Hactor and the Six Lieutenants Conquer Redwall (Part 2)
Characters: Fitch, Kevarr, Pedat, Amethyst, Tungur, Anba_Hor, Treaglo, Bryonn, Pedat, Hactor and Apophis
Location: Redwall Abbey
Location: Redwall Abbey
RW Abbey: Infirmary
Several beds are lined against the red sandstone walls of the Abbey's Infirmary. An examination table, separated from the rest of the room by hanging blankets, rests against the far wall. Tucked into a small alcove is a sizeable workbench with various containers for mixing and preparing medicinal compounds. Against another wall is a desk for use by the Infirmary Keeper. A curtained off alcove behind the desk hides a locked door to the Infirmary's supplies and linens.
Fitch is still quite unconscious.
Kevarr kicks the infirmary door open as she enters, an unconscious polecat slung fairly carelessly over her shoulders in a fireman's carry. This lasts until she's in the room, and then she dumps him unceremoniously on the first available bed, and directs the rat with her (Tungur) to deposit the unconscious Pedat on a bed opposite.
Amethyst follows. It's not hard as she has memorized the route to and from the infirm as well as other important (to her) places. "Just tell me what you want me t do," she says outwardly meek while inwardly seething.
Kevarr starts to answer, but then her eyes narrow on the squirrel and the mouse already in the room. "Tell your friends to disarm before someone more stab-happy comes in and finds them." She moves, snatching up a roll of bandages, which she proceeds to use to start tying Pedat to the bed.
Byronn slowly and very quietly pulls Treaglo inside a closet with him. making sure that no one sees them.
Treaglo is about to reply to Byronn when he pulls her into a closet, and she can't help but notice the various vermin strolling in, conscious and unconscious. She also sees Pedat and her body starts to quiver, not able to take her eyes off of them as she is hidden.
Kevarr starts across the room, taking it in through narrowed eyes. "Go find your healer friends and get them all in here. I'll give you five minutes to get back here with them." She moves, snatching up a roll of bandages, which she proceeds to use to start tying Pedat to the bed.
Amethyst addresses the abbey healers, "We have wounded here." She knows the Redwall well enough to think that such a statement will help then adds, "You're supposed to ... offer shelter to all creatures alike ... comfort the sick, nurse the injured and help the wounded. ... remember?"
Treaglo smirks very quietly at Amethyst's remark, and her eyes start to water once again when she realizes that these vermin are here to stay. She feels around for Byronn's paw for support on her footpaw.
Kevarr grins at this, a little toothily, as she continues binding the squirrel to the bed. When she finishes, she turns to face the healers, eyeing them over.
Byronn gives treaglo support for her footpaw and frowns, shaking his head.
"Right," the older marten says after a moment. "Bluefin, would you poke your head out the door and ask whatever ugly sods you spy to start bringing wounded up here? /All/ of the wounded, both sides're important. And you," she gestures toward the healers. "Have a seat wherever."
'Bluefin' does as instructed but since she can't actually see anyone she just yells for whoever's in ear shot to bring up all the wounded!
Hactor was carried into the infirmary, on a stretcher. He was missing an eye,and was bruised and cut all over. But he was grinning fro ear to ear. He had made it. He was now in control of the famed Redwall!
Kevarr nods, seemingly satisfied. She hooks a stool over, but before she can sit down, Hactor is carried in and she springs right back up. "Chief!" That chest salute. "You're looking grand. I was just thinking things over, and I had an idea. May I?"
Byronn frowns and watches from inside the closet, he shakes his head and quietly mutters something fowl under his breath.
Hactor coughs hard, and spits blood out onto the floor. He laughs horsley though, and stares at her with his good eye, "What is it?"
The older marten grins, and then turns toward the healers. "Arright, listen up. You heard what Bluefin said, and I've heard that before too. This's real simple. See this wounded squirrel here on this side of the room? He's real bad off, isn't he? And look over there, there's the Chief, and he's needing some healing too. So." She claps paw and the strange bracer covering her maimed arm together. "Here's the deal, mates. You go work on the Chief there, get him healed up. And if you do that, then you can come over here and work on your squirrel friend, no problem. Sounds good, eh?"
"Sounds real good to me..." Anba Hor stands in the doorway to the infirmary. "What a bloodlust our leader has, to injure himself so. I hear we did well for ourselves, though; am I right?" The fox walks in, and regards the squirrel Pedat with horrible distaste, "I say treat him /never/. Let him die. My leader, the lieutenants have all briefed me on what has taken place. /Almost/ all to plan, with very little resistance."
Treaglo narrows her eyes angrily with the tears spilling out, whispering almost inaudibly, "Those, those...heh, that stupid ole fox deserves to be dead. They all do. How could they do this to this peaceful Abbey..." She glances at Pedat worriedly. "He needs help first...oh please..."
Hactor stares at the ceiling with his one good eye and listens to the marten's words. He chuckles even though it hurts. The beasts he conquered would have to heal him? Oh this was just to delicious.
Byronn nods and whispers back "maybe it has to do with this kotir thing?"
Kevarr hrmphs. "Of course you say that. You're the Torturer, not the Healer. You wanted him dead, your foxes should've finished him off when he was still fighting. You let this lot heal their own, and they'll heal every one of ours too, mark my words." She gestures at the healers. "Go on then, get to it."
Hactor raises a paw for silence ,and sits up the best he can. He gives Pedat an inquisitive look. He then looks to a healer and sayes, "Heal em. But make it fast." He then lays back down, and continues looking at the ceiling.
Amethyst ignores the squabbling leaders and starts to work on their chief. The others seem to have flocked to the squirrel. The sooner Hactor's healed the sooner he's out of the infirm where Amy likely will be staying for some time.
Kevarr settles onto a stool, leaning against an empty bed.
Treaglo rubs her eyes distractedly and goes wide-eyed in surprise when she hears the fox leader's command. She sighs a bit in relief, then turns to Byronn with a paw to her mouth. "Shhhh! Don't let them hear about that. They have no idea..." She shakes her head. "It's not because of that."
Hactor looks at the aproaching rat wife and grinds.By the ay she uses that staff he can tell she's blind. He sayes to her, "Well well well. What have we here? A blind healer? How interesting."
The marten offers, "Says her name is Bluefin, Chief. Seems she heard about this place's hospitality and decided to take advantage of it."
Byronn nods and mouths "sorry" to treaglo and watches silently.
Hactor nods to the marten, the notices Anba. He raises his paw, and waves for the large fox to come over.
"Just lay still like sir an you'll be fixed up in no time, " Amy says pretending this sort of thing were normal.
Byronn frowns and whispers "should gut him like the pig he is."
Hactor decides it's just as well. His other arme feels like a led weight, he cant even move his neck to see it. He rests his other arm as she instructs and asks, "And how bad is it then?"
Treaglo smiles in agreement at Byronn, though it's hard to see in the extremely dim lighting, and turns her head back to the crack in the door. She then quirks an eyebrow. "Bluefin...? That's Amethyst...what is she up to?" Treaglo hms.
Anba_Hor goes over to Hactor, "You would like to see me, your leadership? To congratulate the effort by the formidable legions from Izmir, I hope? It would have been a loss without the added intensity of their fighting."
Kevarr nudges one of the healers who bustles near her. "When you've got a moment there, mouse, that squirrel gave me an annoying poke. No rush."
"Hard t tell this soon. It needs a lot of stitching up and for ya not t move it too much for a while at th least," the blind rat says as she works on the vermin chief's arm.
Hactor looks over to Anba with his eye, and replies, "Aye, they shall be rewarded. And as for you my lieutenant, I asumed you were dead. Mind explaining why your not on a funeral pyre?" He simply replies to the rat, "Aye."
Suddenly there's a noisy clatter from a closet and two beasts fall to their knees on the ground-a squirrelmaid and a mouse. The squirrel looks up nervously, but can't seem to stand up right away.
Kevarr hops up from her stool. "/Oi/."
The fox chuckles, "One of my lieutenants, whom word had it was planning to poison me and take over leadership of the Izmir horde, had to be disposed of. And I... had to be fashionably late to the battle... personal business. So, since I did not have time to dispose of Tradj Nbo, my lieutenant, myself... I let your men do it this morning and I tended to my business. And here I am."
Hactor hears the clattering but can't turn his head to see. He decides to ignore at the moment, and continues staring at Anba.
Kevarr stalks over to the fallen squirrel and mouse, eyes narrowing.
Hactor he replied darkley, his ornage orb glenting, "You know that's not what I ment."
Amethyst tilts her ears toward the noise as she feels over Hactor's face, examining his bad eye. "Lost an eye did you? May take a while 'fore you get used to having just th one. .... Want me t cover it or ya rather show it off?" she asks planing to take care of his eye all the same while trying to ignore Anba_Hor and the eavesdroppers whoever they may be.
Hactor says to Amethyst, "Thank you kindlye. That would help." He continued regarding Anba his good eye narrowing into a slit. How Anba lived he didn't know, but it made him nervous.
"Ah... well, perhaps you're asking why I'm simply not dead. Arachnid poison... slows the heart to a very slow, faint pulse. Most would think you dead... until you wake up about 2 hours later." Anba Hor walks over to Kevarr, "With the help of a witch, or a Seer... it was a perfect excuse to leave the camp and attend to personal matters."
Kevarr makes a grab for Treaglo, "I'm busy, Foxy," she mutters.
Byronn sprints for the hall not noticing Treaglo until he turns sround, "ill free you! i swear i will" tears stream down his face as he hurls a knife at the marten and runs hard and fast.
Hactor could have laughed at this revelation. And to think he had flown into such a rage the night before! His sly commander had seemingly cheated death. He replied, "Arachnid poison eh? Very useful stuff tha."
The squirrelmaid is left standing there, staring at the fearsome-looking vermin, expecially the one grabbing her...she looks as if she is almost going to pass out.
Apophis nods at Hactor distractedly, as most of his attention is on the sprinting mouse. The fox is blocking the door - how ever will Byronn get out?!
Kevarr ends up wrapping her maimed arm around Treaglo's waist and yanking her back, just fast enough that the knife embeds where her footpaw was just a moment ago. She hisses a curse under her breath, but then her nose twitches. "Hn. Oi, healers, make way."
The old fox asks no one in particular, "Who is it? Bring them here."
Byronn takes some ash out of his pocket and throws it into the foxes face and dives under his legs running.
Anba_Hor sees the mouse coming at him and doesn't move. "Where do you think you're going, mousey?? Care to explain?" The fox pulls a dagger from his belt and crouches. "Come get the fate you narrowly escaped against my lieutenants, from /me/."
Anba_Hor laughs and rubs the ash out of his eyes, "Heh... you have to give them credit..." He stows the knife. "He isn't going anywhere... they're all trapped in here - I've told Anba Qwol to seal all the gates.
Kevarr looks a little dubious at something Anba says. But she hefts Treaglo again, half trying to carry her, half trying to drag her over to the bed near Pedat. "You just have a lay down there, squirrel. Fighting time is over, and I think your body knows it."
Treaglo scowls under her breath as she hears Anba_Hor, but can't do much against the marten as she has a binded footpaw. She glares at the vermin around her, but seeing that they have control she just lets herself be taken. "Well..." she stops abruptly.
Kevarr plops her onto the bed. "Just stay put."
Treaglo makes herself a bit comfortable on the bed and sulks, perking her ears to anything the vermin discuss. She keeps her gaze on Pedat with kindly concern.
Amethyst finishes with the chief opting to bandage over his bad eye so he wont be as tempted to mess with it. That done she moves on to the next patient.
Kevarr regains her stool, slumping casually onto it. "It's a squirrelmaid, Chief. She looks half done in. What's the next step?"
Hactor breaths in deeply considering his predicament. He obviously going to be imoble for a few days. But he sure as /hell/ wasn't going to put Anba in charge. He'd kill half the Abbey in a day. Better he rule from bed then. His ears perk at Kevarr. He replies, "The next step is rest for the wounded. As for the others, they need to be guarding the gate like Anba said."
Kevarr gives a single sharp nod.
Kevarr says, "If you want, I can get some more beasts hauling wounded up here. These beasts are all about healing, they'll heal ours, I think, so long as we let them heal theirs too."
Hactor nods to the marten. He thinks for a moment then asks, "And the dead? Whats being done with them?"
Kevarr shakes her head. "No idea, but we ought to do something. There's a graveyard around just outside the walls. I've passed it a few times on going through here."
Kevarr grins slightly, "We could see if we've got any able bodied captives. These beasts are really good at digging and messing with dirt, aren't they?"
Hactor scoffs and mumbles, "Grave yards. Bah!" He stoked his beard with his good arm the finally replied, "Let the abbeybeast do what they want with there dead. As for ours, pile them in the ditch and burn them."
Kevarr hesitates for a moment, then she nods again. "Aye, Chief, I'll get some beasts on that then."
Treaglo listens to the conversation, and makes a disgusted face at Hactor's last comment. She finally turns her back on the vermin and pulls the blanket over her head, her eyed slowly closing with the many thoughts drifting through her head. Exhausted, she falls into a sound sleep.
Kevarr stands up and stretches, then looks at Amethyst. "Bluefin, you done in here?"
Hactor sat and retreated deep into his thoughts. Durring the battle he had met a young otter. He knew that otter. He had slain the scums parents years before. Looks like he had gotten the fox back now. Hactor decided at that moment, if he /ever/ meets that young otter again, it would be the last time they met.
"Think so. .... What did you need?" the rat asks doubting she'll like whatever it is.
"Someone who knows this place better'n me," the marten replies. Then, somewhat more amused, "Even if she can't actually see it. If you don't mind, Chief? Me and this one can go for a little walk and get working on those bodies."
Amethyst nods. She was right she doesn't like it.
Hactor nods and replies, "Just as well for I need my sleep. He closed his eye and said, "Report back to me when you're done." The old warlord then began to slumber, dreaming of bloodshed and swords. A nightmare for some... a pleasant dream dor him.
"Yes, sir," The marten says, though low as not to disturb him. To Amethyst, "Right, come with me, outside." She moves toward the door leading to the open ground.
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