Prone To Wander (rough draft)

Chapter Twelve

With his fore paws bound, Ruben could not reach for the walls of the pit, nor could he brace himself properly for the fall. He could only twist, to land on his shoulder, instead of his back. He hit with a thud and a gasp, as the wind was knocked out of him. Ruben struggled to get up, but fell back to the ground in a heap. He coughed, and choked, and finally took a breath. His chest was still heaving, when he heard a growl that rivaled thunder.

He lifted his head from the ground and saw a paw like nothing he'd ever imagined. It was far larger than the squirrel himself, and armed with claws that put his wolfs claw dagger to shame. Ruben couldn't move. He was in no shape to fight. Not that he ever could've dreamed of fighting the monster that owned that paw! So, he waited for The Hunter to end his life.

~*~

When every ermine he could see had run to hide, Quinn pushed through the brush and into the clearing. He glanced around, and gave a growl, then approached the cage and the creatures inside. One squirrel, with that now familiar white patched coat, stood in front of the other captives. His ears were pinned, and he was staring up at the raccoon's masked face.

Quinn ripped the door off completely, and tossed it aside, getting a number of thorns stuck in his paw. He stopped to pull the thorns, shook his paw, and reached inside the cage to retrieve the brave defender of the captives. Jacob writhed in the raccoon's grip, but he was held fast.

“Now stop that,” Quinn said, “I only want...” but he stopped short, when he saw the enemy starting to reemerge.

“There's only one!” a voice called out, and the villains began to lose their fear. They stayed far enough back that the raccoon couldn't grab them, but they weren't running anymore.

“Can we feed that to The Hunter?” an ermine asked, “It would be more of a meal than the one squirrel.”

Quinn's fur bristled and he stepped towards the enemy, “You really think you can fight me?” He growled.

The answer came when a long, thin strand of leather cording was thrown, looping 'round his neck and began to tighten. Quinn grabbed it with his free paw, pulled it loose and snapped it between his teeth. Another noose came at him but he dodged it, then a third. Despite the small stature of his foes, he could see they had the advantage. So, he took the squirrel between his teeth and dashed back into the woods.

The ermines nearly chased after him, feeling emboldened by the larger predator's retreat. It was the one who had been giving orders that stopped them, “If the beast wants to eat our other trouble maker, let it,” he said, “But get a team over here to fix that door.”

Quinn climbed up the tree, dropped the squirrel and bit through his bonds, “Now then,” he said, “I think we got off on the wrong paw.”

But Jacob launched himself at the raccoon's face, and bit deep into the black nose. Quinn growled and knocked him back to the tree branch, pinning the squirrel there with one paw, and continued to try to reason with him.

At that moment, seeing his father struggling and fighting, and deaf to the raccoon's attempts to talk, Malaki bit one of Cavan's paws and broke free. He raced away, calling out, “Stop, just listen to him!” he jumped onto the raccoon's paw, and sat, staring into his father's eyes.

Jacob stared back in shock for half a moment, then struggled all the harder, yelling out, “Malaki, no! Run!”

But the young squirrel instead, turned and put a paw on the bleeding black nose beside him, “No, I don't need to, he's not an enemy,” Malaki insisted, “This is Quinn.”

Jacob stopped fighting, and Quinn removed his paw, with Malaki still clinging to it. The new squirrel rose cautiously to his own paws, still staring up at the beast before him. “Please,” he said, “Would you set my son down?”

“I'm not holding him,” Quinn replied, but lowered his paw, “He can get down whenever he likes.”

Malaki did hop down, rushed over, and clung to his father, who embraced his pup as tightly as he could.

“Everyday since you escaped, I've wondered what happened to you,” Jacob said through tears.

“Uncle Ruben found me,” Malaki said, dropping back down onto his own paws. “We were searching for you, to rescue you. But we never would've made it here if uncle Quinn hadn't been helping.”

“Uncle?” Jacob repeated, nearly choking on the word.

“I didn't start that,” Quinn grumbled, “That was our other brother's doing. Where did Ruben go anyway? I couldn't see him when I went in there.”

Jacob's ears fell flat, his head turned down, and he looked at Malaki, “Did your uncle Ruben really call this creature his brother?”

“Yes,” the pup replied uneasily.

“Where is he?” Quinn demanded, his patience thinning.

“He asked those filthy weasels to kill him, instead of me. They tied his paws and went to feed him to something.”

“What? They're going to kill uncle Ruben?” Came the voices of Cavan and Kelly, nearly in unison.

Jacob looked past the raccoon in front of him, and saw the two kits further back, on the branch. He stepped nervously in front of his pup, but the young squirrel broke away. Malaki went racing to the kits, who nuzzled him reassuringly. The father shook his head, and looked up at Quinn, completely bewildered.

“Where exactly did they take Ruben?” The raccoon growled.

~*~

Eventually, Ruben realized he wasn't dead. He lifted his head a bit more and a single bark made him jump back into the dirt wall. Another bark, louder than the first erupted from the monster of a dog, sending drool and foam flying at him. He shuddered, and turned his face away, wondering why it didn't just snatch him up and get it over with. Finally, he dared to look straight at it.

The beast was a pale gold, so pale it was nearly white, with black on it's muzzle and ears, and a tail that curled over it's back. The squirrel then saw a wide leather collar, tight on the animal's neck, and a heavy chain hanging from it. His eyes followed the metal links, until he saw it was slung 'round a protruding tree root, halfway up the wall of the pit, and fastened to itself.

“You're chained,” he said, turning to look directly into the deep brown eyes.

“That's right,” the dog growled, “And I can't reach you from here. So, go on and climb up to the top... those evil little weasels will just throw you in again. They always do.”

“No thank you,” Ruben said, “I don't really want to be thrown in again.”

“Don't worry,” was the reply, “I'll catch you next time.”

Ruben shuddered, and his heart dropped to his toes. He looked down at his binds, and took a moment to chew them off. He half hoped that the others would try to rescue him, but knew that even Quinn would have no chance against such an enemy. His mind raced. He looked at the length of the chain, and realized only a few steps would put him within the dog's reach. Then he looked straight up, and saw two ermines peering over the edge of the pit. Suddenly, the words of The Hunter came back to him.

“Evil little weasels?” Ruben echoed in confusion.

“What about them?” The dog asked.

“You're just another captive,” the squirrel said, staring at the chain.

“A captive down a hole, with muddy puddles to drink from, and almost nothing to eat,” came the growling reply. “Now, are you going to try to escape? Or do have to wait for you to fall asleep?”

“What do you mean, fall asleep?” Ruben asked.

“Eventually you'll fall asleep and roll over... and the floor slants towards the center.”

Ruben looked up at the curious ermines again, then back to the dog and asked, “I don't suppose you'd tell me your name? We could call it a last request.”

“Niki,” she replied, “Now, does that mean you'll come closer?”

Ruben gave a nervous smile and pressed all the harder into the wall. “Not yet,” he replied, “First, tell me, how did you end up chained down here?”

“I thought the last request, was your last request,” Niki argued.

“We both know you'll eat me when this over. Why not tell me what happened?”

“I'm done talking,” the dog grumbled, and she went to lay down beside the opposite wall.

“Alright,” Ruben said, “You don't have to tell me. But however you ended up down here, I'm sure you want out... and I might be able to help with that.”

~*~