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[Mouse Guard] Death's Wings - Spring, 1153
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<blockquote data-quote="Paka" data-source="post: 4600445" data-attributes="member: 100"><p><em>"Every tool is a weapon if you hold it right."</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>- Copperwood Motto</em></p><p><em></em></p><p></p><p>Death's Wings Part IIa</p><p></p><p>Gurney shook off the exhaustion from the journey. His hometown was filled with mice who closed their doors while others suffered. Other mice in the guard might come to whisper that Copperwood was filled with weaklings and cowards. No, Gurney was not tired anymore. He was too damned angry to be tired.</p><p></p><p>The guardsmice squatted behind a stone between two buildings, a tannery and an armory, looking in on the Governor's Cottage along the central square. Brigands in armor patrolled with owl feathers in their helms, barbed spears at the ready.</p><p></p><p>"Tander, I am going to the bell-tower and gather up the town. I have something to say to the mice of Copperwood," Gurney said in as matter-of-face tone, unslinging the halbred from his shoulder. "You shouldn't go with me in case I am captured."</p><p></p><p>"Maybe we could find an alternate route to the tower...a safer route?"</p><p></p><p>Gurney agreed with Tander but not in the way the bookish mouse wanted. "Yes, if you go a safer route, that will be better for you, I think. I am walking across the square, facing them head on. I'm a warrior, not a planner."</p><p></p><p>"Maybe we could fight them in the bell-tower and choose our ground, choose the terrain and the time to fight," Tander pleaded, noticing that the sewage tunnels under Copperwood ran right to the bell-tower..</p><p></p><p>"I am choosing the grounds. I am choosing the square, right now, right here. If I die in front of the bell-tower, while you ring the bell and if I should perish in front of all of Copperwood's cowards, that is fine with me."</p><p></p><p>Tander knew better than to turn this into an argument. "Sing that song, 'The Night the Sparrows Fed,' before you head out, give me time to get the bell ringing and to back you up."</p><p></p><p>Gurney nodded.</p><p></p><p>As Tander sprinted down the sewage tunnels, Gurney walked into the town square, singing the grim folk song, 'The Night the Sparrows Fed,' to himself while he strolled.</p><p></p><p>The zealous owl-feathered brigand-mice met him before the bell-tower, spears in hand.</p><p></p><p>"You are coming with us, guard-mouse."</p><p></p><p>"I am going up to ring that bell."</p><p></p><p>The lead brigand opened his mouth to argue and Gurney got in close, choking up on his halbred, using it like an axe, rather than like a pole-arm. Before they knew what was going on, he was in amongst them, wreaking havoc, rending limbs and opening their guts to the cobblestones of Copperwood's main square. By the time Tander rang the bell and loaded a stone into his sling, most of the brigands were already dead.</p><p></p><p>The last of them begged and pleaded for mercy. His spear had been knocked from his paw's grip and he was crawling along the stones, slipping on his comrad's blood.</p><p></p><p>"Please. Please, don't kill me. Mercy, Mouse Guard. Mercy, I beg-"</p><p></p><p>"I am showing you the mercy that you showed to the mice you chained up for the owl, you bastard."</p><p></p><p>Gurney's halbred showed no mercy, cutting the mouse in half, from crotch to skull.</p><p></p><p>When Tander came down the steps, he found Gurney smoking a pipe, looking out to the town, watching the crafts-mice of Copperwood gather among the carnage. The governor saw the death and fell to his knees, crying. He did not cry for the brigands but for his own children, whom the owl cultists had kidnapped and held hostage.</p><p></p><p>"You have killed my children. They will kill them for sure now. Look and see what you have done! You've killed my beloved children."</p><p></p><p>Gurney smoked his pipe impassively, not swayed or moved in the least by the governor's show of emotion and grief.</p><p></p><p>The black-furred mouse tamped out his pipe, putting it back on his belt and cleaned his halbred of the gore stuck to the blade. "Like as not your kids were dead already. No, you should have stood up to these bandits the moment they showed up. The Copperwood I knew, the place where I grew up would have never allowed this to happen. No way. Grey-ears and his two sons would have taken to arms and stood strong. Old Man Winter would have picked up his bow and shot any mouse who suggested feeding an owl willingly. No way the Copperwood that raised me would have been so cowardly."</p><p></p><p>Devlin the Smith, who had been an apprentice with Gurney before he had been cloaked as a Mouse Guard shook her head. "Gurney, it was a rough winter; you don't know what it has been like out here."</p><p></p><p>Tander verbally backed up his fellow guard-mouse and friend, "Gurney has just given all of you an opportunity to regain the honor of your town... will you take it?"</p><p></p><p>Having cleaned his halbred from the fur and blood that was clinging to it, Gurney looked over the mice of Copperwood. "We are going to take to the trail; they will be heading to the Finger to feed the governor's children to the owl. We are going to save them, face the owl if we must. Whose with us?"</p><p></p><p>Old Man Winter stepped forward, nodding his head.</p><p></p><p>Old Gray ears stepped up too. "My eldest boy died from the famine of this winter's past."</p><p></p><p>Gurney told the old man he was sorry to hear that.</p><p></p><p>"But me and my boy will fight with you to make sure no others have to die."</p><p></p><p>The rest of Copperwood watched them go as they left the safety of the oak that the town was built within and headed out on the open trail for the Finger, a jutting natural pillar of stone as high as a tree where these zealots have taken to sacrificing mice to an owl. If they were lucky, the Guards-mice reckoned, they would get to the Finger before the cultists and they could save the governor's children before the owl was summoned.</p><p></p><p>Tander and Gurney did the maths in their head, thinking about the time it would have taken the bandits to hear about the slaughter, gather the children and make for the Finger.</p><p></p><p>The guards-mice, along with an old hunter, an old carpenter and the carpenter's young son heard the horn the zealots use to summon the Great Horned Owl, a beast whom the brigands believed was the incarnation of death itself. They barely had time to group together when they saw a shadow cross the moon.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Paka, post: 4600445, member: 100"] [I]"Every tool is a weapon if you hold it right." - Copperwood Motto [/I] Death's Wings Part IIa Gurney shook off the exhaustion from the journey. His hometown was filled with mice who closed their doors while others suffered. Other mice in the guard might come to whisper that Copperwood was filled with weaklings and cowards. No, Gurney was not tired anymore. He was too damned angry to be tired. The guardsmice squatted behind a stone between two buildings, a tannery and an armory, looking in on the Governor's Cottage along the central square. Brigands in armor patrolled with owl feathers in their helms, barbed spears at the ready. "Tander, I am going to the bell-tower and gather up the town. I have something to say to the mice of Copperwood," Gurney said in as matter-of-face tone, unslinging the halbred from his shoulder. "You shouldn't go with me in case I am captured." "Maybe we could find an alternate route to the tower...a safer route?" Gurney agreed with Tander but not in the way the bookish mouse wanted. "Yes, if you go a safer route, that will be better for you, I think. I am walking across the square, facing them head on. I'm a warrior, not a planner." "Maybe we could fight them in the bell-tower and choose our ground, choose the terrain and the time to fight," Tander pleaded, noticing that the sewage tunnels under Copperwood ran right to the bell-tower.. "I am choosing the grounds. I am choosing the square, right now, right here. If I die in front of the bell-tower, while you ring the bell and if I should perish in front of all of Copperwood's cowards, that is fine with me." Tander knew better than to turn this into an argument. "Sing that song, 'The Night the Sparrows Fed,' before you head out, give me time to get the bell ringing and to back you up." Gurney nodded. As Tander sprinted down the sewage tunnels, Gurney walked into the town square, singing the grim folk song, 'The Night the Sparrows Fed,' to himself while he strolled. The zealous owl-feathered brigand-mice met him before the bell-tower, spears in hand. "You are coming with us, guard-mouse." "I am going up to ring that bell." The lead brigand opened his mouth to argue and Gurney got in close, choking up on his halbred, using it like an axe, rather than like a pole-arm. Before they knew what was going on, he was in amongst them, wreaking havoc, rending limbs and opening their guts to the cobblestones of Copperwood's main square. By the time Tander rang the bell and loaded a stone into his sling, most of the brigands were already dead. The last of them begged and pleaded for mercy. His spear had been knocked from his paw's grip and he was crawling along the stones, slipping on his comrad's blood. "Please. Please, don't kill me. Mercy, Mouse Guard. Mercy, I beg-" "I am showing you the mercy that you showed to the mice you chained up for the owl, you bastard." Gurney's halbred showed no mercy, cutting the mouse in half, from crotch to skull. When Tander came down the steps, he found Gurney smoking a pipe, looking out to the town, watching the crafts-mice of Copperwood gather among the carnage. The governor saw the death and fell to his knees, crying. He did not cry for the brigands but for his own children, whom the owl cultists had kidnapped and held hostage. "You have killed my children. They will kill them for sure now. Look and see what you have done! You've killed my beloved children." Gurney smoked his pipe impassively, not swayed or moved in the least by the governor's show of emotion and grief. The black-furred mouse tamped out his pipe, putting it back on his belt and cleaned his halbred of the gore stuck to the blade. "Like as not your kids were dead already. No, you should have stood up to these bandits the moment they showed up. The Copperwood I knew, the place where I grew up would have never allowed this to happen. No way. Grey-ears and his two sons would have taken to arms and stood strong. Old Man Winter would have picked up his bow and shot any mouse who suggested feeding an owl willingly. No way the Copperwood that raised me would have been so cowardly." Devlin the Smith, who had been an apprentice with Gurney before he had been cloaked as a Mouse Guard shook her head. "Gurney, it was a rough winter; you don't know what it has been like out here." Tander verbally backed up his fellow guard-mouse and friend, "Gurney has just given all of you an opportunity to regain the honor of your town... will you take it?" Having cleaned his halbred from the fur and blood that was clinging to it, Gurney looked over the mice of Copperwood. "We are going to take to the trail; they will be heading to the Finger to feed the governor's children to the owl. We are going to save them, face the owl if we must. Whose with us?" Old Man Winter stepped forward, nodding his head. Old Gray ears stepped up too. "My eldest boy died from the famine of this winter's past." Gurney told the old man he was sorry to hear that. "But me and my boy will fight with you to make sure no others have to die." The rest of Copperwood watched them go as they left the safety of the oak that the town was built within and headed out on the open trail for the Finger, a jutting natural pillar of stone as high as a tree where these zealots have taken to sacrificing mice to an owl. If they were lucky, the Guards-mice reckoned, they would get to the Finger before the cultists and they could save the governor's children before the owl was summoned. Tander and Gurney did the maths in their head, thinking about the time it would have taken the bandits to hear about the slaughter, gather the children and make for the Finger. The guards-mice, along with an old hunter, an old carpenter and the carpenter's young son heard the horn the zealots use to summon the Great Horned Owl, a beast whom the brigands believed was the incarnation of death itself. They barely had time to group together when they saw a shadow cross the moon. [/QUOTE]
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