There Will Definitely Be Blood Maybe

[Shor]

This thread is intended for Glavon to post in, but anyone else can join with proper permission.

First part's a flashback.
Second part's in real time.

---

He couldn't see anything beyond the obstruction of two large, calloused paws. If memory served correctly, the room was cleared of all objects, save for the chair upon which he sat.

"What do you see?" asked a gruff voice, evidently the owner of the calloused paws. Barr scanned the empty room as he voiced the question, noting that all distractions had been removed. Lachina had done well.

Lachie sighed, recognizing the question from the last time. This was going to become a regular thing, wasn't it? He might as well answer just as before. "I can't; ye're coverin' my eyes. . ."

"Not now," came the stern reply, "before. With the mouse."

Lachie searched his memory for something with which Barr would be concerned. . . Oh! "You were there?"

"Aye."

"An' I suppose I failed that test, then?"

"Absolutely."

"Wot else?"

"Tell me about 'im -- the beast that interrupted you."

He must have been referring to the one that had tried to walk through the remains of the burnt house. "Well, Bruff yelled at 'im, an' nearly made my ears bleed. Never seen anybeast so--"

"No, Lachlan. Tell me about the other one. The one who's yelled at."

He sighed again, remembering back to the incident. ". . . He's young. Married. Had to 'ave been with 'er less than a season. . . 'e looks worried, an' prob'ly stayed up all night. . ." Lachie trailed off, not yet seeing anything more.

"Anything else?" Barr asked.

"Is that a. . . It looked like he 'ad a burn, 'r scorch mark on 'is ankle. I only catch a glimpse of it as 'e runs away. . ."

"Why was he there? Surely he didn't fail to notice the ashes everywhere. D'ye see anythin' suspicious?

"No, n-- Wait. . . I think 'e stole something!"

Barr smiled. "That's more like it. . ."

---

"All right, I'm gonna try to take a few steps that way. Hold on. . ." A large otter held upright a younger otter, who was having quite the difficult time of walking. The smaller of the two put a footpaw forward, gingerly applying his weight to the ground there. Though in pain, he continued moving forward.

"Ay-- Er, les try there," he grunted, pointing to a patch of softer earth. His paw clenched tightly in the shape of a fist, he took another agonizing step.

His father gave him a concerned look. "Are ye sure ye don't want to quit, Lachie? We can st--"

"No, no," Lachlan interrupted with a shake of the head. "Let's jus'. . . jus' go. . ."

Barr's eye glanced over at Lachie's wheelchair, wondering if it were best to reach over, and pull the contraption closer in case of Lachie being unable to traverse the distance between him and the soft earth. Lachie caught the eye movement, and dispelled the idea from Barr's mind by taking another hasty step toward the patch.

Barr opened his mouth to speak up, but stop upon seeing Lachie's eyes, steadily fixed on his destination. Stubborn otter he was. . . It reminded Barr of himself.

Finally, after several tedious moments, Lachie reached the soft patch of earth, thereupon collapsing into a sitting position. Wincing from the pain walking had caused him, he gestured blindly with his left paw. "Ye can get mah chair now. . ." A slight touch of his "uncle's" dialect slipped through his speech.

Barr did so posthaste, lifting a now confused seer into his self-named "wheely-chair." Lachie dismissed the impulse to ask why he'd had to have been put into his chair -- he could do so quite easily on his own -- and simply relaxed, attempting to regain his usual composure.

Now, it was interesting that these two otters were out in the middle of Mossflower wood, especially considering their purpose, which was to help the younger practice walking. You see, Lachlan was not very apt at walking as of late. An injury from the previous shipwreck had made certain of that. A season later, specifically two weeks, one day, and thirteen hours ago, a reluctant visit to Redwall's Infirmary gave Lachie a second chance with his ability to walk. As much as Lachie did not want to undergo surgery, he did enjoy being able to walk. Now, weeks later, Lachie was working hard in order to begin walking as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the healers of the abbey did not approve, encouraging him to wait until his leg healed significantly, but if the otter started working with it now, he wouldn't have to wait nearly as long. Sure, it was more painful, but it would save him an extra season of confinement to his wheelchair. Therefore, Lachie practiced walking frequently, traveling out into Mossflower to avoid the persistent healers. For some reason, they simply would not allow Lachlan to even stand for a moment. Apparently, the pain and added stress did nothing to help his frequent flashbacks, another result from the shipwreck. He would never get over his post-traumatic-stress disorder at this rate, but the way he saw it, the worst that could happen would be for him to launch into a fugue from the severe mental stress. He wouldn't mind that so much. Can't have flashbacks with amnesia. That would be tantamount to a narcoleptic insomniac.

Barr shook his head at the young otter. What kind of insanity drove a beast to endure excruciating pain against the wishes of healers, all so he could walk sooner? The lad had no patience.

Lachie inhaled deeply, then turned to look at his father. "Right then, should we go n--?"

Barr tilted his head. "Lachie?--"

The seer held up a paw for silence. "I think somebeast's coming. . ." he whispered after a long pause. He could hear heavy breathing in the westerly direction. Barr's paw strayed to the hilt of his sword, which he'd managed to smuggle from the abbey's cellars (where the abbeybeasts had unsuccessfully hidden it) shortly before he and Lachie had left.

Just before Lachie caught sight of the beast, a sick feeling struck him. This would not be the most pleasant of encounters.

[Glavon]

I think somebeast's coming...

Azalea Snowfall hissed as the the obviously younger otter spoke; there was no harm in betraying a position to a beast who knew where you were. The older otter's paw migrated to his sword; Azalea grinned, if a huge scaly lizard actually can grin, something even she was not convinced of. The young otter turned to where the monitor lizard was hidden; Azalea was actually only partially unseeable, so the young otter was sure to catch a glimpse of her relatively quickly.

She stood, the whole six-or-so feet of her towering in the air as she placed a sharp claw on the hilt of her longsword. She hadn't used that blade in a while and rather wanted to avoid rust; not that it was likely that the lusterless, shadowy black metal blade would rust; her armor, made of the same black metal, had been in existance and had also been unused for quite a length of time and had not rusted yet. She usually used her trident, but it was stained heavily with blood and it took a long time to uncollapse it. When she was tracking, it was also preferable not to be hauling around a four foot weapon in a paw.

She chuckled and lifted the longsword out of her belt before she walked out into the open.

[Shor]

((Let me apologize in advance for the poor quality of the post. I've written better.))

---

Lachie saw the beast approach, identifying it just before it stepped out from the shade. It was a monitor lizard. Odd; what was a creature like that doing so deeply in Mossflower?

Barr, himself, hadn't seen her until she had come into clear view -- eyesight was not his forte -- but when she did materialize from the trees, he caught sight of her drawn weapon, and immediately drew his. An audible ringing sound, preceded by the smooth scraping of metal upon metal, bounced along the trees. Normally, swords did not make such a noise when drawn, mainly due to the popularity of leather sheaths. However, Barr had once seen (and heard) a blade drawn from an iron sheath, and, having loved the sound, decided to place a metal clip on the sheath so that, when drawn properly, his sword would create a beautiful ringing sound. Now, beside artistic purposes, the sound was very useful in combat, as it misdirected beasts' attention, their thoughts suddenly pulled toward the source of the hypnotic ring. It gave Barr the upper paw as far as intimidation. Somehow, it made a stranger seem, well, stranger.

Barr looked to Lachie, who was then shaking his head in recognition, but disappointment as well.

"You're the lizard? You're Azalea Snowfall?" Lachie sensed that she wouldn't know what he was talking about -- Barr certainly didn't. The seer chuckled. "I was the one who found out about the forge incident over at Salamandastron. . . though, I suppose you probably don't know about that. . ." He tried to keep up the small talk, keeping a casual, light-hearted air about himself. The longer he could keep this lizard's thoughts occupied, the more of a chance he had of survival.

Oh, he knew very well of this one. She was a cannibal. Lachie had studied the remains of a. . . er. . . meal of hers two seasons ago. Now, her identity was obvious. Though Lachie never actually saw her, he knew her rather well. The weapons she forged were easily identifiable -- anybeast could tell apart the weapons of an amateur or professional, and Lachie knew well the materials stolen from the forge. He knew from the start that it was a lizard, because the dusty old forge, rarely used, was perfect for leaving footprints, or a loose scale or two. Plus, she had that leather cape. Ridiculous, chuckled Lachie inwardly. There was no doubt that it was she.

But Lachie's mind had moved past these details. He noticed the specks of dried blood on her scaly feet, and more importantly, around her mouth. . . She hadn't changed a bit. . .

---

((I don't mean to be omniscient . Lachie just gets around, and knows a lot of people, mostly because he's often hired to learn things about them. It's just his character. Plus, he never forgets.))

[Glavon]

((Heh, that's okay. And yeah, I've had seers before. XD))

Azalea stood in complete silence as Barr drew his blade. The ringing sound, which would have distracted other beasts' attention, did not bother the monitor lizard in the slightest; she was used to annoying sounds like that. She wasn't sure if it was meant to intimidate, but the otter's expression told her probably, so she simply continued to ignore it and stare at the twin otters with basilisk yellow eyes.

You're the lizard? You're Azalea Snowfall?

The monitor lizard, once again, did not speak. She merely inclined her head slightly as a reply and went off into silence again as the otter's mouth opened to continue speaking.

I was the one who found out about the forge incident over at Salamandastron. . . though, I suppose you probably don't know about that. . .

Azalea chuckled lowly, aware that the otter who had spoken may have been talking to his comrade. "Of coursssssse I do. I wassss there."

The thick, somewhat unintelligable accent hissed from her mouth, her s'es drawn out, as most lizards and snakes spoke that way; Azalea was no exception.

[Shor]

((Sorry for taking so long.))

---

"Of coursssssse I do. I wassss there." The lizard chuckled.

Oh, good... It was definitely the same lizard. . . Wait. . . That wasn't a good thing. Lachie suddenly became nervous, and, as is custom with him, he opened his mouth to speak, but Barr had had quite enough of this.

He spoke out gruffly. "Who are ye, an' wot bus'ness d'ye have 'ere?" Barr now stood mostly between his son and the cannibal, brow furrowed sternly. He didn't know who it was, nor did he much care, but as long as she stood there as though looking over her next dinner, he wasn't about to suffer through frivolous small talk. Of course, he couldn't blame the young otter -- Barr was the one with a sword, after all.

Meanwhile, a heavy paw sent messages through Lachie's shoulder, all telling him to keep his mouth closed. The seer complied, but discretely, his paw began tapping on the arm of his chair. . .

[Glavon]

Who are ye, an' wot bus'ness d'ye have 'ere?

The older otter spoke gruffly. Azalea smiled-if a monitor lizard could smile-and at best, it would probably look a little creepy. She didn't speak for a moment as she toyed with the black steel longsword at her side; its deadly point was almost touching the ground.

"Well...it'sssss kind of hard to explain-you ssssshould be able to figure it out."

She smiled creepily again and spread her paws out, placing the tip of the black steel longsword on the ground. She hissed softly and spread the claws on one paw, making them shine faintly in the sparkling sunlight, before she hefted her blade again.

"Do you really need me to tell you?" she hissed softly.