User blog:Astar Goldenwing/For Freedom

'''This is a fan fiction story by User:Astar Goldenwing. It is not considered canon, nor is it a policy or guideline.'''

Spoiler Warning! This story contains spoilers for “Triss” and “Mariel of Redwall”. If you have not read those books, do not read this story yet. Thanks!

NOTE: I began to write this story after I read Russian edition of “Triss”, where Freedom’s gender was changed into female. I learnt that Freedom originally is male only when I came to this Wiki, but to that moment, I just couldn’t imagine my character being male. So that’s why Freedom is female in this fan fiction.

In this story, one season equals one year.

P.S. As English is not my native language, feel free to correct my spelling and grammar mistakes if you want.

Prologue
An old but still strong and firm hedgehog stood near Redwall Abbey’s door enjoying the morning. Oh, it was a great morning! All the Abbeydwellers were preparing to the big feast. Otters were fishing in the Pond, squirrels and moles were harvesting fruits and vegetables, mice were setting the tables for food. Everybeast was busy. Well, almost everybeast.

“There he is! Father Phredd, Father Phredd!”

A bunch of small baby otters, mice, squirrels, moles and other creatures rushed toward Abbot, a small squirrelmaid and an otterbabe at the head of them.

“Heehee caught you!”

Phredd’s been taking care of Dibbuns, as the babes were called, when he was just an Abbey Brother, and he hasn’t given up his habits when he became an Abbot. He allowed himself to be laid flat on his back and begged with mock terror. “Oh, mercy, mercy! I’m captured by savage bandits!”

The otterbabe shook a paw under the Abbot’s nose. “We are not bandits; we’re warriors, like Martin!”

“Sure you are warriors, Bragoon the Mighty! Now let me up, great Sarobando the Victorious, my bones are too old for lying on wet grass.”

Dibbuns immediately help Phredd to rise on his feet. “Tell us!” they demanded.

Phredd was puzzled. “What should I tell you about?”

“This!” Saro pointed her paw at the tables. “It looks like there’s going to be a feast, but nobeast wants to tell us what’s it about!”

“Well, there’s going to be a feast”, Father Abbot smiled. “A friend is visiting us soon”. He paused. “When he’s been younger, he’s been visiting us every season, but now he’s too old for such a long journey, so he’s coming here once a five seasons. He usually comes in the fourth week of summer, so we’re preparing to meet him beforehand.”

There were many questions.

“What friend?”

“Where is he from?”

“When will he come?”

Little Toran, Brag’s younger brother, cried aloud “Tell us about him!”

“Well, it’s going to be a long story, not only about our friend, but about lots of others. It’ll take a few days to tell it!”

“Tell us!” Now all Dibbuns were crying all together. Father Abbot sat on the footsteps making himself comfortable, Abbeybabes around him.

“You’ve heard about war with Princess Kurda and Riftgard’s liberation, haven’t you? This story happened about 15 seasons later. It’s a story of warriors and peaceful woodlanders and sailors and farmers and slaves, a story of brave and honest creatures fighting for freedom…”

Chapter 1
One-ear was a scaring creature. He’d always seemed to be the most scaring creature to all the new slaves. He was a huge searat with ragged black fur, dark sparkling eyes and thunder-like voice, covered with scars and tattoos from whiskers to tail. A half of his left ear was missing, giving him his name. He was a slave-driver. He’s always been shouting and swinging his whip over slaves’ heads as if he was going to kill somebeast.

“Idle scum! Work harder, or I’ll skin you alive, you shaggy scrub!”

Freedom wasn’t afraid of him. He wasn’t half as dangerous as he seemed to be. One-ear almost never hit a slave, and if he did, it was just a soft slap that gives you a few bruises, not a hard whipping that can skin you alive. Of course, the searat behaved like that not because he was kind – One-ear has been a corsair himself and knew how hard it’s to find a new slave. Houk, the Slave-drivers Captain, or the Slavemaster as he was called, was the one you should beware. This ferret enjoyed sneaking to the slaves and lashing them furiously when he saw even a shot break in the work.

Freedom still remembered the day she was captured, though almost seven seasons past since that. That day she and her best friend Tarro managed to persuade her parents, Kroova and Sleeve, to let them go for a picnic. Tarro was about three seasons older then her, so the otters could rely on him.

“Freedom is your responsibility”, they said while the mousemaid and the squirrel were preparing a boat.

“Don’t worry, we’ll return safe and sound”, Tarro said.

The duo sailed south and soon found a nice place to set fire and roast some fish and toasts. They wee enjoying themselves when they heard a rude voice.

“Hey, look what’s here!” A band of evil-looking vermin was approaching from the north.

Tarro was the first to react. “Quick, Freedom! To the boat! I’ll slow them down!” The brave squirrel grabbed a burning branch and run into the vermin, trying to fight them. A huge fox with dark red fur disarmed Tarro with one sweep of his pike. Another sweep threw the squirrel on the ground.

“Tarro!” Freedom rushed to her friend’s lifeless body, but was knocked down by the same fox. He’s already raised his pike for the next blow…

“Krugg! Lord Darm needs slaves, not deadbeasts, you fool! And you’ve already killed a strong creature!”

Krugg the fox looked at a tall stoat. “But the squirrel attacked me! And this one’s too young and weak to be a good oarslave!”

“You’re here to obey orders, brainless! And it’s me giving orders here!”

Krugg seemed to be displeased, but he bowed without hesitation. “As you command, Cap’n Drooptail. Should I take this one on the ship?”

“Not before I’ll question her. Now, missy, where did you come from?”

Shocked Freedom could hardly understand anything. “W-what?”

Drooptail kicked the helpless mousemaid. “I said – where do you live, mouse?”

They want to raid my home, Freedom realized. No! I won’t let them!

“I-it’s a small village… On the south!” She mumbled.

The stoat Captain suddenly gave her a wink “Not far from a rock that looks like a seagull’s beak?”

Freedom didn’t know what he meant, but nodded. All the corsairs laughed. “Don’t worry; we’ve already visited your home, so you’ll meet all your friends and relatives on our ship, whoohahaha!”

As Krugg has already mentioned, Freedom was too young to be an oarslave, and she was sent to Terramort Island to work in the fields.

She was a property of Darm Deathtrap, Lord of the Seas. This weasel wasn’t the biggest of his kind, but he was strong and sly enough to unite all the vermin corsairs under his paw. Those who didn’t want to join him were sent to the Dark Forest. Terramort Isle had become his headquarters many seasons ago. Deathtrap rebuilt the ruined Fort Bladegirt with its walls and courtyard and built some new barracks for his soldiers and his slaves. About a dozen of ships anchored in Terramort Bay.

Lord of the Seas conquered almost all the islands in the Western Ocean – Sampetra and Volcano Island, Wood Isle and Daggerrocks, Stonehall and Northern Isles… As far as Freedom knew, the only island free of Darm’s rule was Green Isle, but that’s because wildcats ruled there. The mousemaid heard that Darm made a deal with wildcat’s leader about slave-trading – at least, some of Green Isle otterslaves said so… However, Freedom has never heard any of the vermin and slaves mention Riftgard or Peace Island, and it meant her friends most probably were free…

A whip flicked a fraction from Freedom’s ear.

“Are you asleep, mouse? Want to lose your ears?”

Freedom bowed down over vegetable beds, weeding them. One-ear cracked his whip again, raising his voice. “Thank your Lord Darm for ending working so early, he’s come to the barracks tonight!”

A small hedgehog about Freedom’s age pulled the mousemaid by her sleeve. It was Chestnut, her best friend. “Do you know what’s going on? Deathtrap isn’t doing anything with no reason!”

Freedom shrugged her shoulders. “How could I know? Wavehound said they need more slaves to serve in the fort, but who can know for sure?”

Wavehound Streamdiver was an otterslave from Green Isle who’s been serving corsair officers since he was brought from his homeland, and he was first in the slave-barracks, called the Barn, to know all the news.

Chestnut forced himself to a smile. “At least we’re lucky to end the work early, Dom.”

Dom. Everyone on Terramort was calling the young mousemaid by that name, as even talking about freedom was forbidden. Yet every of the slaves dreamed of nothing but freedom.

Both slaves hurried where their friends huddled and slave-drivers fussed around trying to count them. “Forty, back in line you mouse, forty-two, forty-three… There should be one more! Where’s one more?”

One-ear was already shouting orders. “Jah, Zhmura, Thinfur, check around the field! He couldn’t be far away!”

“What’s going on? A slave missing?” A burly ferret carrying not only a whip, but also a saber on his belt came closer.

One-ear saluted his Captain. “No trouble, Cap’n, we’ll find an escaper soon”

“Yes, you’d better find him, or I won’t envy you”, Houk the Slavemaster grinned.

Meanwhile Freedom was looking round herself. “Who’s an escaper? Everybeast I know is here”

A volemaid named Ilsie whispered in Dom’s ear. “It’s a newcomer arrived in Terramort this morning, I’ve seen him!”

“There he is, Cap’n Houk!” Two slave-drivers dragged a young squirrel between them. “Was asleep among vegetable beds!”

''Asleep? What kind of fool he is'', Freedom wondered.

Houk eyed the squirrel angrily. “An escape!”

“No!” the unfortunate slave cried. “I’m sorry, very sorry, but I wasn’t going to escape!”

“Liar!”

“No! I just don’t used to such a long work, but this won’t happen again, I promise!”

“So, the work is too hard for you? Think you’re special?” growled Houk.

“No, I just say…”

“Shut up, squirrel!”

“Perhaps you’d better stop shouting and listen to me?” burst out the squirrel.

For a moment, Houk just stood jaw-dropped. No slave has ever dared to talk to the Slavemaster like this!

“Mutiny!” Houk’s paw strayed to his sword, but before he could reach it, One-ear leaped forward.

Whack! Smack! Crack!

The searat lashed out at the ill-fated slave furiously, so the squirrel fell on the ground - he could only cover his head with both paws. “That’s our punishment for escapes! And for lying! And for mutiny!”

Dom’s eyes narrowed. Something was wrong. That’s it! One-ear was holding his whip too high, so there was more cracking and swinging then real beating.

After all, One-ear gave the squirrel a final blow. “In line, and don’t waste Cap’n’s time any more!”

Houk looked pleased. “Double work and no food for this one tomorrow!”

Dom and Chestnut helped the squirrel to get up and half-dragged, half-carried him as vermin drove them to the barracks. “Hurry up, don’t slow everyone down!”

The squirrel was shivering from whiskers to tail; he looked bruised and ragged, but not wounded. “Thanks. I’m Maple.”

“I’m Dom, and this is Chestnut.”

Maple flinched when One-ear cracked his whip once more. “Is this black one always so cruel?”

“Cruel?” Freedom couldn’t help laughing. “He’s not cruel at all. Actually, you should thank him.”

“Thank? What for – skinning the hide from my ribs?”

“If One-ear hadn’t whipped you, Houk would have killed you for mutiny. The Slavemaster doesn’t think twice before using his saber.”

“Oooh…” It seemed like Maple only now realized how close to death he was. Dom felt sorry for the little squirrel. He was scared, confused, and unknowing what was awaiting him – just as she was seven seasons ago. The mousemaid started giving Maple some advice on their way to Fort Bladegirt. “Here on Terramort slaves work from dawn to dusk - today we’re lucky to end work early. You may work slowly, but you should do it without breaks. And never – remember, never! – argue with slave-drivers. A rebellious slave is a dead slave.”

“I see…” Squirrel nodded.

“Where are you from, Maple?” asked Chestnut.

“Pineforest Isle!” Maple curled his tail soulfully, it seemed like the very name of his home makes him feel better. “Here I’m living in Pinesquirrels Tribe… well, was living… before those vermin arrived. They burned our village and killed many… my mother among them. Those who survive were taken prisoners.”

“But you are the only new slave here,” Chestnut pointed out carefully. “And all the rest of your tribe…”

“That wicked fox that raided our Isle, Captain Krugg Bloodpike,” Dom clenched her teeth when Maple mentioned a name of Tarro’s murderer, but said nothing. “That fox,” continued Maple, “took them all as new oarslaves for his ship. He said I’m too young and weak and wouldn’t last a moon on the high seas, and he sent me here.”

By the way, slaves entered Fort Bladegirt through the big oaken gates and headed toward the Barn they were staying for nights. Here they were lined up awaiting their Lord.