The End, Part III: Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

[Eliza Lacrimosa]

Authors: Bellona Littlebrush, Eliza Lacrimosa, and Revel


Sagaru's lone eye surveyed the carnage. She frowned. Bodies, friend and foe, were strewn about like discarded playthings. There were beasts dead of spear wounds, of sword thrusts, felled by arrows and slingstones. The bodies were woodlander and vermin, Oasis dweller and Fritterik, young and old, male and female. Life had divided them, but death had made them equals.

A hare loped up to the mouse, saluting with a rusted cutlass. "Root's company sent me t'report that they've cleaned the last of the blighters out of the kitchens and livin' quarters, marm."

"Good." It was. Leftenant Littlebrush had also sent word that the quarry and throne room were clear, and with this cavern also, that meant, theoretically, that the Srechrrl had been completely and utterly defeated. Very good, indeed.

"Unfortunately, there's nothin' left o' the Fritterik. Least ways, we haven't spotted any alive. We figure, they either went chasin' after their pals, or..."

"Or," Sagaru nodded.

The hare waffled slightly in the silence. "And, um. Root's..."

"He'll be fine." His voice had said it all.

"Er... sure he'll..." He looked away, focusing on a random dark tunnel. "So, eh, marm, d'you suppose that's it, then?"

Fates, she hoped so. Of course, there wasn't any clear way to predict these things. One or two of the Srechrrl might have managed to escape the fighting, packed up their sinister brood and vanished into the infinite labyrinth of caves, where the Fritterik would never find them. She hoped to the Fates that they hadn't. The Srechrrl had tortured other creatures, skinned them alive on a whim. Hellgates, they had eaten them. Death was too good for monsters like that.

"It's as finished as it can be for now, Quentin," she said when the silence continued to drag. "The fighting part, anyway."

Fates, it hurt. But right now, she was the Leader of the Heirs of Loamhedge, and she had a job to do.

She tried not to think of him as one of the lucky ones, should she fail.

The hare nodded smartly. 

"We found the cure." Sagaru and Quentin looked quickly over at Birch. The squirrel was limping as she joined them and she coughed wetly.

The patch-eyed mouse raised her visible eyebrow. "Where?"

"Among the crystals," Birch explained, pointing to the far side of the lake. "Here in this cavern."

-----

Everybeast stared at the empty patch of stone.

"They're gone?"

Eliza listlessly poked at the shredded remnants of a stalk. She had held the mushrooms, felt them spilling through her claws like a cascade of rich wine. And now they were gone.

A dubious frown split the crags of Kirby's face. "Are ye sure this is where they were?"

Bellona knelt, searching about in the dust. The dormouse picked up a small chunk of fungus, rolling it between her clawtips. "They were here, all right."

"Oy!" called a dark-furred rat, one of Venril's former underlings. "There's another patch right 'ere, b'hind this rock!"

Several necks craned forward. "See!" the rat cried. "Greeny-brown, wi' li'l blue splots on 'em, just like ye said!"

Murmurs of excitement passed from beast to beast. One voice rose above the jabbering throng, slicing through their optimism with a single syllable.

"No."

Everybeast turned to look at Eliza.

"No?" parroted the rat. "Wotdjer mean, 'no?'"

The pine marten folded her arms self-consciously. "Those ones are poisonous."

The rat looked perplexed. "They look jus' fine ter me."

"Eat one if you don't believe me, you wretched little idiot. They're poisonous."

"'Ere," Kirby demanded. "Lemme see that toadstool."

Mutely, the rat obliged. The pudgy ferret squinted briefly at the fungus before throwing it down. One glance was enough. "Harrumph. Th'snarky little lass is right. This'un's poison enough ter make ye puke yer guts out within a day."

Revel picked it up and sniffed it curiously, before wrinkling her snout. "Aye."

"Well, now whadda we do?" the rat implored, casting a doleful look at the forbidden mushrooms.

Bellona turned her gaze to Adriak. The pine marten, held on his knees between Quentin and Greenfang, acknowledged her with a casual smile. The dormouse stormed over and struck the slaver across the face. "All right, vermin, I'll give you one chance to prevent me carving my name into your eyelids. Where are they?"

Adriak's smile didn't waver. "Your precious mushrooms? Why, I'm afraid they're all gone!"

"Delectable, weren't they?" Kelly purred.

Bellona snarled in disbelief. "You ate them? All of them?"

"Oh, but of course. Your beasts traveled quite an impressive distance to claim them, and you put up such a valiant fight against uneven odds. We couldn't help but sample a dish capable of inspiring such a... profound level of passion."

"Besides," Kelly put in, "everybeast knows that nothing seasons otter meat quite like freshly-picked mushrooms."

The pair shared a repulsive tinkling laugh.

"If you know where more can be found, vermin, you will tell us," Sagaru commanded, cutting them off.

Kelly and Adriak shared a knowing grin -- neither spoke.

Bellona gritted her teeth together and approached the pine marten, grabbing hold of the tuft of fur atop his head and jerking it up so he was forced to stare into her cold eyes. They didn't have time to play the slavers' games. "Final chance, scum."

Adriak remained stubbornly silent, his infuriating grin stretching up to his ears.

The dormouse released his head and stepped back, her jaw set and eyes narrowed. "You two," she snapped at his guards, "take him to the water."

"Leftenant, what are you doing?" Sagaru demanded as Quentin and Greenfang moved to comply.

"Whatever I have to," she growled, baring her teeth and stalking over to the trio by the underground pool.

Eliza followed, a gross sense of fascination and the tiniest hint of satisfaction driving her footpaws. This arrogant cretin who had dared to insult her beauty was about to receive his just desserts. What would that entail?

Revel slinked forward, as well, wondering what was happening. Were they going to try to wash out Adriak's nasty smell? Maybe she could cut off his tail after and keep it when it was nice and clean. No more marten-scent.

"Blimey!" Quentin gasped as he hauled the marten into the water with Greenfang's assistance. Within a badger's length from the shore they were up to their thighs. "Bally frigid, wot!"

"Yes," Adriak agreed. "Very brisk. Wakes you up in the morning!"

"Stow it," Sagaru growled from the shore, watching as Bellona entered the pool, as well, and instructed the guards to hold tight to Adriak's wrists and make him kneel.

The warrior approached, standing in slightly shallower water -- still it reached her chest given her diminutive stature.

"What happens now, then?" the pine marten inquired mockingly, only his shoulders, neck and head above the water.

"Where are the mushrooms?" Bellona asked, all affect removed from her face and voice.

Adriak smiled and sucked in a deep breath.

The dormouse waited for several seconds, then tangled her claws in the fur atop the marten's head and slammed him face-first into the water. She held him under until he began to fidget, most probably an involuntary reaction as he had remained limp before. She pulled him back up and he gasped.

"Where are the mushrooms?"

"I didn't think you little woodlanders approved of such methods," Adriak observed, grinning again. "How interesting."

Bellona forced his head back under before he could regain his breath fully. Three more times this repeated with the dormouse asking the same question each time. The pine marten began laughing when he was brought up.

On the shore, Eliza gulped and turned away. It was bad enough watching torture when the beast responded properly to pain, but to see this lunatic laughing as he was partially drowned made her insides crawl. She glanced to the side and saw Revel and Kelly staring, enthralled by the scene playing out before them. "How can you watch that?" she demanded of the stoat.

"'E deserves it."

She had no argument for this, and so said nothing as Adriak's choking laughter filled the cavern once more. "You -- huck! -- you really are -- hack! -- a card, my dear!"

Bellona snarled in frustration. She had never dealt with such an insane creature before. Stoic, she could break. Coward, she could threaten. Mad? What could you do with a mad beast?

"This isn't working, Leftenant," Sagaru voiced the concerns of everybeast present. "Bring him here. We'll try something else."

The four sodden creatures stomped back to shore, shivering in the cool air. Adriak was thrown unceremoniously onto the stone floor and Greenfang sat on top of him.

"What 'bout slicin' up 'is face like that lass what's the same species?"
"We could cut off the git's claws!"
"Me ole messmate got hisself sat on a spike."
"How 'bout we stick stones up 'is claws?"

"Quiet!" Sagaru cut off the litany of gruesome suggestions, pinching the bridge of her snout with one paw.

"Erm, m'am!" Quentin piped up, looking a bit green in the gills. He pointed at Kelly. "She said she's got a kit, wot!" His ears drooped with shame at this pronouncement. It was a cruel tactic, to be sure and one he could never be proud of, but they were all going to die!

"Go and see if you can find it," the Heir commanded. "Maybe it's hiding somewhere."

"Oh, please!" Adriak snorted. "Do give me a bit more credit. I've murdered creatures younger than that mongrel hound myself. It's not as if he matters any."

"What!" Kelly snarled, hackles rising. "How can you say that, Adriak? How can you say you don't care about our little Randy?"

"He's a sniveling lout, Keller," the marten replied dispassionately. "And now that he's become a half-faced monstrosity he's hardly fit to serve as Heir to rule the Srechrrl. Why, he's practically a savage himself!"

"You wretch!" Her guards had to hold her tightly as the vixen tried to lunge at her mate. A brief struggle ensued, then Kelly fell limp, seething. "It's on some rocks. That's where we found them last time. In a cavern some ways from here. We were stumbling in the dark, dying, and we found them. I don't know where exactly, but there were these rocks that looked like a bird. The type with webbed feet in ponds, whatever they're called."

"Kelly!" Adriak hissed.

"Hmph! Do whatever you'd like with that stone-hearted sow's ear!"

"I think," Eliza interjected, an inky spring of resentment bubbling up in her, "I have the perfect punishment."

"Oh? I hope the death isn't too quick," the vixen commented, glaring daggers at her partner. He glowered right back.

"Let's put him in one of the caves in the throne room and seal it."

"An excellent idea!" Kelly praised.

"And let's put her with him."

"...What?"

-----

The survivors numbered a paltry thirty-four, with five of them barely able to stand due to retching. That left twenty-nine. Thirty-three, Revel pointed out, if one counted Little Rath, Sullen, Pinky and Yikker-vikvichip.

"We're not countin' yer stupid liddle whelps," Skinny Ryun grunted. Revel stuck out her tongue at Skinny, and called him Fatty.

"If I might have everybeast's attention," Sagaru called out, "we need to start searching for these mushrooms right away. If what that vixen said is true, it matches well enough with what we've already discovered. In our search of the Heirs' recordings, we found some references to the mushrooms in connection with a 'waterfowl of stone.'"

"Wot's a 'waterfowl o' stone?'" queried one of the corsairs.

"'S a stone wot looks summat like a duck," Kirby replied.

Sagaru cleared her throat. "Yes. Now, there are a lot of different tunnels down here, so we're going to have to split up in order to cover as much ground as possible. So, I suggest that we all get comfortable with the idea of working with one another. There aren't enough torches or patience in my body to deal with whinging. We can kill each other once we're all healthy again."

"Excuse Oi, Miz Sagaru," said a female mole, raising one claw. The Heir looked at her, right through her, because she saw somebeast else.

"Go on?"

"Oi reckon ev'rybeast shudd bring sumthin' furr markin', so wee'm can foind ee way back hurr."

"Right. Everybeast grab some coal, or some marking stones, and we'll set out." 

Somebeast in the ranks began to cough violently.

-----

The twenty-nine venturers reached the first fork in the tunnels almost immediately. After a brief discussion, Sagaru took thirteen other beasts, mostly woodlanders, down the passage on the left. Kirby, as de facto leader of the vermin group, took the remaining fourteen to the right. The two groups nodded a solemn farewell to each other, everybeast knowing that there was a very serious chance that the others would not make it back. Friends bade farewell to friends, comrades to comrades.

Kirby's group plodded along in somber silence, save for the occasional bout of coughing. Revel dragged a piece of charcoal along the craggy walls, making a small irritated face whenever the stone's topography caused a break in the black line. Bellona strode along at the fore, carrying the lead torch. Eliza stayed close to the dormouse, unwilling to be left in the darkness. Eventually, the tunnel widened, and the motley assortment of creatures found themselves standing in an immense grotto, the floor of which was pooled with water.

"Cor!" Kirby remarked, scratching at a flabby jowl. "Ye could fit th'whole o' th'Bluddrudder in 'ere, stem ter stern. Prob'ly under full sail, even."

"But there's no bleedin' stone duck," Skinny Ryun mumbled.

"Chivvers!" Revel announced, crinkling her nose. "It stinks in 'ere."

"Hold," Bellona said, squinting curiously at the sea of faces. "Somebeast is missing. We had fifteen when we split off from Sagaru, but now there are fourteen, including myself. We've lost somebeast."

Kirby frowned. "Look 'round. Anybeast notice any other beast missin'?"

Nervous chattering and harried glances rippled through the group, before the final consensus came back: a searat named Filarski was nowhere to be found.

"Right!" Kirby boomed, his voice echoing about the chamber. "Anybeast see where Filarski nipped off ter?"

A light-furred ferret raised a claw. "I 'eard 'im coughin' an' retchin' summat fierce while we wos walkin' through the tunnels. P'raps 'e just got too sick ter go on, mebbe?" 

Skinny Ryun's throat bobbed nervously. "Should we go back for 'im?"

"No." Everybeast turned to look at Kirby. The cook's face was a mask of stone. "Filarski was a good ole mess-mate, but 'e got sick right 'bout th'same time as th'rest o' us. If'n 'e wos too sick ter carry on, that means that th'rest o' us are runnin' low on time, too. We're movin' on."

"Move on to where?" Skinny Ryun asked. "There's two exits."

Sure enough, the torchlight revealed a pair of holes on the opposite end of the cavern.

"We split again," Bellona interjected. The dormouse's eyes had a scarlet tinge to them. "We've got enough torches for two groups to go their own way. If you hit a dead end, follow your charcoal marks back to this cave, and take the other entrance."

"Right," said Kirby. "That's a solid plan. I'll take six with me, an' six of ye will go with th'dormouse."

A good number of the vermin opted to stay with the portly cook. Skinny Ryun and his tagalong ferret volunteered too late, and begrudgingly found themselves drafted to Bellona's group, along with Revel, Birch, and Greenfang. Eliza brought up the rear, grimacing bitterly as the water soaked into her trailing skirts.

As they waded through the shallows, Greenfang scooped a pawful of water and dashed it into his face.

"Wot're you doin', cully?" asked the ferret.

"Geh," said Greenfang, rivulets of water running down his neck. "I'm burnin' up. Must be all this warmth unnerground, eh?"

Revel curled her snout. "Phchew! You smell like sick, Greenfang."

Bellona sniffed warily. Revel was right. The dormouse recalled how Sailpaw had smelled, just before he'd attacked her and Damask. That same scent was here, lurking just on the tail edge of the smells of musty caves and stagnant water. But, it didn't seem to emanate solely from the old weasel. It was dispersed, spread out. It was coming from all of them. 

Eliza pawed away a small trail of saliva. Immediately, more welled up to replace it, pooling up between the pine marten's gums. She spat it into the water, composing a mental litany of curses to hurl at Adriak and his brush-tailed trollop. They had better find the wretched mushrooms, and soon.  Her throat was beginning to hurt from the persistent coughing.

Near the front of the line, Revel's whiskers twitched. The stoat's teeth felt itchy. She tried to scratch at them with her tongue, but there were a lot of teeth, and only the one tongue to scratch with, and her claws tasted like how Greenfang smelled.

The group reached a sort of shore, and Bellona called a halt. "Everybeast shake the water from your footpaws."

Greenfang's saggy eyebrows curved about each other like dueling eels. "Why?"

"For traction. We need everybeast fit and able to carry a full load of mushrooms back for the rest. I don't want anybeast slipping and wounding themselves."

The motley crew shook their footpaws about, casting small droplets all over the place. Eliza grimly tried to wring some of the moisture from her skirt. One or two greasy drops fell from the twisted hem.

The ferret watched her, mild amusement dancing in his eyes. "Heh," he sniggered. "If ye don't want yer liddle fancy dress gettin' wet, mebbe you'd better just take it off, eh?"

A smack echoed through the cavern.

Greenfang helped the ferret back upright, with an admonishment that this sort of thing tended to happen to those who didn't show proper respect to ladies.

"Gerroff," the ferret snarled, wrenching his arm away. "She jist caught me unawares, tha's all."

Eliza shot him a vengeful glare. She was hardly in a mood to be trifled with.

The seven of them made fairly quick progress, passing through a series of caverns and grottoes. At each one, they would cast about for anything faintly resembling a duck. Occasionally, somebeast would turn up a stray patch of mushrooms, but they were invariably the wrong kind. With the shattering of every false hope, with every violent bout of coughing, the group's progress slowed. When they reached yet another fork, they were practically crawling.

"Right," said Skinny Ryun, his voice choked from retching. "I'll take the passage on th'left. Greenfang, yer with me. You too, Virgill."

Birch made a face at the vermin. "What, you're just going to take the other males and split?" 

The corsair's dumpy face leered. "Aye, we're gonna split, an' we're gonna find those mushrooms without havin' any prissy liddle ladies 'round ter slow things down."

Birch snarled in protest, but Bellona cut her off. "If that's what they want, let them go. Every second we waste with petty arguments's a second we don't have."

"Right," Greenfang nodded. The weasel's face was sallow, worn with exertion. "I dunno how well we'll muck on through, wot with me old bones draggin' on be'ind 'em."

"Come with us, then!" Revel chirped.

Greenfang shook his head sadly. "Nah, I'm bound ter stick wi' my crew. But I wish ye the best of luck, lasses. Let's 'ope we find those mushrooms."

Ripping off an awkward salute, the old weasel vanished into the inky blackness after his companions.

The four females continued on in silence. The subterranean corridor continued on for what seemed like an eternity. The floor sloped downwards, and occasionally broke into little ledges that they were forced to jump down. By and by, everybeast was struggling not to overheat, as the fever took hold.

"'M thirsty," Revel complained. "We should've brought some water along t'drink."

"Focus on the goal, stoat," Bellona advised. She could feel each step now. Each movement expended energy she could not afford to lose. "We need to save our breath for - Argh!"

Birch leapt at the dormouse's unprotected back. She caught Bellona off guard, knocking the dormouse to the ground.

Bellona grunted in pain as the squirrel's teeth punched into her back. The Leftenant kicked out, her footpaws glancing off of the maddened squirrel. Birch refused to let go, her claws raking at the dormouse's sides. Bellona twisted around, managing to catch the squirrel's throat. Slavering jaws snapped at her face.

Whock!

Eliza stared at the crumpled squirrel, breathing heavily. The hammer dropped from her paw with a clunk.

"Hellgates," the pine marten murmured. Her paw felt numb.

Grasping the torch, Bellona stumbled to her footpaws.

All three of them stared down at their fallen comrade. The squirrel's chest rose and fell; her breathing was shallow and wet. Nobeast moved to assist her.

Without a word, Bellona turned and continued down the tunnel. Eliza followed her. Bellona had the torch, after all.

Revel hesitated a second, before picking up the hammer. The stoat tucked it into Birch's twitching paws, and the squirrel clutched as though it were a newborn kit.

"Stupid squirrel."

Revel chased after the receding firelight. 

The passage floor warped upwards into a slope. Footing was difficult, but the trio pressed onward. Eliza was the most agile of the three, but her trailing skirts tended to hamper her progress somewhat. Bellona huffed up the slope right behind her. The dormouse still held the torch, which made climbing an exercise in both difficulty and patience. Revel brought up the rear, burdened with pockets full of kits. The stoat picked her steps carefully, lest she fall and squash her coat.

Eventually, the shaft leveled off, only to present a new difficulty. A side tunnel branched away from the main one, stretching off into the blackness.

"Another split," mused Bellona.

"And only one torch left," Eliza grimaced. The pine marten cursed inwardly. How could this be so difficult? Adriak and his harlot had found the mushrooms by accident, and here were they, unable to turn up so much as a wilted toadstool.

Revel licked furiously at her teeth. Wicky-chivvers, but they'd been walking a long time. She was tired of walking, and of smelling the horrible stink of disease welling up. Her stomach was growling and rumbling again, too, like she'd swallowed a thunderstorm.

"A fine trouble. Which way d'we go?" she grumbled.

Bellona stared down the passageway. "Well, if we were Adriak and his wench, which passage would we take?"

"Th'smaller one," Revel said. "'s like tree branches. Bigger branches only 'ave got smaller branches. Smaller branches is where you find th'fruit."

"Fair enough," Bellona sighed. There was a miniscule grain of sense in the stoat's logic. The stone waterfowl would be in a cave of some kind, and the smaller passage had to lead somewhere, didn't it?

Eliza glowered, but said nothing. Her throat was sore, and every cough sent stabbing pain through her chest. She just wanted to get the stupid little mushrooms and get out of here.

They walked on, pausing occasionally for a coughing fit or to spit away a mouthful of warm saliva or worse. The tunnel curved about like a primordial serpent, twisting this way and that, before the venturers finally arrived at...

"A dead end," Bellona said grimly. The torch in her paw illuminated a bare expanse of wall.

Eliza reached out, as though harboring some vain hope that the stone wasn't real - an optical illusion, a trick of the light, a mirage, even... Her paw tolled a death knell against the smooth surface. It was horribly solid.

"I... I - hurk! - guess that's it, then. We go back." Bellona gulped and turned around. Her throat was on fire.
 
"Mmhmm," said Revel, licking a small bit of drool from her lip. "We can follow the line I made." She absently stroked little Yikker-vikvichip. Reacting to her touch, the kit squirmed feebly within the confines of Keane's jacket pocket, gnawing on her claw. None of the other ones seemed to be moving much.

Eliza still stared at the rock. "There's still the fork," the pine marten murmured. "The passage we didn't try, but if that one's empty..."

Nobeast finished the sentence. They didn't have to. They just turned and began despondently trudging back the way they'd come in. Their steps were slow, shuffling, wearied by sickness and despair.

"At least we're not going to Dark Forest alone." Bellona laughed without humor. "We've sent plenty ahead of us."

"Like Adriak and Kelly," Revel said. Her grin was wiped away by a terrible hacking cough.

Eliza nodded, slowly. "And Matukhana."

"Who else?"

"All those children...Tracy, Silverpaw, Arendell, Nona, Giddy. And the hogmaid. She was Baez's mate, I think."

"Sullen," Revel supplied. "Stupid 'edge'og..."

"And that wildcat," Eliza added.

"Keane," mumbled Revel, stroking the lapel of the dead cat's coat.

"And Deadtail." 

"Rath," Eliza said, before giving vent to a long, rattling cough.

"Poor Rath," said Revel. Her voice was thin, as though she might vomit.

Bellona's voice was faint. "Sailpaw, and Damask, maybe."

"I hope not," Eliza whispered. She stroked the robin's bangle.

"Liked 'is songs," Revel added, quietly.

Bellona coughed.

"Venril." The voice was faint, indistinct.

"Venril," another voice agreed.

"Venril."

And then there was silence.

The three of them continued walking back towards the delta, straining to breathe as the coughing fits became worse, and the retching stole their breath. One lagged behind, struggling to stay upright. That was all it took. A second beast pounced upon the first, teeth raking across her upraised paw. The third one flew at both of them, howling with pent-up rage.

The torch clattered to the tunnel floor. Somebeast kicked it, sending it spinning away from the combat.

There was scuffling, struggling, and a small shriek of pain. The three fought with each other, teeth and claws bared, panting for breath. Spittle and blood flew everywhere. One of them staggered, slipped. The other two stared at each other, hot saliva dripping from their feverish jaws. They lunged for each other, swaying unsteadily. Feeble blows were traded, before these too stumbled and collapsed.

In the closing darkness, three lay fallen, struggling to breathe.

Only one got up.