KIA

[Venril]

Although tired and lost, the group that had descended into the caves continued to try to put distance between themselves and the quartz cave full of Srecchrrl.  Their situation was beginning to become increasingly urgent, as Bellona and Matukhana rapidly depleted their supplies of torches.  Eventually, the decision was made to keep only one torch lit at a time, but even with that level of rationing the situation was growing progressively more serious.

?We?re not going to be able to keep going much longer like this.? Bellona was the first one to state the obvious.

?No, we?re not,? Venril agreed. ?And it doesn?t look like we?re getting very close to the Fritterik caves.?

?Even if we were, what would we really do?  Even if we got out of the caves, the time it would take us to mass forces for a full assault on the Srecchrrl would mean that a lot of the infected beasts would likely die ?or worse? in the time that would take,?  Bellona replied.

?So what, that?s it?  We?ve failed to get the mushrooms?  What happens when the disease begins to spread?  What do we do now??  Venril demanded.

?If ye?d stop nattering for a few minutes an? think, mebbe we could solve this!?  Matukhana growled at the stoat.

Venril sighed, feeling rather out of place. This had been a stupid idea, coming along with this mission. He wasn?t a clever, innovative beast like Bellona, or even Liza, and he wasn?t intimidating or powerful like Matukhana. The stoat had lucked into a few small victories, more through chance than merit, and he had foolishly allowed that to go to his head.

While Bellona and Matukhana continued to debate their options, Venril looked across at Liza. The marteness looked like she also felt a little bit out of place here. But that didn?t seem to make her want to talk to Venril. It occurred to the stoat that he actually knew very little about Liza. He had a vague idea of where she was from, and that she had been an upper-class female of some kind, but in all honesty he was beginning to feel like the more time he spent around her, the less he understood.

?Liza??

?What??  The marteness wasn?t as snappish as she had been earlier.  Instead, she just seemed tired and dispirited.

Whatever it was he had wanted to say, he just couldn?t seem to put into any sort of organized form. So instead Venril asked, ?Do you think we?ll get out of here safely??

Liza opened her mouth to respond, but was pre-empted by Bellona.

?I think the only thing to do is to go back and try again to get the mushrooms,? the dormouse said.

?How? Won?t they be expecting us??  Venril asked.

?No, they?ll be spreading out to try to hunt us down in the tunnels. I don?t think they?ll anticipate us suddenly turning around and attacking them on ground we?d already given up on. Two of us could gather up the mushrooms while the rest go in and try to hold off and distract the Srecchrrl.  It wouldn?t take that long to gather up the mushrooms, and once we have those we can just head straight for the point where we came into the caves.?

?Isn?t that a little risky?? Liza asked, her expression dubious.

?Well, do you have an alternative plan? I don?t see what else running around in the tunnels getting lost is going to do.  We have limited light left, and once that?s gone the Srecchrrl will have a massive advantage,?  Bellona countered.

Venril sighed. ?It?s not a great plan?but I don?t see much choice.?

The group was able to make much better time on the way back to the quartz cave. Along the way, it was agreed that Liza and Medjool would gather the mushrooms while the rest would try to hold off the Srecchrrl.

They were close enough to the cave to see light coming in when they suddenly encountered a pair of musteline Srecchrrl, who started at their sudden appearance and tried to run. Venril put his saber through the back of the first one before his adversary even had time to fully process the threat. Matukhana managed to catch the second just before the entrance to the quartz cave, and began hacking away at it with his scimitar, but not before the dying beast was able to scream a warning that would have been clearly audible in the cave.

Immediately, there was a flurry of activity within the quartz cave. True to Bellona?s prediction, it seemed that they had not been on full alert. There were unarmed beasts, and even, shockingly, Srecchrrl kits, something Venril had not even thought existed. They looked surprisingly normal, ambling about in the few moments left before their parents snatched them up and began to run as armed Srecchrrl began readying to fight off the invaders.

The questors rushed towards the mushrooms in a mob, rapidly dispersing. Liza and Medjool went for the mushrooms as Venril, Matukhana, Bellona, and Bellona?s woodlanders spread out in all directions, attacking the surprised Srecchrrl.

Venril snarled as he slashed a Srecchrl?s crude spear in half, and then sliced the creature?s neck open with another slash.  That was about as long as the element of surprise lasted before the rest of the Srecchrrl near Venril began to struggle more to avoid their questing spearpoints. He parried a spear thrust, then swung at the Srecchrrl?s head, only to miss as the ferret ducked under his sword. Another Srecchrrl, a weasel, thrust from the side, and scored Venril across the back, drawing blood. It was the first time the stoat had spilled blood in battle, and it was a feeling he was completely unprepared for. Wheeling on the weasel that had bloodied him, Venril redoubled his attack, slicing through the mustelid?s guard and slashing him once, twice, thrice. This feeling of revenge only lasted a second, though, as he was unable to restore his guard to prevent the ferret from putting his spear through Venril?s thigh.

The stoat went  down hard. He managed to bat the ferret?s second thrust away, but by now other Srecchrrl had seen the stoat fall. Several of them disengaged or stopped running towards the others, and headed towards Venril, concentrating their attacks on him. The stoat made a decent show of it, given his lack of experience, but within moments a spear had gone through his lower back, and then another through his side.

Venril collapsed to the ground, blood flowing freely, and was only dimly aware of several more stab wounds inflicted on his dying body. The whole world seemed to be fading away, and Venril felt himself being gently pulled away, to somewhere just over the horrizon and out of sight.  He let himself go freely. Wherever it is, it?ll be better than here. The stoat just felt confident of that.

It was a comforting thing to be thinking as he died.