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[Rexim]

?This land of ?Mossflower? is truly a different place from the Northlands. The abominable heat and swarms of biting insects have taken their toll on me and my men, and the natives have been extremely difficult. If we are to add this area to the dominion of King Rolf, much pacifying of the local population will be necessary??

Rexim sighed. ?Yes, yes, I know eet. But do you have eenytheeng useful een here, Reekhard??  

The fox flipped to another page and started reading, but was interrupted by a knocking on his door.

?Come een.?

Tobias entered, somewhat cautiously. ?You called for me??

?Ah, yes. I need eenformation on theese castle that you and your father stole from me, wheech appareently ees on the verge of falleeng apart. Eenferior construction, I theenk.?

The mink glared at Rexim. ?If you?re just going to insult me, I will leave. My father forced me into this job, and I did the best I could. We are in the middle of a siege right now, and I do not need another ?Eef I was Een Charge? speech.?

Rexim waved his paw. ?No, no, I fear that curreent eveents may soon reender that debate moot eenyway. What I need to know ees eeny weak points een the walls of the main beelding, where eenferior mortar may have been used, that sort of theeng. The bluepreents do not tell the whole story there, and after that acceedeent weeth the falleeng breeck eet is obvious that not all of the castle ees built up to speceefications.?

?I don?t know why that stone fell in the first place. I inspected all the walls myself-?

?Eenspected, or just glanced at theem and theen weent to spar weeth one of the guards?? asked the fox, leaning forward.

The mink look so sheepish that Rexim felt an uncharacteristic pang of sympathy for him. Tobias hadn?t wanted this job in the first place, and had said so on multiple occasions. Darius obviously had ambitions for his son, and Rexim could easily see the elder mink pressing him into a job that he hated and was unprepared for.

?Well, eet ees all done weeth now. But I need to know where we might have probleems, otherwise thees siege ees goeeng to be very short. So please theenk.?

?Well? can I borrow a pen?? asked Tobias, taking a blueprint from Rexim?s cot. Accepting the proffered quill, he began scribbling on the paper.

?Here, on the west side, there?s this spot where my father said that there was some weak stone? the slaves hit a bad vein or something and couldn?t tell the difference? and here there was a bit of trouble getting everything to stand up properly, so we had to brace it until the mortar was set, but it was still a bit flimsy afterward??

After a couple more such descriptions, the mink declared the list finished and went to go assist in the defense. Rexim read over the modified blueprint again, and the stuffed it in the pocket of his coat. He would show it to the guards later, and check out these ?problem areas? for himself.

That his contribution to saving Kotir taken care of, then. All they had to do know was wait it out until the army arrived?

Rexim sat up suddenly. The army didn?t know that the rats were attacking. If they had any idea what was going on in Kotir right now, they would probably do all they could to change the ?may? to something a little more definitive.

The fox rifled through his desk drawers and pulled out a piece of paper. He wrote frantically, cursing every time his awkward grip caused the words to become illegible. Eventually, he managed to finish a letter detailing the circumstances of the rat attack, how much trouble Kotir was in, and containing many urges for the army to hurry to the castle.

He signed it, and then added ?Chief Architect of Kotir? underneath his signature. Well, even current events were not strong enough equalizers sometimes. If he ended up being single-pawedly responsible for saving the castle, promotions were sure to follow, and it never hurt to lay the foundation early.

With that done, he went off to find somebeast fast and stupid enough to deliver it.

*

?Talfor!?

The wolf stirred, and turned to see who had hailed him. Upon discovering it was Rexim, he closed his eyes again.

Rexim kicked the sitting form savagely, and Talfor sat up.

?All right, I?ll bite. What is so important that you have to wake up your betters for it??

?Thees.? Rexim thrust the note in the wolf?s face. ?I need you to deliver eet to the army that Rolf seent. Eet?s urgeent.?

Talfor stood up, and stared down at Rexim. ?You think you can order me to do something as crazy as this? Are you forgetting who is employing you??  

The fox shrugged. ?Eef I get paid sometime, we?ll talk about eemploymeent.?

?How about this: are you forgetting who here can rip your head off??

?Ah. Fair point.? Rexim thought for a moment, then continued, ?Though I am confused as to why you are refuseeng thees great opportuneety.?

?What are you going on about?? asked the wolf, looking askance at Rexim.

?Theenk about eet. Eef you take the letter, you weell escape theese besieged castle and be protected by armed soldier for your return journey, and you weell be hailed as the savior of the castle. On the other paw, eef you stay here you weell most likely be keelled and eaten by rats. Of course, eef you don?t theenk that you can do eet??

Talfor snatched the letter out of the fox?s paws. ?I am the most trusted messenger of the Alphas. This task will present no problem for me.?

?Excelleent. I knew I could count on you. You can leave through the side door, that way eet ees not likely that the rats weell see you.?

After the wolf left carrying his precious cargo, Rexim smiled. Idiot. But a clever idiot, however much that might seem a contradiction in terms, and if anybeast can make it it?s going to be him.

All there was left to do now was wait, and see what he could do about the defenses. The fox strolled down the passageway and stopped a guard who didn?t seem to be doing anything important.

?Hey, you stoat fellow, have you seen Yvo receently? He seems to have deesappeared and I need to talk to heem about some weak points een the walls.?

?You haven?t heard?? asked the soldier. ?He was captured by the rats, maybe killed.?

?Yvo? Damn!? Rexim struck the wall with his paw. ?He?s the only one bloodthirsty enough to be able to theenk like the rat?s leader, and he eveen sometimes leestens to me.?

?Well, I?m sorry, I suppose,? said the stoat. ?Maybe you could talk to that prisoner that you lot came back with. He might be able to give you the ratty perspective on things.?

?I hate that leettle theeng. There has to be some other way to feegure out how those rats theenk. We don?t have enough soldiers to cover all the weak points? Hold on a momeent.?

Rexim pulled out the late Rikhard?s diary and glowered at the cover. ?Leesteen, book, you have not been helpful so far. Geeve me sometheeng useful or I?m putteeng you een the guard?s lavatory.?

The fox flipped it open and started reading the first line he saw.

?One of the stranger rituals of the Gloomers is their rites for giving birth. For the higher members of their society, the pregnant females carried to an underground lake to give birth into the waters, otherwise the child is deemed to be ?unclean,? or something to that effect. These birthing parties travel relatively undefended, and would make easy targets for ambushes, especially since they contain prominent members of the clans that may be ransomed or made an example of.

This underground lake is actually the remains of a much larger lake, and is located under the now dry lakebed??

Rexim dropped the book and exclaimed loudly.

The stoat soldier looked at him quizzically. ?What?s that about a blanket??

?Never mind that,? said the fox. ?I know why the rats are attackeeng, and we are een beeg, beeg trouble...?