Firesight

   He was a strong, sturdy young badger, quick on his feet, suprising in one so large.  His eyes were a strange reddish tinge, a trait inherited from his great grandmother, Cregga Rose Eyes.  A large well- used but well made sword was slung across his broad back.  The badger didn't know where he was going, just knew that if anybeast needed help he would give it.
    A sudden piercing scream stopped the traveler in his tracks, and he unsheathed his broadsword.  Quietly he crept in the direction of the sound.  When he found the source, he tensed with anger.
A large black fox was standing over the bodies of two hares, a grown male and female.  Throughout the clearing was strewn the bodies of six dead leverets.  Another female leveret lay wounded.  The black fox turned toward her and readied his curved sword, grinning wickedly.  His band of three score vermin- stoats, foxes, weasels, rats, ferrets, every kind of vermin- watched on.
    "Looks like yer the last one, hare!"  The leveret tried to back away, but the fox kept advancing.  The badger decided to act.  A thunderous warcry burst from his lungs as he charged, his eyes misted over in a veil of red, a sign of the bloodwrath.
    "EULALIAAAA!"
    He sliced the fox's paw almost off before diving into the ranks of vermin, ignoring hisd own wounds, killing all in sight.  Only ten vermin escaped.  The fox shook a fist at the badger.
    "Mark my words, Firesight, I'll kill you!" the fox shouted. "I'll kill you as I did my family!  You just wait, stripedog!"  He and his band left the clearing, and when he was sure they were gone, Firesight collapsed to the ground, exhausted from the bloodwrath.
    The badger awoke to a warm fire burning near him, a blanket over him, and the leveret binding his wounds.  He looked up at her.
    "What's your name?" he asked.
    "Starbreeze Forrelo," the leveret answered.
    "Starbreeze," Firesight repeated. "I'm Firesight."  They sat in silence as Starbreeze finished binding Firesight's many wounds.
    "Thanks for savin' me," she said.
    "I only wish I could have saved your family as well."  They lapsed into silence again. "Who was he- the fox, I mean?" Firesight asked. "He said he killed my family.  I never found out who did, but if it was he, he is my enemy now."  The leveret doe's brown eyes flashed.
    "Zarok the Cruel," she answered, a tinge of anger underlying the name. "And now he's bally well my sworn enemy because he killed my family."
    "Perhaps we should travel together," Firesight suggested. "We share a common enemy."  Starbreeze hesitated, then nodded.
    "Sounds spiffin' t'me," she agreed.
    As they walked along, Starbreeze questioned the badger. "Where y'travelin' to?" she asked.  Firesight shrugged his powerful shoulders.
    "Nowhere, really.  I roam around where I please, defending any goodbeasts in need of help," he answered.
    "Oh.  I thought y'were travelin' t'Salamandastron," Starbreeze said.
    "Salamandastron?" Firesight repeated the strange name.  Starbreeze glanced at him quizzically.
    "Y'don't know 'bout Salamandastron?  Th' mountain of th' fire lizards. Most badgers go there t'be Badger Lord.  Last I bally well heard there was none there," the leveret replied.
    "Hm.  Tell me about this mountain."
    "It was once a spiffin' volcano.  Th' mountain stands on th' ocean shore north of jolly ol' Mossflower woods.  Inside it are many tunnels an' chamber thingies.  It's got fifty or so fightin' hares in it an' a Badger Lord.  They guard against seavermin chaps an' th' toads that're on one side.  Salamandastron's home t' th' famous Long Patrol, a patrol of spiffin' hares that range on a wide circle scouting fer danger," Starbreeze told him.  Firesight was silent for a long while as he thought.
    "Do you know the way to Salamandastron?" he asked suddenly.  A smile spread across Starbreeze's face.
    "Yessir!"

* * *

    As they traveled to Salamandastron, helping creatures and defeating vermin on the way, the bond between the two creatures deepened and strengthened.  They were close friends, like the family each had lost. Eventually they reached the mountain of the fire lizards.
    "Eulaliaaaaaaa!!!" Firesight roared when nobeast came out.  The cry was returned from the hares inside the mountain.
    "Eulaliaaaa!!!"  Four large hares emerged from Salamandastron.  One, sporting a black ear, spoke first.
    "'ello, I'm Sargeant Sarrock.  These're Nolar, Orin, an' Lonif.  We're th' hare leaders of th' Long Patrol and th' mountain.  Wot's yore name, sir?"
    "I am called Firesight, and this is Starbreeze," the big badger answered. Sarrock bowed.
    "Welcome t'yore mountain, Firesight, Badger Lord of Salamandastron!

* * *

    Firesight enjoyed his reign in the mountain.  He made many friends among the carefree hares, as did Starbreeze.  Starbreeze soon became renowned for her skill with the pike, and she could best any hare in a mock battle.  Soon she was the leader of a patrol.
    One day Firesight was working in his forge when Lonif raced into the room. "Sir, come quick!  It's Starbreeze!"  The expression on Lonif's face and the urgency in his voice forestalled any questiones.  Firesight ran after the hare to the mountain's entrance.
    Starbreeze layed on the ground.  Her normally sandy brown fur was stained almost black with blood.  One ear had been cut completely off.  Firesight couldn't tell how many cuts she had in her fur, but there were many, and they were deep.  Firesight was aware that he was beginning to get Bloodwrath, but he shook it off as best he could.
    "Who did this?" he roared angrily.  Starbreeze moaned.
    "Firesight…"  He dropped down beside her.
    "Was it Zarok?" the badger asked.
    "Yes… he was… torturing a mole family…" she gasped. "Tried t'stop 'im… 'e killed Perry… Rosebud… Birchtail… tried t'kill 'im… think 'e killed me… wot?"  Firesight felt the Bloodwrath coming on when Starbreeze, his friend and comrade, closed her eyes for the last time.  He ran out of the
mountain.
    "ZAAARRROOOK!  I'll kill you, Zarok!  STAAARRRBRRREEEZE!" Orin started to follow him, but Lonif held the hare back.
    "Let 'im be.  We won't do anythin' but get killed if Lord Firesight 'as th' Bloodwrath," Lonif said quietly.

    It was almost a week before Firesight returned.  He hadn't found his enemy, but he had worked off the Bloodwrath.  He came through the mountain entrance without a word, and after a silent meal, he went to that secret room in the heart of Salamandastron.  There he stayed for another three days in a deep sleep.  When he awoke he read what he had written on the wall, after all the other drawings.  A picture of a golden tailed squirrel holding a stick, coming to the mountain, a picture of a black fox… Zarok?… a picture of him fighting the fox, and then words.  He squinted to read them.
    "The day the squirrel with golden tail
    Into the mountain comes
    The fox will find the end of the badger's trail
    Both shall perish under the setting sun."