Taking a quick pace forward, Balefur swung the axe in a swift arc. Aggal jumped backward, but not before the axeblade had sheared through his sword belt. The fox picked up the severed belt and sheathed sword lightly on his double-headed axe and tossed it to the speechless Captain.
“Och, yer no hurt, stoat. If ah was aimin tslay ye theyd be buryin ye in two pieces now!
Swartt got up from his chair; striding forward he faced the fox imperiously. “I am Swartt Sixclaw, Warlord of this horde!
Balefur looked away insolently as if dismissing him. “Aye, so ahve heard, what else is new, ferret?
Swartt fought inwardly to control his rising anger. “So youre Balefur, I can tell by your speech that yer from the far northlands. How did yget this far south?
The fox shrugged, smiling patronizingly at me Warlord. “Och, thats a long story, but nae doubt ah 11 be goin farther a bit wi ye, if were tbetieve all yer talk o great booty an mighty plunder.
Knowing the fox was getting the better of the confrontation, Swartt decided to change his tack. He smiled and clapped the big beasts back, saying, “I like you, mate, yer a beast after me own heart. Howd ylike to be a horde Captain in my army?
Balefur chuckled, shaking his head. “Not fer me, polecat, ahll leave that tae the wee beasties who like tdress up an play soldiers. Mah business is takin care o maself, not lookin after otherbeasts.
Seething inwardly, Swartt pasted a smile on his face. “Dont take or give orders, eh, a good idea. Come sit with me, Balefur, lets eatndrink together, friend.
The big fox laughed openly.
“Yer a canny creature, Swartt, ye drink from the bottle an ah drink from the silver cup, eh? Is that what yer thinkin? Well etll no work, ah ate an drank afore ah came here an ahm off tae take mah rest now, so ahll bid ye good night.
Without waiting permission from the Warlord, Balefur shouldered his battleaxe and strode off.
When Balefur had left, Swartt leapt at one of the guards ! standing nearby and felled him with a mighty blow from his mailed paw.
“There! Thatll give yer somethin to smile about! Anybeast want some of this, speak up an Ill give it to yer!
At a nod from Nightshade, the guards and Captains hurriedly left the tent. The vixen hovered behind Swartts chair. “That one is dangerous, Lord, he knows we poisoned Shang Damsontongue. But we will have to be careful. Balefur is much admired within your horde; we will watch and wait.
Swartt gritted his teeth until his jaw ached. “Id like to finish the blaggard tonight, while hes sleepin!
“Twould not be easy, Lord, he is a northlander, experienced in the art of battle. Twould be no simple task to slay that one. If you missed then you would be made to look foolish in front of the horde.
Swartt studied his six-clawed paw in its metal gauntlet, and said, “I suppose youre right, vixen, well watch an wait. Nothing must happen tmake me look foolish in front of my horde. I want you tgo ahead and scout the land for three days. Make sure were on the right course, I dont want them mut-terin that were lost again, Balefurd just love that. Travel alone and let nobeast know where youre goin, dye hear?
Nightshade stuffed provisions in a sack. “Ill go now. Dont worry too much about Balefur, he does not figure in your fate, Lord.
Swartt drew his curved sword and tested its edge. “No, but Ill figure in his fate sure enough. Theres more ways of shell-in an acorn than hittin it with a rock. Go now.
The following days were not easy for Swartt. Tales, enlarged by rumor, had spread through the horde, telling of his encounter with the fox Balefur. The stories grew more fantastic as they passed from one to another.
“I tell yer, mate, Swartts terrified of ole Balefur.
“Who told yer that?
“One of the guards who was in the tent, e said that Balefur chopped Swartts belt in pieces with that battleaxe of is.
“So, what did Sixclaw do about that?
“Never did a thing, jus stood there tremblin, then Balefur goes an lays Capn Aggal out with a single blow.
“It mustve been a good blow, that Aggals a tough un!
“Hah, none of em are as tough as the fox. Ave yer seen the size of im? I wouldnt like to chance me paw with that un!
“Me neither, not if e did wot you said.
“Well e did it, true as I stanere. Ill wager that ole Bale-furll be leadin this orde afore long.
Swartt could hear the murmurs; he heard the stifled chuckles also, though he could never identify the culprits from out of the marching horde. Luckily the going was easy, over copse-dotted grasslands crisscrossed by small gurgling streams. Alone in his tent at nights, the Warlord noticed that his Captains were hardly bothering to come in and report at the end of each day. When he slept his dreams were visited by visions of the badger Sunflash. Each morn he would wake, and the one thing driving him on, even in his present precarious position, was to slay his enemy, the badger who had ruined his sixclawed paw.
Balefur, however, was enjoying his notoriety and courting popularity with his admirers. There were a great number of hordebeasts who favored the big fox; some were only too glad to serve him food, erect a tent for his use, and obey his whims. The horde Captains were plainly frightened of him, and Bale-fur took every opportunity to belittle them by making sideswipes at their authority. His prowess with the battleaxe was becoming something of a legend around the campfires. Often he would chop an officers spear handle in two pieces and pretend it was an accident.
“Whoops! Sorry about (hat, laddie, ye mustve stepped in mah way jist as ah was practicin, still, nae harm done, eh?
Some days he would deliberately hold about half of the horde back by taking a rest in mid-march. He would sit at the edge of a stream, bathing his paws and calling out so that Swartt could hear every word clearly, “Och, ye march on wi1 yer badger-chasin, well catch ye up by nightfall, mebbe!
Grim-faced and silent, the Warlord marched onward, afraid to challenge Balefurs easygoing insolence in case he lost to the fox, yet knowing that while the challenge remained unanswered, he was losing the respect of both horde and Captains. It was a dilemma he would have to face sooner or later.
It was in the dark of a moonless night when the vixen returned. The Warlord sprang up from the cushions where he had lain sleepless through the long hours. “Where in the name of furnblood have you been all this time, vixen? Make yer report, an it better be good!
It was good. Swartts agile mind weighed up the possibilities as Nightshade explained what she had found.
“Lord, you are marching south now, and have been for the last few days, but no matter. Two days from here a great river runs to the west. If we follow it to the shores of the sea, then we only have to go due south.
Swartt nodded impatiently. “Yes, yes, ydid well, vixen, we wont get lost followin a river. But theres somethin else youve seen, I know there is! Tell me.
Nightshade leaned close, her voice low, relishing the role of conspirator. “A little way east before I found the river, I discovered two old stoat hags living not far from a great hole in the ground, a quarry they called it. Funny thing though, these two old ragbags of stoats, they were living in a hovel made of grass sods, but it was ringed about by many thick ropes lying flat on the ground....
“Thick ropes on the ground, what for? Swartt interrupted.
“I asked them that very question, Lord. They told me it was because of the snakesthey said that serpents wont cross over a rope laid flat on earth....
Swartt stared hard at the vixen in the gloom of the tent. “Snakes! How many snakes were they tafkin about?
“They said a great nest of adders live down in the quarry, where the stone is dry and sandy in places. I stood at the edge of the quarry with them and they showed me the entrance holes to the serpents lair. Anybeast going into one of those holes would meet a horrible death for certain.