The Price of Freedom

[Faiyloe]

Valadash spoke in a quiet silky voice "Yes, have you heard? The Outlaws have raided our supply wagons. Now tell me. How did they Manage to outwit  a score of armed solders and get away unscathed?!" These last words had gone from a whisper to a shout. "I want their heads!" Valadash said pounding her fist on the table disturbing the plate of candied fruit. " Wait I have a better idea. Take your best trackers into the woods and find them. Find their camp but don't let them see you and don't attack instead come back and report to me." Valadash leaned back again and waved her paw "You may go," 

[Tiny Jackalope]

OOC: I will be gone for the next two weeks. Does anyone want to take over my character for me while I'm gone?

[Dag Downyfur]

Remus, a slave squirrel, was sleeping. He rested in the time he had, for he knew there was always much more hard work to come.

[The Shade]

Fireflash had been wandering through the treetop fro some time, when he heard the noise again. More clearly. he adjisted his robe-like garmit and carryed on. Now he could see them. Some vermin, dragging some goodbeasts along it a net. He wondered what he should do; Attack, or get back to the camp, and bring the others. For one of the first times in his life he was struck with indecsion.

[Dannflower Reguba]

OOC: That already happened, granted, they shouldn't have been able to just waltz right back with no opposition (a form of PP), but they did, and we can't exactly change that now.

[Redwaller]

Bhorlag Crosseye,
Mossflower Woods,
Day one,
Afternoon.

   Bhorlag Crosseye watched contemptuously as the vixen who worked as Valadash's seer walk across one of the windows. A mutual hate reigned over them, and both strived to take advantage of the other, not missing an occasion to bring the other down in front of the war lady. He turned around and continued on his way to his office, where he kept a collection of whips: Whips studded with metal, whips with sharp ends, whips with large ends, and many more whips. He sat down at his desk, and pored over some documents, listing the slaves' names, species, genders, date of capture, age, and a little description of how he captured them. Taking a quill, he dipped it in his inkwell ornate with two whips crossing each other, his personal signature. He wrote in the species and genders of the slaves, along with the date and description; the rest would have to wait for the slaves to come around. Sitting back and putting his footpaws on the desk, he closed his eyes and fell in a light slumber.

Dalvo,
Mossflower Woods,
Day one,
Afternoon.

   The fieldmouse had blacked out when the net she was in was bumped against a tree by the rats. Blacking out was not as she thought it would be: cold, black darkness, with nothing there except your captive imagination. The weirdest of nightmares crowd your mind, and you cannot do anything against it. And when light comes back, pain fills everything; that was what she felt as she woke up, finding herself face to face with an otter. Lashing out with her footpaws, she hit him in the stomach, doubling him over.
Gasping for breath, he wheezed.
"Why'd you do that? You stoopid rip! I was trying to help you! Can't you see you're injured?"
Dalvo tried to get up, but quickly dropped back down, as a searing pain flashed through her left arm.
"One of those rats injured you, maybe when they grabbed you up."
Looking down, she saw three clawmarks on her forearm, deep and painful. She suddenly felt weak, and her surroundings started to get black, sounds starting to get far. And she blacked out.

[Faiyloe]

Tina Went over to where Dalvo lay being tended to by an otter. "Is she ok?" she said her voice laced with worry. She had never seen Dalvo like this. "Yes she'll be fine in a bit. Could you watch her while I go get some water?" he said. "Sure," she said sitting down next to Dalvo. "By the way my name's Tina," the otter looked back and said "My name is Denrif, nice to meet you under the circumstances,"

After Denrif had left Tina looked back down at Dalvo she tried to make a kind of pillow with her cloak and propped her head up with it.


Valadash paced her room. Where was that vixen she was late. She had been acting strange lately. Like she was hiding something. It could be nothing or it could be something. Valadash hadn't gotten to where she was by brushing things off. If her instinct  told her that Ziga was hiding something she probably was.           

[Maudie]

Ziga opened the door to Valadash's chamber silently. "Ah, My Lady. Forgive me for being late, again. I had a wee bit of trouble finding an unoccupied hordebeast to inform Bloodfur that you were in need of him, O Great One."

She sat down on the rug in front of Valadash. She shook her bag up and dumped the contents onto the ground. After several minutes of studying them she looked up. "O Lady, the omens are speaking to me. Wait for a bit." She closed her eyes and made a humming noise.

After a little bit she opened them. "The omens have told me that in order to be ready for if the outlaws grow more bold you must finish your castle, so that you have a safe place to stay. But the omens tell me that the outlaws will not be so bold any time soon. Nevertheless, you must finish the castle soon!"

Ziga scooped up her seer tools and put them back in her bag. "And what are your thoughts on this, fair Lady Valadash?"

[Faiyloe]

Valadash

"My thoughts on that is that its all old news! you have told me nothing that I don't already know." Valadash'es tone went from menacing to soothing which was a bad sing "Your sure, there's nothing else?"she said leaning closer her black eyes meeting the foxes strange red ones.   

[Maudie]

Ziga nodded. "Aye. The omens haven't been very talkative lately. I must spend the day in my room, trying to soothe their secrets out of them." She stood up, bowed, and departed.

---------------------

Frim had been told to wait on Lady Valadash after the midday break. She walked hesitantly up the stairs, not quite sure where to go. She almost ran into that fox, Valadash's seer.

The fox scowled. "What are you doing, slave? Sneaking around in the castle, eh, treejumper?" Frim bowed. "Nay, fox. I was told to wait on the Lady." the fox jerked her thumb up the hall. "Her chamber's the last one up there. Knock."

Frim nodded and bowed again. "Yes, O Seer." She walked up to the door and tapped timidly.

[Faiyloe]

Valadash

Valadash heard a knock on the door "Enter," she said sitting down at one of the tables. It was just a slave. "Come refill my wine glass, and get me something decent to eat. Some meat or maybe some fish," then with out looking up she spread a map out on the table and set stones on the ends to keep it from curling back up. Valadash took a piece of charcoal and marked the place where the food wagons had been attacked. the map showed many more such markings each one indicating the location of an outlaw attack.       

[Dannflower Reguba]

Ashe had been taking a look around the outer perimeter of the Castle walls ever since the raid on the supplies, "We may have some of their food, but we still aren't accomplishing much." The dark squirrel didn't like the leniency of the attacks, war was risky, poking your opponent wasn't going to do anything.

Frustrated, Ashe strung his Long bow, and fine tuned it for a the appropriate distance. He hated taking advantage of an unsuspecting beast, but he needed to do something worthwhile, and the now dead weasel toppling off the wall with a black-fletched arrow through his stone heart would suffice..... for now. The squirrel faded through the trees, and was gone.

[Maudie]

Frim set a plate of fish on the table in front of Valadash and went to get the wine flagon. As she poured the wined into the cup she watched Valadash marking something on her map.

She was so consumed that she wasn't paying attention to what she was doing. Her paws strayed and she knocked the glass over, dropping the flagon onto the table in surprise. She froze. Hoping that the cruel Warlady would get the punishment over with, and soon.

[The Shade]

Fireflash looked around, annoyed. Whilst he has been thinking, the vermin had dissappeared. He slung his crossbow across his back, and dropped to the ground. Yes, there were the tracks. What could he do? Was there any chance he could take out all the vermin? No way. He started jogging back towards the camp, wondering weither there would be enough time to bring the rest of the outlaws, but already he could see it was hopeless.

[Faiyloe]

Valadash stood abruptly as wine spilled all over the table and started to drip on to the floor. She stared at the map it was completely ruined! "you clumsy oaf! clean that up and double work tomorrow. Maybe that will teach you to be more careful." As she left the room she said to one of the guards "keep an eye on her"