What You Leave Behind [OPEN TO PLOT/OPEN]

[Brooke]

Brookesong saw Violet pass out. She turned to Tirael who was just wrapping up all of the healing.

"Violet's down over there. It doesn't look good. You might want to get over there soon." She then turned back around and started slinging again. She was getting more and more worried because she still hadn't seen River.

---

River didn't know what possessed him, all he knew was that he had to get to Lorna and fast. While he walked he thought about how it would feel to have his blade pierce the fox's heart and to feel all that warm blood of his enemy running over his hands.

Suddenly he was yanked back into reality. He saw Tam limping cautiously along. He started sprinting to catch up with her.

"Tam, what happened.... Do you need help?" He asked. She looked like she was Ok... For now. But, then again she was good at hiding pain having been a slave. He kept shooting concerned glances as they cautiously made their way to the gate.

Suddenly he was distracted... He heard her voice... Lorna was near. He growled low in his throat. Gripping his spear he spat "Stay here, I'll be back." at Tam before preparing to run off in pursuit of Lorna.

[Rocky]

The sounds of battle reached the ears of an otter. A certain, black furred otter, by the name of Rocky. His ears twitched as steel upon steel and the angry, but faint, sound of arrows reached his ears, making them ring. He looked in the direction they came from, and above the treeline, he saw the fort. Fort N'Tashi.

"So it has begun" He said, his feet carrying him into a sprint as his arm grabbed his shortsword.

His feet pounded like pistons as they hit the snow covered ground, his boots kicking up snow. A patch of ice was disguised underneath a new snowfall and the otter slipped and fell forward. His hand caught the snow and he pushed himself up fully before he fell completely flat, and he kept on running.

He skidded to a stop as the fort loomed in front of him, arrows reigning like hell's fire all around. Then, his eyes widened. He remembered that day when he was traveling and he saw that one female otter. What was her name? Tam? Tammy? Tampa? Yes! Tampa! He hoped she was alright.

His pace quickened and he ran onto the scene of battle. One guard rushed at him, figuring him for another rebel, his sword seeking blood. Rocky's blood.

The otter side-stepped the guard, so the guard turned sharply, catching Rocky by surprise and lunging at him. Rocky backed up, grabbed the guard's hand and knocked the sword from his grasp. The guard looked at Rocky then kicked at him, his foot going for Rocky's rib.

The black otter caught the guards foot, brought his own foot around the giard's remaining foot on the ground, then pushed. The guard fell hard, with Rocky on top of him, and Rocky's blade in his throat.

Rocky stood back up again, and continued his run for the fort, searching for the one called Tampa.

HE spotted her and ran to her, his feet moving faster then ever. Then, he saw her stumble, an arrow protruding from her leg. He cursed himself for not being fast enough and continued his sprinted, slamming into another guard to get to Tampa.

When he got there, Tampa had ripped the arrow in half and left part of the shaft still in her leg. His healing skills weren't good enough to heal her. He looked to his right and noticed another otter there. He hadn't seen him before and just looked back at Tampa. He dropped to his knees and looked at her. "Tampa. Remember me?''

OOc: Sorry, not my best.

[Treble Tiderunner]

"Tam, what happened.... Do you need help?"

“Got shot. What does it look like?” Tam gritted, flattening herself against a building. Only a short distance to sprint, but she’d have to elude the guards in the doorway.

Suddenly he was distracted... He heard her voice... Lorna was near. He growled low in his throat. Gripping his spear he spat "Stay here, I'll be back."

“River!” Tampa called, but it was futile, it was like her friend didn’t even hear her. He kept running, tracking down his elusive tormentor. “Not the time to take revenge.” She couldn’t fault his reasons, though they were ill-timed.

"Tampa. Remember me?''

Tampa looked down at the black otter kneeling in front of her, then back at the gate.

“Rocky right? Are you ready?” she was watching the gate and saw an opening. “C’mon.” She grabbed his paw to pull him up, already moving quickly and knowing she couldn’t continue with the arrow in the muscle like that. It bloody hurt! Tam slung an arm over Rocky’s shoulder, speaking rapidly in an undertone. “Probably a few seconds afore they spot us. We have to move fast. I wont be much ‘elp, lost both me spear and me dagger, and injured this way. Are you good with that sword?”

---

[Rocky]

“Rocky right?"

He nodded his head, looking at her wounded leg. The arrow looked lodged deep, probably protruding through the muscle tissue. IT didn't look pretty.

"Are you ready?”

He merely nodded, a smirk growing into a grin, ''When you are.'' He responded, and before he could stand up himself, Tampa sprung up and grabbed his hand and started running towards the gate.

He wasn't doctor, but knew some medical things that could come in handy, like how to patch up a wound, but not as much as doctors do. However, it didn't take a genious to know that running on a wounded leg with half an arrow protruding, wasn't neccessarily good. He kept quiet, though, feeling it best not to speak, and to concentrate on making it to the gate.

It wasn't until she slung her arm around his shoulder for support that he really realized she shouldn't b running that hard. ''I don't think it's good to run on that leg.. Do you want me to go there myself? Or do you want me to carry you?''

The last question was meant as a joke, though, if Tampa needed him to carry her, which he doubted, he wouldn't mind helping, seeing her as a leader of this, little, operation.

[Treble Tiderunner]

Lorna led her group up to the walltop, she knew her crew's strength and it wasn't paw to paw combat for the most part. They spread along the wall, gathering the stones and arrow left there for combat. Lorna herself gathered up the bow of a fallen guard and started shooting, taking careful but swift aim with each shot.

---

''I don't think it's good to run on that leg.. Do you want me to go there myself? Or do you want me to carry you?''

Tam gave the black otter an incredulous look, running in a hop-skip way that made up for her injury. "Go there yourself? I am not staying behind in this hellhole another day, do you hear me? And how are you to protect us if you carry me?" Another few feet and they'd be there.

"Look to the front!" Tampa cried, producing a knife from somewhere (Rocky's belt) and slinging it at a rushing hordebeast. The dagger, not weighted for throwing, merely grazed the vixen's side.


((No, the vixen is not Lorna))

[Brooke]

River ran up the ramparts and looked around, holding his spear loosely at his side. Suddenly, there the voice was again. Using it to guide him, he ran to where Lorna and several other vermin were firing on the residents of Camp. He came up behind her and placed the tip of his spear into her lower back, while placing a dagger he had taken off a corpse to her neck. "So, we meet again vixen, how do you like now that the slaves are fighting back, not feeling so 'igh and mighty now are we?" he drawled into her ear.

[Tirael]

Tirael tended carefully to Violet, who was beginning to recover consciousness slowly. "Easy, easy, easy, Vi. You took a slingstone to your head, it's a miracle you're not badly hurt." He recalled that the same type of injury had wiped his brain clean of almost all its memories; some beasts had all the luck.

Propping her behind a tree until she could properly resume fighting, or at least achieve full awareness, he looked about and glanced at the open gate in the Fort's outer wall.

He saw Tampa.

His heart skipped a beat. Nothing else mattered now, not until she was safely outside would anything else matter. Which is why his heart skipped another beat when he saw a vixen rushing his sister. He dodged his way hurriedly to the gate, and saw the knife Tampa threw graze the fox's side. It kept its path toward the injured otter, though; in a trice, Tirael had unwound his sling, picked a stone, and fired. Not today, he thought, and definitely not her.

[Maxodis]

It took a great amount of willpower to not curse vehemently and charge after the otter he injured. It was illogical for her to be able to walk, as it was illogical for he long, heavy, arrow shaft to have not blasted clear through her leg, or, upon hitting bone, shattering it. Luck must not have been on his side this day. Not only was she mobile, but others had moved to assist her. Bah, she would get hers soon enough.

A sufficient amount of time had passed for at least some of his orders to have been put into action. Two armed squadrons of infantry lurked in the woods on either side of the gate outside the Fort, out of sight and hearing of the freebeasts. Their numbers were comparable to those freeing the slaves, but only just barely. Their objective, however, was not to wipe out all opposition. Their main priority was to secure the gate.

Seeing an opportunity to put his plan into action, the ferret withdrew his cleaver and made for the wall, leaving those who stood in his path significantly more torn than they had been previously. the cleaver's unusual jagged edge left grisly wounds that were known to be extremely difficult to treat on the spot. It wasn't designed so much to cut deeply as it was designed to keep its victim bleeding despite efforts to stem blood's flow.

Uncontested, Vsevolod stood alone on the ramparts. He vaguely saw the glint of steel in the woods behind and around the scattered attackers and fleeing slaves. Less than a third of the slaves had already gained the security of the woods. The situation was still salvageable. He withdrew a particularly thick arrow from his quiver and drew it back, aiming at the sky. The head of the arrow was large and oddly shaped, it appeared to be a wooden knob with two holes in it. Vsevolod had drilled small twisting holes in the arrow that would make a loud, piercing whistle noise that would be heard well above the combat and travel for miles. He fired it into the air and winced slightly as the high-pitched sound assailed his ears. The counterattack would commence, and those creatures unaware of what was happening would be informed. Reinforcements would be on the way.

The downside to his tactic was that undoubtedly all creatures in the area were now aware of his position. This was reinforced by the sudden rain of arrows around him. The ferret needed no further prompting to hastily descend from the ramparts. He no longer needed to "lead", as it were. The two groups of hordesbeasts would charge recklessly forward and make their attempt to secure and close the gates. The reinforcements that were bound to arrive would then wipe out the opposition within the fort and any without that was still around after the Fort had been secured.

[Treble Tiderunner]

Lorna had her bow drawn to her ear, sighting carefully down it. A spear tip poked her spine, and she swore, more irritated that the spear, now joined by a dagger, had thrown off her aim than actually concerned. Nothing should throw off her aim like that, it was inexcusable. But her paw had twitched just the little bit.

"So, we meet again vixen, how do you like now that the slaves are fighting back, not feeling so 'igh and mighty now are we?" he drawled into her ear.

Lorna put a finger to the tip of the dagger, pushing it out as she slipped to one side and away, spinning to face the otter, beyond easy reach of his spear. Her two long fighting daggers were in her paws. “I am not a coward!” Reversing the blade of a dagger, she pointed backwards at the battle. “That is preferable to sitting about doing nothing! This place rots about us, N’Tashi along with it! He’s weak, they’re all weak, and you call me a coward?”

[Rocky]

"And how are you to protect us if you carry me?"

"Easy," Rocky winked, "You hang on to me as I fight.''

Then, her words rang in his ears loud, like bells tolling out the hour of the day,

"Look to the front!"

He turned and saw a fox in front of them. "Ugh.. Foxes. Ill deal with 'er.''

He brandished his curved short sword and walked towards her, gradually increasing his speed, he went for his belt knife only to find it not there. He turned around only to see it flying towards the vixen. He ducked by instinct as the knife sailed past his ear and skimmed the vixen. As he leaped in the air and stabbed down, a flying stone took his kill from him as a loud 'thunk' was heard as the stone cracked against her head.

The lifeless body fell into Rocky's arms and he threw it away in disgust, sheathing his blade. ''That counts as mine!'' Rocky shouted across to Tirael in a playful manner.

He turned and ran back to Tampa, and wrapped her arm around him and started walking and jogging at the same time.

They passed the dead body of the fox, and Rocky bent down quickly to pick up his knife, thrusting it quickly into his belt. He checked under his arm for the sheath he always kept there. The sheath holding his coveted knife. The curved one his father had. The sheath was attached to a throng of leather that hung over Rocky's shoulder, connected at each end of the sheath.

It kept banging into his side as he hobbeled. It caused an irritating bumping as it kept hitting his side. He sighed a long sigh and kept on walking with Tampa.

"Uh!" Rocky soon gasped, the irritating bumping in his side, being replaced by a sharp feeling in his leg.

He quickly looked down to see an arrow in his leg. Great, just what they needed. One helper wounded helping another. The arrow wasn't shot with great precision, but it stung. It went through Rocky's calf area, not hitting the muscle at all, or even breaking the tissue for that matter. The arrow was stuck in the outer edge of his leg, a piece of skin, about two inches away from the middle of his calf muscle.

He ripped the sheath from his underarm, pulled the knife out and threw the sheath wildly at a random archer, turned back to the gate, tightened his grip about Tampa's shoulders and ran, as fast as he could qith his shallow wound and Tampa. The gates were closing and he pushed her ahead of him, and he dove out after her, the gates still closing ever so slowly.

"I think you're free..'' Rocky breathed sharply, still jogging with her to get away from the ramparts and out of arrow range.

But soon, Rocky heard shouts from behind and he stopped and turned, his blade glistening as light bounced off it.

He sighed a sigh of relief for the shouts weren't of guards but of a mouse. An old mouse, greying, around 50. He came running quickly, a young one trailing behind with a stick and two more next to him. The old mouse ran for Rocky and Tampa, the other young ones standing around him.

"Tampa! Glad to see you escaped!" The old mouse breathed. "This old mouse still has it in him." The mouse was none other then Griffin. Probably the only one still alive who was there when Redwall was taken over.

[Tirael]

''That counts as mine!''

Tirael wasn't intent on contesting that; he didn't really like killing anyways. Nonetheless, he continued slinging from the relative cover of the gate archway to cover Tampa and Rocky. He gave a start as an arrow appeared to grow out of Rocky's leg, but knew there was nothing he could do until they arrived.

The moment that the two otters reached the gate, Tirael shifted them so they could both use him for support. "Come on, you two, we've gotta get out of here now." He watched in surprise as Griffin came up; he had never met the mouse, and didn't believe somebeast his age could run like that. Apparently, slavery kept one running-fit.

"I guess that makes it you three. Right then, we've really gotta go now!" Helping his two injured friends along, they made their way to where a large amount of freed slaves had gathered. Once they were safely behind cover, he fulfilled the dream he had had for two years: he hugged Tampa. All the loneliness, the sense of abandonment, the pain...it disappeared with that. She was here now, solid, alive, free. "Missed you," Tirael said quietly.

[Treble Tiderunner]

A high, piercing whistle split the air. Skipper looked up, immediately finding the source. He fired off two slingstones, quick-like, at the captain. All the time raising his voice in a carried roar.
“GET OUT NOW, RETREAT. RETREAT. RIVER GET OFF THE WALL. OFF THE WALL, I SAID. RETREAT!”

That was sure to be a signal. The woodlanders about Skipper started gathering in, moving as they went, they picked up more woodlanders, injured and not. What had meant to be a delaying action had nearly turned into a full-scale battle. Like a whisper on the breeze, a command went through the rebels. “Get home safe. Scatter. Protect the slaves.”

---

"Easy," Rocky winked, "You hang on to me as I fight.''

Flirt. Tam’s mind told her, as he heeded her warning and let her go to deal with the vixen. Tam continued to hobble, swinging a wild punch at a hordebeast that got in her way. Rocky returned then and she placed her weight on him gratefully as they sped towards the gate. She glanced up, giving Tir a grin and a wink. She’d seen him throw that stone.

He brandished his curved short sword and walked towards her, gradually increasing his speed, he went for his belt knife only to find it not there. He turned around only to see it flying towards the vixen. He ducked by instinct as the knife sailed past his ear and skimmed the vixen. As he leaped in the air and stabbed down, a flying stone took his kill from him as a loud 'thunk' was heard as the stone cracked against her head.

"Uh!" Rocky soon gasped, the irritating bumping in his side, being replaced by a sharp feeling in his leg.

Rocky stumbled and Tampa braced him, looking down to assess the damage. Not too bad, and the gate was feet away… suddenly she was rolling forward, a motion she related to her imitation of a wheel earlier. Wha-

"I think you're free..."

Finally coming to a stop with a rather comical look of surprise on her face, Tampa took a few precious seconds to register this fact and why Rocky had seen fit to send her sprawling. There. Griffin with an escort of young creatures just barely slipped out of the small wicker gate before it shut.

"Tampa! Glad to see you escaped!" The old mouse breathed. "This old mouse still has it in him."

“Griffin.” Tam said, nodding to him as she tore a long strip off her hem and tore that in two to wrap around her leg and the arrow, to slow blood leaking from the wound.

"Come on, you two, we've gotta get out of here now." He watched in surprise as Griffin came up; he had never met the mouse, and didn't believe somebeast his age could run like that. Apparently, slavery kept one running-fit.

"I guess that makes it you three. Right then, we've really gotta go now!"

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Tampa said, standing stiffly and slinging an arm over her brother’s shoulder. “Whooohahahaha! Really stuck one in ol’ N’Tashi, huh!” She continued chatting as they reached the safety of the trees, two years worth of talk stored up. Fern came to meet them, looking from one to the other, swinging her sling casually.

"Missed you,"

“I missed you!” Tam said, hugging her brother back. “Now c’mon. We gotta go. I heard Skipp bellowing.”

Fern hung back, staring at Tirael and Tam. She didn’t know this strange otteress who was hugging Tirael. She felt the outsider again.

[Tirael]

“Now c’mon. We gotta go. I heard Skipp bellowing.”

Tirael disengaged from the hug, nodding. "Right. Okay, everyone, you heard Skipp, we've got to move out! Group one, follow your leaders that way. Group two, that way! Hurry now!" Supporting Tam again, he gestured for Rocky and Griffin to come along. He began to trot through the woods, away from the Fort, guiding the first group toward Camp Moss on a curved route that would hopefully mislead their pursuers, if there were any. Looking about, he saw Fern's look of confusion and realized what she was thinking. "Oh! Uh, Fern, this is my sister, Tampa." He had dropped the word 'adoptive' out of that description years ago. "Tampa, this is my...friend Fern," he explained to his sister, hoping she wouldn't pick up on the short pause. For once it irked him that Tam could read him like an open book.
_______________________________

Laila hurriedly ushered Brend along, running with the second group. They were to run in an opposite direction from the other group; not exactly an original plan, but trusty enough to use. As Fort N'tashi shrank into the background, the escaped slaves began to get excited. They were free! However, they weren't safe yet, as Laila felt it necessary to point out. "Quiet, the louder we are the easier we are to follow. Celebrate when we're safe." Inwardly, though, she was. Maybe now things would be different for her, better for Brend.

She wasn't sure she had seen right, but as Brend fell, a javelin sticking out from below his shoulder, she wished she hadn't. The shrew wasn't the type to scream, only to numbly catch the one she had cared for for so long. Holding him close as she ran, she murmured desperately. "It's alright, we'll make it, don't leave me, don't, please, please, we're almost there, keep going, please..." For the first time in her life tears streaked through the fur on her face as she carried Brend, clinging desperately to the one thing she really had in the world.

[Rocky]

"Come on, you two, we've gotta get out of here now."

"Alright." Rocky said in a sort of gasp as pain shot through his leg, as they traveled to the huddle of freed slaves.

"Right. Okay, everyone, you heard Skipp, we've got to move out! Group one, follow your leaders that way. Group two, that way! Hurry now!"

Rocky nodded, not knowing what group he was in. He was confused at this point, then, as if to re-direct him, Tirael waved him and Griffin to follow him.

Rocky couldn't run fast, the pain in his leg only increasing each time he put his foot down. Griffin, as small as he was, however, kept stride with Rocky, not caring how hard it was to go so fast. Griff was a sprinter, not a long runner. He grabbed Rocky's arm and draped it across the back of his neck, standing slightly on he tip of his feet.

Rocky lowered his stance a bit so it would be easier on Griffin. Griffin smiled, and Rocky grinned. They were gonna be fast friends.

OOC: Not much to write.. Sorry.

[Brooke]

Suddenly River was ripped out of his bloodthirsty rage.

“GET OUT NOW, RETREAT. RETREAT. RIVER GET OFF THE WALL. OFF THE WALL, I SAID. RETREAT!” yelled Skipper.

Without a backwards glance, he shoved Lorna out of his way and ran down to the nearest exit. He ran through the gates barely making it before they were shoved closed. Running to the nearest group of animals, he wrapped them up in a massive hug while yelling gleefully, "I'm free!" Suddenly someone crossed his mind. Brookesong! He ran around trying to find her, asking anyone within arms' length if they had seen her.

---

Brooke back in the fringe of the trees heard nothing about River escaping, and continued to treat the wounded and get others back to camp. She sighed. I guess he didn't make it out. she thought. She wiped a paw across her eyes and hoped no one had seen the few tears that had escaped.

---

Violet suddenly woke up sitting behind a tree with her head pounding. Where am I? she thought. She groaned. Her head echoed with voices that suddenly came into focus.

"Easy, easy, easy, Vi. You took a slingstone to your head, it's a miracle you're not badly hurt." said a familiar voice.

"Whadaya mean "Not badly hurt" My head feels like I've been listening to screaming Dibbuns for a season straight!" she said indignantly.