For My Part, I Am The Innocentest Person of Them All

[Plink]

With dialogue collaboration by Captain Ciera Ancora

*

The stoat was dead. He was dead because the captain believed he would have killed them all, given the chance. Plink watched his eyes go dull as his blood wet the sand around him. She wasn't exactly sad to see him die - he had said he wanted to kill her and Scully, after all - but she was far from relieved.

She couldn't decide whether it was worse to drown a rat in a fit of rage or cut down a stoat without batting an eye.

The others were still talking, Scully and the fox both still sitting on the ground while the captain stood with her blade in one paw and Vera's amulet in the other. ?And then you?ll get back to Mossflower, and you can forget about all of this piracy nonsense. Stop being a pirate.?

"And then what?" Scully repeated. He looked uncertain, but unafraid.

"I have no bloody idea."

In the beat of silence that followed, Plink looked between the three of them. They were doing this wrong. A beast was dead and something was supposed to happen now. One of them was supposed to stand up and say something. They weren't supposed to sit there like lumps, listening while the murderer gave them blind advice on their futures. But nobeast was moving.

Plink stood up, fists trembling at her sides. "I'll tell you 'then what,'" she spat. "You travel around Mossflower lookin' fer a safe place to live, an' you don't find anything. The Waverunners an' the Long Patrol keep vermin clans from settlin' near the coast, an' inland there's nothin' but otter an' shrew territory. So unless you want to be a bandit or a mercenary, you'll end up washin' goodbeasts' clothes on the edge o' town 'till yer paws are blistered an' they find some excuse to drive you off!"

Captain Ancora regarded her cooly. "And how many pockets did you empty before they found their excuse?"

"That ain't the point," Plink said, ears burning.

"It's exactly the point. If you were stupid enough to invite hostility by stealing from your neighbors, then you were too stupid to coexist with them."

"It didn't matter if I stole or not! When things go missin', it's vermin who take the blame. You can call me 'woodlander' all you want, but you're wrong an' anybeast with eyes in their head can see it. Without Terramort, there ain't a place in this world fer vermin, an' if you don't know that, then you're the stupid one!"

In the silence that followed, Plink became fully aware of what she had just said to this beast, her new and murderous captain. For all that several paces separated them, she felt far too close.

Captain Ancora did not move. "Then maybe vermin shouldn't have a place in this world."

Plink jerked backward, stunned and confused.

"Vermin think that if you steal something, it's free, but the truth is that a stolen item is more costly than you can imagine. You can only steal so much, for so long, until inevitably somebeast puts a halt to it. Pirates spent season upon season raiding and pillaging, and look what it brought us - extermination on an unprecedented scale."

Plink thought unbidden of all the trinkets she'd stolen aboard the Zephyr, then shook the memory away. "That ain't how it happened."

"Don't be naive. That's how it always happens." Ciera shoved the necklace back in her pocket, but she still held the sword. "You must have heard the legends. Lord Badrang, Ferahgo the Assassin, Ungatt Trunn, Princess Kurda of Riftgard... all of them destroyed, their castles pulled down, and their forces scattered to the winds. Why? Because they got too greedy and became too much of a threat."

"Cap'n Blade's pirates were different from those others?"

Her ma had told her all about them, so many stories of daring and camaraderie. Stories about Scarcrab. But after all she had seen of pirates, after Chak and Maurick and Murdin and the captain before her, Plink's voice lacked conviction.

Captain Ancora only stared off into the depths of the jungle. "We saw it coming, you know. Blade and I. We thought that maybe, if we could get control, make the pirates listen to us, get them all working together, we could stop it from happening. We could find a balance, some method of sustaining our way of life without provoking the wrath of Redwall and Salamandastron. And for almost five seasons, we managed it. But the pirates, the stupid bloody lay pirates who couldn't see the bigger picture, they forgot what we taught them. Whenever that gold coin was right there in front of them, they couldn't help themselves; they had to take it."

The captain looked at Plink then. She was cunning and commanding, but in every other way so unlike what the young rat had wanted. This wasn't any dashing swashbuckler, or any marm like Plink had ever seen - but Captain Ancora was flesh and blood. She was real, and harsh as her words were, Plink couldn't stop listening.

"And you know what I think? I think on some level, they wanted it to happen." She gripped the cutlass tighter still. "We gave them facts, we gave them history. We tried to scare them straight. What reasonable beast wouldn't be terrified at the prospect of wholesale destruction? And what do you think their reaction was? They stole even more, to prepare for the war! The war that wouldn't have bloody happened if they hadn't been stealing so much in the first place! That's vermin logic for you! It was like plugging a dagger wound with a sword! This whole bloody war on piracy could have been stopped at any point, but they wouldn't do what it took to make it a reality. They sailed off to a war they could never win, and do you know why? Because honest living is hard. It takes work. And they can't do it. They'd rather die holding a cutlass than trade it in for a shovel."

Plink looked away, and her eyes fell on the dead stoat while her mind whirled. She remembered Robert digging with his oar. She remembered her ma's callused paws.

Captain Ancora was watching her with a stern, knowing expression. "Nobeast forced you to steal. But you forced them to punish you for stealing."

Plink glared bitterly up at the ferret and tried to imagine her begging for a meal. She couldn't. A snide retort came bubbling up her throat.

Just like Murdin forced you to kill him, huh? Funny how you and goodbeasts are so good at readin' vermin's minds!

But Plink didn't utter a word, because what she could imagine - what she could very clearly picture - was that bloody cutlass coming down on her own throat next. She could imagine running through the jungle again, and not making it very far this time. She could imagine herself surviving all that she had in the search for this crew, and then spoiling it all by mouthing off.

Plink swiped the back of her paw across her still-sore muzzle and thought of Chak. She looked sourly back at the dead stoat.

"We oughtta bury him before the flies get bad. Cap'n."

She felt Captain Ancora's eyes linger on her for a moment longer, then the ferret huffed. "What is it with you mainland beasts and burying everything that dies? There's little enough daylight left for us to reach the mountain as it is. We're leaving him." She turned toward the fox. "Vera! On your feet!"

"I- Yes, Captain!"

Ancora chopped a path through the foliage, occasionally glaring back at the fox to keep her from lagging. Scully cast Plink a troubled glance, but then followed after them. His poisoned arrows bristled out of the quiver on his back. Plink lingered to stare again at Murdin's corpse.

His lips were drawn back to reveal his jagged teeth. Even dead, Plink was still a little afraid of him.

"I wouldn't let myself fall far behind if I were you, Miss Plink." Though she was out of sight, Captain Ancora's voice came clearly through the thick brush. "Our audience might begin to doubt your commitment to our task."

Though Plink had yet to see a snake, she hustled to catch up all the same.

The party made slow progress until mid-afternoon, when they came upon a shallow stream and began following it toward its source. They moved faster after that, and were able to spread out a bit, though Captain Ancora kept a close eye on them all. Plink glanced downstream more than once, wondering if this was the same stream that flowed near the other camp. She hoped Tooley had found his way back to them.

She looked back fearfully as well, afraid she would spot Maurick's red brow looming out of the greenery. Later in the afternoon, her tired eyes mistook the stream for a snake, and her heart leapt into her throat for a second before she realized the glimmering scales were only ripples on the water.

Walk the snake's spine
clear up to his head
an' step yer steps soft
lest ye wind up dead.

Plink stopped walking and stared at the flowing water. They were walking toward the source - the head of the stream. The head of the snake that wasn't a snake. The? metaphor. She had solved the first clue without even trying! But the next two lines were still a mystery. 'Step yer steps soft' - maybe it meant to walk on the moss?

Plink glanced at the rocks before her, but the mossy ones looked slick. Her eye traveled up ahead, to where the captain was sawing through the trigger line of another trap. It had been hidden beneath the surface of the water. Perhaps it really was safer on the rocks. Plink immediately set the thought aside, though. Scully was watching her with his same troubled expression. She scowled at him.

"What're you lookin' at?"

He half-shrugged and turned back around to keep marching. Plink, still brooding on the riddle, followed along.

Vera's injury kept their pace easy enough, and Plink was glad for it. She had bandaged her burned footpaw, but the clumsy binding had come apart and sand had gotten in the wound anyway. Walking in the cool water dulled the pain, though, and as the light began to diminish, she started turning over rocks in search of something to eat.

She had gulped down a couple of grubs and found a big red earthworm when she realized Scully was watching her again. "Um? are you, like, eating bugs?"

"What? Does that upset yer sensitive woodlander stomach?"

"No!" He frowned at her scathing tone, but glanced between her and the worm with uncertain eyes.

Plink curled her lip at him and held out the squirming creature. "Prove it, then."

Scully hesitated, and Plink felt a swell of satisfaction. He couldn't do it. He could poison his arrows and look surly all he wanted, but he didn't have what it took to scrabble for survival like vermin had to, not really.

She drew a breath to taunt him, but at the same moment, Scully snatched the worm and shoved it in his mouth. For a second, Plink just stared as he chewed unhappily. A surprised laugh escaped her.

"D' ya like that, Scully Craws? How's it taste?"

He swallowed hard and cast her a hopeful, wary look. "Like dirt, mostly. But not too bad, I guess."

Scully offered up a smile, abruptly dabbing at his cheek. Plink smiled back reflexively, then wiped the smile away.

"Aye," she said with a shrug. "You get used to it."

"Mister Craws, Miss Plink." Captain Ancora's voice snapped them both around. She was waiting irritably beside Vera at a bend in the stream. "I'm sure working through your personal problems is quite rewarding for both of you, but if you don't keep up with the group, I'll put the two of you in the lead and let you worry about finding traps before triggering them. Understood?"

"Yes, Captain."

"Aye, Cap'n."

She waited a beat. "The time to obey orders is now. Move!"

Plink and Scully scrambled over moss and loose stones to catch up, and only when they were within striking range did the captain turn, scorching them with a lingering glare, and carry on.

They hadn't gone far before Vera cast a look at Scully. "What were you eating back there?"

"Um?" Scully rubbed the back of his neck and hesitated.

"Worms," Plink cut in with a defiant look at the fox.

"One worm?"

"Ah!" Vera smiled - and for all that it was a pleasant expression, Plink watched her narrowly. This fox wasn't in the captain's good graces, which would spell trouble for Plink if she got too friendly. Vera went on, still smiling. "I spent a season in a mole town a while back, and they made the best worm chips? I could probably pull the recipe together, if you'd gather some worms for me."

"Worm chips?" Scully asked. "Really?"

"What's the point o' cookin' a worm?" Plink demanded. "It's still gonna be a worm, ain't ever gonna taste great. Better to just eat it when you catch it an' get it over with."

"You'll be surprised," Vera said. "Pleasantly, I'd bet."

Dusk found them sheltering under a rocky overhang, eating hot, crispy worms off a flat stone by the fire, along with some kind of oblong fruits that Vera had worked free of their thick green peels and roasted on skewers. There was a sauce, too, and though Plink had shied away from it at first - the color and consistency reminded her of Murdin's blood soaking into the sand - when she finally tried it, it was spicy and delicious on everything.

Plink ate her last worm chip slowly, stealing glances at Vera as she chewed. The fox had finished her own food and was now removing her bandage to clean her wounded leg.

"Did you really live with moles?"

Vera glanced at her, then looked back to her task. "I did. It was a bad winter and I wound up snowed into their tunnels until spring. I swear it took half a season before I stopped adding 'Burr aye' to everything I said after that."

"An' they just let you live with them? Weren't they suspicious of you?"

"Oh, sure. One fellow in particular tried to convince the foremole to send me packing at least once a week." Vera shrugged, smiling mildly. "Luckily for me, the foremole was a very reasonable beast and wouldn't hear of me freezing to death trying to dig my way out." Her eyes flicked to the side, to where Ciera was sitting a ways off from the fire. "You can win over a lot of beasts with good manners, if you're persistent."

Plink looked at the captain as well, only to find her watching them with a dry expression. "If you're done cooking," she said, "put out the fire. The light could draw attention, and an attack by some group of primitives is the last thing we need."

Plink and Scully helped Vera break up the fire and kick sand over the remnants. Then, in the darkness, they all settled into the shelter beneath the outcropping while Captain Ancora sat the first watch. Plink lay awake for a long while, listening to the others breathe in the enclosed space.

Her ma had been polite, just like Vera said. Before she got sick, Damppaw had gone to so much trouble to make herself acceptable to woodlanders. Plink vaguely remembered her sewing their own clothes from a stiff, cheap cloth and insisting on regular baths with harsh soap, all just so they wouldn't stand out as much.

Maybe the captain was right. Maybe, if Plink hadn't stolen so much, they wouldn't have had to move around so often. Maybe Damppaw would have been better off without her.

The thought stabbed at her, and Plink curled into a ball. Gradually she relaxed in the heat of the bodies nearby, and the steady silence that meant Captain Ancora was still keeping watch.

*

Plink woke near dawn to a sharp pain and blearily realized she had grabbed her tail in her sleep. By the soft light, she could see Scully curled on his side before her. His whiskers twitched and his brow wrinkled with some troubling dream.

Plink frowned at him, then crawled out of the shelter and made for the stream.

"Don't wander off." Captain Ancora sat where she had the previous night - awake again, or still, Plink couldn't tell.

"Aye, Cap'n. Just want a drink."

The ferret narrowed her eyes, then dipped her snout in grudging acceptance. "Keep an eye out for snakes, Miss Plink."

Plink went on to the stream and drank, then scrubbed her face and rinsed and rebandaged her wounds. It was when she rose and made to leave that she spotted something she hadn't been able to see in the gloom of the previous evening.

The stream vanished uphill from where she stood. Water spouted out of a dark gap within a tumble of boulders. They had come to the head of the spring. Plink looked around with wide eyes, mouthing the next part of the riddle.

The mossy lass looks
far finer'n she kisses--
but she'll lead ye on still
if ye listen to 'er hisses.

In the humid air of the hollow, moss covered most everything. Rocks, roots, and trunks all wore thick cushions of the stuff. Plink climbed atop the boulders for a better look, but she didn't see anything resembling a 'lass'.

She heard footsteps coming from the stream and turned in time to see Scully emerge from the bushes, looking around anxiously. He spotted her and relaxed a measure, then thumbed back over his shoulder. "Um, the captain wants to move out. We should maybe head back?"

"Right." Plink began the climb down, but then hesitated. When they started marching again, her chance to solve the riddle and find the treasure could be lost. Tooley wasn't here to finish the adventure with her, but maybe it would be better to do it alone than not at all.

"What are you doing up there, anyway?"

"Lookin'?" Plink hedged and peered down at Scully. His cheeks had fluffed out again - perhaps from the way he scrubbed the sleep from his face - and despite the damage to his uniform, he looked almost the same as he had aboard The Zephyr. He looked like the hare who had nearly been Plink's friend.

Scully looked down at the stream and dabbed at his cheek with one paw while digging around in his pocket. "Listen, um? I wanted to? like?"

He pulled out a small object and held it out toward her. A glass vial. "I wanted to give you this."

Plink folded her arms across her chest and scowled at him. "I don't want yer hemlock, Scully Craws. I ain't a poisoner like you."

The pink insides of Scully's ears reddened, but he didn't withdraw his offering. "This isn't hemlock. It's, um, sort of like fox perfume. You can use it to cover your tracks, you know?"

Plink didn't say anything, but when Scully climbed on a rock and reached up to pass her the vial, she took it. True enough, even the cork smelled distinctively like fox. The glass itself was smooth and warm. Plink wrapped the vial in her handkerchief and tucked it away, not in the front pockets of her jacket, but in the little hidden pocket inside. Then she looked again at Scully.

"Can? can you keep a secret, matey?"

He smiled bright with hope and relief. "Yeah! Totally!"

Plink checked to be sure they were alone, then let her own excited smile creep over her face. "I know how to find Cap'n Blade's treasure."

Scully gaped. "It's really here? How do you know?"

"That macaw - he figured it out." Plink grinned, warming to a new idea. "We could go find it, you an' me. What d'ya say?"

"Yeah! But, like? what about the captain? And Vera?" Scully scratched his neck. "And the snakes?"

"I haven't seen any snakes. Maybe they went away." Plink ignored him as he shook his head. "And you saw how fast Captain Ancora killed that stoat. He didn't even do anythin', just said some stuff."

Scully swallowed and watched the scum swirl in a little pool off the stream. Plink shrugged off his silence.

"We'd be stupid to hang around an' just wait fer our turn, Scully."

"What if that crazy bird comes after us? And what are we supposed to do with a bunch of treasure, anyway?"

Plink frowned at him. She wanted to argue, but she knew he was right. Treasure wouldn't help them survive. Treasure couldn't do anything, except get them killed.

Scully let out a frustrated sigh and looked back at Plink. "I don't think the captain would hurt us unless she had a reason to suspect we were up to something. Besides, I just, um? have a feeling that things are gonna work out if we, like, stick with her a little longer." He held out a paw for her to take. "So? don't leave me behind this time?"

Plink glanced around the mossy hollow again, but nothing had changed. If there was a rock here shaped like some kind of lass, she couldn't see it.

And maybe that was for the best. She had a crew now, after all, and a captain. Even if they weren't what she had expected, they were more than she had had in a long time.

Scully still waited, and Plink hesitated just a moment before clutching his paw and letting him steady her as she climbed down. He didn't release her paw immediately. Plink looked up into his smiling face.

"I'm, um, glad we're friends again."

Friends. Plink didn't really notice that she gripped his paw tighter than before, but she noticed how warm it was, and how good it felt to share this simple contact with another beast.

There was a sound of somebeast approaching through the thick greenery, and Captain Ancora stalked out into the stream bed, followed shortly by Vera. Plink and Scully both snatched their paws away and braced themselves as the captain spotted them and took two threatening steps toward them.

But on the third step, the captain froze. They all did, because a roar had cut through the jungle. Plink felt it like a physical chill. She knew only one beast who could make a sound like that. Just days ago, he had stood on the deck of The Zephyr and raised his massive sword to kill her.

"Atlas."