ACK! Cliffhangers huh? Love 'em right? 'course that will become moot once chapter three is written... but... a correlation between this chapter and book FOUR of the main series of all things will be made. I will say this. This novella will drop hints to future main books... but don't worry about spoilers. It's merely a reference. A teaser. If you will...
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Arrabalta: Prejudice (Novella Alpha)
Chapter Two-
Unfortunate Tempest

As the day wore on the rain grew steadily heavier. The already muddy trail became thicker and viscous. The carts refused to move in such a terrain and made even the strongest otters in Uron tired before midday. Kalaus wondered how in Nyethra they were to carry carts loaded with wood back to Uron if empty carts drained their energy. It was hard on him as it is since he had to take bigger steps to avoid tripping in it. Having webbed paws helped, but even that wasn’t keeping them from sinking deep. Kalaus watched in worry as the trudged along, the cart carriers gasping for breath and pushing slowly through the deepening mud. Throughout the day, no one talked to each other so they could save their breath in order to keep breathing. It was eerily quiet besides the sound of the gentle rainfall and gasping and panting going on beside him. Whenever trips like these are made, companions would often converse to pass the time and get to know one another. Kalaus dare not open his maw to risk someone collapsing due to conversation. Thunder rumbled softly over head. The sky growled in a sad disappointment, shedding tears over the northeastern Marsh Plains as if the otters really have done something wrong. Eventually the mud got so deep that…
“Sir! I-it’s not budging!” grunted an otter trying to force a cart that got stuck to move.
“What?” growled Pa’eb. He halted the other carts to move back to the one that got stuck. “What is the meaning of this, Rivri?”
“The mud’s just too thick, too deep sir!” Rivri gasped as she tried fruitlessly to make the cart budge.
Pa’eb spat furiously on the ground. “Damn! Now what are we supposed to do?” he growled.
“We can wait until the rain stops?” suggested a guard. Instantly Pa’eb was on top of him.
“The rain hasn’t stopped in weeks! We simply cannot wait a month or even two for the rain to go away!” he exclaimed.
“How far from Cavra are we?” Kalaus asked.
“Judging by how slow we’ve gone, I’d say we are just under halfway there,” Pa’eb said disappointedly.
Kalaus thought for a moment. “Maybe one of us can go ahead to Cavra and get the badgers to help us?”
“You are suggesting asking for a badger’s help?” Pa’eb said incredulously. And when Kalaus recognized his tone was when he realized he was right.
“I-I guess so,” he stammered. “I hate it, don’t get me wrong, but if there is nothing else we can do… we have to put our faith blindly in someone.”
“Blindly? Boy you’ve got a lot to learn about how the world really works,” Pa’eb said tonelessly. Kalaus only shrugged. “But your idea might be our only option at this point. The other carts might have gotten stuck at this point anyways. All right, you and me are going ahead to Cavra. You lot stay behind and guard the carts!” Pa’eb exclaimed to the other guards. Most of them panted their “Yes, sirs” back. “Let’s go,” Pa’eb said to Kalaus.
“Right,” Kalaus nodded stiffly again.
Leaving the carts and the guards behind made Kalaus somewhat uncomfortable. He couldn’t figure out why. The guards are perfectly capable of defending themselves. Something just didn’t feel right. He tried to shake the thoughts from his head as he and the other guard trudged through the squelchy mud towards Cavra. Kalaus could swear that with each step he took, his paw was just going to get stuck in it; it just wouldn’t stop getting stickier and thicker. Soon it swallowed his entire ankle. Then part way up his shin. Until he suddenly fell over from his paw actually getting stuck. “Oomph!” he gasped as he fell. Great. Now his entire fur was covered in it. He eventually found his footing again, but he was spitting furiously at the state of his fur.
“Calm down Kalaus; it’s just mud. It won’t hurt you,” Pa’eb said nonchalantly.
“Maybe not, but it’s still inconvenient and annoying,” Kalaus spat as he tried to brush the mud off his coat with his handpaws. But it only smeared it in deeper. “Damn it.” He cursed. “Will this rain ever stop!?” he snarled, finally snapping his patience in two.
“Eventually. Maybe,” Pa’eb replied emotionlessly.
“Maybe!?” Why did we choose to live here ages ago?” Kalaus growled, already knowing the answer.
“Because otters love the water,” he said with Pa’eb in unison. “But not this much water, I agree. We just got to grit our teeth and bear it, alright, Riys?”
Kalaus’ ear twitched. “Fine,” he grumbled. “How much further to Cavra?” he said looking at behind him in the western sky. There was a slight tinge of orange in the clouds back there.
“Hm. It’s hard to say at this point,” Pa’eb said uncertainly. “I’d say maybe another mile or two.”
That wasn’t that far. Kalaus was eager to get to Cavra and get some rest. That was when he realized that he and Pa’eb were likely going to leave the guards where they were overnight with no shelter from the rain. He at least hoped that was where his qualms had come from. He felt sorry for them momentarily until Pa’eb snapped him into reality.
“We can still make it before nightfall, but if we keep standing around, letting the mud sink us, we won’t. Let’s get a move on, Kalaus!”
Kalaus shook and cleared his head. “Oh yes! Yes let’s,” he said still partially distracted. But as he and Pa’eb started walking again, the qualms returned to haunt him again. Especially with sickness rising faster than even Mairce can counter it, being out in this weather with no shelter must be a horrible experience. He most certainly hoped he and Pa’eb were not going to stay the night in Cavra in a nice warm bed…
“You okay, Ryis? You look ill,” Pa’eb said suddenly. That unfortunately did not snap Kalaus completely back. It was when Pa’eb pat his back rather hard that got Kalaus to stumble forward and nearly fall in the mud again. “Kalaus, seriously are you okay?”
“I’m fine Pa’eb,” Kalaus said defiantly. It wasn’t often that Pa’eb refers to others by their first names. He usually does that only when he genuinely cares about a fellow comrade… or when he is flat out, out of patience with them. Kalaus could not tell how Pa’eb felt about him at that moment.
“Something is troubling you,” Pa’eb assumed. He was right. But Kalaus knew if he voiced his concerns, Pa’eb would counter them instantly with an incredulous voice that says, “You really think that!?”.
“No, everything is fine,” Kalaus asserted and strode over the next hill. From there he saw the port town of Cavra. The rickety town was heavily weathered by the rain and sea. If there were any beasts that know water as well as otters, it’d be the badgers of Cavra. The badgers of Cavra are responsible for transporting various goods to and from the neighboring island country, Qosta, by ship. However, today, the rains were also causing very choppy seas, forcing the badgers to stay in port today. That might not be good for Jormund’s wishes and Uron’s needs.
As Pa’eb caught up to Kalaus with an unreadable expression on his face, two guards strode up to them, wielding heavy looking hammers. The hammers were built strategically to work as tools for building ships, and for usage as weapons. “Halt!” One of them commanded.
“What is your purpose in Cavra this evening?” The other one requested formally.
“We are here on Chief Jormund of Uron’s orders. We have come to retrieve supplies to rebuild Uron entirely of wood and obtain a large medicinal supply for our apothecary,” Pa’eb said with a second glance to Kalaus. He opened his muzzle again, but he was interjected.
“Ah yes, I heard that Uron is under fire. Or under water that is,” one of the badgers said, scratching his chin.
“Yes sir. We have brought several other otters and carts with us to haul the supply, but I am afraid they all got trapped in the mud halfway here,” Pa’eb confessed.
The badger hardened his gaze. This worried Kalaus. “You should have waited until you were sure the weather would stop before setting out like you have,” he said.
Pa’eb shook his head. “We could not. The state of Uron’s buildings, and health has fallen too far out of grace to wait any longer. Action must be taken now. We could only have hoped the rain would abstain for one day. But it has not. And now we must request our fellow mustelids for help,” Pa’eb spoke formally, much more formally than Kalaus probably could.
“How long ago has this happened?” the badger continued with an unwavering hint of impatience.
“Just midday.” Pa’eb responded. “By now they might—“ but the badger interjected again, but was addressing the other badger.
“You! Go round up a dozen badgers! The situation may be urgent!” The other badger nodded and ran back into Cavra.
“Urgent?” Kalaus’ ears pricked up. “What can be urgent?”
The badger looked at Kalaus. “Floods, mud, bandits even. …Worsening weather. We do not know what could have happened between all this time if your otter friends have been immobilized,” he said.
Pa’eb’s chest swelled up with pride. “I’ll have you know that my otters are fit and ready to take on any threat that comes their way,” he said indignantly.
“No matter the strength of a force, it is not invincible,” the badger stated plainly.
Pa’eb opened his muzzle again but froze. He knew it was true. That only made Kalaus feel worse. What if something bad did happen to the otters they left behind?
Several badgers came charging up the hill towards them, several holding hammers, several holding various badger-made heavy-looking tools. Such inventory raised increased trepidation in Kalaus’ already troubled mind. It wasn’t until Pa’eb grabbed his chest fur that Kalaus began to run with the badgers out of Cavra back towards the fen that lain between them and Uron. Running was somehow easier than walking. Kalaus could only guess it was because their paws didn’t have time to sink in the mud. As they ran, the badger they met at the outskirts interrogated them again.
“How many are there?” he asked.
“There are two dozen otters and a dozen carts,” Pa’eb answered. There were only a dozen badgers coming with, would it be enou—
“Okay, good thing I brought enough badgers to match the carts,” the badger panted.
“Will we make it before nightfall?” Kalaus spoke without realizing.
The badger looked down. “Most likely not. The Guardians at “Pirate” have forecasted the weather to get much worse. That’s why it is urgent.”
“Worse?” Kalaus echoed worriedly.
“Unfortunately. They say it supposed to storm harder, more rain, wind, thunder, everything. They said tornadoes are not impossible tonight,” the badger said grimly.
Tornadoes?! Tornadoes were extremely rare in Nyethra. When they did show their twisted faces it was always trouble. A sure sign that something is very wrong in the season, and even indicates that a Force may be drastically imbalanced. “What the hell is going on with the Forces then!?” he exclaimed. It was at that moment that Kalaus detected stronger winds on the horizon.
The badger shook his head. “There is no indication that any correlating Force is imbalanced. Only Darkness remains imbalanced because of Arcane.”
That really was odd. A tornado possibility unassociated with an unbalanced Force? How can that be…? Lightning flashed in the dying light. Thunder rumbled seconds afterward. The only thing worse than persisting rain, was persisting rain that evolved into a storm. But why was everyone running as if they knew a disaster would strike. What was Cavra, or more importantly, Guardian Station “Pirate” hiding from them?
“Badger?” he gasped as they ran. “Why are we running as if this is an emergency…? As if we know that disaster is going to strike?”
The badger glanced at Kalaus. “Just to be on the safe side,” he said. “Plus running in this kind of mud is easier than walking right?” Yet there was something oddly amiss with the way the striped creature spoke.
More lightning and more thunder. The wind blew from behind them, which Kalaus was grateful for at least. His short legs were not letting him go very fast for very far. It did not take him much longer to become completely winded. He stopped involuntarily and gasped for breath. The others were rushing ahead of him. He’ll have to catch up to them later; there was no way he could move anymore.
But Pa’eb decided to grab Kalaus’ arm as he stood there and forced him to move again. “You mustn’t be still for too long, Ryis! You’ll sink into the mud!”
“I-I can’t breathe!” Kalaus choked. Pa’eb stopped with him.
“You need to get into shape, mate,” he said concerned. Kalaus nodded. But Kalaus knew that may never happen with his increasing age. In the dying light, Kalaus could barely see Pa’eb’s whiskers dripping from the torrential rain. His face was written with genuine concern. Funny, Kalaus thought there was not much of a heart in the battle weary soldier standing before him.
“I will be fine, Pa’eb,” he tried to reassure him. But the look of worry on Pa’eb’s face did not fade.
“Hey, what’s the holdup!?” cried the voice of the badger guard from ahead.
“Somebody needs to get into shape,” Pa’eb replied. There was a hint of humor in his voice that forced Kalaus to crack a smile.
“I’m sorry!” Kalaus gasped. “I have short legs and am unaccustomed to running so long,” he panted.
“Like I said. Somebody needs to get into shape,” Pa’eb repeated smugly.
The badger groaned suddenly. “Oh, where is that Guardian that promised to come with us? We need their guidance to know the extent of this storm. They said that all the rain that this region has seen was building up to something,” he said stiffly.
Kalaus gasped. “An imbalance?”
The badger shook his head. “There is no report of any imbalance, like we said before. No. Apparently there is something different.”
“How?” Pa’eb growled.
“We do not know. But it is trouble for sure. We haven’t been able to sail in days,” he added.
“S-so does that mean you do not have the necessary supply for us?” Kalaus asked warily.
“We do, but it is limited. We may not have enough ourselves. We’ve asked Thalda to help out, but they are still rebuilding from the sacking they suffered from the Enigmatic Army.”
That’s right… no way Thalda would be back on their paws yet if it was still this soon after Arcane had sacked and burned well over half of the trading city.
“The closest port is all the way up north in Deltania. If we have to rely on their aid, it will be days before they reach us. Worse yet if they travel by paw, they’ll have to cross Shadow Vulpine territory to get here.”
Lighting struck the ground very close by, causing thunder to explode loud enough to shake the ground. Kalaus yelped in fright. The weather was only getting worse.
“Can you run some more, Ryis?” Pa’eb prompted.
Kalaus only nodded. As he picked up the pace again, the wind roared behind him. As if rushing into the center of a strengthening storm… That was when they saw they clouds up above. Lit up only by the lightning they saw a low wall of clouds spinning like a top. It was poised directly over where the otters left behind were.
“No way,” Kalaus breathed. He couldn’t believe his eyes. How could this happen here? Now? Just then, an orange figure darted up to meet them, panting.
“It’s going to drop… any second!” she gasped.
“Why?” Kalaus spoke with a desperate voice.
“We don’t know!” the Guardian exclaimed. “There are no imbalances of any kind that can cause this!”
The badger’s eyes were darkened. “It’s no use! We must seek shelter! Now!”
Pa’eb was stressed out and furious. “Oh yeah!? Where?! We are in the middle of nowhere!”
Kalaus only kept his eyes on the storm as it seemed to get lower and lower to the ground. “I-it is no ordinary tornado either,” he said with a quavering voice.
“I-Iridescence! What is this storm!?” the Guardian exclaimed.
What was this storm? To have built up for a month in the form of relentless rain, and then to turn into a storm this powerful, how can it happen? When the storm got as low as it could, Kalaus could swear he heard several distant screams over the howling winds. “No! Fox! Do something!” he screamed.
“What do you mean, Ryis?!” Pa’eb demanded. Kalaus looked at him with a distraught face.
“Y-you don’t hear our otter brethren screaming?” he asked.
“D-do you…? All I can hear is the wind; the approaching tempest!” Pa’eb cried.
“Fox!” Kalaus yelled. He couldn’t believe that there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t believe that he had to put faith in a fox to do something to save his potentially endangered brethren. He could only dart his eyes between the vixen and the tempest. The screams he thought he had heard were gone. But…
There was a thud and a splash. Something landed nearby. Kalaus instinctively ducked and covered his head. But when nothing ,crushed him he looked over to what landed and cried in despair. It was the mangled wreck of one of the carts they had pushed initially out into the fen. “No!”
“Damn it--!” Pa’eb cried incredulously.
The badgers that went ahead were charging back, all screaming. “It’s heading this way!” One of them screeched.
Kalaus was too shocked to move. He couldn’t believe what was unfolding around him. A storm of this strength…
“Kalaus, now is not the time to be a statue! MOVE!” Pa’eb roared and shoved Kalaus. Kalaus went skidding through the slick mud and nearly fell over if not for the wind pushing against him. Kalaus scrambled back to his paws and ran. He, Pa’eb, the Guardian, and all the badgers ran perpendicular of the raging tornado, hoping to get out of its path. It was while Kalaus ran that he realized the storm was heading directly towards Cavra. As much of a specist he was, he hoped the twister would spare them. Then he realized. Is Uron okay!? He couldn’t worry now; he had to focus on getting himself out of the way. His lugs screamed for mercy, but no matter how much ground was covered, there was a rotating wall of cloud still heading in his direction. Lightning flashed. Thunder roared. Wind howled. Kalaus lost all sense of direction. He could no longer tell if he was running into the storm or out of it. He didn’t care; all he could do was run. Run… Until his paws lifted from the ground…
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Chapter One: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/16372380/
Full series: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5340298/
Book One: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11187661/
Book Two: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15292987/