Chương 48: Berry Big Words 🐹

Blackberry hit the tiled roof hard, pancaking his tubby form before he began to fall across the slanted shingles. He rolled like a marshmallow tumbling down a hillside. Mid-spin, he reached a paw to gain purchase on anything that would slow him down, only for his grip to fail him and continue rolling. His body came to a sudden stop as he hit the gutter with a splash. Grimy water, moss and algae clung onto him as he floundered around before grabbing the trough's edge.

Some of the rancid water slipped in his mouth and he pulled himself up, gagging on the foul liquid. Then Blackberry saw how high up he was and all the humans bustling below. He pulled himself away from the railing, looking back up to the sky and searching for Lifeberry's portal he'd fallen through. Nothing. That overgrown lump could've had the decency to warn him or not drop him from so high. The air had a strange stale smell, nothing like the fresh and scrumptious scents near the True Tree.

These humans were a nasty folk, that was certain.

"Hmph," Blackberry huffed, wiping mossy gunk off his cloak. He patted himself, realizing that he had neither his daggers nor, more importantly, his bag and his food. Looking around frantically, he spotted the glint of his daggers' pommels. His trusty blades had been tied around his bag, which lay near the peak of the rooftop. Lifeberry must've thrown it after him. Giving his cloak one more twist, he leapt out of the gutter and did a little shake to get the water off his tushy.

He rubbed the side of his whiskered cheeks against his shoulders before making the arduous climb up. The long tiles were awfully slippery, slick from a recent rain. On all fours, he carefully took one step after another. Speed wouldn't help him here, and it was a very long fall over the gutter's edge if he took a bad slip. A glance over his shoulder told him how massive these so-called 'towns' were. Other buildings, taller than the one he was on, loomed all around. How many humans were there to fill them up?

The thought made him shudder. Worse, how was he going to be able to find Thimbleberry in this sprawling, giant labyrinth? Worst, how would he find good food to munch on? It was all the more reason to get to his bag. The climb took him longer than he'd liked, but his mind was still hazy from Lifeberry's smoking ritual. Fat help that'd been. He didn't feel more powerful or stronger, though he wished he was because the climb was taxing.

Finally getting over the last shingle, Blackberry plopped his arms over his bag with a relieved sigh. After taking a small breather, he took his daggers and looped them to his side. Then he went to rummage into his bag, the sweet scent of roasted almonds greeting him. A purr behind him made his fur bristle. In an instant he drew both of daggers and somersaulted over his bag, dropping into his battle stance. Fear struck him from what he saw, but he held strong.

The beast was one that Lifeberry had drilled him about during their lessons. A 'cat'. The feline monster had horrifyingly large eyes, disturbingly yellow and unblinking. White-furred splotches dabbed its gray coat as its sinewy muscles rippled. In returning the stare, Blackberry felt his own eyes going dry, but he couldn't risk a blink. His instincts were screaming at him to be alert, prepared for a single twitch.

Lifeberry had mentioned that these cats had tremendous reflexes, supposedly quicker than the Garter Snake he'd defeated. The tension in the cat's form told him it was true. His tummy rumbled, and Blackberry charged. He dived, sheathing his daggers as he flew through the air. The cat's paw shot out, even faster than anticipated. He spun his body to avoid the swipe, a razor sharp claw nicking the end of his whiskers. Tackling his own bag, he rolled, tossed it over his shoulder, and bolted downroof.

Blackberry was doing his best to avoid slipping, but not at the expense of any speed. He could hear the cat bounding after him, and it was much closer than he liked. Sliding into the gutter trough, he'd hoped that the cat would slip off the roof. That hope was shattered as the beast nimbly came to a stop, so he ran and splashed through the dirty water. He refused to look back as he sprinted, the scratches against the gutter chasing him. To his horror, he saw the dead end of the wet trough — a rainspout pit.

He saw the pit open wide, enough to let him easily jump through. The question was how deep it went. There was only one way to find out. Mid-leap, the cat clipped him with his claws, cutting through his cloak and flesh. Pain searing across Blackberry's fuzzy back. He crashed forward, ricocheting off the gutter walls, as he stumbled and tripped into the dark hole. For all his talk about being the most acrobatic among the guardians, he was glad that no one could see his graceless fall down the hole.

He bounced off the interior walls as he tumbled, knocking into screws and nails. His bag caught on one, jerking him to a stop briefly, before it tore open and sent him falling back. He tried to desperately grab at the yummy food that spilled out, the delightful treats slipping through his reaching paws. Three more painful crashes interrupted his fall till his side struck the bottom of the rainspout, hitting the curved end until he rolled out into a massive alleyway.

The ground was cobbled stone, and he was flanked by towering building walls. Now that he'd landed on the ground, he realized how truly colossal everyone around him was. He wiggled his nose. The air was even more foul down here, not helped by the trash that had been carelessly tossed into the alleyway. Blackberry spared a glance back up. Once he was certain that the white and grey feline terror wasn't stalking him down the building, he allowed himself a sigh of relief and checked his daggers at his side.

Neither of them had been bent or even scuffed. If anything, Blackberry was more damaged than his pair of blades. Putting a paw at his back, he felt a tender gash, the cat's gift. He wiped his bloody paw onto his ripped cloak. Ugh. He was frightfully hungry.

"Hah! Fellas, check this out," boomed a voice out. Blackberry looked up in confusion to a titan — no, a human.

"There's a funny looking rat here. All dressed up." The human had the peach fuzz that would've made a Sellar pup laugh. The young man squinted at him.

"Hah. It's even wearing little toy daggers. I'm tellin' you! Come here!" Blackberry's face scrunched together and he pawed at his ears. Two faces popped around the alleyway corner, each as youthful and curious as each other.

"It's so cute!" squealed the freckled woman.

"Let's keep it!" Next to her, the other man shrugged and fixed his spectacles to get a proper look.

"Maybe we could even sell the critter for a pretty penny. Unless, maybe, it's a wildshifter or something." To his absolute shock and horror, Blackberry realized he understood their words.

"I don't think it's a shapechanger. It would simply transform back." The one with a peach fuzz stubble put down his bag.

"I think I got a small box or something to put it in." Sunlight flashed off the pommels of sheathed blades on these humans' sides. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. The thought of the titan — the one who didn't deserve to be called human — massacring his brothers and sisters in arms, flooded Blackberry's mind. He flipped backwards, remembering his agility, as he drew his daggers. He took the same stance he had against that forsaken titan.

He could feel the blood dripping down his back. Thunderous laughter came back at him.

"Aw, the cute thing wants to fight!" The human woman wiped her eyes while giggling. The bespectacled human's tone became mocking.

"Maybe it's a monster! We should take it to the guild as proof that we're ready for adventuring."

"Come and try me, scum!" Blackberry squeaked out, holding his blades out at them.

"I'll cut you dearly for it." The trio stiffened at his words and their shocked expressions exposed their comprehension. They had understood his words.

"By the heavens, we have to have it now," the woman squealed. She clasped her hands together, giddy like a pup over an apple treat.

"Forget a penny," said the one with glasses.

"Maybe we could get a gold coin outta this one." The one in the front had finally finished going through his bag, and he pulled out what looked like a lockbox.

"Think it'll stay alive in here?" Blackberry's fur bristled. This time it wasn't out of fear, it was out of fury. How dare they think that he, the Hidey Hamster and sworn guardian of Sellar, would ever be taken as a plaything?

"You humans are all the same…" he muttered darkly.

"You don't know the true value of a hamster." He took a deep breath. There were countless people like these in this town. If he couldn't take three of them, how was he going to survive here? No, he wouldn't be hiding today. He twirled and flourished his daggers.

"I'll take you all on!"

"Alright, that's enough out of you, little fella," said Peach-Fuzz, as he'd been mentally titled. Peach-Fuzz reached down to grab Blackberry with his giant hand. Blackberry severed his finger in a double slash.

"Fucking hells!" shouted Four-Eyes while Peach-Fuzz began to scream and cling at his cleaved finger, now a fountain of blood. Freckle-Face was fumbling with her knife while Four-Eyes shoved Peach-Fuzz out of the way, sending him stumbling into Freckle-Face.

"Kill it!" Peach-Fuzz screamed. His blood poured everywhere, staining his tunic and Freckle-Face's coat. Four-Eyes charged, ready to stab his dirk downward. He was so much slower than the titan. Blackberry blitzed forward, letting the blade's tip sail past him and clatter against the cobblestone ground. He spun and sliced upwards at the soft, flabby underarm of Four-Eyes. As the man reared back, Blackberry changed his target to the feet, stabbing frantically through the leather boot's toe.

He kept attacking with vicious intent, even as Four-Eyes hopped around. It was Freckle-Face who finally got up and swatted Blackberry off as the hamster crashed into the alleyway wall. He hit the ground hard but darted back to his feet, prepared for any follow-up strike. Yet none came. Surely the titan would've done something, a devastating combination attack right away perhaps. Instead they huddled to help each other up in fear. Fear.

"What the fuck is this thing!?" Peach-Fuzz exclaimed as he drew his scimitar.

"I am that which hungers for your death!" Blackberry snarled, stepping back into the dark of the alleyway.

"Come feed me my fill!"

"We can still gut this rat," Peach-Fuzz spat.

"I thought you said we could keep it," Freckle-Face said disappointedly. He glared at her.

"It took my fucking finger! It dies!"

"We're going to be the laughing stock of the guild before we join," Four-Eyes muttered, holding his bleeding tricep and leaning on his uninjured foot.

"I mean, look at the state of me."

"Then let's get it over with," Peach-Fuzz hissed venomously, glaring toward Blackberry.

"The little shite can't take us all at once. Just rush it together." All three of their blades' edges gleamed dangerously. Blackberry's beady eyes flickered between them all. He had to watch out for Freckle-Face, the only one he hadn't managed to wound. However, in truth, they appeared more wary of him. It was an exhilarating feeling, scaring something as big as a human, being their fear. He took another step back into the dark shadows.

Like how Thimbleberry had taught him to hunt crickets, he patiently lured them deeper towards the alleyway's end, where he couldn't be flanked around easily. The trio inched towards him carefully, recoiling when he faked a snarling lunge. Blackberry savored their brief terror and did it another three times. Three flinches followed. He'd even managed to get Peach–Fuzz to yelp on his last feint. It was delightfully fun until it dawned upon them that they were twenty times larger than him.

Freckle-Face rallied her courage and was the first to stomp forward. Her knife was the smallest of the humans' blades, but also the quickest, as she slashed a tuft of belly fur. Stabbing and slicing, she chased after Blackberry, who flipped and pranced away. Even nimble Freckle-Face was too slow in comparison to the cat and titan. After a dozen of her wild swings were dodged, she was panting for air. It seemed these humans had poor endurance too. The two others joined her, weaving their attacks between each other.

There was a semblance of coordination, tactics, and perhaps skill in their combined assault. However, the cramped alleyway played at his advantage, forcing them to bump and nudge into one another, which gave Blackberry all the time to evade their strikes. Eventually, their tiring attacks allowed him too much time. Spotting the openings, Blackberry went on the offensive. He darted forward, slicing wrist, hand, finger, or any body part they let linger too long, before skittering back into the dark alleyway corner.

Slash, slice, strike. Soon his daggers became slick with their blood. Finally, the human scum had started to back away, each of their arms covered in a plethora of mismatched cuts. Sweat dripped from their brow, and stained their collars dark. Their expressions were tinged with fear as they clutched their bleeding wounds.

"So that's the face a human makes when in pain," Blackberry mumbled from the shadows. He spun his two blades expertly around his paws. He felt no sympathy or pity. It was good that he'd experienced it now, so that he would be prepared for when he faced the titan once more.

"Come! I shall send your souls to the Prime Strawberry!" His shout startled them, each giving a confused look of shock.

"Hull, I don't know about this anymore," Four-Eyes said meekly.

"What if we're not made out for adventuring. We can't even beat a rat!"

"I'm a hamster!" Blackberry squeaked with indignation. Four-Eyes stared at him for a moment.

"Okay, we can't beat a fucking hamster!"

"Got a point," Freckle-Face commented.

"I mean, Freewalkers usually handle real monsters, right?" She looked at her coat. Her sleeve was cut to tatters and now a discolored red.

"I think I need stitches. We all need stitches. Maybe we aren't ready for this."

"Look what it did to me!" Peach-Fuzz spat, holding up his four-fingered hand. He really wasn't letting the whole cut-off finger thing go.

"You're lucky to have the other nine, you furless dolt!" Blackberry barked back. That made Peach-Fuzz's face flush with anger.

"I'm going to turn you into a meatball. A meatball! You hear me?" He shouted himself into a charge, more reckless and predictable than before. Blackberry easily dodged the vertical chop of Peach-Fuzz's blade. Scampering past the attack, he leapt onto the human's boot. It was time to teach this ignoramus a lesson. Using his daggers like climbing picks, he hacked his way up and under the young man's trouser leg. Through wool fabric, Blackberry could hear the panicked screams of Peach-Fuzz and his friends.

"It's in my clothes! Get it out!" They tried to swat at Blackberry, through the man's shirt, but only managed to pelt their own friend. Blackberry swerved, dived, and stabbed erratically. The man's entire back and torso were his cliffside to scale. Dodging another blind smack, he drove his dagger into the man's wide shoulder blade, pulling himself onto Peach-Fuzz's shoulder and popping out of his tunic's collar.

A massive hand came to slap him off, so Blackberry back flipped off to dodge, but not before taking a chunk of the man's earlobe. He landed hard onto the stone ground before rolling back into his stance, into the dark where he was the hunter.

"S-shit," Peach-Fuzz yelled, holding his cut ear with his sliced hand. Blood torrented down his neck and shoulder. They all gawped at Blackberry, their fear transforming into dread as the color drained from their face.

"Fuck this. Let's get the hell outta here." They scampered over one another to run out of the alleyway, looking over their shoulders to see if the menacing hamster was giving chase. Once the humans had disappeared around the corner, Blackberry exhaled into a slump. He'd done it. He'd fended off titans, humans, whatever they were called. He was victorious. Blackberry screamed a cheer until his voice went hoarse, a battlecry for all his lost brothers and sisters. There was only one more thing to promise, to shout.

"Thimbleberry, I'm here!" His roar echoed off the alley's walls.