Cold and Lonely in the Deep Dark Night

[Deadtail]

They had good sense, those cave-dwellers. Some beasts might celebrate special occasions with speeches from windbags, others with a whole slew of promotions, and still others by simply relaxing and letting down their guard. But after he'd tramped through the caves for so long, a feast was just the sort of party Deadtail had in mind.

It was in the ferret's honor, or somesuch, and the rat made out some sort of boisterous acclaim from farther up the table. He did not listen for the details, however, preferring to gulp down whatever was put in front of him.

There was no question that the food was...exotic. He gnawed on a lump that had once floated in a muddy stew, then swished the liquid around between bites. It was hard to see if anybeast else was eating more politely, but he doubted they were, and no one had criticized him.

?Good chavers, eh?? asked a weasel to Deadtail's right.

?It's quite filling, yes.? He glanced past her, watching the fish make its third trip around the table. Few of his fellow vermin had found it too appetizing?with the exception of the stoatmaid several seats down, who looked ready to match him mouthful for mouthful?but the cave-dwellers could still finish it off before it came around again. Oh well.

?Yipyip,? the weasel replied. ?My Vakka-shin, he make 'em.?

?Did he now? You'll have to give him my compliments.?

?What??

?Never mind,? Deadtail sighed, turning again to follow the fish's progress.

He flinched at a shriek, but it was just the indignant marten. From the way she told it??How dare you foul savages disrespect me in this manner!??she didn't have enough scars already, and the cave-dwellers were doing their part to bring her up to the required quota. Her yells gave way to the sound of footpaws hitting stone, and those too faded into silence. After a second set of footpaws crossed the cave, the silence was replaced by what passed for conversation picking up again.

?More fer us, then.? The weasel raised a husk bowl to her mouth, slurping down the stew.

?What happened?? asked Deadtail. ?I couldn't see.?

?The shrip, she get angry. Kick fritterik, then run into gakki. Then pratcha vikvi, he go run into gakki too.?

?A gakki?? Deadtail did his best to imitate the growl. ?Is that safe for...? For somebeast like her. And a pratcha vikvi, whatever that is.

But if he had been fool enough to run off into the darkness alone, he'd be almost as vulnerable as Eliza to whatever might be lurking in the caves. Still, below all the scars, she was still no warrior. She didn't belong in some hole below the desert?she could have been safe in some rich home.

He envied, if not her, what she might have been. Should have been.

?Can you see her now? Where did she go??

Although he could not be sure, Deadtail got the feeling he was on the wrong end of a very pointed glare. ?In gakki. How can I see??

?Oh...of course. Pardon me.? The hosts' good side tended to be a relatively safe place to be. But although the weasel made more sense than most of the cave-dwellers that he'd heard speak, he couldn't tell if she was actually in a position of any real power. ?Your mate. You said he made this food??

?Vakka-shin. He make brkich.?

?Everybeast must be very proud of him. Where is he? Is he sitting up there, with Rath??

?Vakka-shin make brkich.?

Perhaps a different tack was in order. ?Does Vakka-shin make brkich every day??

?Brkich just for bigfeast.?

If this is their once-a-season dish, I don't want to stick around and try their normal fare.

But that wasn't entirely fair to them, was it? He was eating as much ?brkich?, or whatever it was, as he could get. By and large, the vermin-beneath-the-tunnels were fine beasts. Not great talkers, to be sure, but he'd seen plenty of beasts focus on what was spilling out of their mouths and forget that something was spilling out of their bodies.

Perhaps he should have tried to ingratiate a bit more with the higher-ups. ?Excuse me, I'm goin' to go walk around a bit.?

?Yipyip.?

Deadtail rose to depart?and sat right back down again as he saw the fish finally make its way back around the table. First things first.

Once he'd finished his third helping, though, he walked towards the head of the table. Rath was seated between another ferret and a cat, who sounded as if he was extolling the warrior. Matukhana's army seemed to be spread out around the table; a few friends sat in clumps, but by and large those from above and below the waterfall were scattered among each other. Even the slaves were seated at random; the cave-dwellers' hospitality had strengthened the short-term truce.

Not all the surviving fragments of Martin's Shadow, however, had joined the superficial harmony. Sailpaw's accent just barely carried through the cave. ?Bell!? he hissed. ?There's no' but three o' us. Wha' d'ye reckon you, me, an' a boggin' recruit could do??

Deadtail crept closer; the two woodlanders were near the entrance to a tunnel, away from the table.

?We're not starting a war, sir,? said Bellona. ?They already know we're not from around here and that we must be from someplace else. All we need to do is tell them more?about vermin, about woodlanders.?

?We dinnae need t'do anythin', lassie. Why cause trouble when there's no' t'be gained? Och!? Sailpaw coughed and continued. ?The path's perilous eno' as it stands. An' why am I tellin' ye this?! Wha's wrong with ye??

?Nothing's wrong with me. What's wrong with you, sir? Half of these creatures don't have eyes! There're dibbuns, woodlander dibbuns who've never seen the sun.?

?Oh, aye! An' there're dibbuns aboove ground who've nivver known a peaceful day since the cradle. No, Bell. We cannae let this distract oos.?

?But, sir, we've nothing to lose. They know the way out, they can help us dig, and then anybeast who wants to can??

?Littlebrush.? Deadtail took the final step towards the squabbling woodlanders. ?Not enjoyin' this delicious feast??

She kept her voice low but charged with energy, like clouds just over the horizon. ?What're you doing, vermin??

?I could ask you the same thing. In fact, I will; what are you planning??

?Nothing. I only want to talk to some of our...hosts.?

?In that case, let's move back towards the party, shall we?? Deadtail's oversized smile, clearly fake, was visible even in the cave's dimness.

?An' wha' concern is it o' yers where we goo, laddie?? Sailpaw feebly demanded.

?If you want to stand around in this hole, I won't stop you. But...look, yer both clever beasts. If you weren't, you wouldn't have made it this far. It just seems a foolish thing to bring this lot up into the oasis. They wouldn't know what to do with themselves.?

?So we're supposed to let them suffer?? Bellona challenged.

?Do they look like they're sufferin'??

?You've seen their faces??

?There ain't much to look at down here, they're not missin' a lot. They didn't ask us any questions, they don't think we're a threat.?

?That's only because they're ignorant. If they learned what your type was really like??

?That's the point, they don't know what an army is! This is the most peaceful place in the world, Littlebrush, and if you threaten them I'll??

?You'll do what?? Bellona cut him off with a humorless laugh.

?I...? What was he doing, picking a fight with the dormouse? ?I'll make you see sense, that's what I'll do. See if I don't.?

He backed away as she tried to shout loud enough for him to hear that she'd gotten in the last word while whispering quietly enough that nobeast else could.

Deadtail wanted to go back to the table, but as he headed there, he realized that sitting down might not be very comfortable. He had drunk a lot of stew, after all, in a very short time. Unsure how to ask his increasingly-burning question to the simple weasel he had sat by, he made his way into one of the cave's many dark nooks and emerged shortly afterward. A hassle, yes, but if it was the worst he'd have to deal with, the caves were truly paradise.

The stoatmaid sniffed at him, wrinkling her muzzle, as he passed her on the way back. ?Yurk, you smell different.?

?Aye, my nose isn't as good as yours.? Not waiting for her to parse his sarcasm, Deadtail added, ?There isn't any of that hantz stuff left, is there??

The rip forming on the side of her tunic strongly suggested that, even if any hantz had remained, he was better off avoiding it.