Skin Games
Aug 12, 2013 23:07:26 GMT -5
Post by Crystal M. V. Rosepaw on Aug 12, 2013 23:07:26 GMT -5
((Not really sure where to put it, so Ottie... HEY, SLOW IT DOWN... WHADDYA WANT FROM ME?
Anyhow, this is just a simple one-shot piece to give some history between my characters. And it's lengthy...))
She did not care for the knife at her throat a bit.
Crystal M. V. Rosepaw was not a creature to cross, and she let the old witch know it. She could not draw her sword with the enemy vixen so close to her, but she could ball up a paw into a fist. There was a tiny grunt of pain as the red fox backed away, a limb clutching her abdomen. The major flexed her knuckles, listening to the quiet cracks of nitrogen bursting in her joints. She squared her stance, finally able to pull her sword free of its scabbard. I didn’t hit her that hard...
“You’re acting without any kind of jurisdiction, ma’am, and the acts you have committed are criminal,” Crystal intoned. The other stared back at her, dark eyes barely visible from under the hood of her cloak. Why do I get to deal with all the drunks and loons and... “You’re going to have to come with me. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You already have, you insufferable kit,” the voice growled back, a low noise that made the white fox grip her sword even tighter. Green eyes met shaded ones briefly, a reluctance from either to act. Sure, the young Guardian had just seen her slitting the neck of a ferret but... She had been tasked with coming out here to get him in the first place. For hurting babes no less. Was this some vengeful mother? Somehow Crystal doubted it; it seemed sign enough that she had turned her blade on a Guardian, the slain's blood still coating its edge. “I had better things to be doing tonight than to be nursing a cracked rib.”
Oh. I guess I hit her harder than I thought. The soldier stiffened in a show of intimidation so that this did not dissolve into more violence. She would not let some gypsy tell her what to do - the Guardians were the law of the land, and by blood and thunder, she was one of them. Her eyes narrowed, her sword rising a bit. “This is not your territory to decide who lives and who dies.”
The vixen snorted, taking another step back before wiping the knife on the edge of her sleeve. Crystal lowered her guard a fraction, realizing that she was in less danger. The red fox inspected her weapon as she spoke again, her voice slightly higher in pitch but dead-sounding in a way that wracked the smaller fox's nerves. “You’ve been trained to kill. I kill as well. What difference does it make?”
Drawing herself to her full, though unimpressive, height, the younger vixen glared daggers at the other. The red fox looked down at her dismissively, but started to tense. Good, let her be afraid. “Who are you to make that judgement, coward? Who are you?”
“Ah, names. A loaded question. Call me Dawnshadow.”
Had Crystal been less angry, she probably would have flinched. ‘Dawnshadow’ had been a name tossed around in the barracks for the past few moons. There was a competition between herself and some of the others; whoever caught Dawnshadow got to distribute their duties between the rest (and Crystal harbored a desperate desire for Raiden to be the one moving barrels and taking early guard shifts). Still, it had seemed Dawnshadow was a name pinned to any unknown kills, rather than something tangable. She lowered her sword again, although now the motion was accopainied by her brow arching. “Oh, empty night. You must be joking.”
Dawnshadow was some slinky vixen slitting throats and crawling around in the woods in a cloak? There was no way - Darter would have found her by now and set her up to hang. … True, though. Dawnshadow moved like a wraith, dealing swift and unerring judgement. Whereas the Guardians had to debate the punishment after capturing a criminal, Dawnshadow only had one to give: death. It was reserved for only the worst creatures, the ones officers that were sent to collect, but still. This slimy justicar had no right, no badge, and no authority. She had to be taken back for judgement. The willowy vixen blinked at her, replacing the knife somewhere under her cloak. “What reason do I have to lie? Either way, you wish me dead.”
That was... true. Perhaps not dead, but certainly gone, and her legacy forgotten. A soilder had to continue working their entire life to make sure they would not be forgotten, whereas a creature in the shadows could act once and be the subject of epics for years. In all reality, Crystal had hoped Dawnshadow was a fake; a shadow could not usurp authority. “Prove it then.”
“How do you expect me to do that, little one?”
“Take off your cloak. Folk say Dawnshadow marked himself with death.”
Until now, everyone had assumed that Dawnshadow was a he; after all, it was far more common for a male to be raised to take up a blade. The vixen sighed irritably, dark paws pulling at clasps on her front. She let the hood fall as the garment slipped down her arms, balancing it on her wrists. Empty night! Look at that mess! No fur grew on the fox’s arms; they were both horribly marred with convoluted images. Even her face... That’s disgusting. Without the hood to shadow her face, Crystal could see the other fox’s maw remained parted, a jagged cut along one corner of her mouth and one of her lower fangs missing. A few of the tattoos were unable to be seen anymore; thick scars prevented it. Looking closer, the vixen had the marks of burns on her wrists and paws. She was dressed efficiently in a dark mauve tunic and some sort of black canvas pants underneath the cloak, and her attire was worn and faded in places.
Yet worst of all were this creature’s eyes. The Guardian once heard a legend saying not to meet the eyes of another directly - that doing so would allow the creatures involved to see each other’s souls. This was one soul she never wanted to look upon... If it could even happen. Whereas she knew her own eyes held some sort of radiance, the dark brown eyes of the other vixen seemed almost two dimensional. Even as Crystal chanced a look at them, they seemed to follow every motion around with a practiced ease... While still retaining a stare that the young fox only saw on corpses. It was unsettling, to say the least.
There was no way she could get around it; this vixen was most likely Dawnshadow.
It just bothered her why a creature would be so open about being an outright killer. Crystal had seen her fair share of villainous creatures during her time outside of Redwall. Tattoos did not typically phase her, as even a few of her comrades had them. For the sake of the stars, she had a ring in her lip, which some of the more close-minded officers considered barbaric. But this? No, something about this vixen made her skin crawl. Probably more than one thing. Her dead eyes, the lack of any proper fur on her arms, her too-thin frame, her voice...
“You know my name. Yours?” Bloody empty night! Every time the elder spoke, it was in this deadpan whisper, as if making a louder noise would break something. There was no rise or fall in her speech, no emotion... Speaking Dawnshadow felt like speaking to a blade. Maybe that was the point.
Crystal’s thoughts flatlined as her adversary met her gaze. Not understanding why, she fixed her gaze on Dawnshadow’s footpaws respectfully, struggling to hold her large sword in one paw while touching her sternum with the other. “Major Crystal Rosepaw, Guardian, warrior division.”
The vixen quirked a brow at her as she pulled her cloak back on. Why did I just salute a criminal...? The spirited youth brought both paws to her sword again, before deciding it was unneeded and sheathing it on her back once more. Dawnshadow had only acted threatening when she had first approached... Crystal was familiar with creatures that spent so much time alone that they were afraid of others; being one of the few officers of a ‘vermin’ species, she was typically sent out to speak with any ‘shady’ sources. A fear reaction, then.
She was still thinking on why Dawnshadow would be so open with her identity. Normally a creature who knew that they were breaking some sort of rule would try to hide it. So that only left a few options. She’s as mad as they say, or she thinks whatever she is doing is right. True, the vixen had just cut the throat of a wanted beast who was most likely going to face death, but it wasn’t her place. As Crystal looked back up, Dawnshadow had folded her paws in her sleeves at the height of her stomach.
“Are we done here, Guardian?”
At least the wretch kept a civil tongue around her betters. Somewhat. The tone was obviously dismissive. It was a display of power between them both; one was larger and had a name that held weight, the other had already played her cards by showing her sword. Crystal heard it time and time again that she did not make a very intimidating figure except when locked in combat. She was small and given the figure one would expect from ‘a flippin’ nursemaid,’ to put it in the words of Rinafera. Though she towered over many smaller species, and could carry some of the heaviest materials in the Fort with relative ease, her thick white coat and her youth made her seem rather... unintimidating.
I’ll just have to prove it then. “I think the War Commander would want to speak to you, Dawnshadow.” And hopefully she’d be allowed to sleep until noon tomorrow for the great service she would be providing.
Dawnshadow stiffened, seeming almost shocked that such a tiny creature had the confidence (arrogance, Crystal) to speak to her in such a way. The vixen glared at her, while the younger smiled disarmingly back. After a few heartbeats of silence, the elder relented, her posture faltering a bit. “Fine, fine. Allow me to get my pack.”
Crystal simply nodded, folding her arms and following as the other picked her way to the discarded bag on the ground. Dawnshadow crouched, securing a few of the latches on it that had likely come undone when it was tossed to the ground. The soilder looked to the trees, wishing the old witch would just hurry up so she could get some sort of sleep. She heard the vixen shift, but did not look back at her at first. “Guardian.”
“Yes?” The warrior turned to her captive, and was met with a sneer. She didn’t have the time to form the question before, suddenly, she couldn’t see. Raising a paw to her face, she realized the assassin had thrown dirt in her eyes. In a vain attempt to do something, Crystal grabbed at the general area Dawnshadow had been in. As she expected, her paws closed on empty air as she heard the sound of hurried pawsteps.
After a few seconds of scrambling after the sound of the escaped captive springing off into the surrounding woods, the Guardian gave up. Scrubbing the grit from her eyes, she growled at the dark forest. This turned into verbal curses as she made her way back to the path, stopping to look at the body of the ferret she had been told to bring back. Nobody would believe her if she said she’d met up with Dawnshadow... but there was no way she could carry the literal dead weight back to the Fort.
With a sigh, she resigned herself to the fact that she would probably wind up with some kind of punishment for inadvertently disobeying orders. Again. Always sent out at night to deal with the loons and the rabble and...
The secret had come out a few weeks after the encounter, and, as expected, Crystal had become the punch line of many jokes. She had always been seen as the solider with an unrealistic zeal, and with no regards to authority. Her boastful tales often went unrecognized while the older creatures received praise. But by saying she had met Dawnshadow? That had opened the gates to a new kind of torment. As far as the other Guardians believed, Dawnshadow was a ghost; there was no such actual creature that existed, and it was just a tale to scare kits. A name used to verify any righteous murder in the Western Settlement, regardless of who had the blood on their paws. Because of course some shady tattooed fox would have been caught by now.
But even that did not bother her. It was the fact that this seemed to happen many times, where efforts and resources would be wasted only to find Dawnshadow had tracked the criminal down first. That was the laughter that hurt the warrior the most. She heard the jeers when they thought she couldn’t hear them. Of course, they’d say, she couldn’t find the ferret, and instead of taking the blame, she placed it on a fable. Even if she never brought Dawnshadow back to face judgement, she had to prove it to herself that she was right. So she took matters into her own paws.
None of the Guardians had the authority to move on this band of stoats yet. They were still in the stage of determining the guilt. But that didn’t matter. Under the guise of trying to obtain this information, Crystal had begged until she was allowed to leave that night and do the work herself. In that time, Darter had retired to do whatever he pleased, and Laylark had wandered off with him. But finally, her night arrived when she had been put back in high enough standing to be left alone for a mission. And that was all she needed.
She had found the camp they’d set up, and now all that was required was patience and planning. And she did both. She had already spoken to the outlaws, and they had told her all the information she needed; after all, she wasn’t supposed to bring them in. So they would prove to be no distraction. Finally, finally her dedication paid off.
The flicker of motion was obvious to her - she had stared at the darkness for nearly an hour. The glint of steel, quickly swallowed up by the almost silent whisper of cloth. A quiet hum escaped the shape as it suddenly crouched, and Crystal knew she was out of time.
Dawnshadow had enough time to draw in a breath and turn before she was overtaken by a much more stout form. The younger warrior grabbed pawfuls of the vixen’s cloak as she slammed her knuckles into the collar bone of her adversary. A hiss escaped her as her footing faltered, but her paws still moved in a desperate attempt to protect herself. Crystal snarled at the pain, somewhat surprised the other had managed to cut the flesh of her bicep through her thick pelt.
The pair of vixens crashed to the forest floor, and from there the struggle ensued. The major was sure that if she did not maintain control, the feral creature would kill her. It became a mad scramble for dominance, in which Crystal suffered a few more lacerations to her arm before finally being able to place one knee on the red fox’s chest and grab the wrist of the paw holding the throwing knife. Applying pressure to the fleshy spot between the delicate bones, she was finally able to disarm the other fox.
Dawnshadow’s dark eyes closed in pain, and finally submitted. The tension slowly left her, and in doing so, the younger allowed the pressure to dissipate. By the time the assassin had calmed her erratic breathing and opened her eyes, Crystal only had her held there with one paw swathed in her cloak and the tiny blade under her chin. Her legs had moved away and now rested under her in a kneeling position. The captured vixen played her part fairly admirably - she pulled away with all the strength she could muster in the awkward way her body had fallen. But the soldier jerked her cloak, and did so with enough force that the tip of the knife pricked through the thin skin.
Another few moments passed, in which Dawnshadow tried to force eye contact. Yet, she seemed to resign herself to her fate, and laid back against the ground. Crystal almost jolted when she spoke. “Are you waiting for my permission?”
“To hurt you?”
“To kill me.”
“No.” That was true enough. If she wanted Dawnshadow dead, she would be cleaning the blood from her sword by now. But it sat dormant in the bushes, unneeded for the task ahead. “I have questions.”
“You should have just invited me out for a few drinks then.”
“Not my scene. Plus, you’re rather hard to get word to.”
“...True.”
“So you’ll answer them?” The white fox felt the uncomfortable drip of her adversary’s blood fall to her paw. Though such a little amount, the act of actually hurting her turned her stomach. Trying to focus on anything else, she stared at the tattoos on the other’s face as if they were the most interesting thing she had ever encountered.
Though Dawnshadow just gazed back impassively, her breathing still hadn’t slowed completely. When Crystal relaxed enough to let her cloth-swathed paw touch the other, she could feel the fluttering heartbeat beneath the thin fur on her neck. That was... curious. Surely an impassive killer had been in tricker situations. The odd pulse quickened before she spoke again. “A few.”
Crystal snorted, only having to shift the tiniest bit to feel the heartrate of her enemy spiral into a panicked rhythm. “You will answer any question I ask, and I will decide when we are done. You do not command me. Understood?”
The last word was punctuated with the smaller vixen applying pressure again, knowing, somehow, that she was close to breaking Dawnshadow into hysterics. The elder let out a grunt of pain, her eyes closing again as she winced. Her voice was punctured by a thready whimper, making the last syllable fade slightly. “Understood.”
That was Crystal’s favorite part of dealing with criminals; that moment when they broke was a pleasure alone. Forcing a creature to swallow their pride and admit that they were wrong helped her conscious. Even those accused of small crimes would receive the same treatment from her; perhaps by waving the flames of judgement in their faces, she could light some spark within them and they could forsake it. Maybe it would change them. but Dawnshadow was different - she had something else in mind for the vigilante assassin. But that would require an understanding she was currently did not have; too many pieces were missing from the puzzle. “What is your actual name?”
It was a weighted question. If that was the vixen’s given name, she had been born into... this. But if she had another name, that would indicate choice, and the potential to receive aid. Crystal had determined long ago that the circumstances of one’s birth were irrelevant, and species had nothing to do with it. As long as a creature wanted to better themselves, they would have chances from their first breath to their last. Dawnshadow included. There was a hesitance as she made a few muted noises, as if the words caught in her throat, searing her. “D-Daw-”
“Your true name.” The soldier's voice came out as a growl, but there was a bit of relief in her. If she can’t reply with confidence, maybe I can help her turn back.
“... Kaede. My name is... Kaede.”
The name was... awkward. Harsh, even. Crystal caught herself wondering how it would be spelled. But at the same time, it was soft. There were no hard letters like in her own name... Even saying it in a rush, it would be nothing more than a whisper. Interesting. “It is... not something from these parts, yes? Why did you come here?”
Crystal was slowly pressuring her captive, and the questions becoming more serious. Instead of shying away from her dead gaze now, the warrior tried to meet it. Instead, Kaede was the one to look away, and the white fox felt a bob of her throat. “Visiting family.”
At least she was trying harder to lie. The knife prodded at her chin again, forcing her to turn back to her captor in order to avoid it grazing her. “The truth, Dawnshadow.”
“I... I have a mission.”
“That being?”
Dawnshadow mumbled something, and was told swiftly to repeat herself louder. “To get the souls of a thousand evil creatures.”
“E-empty night!” That number was impossible. Five hundred score... That’s... She’d be killing the Guardians more than two hundred times over... I doubt even Martin pulled that off... As she tried to rationalize the sheer number, the white vixen released a bit of pressure. The other did not even try to move at this point, held there completely from misery. “Why?”
“Repentance.” Oh. That was something Crystal did not want to hear the tale of. One beast against hordes... Whatever Dawnshadow had done to herself, the crime must be unimaginable to resort to that. It was just... disgusting.
The younger fox averted her eyes again, thinking. Calculating. She needs help, she pondered, glancing down again. She won’t take it outright; I wouldn’t want somebeast fighting my battles either. Surely she knows this will kill her... But as Crystal stopped to rationalize that sentence, she realized that was probably the point. Stars, even her own comrades accused her of the same thing from time to time. But she could not sit idly by while this vixen made enemies of everyone. I have to at least give her reason, and some protection... The solider released Dawnshadow’s cloak, digging in the pockets of her dress with the newly freed paw. She pulled the item out, wrapping her digits around the metal object to steady herself. “Then I will make you a deal.”
Dawnshadow tensed again, but didn’t try to move away. She instead fixed her eyes on the clenched paw. “I don’t want help. There are things that must be done alone.”
“It’s a bargain only a fool or a coward would refuse,” Crystal spat, feeling a few tufts of fur along her spine beginning to rise. Patience, patience... She does not understand. She lives in a world out to kill her. She dropped the item unceremoniously on Dawnshadow’s stomach, her voice lowering. “Take that. It’ll grant you some protection from the Guardians.”
Dawnshadow looked at the warped metal badge; the little A-shape glinted back, the black and gold paint chipped away in places. Crystal had kept the old sergeant badge as a token of memory, as it was the last one that she was awarded before becoming an officer. The highest rank of common soldier. Though the colors were wrong - an assassin wasn’t befitting of the gold stripes of the warrior division (actually, Kaede would be awarded one that was silver) - but it was all she had. Crystal caught the skeptical look in her eyes, and swiftly added, “If any Guardian tries to stop you, or even harm you, you will be treated as a guest instead.”
“Why?”
“It’s... It’s a rarely used custom. Think of it as being a-”
“No. Why are you giving it to me? The catch?” Dawnshadow, regardless of her hesitation, had picked it up. She was willing to listen, at least.
“... None. Consider it a gift.”
Dawnshadow snorted and pulled herself up to a sitting position. Crystal allowed it, rising to her footpaws to keep dominance. “You called it a deal. The only thing you trust about me is that I bleed as well as any other.”
That was a gruesome thought. But it was true - Crystal did not trust her remotely. She sighed, the knife quivering at the whole-body motion overtook her. “While you hold that badge of mine, every instance of combat you undertake in this territory will be honorable. You will be working as an emissary of the Guardians.”
“And by extension, you.”
That was mildly insulting. The warrior had gone out of her way to give aid to a justicar and was only insulted in return. But it was true; she was taking personal responsibility for Kaede’s actions. Drawing in a shaking breath to calm herself, she nodded. “Yes. My emissary.”
If Crystal’s judgement was wrong and Dawnshadow killed a civilian and was caught, she would face the same punishment as the assassin. She was harboring a criminal, after all. So, if Dawnshadow hurt an innocent in this territory, Crystal decided she would be the one to track her down. To take the badge. And to kill her. This was all implied in her tone.
“And if I refuse?”
“Then you are just another murderer, and you will face the punishment as one.” Now was the time for Crystal to growl, a startling noise that started from her core. She made sure to hold the knife up, showing exactly what she meant. A feral smile crept across her lips, a wicked gleam setting in her eyes. “Imagine the irony; an assassin dying by her own blade.”
Dawnshadow shrunk very visibly; her shoulders shrunk in towards her body, and Crystal could easily imagine her heart racing once again. After trying to find words a few times (making only muted choking noises), she relented. “Fine. I agree.”
The warrior’s smile softened, her stance relaxing very slightly. “You vow to serve as emissary?”
“... Yes.”
“You vow to only raise a weapon against those who truly deserve it?”
“Yes.”
The feral smile returned, ever so slightly. I wonder just how far I can go... “You vow to act as my paws?”
Dawnshadow started to reply, but the choking noise overtook her again. After a moment, she just nodded. Relishing the victory, Crystal beckoned for her to stand. Though it took a few quiet heartbeats for her to do so, Dawnshadow did, though her posture was so pitiful and defeated that they seemed almost the same height. The warrior motioned for her to hold out both paws, which she did.
Crystal was a creature of many odd rituals, and something so binding as this was befitting of one. Flipping her free paw over to expose the pad, she swiftly drew the knife across the rough skin there. She placed the minor injury over the badge, letting that action bind the forced unity between the two. From the way Dawnshadow flinched, some of her blood probably spilled on her paw, an uncomfortable warmth against the cold night. With some afterthought, she realized she could have used the still bleeding injuries on her arms, but... Those weren’t symbolic. Licking delicately at a fang, Crystal spoke again. “Then it’s done.”
Kaede curled her paw around the flimsy bit of metal, and after a moment put the bloodied object in one of her pockets. To Crystal’s surprise, she did not move apart from this.
After the uncomfortable silence lingered a few moments longer, she realized the other was probably waiting for permission to leave. Without thinking, the white fox gave the command. “Dismissed, soldier.”
As the cloaked vixen turned, her pawsteps were delicate and light. But as Crystal stood and listened, she heard the sound grow frantic. Running - her emissary was running from her. Releasing a breath she didn’t know she was holding, the young Guardian chuckled, turning the forgotten knife in her paw. Perhaps Dawnshadow would regret setting paw in these lands, and, better yet, maybe she could be redeemed. The warrior caught herself whistling as she retrieved her sword, some cheerful tune she had learned as a dibbun.
She lived a life full of maybes, but any life was full of them.
Anyhow, this is just a simple one-shot piece to give some history between my characters. And it's lengthy...))
She did not care for the knife at her throat a bit.
Crystal M. V. Rosepaw was not a creature to cross, and she let the old witch know it. She could not draw her sword with the enemy vixen so close to her, but she could ball up a paw into a fist. There was a tiny grunt of pain as the red fox backed away, a limb clutching her abdomen. The major flexed her knuckles, listening to the quiet cracks of nitrogen bursting in her joints. She squared her stance, finally able to pull her sword free of its scabbard. I didn’t hit her that hard...
“You’re acting without any kind of jurisdiction, ma’am, and the acts you have committed are criminal,” Crystal intoned. The other stared back at her, dark eyes barely visible from under the hood of her cloak. Why do I get to deal with all the drunks and loons and... “You’re going to have to come with me. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You already have, you insufferable kit,” the voice growled back, a low noise that made the white fox grip her sword even tighter. Green eyes met shaded ones briefly, a reluctance from either to act. Sure, the young Guardian had just seen her slitting the neck of a ferret but... She had been tasked with coming out here to get him in the first place. For hurting babes no less. Was this some vengeful mother? Somehow Crystal doubted it; it seemed sign enough that she had turned her blade on a Guardian, the slain's blood still coating its edge. “I had better things to be doing tonight than to be nursing a cracked rib.”
Oh. I guess I hit her harder than I thought. The soldier stiffened in a show of intimidation so that this did not dissolve into more violence. She would not let some gypsy tell her what to do - the Guardians were the law of the land, and by blood and thunder, she was one of them. Her eyes narrowed, her sword rising a bit. “This is not your territory to decide who lives and who dies.”
The vixen snorted, taking another step back before wiping the knife on the edge of her sleeve. Crystal lowered her guard a fraction, realizing that she was in less danger. The red fox inspected her weapon as she spoke again, her voice slightly higher in pitch but dead-sounding in a way that wracked the smaller fox's nerves. “You’ve been trained to kill. I kill as well. What difference does it make?”
Drawing herself to her full, though unimpressive, height, the younger vixen glared daggers at the other. The red fox looked down at her dismissively, but started to tense. Good, let her be afraid. “Who are you to make that judgement, coward? Who are you?”
“Ah, names. A loaded question. Call me Dawnshadow.”
Had Crystal been less angry, she probably would have flinched. ‘Dawnshadow’ had been a name tossed around in the barracks for the past few moons. There was a competition between herself and some of the others; whoever caught Dawnshadow got to distribute their duties between the rest (and Crystal harbored a desperate desire for Raiden to be the one moving barrels and taking early guard shifts). Still, it had seemed Dawnshadow was a name pinned to any unknown kills, rather than something tangable. She lowered her sword again, although now the motion was accopainied by her brow arching. “Oh, empty night. You must be joking.”
Dawnshadow was some slinky vixen slitting throats and crawling around in the woods in a cloak? There was no way - Darter would have found her by now and set her up to hang. … True, though. Dawnshadow moved like a wraith, dealing swift and unerring judgement. Whereas the Guardians had to debate the punishment after capturing a criminal, Dawnshadow only had one to give: death. It was reserved for only the worst creatures, the ones officers that were sent to collect, but still. This slimy justicar had no right, no badge, and no authority. She had to be taken back for judgement. The willowy vixen blinked at her, replacing the knife somewhere under her cloak. “What reason do I have to lie? Either way, you wish me dead.”
That was... true. Perhaps not dead, but certainly gone, and her legacy forgotten. A soilder had to continue working their entire life to make sure they would not be forgotten, whereas a creature in the shadows could act once and be the subject of epics for years. In all reality, Crystal had hoped Dawnshadow was a fake; a shadow could not usurp authority. “Prove it then.”
“How do you expect me to do that, little one?”
“Take off your cloak. Folk say Dawnshadow marked himself with death.”
Until now, everyone had assumed that Dawnshadow was a he; after all, it was far more common for a male to be raised to take up a blade. The vixen sighed irritably, dark paws pulling at clasps on her front. She let the hood fall as the garment slipped down her arms, balancing it on her wrists. Empty night! Look at that mess! No fur grew on the fox’s arms; they were both horribly marred with convoluted images. Even her face... That’s disgusting. Without the hood to shadow her face, Crystal could see the other fox’s maw remained parted, a jagged cut along one corner of her mouth and one of her lower fangs missing. A few of the tattoos were unable to be seen anymore; thick scars prevented it. Looking closer, the vixen had the marks of burns on her wrists and paws. She was dressed efficiently in a dark mauve tunic and some sort of black canvas pants underneath the cloak, and her attire was worn and faded in places.
Yet worst of all were this creature’s eyes. The Guardian once heard a legend saying not to meet the eyes of another directly - that doing so would allow the creatures involved to see each other’s souls. This was one soul she never wanted to look upon... If it could even happen. Whereas she knew her own eyes held some sort of radiance, the dark brown eyes of the other vixen seemed almost two dimensional. Even as Crystal chanced a look at them, they seemed to follow every motion around with a practiced ease... While still retaining a stare that the young fox only saw on corpses. It was unsettling, to say the least.
There was no way she could get around it; this vixen was most likely Dawnshadow.
It just bothered her why a creature would be so open about being an outright killer. Crystal had seen her fair share of villainous creatures during her time outside of Redwall. Tattoos did not typically phase her, as even a few of her comrades had them. For the sake of the stars, she had a ring in her lip, which some of the more close-minded officers considered barbaric. But this? No, something about this vixen made her skin crawl. Probably more than one thing. Her dead eyes, the lack of any proper fur on her arms, her too-thin frame, her voice...
“You know my name. Yours?” Bloody empty night! Every time the elder spoke, it was in this deadpan whisper, as if making a louder noise would break something. There was no rise or fall in her speech, no emotion... Speaking Dawnshadow felt like speaking to a blade. Maybe that was the point.
Crystal’s thoughts flatlined as her adversary met her gaze. Not understanding why, she fixed her gaze on Dawnshadow’s footpaws respectfully, struggling to hold her large sword in one paw while touching her sternum with the other. “Major Crystal Rosepaw, Guardian, warrior division.”
The vixen quirked a brow at her as she pulled her cloak back on. Why did I just salute a criminal...? The spirited youth brought both paws to her sword again, before deciding it was unneeded and sheathing it on her back once more. Dawnshadow had only acted threatening when she had first approached... Crystal was familiar with creatures that spent so much time alone that they were afraid of others; being one of the few officers of a ‘vermin’ species, she was typically sent out to speak with any ‘shady’ sources. A fear reaction, then.
She was still thinking on why Dawnshadow would be so open with her identity. Normally a creature who knew that they were breaking some sort of rule would try to hide it. So that only left a few options. She’s as mad as they say, or she thinks whatever she is doing is right. True, the vixen had just cut the throat of a wanted beast who was most likely going to face death, but it wasn’t her place. As Crystal looked back up, Dawnshadow had folded her paws in her sleeves at the height of her stomach.
“Are we done here, Guardian?”
At least the wretch kept a civil tongue around her betters. Somewhat. The tone was obviously dismissive. It was a display of power between them both; one was larger and had a name that held weight, the other had already played her cards by showing her sword. Crystal heard it time and time again that she did not make a very intimidating figure except when locked in combat. She was small and given the figure one would expect from ‘a flippin’ nursemaid,’ to put it in the words of Rinafera. Though she towered over many smaller species, and could carry some of the heaviest materials in the Fort with relative ease, her thick white coat and her youth made her seem rather... unintimidating.
I’ll just have to prove it then. “I think the War Commander would want to speak to you, Dawnshadow.” And hopefully she’d be allowed to sleep until noon tomorrow for the great service she would be providing.
Dawnshadow stiffened, seeming almost shocked that such a tiny creature had the confidence (arrogance, Crystal) to speak to her in such a way. The vixen glared at her, while the younger smiled disarmingly back. After a few heartbeats of silence, the elder relented, her posture faltering a bit. “Fine, fine. Allow me to get my pack.”
Crystal simply nodded, folding her arms and following as the other picked her way to the discarded bag on the ground. Dawnshadow crouched, securing a few of the latches on it that had likely come undone when it was tossed to the ground. The soilder looked to the trees, wishing the old witch would just hurry up so she could get some sort of sleep. She heard the vixen shift, but did not look back at her at first. “Guardian.”
“Yes?” The warrior turned to her captive, and was met with a sneer. She didn’t have the time to form the question before, suddenly, she couldn’t see. Raising a paw to her face, she realized the assassin had thrown dirt in her eyes. In a vain attempt to do something, Crystal grabbed at the general area Dawnshadow had been in. As she expected, her paws closed on empty air as she heard the sound of hurried pawsteps.
After a few seconds of scrambling after the sound of the escaped captive springing off into the surrounding woods, the Guardian gave up. Scrubbing the grit from her eyes, she growled at the dark forest. This turned into verbal curses as she made her way back to the path, stopping to look at the body of the ferret she had been told to bring back. Nobody would believe her if she said she’d met up with Dawnshadow... but there was no way she could carry the literal dead weight back to the Fort.
With a sigh, she resigned herself to the fact that she would probably wind up with some kind of punishment for inadvertently disobeying orders. Again. Always sent out at night to deal with the loons and the rabble and...
----- A few months later... ----
The secret had come out a few weeks after the encounter, and, as expected, Crystal had become the punch line of many jokes. She had always been seen as the solider with an unrealistic zeal, and with no regards to authority. Her boastful tales often went unrecognized while the older creatures received praise. But by saying she had met Dawnshadow? That had opened the gates to a new kind of torment. As far as the other Guardians believed, Dawnshadow was a ghost; there was no such actual creature that existed, and it was just a tale to scare kits. A name used to verify any righteous murder in the Western Settlement, regardless of who had the blood on their paws. Because of course some shady tattooed fox would have been caught by now.
But even that did not bother her. It was the fact that this seemed to happen many times, where efforts and resources would be wasted only to find Dawnshadow had tracked the criminal down first. That was the laughter that hurt the warrior the most. She heard the jeers when they thought she couldn’t hear them. Of course, they’d say, she couldn’t find the ferret, and instead of taking the blame, she placed it on a fable. Even if she never brought Dawnshadow back to face judgement, she had to prove it to herself that she was right. So she took matters into her own paws.
None of the Guardians had the authority to move on this band of stoats yet. They were still in the stage of determining the guilt. But that didn’t matter. Under the guise of trying to obtain this information, Crystal had begged until she was allowed to leave that night and do the work herself. In that time, Darter had retired to do whatever he pleased, and Laylark had wandered off with him. But finally, her night arrived when she had been put back in high enough standing to be left alone for a mission. And that was all she needed.
She had found the camp they’d set up, and now all that was required was patience and planning. And she did both. She had already spoken to the outlaws, and they had told her all the information she needed; after all, she wasn’t supposed to bring them in. So they would prove to be no distraction. Finally, finally her dedication paid off.
The flicker of motion was obvious to her - she had stared at the darkness for nearly an hour. The glint of steel, quickly swallowed up by the almost silent whisper of cloth. A quiet hum escaped the shape as it suddenly crouched, and Crystal knew she was out of time.
Dawnshadow had enough time to draw in a breath and turn before she was overtaken by a much more stout form. The younger warrior grabbed pawfuls of the vixen’s cloak as she slammed her knuckles into the collar bone of her adversary. A hiss escaped her as her footing faltered, but her paws still moved in a desperate attempt to protect herself. Crystal snarled at the pain, somewhat surprised the other had managed to cut the flesh of her bicep through her thick pelt.
The pair of vixens crashed to the forest floor, and from there the struggle ensued. The major was sure that if she did not maintain control, the feral creature would kill her. It became a mad scramble for dominance, in which Crystal suffered a few more lacerations to her arm before finally being able to place one knee on the red fox’s chest and grab the wrist of the paw holding the throwing knife. Applying pressure to the fleshy spot between the delicate bones, she was finally able to disarm the other fox.
Dawnshadow’s dark eyes closed in pain, and finally submitted. The tension slowly left her, and in doing so, the younger allowed the pressure to dissipate. By the time the assassin had calmed her erratic breathing and opened her eyes, Crystal only had her held there with one paw swathed in her cloak and the tiny blade under her chin. Her legs had moved away and now rested under her in a kneeling position. The captured vixen played her part fairly admirably - she pulled away with all the strength she could muster in the awkward way her body had fallen. But the soldier jerked her cloak, and did so with enough force that the tip of the knife pricked through the thin skin.
Another few moments passed, in which Dawnshadow tried to force eye contact. Yet, she seemed to resign herself to her fate, and laid back against the ground. Crystal almost jolted when she spoke. “Are you waiting for my permission?”
“To hurt you?”
“To kill me.”
“No.” That was true enough. If she wanted Dawnshadow dead, she would be cleaning the blood from her sword by now. But it sat dormant in the bushes, unneeded for the task ahead. “I have questions.”
“You should have just invited me out for a few drinks then.”
“Not my scene. Plus, you’re rather hard to get word to.”
“...True.”
“So you’ll answer them?” The white fox felt the uncomfortable drip of her adversary’s blood fall to her paw. Though such a little amount, the act of actually hurting her turned her stomach. Trying to focus on anything else, she stared at the tattoos on the other’s face as if they were the most interesting thing she had ever encountered.
Though Dawnshadow just gazed back impassively, her breathing still hadn’t slowed completely. When Crystal relaxed enough to let her cloth-swathed paw touch the other, she could feel the fluttering heartbeat beneath the thin fur on her neck. That was... curious. Surely an impassive killer had been in tricker situations. The odd pulse quickened before she spoke again. “A few.”
Crystal snorted, only having to shift the tiniest bit to feel the heartrate of her enemy spiral into a panicked rhythm. “You will answer any question I ask, and I will decide when we are done. You do not command me. Understood?”
The last word was punctuated with the smaller vixen applying pressure again, knowing, somehow, that she was close to breaking Dawnshadow into hysterics. The elder let out a grunt of pain, her eyes closing again as she winced. Her voice was punctured by a thready whimper, making the last syllable fade slightly. “Understood.”
That was Crystal’s favorite part of dealing with criminals; that moment when they broke was a pleasure alone. Forcing a creature to swallow their pride and admit that they were wrong helped her conscious. Even those accused of small crimes would receive the same treatment from her; perhaps by waving the flames of judgement in their faces, she could light some spark within them and they could forsake it. Maybe it would change them. but Dawnshadow was different - she had something else in mind for the vigilante assassin. But that would require an understanding she was currently did not have; too many pieces were missing from the puzzle. “What is your actual name?”
It was a weighted question. If that was the vixen’s given name, she had been born into... this. But if she had another name, that would indicate choice, and the potential to receive aid. Crystal had determined long ago that the circumstances of one’s birth were irrelevant, and species had nothing to do with it. As long as a creature wanted to better themselves, they would have chances from their first breath to their last. Dawnshadow included. There was a hesitance as she made a few muted noises, as if the words caught in her throat, searing her. “D-Daw-”
“Your true name.” The soldier's voice came out as a growl, but there was a bit of relief in her. If she can’t reply with confidence, maybe I can help her turn back.
“... Kaede. My name is... Kaede.”
The name was... awkward. Harsh, even. Crystal caught herself wondering how it would be spelled. But at the same time, it was soft. There were no hard letters like in her own name... Even saying it in a rush, it would be nothing more than a whisper. Interesting. “It is... not something from these parts, yes? Why did you come here?”
Crystal was slowly pressuring her captive, and the questions becoming more serious. Instead of shying away from her dead gaze now, the warrior tried to meet it. Instead, Kaede was the one to look away, and the white fox felt a bob of her throat. “Visiting family.”
At least she was trying harder to lie. The knife prodded at her chin again, forcing her to turn back to her captor in order to avoid it grazing her. “The truth, Dawnshadow.”
“I... I have a mission.”
“That being?”
Dawnshadow mumbled something, and was told swiftly to repeat herself louder. “To get the souls of a thousand evil creatures.”
“E-empty night!” That number was impossible. Five hundred score... That’s... She’d be killing the Guardians more than two hundred times over... I doubt even Martin pulled that off... As she tried to rationalize the sheer number, the white vixen released a bit of pressure. The other did not even try to move at this point, held there completely from misery. “Why?”
“Repentance.” Oh. That was something Crystal did not want to hear the tale of. One beast against hordes... Whatever Dawnshadow had done to herself, the crime must be unimaginable to resort to that. It was just... disgusting.
The younger fox averted her eyes again, thinking. Calculating. She needs help, she pondered, glancing down again. She won’t take it outright; I wouldn’t want somebeast fighting my battles either. Surely she knows this will kill her... But as Crystal stopped to rationalize that sentence, she realized that was probably the point. Stars, even her own comrades accused her of the same thing from time to time. But she could not sit idly by while this vixen made enemies of everyone. I have to at least give her reason, and some protection... The solider released Dawnshadow’s cloak, digging in the pockets of her dress with the newly freed paw. She pulled the item out, wrapping her digits around the metal object to steady herself. “Then I will make you a deal.”
Dawnshadow tensed again, but didn’t try to move away. She instead fixed her eyes on the clenched paw. “I don’t want help. There are things that must be done alone.”
“It’s a bargain only a fool or a coward would refuse,” Crystal spat, feeling a few tufts of fur along her spine beginning to rise. Patience, patience... She does not understand. She lives in a world out to kill her. She dropped the item unceremoniously on Dawnshadow’s stomach, her voice lowering. “Take that. It’ll grant you some protection from the Guardians.”
Dawnshadow looked at the warped metal badge; the little A-shape glinted back, the black and gold paint chipped away in places. Crystal had kept the old sergeant badge as a token of memory, as it was the last one that she was awarded before becoming an officer. The highest rank of common soldier. Though the colors were wrong - an assassin wasn’t befitting of the gold stripes of the warrior division (actually, Kaede would be awarded one that was silver) - but it was all she had. Crystal caught the skeptical look in her eyes, and swiftly added, “If any Guardian tries to stop you, or even harm you, you will be treated as a guest instead.”
“Why?”
“It’s... It’s a rarely used custom. Think of it as being a-”
“No. Why are you giving it to me? The catch?” Dawnshadow, regardless of her hesitation, had picked it up. She was willing to listen, at least.
“... None. Consider it a gift.”
Dawnshadow snorted and pulled herself up to a sitting position. Crystal allowed it, rising to her footpaws to keep dominance. “You called it a deal. The only thing you trust about me is that I bleed as well as any other.”
That was a gruesome thought. But it was true - Crystal did not trust her remotely. She sighed, the knife quivering at the whole-body motion overtook her. “While you hold that badge of mine, every instance of combat you undertake in this territory will be honorable. You will be working as an emissary of the Guardians.”
“And by extension, you.”
That was mildly insulting. The warrior had gone out of her way to give aid to a justicar and was only insulted in return. But it was true; she was taking personal responsibility for Kaede’s actions. Drawing in a shaking breath to calm herself, she nodded. “Yes. My emissary.”
If Crystal’s judgement was wrong and Dawnshadow killed a civilian and was caught, she would face the same punishment as the assassin. She was harboring a criminal, after all. So, if Dawnshadow hurt an innocent in this territory, Crystal decided she would be the one to track her down. To take the badge. And to kill her. This was all implied in her tone.
“And if I refuse?”
“Then you are just another murderer, and you will face the punishment as one.” Now was the time for Crystal to growl, a startling noise that started from her core. She made sure to hold the knife up, showing exactly what she meant. A feral smile crept across her lips, a wicked gleam setting in her eyes. “Imagine the irony; an assassin dying by her own blade.”
Dawnshadow shrunk very visibly; her shoulders shrunk in towards her body, and Crystal could easily imagine her heart racing once again. After trying to find words a few times (making only muted choking noises), she relented. “Fine. I agree.”
The warrior’s smile softened, her stance relaxing very slightly. “You vow to serve as emissary?”
“... Yes.”
“You vow to only raise a weapon against those who truly deserve it?”
“Yes.”
The feral smile returned, ever so slightly. I wonder just how far I can go... “You vow to act as my paws?”
Dawnshadow started to reply, but the choking noise overtook her again. After a moment, she just nodded. Relishing the victory, Crystal beckoned for her to stand. Though it took a few quiet heartbeats for her to do so, Dawnshadow did, though her posture was so pitiful and defeated that they seemed almost the same height. The warrior motioned for her to hold out both paws, which she did.
Crystal was a creature of many odd rituals, and something so binding as this was befitting of one. Flipping her free paw over to expose the pad, she swiftly drew the knife across the rough skin there. She placed the minor injury over the badge, letting that action bind the forced unity between the two. From the way Dawnshadow flinched, some of her blood probably spilled on her paw, an uncomfortable warmth against the cold night. With some afterthought, she realized she could have used the still bleeding injuries on her arms, but... Those weren’t symbolic. Licking delicately at a fang, Crystal spoke again. “Then it’s done.”
Kaede curled her paw around the flimsy bit of metal, and after a moment put the bloodied object in one of her pockets. To Crystal’s surprise, she did not move apart from this.
After the uncomfortable silence lingered a few moments longer, she realized the other was probably waiting for permission to leave. Without thinking, the white fox gave the command. “Dismissed, soldier.”
As the cloaked vixen turned, her pawsteps were delicate and light. But as Crystal stood and listened, she heard the sound grow frantic. Running - her emissary was running from her. Releasing a breath she didn’t know she was holding, the young Guardian chuckled, turning the forgotten knife in her paw. Perhaps Dawnshadow would regret setting paw in these lands, and, better yet, maybe she could be redeemed. The warrior caught herself whistling as she retrieved her sword, some cheerful tune she had learned as a dibbun.
She lived a life full of maybes, but any life was full of them.