Failure by Design

[Tobias]

Toby sat at the blueprint-covered table, the book Rexim gave him gripped firmly in his paws. It was a diary, he discovered, belonging to a Captain Rikhard, one of the first to secure the area of Mossflower wood for Kotir?s construction. Toby never met the beast, nor did he know why Rexim had the diary in the first place, considering its personal nature.

He?d almost told everyone about his now-confirmed theory, but figured it would be pointless. Nothing could be done that could prevent it. Nothing worth the risk, anyway.

The architect continued reading. He?d found nothing, only battle tactics, observed customs of the rats, small blurbs about the land, and Rikhard?s commentary in between, all useless.

He slapped the pages shut in frustration, then perked his ears as he caught a faint, beast-produced sound. The second time it came he knew it was a shout. Shouts weren?t good.

Toby scraped back his chair, pawed his sword hilt to confirm its presence, and ran out of the dining hall. He could make out the words now.

?Rats in the west hall! Everybeast to the west hall!?

The fur on the nape of his neck prickled. The westernmost hall abutted the westernmost wall. The westernmost wall was circled on a blueprint in Rexim?s possession. The rats had a battering ram, it had to be a battering ram. How did they know where to hit? Luck? Toby thought fate was supposed to be on their side.

The mink tried to form a strategy in his head as he continued down a hall. The weak point was near the north tip of the corridor, so they?d probably run around the nearest corner, over to the north hall, which led to the front gate?

Toby scrabbled to a stop as he approached a clump of guards standing just before the corner that turned into the north hall.

?What?s going on?? he said to the nearest guard.

?They?ve set up archers,? the stoat replied. ?We can?t get through.?

Toby poked his head around the corner for a second. There they were, three with bows and two without, approaching the entrance hall. He ducked his head back, and an arrow shot through and splintered on the wall behind. Toby followed the broken shaft?s path on some primordial instinct to make sure it couldn?t kill him anymore; the pieces dropped and clattered pitifully next to a dead guard pierced by a more successful arrow.

?We can?t let them take the entrance!? Toby exclaimed. He looked over his resources: two archers trying to loose a few arrows, three swordsbeasts unable to help, and himself.

The architect grabbed the nearest archer by the shoulder. ?You, come with me.?

The ferret looked confused. As he should, Toby thought, glancing down at his unarmored body; he wasn?t exactly exuding authority at the moment.

?Why?? he said.

?Because we?re going upstairs so you can shoot them from the staircase in the entrance hall so they don?t open the doors and let the whole enemy into the castle.?

The guard took a second to process the plan and then nodded.

Toby turned to the rest, who to his surprise looked at him expectantly. ?Right?? he said, mind working feverishly. He pointed to two with swords. ?You go to the south hall and see if any are over there. If they have archers, go upstairs and take them from above. There might be rats up there, too? And you?? He pointed to the remaining swordsbeast. ??distract their archers so we can get over there in time.?

The request seemed ludicrous to him. ?How in Hellgates am I goin? to do that an? live??

Toby looked around for the solution and found it in the paws of the dead guard. ?Er?You have a shield, right? Well, take one of theirs and stack them so you can?t get hit. You won?t need the sword.?

The newly-appointed archery target looked at him skeptically and with an tiny bit of enmity. They didn?t have time for this.

?Give me your shield.? Toby said. The fox did so with a questioning expression that said, ?Are you going to do what I think you?re going to do??

The mink held his lifeline in his paw. It was boxy and could cover half of him if he crouched down. Even so, he felt a twinge of doubt that was quickly growing with every split-second he wasted thinking about what he was going to do.

?You take my job, cover him.? He nodded to the four, and they ran off to their positions.

?Think you can give me a good shot?? Toby asked the remaining archer.

?I?ll see,? the weasel said simply. He notched an arrow and stretched the bow. Toby took a deep breath and readied himself. He stared at the other shield to confirm its presence to the irrational part of his mind.

Why was he doing this again?

The weasel shot, and Toby ran out as low to the ground as he could, shield covering his chest but exposing half his legs. The first thunk on the wood was meant for the  archer, who stepped out into the hall to get a good shot. The second thunk happened when he lowered the shield a bit because he knew they?d go for the exposed part of his body.

He reached the dead beast and picked up its shield, thanking it silently for falling face-up. Toby stacked the shields as he envisioned, giving him mostly seamless protection. The next few thuds hit around the seam the two shields created.

The mink counted the time between the hits. One?..Two-Three. One?.Two-Three. One?.

He glanced around the shields and saw that they had stopped firing and, deciding that shooting Toby was useless, started running to their destination. That was a problem. Toby turned to the weasel.

?Fire!? he said. He obliged, stepping out and taking his time. One of their archers fell, shocking the others into targeting Toby again. One?.Two. One?.Two. One?....Two.

They weren?t taking any chances now, yet they weren?t firing any the weasel?s way as Toby thought they should. It was a better chance hoping for the guard to pop out again than to keep trying to hit the shields. His observation turned into suspicion, then paranoia.

?Take a look, will you?? Toby said.

The archer did, and his eyes widened. ?Get back now!?

Toby noticed that the arrows stopped as he said that. He looked down the hall to see both of the rats with cutlasses silently charging him fifteen paces away. They screamed when they knew silence wasn?t necessary anymore. This as well as common sense drove the architect to throw the shields towards them and dive back to the weasel. Something whizzed behind his ears. The guard fired an arrow. Toby got up. One of the rats rounded the corner, only five paces away, too fast for him. He slipped Rousseau?s dagger out of its pocket.

The rat extended his cutlass and Toby parried it unthinkingly, a sharp shriek of steel edge to steel edge. The rat?s momentum forced them both to the ground, and the dagger flew out of Toby?s paw. The rat was kneeling on Toby now, cutlass raised, his eyes seeing triumph, a kill. Then his eyes saw nothing as they rolled back in his head and he fell on top of Toby again.

He pushed the body off in disgust, the arrow shaft snapping as it rolled on its back. Toby lay on the ground for a second and took another deep breath.

?Thanks,? he said on the exhale.

??Welcome,? the weasel replied. ?What now??

Toby got up and retrieved the dagger. ?We??

??We make a better plan that doesn?t get beasts nearly killed,? an infuriating voice interrupted.

Toby turned. ?Nice to see?both of you late to the party.?

?Somebeast shouting isn?t much of an alarm,? Alan replied. ?It?s a miracle we heard it at all.?

Toby looked at Adrian, trying to read her. Both of them arriving at the same time could be coincidence? She revealed nothing, either because there were too many emotions or too little.

Alan walked over and looked around the corner. ?Six down, one ours. Not bad.?

?I?m sure you could have done better if you were timely,? Toby said.

?Yes, I could have,? Alan said, not catching the sarcasm. ?Where did they break in??

?West wall.?

The captain started walking down the north corridor. ?Then it might be wise to go to the west wall.?

--

Upon arriving, Toby found the broken section of the wall secured by Kotir?s archers, but the rats hadn?t stopped their invasion effort yet, as was indicated by the convenient yet unfortunate boundary on the floor made of dead soldiers indicating the shooting range of the rats. The hole yawned an impressive ten paces, enough to allow four armed beasts side-by-side. Toby guessed they had widened their entrance while the invasion happened.

Alan chanced a better look at the damage. ?If I have not said so before, Toby, congratulations on building such a secure castle.?

?I thought that using stronger stone for the outer wall was a wise decision,? the architect retorted. ?I apologize if I trusted the guard too much on protecting the whole of Kotir from an enemy, not just the keep.?

Alan glared at him. Toby glared back.

?We should seal off the hallway,? Adrian said, interrupting their staring contest.

?Yes, brilliant idea, Adrian,? Alan said, turning to her. ?Why don?t you gather some others and do that??

?Yes, Captain.? She trotted off a little too quickly.

Alan turned back to Toby. ?Do you think our esteemed lord has been informed of this??

?No,? he replied, sensing the implied request. ?I?ll go do that.?

Toby walked off and turned the corner, hoping to see Adrian so he might catch up with her, but she was gone. He?d have to talk to her later.

The mink didn?t have to walk far; Toby found Tirian on his way to the battle site in full armor.

?Lord Tirian, I??

?Are we under attack?? he asked urgently.

?Not anymore,? Toby said. ?Their force was small, we were able to secure their entry point quickly.?

The wolf relaxed. ?Good. The fighting woke me up, I was afraid I was too late. Where did they break in??

?Through the west wall.?

?Through the wall? How??

?They made a battering ram, hit the wall, and broke through.? Toby knew what was coming next.

?How on earth did they manage that??

?I believe that that particular section of wall was made of a weaker stone.? There was really nothing else he could say to better his case.

Tirian eyed him. ?Did you know about this??

Toby swallowed. ?No, I?m only guessing. There aren?t any other feasible reasons?? He needed to divert the conversation quickly. He wasn?t the best at making excuses. ?My lord, I was also going to tell you that I have information on the enemy?s future attack plans.?

The wolf?s ears perked in interest. ?And what is that??

?I am fairly certain that the rats at one point will divert a nearby river through a tunnel constructed by one of Kotir?s surveyors into the lake under the castle and flood it so that Kotir will collapse.?

Tirian was silent for a few moments. ?You?re sure of this??

Toby nodded. ?I?m sure.? Besides the information being useless in their position, it was also extremely frightening, and Toby hoped Tirian wouldn?t respond to this by doing something rash.

Fortunately, he seemed very calm about it. ?And why haven?t they done this already??

?I?m assuming because we have their chief?s son, and he wants him alive.?

?I see? This is very enlightening,? Tirian murmured, apparently lost in thought. Then his eyes refocused back on Toby. ?Tell Blacktip to gather his officers and report to the dining hall immediately. Oh, and that other captain, the one from Terramort. We?ll need every beast able to fight.?

?Yes, my lord.? Toby bowed slightly and started walking back to the wall.

Maybe he wasn?t so calm about it.