Ratty Driftwood

[shisteer of nothing much]

  The work of kindling a fire had largely put out the residue flames from his angry encounter with Belladonna and Mharbrow was left with a somewhat guilty feeling. He respected the vixen. She was a good healer and an excellent navigator, in addition to being a competent crewbeast and his oldest ally. It wasn't often that the two foxes snapped at each other like that.
  Rising to his footpaws, the captain glanced around, looking for any beast who didn't appear to be doing anything and not finding one. They had all seen his encounter with the vixen and decided it was best to stay out of his way.
  Sighing, the painted fox approached the graves, picking out the rat who had volunteered to help with foraging and gesturing for Tormbo to bring him over. Dyemhar gave Keelteeth's navigator a brief inspection, then nodded and gestured towards the fire.
  "Let's have a chat."

[Faclan]

Huffing a little as he kept digging away the navigator in question was clearly not cut out for overly physical labor. Not because of was horribly overweight or anything but his small stature and often more delicate focused job just meant he didnt have much practice or know-how to work smarter. So instead he had to work harder and was starting to flag behind the larger grave diggers. His sweat matted face looking up just in time to see the Captain point at him before Tormbo waddled on over. The shovel being gripped tighter as Tul couldn't stop an epp coming out of him. Thinking his time was up!

Before it was revealed that the Captain wanted to see him. Which dropped his fear and stress from about a nine to a eight. See him could mean gut him and roast him over the fire. Especially after he was directed TOO the fire. But he tried to hold in his fear as he set the shovel down and moved over. Though both Tormbo and the Cap'n could tell he was terrified as he looked at the ground in front of the fox and waiting to be addressed. Tormbo standing around for translation purposes when the need arose.

[shisteer of nothing much]

  The poor rat was petrified, that much was clear. Mharbrow considered putting his fears at rest but decided to have a little fun first. Taking his dagger from its sheath, he began to sharpen it casually, watching the navigator in silence for a while. He was very small and obviously quite timid, likely willing to switch sides at the drop of a hat, which could be a good thing or a bad thing. He also had a fair amount of competence at planning, since he'd escaped and managed to avoid Sliteye for quite a while.
  Deciding to start the conversation, the fox looked up from his work, still moving the dagger over the whetstone steadily.
  "So, you're the troublemaker who tried to escape, is that right?"
  Dyemhar allowed a smile to flicker across his face at his gruff question, since the rat wasn't looking his way. He wanted to see how far the rat would go before he started pleading for his life. Hopefully he would hold out for a while. The captain despised cowards.

[Sebias of Redwall]

As Robert jabbed furiously at the tree again, his blade twisted suddenly, causing the young squirrel's paw to smash into the bark. "Yeowch!" Robert dropped his knife and hopped around in a pained dance, blowing furiously on his paw. "Ow, ow, ow!"

A while later, it stopped throbbing and the squirrel began to pick up his things again. His ear suddenly twitched. "Hmm, what's that?" he mumbled aloud, looking around. It almost sounded like... voices? But what would creatures be doing this far in the woods? The nearest village was a good ways off.

Snatching up his bag and knife, he shot up the side of the tree and whisked along a branch, following the faint sounds of the noises.

[Shy-Guy]

"Aye, Silver, quiet-" Greeneye held his paw up. "I think I hear some beast nearby."

"Oh, uh, maybe they're friendly?" Silvertongue looked over.

"I doubt it." Greeneye unsheated his cutlass. "Let's be careful about this."

The two of them trailed aong towards the voices, Silvertngue shoving his lute into his bag and pulling out a sabre.

[Faclan]

The rasping of a blade against a whetstone did nothing at all to calm the navigator down as his ears started to twitch and flick around. Foot and hand paws flexing and closing as he tried to keep himself from trying to make a run for it. If he was to die then it would have happened already. And torture wouldn't likely take place near the hare as he would be against that...right? Finally clasping his handpaws over his lap to try and stop himself fidgeting just as the fox spoke up.

A half groan half sigh coming from the rat as he nodded before looking up. "Y...ye Cap'n t'was me." Hands still clasped ready for begging when the time came for it. "E...et'...uhh...," there had to be some way to explain this better. He honestly had thought the time he would be needled for this had passed so he had pushed it from his mind? Why now? What did the Captain want? Taking a breath Tul did his best to meet the Captains gaze. "'A'h th'nk t'was sum'hn'g ta' wo'ld 'ave d'un, eh?"

Tormbo shrugging at Tul. "He thinks its something you would have done in the same situation Captain. Trying to justify himself probably."

[shisteer of nothing much]

  Mharbrow considered the words for a moment, nodding slowly and sheathing his dagger, then removing a sabre from his belt and beginning on that.
  "Aye, you are correct, up to a certain point. In such a situation, I wouldn't have simply run off, I would have taken whatever I used to get free and slain my captors with it. You, however, should be glad you didn't do that, because then I'd be forced to kill you. As it stands, you can keep your life, but it will be nothing short if miserable."
  The fox stopped here, waiting to see what his captive's reaction would be. A navigator could be useful while Belladonna was out if action, but anybeast working for the captain needed to fight. For such a small, timid beast, learning the skills required would most likely be a nightmare.

[Sebias of Redwall]

Robert's jaw dropped open as he caught sight of the vermin crew below him. He could see beasts digging - what appeared to be - graves on the right side of the camp. Sliding forward along a branch, the squirrel inched closer, studying the rest of the crew's activity.

What are corsairs doing this far inland? Wonder if they're just passing through, or if they plan on carving out an empire of something.

Robert peeked down toward the fire, where three beasts were talking. From the little that he could pick up, one of the foxes appeared to be the captain. Perhaps if Robert could get a little bit closer, he could hear more of what they were saying...

[Faclan]

Ears up! The Captain was agreeing with him! Before they lowered down to a more normal level as he further explained that it wasn't fully what he would do. The smaller rat holding up his paws to show their relative softness in comparison to the rope haulers and battlers of the crews. "Sa'rah Sah'. M'dde 'ta ma's, na'h 'ta s'eb's."

"He made and likely worked on the maps Cap'n, not the stabbing. So trying to sneakily end some of our crew was likely not in his skill set."

He frowned when he was told it would be miserable anyway but he kept himself looking at the captain and not deflating fully."We'll...'tis u'er cr'w Cap'n. Ba' tr'i 'ta 'elp c'a'us y'ew wen."

"Seems to accept it Captain Mharbrow, since you won. At least hes not begging eh?"

[shisteer of nothing much]

  Mharbrow ran a paw lightly over the blade, pleased that it left a straight trail of blood. Letting a smile reveal his fangs, the fox captain flicked the sword up and caught it by the tip, holding the razor sharp sabre out, hilt first, to the rat.
  "Well then, welcome to the crew. As you can see, I already have a navigator, but I can always do with an extra set of paws, so you're going to learn to fight. For now I'll assess you myself, then pair you up with somebeast to teach you at your level. En garde."
  While he had been talking, the captain had moved away from the fire. Now he drew his other sabre and stood almost side on, knees bent and relaxed,  left paw behind back, sword pointing up, tail swishing steadily, waiting for his opponent to take his place.

[Sebias of Redwall]

Twitching his ears, Robert leaned his head down slightly. The tree he was perched in was directly above the three beasts. One of them had drawn their sword, causing the squirrel's eyes to widen.

A fight? This could prove to be interesting. Robert began to crawl along the branch, trying to get even closer. He froze as the wood began to creak underneath him. Bad idea! Bad idea! Mumbling under his breath, he tried to go back. Unfortunately, as he did so, his footpaw suddenly slipped and the squirrel let out a terrified squeak before plummeting down to the ground.

[shisteer of nothing much]

  Dyemhar jumped back, quickly pointing his sabre earthward as a beast fell from the overhanging trees. A second later and the... squirrel would have been impaled on his blade. As it stood, he likely had several bruises, if he was lucky. Swapping sabre for dagger, the captain took a pawful of the treejumper's shirt and dragged him upright, glaring menacingly as he did a quick check to make sure the beast wasn't too badly injured. He didn't appear to be.
  "Well, well, well, what have we here? A young spy, is it?"

[Sebias of Redwall]

Robert shook his head a few times. The fall had dazed him somewhat.

"W-what?" he stammered, registering the vermin's words. "Me, a spy? N-n-no, sir!"

[shisteer of nothing much]

  Mharbrow shook his head, taking a length of light rope from his belt and binding the squirrel's paws together.
  "That's what they all say. Regardless, you'll be staying for tea. Name?"

[Sebias of Redwall]

Robert wiggled his paws a bit, seeing how tight his bonds were. He cursed inwardly. Bloody corsairs and their knots. He looked up at Mharbrow. "W-what's your name first?" Old Tom had always said to never give an inch to vermin - the very act would only encourage them.