User blog:VivaciousVox97/The Hytar Rangers

This is a fan fiction story by Mouseyboy221. It is not considered canon, nor is it a policy or guideline.

This is a sequel to The Rogue Crew

Prologue

The fall was quickly coming to an end, and winter was just around the corner, but not for the shore and beaches of the west where the mountain fortress, Salamandastron resided. They had never gotten snow, only rain and cold fronts, but today was bright and sunny. Near the shoreline, and neighboring Salamandastron, resided a small fishing and port village. The inhabitants were peace loving bankvoles. They carried no weapons, held no barriers, and trained no armies, these voles only knew the joys of peace and happiness. Banton sat in his small canoe, patiently waiting for the fish to bite the earthworm on his lure. His boat was a mile away from the village, he grinned as he stared at the horizon, the sun's rays caused the water's ripples to sparkle and glisten. Banton hummed an old fishing he learned when he was a young one. He glanced over the edge of his boat to see if any fish wanted to investigate the lure, but no avail. His grin slowly faded and he let out a short sigh.

"Guess they ain't feeling it, today," he said to himself, "I'll try tomorrow." He wrapped the string around the lure rod, carefully placed it in the boat, then got his oar, and proceeded to row back to his home. Banton continued to hum the song, bringing his spirits back up, once again. As the bankvole's boat got closer to the shoreline, the faint smell of smoke and burning wood filled Banton's nostrils. Soon, the smell of cinders, smoke, and fire hung in the air, Banton's eyes widened in terror as he saw a small army of rats lay waste to his home. He witnessed as the vermin laid waste to his village. Cottages and cabins were set ablaze. Many lied dead in pools of their own blood, while the survivors were in shackles, forced to march in a line, single file. Panic struck the vole, he had never witnessed such horror, such barbarism, that he began to breakdown and weep. The one's he saw lying down, cold, and dead were close friends, as well as the one who were taken as prisoners. His body felt numb and heavy, the color in his face soon turned pale, and his breathing became labored. Then a gruesome thought popped in his mind, what if these heathens that were torturing and killing his friends had gotten to his family. He needed to know that they were okay. Gathering himself, Baton rowed to the shoreline, and hopped out of the canoe. He decided to take his oar for protection. Running across the sand, his footpaws finally met stone as rushed to his cottage. As he ran through the demolished town, he was spotted by two hulking searats. Both wore tattered and worn down jerkins, and both were armed with rusty cutlasses.

"Oi, stop roight there!" the rats shouted. Banton saw his pursuers and sprinted even faster. He saw his cottage was one of the only ones that was not demolished. A single tear flew out of his his right eye, and smiled joyously. Only for a silver furred fox to appear out of the shadows and intercept him. The fox was a handsome looking creature, tall, and wiry. He wore black leather breast armor, a light tunic, with a black and golden belt, and a black leathered overcoat. The fox's forepaws were dressed in silver gauntlets, the pawtips of the gauntlets had short steel claws at the end, and the only other weapon was a steel long dagger, tucked away in his belt. The silver furred vulpine apprehended the vole's weapon, and dragged the helpless creature to his home. The fox began dragging Banton by his left footpaw. Banton began to beg, but the fox simply chuckled at the bankvole's attempt for mercy. The two muscular rats walked behind the fox, making sure Banton didn't do anything suspicious. The three vermin with Banton in their claws were at the front entrance, the fox turned to his goons, and when he talked, his voice deceptive and calm, like the sharpest blade running across your spine.

"Oh, could one of you fine beasts let me in?" he patiently asked. The vulpine's thin lips curled into a vile grin. The two searats stepped in front of their master and proceeded to turn the wooden door into splinters. The silver fox picked up Banton by the collar of his tunic and tossed him inside, the bankvole landed on the hard floor with an audible thud. He winced in pain as the fox and the two rats entered his home. He saw his wife and two young ones huddled in the far corner of the cottage, but just as he was about to join them, the two muscular rats seized him, forcing him to kneel.

"Ever since I got here, I've been extracting information from you bankvoles, I would welcome myself into your homes while my subordinates take to the streets and slaughter you. Some thought they were smart and tried to make a fool out of me, oh how wrong they were. For their dishonesty, I decided to increase their pain, twicefold, begging me for mercy. How I love the sounds of my victims begging me for mercy, it's what brings joy to this job. We haven't been properly introduced, my name is Kyron, and these lovely gents are Hogface and Brutis. Hogface, Brutis, I need you two to stand guard, in case they show up."

The ugly pair nodded and released the bankvole to guard the front entrance. Kyron pulled out his long silver dagger and tested the tip. It ringed as his armored index claw brushed it.

"Nice and sharp, still," he whispered, "now, let us get down to business. You will answer my questions honestly and efficiently. Like I said before, you try to deceive me, or do anything funny, and your suffering will only get worse. Are you Banton the fisherbeast?"

"Y-yes, why do you ask?" Banton hesitantly asked.

"I'll be asking the questions, bankvole!" snapped Kyron, "somebeast told me that they've seen you with the hares of the Long Patrol. They even saw you enter the mountain fortress one time. So tell me, how many hares of the Long Patrol are there, and how fortified is the interior of Salamandastron?"

Banton looked back to his captors, then to his terror struck family. Impatiently, Kyron kneeled down and seized the cowering bankvole's forepaw.

"I said honestly and efficiently, or else," Kyron whispered coldly. The silver vulpine dug his claws into Banton's forepaw, blood welled up and dripped onto the floor. The bankvole clenched his teeth in agony and tears rolled down his eyes.

"Yes! YES! I've been inside the mountain of Salamandastron! I've met the hares of the Long Patrol!"

Kyron released the wounded animal's forepaw and grinned from ear to ear.

"Now, how well fortified is the interior?" demanded Kyron.

"Not sure, pretty well fortified, and their are over dozens upon dozens of hares! I am not a fighter, I'm just a fisherbeast, I know nothing of war fighting!" Banton cried out.

"That doesn't exactly help me, or you. I need to know specific details, give me what I want or my blade will see to your loved one's throats, starting with your children."

The silver fox tore the little bankvole babe from her mother's paws and the places the blade right at her throat. Banton's bottom lip quivered and his eyes welled up again. His vision had gotten blurry as he gazed into Kyron's cold and evil yellow eyes.

"No, please! The interior is mainly made out of stone with some steel and iron reinforcing it, pl-please, please, please stop this!" he bawled, "just leave my family alone, what have we done to deserve this?!"

Kyron released the tiny beast and she scampered back to her mother, the evil silver furred fox laughed.

"Nothing, my friend, you've done nothing to me. I do still need more information out of you, Banton. Why were you in the mountain?" Kyron asked. Right as Banton was about to answer the evil one's question, the faint sounds of battle took place outside. As the sounds of battle continued, the bankvoles, fox, and rats could hear a faint battle cry.

"Eulalia!" a group of disembodied voices called out. Kyron quickly turned to his cronies.

"What in the name of Hell's teeth is going on out there?!" Kyron demanded. Right as the two ugly brutes were even able to investigate, a tall, beautiful, and young female hare appeared right in front of them. She wore a hooded red scarf, and the Long Patrol's officer tunic. Her auburn eyes shined hope into the bankvole's family's hearts.

"Get her!" commanded Kyron. The two swung their cutlasses simultaneously, but the young elegant haremaid quickly dodged the attack and drew two silver dirks from her belt. She drove both blades into her attackers' evil hearts, killing them instantly. Kyron stepped back a pace and readied himself for combat. The hare charged, swinging her blades at the silver fox. Kyron blocked both attacks with his gauntlet paws and long dagger. She took half a pace backwards and slashed upwards at Kyron's neck. Kyron quickly dodged the attack by ducking down. However, he wasn't quick enough, even though his neck was unharmed, half of his left ear had been taken. Kyron yelped in pain. He blocked and dodged her third attack, Kyron then punched her square in the face. The hare stumbled a few steps back, blood filled up her snout and she held her face with both paws, this gave Kyron the chance to escape. Rushing out of the cottage, the female hare tried to apprehend the vile coward, but Kyron slashed at her paw her paw with his dagger, and sprinted far from the cottage. Pulling out a handkerchief from her breast pocket, the haremaid gave it to the bankvole mother.

"Th-thank you, ma'am, may we get your name?" Banton needed to know who his rescuer was. The haremaid pulled down her cowl and smiled graciously at the bankvoles.

"I am Lieutenant Vivian Rosemary Pedalton of the Long Patrol," she proudly and honorably stated while still holding her snout with one paw, "that cad that you and your village had the displeasure of meeting was Kyron, a master at torture, destruction, and reconnaissance. However, the blighter is nothing more than a blinkin' coward, as you saw it only took me a couple of swings of my trusty dirks to send the dirty wretch packin', wot, wot!"

Banton lifted himself up, holding his wounded forepaw.

"Thank you, Lieutenant Vivian, my family and I are forever in your debt, but I don't suppose you have somebeast that could fix my paw?" asked Banton.

"Oh of course we do. Do not move, I'll bring him here."

"Thank you, ma'am," Banton said gratefully.

Far from the smoldering village he laid waste to, Kyron chanced a look. He needed to know if anybeast was tailing him, ally or foe. Luckily for him, he saw nobody. Winded from all the sprinting, he casually pressed on southeast, towards the river he and his cronies travelled across. Around evening time, Kyron eventually made it to the river's shoreline, he met up with two skinny river rats. Not saying a word, the silver fox boarded one of the rafts.

"Where are the others and what happened to your ear, Master Kyron? One of them asked in a concerned tone of voice.

"The Long Patrol came out of nowhere and ambushed us. I had to fight my way out, unfortunately for us, we lost our dearest comrades."

"It's a good thing we were 'ere to guard the boats," the second rat stated.

"Yes, yes, now take me back to Marlfox Island, I've got enough information that Lord Tamial will want to hear."

"But what should we do about the other rafts?" the first rat dumbly asked.

"Dispose of them, obviously!" Kyron snapped. Not questioning anything he told them, the two underlings pushed the four vacant rafts out into the current. They grabbed their oars, travelling back to their base of operations.

Book I: Demons of the Past

Chapter 1

Night casted its blanket over Redwall Abbey, everybeast inside the walls slumbered silently, and tranquilly. All excluding Abbess Winry. Winry was the first vole to be elected Mother Abbess. She tossed and turned, and began mumbling. The vision that played in her head took place near the Abbey, it was of a war between a young and handsome squirrel, and a tall, handsome, but very evil looking stoat. As the Mother of Redwall tossed and turned in her bed, the winds blew the final leaf from the trees.

The winter season had finally arrived, the skies were grey and black with tiny white droplets fluttering down, clinging to the branches of leafless trees, and began to cover the grass in white frost. During these times Redwall Abbey was not a very lively place, most of the time the residents of the Abbey stayed inside the dormitories, Great Hall, and Cavern Hole. Although winter was the laziest for the dwellers of Redwall, there still was much for them to do: keep watch on the battlements, keep the fires fed, cook, and clean. Though the adults of Redwall loathed winter, the little dibbuns adored it. They absolutely loved running out in the snow, making snow forts, throwing snowballs, creating snowmice, and frolicking through the white powder. Abbess Winry looked out through her bedroom window, she adjusted her glasses and sighed.

"Winter has arrived," she said underneath her breath. Winry exited her bedroom and proceeded down the steps from Great Hall into Cavern Hole, upon her arrival, every creature inside the dining hall greeted their Mother of Redwall.

"Good morning, Mother Abbess!" The all shouted out in unison. Winry did the best she could to conceal her true emotions, so she gave her friends the warmest of smiles.

"Good morning to you as well," said Winry. She sat at the long table, she seated herself in between Sister Benarish, a middle aged mousemaid, and Abretia, the newly elected Badgermother of Redwall. Friar Hubble the mole hobbled out of the kitchen, he took an elegant leg, and addressed that breakfast was ready. The kitchen maids and cooks all came out in a line, wheeling trolleys of different types of foods. There were loaves of wheat and barley bread, fresh out of the stone ovens, cauldrons of hot oatmeal, and stacks of pancakes. They drank piping hot cider and tea. The Abbess' smile fade fairly quickly, but perked up briefly when one of the kitchen maids brought her, and her closest friends' food. Abretia cocked her eyebrows at Abbess Winry.

"Is something the matter, Abbess?" Abretia asked in a concerning tone of voice. Abbess Winry said nothing, but she let out a quiet, yet long sigh. The dream she received was on her mind, and it was eating away at her, and the citizens of the Abbey needed to know. While the dwellers within the red sandstone walls ate, drank, and mingled. Abbess Winry sat up and raised both of her forepaws over her head.

"Everybeast please be silent, thank you. As you all know this has been our fifteenth season of peace, after Redwall slain Razzid Wearat, we haven't seen any warfare ever since. However, I fear our days of peace are coming towards an end, for you see I have had a dream about a war between a squirrel and a stoat near our Abbey."

The merriment within the dining hall died away and everybeast murmured to one another.

"Oh my, if this dream is true, when will it happen, how long do we have before we must prepare for war, and will it be one of ours?" a mouse asked impatiently. The thought of war, death, and destruction caused the creatures in the Abbey to stir, they began chatting amongst themselves. Abbess Winry was not able to get in a word edgewise. That indistinctive came to a halt when Mother Abretia raised her booming voice to silence the creatures.

"SILENCE!" Abretia roared. Winry nodded to her badger companion.

"Thank you, Mother Abretia. Now if you all will be quiet I will tell you when this supposed event will occur. It is not supposed to happen until the time of spring, and it will not be one of ours who will lead our fighters, but instead a group of outsiders."

Kerei the Skipper of otters stood up, "I will fight anybeast who threatens our way of life," he proudly stated. More and more creatures stood up and all spoke in agreement. Sitting near the kitchens was the pretty squirrelmaid, Kelisa. She wore a blue gown, with a white apron. She sat with her friends, Begonia and Delilah. Both were young and beautiful mouse maidens. The mouse maidens wore purple and red gowns with white aprons. Delilah stood up amongst her friends.

"I am willing to protect our home from any vermin invader!" she shouted proudly. Kelisa scoffed, "Hmmph! I will not be taking part in this war to come, no thank you!"

Later that day, Abbess Winry and Mother Abretia walked along the snow covered ramparts. Every step they took a small portion of snow would trickle down from the cracks of the wood. The Mother Abbess looked down upon the citizens of the Abbey. Moles and mice were shovelling snow along the path from Cavern Hole to the Orchard, and baby animals played in the snow. Abretia placed her large paw around the vole's shoulders.

"Mother Abbess, do not fret. We are more than a match for any filthy vermin horde. We've always prevailed, we've always won, no matter the outcome," Abretia said reassuringly.

"I know, but I fear this may be different, we may not be as prepared as we usually are. The stoat I've dreamt about reminds me of Cluny the Scourge from seasons long passed. However, at the same time the squirrel I have dreamt about may be young, but he has no fear and his bravery resembles our most courageous of warriors: Martin, Matthias, Mariel, Mattimeo, and Rakkety Tam MacBurl."

Out in the far east of Mossflower Woods there was a campsite filled with mice, squirrels, and voles. They were warriors and scouts, their flag was a sword with wings spread towards the ends. The mice wore thick belted tunics, thick cloaks, and wielded swords, axes, and spears. The squirrels wore much of the same attire, the only difference was their weapons were bow and arrows, javelins, slings, and pikes. The voles were armed with axes and war hammers. Nikolas sat near a warm blaze, he stared directly into the dancing yellow, orange, and blue tipped flames. The young squirrel looked to be about eighteen seasons old. Sitting next to him was a handsome mouse named Bryson, a young squirrelmaid named Trussa, and a middle aged vole named Hampton. The creatures called themselves The Rangers of Hytar. Hytar was a small trading village deep within the forests of Mossflower. They sat eating their breakfast, week old scones and week old water.

"Commander Mavellous has returned!" shouted one of the mice. Commander Mavellous, despite his young age was very respected in his platoon of warriors and scouters, he wore a thick plum colored cloak and leather gloves. The commander of the rangers stroded in camp to his second-in-command, Captain Wendell. Wendell was a few seasons older than his commanding officer. The mouse captain saluted his superior.

"At ease, captain," said Mavellous.

"Any news from your reconnaissance mission?" Wendell asked. The mouse commander shook his head, Wendell gave out a quiet sigh.

"Well, at least he hasn't followed our trail."

"I agree, it's been over six seasons since we saw him. But let's not talk about that, I am starved," said Mavellous.

"Well, I can heat us up some potato and beetroot stew from last night," Wendell suggested.

"Sounds appetitizing," Mavellous said with a wide smile across his face.

"Good, I'll get the pot started."

Mavellous wanted nothing more than to eat his fill of potato and beetroot stew, and possibly mingle with his platoon. Nikolas watched as Mavellous and Wendell ate their stew in peace. Nikolas examined their facial expressions, they tried to look as merry as they could, but Nikolas knew something was bothering the pair.

"Everything alright, Nikky?" Trussa asked.

"Uh wha? Oh yeah, everything is fine, Truss," Nikolas said nervously, "I was just looking over at Commander Mavellous and Captain Wendell, they look a bit too merry, as if they're trying to hiding something, possibly be about him."

Trussa's eyes widened and her heart felt like it sank into her stomach.

"We've slain warlords a plenty, but I dare not to think about him. Oh by the claw, I hope he never found us!"

"I hope not either, but we're far away from him. So everything should be ok, we're very close to Redwall Abbey, if he does find us, we can make our way there. I haven't been to Redwall since I was a little squirrel babe clinging to my mum's tail," smiled Nikolas. Trussa had never even been to Redwall Abbey, though she heard stories of the place of peace, prosperity, and plenty. She also heard the stories of their famous warriors. Maybe she would get to see the redstone house, meet their Abbot or Abbess, and maybe meet their warrior. Nikolas stood up, dusting snow from his backside.

"Alright you lot, I am going off on watch," Nikolas said, trying to forget about their enemy.

Southeast from Mossflower and near the great lake was home to a tall and strongly built stone and timber fortress. The fortress had at least one hundred or so vermin guarding its walls and over fifty slaves keeping it from falling apart. Their leader was a vindictive ferretmaid named Geirana. She dressed herself in a white and purple tunic, purple cloak with a golden brooch keeping it in place, and crimson red sash around her slender waist with a rapier tucked away by her side. Geirana walked across her battlements with her most loyal of guards, a rat named Ulsu. Ulsu dressed in a chainmail tunic with steel breastplate armor, and he wielded a big spear.

"Good morning, m'lady, how was your rest?"

"That is not important, Ulsu. how are the slaves?" she asked bitterly.

"Well, I've got some bad news, m'lady. two of our slaves, a hedgehog and a shrew both have died from exhaustion but so far-!"

"How many slaves are still strong enough to work?" Geirana interrupted.

"Oh, well the majority of our slaves are strong enough to keep our walls from crumbling this winter," the rat reported. This was all Geirana really wanted to know, while she walked across the battlements looking down upon her captives, another guard, a weasel came running towards her.

"M'lady! M'lady!" he hollered in a shrill voice.

"What is it, Brugg?" Geirana asked.

"A stoat and a fox, they're at our front gates. They want to speak to you!"

Geirana made her way to the wall that peered over the main entrance. She saw the stoat and the fox. The stoat was sinewy with grey and black fur, he wore black leather armor with chainmail sleeves, black gloves, leather belt, and dark purple cloak. The weapon he carried was a steel broadsword, the scabbard he carried it in was black with golden engravings. The red fox standing next to him wore a leather jerkin with a grey long sleeved tunic underneath and leather belt. The weapons he equipped himself with were two long daggers sheathed on his left side and a broadsword at his right. The ferret mistress cupped her paws around her mouth and began to shout.

"Who are you and what do you want?!"

The stoat hollered back. "My name is Riean, and this is my esteemed colleague and right paw, Vaynos. him and are looking for an army of mice, squirrels, and voles, have they passed on through?" asked Riean.

"Hmph, I never saw them, and even if I did, my armies would have killed the lot and enslaved the rest. Now, I'm feeling a bit generous, you two look like reliable and battle hardened warriors, how would you like to be members of one of my armies?"

"What if we refuse?" Vaynos asked.

"Then you either leave peacefully, or you will take arrows right between your eyes, I have twenty archers at my disposal!" Geirana boasted. Riean shrugged, he along with Vaynos peacefully walked away. Geirana watched as the two vermin left, she turned to Brugg.

"Follow them, I want to know where they are camped," she ordered.

"Yes, m'lady," Brugg obediently replied.

"When you've found were they are, report back to me immediately. I want to see the look of surprise on their faces when we pillage their camp. Nobeast ever says 'no' to me!" Geirana said through clenched fangs.

"Consider it done, m'lady," said the rat as he saluted his mistress. Brugg quietly exited out through back gate, armed with a single dagger, and dressed in a simple belted jerkin, and hooded scarf. The rat hid behind a thick oak tree, waiting for Riean and Vaynos to proceed further. The duo casually walked side by side, laughing and chatting amongst themselves. Riean took a swig of red wind from his canteen, then passed it to Vaynos. The fox took a large swig of the crimson red liquid, a small droplet trickled down his chin, then returned the circular jug to his commander.

"So, what do you make of that ferret?" asked Vaynos. Riean scoffed at the question.

"She's all talk, I can see through her facade. If we were to storm her fortress, she'd more than likely run and hide someplace."

"I can see it too, not only that, but she'd more than likely beg and cry for mercy."

"More than likely she would, my foxy friend," chuckled Riean. Brugg squinted at the two's remark.

"Nobeast mocks my mistress," he whispered sharply, "I could stick this little dagger right through the base of your skull and be done with you, but I promised m'lady I'd simply sneak in and preform a bit of espionage."

He stayed right where he was, patiently waiting for his enemies to move. A moment passed and the stoat, and fox resumed their journey back to their camp. Brugg waited for a while until the two were out of sight, then quietly followed them. Brugg ducked behind branches, hid in bushes, and shrubbery. He had to make sure his pawsteps were completely inaudible. What Brugg did not know was, he was being followed as well. High in the trees was a tree rat, his body type was very lean and wiry. His fur was dark brown and his eyes were black as pitch. He dressed in a black dyed jerkin, black dyed leather belt, and dark purple hooded cloak. The only weapons he carried was a small push dagger, a longbow, and a quiver full of iron tipped arrows. The tree rat gently lowered himself from the branch he perched himself on. The wind blew hard in which helped mask the sound of the vermin climbing down the tree. The tree rat moved like a shadow, faster, and more agile than the enemy he was tailing. Brugg got closer to Riean and Vaynos again, watching, and listening to them meander. Brugg's patience began to wear thin, but he made an oath to his master, and he intended on keeping that oath. Suddenly, within the blink of an eye, the tree rat apeared. He thrusted his push dagger through the rat's spine. Brugg's body tensed up and the rat let out a cry of anguish. In Brugg's wounded state, the tree rat confiscated the rat soldier's weapon, and dragged the wounded vermin by the tail. Riean crossed his forepaws at the spybeast.

"Well, well. It appears we have company," laughed Riean.

"Following him, following you," the tree rat reported. The way the tree rat spoke was monotonous and conveyed no emotion whatsoever. Riean kneeled down to the wounded animal's level. Brugg looked around, sweat fell from his nose, chin, and whiskers.

"Thank you, Fangshade for bringing this spy to our attention. To be honest, I kind of figured that ferret would have done something like this. So, rat, tell me. What mission did you receive from your master?"

Brugg looked around trying to find away to escape his captors. Brugg quickly got to his footpaws, and tried to run deeper into the woods, but right as he took step, Fangshade threw Brugg's own dagger into his hindleg. The dagger was deeply embedded into Brugg's leg, the tip barely made it through. Tears mixed in with howls of pain echoed through the forests. Riean tightly clamped down on the pained rat's muzzle, suppressing any screaming.

"Listen, I'll make the pain go away, but you need to give me answers. So why did your master send you after us?" Riean sternly asked. Relying on the promise Riean made, Brugg told the trio.

"Sh-she sent me t-to.. to.. to find, urgh! Yo-your camp...site. Please get this thing outta me, I can't take it!" Brugg howled.

"That's all I needed to hear," said Riean in a cold tone of voice.

Chapter 2

The snow had ceased falling, however, the clouds still hung over the land. The trees were all coated in the pure, white, powdered snow. Nikolas called to the current watcher. He was an older squirrel, old enough to be Nikolas' father. The old one's fur was bright and grey, and his whiskers were long and white. Nikolas placed a paw on the older squirrel's shoulder and spoke in a calm voice.

"Thank you, Mul, but I will be taking over from here."

Mul's voice was gruff, but slightly shaky.

"Ah yes, thank you, young one. I must be off to break m'fast. Now, Nikolas, don't be fallin' asleep while I'm away, ya hear?"

"I hear you," chuckled Nikolas.

"It is no laughing matter, m'boy. But, I understand where you are coming from. I was once like you, brash, headstrong, bright, and green behind the ears. I was in the platoon ever since Commander Mavellous' father was a young adult. I've done and seen things nobeast has ever dared to imagine, you've only joined us about three seasons ago, I've been in this my entire life, and I don't plan on retiring anytime soon," he said sternly.

"What have you seen and done?" Nikolas asked in a eager tone of voice. Mul placed his old paw on the young one's shoulder.

"That is for another time," he retorted. Despite Mul's age, the elderly squirrel slid down the tree and sprinted back to the campsite. Nikolas watched as his better greeted everybeast in the camp with open paws.

"Hmm, well, time to get to work," he said to himself.

Inside of Great Hall, Abbess Winry was a having a meeting of the minds. The ones she invited were her, Sister Benarish, Mother Abretia, and Skipper Kerei. Hot cider and flakey blackberry scones were served. Everybeast sat at the small square table glancing at each other in awkward silence. Kerei inhaled sharply through his nostrils and decided to break the silence.

"Mother Abbess, this is about the dream you've been having isn't it?" he asked. Abbess Winry looked at the sinewy otter straight in the face and nodded.

"Actually, dreams. This dream of a stoat attacking our Abbey has come to me more than once. At first I thought it was simply a nightmare, so I brushed it off as if it was no big deal. Then the very next night, the dream appeared again. I was questioning my sanity, why was I dreaming about a war? Then I thought, maybe Martin is sending me message, so as I went to bed, Martin sent me the same dream again."

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" questioned Kerei.

"Because, I didn't want to alarm anybeast. I needed to make sure if I was going to tell everybody the dream, I needed it to be at the right moment, that is why I waited," responded the Mother Abbess. Abretia crossed her forepaws and looked at her Abbess with a stern glance.

"I have to agree with Kerei, but no is not the time for arguing, we need to make a battle strategy. I'll see to fortifications of our walls. Kerei, are you willing to train the ones who want to fight?"

"Of course, it'll be honor."

"Right, Sister Benarish, you will be head nurse when this war does eventually come to our walls," said Winry. Sister Benarish smiled and gave her Abbess an approving nod. Kerei was the first to leave, Abretia being the second, and the final one to leave Abbess Winry was Sister Benarish. Out in the courtyard, Abretia came across Trugget the Foremole.

"Good affernoon to ye marm!" Trugget said tugging on his snout and taking an elegant leg.

"Good afternoon, Foremole. I have a task for you, your moles, and our squirrels. You've heard about Mother Abbess' dream right?"

"Boyokee, I 'eard ev'ry d'tail, marm."

"So you probably know that if Redwall is to be plunge into war, again, you and your moles will help keep our walls fortified?"

"Oh hurr, o'course, marm. Oi be gettin' roit to et!"

"Thank you, Mr. Foremole," Abretia smiled as she replied. She watched as the stout creature ran all around Redwall, gathering his colleagues and workers. Soon an army of workers armed with their tools arrived in the snow covered courtyard. Abretia placed her paws at her hips.

"Alright, let's get to work."

The dwellers set up scaffoldings, ropes, and pulleys to elevate themselves from the ground to the battlements. The moles helped work on the bottom while the squirrels repaired the top. Even though they weren't asked to, the mice, voles, and shrews of Redwall each lended a helping paw for their brethren. While Abretia and Trugget helped fixed the walls, Kerei instructed the new recruits. The recruits were a mix of mice, squirrels, and voles, each armed with an oak staff. Kerei spoke in harsh, booming voice.

"Right, you flotsam, I am not gonna be going easy on ya, just because we're peaceable, doesn't mean we are soft! A horde of scummy vermin are headed this way to kill and reap. Since we do not have a warrior to take Martin's sword and lead us, I will be the one who will lead us into battle. So, you wanna be fighters, you wanna be warriors? Show me what your capable of!"

The recruits all shouted and cheered as their response. The trainees raised their training weapons just right underneath their chins and stepped back with their left footpaws.

"Let's begin. For a start I will be teaching you to do a thrust. Place the weapon by your hips, lower your stance, take the paw that your holding by the bottom end, and thrust, like this!"

The recruits watched as Kerei demonstrated the technique, each one looking to their neighbor and murmuring to one another. Kerei stood up and dug his staff into the ground.

"Now you try, it's all in the stance, remember that."

The creatures all did the move, however, none of them were in unity. A couple of mice thrusted their staffs a little too far, almost causing of them to stumble. Some of their trusts were too light and feeble. As Kerei watched, he sighed and chuckled underneath his breath.

"Looks we're in for a long practice."

Chapter 3

Bounded to a tree, Brugg told everything he knew of his mistress, her army, and her fortress. Riean scratched his chin, intrigued on what he heard.

"So what you're telling me is that your master rarely leaves the fortress walls, but when she does, she is surrounded by guards? She rarely fights and when she is forced into combat she just thrusts her rapier or runs away?"

"Yes, yes, that is correct," said Brugg with a tear stained face, "now please, let me go! I promise I won't tell a soul!"

"I cannot let you go, you'll just bring your whole army after me and my associates and get us killed," said Riean.

"But, but, but!"

"No, I did however promise I'd take the pain away," Riean quietly whispered. He slowly drew his sword and swiftly sliced through Brugg's neck. Brugg's head fell onto the grass, an expression of terror forever plastered on his face. Riean picked up the decapitated head by the top and smirked.

"This'll be a gift for her majesty," mocked Riean. Vaynos smiled as his commander said those exact words, Fangshade grabbed the bloody head, while still expressing no emotion whatsoever. The three travelled back to their camp. They had finally returned to where they rested their heads. Riean had an army of four hundred rats, ferrets, and weasels at his disposal. One of the hordebeasts, a young, skinny rat with oily brown fur and wearing nothing but a black tattered jerkin and an iron helmet called out to the others.

"Lord Riean has arrived!"

The hordebeasts had stopped what they were preoccupied with and saluted their returning master. Riean raised his right paw to ease them. Riean signalled for his most trusted comrades to follow him to his tent. Other than Vaynos and Fangshade, a bulky weasel, young rat twins, and a lanky brown, and white furred ferret all joined their leader for a meeting. The muscular weasel was dressed head to tail in iron armor and wielded a large spiked club, the two rat twins were dressed in chainmail armor, hooded cloaks, and wielded two curved daggers, and the ferret was dressed in black and gold robe, golden waist sash, with a silver handled stiletto dagger by his side. Riean got down to business.

"As Vaynos, Fangshade, and I all decided to meet the locals, they weren't exactly very cooperatives in finding those woodlanders that attacked us. Other than sending us on our way with no information whatsoever, they decided to send forth a little spy, to tail us and to see where we slept. Luckily, the spybeast never laid eyes upon our temporary home."

Fangshade placed the disembodied head in the center of the beechwood table. The ferret was the next one to speak.

"A clean cut from your blade, Lord Riean. I say we take our forces and storm in, all during the cover of night," he said rubbing his paws together. The weasel with club spoke in a deep, gravelly voice.

"When it is time, I'll prepare the troops," said the weasel.

"Thank you, Balqan and Heltor. This is our battle strategy. I will have Fangshade, Vallyn, Gemra, and the rest our assassins kill each and every guard and archer that is posted on the battlements and ramparts. While they are taking care of that, Heltor and the rest of the army will bring down their gate with fire and a battering ram. While the gate is all ashes and splinters, Vaynos, Balqan, and I will join you in apprehending the mistress ferret that hides behind the walls."

"Why not just kill her and her entire horde?" Vaynos asked.

"Because, I want to see if a coward like her can toughen up and actually act like a proper warrior, by joining our forces. For now, let's fill our stomachs and rest our heads, we'll need as much rest if we're to pull this off successfully."

Inside Geirana's domain, she was having dinner with Ulsu and her guards. They feasted on roasted pigeon, with potatoes and red currant wine. The ten vermin at the table all ate daintily and quietly. As everybeast enjoyed their meal, Geirana was becoming irate. She angrily rapped her paw on the table, startling her loyal followers.

"What in the name of fur and claw is taking Brugg so long!?" she shrieked. Ulsu looked at his master and tried to calm her.

"M'lady, perhaps their camp is a day's march away, or perhaps he has gotten lost?"

"Grrr! He never takes this long! Even if where they were took an entire season, Brugg was always quick enough to return."

"That's because the campsites you sent him to spy on were very close and full of woodlanders," said a rat under his breath. Geirana and Ulsu both gazed at the rat guard.

"Urgh! Nevermind, if he hasn't returned tomorrow morning, I want a team of trackers," she ordered.

"It will be done, m'lady," Ulsu said nodding to her demands. The creatures all resumed consuming their plates of meat and potatoes. After dinner, Geirana was escorted to her chambers. She dressed out of her regular attire into a silky nightgown.

"Remember, if he does not arrive at our gates by morning, send for a team of trackers to retrieve him."

"Yes, m'lady. Your wish is my command," Ulsu said smiling. The ferret mistress nestled deep in her swan and goose feathered bed. It was warm and instantly put her to sleep. She was quite unaware of what was to come to her home. Late that night, while all the slaves and most of her army was fast asleep, Riean, Vaynos, and his army hid behind the bushes, trees, and shrubs. Riean silently gave Fangshade, Vallyn, and Gemra the "ok" to proceed on with their attack. Fangshade speedily climbed the tallest tree he could find, using the cover of the pines to his advantage, Fangshade carefully selected an arrow for his bow. He nocked the shaft without any sound, pulled back on the string, until it went taut, and then released. The missile struck a ferret square in the eye, he died without a fuss. He kept firing arrow after arrow into the many sentries, Fangshade was expertly quick and swift with his arrows, that nobeast suspected them and those who tried to raise the alarm were swiftly dealt with by Vallyn and Gemra, and the assassins. After killing the ten archer and wall guard, Fangshade slid down the trunk of the tree and nodded to Riean. .

"Right, your up next, Heltor,"

"C'mon, let's go," Heltor said to the troops quietly. The rats, weasels, and ferrets surrounded the walls and started lighting ropes with rocks tied to them on fire. Like a sling, they tossed the fiery weapons inside the fortress, while they were burning the courtyard, guard, house, and slave compound, as well as some of the battlements, Heltor and his posse of vermin doused the gate in lantern oil and then began ramming the gates. The guards sleeping in the barracks all stumbed around, struggling to get their armor on and gather their weapons. Ulsu witnessed the fire that engulfed the fortress. He ran back upstairs to wake his mistress. As he arrived to open the door, Geirana rushed out, slamming the door on his snout. The rat reeled back in pain, clutching his bleeding nose with both paws. Geirana was fully dressed, she shouted at her loyalist in a shrill voice.

"What in the name of Hell's teeth are you standing there for? Get the troops and go!" she shrieked. The ferret mistress sprinted headlong down the flight of stairs and to the burning courtyard. Ulsu soon joined her. She looked to her loyal rat and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"Where are all my archers!"

"Dunno, they were possibly killed! Either by the fire or the ones who did it, m'lady!"

She released him and turned her attention to the wooden gates, they were burning bright, and the rest of her horde rushed out of the burning barracks, although some were unfortunate. Fifteen of her creatures burned alive in the barracks. She saw the rest of her 75 hordebeasts ready to battle.

"Gather buckets of water, dirt, anything we cannot allow our gates to fall!" she ordered. The horde of rats and ferrets all rushed to the troth of water and scooped up full buckets of water, and gathered dirt into the buckets. However, as they rushed to the gates, a loud crash echoed through the night. The gates had finally fell. Geirana's breathing became labored and her limbs began to tremble. She raised her right paw over the hilt of her weapon, but her nerves failed her and without any word of warning she ran back inside, up the stairs, and shut herself in her room, crouching in the corner. Ulsu followed after her. Heltor and the army of Riean stormed inside the fortress, killing and maiming those who opposed them. The Heltor and the rest douse the flames allowing Riean, Vaynos, Fangshade, and Balqan to enter. Riean breathed in deep, the smell of burning wood and flesh, and fur tainted the air.

"Now if I was a spoiled little coward where would I hide?" he asked himself. The stoat looked up at top window of and saw Geirana's in her three story stone tower, but only briefly.

"Gotcha," he said as he grinned devilishly. The three beasts all ran to the stone house. As they entered, they were intercepted by the ten guards. Riean tilted his head and placed his paws by his hips.

"Are you sure this is what you want? Your comrades are all dead, your fortress is lost, and your mistress is cowering somewhere in here."

The guards witnessed the horror of what Riean had brought and they all dropped their weapons. Riean nodded and smirked at The surrendering animals. Riean stepped out, cupped his paws around his muzzle, and shouted for Heltor. Heltor turned his undivided attention to his lord and abruptly stopped his killing spree to join Riean. Geirana became startled at the sound of the wooden door busting down. Swing after swing, Heltor was able to make a big enough hole for his paw to fit through. He reached down and grabbed the board that blocked the door and unlocked the door. Heltor and Vaynos were the first to enter. Then Balqan and Riean entered. Geirana stood up, still trembling. She raised her paws in surrender then kneeled down, with tears in her eyes.

"Puh-puh-please don't kill me!" she whimpered, "I can help you, I can help find those who wronged you, we never wanted to hurt you, we just wanted to scare you off! Where is Brugg and Ulsu?"

Without any second thought, Fangshade threw down the bloody burlap sack right at her side. Geirana clasped her paws to her mouth, stifling her gasp. Riean walked near the window of her chambers. Ulsu appeared in the doorway of her room, looking down at the stone floor ashamed for what had happened.

"Your slaves have escaped, your armies are vanquished, and your fortress is in ruins," said Riean, "I am feeling generous, I will spare you if you follow me, you won't be taking any orders from my captains or my underlings, you will still be the leader of your guards, you will only take your orders from me, but if you try to betray me in any way or form, you will wish I swiftly ended your life here."

Geirana shuddered at what Riean said, the way he spoke sent her in shivers. Riean clapped his paws together and spoke in a more kindly manor.

"Now, let's get you outside and marching," he said. Geirana stood up straight and dusted herself off.

"Yes, sir, anything you say, sir!" she exclaimed.

"Let's go, we march northwest."

Everybeast that helped Riean turn the fortress to ruins as well as the survivors left the location and proceeded to march to Riean's campsite. Geirana looked back, one final glance of her smoldering fortress before moving forward.

Chapter 4

Salamandastron the place that gave hope in the hearts of honest creatures and terror into the hearts of the wicked. Inside the mountain of fire lizards, the hares of the Long Patrol gathered around in the dining chambers, and sitting at the edge of the table was none other than Trawn the Ironpaw. Trawn was Abretia's uncle and very close friend to Abbess Winry. He was given the title of Ironpaw because during his youth he took on an entire clan of river rats and ermine. They were terrorizing a small clan of shrews. He rushed into the middle of it armed with nothing but his bare paws. He came out as the victor and rescuer of those shrews, however, a terrible price was given to him, while battling the rats and ermine, one of the vermin sliced his paw clean off. The shrews did everything in their power to give Trawn the medical attention he deserved. They cleaned away the dried blood and the stump, soaked it in an healing herb bath, cauterized it, then wrapped in dock leaves, grass, and twine, and used tree sap as a way to keep it all together. Trawn returned back to Mossflower, where he finally reunited with his sister, Merigold, and met his niece, Abretia. Back in the present, the old Badgerlord ate quietly while his troopers all laughed and talked very loudly. The sounds of different conversations overlapped each other causing discord. Brigadier Hurley Navin Twindleright, Trawn's advisor, and trusty right paw immediately stood up, and raised his silver goblet. The hare had a long and deep scar that ran down the right side of his face, his muzzle was full of white hairs and whiskers, completely covering his entire mouth. Even in his old age, he still was very lean and tall. The brigadier tapped the side of his cup with the silver fork he ate from.

"Ahem, hem hem! Attention you chaps and chapesses! As you all know, it has been at least a fortnight ever since our lovely Lieutenant Vivian drove that wicked fox and his cronies away from our shores and away from that little village of fisherbeasts. As we've helped to rebuild their houses and whatnot. Well, they wants us to train them in the ways of the warrior and what have you. So in Lord Trawn's and my best interest, he and I have decided to have a place a voting, with their being three candidates. Captain Mickel Belvedere, Sergeant Trumble, and Lieutenant Vivian Rosemary Pedalton. Now, you lot have quills and a tiny strip of parchment, scribble down the name of one of the three candidates, fold it, and then place your folded piece of parchment in this wooden box. Lord Trawn and I will be counting the votes, do not fret yourselves this is completely fair and there will be no favoriting others. But let's not do the voting as of right now, let us eat, drink, and be merry!"

The old hare sat back down and the chattering and laughing soon resumed full volume. Trawn leaned into Hurley's ear.

"I have a sneaking suspicion that our haremaid will win the ballot," he whispered. The brigadier smiled from the left side of his face.

"I dunno, sir. It may be a tie between her and Captain Mickel," he whispered back. Vivian cleaned her plate and glugged down her cup of elderberry cordial. She excused herself from the dining table and hurried through the tunnels and passageways of the interior of Salamandastron. Captain Mickel soon caught up to her and tapped her lightly on her shoulder blade. The haremaid became startled and instantaneously turned around. As soon as she laid eyes on him, her stance became straighter, her chest swelled out, stomach sucked in, and nose pointing towards the ceiling. She raised her right paw over her forehead and saluted him.

"Captain Mickel, sir! Just gettin' some of that fresh air, sir!" she shouted. Her shouts caused Mickel to stifle his giggling.

"At, at ease soldier," he said while trying to retain a straight face, "Now, you're gonna be goin' out for a little spot of sunshine, wot?"

"Yes, that is correct, sir."

"Well, permission to join you?" he asked. Vivian grinned sincerely at her superior officer.

"Permission granted, old friend," she said assuringly. The two snuck out of the lowest window. Upon being outside, the two found a large boulder buried beneath the sand and grass. The skies were covered in grey and a thin mist filled the empty spaces. Vivian plucked a single blade of grass and began to blow into it. The vibrations from her mouth caused the blade of grass to squeak and hum. Mickel turned his companion and was quite intrigued on what she was doing.

"My word, ol' girl, how in bally blaze's are you doin' that, eh?" Mickel asked.

"Simple, I'm just stretching this piece of grass 'til it goes taut, and just blowing through pursed lips," replied Vivian. The grass continued to whistle, Mickel looked straight at the horizon, the ways ebbed and flowed, and a small wave came crashing with the tide.

"Ya know, when It's time for both of us to retire, I want to sail across the ocean and see what else is out there," Mickel said calmly, Vivian stopped blowing into the blade of grass and replied to what her superior told her.

"Well, dear brother, I don't see you retiring at all, wot. I think you'll be in the bally patrol 'til the day you are pushin' up daisies, wot wot."

"Hmph, we'll just see about that, little sister," he laughed, "I'm glad we got this time to be together, it was gettin' quite crowded and humid inside that ol' fortress."

"I second you there, wot. All that chatterin' and gasbaggin', to be honest I'm not one for it."

Her older brother laughed. "Neither am I."

"Well, we better get back inside, Brigadier Hurley will probably want a word with us."

"More than likely, I mean we did sneak out of the bloomin' mountain."

"Yep."

"Well, let's head back in," said the young captain. Sneaking back inside, the pair returned to the dining hall. The two bumped into Corporal Civen, the corporal saluted the hares instantly.

"Corporal Civen reporting for duty! I have been given orders to escort you two to his lordship, he has very important information that only you two must hear!"

"But what about the voting that supposed to take place today?" asked Vivian.

"It has been postponed, sir. Please, his lordship has requested your immediate presence."

The lower ranked hare escorted his two superiors to Lord Trawn's chambers. The hare knocked on the thick door and a voice from the other side boomed.

"Come in!" it shouted. The corporal escorted the lieutenant and captain into the room where Lord Trawn sat on the foot of his bed. In the paws of their lord was a heavy longsword, the blade was as long as a fully grown hare, the metal shined, and could easily cut through three vermin in one single swipe. Trawn tapped his metal paw rhythmically on the flat of the steel. The three hares stood to attention, awaiting their orders.

"Thank you, corporal. You are dismissed. Now, Captain Mickel and Lieutenant Vivian, the reason why I requested your presence is not because of the voting, it is of a different assignment, I'm sending you two to Redwall Abbey, I haven't heard from the good Abbess and I am sending you to the Abbey to see how things are holding up. I wish I could go, but my hares need me here, in case we are engaged into battle with pirates, raiders, or a whole army of evil vermin, this is just a short visitation, but the trip should take you at least a couple of weeks, at least four weeks. I am having our cooks preparing you enough rations for the trip, but you'll either have to get the Abbey to cook for you, or you will have to find your own food on the trip back."

"This is a simple pop in and say hello mission, sir?" Vivian asked. The Badgerlord gave the two a slight nod.

"Right, you won't need to pack your weapons, like I said this'll just be short visitation with the Abbess and her dwellers," said Trawn. Vivian and Mickel both looked to each other and then back to their lord.

"We gladly accept this task, Lord Trawn," said Mickel. Lord Trawn gave the pair a brief grin and dismissed the two on their journey to Redwall.

Chapter 5

It had been three weeks since the first snow and now the snow completely blanketed the land. That night, Nikolas sat crisscrossed by the fire enjoying a bowl of potato and rutabaga stew. The young treewalloper carefully blew on the spoon containing the hot liquid, just as he was about to sip on the broth, Trussa plopped right next to him.

"Hello, Nikky, you seem down, is everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, everything is quite alright. It's just.. you know," he said hesitantly. Trussa released a short sigh through her snout. The squirrel maiden rubbed her nervous friend's back.

"Do not worry, we've got watchers in the trees and alarms set all around the camp. Beside even if he does find us, Commander Mavellous will lead us to Redwall, and this weather will keep us concealed."

"I hope you are right, Truss," he said, "right now, all I want is to enjoy this bowl of stew."

Meanwhile, inside the commander's tent, Mavellous and Wendell discussed their root to Redwall Abbey, they were closer than before, about a two weeks trip to the Abbey. Wendell crossed his paws and pursed his lips. Mavellous studied the map of Mossflower.

"I'm thinking we pack up our belongings and head to Redwall tomorrow morning. That should give us a head start before the weather worsens. Let's tell our rangers," said Mavellous. The two walked right outside into the cold.

"Listen up, we have decided to leave for Redwall Abbey by tomorrow morning, so I advise packing up your weapons and finishing up the food. As soon as the sun rises we march west from here."

Nikolas, Tussa, Bryson, and Hampton finshed off their bowls of stew and placed the dirty dishes into a bucket of soapy water. Bryson carried the dishes to the washing station, where Gildeon, a middle aged mouse was at. The mouse smiled at the young creature and proceeded to wash them. Bryson then started to conversate with his better.

"So how have you been, sir?" he asked. The much older mouse spoke to the young one.

"Quite well, quite well. You know just been here all day, doing these dishes."

"Would you like for me to help you?" he asked. Gildeon smiled and softly shook his head.

"No, no, it's quite alright, but I do like the company from time to time, tell me, how are you and your friends enjoying the Hytar Rangers?"

Bryson tapped his index claw thinking up the words to say to the mouse.

"Well, sir. It's quite alright, but to be honest, we haven't seen much action, I've been in this platoon for about three seasons and my friends and I haven't seen any action, all we've done is march, march, march. When am I gonna be locked in combat with a vermin?!" he exclaimed. "I do know the story of that horde of vermin you guys fought a season before me and my friends came into the picture."

"And?" asked Gildeon as he leaned forward to hear Bryson's answer.

"And he doesn't scare me, I will be happy to slay any verminous scum that comes ten inches from me. Nikolas and Trussa seem terrified of him, but not me, no, sir. Like I said, I'll gladly take on any vermin that gets right up in my face!"

"Careful what you say, young one. It might just come true, that vermin you aren't scared of, well you should be, he travelled the high seas recruiting vermin to join his horde, he's taken on a clan of badgers, fierce warriors, and lived to see another day, the badgers on the other paw weren't so lucky, he have a league of assassins that can track anybeast, just like that, and does not take any prisoners, but when he does he has his ferret torture them until they tell him what he wants to hear, then dumps their bodies into a ditch or a lake, or wherever he wants. If you ever see him or his vermin, you run, no questions, you follow Commander Mavellous or Captain Wendell, and you flee," Gildeon said in a crossed voice. Bryson huffed and smirked at his elder.

"You may be scared of a few myths but I'm not," argued Bryson. The mouse scoffed and stormed out of the tent.

Riean and Vaynos waited for Fangshade, Vallyn, and Gemra. The mists of snow was completely blinding, blinding to the point where Riean had to squint. A couple of hours passed and the two commanders saw three faint silhouettes. Riean and Vaynos placed ready paws over the hilt of their swords. The shadows came closer and closer, until they were in total view. It was only Fangshade, Vallyn, and Gemra. Riean and Vaynos eased themselves.

"How far are we from them?" asked the stoat.

"Couple hours," Fangshade said blankly.

"Good, we march now, Vaynos gather the horde, we'll give them the surprise of their lives," Riean said deviously. The five beasts returned to their campsite, everybody was ready to leave to slaughter the Hytar Rangers, everybeast except for Geirana, she sat in a tent shivering and attempting to keep warm.

"I hate this, Ulsu, I hate this weather I hate that stoat and his horde, I want to be back in my fortress, I was happy, I was warm. One of these days, I'm gonna stick a knife in that stoat's ribs, and his friends," she said shivering.

"I will gladly help you, m'lady," said Ulsu shivering, "but I suggest we wait, that stoat has plenty of loyalists all around us, so we best keep it a secret."

"Yes, you are right, rat. When the time is right, we strike," she whispered. After the two conversated one of her guards popped his head in.

"The stoat says were leaving to fight some woodlanders."

Geirana and Ulsu looked to each other.

"Well, maybe we can keep a couple of slaves after we've helped the stoat slaughter some," said the ferret.

"I wholehearted agree, while he's preoccupied want me to slip this dagger through his belly?" asked her rat loyalist.

"Not yet, like you said, we need to do it when he truly do it when he least suspects it, like when he sleeps, or is all alone. But maybe, we can convince him to join our side," said Geirana. "Let's go kill and enslave some woodlanders."

The two finally left the tent and joined the others. Riean stood tall on a large rock and spoke up very loudly.

"Right, Fangshade, Vallyn, and Gemra have finally found where those rangers are, it is just a few hours away from where we are, now let's march, follow them through the snow, only they know where they are!" he announced. The vermin of four hundred packed up their belongings such as weapons, tents, and other possessions and marched straight to the Hytar Rangers' camp. They trekked through the snow for hours, the only thing keeping them warm was the thought of woodlander blood staining their blades. If they were to escape, well, then that would only make their deaths even worse. Riean marched right beside Fangshade and conversed with the not so talkative tree rat.

"Here's what I want you and the assassins to do, you will climb the trees and slay as many of their watchers, I suggest you slay them all. Do not let a single one raise their alarms, if any attempt to escape my wrath, then that will make it even more fun to kill them."

Nikolas looked straight into the dying embers of the fire, the light attempt to shine but the cold of the weather killed the embers completely off. He clutched his staff tightly in his paws, Trussa and Hampton walked up to him and told him to get some sleep. Nikolas nodded in agreement, but just as he and his friends were heading off to bed, Nikolas saw a faint shadow out in the distance. He witnessed the shadow staggering his tiredness went away instantly and he rushed headlong to investigate the silhouette. Trussa and Hampton ran after him.

"Get Commander Mavellous, or Captain Wendell!" Hampton shouted. This caused the the beast within hearing range to get up and get their superiors awake. Nikolas and Trussa came into contact with the staggering beast, it was a squirrel, his back was like a pincushion, he died in Nikolas' paws. Without any second thoughts or warning, Trussa began to raise the alarm.

"Ambush, everybeast up, we are locked in combat!" she screamed. All the beasts within the camp all got up and readied themselves for combat. Nikolas, Trussa, Hampton, and Bryson gathered together with Commander Mavellous and Captain Wendell.

"What in the name of fur and claw is going on?!" Mavellous ordered.

"It's an ambush sir! I think he is here!" exclaimed Hampton.

"Right, forget the tents! We are leaving for the Abbey now!" Mavellous hollered. Just as the beasts were about to gather the others, a stray arrow flew through the air and struck a random squirrel right in the jugular, soon more shafts flew through the air and killed at least five more woodlanders. Bryson gripped his sword, adrenaline pumping through his veins, and a smile plastered on his face.

"Are we really doing this?!" Bryson asked anxiously.

"No, we are leaving!" Trussa shouted back.

"You cowards can flee, I'm gonna honor our village and kill these cretins!" he shouted back.

"This is no time for heroics, mouse! There are too many for us to take on! We need to leave now!" Captain Wendell shouted. Bryson stomped his footpaws in frustration and growled.

"Fine you guys leave, but I'm gonna cause a diversion, so you may escape!"

"No, no you are not, that is any order!" yelled Mavellous, but the mouse did not listen and he gathered a pawful of beasts willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. The ones who were willing to lay down their lives were of course Bryson, Mul, three mice, a vole, and two squirrels. Riean saw the small group of woodlanders charging him and his horde.

"Attack!" he shouted, "show them no mercy!"

Bryson raised his sword high above his head and yelled at the very top of his lungs, soon another small handful of beasts came to his aid, including Gildeon, he turned out into the distance and saw Commander Mavellous, Captain Wendell, Trussa, Hampton, and Nikolas retreat, as well as thirty of their own. Nikolas was the last one to retreat away from frey. Riean saw the retreating rangers.

"Do not let them escape!" he commanded. Fangshade nocked an arrow to his bowstring. The arrow was aimed at Mavellous' skull, the tree rat released the arrow. Hampton was the first to see the arrow fly, he jumped up and it struck him the shoulder. Hampton winced in pain and everybeast stopped to try and help him.

"Go, go, you lot need to get to Redwall!" he screamed through clenched teeth. The others ran for their lives, even faster. Nikolas hated this feeling of cowardice, he and his comrades sent their friends to their deaths, however, they chose to stay behind and fight them. Riean saw as Gildeon and Bryson charged straight into him, the stoat leader took a step back and placed a ready paw on his sword. Gildeon raised his sword in both paws and began to howl madly.

"Die, evil one, die!" he screamed. Riean smiled from ear to ear and whispered.

"No, you die."

In the blink of an eye, Riean ran his sword through the stomach of the middle aged mouse. Gildeon slowly glanced downwards and saw the sword buried deep within in him. He gasped for air and tears fell from his eyes. Riean then slowly pulled the blade from Gildeon's body, wiped away the blood, and kicked him to the ground. Bryson charged at Riean, but was immediately stopped by Vaynos.

"You wanna get to him, you go through me!" he laughed.

"Your master killed my friend, I will gladly slay you, fox!" Bryson shouted back.

"Your death will be slow, mouse."

As Bryson and Vaynos locked themselves into combat, Balqan drew his stiletto dagger and swiftly dodged a ranger mouse's spear thrusts, the tall ferret grabbed a hold of the spear and pulled the mouse forward, stabbing the helpless creature through the jugular. Balqan leaned closer into the dying mouse's ear.

"Shh, it's all over now," he whispered, pulling the blade from the throat of the woodlander causing him to bleed to death. Geirana was armed with her rapier, but she was rarely even fighting, a vole armed with a battle axe charged straight at her, she took a few paces back, and dodged the heavy setted attack, she then saw her opening and thrusted the skinny blade through his heart.

"I am quick, you are slow!" she boasted. Ulsu smiled at his master.

"Nice kill, m'lady!"

"Yes, yes it was, Ulsu, now c'mon let's kill more fools!" she laughed. Vaynos stepped back and did a downwards slash at Bryson, but Bryson was quick enough to block the strike. It was his turned to counter, Bryson ducked underneath the swiping blade and attempted to stab the fox through his chest, but his thrust was futile, for the fox was a way more experienced fighter. Vaynos jumped back and swiped the blade away from him. Vaynos was on the offense while his enemy was on the defense. Bryson kept dodging and blocking the fox's fierce attacks, he soon grew tired and his paws became weary. Vaynos jumped up and shouted as he delivered a heavy blow, it caused both swords to ring, but it causes Bryson's sword to fly out of his paws. The young mouse kneeled before the victor.

"I yield, I yield!" he shouted. Vaynos smiled and sheathed his sword.

"Good," he said. The two leaders of the horde watched as their underlings and cronies did a number on their enemies. Heltor dragged Mul over to Riean and Vaynos.

"This one is quite the fighter, sir," he huffed, "he may be old, but he still has enough fight to last ten beasts."

"Is that so, well let's keep him alive, see what he knows," he said to the brute weasel. Riean looked over to Balqan.

"Balqan, those who surrender, I am giving you the task of relieving information from their weary heads."

"It shall be my honor, your lordship," the ferret said taking an elegant leg, "want me to start with this one?"

"Not yet, let's wait and watch the sport," replied the stoat lord. The odds were in Riean's horde's favor. Soon dawn approached and their were only six beasts, Bryson, Mul, Hampton, a squirrel, and two other voles. They were forced to kneel down before Riean, Vaynos, Fangshade, and Balqan. Riean began circling them and announcing his plans for them.

"You are all in the presence of me, and I want information from you and I want it now. You will give it to me without any sort of fuss, or my associate here will take it from you, and he is not very kind when it comes to extracting information. Now, tell me here or with him. The choice is yours."

"Bah!" hollered Mul, "you vermin are all talk, do your worse, you villainous coward!"

Riean's face lit up in a devious smile, he turned to trusted subordinate.

"I know I said I'd let you have your way with the mouse, but I think I'll let you have your fun with the old one, Balqan."

"Oh, it will be my honor, lord," Balqan said smiling evilly.

Nikolas and the others who escaped were exhausted. They ran for hours and hours, hoping Riean or his horde did not see them. Nikolas could barely even speak, he shoved snow in his mouth to wet his dry mouth. Commander Mavellous and Trussa helped the tiresome squirrel up, both were exhausted, hungry, and parched.

"Come.. on," Mavellous wheezed, "were just a few days away from the Abbey…"

Nikolas could not believe his ears! All that time running without any rest and at full speed, they were closer to their destination! Nikolas smiled in relief and tears streamed down his eyes.

"Redwall… Redwall…" he moaned.

Chapter 6

The Matthias and Methuselah bells began to toll that early morning. Abbess Winry, Mother Abretia, and Sister Benarish with a couple of the Redwall volunteer army hurried to the courtyard. Abbess Winry called up to the ringer in the belltower.

"Norman, what is going on, who is out there?!" she asked. The creature who popped his head out of the window was a dormouse.

"Our sentries spotted about twenty five beasts, lead by two mice, and two squirrels!" he called back.

"Let them in, if one of them is the squirrel I had in my dream, then we must prepare faster. If that is the squirrel, then the stoat might be close," said the Mother of Redwall. Kerei and three of his beasts of the Redwall Militia all ran to the main gate, lifted the bar from slots and opened the gates ajar. Winry and Mavellous greeted each other.

"Are the Abbess?" he asked.

"Yes, who are you?" she asked.

"I am Commander Mavellous of the Hytar Rangers, this is my right paw, Captain Wendell, these are my newest recruits: Nikolas and Trussa. These are the rest of my troops," he said. Abbess Winry spotted Nikolas, weary and malnourished as well as the rest.

"Get them inside our walls, quickly!" the Abbess barked out. Kerei opened the gates wider and escorted the woodlanders inside. Abbess Winry turned to Sister Benarish.

"Wake Friar Hubble, have him cook a big enough breakfast for our new guest."

"Yes, Mother Abbess."

Sister Benarish ran back inside. Inside the dormitories, the little mole friar was nestled deeply in his bed, mumbling in his sleep.

"Hurr, that turnover be jus' 'bout dun, don't be a burnin' that puddin' miss Kelisa, it be jus' 'bout dun, hurr," he mumbled. Sister Benarish opened the door carefully and quietly woke Friar Hubble up.

"Psst! Friar Hubble, we've got guest in the courtyard of the Abbey. Abbess Winry wants you to cook a big meal for them," she whispered into his ear. The mole friar turned to his back and slowly opened his eyes.

"Oh, it's you Sister Benarish, oi 'ad the most wunnerful dream," he said in his gruff mole dialect. The small creature sprang out of bed and woke his kitchen aids up. Begonia and Delilah awoke in an instant and both sprang out of their beds. Kelisa sat up and groaned.

"Why in the world is Friar Hubble waking us up so early?" she moaned. Delilah the mousemaid turned to the squirrel maiden.

"Because we've got guest in our Abbey," she said. The four kitchen beasts all made their way down to the kitchens and prepared the food for the newcomers. Outside on the snow covered lawns, Nikolas, Trussa, Wendell, and Mavellous, along with the rest of the Hytar Rangers were all passed out on the lawns. Unknown to them a couple of the residents of Redwall covered each warrior up with warm blankets. A couple of hours later, the sun appeared through a small slit in the clouds, shining its golden rays down upon the Abbey. However, it's light wasn't strong enough to melt the snow on the ground. Nikolas awakened with the sun shining directly onto his head. He slowly sat up and glanced around.

"Where.. am I?" he mumbled. He saw Trussa right next to him, still deep in sleep. Sleeping across from him was Commander Mavellous and Captain Wendell. The doors to Cavern Hole opened and a line of beasts all stepped out carrying trays and trollies of hot, piping food. Blackberry and raspberry scones, with steam still puffing from their sides, cauldrons of berry cream medley, stacks of barley meal pancakes, stone oven baked apples glazed in honey and candied chestnuts, and jugs of strawberry, elderberry, raspberry, and blackberry cordial. The smell of food woke everybeast up. The Hytar Rangers all sat up and breathed in deeply, the aromas of fresh cooked food filled their snouts. Then their stomachs began to groan. The Redwall creatures all set the trays down by the rangers sides and the beasts of Hytar began to indulge the scrumptious food that they were provided. Nobeast said anything, all that matter was the perfect food they were consuming. Abbess Winry, Badgermother Abretia, Sister Benarish, Friar Hubble, Kelisa, Delilah, and Begonia all stepped out and watched as their guest ate their breakfast. Abbess Abretia walked towards Nikolas and studied him. The young squirrel looked up at the vole wife and cocked his eyebrows. After the Abbess took a good look at him, her eyes began to widen and her mouth gaped open.

"Is everything alright, ma'am?" Nikolas concernedly asked.

"You're the squirrel from my dreams, you're the one Martin told me about," she said. Nikolas cocked his head slightly.

"Martin? Who's Martin?" Trussa asked wiping away the crumbs from her scone.

"If I remember correctly, Martin was this place's very first warrior and one of its founders. He was the bravest mouse Mossflower ever had," he said, "if I remember correctly, they're a big tapestry hanging inside their walls. Am I right, ma'am?"

"You are correct, my name is Abbess Winry, these are my friends, Mother Abretia, our guardian, Sister Benarish, our Abbey's infirmary keeper, Friar Hubble, our chef, and his kitchen aids, Delilah, Begonia, and Kelisa," the Abbess of Redwall announced. Nikolas greeted each creature. Abbess Winry smiled.

"Welcome to our Abbey, Nikolas," Abretia said with a warm smile across her muzzle. Kelisa saw the handsome features on Nikolas' face and began to blush. Begonia turned her head slightly, her lips formed a tiny smile. The mouse maiden turned to her friend.

"I think we've got somebeast in love," Begonia whispered to Delilah. Delilah giggled a bit then responded.

"That looks like it, but she's giving that squirrel next to him the glare. Kelisa was staring coldly at Trussa who was happily conversing with Nikolas, Mavellous, Wendell, and the Abbess.

"I've heard of your warriors, may we speak to them?" asked Trussa.

"No, we haven't had a warrior for fifteen seasons, but the closest you'll get is our Skipper, Kerei," Abbess Winry told Trussa. Nikolas stepped in the conversation.

"Ah yes, it's been forever since I've been hear, but if I can recall correctly, the Warrior of Redwall is armed with a greatsword, a sword that Martin himself wielded, many, many, many seasons ago, is this correct?" asked Nikolas. Mother Winry placed her paws in the wide sleeves of her habit and nodded. Trussa leaned closer, she was getting quite interested in this sword.

"This sword, was it made from steel, silver, iron?" she asked impatiently, the suspense was getting to her.

"None of those materials, I think it was crafted from a falling star here in Mossflower by a badger," he said.

"Almost, during the wars against an evil queen, Martin, Gonff, and Dinny travelled to Salamandastron. There the Badgerlord Boar the Fighter built Martin a new sword, one that would not break nor bend. Martin and his comrades travelled back to Mossflower where he vanquished the evils here in our home and brought peace upon us. Even in death we watches over us, guiding us, and telling us of warnings to come. I had a dream that you would come, because in that same dream, you were wielding Martin's sword and fighting against a stoat," said Abbess Winry.

"Stoat, you mean Riean?" asked Nikolas, "I don't know how to tell you this, but we came to your walls to hide from him, but if I saw the sword, and you are certain that I am the one who will bring peace upon your Abbey, then I am willing to help. I joined the Hytar Rangers for a few reasons: adventure, and protecting the innocent. I hate being a coward, I hate how we watched as the stoat sent out friends to their deaths. So bring me to the sword, and I will gladly help you creatures out," Nikolas said proudly.

"Now what a moment, Nikolas. I'm the leader of this platoon, you've only joined us three seasons ago, I have more fighting experience, so I think I should be the one with the sword," Commander Mavellous said.

"Well, you both can come to see the sword, it is hanging above our tapestry. Trussa got up to her hind paws. All four of them travelled to Great Hall. Nikolas, Trussa, and Mavellous gazed at the tapestry. A feeling of hope and courage filled their hearts and minds. What was going on? Why all of a sudden were they feeling these emotions? Perhaps the Ghost of Martin was giving them these feelings of courage and hope. Mavellous looked up and saw the Sword of Martin the Warrior. He then turned to the Abbess.

"If we are to help, we must prepare," he said, "do you have any fighters?"

"Yes, our Skipper has trained them and they are ready for when that stoat and his horde comes to Redwall Abbey. But they need a warrior true of heart and full of courage to lead them," she said.

"I am that warrior," Mavellous said.

"You may be the leader of your platoon, but Martin showed me that he is the one who will wield his sword," Abbess Winry said pointing to Nikolas. Trussa smiled at Nikolas.

"I think he should be the one who wields the sword, sorry sir, but the reason why I think he should be the one who wields the sword is because he has potential."

Mavellous sighed, however, he eventually let the thought of him being the Warrior of Redwall go, and turned to his newest ranger.

"I will train him to be the one who wields the sword, if you lot are so keen on him being the Warrior of Redwall," he said.

"Thank you, sir," Abbess Winry said as a smile formed across her face.

"Let's get started," Nikolas said eagerly.

Chapter 7

Out in the courtyard, Mavellous and Nikolas were both armed with their swords, Mavellous with his, and Nikolas with the sword of Martin.

"Right, if these creatures are keen on you being the Abbey's Warrior, then I will do everything in my power to train you to be the best sword wielder you can be, but know this, you will still take orders from me or Captain Wendell. But, we train you to be the Warrior of Redwall. We'll start with some basic attacks, try doing a few downward slashes."

Nikolas nodded at his commander's request. Wielding the sword in both of his paws, he lifted the broadsword over his ears and quickly slashed downwards. Mavellous studied the young squirrel's form, then raised his left paw to stop Nikolas.

"You're form is sloppy, and those sword slashes are crooked. Your stance is all wrong, you don't want to stand straight, you want to place your right footpaw behind you, your left footpaw slightly in front, turned your torso forty five degree angle, then in one single swoop, take the sword and swing it over your head, watch me."

In one fluid movement, Mavellous showed Nikolas what he wanted him to do. An audible swish resonated from the blade of Mavellous' sword, as the mouse swung the sword downwards, at the very last minute he leaned into his attack, giving him enough force behind his attack. Afterwards, Mavellous stood proudly in the warrior's salute.

"Now, like what I did," said the commander. Nikolas nodded to his superior. The novice sword wielder took his right footpaw back, leaned in with his left footpaw, turned himself at a forty five degree angle, then slashed his weapon. However, he still was unable to master the technique. The movement behind the attack was too strong for him, he nearly fell over.

"Okay, okay. You're stance is better, but your attack was not very effective," he said, "your attack had too much force, causing you to stumble for a moment. This will allow your enemy to find an opening, slaying you."

"Okay, so ease up on force of the attack, got it," replied Nikolas.

"Easier said than done," chuckled Mavellous, "but, I am going to mold you into a sword fighter, even if it takes us ten seasons!"

Of course Mavellous was exaggerating, but this did prove to Nikolas that his superior officer would give his all to training Nikolas as long as the squirrel gave back one hundred percent of his. Standing on the steps to the doorway inside the Abbey, Abbess Winry and Mother Abretia watched as the two warriors practiced.

"Looks like the new Warrior of Redwall has a long way to go, eh, Mother Abbess?" Abretia chuckled out.

"Indeed he does, but like I said before, he was plenty of potential," the Abbess said as a faint smile formed across her beautiful features. Trussa and Wendell came to see the progression of Nikolas' training. As they watched with Abbess Winry and Mother Abretia, both saw the potential in Nikolas, the squirrel was gradually getting better with every swing he took. Sweat beaded down the youngster's body, he began to breathe heavily, this did not help with the cool wind blowing by. Trussa smiled from the left side of her face.

"Nikolas is getting quite good, would you say so, captain?"

"He's quite alright, but he is not good. Once he's mastered this move, then I would consider him good," Wendell said honestly. Abretia turned around and replied to the two newcomers.

"I was saying the same thing to our Abbess here," she said. Wendell cocked his eyebrows and twiddled with his whiskers.

"Yes, I see the potential in him, however, does he have the discipline for it?" asked Wendell. Trussa turned her attention to the Abbess.

"Mother Abbess, while we are here. Is there anything I can do to help out around here?"

Mother Winry gave the young squirrel maiden a reassuring smile and retorted.

"Of course, young one, why not help out in the kitchens, I'm pretty sure Friar Hubble is gonna need some help with those dishes."

"I am on it, ma'am!" Trussa cheerfully exclaimed. In a flash, the squirrelmaid was off to the kitchens. The Abbey kitchens, Friar Hubble, Begonia, and Delilah were scrubbing hard to get the caked on grease and excess food from the pots, pans, and trays. Trussa rolled her sleeves, grabbed a sudsy sponge, and kneeled down to where the old mole friar was.

"Need any help?" Trussa asked. Friar Hubble looked up at the maid warrior.

"O'course, marm. Oi'd be quite obliged iffen ye give us a paw," Hubble said merrily.

"Thank you, I wanted to give my share, since your benevolent Mother Abbess gave my friends and I safe haven here. Earn my keep," she said.

"Hurr, but oin't you lot, worriors?" asked Friar Hubble.

"Well, warriors in training," replied Trussa. Begonia and Delilah then chimed in the conversation. The two began asking questions that Trussa did not have the time to answer instantaneously.

"What is like being a warrior?"

"Have you been in any big battles?"

"What's your favorite weapon to use?"

"What are your thoughts on that squirrel that is training with the Sword of Martin?"

"Soilence!" bellowed out Friar Hubble, "now, loik our maiden sed, she be only a worrior in trainin', but oi can 'sure you, she be gonna 'elp our Abbey 'long with 'er friends."

"Hey, where's Kelisa? Isn't she supposed to be helping us with dish duty?" Delilah asked.

"Don't be a fretten, oi send 'er to gather up all the plates."

As the four beasts scrubbed away at the pots and pans, Delilah told Trussa that she too was training to be a fighter. Trussa listened eagerly to the mousemaid as she told her that she was a training to use a javelin and a sling. Trussa gave her thoughts on what Delilah told her.

"That is good, but what made you want to be a warrior?"

"Well, after Mother Abbess told us the dream she had about your friend, the squirrel. I wanted to prove myself worthy of warrior material, don't get me wrong, I love helping Friar Hubble in the kitchens, it's just that, I feel a sense that I need to help out my Abbey in any shape or form, that is why when that stoat comes to our doorstep, I'll be ready for him."

"I admire your enthusiasm, but rest assured, that stoat is force to be reckoned with," Trussa responded with. Loading a trolley stacked high with plates, bowls, and silverware, Kelisa transported the dirty dishes to the kitchens. As she arrived, she greeted Friar Hubble, Begonia, and Delilah with respect and in a friendly manner, while she gave Trussa nothing but silence, and stood staring at her coldly.

"I've gathered up all those pesky dishes, Friar Hubble," Kelisa said. The mole friar stood up and dusted the dirt and dust from his apron.

"Thank ye, marm. Missy Begonia and missy Delilah be almost done with the pots an' pans, you can 'elp this missy 'ere with all these plates an' wot not," he said.

"But these are too many, my paws will smell like old food!" Kelisa whined.

"Well you can scrub ye paws in the pond, after ye be dun," the friar mole said as he shrugged.

"Oh by the way, my name is Trussa," the newcomer squirrel maiden said, "beside, I'll help you, Kelisa with those plates, it'll be easy as tackling a middays feast!"

"Fine," Kelisa said bitterly.

"I'll help too," said Begonia.

"Wat 'bout you, missy?" asked the friar.

"I would help, but I gotta continue training," said Delilah.

"Jus' careful, ya unnerstan?"

"Do not worry, Friar. I will," Delilah said confidently. Eventually, all the pots and pans got cleaned and dried. Friar Hubble and Begonia hauled the dirty dish water outside, Trussa was about to help with them, but Kelisa stopped her.

"Trussa wait!" she shouted. Trussa put down the tub of grey water and turned around to face the squirrelmaid.

"You think your so much better than me?" Kelisa questioned.

"No I don—!"

"Yes you do," interrupted Kelisa, "before you came along, I was the most prettiest squirrel here in Redwall, I had everybeast turning their heads to me, but ever since you've arrived, everybody's been falling head over tail for you, and what's worse is some slimy stoat is coming here to wage some kind of war here and everybeast will be more focused on that than me!"

Trussa's face went from confused to disappointment. The newcomer gave her two cents on what the egotistical squirrel maiden told her.

"Listen, Kelisa. I don't know what kind of idea popped into head, but nobeast has been giving me any royalties ever since my friends and I arrived here, I haven't been demanding that everybeast pay attention to me, you little miss fusstail need to get your priorities straightened and your ego in check."

Here those exact words angered Kelisa. Her face went red with temperament and she lunged forward at Kelisa, trying to attack her. Kelisa tried to slash her right forepaw at Trussa face, however, Trussa quickly stepped to the left and behind Kelisa. The vain one stumbled, Trussa grabbed her by the shoulder and elbow and forced Kelisa to the floor.

"Is this how you greet others?!" Trussa questioned.

"Ow, ow your hurting me!" wailed Kelisa. Tears began to flow rapidly from the young squirrel's eyes. Trussa eased up and let Kelisa go. Kelisa stood up and began rubbing her shoulder and elbow profusely.

"I-I, waaahaha!" she wailed, running away from the one who bested her. Trussa shook her head in disappointment.

"I am terribly sorry, but somebeast needed to show her that the world doesn't revolve around her. I wish I didn't have to do that, but as she attacked me," said Trussa.

"Oi know ye didn't want to do wat ye 'ad to do," Friar Hubble said reassuringly.

"I don't know, I think little miss fusstail wanted you to attack her so she could tell the Abbess that you provoked her, and nearly broke her forepaw. But, I vouched that you had to do it in self defense. But she'll try and make you jealous by going after that squirrel with the Martin Sword, by trying to swoon him."

"She can try, but she'll definitely fail," responded Trussa.

Chapter 8

The snow began to fall again on Mossflower once again. Waking up with dried blood caked to his forehead and between his ears, Mul was bounded with his paws behind his back and strung up. The ropes around his paws cut off all circulation and they went blue. Balqan angrily looked down upon the resilient veteran.

"It appears I have my work cut out for me," he said with clenching his fangs and paws.

"You've nothing on me!" Mul laughed.

"Your suffering will only increase, squirrel, now tell me where did your friends go?" questioned the ferret. Mul smiled and spat blood and spit into the tormentor's face.

"You think your master's tiny little horde can catch up to them, they've more than likely gathered up at least a thousand of fighters and are marching there way here to slay you all!" Mul laughed out. Balqan wiped the blood and spit from his face. Suddenly his facial expression became more calm and collected.

"Alright, if you aren't gonna give me a straight answer, then this'll make you talk!" he exclaimed. Balqan tugged hard on the rope that suspended Mul. The old squirrel was forced to bend even further into a more agonizing position, the old veteran clenched his fangs and groaned in pain. He slowly turned to his tormentor.

"You can give me this kind of treatment, vermin, but I will never tell you anything!"

"Is that so?" asked Balqan, "very well."

Balqan lowered Mul back to the ground and untied the old veteran fighter. Mul fell down to the grassy floor. His breathing was labored and started rubbing both of his arms simultaneously. Mul glared at Balqan. The old veteran campaigner watched as Balqan brought in Bryson. The mouse had his paws bounded to his back, then was strung up the same way Balqan had Mul. The sadistic ferret drew his stiletto dagger and casually pointed it at Bryson's nose, he turned to Mul and smiled dementedly.

"How could have I been so idiotic. I should have known you would refuse to talk, so I came to the conclusion that if you won't give me the information, then your little friend will. Young ones are not as resistant to the pain," he said wickedly. Mul looked to Bryson the back to Balqan, his bottom lip quivered, and his left eye twitched.

"When I get out of here, ferret. Mark my words, you will die slow, and screaming!" he yelled through clenched teeth. Balqan sniggered at the threat Mul had promised. The tormentor began to slowly dig his blade into Bryson's right cheek. Bryson cringed up as a small stream of blood ran down his cheek, however, the pain was quite bearable. Balqan slowly pulled the blade from Bryson's cheek and walked over to the rope. As he tugged on it, Bryson could feel a sharp pain in his shoulders and elbows, his knees were barely touching his stomach.

"You rotten wretch, you cowardly cur! You! You!" Mul exclaimed.

"You do know there is more than one why to extract information from your enemies," chuckled Balqan, "it doesn't have to be a physical agony, no, no, it can be something mental, most creatures I've had my fun with talk almost immediately if I decided to torment one of their loved ones. So tell me again, where are your friends? Speak up and his suffering will end."

Bryson turned to Mul, he attempted to ignore the tremendous pain in his upper body.

"Don't give this rotten rodent an inch, Mul! I signed up for the Hytar Rangers, and if I die hanging here, then I'll know it's because I kept my friends safe from these heathens!" he said as he clenched his teeth and hot tears streamed down his face.

"Is that so, you do know if I was to pull harder, your shoulders would dislocate, rendering you useless," Balqan replied calmly. Bryson slowly turned to his tormentor.

"Do it, I am not telling you anything!"

"Very well, then," Balqan said with a smile across his face. The ferret pulled and tugged harder than ever. A loud snap echoed throughout and around the tent. Bryson let out a loud wail of pain, Balqan lowered the mouse back to the ground and tied a gag around his mouth to suppress the screaming.

"We'll continue this tomorrow," he said coldly. Outside of Balqan's tent, Riean and Vaynos sat on a snow covered log, dining on some woodpigeon they had slain. Riean tore a large chunk of meat from the leg and began to eat merrily. Vaynos had a piece of breast meat.

"This is quite delectable, isn't it?" Riean asked his most trusted companion.

"Yes it quite is, sir," Vaynos replied as he picked at a piece of gristle with his claws. The fox spat the piece of gristle into the fire, it sizzled the moment it contacted the blaze. Just as Vaynos was about to tear into another piece of meat, he asked his master a question that plagued his mind.

"Sir, with all due respect, why did you spare that ferret and allowed her to join our horde? A few nights ago when we ambushed those Hytar Rangers, she was hiding behind a wall of her guards, barely even fighting."

"I can see where you are coming from, that is why I sent her and her friend, Ulsu to do a little scouting expedition. Do not worry, I send Fangshade with them, so if she or Ulsu tries to do something funny, Fangshade will report to me immediately. I did see she was hiding behind her guards and the only creature she killed was that young vole with the axe. I sent that spoiled brat out of the camp to teach her a lesson is self reliance and that if want something, you've got to do it yourself."

"Thank you, Lord Riean," Vaynos said happily, taking another bite of pigeon. Hampton and the remaining prisoners sat in silence in the prison pits they were forced to dig themselves. Dirty, tired, and hungry, Hampton looked up to the grey sky, his face caked with mud and blood. The others sat in the cold muddy water with looks of despair upon their faces, a young squirrel, the same age as Trussa and Nikolas stared at the muddy wall of their prison. The mud slowly oozed down to the muddy floor. He then looked to his depressed comrades, he released a huff of breath in annoyance. Then in an instant he stood proudly on his hind legs and tried to bring his comrades' spirits back up.

"Come on now, guys!" he shouted proudly, "is this the same platoon I joined two seasons ago? No! The Hytar Rangers aren't a bunch of moppers who sit in the mud in a dark and dank pit, we fight back, we may be imprisoned physically, so why is our ideas of hope imprisoned as well? What we do know is that Commander Mavellous and the others are probably at Redwall Abbey by now and are preparing to attack Riean and his horde right now, when that time comes, we'll be ready to jump out of here and slay this rotten horde!"

Hampton got up from his makeshift seat, just as he was about to say his piece, Heltor opened the wooden grate and tossed Mul and Bryson in. Both woodlanders slid down the muddy walls and landed head first into the water. Hampton and the squirrel helped the elderly campaigner and the young rogue. Mul began coughing up the muddy water he swallowed. The old beast pointed weakly at Bryson who was still semi submerged in the dirty water.

"Koff! Help him!" he barked. Hampton and the squirrel pulled the mouse's face from the muddy water and sat him up.

"His shoulders are dislocated, an evil and sadistic ferret name of Balqan did that to him. It was a mental torture, to make me revealed where our friends were. I was about to give up the information, however, this young rip 'volunteered' to endure the pain. I know how to pop is joints back into place. You two, grab him by his shoulders and elbows. Now, as your pushing up, go in an outwards semicircle."

The two did as the old campaigner bidded and a distinguishable pop was heard. Bryson snapped back into reality, his eyes widened as he saw Mul, Hampton, the squirrel, and two other moles breath a sigh of relief for the fellow ranger. Unfortunately for the six woodlanders, Balqan and Heltor eavesdropped on the young squirrel's speech. Balqan smiled wickedly at his sinewy companion and the two casually walked on over to their boss. Riean ate the final piece of woodpigeon meat from the leg then threw the clean bone into the fire. Balqan began rubbing his paws together and chuckling to himself, he could not contain his enthusiasm.

"Master, I've got wonderful news," he gleefully said.

"What is it?" Riean asked somewhat impatiently.

"One of our prisoners decided to talk. The fool couldn't stand to see his friends all in despair, so he told them that the ones who ran away are most likely at Redwall Abbey," he said. Riean picked at his fangs then spat the chewed up bits of bird meat into the fire.

"Pack up your belongings, we are travelling west to Redwall Abbey. But first, get our prisoners out their pit and have them fill the hole."

"What about Fangshade, Geirana, and Ulsu?" Vaynos asked. Lord Riean gave his most loyal follower a reassuring grin.

"Do not fret, my strong right paw, Fangshade and those two are probably near Redwall, and they are awaiting us. I know Fangshade, nobeast can hide or outrun from him."

Mavellous nodded in approval at Nikolas' progress in sword training. Nikolas huffed, his narrow chest swelling in and out, and sweat beading down his nose, whiskers, face, and body. Mavellous stood in the warrior's salute, then gestured Nikolas do the same. Nikolas caught on very quickly and mirrored his superior.

"You have done well, Nikolas. You've learned the downward slash, thrust, and upwards slash. Tomorrow, I will teach you more advanced techniques. You are dismissed."

"Thank you sir," he said, saluting Mavellous weakly. Nikolas slowly made his way to the doorway that lead into Cavern Hole, as he opened the oak double doors, Kelisa was awaiting him. Nikolas' body was to tired and worn down to do anything, he just cocked his eyebrows and asked her a simple question.

"Hello, can I help you?"

"You are Nikolas, the new Warrior of Redwall?" she asked in a seductive tone. Nikolas kept his cool and released a breath of air.

"Yes, well, warrior in training," he said. The young squirrel maid gripped his upper arm then squeezed.

"Oh my, what strong arms and paws you have, I bet you could lift little old me like a feather in the wind," she said as she flaunted her eyes at him. Nikolas gave a short response.

"Probably not."

"Well, when that vile stoat comes to our Abbey, will you protect me from the vermin horde, Nikky?" she asked. Both of Nikolas' eyebrows lowered and he forced his arm away from her.

"Miss, I'm here to protect everybeast in these walls. I barely even know you, you never gave me your name. Please do not call me Nikky, my name is Nikolas. The only ones who can address me as Nikky are my closest friends. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to wash up."

Kelisa stood frozen in the doorway, the cold chill of winter hitting her back, and the cold chill of rejection hitting her in the front. Mother Abretia walked up to the young squirrel and closed the door and stood silently in disappointment at the kitchen aid. What were they gonna do with her? Kelisa acted this way her whole life, trying to get what she wanted by flirting with other beasts, and if they did not comply, she would throw a hissy fit. Kelisa's bottom lip quivered, her nose tightened, and her eyes squinted. The squirrel huffed and stormed back to the kitchens, hoping Trussa wasn't there. Abretia expelled a sigh of disappointment.

"What are we going to do with you, little miss?" she whispered.

Chapter 9

Vivian and Mickel were getting closer to their destination, they only had two more weeks of travelling until they came to the entrance of Redwall Abbey. The sibling fighters sat near their fire, eating some of the provisions that the cooks at Salamandastron gave them. Mickel reached into his haversack and pulled out a canteen. The pouch was filled with aged blackcurrant wine. The young captain popped the stopper off and took a few swigs. Mickel drank merrily oblivious to some of the run off. Two small streams of wine flowed down from his chin and onto his officer uniform. Mickel stopped drinking and placed the cork back onto the canteen. Mickel looked down at his stained uniform.

"Oh corks! I've ruined my ol' officer uniform, wot! Not to fret, blackcurrant wine stains are easy to get out of a chaps uniform."

"I sure hope you are jolly well correct, dear brother," Vivian said eating an apple turnover. Mickel dug into his haversack and pulled out an onion, mushroom, and rutabaga pasty. As soon as Mickel took that first big bite, the onion and mushroom gravy started to ooze out. The thick savory liquid was oozing out from the pasty very fast, Mickel shoved the open end of the pasty into his mouth to stop it from leaking onto the snowy floor. Vivian finished her turnover and started to lick of her claws of any sort of apple syrup that leaked from the pastry.

"I wonder how Abbess Winry is holding up. I hope she's doing well, by jove. I think when we do eventually arrive, she'll be as jolly as a hare at a banquet table," said Vivian. Her brother sniggered underneath his breath.

"Good thing Corporal Gummel isn't here with us or if he heard you say the word 'banquet,' he would start panicking thinkin' there was a bally banquet at the ol' Abbey, and we were missin' on all of the bally delectables."

"Yes that is true, we better get ourselves some shut eye. Let's keep the fire burning, keep us from freezing to bally death, wot," said Vivian. Mickel nodded in agreement, the two used their cloaks and blankets and laid on their sides near the fire. Vivian became entranced from the dancing fire that slowly faded as the winds began to pick up.

It was breakfast time in the Abbey, everybeast gathered in Cavern Hole including the Hytar Rangers. Nikolas sat with Trussa, Mavellous, and Wendell. While the remaining beasts of the Hytar Rangers sat with the brothers and sisters of Redwall. Kelisa, Delilah, and Begonia sat at the table nearest to the kitchens. Kelisa looked over to where Nikolas and his friends were, watching as they ate and drank happily. The squirrel turned to her friends who were eating their breakfast.

"Why did that Nikolas fellow reject me? Most creatures fall head over footpaws for me," she said. Begonia placed the fork down and swallowed. The mousemaid breathed in heavily and exhaled slowly.

"You want to know why he rejected you? It's because little miss, you are too vain, you think too highly of yourself and you tend to disregard any other beast's needs. The reason why most of the creatures here fall head over tails for you is because they think they can get with a pretty squirrelmaid like you, but you like to flirt with everybeast here in the Abbey. Heck, I've seen you try and flirt with Delilah. You are very pretty, don't get me wrong, it's just your ego is overinflated and perhaps that's why Trussa put your forepaw in that painful position and why Nikolas rejected you, to teach you that you've got to me more polite if you want to get something. You're nearly eighteen seasons old, please start acting like it."

Kelisa looked down, her lips in a pout. She sat in silence and resumed eating her light breakfast. Abbess Winry stood up and silenced the woodlanders, everybeast in the room gradually became silent, all eyes were on the Abbess. Abbess Winry smiled at the brothers and sisters of Redwall.

"Thank you all, as we all know, a horde of vermin are on their way. Are we scared? No we are not because we all know that we can achieve victory if we stick together and follow Martin's example. Kerei, is the Redwall Militia ready?" Abbess Winry asked.

"Aye we are shipshape and ready to battle any greasy vermin that comes to our gates."

"Good, and Commander Mavellous, is Nikolas ready to wield the sword of Martin into battle?"

"Almost, Mother Abbess, I still have a few more moves to teach him, he's been showing a lot of potential."

"I am very glad to hear that, today I would like two archers and two guards on the battlements today, skipper, commander, if you'll be so kind and to have a few of the militia forces and the rangers up on the walls after breakfast?" The Abbess asked. Both parties bowed courteously to the Abbess and agreed to her request. Abbess Winry smiled and resumed speaking.

"Very well, but let's sit back and enjoy this breakfast Friar Hubble created. Breakfast had ended and everybeast headed to the courtyard to watch Nikolas and Mavellous train. The woodlanders watched the two warriors.

"I've taught you a few techniques with the sword, now let's put them to the test. We will now engage in combat training. Know this, I will not go easy on you, Nikolas. That stoat could be arriving any moment and I need you to be as ready as ever. Right, let's begin."

Nikolas and Mavellous both got out of the warrior's salute and gripped their blades with both paws, they walked closer to each other, both in the warrior's stance, gripping their swords tightly. A sudden silence fell upon the Abbey, the only thing they could hear was the howling of the wind. In the dead silence, Nikolas could hear his heartbeat, he became extremely focused on his opponent. Mavellous was also extremely focused.

"Begin!" shouted Mavellous. The two beasts lunged forward at each other, the sound of their swords clanging together echoed loudly. The two engaged in combat and the creatures watching on the sidelines became intrigued and watched in silence as Nikolas and Mavellous swung heavy blows at each other.

Swish, clang, shang!

Nobeast said a word as the two continued to fight. Nikolas jumped high in the air and performed a downward slash at Mavellous. However, Mavellous quickly kneeled down and blocked the oncoming attack. Mavellous saw an opening and sweeped underneath Nikolas' legs, knocking the squirrel down. Mavellous sprang up to his hind legs and pointed the tip of the blade to Nikolas' throat. But Nikolas was not ready to yield. He swung the Martin Sword in his left paw, knocking the blade at his neck away from him and allowing him to get back up on his footpaws. Nikolas launched himself at his trainer, his attacks more heavy and ferocious. Even though his attacks were more heavy hitting, Mavellous kept his cool and blocked, and parried each one.

"Do not let anger get the best of you," Mavellous said as he blocked each sword attack. Nikolas kept coming at Mavellous hard and heavy. Mavellous thrusted his blade near Nikolas' shoulder, but the young squirrel quickly sidestepped and parried the attack. Nikolas thrust his blade at Mavellous' stomach, only for him to get blocked by the mouse's sword. Mavellous saw another opening and instead of thrusting his sword, the commander balled his paws and punched Nikolas straight in the face. Nikolas dropped the sword and clutch his snout in both paws. Blood began to seep from the gaps of his claws. Mavellous relaxed his stance and sighed heavily.

"Sorry, I got carried away, we'll take a short break. But I had to do that, your anger was getting the best of you and I needed you to snap out of it," he said. Still clutching his nose, Nikolas grabbed the red pommel stone hilt with his right paws. He looked to Commander Mavellous with a determined glare in his eyes, he was far from ready to call it quits. Nikolas slashed downwards at Mavellous, blood from his snout dripping as he performed the attack. Mavellous easily blocked it, Nikolas jumped back and turned at a ninety degree angle, and slashed sideways at Mavellous' ribs. Mavellous blocked the attack and parried. Nikolas was becoming weary, sweat beaded down his fur and his breathing became more labored. His upper lip caked in blood from the punch he received from Commander Mavellous. On the sidelines, Trussa and Wendell kept a watchful eye on the two.

"Looks like Nikolas is getting tired," said Trussa.

"Aye, that looks about right, Trussa. Nikolas has got a lot to learn before he can truly master the sword. He has a lot of determination and potential, he just needs to keep his anger from clouding his judgement. If he learns to do this quickly, then he will become victorious in most battles."

Trussa scratched her cheek and replied. "Yes, you're right, sir. If he can control his rage in battle, then he will become a victorious warrior. But what if the he is outmatched or outclassed?"

Wendell looked down at the snow covered grass and then back up to Trussa.

"Then it'll be his decision to either take his enemies head on alone, or seek aid from his companions," said Wendell. The two rangers continued to watch as Nikolas and Mavellous trained. In the Abbey Kitchens, Begonia and Delilah were peeling potatoes and chopping carrots. Begonia sliced the peeled potatoes into cubes and then chopped up some celery. They put the sliced up vegetables in a cauldron of water that was hanging over a fire. Kelisa was kneading dough for scones and pasties, she watched Nikolas and Mavellous train from the window. Delilah turned to Begonia and whispered into the mouse maiden's ear.

"Do you think she's finally realized she needs to stop acting like a spoiled dibbun?" Delilah asked.

"Hopefully. She's a young adult squirrelmaid, she needs to know that looks and hissy fits won't get her what she wants," Begonia whispered back. The two maidens continued to converse quietly.

"I agree, she hasn't said a word ever since breakfast, and she's there kneading the dough all by herself. Perhaps she is reflecting on what had happened," whispered Delilah. The kept their pretty eyes on the pretty squirrelmaid, who kept on kneading the dough and watching as the two rangers trained.

Two weeks had finally passed on buy and the Abbey bells tolled. Abbess Winry and Mother Abretia ran out from the building and into the courtyard. Norman the Bellringer popped his head out from the bell tower window and called down to Mother Winry.

"Mother Abbess, two hares from the Long Patrol have just arrived!" he announced.

"Good, let them in!" Abbess Winry called back. The dwellers of the Abbey unlocked the main gates. Vivian and Winry were granted access to Redwall Abbey. The Abbey denizens were oblivious to Fangshade, Geirana, and Ulsu spying on them. Geirana gave a look of pure happiness to see the Abbey. Oh how lovely for her to finally find a new home with plenty of slaves inside, she spoke devilishly to her compatriots.

"This place can be ours. Those beasts don't look like they can put up any sort of fight and will easily surrender to us, once the stoat and the horde get here, we storm the gates and enslave each and every one of them," Geirana proposed. Fangshade turned to the ferret mistress and calmly muttered a single word.

"No."

Geirana squinted her eyes at the tree rat. "'No,' what do you mean by 'no?' When your master arrives, we can take this red stone house, it'll be our fortress! I'll be its ruler, and your master can be my general."

"Is that so, well I didn't agree with that," said Riean. Geirana quickly turned around and saw Riean and his horde standing before her. The ferret's nerves failed her and she started stammering.

"I-I-I was only sp-speaking hypothetically."

"Oh really, because it sounded like you were sincere, Geirana," replied Riean, "come on, let's make our entrance."

Chapter 10

Captain Mickel and Lieutenant Vivian sat in Great Hall drinking chalices of October Ale and snacking on cheese and scones, and conversing with Abbess Winry, Sister Belarish, and Mother Abretia.

"Oh, thank you ma'am! Glomp! These cheeses an' scones! Hurmph! Are the tickets, wot!" Mickel said as he shovelled cheese and scones at the same time. Abretia shook her large bulky head in disappointment.

"My word, what will the young ones think when they see this?" she asked. Mickel swallowed the food and took large gulps of his beverage.

"They'll think, 'my word, that hare can bally pack it in, wot wot!'"

"That is not what I am asking, captain. They'll think they can do the same as what you are doing, disregarding their table manners."

Mickel stopped shoving food into his mouth and swallowed what was already in there.

"You're right, ma'am. Now, let's get down to business. Lord Trawn sent me and Lieutenant Vivian here to Redwall to see how things were going, how have things been?"

"Well, Martin has sent me a dream, a dream about war between a squirrel and a stoat. You probably saw the squirrel training with the Sword of Martin, he is the one from my dreams."

Mickel tapped the tabletop rhythmically and start to glance around the large room. He looked straight into the vole's brown eyes.

"I think we can make some sort of arrangement, Mother Abbess. Give us enough provisions to return to Salamandastron, and by jove we will have the whole bloomin' Long Patrol at ya service," Mickel said with integrity.

"Oh blinkin' yes, send us on our way back home and Trawn himself will lend you a paw," Vivian added. Abretia took a sip of ale then rubbed her chin at what the two proposed and eventually accepted.

"Right you gluttonous feedbags, we will give you those previsions. You'll bring the Long Patrol to help aid us in our upcoming battle, right?" Abretia asked.

"Oh jolly well right, ma'am," said Vivian.

"Right, I'll have Fri—!"

The bells interrupted Abbess Winry and the five woodlanders sprinted out of Great Hall and to the courtyard. Norman the Bellringer popped his head out from the window.

"Mother Abbess! Mother Abretia! Captain! Lieutenant! You lot are gonna want to come up to the ramparts, right now!" he shouted down to them. The animals sprinted headlong up the flight of wooden stairs and to the main gate's battlements. Even before seeing what was on the otherside, Abbess Winry had a cold chill running foen her spine. The suspense was weighing down on her, as she ran she could hear her heart beating rapidly. The stairs felt like they went on for an eternity, but Abbess Winry and her compatriots eventually made it to the top. Mavellous, Nikolas, Trussa, and Wendell joined the Abbess up top to the ramparts. Abbess looked over the walls of her Abbey, and all the color drained from her face, her eyes widened with worry. What the nine creatures looked up was Riean and his horde surrounding the entire Abbey. Abretia shook the Abbess back to reality, then called to the stoat. Riean stood tall and proud with his right paw on the hilt of his sword. Vaynos stood with his paws to his hips, Balqan stood with his paws behind his back, Heltor stood tall with his club across his shoulders, Fangshade, Vallyn, and Gemra stood with their forepaws crossed. While Geirana, Ulsu, and the rest of the horde stood with their weapons drawn.

"Who are you, and what are you doing at our Abbey!?" she hollered. Riean grinned and called back up to the Guardian of Redwall.

"Ma'am my name is Lord Riean, and these are my loyal followers: Vaynos, my right paw, Balqan, my information extractor, Heltor, my enforcer, Fangshade, Vallyn, and Gemra, my top assassins. We came to your Abbey because a few creatures ran from us. Now, listen you can peacefully bring them here to me, or you be faced with a war that you cannot win."

"Begone vermin! We harbor no criminals here, only peace loving, honest, and brave creatures!" Abretia shouted back at him. Mavellous shouted down to Riean.

"Listen here, stoat. You better do as she advises, we are finally ready for you and we will win against you!"

Riean smiled. "Is that so, well, why not face me in one on one combat, since you are the leader of those who ran from us!"

Just as Mavellous was about to retort, Mickel shouted down to the leader of the vermin horde.

"Now listen here, you filthy, stinkin' excuse for a stoat, we are warning you, turned around and march back to where you came from, this peaceful Abbey does not need your bloomin' evil tainting this bally place! These Redwall creatures may be peaceful, but when their way of life is threatened to the likes of you, then you my friends, are in for a rude awakening!"

"Is that so, may I remind you that I command four hundred rats, ferrets, and weasels. They have all been extremely loyal to me, I have an army of assassins at my disposal they can easily slip in and slit your throats while you sleep, but I am giving you the choice to give me what you want and to live your lives in peace."

"Why should we, you killed all of our friends!" Nikolas shouted.

"We didn't kill all of them," Riean calmly replied. Riean snapped his claws and the hordebeasts made an aisle for the prisoners. Mul, Bryson, Hampton, and the rest were forced to present themselves to the Abbess. They were thin, pale, covered in mud and blood, and were extremely weak. Abretia's muzzle tightened, her eyes squinted, and she let out a low growl. Nikolas and Mavellous tightened the grip of their paws on their swords. Mul and the prisoners weakly looked up to Nikolas, Mavellous, Trussa, and Wendell, and smiled. He was glad to see his friends unharmed and looking very healthy. Mul let out a weak chuckle. Riean sighed, scratched his nose, then snapped his claws again to bring the prisoners back to his campsite.

"Right, if you want me to spare your friends, you will surrender yourselves and spare those Abbey dwellers the heartache of war and despair. I tell you what, we will return tomorrow to see if you have finally came to your senses. But be warned if you beasts try anything, you will rue the day you were born," he said.

"Leave Mossflower, vermin! Before we slay you with our archers!" Abretia shouted. Riean sniggered at the threat. He and his vermin walked back to their campsite. The Abbess turned to her trusted comrades, still expressing worriment.

"What are we going to do? If we attack him, then he'll counter much harder," she said.

"Do not fret, Mother Abbess. That stoat is a coward, he's just trying to scare us. We will come up with a strategy to combat, we have our own militia awaiting to fight them off, and we have the Warrior of Redwall ready to lead them into battle."

Mickel and Vivian both agreed to what Abretia said, as well as Sister Benarish.

"The ol' badgermum is quite correct, wot. If we can come up with a blinkin' brillant plan, and put it into play, then we will be victorious, Vivian and I better get back to Salamandastron, but first, we need those previsions for the road."

Sister Benarish stamped her footpaw on the ramparts causing some snow to fall from the cracks and gaps.

"This is no time to be thinking about food!" she exclaimed.

"Your right, ma'am. But once we get those previsions, I assure you, Lord Trawn will have the Long Patrol on those heathens faster than a mushroom pasty turning golden brown!" Vivian happily said with enthusiasm.

"Right I will have Friar Hubble bake you enough food," Abbes Winry said. Underneath the battlements where Abbess Winry, Abretia, Benarish, Vivian, Mickel, Nikolas, Mavellous, Trussa, and Wendell stood was a young otter named Fyndan. He wore a dark blue vest and waist sash. He had a burning hatred for vermin and he had a plan to get rid of Riean without shedding any bloodshed from the Abbey dwellers. A mouse from the Abbey Militia walked over to the otter, he saw his comrade approach him, and he talked softly.

"Gather a few of the troops, tonight. I have a plan to slay that stoat, but Mother Abbess must not know. I don't want her to start worrying," he said, "my plan will work, mark my words."

"Right away, what about Kerei, or the newcomers?"

"They mustn't know either, when we are successful then we shall tell them of our victory, but we cannot do this alone, I will need at least ten more beasts. Tonight, I will tell you what I am planning," he whispered. The mouse saluted Fyndan and walked off to recruit the ten others. Some shared the same idea with Fyndan, while others wanted to wait what the Abbess wanted. Delilah stepped out from the kitchens and approached the mouse recruiter.

"I see you are recruiting woodlanders, is there another spot open?" she asked. The mouse nodded and grinned from ear to ear.

"Yes there is miss, Fyndan is recruiting a small pawful of beasts to assassinate that stoat," he said.

"Well you definitely need me. Ever since I heard Mother Abbess speak about the stoat starting a war with Redwall, I knew I had to do something more than just knead dough and do dishes. I am in, let's cut the head off of the snake before it does any real damage."

"Good, now, later tonight, meet Fyndan and I near the east wall, that is where we will discuss the plan," the recruiter said in a positive tone of voice. Delilah nodded to him and they went their separate ways. Kelisa tapped on Delilah shoulders. Delilah spun around one hundred and eighty degrees and nearly punched Kelisa in the snout. Kelisa jumped back a few paces and squeaked, she raised her paws over her faces, eyes widened with shock. But eventually the tension died down and the two sighed in relief.

"Don't do that, Kelisa."

"Sorry, Delilah, but we gotta make those two hares enough food for their trip back to Salamandastron," she said as she pulled Delilah back into the kitchens. Friar Hubble stood on a wooden box full of potatoes and barked out orders to the kitchen aids.

"Roit, lissen up, we are cookin' fer those two 'ares, now let's 'urry, so they may go on their merry way. We 'ave a war to win against that evil stoater, ho hurr!" he said. Kelisa, Delilah, and Begonia all chopped up carrots, onions, and other vegetables, kneaded dough, and chopped up fruit. All in a fast pace. The kitchen was bustling with the four creatures, they had no time for nonsense. Kelisa kneaded the dough as fast as her young paws could, spraying flour onto her and everywhere else as she slammed the ball of dough and pushed against it. Begonia and Delilah were chopping fruits and vegetables in a very fast motion, to busy to focus on anything else. Friar Hubble stirred a pot full of mushroom gravy and another pot full of fruit, and honey syrup for the many pasties and scones for Vivian and Mickel. Vivian watched in sheer amazement at what she was witnessing. The little fat mole was extremely speedy and was one hundred percent focused on cooking the food just right. She walked away from the kitchen entrance and towards Abbess Winry and Mother Abretia.

"Like I said, we will tell Lord Trawn what had happened," she said reassuringly.

"If there is anybeast who can help lead us into victory, it is my uncle," Abretia said.

"Right, but right now, we must put our heads together and think of a plan, I fear we will have to fight them."

"I know, but do not be fearful, Mother Abbess. Victory will be ours, just be patient."

"You're right, let's think up of a plan," said Abbess Winry, "we'll need every able bodied creature to help us, and I know for certain that Nikolas, our Warrior will bring us hope. He is coming quite a long way, hasn't he?"

"Yes, from two weeks of intense sword training, that young rogue is finally cut out to be the wielder of Martin's Sword."

The three creatures popped in to check on the progress of the food for the lieutenant and captain. Friar Hubble saw the trio and stopped what he was currently doing.

"Do not worry, continue with what you were doing," Abbess Winry said warmly, "how are things coming along?"

"Hurr, us'ns are a cummin' foin, marm. The pretty ones an' oi jus' placed the mushroom an' vegetal passies in ee ovens."

"Good, now what is next?" Vivian asked.

"Well, oi'm gunna pop 'ese froot turnovers once ee vegetal passies are a dun cookin'," the mole friar said in his gruff dialect.

"Your food should be ready this evening, Lieutenant Vivian," said Abretia.

"Thank you, top marks, wot!" replied Vivian. The haremaid walked on to report how the food was coming along for her and her brother. In the dormitories, Nikolas and Trussa sat on one of the beds. Nikolas laid the sword of Martin across his lap, he sat staring at his reflection in the blade. He rubbed his index claw on the pommel stone hilt, feeling its smoothness. Trussa looked at Nikolas and smiled at him, he returned the gesture.

"Thank you, Trussa. Your smile always seems to brighten me up, I am just worried about the creatures here in Redwall that cannot fight or choose not to fight, if we lose will Riean only slay us, or will he slay everybeast here? But I shouldn't worry too much about it, since I am the Warrior of Redwall and have been training intensely for the past fortnight now."

"That's the spirit, don't let that wicked stoat bring you down, we will win, I know we will."

Nikolas nodded in agreement, he stood up, and sheathed the blade into the belt scabbard.

"Let's see how the others are fairing," he said. The two jogged out of the dormitories and back into the hustling and bustling of woodlanders preparing for a war.

It was getting near supper time for the Abbey, and Friar Hubble was just about done. He placed the last batch of scones in the stone ovens. The Friar then dusted the flour from his apron and digging claws.

"Roit, hurr, less get storted on ee supper, hurr!"

"You've worked yourself very hard, let's do something light," said Abbess Winry.

"Ho hurr, thank'ee marm," Friar Hubble said courteously. Abbess Winry nodded to Friar Hubble and walked away with her paws in her wide sleeves. Later that day, Abbess Winry and Sister Benarish gave the provisions to Vivian and Mickel. The two exchanged hugs and the hare duo journeyed back to the fire mountain. Abbess Winry quietly sighed as she watched the hares walk off into the horizon. The lovely infirmary keeper placed a warm paw on the Abbess' shoulders.

"Let's hope they make it back to Salamandastron in one piece," said Benarish.

"I think they will, since Martin is watching over us," replied Abbess Winry.

At Dinner, Nikolas, Trussa, Mavellous, and Wendell sat together eating their platters of baked potatoes and steamed carrots. Wendell took a big forkful of potatoes and carrots and began to dine on supper. The taste of potatoes baked in garlic with the savory carrots was to die for. Wendell was very satisfied with what he was eating.

"Wow, those cooks sure do know how to make something so simple taste so good."

"They sure do, captain," Trussa said as she took a sip of strawberry cordial. Nikolas looked over his shoulder and saw the little dibbuns playing. A baby mouse was pretending to be Martin the Warrior, while his friends, a baby vole, baby mole, and baby squirrel were pretending to be past warriors. Nikolas chuckled and sighed deeply. Reminiscing on the simple days of being a young one. Now he knew he was the beast for the job, he wanted to protect Redwall Abbey, not just for himself, but for all the little woodlanders in Mossflower who would grow up to become brave and honest creatures. Nikolas turned to his companions, Mavellous saw the spark of hope in Nikolas' eyes. The young mouse commander gave Nikolas a small grin and resumed eating his supper. Nikolas grabbed his chalice full of blackberry wine and took a large gulp of the black, sweet juice. Over at the table in the middle of the room, Fyndan, the mouse recruiter, Delilah, and the nine others sat in talking in a low voice so that nobeast could eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Later tonight, remember to meet me by the east gate, if Mother Abbess met those wretches at the front gates, then the vermins will their camp is somewhere in the area where St. Ninian's Church once stood, hopefully it's not out in the open, we need plenty of trees to take cover from any unsuspecting vermin patrolling. The only weapons we will need are short stabbing spears and we will all wear dark colored hooded cloaks."

"Alright, but who will slay the stoat?" asked Delilah.

"It's anybeast game, I suppose the one who sneaks in his tent and stabs him with their spears is the victor," said Fyndan, "let's finish up dinner and go to bed early, remember to wake up later tonight."

"Will do," whispered the mouse recruiter, "by the way, my name is Isak."

"Nice to make your acquaintance, Isak," said Fyndan.

"Likewise, nice to meet you, how do you do," said everyone else at their table. They were the first to finish their meal and turn in early, so early, the sum had finally set. Abbess Winry watched as Fyndan, Delilah, and Isak turned in early. But the loving Abbess brushed it off as if it was nothing. She took a long glance at Nikolas' table, she was happy to see his spirits up, he was ready to take the mantle of Redwall Warrior.

"Look how happy everybeast is. Even though we are getting ready for war, everybody in here seems to be enjoying each others company," said Abretia.

"That is because we have hope," said Abbess Winry.

"Yes, a little hope can carry us a long way," said Abretia. Everybeast watched as the dessert trolleys rolled in. Fruit pies, flans, trifles, and all sorts of tasty treats were served up to the woodlanders. Nikolas requested a plate of flan. The circular shape jiggled as soon as it made contact with the table. It was tan and brown, Nikolas grabbed his spoon and dug into the gelatin substance. The flan made a squelching sound as he dug his spoon in the dessert item. Nikolas carefully placed the wiggling piece of flan in his mouth. Trussa cocked her eyebrows and leaned in.

"How is it?" she asked. Nikolas swallowed the piece of flan and looked straight into her eyes.

"How is it? How is it? It's amazing, a bit cold and the texture's sort of odd, but the flavor is just splendid."

"Excellent, this raspberry pie the kitchen aids made is quite the treat," said Mavellous. The four beasts continued to eat and be very easy. After supper, Trussa and Nikolas helped Begonia gather up all the dirty plates and they transported them to the kitchens. Trussa smiled at Begonia.

"Hello, Begonia, where is Kelisa and Delilah?"

"They've turned in for the night. I would be obliged if you four could help me with these dishes," said Begonia. Mavellous stepped in and bowed courteously.

"It would be our pleasure to help."

"Thank you. Now, Nikolas, can you and Trussa bring me a couple buckets of water?"

"Can do," Trussa and Nikolas said simultaneously. The squirrels saluted with their tails and ran off with the empty buckets to the Abbey's pond. Begonia halted them immediately.

"Wait! The pond's frozen, I forgot, it tends to freeze during the nights."

"How are we to do these dishes then?" Wendell asked.

"Actually we can do them, we'll just need something hot to melt a small portion of ice. Like a hot stove or a fire. Perhaps we could use this cauldron it's still warm."

"Is it warm enough for Nikolas and Trussa to get some water?"

"Yes it is, Mavellous."

"Alright, Wendell and I will take the hot cauldron and place near the edge of the pond, while the ice melts away, Trussa and Nikolas will scoop in large buckets of water, let's go," said Mavellous. Mavellous and Wendell grabbed oven mitts and transported the warm cauldron over to the pond. Nikolas and Trussa followed behind them. The four rangers did their duties fairly quickly. The ice was melting away, but it was melting a slow pace. Then the ice began to crack, the cauldron was working too well. Then a loud crack and the iron pot nearly sank! Luckily, Mavellous and Wendell caught it in the nick of time.

"Right, let's get these dishes start," said Mavellous.

That night, while everybeast was asleep, save for the guards on the ramparts, Fyndan, Delilah, and Isak met up. Isak gave everybeast a short spear and Fyndan spoke in a soft voice.

"Okay this is the plan, we carefully make our way to the vermin camp. Upon arriving, Isak, Delilah, and I, along with a few others will sneak into the camp. The squirrels will stay in the trees slaying any archery vermin station. Kill any vermin that is standing guard. This is an assassination mission, Skipper Kerei and Abbess Winry must not know about this, and remember to be focused, quick and quiet, let's go."

Just as they were off to assassinate Riean, the twelve rogues were stopped by a female otter, same age as Fyndan. She too was dressed in the dark hooded cloak and wielding a short spear.

"I would like to come too," she whispered. Fyndan cocked his eyebrows and responded to her.

"Are you sure, Mila, we are on a dangerous mission to slay that stoat before he can bring harm to our Abbey."

"Of course, I've been training for nearly four weeks, I think I am ready to sneak in to a vermin camp and do something for the good of our Abbey," Mila said proudly. Fyndan shrugged and carefully opened the eastern gate. The rogue woodlanders ran so fast, it was as if they were shadows moving across the land. One of the guards, a mouse saw the thirteen assassins run on by, he tapped his partner's shoulder, who also was a mouse.

"Did you see that?" he asked.

"See what?"

"I thought I saw thirteen shadows move from the east wall."

"They probably were shadows, no need to get in any sort of bind with shadows."

"Yeah, you're right."

Fyndan and Isak were in the lead, they sprinted through the forests. The two halted and the remaining beasts following them. Fyndan pointed straight ahead.

"There it is, mates. Our prize, it may take a while, but we must go in undetected. Let's go kill us a stoat."

The thirteen cloaked beasts used very bit of cover they could, shrubs, bushes, and trees. The rogue woodlanders slunk through the forest without a sound. About an hour later, the rogues were at least ten meters from the vermin campsite. The squirrels quickly hopped from branch to branch, not making any sort of sound. Fyndan, Isak, Delilah, and Mila spotted two skinny water rats standing near the outskirts of the camp. Fyndan gave Isak and Delilah the okay to dispatch them. The mouse and mouse maiden carefully snuck up from behind the rats and in one swift move, thrusted their spears into their backs. Delilah had to turn away as she slain her first enemy, but deep down it was for a greater cause. They both nodded and signalled for the all clear. Fyndan, Mila, and the rest followed. Fyndan took the lead, he lightly ran across the grass and behind one of the tents, kneeling down, he peered from the left side, there he saw the big tent in the center. Fyndan smiled his missions almost complete. Hearing pawsteps to his right, he quickly turned around to face a squirrel.

"Anything to report?" Fyndan whispered.

"No vermin in the trees," the squirrel scout said.

"Well keep looking, we need to make our mission a success," he said. The squirrel saluted and scurried back up to the treetops. Fyndan spotted a weasel guard headed his way. The vermin was armed with a long spear and dressed in a chainmail tunic. Fyndan quickly ran up from behind him and jabbed his weapon into the weasel's neck, killing him before he could make a sound. Right, the task was almost complete, Fyndan gripped his weapon tightly and snuck himself into big tent. This had to be the tent Riean slept in, sliding on towards the cot, the young otter of Redwall gripped his weapon and raised it high in the air. He then thrusted it downwards and pulled it from the bed. But there was no beast lying in it! How could this be? Did the stoat know about this plan, or was he somewhere else? These questions filled Fyndan's mind, he cleared his mind. Okay, so the stoat wasn't in this tent, he possibly have been in another one. Fyndan exitted the tent, Isak, Delilah, and Mila had a short rendezvous with him.

"The tents are all empty, where do you think they are?" asked Mila.

"I don't know, what is going on, but it seems like this might be a trap," said Fyndan. Just as the four rogues were about to investigate the campsite further, a line of torches ignited from the outskirts of the camp. The four rogue woodlanders raised the spears up and shot the torches glares. Two voles, two more mice and the five squirrels stood together ready to face the vermin. Stepping out from the shadows was Riean, Vaynos, and Balqan. Riean smiled as his prey was surrounded. The stoat lord gave a short chuckle before speaking to the rogue woodlanders.

"I should have known that they would do this, that badger told me you were and honest and fair. I guess she was lying," said Riean and he tapped his hilt of his sword with his right index paw, "so tell me, are you gonna try and slay me, or will you turn around and walk back to your Abbey?"

Fyndan's eyes started to twitch, his grip tightened on his short spear. The young otter replied to Riean's question while baring his fangs.

"I came here to slay you, so that we wouldn't have to fight in any sort of war and have more beasts from Redwall be massacred by the likes of you. How did you know we would be coming?"

"How did I know, if you were paying any attention you would have put that I've got a legion of assassins and spybeasts loyal to me. You really want to do this? You truly want to fight me? If you do, your Abbey will suffer greatly."

Armed with her rapier, Geirana chimed in. "I say we chain them up, like those rangers, make them our personal slaves."

Balqan added more to the subject. "Perhaps I can extract information out of these woodlanders, master."

"Nobeast is making us slaves or is torturing us. We will fight and die as free beasts, for REDWAAAALLLL!" screamed Fyndan.

"So be it," Riean said calmly. Fyndan was the first to jump into action, the thrust his spear into an oncoming rat, he snatch his dead enemy's weapon and killed another vermin, this time it was a ferret. The squirrels ran across the grass slaying vermin left and right. They climbed up the trees as fast as they could. Arrows whisked on by almost hitting the squirrel's head. Fangshade and his league of assassins followed the woodland squirrels. The tree rat and his assassins gave chase to the Redwall squirrels. Soon the squirrels stopped and lunged themselves forwards at Fangshade, but unfortunately for them, Fangshade was more skilled in combat. Unsheathing his push dagger, Fangshade thrusted the tiny blade into the lead squirrel's jugular. Blood dripped and sprayed from the dying animal. Fangshade threw the dying squirrel from the treetops. The corpse smacked the ground soaking the snow in blood. The four other squirrels wanted to avenge their comrade. The four other tree jumpers lunged themselves at Fangshade, ready to slay him. Fangshade nocked an arrow to his bowstring and started shooting arrows at the four squirrels all while running across the branches high in the trees. The squirrels attempted to dodge the attack, but since they were inexperienced in combat, one of them was shot square in the head, two were shot in the shoulders, and the final one was shot in the chest. All four plummeted to the snow. On the ground, Heltor and Balqan surrounded Mila and Delilah.

"Get behind me!" shouted Mila. Delilah nodded and the two stood back to back. Mila launched herself at the big sinewy weasel. The armored weasel step back a pace and grabbed Mila's spear. He thrusted the blunt end of the weapon into her stomach, knocking the wind from her. Mila the otter jumped back and roundhouse kicked the weasel's head, knocking him in a daze. Mila smiled at her stumbling opponent. She grabbed spear and just as she was about to thrust the spear into his neck, he got out of his daze and punched the ottermaid in the stomach. He snatched up her spear and ran her through with it. Delilah's eyes started to tear up, she lunged forward at Balqan hoping to slay him, she thrusted her spear as hard as she could at the ferret. Her efforts were in vain. Balqan was too quick, he sidestepped from her attack and drove his stiletto blade into her neck. Blood welled up and bubbled from her throat wound. Tears welled up in her eyes and beaded down her face. She clasped the wound she received with both paws and kneeled to the snowy floor. This was it, she was going to die. As the battle raged on, Isak and the two voles were able to hold their ground. Stabbing, parrying, and slashing their way through a mob of vermin, Isak was able to make his way towards Geirana. Geirana was hiding behind a large tree, still armed with her rapier, the ferret mistress waited for her enemy. Isak shouted the war cry and chased after her. Spear held high in his paws, the rookie fighter took a large swing at her, she jumped back a few steps then lunged her rapier into his chest. The ferret smiled at her second kill. In the middle of the battlefield with ten dead vermin strewn all over it, Fyndan's eyes started to turn pink, killing vermin left and right, he soon spotted Riean.

"Die! Coward!" he screamed. The otter sprinted headlong towards Riean, but the stoat lord smiled at his enemy. Riean positioned himself into the warrior's stance, he tightened his grip on the sheathed sword hilt and kept his eyes on Fyndan. The otter gained closer to his enemy. Soon he was within weapon's range, just as Fyndan was about to thrust his weapon into Riean's ribs, the stoat was quicker. He drew his sword and snuffed out the otter's life before the battle could even begin. Fyndan's mission was a failure, and Redwall Abbey would pay for it.

Chapter 11

The Matthias and Methuselah bells tolled their morning song, and everybeast bidded each other a pleasant morning. Everybeast say for the missing thirteen from last night. Begonia ran down the stone steps that lead into Great Hall. She began shouting for Delilah. She ran to the kitchen's the only beasts there were Kelisa and Friar Hubble.

"Have you seen Delilah?" she asked.

"Nope sorry," said Kelisa.

"Nope, sorry mizzie," said Friar Hubble shaking his head Delilah wasn't the only one missing. Kerei was missing Fyndan and Mila. Begonia ran into the skipper of otters, there's bodies nearly colliding.

"Whoa, careful there, lass, wouldn't want ya to hurt yourself."

"Excuse me, skipper, but I'm looking for a friend of mine, you know, Delilah."

"Aye, I'm missing two otters of mine: Fyndan and Mila. I've checked everywhere, the courtyard, the dormitories, Cavern Hole, Great Hall, but no such luck."

"We gotta keep looking, they've gotta be around here somewhere."

"Alright, I'll check the dormitories, infirmary, Great Hall, and backside of the Abbey. You check out the gatehouse, Cavern Hole, Kitchens, and frontside of the Abbey."

The mousemaid and otter split up and searched high and low for their friends, the Redwallers themselves all dropped what they were doing and aided in Begonia and Kerei's search for Delilah, Fydan, Mila, and Isak. Hanpoe, Isak's mate was getting extremely anxious, she frantically began to rub her paws together and sweat beaded down her forehead.

"Oh dear, what if my poor ol' husband is lost in Mossflower! Or worse, has been captured by the wicked ol' stoat!"

Trussa placed a reassuring paw over the young mousemaid's shoulder and spoke to the worried one in a calm tone of voice.

"Don't fret, miss. I'm pretty sure your husband, and the others are all alright."

"Oh please, Martin, please make sure my husband is alright," she whispered. The two rushed inside the Abbey and nearly bumped into Abbess Winry and Sister Benarish. Sister Benarish cleaned her spectacles and gave out a notable sigh.

"Deary me, we've searching high and low for those missing thirteen beasts, perhaps they are not inside our Abbey?"

Abbess Winry sighed through her nostrils. "Afraid you may be right, Sister. If nobeast can find them, then I will organize a search party."

"Thank you, Mother Abbess."

Winry nodded and smiled to her closed friend. Begonia walked up the steps to see if the missing dwellers were camping up on the ramparts. She looked over the side of the wall and saw the stoat and thirteen of his hordebeasts standing at the front gate. The Abbess and the infirmary keeper walked back out to the courtyard. Mother Abretia joined up with her closest of friends and heard Begonia call down to them.

"Mother Abbess, Mother Abretia, come quick, it's Riean, he's back!" Begonia called down from the battlements. Abbess Winry and Mother Abretia took flight and hurried up the stairs. The trio of woodlanders saw Riean, Balqan, and Heltor with ten other vermin henchbeasts standing next to pikes stuck in the ground. The pikes had the same fabric the rogue woodlanders wore during their assassination attempt on Riean. This time there was no smile on Riean's face, he looked straight at the trio with an icy cold gaze.

"Is this about the woodlanders that we brought in?" asked Abbess Winry.

"No, this is about you and your Abbey. I should have known you would try to do something like this, you thought you could play me for a fool, huh? You thought that you could send a small band of woodlanders to try and snuff me out, is that right?"

Mother Winry was appalled at what she had just heard. "What are you talking about! I never sent any band of woodlanders out to slay you! I was in bed when that happened!"

"Is that so, then why did my spies see thirteen of your woodlanders sneaking out to try and kill me? Even if you are telling me the truth, I still cannot allow this to slide, you have attempted to draw blood, for this you will be engaged in war with me."

"Now listen here you scoundrel!" bellowed Benarish, "we aren't frightened by your threats, you vermin are all the same, talk no action."

"Oh, but that is where you are wrong, ma'am. We are action, try something like this on me again, and this is what you get!"

With the wave of his paw, Balqan, Heltor, and the other ten quickly removed the cloaks from the pikes. What the three mice saw was that out of their nightmares. Winry's face flushed and became pale, Benarish's eyes welled up with tears, Mother Abretia's paws balled into a fist and she began to bare her fangs, and Begonia placed both of her paws around her mouth and tears streamed down her eyes and onto her paws. Fyndan, Mila, Delilah, Isak, and the rest of the rogue Redwallers' heads were strewn on the edge of the pikes for display. Begonia could hear Kelisa's voice from down below.

"Begonia, Friar Hubble and I as well as the others can't find Delilah and—-"

"Don't come up here!" interrupted the mousemaid.

"What do you mean?" asked the pretty squirrel.

"Stay where you are!" shouted Abbess Winry. Kelisa wanted to know what was going on, going against her Abbess' wishes, the maid looked through a large crack in the gates and was greeted to Delilah's disembodied head staring at her. Kelisa's entire body became shaky, her lower jaw quivered, her heart raced, sweat beaded down hard, and tears filled up her eyes. However, instead of running and crying to her pillow, the pretty squirrel maiden clenched her paw into a fist and gritted her teeth. She would no longer be the pretty one who would sit on the sidelines, she was gonna take action. On the battlements, Abretia's eyes were turning to a light pinkish color.

"Leave my sight now, stoat. Leave or so help me, I will pump you and your pals with so many arrows you'll look like the cacti of the southern deserts!"

"You've got fire, I like it!" laughed Riean. "I tell you what, since I am a beast of honor, I will not attack you, for now. I want you lot to train even harder, come spring. I will be waiting for you. Just so you know, we have plenty of more pikes. Let's go."

Riean and the others left from the sight of Abbess Winry, Benarish, Abretia, and Begonia. The four walked down the steps to the courtyard. Wiping a tear with her sleeve, the Abbess gave Benarish a request.

"Get Foremole to dig thirteen graves for our fallen friends. As for I, I will have a meeting in order for our next plan of attack. Riean said he wasn't gonna attack us until the springtime. He wants us to train our fighters even more. Sounds like he doesn't want to win an easy victory," said Winry.

"Are you sure you can trust him, Mother Abbess?" asked Abretia, "for all we know is that could be some sort of trick and overnight while we're all asleep, he sneaks in and slices our throats."

"I don't trust him either, Abretia. But we are going to train our fighters even harder now. I know it most of our beasts won't like it, but if our way of life is to be preserved, we must do all we can to make sure that creatures like him don't set foot inside our gates," said Winry. Kelisa ran into Trussa. The squirrel maiden stood up straight and wiped away the tears in her eyes and without any heed or warning, Kelisa spoke her plan to Trussa.

"I know we've had plenty of differences in the past, but I would like to burn that all down, and I want you to train me to be a warrior like you!"

"What made you think that I would help you, Kelisa?" asked Trussa.

"Because that stoat, murdered my best friend, placed her head on a pike for all to see as well as the other twelve beasts that snuck out last night," retorted Kelisa. Trussa breathed heavy sigh.

"Alright, if I train you, you will not moan or cry about how hard it is. You wanted me to train you into a warrior, well it isn't gonna be easy."

"I'll do anything, I cannot idly stand by and watch another one of my friends get killed," said Kelisa.

"Right, let's start tomorrow, okay?" Trussa asked.

"Sounds fine with me, Trussa," replied Kelisa.

Chapter 12

That evening the Redwallers held a funeral for the fallen, the funeral took place out in the Abbey cemetery. Abbess Winry stood on a wooden pedestal with Mother Abretia, Sister Benarish, and Nikolas right beside her. The creatures sitting in the pews wee utterly silent, not breathing a single word. Trussa, Mavellous, and Wendell sat up in the front row, sitting in the next pew was Kelisa, Begonia, and Friar Hubble. Trussa quickly glanced over to see Hanpoe bawling her eyes out while another mouse brother of Redwall comforted her. She immediately turned her attention back to the Abbess. Abbess Winry breathed in and released a shaky sigh, the Mother of all Redwall stepped closer to the edge of the wooden platform and gave her eulogy of the thirteen beasts who had lost their lives to Riean.

"Friends, we are gathered her for the unfortunate losses of Fyndan, Mila, Isak, Delilah, Benn, Trumm, Gilladan, Juel, Harriqun, Ferna, Neepo, Bira, and Saffrilla. All thirteen were taken from this world too early. Before his death, Fyndan was a fighter, even during his dibbun years he wanted to see and even participate in a war against an army of one thousand vermin, even though we were in a time of peace, he wanted to show us that he was ready to fight any oncoming horde onslaught. Mila was also extremely headstrong, and eager to help her friends out. Isak had just become a husband, but showed tenacity, and was very intrepid. He volunteered to be a part of the Redwall Militia to make sure his wife and others would be safe and sound from creatures like that stoat."

The eulogies concluded, for the remainder of the sad occasion, the Abbey dwellers and the Hytar Rangers sat in silence and watched as Foremole and his digging crew placed each head wrapped in wooden box in their individual holes. The moles began filling the holes with a mixture of dirt and snow. But not even the cold winds or the snow, nor the grey skies could fathom the sadness the dwellers of Redwall had casted over them. Foremole wiped away a tear from his left eye with his right digging claw.

"This be a sad, sad day fer ussins," he whispered under his breath. The mole finished the deed, the woodlanders all rose from their seats and headed back inside. The skies of light pale grey was slowly turning to a dark shade of grey. Friar Hubble and the kitchen maids all began preparations for the dinner. But nobeast was hungry, who could blame them, their friends were slain in a brutal and barbarian fashion, with their heads strewn up on pikes. Nikolas and Mavellous sat across from each other explaining their plan to take revenge upon Riean and his horde. In the kitchens, Kelisa was busy peeling beets and rutabaga. The pretty squirrel maiden had quite an ugly thought on her mind. She wanted to see that stoat suffer for killing her friend, she dug into the dark depths of her head and imagined all the painful, agonizing, methods of torture she would dish out onto Riean. She imagined him getting all four limbs ripped from his body, then forced to walk on his stumps. She imagined him getting scolding hot oil poured onto him and him writhing in agony while the fur and skin fell from his body. Thinking of these psychotic ways of killing Riean she began to peel the vegetables faster and faster, increasing speed. While in her mind, Kelisa nipped her index claw with the peeling knife, which brought her back to reality. Keslisa dropped everything she was doing and walked to first aid kit in the kitchen and wrapped her paw in a small bandage. Begonia went over to the maiden, her face full of concern.

"Are you doing well?" asked Begonia. Kelisa stood up and slowly turned around.

"I don't know, Begonia. I really don't, I saw our friends' heads on those sticks as if they were trophies or something. I can barely concentrate on my work."

"This is a hard time for us all, how do you thinks I felt when I saw the stoat and his lackeys reveal what they did to us, I was torn in two when I saw Delilah's head mounted on that thing. I see it in your eyes you want to cause suffering on that vermin, but it is not our way, we are creatures of honor, we only attack when we are provoked into doing so," she said. Kelisa looked at her bandaged claw and replied to her friend's message.

"But didn't Fyndan cause all this?" she asked. Begonia sighed through her snout.

"Perhaps. However, when that stoat and his horde first arrived at this place he threatened us with war and misery if we didn't hand over Nikolas and his comrades over to him. Fyndan had to do what he could to make sure our guests weren't harmed."

"Tomorrow, Trussa agreed to train me, I finally want to stop being a little Missy Fussypaws and start being responsible creature, even if it costs me my life. Delilah did it, those newcomers are doing it," said Kelisa.

"Are you sure, Kelisa? Swinging a weapon is easier said than done, you need full discipline and control over yourself. I know how you get when you keep messing up or when somebeasts tell you, you need to do it again."

"But this time will be different. Like I said before, I want to show you, our friends and those newcomers that this pretty squirrel maiden can change into a battle hardened warrior," said Kelisa. Begonia sighed through her snout once more.

"Alright, if think you can, then by all means go for it. But right now, those waiting in Cavern Hole are all starving by now," Begonia said jokingly. Nikolas and Mavellous walked over to Abbess Winry's table.

"Mother Abbess, after dinner we would like to speak to you, I think we may have a plan to free our rangers and get back at Riean," said Mavellous. Abbess Winry placed her paw to her chin and contemplated the idea Mavellous proposed to her.

"After dinner, you, Nikolas, those two, Sister Benarish, Mother Abretia, and Kerei will all come to the gatehouse cottage to discuss a rescue plan for those who have been taken prisoners by Riean," said the Abbess. Commander Mavellous bowed courteously to his hostess and gave her a quick smile.

"Thank you, Mother Abbess," he said right before returning to his table.

A few minutes after supper concluded, Abbess signalled to Mavellous and the others. Mavellous gave the Abbess a quick nod and told his rangers what was going on. Everybeast got up and they all walked to the gatehouse near the main gate of Redwall. Abretia lit three candles, the big badger pulled up a chair and listened in on what Mavellous and Nikolas had planned. Mavellous was the first to break the silence.

"Listen, you guys, I know revenge is not your way, but Riean has my rangers held captive and he slain your Abbey dwellers. Riean usually has a group of assassins that act as a silent alarm when intruders come to their camp, especially that tree rat, he is loyal to Riean to a fault. We need to make sure that those assassins and archers that are stationed up in the treetops are dealt with, this will cripple his chances of getting notified of our arrive. Not only will we go for his assassins but we will also burn down his tents, this will cause a massive panic, while he and his horde and putting the blazes out, we will sneak in and free the prisoners, adding more to our army and thinning out his. Kerei how good is your throwing paw?"

"Very good, sir. I can lob a javelin at over ten meters, I can. Why you ask?"

"Because I plan using fire javelins for our ground troops during our ambush," said the commander. Trussa spoke what she was going to do.

"Right, I've got some business I'd like to address," she said, "that squirrelmaid, Kelisa. Just this morning she came up to me and told me she wanted me to train her. I will gladly help out with this plan, commander, but this is something I have to do."

Nikolas gave his two cents on idea of Kelisa training with a weapon. "I don't know, Truss, she may not have the discipline, I mean when you told us how you countered her attack, she broke out in tears. I don't think she could do it without crying, sorry," said the new Warrior of Redwall. Trussa made a retort to Nikolas' statement.

"That is true, but this might be different, when she came up to me, I saw something in her eyes, I saw she wanted to be something more than just a kitchen maid. She may not have a lot of discipline but I bet you a bushel of acorns to a flask of wine she'll do what she can to join our cause," said the warrior maiden. Abretia piped in on the conversation.

"If that young squirrel can go with your training without crying or giving up then I'll have Friar Hubble cook you your favorite supper, speaking of which what do you like to eat, Trussa?"

"Oh, I'm not too picky, but I am quite partial to rutabaga pasties and onion broth soup," said Trussa. Abretia smiled to the squirrel maiden.

"Then it is agreed, if you see the potential that Kelisa has, then by all means show us," said the Badgermother.

"Right, so we have a plan, Kerei you will keep training our fighters, and Trussa, you will train Kelisa to be a much more responsible creature, right, let's head to bed, Riean told us he wanted us to train our forces before spring arrived, so I say, we show him, what us Redwallers are capable of," the Abbess said with emense pride.

Chapter 13

Lieutenant Vivian and Captain Mickel were given a warm welcome back to Salamandastron. Lord Trawn and Brigadier Hurley greeted the returning patrollers.

"Welcome back, we are just about to have supper, please tell us all how Redwall has been doing for these past seasons," said Trawn as he lead the Long Patrol hares to the dining hall. Vivian and Mickel were served carrot and celery stew with flaky mushroom turnovers, and brown ale. The hares' stomachs all rumbled and their mouths began to water. While the soldiers were dining on the hot meal, Brigadier Hurley adjacently turned his head to Lieutenant Vivian and Captain Mickel. Swallowing the food in his mouth, the advisor for Lord Trawn decided to ask the burning question.

"So you, lot. How was Redwall?" he asked. Mickel wiped away the ale froth from his mouth and answered fairly quickly to his superior.

"Redwall Abbey is in danger, when we popped in and said 'hello' the Abbey was surrounded by a bloomin' horde of ruffians, and those vagabonds were being lead by a stoat, he called himself Riean or something like that," said Mickel, "with all due respect, sir. Lieutenant Vivian and I have decided to throw in the towel for the voting and want to help the Redwallers fight off those dastardly beasts."

"Very well, when the snow stops falling and the skies become blue I will send over five hares to help aid in our friends' war against the horde of vermin. Then I will send fivescore. But we still have our war against that silver fox," said Trawn. Brigadier Hurley chimed in.

"With all due respect sir, but shouldn't we send five hares to Redwall now? I mean what if this stoat or what have you is already attackin' the blinkin' place as we sit here and wag our chins?" asked the brigadier. Lord Trawn Ironpaw took in a draft of ale right before giving his answer to his right paw.

"I would send them sooner, but we need to make preparations for a war of our own, that silver furred fox my return here with an army of a thousand and storm our mountain," Trawn said as he took in another sip of ale. Vivian put down her spoon and wiped away the excess carrot broth from her mouth.

"This is just some sort of assumptions, wot, but what if that fox I chased out of the village isn't the leader of some sort of horde, but rather is another pawn in somebeast's scheme?"

"In all of my seasons, most vermin leaders stay behind in their hideouts or camps, they only go if there is a big battle to attend to, otherwise they only send their captains and other henchbeasts to go do their bidding."

"Are you sayin' the fox is just another solider in someone else's plans?" asked Hurley.

"Perhaps," Trawn quickly replied. Hurley then told them their news.

"While you two were away, Sergeant Hukkle founded a searat wash up on our shores this morning, the searat in question is currently in our guardhouse."

"May we see this ruffian?" asked the female lieutenant. Brigadier Hurley twiddled with his mustachioed whiskers and gave a straight answer to the lieutenant.

"Right, I shall escort you to the blighter, Sergeant Hukkle is currently visiting the scoundrel, he has been ordered not to feed him until further notice," said the old campaigner. Vivian nodded and got up, but not before finishing the last bite of mushroom turnover and gulping down the last drops of ale from her mug.

"Rightyo, let's see toodle on over to the scoundrel," said Vivian. The pair walked at a steady pace to the guardhouse. Inside the cell sat the searat that Hurley told Vivian about, he was about the same age, if not younger than she. He was skinny and fatigued, whiskers were knotted and he reeked of old seawater. When the young searat spoke, it was in a hushed, raspy whisper.

"Who.. are you?" he murmured.

"I'm Lieutenant Vivian Rosemary Pedalton and you are?" she asked.

"They call me Wipp," answered the skinny rat. Lieutenant pulled up a stool and continued her interview with the imprisoned rodent.

"How did you get here to our shores?"

"I was thrown off by my cap'n and the rest of the crew. I was lost at sea for fifteen days with only a piece of driftwood to keep me afloat. That hare, Sergeant Hukkle found me and brought me here. He's been feedin' me his rations, wants to build my strength back up. Though I only get fed once a day, it's better than nothing, I suppose."

"You don't talk like other corsairs, why is that?" the lieutenant asked.

"I never really found an interest in speak like, 'ya scallywags, drop anchor and prepare to board, there be plenty o' booty on that ship!' I decided to speak in regular speech, not that unintelligible 'yar-har-har.'"

"Is that why your crew tossed you overboard?"

"No, no it is not, ma'am. The reason why I was booted from the crew was because I refused to kill any sort of native we were stealin' from. I suggested that nobeast needed to die, but the cap'n and his crew laughed it off. I kept trying to tell them that we didn't need to kill anybody, but they kept laughing at me. Soon, they grew tired of my attempts at pacifism and during the middle of the night, they tied me up and tossed me into the ocean. I could barely keep myself awake while I was lost at sea. Due to the cold water, storms, and currents, my body couldn't stand and I fell into exhaustion. I was then rescued by Sergeant Hukkle. Now, I want to help you hares. I want to become a Long Patroller."

Lieutenant Vivian very quickly stood and placed the stool near the wall. She gave him her honest answer.

"You cannot join us, we have no need for former corsairs, sorry, but only hares can join our cause, true we do have allies that are mice, squirrels, and other woodlanders but they aren't in our ranks."

"But what about that badger?" Wipp asked.

"Him, he's our Badgerlord, he's the leader of us all. The reason why you cannot join the Long Patrol is because one you're not a hare like me or Sergeant Hukkle, and two because it would cause too much tension, most of the hares here in the patrol loathe vermin," answered the lieutenant. Sergeant Hukkle then gave her his two cents on why he should join their army.

"The reason why this chap wants to join our ranks, hare or no hare, he wants to keep the peace like we do, defend those who cannot fight back, and the like, wot," said the sergeant. Lieutenant Vivian's opinion still stood towards no, but Sergeant Hukkle wasn't bound to give up, he wanted the Long Patrol to have their first vermin in their ranks. But what would Lord Trawn Ironpaw say to it? The only way to convince the stoic badger was to see if Wipp was trustworthy. Sergeant Hukkle made up his mind, he was going to march into the Badgerlord's chambers and tell it to him straight away. Vivian watched as the hare marched from the pair and to Lord Trawn's location. Hukkle bumped into Hurley, he gave the Brigadier a quick salute.

"Brigadier Hurley, sir! I am on my way to see Lord Trawn, sir! To discuss the fate of the searat prisoner, sir!"

"At ease, chap, very well. I shall escort you to him," answered the superior. The pair made their way to Lord Trawn's whereabouts, Hurley knocked on the door, and Trawn answered from behind the closed door.

"Come in," he bellowed. Hurley graciously opened the door for the sergeant and Hukkle carefully made his way through. Hurley nodded to Trawn, in which Trawn returned the gesture. Brigadier Hurley closed the door, leaving only the sergeant hare with his Lord. Trawn sat at a large, round table with a tea set in the center, with his big right paw, Trawn gestured for Sergeant Hukkle to sit in the empty chair.

"Tea?" asked Trawn.

"No thank you, sir," said Sergeant Hukkle, "I came to discuss to you about searat I found on our shores."

"Let me guess, you want him to join the Long Patrol?" Trawn asked, "well, no he may not and that is final!"

"But!" protested Hukkle.

"No, I have made up my mind and that is that," Trawn snapped back. How did he know without him even telling Trawn?! Hukkle sighed heavily, it was time to go to plan b.

"What if I give you all my medals back, you can demote me back to Lance Corporal and I will sleep in the guardhouse for two seasons," proposed the sergeant. Lord Trawn sipped on his tea, then looked at his reflection in the ripples of the liquid. He sighed in the tea, creating more ripples.

"Are you sure?" Trawn calmly asked, "are you sure you want to lose your credibilities and rank? Some of the hares will think of you as some sort of traitor for allowing a searat to join our ranks."

"Well, if Wipp does decide to try and betray us, I will personally snuff out the blighter and I will allow you to execute me," said Sergeant Hukkle. Lord Trawn took in another sip of tea then placed the cup on the table.

"Very well, give me all of your medals, and the sergeant patch."

Without any hesitation former Sergeant Hukkle now lance corporal removed the pins from his coat that held the medals in place and ripped the patch from. Lance Corporal Hukkle placed his achievements onto the tabletop, and Trawn scooped them up in his bulky paws. Lord Trawn finished his tea and escorted Hukkle back to the guardhouse.

"Are you still sure about this?" he asked.

"Absolutely, sir," Hukkle calmly answered.

"Very well then," Trawn whispered. The badger and the hare walked out the room, Hukkle looked to Trawn, then gazed forward. He breathed in and exhaled audibly.

"Right, let's get this over with."

Every hare in the mountain gathered around, they watched in anticipation on what was going to happen, including Lieutenant Vivian and Captain Mickel. Lance Corporal Hukkle knelt down in front of his Badgerlord, the badger looked at him with a stern glare. Wipp was in the crowd of hares, but his paws were roped behind his back, still looking famished. Sweat trickled down Hukkle's nose, the cold winds did not help the hare at all. The sounds of the ocean waves crashing against the shores, were even louder than.

"Hukkle, you came to me and told me that you wanted me to allow that searat to join our ranks as a fighter in our patrol, but this cannot come without a price, I, Lord Trawn Ironpaw officially demote you to the rank of lance corporal, and all your medals be melted down for scrap. You also told me, if Wipp does decide to turn against us, you would be the one who finished him off, from this day onward you will be sleeping in the guardhouse for two seasons, you or Wipp will not be attending any feasts or banquets from that time until those two seasons have passed. However, you or Wipp will not go hungry, you will be fed twice a day, banquet or otherwise."

The hares murmured amongst themselves, Hurley and Mickel took Wip and released him from his bonds. The two soldiers spun the rat in their direction, giving him further instructions.

"Lord Trawn has given you a mighty big privilege in joining our ranks, you will do as we command, either you enjoy it or not," Brigadier Hurley said in a sternful tone of voice.

"You're first assignment, you will bally march your ratty behind to Drill Sergeant Periwinkle, knowing him he despises vermin and will work your rump into shape, good an' proper. However, that is not until the sun risen on the morrow," said Mickel. Wipp saluted his superiors and the two escorted him and Lance Corporal Hukkle back to the guardhouse.

Chapter 14

The winter seasons was coming close to an end, the skies were resuming their natural blue color and the weather was warming up, gradually. Kelisa rubbed her eyes and carefully got up to her footpaws. The pretty squirrelmaid tippawed out of the dormitories and to the Abbey courtyard. There, Trussa awaited the kitchen maiden. When Trussa saw the half awoken squirrel, she shook her head and clicked her tongue.

"No, no, you look terrible, wash your face and change into something more akin to what I am wearing," she said. Kelisa said nothing, she ran to the kitchens, grabbed a bowl of clean water and began washing her face with it. Kelisa then ran up to the dormitories and changed out of her frilly gown to something more akin to the attire of the warrior. She found a long sleeve orange tunic her size with black belt. Donning the new outfit, the pretty squirrelmaid rushed back to the ranger. Trussa gave her pupil a slight nod of approval.

"Close enough, at least you look the part, now take this staff, I'm gonna teach you some basic thrusts. Now, watch closely, the first attack is the forward jab. Right, take one step forward with your right footpaw, and one step back with the other. Turn your torso to about a forty five degree position, and finally raise the weapon below your bosom."

Kelisa did as she was told, but her stance was a bit off and her hold on the javelin was too tight. Trussa shook her head and walked over to the trainee.

"Well almost, but if you were to thrust, you'd tumble forward. With your stance, before you perform the attack, you want to have your weight on the paw at the back, when you go in, you'll want to shift your weight from your back paw to your front paw. Like so."

Trussa made a swift example. The javelin in the squirrelmaid's paws slid ever so slightly, Kelisa watched carefully, and then she tried to replicate the same movement. However, when she did she came in too fast and stumbled over, nearly falling flat upon her pretty face. Luckily the javelin she was carrying caught her. Kelisa stood straight up, Trussa gave a quiet sigh, and leaned on the javelin she carried.

"Right, looks like we're gonna be here for a bit," she mumbled. Trussa gave her thoughts on Kelisa's progress.

"Not bad, but don't go in so harshly, you want the movements to be as smooth and fluid."

"Smooth and fluid," the squirrelmaid repeated.

"Yes. Now keep at it."

Over and over, Kelisa kept thrusting her. For awhile, it seemed as if Kelisa was going nowhere, but soon enough, she was slowly progressing. Kelisa kept on performing the thrusts until she had it perfect. She stopped but Trussa told her to keep going.

"No, you need to keep doing it, until you have it down to a science, or else you'll forget it in battle."

Kelisa sighed and resumed the basic forward thrusts, she kept going on, and on, until Trussa motioned her to stop. The rangermaid prepared the kitchenmaid for her next move. Kelisa rubbed her forehead, it was plastered in sweat. Kelisa fought the urge to voice a complaint, but she wanted to help, she wanted to fight the vermin that killed her friends, she was no longer going to be the spoiled little squirrel maiden everyone thought of her, she was going to change their opinion of her and show the Abbey dwellers that she was a fighter.

"I'm ready, what's next?" Kelisa asked eagerly. Trussa cocked her head slightly to the left, raised an eyebrow. Who was this creature? She wasn't the same bratty maiden Trussa met a weeks ago. Trussa recentered her gaze at Kelisa and announced what she was to do next.

"Now for your next move. We will be doing the front whack, like so."

Kelisa watched as Trussa performed the move. Trussa took a big step, her the shaft of the javelin underneath her bosom. Then on the second step, Trussa swung the end of her weapon that faced her rear to her front, the ranger relaxed herself and motioned a paw for Kelisa to do the same. Kelisa gave her master a determined look, the pretty one did exactly what Trussa showed her.

"Good, now keep doing it, once you've mastered this technique, we're going to start combining moves," said the ranger squirrel. Kelisa kept on going, she made short breaths as she performed the move. Sweat matted the pretty one's fur, her muscles were beginning to ache, Kelisa kept fighting that urge to give up. But she suppressed it further, she promised herself, and her Abbey she would be a member of the militia. Soon the aching increased, Trussa saw her pupil was beginning to slow down. Trussa motioned her to stop, Kelisa began panting, she wiped her brow with her right forepaw, the two heard the Abbey bells toll. Trussa grinned at the trainee.

"Breakfast," she said.

"Oh good, I'm famished!" Kelisa exclaimed.

"You are huh? Well, we've only been practicing for two hours."

"Two hours?! Feels like we've been doing this all day!"

"There's more to come, Kelisa. We'll be here all day," said the rangermaid, "but we will be getting breaks in between sessions."

The two placed their javelins underneath the large apple tree and joined their friends in Cavern Hole. Breakfast came out fresh and piping hot. Black bread, gooseberry pancakes covered in sticky honey, batches upon batches of mulberry muffins, perfectly spherical white and yellow cheese, strawberry and blackberry salad, and for the drinks: frothy apple cider, mint, lemon, and herbal tea, and many cordials from strawberry all the way to blackberry. Nikolas and Mavellous grabbed their plates and gathered what they wanted. Two gooseberry pancakes, a slice of black bread, two small scoopfuls of blackberry and strawberry salad, and one muffin. Nikolas grabbed a mug full of hot cider. The squirrel saw the top of the mug was full of froth, in one single blow, Nikolas blew the froth from the top of his mug, however, what he didn't anticipate was the froth plopping on a mole dibbun's head.

"Hurr, yon drink fell 'pon my 'ead!" he squeaked. Nikolas bit down on his bottom lip, he utter a single word.

"Oops."

Nikolas placed his food and drink on the table and wiped the baby mole's head with clean cloth, the Warrior apologized to the mother mole and went back to sit with his friends. Kelisa sat at the table with Nikolas, Mavellous, Trussa, and Wendell. Kelisa wasn't eating her usual light salad, no, this time she had three muffins, two slices of bread, and one large scoop of fruit salad. Trussa patted the trainee on her slender back.

"So, all that work's been making you hungry, huh?" she chuckled. Kelisa ignored her and continued to eat, but the pretty squirrelmaid abruptly stop, she remembered about her waistline and gave some of the excess food to somebeast who didn't get as much as they intended on. She smiled at the creature and sat back down with the inner circle of Hytar Rangers. Wendell asked both squirrelmaids about their progress. Trussa gave her captain a straight answer.

"Well, sir. She's been doing fine, but sometime the look I see in her is that she wants to give up," said the rangermaid. Then Kelisa stopped eating and chimed in on what Trussa had just said.

"I do have the urge to throw in the towel, but I am going to prove this Abbey wrong, I don't want to be little miss fusstail any longer, I want to be called 'Kelisa the Warrior,'" Kelisa proudly stated. Trussa chuckled and grinned at her pupil.

"Well, warrior, we better get back to training, we still have got a lot of work to do."

"And we still need to train the Redwall Militia's warriors some more," Mavellous added. Nikolas nodded and gave the mouse commander a suggestion.

"If you want, I'll train our squirrels, sir. Besides, you've trained me."

"True, but you're still green behind the ears, Nikolas. We will need somebeast who is more experienced, so sorry but no. However, if you train with them, I will allow you to lead the treetop attack on Riean's horde."

"Thank you, sir," said the Warrior of the Abbey. Kerei stood tall on his hind legs and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"ATTENSHUN!" bellowed the skipper, the room full of woodlanders instantly became quiet, "thank you, now today is going to be quite the busy day, since the weather is starting to warm up, we will be doing more training exercises for all of today, tomorrow, and the days after. We were not fully prepared for that stoat and his horde, so I, the Abbess, and the rest all want us to train our Militia harder, I do not want see anymore good creatures heads strewn up on pikes, ya understand. Once springtime arrives, we will show that stoat that it was foolish to come to Redwall Abbey."

Kerei sat down and Abbess Winry spoke this time. "Thank you, Kerei. I know that most of us would rather stay indoors, but think about this, from yesterday when that stoat and his horde murdered our loved ones. He showed us how merciless and barbaric he truly is, however, he did say he wanted us to train harder."

"So we'll give him the fight he wants," bellowed Mother Abretia. The entire room full of woodlanders stood up, a dormouse took two paces forward, then spoke his mind.

"I may not be much of a fighter, ma'am, but I will gladly help our forces defend this place. This Abbey is our home, if this place falls what will become of us, will that stoat and his cohorts just execute us all one by one, or will he spare us, but give us the unfortunate life as a slave. I am in agreement with Kerei and our Abbess, we must train harder to prevent more deaths from occurring."

The room filled with murmurs of agreement, soon the murmurs grew louder, and louder. All of a sudden they room filled with cheers, each woodlander raised his or her cup. Kerei, Abbess, Abretia, and Benarish all smiled at their cheering Abbey dwellers. Kerei grinned from ear to ear.

"Let's go to work."

The fighters filled a large space in the courtyard and orchard, training themselves harder and faster. Day in and day out, the fighters of the Redwall Militia trained, and trained, and trained. Kelisa was improving her skills as well. Soon days turned into weeks, and the season was coming to its conclusion. Spring had finally come. The grey clouds of gloom parted, the snow slowly melted, and the weather finally became warm once again. Abbess Winry, Kerei, Abretia, Benarish, Nikolas and Wendell all sat at the round table in the gatehouse cottage. Wendell gave word on the plan to free the prisoners and to cripple Riean, and his horde.

"Our forces our finally ready to tackle this, this may sound peculiar, but Mavellous wants us to attack them during the day. From last time, when your fighters attacked the stoat and his horde, they did it under the cover at night, however, Riean anticipated their arrival. True we won't have the cover of darkness, but the thing is he won't be suspecting it. From what we know from him is that he and his forces seem to more prepared during the night than during the day. While Riean and his compatriots are planning their attack on this Abbey. Kerei, Nikolas, and I will sweep in, My forces will storm the left side, Kerei's will engaged the right, and Nikolas and the squirrels will take on Riean's assassins in the treetops. While we engage in battle with the horde, one of us is going to have to find the prisoners, take them and bring them back to the Abbey, we'll help cover for them. Mavellous and Trussa are going to stay behind this time," said the mouse. Abretia suggested something to the inner circle of beasts.

"While you are away, we'll continue to fortify our walls and keep guard until your arrival."

"What are we waiting for?" asked Nikolas, "we've got prisoners to save, so let's go!"

Wendell scoffed, gathered his belongings and made his leave, Kerei and the rest followed behind. The forces that volunteered to go with Nikolas, Wendell, and Kerei lined up at the at the main gates. Commander Mavellous, Trussa, and Kelisa stood on the battlements, Wendell ran up the wooden steps and briefed everybeast on the plan. The dwellers of the Abbey all raised their spears, javelins, staves, and other weapons and shouted in unity.

"REDWALL!" they all cried out. Commander Mavellous smiled to his second in command and watched as his forces along with the Abbey's ventured out into Mossflower Woods.

On the outskirts of both Riean's camp and Redwall, a magpie watched the hordebeasts high in one of the treetops, then took flight.

Chapter 15

Grakku the magpie flew southeast over the vast forest of Mossflower, his destination was Marlfox Island. The bird of prey looked down and saw Castle Marl now renamed Castle Sael was approaching. Like an arrow, the magpie descended to the ground at an alarming speed, and flew through the castle's throne room window. Grakku successfully made his entrance. Turning to face his master, the black and white bird lowered his head until his black beak touched the stone floor.

"Empress Tamial, I have returned with new information," he said as his beak clacked against the floor. The beast he was bowing his head to sat in the shadows, their silhouette was that of a female beast. The creature sitting in the throne that once belonged to Silth, Lantur, and Mokkan raised a steady paw. Her voice was as silk as warm cream.

"Please, rise, Grakku. Report," she said in a calm tone. The bird did as he was told and gave all the information he could during his time in Mossflower.

"Graah! Well, your grace, while I was away, my little eyes caught sight of vermin army. They were all being lead by a stoat and a fox."

"Is that all?" the silhouette impatiently asked.

"No, they were planning an attack on Redwall Abbey, kacheckacha!" Grakku laughed, the female breast tapped her right index claw on the armrest of the throne, her green eyes with slitted pupils looked down at her spy.

"Very well, we shall aid this stoat in his attack against Redwall. Redwall how I loathe that place. They claim themselves peaceful and honest creatures, I know for a fact that is a lie. Ha! Don't make me laugh, those at Redwall are only peaceful to themselves, once they see a starving vermin at their doorstep, they do everything in their power to drive them away, pathetic. Once Redwall has fallen, we will march our troops to Salamandastron, to finally enact my oath I took, to destroy the Long Patrol and to topple the oppressive Badgerlord dynasty. Grakku were you able to get into contact with Zagg and his mercenaries?"

"Yes, m'lady. However, he said he wouldn't join our cause, until we gave him some of your treasure, as a welcoming gift."

The Empress sighed and slumped back into the chair. She snapped her middle claw and thumb claw together.

"Guards, take two small chests, fill them with our finest gemstones and jewels, then take it to our ferry rats. One of you summon Kyron to me, I have a job for him."

The two rat guards saluted their Empress with their long spears and dashed out of the throne room, quickly made their way to Empress Tamial's treasure room. There they grabbed two small chests and began to fill them to the brim. The chests were heavy, but not heavy enough to immobilize the two vermin. They brought the chests to the ferry rats.

"Keep.. an… eye on this," huffed one of the guards. Their next task was getting Kyron to their majesty. The two made their way to the dining hall, where Kyron sat at one of the tables, dining on roasted pigeon and drinking elderberry wine from a silver goblet. The two approached the silver fox and saluted him.

"Master Kyron, Empress Tamial has summoned you to the throne room, please come at once," they both said in unison. Swallowing the chunk of meat and washing it down with the dark red liquid, the fox responded in a calm and cold tone of voice.

"Right, I shall be there momentarily. Just let me finish up my vittles," he said. The two vermin watched as the silver fox finished off the last pieces of meat then drained the silver cup. Wiping away excess wine and meat from his muzzle and whiskers with a white cloth, the guards escorted Kyron to the throne room. Momentarily after entering, Kyron took the knee to his master.

"Master Empress, you have summoned me," he said.

"Yes, Kyron, rise. I have a job for you, you will return to Mossflower to negotiate a deal with a potential supporter of ours. He is somewhere in Mossflower Woods, he goes by the name of Zagg. Grakku told me he's a river rat, and has a band of forty five vermin at his side. Once you have made the negotiations, you will lead Zagg and his mercenaries to Redwall Abbey," said the Empress. The Empress got up from her throne and slowly walked towards Kyron. The female animal in question was a tall, slender, feral cat with orange and white fur. She wore a light purple gown, plum colored cloak, and silver rings around her fore paws and tail.

"What about the Long Patrol hare, the one that took half of my ear?" he asked.

"That creature is of none of our concern," Tamial coldly answered, "Negotiating a partner ship with Zagg and his beasts is. But, then again, we would be better off if Salamandastron was a hare short, or rather a dozen."

"Very well, I will just find Zagg, offer a partnership, then escort him to the Abbey. It shall be done," he said.

"Good, I have a job for Ciristra," Empress Tamial told him, "please bring her."

Kyron nodded and made his way to the dormitories, there he knocked on one of the oaken doors. The beast who opened it was a tall, slender creature, wearing a hooded robe. Although, their head and face were covered up. Kyron told her to report to the throne room, in which the female creature nodded. Ciristra bowed low to her master.

"Master Empress, you have summoned me?"

"Yes, rise, Ciristra. I have a task for you to perform. Since both you and Kyron will be returning to Mossflower here in a moment, you will be tasked in helping a stoat in his war against Redwall Abbey, I want you to act as his spybeast, gather information on how many fighters they have, how fortified are their walls," said the feral cat. The hooded animal bowed to her Empress once more.

"It shall be done," announced Ciristra. Empress Tamial walked over to the hooded figure and placed a gentle paw over her shoulder.

"I know it will, my child," said the cat in a soothing voice, "now go."

Both her and Kyron bowed a final time to Tamial, but just as they were about to take their leave, Empress Tamial stopped them dead in their tracks.

"Before you two leave, my two rat guards, Feltail and Nix will accompany you, Kyron."

Kyron smiled to both the Empress and the rat guards.

"Thank you, Master," he said with euphoria. The now four creatures progressed to the log rafts. Kyron was the first to board, then the two rats, and finally, Ciristra. The ferry rats pushed off from the land and rowed through the Great Inland Lake. Taking out his long dagger, Kyron began admiring the blade, one thing was on his mind, vengeance. He was going to fulfill the promise he kept for him, he was going to make Vivian Rosemary Pedalton pay for what she did to him. Ciristra however, was not focusing on vengeance, but just wanting to not disappoint her Empress. A couple of hours later, the six vermin had made it to the shores. Nix and Feltail grabbed the heavy chests and Kyron signalled them to move out. Ciristra watched as the three ventured deeper into Mossflower. The hooded creature began her journey to Redwall Abbey.

In one of the tents, Riean and Vaynos studied the sketches of Redwall that Fangshade and Vallyn drew for them. As the two commanders studied the drawings, Riean took a sip of wine from his cup. Vaynos rubbed his chin. Without looking up to Lord Riean, Vaynos suggested they attack from behind the wall. Riean contemplated the thought he then gave his second in command his thoughts on the idea.

"That would be a fair idea, however, for the plan to work, we'd need somebeast to create a diversion."

"Perhaps our little mistress and her cronies would like to 'volunteer'?" Vaynos asked in a mocking tone, "she's been going on about how she wants to make that Redwall place her new fortress and to make everybeast in there her personal slaves. I say, let her have her illusions of grandeur."

Riean took another sip of wine, "Well, Vaynos, you have an idea that has peaked my interest, after marching along with us, perhaps Geirana has changed and is willing to lay her life on the line for her goals."

Vaynos peaked through the opening of the tent and saw Geirana sitting in the shade with her loyal lackey, Ulsu. The fox smiled to Riean and retorted.

"Mayhaps she is."

"Right, gather Fangshade, Heltor, Balqan, Vallyn, Gemra, and even Geirana. We're going to speak to them about the plan."

Unfortunately for the pair, before they could even step one paw out of their tent, everybeast in the camp could hear their enemies shout their battle cry.

"REDWAAAALLL!"

In a flash, the tent was bombarded with flaming javelins, lucky enough for them they were unscathed say for Riean's cloak. Riean quickly unfastened the pin and tossed the plum colored garb in the fire. The stoat then seized a panicking rat by the scruff of his neck and lifted the underling up.

"What in Hell's teeth is going on?!"

"I-i-it's those Redwallers, they're attackin'!"

Riean dropped the rat down, and shouted commands.

"Gather water, dirt, or whatever, we need to extinguish these blazes!"

"Y-ye-yes, sir!" the rat stammered, running off to find participants in fighting the fires. Fangshade dropped down from the treetops and ran to his master.

"Redwallers, slaying our assassins," he reported.

"How is that even possible?!" Riean shouted, fearing showing in his voice, "right, who is doing such an act?"

"A squirrel with a sword," Fangshade answered.

"Do what you can to fend him off, if you have try and keep the squirrel with the sword alive, if he's slaying our assassins, then I personally will want to battle him," he ordered. Fangshade swiftly bowed then scurried up the sycamore and resumed battling. High in the branches, Nikolas and ten squirrels, seven from his platoon and three from the Abbey slew five of the vermin assassins. Just as they got done slaying the fifth one, five more appeared in the air, lead by a sixth one, Fangshade. With tremendous speed and agility, Fangshade and his cohorts all raced towards their enemies. High in the air, Fangshade drew is secondary weapon, a tiny push dagger. The tree rat assassin thrusted his weapon near Nikolas' shoulder. The young squirrel barely could even dodge the lightning fast attack and was nicked by the vermin's blade. Nikolas then began to plummet to the ground, but he descended, he dug his claws into the bark of the beechwood trunk and slid down the tree. Fangshade followed after him. In the chaos and melee of things, Nikolas attempted to find Captain Wendell. In the midst of the carnage, Mul was able to loosen his bonds and he silently snuck up on the two weasel guards. Using the rope the bound him, he wrapped it around one of the guard's slender necks. The gurgling noises that emitted from the weasel alerted the second one, he charged in after Mul. Mul released his grip on the weasel and commandeered his spear. The old squirrel drove the weapon through the gasping weasel's back, then sprang forwards and slew the second guard. Mul untied his friend's binds and ordered them to escape. Still stubborn as he was, the young mouse, Bryson refused to leave the old one's side. Mul seized his companion by the face.

"No! I need you to find our friends, have them take you and the others back to Redwall, I won't have any of you, young ones die today!"

"But!" protested Bryson.

"No, buts! I outrank you, no go!" he hollered. Bryson clenched his fists and wrenched the spear from the second weasel guard's death grip.

"Please, come out alive, Mul," he said before running off with the rest of the Hytar captives.

"Rather you than me to make it out alive," whispered the old squirrel. In a flash, Mul scampered up the tree he was bound to and hid on the lowest branch, he saw who he was waiting for, he saw Balqan running up to the dead weasel guards. Fear was plastered all over the ferret's face, he drew stiletto dagger. He called to the nearest vermin to him. However, before he could even hollered a single word out, Mul jumped onto jis tormentor's back and tackled him to the ground. The blade flew from Balqan's paws and landed far on a patch of grass. Balqan threw the old squirrel off of him, but Mul was not that easy to evade, he dug his claws into the vermin's hind legs, blood welled up, dripped down his legs, and onto Mul's paws. Spit flew from the ferret's mouth as he shouted in agony. Balqan kicked the squirrel straight in the snout then leapt to his weapon. Balqan dove towards the weapon and finally grabbed it. He saw Mul regain himself, he grabbed the spear he used to kill the weasel guards and the two locked eyes with each other.

"The day of reckoning has fallen upon you, vermin!" screamed Mul. Balqan tightened his paw's grip on the dagger, and flashed his teeth.

"That day has fallen upon you as well, woodlander!"

Mul charged head long at Balqan, he thrusted the spear at his nemesis. Balqan anticipated the attack, he sidestepped and grabbed the spear from Mul's paws. He wrenched the squirrel forwards, drove the stiletto dagger into the campaigner's spine, severely fracturing it. But with his last ounces of strength, Mul tore the spear from Balqan's paw and drove the tip right through the vermin's slender belly. Balqan was tackled to the ground. Balqan looked up and saw Geirana hiding behind a large tree.

"Help.. me!" he croaked. Geirana on the other hand chose to ignore the dying vermin's plea. Balqan gritted his fangs, and utter a single word.

"Coward…"

Balqan struggled to rise to his hind paws, falling every time he attempted to. Losing a significant amount of blood, a kneeling Balqan looked up to the sky.

"Lord Riean…. I have failed you," he gurgled. The ferret died shortly after. Geirana ran up to the dying squirrel, she thrusted her rapier into his chest. Afterwards, she returned to her hiding spot. Ulsu and the other nine lackeys guarded her well. Spears at the ready. Nikolas struggled against Fangshade's swift attacks. Panting and sweating profusely, Nikolas jumped back a few paces, but that wasn't enough to evade Fangshade's oncoming attack. Nikolas deflected the rat's thrust, the Warrior of Redwall slashed at his foe, but his efforts were in vain, Fangshade calculated the attack and parried it with his push dagger. Nikolas jumped at the tree rat, and forward thrusted his sword at the foebeast's chest, even that was futile. Fangshade deflected the sword. Before Nikolas could even retaliate, Fangshade took half a step back and roundhouse kicked the youngsters in the face, knocking him unconscious and sending him flying five paces away from the tree rat.

"Disappointing," the assassin said with a deadpan expression. Riean watched the short battle from a distance and he sighed in disappointment.

"Still got a lot to learn, young warrior," he whispered. He saw Vaynos and Wendell battling. The mouse and fox's strikes were hard and violent, their blades echoed across the carnage, Wendell lunged in, performing an upward slash at Vaynos, but Vaynos registered it and parried the mouse captain with a downwards slash. Wendell swiped at his enemy's belly, but Vaynos sidestepped to the left and blocked the sword at the very last minute. As the two secondary commanders continued their duel, Kerei and Heltor fought tooth and claw. Heltor growled ferociously at the large otter. He swung his spiked mace at Kerei. Kerei blocked the vermin's fast attack and sucker punched the weasel in the side of his jaw. That however, was not enough to subdue Heltor. Heltor swung the mace at Kerei's head. The otter jumped back at least two paces and whacked the bulky weasel with his rudder like tail. Heltor was ensnared by the large appendage, and he nearly fell. Kerei saw Nikolas, unconscious and ordered his otters to bring him back to the Abbey. They nodded and sprinted to the young warrior. One of the otters, a large male, larger than Kerei, scooped up the unconscious Nikolas and retreated back to Redwall Abbey. Heltor charged after the retreating otter, but Kerei intervened. Blocking the mace with his quarterstaff, Kerei jabbed Heltor in the stomach, although Heltor was dressed in armor, he still could feel its blow. He clutched his middle while still holding his weapon. He recovered instantaneously and rushed in after Kerei. The skipper grabbed his foe's weapon and landed another punch to straight into his face. Still not enough to bring down the brutish weasel! What was there to be done? Kerei groaned in disbelief, nobeast could withstand that punch, but he had finally met his match. Kerei saw his forces retreat back to the Abbey, with Wendell and the freed prisoners in the front, Kerei saluted the weasel with his rudder tail.

"I shall be seeing you again, vermin. Next time, I shan't go easy on you!"

Heltor said nothing, he glared at his fiend as blood from his snout trickled down. In the aftermath of the battle, Riean found Balqan and Mul, dead. Both lying in pool of their own blood.

"Take a few rats and bury Balqan," he ordered.

"What about the squirrel?" asked Vaynos.

"What about him? Do as you like with it," he said in cold, heartless tone of voice.

Nikolas woke up in one of the beds in the infirmary, he sprang to life in a panic, trying to find his sword.

"Sword! Where's the sword?!" he questioned.

"It's right, here, Nikolas," said Mavellous, "right here by you."

"Oh, well, we did it. Captain Wendell and I were able to cripple some of Riean's forces and…. and we're the prisoners freed?" he asked.

"They were, Nikolas," answered Mavellous.

"Who freed them?"

Commander Mavellous looked to Trussa and to Abbess Winry. "We will discuss that later, right now, the important thing is, is that you and the Hytar Rangers succeeded, but this is far from over. Looks like you've got some more training to do."

"Hm, yeah. The last thing I did was battle Riean's pet, the tree rat. It was difficult to keep going, that one is ferocious with that tiny dagger."

"Well, at least you are safe and sound back here in Redwall, and we were the ones who suffered the smallest in casualties," said Abbess Winry. Nikolas slowly got up from his bed. He stumbled for a brief moment, stood up straight.

"Are you sure you can walk, Nik?" Trussa asked in a concerned voice.

"I am sure, we need to plan our next move, like you said, commander. This is far from over."

Four weeks had gone by in the blink of an eye, Riean sighed heavily, sitting on a stump, right near Balqan's grave. He heard a nearby twig snap. The stoat lord sprang to his footpaws and his paw shot to his sword handle. The hooded creature raised their paws in surrender.

"I am an ally," the voice sounded feminine, "Empress Tamial sent me here."

"Who is that and who are you?" he questioned, still holding his sword hilt. The creature removed her hood and the face of a young and fair ottermaid stood before the stoat.

"Like I said, an ally. My master, has sent me here to assist you in your war against the Redwallers. She suggested I be your spy."

Riean relaxed himself and smiled at the maid.

"Right, but before you can become apart of my horde. I need to speak to your master, see if you're a Redwall spy."

"My master lives on Marlfox Island in Castle Sael. It's a four week trip straight to the place. Are you sure you want to travel that far?"

"I'm positive, otter," said Riean, "if your master wants you to work for me, then I must strike a deal with her."

"As you wish," said the ottermaid.

"I did not get your name, what is it?" Riean asked.

"My name is Ciristra,” the otter answered.