Atlas Shrugged

[Airan]

... And the World Fell to his Feet

Frederick Swiftpaw dodged nimbly to the side as a stoat stabbed at where he was only moments before. The colonel retaliated, his saber flashing a brilliant sheen from the fire burning the sails as he knocked away the other beast's sword and lunged forward, ending the pirate's life in a single instant. He sighed as he gave a look to the fallen stoat, shaking his head in disgust.

As one of the founding leaders of the Waverunners, Frederick had seen his fair share of battles. The Sampetra Blockade, the sinking of the Emerald Queen, and even the final assault on Terramort, he remembered to the exact detail, down to the names of the countless beasts who gave their lives fighting bloodthirsty pirates so that the seas could finally be safe. But this battle was not anything like the others. Steel rang against steel and vermin lunged at the hare, but there was no eagerness in their strikes or murder in their eyes. It was panic and desperation that filled them, not from the Waverunner soldiers they struggled against, but from the lone, blood-crazed badger that led them.

Another scream pierced the air as Atlas' broadsword found another victim. Frederick winced at the sound of it, his sword dropping to his side as he turned to look behind him. The hare watched as, across The Silver Maiden's deck, the badgerlord was a hurricane of rage, steel, and blood, his lone eye completely glossed over in the red mist of the Bloodwrath as he slaughtered anybeast  unfortunate enough to wander within his reach. 

"Please, please! No! NO NO!" an unlucky ferret shrieked as the badgerlord approached him. The poor beast scrambled backwards on the floor of the deck, clutching his cutlass in front of him in his shaking paws in a vain attempt to defend himself before hastily throwing it to the side and pleading for his life. "Please! I surrender!"

Atlas stood over the corsair for a moment, watching as the ferret clenched his eyes shut and cowered underneath him.

The badger swung his sword.

Frederick continued watching as Atlas took life after life. The hare had seen many battles, but to say that this was one of them would have been a lie. This was not a battle. This was a slaughter.

Frederick made his way to where Killian Wrightbones stood talking to another hare soldier. "A straggler in the water, you say?"

Frederick harrumphed to get his attention. "Colonel Wrightbones! Hold the line, wot," the hare said to him, wincing at the sound of the younger hare's newly-given title.

"Aye, colonel!" Wrightbones said back with a quick salute.

Though he had a limp, Frederick raced as fast as he possibly could across the deck towards the badger,  hoping that he might be able to talk some sense into him. A burly rat gripping a crude cutlass stepped in his way, but was presently knocked aside by a mass of fur and spikes. Mister Rosequill, nearly stumbling from his charge, stood over the fallen rodent and gave a nod to the hare.

"Looks like I've still got a lil' fight lef' in me, colonel," the hedgehog said, almost somberly.

Frederick gave him a nod before pressing on, ducking and weaving through the rabble. He stopped momentarily, watching as two pirates, a fox and wildcat, held an unconscious Fildering with a knife to his neck. The grip on his saber tightened and he wanted nothing more than to try and aid the young soldier, but there were more important matters to attend to. The hare would have to take care of himself for now.

Frederick finally made his way to where Atlas was on the furthest end of the deck, near the mast. The hare's eyes widened as he saw the badger approach another beast. It was a young wildcat, barely older than their cabin boy, Scully, with tears pouring down his face and bandages covering his paws.

"Atlas, stop!" the hare called as he limped forward towards the badgerlord.

Atlas paused, his eye practically glowing red as he glanced to Frederick before taking another step towards the wildcat. "Return to your position, Colonel Swiftpaw," the badger said so calmly that Frederick felt chills run through his spine.

Frederick shook the feeling away, giving a look to the child Atlas stood over before narrowing his gaze. "Colonel Wrightbones can handle my position without me, sah," he said.

"Are you disobeying orders, Frederick?"

The hare ignored him. "Lord Atlas, please, don't do this. It's only a bally child! Look at his paws. He's injured, he can't even fight!"

The young wildcat's tears stopped as Atlas' broadsword point pressed against his throat. Once more, the badger glanced back to Frederick. "And what will happen if I allow him to live, Frederick? How many villages will he burn in his lifetime? How many innocent beasts will die by his paws? He's a child, yes... but as I have told you, even the faintest of winds..." Atlas raised his sword above his head.

"ATLAS, NO!" Frederick screamed.

"...Can become the mightiest of storms." The sword dropped and the young wildcat gave a single choked sob before he fell into a crumpled heap.

Frederick's jaw hung open and his paw dropped to his side as he watched Atlas calmly rip the blade from out of the child's carcass, the badger's scarlet cape billowing in the wind as dark blood spilled out around his footpaws. The hare stood silently behind him, hardly able to believe what happened.

There was a time when a young, headstrong, and ambitious badger stood at the gates of Salamandastron with only a rusted broadsword in his paws, rags on his back, and a broken manacle on his wrist, wanting nothing more than to make the seas safe for travelers and to make a name for himself. He was kind and fair to those he met, creating the Waverunners and leading them to countless victories, and sparing the enemies that threw down their arms. Lord Atlas the Just they called him.

But the day that Atlas fought Blade was the day that Atlas died, Frederick realized. It was no longer the kind ruler, his friend, that stood in front of him. It was a  child-murderer, a beast who threatened families, and a monster who tried to execute a young stowaway for everybeast to see. The hare previously believed that maybe there was something still salvageable inside of him, a remnant of what he used to be, but he was wrong.  The Bloodwrath consumed him long ago and Atlas was a name that could only be written in blood.

Frederick's paws trembled as he drew his saber and placed the blade to Atlas' neck.

Atlas tensed at the touch of it. "You would draw your sword upon your leader, colonel?" he asked.

"Yes, sah," Frederick answered. The sounds of battle around him had begun to quiet as beasts began turning their heads towards the display. The hare ceased his trembling and held the blade confidently for everybeast to see. If he could stand up to Atlas here, maybe they could as well.

Atlas turned to face him. "You are committing treason, colonel. Lower your weapon," he growled.

The hare narrowed his gaze. "I will not, sah."

"Very well."

There was a single shriek from an observer as Atlas suddenly swung his broadsword at the hare's head, but Frederick ducked underneath it. He scrambled backwards across the deck, trying to put as much distance between him and the badger as he possibly could before quickly getting back to his feet. The badgerlord rushed forward and swung at him once more, the blade coming down with such force that it splintered the wood of the deck. The hare saw his chance, gripping the hilt of his saber tightly as he lunged forward at Atlas' neck.

And then in that single instant, it was over.

Everybeast's eyes were fixed on Atlas, the badger standing with the saber's blade clutched in his massive, bare paw from where he had caught it. Blood ran down his arm as his eyes clouded over with red. Frederick stumbled forward as his opponent yanked the sword out of his grip and flung it to the side before catching the hare with his free paw.

Frederick gagged as Atlas hoisted him roughly into the air by the front collar of his Waverunner uniform, the badger giving him a single snarl before using his tremendous strength to fling the colonel like a ragdoll across the deck. The hare heard a crack as his body struck The Silver Maiden's mast and he fell forward into a heap at the foot of it. He groaned in agony as he struggled to rise back to his footpaws, watching as the badgerlord retrieved his broadsword from where he dropped it.

"You are hereby relieved of all services to the Waverunners, Swiftpaw!" Atlas' voice boomed for everybeast to hear. "Because it is as you said..." he growled as low as a whisper, "Colonel Wrightbones can handle your position without you."

Frederick fell back forward upon the deck, his paws shaking to support his weight as he tried to rise to defend himself. The badger strode towards him with the broadsword ready.

"Swiftpaw!" He heard Crue's voice ring out as she made her way through the crowd of beasts aboard the pirate vessel in a vain attempt to stop the execution.

Atlas gave the healer a warning glance and continued forward, watching as a piece of The Silver Maiden's mast crashed down upon the deck.

It was at that moment that a beast screamed, but not from Atlas or the execution about to take place. The weasel in question held his colorful, patchwork cap to his chest as he pointed to something off the The Silver Maiden's starboard rail, the ferret next to him eyeing it as well and narrowing her gaze. Frederick followed her stare, looking out to the horizon. His eyes widened in disbelief.

Despite the blackness, Frederick saw another ship on the water, its form glowing an eerie blue that seemed to banish the mist around it, as if it were a specter not even of this world. The luminous glow flickered as the vessel cut through the dark waves towards them. Everybeast watched as the Ghost Ship approached, even Atlas, whose gaze darkened at the sight of it.

"Is that the-the-the...?" a beast stammered.

The ferret made her way to the railing and watched in disbelief as the vessel grew closer in the fog. The blue light gave another flicker before it went out, and the Ghost Ship suddenly disappeared in the blackness.

Frederick stared at where it was only moments before, groaning as Crue appeared and helped him to his feet. He motioned for her to stay back as he hobbled towards the railing, leaning against it to support himself as he watched the sea. He glanced up to The Silver Maiden's sail where it was still ablaze with fire. "Atlas... they can see us."

The badger didn't seem to care as he moved beside the hare, the execution forgotten as he gripped the hilt of his broadsword and clenched his fangs.

As quickly as it had vanished, the blue glow reappeared and the Ghost Ship was much closer than before, so close that the hare could practically hear the timbers creak. Somebeast whimpered behind the hare. "Lord Atlas, it's coming straight towards us, wot," Frederick said. "We need to retreat. We have no idea how many beasts are aboard that ship."

"No," Atlas answered him. "Let it come."

The fight forgotten, some of the braver Waverunners and corsairs clambered closer to the starboard rails, watching in awe and murmuring to one another as the mysterious Ghost Ship grew closer and closer with each passing heartbeat. Frederick sighed with relief, noticing the young stowaway, Plink, trying to shove her way through the rabble for a better view, while the more superstitious of the groups huddled further away, whimpering at the very idea.

Everybeast was silent as the Ghost Ship approached, Frederick's eyes darting over it all. There was not a soul on the main deck of the ship, lanterns hung along the sides of it, blue fire burning within them and causing the ship to glow all over, and strange spikes stuck out from the hull. The mysterious vessel's black sails flapped in the chilled wind as it came to a stop beside The Silver Maiden, too far to be potentially be boarded. And on the bow was a rusted and cracked nameplate.

The Phantom.

Atlas raised his sword, pointing it directly towards the ship. His eyes narrowed as he snarled. "I am Lord Atlas Stormstripe of Salamandastron, the Just, Slayer of Captain Blade! Have your captain pull your vessel closer so that I may board!" he called across to it. "Or are you too much of a coward to face me!?"

The Phantom groaned as it rocked steadily with the waves but otherwise had no response.

Frederick took a step back as he watched it, turning to look up at the mad badger. "Atlas, what was it that Leadbone said about The Phantom?"

The badger raised a brow. "That we couldn't touch it. We would go right through it. It seems he lied about that."

"Aye, sah, and what else?"

"That it could sink a ship without touching it."

As soon as the words left Atlas' lips, something that could only be described as lightning flashed from The Phantom's hull and Frederick had to cover his ears from the accompanying boom of thunder. Beasts screamed and were flung into the ocean as the lightning tore through The Silver Maiden, destroying timber and puncturing holes within the pirate vessel. Frederick was flung backwards by the force, the hare's eyes wide as he watched the starboard rail in front of Atlas break.

Frederick gave one last look to where Atlas stood, trying to steady himself, before the deck beneath the badger's footpaws gave way underneath the combined weight of him and his battle armor. The wood splintered as gravity took him over the edge of the ship and into the sea below.

And Atlas was gone.