Glass Eye

[Istvan]

 Istvan hated winter; aside from the perpetual cold that seeped into his bones, the season imposed far more duties on the priest. So much life had to be returned, and he knew that for all his efforts the balance would never be equaled. The only satisfaction that he could look forward to was his own imminent ultimate contribution to the great cycle of life.

But the love of the All-Mother ensured that even in such trying times there were blessings. Today he had returned the corrupted blood of many sinners to her, and her grace had given Istvan the opportunity to purify one whose sins did not yet merit the ultimate punishment.

The otter stood watching Nyika work, his paws dripping with the blood of his superior officer. She bound Captain Noonahootin?s wound with quiet skill, applying a poultice and wrapping a bandage tightly around the wing using her good paw and teeth. Finding those medical supplies down in the tunnel had been another blessing. Obviously the Mother had plans for the Captain yet.

?All right, I?ve done all I can,? said the wildcat. ?He?s a fighter. I think he?s going to pull through.?

The rest of the group let out a ragged cheer. Poko and Vanessa embraced, Zevka smiled, and even Greenfleck seemed pleased. Istvan walked over to examine the owl, who appeared to have passed out. Whether from exhaustion or pain he knew not, but at least it would help him heal. The bandage was quite good quality, one of those that would have been reserved for officers back in Yew. How the moles had gotten their paws on it, he could not imagine.

?Very impressive work, Mistress of Spirits. I have no doubt that your efforts have ensured his survival.?

Nyika looked askance at him.

“Don?t call me that. And there?s no way for me to guarantee his survival. I am no Mistress of Healing, either. It?s still possible that we will end up with another haunt following us, in spite of my efforts. Or because of them. It wouldn?t be the first time...? She glanced off to the side. "Oh hush. You liked him."

?Don?t speak of such things. You are the All-Mother?s great gift to all of us. If anybeast can save him, it is you.?

She stared at him again, with those large eyes that he found so disconcerting. He tried to avoid looking directly into them, and realized that the wildcat?s face was still covered in dirt and Risk?s internal liquids.

?Hold still,? he commanded. Istvan took a spare bandage from the pile of supplies, spat on it, and rubbed it across Nyika?s face, ignoring her mews of distress. Only when he was satisfied with the state of her fur did he drop the now-soiled cloth on the ground. The cat shuffled her feet and ran a paw across the newly cleaned area.

?I didn?t really ask for that, but thank you.?

?You?re welcome. Is there anything more I can do to assist your ministrations??

She shrugged. ?No, not at the moment. I don?t want to wake him up right now, but we don?t know if the moles are going to come back.?

?This area appears to be under the All-Mother?s protection. I do not think we have anything to fear for the time being.?

?You say that, but this group has been cursed from the outset. The landslide, the moles, the owl, that dead expedition, Risk and Gashrock dying... it all adds up.?

?The Mother is far more powerful than any curse. With her aid, we will prevail against the forces which seek our demise.?

?I hope you?re right about that, Istvan. I really do.?

The others had by then vacated the area around Noonahootin. Istvan noticed Vanessa rummaging through the supplies rescued from the old camp; as long as she was taking inventory and not searching for alcohol, that was probably the most productive thing that could be done at the moment. It did, however, leave the other conscious Yew Guard with nothing to occupy his time.

So Istvan contemplated the crimson stain soaking into the snow under his feet. It was good that he had finally had the opportunity to return Noonahootin?s blood to the Mother; the owl was indeed a fighter, with many sins that he spoke of casually. As if wanton killing for nothing more than some other beast?s whim was something to be proud of. Death should come only after the Mother?s judgment, not that of some poor peasant handed a spear and told to stab the beasts wearing a different uniform or of a different species. Life was far too precious a gift to be thrown away so flippantly.

Which reminded him, he needed to make amends with Zevka. While the thought of her heartless decision during the snowy owl?s attack still made his blood boil, she had already received enough of a tongue-lashing from him and Guardsbeast Vanessa, and had been visibly upset by it. She seemed to be feeling enough guilt right now that he did not need to pile on more by explaining to her the laws of the All-Mother regarding the treatment of kits. There was something else that she needed to hear.

The pine marten in question was sitting on a rock a little ways from the owl, not far from one of those bone towers. Istvan didn?t like the bone towers. They loomed over the landscape like some omen of imminent death, mocking their sorrow for Risk and Gashrock with the promise that the group would shrink even further. As the Captain?s survival, and indeed the group?s original salvation from the landslide, proved, this was not the will of the All-Mother.

?Zevka??

?Oh, hello Istvan. I was going to wait until Noonahootin woke up to question him further about the letter, if that?s what you?re here for.?

The otter waved a paw. ?No, no. That is not what I wish to speak to you about. I would like to tell you a story.?

?Is this really the time?? she asked, narrowing her eyes at him. She was probably considering moving him back into the category of ?crazy.?

?We have nothing to do until Noonahootin returns to us, you said so yourself. And I believe that you need to hear this.?

The marten didn?t respond, so Istvan took a deep breath and prepared himself. It was not an easy thing, even after sixteen seasons.

?You by now know of the All-Mother, but have you ever considered that for there to be a Mother there must also be a Father??

?Not really. Nothing else about your religion follows normal logic.?

?That was a rhetorical question. In the beginning, there were two: the Mother and the Father, and they were happy. They brought us, their children, into the world, and loved us just as we loved them. However, the Father fell ill, and he surrendered his spirit unto the bosom of his loving wife, because he knew that he would enjoy eternal happiness there.?

?Wait, the Father died? I thought he was a god,? interrupted Zevka.

?Nothing in the universe is immune from pain. Always remember that. Now, the Mother knew that for her children there must be both a Mother and a Father, so she used the same abilities that had formed the world to make a replacement for her mate. But she tried to make an exact copy, and as you well know once a beast has died they can never truly return. So what she created was a twisted parody of the original Father, with all his virtues turned to vices. A truly horrible beast, who filled his blood with poison and his lips with insults. He raised his paws against the children of the All-Mother in anger, even daring to strike her. Once night he broke glass over her face, spilling her sacred blood and turning her beautiful visage thereafter to a horrible mess of scars, while her children looked on. Not a beast among them could truly say whether they were unable to help, or unwilling.?

Glass? Zevka mouthed silently. She frowned for a moment, then looked Istvan straight in the eye, comprehension dawning on her.

He sighed, ran a paw across his face and sat down next to the pine marten. After a moment, he continued, ?The Mother soon could not take any more of this, and announced to her children that she had to leave them for both her sake and theirs. But they believed that she was abandoning them, and scorned her and her memory. There was only one beast left, a young, insignificant son of the Mother. He saw the sadness that the false Father and apostasy of her children had brought upon the All-Mother, and he vowed to go out into the world so that all would learn again of the truth. Only then could the Mother and her children be brought back into their perfect relationship.?

Following a pregnant pause, Zevka asked, ?So how does the story end? Does the son succeed or fail??

?I don?t know. It hasn?t happened yet.?

Suddenly the otter felt a strange warmth and pressure on his body, and realized that the marten had wrapped her arms around him. As he was processing this unexpected development she released her hold, and looked embarrassed. Istvan found himself entirely lost for words, and decided to ignore the incident in favor of a conversation that was marginally less awkward.

?Do you now understand why I was so upset about your decision during the owl attack??

?...No, not really.?

?Think about it. The Mother has given you a sharp mind.?

Zevka tapped a claw against her chin, and then closed her eyes for a moment. ?Oh. I see. But you have to understand that I will not allow another of our group to die when I could have prevented it. If it means that I have to sacrifice a beast whose kin have killed countless of our friends and companions, then so be it.?

?If there is ever a situation where that becomes necessary, I implore you to choose me instead. It would be a death most pleasing in the eyes of the Mother, and a life bought off the sacrifice of a child is not one worth living. But that is a choice that I pray we will never encounter again, so it would probably be best to discuss something a bit more pertinent. If you please, could you show me again this letter that Gashrock thought worth dying for.?

Zevka withdrew the bloodstained, crumbled piece of parchment from her pocket and passed it to him. Istvan read it once more, and pointed to the seal at the bottom.

?See this uneven part of the wax here? Captain Fern once threw the stamp at a magistrate who said that the Guard wasn?t doing enough with its budget and dented the bottom. They never got it repaired. This seal is definitely not a forgery. I wish I could be surprised, I really do.?

?Are you telling me you knew this was a setup? I swear, Istvan, if you could have told somebeast-?

He waved a paw quickly to forestall her tirade. ?No, no. Nothing like that. But in my seven seasons as a Guard, I have learned that just about every powerful beast in Yew is a craven, greedy, selfish, blasphemous, morally repugnant offense to the goodness of the Mother?s creation. I don?t doubt the authenticity of this seal, though the motivation behind sending the lot of us to our deaths escapes me.?

Zevka smirked just a bit. "So, you mean I haven't just been spending time with the wrong crowd?" The marteness sighed, the smirk vanishing. "Unfortunately, that makes a lot of sense."

?As I said, the pawriting looks familiar, but that doesn?t narrow it down at all. Have faith. Noonahootin has far more experience in the higher circles of society and might have an idea of who could profit from this despicable action, once he finally accepts its reality.?

?It?s not going to be easy to convince him, is it??

Istvan thought of all the devotion which the owl showed each beast under his command, the personal relationship that he tried to build with each of them to gain an intimate understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. The death of his comrades in the landslide must have hit Noonahootin harder than he let show, and to think that the disaster had been orchestrated by his superiors... ?No, not at all.?

?Do you think we should wake him up? The longer we wait here, the more likely it becomes that the moles or the harfang will return.?

?I don?t know. Nyika is now the healer among us, you should be asking her. Right now, I would like to get a better look at one of these macabre structures that seem to have sprung up around the area.?

Zevka followed him over to the bone tower, saying, ?Did you notice that the moles stopped chasing us as soon as we crossed the line of these things? I think they know something we don?t.?

The otter ran his paws over its surface, which weathering had rendered smooth and brittle. The bones were expertly cut, fit together in a way that gave the tower a surprising amount of stability. Despite this, some of them were cracking and a few gaping black holes marred the bleached whiteness, indicating that the tower had been here for quite a while. ?It?s like some perverse ritual to the Mother, glorifying her creation by fashioning it into... this. The beasts who made this must have been quite mad.?

?Mad though they were, their creations seem to have saved us from death for a little while.?

?Istvan? Zevka?? came a voice from the inside of the structure. The otter jumped back and uttered a prayer for protection. The marten just looked confused.

?Poko? What are you doing in there??

The ferret?s face appeared in a gap where some bones had fallen out. ?There was a hole in the bottom, and I wanted to see what was inside.?

?Did you find anything?? asked Zevka.

?No, just spiders n? bones. It?s hot in here, too.?

?For the love of the Mother, get out of there,? said Istvan. ?Not only are you disrespecting those whose mortal bodies make up this structure, but what if something happened and we couldn?t find you??

?All right, all right. It?s not like anythin?s happenin? anyway while Captain Hooter is sleepin?, but I was comin? out anyway.?

Presently the ferretmaid wriggled her way through an opening in the bottom of the tower. She was now wearing Gashrock?s coat, and if such a thing were possible Poko?s actions would have dirtied it even further. As she walked over to join the other two, Istvan noticed that she was still favoring her good leg.

?Is your toe still paining you? Have you asked Nyika to look at it??

??M fine. Nyika didn?t help when Risk got hurt, I don?t see why she?s got it into her head that she?s some kinda healer now.?

?She has medical supplies to use now. Don?t let it get infected like Noonahootin did. We don?t need two beasts collapsing on us out here,? said Zevka.

?I would like to converse with her anyway regarding these towers. Her abilities may be able to provide insights beyond our scope of understanding.?

Poko grumbled a bit about ?stupid crazy faking cat,? but limped along with the other two when they walked back over to Noonahootin?s resting place. Then the ferret crept up to the owl and began jabbing him with her claw.

?Don?t do that again or I?ll let him eat you when he wakes up,? warned the seer. Then she turned to the otter and marten. ?Why did you bring her over here??

?Her toe is still hurting her,? said Zevka.

?Would you show me?? Nyika asked.

Poko stuck out both her tongue and her foot, and the cat unwrapped the now-brown cloth that concealed her wound. To her credit, she did not wince once the mess inside was revealed. "Have you been caring for this? It doesn't look as though it's been cleaned. If this gets infected you might need a new paw."

"I haven't had any time to keep it clean! We've been runnin' or walkin' somewhere for two days straight. And every time we stop, somebeast is assigning me somethin' to do like gather deadwood or boil nettles or melt snow for water...or else they're trying to stab me,"  she looked pointedly at Istvan, "Or insult my parents..." Nyika shut her eyes and winced, then blew out a breath of exasperation.

?We get it,? sighed Zevka. ?Just try to take care of it in the future.?

?The All-Mother knows we have enough problems without adding amputation to the mix. You do not have any sins drastic enough to require that much blood,? agreed Istvan. ?While we are here, Divine Voice of Spirits, I was wondering if your gifts could tell us anything about these strange pillars.?

Nyika glared at him. ?How many times do I have to tell you, stop calling me things like that! I am not some holy beast for you to bow and scrape to.?

?I apologize... Nyika.?

?Thank you,? she replied.  ?The bones are mostly stoat, with a few others mixed in. They don?t really have any haunts, which tells me that they must be pretty old for all of them to have vanished. But there is a feeling of... fear, I guess? But it?s something more. Whoever built these did it to warn about something, and it must have been pretty bad to scare off the moles. And I don?t think the moles built them, otherwise they would have kept repairing them.?

?So, there is something in the interior of this area that is so terrible that even that barbarous group of savages fear it? Then it seems that our only choice is to head towards it.? All four beasts jumped at the sound of Greenfleck?s voice, which emitted from a lump beside Noonahootin that Istvan had originally taken for a rock.

?Are ye crazy? We?re tyin? tae make et te Carrigul in one piece. We?ve lost two beasts tae the moles already, and yae want tae go intae something that?s even worse?,? cut in Vanessa, who thankfully did not appear to have found anything to drink among the supplies. Or if she had, she had at least not chosen to imbibe it.

Zevka folded her arms. ?Do you know of any other way to get towards Carrigul? Or out of this place at all? Judging by the size of that tunnel system, every other part of this valley is mole territory. We don?t stand a chance of sneaking by them.?

?We might not find anything,? added Nyika. ?These bone towers are all very old. Whoever made them could be long gone, and it?s only their memory which keeps the moles away.?

?In which case we should probably get moving. Memory cannot hold them back forever,? said the toad.

?But what about Noonahootin? We can?t move him in his condition.?

?I volunteer to stay behind with the Captain until he wakes. I will offer sacrifice to the Mother to ensure our protection.?

?As ye keep remindin? me, Ah?m the Guardsbeast here, an? yer the Corporal. Yeh should go on ahead, an? Ah?ll protect the Captain.?

?You cannot be serious, Guar- Vanessa. As your superior, I will not allow you to throw your life away in such a way.?

She threw up her paws. ?An? what makes aet better if ye are the one to die? Are ye tryin? tae stahp me from provin? that Ah can be useful??

?My intention is exactly the opposite,? shot back the tattooed otter. ?I am a priest of the All-Mother, and my death shall fulfill my ultimate vocation. You are Captain Fern?s daughter, and you cannot carry on his legacy by dying alone miles away from Yew!?

Vanessa stared back at him, for once without a retort. Thankfully, Zevka?s voice broke the silence. ?Stop this idiocy, you two. We?re not leaving anybeast behind. And Istvan, stop slicing yourself up for your invisible friend. We need you healthy.?

?Why can?t we just wake up Cap?n Nooner?? asked Poko.

Nyika opened her mouth to reply, but a weak hoot cut her off. ?That... won?t be necessary.?

The owl?s eyelids fluttered open, and he attempted to stand. The two otters rushed over to help him upright, but he waved them off. His legs did not agree, however, and Vanessa had to support Noonahootin when he tipped over.

?Ahem... As I was saying, you... don?t need to worry about leaving anybeast behind. I am coming with you.?

?Are you sure?? Nyika frowned. ?I?ve seen dead beasts in better shape.?

?If he says he?s fine, he?s fine,? said Greenfleck, who had grabbed one of the bags of supplies and was already heading further into the cursed area.

Istvan sighed. ?It appears we have no other choice. Vanessa, assist the Captain in his walking.?

The otter jill?s answer was muffled through the mass of feathers that currently enveloped her face, but it did not sound like dissent. Istvan grabbed Gashrock?s sewing kit and the remaining pack, and set off after the toad across the desolate landscape. The others fell into line behind him, with Vanessa and her feathery burden bringing up the rear.

?Do you sense anything?? he asked Nyika, once they had walked for what felt like miles. The otter felt unseasonably warm, and he was even beginning to sweat.

?My abilities are not a map, Istvan,? replied the wildcat, whose tail was doing an impressive impersonation of a bottlebrush. ?All I can say is that bad feeling that I felt earlier is definitely getting stronger. There is something horribly... wrong about this place.?

?Ain?t that the truth,? muttered Poko.

?Hey, everybeast? You might want to look up,? called Zevka suddenly.

Seven pairs of eyes raised in the direction of the sky. What met their gaze was not the familiar rugged pattern of mountains in the distance, but something far more regularly shaped.

?By the Mother... it?s a building.?

Vanessa craned her neck up to gaze at the imposing structure. "Jings! Wot a sight.  Doesnae look tae cheery does et?

?Do ya think they?ll have warm food and beds?? asked Poko.

The wildcat shivered, not from the cold. ?Their hobby seems to be erecting pillars out of others? bodies. I think it would be better if they were absent.?

?Truly spoken, but we have no choice but to see just what kind of hospitality these structures will offer. I recommend that everybeast who has a weapon draw it now,? said Greenfleck.

Istvan pulled his dagger from its sheath, and he heard a soft rasp as Zevka followed suit with her saber. Vanessa shrugged off Noonahootin and put up her fists, Greenfleck gripped his knife, and even Nyika held up Risk?s dagger like a talisman.

The All-Mother had other plans for them, however. The otter heard an almighty roar and the ground heaved beneath his paws, throwing up a spray of scalding vapor. Before his vision filled with dirt, the otter saw Greenfleck?s face contort into an expression of utter terror as the toad disappeared down a gaping hole that suddenly appeared underneath him.

And Istvan knew, as the Mother vented her fury around them, that the time of judgment had finally come.