Fuit Illium

Started by Rexim, January 05, 2012, 08:29:41 AM

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Rexim

?Forst! Curse eet all, where are you??

Rexim skidded around the corner and looked around as he ran down the hallway. To his great chagrin, the mink in question was nowhere in sight.

This was not good. If his hunch was right, the rats could very well be making their way into the castle right now. And by Vulpuz, he was not going to be remembered as the fox who let Kotir be annihilated because he was too slow to alert somebeast.

Rounding another corner, Rexim found his dash interrupted by a sudden impact. He had just enough time to register that he had collided with another beast before they tumbled to the ground in a muddle of flailing paws and tails. This was followed by a great cacophony of voices.

?What ees wrong weeth you? I have to speak weeth Tobias Forst urgeently, and time ees of the esseence! Get out of my way!?

?What are you doing running around like a beast with his tail on fire? Do you have no concern for the safety of others??

Rexim disentangled himself from the mess and looked at the beast that he had just hit.

?Tobias? Thees ees a fortueetous coeencideence eendeed. I need to speak weeth you right now.?

The mink stood up and brushed himself off. ?Interesting, I was on my way to speak with you as well. What is it??

Rexim retrieved Rikhard?s journal from his pocket and turned it to the pertinent page. Then he handed it to Tobias, who accepted it with a look of confusion on his face. After reading, the look was replaced by one of realization.

The fox savored a brief feeling of intellectual superiority until Tobias said, ?It?s really amazing how we were going to talk to each other about almost exactly the same thing. This fits in perfectly with my theory..."

?So what ees eet that you were goeeng to tell me?? asked the fox.

?Well, since I showed you Kotir's weak points earlier, I want you to return the favor and tell me everything about that tunnel. How did the rats even find it if nobeast in the castle knows of its existence? Why was it built in the first place??

?Ah? for thees sort of story, eet ees best to start from the begeenneeng. I hope that you are comfortable, for thees could take a while.?

Rexim took a deep breath before launching into his story. As he did so, his mind was flooded with doubts as his lungs were with air. What was he doing? This was the son of his greatest rival since that stoat who had dropped a half ton of granite on his tail. And now he was revealing the secrets of the most important work of his career. What had happened to that ambitious young fox who had wanted to leave his mark on the world, preferably permanently carved there?

Well, perhaps it was time for him to grow up a bit. Bolstered by this thought, Rexim let the words flow.

?Eet was about a dozeen seasons ago, and King Rolf decided that eet was time to expand hees eempire a beet. Having been informed by hees scouts of thees new land called ?Mossflower,? he thought that eet sounded like a prime place to add to hees domeenion. So he seent a scouting party to eenvestigate whether eet was suitable for conquereeng. Thees party was headed by Captain Reekhard, and eencluded yours truly as a represeentateeve of the Beelder?s Geeld.

?My job was to survey the area and find a good location for a castle. I finally found the one location een the eentire country that was not covered in trees or heells, and we decided to peetch our camp their unteel the surveyeeng was feeneeshed. However, we were soon attacked by hordes of angry rats. Reekhard eveentually scouted out their location, saw some preetty deesturbeeng reetuals, and eveentually we had abeeg war and I eended up losing two of my right claws. But that ees not eemportant at thees point.

?What ees eemportant ees that while I was surveyeeng the area, I found a hole een the ground that led to an underground lake. Had Reekhard and I compared notes, I probably would have realized the danger and maybe moved somewhere else, but as eet was I eencluded the tunnel on the official bluepreents that I seent back to Rolf. I recommeended that eet be dug out some more and used as an escape tunnel, and he agreed and ordered me to tell no other beast about eet. The oreeginal eentrance was actually eenside of the parade ground, but I got some mole slaves to exteend the tunnel out eento the woodland and up through a hollow stump, theen made a heedeen door to deesguise the eentrance. Wheen you and your father arrived, I was afraid that you would take the glory for my tunnel along weeth the rest of the castle, so I obeyed Rolf?s ?Do not tell? order to the letter. I do not theenk that eveen Kovari and Teerian know about eet. And that?s all there really ees to say.?

The fox?s ears perked up as he thought of the tunnel?s exit. ?One more theeng! I just remeembered that wheen Rousseau, Luka, Clutus and I weent down eento the tunnel a couple of days ago, we found that there were strange channels dug at the exeet of the tunnel. I theenk that the rats must have made theem, but why??

Great Vulpuz, was that really only a couple of days ago? It feels like such a long time since everything made since and we could have dismissed this whole mission from Vulpuz thing as a dream.

Tobias took out a beat-up piece of paper and showed it to Rexim. ?Look at this. It?s the rat?s attack plans. I had Rousseau draw them from memory, and one interesting thing is that they?ve got really detailed drawings of your tunnel on it. Far more detailed than would make since if they?re just going to use it for troop movement.?

?So? they are planneeng sometheeng beeg eenvolveeng the tunnel,? finished the fox.

?That's what I think. Could you describe these channels that you saw with Rousseau and the others??

Rexim shrugged. ?They were just deetches.? He spread his arms as far apart as possible. ?About thees wide, and preetty deep. Very strange, don?t you theenk??

The mink tapped the side of his mouth. ?Don?t you find it a bit strange that a flood struck right when everybeast fell asleep in the middle of the feast? I think the rats snuck through the tunnel and drugged the food, and as for the flood--?

?Wait- you are sayeeng that the flooded Koteer through my tunnel? Eet ees all my fault?? Rexim?s knees gave way and he slumped against the wall. ?Bloody hell, thees ees the worst theeng that could have happeened.?

Tobias tried to comfort the shellshocked fox, who looked shaken to the core of his being. ?Hold on a moment, it isn?t all your fault; their attack was a complete ambush. Nobeast saw it coming or even thought they were still hostile. And you know, this time around Kotir doesn?t have to be destroyed.?

?Aye? I suppose. Great Vulpuz, thees ees turneeng out to be a horreeble week.? Rexim accepted the mink?s proffered paw and stood up.

?Well, eet could be worse, posseebly. At least I can absolve my seens thees time around, and I have not yet lost eeny more body parts. Now, what ees eet that you need me to do to preveent thees deesaster? archeetect??

?Well, there are those weak spots that you had me tell you about. That was a good idea you had. Perhaps you could have a look at them later??

?Conseeder eet done. I weell get on that as soon as posseeble.? With that, Rexim, strolled off down the corridor, half-tail swinging and in a genuine good mood for the first time in over ten seasons.

*

From the journal of Captain Rikhard:

When fighting the rats, what you have to most consider is the difference of numbers. We of Rolf?s army fight in loose formations and always keep the main body of our army together. The rats, on the other paw, attack in small groups and never in force, so the annihilation of one offensive group does not weaken them to the extent that it would us.

Even if the above were not true, they are masters at escaping and hiding in the dense vegetation of Mossflower, making any kind of retaliation extremely difficult (but not impossible, providing that you react quickly enough). Compounding the above problem, the swamp in which they make their homes is so huge and their tribes so small and spread out that attempting to strike back at their homes is a gamble at best. Also, none of our troops have been trained for swamp fighting and navigation, or have even seen a swamp before. The same goes for woodland fighting, though at least the rarely sink in loam.

The best strategy appears to be backing up against something solid, waiting for them to strike, then encircling the attacking group and eliminating group. Hopefully, they will eventually expend all their troops in many small attacks on a much larger group that occupies a strong defense position. It must be soon, for our army?s logistics are not looking good, and the native population are becoming increasingly hostile to our pleas for food. Desperate measures may have to be taken eventually.

Note: I have just realized something. What if the rats are simply using these small strikes for diversionary purposes, and concealing their larger force until we are exhausted from many battles? In that case, the best option would be to destroy this supposed larger force before that can happen. I will have to think about this...


*

Rexim tapped the wall with the hammer, and pressed his ear against the stone to hear the resulting sound.

?Hmm? that ees not good. Very weak. We weell certainly have to watch thees one.?

He made a note of it in his book, and moved on slowly. Rexim was exhausted. It was late, and this work drained you mentally if not physically. As it turned out, what the guild teacher had said about the different sounds of sandstone and the significance of thus was actually important, so a good deal of the afternoon had been spent trying to remember what that half-forgotten stoat had said. Rexim was still worried that he was doing everything horribly wrong, but at least he was doing something.

Plus, he hated having to handle a hammer so much. He had some unpleasant memories involving hammers, and today was about the worst day to dredge them up again.

The fox was almost around the corner when he heard a noise behind him. It sounded like somebeast tapping the wall that he had just checked. He whirled around, but nobeast was there.

?Hello? Ees somebeast playeeng weeth me? Eet has been a long day, and I have a hammer, I am warneeng you.?

The tapping came again, then stopped suddenly. Rexim breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps his brain was starting to go funny because he hadn?t had any wine for so long. He turned back, just as the wall exploded with a loud crash!

The shower of debris was accompanied by a small group of rats carrying a section of treetrunk. One of them spotted Rexim and shouted to another, who drew a bow and took aim at the fleeing fox. He heard several ?twangs?, felt pain blossoming throughout his body, and as his left leg collapsed underneath him he saw an arrow sticking out of the back of his knee.

Great. Another useless limb. Just what I need. And now the rats are going to pour through that hole and kill everybeast in the castle. It?s all going to be my fault.

Again.


Well, he?d be buggered if he was going to let that happen. Mustering his willpower, the fox grabbed a rough wallstone and pulled himself up. He took a few experimental steps, leaning against the wall for support, and winced. Rexim was no stranger to pain, but for some reason this was much worse than his other injuries. Nevertheless, he gritted his teeth and limped on. The rats had all swarmed off in the direction of the defenders, but they didn?t have the advantage of knowing all the castle blueprints by heart. The fox was confident that he could make it to the ramparts before his attackers, even if he had to travel at a snail?s pace.

As he made his painfully slow journey, Rexim began to feel extremely light-headed. Old, buried memories rushed up to fill the gaps.

You?re useless! You spineless, weak coward. I am eembaressed that we eveen share the same name!

?Shut up,? spat out the fox, and continued his agonizing steps. But the voice refused to be muted.

I should have thrown you out weeth her, but I thought that haveeng another male een the fameely would help me weeth my buseeness. Obviously, I was wrong: you?re eveen more of a female than she was!

?I gave you what you deserved once, don?t theenk I won?t do eet again.? Rexim could see the door that was his goal up ahead, and redoubled his pace. His new injury didn?t appreciate the extra stress, and the fox nearly fell to the floor gasping.

Ees thees how you repay my geeneroseety? Getteeng drunk on my salary and buyeeng useless books about archeetecture? You really theenk that so can be an archeetect, you useless whelp? They need strong, eentelleegeent beasts for that job, and you are notheeng like that!

There it was? the door. The universe contained nothing but Rexim, the hallway, and the door. The hallway was getting longer, or maybe he was getting farther away?

In a fleeting moment of normal thought, the fox wondered why a single leg wound was causing such serious symptoms, but that inkling fled from his mind. Once again, everything was the door, the hall, and Rexim.

And the voice.

Take that! And that! That?ll teach you to take advantage of me like that, you slimy leettle leech! You weell be eveen uglier wheen I am done weeth you, count on that.

Hey, what are you doeeng weeth that hammer? Get away from me! I weell not heseetate to balance out your ears?

What are you doeeng, eediot? Get away from me - Vulpuz protect me, stop, what are you doeeng?


He was there. The door was within reach. He grabbed it, pressed the latch, and the door swung open. The bloodstained fox fell into a surprised group of soldiers, and stared up at the nearest one. Was it Alan? They all looked the same now?

?Rats? een the castle. Thought you ought... to know,? he gasped out to the blurry figure, which said something to some other blurs who then rushed off.

With his essential work done, Rexim tried to raise himself off the ground, but found he had no strength left. Twisting his head around, he saw the two arrows embedded in his back.

Well, that?s it then, thought the fox, laying his head on the ground and watching the blood drip away. Dying to save a castle that will probably be destroyed anyway. A fitting monument to my life. Unremembered, with no great works to my name.

Well?

It could be worse. Maybe the others will survive, and save Kotir.

Maybe?

Maybe they?ll remember me.


And then he saw nothing.

To an architect, it was something great that just wasn?t built yet.  
First post edited for plot reasons, nothing more.