The Fire in the Castle (Ashira)

[Substitute Author]

Ashira trembled with rage as vermin fled from the smoke spilling out of the compound. Those fools! They will pay for their idiocy! The ferret grabbed a weasel running in the opposite direction and pulled him to her face, and his eyes widened at her naked teeth bared into a snarl. ?Where in hellfire do you expect you are going? Get back in there and capture the slaves!  NOW!? She pushed him to the floor and plunged through the doorway.

The room was in utter chaos as she spotted the fire burning out of control where the slaves had once been, and now they were nowhere that she could see as other vermin scurried with buckets of water to throw on the fire. Ashira ran to the doorway on the other side, and her lips peeled back into a grin as she saw the remnants of the weaker slaves struggling to follow their comrades.

?I have done it! I, Harold, Lord of the Oars, have slain the pestilence!?

Ashira?s eyes found the dancing vole as an eagle would find his prey from the sky. She took great care to pad as softly as she could behind the vole, but he did not appear concerned for his safety. Silly vole, he should be more careful, Ashira thought as she unsheathed the knife at her side and she clubbed the back of his head with all the strength she could muster.

?Not the brightest one now, is he?? Movement caught her eye and her tone shifted to cold as she said, ?And where do you think you?re going, rabbit?? He froze and in three strides she had planted her foot on his chest and pushed him roughly against the floor. When the rabbit continued to struggle she tickled his throat with her knife and cooed, ?The vole is just over there. What makes you think I will need two of you if I have one? If I were you, I would stop struggling.? He stilled his movements and she took the opportunity to bludgeon his head with the hilt of her knife as well.

?Ashira!? She glanced up to see Silus materialize through the billowing smoke and was barely able to hide her pleasure at seeing him.

?Ah, Silus,? the ferret said, standing up to look the weasel in the eye. ?Find cord to bound their paws, and then meet me in the compound.? She almost chuckled at his expression that was a mix between indignity and obliviousness, and turned on her foot to run back to face the flames that the rats and crew were still helplessly tossing water on. She thought it might have shrunk, but the flames still raged and her voice cut through the shouts and the fire?s roar to shout orders at them. ?Stop wasting the water! Find shovels and throw dirt on it before it spreads to other rooms!? When a pine marten ran in with a bucket, she darted toward him and scratched his shoulder with her claws. ?Scrape the mud from your ears! I said stop wasting the water!?

The water was replaced with the dirt as she had commanded. She reconnoitered the progress in silence, refusing to shout her voice away at the thick-skulled crew and instead reinforced her orders with well-pointed glares. Pathetic. Vermin crew are hardly better than slaves?far less docile but no less stupid. They just need a little gold to satiate their appetite for violence, and if not, a knife in the back should do nicely, Ashira mused as her eyes followed the vermin carefully.

?What is it you want? I am not your slave to do as you please with,? Silus said from just behind her and she could just imagine his eyes burning the back of her head.

?Of course not, but you are far more reliable to see the slaves properly restrained. After all, it was the crew?s neglect that led to their escape,? she said, and she allowed her glare to lapse to give him a sly grin.

?Enough with your games, Ashira! You may toy with the slaves, but not with me,? Silus said, wrinkling his nose in a slight growl to her.

Ashira turned back to the slaves but she was still smirking. ?Well, the threat of death at my blade must have spurred their paws. Now, Jonas, let us see what your explanation is for this.? She found him wringing his paws in the other room, apparently not especially concerned over the escape of the slaves in light of his dear daughter gone missing. Well, is that not just sad? What an intolerable sap. ?Captain, I have returned to inform you that all but a handful of the slaves have escaped. I must say, though, your handling of the situation was admirable. I could not have done a better job myself.?

?Ashira,? Silus warned.

?I have hardly asked you to overexert yourself in regard to my daughter, Ashira,? the pine marten said and his nose twitched in irritation of her.

?Oh no, that is true. My reason for being with your expedition was to capture more slaves on Sampetra. I was not supposed to recapture all the ones that we had, you spineless rat.?

?Ashira.? The weasel?s teeth were gritted now.

?Try to stay calm, Ashira. I imagine everything will sort itself out later.?

?I am calm and I have been very patient since we lost our way on the sea, and since we ran aground this hellbound rock, but my patience is running swiftly to its end, Lowri,? Ashira said. She allowed him to see her paw rest on the grip of her saber.

?No, Ashira,? Silus said, stepping between the two with his short sword already drawn on her. ?Be patient! Fighting amongst ourselves will only tear us apart, and I wouldn?t care to kill the one who started it.?

Ashira hesitated. The death threat hardly fazed her but Silus declaring her an enemy was enough to temper her anger. ?Very well, but I will hold you?? she leaned around Silus to glare at Jonas ??responsible for this mess.?

She was always so pleased her reputation preceded her through the years, for all the crewbeasts?and even the native rats?shied to the side as she walked down the hall to her quarters. Why Emperor Malachite positioned Jonas as Captain, I will never understand. A slave uprising will hurt our chances to survive until Malachite arrives?if he does. The ferret let her eyes drift to the trees shaking gently in the breeze outside the fort and shook her head. ?Tis far off if it is on the horizon at all.
Ashira set her black coat on the wooden chair and scowled at the air as she recalled visiting the slaves just hours before their uprising. She had reveled in their fear at the time but now she chastised herself for not seeing the seeds of their rebellion to begin with. It was the shrewmaid to start it all. She was always so spirited despite the work I have done to her this last season. The ferret bared her teeth again at the imagined shrew who had merely bowed her head at the time. When we recapture them, I will see that she never thinks of freedom for the rest of her days. Just wait, my dear shrewmaid. You will never escape me for long.