by the image of Fleur once again lying on the ground, bleeding. He barely had time to ruminate the mental interruption before the whistling of a thrown knife forced him to open his eyes, reflexively ducking to avoid the projectile.

  He heard the Rat tsk from the shadows.

  “My my, how disappointing. You really shouldn’t be casting out in the open like that, you know? Your enemies can see what you’re up to, and then counter you. I have to say I expected better.”

  Graham looked around him, but all he could see was the silent midnight forest around him. He heard the soft breathing and gasping of Fleur who was still unconscious, and his mind wandered briefly to her condition. He was snapped back to reality by a sudden gust of wind that caused leaves to flutter into the air. To his left, he saw that some of the leaves were behaving strangely. They seemed to vanish into thin air. Wait. Graham’s eyes widened in realization. When he looked at the spot that he thought the Rat was occupying, he saw a faint shimmer as the shape moved. This is a start. Graham slowly walked over to one of the throwing knives that Barbary had launched at him, pulling it out of the earth slowly, his eyes watching the surrounding forest for that same shimmer.

  He felt the weight of the dagger in his paw. It was perfectly balanced, and well taken care of. Obviously these two Rats were professionals. So likely not the scum that came out of Evertree. But then where? Graham pursed his lips in thought for a moment before his mind returned to the battle. Regardless of where he came from, he’d need to make a move. He has to throw Barbary off his game. Right now he’s moving to Graham’s blind spots before launching attacks. It’s really only to sheer luck and a bit of intuition that Graham hasn’t been skewered already. Graham looked at Fleur again. And sacrifice. The anger within him simmered, threatening to take over his mind, but he swallowed the rage and tried to keep a clear head.

  He had to come up with some kind of plan. He could semi track the Rat by watching the leaves. But that wouldn’t win him the fight. Especially if the wind wasn’t blowing. Wait. The wind! But that would require him finishing a spell, which the Rat has already shown that is not liable to happen. He just needed to distract the Rat for a moment so he could finish the casting. There was only that final part that required his full attention. The intentional mix of the energies and application. The rest he could basically do blindfolded. Not that sight had anything to do with it, but figure of speech and all.

  Graham closed his eyes briefly and began mixing energies once again. Come on, come on. Take the bait. Opening his eyes mid cast, he could see the Sigil of Air that he had formed in front of him, threatening to take shape in a quickening spell. A small snap from behind Graham had him whirl around and launch the dagger in that direction. End over end, the dagger spun before embedding itself into a tree trunk. Graham gave a small smile at the sight of the leaves that were stirred up by the Rat’s movements flutter and disappear much as they had before. Perfect. His smile faded a bit as he concentrated, completing his spell.

  Sending his foot into a wide arc in front of him, a gust appeared in front of Graham, scattering the leaves around into the air. As they slowly drifted through the air towards the ground, he could see the disturbance affecting the leaves over by the tree that he had just impaled. Rushing towards the spot he thought he saw Barbary occupying, Graham pushed a little bit of the Air magic he had weaved into his feet, blasting him in the direction of the Rat. Bringing his sword in a wide arc, he cleaved through the air and hit only the trunk of the tree.

  Graham scoffed in annoyance at the miss. He felt like he had been onto something. But surely the Rat couldn’t keep up its spell for too much longer, right? Graham briefly thought back to the fight with the Predator. It was able to use magic pretty much the entire fight. So he had to assume that the Rat would be able to do the same. But surely Spirit Energy deficiency would begin taking its toll soon? Maybe he could use that to his advantage.

  Spirit Energy deficiency was notorious for messing with the brain. It had caused Graham to believe struggling and fighting were pointless against the Snake, and it was known in extreme cases to cause memory loss and personality shifts. There were master Mages who turned cold and stoic in the face of many years of Spirit Energy manipulation.

  Graham had to try and predict how that could manifest though. Maybe he would grow arrogant in the fight? Believing he had already won? Graham just had to take one more hit, then. He had to sell it.

  He took a steadying breath, convincing yourself to take a blow in the middle of a battle on purpose was a little daunting. Just a glancing one would be enough. Graham acted like he was struggling to pull his sword out of the tree, tugging at it as if it was stuck. Even when he heard the leaf crinkle near him, he didn’t remove his attention from the sword stuck in the tree. He unstuck it as soon as he imagined that Barbary was close enough and swung in that direction, once again meeting only air. A moment later, he felt a knife slash at his left underarm, targeting the unarmored part of him. Perfect. This wouldn’t be too debilitating. He could still adequately hold his shield with a wound like this.

  When the knife had completed its bloody arc, Graham deeply regretted his plan. Shooting pain arced its way up and down his arm, the blood flowing freely from the new wound. What was he thinking? This was a terrible idea. Dropping his shield almost immediately from the pain, Graham reached up to hold the new would, jumping backward towards Hould and Fleur, nearly stabbing himself with his own sword in the process. He let his body hide the Sigil that he was forming, though. When he had nearly completed the spell, he wore a pained look–which wasn’t hard considering– and turned to the spot that Barbary had just attacked him from, even taking a knee in mock defeat. He could already feel the spell eating at his Energies and sitting in his feet. Waiting to bestow the blast of motion it was created for. Graham could feel this spell was different from the one he used against the Snake. It felt a bit cleaner, and not so desperate.

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  “10 out of 10 on that swing, dear Mouse.” A whisper reached Graham’s ears, he could now feel the steel point of a dagger at his back. The Rat materialized at his side, the wicked grin still present.

  Graham had to fight from his own smile from creeping onto his face. Just as predicted.

  “Sorry, but you’ve lost.” As the Rat plunged his dagger forward, it found only empty air. A moment later, Graham’s sword spun in a wide arc, cleaving a deep gash from the back of the Rat’s shoulder down to his hip. Blood sprayed through the air and coated a nearby tree, the Rat gasping for air as his back was deeply ravaged by the savage swing. Dropping his knives, the Rat fell to his knees before looking up at Graham and falling over.

  As the Rat fell, his eyes wide with shock, Graham only carried a stoic look of determination on his face. Blood leaked from the Rat’s mouth, his wound gushing and painting the floor of the forest a deep crimson.

  “What you didn’t notice was that I casted another spell. You were a little too focused on your victory.”

  The life slowly drifted from the Rat’s eyes as he coughed one final time, unable to retort to Graham’s proclamation. Graham’s face carried no triumph, as victory came at the cost of his best friend’s blood. She was currently being kept alive just by Hould putting pressure on the wound. Graham’s eyes began filling with tears. There was nothing he could do. He didn’t know or understand healing magic like Fleur did, and he didn’t have any potions or remedies. He rushed over to where Hould was leaning over her, seemingly barely conscious himself due to blood loss. Would they both die out here? Graham had to go and find help. But where? The fort was hours away, and the camp was obviously not an option, as it had become a warzone.

  The crack of a branch drew Graham’s attention to a dark figure standing a dozen feet away, its face cloaked in shadow. However, Graham could make out the dark color of blood covering the creature from head to toe. Standing and drawing his sword, Graham once again faced an opponent. He would protect Hould and Fleur if it was the last thing he did. With his dying breath, he would–

  “Oh, good. I found you all. Who’s that on the–Gods! No!” A bloodied and panicked Benny ran out of the cover of the shadows and into the moonlight, showcasing a Raccoon positively soaked in blood, but obviously not his own, as he showed no signs of pain.

  Benny rushed over to where Fleur and Hould were, Graham still standing poised for a fight with a slight look of shock on his face.

  “Boy, Hould. You look like you got run over by a cart. That was hauling knives. And then the cart fell on top of you.” Benny remarked as he dug through a pouch that he had strapped to his lower back.

  “Yea, whatever, Ringtail. What happened at the camp? How are you here?”

  “You guys weren’t exactly hard to follow, running through the woods like that. There were trails everywhere. As for the camp. Well, it was a massacre. There’s a few recruits left and that Captain we left with. But everyone else is either dead, wounded, or scattering to wind. Safe to say that this little expedition was a failure. What happened to her?” For a moment, Benny looked as if he would simultaneously cry and murder whoever was responsible. He unstoppered a bottle that he had withdrawn from his pouch and gently forced Fleur to drink it. Sighing in relief once he noticed her breathing steadying a bit.

  “Was that a healing potion? How did you even get that?”

  “Probably best that you don’t know.”

  Benny tossed the now empty bottle behind him, the glass bottle clinking along the forest floor.

  “Thank you, Benny. Truly.” Graham bowed his head to the Raccoon.

  White teeth appeared from under the grisly appearance of Benny.

  “Don’t mention it. Let’s just get her out of here.”

  “We should move to the Fort. That’s our best bet. But we should patch up Hould first. You do look like a mess.” Graham smiled a bit at the larger Mouse.

  Benny and Hould both nodded. For the next few minutes, the pair patched and wrapped the various leaking gashes that covered Hould’s body. All of their extra clothes were donated to the job, much to Benny’s dismay. Graham guessed that Fleur would also be pretty unhappy whenever she woke up.

  With Hould’s leaked plugged, so to speak, the trio loaded up Fleur onto Graham’s back, since he was the one who insisted on carrying her the distance to the Fort, with Hould once again shouldering the much larger Cruz, and they set off. They made steady but slow progress, as the trio’s eyes shot back and forth across the dark forest, in search of any sign of movement. By now, the dawn’s soft glow had begun peeking through the trees, with the sounds of the forest slowly returning as they drifted further and further from the site of the camp and the battle.

  Graham breathed heavily as his legs felt like they were weighed down by bricks. He stumbled, nearly dropping Fleur in the process. More than once Benny and even Hould offered to take the Rabbit from him, but each time he refused. She was his responsibility. It was his fault she was in this state. She had yet to awaken, but he hoped it was soon. As keen as he was on accepting his responsibility and taking care of her, she was getting really really heavy after traveling all night. Hould was also starting to look a little worse for wear. Benny couldn’t possibly carry Cruz’s lanky body.

  The party had made a large arcing detour into the forest before eventually drifting back towards the road that would take them South. Once the road came into view, the going got a lot quicker, as there was vision on all sides of the road for several feet, and less worries about being ambushed in the morning light. Though with Ferals, anything was possible.

  It was only by mid-morning that the party stumbled upon the edge of the forest, which opened up to a small area of foothills that eventually led to the Fort. From here, they would be at the Fort before the end of the day. However, just as Graham had gathered a bit of hope of being somewhere safe, Benny spotted a recently used campsite on the side of the road. There were several packs of supplies scattered around, along with bloodied bandages and patches of dried blood across the dirt and leaves. A pair of beat up carts sat alongside the edge of the campsite, obviously having taken some damage in the ambush.

  “You think they’re close by?” Graham asked in a strained voice, choosing now to lower Fleur to the ground for some rest.

  “I don’t even care. They’re obviously not Feral.” Hould said, lowering Cruz to the ground before collapsing onto his back.

  “Good call guys. Let’s just all lay on the ground while we inspect this campsite that’s obviously still being used. I’ll just go ahead and tie myself to that tree now.”

  As the party was inspecting the campsite, several individuals crested the nearest foothill, drawing Graham’s attention from his spot on the ground as the groups noticed one another.

  The approaching group all went to the weapons at their hips, with an obvious fear in their eyes. Graham recognized the Captain that was leading the group of recruits among the group and relaxed. Upon seeing that the three of them didn’t immediately attack, the approaching party of 7 untensed and released their weapons, but still watched them wearily. The Captain’s gaze particularly rested on Benny, who was still coated in dried blood from the previous skirmish.

  “What business do you have here?” The Captain called out to them once they were in speaking distance. Graham could see that several of the group were covered in bandages. One Mouse had his arm in a sling and bandages wrapped around his head, while a Raccoon was missing an eye and another Mouse seemed to have his torso covered in blood-stained bandages.

  “Captain, we were a part of the recruit caravan. We escaped into the forest and were making our way to the Fort when we found this camp.” Graham stood and spoke directly to the Captain, despite his protesting legs.

  “Yes, I remember you. And you–” the Captain looked pointedly at Benny, “–you were there last night. Fighting as a Predator would. Almost as wild as the Ferals themselves.”

  Graham coughed into his paw at the following awkward silence as Benny just looked away from the Captain, a complicated look on his face. No snarky remark? Now that was unusual. In the short time Graham had known him, Benny had never missed an opportunity to chime like a clock at comments like that.

  “Sir, we’re eager to get to the Fort, we have multiple wounded including me. Is this all that’s left?”

  “Sadly, yes. The others scattered into the forest and may turn up at some of the surrounding villages if they haven’t been overrun by Ferals, but everyone else has perished. These 6 with me are the ones who stayed and fought by my side to drive the Ferals off. They eventually retreated once they incurred heavy losses. I’ve never heard of Ferals retreating, but they were not retreating because they had lost. No. They were ordered to do so, or so I believe.”

  “Ordered? Is that even possible?” Hould asked from his seated position facing the Captain.

  “Until just this year, the Alliance would’ve said ‘no’. But this Spring has shown us many mistakes we have made regarding the Ferals. And we’ve once again underestimated them. They’re sieging the Fort. There’s an entire host of Ferals wandering around to the North of the Fort, cutting off all access. They’re isolated.” The Captain shook his head. “Based on the direction of the Ferals’ retreat, I feared something had happened at the Fort. It appears I was correct. This is a disaster. If that Fort falls, there will be nothing to stop an army of Ferals from scattering across the Valley, destroying all in their path. The Woodland Folk would stand no chance.”

  Graham, Hould, and Benny all looked at each other in a moment of silence at the claims the Captain was making.

  “So then what do we do?”

  “We have no choice but to make our way to Lake Mirewater and the city there. Shallow Rock. There is a garrison of Alliance soldiers there that have been combatting the Feral threat for some time. They’re charged with defending the Valley from a Feral incursion from the Mountain passes that Fort Redleaf is unable to monitor.”

  “But wouldn’t that be where this group of Ferals came from? So what if something happened to Shallow Rock first?”

  “You may be right, and I’ve already sent several of the wounded survivors back to Evertree with news of the ambush and information about the current situation, including that very prediction about Shallow Rock. However, it is our duty as Alliance Soldiers to move forward for the safety of the Valley. To take the Predator by the fangs, as it were. Will you join us? We’ll make our move to Shallow Rock immediately if you’re able.”

  A groan escaped Hould as he rubbed his sore shoulders and Graham couldn’t help but agree, feeling more tired than he ever had.

  “Sir, we’ve been on the move all night. We have two incapacitated members and are wounded ourselves. We will need some time to recuperate before we’re able to move.” Graham said with a sad shake of his head.

  “Yes, I thought that may be the case. I don’t suppose you’d want to bring them back to Evertree? It may be a perilous road to Shallow Rock, and there’s no telling what we may find there.”

  “Sir, I believe it best for us to return to Evertree before moving to join you in Shallow Rock. Would that be acceptable?”

  “Of course, recruit. Here, take this seal and show it to the Evertree Guards and you’ll be granted access to our Alliance facilities while they recover. I had wished that this would be done under the safety of the Fort, but desperate times, and all. Welcome to the Alliance. All of you. By our blood the Valley stays free.”