User blog:Lord Nightfur the vengeful/Spring of the Early Snowdrops

In Mossflower, it was almost spring. Snowdrops poked through the ground, showing their little faces to the sun. The luscious blossoms were beginning to show on the trees. However, the beautiful scene was lost on Splitear the stoat. Leader of a vermin band about twoscore strong, he and his band wandered through Mossflower. Looking for plunder as they went, the vermin were aiming for a greater prize. The Abbey of Redwall.

The vermin had set up camp near a small stream running through Mossflower Wood. Vermin drank eagerly from the stream, scooping water into their parched mouths. The rat Fopa unwisely voiced his opinion to his friend Gowba. “This is useless, we’re clearly lost.” Gowba quickly shushed him. “Quiet now mate, Splitear might hear us.” Unfortunately, Splitear had heard them. He was rising to his feet but was quickly pulled back to his seat by Arbaz. Splitear turned towards the pine marten, drawing his sword. Arbaz stepped back beseechingly. “My lord, it will be of no use. The band is demoralized, they are lost. We can wait here for a day or two. Then we can trek on to the abbey place.” Splitear sheathed his sword. “You are right, my good and faithful counselor. However…” Arbaz shifted nervously “Yes my lord?” “We should send a scouting party.” He called the weasel Jumka to him. “Jumka, take two with you and scout around to try to find the abbey place.” “Yes chief.” The weasel strode away calling loudly “Fopa, Gowba, up on your haunches. You are coming with me.” “They’ll find the abbey” stated Splitear confidently. With lighting speed he turned and pinned Arbaz to the ground. “Don’t call me lord yet, ‘tis bad luck” said Splitear. He stepped back, allowing the pine marten to stand back up. “Redwall Abbey, here we come.”

John Churchmouse sat on the ramparts, enjoying the scene of the snowdrops. Constance the badger lumbered over and sat down next to him. “What do you think of the new season’s name?” she questioned. “Beautiful” he replied. “The Spring of the Early Snowdrops is a great name. Is that what all that yelling is about?” “Yes” answered Constance “The dibbuns are all excited for the feast. Then her brow furrowed with concern. “Is something wrong, John?” “No” he replied. “I just have a bad feeling about something. It’s probably nothing.” “Well, you never know” said Constance. “If it makes you feel better I’m sure Matthias will go out and check.” “Thank you Constance” said John Churchmouse. As Constance descended back into the abbey, the Redwall recorder continued to stare, brow furrowed, into the wood.

Abbot Mordalfus was overseeing the dibbuns with Sister May. They were bringing the dibbuns to lunch, when he was stopped by Matthias. “Father, me and Basil are going to do a quick patrol of the woodlands to make sure everything is alright.” “Ok” said Abbot Mordalfus “Will you be back by dinner?” “Probably” chimed in Basil Stag Hare. “Basil, miss dinner? Of course we’ll be back by dinner,” Matthias said grinning. “Jolly good old chap, wot wot? I was worried for a second there!” replied Basil. Brother Dan opened the abbey doors, and out went Matthias and Basil.

Jumka had spotted the abbey. Gesturing to the others to stay down, he stood up and looked to the ramparts. “Yep, this is the right place. And look over there.” “A mouse and a rabbit” Gowba grinned evilly, licking his spearblade. “Stay in the bushes, and then we can attack them from behind,” whispered Jumka.

Matthias saw the bushes moving. He nudged his companion. “Look over there” he whispered. The three vermin jumped out roaring. Jumka charged Matthias. The weasel was good, but not good enough. He swung, and Matthias blocked, and attacked. The great sword of Martin the Warrior swung once, killing the weasel. Fopa swung his club at Basil. The hare dodged, kicked the club out of Fopa’s hand, and swung, breaking Gowba’s spearhaft. Gowba tossed the non pointed half to Fopa before drawing his dagger. He charged, screaming. Basil waited until the last minute, neatly sidestepped, picked up the pointed end of the spearhaft he had broken, and stabbed the stoat. Fopa picked up his club, and threw the other half of the spear at Matthias. Matthias dodged, and charged Fopa. Fopa tried to back away but was tripped by Basil. Matthias bowled him over, and before the rat knew it, the sword was at his throat. “What are you doing in Mossflower?” yelled Matthias. “Now I want the truth or you can join those other scum.” he yelled, gesturing towards the bodies of the weasel and the stoat. Trembling, Fopa told his captors all. “We are a band of just under two score, led by Splitear. He plans to attack your abbey. It wasn’t my idea, please don’t slay me.” Matthias stood back, allowing the rat to clamber back to his feet. “Don’t worry” stated Matthias. “Unlike you, we aren’t killers. Now, if you want to live, take a message back to your chief from Matthias the warrior from Redwall. Tell him that if he attacks we will be ready.” The rat nodded, and scurried off. “We should get back to the abbey and tell the abbot,” decided Matthias, “so we can begin to prepare to defend the wall. The feast is in three days. Hopefully this will be over by then. I suppose we could always postpone the feast, but the dibbuns are so excited.” “Well, the faster we are ready to defend, the faster we can get rid of them, so let’s get back to the jolly old abbey before we miss dinner,” replied Basil.

Splitear sat on an old, rotten log, waiting for the return of his scouting party. Blueclaw the ferret ran up to him and saluted with his rapier. “Scouting party has returned, sir!” Splitear started off towards the direction Blueclaw had indicated. He saw the lone rat slowly walk into camp. Swiftly, Splitear darted across, and knocked the rat to the ground. “What happened? Did you find the abbey? Where are Jumka and Gowba?” “Eargh, spare me chief!” Splitear slowly stepped back and allowed the rat to stand. Nursing his injured throat he gave his report. “We found the abbey. It’s over around there” he reported, pointing in the direction he had came from. “Y’can’t miss it if you head that way, chief. We were coming to report back to you when Jumka saw a mouse and a rabbit thingy in the woods. They looked like they was from that abbey place, so we attacked. They slew Jumka and Gowba. They took my club and told me to go back to you and tell you that they will be ready.” Splitear kicked the rat backwards. Striding away he called for Arbaz and Blueclaw to attend him.

In Redwall Abbey, dinner had just finished. As the brothers and sisters of the abbey helped the dibbuns to their bed, Matthias called a counsel of war. Him, Basil, Jess Squirrel, Abbot Mordalfus, John Churchmouse, Constance, Winifred the Otter, and others, sat around one of the tables in the Great Hall. Matthias pounded the table with his fist. “Friends, we must defend the abbey. I would like to recommend placing guards all around the ramparts at all times. Basil, can you set up some slinging practice in the lawn?” “Of course old chap!” replied Basil. “Besides that, I think we should just wait and see what this Splitear will do. Let him make the first move. We don’t know where his camp is.” All the abbey dwellers agreed this was a good plan. They all went to their various chores before heading off to bed.

“We’ll give them a show of force”, said Blueclaw eagerly. “Good idea” said Splitear “except it won’t work. They have some strong warriors at this abbey. If the show of force doesn’t work, we can camp outside their very gates, with a siege! Get the band ready, tomorrow we march to the abbey!”

The next morning, Matthias climbed up to stand on the ramparts next to Basil Stag Hare. Basil was laughing to himself. “Show of force from those chaps and chapesses, wot wot? Think we’re scared of ‘em? What say you Matthias, shall we give ‘em blood and vinegar? Slingers, shoot, drop back, reload. Next rank, shoot, drop back, reload.” Some of the Redwall brothers and sisters had been trying to get better at archery and slinging since the Summer of the Late Rose, but they still weren’t very good. Some stones found their mark, but most were just off target. Basil ripped off a stone from his sling, smiling as he hit a rat in the footpaw, who screamed and fell over. “Retreat, retreat, back to the ditch!” Splitear called. As his band retreated into the ditch, he called Arbaz and Blueclaw to him. Smiling, he stated matter-of-factly “I know how to get into the abbey.” “How?” questioned Arbaz. Splitear smiled and pointed to the ramparts. Immediately, the two understood.

“Come back here!” yelled Sister May as she chased Tomble the dibbun mouse around the ramparts. Quickly, Basil scooped up the little dibbun. “Ah, ‘ut me down, messa Basil.” Sister May grabbed the dibbun out of Basil’s arms. “It’s time for your bath!” she menacingly stated. “No, Tomble no liks balfs!” said the little mouse as he was carried away.

Down in the ditch, Splitear grinned evilly. “See how much they care about those little babes? If we can capture one, they’ll do anything to save it. The question is how?”

The answer to that question was to present itself very easily in the form of Tomble and another dibbun, a squirrel named Saige. Discontented with the “balfs” that they were now getting more commonly, they hatched a plan. Going to the east wallgate, which some careless redwaller had forgotten to lock, they let themselves out. Striking out towards the wood, they walked along happily, with no idea of the danger they were in.

Out in Mossflower wood, a foraging party of 8 vermin were heading back to camp. They hadn’t found much, just some roots and berries. Crig the stoat ran up to the leader of the foraging party, a fox named Fantar. “Fantar, over here!” The other six vermin were in the bushes, watching the abbeybabes. Fantar grinned happily. “Just what Splitear was gonna go and try to capture. . . some babes from that abbey place!” At a nod from Fantar, Crig and a ferret named Blackhead stole up behind the dibbuns. Quickly, they tossed the large foraging sacks over the dibbun’s heads. Fantar smiled, knowing that now Splitear would forgive the lack of supplies as the foraging party trekked back towards their camp, with the two frightened dibbuns in tow, covering their tracks as they went. At the exact spot where the dibbuns were kidnapped yesterday, Basil groaned. “See, the tracks stop here, and these tracks, both vermin tracks come out from these bushes over here. Both tracks stop there, probably because the vermin covered their tracks and carried the two dibbuns off. Not a very good show though, wot wot? Pretty obvious where they went due to this jolly old broken shrubbery over …” Before he could continue, Matthias pulled him and Jess Squirrel down and pointed into the woods.

Splitear had sent out smaller foraging parties today, in hopes that they could then cover more ground. The foraging party Matthias had just spotted had 5 vermin. Dokka the ferret, Zonga the stoat, Larog the weasel, and Cluddon the fox, led by a fox named Grikkol. Matthais jumped up yelling Redwall, and him, Basil, and Jess charged.

The vermin were taken by surprise, but quickly recovered. Grikkol went after Matthais. As their swords clashed, the battle raged. Jess knocked Cluddon down, and grabbed his spear. Cluddon drew a dagger and charged, but Jess quickly stabbed him. As the dead fox fell to the ground, Jess turned as an arrow narrowly missed her face. Dokka charged Basil, and the hare kicked out with his long hind legs, connecting with his jaw. There was a crack, and the ferret was still. Basil picked up his cutlass and charged at Larog. Grikkol was rapidly defending, but he couldn’t defend fast enough. Matthais’ sword stabbed, and the fox fell back, dead. Larog shot an arrow at Basil, but despite the bow being his weapon of choice, he wasn’t a very good archer. Basil easily deflected the arrow to the side with his cutlass, still charging. Larog drew an arrow to his string, but Basil was there. The first strike cut the bowstring, the second killed the weasel. Basil kneeled down, resting as Matthias and Jess came up next to him. “One of them got away Matthias” “Well we did good, and we can’t catch him now, Jess. Let’s keep on going and see if we can find their camp.”

“Chief, we was attacked” Zonga the stoat yelled as he entered the camp. Splitear knocked the stoat backwards, yelling in anger. “To hellgates with those Redwallers. To the abbey!” The band cheered. Splitear pulled a stoat named Grol aside. “Keep Spikenose the rat, Splithead the stoat, Jukol the weasel, and Darbo the river rat. Stay here and guard the prisoners. Don’t fail me.” “Yes chief” replied Grol.

As the band raced towards the abbey, Matthias, Basil, and Jess watched them pass. “Well, they're off to the jolly old abbey, wot wot? I’m sure that the abbey will be fine if we just pop in to this vermin camp, quick like, wot,wot?” “Redwall!” screamed Matthias as they charged towards the camp. Grol quickly got the 4 others into a line, using his superior position in the band to convince the others to get into a line. As Matthias and the others burst into the camp, he yelled “charge!” and the battle began Spikenose the rat charged Matthias, swinging his club. Matthias dodged the blow. The rat ran behind Matthias, and was about to swing his club again. This time, however, Basil Stag Hare was the hero. Darbo charged him, spear at the ready. Basil swung his spearhaft, breaking the river rat’s paw. He grabbed the rat’s spear, and threw it. Spikenose went down with the spear sticking out of his side. The river rat tried to run. Basil threw his own spear, taking the rat in the back. Jukol the weasel charged at Jess, who tried to stab him and missed. She swung quickly again. The weasel was only able to thinly slash her shoulder before the spearpole hit him in the back legs. He stumbled and fell. He raised his dagger, but Jess quickly stabbed him. “Stop!” yelled Grol, “or we will slay the babes!” He pointed to the supply tent, so Matthias and his friends could see the frightful scene. Splithead the stoat stood over Tomble, his dagger at Tomble’s throat. Matthias quickly slunk away. “Well, it must take a rather large amount of courage to slay helpless babes, wot wot? Matthias had snuck up behind the supply tent. Bursting through the tent, he stabbed the stoat Splithead. Grol tried to run, but a stone from Basil’s sling knocked him unconscious. “Jolly good old chaps, now let’s take these dibbun types back to the abbey, wot wot? Splitear was furious. Grol had let the prisoners escape. He had lost the battle, losing two rats and a stoat. Grol woke up to Arbaz whipping him with his own spearbutt. His wake up groans quickly turned to shrieks of pain. Arbaz stopped, and called out “He’s awake lord!” Splitear came in, licking the sharp edge of his sword. Immediately, Grol began begging for mercy. “Please, spare me chief!” “Quiet! I wish I could slay you now, but, I now have under a score to do my bidding! I can’t afford to slay another soldier, much as I wish I could. However, you will now have the lowest of the low position in my band. Go get Blueclaw and Arbaz and bring them to my tent.”

“I have a plan. Tell the band we march tomorrow night for Redwall.”

Basil was on sentry duty. He saw the badly made grappling hook come clanging over the wall on the opposite side. He yelled “attack!” as the vermin began to climb. Redwallers ran towards the wall as the last of the vermin came up. And just like that, the final battle began. A stoat menacingly strode towards Sister May. She whacked out with her staff, knocking the stoat over the ramparts. A weasel with a sling crept up behind her, but Foremole, whacked him on the head and kicked him. He fell, landing dead on the abbey lawn. Matthias was like a whirlwind. He quickly killed a weasel bearing a club before his path to the band leader was blocked by Fantar. The fox swung his axe, but Matthias nimbly dodged, and gored the fox. Basil yelled out blood and vinegar before slaying a weasel. He picked up the weasel’s sword, and nimbly gored a fox trying to sneak up on Foremole. Grol, looking to redeem himself, charged Matthias. He stabbed with his spear and Matthias dodged. He charged and before the stoat knew it, he was dead. Cardin, a rat archer, dropped back. He shot, and his arrow took Matthias through the shoulder. He tried to shoot again, but was killed when Jess whacked him over the head with a loaded sling. His arrow went almost straight up, almost hitting Foremole, who had just knocked a ferret over the ramparts. A rat with a spear was about to impale him, when Basil killed the rat. “Oi thanks ee agin’, zurr Basil.” A ferret named Blackhead was about to kill a mole, when Winifred whacked him on the head with her sling. Splitear saw this. He also saw the big badger cause two of his men to retreat, and knock three off the ramparts. Splitear called retreat. Backing up towards the grappeling hook, his remaining vermin were ordered to form a circle around him. Then Matthias was there, with the rest of the redwall fighters at his side. Blueclaw sliced his rapier. Matthias blocked and swung. No blade or armor could stop the great sword of Redwall, which had been formed from a falling star. The rapier was shearn in half. Blueclaw was still staring dumbly at his broken sword when he was killed. As the fox and the stoat held the rest off, Matthias charged Splitear, but the Pine Martin blocked him. As they fought, Splitear began his descent down the grappling hook. Foremole ran around as Winifred killed the stoat. Grabbing the thin rope in his digging claws, he held it. Splitear still had three quarters of the way to go. The fox went down, Basil’s sword in his chest. Constance tossed Foremole a sword from a dead ferret. Foremole cut through the rope, and down fell Splitear. He was killed as soon as he hit the ground. Arbaz knew he had to escape. He knew with his skills with the sword, he could soon lead a band of his own. But first, he had to defeat this mouse. He fought on gamely. Matthias knew all he had to do was defeat this marten, and his abbey would be safe. “Redwall!” He knocked the marten back and over the ramparts with the hilt of his sword. The happy Redwallers went back into the abbey, satisfied that they had vanquished the enemy.

Down on the ground, Arbaz stirred and groaned. He was alive!