Play, Minstrel, Play

[Komi Banton]

Komi strolled down the road, her pack hanging heavily from her back, tugging on her shoulders with each step. The road itself was an unpleasant mixture of slush, ice, and mud. She moved from side to side as she walked, trying to stay in the flatter, drier bits, with mixed success. Her footpaw wraps kept the worst of the wet and cold at bay.

?This road I trod with eager feet
Must wend forth on it?s way.
Who knows what sorts of beasts I?ll meet
And what, to them, I?ll say.

But I must travel on and on
?Til the moon o?rhead shines bright.
So far ahead the road wends on
And I must trod ?til night.?

She?d spent last night in a hollow log, thankfully dry from the soggy weather around her, at least until her nightmares had woken her up screaming again. Song always banished the bad memories and she could remember happier days, marching with the horde, with him at her side.

She raised her head and sniffed the air as a wisp of something reached her nose. She drew in a deep breath, catching the scent again, then turned her face this way and that, judging the wind that carried the odor to her.

Fire.

Fire often meant a settlement or a waystation. Sometimes somebeast?s lodging. Occasionally, that also meant it was someplace where she could spend the night playing and get a meal and a warm bed that wasn?t a hollow log.

So long as they weren?t woodlanders.

She kept the wind in her face and her paws on the road as she walked, eventually topping a rise that looked out over the land before her. Snow-dotted meadows and small stands of trees, with a larger bit of forest beyond that. In one meadow, tents were pitched and smoke rose from several campfires, wisping its way upwards to the blue sky.

Komi squinted down at them, seeing figures in blue among the tents. She spotted the tell-tale big brush of a fox, and the brown and white coats of her own kind and her weasel cousins. Nothing that looked too mousey or squirrelish. Several wagons sat on the far side of the camp. Odd, that. Wagons were rare, unless you had beasts big enough to pull them.

She hitched her pack more comfortably on her shoulders, checked that her knife in her belt hadn?t slipped to a difficult to grab spot, then started down the rise. She started singing again, same song as before, letting the beat put a jaunt to her step and focusing her mind on the role she was to play.

?Oi! Who are you?? a rat in blue challenged from the edge of the camp as she drew close.

Komi bowed and plastered a smile on her face. ?Good morning to you, friends. I am Tess the Tramper, a wandering minstrel. Over hill and dale I have roamed, following the road before me, in the never-ending search for beasts to entertain. A ladle of food from the common pot and a safe place to curl up is all the pay I ask.?

The rat eyed her suspiciously, then hailed a comrade. ?Go tell Captain Nix some minstrel?s lookin? for work.?

Komi watched the beasts who lingered around the edge of the camp and whistled a cheerful drinking song while she waited. Not all of the beasts here wore the blue uniform and armor. Some had a mingled hodgepodge of attire. The beasts in blue seemed to stay away from the more plain soldiers, while the latter clustered together in groups.

A pine marten in a kilt stalked up and snarled, ?What?s going on here??

Komi turned an eager smile to her and her authoritative tone. ?Good ma?am, I am interested in entertaining you and yours for the evening. All I ask is food for my belly and a safe berth for the night.?

She could tell from the set of her ears and the look in her eye that she was about to turn her away. Lingering too long around this type never ended well, so she began to bow herself away.

?What?d you say your name was?? a new voice asked, quite close to her ear. A hard paw grabbed her wrist.

She whirled, trying to pull away without appearing threatening. ?Why I am Tess the? Tramper,? she faltered when she recognized the grinning face before her.

Jossia grinned bigger, but with nothing pleasant or friendly in the grin. ?Komi Banton! How nice to see you. Last I saw was the back of you, as you ran from my brother?s battle.? Her grip tightened, claws digging into Komi?s fur. ?Fortunate that you should arrive Just as I was discussing a most interesting job opportunity with Captain Nix.?

Komi?s dark eyes flicked over the beasts gathered. More than she could kill quickly. Hellgates? she thought. I hate running.

She kicked a footpaw out, smashing into Jossia?s knee. The other stoat screamed. Komi pulled her arm free. She drew her dagger with the other paw and swung from hip to shoulder height. Jossia arched backwards. The blade scraped along a breastplate.

Komi spun on a heel, the momentum from her swing giving her speed. She went down to one knee, ducking under a spear thrust from an armored rat. She drove her knife blade deep into the rat?s hip, just under where the armor stopped. She shoved past.

?Stop her!? Jossia snarled. ?Don?t let her get away!?

Something hot scored down Komi?s arm and she hissed in pain. She didn?t slow.

Her pack clanked and jostled on her back as an arrow flitted past her ear. She darted to one side, serpentining her way across the open meadow. Something hit her pack and she stumbled, falling for a moment, rolling in the slushy snow.

Back to her feet, she ran without glancing back. She heard somebeast just a pace or two behind her. Komi slid to a stop, dropping to her knees and tucking her head.

Her pursuer tripped over her bent form. The drum tied to the top of her pack thumped the back of her head with a hollow boom as it was knocked forward by her pursuer?s momentum.

She lunged forward, driving her dagger first into the back of the fox?s leg, then into the back of his neck as he screamed. She ran on.

At the first sign of a wood, she made for it, still hearing the occasional sound of pursuit. Twice more she stopped, dispatching of the beasts who followed her. She left two dead and one close enough to it that she doubted that he?d see nightfall.

She?d taken another wound in the last skirmish, this one along her right leg. It wasn?t bleeding as badly as her arm, but she knew she was leaving a trail an experienced scout could follow. Galleran had once had a few of those. She didn?t know how many had died at Redwall, or how many had remained behind with Jossia.

Jossia had never liked her, that was a fact. Galleran had usually preferred Komi?s advice over his sister?s and that had never settled well. Numerous nasty rumors about Komi had come from Jossia?s loud mouth. The blame that had fallen to Komi after Galleran?s death was probably due to her, too.

Komi stumbled over nothing she could see and fell in a patch of snow, her right arm leaving a bloody smear. A wave of dizziness swept over her and she pressed her forehead against the snow, the wet coolness seeping through her fur. All the while she listened for any sound of being followed.

Surely they?d come slower, now that she?d thrown off the fastest runners? She had time to hide the trail and slow the bleeding in her arm and leg.

She eased her pack off her back and dug into it for a shirt which she tied in a sloppy knot around the deepest part of her arm wound. A vest went around her leg. Using snow, she scrubbed away any blood that might drip. It was harder to get her pack back on with the wounded arm and clunky bandage, but she managed with a few curses and hisses of pain.

She struck out into the woods, skirting through patches of bare ground under trees to minimize her pawsteps. She avoided all fresh growth that she could crush underpaw. And she tried to move as fast as possible.

After noon, she stopped, her legs trembling. She found a sheltered spot under a tree and sat heavily, then eased her arms out of the pack?s straps and set it beside her. Only then did Komi notice the crack in the side of her drum.

?Ah, no?? she groaned as she untied it. ?That flea bitten fox did this to you, didn?t he?? She traced a claw up the crack in the side, crossed by one of the ropes that zigzagged from the top to bottom of the drum. She gave the top an experimental tap, but was not rewarded with the drum?s usual rich tone.

With a sigh, she set it aside and dug back into her pack, looking for a pack of nuts she?d received at her last stop. A little food in her belly, then perhaps she?d be able to think more clearly. She had bigger problems than a cracked drum.

Something rustled nearby and she froze. Slowly, she withdrew her paw from her pack and put it against the knife in her belt. She pricked her ears forward, listening intently as she tried to gather the strength to move, and move quickly, if necessary.

?Oh, for goodness sake, Ulrich. Look at her. She?s in no condition to fight anybeast.?

A mouse stepped out of the bushes then, a basket full of pieces of bark hooked over one arm. Another mouse followed, grabbing at her as he did so.

Komi bared her teeth in a silent snarl. Woodlanders. Mice, even. The worst type. She got to her feet, then almost fell back against the tree as a wave of dizziness swam over her.

?See,? the female mouse said to Ulrich. ?She can?t hardly stand.? To Komi she said, ?It?s all right, dear. We won?t hurt you.?

?I?d be a lot more worried for you, Aera,? Ulrich grumbled, pulling Aera back away from Komi. He glared at Komi, his eyes looking her up and down. ?You can?t trust vermin.?

?You leave me be,? Komi said, groping her free paw for the pack of her strap. Her wounded arm trembled, causing light to glint off the blade. ?I?ll kill you both, if you come near.?

Aera put down her basket. ?My name?s Marigold Aera. I'm the village medic. There's no need to kill anybeast. I'd much rather help you, than hurt you."

?I don?t need your help.?

?Let?s be reasonable. You?ve been wounded.?

?You think I don?t know that??

?Aera, we don?t have time for this,? Ulrich said. ?Whoever hurt her might not be far behind.?

Aera planted paws on hips. ?Ulrich, I am not going to be abandoning her!?

Komi watched the male mouse. She saw an eyebrow quirk on his face. ?We need to sound the evacuation bell, get all the noncombatants on the road as quickly as possible."

"Ulrich, you're fearmongering again,? the mouse scolded.

?No, her wounds are relatively fresh. She's running from something. In this state, do you really think she covered her tracks well enough that whatever inflicted these wounds couldn't just track her straight here??

"I suppose there's no way of it, no. She won't be able to do anything much without my paws and a few days bedrest."

?Cricken saw signs of those vermin in blue yesterday.? Ulrich continued. ?Bet it was them.?

?Regardless of who hurt her, I am not going to abandon a wounded beast!? Aera said firmly.

Komi tried to step away, then her leg buckled and she fell. She growled at Ulrich.

?Aye, we know,? he said dryly. ?We have a stoat of our own, and he's just as stubborn as you. Go get him, Aera. He might be able to get her in line. I?ll mind her until you get back.?

The female mouse headed off into the bushes, but not without a concerned backwards glance at Komi.

Komi waited until the sound of Aera?s footpaws faded, then snarled. ?You won?t make a slave of me, woodlander!? She lunged clumsily at him. Too late she saw him sidestep, then bring both of his paws down clenched on her back.

She hit the ground with a hard squelch and a gasp. Stars exploded for a moment and before she could recover, he?d stepped on her paw and taken her knife.

?Now then,? Ulrich said, backing away from her. ?You just sit there all calm like until Aera gets back. She?ll have my ears for bandages if I hurt you more than you are, but I ain?t gonna sit here and be bullied by the likes of you.?

Komi?s paws shook as she pushed herself out of the slush and back into a sitting position. Her head ached abominably and the shame of being so quickly disarmed by an old mouse was almost too much to bear. I have to wait before I?m stronger to try anything. Catch my breath. Gather my strength.

Ulrich kept his eyes on her, but he also examined her dagger, with it?s straight, double-edged blade and metal braid hilt. ?Good workmanship, here,? he commented when their eyes met. ?Whoever made this knew his craft.?

Komi just glowered at him.

It wasn?t long before they heard the sound of several pairs of footpaws running towards them. Komi wished for a weapon and prepared for a fight.

Aera came into view, followed by a taller beast, with mottled white and brown fur like her own. The woodlanders hadn?t been lying about having a stoat, at least. He had a bow with him and a quiver of arrows, which seemed odd for a slave to have.

?Here they are,? Aera said and Komi and the newcomer met eyes.

He froze, his head cocking to one side as his eyes went wide. ?Komi?? he whispered

Komi?s chest tightened and a torrent of memories hit her all at once. She couldn?t decided whether she wanted to hug him, or stab him.

Multiple times.

The mouse still had her knife, so the latter option was unavailable.

?Ald?? she squeaked, then cleared her throat and said in a much more normal voice, ?Aldridge. Been a while.?

?It has,? he said. ?You look well, I mean... Except for your injuries, I suppose.? He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced away.

He looked well, too, though Komi couldn?t find words to express it. Older, of course, and there may have been a fleck or two of gray in his muzzle, but it was the same old Aldridge. She swallowed a lump in her throat.

?Do you know her, Alder?? Aera asked, putting a paw on his arm.

?Yes,? he said quickly. ?Old friend.?

Komi winced.

?I need to look at her wounds,? Aera said.

?Of course,? Aldridge said and he came to Komi?s side and crouched down. ?You can trust these beasts. They won?t hurt you.?

She raised an eyebrow and gave the barest shake of her head as she tried to scoot away from him. ?They?re woodlanders.?

?They?re my friends,? he insisted.

Komi snorted and looked away.

?We don?t have time for this,? Ulrich grumped. ?We need to get her back to Madder Barrow.?

?He?s right,? Aldridge said. ?Aera, can we move her to the Village for care??

The mouse healer nodded. ?Her bleeding has slowed by the looks of it.?

?I don?t want your help!? Komi snarled. For a heartbeat, Aldridge jerked away, then his face turned stony.

?Komi, you are going to have help, because I?m not going to abandon you out here.?

There seemed to be more to that, and Komi waited for him to say more. Her jaw hurt from clenching her teeth together and her head still ached.

?If they try to harm me, or enslave me, or??

?They won?t,? Aldridge snapped, then he softened. ?I promise.?

They sat there, the two of them, almost nose to nose, staring into one another?s eyes, until Komi couldn?t bear it anymore. She looked down.

Aldridge took her silence as consent. ?I think I?ll have to help Komi walk. She?s too tall for you and Ulrich to carry. Can you manage her pack??

Ulrich tucked Komi?s dagger in the pack first, then shouldered it with a grunt, but the mouse was built sturdy and he didn?t struggle with it the way Komi thought a normal beast of his species would. Aera picked up Komi?s drum, tucking it under one arm and picking up her basket of bark with the other.

Aldridge held a paw out to Komi.

She stared at it for a long moment before finally putting her own paw in his and allowing him to help her to her feet.

The walk to the Village of Madder Barrow didn?t take long, but Komi felt like it took ages. She was all too aware of Aldridge, his paw around her back, her arm around his neck, helping her to limp along. She was too breathless to sing, to banish away the horrid memories that came even sharper with Aldridge there.

Tears pricked her eyes and she fought them down. Stubbornly putting one paw in front of the other.

?So,? he said. ?What have you been preoccupying yourself with??

?I?m a minstrel now.?

He laughed, maybe a little too quickly. ?Why am I not surprised? You always were one with a song on your lips.? He sobered then. ?So, Galleran??

?Dead.?

Aldridge?s paw tightened against her side for a moment. ?I?m sorry to hear that. I know the two of you were? close.?

?You were right,? she said. ?He went for Redwall, and it killed him.?

Ulrich, who?d been walking just behind them, spoke up. ?I thought I recognized you. You were the herald, weren?t you? Galleran?s right paw, calling out terms of death and destruction to us all.?

?I wasn?t talking to you, mouse,? Komi snarled.

Aera?s voice came from the front. ?That?s enough, Ulrich.?

?She was there when Galleran's horde broke at Redwall!?

Komi felt Aldridge?s paws tighten on her. ?Not all of us have the luxury of being born away from a horde,? he said softly. ?She was only doing her job.?

The two mice and Aldridge continued arguing for a bit and Komi blocked her ears from it. She began humming a lullaby under her breath, to distract her from everything that had gone so awfully wrong.

They reached the village a short time later, an unruly collection of cottages surrounded by thick woods. Ulrich darted past them, Komi?s pack bouncing on his back. He dropped it next to a large walled structure in the village square, then ran off between two buildings.

By the time Aldridge had gotten Komi sitting on one of the long wooden benches under the shade of the strange structure, a bell was ringing out its clear warning. There were a half dozen other woodlanders in the building, cooking over the big cookfires, and they all stopped what they were doing with concerned murmurs.

Aldridge looked toward the doorway, the fur on the back of his neck rising. ?Why?s the evacuation bell ringing??

Aera set Komi?s drum on the table near Komi. ?Ulrich is worried about those beasts in blue young Cricken saw the other day. I think he?s exaggerating, of course, but there?s no talking to him like a reasonable beast when he gets like this. Alder, be a dear and grab my healer?s kit from home before you go help Ulrich with his evacuation and defense plans.?

Aldridge hesitated, giving Komi a look. ?You?ll be fine with Aera,? he said, then vanished from sight through the doorway. Several of the cooks also followed, while the remainder began banking all but one fire and putting away the food they?d been preparing.

Aera bustled over to one of the fires and grabbed a tea kettle that had been heating over the coals. She came back to where Komi sat, bringing a bowl and a clean rag.

?Now, everything will go so much easier if you just cooperate,? she told Komi. ?I want to get this clean, and if you just let me do it, I won?t have to fetch Ennis and have him give you a little something for your nerves.?

?I don?t want your help.?

?Yet here you are. Come now, let?s get you cleaned up. I know it will make Aldridge feel so much better to see you in better health.?

Komi slammed her good paw down on the table. ?I don?t care what he feels about me right now!?

?Ah, is that how it is?? Aera said. ?Well, my dear, time and patience can heal so many wounds, and not always the ones we can see.?

Komi glared at her. Stupid, ignorant woodlander, she thought. You know nothing of what I?ve been through? what he did to me.

Aera stared right back, her face a picture of patient serenity. After a moment, she nodded to Komi?s cracked drum. ?You said you were a minstrel? I assume that is one of your instruments?? When Komi didn?t answer, she continued. ?I think that Luthier Droven would be happy to repair that for you. She's a woodworker who specializes in instruments. I can see to it that it gets done quickly??

Komi?s ear twitched slightly and she scowled, first at Aera, then at the floor, and finally at her beloved drum.

Mutely, she turned, giving the healer access to her injured arm.

******************

They came just before sundown. Komi, clean and bandaged, sat eating a bowl of soup one of the cooks had given her, while across from her, a female vole worked on the body of her drum. A bow and quiver sat next to the vole, and Komi couldn?t take her eyes off of it. Aldridge had made the bow. She was sure of it. She?d handled his bows herself, seasons ago, when he?d been in Galleran?s new horde. He?d taught her how to shoot the longbows he made, rather than the short bow she?d always grown up using.

She swallowed a lump in her throat and told herself that it was a carrot.

A commotion at the village?s edge drew her out of her memory and she turned stiffly to see what was happening.

Jossia stood there with a handful of horde beasts she recognized from the old days, along with a number of the beasts in the blue uniforms.

Ulrich and several other beasts from the village, including Aldridge, approached with paws on weapons.

?What do you want?? Ulrich demanded.

?We?ve come to arrest Komi Banton, traitor and murderer of my brother, Galleran,? Jossia said. ?We know you?re harboring her here.?

?We have a stoat here by the name of Komi. Found her wounded in the woods. It?s not our custom to turn over beasts we?ve helped.?

?Sir, I?m sorry that she troubled you, but surely you can understand a sister?s need for justice? We?ve searched for her for many a season and it?s time that she paid for what she did.? Jossia?s voice took on a deadly edge. ?And if you refuse to hand her over peacefully, we will take her out of this village by force.?

As Jossia talked, and villagers stopped what they were doing to listen, Komi quietly picked up her pack. The vole had left Komi?s drum to go watch the commotion, so she grabbed it by the carrying strap. It hurt to shoulder everything, but the healer mouse at least knew what she was doing.

She got around the outer Mark Wall, but found her way already blocked by two weasels in blue with short swords in one paw and small staffs in their other. She dropped her pack, grabbing her dagger instead, and going for the throat of the closest beast, a weasel.

He fell with a gurgling cry and a spray of scarlet blood.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the other weasel raise the short stick-like weapon to his mouth. She saw the hollow opening pointing toward her and she ducked. Her injured leg betrayed her and she fell. Immediately, she rolled away. A yellow feathered dart hit the grass where she?d been.

Another beast landed on her hard, pinning her to the ground. She screamed in frustration and swung blindly. Her dagger skittered off armor and her chances were gone.

Kicking, snarling, headbutting, she fought the beasts in blue with every ounce of her strength. Even as she did so, she saw more of them arriving around the corners. Jossia and Nix the marten captain stood back until Komi was chained and her last chance of escape gone.

?Usually don?t have beasts pay me to pick up new gladiators,? Nix said to Jossia. ?But no fur off my back if I get paid twice. That one is a fighter. Nire will want her.?

?Wonderful,? Jossia said. ?If you don?t mind, I will send a letter with you for Nire with some? recommendations for him concerning Komi. I cannot wait to see how she fares in this intriguing game he?s built.?

?As you wish.? To her beasts in blue, Nix said, ?Put her with the others.?

Jossia held up a paw. ?Wait, I want to have a few words with her before you go.?

The marten rolled her eyes and shrugged. ?If you want, but I keep the pay if you kill her.? Nix turned to talk to one of her underlings.

Komi looked past the beasts in blue, searching desperately for one more chance. Searching for Aldridge. Curse the fates, but he was her last hope!

She saw him and as she watched, he raised his bow, arrow on string, aiming for Jossia.

Then Ulrich put a paw on Aldridge?s arm and said something. Aldridge?s bow lowered slowly.

No? Abandoning me, again?

Jossia got between her and Aldridge. ?This is for my brother,? Jossia snarled, and punched Komi in the face.