User blog:Heather the dragon rider/Defenders of Redwall (old)

Dedication
To everybeast on this wiki, you've all inspired me to keep writing, and for just being awesome!!! ^^ Also to Cressida Cowell, because she has inspired me so much as well. I'm sure if she was to read this, she would like my Hiccup. XD

Author's note
I just can't wait any longer, I have to do this! XP Now don't worry, this doesn't mean that I'm abandoning Outlaws of Mossflower at all. I will be working on both at once, which is actually what I have been doing, I just didn't publish any of it until now. ;P

So anyways, this is the first book of my trilogy, A Hero's Journey. So if something doesn't make sense in this story and seems out of place or unresolved, remember it will all come together later. ;) I really hope it will be better than Outlaws, and it should be, as I did not plan Outlaws very well, but I am planning very hard for this one. You can probably expect more illustrations in here than in OoM. I just looove drawing these characters. XD There also might be more songs and poetry. Hopefully. ;)

If you are an HTTYD fan, you will recognize some of the ideas and characters. But don't worry, it's not gonna be like the whole movie but with animals instead of humans, I've tried my best not to do that. XP I'm actually using ideas from both the franchise and the books, and other franchises as well. There's even a part a little inspired by Big Hero 6. XD '''Please let me know if you want updates! :)''' I am also trying to put together a soundtrack, so watch for that soon! (thanks Sayna for the idea XD) So, without further ado...

"I tell the mighty big Blue Whale His life is over soon,

With one swish of this armored tail,

I put out the sun and moon.

The winds and gales are quivering,

When I begin to roar,

The waves themselves are shivering,

And trembling back to shore.

Once I set the sea alight

With a single fiery breath,

Once I was so mighty that I thought

My name was Death.

Sing out loud until you're eaten,

Song of melancholy bliss,

For the mighty and the middling,

All shall come to this..."

From 'The Supper's Song', by Cressida Cowell ;P

Prologue
Grunting with exertion, Errol heaved himself up into the tunnel opening. The strong mouse warrior turned and helped his friend, an otter, into the tunnel with him. Stopping to catch their breaths after the long climb, the two looked over the edge down at the small dots moving around on the ground that were the other creatures waiting for them.

"Whew, that was a long climb up the tallest cliff I've ever seen, weren't it? I don't know how I ever made it. Otters weren't made fer climbin' y'know." said the otter, wiping sweat off his brow.

"Aye, lucky those grappling hooks held to the rocks."said Errol, running a paw through his shaggy, windblown headfur. "Anyways, let's hurry up and grab that sword and get back down there, so the others don't start to worry. Remember, go quietly."

The otter and the mouse ventured cautiously and quietly into the blackness, Errol carrying a lit torch. The tunnel seemed to be pretty long. As they walked, Errol began to get a bit anxious, something very rare for him. What if they didn't get the sword? What would Redwall do without it? And what if they needed him while he was gone? Errol didn't normally worry so much, but he didn't really like leaving the Abbey unprotected. He didn't need to worry about his son, however, he had left him in the care of his best friend and adoptive brother, Spikelout.

For a minute, the tough warrior let his concentration to be distracted, thinking about his little son. A lot of beasts couldn't believe that he was the son of the Warrior, and thought he was a little weird, but Errol was sure that by the time he was ten, he would be big and strong like his father, and as good at swordfighting. He was only seven seasons old, anyway, and could have a sudden growth spurt any time. Hopefully.

Thinking of all this made him think of how he had gotten here in the first place. He remembered back to the day when Redwall had suddenly been attacked by fire from the sky. After getting the Dibbuns and oldbeasts in Cavern Hole, Errol and the other warriors had looked up to see a huge creature, flying above the Abbey like a humongous bird of death. It was nothing they had ever seen the like of before, but had only heard stories about. Errol hadn't even thought they were real.There had been a fierce but short battle, which ended in the monster knocking the Sword of Martin out of Errol's paw, grabbing it, and flying off north. Not even an hour after, Errol had set off to chase the beast with a few of Redwall's best able-bodied creatures. The Abbot told him not to go, and surprisingly, Spikelout had refused to go, as he thought it was too crazy, so Errol had left him in charge of his son. He was sure he and Spikelout's own boy would get along great and have fun training together. And someday, Errol would hand his position as Abbey Warrior over to him. But first... he snapped back to the present. He would need to get the sword and bring it back safely to Redwall. That was all. Simple, really, he reassured himself.

The two warriors in the tunnel could hear a rumbling sound, which, as they drew nearer, got louder, and soon they identified it as snoring. They came around a last bend, and suddenly it was a lot brighter, the torch reflecting off all the metal and precious jewels in the cave. They both gasped. The huge cavern was so covered in treasure, they couldn't see the rock floor, and there, in the middle, on top of the pile, lay the monster. Its red scaled chest moved up and down in its sleep, and its head was curled under one enormous wing.

Errol and his otter friend, after recovering from their shock, began picking their way across the treasure pile, careful not to make any noise. Though he pressed himself against the wall and tried to keep his distance from the sleeping creature, once he was in front of its head, he could feel the breeze from when it exhaled. It was truly terrifying, especially when Errol accidentally slipped and clunked a sword against and axe. He froze.

The great reptile's eyelid flickered, and the rumbling quieted for a heart-stopping moment, then continued, though perhaps not as steadily as before. Errol breathed a silent sigh of relief, and continued until he came to the summit of one of the piles. Checking to make sure the monster was still asleep, he looked all around the cave, scanning it carefully, until he spotted what he was looking for. There, on a ledge of rock, reflecting the torchlight grandly, was the Sword of Martin! He went cautiously over to it and picked it up.

Here it was! That was easy! Holding the Sword, Errol felt like the Warrior of Redwall once again. Then he looked around at all the other treasure in the cave, as if he hadn't noticed it before. He put the sword back where it belonged, in its sheath on his back, then made his way back to the tunnel opening.

"Got it!" he whispered to the otter.

"Then let's go!" he said.

"No, wait!" said Errol. "Let's grab as much treasure as we can! The monster will never notice."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, we just came for what's ours..."

"Sure, but since we're here, and we have the chance, we might as well. Come on, Randy." He began to pick up beautiful daggers, goblets, brooches, and jewels, and soon Randy gave in and did the same. They were so absorbed in stuffing their pockets with precious stones and sticking ornate knives in their belts, they did not notice that the snoring had stopped.

The large yellow eyes snapped open, and slowly, the huge head lifted up. Suddenly, the intruders were startled by an earsplitting roar. They dropped their treasures in fright, and looked up to see the head of the creature just a few yards above them.

"Try to ssssteal my ssword, would you?" it hissed. Errol drew the Sword.

"It is not your sword, it belongs to Redwall!" he said boldly.

The reptile attempted to grab the sword from him, but Errol slashed it across the face. It only left a shallow mark in the thick, tough scale of the lizard's face, however, and bounced back.

"Randy, run!" shouted Errol. "I'll hold him off as long as I can, then I'll follow! Get the other creatures to safety!" The otter obediently ran towards the tunnel, but was stopped abruptly by a large arrow-shaped tail tip which blocked it. The lizard reared its head back, and Errol realized what it was doing just in time, throwing himself out of the way of the fire.

He got back up, looking for another way of escape, but it was plain to see there was none. He sighed, then charged, yelling, "Redwaaaaalll!"

He was prepared to go down fighting.

Chapter 1: An Unlikely Hero
''It's nice out here today, at least, much nicer than being in the kitchen all day. The Friar said he doesn't need me at the moment, but I think it's just because he's tired of me dropping and breaking and spilling stuff. I'm tired of it too. But at least when i'm writing, I don't make too many mistakes. Anyway, back to the nice day. It's sunny and warm, with a slight breeze though. A lot of other creatures are swimming in the pond already, but only the otters and others who are crazy enough. Which would not include me. That water is freezing. I'd much rather sit under this tree and write, thank you. And not get splashed. Tuffpaw just did a cannonball and nearly splashed me. [large ink splatter] Stupid ink. I knew I shouldn't use ink. It always somehow manages to get everywhere. This time it's 'cause Dewrose tripped over me. I'm not the only one who trips on my footpaws around here. Well... yeah, she was tripping on mine... My ears are ringing now. She's a pretty loud yeller, especially when she's angry at me. How can somebeast so pretty be so grumpy and short-tempered all the time? Oh well... Ugh, this time Ruff tried splashing me. Almost got me. Seriously, the last thing I need right now is another ruined notebook. The last one... well, that taught me not to write while sitting in a tree that hangs over the pond. But thi-''

Hiccup slammed his journal closed and covered it with his paws just in time, as water came raining down onto him. Two squirrels resurfaced in the pond, high-pawing each other.

"That's what I call teamwork!" yelled one of them.

"Yeah, why haven't we thought of doing it at the same time before?" said the squirrelmaid. "Two of us make one big awesome splash! Did we get ya, Hiccup?"

The young mouse glared at them. "Uh, yeah."

The twins ran off, laughing. Hiccup opened his book again. It had only gotten a couple drops of water on the front, it was fine. He picked up his charcoal pencil this time, and was about to start writing again, when a huge wave cascaded over him, soaking him. He looked up from his soggy book to see a muscly young hedgehog come dripping out of the pond, saying,

"Ha! Gotcha! Time for sword practice, freckles." he walked off.

Hiccup frowned. Great, he thought sarcastically, My favorite time of day. He also didn't exactly like being called 'freckles', though he was of course used to it. He rolled his eyes and looked at his book, which was sopping wet. He got up and walked off, checking to make sure it wasn't too damaged. He was so distracted doing this that he did not look where he was going, and walked right smack into a mole about his age, who screamed and dropped his own book.

"W-woops, sorry, Grublegs!" Hiccup apologized, picking up the book and handing it to him. It was titled Unusual Creatures.

"Burr, et bee's aroight," said Grublegs. "You'm just scared ee heck outa oi, 'cause oi was just readin' 'bout ee floyin' crittur what sukks ee bludd." He buried his snout in his book again and continued on his way.

Hiccup went up to the walltop and spread his wet book out to dry in the sun. Then he went back down, to an area nearby the pond. Waiting there were Snotspike and another older hedgehog who looked much like him.

The latter tossed Hiccup a sword, saying, "There ye are, Hiccup. What took ye so long?" Without waiting for an answer, he said, "Alright, let's see how much ye remember from yesterday's lesson. Ready? Fight!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes a little. Spikelout was a great warrior and everything, but he wasn't much of a teacher. Pretty much all he did was give the two of them swords and tell them to start fighting, giving tips and hints along the way. Besides that, Hiccup didn't really like sword practice, only because he was so clumsy at it. For some reason, the sword just didn't feel right in his paw, no matter what. He knew what he was supposed to do, and how to do it, but somehow he just couldn't.

After about a half hour of Snotspike disarming him again and again, and Spikelout telling Hiccup to do this, hold it that way, over and over, he was fed up.



Snotspike knocked the sword right out of his paw again, with an unbearable smirk. "Oh, come on, spots, can't ya do better than that?"

"I-I-I-I... can't..." frustrated, Hiccup turned and walked off angrily. Miserably, he sat down under an apple tree in the orchard, where there was nobeast near. He buried his face in his paws and sighed. Why did he have to be like this?

To tell the truth, he was not much to look at. He was skinny and way undersized for his age, though nobeast knew why. He had reddish fur, very red headfur, and dark brown freckles on his face that everybeast tended to think looked silly, rather large ears, and was clumsy and bad at pretty much everything. He also had a stammer, so he tried not to speak unless necessary. And to top all this, he was the son of the Abbey Warrior. He would never be able to succeed his father like this, he thought.

After a bit, Hiccup felt a rough paw on his shoulder and looked up. It was Spikelout. He sat down beside the young mouse.

"Hiccup," he said, as kindly as he could, "Do you know why I keep training you in swordfighting?"

Hiccup shrugged. "'C-cause... you think I'll g-get better."

"Because I promised to." Spikelout answered. "Before your father left on that ridiculous quest, I promised him that I would take care of you for him, and train you well in being a warrior. I promised because I love my brother. I've done my best, these eight seasons, and, though you might not have noticed, you are improving."

"Really?" said Hiccup, looking a bit more hopeful.

"A... little." added Spikelout, trying to be nice. He sighed. "But I wonder... if you ever will get to be the Warrior."

Hiccup's face fell again. "W-what do you mean?"

"We still don't have the Sword. We can't really have the Warrior without the Sword of Martin. After all these seasons without it, I have a feeling that danger will come to Redwall soon, and when it does, we're going to need the Sword, and the chosen Warrior to wield it." he looked a bit sad. "Errol still hasn't come back, and sometimes I wonder if he ever will. I told him chasing after that monster with that few creatures was a bad idea, but of course, he never listens to anybeast."

"Of-of course he'll come back." said Hiccup, looking determined. "H-he... has to." For some reason, no matter what anybeast said or thought, he had always felt that his father would return. Even though he was only seven when it had happened, he still felt pretty sure about it.

A bell rang, and Spikelout stood up, slapping Hiccup on the back. "Well, time for lunch. Come on!" He walked off in the direction of the Abbey building, leaving Hiccup still sitting in the shade of the apple tree. The young mouse sighed and followed the hedgehog.

Looking around the table, Hiccup finally found an empty spot and sat down, to find himself right between Grublegs and Ruffpaw. Abbot Edric, a wise old vole, began to speak, and Hiccup nudged Grublegs, who was still reading his book with a nervous expression. The tubby mole squeaked slightly, startled, then closed his book rather reluctantly.

After the Abbot had finished saying grace, Hiccup began to eat a little, but he didn't really feel like it. The problem was, he didn't know what he did feel like doing. Not eating, not sword practice, not drawing, he didn't feel like doing anything right now, and he had no idea why. This just happened sometimes, for no apparent reason at all. He sighed, and set down the blueberry scone he had been nibbling. He suddenly began to feel drowsy. Maybe that was what he felt like doing right now, sleeping. That was really weird though, as he almost never fell asleep in the middle of the day. Whatever. He rested his head in his paws and closed his eyes.

Just a couple of minutes later, Grublegs looked up from his food, (his second favorite thing besides books) to watch as Hiccup got up, and walked over to the tapestry of Martin the Warrior.

"Hurr, whurr ee goin'?" asked the mole. Hiccup did not answer, but went and stood right in front of the picture of Martin. He appeared to be looking up at the brackets above the tapestry, where the sword was supposed to be.

By this time, all the attention in the Hall had been drawn to Hiccup, though he did not seem to mind or even notice. Even the squirrel twins stopped shoving candied fruit up each others' noses to watch as the small mouse began to speak.

"To retrieve something lost,

Six must leave Redwall,

Small and weak, unlikliest,

He will lead them all.

Rose of the morning,

She will go too,

And lover of books,

You know not what he can do.

Also the spiked one,

Strong but unkind,

And the twin paws,

Do not leave one behind.

Travel up north,

To an isle across the sea,

You must find the fire-lizard,

And bring back my sword for me.

Many lessons you will learn,

In becoming a warrior,

And creatures' trust you must earn,

Only then can you be a hero."

As he finished, Tuffpaw whispered loudly, "That's cool! What does it even mean?" Hiccup rubbed his eyes and looked around, bewildered and embarrassed at all the creatures staring at him.

"W-w-w-w... what? What h-happened?!" Suddenly everybeast in the Great Hall broke into chattering.

"It must be a message from Martin the Warrior!"

"Yeah, I've heard of him sending messages through creatures like that."

"But Hiccup? Why would he choose that little..."

"I thought it only happened to famous heroes and warriors."

"Is there danger coming to the Abbey?"

Ruffpaw was yelling, "Yeah, totally!" as a reply to everything, then turned to her brother. "Wait, what's even going on?" Clueless, Tuffpaw shrugged.

Abbot Edric waved his paws in an attempt to restore order. "Please be quiet, everybeast! Friends, please!"

That didn't work, so Spikelout stood up and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Quiet, everybeast!" He had a very loud voice, and soon, the whole room was relatively silent.

"Everybeast, please calm down." said the Abbot, "Continue with the meal." He looked at Hiccup, who was red in the face and had no clue what was going on. "Hiccup, you may sit back down. We will work this all out after lunch."

Still confused, Hiccup sat back down, trying to ignore the curious stares. Snotspike, who was sitting right across from him, stepped on his his footpaw under the table, whispering, "That's gotta be one of the weirdest things you've ever done, carrot-fur."

Hiccup suddenly felt hungry, and ate as Grublegs explained to him what had happened.

After the meal was finished, everybeast stayed, they were all so curious. "Alright, now we will try to figure this out, like sensible beasts." announced the Abbot. "First off, does anybeast even remember what it was Hiccup said?"

They all looked rather blankly at him, then at Hiccup, but then Grublegs saved the moment by holding up a piece of parchment.

"Hurr, oi wroited et daown, oi allwus got parchement 'n' charc'l. Do that 'elp ee?"

"Why thank you, Grublegs, that is very helpful!" said the Abbot, taking the paper the mole offered him. He cleared his throat, adjusted his glasses, then added, "But... I'm afraid I can't... read this very well..."

Grublegs' writing, besides being in mole, was rather sloppy, especially as he had been trying to get it down as quickly as he could. "Is anybeast else able to read this?"

Dewrose, a beautiful young mousemaid with bright blue eyes and a fierce look, took the paper. "I usually can... woah, Grublegs. Does this actually say anything, or were you just randomly scribbling? Sure looks like it was written by a Dibbun. Let's see..."

As she tried to decipher it, Grublegs could be heard saying, "To tell ee truth, sumtoimes oi carn't read moi own wroitin'."

After a little bit, Dewrose managed to read the poem that Hiccup had said. When she had finished, Hiccup was very confused. "I s-s-said all that?"

"Yeah, you did." she said, looking at him like he was crazy. "It was super weird. You didn't even stammer like you always do, and you looked like you were asleep or something. Most bizarre thing I've ever seen, even coming from you." She handed the paper back to Grublegs, muttering, "I always thought there was something wrong with him. Now I know."

"Wait, so what did that poem thingy mean, anyway?" asked Tuffpaw. "I don't get it."

"Good question, Tuffpaw." answered Abbot Edric. "Throughout the history of Redwall, Martin has sent many messages in the form of a riddle. Is anybeast here good at riddles?"

Before anybeast could answer, Spikelout said, "I suggest that anybeast who is good at riddles comes outside with us to solve it, and the rest of you go back to your jobs. If we all sit in here, nothing will ever get done."

"Good idea, Spikelout." said Abbot Edric, then added, "Don't worry, we'll let you all know about what we find. It's just easier if only a few of us work on it, to avoid confusion." Rather disappointed, but obedient, the Redwallers all began to get up and go back to whatever they needed to do, except for the ones picked out by Spikelout and Edric to help solve the riddle.

Chapter 2: Unraveling the Riddle
Far, far away from the Abbey full of puzzled beasts, far across the sea, in a cave in the middle of a mountain, something stirred. It lifted its head, sniffing the air. Some creature was in here, that didn't belong. A rat, in fact. Though it was nearly pitch black in the cave, the scaly beast could see him, pressed against the wall, not daring to breathe, hoping he would go unnoticed. He would not. The unfortunate rat did not even have time to wonder what was happening, as a blast of scorching fire hit him, killing him instantly.

Down below the cave entrance, in the trees, a single pair of curious bright green eyes watched as a monster with a satisfied look flew out of its tunnel, off towards the north. The owner of the eyes shouldered his coil of rope and started for the foot of the cliff, chuckling slightly.

><><

Hiccup, Spikelout, Abbot Edric, Grublegs, and several other Abbeybeasts sat down in the peace and shade of the orchard. Even Ruffpaw and Tuffpaw came, claiming they were good at solving riddles. Nobeast really thought they would be useful, but they let them come mostly to keep them out of trouble, which they were always getting into.

"Alright," said the Abbot, "Anybeast have some ideas...?" There was silence, as they all thought, then Grublegs said, "Hurr, Marthen ee Wurrier wants sumbeast to go get ee sword from ee monster what stoled it severul seasings eego. Eee says to go oop orth, to eee oisland, but oi bain't knowen which one. An' ee say six creaturs, but oi bain't knowen those either. Do that 'elp?"

Snotspike rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Oh yeah, very helpful, Grubby." he turned to Tuffpaw, who was sitting next to him. "Would you quit wiggling around?!"

Tuff was actually laughing and whispering secretively with his sister. "Hey, maybe the twin paws are us! I mean me and Ruff. We both have paw in our name, and we're twins! Get it? Haha! And lover of books could be Grublegs. He's always got his snout glued in a book!" he seemed to think he was pretty funny, but the Abbot was not very amused.

"Tuffpaw, if you don't have anything nice or helpful to say, please just be quiet."

"W-wait," Hiccup finally spoke up. "M-maybe he's right." Tuffpaw stopped laughing to himself.

"See? He knows I'm right!"

"I-I mean, it makes s-sense, right?" said Hiccup.

"Actually, yeah, it kinda does." Spikelout supported the idea. "I don't know about any of the other ones, though."

"I have them all figured out." said Ruffpaw, crossing her arms and trying to look her smartest. "If you wanna hear it. Usually everybeast's just tellin' me to be quiet, though." Edric sighed.

"Well, alright. If you think you've got it, let's hear it." Ruffpaw could tell he didn't really believe her, so she cleared her throat importantly and started, counting them off on her paws.

"Okay! So the six are Dewrose, she's the rose of the morning, Grublegs, he's the lover of books, Snotspike, 'cause he's spiky and strong but not very nice, and the twin paws are me and my brother, of course. Got 'em all! Bam!" she grinned, holding up five claws.

There was a strange moment of silence, then her brother pointed out, "Wait, isn't that... five?" She looked at her paws and counted again.

"Oh, oops! You're right! Who did I miss?" she thought for a minute, then held up a sixth claw. "Oh! 'Small and weak, unlikeliest" is totally Hiccup. There, see? I am good at riddles!"

They were all pretty amazed that Ruffpaw had solved it all, but when she mentioned Hiccup, everybeast stared at him, astounded. Snotspike was disgusted.

"What does the poem mean, 'he will lead them all'?! Hiccup shouldn't even be coming anyway! There must be some mistake!" Spikelout looked at his son sternly.

"Snotspike, give him a break. It's obviously because Hiccup is the heir to the Abbey Warrior, and anyway, Martin knows best. Maybe on this trip you boys will finally work together and become friends."

"Uh, maybe we should go get Dewrose and tell her that she's going." suggested Tuffpaw. "Wonder what she'll say."

"What?!" Dewrose exploded. "Are you sure you got that correct? Him?! No way!" Dewrose was known for having a terrible temper sometimes. She grabbed the squirrel by the front of his tunic roughly. "If this is another one of your pranks, I'll-"



Snotspike and Grublegs joined Ruff, Tuff, and Dewrose, with Hiccup a little ways behind, none of them looking very happy about the whole thing.

"Et not bee's ee prank this toime, Dooroze." said Grublegs. "Coom on, we'm still gotta figgur out ee rest of ee riddul."

A couple of minutes later, Dewrose was calmed down, but still not happy about it. "So we know who's going, but where are we going? Just 'travel up north to an isle across the sea' doesn't help much. Why can't we just get some straight instructions?!"

"Wait, oi amembers sumthin'!" Grublegs grabbed his book, Unusual Creatures. "In this yurr bukk, et says that ee foire lizard lives on ee oisland yurr! See?" Dewrose snatched the book from the mole, reading the paragraph he pointed to aloud.

"It says; "''I have never seen this fire-lizard, also called a dragon, myself, but I have heard tales from many a beast about him. They say he is like a huge red lizard, with wings and horns, and he breaths fire from his mouth. He is apparently the last of his kind, and has lived for at least a hundred years. They call him Torwin, meaning "Friend of the Thunder", and he loots treasure from creatures and stows it away in his cave on Torglenn Isle. I do not know if this is true, for I have not seen for myself, and I do not think I will actually believe it unless I see it myself. It seems possible, though.''" There's not really any more information on the island." finished Dewrose. "But maybe... who's this book by..." she looked in the front. "Maybe Richard Quillrunner, whoever he is, has another book that could tell us about it."

"Oi'll go lukk!" Grublegs got up and ran to the Gatehouse as fast as his short legs could carry him.

About half an hour later, he came out, flipping through a dusty book and sneezing. "Burr, Ah...chooey! Ee dust always makes oi... ah... ah.. chooey! Sneeze." He plopped himself down on the steps. "Well, yurr et bee's. Oislands in ee North Sea, boi ee same guy what wroited ee other one. Hurr, Riftgard... Stromberg... how do ee say thart... yurr et bee! Torglenn oisle!" There was a map, and directions to it as well.

"Yeah! Let's go!" yelled Tuffpaw, who seemed to be the only one the least bit exited about going on the adventure.

"B-b-but how do we get there?" asked Hiccup. "We d-don't have a ship or anything."

"Oh, don't worry about that fer now!" said Spikelout. "Something will turn up. I've been adventuring and questing for years, and it always does. Now let's get you kids ready to leave."

All six young Redwallers rolled their eyes in unison, as if to say, "Yeah, sure. It'll be great." and followed the older hedgehog.

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Early the next morning, having packed the provisions and things they would need for the journey, Hiccup and the other five chosen ones stood in the main gateway, saying goodbye.

Dewrose was looking a little irritated, as her parents kept telling her to be careful, and her little brothers were running around with sticks, pretending they were swords and whacking her and each other. Grublegs was getting a bit carried away and started crying a little, which of course did not help the others' moods. Ruffpaw and Tuffpaw had set up some rather destructive pranks inside, and were anxious to get going.

After talking with his son a bit and smacking him on the back encouragingly, Spikelout came over to where Hiccup was standing, waiting for the others to be ready to leave.

"Well, Hiccup." said Spikelout. "Take care of yourself out there, and don't forget that Martin has chosen you as the leader of this group. Make your father proud of you, boy. And... I also hope you find him, if he is still... alive." He slapped the young mouse on the back, a bit more gently than usual.

As Spikelout watched the group walk off down the path, away from the Abbey and everything they had ever known, he wondered if he was doing the right thing, letting Hiccup go. If Errol hadn't succeeded in bringing the sword back, how would this little runt do it? Had he just sent his beloved brother's only son and heir off to his death? He sighed, trying to reassure himself that if everything would not turn out right, Martin would not have sent him.

He took a last look at the backs of the young questers disappearing behind a bend, and turned back into Redwall, closing the gate behind him.

Chapter 3: On the Verge
Stating a little ways behind the rest of the group, Hiccup couldn't help wondering how this was going to work out. How was he supposed to be a leader?! He kicked a stone in the path. They would never listen to him, especially Snotspike and Dewrose.

Each of these two walked on opposite sides of the dusty path, arms crossed and keeping to themselves. Hiccup could tell they were both trying to ignore the fact that they had all been sent out on an important mission together. Grublegs was shuffling along rather slowly, as he was reading at the same time, and paid no attention to his surroundings. The twins were way ahead, messing around as usual, and singing a nonsensical ditty. They certainly did not appear to be very concerned.

"Nuts are nutty,

And so are we,

We are the nuttiest

Him and she!

Cuckoos are cuckoo,

But so are we,

Yeah we are the cuckooest

Her and he!"

It made no sense at all, but they sang it over and over, until Snotspike growled, "Would you guys quit that?!" The twins promptly stopped, with Ruffpaw muttering under her breath, "Sheesh! We're just tryin' to have some fun!" They walked on in cold silence for quite a while, none of them wanting to speak to each other.

Finally Grublegs spoke. "Urr, so... whurr exacktully bee's we'm goen'? Do we'm even got ee plan?" Snotspike stood still for a moment to think, causing Hiccup, who was behind him, to walk right into his spiked back.

"Hey, watch where you're going, clumsypaws!" snapped the young hedgehog. "I thought we had decided to go down the River Moss to the ocean, and then see what happens from there." he said, then added under his breath, "Though this whole idea is just dumb."

"No, I thought we were going across the flatlands." protested Dewrose, pointing a paw west. "Makes much more sense if we want to get to the sea."

"No way, following the river will be way faster." Snotspike argued. "We'll keep going this way." He continued up north on the path. Dewrose crossed her arms, obviously not happy with this.

"Nope. We're going across the flatlands. Come on, guys." she commanded, leaping across the ditch and starting west. Snotspike turned.

"Well, you can go that way if you want, but we're all going this way. So too bad for you." Dewrose was getting angrier by the second, and started to say, "You go stick your head in the river and inhale, you-" but Ruffpaw interrupted.

"Wait, wait, wait, guys. Isn't he supposed to be the leader and make the decisions?" she pointed at Hiccup, who didn't know what to do or say.

Tuffpaw snickered. "He sure isn't doing a good job!" Nobeast paid attention to him though, as all eyes came to rest on the small, freckle-furred mouse.

"So, which way bee's we'm all goen'?" asked Grublegs, trying to be nice. Grublegs was the closest thing to a friend Hiccup had ever had.

"Uh... uh..." poor Hiccup stammered. He swallowed, unsure of what to say. "Th-that way... I... g-guess..." He pointed vaguely toward the flatlands, shrugging a bit. He really didn't know which way would be better.

"Fine with me. Let's go." Dewrose said, marching off briskly in the direction he had indicated. The rest followed, Hiccup trying to ignore the irritated glare of Snotspike.

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That night, the questors set up camp nearby a stream on the plains. All around them, as far as they could see, was grass and colorful flowers. They could not even see the distant trees of Mossflower Woods anymore. Most of this beauty was lost on the travelers, however, as in the quickly fading light of dusk, the young Redwallers prepared to hit the proverbial sack.

"Mine!"

"No, mine!"

"I had it first!"

"Nuh-uh!"

The squirrel twins were fighting over a blanket.

"Here, you guys, one for each of you. Quit that." Dewrose handed Ruff a blanket, breaking up the fight.

"Shut yer traps!" grumbled Snotspike rudely from under his blanket. "I'm tryin' to get to sleep here!"

"Grublegs! Stop eating or we won't have any provisions left!" said Dewrose, snatching the food satchel from the tubby mole.

"But oi still bee's 'ungry!" he complained.

"We already had supper, and that's all you get until tomorrow morning." she told him, hiding the satchel under her pack.

Later in the night, when all the others were asleep, Hiccup wasn't. He lay awake, wondering how he was ever going to survive this trip. It was not going well at all, and this had only been the first day! Why was this happening to him? Why couldn't Martin have picked a better leader, like Dewrose or Snotspike? That sort of thing came naturally to them, but not him, despite him being the son of the Warrior.

He sighed heavily, then froze as he heard a rustling sound. He was afraid to move a muscle, as it could be anything scary in the middle of the night. But he forced his head to move and looked in the direction of the noise.

He breathed a sigh of relief. In the faint glow of the fire, he could see it was only Tuff, twitching his tail in his sleep and mumbling, "Give it back, it's my blanket..."

As Hiccup laid back down and tried once more to get to sleep, he suddenly felt like they had forgotten something. They had eaten, argued, stocked up the fire with wood, done all the things they needed to when camping, so why did he feel that something was missing? He couldn't quite place it. He did not have time to think about this further, though, as his eyes closed and he finally drifted into a deep sleep, worn out by the day's hike.

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The next morning, they woke up with the sun, and traveled all that day, and the next. The camping the second night was another awkward, unorganized affair. But on the third day of their journey, they at last spotted hills ahead, which were not covered in plants, so they figured they were sand dunes. They reached them by late afternoon.

"Ho urr!" said Grublegs in amazement. "That bee's ee lot o' sarnd!" Ruff pushed Tuff over, and he went rolling down the side of a dune. At the bottom, he sat up, spitting out 'sarnd'.

"That was great!" he yelled, so his sister rolled herself down the hill as well.

A while later, six exhausted, out of breath creatures emerged from the dunes. The loose, shifting sand was a lot harder to walk through than they had bargained for.

"Let's stop.. here..." Tuff panted, and fell flat on his face. They were all about to take his suggestion, when Dewrose pointed west.

"Look! The ocean!"

At first, Hiccup thought he was seeing just more sky, and couldn't figure out what she was talking about. Then he saw the line of the horizon, almost unnoticeable because both sky and water were the same beautiful blue. It was a lot for six young ones who had never seen the ocean or anything like it to take in. Grublegs was too astounded to say anything, Snotspike and Dewrose both stared but tried to act like they weren't, and even the twins quit throwing sand to look out at the vast blue expanse.

"Well, let's set up camp here." said Dewrose finally. "In the dunes a bit, though, to shelter us from this wind." It was pretty windy, and smelled wonderfully of brine and fish.

Once they had set up their camp behind the dunes, and the others started preparing dinner, Hiccup managed to sneak a little ways off with his books and charcoal. He wrote in his journal some, as he had each night of the journey so far, then began to sketch the landscape surrounding him. He loved drawing, it seemed to be the only thing he loved to do and was good at. No matter how many mistakes he made, he still enjoyed it, and it helped to relieve stress. He liked writing too, but when he drew, he felt like he was drawing all his cares out of his head and onto his papers, where they couldn't bother him for a few minutes, or as long as he was drawing. He could often become so immersed in it that he didn't hear anything around him, as he did now. Until, of course, he was snapped out of it by a pawful of sand in his face.

"Time to eat!" Tuff's voice said. Hiccup spit out some sand and shook it out of his headfur, something he figured he'd be doing for several days to come. He closed his sketchbook and headed back to the campsite.

As they ate, the six discussed their next move.

"But how are we going to get across the ocean?!" Dewrose said, exasperated.

"I don't know!" retorted Snotspike. "I have no idea how to get a ship! We'll just have to wait until something comes along! Y'know, if we had gone the other way, we could have asked the Guosim for a boat or something." he glared at Hiccup.

"Whatever! Too late now!" snapped Dewrose.

"I know!" suggested Tuff. "We could build one!" The glares were turned to him, and he tried to act like he hadn't said anything.

That night, Hiccup had the same feeling that something was missing, but he had no idea what. But he did his best to shake off the feeling, and eventually went to sleep.

Early the next morning though, while it was still mostly dark, Hiccup discovered what it was, the hard way. He was awoken by a net being thrown over him, and the sound of guttural voices. Still blurry-eyed from sleep, he had no idea what was happening, until he saw nets thrown on his companions as well, and they all began to be dragged away by toads. The others were all still sleeping, surprisingly, except for Hiccup, and Dewrose, who fought to get out, but only got herself more entangled. She growled.

"Glokk! Can't get us, furmouse!" laughed an extra ugly toad.

"Oh, just wait until I can!" she ground at them. "Then you'll be sorry you ever messed with me, uglymug!" That was when Hiccup realized what they had been forgetting; a sentry! Of course! They hadn't been posting a guard each night!

How could I have been so stupid? he thought, as the toads continued to drag them across the sand. Well, too late now...

Chapter 4: Dancin' on the Waves
Suddenly the whole fiasco was interrupted by a loud, bloodcurdling yell. "Yahahahaaarrrr!" Turning, the toads saw a tall, muscly, dark furred figure with a drawn sword running towards them, shouting, "Yahahaaarrr! Git out an' leave those beasts alone, ya ugly great globs o' mud!"

The surprised toads croaked in fright and dropped the netted prisoners, stampeding all over one another as they tried to hop away. A bright sword came and slashed through all the nets, freeing the captives. Now that he was closer, Hiccup could see that their rescuer was a strong, youngish sea otter, about in his twenties, with dark brown fur. He wore a blue tunic, boots, a headscarf, and a patch over his right eye.

When all the toads had run away, the otter came over to them, sheathing his sword on his back. He pulled Hiccup to his feet, and helped to get the last of a net off of Grublegs.

"Hey, mateys! Sorry 'bout th' toads. They often bothers travelers in these parts, good thing I were passin' by an' saw it. They're always afeared a me. Ya all okay?"

"Oh, yeah, we're fine, thank you." said Dewrose, brushing sand out of her fur. She turned on Hiccup. "But... I noticed we forgot something. We didn't post a sentry! You are supposed to be the leader, right? So why didn't you think of that?!"

"I-I-I... did, b-but..." he shrank back as she advanced on him, but the otter held her back.

"Woah, what's goin' on 'ere, mates? Fightin' ain't gonna help nothin'. Come on, let's innerduce ourselves first, an' ya can tell me what's goin' on. Okay?" Dewrose managed to get a hold of her temper, and introduced herself and the others.

"Good ta meetcha, mates!" he said, shaking each of their paws. "Me name's Skut Wavedeep, Terror a the Western Sea. At least, I'm a terror ta the vermin seascum who rob an' kill fer fun."

They told him all about how, seasons before, the sword had been stolen from Redwall, and now they had been sent on this mission and were trying to cross the ocean.

"Well now, think I can help ya wid that." he said cheerily when they had finished explaining. "I got me ship, the Wavedancer, an' I'd be glad ta take ya, I'm always ready fer a new adventure!" he looked at the map and directions they showed him. "Torglenn Isle, eh? I've heard tell a that place, never been there meself, though. So, it's a deal, then?"

They all nodded, and said, "Yeah!" He grinned, and led them to his ship.

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"Burr, oi bee's doyin'... Oi'll never see moi mum agin... Urrr..."

They had been sailing for a day now, and Grublegs was in complete misery. He wanted to 'die' in his bunk below decks, but Skut had him sitting out in the bow, saying the fresh air would help the seasickness go away. Tuff had laughed at the poor mole at first, but after hanging his head over the rail for a while, he now sat near him, with an empty stomach.

"Wimps." snorted Snotspike.

"Snotspike, even the most seasoned an' experienced sailors gets seasick sometimes." Skut told him. "I meself have been sailing mosta me life, but I still gets sick once in a while. So don't worry 'bout it, mates." He patted Grublegs gently.

Dewrose was steering. Skut had shown them all the ropes, so to speak, but sailing a ship seemed to come naturally to the pretty mousemaid.

"Ahoy, Dewrose, why don'tcha let Hiccup steer fer a bit? I don't think he's had a turn yet, have ya?"

Hiccup shook his head. Dewrose reluctantly let him take over.

"Fine. But if I know him, we're gonna hit a rock and sink, even if we are out in the middle of the ocean. I'm telling you, something's gonna go wrong with him steering." She was wrong, however, and the next week was fairly uneventful, with a fair wind and beautiful weather.

During that period of time, Grublegs got better, and Skut watched the six young ones closely. He was observing that they all argued a lot, were not nice to Hiccup, and couldn't seem to ever work together. He wondered if there was anything he could do about this, but every time he tried to break up a fight, it didn't seem to help anything.

Finally, one day, as he was at the wheel, he called them all to him.

"Well, mateys, we're almost there, should come in sight of the island soon." He indicated the chart. "What's the plan after that?"

"Uhhh..." they all shrugged, and looked at each other rather cluelessly, except for the twins, who were playing 'strawberries'. Their version of it included them hitting each others' heads, while saying, "Strawberries! Strawberries! In a dish! How many berries! Do! You! Wish!" until they fell to just counting while hitting each other.

Dewrose glared at them, irritated, then said, "Well... we didn't really have a plan at all, just... somehow grab the sword from the fire lizard, then go back home, I guess." Skut was sort of expecting this, but he was still a bit surprised.

"What? Ya wanna steal somethin' from a dragon, an' ya don't even have a plan?! I see ye'll need me help, as well as somethin' else."

"Something else? Like what?" asked Snotspike.

Skut put it to them very straightforwardly. "Teamwork! Ya can't do nothin' widout teamwork. You kids keep fightin' an' arguin' like a buncha grumpy Dibbuns. If ya all put aside yer differences an' aryments, this whole trip will work a lot better, be much easier, an' who knows, ya might even have fun. I'm not trying ta tell ya what ta do, don't get me wrong, I'm just givin' ya some friendly advice, an' sayin' that maybe, if ya work together, it could turn out alright in the end." When he had finished, they were all rather silent, as this speech had made them think a bit.

"Wanna steer fer a bit, Hiccup?" he asked. "An' Tuff, ye can be lookout, we should be sightin' land anytime now."

The squirrel climbed to the top of the mast, and Hiccup took the wheel. As he kept the Wavedancwer on course, he did his best to enjoy the spray in his face and the breeze, which actually a bit chilly, coming from the north, but he felt like he had wiggly worms in his stomach. What would they do when they reached their destination? He knew nothing about getting swordds away from giant fir lizards safely, and he was sure neither did anybeast else on this ship,except for maybe Skut. He shivered. The wind was getting colder now, and stronger.

Then he heard Tuffpaw call from his position at the top of the mast call, "Hey, guys, I see something!"

"Is it land?" Dewrose shouted back up.

"I don't think so!" he answered, "Unless the island we're looking for looks like a big black cloud!"

"I was afraid of this," said Skut. "The wind has been getting stronger. Which direction is it?"

"Um, east, no... south!" he yelled down. "No wait, I think it's west-east... that way!" He pointed north. They all saw it now, a huge dark mass of clouds that they were heading straight towards.

"Yup." said Skut rather grimly. "A big one, too. Alright mates! Let's get the sails hoisted an' get 'er ready fer the storm!" As they began rushing about, doing what he told them, Grublegs asked nervously, "Burr, wot bee's we'm gonna do?"

"We're gonna ride out the storm, matey." said Skut, taking the wheel back over from Hiccup. "Here, I think I should steer fer now, 'kay? Don't worry 'bout a thing, Grublegs. I do this all th' time. Just do what I tell ya, an' we'll all come out of it slicker'n a greased cod."

The waves were getting pretty big now. They got all the sails secured just in time, as the rain hit them and the gale really began to pick up. Soon they were all soaked to the skin.

"I-I-I-I'm... c-c-c-cold..." Hiccup shivered, stammering more than usual.

"Yup, it gets pretty chilly up here in the north." said Skut, clenching his teeth in concentration and wiping water out of his good eye. "I thinks there are a few cloaks in me cabin. I never uses 'em, so ya can take 'em if'n ya want."

Lightning flashed all around them, thunder shook the sky, and the waves were so high now it seemed to Hiccup, who had never been in a storm at sea before, like they would tip over any minute. Trying to cross the slick deck moving up and down was not easy. Hiccup soon slipped and fell flat on his back. As he slid across the deck, he managed to grab the rail, and hung on there, small, soaked and bedraggled. The others held on tightly to whatever they could, waiting to see what would happen next.



Skut centered all his attention on keeping his ship on course, and above the water. Suddenly, in a flash of lightning and through the heavy rain, he saw a dark shape straight in front of them, which he immediately knew to be land. He turned starboard sharply, almost panicking, but it was too late. There was an audible crunch, and he knew from the sound of it that it was a big one, and they would be going down fast.

"'Ellgates!" he exclaimed. "We've hit a rock!"

"What do we do?" yelled Dewrose over a loud crack of thunder. He abandoned the wheel and grabbed some rope.

"We gotta build a raft an' get ta shore! Help me tear up some boards! An' somebeast go find Grublegs!"

As they hurriedly began ripping up the deck, Hiccup got up and made his way to the cabin to look for the mole, as nobeast else was doing it. He opened the door and came in, the wind slamming it behind him. He saw no sign of Grublegs, and was just about to go back out when he heard a sound from one of the bunks. He rushed over and pulled down a blanket to reveal a very frightened and pale young mole.

"We'm bee's sinken'! We'm gonna doy!" cried poor Grublegs.

"C-come on, we've gotta g-g-go!" said Hiccup, pulling him onto the floor in his rush.

"Oi'm too young to drownd! An' oi 'ates water!"

He half-dragged the sobbing mole out of the cabin, to the already finished raft. The Wavedancer was very low in the water now. Skut pushed it into the wild sea, and they all hopped on.

As the waves pulled them, farther away, they all watched as the last of Skut's beautiful vessel, deck disappeared beneath the water. Skut was very sad.

"Me pore beauty Wavedancer..." then he looked at the dark shape in front of them. "If we can just make it to the land..." He picked up a board began trying to paddle. "Almost there..."

Hiccup could make out rocks and trees now, and just as it seemed they would be relatively safe, there was a crack! The makeshift raft broke on a rock, spilling them all into the sea.

The water was so breathtakingly cold, for a few moments Hiccup couldn't breath, and his chest began to hurt. He went under a couple of times, but at last managed to grab a loose board. He pulled himself up onto it as much as he could, gasping for air. He looked around, and saw Snotspike, Tuff, Ruff, and Grublegs, who had all grabbed boards like him, but where were Skut and Dewrose? He saw a shadow under the water, and, glad he could swim, held his breath and dived.

Dewrose had never felt anything so freezing cold, it shocked her so much that her chest ached and her limbs would not move. She knew she was sinking below the waves, but was not able to make her arms move to swim. Then, half-consciously, she felt a paw grasp her arm and swim upwards. Must be Skut... she managed to think, before blackness enveloped her.

Nobeast noticed as Hiccup broke the surface, gasping and dragging an unconscious mousemaid with him. Hiccup knew things always felt lighter underwater, but still, he didn't quite know how he had done it. He hadn't really given it much thought. Just at that moment, Hiccup saw the beach right in front of him, and a couple of seconds later, blacked out as he hit his head on a rock.

Chapter 5
~TBC