Lexi notched an arrow to her bow and stepped out from behind the cover of the bush.
As the weasel behind Aldah prepared to strike, Lexi shot.
The arrow flew through the air and penetrated deep into the weasel's shoulder. With a scream, he dropped his sword and fell to the ground, clutching his arm in agony. The other weasels looked around frantically, but the vixen had already ducked behind the bush.
From the far side of the camp, Rippler watched as a opossum and a fox joined the fray.
Together with the rat, they drove the weasels back into the woods. Several fell with arrows embedded in them, including Aser, who was dead before he hit the ground.
"I see your tribe has come for you."
Startled, Rippler looked behind him, as much as he could being ties to the tree.
Whalen, his face dark with anger, limped into view."Perhaps the old fool was right. We should had killed you on the spot, not drugged your worthless self back here." he growled as he pointed a knife at the otter. "But your tribe won't reach you in time."
"The're not my tribe! I don't even know them." Rippler exclaimed.
Whalen sneered. "Do you really expect me to believe --" That was the last words the weasel would ever utter.
Lexi fired one more shot, then lowered her bow.
Silents filled the clearing. Several weasels lay dead, but most had fled into the forest.
Walking past their still forms, Lexi kept her gaze fixed ahead.
How she hated death. She stopped beside Aldah, who was busy removing a gold chine from around a weasel's neck. "Leave it, Aldah." Lexi said.
Her friend looked up. "You have to be joking. This is real gold."
Lexi looked away. "It won't help you anymore then it did him." she muttered.
Aldah smirked. "Still don't like death, do you?" she asked.
"No,it is horrible." Lexi answered. "Yet, you don't seem to mind it."
"It is useful to thieves like us." She said as she triumphantly held up the gold chain.
"Not like me." Lexi whispered bitterly, too low for anyone to hear. "I'm going ti check the boat." She said to the rat.
"Suit yourself." Aldah answered.
Before the vixen left the clearing, she paused to look back at the others. Cedric and Ozzy were busy talking to the captive otter, who was now free. She knew that by the time the weasels returned, if the ever did, that they would be long gone. She slung her bow over her shoulder and headed for the river. The forest was unusually quiet. No leaves rustled, no birds sung and no insects chirped. The only sound was from the waves lapping against the shore. She stood under a overhanging tree at the river's edge, watching dark shadows of fish as they swam by.
The sun was hid in the overcast sky. The heat of battle had wore off and now Lexi could feel a slight breeze blowing though the cold air. She shivered as she pulled her cloak tighter and gazed across the river.
Aldah removed a brass band from around a dead weasel's wrist and tossed it into a pile. She felt no guilt nor remorse at having killed the creature. After all, he would have killed her.
Long ago, her father had left her, her brother and her mother behind when he joined a searat crew, she had to lean to fend for herself. Her mother had died shortly after from sickness and her brother had mysteriously disappeared, leaving her all alone in the world. Aldah had killed and stole many times since then. No guilt, no mercy, just survival.
Living out in the streets had been a struggle for the young rat, until she had met Lexi.
Together, they helped each other to stay alive and had become best friends. Aldah loved the life of the thief, but she still head the hope that her father would return.
She never spoke to Lexi about her past or her wish to see her father again, fearing that the vixen would see it as weakness. Lexi also rarely mentioned anything from before the time they had met and Aldah never asked. Now, as she scavenged among the dead, she hummed a merry tune to herself.
"Where's Lexi?"
She looked up at Cedric. "She ran off. To the river, I think. These weasels scare her." the rat replied. "Really?" Cedric said, twitching his ears. "I didn't see her hesitate when she shot them down."
"No." Aldah agreed. "It is just the dead ones that bother her."
He looked at her for a moment, as if trying to decide whether to say something or not. Finally, he shook his head with a sigh of annoyance and said, "Hurry up and meet us at the boat. And the otter is coming too."
Aldah watched them through narrowed eyes as the three creatures left the clearing. "It just keeps getting better and better." she muttered.
Lexi heard someone approaching and turned to see Cedric, Ozzy and the otter. "Time to go?" she asked.
"Yep." Ozzy answered as he hulled the boat in.
Lexi looked questioningly at the otter. Dressed in a brown jerkin and trousers , he carried his sword by his side and had a smile on his handsome face.
"This is Rippler." Cedric said. "He was captured by the weasels last night and he will be coming with us."
"I'm Lexi." the vixen said, extending her hand.
The otter shook it. "Pleased to meet you." he said.
At that moment, Aldah came hurrying towards them, carrying her hat, which was heavy with scavenged goods. "Are we going or not?" she snapped.
"Yes," Ozzy growled, "Get in the boat. We are waiting on you, rat!"
Lexi and others climbed into the boat. Aldah and Ozzy took the first set of oars, Lixi and Rippler had the next two and Cedric was left with the rear.
Lexi had never rowed a boat before, but she soon got the hang of it.
The boat glided smoothly down the river, aided by the swift current. In no time at all, they neared the overhanging tree where Barwick and Archie were waiting.
"It is about time you got here." Archie said as they rowed the boat closer to the bank.
"He thought you had left us." Barwick said, handing Ozzy and the Rippler their packs, which were then given to Cedric to stack into the back of the boat. After they had finished, the mouse and the stoat climbed in and took the last oar across from Cedric.
Together, the seven creatures rowed the boat down the river, towards their destination.
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