The gang sat round the cozy fire, snacking, toasting chestnuts and reminiscing about the latest fight.
"Three gangs, that was heavy." muttered the new hedgehog Prickles.
"The two of the main Royalists and a new gang in the neighbourhood, Pi-rats, they had a lot of style" Martyn the mouse mage added.
"Bien to 'ave a new target," giggled Arimouse the mouseketeer with a grin.
Nibble McPhee, the new mouse highlander in teh gang, lived up to his name with his chestnut, "Seven rats, unusual. Coming in from our right."
"The Royalists were opposite us, those two birds, Bobby the hound and Bucky the hare, a new weasel with a nasty club, plus Rackness the racoon hunter."
"Sir Oliphant's warband on our left, all ten, and Syd and Synthia nearest to us" Pebbles added from her chair, one leg strapped up and on a stool.
Straight away, Flash looked up from his drink, "Derek the archer moved up quickly, glad I got a shot off at him then, kept his head down a bit."
Alk grinned, foxily, and added, "Nibbles, Prickles and I went right to hunt down rats, hiding where ever we could. Shame really, as these rats are actually rather respectable and upstanding citizens. They may look fearsome, but they just want to be accepted."
Sir C'astle tossed his chestnut between his paws, trying to cool it down enough to eat, "Notice Magma came out to play early Pebbles."
"Yeah, she was a bit keen this time," the lizard replied rubbing her leg, "Hopefully, it will have something to do with this, as it hurts a lot!"
"Going straight after Syd was brave," Sir C'astle added, "most creatures would think twice about that, especially when Arthur was hiding behind the fence in support."
"I ham glad moi new pistols were accurate, zat kept 'im busy," Arimouse smiled at the memory of his shots hitting Syd. 
The rest of Sir Oliphant's gang were heading off to the market, trying to tie down the other Royalists." Flash continued, "Where was Sir Oliphant himself?"
"Hiding behind Dunstalking house," Sir C'astle confirmed, chomping into his now cooled chestnut. "I joined Magma in charging Syd with my spear, he didn't like the idea of being a snake on a stick."
"That would explain why I found his teeth buried in my shield when I woke up!" Pebbles grinned wryly, "Look, they fit!" Giving an extra toothy grin, to the hilarity of the company.
"Bucky, Sixpence and Rackness spread out quickly to engage Sir Oliphants gang." Martyn said. 
"Mes amis, it was only fair I join you!" Arimouse grinned again at the sight of Pebbles flashing fangs at the bar rabbit, who turned pale.
Martyn rubbed a fresh cut on his arm, "I got a little carried away trying to deal with the threat of Derek, while he was a tad singed by my fireball, I caught at least one more arrow in return."
Flash patted the venerable mage on the back, "The secret is to duck them, not catch them, ask Sir C'astle!"
"We rather mistimed our attacks, old girl," the shrew knight raised his wine gobblet in salute to the lizard, "It left Magma with only one choice, and that was to charge directly at Sssynthia the mage."
"Nice target if you could have caught her!" Alk added.
"You did un a good 'it on 'er, but she slunked off and 'ealed 'erself immediantmant," Arimouse put in. "Arretted 'er lightning shots. mes amis."
Sir C'astle sighed, throwing nut skins onto the embers at the edge of the fire, "Unfortunately, you attracted the attention of that huge ele---badger. Never seen one vault a fence before..."
"None of us 'ad ever regard en elephaaaa... badger like zat before dernier mons!" Arimouse added.
"The fact he landed on your leg, painful, we all heard the snap from the fountain," the Shrew knight shrugged.
"I had to rush in to help a lady in distress..." Sir C'astle blurted out.
"Aye, she's no lady!" Nibbles butted in, finding his voice, "I seen her down a pint!"
Alk, sensing a tension in the air, changed the tack "The other Royalists gang's bird hit the rats hard, they were soon fighting tooth and nail with it and that was literally it for the weasel, who also had a nail in that club, quite a firce combination. Their Princess was getting raked by talons all over."
"Aye, and that pie on legs up on the hill were a threat!" Spikey added, "There was some barny in that market stand, two mice shooting, Mousetangnon taking on Bucky the Hare. Lot of hurts there."
"Pity no-one noticed Sixpence the Sparrow flitting by on a mission." Alk added. 
"Aye, we's had other worries, twa great rats comin' at us, fast!" McPhee the mouse added.
"You weren't in any danger," the fox purred, "it was always going to be three on two, and I'm pretty sure we could take them."
"The tortoise wandering off the hill was hilarious, he must have found some nice shrubs to munch on the way, " Alk also grinned, sipping his tea "it didn't help that his own archers kept shooting into melee and hitting poor Mousetagnon!"
"Yer was so busy watching that, that rat had a right go a me!" Nibbles complained.
"Aye, but ye did 'im the same damage back straight away." the hedgehog nudged him.
"And I were straight in to help ye laddie!"
"Squint was causing us trouble back at the start," Martyn moaned, "he caused me a lot of hurt."
"You stepped away pretty quickly, allowing me to shoot at him." Flash put in.
"Deux of us taking on Sir Oliphant, 'e was taking beaucoup damage, but ze adder kept 'ealing 'im." Arimouse desribed, "Joined by Arthur avec 'is ax, good thing you parried 'im so easily."
"All these years of knighthood count for something." Sir C'astle raised his goblet. 
"Aye, the brawls were everywhere," Spiny the hedgehog added, "Rats on the hill and rats in the field."
"They say you're never three feet from one." Sir Ca'astle added.
"What, a rat or a brawl?"
"Who has three feet? I've only got tw'." Nibbles jested.
"Aye, the Princess rat was taking a huge amount o' damage. Even the Pi-rat captain joined in. Elmo the Kite was brutal." Nibbles said, chucking up a grub and swollowing it down.
"Aye, as were that weasel!" the Spiny hedgehog put in.
"That tortoise still had not made it into combat." Martyn mused.
"He's usually so quick," grinned Flash.
"More mouse arrows kept hitting Mousetagnon," Martyn narrated, "poor fellow, put him out of the fight completely. Noticed Sam the mouse was also taking on Rackness the Racoon, throwing knives vs a crossbow armed racoon."
"Poor mice." Pebbles shook her head. 
Martyn shelled a wallnut, "Terance FINALLY got into melee, but that hare with his magic sword didn't care about all his armour." 
"Thank yous Alk fer joining us," Spiny added.
"The pleasure was all yours, I'm sure," Alk retorted, sipping his tea.
"Well, the rat didna last long with your help." Nibbles added. "Princess looked on from a distance as that great brown rat charged in."
"TIMBER!" Sir C'astle grinned, "Sir Oliphant went down with a thud."
"Yeah, on my leg, again!" Pebbles moaned, adjusting her bandaged leg.
"Sam the mouse tried to charge the racoon," Martyn continued.
Flash chuckled, "that was never going to end well."
"End well, the bolt took him straight out, reports are he didn't survive a crossbow bolt to the head." Martyn made a religous symbol in the air; the others all nodded somberly. "Also, the Royalist hedgehog mage had been fried by the rat's mage, bad day all round really."
"That brown rat was no issue to us brave lads," Alk added, patting Spiny (carefully) on the back. 
"Thank you for wilting Squint's blade, Martyn," Flash put in, waving at a starling barmaid, "one of whatever my learned friend he wants to drink."
"Too kind, and thank you for taking the time to save my back" Martyn toasted the kingfisher.
"And that was enough, Sir Oliphant's band broke and ran, leaving the three other bands to clear the field. Heard that Sam the mouse was met our friendly priest who raised him to life."
"Dinna wanna fight the rats anyway."
"Glad Bobby's Royalists stayed the course and stayed away."
The gang chatted on. Drinks were consumed, snacks turned to a meal and much more chat.
"You know," Martyn mused a while later, "We have an awful lot of cash in the bank, we could hire a hard hitter, something like a wildcat?"
"Aye, get's my vote!" Nibbles shuddered.
"Mine too, I don't want to fight on, we need a replacement as this leg injury isn't healing easily. Crush wounds hurt." Pebbles mused.
"Or..."
"Yes?"
"We take the money, we use the magical garden, the gambling den, the apothacary with Arimouse's skills, the farm, and live happily in retirement, only coming out if directly threatened." Martyn blurted, waiting for the gang's reaction.
Silence. Sir C'astle looked round the gang, the Starling waitress brought round more drinks, "Hands up for this plan?"
All hands, after a pause, raised.
"Farm life it is, bring the families, life is good." Sir C'astle smiled and relaxed.
The starling walked off, dropping off a few empties, then strolled across the busy bar, to two stoats huddled over their pints, "Tommy, Arthur, looks like a buisness opportunity just opened in the area."
"Clarice, good work, welcome to the Squeaky Blinders."
Comments
Post a Comment