Monsters Around Us (Tassle Riverswift)

[Substitute Author]

Stupid badger! Why couldn't he just cooperate?

Anger pounding through her head, Tassle gripped her paws tighter on her battered cutlass, gritted her teeth, and charged into the rats. She could see Ulrick's bulky form ahead of her, and almost thought she could hear Cricket's piping shriek above the chanting of the rats around her.

"Ulrick!" she shouted, trying to be heard over the noise. "Get back, idiot!"
If he heard, it didn't make any difference. He kept charging ahead, without looking back.
The rats were pressing around her and it was hard for her to keep them away, though they quickly learned to stay out of range of her cutlass. They pressed and swirled around in a furious, yelling, crowd. Progress in any definite direction was hard.

The noise grew louder, and Tassle's blood ran cold as she looked behind her. A bunch of the rats had gotten between her and the rest of the group, cutting her off from her retreat. She froze a moment and stared desperately across at them. They looked back, equally panicked.

"Look out, Tassle!" someone shrieked. Jerking, Tassle turned just in time to knock back a rat flying at her with teeth bared.

Now she was alone in the crowd, cut off from help. She couldn't see Ulrick anymore. There were too many rats. Her friends were trying hard to get to her, but they had no real weapons.

A frightened sob rose in her throat. "Get back!" she shouted to them as loud as she could. Tassle stumbled back, trying to get her back against a wall. "Save yourselves!"

She didn't see if they heard. Angry rats swept between her and them, making her own fight more important. For a while, a short time that seemed to stretch into eternity, she kept fighting.

A piping voice cut through the mad chanting of her attackers, sounding almost welcome in its familiarity.
"Ole meanystripe can't get me!"

"Cricket!" Tassle gasped, turning sharply. The little rat was right there, almost running into her as she squirmed out from the crowd. Tassle reached out blindly and grabbed her shirt. "We have to get out of here!"
"Lemme go!" Cricket said viciously, twisting in her grip. "Stupid spikey shrew!"
It wasn't much, but it was enough. Tassle was tipped off balance by the rat's struggling and her cutlass dropped. With a cry of fiendish glee, the Bladegirt rats surged forward. The shrew felt her weapon being wrenched from her hand and cried out in alarm as rat claws tore at her. Her arms were pinioned to her side, despite her struggling, and beside her she saw Cricket receiving the same treatment.

Wakeeha's wicked face appeared before her suddenly, lifting her staff high and grinning fanatically.
"Evil need blood!"
"No!" Tassle shouted desperately. "Let us go!"

The piece of wood came down sharply on Tassle's temple, and she didn't have to worry about it anymore.
~

There was a strange rushing noise in Tassle's head, sounding through the darkness. Every heart beat swept a new wave of pain through her body. A faint groan escaped her lips and, befuddled by the pain, her eyelids flickered and opened.
Light burned her eyes and she winced back, making a sound of pain. Her head ached terribly. One eye wouldn't open- blood had run down from her head and crusted one eyelid shut. Taking a deep shuddering breath, Tassle forced her other eye open.

This time the light didn't seem so bright. Blinking blearily, she saw that it came from a single torch flickering on the cave wall. With the light flooding down on her came broken, disjointed memory. With memory came terrifying realization.
She couldn't move. Her arms were fastened tightly to her sides, and she was bound to a pole at her back. The ropes around her were tied tight enough to dig into her scraped and bloodied skin. Every move sent darts of pain shooting through her.
Tassle was a captive. Again.
Her battered mind shied away from the thought. Instead she tried to focus at the shadowed area beyond the torchlight, where she could see dim forms moving around. She licked dried lips and forced a hoarse whisper from her throat.
"Let us go," she demanded, as loudly as she could manage. It was hardly above a whisper, yet it seemed to echo loudly in the silent room. The shapes didn't even turn to look at her. A wave of despair swept through her.
There was a scuffing sound behind her and the ropes around her tightened for one painful instant. Then there was a moment of silence, followed by a quiet, whiny voice.
"This is all your fault."
There was so much hate in the voice that Tassle flinched, then tightened her jaw.
"My fault?" If the other voice had hate, Tassle nearly matched it with frustrated anger. "We might have been gone by now if it hadn't been for you, Cricket. And you could have come with us. There was nothing stopping you. There was nothing that forced you to try to kill us and run off to these stupid rats."

"I could have gotten away if it weren't for you, stupid!"

"Yeah?" Tears of frustration started to Tassle's eyes. "This is not my FAULT!"
She shouted the last word, and it echoed through the room. The shrew continued before the echo faded, nearly spitting out the words.

"I hate all this! I thought we were going to be free, but it's gone from bad to worse. Who cares anymore?! Maybe it would have been better if we all drowned! You're such a stupid, selfish, little rodent. Why do I have to care what happens to you, or that dumb badger? I don't care anymore! And it's not my fault!"

Tassle threw her head back at the last bit and bumped her head against the post. White light burst in her vision and she started to cry. The tears made her eyes sting.
"You're stupid," Cricket said. Tassle couldn't see her, and she sounded strangely un-childlike. "You deserve to die."

Tassle closed her eyes and let the tears seep out from under her eyelids. She thought of green grass and cool water... it seemed like it had been such a long time ago since she had seen them.

"It doesn't matter," she whispered dully. "We're going to die. Who cares if we deserve it."

"I don't deserve to die!" Cricket's voice now held the slightest touch of panic. "I shouldn't have to! It's not fair!"

"Fair?"
The word came from nowhere, whispering eerily around them. Tassle's eyes snapped open and she stared as Wakeeha stepped from the shadows, grinning at them.
"World is being not fair. World is being full of darkness and light. And blood. Blood is called for. Blood must be given."

Tassle shrank away from her slightly and tried to calm her suddenly racing heartbeat. She opened her mouth to question the rat, but her mouth was too dry. Wakeeha turned to face away from them and raised her arms, drawing the shrew's attention to a dark tunnel mouth. She began to shake.

It began as a whisper.
"Blood. Blood. Evil want blood."

Other voices joined it, from the hoards of rats that Tassle couldn't turn her head far enough to see. Light flared as more torches were lit, showing a path between her and the tunnel. She stared down it hopelessly as the cry grew to a shout.
"Blood! Blood! Evil want blood!"

Over and over, until it rang in her ears and seemed to meld with her racing heartbeat. Her breath began to come in terrified gasps as her eyes grew wider, staring at the dark passageway. A wave of dank air swept out from it, bringing a sickening scent to her nostrils. She quivered.

"I'm sorry, Cricket," she cried suddenly. "I don't want to die! I don't want any of us to die!"

Cricket was either laughing or crying hysterically.

Tassle couldn't tear her eyes away from the opening. It seemed to entrance and hypnotize her with its impenetrable blackness. But then, in the darkness, something stirred...
It was a shadow of blackness, slightly darker than the inky darkness around. Torchlight reflected red on wide open eyes. Its head brushed the top of the cave as it stepped forward.

Tassle opened her mouth and screamed with all her might.