User blog:Corbus/A Leader Worth Following

He came to us a beast of the wild, untamed and mad

Yet He was soon reborn as a Lord to us

His kindness eternal and wisdom endless

Before him would come both bandit and bishop, united before Him

His love was given to all, and with it we prospered

In His time we knew there could only be joy

For He was The Vulpuz, Lord of the Earth


 * -Ancient Verse, found in ruins of Loamhedge Abbey

Prologue
As the horizon began to darken with the onset of night the sky began to show what beautiful ceiling of lights it was. On this particular night even the moon surrendered and blackened to allow the night to rein alone, except of course for a small piece of the land below that dared to join it. At the very edge of the beach where the sand turned to sea there stood a great mountain of black charred stone, covered in lights, mere imitations of the stars above. These were the flames that kept the fortress within lit and usable for the creatures within, the hares of the Long Patrol, the inhabitants of Salamandastron. At the very top of this mountain there was a light brighter than all others, and were someone to come closer they might also notice the figure standing next to it. The figure was large, even for the biggest of hares in the mountain, its body was nearly as black as the mountain itself and only broken by a stripe of white going across its head and back. This was the figure of the Lord of Salamandastron, Russano the Wise, and he was not alone. Across the room there sat a strong, young looking otter with a beautifully made sword sitting beside him, nearby there was also a group of other creatures of various species; a pair of otters, several young hares, a hedgehog, a harvest mouse, and a family of squirrels even. Every one of them, including Russano, seemed to be deeply enthralled by what the otter was saying and took in every word he said. However after a little while he sat back and took a little breath to recover his voice.

"And that of course is when Russano comes in, and all of us know the how that worked out for the fox." He then gives a little laugh that is shared by most of the members except for a few of the hares who quietly whispered to the others to hear about "how well it worked out for the fox." Once the noise died down and a few questions had been asked of the otter Russano spoke up himself.

"Well I certainly waited far too long to hear that story of yours. But I am most certainly not disappointed by it, you have been through quite an adventure. I guess it is about time to begin telling my own."

The otter nods and gives him a smile "Aye! I didn't travel all the way from Redwall just to brag about myself. Let's hear what you have gotten done as a Badger Lord. I'm sure you have a few adventures to talk about, we can start at least one of them before the night is through."

Russano then stood up from the wooden chair that he had been sitting in for the story and exchanged seats with the otter for the large stone one he had told the story in. Once he had himself settled he began to try and recall the most exciting of his adventures, as soon as the memory hit him he seemed to brighten up and even smile, however this was quickly dissolved into a bit of a regretful sort of look, like he had remembered his favourite treat but quickly realized that it was no longer made.

"Well the only one I can really see worth telling is that of my first season as Badger Lord. That was many seasons ago actually, as we badgers live quite extended lives."

The look he had beforehand seemed to not impact his audience very much and they simply looked at him, waiting for him to start it off. He simply took a deep breath and began his tale.

Chapter One
Barely a season had passed since Russano had come to Salamandastron and taken his place as Badger Lord and in the time since then he had taken on every last plan to improve the mountain fortress that had come to him, not refusing a single sane request. There were hares running all around the mountain, carrying all sorts of building supplies and equipment heading off to aid in whatever minute change they had been assigned to make. He seemed to have endless ideas for what he could improve, some more useful than others. At the current moment the badger was in his private quarters, looking over the schematics that had been given to him, plans for a climbing wall that would be built along the interior of Salamandastron's peak which would help the younger hares train for rough terrain, but was also built with a mechanism which would cover up the walls in times of attack. Surrounding him were a selection of officers and the hare who had come up with the idea, a lean wiry fellow with a small patch of missing fur on his chin.

"Where exactly would we be heading that our hares would need this kind of training? The only large mountains are those to the south, and that is far outside where we patrol." Said the large badger, looking out the stone window to the sandy shores before him.

The hare scratched at his floppy ear for a moment, thinking over the talking points he had planned to say before giving Russano the plans.

"Err.... well I suppose so. But! IF we wish to go there, say like if some vile vermin decides to call it his own, then we will bally well need to be prepared!"

Russano nodded, taking that idea into account but still retaining his look of criticism. Off to the side one of the officers, the youngest of the four, seemed to be shaking his head and shuffling through the others to get a better look at the schematic. Russano was quick to notice this and turned an eye to him.

"Do you have something to add, Brigadier?"

"Well, Sire, if you ask me this seems like a lot of work for something we will never use. I mean can you picture our hares climbing up a bloomin' mountain just to get some mad beast? We'd have to be just as daft to go after him there rather than starve him out or send a few quality troops to get him." The Brigadier accentuated this point by gesturing to the guards at the door, two hares belonging to his regiment, with his mention of "Quality Troops."

"I suppose so. The mountains are not too large so I imagine whatever force there could not be large enough to require the entire Long Patrol."

This, unfortunately, let loose the flood gates of criticism after criticism of the idea, the vast majority of them coming from the Brigadier.

"We'd have to weaken the walls of the mountainside as well."

"They could bally well break through our walls then!"

"And why do we need an entire construct. A wall is just as good, wot!"

"Just seems like a waste of good time."

This last one hit the designer of the construct especially hard, as he seemed to back away from the table. Russano, however, noticed this and took the hare aside as the officers started to look over the design again more closely.

"I apologize for those harsh words. I really do agree with them here though. I can see how useful this can be but.... perhaps not at the current time. If you can give me something that is temporary then perhaps that will do better. Good effort though."

"Yeah.... well thank ye, sire. I appreciate that you gave me audience." The hare then took his design and left the room, leaving Russano to the officers. He turned to them with a slight look of anger, though it was well hidden behind his normal look of concentration and calmness.

"I understand you all have to be able to make your criticisms and give your input as officers, but breaking the spirit of creative minds is no way to do that."

One of the older officers spoke up reassuringly to the Badger Lord. "I am sure that he will be fine Lord. Salamandastron hares are more than used to a little rough treatment. He'll survive."

"I agree entirely, sometimes hares need to hear their mistakes, and you have been far too easy on all these 'inventors' as you call them. This is a military base after all! What we need to see is how to train better warriors!"

This statement of course came from the Brigadier, who had taken a seat in one of Russano's smaller chairs. He had placed his left leg, which could not be clearly seen as a wooden rod screwed on to the stump where his leg should have been. This was the greatest of his many scars and marks, the others only being a assortment of slivers and slices along his forearms and face along with a hole right smack in the center of his ear, an old arrow wound.

Russano approached the young beast, growing quite frustrated with his insubordination and disrespect towards the younger troops.

"Brigadier Barnum Wildscut, To attention!"

The hare immediately stood up and saluted the Badger Lord, something that was almost instinctual to every hare.

Russano then walked around him, giving him a momentary inspection and thinking over his previous actions towards the badger lord and young hare.

"Name your position and the reason for it."

"Brigadier Sah! I was promoted shortly after the battle of a Thousand for my actions during it. I had single handedly defended my platoon of 4, previously 15, from attacking vermin. I slew a good score of them before reinforcements arrived."

Russano shook his head after hearing this in what seemed to be disgust.

"And still you talk to me in this manner?"

"Simply giving my input Sah. It is my right as an officer to do so."

"And it is my right to command you to be kinder."

"I apologize Sah. I shall do my best to speak with kinder words towards the inventors in the future."

"Good. Because you will be aiding them."

It was at this that the Brigadier lost his composure, breaking his form and showing surprise on his scarred features.

"Come again, Sire?"

"You heard me right. I want you to supervise and assist these inventors, helping them when they need it. Seeing as you know only too well how to criticize them."

The Brigadier seemed dumbfounded, unsure whether his commander was serious or simply giving him a hard time for his actions. But the look on Russano's face told him it was no joke.

"Then who will watch over my regiment?!"

"I will watch over them until the last of the plans has been seen through and constructed. Do not worry, we are not in a war right now."

Even as he was escorted from the forge and taken to the drafting room he still seemed to be taking in what had just occurred and did not believe it. Russano turned to the rest of the officers, who seemed more amused than anything that the youngest among them had finally been shown a bit of resistance.

"You are all dismissed, we have no other plans to go through today. If I were you I would look for a nice spot on the table for dinner tonight."

Soon the officers left Russano to his collection of books and scrolls that he had gathered on the wall, his most prized collection. He walked over to the shelf and looked through them, searching for one that he had yet to read. He then lifted it off the shelf, took his place in his chair, and enjoyed the first moment of peace that he would be given during the day.