As the Vultures Circle

[Alan]

To sleep.  Perchance, to dream.  It all sounded so good in love stories and tales of heros long dead.  Alan thought that this was pure river scum.  Either you slept, and possibly became rested with the absence of dreams.  Or, your thoughts were filled with the horrors of night and the wishfulness of what could have been.  Upon waking you were left with a bitter taste in your mouth and a sharp longing for what you could never have.  Meanwhile, the remnants of your dream flitted away into the depths of your subconcious, leaving you staring at the cold, harsh light of morning that promised only dismal reality.

Alan hunched down beside the body of his brother.   They'd fashoned a rough bed for Konner out of flour sacks and old blankets instead of moving him to a room where he could rest alone.  Alan wanted him close by should they have to retreat further into the heart of the castle.  

"You should wake up sometime Konner," Alan whispered as he curled up on the ground beside him.  "You're missing all the fun."

As his head tilted to rest on his arms, the mink's eyes fluttered closed.  Despite the bustle around him, there was no denying how tired he was.  Tobias had been right.  Presumptious little-

Alan was asleep before he could finish the thought.

____


Alan stood on the walltops of Kotir looking out over Mossflower wood.  Overhead, the clouds scuttled past blown by a brisk wind.  Below him, woodlanders hauled stone from the nearby quarry to add to the castle being constructed.  

"Shouldn't you be writing out the daily report?"

Alan turned his head to see Konnor leaning on the wall beside him.  "What's it to you?" he asked.  

Konner reached over and cuffed him.  "If you're ever going to make it past lieutenant, you've got to start fulfilling your duties."

Alan stuck out his tongue.  "Just because you're older doesn't mean you get to tell me what to do."

"You're right.  I'm a superiour officer.  That gives me the right to tell you what to do."

Alan turned and leaned his back against the wall.  "But Konner...  I'm in love!" he whined.  "Daily reports pale in comparison to the desires of my heart!"

Konner snorted.  "Does that tripe actually work on her?"

The wind against their faces blew harder.  Alan looked up at the sky.  The white clouds had turned into dark grey mounds of terror.  As he watched, the sky darkened further and a bolt of lightning slashed across his vision.

"Konner..."

There was no response.  Alan turned, but his brother wasn't there.  A fox, black as night, with blood red eyes stood in his place.  

"What do you want?" Alan snapped.  "I'm working on it, okay?"

The fox didn't speak.  Just stared at him until Alan was forced to look away.  The mink stared at the stones beneath him.  They were red with blood.  

"You could at least have given us a bloody hint," Alan growled.  

There was a whimper.  Alan raised his eyes to see Kurt and Konner lying on the stones in front of him.  But this time, Konner's throat was slashed, and Kurt was bleeding from a head wound.  He fell to his knees, reaching for his brother, but something held him back.  He turned, and saw the beaver, Chokk, holding fast to his cape, pulling him backwards, towards the unfinished part of the wall.  He kicked and struggled, but it was no use.  The beaver kept dragging him back.  

"Let me go!"  His scream was hoarse and shallow, but the beaver paid no heed.  Alan fought harder and only managed to get his cape wrapped so tightly around him he couldn't move.  He felt the stones beneath him begin to give as they reached the unfinished wall.  He tried to yell Konnor's name, but fabric filled his mouth, stifling him.  He twisted to look at Chokk one last time, but the beaver's features had changed, grown younger, surlier.  Alan's eyes widened as with a wicked grin, the young beaver pushed him over the wall, into empty air.  

_____

"Mmmuuu!"

Alan woke up drenched in sweat.   Something was holding him down, stifling him, keeping him-  oh.  He spat out the corner of his cape that had gotten wedged in his mouth.

"Radish!"

He untangled his legs, kicking them free.

"Radish!"

Where was that mouse?

"Rad-"

"Alan what is it?"

Alan blinked up at Tobias who stood holding a steaming bowl in one paw.  

"Where's Radish?"

The other mink blinked at him.  "I don't know, I haven't seen him.  Maybe he's helping in the kitchens."

Alan scanned the dining hall.  As per his orders, all doors and windows to the outside were still guarded.  A cold wind blew through the room via the window he'd smashed.  He finished untangling himself from his cape and stood up.

"Perhaps, not like him though.  How long have I been asleep?"  He snagged a passing hedgehog.  "Get me a drink."

Tobias shrugged.  "Not long, two hours at the most.  Are you sure you're rested?   You were making a lot of noise just now."

Alan's dream popped vividly back into the forefront of his brain and he shuddered.  "No, no thank you.  I think I've slept enough for the next week an a half.  Possibly my entire life.  Where's that drink?"

A moment later the hedgehog scurried up and handed him a warm mug.  Alan took a sip and promptly gagged, spewing it across the room.  

"What the hell is this?"

The hedgehog cowered.  "Tea."  she said timidly.

Alan threw it at her.

"Tea, is not a drink," he snarled.  "It's ditchwater.  Now get me something with a little life in it or I'll have your headspikes for a necklace!  Where in Vulpuz's name is Radish!"

"No one's seen him.  Are you sure you're all right, Alan? You look awful."  Tobias eyed him.

Alan rolled his eyes.  "I had a bad dream okay?  Beasts have bad dreams all the time.  It's something we do.  Now, what's our status update?  And where are the others?"

The younger mink handed him the bowl of food.  "There have been no moves by the rats that we can tell.  Lady Kovari is incensed that she's imprisoned in her own castle, so Lord Tirian has appeased her by saying we'll launch an offensive tomorrow to drive them away.  I couldn't find Rexim, Clutus is still with Mirdros, and Rousseau is around somewhere."

Alan picked out a lump of something that resembled meat and put it in his mouth.  "That seems little more than a ploy to appease our good lady.  Radish!"

"Sir...  Captain Blacktip... Sir."

Alan looked around. the hedgehog was back.  She handed him a bottle of what was definitely alcohol and backed up a ways as he upended it in his mouth.  when he came up for air, she was still there.

He glared at her.  "What are you still here for?"

"It's about Radish, sir."

"Well?"

"He was taken, sir."

Another knot sank into Alan's stomach to join the army of them that were already gathered.  

"Taken where?"  He knew better than to ask.  He couldn't help himself.

"By the rats, sir, I saw it.  He was bringing food to some soldiers, sir, as per your orders and-"

"Get out of my sight."

The hedgehog scuttled away.  Alan stared at the floor, and then sagged down onto a nearby bench.

"Alan?"

Alan looked up unseeingly at Tobias.  "They took Radish."

A new voice broke in.  "I ain't surprised.  Wot with the way ya treated 'im, I'd a gotten myself captured too."

Alan looked at the floor as Rousseau joined the two minks.  "Wot do we do now?" she asked.  

"Kill them all."  Alan muttered.  

"What?"

"All of them.  Every single bloody one of them."

Rousseau eyed him.  "Aye, we could."

"Seems a bit harsh," said Tobias.  "We only have to kill the one."

"One, all, what's the difference?"  Alan kept staring at the floor, his wounded paw was aching.  He clenched it into a fist and pushed it into the wood below him.

"Are ya suggestin' we kill Mirdros?" Rousseau snarled.

"Don't be daft." Alan snapped.  "I don't kill children.  Not like... not like them."

"What if Mirdros is the one?"

Alan stood up and faced Tobias.  He was breathing hard, his chest heaving.  "If that slimey little twerp is the reason Kotir is going to fall, then you can bloody well kill me now," he snarled.  "I don't kill children."

"Anymore," said Tobias.

Alan whirled on him.  "What?"

"Oh come on Alan.  We all know about the accident."

"Shut up!"

"It wasn't an accusation-"

"Go hang yourself."

Alan turned on his heel and moved towards the stairs.

"Where are you going now?"

"To think.  Is that permissable your royal highness?"  Alan turned and spat the words at the younger mink.  Toby drew back as if Alan had hit him.  

"Don't you think you should look over-"

"No.  I don't.  The guards I posted know their jobs, Clutus is in charge of Mirdros and I'll kill him if he eats him, you're doing whatever it is that builders do, and Rousseau is doing her typical aimless officer thing.  Rexim is probably off drinking somewhere.  Only beast here with any bloody sense."  Alan remembered he still had a bottle in his paw and he upended it again in his mouth, draining it to the last drop.  He threw the empty bottle aside, and glared at them.  "If anything happens, I'll be on the roof."

"Why the roof?"

"Target practice."  Alan stomped up the stairs.  Yes.  Target practice.  There were bound to be a few rats going about that a good arrow or two would find a good use for.  

He turned down one hallway, and then another, turning to go up the last set of stairs when he bumped into Adrian.  She stumbled backwards muttering apologies.  Alan stopped and looked at her.

"At ease Private."

She quieted and then glanced up at him.  "Yes sir."

He stared at her face.  She was lovely.  Her features were delicate and fine and her figure was nothing to scoff at either.  The alcohol in his blood rose to the back of his head and created a nice haze.  

"Are you busy?" he asked.

She looked up.  "Other than the war going on, no."

Alan raised his injured paw, and turned his head so that the last remaining bit of daylight caught the dried blood on the side of his head.  

"I could use some help getting bandaged up."  He said.  "I'd appreciate the pleasure of your company if nothing else."

A concerned expression crossed her face as she saw the blood, but she hesitated.  "Is that an order sir?"

Alan smiled inwardly.  "No."

She breathed a sigh of relief.  "What can I do?  We don't have the infirmary."

"I have some rudimentary supplies in my quarters that I think will suffice.  I could use assistance though, it's hard to wrap bandages with one paw."

She leaned forward to examine his bad paw better.  "I'll do what I can sir."

Alan extended his good paw for her to take.  "I wouldn't dream of asking any more, Adrian."