Mission:
Alihja investigated the latest charred hulk of a ship, remains of the otters' far-flying fire arrows. If repaired sufficiently, it was still seaworthy. She turned to call one of the shipbuilders, a rat named Haringer. "Rat, can you get this vessel operational within the week?"

Scratching his ear slightly, looking the burned timbers up and down, he replied, "Yeh, I suppose. Whatdya want it for?" Alihja merely shook her head and took out her journal. She walked off to the barracks to consult her many volumes of recipes and concoctions.

Late into the night, she was sufficiently satisfied that she'd worked out a solution. All she needed were a few barrels of oil and some dinghies. She would enlist a score of beasts to douse the wood of the ship in the oil mixture and coat a trail of water with it, leading up to a circle around the otters' fleet. As the ship caught fire, so would the oil floating atop the water, creating a wide circle of fire that nobeast would escape. Then, Sampetrans manning the remaining vessels would surround the trapped goodbeasts and kill them with arrows from afar.

Everything worked out as planned the next morning. After a short search of the dock warehouses, Alihja was able to obtain a plentiful amount of oil. Many beasts were willing to set the trap for the otters. Haringer informed her that the ship was coming along nicely. It had only sustained minor damage, it had turned out.

The rest of the day was spent in merchant shops and the fields of the island, hunting for the required plants to be added to her "liquid fire". Rapsweed to make the oil burn faster. Hedgefrot to mask the familiar and pungent odor of oil. After haggling tirelessly with the adamant merchant for the valuable hedgefrot, Alihja retired to her bunk.

On the morrow, Alihja visited the docks again. Haringer assured her that the vessel was fixed enough to be put to deep water, and all the volunteers had showed up. So they set to work. Each vat of oil was combined with a small portion of each plant and stirred well. Sampetrans busied themselves with coating the ship's entire exterior, to allow for any aim of the bowbeast. They waited for complete darkness to descend, then set out on small dinghies toward the otter boats, spreading the oil in the water as they went. Within a mile sight of the otter boats, they split, moving in a wide circumference. Alihja didn't allow herself a sigh of relief until each boat had returned safely. Luckily, the otters had remained quiet for the past few days. Hopefully tomorrow would be a different story.

Early in the morning, the repaired ship was sent out a few miles. The crew escaped on lifeboats. Alihja watched from one of the castle ramparts anxiously. With such a perfect target, the otters couldn't hope to resist. Or would they know it for the trap it was? As the sun headed toward the western horizon late in the afternoon, she was almost without hope. A weasel named Greaseclaw, who'd been assigned guard duty nudged her and pointed.

"Miss! They's firing agin!" She leaned forward on the parapet eagerly, almost falling over in her excitement too see. Sure enough, a streak of red fire arched and descended on the oil-coated ship. Her heart skipped a beat. Another streak thudded into the woodwork and WHOOSH! -the whole ship was ablaze! Suddenly, a snake of fire lit the water and coursed and rippled its way with grim finality toward the otter boats on the dim horizon. The snake split in two, two heads working in tandem as it worked a circle around the ships. The two heads joined again. The entire otter fleet was surrounded by a ring of fire!

"Now!" Alihja ordered, half-screaming, from the castle wall. Four of Sampetra's cruisers, the fastest in the fleet, hauled anchor and sped toward the prey. She narrowed her silver eyes as the ships were almost lost to sight. They bore down, stopping short of the flames. She could almost feel bow strings being pulled taut and arrows leased.

After what seemed an eternity, the ships returned. The captain of one, Bracks, approached her and grinned. "All dead! Once the fire puts out, I suppose we kin go back and get any loot?" She nodded and the ferret skipped off.