chapter 11 The weasel gang

Chapter 11 The Weasel gang

I bite back my laughter.

"Excuse me?" I say to the weasel.

"You heard me, Snowflake," the weasel says. "This meadow belongs to us."

Snowflake? Rude. I'm not even completely white; the tips of my fur are silver.

"Us?" Jay asks the rude weasel.

Right on cue a whole band of red weasels forms a circle around us. They are all about the same tiny size, so not very intimidating. The thing that makes me nervous is the amount of tiny weasels: almost fifty together.  

"You see," the weasel continues. "ever since the men in the black armor have been invading these mountains, we've been hunted, and are loosing places to hide. This meadow is one of our last hiding places, which your group has just trespassed on."

My fur stands on end at the mention of the 'men in black armor'.

 "You mean the Fenrir Warriors?" I ask.

The weasel nods.

I feel a flicker of anger towards the Crow's, but right now I can't worry about that. The only thing I need to worry about is how to get out of the mountains. 

"Listen, Mr. Weasel," I say.

"Call me Mr. Sterkr, please," the weasel interrupts.

"Mr . . .Sterkr." I raise my eyebrow. Sterkr was the Scandinavian word for strong. This little weasel can't possible weight more than 5 pounds. You can see why I am surprised.

"I'm no fan of the Crow's either. I wish I could help you, but we have to get out of here."

I walk towards the circle of weasels. They hiss as me, and puff up their fur to look ferocious, but it just makes them look fluffier. I consider taking them on. But as cute and little as they are, they have muscles and teeth. I'd rather not be bitten by an angry weasel.

"Ana," Jay says. "I'm not loving this either, but we are outnumbered. We have to think through this carefully."

I sigh, and look at the weasel. "What do you want from us?"

"Payment, Snowflake. You must pay us back the food you've taken from our meadow."

"Okay, call me Snowflake one more time, cotton ball, and I will drop kick you off a cliff," I growl. 

"There must be thousands of mice in this field," Luna says, "we only took a few."

"Yes, but our mouse supply is precious. You just stole from us. You must bring us more food."

"You want us to hunt more mice for you," I say.

"Wrong," Mr. Sterkr replies.

A growl rumbles in my throat. Mr. Sterkr takes the hint and explains. 

"We desire a more special payment. Rabbits are our favorite food, but they are much more difficult for us to catch. However, for two strong wolves such as yourselves, that shouldn't be much of a challenge."

I scoff; if only he knew I sucked at catching rabbits.

"Bringing, lets say, about 50 rabbits to us before sunset should be good enough."

"50!"-my jaw drops- "No animal could possibly catch fifty rabbits before night fall." It was evening, about five or so hours before sundown. I doubted there was even 50 rabbits in the area. "Forget it. I don't care if I have to go through your thugs; we're getting out of here."

I turn to leave, when I hear a little squeak behind me.

"You can take them, but do you think he can?" Mr. Sterkr says.

I turn around. Pine is being held down by a weasel about half his size. What makes my breath hitch is the weasel has it's sharp little dagger teeth clamped on Pine's neck. Pine squirms a little, and the weasel bites down harder. Pine yelps.

"It you can't make the payment, you're friend here will do. Foxes aren't our usual diet, but now a days, we can't afford to be picky," the weasel smiles wickedly. 

"No!" I walk towards him, but the weasel pulls Pine back. "Let him go!"

"Not until we get our rabbits. I suggest you get started," says Mr. Sterkr.

"Ylvana," Pine yelps. His voice is choked. "help."

I watch Pine helplessly struggle, and I give up.

"Alright! We'll do it! Just let him go," I growl.

The weasel releases Pine, but stays close so he can't escape.

"If we get you fifty rabbits before sunset, you'll let Pine and us go. Deal?" Jay says.

"Deal," the weasel lord says.

"Alright, Ana," Jay says. "I guess we have hunting to do."

The surrounding weasels part for Jay as he walks by. Before following him, I turn to Pine.

"Don't worry. I'll make sure nothing happens to you."

Pine nods. He looks at me hopefully, but I can smell his fear.

"This is impossible," I growl. 

My hunting skills have improved. But between me, Jay, and Luna, we only have about 15 rabbits, and sundown is in a an hour or so.

"We'll figure something out," Jay says. "Maybe we can help Pine escape somehow."

I scoff. "Those weasel's are tougher than King Albin's army. We don't have a chance."

"I hate to admit it," Luna says, "But I think we have hunted all the rabbits in the area. We're out of time."

I dump my freshly caught rabbit into our little pile, and sit on my haunches in despair.

"Why did it have to be little Pine?" I mumble. "He never deserved this. How stupid; death by weasels."

"You have to admire they're cleverness," Luna says, bitterly. "One weasel is no threat at all, until there is a group of them united under a strong leader."

Jay suddenly puts his nose the air, and starts walking away.

"It's no use, Jay! We're out of time," I tell him.

"I know, but don't you smell that?"  He says.

I sniff the air and detect the faint smell of rabbit. They are mixed and muffled, as if there are a lot of them together. I don't see the point in trying to hunt, but I follow Jay. The scent leads us to a maze of twigs and brush. Jay and I have to crawl on our bellies. It is horribly impractical for a large animal to get through here, but it is a perfect hiding place for a weasel.

We stop when we come to a large mass of sticks. It resembles a beaver dam, but there is no water anywhere. Jay points out a hole just big enough for us to squeeze through. He starts to crawl inside.

"Wait! What if somethings down there?" I warn him.

"Don't worry. All I smell is rabbits and weasels," he says. I carefully follow him down.

The burrow tunnel is dark until it opens up to a large round chamber where sunlight shines through gaps in the twigs. Dead rabbits are piled up on the floor. I can't count them all, but I know there are more than 50.

Before I can say anything, Jay pounces into a corner, and something squeaks. He comes back with a struggling weasel between his jaws. He dropped it's, and holds it down with his paw.

"Security breach!" the weasel cries.

"A little late for that," I growl, "What is this place?"

"Our food storage, please don't take anything, it's all we have!" the weasel begs. If he has been left here to guard the food, he is doing a poor job.

Jay's lips curve into a sly smile. "We're not going to take anything." He turns to me. "Let's go find the other weasels."

"Wait, what are you going to do?" I narrow my eyes at him. 

"Did you notice how the whole group looked to Sterkr for command? What do you think would happen if he was taken down? If we out-wit him--we escape the group."

"But how? How do you plan on outsmarting him?'

He smiles again. "Sterkr never specified the condition he required the rabbits."

Jay's plan dawns on me. 

"This better work, Bird Brain," I say to him. "Pine's life is on the line."

"This was not our deal!" Mr. Sterkr bares his little teeth. "You did not hunt 50 rabbits for us, you merely brought us rabbits we've already caught!"

"You said to bring you 50 rabbits," Jay says, "you never said they had to be freshly caught."

Mr. Sterkr opened his mouth to argue, then pauses.

"Well . . . I change the rules! You must-"

"By doing so you'd be going back on your original deal," I say. "Something tell's me you're not one to go back on your word."

"I'm the boss and I make the decisions around-" before he can finish, Luna swoops down and carries the weasel away. 

The other weasels panic as they watch their master fly away. Jay and I sit calmly, listening to the weasel's screams. This was our backup plan--Jay suspected the weasel would try to go back on his deal.

For a minute, Luna hovers in the air above us. Then, she signals me with a nod of her head, and drops the weasel.

I keep my eye on the weasel as he falls. When he is close enough, I leap up, catch him in my jaws, and drop him gently on the ground, holding him down with my paw.

"Are you going to let my friend go? Or does Luna have to take you a little bit higher?"

The weasel struggles under my weight, snapping and hissing. But my words have clearly left a mark on him. 

"Alright, wolf. I admit, you outsmarted me. Take the fox and get out of here."

The other weasels quickly agree. I slowly back off the leader of the weasel gang.

"I warn you, Snowflake. I'd watch your back if you come around these parts again. We own these woods!" Mr. Sterkr growls at me.

"I'll keep that in mind for my next vacation," I retort.

Jay, Pine, Luna and I hurry away from the weasel gang. When we're too far for them to catch up, we slow down.

"I can honestly say that was the strangest thing I've ever seen," I say.

Pine sits on his haunches and licks the spot where the weasel had bite him.

"I never liked weasels. They're all jerks. The little animals always have to make up for their size with their attitude," he says. "Thank goddess I'm not like that, right Ana?"

I look away. "Right."

Pine comes up and snuggles against my leg. "Thanks for saving me."

"It's what friends do. You helped me escape from the Crows, now we'll help you. It was all of us; Jay came up with a plan, and Luna and I followed through."

"I enjoyed that very much, actually," Luna hoots happily.

Pine laughs. "That was pretty awesome, Jay. Not many animals can outsmart a weasel."

Jay shrugs. "Well, like Luna said, it was pretty enjoyable."

"Despite the fact they were incredibly annoying, I don't like that talk of Crows poaching in the mountains," I shudder, "if they kill enough animals, they could seriously mess stuff up around here."

We took hunting seriously. It was a necessary, as well as a delicate, food source. Our hunting in the village was limited to only what we could eat, mostly caribou, moose, and deer. No one was allowed to hunt in the mountains; it was too dangerous, and a safe heaven for animals. Poaching even a bunch of weasels here could be disastrous. Our whole way of life on this island depended on a balanced hunting practice.

I try to take a step, but Pine stays leaning against my leg. I look down at his red little face.

"Can't I get a hug, Ana?" he asks.

"We have to keep moving," I say. I try to move again, but Pine doesn't budge. "Fine."

I shift into human form, and drop to my knees to give Pine a hug. After what he has been through, he deserves it.