Chapter 9

  Blackness slowly faded into another unfamiliar ceiling as Graham awoke from his exhausted state. Is this just going to be a regular thing whenever I’m fighting? Graham exhaustedly thought. Sooner or later, he’s going to pass out in the wrong place and that’ll be the end of him just because he decided to take his recklessness to the next level.

  He clenched his right paw, feeling the tenderness shoot up his arm. Luckily, he could still feel it. But he definitely wasn’t fighting with that in the near future. Taking a deeper breath, he could feel his ribs protest as they expanded. His mind swam with an unfamiliarly empty feeling. Ghosts of his memories floated away from him. He tried to recall earlier conversations with Fleur or even some old memories from his childhood. But they were no longer there. His Spirit Energy having been drained dangerously low began to eat at him. Graham’s Master’s words came to mind on the subject when he started to panic a bit. He remembered the teachings and trusted that the feelings would pass and the memories returned with time.

  Graham slowly sat up and looked around at the unfamiliar room. He was in a large, ornate wooden bed that was covered in expensive-looking textiles. A fire crackled in a stone hearth across the room, its light dancing off the polished stone floors and making the shadows of the other furniture present in the room dance.

  Turning to his right, he saw the top of the head of a familiar Rabbit, who was currently face down and softly snoring on the edge of the bed, having obviously fallen asleep while sitting near his bedside. Graham smiled at the sight, but his smile quickly waivered as the events of the battle passed through his head. Hould turning to stone, Stevie getting batted away like a fly, and Cruz being grievously injured. How did it come to this? It was meant to be a test. Did the Knight Captain and the Alliance know what they were sending them to do? His thoughts quickly flashed to the end of the fight and a hazy image appeared in his mind of their savior. Who the heck was that? A knock came at the door, admitting a couple of familiar faces. Mayor Bloomburrow, of all critters, followed by her Scribe Rabbit. At the knock, Fleur jerked awake, her eyes still half-closed. Seeing Graham sitting up in bed, his attention now turned toward her, her cheeks flushed a bit.

  “You’re awake! And you were just watching me sleep?” Fleur said with a hint of exasperation.

  Graham just chuckled before turning back towards the Mayor who was…smiling?

  “It’s good you’ve awoken. You’ve been unconscious for 5 days now. I’m sure that you’re–”

  “5 days? Oh no! We’re going to miss the deadline for the test!” Graham looked at Fleur wide-eyed trying to convey the seriousness of the situation and was even more confused seeing her chuckling at him with her paw covering her mouth.

  “Calm down, pie brain. Knight Captain has already been notified of what happened. He’ll be waiting for us back at the Burrow.”

  Mayor Bloomburrow looked on the exchange with a hint of amusement, a far cry from her earlier attitude.

  “I would like to apologize to you, Graham Northtail. I underestimated your party and harshly condemned you to an undeserved fate. You must understand that I only wished to protect my village, and my poor mood only served to make the situation worse.” She bowed her head slightly towards the bed-ridden Mouse.

  “No-no-no it’s fine.” Graham said as he scratched the back of his neck, not wanting to look at the overly-formal Mayor.

  “Respectfully, it’s not fine.” Fleur said with a hard expression as she stood. “Mayor Bloomburrow, you knew, at least in part, what awaited us out in those fields. If we hadn’t been saved, Graham here would’ve been killed, Hould would be a statue, and the rest of our party would’ve likely been picked off one by one trying to escape. You sent us to our deaths. No matter your reasons, that’s unforgivable.”

  “I understand your frustrations. And you are correct. I had an inkling of what may await you out there in the fields. However, I did not anticipate a full Predator. I had surmised that a cult of some kind was responsible. Possibly bandits. But a Predator?” The Mayor shook her head witha bit of a shiver. “And yes, I was severely wrong. But sometimes, that is the burden of leadership. Sometimes, we have to make hard decisions. Do you think that the deaths of those I sent before you mean nothing to me?” The Mayor looked at Fleur seriously. “We can sit and argue morality all day, but I believe it would be more prudent for you to report back to your superiors on your successful mission.” Mayor Bloomburrow gave the two one last look and turned to exit the room. “One last thing: thank you for your part in slaying that Predator. You have done my village a service I will not soon forget.”

  “Wait! Do you know who saved us, Mayor Bloomburrow?” Graham blurted out before she could leave the room.

  Turning her head back to him, she gave a slight smirk.

  “Yes, and I do believe he’s waiting for you outside the village.”

  __

  “Wait a second, Fleur.” Graham said as he was gathering his belongings that had been laid out, including his battered and dented shield, but sadly, no sword. The stone sword still sat at the bottom of the pond.

  “Hmm?” She looked up at him from where she was standing by the fireplace.

  “You said Hould would be a statue. Does that mean…?”

  Fleur gave him a small smile before nodding. “Yea he’s fine now. Says that all he can taste is earth now and it's your fault.” Her expression turned a bit more serious. “When the Snake died, its magic started dissipating immediately. We thought Hould would turn to dust but he ended up cracking like some kind of Bird egg. Patch had to carry him back the whole way to the village.” She chuckled.

  “Patch?” Graham looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

  “Yea, the one who killed the Snake? I called him Patch because he has an eyepatch and he wouldn’t tell us his name. He didn’t really say much of anything actually. Just grunts for yes and no, mostly.”

  “What is he? I couldn’t get a good look before I passed out.”

  “Mmmmm. I guess you’ll see since he’s waiting for you.” Fleur smirked at him playfully.

  Graham groaned but accepted the coming engagement. Finishing strapping his battered armor on, he noticed it was slightly less comfortable than before, likely due to the additional dents the Snake gave him. It was noticeably tight around his ribs, where a large section on the left side of the breastplate had been caved in. Tightening the straps made him wince slightly where he was still sore. He’d definitely need to get some armor of his own sometime soon. And…well…a sword too. That part sooner rather than later. Some kind of Knight he’d be just swinging his shield around.

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  Departing the room with Fleur, Graham noticed that the hallways of the Mayor’s residence were just as plain as the exterior. Not one for the material. Graham supposed. Following Fleur’s lead, the two come to another guest room, this one housing a solemn looking Stevie.

  “Stevie? Are you ok?” Graham asked cautiously. The poor Rabbit looked ready to cry at any moment.

  “Graham?” Stevie perked up a touch at seeing his formerly unconscious teammate. The downtrodden look returned shortly after. “It’s just…I don’t think I’m cut out for this kind of work. I’ve been thinking about what happened to you and Hould. And there wasn’t anything I could do. All I ended up doing was get smacked by the Snake hard enough that you knew where it was.”

  “Stevie…” Fleur put a paw on his shoulder.

  “It’s ok. You don’t have to cheer me up. I’m fine with the decision. It’s good that I at least tried, right? I can live with being a coward. At least it lets me live.”

  “Stevie, do you realize how much bravery it takes to stand up to something as terrifying as that Snake was? Yea you were scared at first, but so were we all. But you pulled yourself together and faced it head-on just like the rest of us! How many Rabbits do you think can say the same? That they faced down a Predator at its best and lived to tell the tale?”

  “Well, I mean, my Grandfather was in the Predator Wars, so probably him. And then there were my three uncles, who all fought for the Alliance. Oh and then there was my cousin Ronaldo, apparently this one time he–”

  “Ok ok never mind that last part. But the point is, you’re still here aren’t you? Relatively…” Graham took a moment to look Stevie up and down, “unharmed?”

  Stevie gave a couple nods. “I see what you’re saying, Graham. But I still couldn’t even come close to doing some of the things you did during that fight. It was incredible. I couldn’t even score a proper hit with my bow.”

  “Don’t get too hung up on that. I’m not so sure I could replicate that if I tried.” Graham wasn’t lying. He truthfully didn’t quite understand how he made his magic work at that moment. He just moved on feeling, mostly.

  “Stop being so modest.” Fleur sighed. “I’ve been at magic longer than you have, and I can say I’ve never gotten close to that level of magic. You have a talent for it. But apparently you need to almost get yourself killed rather than read about it in a book. Effective? Sure. Repeatable? Ehh.”

  “I know some Gods who might disagree with you.” Graham thought back to the pond and the Snake. What was that feeling? There was no trace of doubt in Graham’s mind. Only what must be done. It was something primal. Some kind of burning purpose. Graham briefly touched his paw to his chestplate before returning his gaze to his two companions. “But ok, enough about me. Let’s go and find the others so we can get back to the Burrow.”

  “Oh, Hould and Cruz already took off. They’re on their way back to the Burrow already. I tried to get them to stay and wait for you to wake up, but Hould pretty much insisted to leave right after we learned that you’d be fine with rest. Cruz wanted to stay but didn’t want to let Hould go back alone, if it makes you feel any better.”

  “That conniving, ungrateful, backstabbing Rat! I save his life and this is the thanks I get?”

  Fleur giggled at the outburst, seeing that the news about Cruz had basically no impact. “You know, I think it’s because you saved his life that he’s acting like this.”

  “What do you mean?” Graham stopped himself from shouting another string of obscenities.

  “Think about it. The Mouse hates your guts, is nothing but rude to you, and then gets saved by you after he was the most confident? Yea, he’s just a little embarrassed. He’d been looking a little troubled ever since he turned back.”

  “Not my problem he can’t Mouse-up and say thank you. I deserve a little bit of a thank you from him.”

  “Stevie, did you see that?” Fleur pointed at the room’s window.

  “Yea! I’ve never seen anything move that fast!” Stevie covered his mouth in mock astonishment.

  “Huh?”

  “Oh, we’re just talking about how fast your modesty went flying out the window.”

  __

  After gathering their belongings, the trio bade farewell to the Mayor and began their departure out of Stone Ear’s Bluff. True to the Mayor’s word, about a mile South of the village, there was a campfire set up with a large black and white striped creature currently sitting at the fire, roasting what looked to be some sort of meat over the fire, causing the trio to stop dead in their tracks.

  Meat? What kind of creature in the Valley ate meat? A Predator? What kind of meat was that? What if it was a Mouse? Should they run?

  The creature stopped suddenly and raised its head, its nose sniffing the air before turning towards the three.

  “So. It’s you.” The creature said in a grizzly, cold voice.

  Seeing the face of the creature, the black and white stripes that adorned its face, and the eyepatch covering its left eye, Graham’s mind immediately flashed back to the image of the creature that saved their lives.

  “What. What are you eating?” Graham asked cautiously, staring at the skewer of meat in the creature’s paw.

  “Snake.”

  “Ah.” Graham gulped. “And do you eat meat…a lot?”

  “I’m not going to eat you, boy. Sit.” The creature turned its head back to the fire and meat that was sizzling over the fire. The smell of cooked meat wafted over to the trio, causing them all to wrinkle their noses in disgust, Fleur even looking a bit pale. Still, not wanting to refuse the creature, they made their way slowly over to the campfire, taking a seat in the dirt around it and watching as the creature added another log, signalling their talk may take some time.

  “Are you…a Badger?”

  “Yes.”

  The Badger continued poking at the fire, seeing no further reason to elaborate.

  “So, um, why did you save us?” Fleur asked tentatively, not having gotten the Badger to really speak before.

  “Mmmm. Been tracking Snake. And him.” The Badger jabbed a claw in Graham’s direction.

  “Me? Why?” Graham asked furrowing his brow.

  “Your magic. It was impressive. Crude. But impressive. You have talent.”

  Fleur couldn’t stop the ‘I told you so’ look from appearing on her face when looking at Graham, who just looked down with a thoughtful look.

  “Wait, if you saw my magic, why didn’t you intervene sooner? What if one of us had died?”

  The Badger looked thoughtful for a moment before answering.

  “If others die? No problem. I saved you because you’re you.”

  Graham looked furious. “So you’d just let others die when you could have saved them? And for what?”

  The Badger wore a serious look. “To fight and die is a worthy death. But to die as you would have would have been wasteful and needless.”

  “Wait, because I’m talented? Or because I was defeated?”

  The Badger just nodded before grabbing a skewer from the fire and beginning to eat it. Causing the three to recoil slightly.

  “Hmmm. Perhaps you remind me of someone. I don’t quite know myself.” The Badger remarked after swallowing.

  “So, why are you here? Why wait for me?”

  Finishing his skewer, the Badger reached for another one but stopped upon hearing Graham’s question.

  “I’d like to train you. Teach you to fight Predators.”