Vengeance Born

Chapter One:

"So, otter, you think you're a hero?" snarled the black fox as he glared at the female otter known as Redsplash, who was chained to the wall directly in front of him. The fox's dark colored left paw clenched tightly around the whip he always had with him as his dark tailed lashed agitatedly back and forth. He was tall for a fox and wore the dark gray tunic of a soldier; so far below the ranks of officer it was almost an insult that the otter had to be in his company.

The otter watched him coldly, eyebrows raised and lips drawn back in a sneer as if the fox was the most disgusting thing she had ever seen in her life, which was far from the truth, considering the life she lead. "Hero?" She asked, her tone calm even if her expression revealed her revulsion. She blinked her dark green eyes slowly, almost as if mocking him with the knowledge that she was not in the least afraid of him.

            "For helping that squirrel escape." The fox clarified loudly, baring his yellowed teeth in another snarl.

            "No." Redsplash replied and shrugged one shoulder, causing the chains that chained her ankles and wrists to the wall to clink lightly. She looked much more composed now, almost calm.

            "No?" The fox snapped, his rage obvious in his face and voice, along with the obvious confusion the negative answer had caused him.

            "I helped him escape because I couldn't stand his breath, not because I am a hero." The otter said and smiled scornfully at him, her eyes flashing mockingly.

            The whip cracked forward and bit into her bare shoulder, causing blood to well up in and then spill out of the new cut. The otter didn't even flinch but leaned back against the wall and tilted her face upwards, towards the roof, and closed her eyes. Three more times the whip jumped forward, licking her other shoulder, her left paw, and her right knee, but she acted as if she couldn't feel it, eyes closed with a peaceful, if rather blank, expression on her young, remarkably unscarred face.

            Then, with a growl of annoyance from the fox, the whip lunged forward towards her face. The otter's eyes snapped open and she jerked forward, her teeth clamping shut on the whip. She yanked and the whip flew out of the fox's unsuspecting paws. Spitting the whip out the otter slid to the ground and sat there calmly, her eyes floating upwards towards the roof again, but not closing this time after they flashed a brief, harsh, warning to the startled fox.

            "Leave my face alone." She said evenly, her tone so obviously warning that it made the enraged, surprised, fox hesitate uncertainly, blinking and frowning as if he could not understand the language she was speaking.

            Redsplash could beat this fox. He was cruel, but clumsy. He had more fear of her than he had hate for her, which made him weak, and weak things she could beat. It was his master that she couldn't beat. She knew without any doubt the ferret would come soon. Anytime she committed any crime, broke any of the vermin's idiotic and oppressive rules, the ferret came to visit her. He was the one thing she feared. He was the one thing that could give her nightmares, and he had gifted her with plenty over the seasons. The ferret was the one thing that could conjure fear from her twisted, darkened, heart. Not that she had ever, or would ever for that matter, show that fear. Redsplash showing fear was like the sun turning purple and stopping mid-way across the sky; it was never going to happen and it wasn't worth wasting the thought imagining it. No, she wouldn't show the fear, but she felt it, and she could feel it now, stirring in her stomach with apprehension and a sick sense of relief that the ferret had not yet come.

            Suddenly the door slammed open and a tall, lithe, ferret stalked into the room, ending what relief she had felt and making her lips turn up quickly into a twisted, grim, smile before returning to the half-frown she normally wore. The small golden circlet balanced easily above his bewitchingly evil eyes announced him the owner of this castle, and much of the surrounding area, but the otter did not need the crown to know that. The ferret's name was not known, even by himself and so he was called the Nameless One or the Unnamed One. He was strong, agile, and quick, dangerous and cruel. However, it was his startlingly quick mind that frightened most creatures more then his ability to skin small creatures alive and laugh at their panicky pleas. Not that intelligence normally scared Redsplash, but the ferret seemed to completely lack the ability to be wrong or to do something without knowing that it would pay off in the end, and that bothered her. If he let her live, there was always reason that would help him, and that was not exactly a comfortable thing to think about at night. No matter what she did, no matter how unpredictable she tried to be, he always knew what she was going to do before she did, almost as if he could read her mind. And it wasn't thanks to any sort of seer; Redsplash knew that. The Nameless One publicly and happily gutted all seers that came near him; he despised them even more than her.

            Today he wore a black tunic and must have been in an exceedingly cruel mood, because the seven daggers he normally only used to skin creatures were carefully in place at his wide black belt, along with his sword that never seemed to leave his side. He was taller than the average ferret, but not amazingly so, and more lithe then brawny. In fact, he looked more like an assassin than a tyrant, with only skin over muscle over bones, and almost no extra weight. When he breathed in quickly, one could see the outline of his ribs. He stood easily, not expecting an attack, but ready for one anyway, and he radiated contempt as his dark green eyes swept over the scene, nose twitching in repulsion at the dark-furred fox who was hurrying towards his whip, which lay limply on the other side of the small room. "Defarlan-you idiot-leave."  The ferret said, shaking his head in disgust as he watched the fox grab his whip and stumble, clumsily but quickly, out of the room.

            The otter stood slowly, the fear she felt never showing on her face, as she stared into the eyes of the one thing in the world that caused her to feel dread. "I knew you'd come." She said, her voice smooth and composed. Redsplash wondered, in the normal half-panicked voice her mind took when faced with him, if he knew about the rebellion.

            "Smart little otter." The ferret said sarcastically, smiling coldly. He moved forward until his clean, annoyed, face was an inch from her grimy, emotionless one, "Tell me, since when did you become a champion? A little hero fighting for the side of good and rescuing your poor little fellow slaves?"

            "I am not a hero." The otter said quickly, slight anger flashing across her young and dirty face, "I will never be a hero." This last sentence was said with bittersweet amusement, as if it were funny but only in a dark, lonely, way.

            "Why then, did you help the squirrel escape?" the ferret asked calmly, staring at her with a malicious intelligence glittering darkly in his freakishly innocent-looking eyes.

            "I didn't feel like sleeping." The otter replied, her tone going emotionless and muted once again.

            "Really?" the ferret said and tilted his head to the right. He leaned to the left and grabbed a spear off a sizeable rack of weapons, located just out of the otter's reach. He ran his paws along the wood, staring down at it, "Really?" he repeated, though his voice was distant and flat, as if he were concentrating on something else and her response didn't really matter.

            "Yes." The otter said and backed up against the wall, wary and tense.

            The butt of the spear swung and slammed into her stomach. The otter choked and bent forward, her paws trying to clutch her stomach but unable to reach it thanks to the chains. Fighting to drag air into her lungs she looked up at the ferret and barred her teeth at him in a sick mockery of a snarl.

            He would do worse; he always did. She would come out of this alive though, and she would not scream. She would never scream…never.

~

            Two hours later the ferret left still angry, and five minutes after the ferret left, another came in. This ferret was a younger, smaller, version of the first one, sharing the same basic facial features and the same basic build as the first one, along with the obviously expensive clothing. His wide, shining, blue eyes, instead of the other's dark green ones, bore a troubled look, accompanied with a downward twist to the ferret's mouth. While the other ferret had only showed annoyance and a bit of anger, this ferret openly showed concern as his eyes fell on the otter.

            Redsplash was crouched on the ground, blood trickling from her face, paws, and knees. She dragged a breath in soundlessly and let it out with a slight gurgling sound as the air caught on the blood that ran in her mouth form the dozens of little cuts she had made by biting her tongue, lip, or the inside of her cheek to keep from making any sound. This time had been worse then nearly all of the ones before, and she was surprised he hadn't broken any of her bones. Of course, the Nameless One would never be so clumsy. He needed her in the quarry; she was one of the strongest slaves he had.

            "Red…" the younger ferret said, his voice between a whisper and a hiss, "Red…" he repeated as he crouched down beside her but far enough away to kill any suggestion that he might be crowding her. Redsplash did not like being crowded.

            The otter looked up and blinked slowly, the skin around her left eye already beginning to blacken. "Fate." She said simply, "Why are you here?"

            "To make sure you're alive." The ferret replied and moved forward smoothly, lifting her face by her chin then tilting it to the left, then the right. He hissed in surprise when he saw her eye, "That's gonna sting." He said.

            "Oh, really? I hadn't noticed." The otter replied, rolling her dark green eyes. She tilted her chin down and snapped her teeth together, in a half-amused, half-serious warning. The ferret pulled his hand away from her chin, acknowledging the warning. Redsplash also did not like being touched.

            He sent her a dark look, "Now is not the time to be sarcastic." He observed.

            "On the contrary, sarcasm is one of the few things keeping me from turning bloodthirsty and biting your paw right off." She responded, her tone faintly amused.

            He frowned down at her, "Look Redsplash," he said, his tone slightly annoyed, "The rebellion is scheduled for two weeks from today-"

            "Wait a minute…" Redsplash said, looking unhappily surprised, "You scheduled the rebellion?"

            The ferret blinked and then nodded slowly, "Yes."

            "Oy." Redsplash said, rolling her head back to stare at the roof of the room, "We're all gonna die."

            "What?" The ferret said, as if he didn't understand what she was so upset about.

            "See, this is why I don't let you take over much." Redsplash said, sighing and moving her gaze back to the ferret's face. "Fatefiend, that bastard father of yours has spies among the slaves."

            The ferret paused then nodded, "Yes, I know that."

            "And you told them when the rebellion is."

            "No…" Fatefiend said slowly, "They all died in unfortunate accidents while you were in the dungeons."

            "Well, that's great." Redsplash said darkly, "No wonder he was so angry today…he knows."

            "Not when, though." Fatefiend said urgently.

            "No, not when, but he knows." Redsplash said and sighed, letting her head loll down onto her chest, "Leave now, Fatefiend, before the Nameless Bastard comes back and realizes that you're rebelling against him too."

            "You're wounded." Fatefiend said, but took a slow step backwards.

            "I always am." Redsplash snapped, "Now, go!"

            Fatefiend frowned but took another step backwards. After a moment he scowled, sighed, and left quickly.

            Redsplash watched him go and then leaned against the cold stonewall, her eyes narrowing somewhat as she felt her back slip slightly down the wall. The wall was slippery from blood, her blood. She took a deep breath and let it out, her eyes fluttering closed as she clenched her paws into fists. She needed rest, and she was tired enough to sleep without dreams, or nightmares. With a last glance around the room, she closed her eyes again, and slept.

~

       Redsplash stared impassively at the two cowering rats that were unlocking her from the wall she had been attached to for two weeks now. They had one chain unlocked when sounds of battle came from outside. Damn you Fate, couldn't you have at least waited until I got out there? Redsplash thought, her lips curling into a scowl as the two rats sprinted off, drawing weapons, and leaving Redsplash with one wrist till chained.

            She tugged on the chain violently, but could not budge the chain; she was too weak. She swore noisily and slammed her free paw into the wall in anger, ripping the flesh from her paw.

            She sighed and slid to the ground, watching the open door; waiting for someone to walk by that would get her out of these chains. Suddenly the Nameless One walked by and then stopped, walked backwards, and looked at her as if he were on a mid-day stroll and had found someone where he least expected them to be. He smiled, a politely startled smile, and came to a halt right in front of the door.

            "Hello, Brighteye." He remarked in a pleasant tone, "It seems your friends are being cut apart by my guards." He chuckled as if he had made a clever joke about the weather, "Did you know?" He paused, smiled again, and started walking again, carrying something in his hands.

            Redsplash screamed in fury, the only type of scream she allowed herself, and lunged to her feet, shouting curses that made some of the rats now running send her astonished looks. After a while she stopped and glared at the rats, waiting for something to happen. She did not have to wait long. She heard what sounded like two arguing voices and listened, tilting her head towards the sound. She heard the Nameless One's laughter and then a scream. She knew that scream.

            "Sky!" she screamed so loud that she nearly caused herself to go hoarse. "Sky!" she repeated and lunged forward, hit the end of the chain, and was dragged backwards. There was more of the Nameless One's laughter, and another scream, quieter, weaker. "That's it!" she shouted and grabbed the chain with her paws, and wrapped it around her wrists, leaving some chain between then, she screamed and tugged, nearly ripping all the skin off her paws as she did so, but one of the links twisted, bent.

            Redsplash stared down at it and grinned demonically, pulled her wrists out of the chains and sprinted as hard as she could towards he door. She hit the end of the chain, nearly yanking her shoulder out of place, but the chain snapped and she fell forward, hitting the ground hard, almost breaking her nose. She jumped to her feet and laughed, wrapping the chain around her right paw, making sure to leave some of the heavy chain left so she could swing it, and sprinted out of the room towards where the Nameless One had gone.

            She heard a muffled sobbing sound around a minute later and quickened her pace, ignoring any protest her legs and lungs launched, already tired from the escape. She rounded a corner and skidded to the stop when she saw a young squirrel maid on the floor, blood seeping from a wound on her stomach, and right paw reaching blindly for the dirk that was just out of reach.

            Redsplash fell onto her knees beside the squirrel maid and put both paws on the wound, trying to stop the blood flow, "Oh, Skydance, you're dying." Redsplash said softly, her face growing slightly sad, with a thick undercoat of anger shimmering just below the surface. Of course, from the day the young squirrel had been pretty much dumped into her unwilling care, Redsplash had been threatening to kill the squirrel herself. Still, she hadn't really meant the threats for at least a season now, and, besides, if anyone was going to kill the obscenely annoying squirrel, it was supposed to be her, not the bastard ferret.

            The squirrel's eyelids fluttered weakly open and the light blue eyes rolled around, trying to locate Redsplash, "Red?" she asked after a minute, her soft voice sounding weak and dazed.

            "Don't talk Skydance." Redsplash whispered, "Just try to breathe… "

            "There's no point." The young squirrel said quietly, "I'm dying."

            "I know." Redsplash replied, "But I was kinda hoping you didn't."

            "Red…the ferret has a treasure in his paws right now…he killed me to keep me from it…take it from him, Red, it's the only thing he cares about." She coughed and groaned, her eyes closing against the pain.

            "I'll get it." Redsplash promised, "I'll get it." She repeated, because she wasn't sure the squirrel had heard it the first time.

            "Red…please…just do one thing before you leave…" Skydance said, her paw still reaching for her dirk.

            "Yes?" Redsplash asked, wondering how much more time she could afford to waste.

            "Kill me…please." She whispered, the pain obvious in her voice from both the wound and the fact that she was now dying, "I don't want to be killed by the ferret…I couldn't stand to die like that…"

            Redsplash bit her lip and nodded, "I only have the chain…" She said, looking doubtfully down at the chain in her paws.

            "Take my dirk…kill me…and then steal it from him." The squirrel muttered wearily.

            Redsplash grabbed the squirrel's dirk off the cold stone floor and stabbed it, hilt-deep, into the shuddering squirrel's chest, straight into the young ones' heart. Redsplash considered taking the dirk with her, but decided against it, and left it there. Redsplash lunged to her feet, stared at the faded squirrel for one second, and then sprinted away, following the ferret and running away from the corpse.

~

            Fatefiend fought side-by-side with his best friend, Adthe. Roughly a hundred of the Nameless One's soldiers had rebelled, too, and Fatefiend had let the slaves loose, and nearly every single of the hundreds of the slaves were fighting. They were actually fighting decently well, too, what with the promise of vengeance inspiring them and all. His father's loyal soldiers would, eventually, get the best of them, but Fatefiend planned to be gone by then. Adthe, though, was staying here. Staying here to make sure Redsplash got out.

Fatefiend decapitated a nearby stoat, smirking at the blood as he thought of his friend. Redsplash was deadly, evil, funny, and smart but also loyal, and so Fatefiend would be loyal in return and make sure she got out of the castle, but he would not stay, because neither would she if their roles were reversed. And Fatefiend would do no more for the otter than the otter would do for him. That was the basis of their entire friendship.

~

            Redsplash flattened herself against the wall as best she could, considering the fact that she was a bit more three-dimensional than the wall's flat surface, and watched the Nameless One pull out a cleverly disguised drawer from a statue of a crouching wolf and place something in it. His head shot up when he heard a drawn-out scream from outside the walls and he frowned. Unsheathing his sword, he left through a different door than the one he had come in through, his pace hurried and tense.

            Redsplash slipped stealthily from where she stood and moved quickly over to the statue. Carefully pulling out the drawer she quickly pulled her paw away, as she had seen the Nameless One do. A snake tooth expertly attached to a vile of venom struck the stone where her paw had just been then, carefully, reset itself. Blinking in appreciation for the clever trap, she pulled the pouch she had seen the Nameless One drop in the drawer out, and opened it carefully.

            Her eyes tripled in size when she saw what was in there and then, biting her lip, she turned and raced out the way she had come, through the halls, out into the battle, and then straight out of the castle, her eyes sparkling with intense determination.

~

Redsplash woke up in the dark, and the cold. She groaned and tried to raise her left paw to rub her eyes, but it was chained down. Redsplash blinked in surprise and her dark lashes flickered open. She was chained to a wall, but not one she had ever been chained to before. Obviously, she had been threatened with being chained in the torture chamber, but the Nameless One had always known that she wouldn't respond well to being in a room where she couldn't see outside, and had always wanted her working the quarry rather than locked up in the torture chamber.

The otter groaned again and tried to remember what she had done. But everything was a blank…and when she tried to force herself to recall the past few hours, it hurt. She could vaguely remember Skydance dying and a rebellion, but anything after that was a blank…except…she could remember stealing something from the Unnamed One…something important…but she couldn't remember where she had put it, or if it had been taken from her, or even what it was…

Suddenly the door slammed open and the room was filled with a menacing and muted light. Redsplash closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them, waiting impatiently as her eyes adjusted to what little light there was. The Nameless One was furious; she could tell that in a glance. The Nameless One angry was bad, but him furious was very, very, not good.

This is gonna hurt. Redsplash thought darkly and closed her eyes, "Hello, bastard." She said voice calm and vaguely amused, two things she definitely was not at the moment.

"Where is it?" the ferret said and she could feel his breath on her neck and knew he would never come this close to her unless he was really, really angry. He had all the advantages, yes, but he knew she was dangerous. This is seriously gonna hurt. Redsplash amended her thought blearily.

"Where is what?" she asked bitterly, and then hissed in shock as a dagger point punctured the skin high up on her right arm, and was dragged down nearly to her elbow.

"Don't play innocent Brighteye." The ferret hissed and Redsplash's eyes slammed shut tighter as she felt something light begin to fall into her cut.

She hissed again and her head twitched to the side when the scratch began to sting from the salt the Unnamed One had just so liberally sprinkled in the new cut.

"Tell me Brighteye." The ferret snapped.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Redsplash snapped, her paws clenching into fists as she waited for the pain to cease.

"How unfortunate for you." The Nameless One said, his voice both cold and mocking.

~

Ten days later Redsplash splashed wearily in the water, her two broken legs dragging her down. She had been chained in the water for seven days, deprived of food for ten, and she was getting dangerously tired. The pond she was in was deep, and the post she was chained to was positioned in the direct middle of the pond. There was now way she could reach the shallows to stand. She was forced to keep swimming or risk drowning. And for Redsplash, who had been so perfect a swimmer so very long ago, death due to drowning would have been too much of a disgrace for her to allow.

The Nameless One stood on the bank of the wide pond, smirking coldly at her as she fought wearily to stay afloat. He had come to visit her only one before since her arrival in the pond. He had called out to her, demanded to know where the thing she had stolen was, but she did not reply. If Redsplash had known whatever the cursed thing was, she would have told him long ago. Her powerful resistance to, and near love of, pain had limits, as every living and non-living thing does. To get rid of the pain from her legs and from the many cuts on her pelt, Redsplash would have told him the location of anything in the world, if she only where anything important was. But he had not visited her again up until now, which was why she bothered paying attention to him at all.

"I won't tell you, you know. You can't break me." Redsplash said, her voice cracked but still laughing and scornful. She had decided, as soon as she had become coherent, not to let the ferret think that she had no idea as to the whereabouts of whatever he had lost was. If he knew, without any doubt, that Redsplash had lost something he valued and there was no way he would ever get it back, he would kill her. And no death the ferret dealt would be pleasant, unless he made a mistake. And the ferret never made mistakes.

"Everything breaks, Brighteye." The ferret replied, crouching on the edge of the stream and looking at her calmly, "Some things are just too stupid to realize when they're broken."

Redsplash shook her head, using up some of her precious little remaining energy, "You're wrong, you Nameless Bastard. I can't be broken.  Not by you." She giggled, finding her own garbled voice humorous, and drifted listlessly as she used one drenched paw to remain afloat, "Not by a bastard whose mother didn't see fit to give him a name."

The Nameless One paused, as if considering if he should be angry or amused. After a long moment he said, "How long have you been in that water?"

"How would I know? Do you think I've been counting? Oh, yes, here I go: one, two, three-" Redsplash snapped back, "Uh-oh." She said and unexpectedly went under the water. Several long seconds ticked by, and the otter did not surface.

"Long enough." The Nameless One decided, "Guards! Bring the otter out and chain it somewhere where the sun will burn it. Still no food, and no more water." He turned and was gone before he could see Redsplash sink her teeth into the paw of the first guard that tried to fish her out.

~

Redsplash wondered briefly why she could not have been born a rock. Rocks wrists weren't tied loosely to posts so that the sun beat down on them the entire day, and they did not need food or water. Rocks weren't beaten and cut and no one attempted to break a rock. Rocks were strong, and they didn't feel pain. Redsplash wanted to be a rock. That way, hopefully, someone would pick her up and fling her at the Nameless One's head. Oh, what a joy that would be. As an otter, it would take something considerably large to chunk her at the Nameless One's head with any accuracy, and Redsplash would prefer it if anything that big kept it's stinky paws to itself.

She'd had no water for around two and a half days, and no food for a long, long time. The chain that attached her wrist to the sturdy wooden post gave her enough room to lay on the ground, but not enough to get anywhere near any thing resembling shade. She felt burned from the outside by the sun and the pain from her two broken legs kept her from moving much as she lay, sprawled in a carefully nonchalant pose she had made when she still possessed the ability to think straight and move. Her eyes were half-closed, as she lacked the energy and the ability to close them all the way or open then anymore, and she was barely breathing as she danced drunkenly along the thin line between the realms of sanity and insanity. Not that Redsplash had been what most would call 'sane' for a very long time, not since…before. Oh, yes, it would be so much fun being a rock.

"Red? Red, are you alive?" asked an urgent voice.

That's funny, Redsplash thought dazedly as she awoke slowly from her light slumber. She didn't remember falling to sleep. But then…who does remember falling asleep, anyway?

"Red!" the voice came again, followed by a brief pain on her face. Someone she knew had just slapped her.

Slowly she felt someone open her right eye all the way and she concentrated on Adthe's face. "Red?" he asked, frowning worriedly down at her. Seeing as how her lips were practically glued together from the sun, she did not attempt anything stupid, like talking, but merely closed her eyes as far as she could again and tried to go back to sleep.

So Adthe was here, why did it matter? Hadn't he escaped before, during the rebellion that had failed? Maybe this was just a dream. If it was a dream, it was a very annoying one. She would prefer a dream with food, water, and perhaps a nice pointy spear to jab the Nameless One with, not one in which some idiotic friend of Fatefiend kept trying to talk to her. Stupid idiot…

Suddenly a blazing pain caused her to sit right up, her lips to snap open, and both eyes to widen to their fullest extent. Adthe, it seemed, had gotten a very bright idea and tried setting her broken legs. The bastard.

"So you are alive." He said, and if all her energy had not fled her at that very moment, and if she had not fainted dead away, she would have killed him for the smugness in his voice.

~

"Wake up, otter." Snapped a cold voice, followed by a quick and unwelcome kick to the ribs.

Redsplash's eyes opened slightly and she swallowed reflexively. And then marveled at the simple fact. She could swallow! She was immediately disgusted at her own joy, but just as quickly forgave herself. Adthe must have given her some water while he was here; otherwise swallowing would have been as impossible as flying.

"I've been thinking," drawled the Unnamed One in a dangerously calm voice, "Of cutting off your tail."

Redsplash, delighting in her new found water, took aim and spat directly in the Unnamed One's angry face. He did not, for some reason, approve.

Suddenly she was bleeding. She wasn't sure how but it was there. Blood. The next hours were a blur but she remembered blood and incredible pain and the flashing of a knife. Apparently she had done the wrong thing. But it was all right. Pain was good; it meant she was alive.

Her tired mind seemed to not be able to get a grip on all the pain, as if it was too much for her to understand, but she remembered opening her mouth to shout something and being aware of the fact that her lips were split and she, before she could react, swallowed some of her own blood. She did not know how many times she was cut, since her confused mind smeared all the pain together, unable to comprehend the hurt of each new slash in her burned skin. She knew though, that if she lived through this, once her mind worked again, it was going to hurt extremely badly. It almost made her wish she were dead. Almost.  She had some things to do before she died. Such as make the Nameless One beg for death and force him to eat his own eyes before she killed him.

 Redsplash was not sure when her mind sort of shut down, leaving her without the ability to think straight and without the capability to feel pain, but it did and she went into a semi-unconscious state seconds later. It was a strangely comfortable experience, being unable to think. It was like, she realized, that second of peaceful lack you experience right before waking up, when you're almost still asleep, but your eyes are wide open. She could see the sky, and could feel the odd sensation of her own blood flowing over her pelt, but not the pain that should have accompanied it. She could hear, distantly, the faint roar of something like an ocean, and if she tried really hard she could almost smell the salt of it…but she only breathed in the smell for a few seconds, and then she drifted off to relaxation. 

However, peace had never lasted long in Redsplash's life, and her mind woke up again after some immeasurable amount of time had passed. Redsplash looked tiredly around, still not able to feel the pain, though she knew it must had been immense. She sat up a bit, propping herself up on her scraped elbows and looking around. Blood was everywhere, smeared across her face, paws, the rock she was standing on. It was strange, since Redsplash's vision seemed to be flickering between black and grays and colors. The red, though, she could always see. It was beautiful, in its way.

"Now, otter, I'm giving you one more chance." The Nameless One proclaimed calmly, "Tell me where it is or I'll throw you in your little habitat with lots and lots of murderous pike that will rip you apart and digest you."

Redsplash frowned at him and, slowly, climbed to her feet. She felt some half-scabbed over wound rip apart, but it was a distant feeling. It lacked the pain it should have brought. She turned, wobbling on legs that did not seem to be properly attached, and looked down. A long, long distance down, sat a splash of blue: a lake. It was not the ocean she had sensed before, but it was still undeniably water. Even from the height, though, she could make out the dark shadows of the pike underneath the water.

            Redsplash turned her unsteady gaze back at the ferret then laughed softly, in a strange high-pitched giggle, "You would never kill me. I am the only one that knows where it is." She tried to say, but her words slurred together and her tongue seemed to be too thick to fit in her mouth, which seemed as dry as a desert and itched unmercifully.

            The Nameless One simply smirked, an expression that sent the first tendrils of terror poking into her listless mind, and pushed her off the cliff. Before Redsplash could even begin to comprehend what had happened, she was tumbling through the air, down to the water filled with pike that would slaughter her.

            "OF COURSE, I COULD BE WRONG!" Redsplash screamed, but the words were snatched from her by the vicious wind.

 ~

            ((Right, so I'm back. Editing, you see. Not just because I sorta promised that I would, but also because I read back over it before launching into the sequel (I've finished the first chapter for the sequel and I'll be posting it later today, hopefully) and winced a couple times. So, yeah, I'm here to fix up all those wince-prone moments and probably because now I'll have something easier to do than write up whole new chapters for Destiny Bearing (the sequel.) It all ties back to my lazy nature, you see. Anyway, review if you want, and check up on the sequel if you want, I can't exactly force you to do either.))