The Great Badger War of Montfort

by Rebecca Ward

	Deanna wrapped the blanket around Gwion and settled into the
rocking chair, smiling as his head leaned against her shoulder.  -Tell
me a story,- he had said, and she pressed her cheek against the top of
his head as she thought what story she could tell him.  Something about
Montfort, something suitable for a child, something ... odd.

	"Have you heard about the Great Badger Wars of Montfort?"
she asked in a soft voice suitable for the shadows in which they
sat.  He shook his head, and snuggled closer.  "Well, it's not
that the wars were particularly great," she corrected herself,
her arms wrapped around him to keep him safe.  "But the badgers
were.  Giant badgers.  They were huge," Deanna said, feeling
the moment of disbelief in the way Gwion's breathing paused.
"Some of them were the size of a man.

	"They established a very advanced society in their
warrens beneath Montfort," Deanna continued as she rocked
Gwion in her arms, "and spread their sphere of influence over
badgerdom throughout Claremont.  The warrens grew and grew, and
trade routes were set up.  The Giant Badgers of Montfort controlled
the subterranean realm," she whispered into Gwion's ear, feeling
him giggle at the tickle of her breath.

	"Unfortunately, a series of economic disasters started
undermining the stability of the badger empire.  At about the same
time, cultural decay set in.  The common people denounced the
upper echelons of badger society for becoming corrupt and soft.
They knew they had hit cultural rock-bottom when the impressionable
young badgers turned to loosh, and started dancing in pink tutus."
Deanna paused for a moment before adding with a thoughtful note
in her voice, "I don't think the badgers were very impressed with
balletic ability.

	"Anyway, slowly over the decades their civilization started
to collapse.  Hordes of barbarian badgers from the far reaches of
the empire invaded. There was never an all-out war, though, simply
a series of small skirmishes that steadily undercut badger society.
Eventually, in a last encounter in which Theodoric the Nearly-Great
took on the rampaging army of Randall, a Visigoth, they wiped
themselves out."

	Deanna could feel Gwion listening with his entire body,
waiting for the end, knowing it couldn't be as easy as that.  She
pitched her voice lower, pressing her lips against his ear.  "Maybe.
Sometimes, though, on a moonless night, dark shadows can be seen
digging in the woods north of Montfort, tossing mounds of
dirt up behind them..."