No. Not better. Not better at all. (Thorns of Steel TP)
Desotoe has had a bad past couple days, his tail is a stump now and the sling for his arm is gone, still bandaged, and he is weaponless as he has yet to go back and get it, he sighs and sits under the tree, "Calm down...yeah the day will get better, gonnna get better just avoid beasts with arrows"
Unfortunately the ferret is sorely mistaken. "No. Not better. Not better at all",comes a low voice from above. Vladmir smirks as he drops gracefully from the tree's branches, cloak fluttering behind him like white batwings, landing on his feet right in front of Desotoe. "For you, anyways."
Desotoe gasps and then relaxes slightly, "hey...boss, err master, how are ya?" He looks to the left as if looking to leave and looks at Vladmir again to see what he does or wants."Have yet to...get more info will do that now"
"That won't be necessary." SHNK! The jagged katana that took the life of a helpless Dibbun is drawn and leveled at Desotoe. "I'm afraid this is the last time we will be meeting like this."
Desotoe presses agaist the tree, "WAIT!...I..I can get more info, I can get another beast...I killed a witness and...then again Flicktail is on to me now but I can..fix it?"
"No, I'm afraid your usefullness to me--never very much from the start, mind you--has expired." Vladmir flourishes the sword, and it flickers in the sunlight filtering through the faintly reddened leaves of a waning summertime. "I'm afraid the blunder you just spoke of sealed your fate."
Desotoe frowns, "I..I didn't tell them where anyone was, heck I have no clue where he is...", He then does maybe a foolish thing and points "Look behind you!" He then goes to scoot to the side and run if he gets lucky to start to run, into the woods.
Foolish indeed. "Is there anything there?" Vladmir says aloud as he steps deftly to the side to block Desotoe's escape. A harsh, croaking voice comes from the treetops in answer. "Nar, Might'ness. Halfbeak sees nawt!" Another flick of the wrist and the sword is level with Desotoe's chest at a slight downward angle. Almost apolegetically and quite calmly, as if he were discussing this over a drink in a quiet corner of a tavern, Vladmir says, "You see, Desotoe, it's nothing personal, but you're a liability now, and your limited use is far expended. You see, you have brought me a prisoner, but anybeast could have done that, and you happened to be the one who would be the least of an inconvenience to lose. And despite the scraps of information you have brought me, you have also caused me much greif and jeopardized my most carefully laid schemes. You have revealed yourself, and therefore perhaps me, to our enemies prematurely...you leave a swarm of loose ends in your wake..." Vlad's eyes are sparkling dangerously as he speaks.
Desotoe gulps as he looks at the sword, "I..I'm sorry Master and I fixed some of it...killed the one mouse,that Leon and killed the volebabes mother before she got to the abbey...l..let me live, I..I won't mess up again"
Surprisingly the sword is sheathed, as if Vladmir is satisfied and perhaps content to let Desotoe off with a harsh warning...Not so. In its place, he grabs a fistful of his hook-shaped throwing daggers from a belt pouch and backs away a few paces, saying, "Move and you die." Harsh laughter from the treetops reveals that Desotoe /will/ probably die if he flees, if not by dagger then by rending talons and goring beak. "The mouse was unnecessary for you to slay. He was not a hindrance. Yet. You are to leave assassinations to /me/ or the flock. The vole was again of no consequence, you should have left it to others in my command. You see, acting without consulting your Master is disobedience, and I will not tolerate it. Or you." Vladmir leans back slightly and raises the first of the daggers. It appears the ferret has mere moments to live.
Desotoe gulps and looks up and back to Vladmir, "I, ya see..I can't go back to the abbey or Ferravale, Oh I..I did see that chieftain cat but I missed a chance to kill him see this lizard and one of your ravens got in the way..." He edges slowly to the side of the tree, he can run fast if needed and the woods are thick here, or least a few feet away they are, he gulps again and makes a mistake of looking away to look at the more close together trees, yeah he has running away on his mind.
Vladmir disagrees. FWA-SHING! A hooked dagger flashes from the cruel fox's paw, pinning the unlucky ferret to the tree by his paw, the dagger buried up to its hilt in both the tree and the paw. Chidingly, Vladmir says, "Tut tut! Trying to run away from your fate. Very naughty of you, ferret." FWSHINK! Another dagger thuds into Desotoe's shoulder. FWSHINK! A blade flies into the ferret's midriff and sinks into his kidneys. FWSHINK! FWSHINK! Vladmir's cruel 'game' continues until most of the assortment of daggers in his belt pouch are now lodged in Desotoe's body. Blood forms large pools at the foot of the tree. Each throw was carefully calculated to cause excruciating pain, and to cause massive blood loss, but not to kill outright. Vladmir advances, smirking.
Desotoe gasps, each time a dagger hits him he tenses up in pain, one makes him yelp, he coughs up blood as one wound causes him too and his eyes start to slowly shut and he whimpers weakly and looks at Vladmir with fadeing eyesite and it's clear he is in alot of pain.
Tilting his head to the side, Vladmir asks, "Any last words?" Then, just before Desotoe can open his mouth to answer, the jagged sword is drawn, the tip just to Desotoe's right. "Never mind. I don't feel like listening. Time to die, Desotoe." FWSH! The blade flashes through Desotoe's neck in a quick lateral flick, neatly severing the ferret's head.
Desotoe coughs up more blood, maybe to try and pleed and then he loses his head, seriously and is very dead and now headless, hmmms well he will be staying in one place to maybe be found by someone, not that he can talk any more to them, he is dead!
"So you see, Desotoe, I did find a last use for you..." Vladmir's eyes are twinkling to the point that they're almost blinding to look at. "Target practice." He turns on his heel and drifts through the woods like a specter of ill fate, to visit misery on another place. Meanwhile, the ravens begin to descend from the trees and peck at Desotoe's remains.
