Chapter 15

  The following day, the Captain and his ragtag band of injured recruits set off towards Shallow Rock. The fact that the recruits were still more than willing and able to put their lives on the line despite the Feral ambush was nothing short of amazing to Graham. He could only wish to embody that same ideal of duty and meaning one day. He had always wanted to join the Alliance, but he did not yet know if he wanted to die for it. He looked at the Alliance seal in his paw. A red maple leaf carved into a flat grey stone. The stone looked very plain but was obviously very carefully polished and taken care of despite its normalcy. He felt a surge of pride at the sight. His chest puffed up a bit as he considered that he was actually in the Alliance now. Albeit a tad unconventionally initiated.

  The trio were once again dragging along the two unconscious groupmates on their way back to Evertree. It would be a couple of days' travel back to the city since they were not part of a caravan any longer. Moving as one giant unit slowed down their progress significantly but now they could afford to move a bit faster, taking fewer breaks and resting less. Graham was able to scavenge a cart from the Captain and they were taking turns pushing the cart carrying Cruz and Fleur.

  “Gods. Isn’t Spring supposed to be comfortable? What’s with this sun?” Benny groaned as he pushed the cart. The sun had been beating down on them for hours since it rose, with no clouds in the sky to protect them from its harsh rays.

  “Well you know, in the Sunfields, this is actually the best time of year for planting new crops. We call this the Evershine period. Because the sun is always shining and it's super sunny out all the time.”

  “Remind me to never visit your home, Graham. You guys sound way too about heatstroke.”

  “Oh, absolutely. We grew up in the heat so I guess we’re used to it. Right, Hould?”

  “I don’t know why you’re talking to me like we’re friends all of a sudden, Northtail. We’re not friends.”

  “I mean, we had a good moment back there in the forest, huh? How many near death experiences is it gonna take for you to not hate me?”

  “At least one more.”

  Graham rolled his eyes. Always something with this Mouse.

  __

  Coming up on Evertree was a true sight for sore eyes. For the first time since the ambush, Graham could feel an element of safety and security well up inside of him, and he was sure that the others felt it too, as he saw them visibly relax as they approached. Neither Fleur nor Cruz had woken up since they fell unconscious, despite being out for nearly three full days now. The mid afternoon sun painted the city in a red glow, reminding them that they would need to hurry and find a place to sleep for the night after securing Fleur and Cruz at the Alliance office in the city.

  The Guards gave their small group no trouble once they had shown their seals, and were even more than happy to direct them to the Alliance offices, which were at the center of town near where they had originally met to depart for the Fort. Benny for once, walked with his head proudly in the air, the authority that the seal gave him clearly filling his head with hot air already.

  “You two go on ahead. There’s something that I need to take care of in the city before we head for Shallow Rock. I’ll meet you guys at the Alliance building tomorrow at midday and we can go from there. Ok?”

  “Sure…” Graham said quietly as Benny had already taken off after finishing talking. Graham looked over at Hould who shrugged but said nothing and the two continued moving the cart towards the center of the city where their destination was.

  Following the Guard’s directions, they arrived at a large multi-story white stone building that seemed to be in some sort of weird multi-towered building of extraordinary craftsmanship. It looked as if a fortress was shrunken down to the size of a normal government building, complete with ramparts and guard towers that did not seem to serve any actual function other than to display some sort of military authority over the surrounding buildings.

  Hould elected to stay outside with the cart to watch over the two unconscious critters, so Graham was left with the task of explaining the situation without making himself look like a total idiot and Alliance newcomer. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. If you just act like you know what you’re doing, you’ll look more natural.

  Opening the heavy wooden door that served as the building’s entrance, Graham’s facade of confidence was immediately shattered at the image of the inside of the building. The building was in fact completely hollow, to the point where natural sunlight filtered in from the tops of the towers he noted outside, funneling down onto extensive gardens that adorned the inside of the building. A large wooden desk adorned the center of the room on the far side of the door, surrounded on either side by a stone path that lazily wound its way through the gardens around it, with a more serious looking path stretching off behind the desk to a set of double doors that Graham could only guess led to actual facilities.

  Walking the three dozen feet from the entrance to the desk, Graham supposed that he couldn’t keep the look of wonder off of his face as the first words to come from the elegantly dressed Rabbit receptionist were: “First time in?”

  Great. Not very becoming of an Alliance Soldier to just be completely out of place in their own buildings. Ok. Recover.

  “Hi, yes. It is my first time at this branch. I’m usually somewhere else.” Graham chuckled casually as he removed the Alliance seal from his bag and presented it to the receptionist.

  “Ah, so you’re a new recruit. Welcome to the Alliance. I am Allaine. I assist with the operation of this facility on behalf of the Alliance.” The Rabbit gave a short bow.

  Graham’s cheeks turned a bit red at the sudden revelation of his status as a new recruit, taking a look at the seal and wondering if there were different ranking stones or something. Expertly reading his thoughts, Allaine answered his internal question.

  “There are several ranks of Alliance Soldiers, that stone represents the lowest and therefore is the most common type of stone. The highest is a precious stone that is only reserved for Commander-level Soldiers in the Alliance. Of which there are only ever three at a time.”

  Graham nodded along with the receptionist’s explanation, trying to act like he understood.

  “Yes, that would make sense that the stone gets rarer as we advance. Ha. Haha.” Graham scratched the side of his head as he thought to change the subject before an idea hit him.

  “Say, you wouldn’t happen to have any tips for advancing through the ranks quickly huh? I’m trying to get a recommendation to the Knight’s Academy here in Evertree.”

  “Sorry. No can do. But I will tell you that you will only receive the Alliance’s endorsement for enrollment in the Knight’s Academy once you reach Amethyst rank. That is the 4th rank is currently held by almost one hundred critters in the Alliance.”

  Graham clicked his tongue in annoyance. That’s pretty stiff competition. He’d just have to find another way to fast track his progress. Maybe that Badger he met knew something. He remembered the invitation extended to him after he fought the Snake. The Badger had said to come to the settlement near Lake Mirewater in order to receive training. I wonder if he was talking about Shallow Rock? That would definitely be something he’d have to address once he made it there.

  Returning his focus to the receptionist. He grew more serious as he finally revealed why it was that he showed up to the Alliance building in the first place, looking as if he hadn’t slept in several days.

  “In truth, I need your help. Our caravan of recruits on the way to Fort Redleaf was attacked. There were very few survivors. We have multiple wounded and two incapacitated group members. The Captain mentioned there were other survivors that were on their way here. Did they make it safely?”

  The receptionist gave a nod with a serious expression.

  “They did. They were lucky. Let me get some assistance out here and we can take care of you and your companions.”

  Allaine bowed and turned and walked quickly to the set of double doors at the far end of the room. Graham turned and breathed a sigh of relief at the situation finally coming to a close. He could only hope that Fleur woke up soon.

  Allaine emerged a short time later with several attendant Rabbits wearing formal tunics emblazoned with the Red Leaf of the Alliance. The unconscious Cruz and Fleur were brought into the compound, disappearing with the attendants behind the large wooden doors. Hould and Graham themselves were fetched later in order to have their wounds tended to.

  __

  After a day of rest, Fleur had still not woken up. Cruz’s condition worsened and he had to be isolated once the nature of the spell he was under was made clear. He had been infected with some kind of hostile spell. A curse of some sort. While the Alliance Healers were hard at work on him, Fleur had been given a recovery room, in which Graham now sat, admiring the blandness of the room he now found himself.

  Funny. This is exactly the opposite of my position the last time. Fleur would probably say that it was an improvement. But not at this cost. He once again looked at the sleeping Rabbit. The Healers said she was stable, but her not waking up was due to how much damage the dagger caused. Graham figured that he’d definitely be dead if it was him that was stabbed. The location of the stab would have put the dagger squarely into his heart, had Fleur not pushed him out of the way.

  His mind went back to the fight with Barbary. He had hesitated, and ended up letting someone else get hurt because of it. He had to fight more decisively. And definitely avoid trading blows. He rubbed the sore spot on his left underarm. That was not in the least bit sustainable. But that Rat used a weird kind of magic that he hadn’t seen or heard of. What was it with these unusual magics? First was the Snake’s own invisibility magic, and now the Rat. What kind of school of magic does that belong to? Everything that Graham had been taught was starting to get a bit muddled as he considered the implications of other schools of magic.

  I guess when intent is the basis of magic, anything is possible? But then, you’d have to practice a lot in order to make sure you’re able to get the Energy mixes right. Then there was the “Eye” Sigil that the Snake used. Graham assumed that Barbary used something similar as the resulting spell was definitely similar if not the same. The only ones Graham were relatively familiar with were the Sigils for Fire, Earth, Water, Air, and Life. There was no mention of an Eye anywhere in the teachings he had received, or even rumors that there was more to it.

  As he understood it, each spell had to have some kind of basis. And that usually corresponded to one of the elemental Sigils. The only exception being Life which, naturally, dealt with the body of a living creature. He supposed for a moment that Death could also be a Sigil, but what would that even look like? A Skull? Everything had an opposite and everything existed in a cycle so he guessed that it made sense that Death would also exist. But where does that leave the Eye?

  Graham was so wrapped up in his thoughts about magic that he didn’t even notice the golden-furred Mouse Healer that had entered the room, checking on Fleur and looking at Graham’s bewildered expression with a hint of amusement.

  “...?”

  “Hmm? I’m sorry. Uh. Did you say something?” Graham snapped out of his trance and blurted suddenly, rapidly blinking.

  The Mouse Healer just chuckled lightly, her laugh light and bubbly.

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  “I asked if you were going to stand there all day or if you were finally going to get the rest you were told to get.” Graham’s heart caught in his throat at the sound of her voice and her smile that lit up the room.

  “I…uh…well…”

  She chuckled softly again. “Well, when you can find your words, your friend is waiting outside to talk to you.” She gestured with her paw towards the door. “And, for your own sake, get some sleep.” She smiled again before saying, “You look ragged, like you’ve been living in the forest for weeks.” She tossed him a wink before exiting the room, leaving Graham dazed and confused.

  Graham had to smack himself with his paw to snap out of the trance he had fallen into. What kind of magic was that? Curious.

  __

  Benny was exhausted. Not only had he been running through the forest with Hould and Graham for days, but he had…ahem…gone a bit overboard with the Feral ambush. It had been a long long time since he had felt that primal rage bubble up. As to be expected. When you had generational trauma and a completely self-consuming rage that threatened to explode at the mere mention of the trigger word “Feral”, you tended to stay away from the subject matter. Just as a general rule-of-thumb.

  He decided to lay on the cold stone floor of his secret hideout instead of his elegant bed until he could muster the strength to go to a bathhouse or something. He was still positively caked with blood, and had been getting strange looks the entire trip to his hideout. He had even had a Guard called on him, whom he had promptly presented his badge to and was on his way without a fuss.

  Benny groaned a bit as he sat up, checking over himself again to see if he had any wounds that he failed to address. Kind of hard to tell when your fur was in as sorry a state as this. His paw felt over a scabbed cut on his shoulder, causing him to pause. He thought back to the unconscious Rabbit they had been carting back to Evertree. Even while asleep, her beautiful fur seemed to shine and luster in the sunlight like spun gold. He sighed to himself, wondering why he was feeling like this. It’s not like he knew her or anything. In fact, she had been almost nothing but spiteful since they met. He almost liked it. Wait! Does that make him…surely not. A question for later pondering, to be sure. But for now, there were baths to be soaked in, and naps to be taken.

  As he gathered himself together, a thud echoed through the sewer tunnel outside of his hideout. Freezing in place, Benny strained his ears, listening for any other sounds. That’s when he heard it. Chattering. It was short, rushed, fearful. Then it was more confident and steady. So at least two of them then. What were they doing here? There was absolutely no reason that anyone would travel to this part of the old sewers beneath Evertree. Unless…his eyes darted over to the pendant that he stole from the Museum. That damned Mouse he worked with must’ve gotten a lead on him. He ran over to the table where he had left it and snatched it up along with his journal. Now he really had to get out of Evertree, and he couldn’t come back this time, no matter how dire the situation was.

  The chattering got closer before the more confident voice shushed the scared one. He heard them softly padding up to the tunnel that would lead to his door and silently prayed that they would bypass him, somehow missing the door, or perhaps leaving once they found it locked. But, as though Fate herself found it humorous to personally cause Benny some measure of strife, they did not miss his door. In fact, they confidently turned and strode down the hallway, meaning Benny’s hideout location had definitely been discovered and leaked. Though, he couldn’t help but wonder why they were not being as sneaky as they should, given that they knew they were walking into enemy territory. Ahhhh the backstabbing traitorous Mouse and his friends must not know that he’s back in Evertree. They think he, as the Birds say, “fled the nest”. Which is technically true, he just came back shortly afterward in an unpredictably–some would also say wildly stupid–turn of events. But “wildly stupid” is the realm Benny walked in. He flirted with idiocy and danced with lunacy, toeing the line between foolhardy and just downright insanity.

  Unfortunately for these–actually, what were they? He listened closely to their steps. Hmm. Boots. So that’s no good. But you can potentially rule out Badgers. They’re notorious for going barefoot. Not that any cobbler wants to take on that challenge. Their claws were the stuff of nightmares. The timid, squeaky voice likely indicates a Mouse or a Rat. The confident one can be anything. But the two strides matched quite closely. Likely both Mousefolk or Rats, then. In that case, it was of very little consequence. Now, as he was thinking, unfortunately for these–he’ll call them Rats–Rats, he was armed and in no mood to entertain visitors. Unless they were a certain Rabbit, then perhaps he could be persuaded. Graham could also stop by if he wanted. He was a swell enough Mouse. Probably not Hould, though.

  The door handle jingled a bit as the two would-be intruders attempted to trespass the old fashioned way: just walking in. A swear came from the other side of the door before the jingling of tools floated through the door and Benny sighed as quietly as he could manage. How would he go about this?

  A minute later, the door to Benny’s hideout creaked open as the lockpicker–Benny guessed this was the more confident one–eased his way inside. The meeker one followed close behind and was halfway through the door when Benny jumped into action. Slamming the door closed to stun the–Benny could now see they were both Rats–timid Rat, the Rat made a loud squeak of surprise as his small body was pressed between the door and the frame, stunning him. Benny grabbed the collar of his dirty tunic and flung him at the other stunned intruder, clearly surprised to see Benny there.

  The two bodies collided in a messy heap. The smaller one coughed and groaned from the impact of the door. The larger one tried to stand, only to be met with Benny’s left boot to the cheek. Following a swift pommel strike to the temple of the larger Rat followed by a hit to the back of the already-injured smaller Rat’s head, he now had two very unconscious, very dirty–and very smelly–and very unwanted visitors laying at his feet.

  Benny wrinkled his nose at the sight. Clearly these two were some of the regular old sewer Rats that lived here in Evertree. A bit disappointing really. Benny secretly hoped for some grand conspiracy, some kind of assassination attempt because he was the secret prince of a faraway kingdom. But no, instead he was just the victim of a petty thievery attempt. Is it still appropriate to call himself a victim in this case? As Benny mused over this question, he noticed the bulging pocket of the confident Rat. Raising an eyebrow, he knelt down to inspect the belongings of the Rat. For a moment, he wondered if the Rat was just happy to see him but quickly cast the thought aside. This was no time for jokes. Oh, who was he kidding. It was always a time for jokes. Maybe not so much in front of Fleur though. He supposed he could try and restrain himself in the future for her sake. “Her sake” meaning that she might kill him if he annoys her too much.

  Taking out what he suspected was a coin purse because of the distinct jingle, Benny also found a note in the same pocket.

  The Mouse’s intel was good. Go to the sewer location on the map he pointed out and retrieve the pendant. Don’t screw this up. Delmar is counting on us. May the Natural Way guide you.

  -K

  Well, well, well. How the plot thickens. Benny smiled to himself. It seemed he would get his grand conspiracy after all. There’s no way that brain-dead Mouse could have come up with this kind of plot. And the Natural Way? Was that some kind of religion? The last time a new religion popped up, it was a bunch of Otters trying to convince everyone to worship this rock they had found. What a bunch of lunatics.

  Either way, he had to figure out what to do with these two. He couldn’t kill them. That wouldn’t feel right. Tying them up and leaving them? That’d be the same as killing them. He tapped his chin in thought. Aha! He knew just what to do.

  __

  A little while later, there were two Rats arrested for public indecency and intoxication. The story goes they had to be dragged out of one of Evertree’s fountains and carried to their jail cells, the stink of alcohol stuck to their fur and clothes. Rumor has it that those dirty Rats got drunk and tried to steal coins that people tossed into the fountain for good luck. Dirty little thieves.

  __

  Graham watched as the Evertree Guards carried away a couple of soaking wet Rats with a confused expression. Hould looked upon the scene with clear approval, nodding as the crowd started dispersing, clearly pleased with the Guards’ responses.

  The two had just been leaving the Alliance Headquarters, discussing whether or not they should wait for news on Cruz and Fleur before departing for Shallow Rock. But a psst from the shadows drew them out of their conversation. Raising an eyebrow to one another, the duo moved closer to the dark alley to find a freshly-washed Benny standing there.

  “Heya, fellas! We’ve gotta chat. Come this way to somewhere a little more…private.”

  “Stop being shady, Benny. I’ll arrest you myself. And you were supposed to meet us at midday. What happened?”

  “Touchy touchy. It was just a bit of fun. But seriously. We need to talk. Something’s happened.”

  Graham and Hould looked at each other with a bit of obvious concern and curiosity before following Benny down the alleyway. Benny led them through a couple of twists and turns, some of them doubling back on each other or following a loop before sliding open a metal door and ushering the two of them inside. Graham found himself staring down a steep staircase barely illuminated by the sunlight coming in through the door Benny held open.

  “Unless you know a fire spell or can see in the dark, you might want to start going downstairs. There’ll be some torches at the bottom, so until you get down there, try not to trip.”

  A moment later Benny shut the door, with Graham and Hould already starting to make their way downstairs. Just using his feet and his best guess, Graham was able to make his way down the stairs, nearly falling onto the ground whenever he reached the bottom floor. A moment later, the large frame of Hould found the bottom and nearly pushed Graham to the ground.

  “Benny, why in Villia’s name are we down here?”

  A couple of clicks and sparks suddenly rang out from behind them as a torch came to life. Benny handed off the torch to Graham and gestured for him to keep walking.

  “You’ll have to trust me. But we’re being followed. So I’m giving a little bit of…extra precaution.”

  “What did you say? By who? When? Where?” Hould’s rapid-fire questions bounced off of Benny as he just stood there and waited for Graham to take the lead.

  “Later. Now let's move on. We probably don’t have a lot of time.”

  Graham started walking with the torch down the damp, dark stone passageway. They were beneath the city for sure, but he had no idea where. Dripping water could be heard echoing down the hall, and the trio came to a crossroads, where Benny indicated that they turn left. Continuing down the passageways, making all sorts of twists and turns, they finally arrived at a large wooden door with metal brackets and hinges. It had definitely seen better days as the damp air had rotted the door past whatever may be considered wood.

  With a stiff creak, the door opened to another stone hallway, this one lined with rectangular indents in the walls, with periodic curved archways separating several different rooms. Wooden boxes filled the indents in the walls, with some having disintegrated over time, leaving only dust. Graham did catch sight of something long and white sitting in one of the indents, but he couldn’t quite make out what it was.

  “Ok, Ringtail. Spill it. Why did you drag us down here?”

  “Shh. Hang on.” Benny returned his attention to the hallway they had come from. Down in the distance, a small orange light appeared, before disappearing down one of the other directions at the nearest crossroads.

  “Ok. He should be lost for a bit. So, like I said, we’re being followed. Who? I have an idea. Why? I also have an idea. It’s just how that I can’t figure out. Any ideas?” Benny looked at the two expectantly.

  “You seem to have left out quite a few details, Benny. Can you start with who is following us? We can workout the rest after.”

  “Right. May have skipped a step. Well I don’t know exactly who it is, but I can tell you it likely has to do with this.” Benny held up the note that he took off of the Rat intruder. He went on to explain the two Rats that broke in to his place and tried to find him, before he dispatched them and left them in the fountain.

  “What’s this pendant they’re talking about?”

  “It’s…none of your business. It’s a family heirloom.”

  “Oh, really? They’re hunting you down for a family heirloom?”

  “Well…yea.”

  “And how do we fit into this?” Graham chimed in.

  “Because we’re all in this together! Right?”

  Hould scoffed before turning back towards the door. “I’m out of here. This isn’t my problem. I’m not making myself a target because of you.”

  “It’s…kinda too late for that.” Benny rubbed the back of his neck with one paw. “Them seeing you guys with me earlier has kind of put a target on your backs too most likely.”

  “You slimy little…ugh. Gods damn it!”

  “Oh, don’t be so dramatic. You’re telling me that you’re not the least bit curious about this whole ‘Natural Way’ thing?”

  Hould clenched his fists but didn’t refute the claim.

  Benny’s ear twitched.

  “I think we’re about to have company.”

  Benny slunk over to the door, opening it to allow just a glimpse of the hallway on the other side. Sure enough, two orange lights had appeared in the hallway and were approaching their location. He closed the door again and nodded to Graham and Hould, holding up two fingers to indicate their number. Graham and Hould both nodded before they drew their weapons silently and moved further into the catacombs, rounding corners to hide from the incoming light. The torch they had been carrying was discarded onto the ground in the center of the catacombs, which were made up of a nest of interconnected tunnels in a grid-like pattern.

  Graham hid himself in a nearby section, placing a section of the loculi in between himself and the door. He could faintly see the orange glow dancing on the walls from the torch they had discarded that still burned despite laying in a puddle of water. Hould took his position at the far back of the catacombs, in clear sight of the torch but just outside of its light. Benny chose something a little more…Benny. He slid himself into one of the loculi right next to the door to the catacombs, trying to keep himself from laughing at what a brilliant plan he had concocted. He couldn’t believe how much fun he was getting to have today.