Part One[]
Bragoon opened his eyes. He was in a deep stream, with fish all around him, and the current slowly pulling him to the right. He looked at his paws. They were a dark brown, not as he had remembered them last time he saw them. He pushed up from the bottom of the river, submerging and shaking his head to get the water away from his eyes. He yawned as he walked up from the rocky bed to the beach, finding a dry tunic, towel, his belt, cloak, dagger, and staff.
He quickly stripped himself of his wet clothing and taking the towel, dried himself. He then slipped on his tunic, buckled his belt, buttoned on his cloak, slipped his dagger into his belt, and grabbed his staff. He got the water out of his ears with his towel and listened to some birds chirping in the distance. It was so quiet, so peaceful. This isn't Mossflower, he thought to himself.
Bragoon called out to his lifelong friend and companion, Sarobando the squirrel. "Aye, Saro, matey, are ye here??"
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Saro slowly woke. She was in a hammock, in what appeared to be a beech tree. Warm shafts of sunlight gently touched her face, and she stretched her paws and went to scratch her back, only to find that she was scratching her soft light brown back fur.
She snapped her neck around, looking for her tunic, also finding that when she rose from the hammock and onto a limb of the tree, her back didn't ache like it usually would have, and her whiskers weren't as long and droopy as she remembered them.
Bragoon! she roared in her head, cursing under her breath. He's playing some sort of sick joke on me! What if somebeast saw her? What if one of them creepy vermin types found her? She didn't have her staff, or dagger, or anything! That blasted riverdog!
She darted into the thickest branches of the tree. Making sure the coast was clear, she leaped from the beech to an ash. She made herself as small as possible, and slid between two sturdy branches, only to find a basket on the end of the one two her right.
She unhooked it, opening it. She found a dark blue tunic, her jetstone and brass talisman that she was given when she left Redwall, her cloak, and her dagger. She quickly slipped on her tunic and cloak, put on her talisman, and shoved her dagger into her belt. She heard a beast calling her name. It sounded like Bragoon. She jumped down from the tree, keeping her paw close to her dagger, and followed her ears to the source of the voice.