A strange New Land (Redwall)

Chapter 6: Friends or Enemies?

What had happened, how am I not dead. Ohhh right. Hahaha. I laughed inwardly at my own stupidity. Crosstooth hadn't abandoned me after all, he'd come back for me. I remember, in the middle of the night he had come back and given me water. A little guilt crossed me as I remembered how I had cursed him for leaving me behind. "Ya, better have left me some of that whiskey Crosstooth." I said aloud jokingly as I began to regain my consciousness. I heard Crosstooth walking towards me and rolled over to meet him, only it wasn't Crosstooth. It wasn't even a fox. Is that a Squirrel? Crosstooth never said anything about Stoats being enemies with squirrels did he?" I tried to sit up, but the squirrel gently pressed me back to the ground. He tilted a flask to my snout and I gulped down as much as I could before he moved it away.

"You were just about a goner when we found you, and lucky we did or you wouldn't be awake right now." His voice told me he was a male.

I summed up enough strength to speak, "Thank you sir, you wouldn't happen to have seen my mate Crosstooth. He's a fox, reddish orange one? I think he gave me water last night."

The squirrel chuckled, "That was me who gave you water, although I do remember you speaking that name to me last night. You must have been hallucinating. The heat can do that to you."

"C-can I get some more water, please."

The squirrel tilted the flask to my snout and I gulped in more until I couldn't anymore and then I Iaid back down. I was in the shade which meant he had moved me.

"What's your name lad?" The squirrel asked.

"I'm Kevin Renold, but I just go by Reny" I considered for a moment whether or not I should tell him about my history with the general named Fangburn, but decided against it. "What's your name sir?" I asked.

"I'm Tammic and that over there is Russa" The squirrel pointed over to another squirrel sitting on a rock behind him. I tried to wave, but my paws were tied. That's when I remembered that I was tied up. So the fox did leave me after all... bastard. He tied me up and left me for dead.

"Well, I'm eternally grateful for you two stepping in and saving me. I was just about ready to call it quits and wave goodbye to the world of the living."

"Well, we weren't about to let a beast just die on our watch." Tammic said.

That's a good sign. I guess I can mark squirrels as not my enemy. Considering the otters attacked me almost instantly, squirrels seem rather chill so far.

"You wouldn't mind cutting me loose would ya?" I ventured to ask.

The squirrel looked back at Russa which worried me, maybe squirrels weren't my friends. But at this point who was? It seemed like just about everyone was my enemy. Even Crosstooth had betrayed me. After a second the Squirrel pulled out his knife and began cutting me free, "All right Stoat, I'm cutting you loose, but one wrong move and Russa there will make sure it's your last."

"My name is Reny remember? Why does everyone I meet have to be a bunch of dicks." I said as I stood up and stretched out my arms and legs. They hurt and ached like hell especially where the ropes had dug into my fur. God it felt good to stand up and move around.

"So Reny, if you don't mind me asking, what's with the burn marks across your chest and shoulder? They look fairly recent by my guess." Tammic asked.

Just the mere mention of the injuries made the pain return. Flashbacks of the torcher chamber flickered through my mind and my heart started to race, but I controlled it. In the VA they had taught me how to deal with PTSD, now I saw it as more of a nuisance, as something to get past as soon as possible and then forget about. I closed my eyes and took a couple deep breaths, fully aware of the fact that I was being watched by my two new acquaintances. Ok... It's over. I opened my eyes to find Tammic and Russa watching me closely, Tammic looked more worried. Russa looked impatient. Great mix.

"Well... I was taken by some otters, at least I think they were otters," I chose my words carefully as I didn't want to offend. "They were, well lets just say they were very. They tortured me" I finally blurted out. "I washed up on the beach near their compound and they took me inside. I must have been there for a couple of a day maybe more before I escaped." I decided to leave out the fact that if I ever got the chance I would kill that otter in the most brutal way imaginable.

Russa and Tammic exchange looks, which worried me. "Why did they capture you? What did they want to know?"

I scratched my head in frustration, why did it feel like everyone I talked to wanted to interrogate me. "He asked about some general.  I know nothing about him though, never seen the beast.  For all I know he's dead, but they wanted to know specifics like where he was camped out and how many beasts he had with him. I didn't know any of this so... well you get the idea."

Again the two squirrels exchanged looks, "And who is this Crosstooth vermin you were talking about?"

"We escaped together, but I guess he betrayed me. I'm guessing he's the one who tied me up and took all the food. He said that otters would always be enemies with my kind, whatever that means. I'm not from here, so I don't know what is going on if I'm being honest. Most of the information I got was from Crosstooth and he's clearly not reliable."

"What do you mean you're not from here?"

"I grew up in a place far, far away from here. Creatures don't just get taken and tortured for no reason. There's a process, a court system, and judicial proceedings. Where's the justice in torturing some beast who hasn't done anything." I said.

"What kinds of things did this fox tell you?"

"Oh you know random things like, killing is the only way vermin can survive and that my kind is universally enemies with hares, mice, otters, and there was one other, I think it was bush-tails or something like that. He didn't mention squirrels though." I said as I took another sip from the flask.

Again the two of them exchanged looks.