Romsca's Story about Leatho Shellhound (name will change soon)

[Romsca]

Please just read this. Please post all your comments here.

Unfortunately, I only have the prologue and chapter one so far. More will be coming soon!

[Romsca]

Prologue

   Leatho Shellhound the otter was out for his usual patrols of Green Isle. He leaned on the oar he carried as a weapon and sighed. Although he enjoyed peace, he found it was hard getting used to. He scanned the horizon for anything out of the ordinary. Nothing. He rubbed his eyes, yawned, and started back for his holt.
   Somewhere on his way back, Leatho thought he heard something rustling in the plants behind him. Probably just a bird. Anyway, he would check, just to make sure. He gripped his oar tightly and spun around in the direction he thought he had heard the noise. Even after looking for a while, he didn't see anything. He shook his head and mentally scolded himself for jumping at shadows and birds in the bushes. He quickened his pace, eager to get back to the holt for Deedero's hotroot soup or shrimp stew. After all, everything was peaceful, right? There was nothing to worry about. The cats were all driven off the island, and the otters had their High Queen Rhulain with them. Everything seemed as normal as it had ever been.
   Meanwhile, deep in the forest, something lurked. Something sinister. An otter had come through its lair earlier, and it had tried to get away. The mysterious animal feared the otter had noticed it. It returned to its lair, and set up a trap for the next creature unaware of how close it was to death. And it laughed.


Chapter One

   Leatho Shellhound got back to his holt a little while before sundown. He took a big bowl of hotroot soup and sat down near his friend, Big Kolun Galedeep. Leatho sighed, and blew the steam off of his soup. He turned and faced Kolun. "Kolun," he began, "do ye think we're in any danger? Maybe I'm just imagining things, but I swear I heard something in the bushes."
   Between gulps of Gullyplug Punch, Kolun answered, "Leatho, yer too old fer that! That's stuff's fer babes to be afeared of! Not a big ole otter outlaw like you! It was just a bird, or per'aps the wind."
   Leatho scratched his head and began eating. "Well...sometimes I just don't know, Kolun. Maybe it's just me, but I thought I definitely felt an evil presence out there."
   "Leatho, we haven't had to worry about cats or anything for at least five seasons now. Yer probably just bored. Or maybe you just need rest. I'll take yer next shift, if ye want."
   Leatho eyed him squarely. "Kolun, thank ye friend. Just take a good, stout weapon with ye. Even when there were cats, it never got that quiet. Something's just not right!"
   Kolun sat back and raised his eyebrows. "if ye say so, Leatho, if ye say so. I just think you want an adventure. Oh well, my Deedero probably wants me to help scrub the dishes tonight. Got to get goin', or I'll hear later fer sure." He got up, leaving Leatho alone with his hotroot soup and his thoughts.
   Leatho couldn't sleep. He knew they had their High Queen Rhulain, so he tried to convince himself they were safe. Despite all his efforts, he just couldn't. And right before something really important, too! He was getting married in two weeks to Tiria Wildlough, the High Queen Rhulain. Something bad really couldn't happen so close to such an important day! Even if something happened, everything would be alright, just as it had been before. These thoughts and many others kept Leatho awake for a long time. Eventually, he fell into a fitful sleep.
   When Leatho awoke, he did not feel refreshed. He only felt worn out. He started to get up, but fell back onto his bed as he remembered his dream. It had been a while since he had had such a horribly realistic and frightening dream.
   In his dream, he was swimming around the green isle for no particular reason, other than the fact that otters love to swim. He swam to the island, and shook the water out of his fur. The first thing he noticed was how thoroughly silent it was, reminding him of that place in the woods. No seagulls, nor any young otters splashing in the water. The only sound that could be heard was the waves on the beach, but that soon faded away too. The silence didn't change as he got closer. If anything, it only got heavier. In his dream, he had a wondrous sword. He pulled it out of its scabbard as slowly as he could, not wanting to make any noise. He could hear his own heart beating rather loudly. As he got close to the entrance of his holt, he could smell blood. He heard the same sound behind him that he had heard in the forest. He turned around, and was face to face with something that froze his blood. That was when he had woken up.
   Half asleep, he shuffled down the hall to find something to eat that would wake him up, even though he didn't feel like eating. He almost tripped over Tiria.
   "Hey, Leatho!" she said, waving to him. "Good morning!"
   Leatho pulled his nightcap over his eyes and pushed past her, grumbling something about not being awake yet and getting something to eat or drink. At least Kolun's wife, Deedero, made pretty good coffee.
   He got some coffee, and sat down at a table in the kitchen, hoping the coffee would wake him up. Soon afterwards, Kolun came in.    "Ahoy there, Shellhound!" he said, patting Leatho on his back so hard he almost spilled his coffee.
   Leatho glared at him.
       "Still worried about me, are yer, Leatho?" Kolun asked.
   Leatho looked him right in the eye. "I'm not just worried about you, Kolun. I'm worried about all of the otters here! Can I come with you to see wot's goin' on?"
   Kolun shook his head, and tried to stifle a laugh. "Leatho, I'll be fine. You'll just be jumping at everything you hear, practically."
   Leatho sighed. There was no persuading Kolun when he had his mind made up.
   Later that afternoon, Kolun left to do Leatho's job of patrolling the island. Leatho should have enjoyed his break from working, but he just couldn't. Not with one of their best warriors gone from their holt, and certainly not with that unknown threat that still felt very real and imminent. He was extremely restless, so he decided to swim in the ocean for a while to get rid of some of his nervous energy. Out of curiosity, he decided to swim closer to that spot where he had heard something mysterious the day before. Shortly after he swam there, he heard a piercing scream.

[Romsca]

Chapter Two

Five Seasons Earlier

   Hinso watched in horror as a mad hare tore his weapon from his paws and threw it on the ground. Shortly afterwards, the hare grabbed Pitru, the leader of their small army, and the two of them fell over the cliff, sliding down the slope towards the lake. Motivated by the loyalty they had in their leader, the cats, including Hinso himself, scrambled down after them. They all fell in the lake. All except one, Hinso. He found a small cave on the way down, and was able to hide in it. What he saw next was unlike anything he had ever set eyes on before. A giant dark green reptile reared its head out of the water and began shredding all the cats it could see with its awful teeth. Not one cat who had fallen in the lake survived. Finally, it was killed by the hare.
   Hinso hid in the cave, waiting for the otters to leave. Once they left, he went out of the cave. For every meter he climbed, he seemed to slide back two. Eventually, bruised and scraped, he was able to painfully drag himself over the edge of the cliff. He wiped his filthy paws on his tunic, cursing the otters, the hares, and the ignorance and audacity of their leader, Pitru. Pitru was dead, so he couldn't be avenged. Neither could the hares; he knew they were from overseas, and would likely leave soon, before he could think of a good plan. But the otters could be avenged. They certainly could. He only needed the resources and enough beasts on his side. Being a cat, he had sharper vision than most of the otters. He could spot a corsair vessel from far away and signal them before the otters even suspected a thing.



   It had now been five seasons and no sign of a corsair vessel. Hinso had been hiding in the woods, planning revenge, ever since. He occasionally moved his lair around the island to get different views of the ocean. He was usually quiet enough to hide from the otters, but never quiet enough to hide from the birds. The birds were always quiet around him, and he hated that. It would blow his cover sooner or later because it was highly unusual for there to be a spot on the island without birds chirping. The previous day, an otter had unknowingly walked right through his lair, and he had barely enough time to get away. The cat had been paranoid that the otters would find him, so he had set up a trap. The trap which later caught Kolun Galedeep earlier that day.
   Kolun was caught in a trap designed by vermin to catch larger creatures like badgers. His paw was probably sliced clean to the bone. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he tried to ignore the victorious shrieks of the feral cat. What was a feral cat doing here? The entire holt and many Long Patrol hares had made sure there were none after they had fought them. He tried to stay conscious but the pain was too intense.
       Hinso contemplated what he should do with his prisoner. It wasn't the otter who had crashed through his lair earlier, but then again it might provide useful information on the location of the others. It wasn't going anywhere, that was certain. Hinso strolled on down to the nearby beach, his eyes scanning the horizon for any sign of a corsair vessel. He sighed deeply and shook his head. How long had he been doing this? Five seasons? At this point, he wasn't ever going to get the revenge he had hoped for. He sighed a second time, and reluctantly tore his eyes off the horizon. He glanced back for the last time, not expecting to see anything. This time though, he thought he saw a dark spot on the horizon. He blinked. Was that a sail? Whatever it was, it was coming closer. It had to be a sail! Hinso allowed himself a laugh. He would light a signal fire on the far side of the island, and the corsairs would be here by nightfall. And by dawn, the otters would all be slain. Revenge would be complete!
   Hinso started making the signal fire right away. He found an area of the island far enough away from the general area he suspected the otters were so they couldn't come immediately and put it out. He gathered all of the dead sticks he could and piled them in a heap on top of a large, flat rock. He wondered for a little while how he would start a fire, but then he remembered that his prisoner probably had some flint with him. Sure enough, he did, so Hinso used it to start the fire. The corsairs would be there soon, and Hinso knew it was just a matter of time before the sea and the inland lakes ran red with the blood of the otters.

[Shadowed One]

Wow, this is really good! One thing though, Hinso was a Feral Cat.

[Romsca]

Oh, whoops I'll fix that.

Chapter Three should be up sometime soon!

[Shadowed One]

Great!

[cluneythescourge]

sweet!  If Tiria dies though.... that would be TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[Brinty]

Great book! Only thing I noticed was that their is no coffee in any of the original books. Cant wait for more!