Fool's Gold

[Thrayjen]

?Where did you learn to fight??

Blue?s shortsword cut the air and barely missed Thrayjen?s ears as the rat leaned away. He countered with a slash of his own, his wooden staff knocking against Blue?s shoulder and drawing a snarl from the ferret.

?My father taught me,? Thrayjen answered.

When he did not elaborate, Blue stopped rubbing her shoulder and repositioned herself. Thrayjen followed suit, gently holding his staff with both paws.

As was custom for them, Blue attacked first, driving Thrayjen back with a flurry of swift jabs and slashes. Her shortsword missed every mark as Thrayjen danced around the attacks. He barely raised his staff except to knock Blue away and off balance when she got too close. The ferret suddenly rolled and brought the pommel of her shortsword down to Thrayjen?s footpaw, but the rat knocked the sword away and made to slam the butt end of his staff into Blue?s skull. He stopped short of actually harming her, and offered her a paw up when she dropped her training sword.

?You should have come here before they dragged you in, aye!? Blue said between short breaths. ?You?d have made a fortune. Oh well, more for me!? 

Thrayjen smiled despite the roll of his eyes.

?Nan wouldn?t have been happy with that. Old girl would have tanned my hide for even considering.?

?Oh, ?Nan wouldn?t like this? and ?Nan wouldn?t approve of that?. My grandmother never disapproved of me gettin? a job!? The ferret shook her head. ?How?d she go, anyway? Did they kill her when they brought you in??

Thrayjen shook his head, his smile dissipating.

?She passed earlier that night. She? well, she was very old.?

?That?s gentle at least,? Blue sighed. ?Plockette was sayin? that you lost your little ones when you came here. If it?s any consolation, Nire can?t use them like he does to the other families that get captured.?

Thrayjen offered her a half-smile.

?That?s truly terrible, but thank-you, Miss Blue.?

?Right. Best time to train is when you?re upset. Come on, then!? Blue barked and, before Thrayjen could position himself, she sprung forward. A new fight began.

The cool early morning turned into scorching heat and soon both Blue and Thrayjen were sitting against the cool stone walls in a shaded area of the training yard. Blue passed Thrayjen a gourd of water from the trough next to them. As the rat poured the water over himself and into his mouth, an otter guard approached the pair.

?Lord Nire wishes to see his property,? the otter informed Blue, barely glancing at Thrayjen. ?And you, Blue.?

Blue nodded and helped herself to some more water.

?Thanks, Redshore. Did he say when, or -"

?Now.?

The ferret sprung from the ground and replaced their training weapons in the cabinet. Thrayjen rose much slower, a sense of dread ascending to envelop his stomach.

Redshore led Thrayjen through the winding Drag, shoving slaves aside as he went. Along the way, Thrayjen saw more misery on the faces of his fellow captives, who numbered less than they had the day previous. The evidence of the Cull and the victims it left behind made it too easy to ignore the remaining, pathetic slaves, just like the otter guard chose to do. Thrayjen kept his eyes moving. He looked at each slave as he passed, wondering about the lives that had been stolen from them, and who they had lost along the way. So few had survived the Cull, and those that remained had watched their friends and families die. He, at least, had been spared the sight of the hog babes? fate.

Nire?s office was located above the Drag, several floors higher than any area Thrayjen had been allowed to explore. The Crater became more open, with thick columns and large windows instead of the black and grey stone walls below. Thrayjen could see clearly the beasts who watched from above the training arena; all manner of creature exchanged coins and names, and wagers were taken down in books. All around, peddlers sold wooden dolls carved to resemble prominent gladiators, while others traded cloth banners with embroidered sigils of the fighters they supported.

Twisting down several hallways and climbing too many staircases to count, Redshore finally brought Thrayjen and Blue down a corridor that ended in heavy, wooden doors. Two rats in blue stood in the hallway, guarding their master beyond. Upon seeing the party, one rat turned and knocked loudly on the doors.

A high-pitched voice beckoned them in, and Redshore opened the door.

?Thank you, Redshore. Miss Blue, please wait outside, and shut the doors after Hracken.?

Thrayjen passed Blue a look of confusion, but the ferret shrugged.

As Thrayjen stepped into the office and the door closed behind him, the rat noticed how similarly decorated Nire?s office was to the winner?s lounge. Embroidered tapestries hung on the walls, depicting the most legendary fighters. Weapons and eerily white skulls sat on hooks and shelves throughout the space.

It?s all about the show. Thrayjen?s mouth twitched as he thought about all the slaves he had passed, and how many lives had already been lost to entertain the lynx.

?Please, sit.?

From behind a desk, Nire beckoned Thrayjen towards a chair. The lynx was reading intently from a stack of papers, occasionally scribbling notes with a falcon feather quill. Sprawled out on the desktop was large map that covered territory from Northvale to south of Southsward. A red pin was punched into a location on the map where a mountain range circled around a swath of land and then met with the sea. Thrayjen resisted choking when he saw it, reading the neatly printed name.

?Muskroarka, Realm of the Rapscallion King?. Please, no.

The rat sat perfectly still save for the nervous twitching of his tail. The silence between the two beasts was thick, but Thrayjen was sure Nire was able to hear his heart beating faster with each passing second. Finally, Nire flipped between pages and then looked up. He smiled broadly as he put his papers down.

?Thrayjen. Your real name is Thrayjen.?

Thrayjen winced, barely moving his head as he nodded.

?Well,? Nire sighed, leaning back on his chair and stretching his claws out as he flexed his fingers. ?It would have been nice to know earlier. The Second Blade to King Grevayyen, son of the destroyer king Currathalla!? Nire wrung his paws excitedly. ?I could have billed you as the Prince Blackwhiskers, terror of the seas and Second Blade to King Grevayyen! I still can; it?s not too late!?

Nire?s eyes began to glaze as his face twisted into a hideously toothy smile. 

?The Conductor of the Trant Canal Massacre! The Arson of the Flemming Fire! Prince Blackwhiskers, who orchestrated the Long Winter Siege of Salamandastron!? Borean clapped his paws together. ?A siege in winter! How did you pull that off and lose less than two score of your own soldiers? Hundreds of The Long Patrol died! What great madness inspired such a feat??

?I am not Prince Blackwhiskers.?

Thrayjen forced his voice to remain steady even as panic rose in his chest. He forced out a laugh and focused on appearing calm in front of Nire, who bore an expression of bored scepticism.

?I?m not Thrayjen the Blackwhiskers,? Thrayjen said again, his tone almost bored as though he had explained this to many others before Nire. ?He was a prince in my homeland, and my mother adored the royal family. I?m named for the rapscallion prince, as were many rats from the southern realms, but? I?m not Blackwhiskers. I?m just me.?

Thrayjen caught sight of the Crater?s fighting pit through the window along the wall.

It?s all about the show, Thrayjen remembered, and he spread his paws wide, leaving himself open in a display of vulnerability. He flashed Nire a bashful smile as though embarrassed at the mistake. 

?I?m just? Hracken. Just Hracken, Master Nire.?

Nire stared at the rat, unblinking and stone still. He glanced from his map to his papers.

?Ah,? Nire said, his normally high pitched voice sliding into a low note. ?I see.?

The lynx looked disappointed as his shoulders slumped and his mouth thinned.

?Oh, well. I suppose it was too good to be true. The number of mice named Martin that come through here, I suppose it?s all the same.? The lynx leaned forward, pointing a claw at Thrayjen. ?Your age, your accent? it all made sense! I thought I had struck gold! An exiled prince! Tch.?

Nire leaned back in his chair and considered Thrayjen, his eyes trailing over the rat?s features and following the scar that ran jagged across Thrayjen?s face. The scrutiny did nothing to ease Thrayjen?s nerves and, regardless that the lynx seemed to have accepted his simple, modest explanation, Thrayjen was sure Nire was not convinced.

Yet Nire said nothing else of the matter. Instead, he pulled a blank piece of paper from a stack on his desk and began scribbling with a falcon feather quill.

?You've put up with Master Kentigern very patiently, which I hear is quite the feat. Continue behaving, Hracken. I appreciate obedience in my fighters. I reward those who know their place, and I take care of them.? The lynx finished writing and began lightly waving the parchment to dry the ink.

?If you?d be so kind as to send Blue in and close the door behind you. Keep impressing me, Your Grace??

Thrayjen barely restrained his claws from digging into the arms of the chair as Nire, chuckling quietly, winked at him. The rat forced himself to smile back, to pretend the cat?s humour didn?t threaten him. No fancy fighting nor comrade in the pit could protect Thrayjen if Nire didn?t believe him or, worse, didn?t care.

No fancy fighting will protect Nire, either, Thrayjen thought, wondering just how much, or how little, Nire assumed he knew about the rat.

?Yes, Master Nire.?

Eager to leave the presence of the Crater?s master, the rat was barely able to restrain himself from leaping out of the chair. He calmly left the office, ignoring Blue?s curious look as she passed him at Nire?s hailing. He shut the doors, then slowly turned around and let out a breath he had been holding for what seemed like hours, praying the contents of his stomach would stay down.

That was too close, Thrayjen thought, placing a steadying hand over his heart. How did that Northern bastard even hear about the Blackwhiskers...? I came so far north! If Grevayyen ever found me? not even The Crater would stand against him.

Thrayjen frowned, running a paw over his face in thought.

Nire mustn?t know. He wouldn?t dare announce capturing the Blackwhiskers if he truly knew about Grevayyen.

Thrayjen squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, swallowing his fear. He consoled himself, convincing himself Nire knew nothing, and that so long as he was Hracken, Nire wouldn?t pursue the matter. He forced himself to smile, and chat idly with the rat guards as he waited for Blue.

The guards proved a minor distraction from Thrayjen?s anxiety. They had seen his fight alongside MacRaff the Wrath and had admired how he had leapt to his comrade?s rescue. One of them showed Thrayjen a scar from the one and only time he had tried his paw in the ring, only to come out three claws shorter and with a healthy sense of mortality. The guard gave gory details, but Thrayjen?s mind was wandering to Nire?s map.

How had that foreign bastard even heard of Thrayjen the Blackwhiskers? Who told him that the mild mannered rat with the ugly face was the Unseated Son? Everything Thrayjen had left behind from his homeland, his deeds and name, were beginning to catch up. He hadn?t gone far enough to lose the reputation of his name. Thrayjen resolved then that Hracken would be the name he gave to all, and ?Thrayjen? could never be brought up again. It would be forgotten, like so much else.

I?m not the Blackwhiskers. I?m not Hracken the Kraken, either, but? Hracken won?t attract the attention of Grevy. He won?t march this far north into Mossflower for some nobody scrapper. It?s just a name... only a name. It?s not me. Never again.  

When at last Blue emerged from Nire?s office, she snatched Thrayjen?s notched ear and dragged him away from the scoffing guards.

?You devil,? Blue hissed in his ear, smirking.

?What? What?s happened? What did Nire say?? Thrayjen asked desperately, trying to keep his feet from tangling with hers as she pulled him down the hallways, back into the Drag. She ignored Thrayjen?s questions the entire time, hauling the tall rat behind her until she reached a set of yellow doors stained with bloody paw prints. Blue loudly knocked.

?Miss Blue, please? Why did you take me to the sick bay??

Thrayjen flinched as the doors flung open and the coppery smell of blood and decay wafted into the air. The occasional whimper could be heard from the shabby beds lining the walls, the beasts occupying them almost invisible in the sparse torchlight. A lean squirrel with greying ears and a stained medick?s coat greeted Blue from the threshold with a deep and gravelly voice.

?Ah, Miss Blue! I haven?t seen you since Brakker the Breaker lost to -"

?Hello, Poil,? Blue bit out a greeting, all but shoving a written note Thrayjen recognized as Nire?s into the squirrel?s paws. ?Right from Lord Borean himself! Hracken here is goin? to need a little of the Flitchaye formula.?

The squirrel squinted at the unfolded note, his eyes flashing across the page. ?Ah, yes! Come in, come in. Hracken, eh? Well, you?ll want to sit down right here, and, yes, there, Blue, be a dear and grab me that rope.?

?Rope?? Thrayjen?s ears perked.

?Here, have some tea, it?ll help calm you. I always keep a pot warm for company.?

Thrayjen accepted the tea as Poil shoved a mug into his paws. It smelled like punky wood and Thrayjen curled his nose at it suspiciously; whatever it was, it was notsweet tea made from berry or flower.

?Drink up,? Poil said expectantly, leaning forward and eyeing Thrayjen. The rat looked helplessly to Blue, who was hopping excitedly from foot to foot.

?Miss Blue??? Thrayjen looked at the ferret, her toothy grin sending shivers throughout his body. He couldn?t understand why she looked proud. She urged him to drink the concoction. Thrayjen swallowed nervously and, clenching his eyes closed, he downed the tea.

After a minute, Thrayjen opened his eye tentatively. He looked down at himself, looking for any sort of change for lack of feeling any effect.

?Oh,? Thrayjen said quietly, then burped. Thrayjen?s vision almost immediately began to spin and he felt incredibly tired.

?Don?t worry,? Poil said, picking up a saw. The squirrel?s voice sounded very distant. ?I used a concentrated version. Yooou wooooooon?t feeeeeeeelllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaathhhhiiiiiiiiiiiing??


~*~


?Good afternoon, beautiful!?

Thrayjen blinked, groggy as he tried to sit up, and immediately spilled off the tabletop and onto the floor. The collision sent his aching head spinning, and Thrayjen moaned as his paw drifted to his face. His cheek felt swollen and every breath set his gum on fire with pain. He groaned again and closed his eyes, too tired to protest any more.

A claw dug into his notched ear and immediately the rat?s eyes flew open as he jostled awake yet again.

?Don?t fall back asleep, aye! The tea wasn?t as strong as it should have been to knock someone as big as you out for that long. The Flitchayes really knew what they were doing with this stuff?? Blue was hovering over him, coiling ropes that had tied him down in case he had woken prematurely. ?Come on, up! Up!?

Thrayjen sat up, whimpering and glaring half-heartedly at the squirrel who was cleaning sharp looking tools.

?Let him rest, Miss Blue,? Poil said. His coat was slightly redder than it had been before. ?Give him lots of clean water and make sure he keeps his mouth clean while he heals. Don?t want him dying from an abscess.?

?Thanks, Poil!? Blue slapped the squirrel on the back. Poil shrugged and gave Thrayjen a weak smile.

?Nire must like you if he?s giving you a gold tooth. Most around here don?t even get wooden ones. Nice coincidence that monstrous otter mum took down Hammerpaw. His memory lives on, though? in your mouth!?

Thrayjen opened his mouth to speak but bloody drool dribbled out. The rat covered his maw with both paws and moaned in pain and embarrassment. Blue and Poil laughed, Poil giving Thrayjen a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. As the squirrel began to wipe down the table with a damp cloth, Blue helped Thrayjen to his feet. She spoke to him as she guided him out the door, changing the volume of her voice to continuously grab the dozy rat?s attention.

?My pa wouldn?t let me sleep as long as you did. No, sir! Didn?t get a son with the drive to do what we do, so he drove me hard to make up for that. No, you?re lucky I?m not as hard as my ol? pa. Watch it, aye!?

Unbalanced and barely able to control where his feet took him, Thrayjen bounced off a passing stoat. The stoat tripped and dropped a quiver of arrow shafts, sending the blunt projectiles spilling across the stone floor. He started to say something but met Thrayjen?s eyes and paused, looking at the rat with a distant expression.

?Sorry,? Thrayjen said through a mouthful of spit. Thrayjen tried to bend down and help recover the arrow shafts but teetered too far forward and stumbled to his knees.

?It?s alright,? the stoat said. ?Is he alright, Miss Blue??

?Don?t? you worry about Hracken,? Blue said as she waved a dismissive paw. ?He just got himself a fancy new tooth and is still waking up. I?m takin? him to the tavern for some hot gin and some soup. You should join us, Aldridge!?

?That`d be lovely,? the stoat replied. Aldridge collected up the rest of the shafts, gently taking the ones from Thrayjen?s barely clasped paw.

With Blue and Aldridge tripping over Thrayjen?s dragging tail, the trio managed to make their way to the tavern Thrayjen had visited after his fight against the weasel brothers. The rat managed to pull himself up the stairs, but mercifully his trainer and her acquaintance, seeing Thrayjen was still struggling from the effects of the tea, led him over to a nearby table. Thrayjen slumped on an upholstered couch, thanking the two beasts profusely for their patience.

?Oy, sis!? Plockette gleefully exclaimed, and Blue turned around with a grin. The siblings embraced and Blue gestured to Aldridge and Thrayjen.

?You remember Hracken, of course, and this fellow here is Aldridge Moor. He?s a bowyer, new here.?

?We don?t normally let anyone but prize fighters in here, aye,? Plockette said quietly as he eyed the collar around Aldridge?s neck, ?But since my sister is with you, I?ll let it slide.?

?He's been in here before," Blue chided Plockette before boasting, "and he'll be back again! He?s one of my new recruits. Why, these two are practically brothers, aye!? the ferret exclaimed. Her brother laughed.

?Well, lads and lady, what can I get for you today?? Plockette rested a paw expectantly on the table.

?Get Hracken here a hot gin for his toothache, and my usual, aye,? Blue ordered. "And bring us some fish soup."

?If you have a pear cordial, I?ll have some,? Aldridge said. Blue shoved him.

?Cordial? That?s a dibbun?s drink! Why don?t you have a milk while you?re at it, aye!? the ferret chided him.

?Just so happens,? Plockette started with a chuckle, ?The cellar master broke open a keg for a kit?s nameday recently. I?ll be right back.?

?Pear cordial was Helix?s favourite,? Thrayjen loftily said. ?I walked to town one season in heat hotter than a forge to trade for some on his sixth nameday. He drank so much, he got sick!?

As the rat chuckled to himself Aldridge turned to Blue questioningly.

?Helix was his pup. Lost him coming here, along with a young girl.? The ferret held a claw to her lips, silencing the matter. Aldridge nodded in understanding.

Plockette appeared bearing a platter of drinks and dishes, which he effortlessly doled out before hustling off to tend to other patrons. Thrayjen picked his cup up and brought it close to his mouth. The heat hurt his jaw, but he drank none the less, determined to find some sort of comfort from his uneasy day.

?So, Mister Hracken, where did you come from?? Aldridge asked. ?Before here, I mean.?

?I came from the southern realms,? Thrayjen said, suddenly finding himself very alert. Why did the stoat care where he was from? He wore a collar, but Nire no doubt had many ears in many guises.

?The South!? Aldridge?s eyes lit up. ?I grew up in Hestara. Do you know the place? The townsbeasts called her the Gem of the Southern River. Ah, but that was twenty seasons hence, or more. Who knows whether she even still stands??

She did, last I heard, Thrayjen thought.

?Twenty seasons? Around the time I left, ah, home,? Thrayjen said. ?That was quite some time ago.?

?Aye, but it wasn?t by choice. I was conscripted into a horde half a season after coming of age, spent a few seasons following the orders of a truly ruthless beast. All full circle now, though. Nire takes a little more care of his subjects than old Currathalla did.?

Thrayjen?s eyes practically bulged from his socket. He choked on his gin and spluttered. Aldridge raised a brow.

?You?ve heard of him, then.?

Father?

?He was the tyrant king of Muskroarka,? Thrayjen answered. ?He died and his son, Grevayyen, assumed the throne. Heard he?s a nasty piece of work.?

?Two sons, in fact, and each as bad as the other. I heard the younger killed the elder for the throne."

?I heard he just exiled him,? Thrayjen said quietly. ?Or he left to go expand the empire, or some such nonsense.?

Fled.

?Typical vermin,? Blue said wryly, and the three of them shared an ironic laugh.

?In any case, I left that place behind a long time ago. Horde life isn?t for me, it seems.?

?I think a lot of hordebeasts feel that way,? Thrayjen said, squinting as Aldridge. He wanted to believe the stoat was genuine. ?In the end, what made you leave??

Did we hurt you?

?The old boy?s death. We shared a drink some nights, when the weight of the crown was keeping him awake. That didn?t sit so well with some of his advisors, or his courtesans. A lowly bowyer and a king??

"A lowly bowyer and a king, Father?!" Thrayjen blinked. He hadn?t thought about that argument in seasons.

?Absurd,? Aldridge pressed on. ?Word of his death got out, and I ran like Hellgates themselves had opened at my heels. I swear the smoke was rising from my workshop before I was even a league away.?

Thrayjen looked down, glancing at his footpaws and the table and everywhere else. He didn?t tell Aldridge that he had been too preoccupied with a mouse maid slave to bother personally chasing after his father?s bow maker drinking friend. He'd known that the stoat would never come back.

He never did, either, Thrayjen thought wryly. Good on him.

Aldridge sipped from his cordial, raising his brows as Blue gave him a sympathetic look.

?You two,? she sighed, pinching her nose. ?Finest pair of storytellers, aye.?

?Enough about me,? Aldridge said, setting his cup down. ?How about your profession??

?I was in a horde before I took up the simple life,? Thrayjen said, glancing at Blue. He felt somewhat guilty every time she looked surprised with him.

?Nan wouldn?t approve,? the ferret said, mimicking Thrayjen?s voice.

?I left, too,? Thrayjen continued on, ignoring Blue?s jab. ?I? it wasn?t for me. Lost my stomach for it.?

?And found it again, by the looks of it,? Aldridge said flatly, eyeing the warrior?s mark on Thrayjen?s collar. ?Hracken the Kraken, right? I heard about your fight.?

?I still feel bad, thinking about Ripfang?s footpaw. He?ll never walk again,? Thrayjen said, staring towards the window that overlooked the fighting pit.

?You won, though.?

?And I didn?t kill anyone,? Thrayjen pointed out, running a claw over the mark on his collar.

?True,? Aldridge remarked, his tone slightly lighter. He gave Thrayjen a quick but satisfied nod, and raised his glass.

?To prolonging the inevitable,? Aldridge said. As Blue rolled her eyes at them, Thrayjen clinked his glass against the stoat?s.

?The inevitable,? Thrayjen joked, and downed his cup.