The Ring...s?

[Vin]

Siroc
Prairie Dog
33

[spoiler]Winds of the west, grant me wisdom
Winds of the west, grant me understanding
Winds of the west, grant me knowledge

A soft clap punctuated each line of the prayer. The sister ignored the footsteps at the doorway, focusing on the next triad.

Winds of the south, grant me discipline
Winds of the south, grant me kindness
Winds of the south, grant me balance

"What are you even doing here, Sye?" It was a gravelly voice, made rough by nights of cactus fruit moonshine: the batches they'd made together and hidden in the nooks and crannies of the canyon, far from prying slaver eyes.

Her brow furrowed as the wash of memories threatened to derail her concentration. "Just wait," Siroc replied.

Winds of the east, grant me endurance
Winds of the east, grant me sincerity
Winds of the east, grant me strength

"You know why I'm here, don't you?"

She did.

Wind of the north, make me divine

Finished, the prairie dog rose and turned. She towered over the plover that stood at the door. "You look terrible, Preet."

Preetya looked like a brigand whose favorite road had lost all traffic: a bedraggled brigantine of armors and sashes and more than a few half-concealed handles. Her once-brilliant plumage had dulled from age and wear.

"And what about you? You look like the laundry lines outside a tavern."

"I'll have you know these are the traditional garb of a Zephyrite Renunciant, missy!" The bird's attitude was infectious though, and Siroc swept her friend up in a hug. "Ah, let us talk over a nice, cool --"

"You have to come back." Preet's voice was quiet, a little strained from the hug or the news. "We're moving again."

Siroc set her down. Her muscles stiffened at the news. She spoke a little too loud, so prying ears might hear. "I can't go back home, Preet. I'm sworn to serve here. Live out the rest of my days in these walls."

The bird's beak darted forward, drew back her sleeve, and touched the wide bangle on it. Her wrist still had a bright, red ring. The fur had permanently worn off from endless moons of shackles and then was tattooed an even brighter red. A permanent mark. A constant reminder of the life she once had.

A mark that she knew had its match on Preetya's neck.
'
The plover's reply was whispered. "You have another oath to fulfill, Sye."

The rodent gulped, already feeling the bile rise. "I- I washed my paws of it, Preet. I'm sorry.."

The bird gently shushed her and ran a wing over her back, causing her veils to bunch, then slide off, revealing the wide pink welted scars that ran across her cheeks. "We don't have a choice, my Sister. Kango is leading us all."

She leaned against the wing for just a moment, then pulled the bird in tight. "I'll meditate on it, but no promises."

"Well," her companion said aloud, fishing out a scrap of paper "here's where I'm staying, if you decide to..."

She took it and glanced down. Sympathizers?

Siroc sighed and nodded in affirmation. She loved it here, but she'd seen the too-familiar signs by now: hidden correspondence, storerooms converted to cells, old stains that were hard to conceal...

Preetya nodded back and hopped to the door. "Tonight," she mouthed.

Breathing gently, centering herself once more, she ran through a checklist of chores in her mind: draw two days' of water from the cistern, pack up her broad daggers, pack a few days' rations, lock the doors. She forced down the cicadas buzzing in her stomach and began her grim work.

---

The pair sat on a bluff above the abbey's walls, the night sky lit ochre by a roaring fire below. The screams of her sometime-sisters had died out an hour ago, after flames had reached their locked cells. Now, they passed a bottle between them with only the occasional crack of timber to break the silence.

Turned out that cactus fruit moonshine was good for a couple of things. Hopefully forgetting would be a third.

"Never gets easier."

Siroc nodded, took another swig, the initial sweetness was burned away by a sharp tang.

"I suppose 's what they deserved, Preet."

"You buy into any of their hookum?"

She tried not to think about the last dozen moons she'd spent in those walls. The garden they'd let her struggle to tend in a shady corner. The whispered confessions between new friends. Nights spent in comforting arms -- or comforting another -- over the revolt's shared scars. "A prayer's a prayer. Never know who might be listenin'."

She passed back the wineskin. Unbidden, her mind began to drift back to a familiar cadence.

Wind of the north, make me divine[/spoiler]

Ninthclaw Teshan
Sea otter
Early 40s

[spoiler]Teshan watched as Galtrik burned. The otter smiled as his spear and buckler clattered onto the ground and his thirst was temporarily dismissed. Long had he waited for this.

Stone did not combust, so its walls still stood. However, the materials that made up the once-great fortress was another matter. The wood making up the rooms and the supplies it housed were now naught but ash, the fires put out before the sun faded from view, leaving the veil of night to cloak over the exhausted band of beasts. All as the Ring's Ninthclaw stood, still as a statue.

"They burned everything," said Amarra, approaching her fellow Ringbeast with a somewhat full canteen. "And I hoped they would at least leave some food behind."

"They're still scaleskins, Fifthclaw." Teshan let out a mirthless giggle before he greedily drank. "They take and take and take, but they know not giving back."

The mouse serving alongside the otter placed a paw on his shoulder. "I meant that as a joke."

"I know," said Teshan, shrugging off her touch. The cream-faced otter sniffed the air and recoiled. In his three seasons after joining the Ring he had fought battle after battle and taken fort after fort - Teshan was no stranger to the smell of charred wood. But there was also something else, something he had experienced before. Twice. "They burned the slaves."

Amarra inhaled and recoiled as a horrified expression sprung across her face. "Alive? Or dead?"

"We were too late to save them either way. If only Sevett pushed the beasts faster we could have-"

His superior interrupted the Ninthclaw before he could finish the sentence. "There will be no talk against the Firstclaw, Teshan. There were bodies to be buried and wounded beasts to be tended to. You should know that, considering you were of the latter category."

The otter looked at his left arm and felt the twinge of pain that had plagued him since the arrow struck. It was nothing compared to the bites and beatings and brandings he was subject to as a slave, but it still hurt. How much more hurt could he take?

Pushing the pain aside, his gaze fell upon the beasts who had accompanied Amarra and him to Galtrik. Squirrels and chipmunks finished off the remains of their meals, voles and rats gambled on the ground, while their iguana allies slept in the darkness. Even after Teshan warned Amarra, Sevett and even the Chainbreaker himself that their defection from their larger kin was faked, here they were.

"I just wish somebeast else was raised into the Ring," confessed the otter, wrapping his paws around his muzzle. "Some local beast, and not some outsider who just happened to be here by chance. Pity Kango decided he needed a foreigner to keep all the Clans happy."
Amarra sat down beside him. "You're not well, Ninthclaw. I knew something was wrong the moment you volunteered to join me."

Teshan slumped down. "I've been in Galtrik before. After those sea-foxes dragged me across the Western Sea and sold me to beasts who knew not my tongue. I wish Gash Gila had preferred his quilts dead - it would've been better for the both of us that way. I had sworn to have this fortress torched, only for the scaleskins to beat me to it."

The mouse frowned as she scratched an ear. "I know all of that. What happened beforepaw?"

The otter's head turned as he scanned his troops. None of them were close enough to him to eavesdrop, and the steadily decreasing number of lit campfires meant that the world of slumber called them one by one. "Do you know of the sea?"

Seeing Amarra shake her head, Teshan closed his eyes. "It's water. All water, as far as the eye could see. If one goes North one might reach a distant and beautiful land, a land where you can walk on solid ice! And the salmon! Once you get past the bears, you can catch those massive fish, enough to feed an entire family." The sea otter licked his lips. "I have forgotten their taste..."

The mouse broke her blind-eyed stare and opened her mouth. "Ice?"

The otter growled. "I wish I never got involved in this mess. It's not just the eternal heat and terrible drought. It's as if my body's in these valleys and canyons and my spirit is elsewhere. Though my oath holds true and I will fight for our Chainbreaker until victory or death, these lands will never be called my home."

"You're not alone," replied Amarra. "You've got us Ringbeasts. We're here for you, Tesh. Always."

"Everybeast says so." Teshan yawned, preparing for a night of turbulent slumber. "Until they're sick of lying. Or dead."

Amarra sighed. "Or you, apparently."

"Or me."[/spoiler]

Locke the Laughing Lance
Ocelot
Adult, 30ish

[spoiler]"Commander, I found the source of our missing supplies," a less than gentle push sent the raccoon stumbling through the tent flap, tail tucked between his legs.

The ocelot merely twitched his tail at the presence of the thief and the coyote who dragged him in. The feline was bare-chested save for the two wedding rings hanging by a chain around his neck. He was hunched over the war table, peering at the map of the battle that would take place tomorrow.

The moment of silence continued until the coyote coughed politely.

"Hmmm? Oh! Ari! Yes, yes, let me look at him," Locke turned quickly. He walked or rather prowled, thought Ari, around the thief, "Kind of skinny for the soldier stealing our food, ain't he?"

"You're one to talk," Ari almost said out loud. Even so, she felt regret thinking it. Every member of the Ring deserved respect, especially the original members who were practically living legends. Ari herself was secretly excited when she learned who would be leading this lizard hunting force. To fight alongside one of the greatest pit fighters turned freedom fighters, Ari told herself she should be ecstatic right now.

It was just that Locke's legend was a little less... well-rounded than in real life, and less chatty. So much less chatty.

"Let's see... Shadowpaw, right?"

"Yes sir," the raccoon said quietly.

"Your parents willingly chose 'Shadowpaw' as a name? Sounds more like something a thief would call himself to sound 'cool'. But then again, here we are. So who am I to complain?"

Before the raccoon could reply, the cat threw an arm around his shoulder, "I don't know which disappoints me more, Shadowpaw, you stealing from your brothers in the Ring or the fact that you got caught. I thought I taught the new beasts better than that! Too much of Kango's training. He's a horrible thief. Why, one time in the fighting pits..."

Ari could not hide her own disappointment that the seriousness of the moment was being lost in the cat's ramblings. Maybe there is a reason none of the other original Ring members were involved in running this platoon.

"Locke," she breathed deeply.

"Right, sorry. Ari, remind me what the penalty for stealing is now?"

Shadowpaw gulped as Ari drew her knife, "The right paw."

"Please..." he began.

"Sorry, kiddo. Back when we were just a band of misfits I would have just boxed your ears, but we are an army now. Nothing but pro-tee-calls. An army can't run properly if you break them."

Ari tuned out the following pleadings of the raccoon. This little song and dance were playing out about how she expected it would go. Locke would put the fear of the Shade in him, but he would show mercy in the end.

"We-e-e-ll, I suppose I can forgo the rules this once. We will need every able paw for tomorrow's battle."

Just as Ari thought, the feline has gone soft in more than one-

"You will cut off your tail instead."

"...what?" both beasts chorused.

"Not the entire tail, mind you, just a paw length will due."

"B-but, sir!"

"Here, use my knife," Locke thrust his hold-out knife into the thief's paws. It looked heavier in his claws than it should have, "You see, kiddo, the Ring is more than some grand adventure to join. It's a brotherhood of guardians. Now, if I can't trust you to guard something as simple as food, why should I trust you with such grander responsibility?"

Locke's grin disappeared, "So can I trust you, or should I cut you lose right here... leagues away from any civilization not controlled by lizards?"

Shadowpaw looked up into the impassive face of his leader. With tears in his eyes, the thief grabbed his tail in one paw and the knife in the other.

Locke was immune to the cries of pain that ensued.

Afterward, Locke retrieved his knife and the lost portion of the raccoon's tail before dismissing him.

Shadowpaw turned to leave but stopped when Locke called out, "Are you not going to thank me for my mercy?"

Pausing as if stricken, Shadowpaw growled as low as he dare, "Thank you... sir."

Now left alone with the coyote the big ocelot sighed, "You youngsters got it easy. The lizards would have cut off his tail at the neck and eat the rest."

Ari was still speechless as Locke gazed off into some unseen distance while fiddling with the rings about his neck.

With a feral grin, Locke stabbed the bloody knife into the table, piercing the lizard's stronghold on the map they were going to invade along with the rough drawing of the enemy leader's face, "Tomorrow we will show those reptiles what real mercy is..."[/spoiler]

Dilla
Armadillo
27

[spoiler]"Stand and deliver!"
This was what the horned toad demanded. But the poor mouse had nothing to give. His voice shook as he responded.
"I-I-I-I'm s-s-s-sorry s-s-sir, I-I-I..."

"Yeah yeah you don't have anything right? Heard that one before!" the lizard spat. "Scalefrond, Drpsoon, check 'round back!"
Two rough-looking lizards shoved past the mouse and headed towards the back of the miniscule hut that he called a home.
"P-p-please s-s-sirl We - we are poor and hungry just like everyone else-"
"Oh so it's we now is it? Who's we?"
"Eh boss - look what I found 'ere!" Scalefrond shoved a female mouse holding a baby out of the hut.
"Well ain't that a nice surprise?" said the leader. "Dinner for three... or dinner of three. Which should it be mates?"

The husband mouse got down on his knees and pleaded "N-n-n-no PLEASE NO!"
"Shaddup - I don't like it when my food talks back!"
"Uh boss-" Drpsoon pointed to a cloud of dust on the horizon - it was coming their direction
"Now what - dinner guests? I hates sharin'!"
The dust cloud got closer and closer, until it's source was apparent: three grey balls of leather.
"What the what...?"
The cloud was just yards away when suddenly each ball jumped in the air, uncoiling itself to reveal three irate armadillos!
"AHH I wasn't hungry anyway time ta go mates!"
But there was no time - the three armored creatures dived back into their shells, rolled the final few meters, and lept out with spinning kicks and bludgeoning tails. The toads didn't stand a chance - the leader and Drpsoon were on the ground within seconds.
The third lizard, held a knife to the throat of the mousewife. "Don't come near me - I'll kill 'er!"
The armadillos paused to stare at the defiant one. A female among the group was for action. She began to advance towards the lizard.
"Excuse me-" she said in a low, smooth voice. "I don't believe we've met-"
"Met? Of course not - uh, now stay back!"
She continued to walk forward slowly, regarding the lizard with curious glances. She cocked her head to one side. "Oh my, are you sure yer ok? Lookin' a little sunburnt thar around yer eyes... or is that jus' where the blood comes out?"
"I said stay back!"
"Oh I'm sorry - you need yer personal space hun? Here, let me give it to you!" With a swift upper kick the knife went spinning from the lizard's claws - the next and last thing he saw was an armadillo's footpaw smashing into his face, and then darkness.
"Well, that could've gone poorly," said the dillo. One of her companions came forward to retrieve the knife, while the other helped the mouse to his feet.
"Well now," said the largest, "I'd say it was a success, wouldn't you Sis?"
Sis regarded the knife as she responded "Well ain't nobody got hurt, so I'd say so. Not ta mention I gots myself a nice trophy here-"
"You two don't git it!" shouted the first. Her mates looked to her with confusion. "You just don't get it - a slip up an' this child wouldn'ta had a mother! We can't jus' keep jumpin' inta tussles unplanned like this!"
"Dilla," said the large one, "Our main element is surprise - and it's worked in our favor so far quite effectively-"
"Yeah but fer how long Big Jake? How long 'till something' happens that we're gonna regret for the rest of our sorry lives? It only takes one slip! An' we were too close fer my care this time. Kango wouldn't approve of this method-"
"Kango Kango Kango!" cried Sis. "You and yer lovely heroic Kango yer always talkin' about!"
"Don't insult Kango! If it weren't for him, we'd all be in slavery right now."
"Oh I've heard that one before - and you know it was us slaves that broke our own chains! Dillos stand strong!"
Big Jake shrugged. "It's true."
"But we never would have had opportunity if it weren't for Kango!" Dilla protested.
Sis would not capitulate. "Well if he such a great leader them why's he leadin' everyone up north to their deaths eh?  If they just learned how to forage proper like us they'd be fine here!"
"Well I'm sorry you see it that way," Dilla patted the baby mouse on the head. "As fer me, I'd like ta see a better future fer youngin's an' families such as these."
"Huh, well if you find it up north, let us know will you?"
"I shall."
Jake was confused. "Wait you mean yer actually going?"
Dilla looked him in the eye. "I am."
"A-and we're coming too!" The husband mouse spoke up.
Dilla nodded and got down on all fours. "Saddle up then kiddos - we've got a long road ahead of us."[/spoiler]