Krull part 2

continued from this scene

http://rwmuck.limitless.org/rwmuck/content/krull

Ferdinand gives Bandit encouragement to not run away from his badger-y fate

There was a concerned atmosphere in the guard shack today. Those of the early morning shift found the head guard office locked and occupied. It was now noon and the office door still had not opened. Not once. When prompted to knock on the door guards were met with a loud growling noise. It was dampening the mood to say the least

But then comes the brave and noble Ferdinand! He had decided to stay the night rather than treck back to Redwall at night. The ferret walks across the room and knocks on the door leading to the Head Guard's office. "Bandit? May I pleathe thpeak to you?"

"Go away! Bandit isn't here!" comes the stark, panicky reply from inside, "Bandit uh...went on a trip! He won't be back for another two weeks! Cause he died! Y-yes, YES! He died! You might as well go away!"

The ferret looks at the ceiling. Oh, for the love of sanity... "Bandit, thith ith Ferdinand. If you don't open the door, I WILL break it down. Open up!" He readjusts his sword belt and rests his paw on his sabre hilt. He will break it down if he has to...

The voice on the other end of the wall seems to have other ideas though, "Bandit's not actually here! This is...uh, his office assistant! Can't really hear you too well anyway Ferdi, doors too thick! It's like yer a million miles away!"

( A ferret near by raises his eyebrow then asks Ferdinand, "Is there anything we can, uh, do to help?" )

"Jutht thtay outta my way, and be prepared to explain to Thir Thcioto that it wath necethary for the protection of Mothflower." Ferdinand takes a few steps back, then a few more, taking deep, calming breaths. He takes off his winterwear and his uniform jacket, revealing strong muscles that can been seen under his shirt. He flexes his arms and tugs at the cuffs of the long sleeves. "Whoo, boy...here we go..." Giving a yell, he charges the door, looking like he knows exactly what he's doing. The door should (hopefully) fall under his running into it at a dead run, as fast as he can go.

The door gives surpsingly little resistance, but that is due to the simple fact that Bandit chose to open it right as Ferd runs him over. The office beyond is a complete mess. Boxes of cakes and pies lay empty under paw and there are several bottles missing their ale laying about the room. The fox himself looks absolutely horrible. His fur is a mess and he has taken to wearing only a grey tunic instead of his uniform. A tunic that clings tightly against his swollen and pudgy frame.

The fox is sent flying onto his rump. "WHAT IN THE BLAZES DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING!?"

"Ah!" Ferdinand is carried by his own momentum and probably ends up on top of the fox. He's on his back, wherever near/on the floor he ends up. "Tilting his head back, he looks aroudn the room, mouth open slightly. "....what ith thith even.....Bandit. Why did you lock yourthelf in here? I thought you weren't gonna open the door, tho I wath gonna break it down....are you drunk??" The ferret asks as he notes the empty ale bottles. "Pleathe don't be drunk..."

The fox doesn't even bother getting to his feet. He just sits there on his haunches. "Well, I /was/ trying. After all one does not want to have their hide stole while sober." He chuckles darkly then gestures to the door, "And I was going to leave it locked and sneak out the window. I only...didn't...because I couldn't fit through the window." He says saddly.

Ferdinand is mature enough to not find that fact funny right now. "Tho you were going to run away and abandon uth like a coward?" he sighs and covers his eyes with an arm. "Y'know, we could fight that badger and kill him /before/ he hath a chance to do that to you. I'm....pretty good with my sabre...." humble, yes. Self-defacing in his mind? Almost definately.

"I wasn't planning on..." The fox pauses, turning to the door he closes it to peering eyes. "I wasn't planning on running away, not like that. I just...just didn't want anyone to see me like /this/." He gestures to mess of the room around him. "You know, it was surprisingly easy to put all my afairs in order here when I have none. Who get's my house? Oh, it's burned down. Who get's my money, boom. Elena. And then I realized that aside from the beasts in redwall there just arn't that many people who would /care/ about me passing, be it a violent demise or from too much ale. So I decided to spend my last three days doing what I do best right around the time I was walking past the bakery and BOOM." He says, slumping into a chair.

"I don't want anyone else to get hurt on my behalf...but I don't want to get hurt either..."

Ferdinand sits up and sits criss-cross-applesauce on the floor. Looking up compassionately at the fox, he smiles. "Maybe we can do thith without anyone getting hurt," he says gently. "I can fire from a significant dithtance away with my bow, and Claritha ith wicked good with her kniveth and bullwhip; I'm thure the'd be willing to help. Maybe that Chud otter can help, too. Mith Blitha would be very upthet if you died for real...." he nods, keeping eye contact to try and let the fox know that he's actually telling the truth.

"And then my name will be Mud for being the head guard too afraid to go fight his own battles. Lovely." The fox rests his chin on the table and whines loudly. "Then again, it's better to be alive with shame then dead with honor..."

"Oh, for..." Ferdinand closes his golden eyes and squints them tightly. His pateince is obviously being tried very heavily. "Or you could face the badger alone with no one to help you. There ith no thame....thththame....grrrr....you will not loothe honour by admitting that you are incapable of doing thomething. The bravetht Warriorth are the oneth who admit that they cannot do everything. That taketh a lot of courage." He opens his eyes and stares levely at the vulpine. "Bravey ith not in being thcared. Bravery ith thtanding up to what you're afraid of.....even if it'th jutht....thpeaking in front of otherth..." he adds quietly, in almsot a whisper. It seems that he might be speaking from personal experiance.

The fox continues to whimper, losing ground in the argument but not quite ready to give up the fight. "That's all fine and dandy advice but you seem to forget about one thing." Bandit leans back in his chair, "I'm the head guard. It's my duty to keep people safe. If I go out there I'll die. If I let people help me I'll...not die but at the same time I'll lose what ever faith the guard has left in me, the same guard that had people sell me to a fur trader mind you."

THe fox runs his paws over his snout, "But I'm warming up to the idea of not having my skin become someone's coat. What would /you/ do if you were in my paws?"

Ferdinand has, at this very moment, buried his face in his paws. Oh, for. the. LOVE. of. sanity. Aaaaaaaannnnd now the fox is asking for advice. Awesome. "Give me a moment......" He sits there thinking for a REALLY long time....like, 5 minutes. Then he takes a deeeeeeeeep breath and says, slowly, "I would take beathtth along to help who would not let the badger know that I wath the Head Guard. I would try to mithlead the badger into thinking that the villiage hath no head guard and make him think that he hath to defeat....oh, 4 or 5 creatureth, which would, of courthe, give uth an andvantage, hopefully. And I would make thure that one of the beathtth had a bow and quiver of arrowth. Or have a beathth hhiding thomewhere to thoot him. One of the 2." It's amazing how calm he is with this.....

The fox thinks on this for a moment. One of the perks of being head guard is that the fox does have his own personal army to send into defending ones self. "I think...that is managable. I could try to diswade the badger from attacking anyone first, then when he decides to stay and attack us I can set up an ambush..." Bandit rubs his chin, "This, this might work. I may not have to die after all!"

"But I would thtill fight him. Jutht with thome of my clothetht friendth backing me up," Ferdinand adds quickly, wanting to make sure that the fox knows that he's not going to let him coward out. "If the weather wath warmer, I'd jutht trick him into becoming thnake food....but I digreth." He finally looks up at the fox, his face seeming to comunicate that he WILL make the fox go fight, even if he has to drug him and tie him up.

The fox seems to whimper at the idea of going up to fight a badger. One who specifically told him what horrible fate would await the fox if he should lose. Then Bandit remembers his threat against Redwall. If they didn't handle this badger now then teh redwall champion would have to.

Rubbing his chin again Bandit asks, "Do we have an alchamist in town? Or perhaps a herbalist? If we are going to fight dishonorably we might as well go all the way..."

Ferdinand raises an eyebrow. "Well, there'th Valerie, but the'th at Redwall right now. And Angela would probably help uth. ......what were you thinking?" He's not sure he likes the way this conversation is suddenly going....

The fox drums his paws across the desk, "I'm thinking about how much night shade it would take to kill a badger." He says with mischivious glee. "Or any other poison really, all it needs to do is slow him down enough to give us an edge..."

Ferdinand puts up both paws. "okay, okay, no. That ith not what I meant. Bethideth, how would you get him to comthume it, hmm? What maketh you think he would eat or drink whatever you put it in?" He's got him a point there.....

Lenore pages, "yeah, ferdy is trying to make bandit honourable. it's not working out so well XD" to you and Chud.

"Oh that part is easy," The fox begins to wag his tail and leans forward, a wicked smile across his face, "I run a blade laced with poison down his throat. I'm talking about dipping our weapons in poison Ferdi. Despite evidence to the contrary not everything about me involves food...or drink."

"Okay, thtop calling me Ferdi, or I'll thtart calling you Bandi." The ferret rubs his forehead. The fox is wearing on his patience, and that's making the ferret a bit immature. ".........I'm not thure nithshade would work on a blade, anyway. Do you have no honour?" the question sounds more despairing than anything else.

The fox only laughs, "What makes you think Bandi isn't my real name? And to answer your question, no. Not when the safety of the city and my friends is at stake." The fox rises from his chair circling around to the door. "Honor is for heroes Ferdinand. I'm not a hero. I'm the head guard, and it's about time I started acting like one."

He opens the door then pauses, "If...I don't make it back from this. Tell the chief and his daughter that I at least died like a head guard even if i didn't always live like one. And if you ever see a vixen named Elena...well...she already knows everything I would need to tell her anyway." And with that he leaves his own office. There was work to be done and a badger warlord to slay...

.

Ferdinand groans and lays down on the floor in a fetal position. That was not how he wanted this to happen. Not. at. all. Covering his eyes, he sighs. "I'll be thure to do that......"