A Fanfiction by Logalog Nombolo aka Slagar[]
Intro[]
"Grampa, grampa, i can't get to sleep!", Ferras, the old gate keeper sighed. This happened every night. "you can't get too sleep? How surprising. Oh well, How would you like me too read you a bed time story?", they all nodded. It was a great day that day, the sun was in the sky, the birds singing. They all had to work in the Orchard that day, everyone was tired. "Okay, last one. You've wanted me too read this, children. Am i right?" They all nodded again. A tiny mouse giggled, but was glared at by a fellow babe. "Once upon a time..."
Chapter 1: The Joining of Friends[]
Dawn awakened mossflower from its sleep as light creeped throw the trees. A young mousemaid is collecting berries when a handsome mouse walks over to her. "Hey there!" The mouse, Ratthias, smiled. His armour gleaming in the early sunlight. "Hi." The mousemaid grins, "So what is a nice fellow like you, doing in this part of the woods?" Ratthias shrugs. "I'm just wandering really..." The mousemaid grins again, "Cool, I'm doing the same thing, just enjoying the sounds of nature" Ratthias nods and grins. "What’s your name?" Grins back, "The name is Alyssa. Alyssa McClure" Ratthias bows, showing the bow on his back. "I am Ratthias The Warrior." She smiles, "Nice name, Ratthias, are you related to anyone that’s famous?" Ratthias chuckled, “Martin II is my grandfather!" Alyssa grins “Really, that’s cool” Ratthias nods, “Aye, are you related to anyone famous?”
Suddenly, a fox, a hare & a ferret come out of nowhere to meet Ratthias. Alyssa looks to them and waves “Hello!” The ferret ignores the wave “Hi, I am...related too Swartt six-claw, by the way.” Clutch bows to Swartt II, “Nice to meet ya. Mah father was Slagar the Cruel.” Hector bows also. “I'm son of Hortwill Longblade Braebuck.” Hector then does a backflip for no reason. Swartt does a sly grin “Oh really? Nice to know...And so, you’re a hare?” Hector nods. “I’m a hare alright! Nice to meet ya sah! Hector the Fool and Foot Fighter, at your service, wot!" Swartt The Second nods,“I don't really... get along with hares or badgers...” Hector's ear twitches and he frowns, clearly offended. “Then o'le chap you'll just haf’ta get used to me! Swartt Sighs “Might as well...I’ll make an exception this time” Hector grins and does a summer sault. Clutch looks around the clearing, his gaze resting on Ratthias. Swartt catches a glimpse of a rat “Hello, rat. What’s your name?” Clutch blinks, thinking he was talking to him. “I’m a fox and Ratthias here is a mouse. Swartt sighs “I was talking to someone else” Suddenly they all spot the rat sitting at a fire. Hector twitches his ear in confusion. ”Well isn’t he an unexpected guest, wot wot?” The rat ignores all of the, only muttering about armies from the east and err, ducks. A Dark figure is standing somewhere nearby, between two trees, waiting to see what the rat does. Slowly, Clutch grabs his knife from his belt and slowly raises it, in case the rat is a foe. Ratthias unsheathes the sword of Martin. The rat looks around the place, clearly blind but wise. His ancient lips moved like a gold fish out of water, “I am Shadowlake, not nice not meet ya.”
Meanwhile
Crack! Splinters went flying as lightning hit the deck of the SeaAxe. Some unfortunate crew members got slayed by the mini spears, their bodies flung about by the violent sea. Emperor Zorfang Bloodclaw smiled as he heard the pleas of the slaves working on deck, begging for a quick death. Looking out to sea, he observed his other forty-nine ships behind his ship. His goal: To become ruler of Mossflower, for he had been told much good things about that place. The warm sun, places made out of gold and jewels & that Abbey which is full of old, weak woodlanders. He called for his commander, ‘’Grubber, any sign of land zet?’’ Dripping wet, Grubber came down a ladder, ‘’Aye mah lord of the war’tahs, sand dunes ‘ave been sighted a few moments ago, lord of life an-‘’ ‘’Alright, prepare for land!’’
Back to the heroes!
Hector stares at the rat, “Friend or foe?” “I’m a friend, you silly hare!” Ratthias sheathes his sword, but Clutch keeps his knife in his throwing paw. However, Clutch suddenly spots his sister, Salem, and quickly puts it away. She freezes and looks him in the eye, “Clutch?” He nods, “Salem?” “What?” “Is that you?” “Aye, it is, brother.” Clutch grins and comes into the clearing. No need to stay in the forest! Salem steps out of the trees and joins her long lost brother, Clutch. He grins. “What’s going on here?” asks his sister. Clutch shrugs, “The hare followed me here, and Ratthias was already here when I arrived.” Hector snorts. “And what about the ferret over there?” Salem shrugs and leans against a tree. “Oh, Swartt is a friend, don’t worry about him…yet” Clutch says and Hector nods in agreement. Shadowlake ignores the reunion, “You’re all in great danger, aye, all of you!” He points at all of them with a shaky paw. Hector's eyes widen when he hears the words of the rat, but Swartt doesn’t take it seriously. “Yeah, right…Umm, these are my friends, Ratthias the Warrior and Clutch the Cr-” Just then Hector buts in, “What kind of danger, o'le thing, o’le chap?” Swartt rolls his eyes, “My question is why is he telling us this?” “That, does not matter; the armies of Zasara are coming from the east with an invasion force which would wipe you all out!” declares Shadowlake. Hector's eyes narrow, his pride slightly hurt, “No jolly o'le army are gonna kill me, sah! I'm the best foot fighter from Salamandastron!” Shadowlake just nods at this. An awkward silence fills the air, but once again the old rat speaks, “Vermin and woodlander all need to join forces, to destroy this fret for the army is many!” Clutch gives a low growl. “I'm a vermin and those two are woodlanders” He points at Hector and Ratthias, “and we've already joined forces!” At this Hector and Ratthias nod in agreement. “I could make mah jolly o'le way back to Salamandastron and fetch us some more fighters, wot wot!” Hector suggests. Shadowlake nods and speaks, “Aye, but many vermin still kill Woodlanders, and that is an issue. We need warlords this time, experts in the way of war!” Hector thinks for a moment. “Warlords... Ah! That would be me o'le friend Lightningstrike, leader o' Salamandastron!” Swartt II nods, “And me, I class myself as a warlord.” Ratthias razes his sword. “I am.” Clutch draws his sword “I am also a warlord!” Hector gazes around the clearing. “Umm, I’m head of the foot fighting team!” Shadowlake chuckles, “Hares are always brave, unlike some vermin. The only issue about them is that they eat too much! But I’m sure you can sort that out.” Hector nods and grins and stops to eat. Just then, Haden, another hare, comes into the clearing panting and grins at the food. “What jolly o’le feast ‘ave I missed?” Swartt sighs, “You’ve missed no feast. Anyway, anybeast know where we’re going now?” Haden twitches his ear, “We’re goin’ to Redwall!” The two hares then gulp down two whole deeper-then-ever-pies from their big bag of rations. “Go to Loamhedge and look for the riddle in stone...” Shadowlake whispers these words and then disappears, without a paw print or trace. The hares blink and rub their eyes, confused. “Okay, where did the rat go?” Swartt asks. “Let’s go to Redwall now!” says Haden and Hector as they leap up from their picnic. “I’ll get my horde then, I’ll be back in a few days.” Swartt leaves the clearing with two body guards who seem to have materialised out of thin air. Clutch looks up. “I'll go and get mine as well!” He packs up his provisions and leaves the clearing, heading for the Northland Mountains.
Chapter 2: A Stoat with Morales[]
Clutch was in a good mood. He didn’t know why, but he was, and this frustrated him. He growled at himself, trying to think of what it was that put him in such a good mood. “Maybe I’m not in a good mo-” Suddenly an elderly hedgehog comes jumping out of the trees yelling ‘DIEEEE!’ and starts throwing sticks, acorns and bark at Clutch. “Evil insane foxes should all DIEEE!” Clutch growls as he dodges the projectiles, “I’m not insane, you fool, you are!” The old hedgehog starts taunting Clutch, “Ha ha ha, twiddle tail, snippety whiskers!” Clutch blinks, grabbing his knife, “You’ll regret this if you continue grandpa!” “Don't make me call you grandson!” A nearby rabbit shouts to Clutch, “Ignore him, he's mad!” Clutch growls and throws his knife at the crazy old hedgehog, perfectly pinning him to a tree by his neck. He grins evilly, “Stupid old fool and you’ll be next if you bother me, rabbet!” The rabbit hides in his hole quickly. Clutch grins and pulls his knife from the old one’s neck. He wipes the blood off his knife and shoves it back in his belt. An hour later his horde came into view. It was a standard horde, with rats, weasels, ferrets, stoats and the odd fox. The only exception was Clutch’s general, Grolemat, who was a polecat. Grolemat saw Clutch approaching so he got of the log he was sitting on and gave him a steaming roasted wood pigeon cooked with water cress and sage and a flagon of seaweed grog. “Welcome back cap’n Clutch!” Clutch eats and drinks the food like a starving wolf. Soon he was sitting on a comfy mossy log picking his teeth, feeling very full. He then beckons Grolemat over. “When is mah crew ready to set off?” “Any time you want cap’n.” “Gud! We set of now!” Clutch growls and grabs his knife in case someone disagrees. “Aye aye, cap’n!” Roars the crew as they set off.
At dawn break Clutch and his horde finally stop at Redwall. “Ahoy, I'm back wid mah horde!” Swartt arrives too, with an army of stoats, weasels, ferrets and minks. “Welcome back, Clutch” Grinning evilly, he replies, “Why, thank you.” Hector and Haden bounce out suddenly, both with big pikes swishing in front of them. Then Ratthias walks out with Raybeck and Raybark, who were warriors with a good reputation. The warriors and warlords then go back to the clearing they were at earlier and made a camp. Suddenly, while they were all getting comfy, a harsh ‘SNAP’ came from the forest. A moment later a large stoat walks out of the forest. Clutch spots the stoat and grabs his knife, holding it in his throwing paw. “Are ye a friend or foe?” The stoat looks to him “Depends on who I am speaking to.” “Clutch the Cruel, son of Slagar the Cruel, leader of the vermin crew Jadus!” “A vermin crew, eh? Well I do not mean to harm ye unless ye wish to harm me or others. Ah, well then. I am Corbus Quick-Blade. A pleasure to meet ye, matey." Ratthias gets up to meet Corbus and beckons him to their fire. “It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Corbus, I'm Ratthias the Warrior.” He holds out his paw and Corbus shakes it gratefully. “Ah, thank ye for letting me into your camp, but I’m afraid I’ll be going soon, so I’ll only be here for a bit.” Ratthias smiles, “We don’t mind, anyway, this is my son and my grandson” He points to Raybeck, his son, and Raybark, his grandson, and they also hold out their paws. Corbus suddenly looked sad at the mention of family. "Ah, don't have a family of my own sadly enough. At least no longer" He then brightens up and shakes their paws also. Hector does a back flip and lands in front of Corbus, “Well, as everybeast is doin’ introduction’s, I'm Hector the Fool, captain of the Salamandastron foot fighting team. And this young chap right here would be me son, Haden the Fool.” Haden does a cartwheel and lands in front of Corbus as well. “Nice to jolly flippin' meet ya sah, wot!” Hector and Haden throw out their paws. Corbus shakes their paws also, "Well ye seem to be the friendly bunch" “Aye, especially these hares!” Clutch growls. “They can’t stop grinnin’!” Haden and Hector grin at this comment and Ratthias walks up to Corbus to whisper in his ear, “Be careful of Clutch, he's not very friendly and he likes to wait a bit before killing creatures.” Swartt over hears and nods in agreement. Clutch thrusts his knife back into his belt. "Well, Clutch, I’m glad ye didn't try to kill me like most would. I'm not exactly the most favored vermin around." Swartt nods again in agreement. “I’ve ‘eard about ye Corbus, ye meant to ‘ave gone soft.” "Ah I see. And I have not gone soft, I just have morals." Clutch's eyes turn cold. He grabs his knife and throws it at Swartt, pinning him to a tree by his left paw. "I see what ye mean, Ratthias.” Swartt grabs the knife and pulls it out of his paw, yells in pain, and then throws it at the ground and draws his Claymore and spiked mace on chain “You’ll pay for da blood dat ye ‘ave drawn!” Clutch raises a paw. He was wearing gloves with steel spikes on the knuckles and in his other paw was a bronze Cutlass for distance. “You want this, Swarttie?” “Aye, ye coward!” Swartt rushes forward, mace swinging in front of him and Claymore aiming at Clutch’s stomach. Clutch blocks the sword with his own Cutlass and dodges the mace. “Is that all ye’ve got?” Furious, Swartt knocks Clutch’s sword out of his grasp with a loud ‘CLANG’. Clutch growls at the pain of his vibrating paw but then recovers quickly, throwing a punch at Swartt’s injured paw. Swartt sees the move and is about to cut Clutch’s paw off when Ratthias’s sword blocked both attacks. Clutch’s spiked paw hit dead center the sword and Swartt’s Claymore clanged against the legendary steel. Ratthias was too angry to register the numb pain in his paws. “All this fighting among each over is foolish! I won’t let you continue this unnecessary fight!” He turned to Corbus, looking apologetic, “Forgive them, Clutch is rather defensive about the people he likes, and Swartt likes any opportunity to fight.” Corbus smiled, “Nah, no worries. I was like them once, most of us were.” Ratthias smiled too, “Yes, I remember how I was. I used to get angry very easily, but I grew out of it very quickly. Anyway, Corbus, when will you be leaving?” “After I’ve finished this lovely stew, what did ye put in it?” “A lot of carrots, cabbage, acorns and wild mushrooms.” “It’s great! Are all people from Redwall good at cooking?” “No, some can burn a salad.” “Ha ha ha, well, I’ve been filled and the stew is finished, so I’ll be a going. Thank you for your hospitality, and if we meet again, I’ll be glad to help in any way!” “Thank you! Live long and let your tail grow longer!”
The next day they set off. Swartt and his horde were headed for Loamhedge far south, while Ratthias and Hector went to get more troops at Salamandastron. Clutch waited for Ratthias and Hector at the camp but when they got back, they speed marched to Loamhedge, hoping to catch up with Swartt.
Chapter 3: Loamhedge's riddled rock[]
Swartt II is marching past when he sees a squirrel on the floor with a dagger in her back. He stares at her, then grins, maybe this young squirrel knew the way to Loamhedge! “Sackig, Wartongue! Make camp an’ take care of dis tree-mouse. She may become useful!” In a few moments all tents were erected and Sackig gets to work with his patient. He pulls out the dagger, then cleans the wound with herbs and vinegar. “Oi, Sacky, are yew keepin’ dis dagger?” Sackig looks up to see Wartongue skillfully tossing the dagger in the air and catching it. Sackig glares at him, “Yew can keep it, as long as yew ‘elp me with dis un’!” Wartongue lets the dagger drop to the table with a thud as it embedded it’s self into the wood. “Fine, what yew want me to do?” “Get lord Swartt. I’m goin’ to awaken ‘er.” Mockingly, Wartounge bowed. “Aye aye, capt’n! Anythin’ else yew want me to do, capt’n?” Sackig glares again at the younger weasel, “Go chase yer sad excuse for a tail somewhere outta my sight!” A few seconds later Swartt comes into the tent. “Wake ‘er.” Sackig gets a bucket of water and tips the whole thing on to her head. She gasps as she awakes and then quickly looked around in her new surroundings. There was a tall, thin weasel with a bucket and an even taller and muscular armored ferret with a scar going from his left eye to his chin. The armored ferret gave her something to drink. She stared at it. “This, is blackberry wine, very warming.” She sipped it, then nodded in satisfaction. “Where am I?” “You’re in our camp” “What happened?” “You got stabbed in the back.”