User blog:Ladyamber88/Tam's Revenge

Hi! This is my first fan fiction and i'm pretty inexperienced. so if it's terrible, i'm sorry. You may edit, but not too heavily. Thank's for taking your time to read this!

Chapter 1
Rakkety Tam MacBurl and Wild Doogy Plum were on their morning stroll through Mossflower woods. Tam heard a sound, “Is that you Doogy?”

“Ach, no, Ah thought t'was ye”

They looked down (for they were on top of a big oak tree) and saw about a thousand vermin marching, headed by a big, ugly looking, one eyed weasel, who carried a huge scimitar. Tam had seen him before, but where? His mind thought back…where? Then he remembered. This weasel was the one who killed his family…the one who invaded his village when he was no older than a dibbun. He was Zelsh the Murderer.

Then they saw his second in command, Slitbrain, come up and ask him, "Say, Chief, where exactly are we goin'?"

Zelsh replied, "To Redwall of course! there, I'll have control of the whole mossflower woods, and have more slaves than ever!"

Tam and Doogy hurried back to Redwall Abbey, their home, to warn the inhabitants about the vermin horde. Now, someday soon, Tam would have his revenge.

After they related what they saw to the abbeybeasts, Tam, Doogy, and Skipper organized an army to get ready for the attack. Then, there was a knock on the main gate. Melenda MacBurl, daughter of Rakkety Tam MacBurl, and Brookflow (AKA Brooky), Skipper's neice, hurried and opened the gate. There stood Lady Melesme, backed by the whole army of the Long Patrol!

"Hello my friends. I just thought we would stop by for a visit and help out if any help is needed."

"Actually, we do really need your help right now!hahahaha!"

"Yeah, Thankfully you came, I'll go get my dad." With that, Melenda disappeared.

After the 1000 Long Patrol hares and badger were in the Abbey, Tam and Melenda came rushing to The badger. Tam related all that he saw to the officers and Lady Melesme.

"How many days are they away?"

"Ah'd say about three"

"Hmm...That should be enough wot wot!"

They all turned to see Captain Flunkworthy smiling.

"You have a plan?"

"We'll use the old hit and run tactics to slow them down while we get all the woodlanders into the abbey's safety, wot! They'll have to take time to recover.In the meantime, we'll set up traps all over the woods wot wot!"

"Alright," Tam said, "Toll the bells an' beat the drum! Let the 'hole woodlands know that there's danger in Mossflower!"

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

There was a distant toll of bells, but Zelsh heard it. His captain and a couple of other vermin were cutting a log to use as a battering ram against the gates. His captian, Nobrain, had dropped his end.

"Now look what you've done! You just had to drop the log on your toe! I told you to turn it the other way! Now the whole woodlands know we're here."

As Zelsh continued to berate his Captain, a young squirrelmaid, a slave whom Zelsh had captured when she was still a baby, was listening. She saw that Scringenose, the fat ugly rat in charge of the slaves was dozing...as usual, and everyone else was watching Zelsh yell at his captains. She saw that this was her chance to escape! she and five other slaves carried their chains so that they wouldn't jingle and ran off silently into the forest. What they didn't know, was that a score of beasts were watching them.

Chapter 2
Skipper was holding the gates open for the woodlanders to come in and take refuge in Redwall. Captain Flunkworthy, along with a score of hares, all heavily armed, marched out silently, and into the forest.

They were marching for some time, and found the horde. They saw six slaves escape into the forest. Flunkworthy sent two of the hares to get them to Redwall, safely. He ordered his hares to start firing arrows, slinging stones at the army and disappear.

Scringenose got hit with a stone over his metal helmet which woke him up.

"'Ey! Wot's that? Are you tryin' to play a joke on me again, Slitpaw?"

"No, I wuz just- Yowch! Wot was that?"

Soon the whole army was being pelted with stones and shot with arrows. It was chaos. Zelsh pulled Slitbrain aside.

"How many do you think there are?"

"Uhh...i dunno-"

Zelsh put his blade to Slitbrain's neck, "How many?!"

"Err..maybe two hundrid?"

In fact, there actually were about fifty beasts attacking them.

"Retreat to last night's camp!"

Everyone followed Zelsh's orders and retreated back into the forest.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Captain Flunkworthy shook paws with a squirrel, the leader of thirty squirrels, "Thanks for helpin' old chap...er...what's your name?"

"Pinetooth, and yours?"

"Captain Flunkworthy of the Long Patrol and your bally service! Would y'mind joinin' us? You're pretty good at fightn' an' Redwall Abbey is a place to take refuge. They're planning to take over Redwall, but they won't if you help, wot."

"We were heading there ourselves, seeing that Zelsh destroyed our home..."

As they were walking through Mossflower they met up with the escaped slaves and the two hares.

"You still haven't reached the bally abbey yet?"

"No, sah, the slaves needed rest and the chains were slowing them down, heavy stuff y'know."

"Then hurry and set them free from the chains, wot! We haven't got all day!"

"yes, sah, We've been doin' that, wot!"

The squirrelmaid, Cheresa, overheard them, "Thank you for helping us, but if we're slowing you down, why don't you leave us? We'll find the place ourselves."

"What? Leave you? Never! We're with you to the end! True blue'n'never fail, that's us!"

"Ha! got it! You're free wot! Now let's get back to the jolly old abbey."

They were soon out of the forest and knocking at the gates.

Tam, being one of the sentries on the main gate slid down the stairs.

"Who goes there?"

Flunkworthy replied, "'tis us Tam. The Long Patrol has returned victory won, with, six slaves, and a bunch of bushtails like yourself, wot."

Pinetooth kicked him.

"Yowch, what was that for?"

Tam opened the gate.

"Ha, so you returned eh? How many lost?"

"None"

Tam turned towards the squirrels.

"Ach, Pinetooth, Hinjo, what are ye doing here?!"

"Zelsh invaded our old home west of here...killed off more than a score of us."

"Yeah, we got away as fast as we could."

Tam gritted his teeth, "Ach, everyday, more victims come tae the hands of Zelsh. It must end, soon!"

He stormed off into the Abbey.

Chapter 3
Zelsh was sitting with his captains.

"How many were killed?"

"158, sire"

"Rest plenty now. Tomorrow, we're going to march double. Once I take over the abbey, I'm going to make these stupid woodlanders pay for daring to attack Zelsh the Murderer!"

All the captains scurried from Zelsh's reach for Zelsh had a habit of swinging his scimitar when he was excited and none of them wanted to be in the way of the sharp blade.

Above, in a tree, one of the squirrels from Pinetooth's band, was listening. He nodded in approval, and headed back to the Abbey to make his report. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Supper time at Redwall was very interesting that night. Tam was not eating much. His eyes had a faraway look in them. Sister Armel, the infirmary keeper and Tam's wife, saw this.

"What's bothering you Tam?"

"Ah was just thinking about mah fam'ly, and friends that Zelsh murdered when he attacked my village when Ah was just a wee babby. I must avenge them. Ah'm the only one alive out of my entire village."

"Tell me what happened, Tam."

"Alright: Mah family consisted o' my mother, grandmother, father, twin sister, and two older brothers. One night, we heard a scream from one of the houses. Then our house was on fire. Zelsh came in and slew mah brothers, my mother, and mah father. My sister was missing. My grandmother took me out of the house an' we ran. We ran until we could run no more and we camped there until the next day. After that, mah grandma and I lived in the trees until she died. I traveled until Ah met Doogy, an' you know the rest.”

Armel looked up at Tam. Were those tears she saw in his eyes? Cheresa the squirrelmaid was sitting near them and overheard the conversation.

“Sir?”

Tam looked at her. Her face was awfully familiar, “Don’t call me sir; Ah’m Tam, the Abbey Warrior.”

“What’s your full name?”

“I’m Rakkety Tam MacBurl, why?”

Cheresa gasped, “I’m Cheresa MacBurl, your sister!”

Tam almost fell out of his chair.

"B-but ye're dead."

"No, Zelsh found me sleeping and took me to be his slave. I'll get him back..."

"Too bad, Ah've already vowed to do that."

"Then I'll get that slavemaster."

"Can ye use weapons?"

"I can manage a sword...I think."

Tam started to laugh.

"What's so funny?"

Doogy pointed a finger at Tam, "Ach, Tam be a-laughin' at 'is own sister."

"Teeheehee! Doogy, ye stay out of this."

Cheresa threw a pastry at Tam, "Laughing at your sister, eh?"

Doogy followed Cheresa's example, and Ferdimond de Mayne threw a flan at him. Soon a food fight had started (though mainly hares participated). Flans, pastry, pies, and cakes of all sorts flew everywhere until Lady Melesme pounded the table.

"Stop! This is not the way you are to behave! These kind Redwallers gave us permission to stay, and this is how you behave?"

Abbot Humble stopped her from yelling anymore, "I command you to stop this! A little fun once in a while is no harm. This is the first time I've seen Armel there throw a flan. Hahahahaha! Continue with the food fight!"

Soon there was as much noise in the room as before. No one noticed Captain Flunkworthy slip out with a score of armed hares.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ "Yeeeaaarrrrrgggghhhh!"

The Long Patrol had scattered the fire. Practically the whole camp was burning. Laughing and crude insults were heard every now and then. Now, there were missiles pounding the army.

"Flippn' bounders! See if you can march march double and reach the abbey by tomorrow, wot!"

"Captain Flunkworthy! The Guosim are with us too!"

"Good, now tell them to fire double missiles."

Zelsh's tail was on fire and he was running all through camp causing chaos while the Long Patrol, joined by the Guosim, retreated back to the abbey.

[edit] Chapter 4

late at night, the long patrol and Guosim arrived at Redwall. One of the sentries, Skipper let them in.

"When did you leave the abbey, matey? I thought you was in the dormitory with the others."

"We left after the badger lady yelled at us. I do say old chap, you looked quite funny with a pastry over your head, wot!"

Skipper wacked Flunkworthy with his rudder. "So it was you who threw that pastry!" He walked them to the abbey.

When they walked into cavern hole, Tam, Armel, and Cheresa were talking. Tam stood up and walked over to Flunkworthy. "Good you found the shrews. Make your report!"

All the hares and shrews started to laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"We snuck into their camp and scattered the fires, then...heeheeheeheeheehee!"

"Hahahaha! z-z-z-Zelsh's tail was on fire and the old cad was dancing around...teeheehee!"

Flunkworthy straightened up and cleared his throat, "Er...ahem, well, time to get our rest, we have to do that again tomorrow."

Everyone agreed and retired for the night, except Skipper, he went back to his post on the walls.

The next morning, Murble, a dibbun mole, snuck out of the dormitories. He went into the kitchens unnoticed, and crawled under the table, behind a sack of flour. Melesme was helping friar Glisum make breakfast, when she heard sneezing from under the table. She bent down and looked under, and saw a dibbun mole covered in flour. Murble was astonished to see a head about the size of his whole body. Melesme rescued him from under the table.

"You'm be a gurt beast, marm! Alot gurter than oi!"

Melesme laughed, "And what are you doing here this early?"

"hurr, oi'm carnt slep."

"Well, want to help me make some breakfast?"

"Hurr, aye!"

"Hmph, a little molebabe should get his sleep, instead of running about at dawn."

"Yah, Glisum, it's ok, leverets at Salamandastron do this all the time."

"Hmph!"

"What do you want to make, Murble?"

"umm...oi warnts to make bluecheeseberry poi."

"huh? what's bluecheeseburry pie?"

"Blueburry pie wist cheese in it, hurr."

"I say, old thing, that would be absoballylutely yummy!"

Lancejack Wilderry walked in and sniffed around, "Smells rather good in here, wot!"

"Hurr, would you like to join us? Bluecheesburry poi be gurt fun to make."

"Sure, wot!"

Soon, everybeast was up and about. Murble had made a whole bunch of "bluecheeseburry poi" and were surprisingly delicious. After the chaos of breakfast, the hares went to relieve their friends on the walltops. Tam and Melesme took those that were able to fight to the abbey's armory (which was actually the attic) and let them pick out weapons. Murble was riding on Melesme's shoulder with a stick in his digging claw. He reached out and hit Tam in the head.

"Hey watch it! Who gave you permission to have a weapon?"

"Hurr, oi bees a gurt wurriur! I kills gurt varmints!"

"That's right Tam, you better watch out! He could beat you at sword fighting."

Murble tried to pick up a sword two times his size. "Hurr, aye, oi slay sixty hunerid varmints at a time!"

Captain Flunkworthy came up and saluted to Melesme. "Marm! Goin' to flippin' ambush the enemy again, marm! Just like we did last night, wot."

"You went last night? Why didn't you tell me?"

"You were angry already, wot! Didn't want to bother you."

"Oh, very well. Be careful. Now, go!"

Murble leapt up swinging his dagger, "Oi bees goin' too!"

"No, sah, you must stay to protect the abbey while we're gone. They need a great warrior like you, wot."

"Yessur! Oi bees a-protectin the abbey!"

Flunkworthy saluted and left for the ambush.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________-

The score of hares crouched behind a big bush.

"So what's the bally plan, sah?"

"We start a fight. Talkin' like vermin, then, they'll think it's somebeast else."

"Then wot?"

"Then Zelsh will come out and get hit by a rock."

"Good idea sah!"

"Let's quit yapin' and start!"

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ripblood, the cook for breakfast, was cooking a disgusting looking concoction. He passed some of it around to his fellow vermin. It was amazingly good, despite how it looked.

Lancejack Wilderry, who had come along yelled out vermin style. "Eeewww! This's disgustin' Wot do ye put in there?"

Ripblood pointed to a random rat, "How dare ye insult my cookin'!" He threw his spoon at the rat. The rat, Dringhe, spat at him, "I didn't say that!"

"Ye fat liar!"

Dringhe stood up, rapier in hand, "So ye call me a fat liar, eh?"

"I didn't! besides, why'd ye insult me in the first palce?"

Flunkworthy threw a rock at him from behind.

"Who threw that rock?"

Dringhe stabbed him in the footpaw. Ripblood screamed.

Zelsh came limping, tail less, out of his makeshift tent, "What's this all about?"

Instantly, the whole army was being pelted with stones, and shot with arrows. This kept going for five minutes. The Long Patrol ran out of missiles and retreated, leaving behind a puzzled horde.

While running, the hares set up all kinds of traps in the trees.

Fleetleg, a young and inexperienced hare smiled, "Those vermin are going to be in for another surprise, wot."

"No talking!" Flunkworthy whispered, "They might hear us!"

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Zelsh was in foul mood. He yelled at anybeast that passed. Nobeast dared to even go close to his tent.

Nobrain was tending to his injured head. Zelsh came out and found him sitting in front of the tent. Zelsh kicked him. "How many soldiers do we have left?!"

"Er, er, about 700 left sire!”

Zelsh growled, "Tell a score of soldiers to go get any reinforcements in Mossflower!"

"Yessir!"

Zelsh needed more soldiers if he was going to take over Redwall.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Mission completed!"

"Great, you're back!"

Doogy let the long patrol in.

"Did you set traps?"

"Yep."

"Lady Melesme wanted to know what happened last night."

"I'll make a bally report to her right now, wot."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After all the able bodied beasts picked their weapons, a squirrel lead a whole bunch of dibbuns and raided the attic. All of them wanted a weapon.

"Hey! You put that dagger down right now!"

"Yowch! Stop swinging that stick!"

"Teeheehee! Yah, i bees a great wurriur just like Martin!"

"Yeah, me too! Here's my sword!"

"Hey! Stop! Give me that!"

A dibbun squirrel jumped onto Tam's back and tried to take his sword. Tam lifted him down. "That's my sword! Troobil, who started this?"

"I did! Teeheehee! I want to be like you! A great warrior!"

"You'll be one day. You have to be a good little squirrel to be a good warrior."

"Ok,tell me what to do!"

"Umm...lead all your dibbun friends outside. There are some umm...rats in the great hall. Oh, and leave your weapons."

"Yessir! Come on, we gotta go catch rats in the great hall! leave yah weapons!"

"Let's get those ratters!"

[edit] Chapter 5

Later that day, Tam was walking through the great hall. Suddenly dibbuns surrounded him, trying to pull him down.

"Attack that rat! Us be great warriors!"

"Hurr, take that yur gurt villyun!"

"What the-"

"Hahar! we gots ya!"

Tam let himself drop. The dibbuns piled up on him.

"Wait! You not a rat! Teeheehee! Oops."

"No! I'm a squirrel! Now get off me!"

"Yah, where's all the ratters?"

"Umm... I told them you were coming and they got scared and ran."

"Good, ratters be a-scared of us!"

"Yeah, now get off me!"

Cheresa was wandering around the Abbey when she heard all the commotion and came running to see what it is. She was surprised to see her brother being squashed by dibbuns.

"What are you doing?!"

"They attacked me!"

"Hmph! Where am I anyways?"

"You haven't had a tour of the abbey yet?"

"No."

"Ok, cover your ears. MELEEEENDAAAAA!!!!"

Melenda came running in, "WHAAAAT?!"

"Give your aunty a tour of the abbey."

"My aunty?"

"Tam, who's that?"

"My daughter, Melenda."

"Your daughter? She looks much nicer than you."

"Hmph."

"Ok, aunty, come with me!"

"So, what's a pretty little squirrelmaid doing with a dirk in her belt?"

"Umm...This is Dad's. He gave it to me."

They strolled through the abbey chatting like they've known each other for seasons.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Zelsh paced in front of three score of rats. "Hmmm...so you want to join me?"

Their leader, Jidpoi winked at his band, "Yep. And after you...we take over this Redhall Babby place, I get a quarter of this treasure you were talking about."

"Deal." Zelsh knew he was up to something. He called a random rat from his horde in with him to his tent.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________-

"Hey Tam! C'mere!"

"What is it, Doogy?"

"Smell this."

"A-a-a-achoo! Aaahhh. What is this?"

"Hotroot pepper. Teeheehee!"

"Why are you laughing?"

"Skipper found a couple bags full of them. I thought we could share them with the vermin the next time the long patrol goes hunting."

"Oh, great idea. I think Pinetooth could help with this. We don't want our side being a-chooing too."

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Pinetooth, Tam, and Captain Flunkworthy had a little meeting after lunch.

"So, us squirrels could drop the hotroot into the camp while you hares pelt them with stones."

"Yeah, but let's go at dinner. we could drop a pawful of pepper in the food-"

"-And They'll serve it to Zelsh! Great idea!"

"But what about the bally traps that we set?"

"We'll go around them."

"Alright. we have to cover our faces with wet cloth."

"Why?"

Tam held a pawful of hotroot to Flunkworthy's nose. "A-a-achoo! Achoo! Ok, ok, take it away!"

They started to get ready for the attack.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Friraw, Zelsh's cook, was cooking dinner near a bush.

Zelsh yelled from the tent, "Friraw! Come here!"

"Yes sir! Coming!"

Ferdimond de Mayne saw his chance. He grabbed 2 pawfuls of hotroot pepper and dumped them into the food. He quickly hid himself and loaded a sling.

Friraw came out and jumped around, "Waaaahooooo! I'm captain!"

He took the food from the "stove" and poured it into a bowl. He hurried and brought it to Zelsh.

Ferdimond bit his lip to stop himself from laughing.

"Yaaaahhhh!" Zelsh started go red. "THIS IS TOO HOT! WHY DID YOU PUT SO MUCH PEPPER? WHERE DID YOU EVEN GET THE PEPPER? YOU IDIOT! GET ME SOME WATER! NOW! I WILL KILL YOU!"

After he recieved his water, Zelsh unpromoted his new captain. He came out of the tent. The laughing squirrels dropped hotroot everywhere. The vermin screamed. They ran everywhere bumping into everyone. They were suddenly pelted with stones and the laughter doubled. It caused even more chaos. Most of the vermin were crying like crazy and they all ran towards the river.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

At the abbey, the group that ambushed the vermin were laughing so hard, they were crying.

"Hahahahaha! did you see Zelsh's face? It was red like a bally strawberry! Heeheeheehee!"

"I know! Hahahaha! Too bad for that cook. He was just promoted captain. Teeheehee!"

"Hohoho! Most of them threw themselves into the water. Now that was funny. Hahahaha!"

"Ok, ok, enough! You'll wake the dibbuns! Now let's get some dinner!"

They went towards to kitchens still uncontrollably laughing. But, they didn't notice Troobil, the squirrelbabe sneak into the kitchens too.

Chapter 6
Zelsh was angrier than ever. He had killed Friraw because he told him that over a score of his hordebeasts were killed. Now, he knew that he had to get as many reinforcements as possible.

He had sent half of his army to gather more vermin. He was about to march to the abbey, but they had attacked again. Now they were really going to get it.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The warriors ate in Cavern Hole. It was a nice and snug place to be. Sister Screeve came in holding a lantern.

"Have you seen Troobil? I got up for some unknown reason and just thought i would count the Dibbuns. Troobil is missing."

"No marm, only we were here."

There was a giggle from under the table. Everyone looked under.

"Ah ha! There you are!"

"Ahhh! Teeheehee!"

Troobil ran. Tam leaped from the seat and landed infront of Troobil.

"So, first you want to be a 'great warrior' and now, you don't sleep? You gotta sleep in order to be big and strong. If you keep running away from the bed, then you won't be a warrior."

"Ok, me sleep...here."

He curled up in one of the comfy chairs and snored.

"Huh, sleeping on a chair? I'm goin' to-"

"No, let him be, wot. I'll take him up later. You go back to sleep."

"Ssshhh! He's asleep."

Ferdimond slowly picked him up, and walked slowly from the table, up the stairs and into the dormitories.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tam went up to stairs to the room that he and Armel shared. He gently laid down on the bed next to Armel. He closed his eyes and went to sleep.

In his dreams, he saw Martin the Warrior. A long dead mouse whose spirit protected the Abbey. The co-founder of the Abbey. He always came to visit a special beast in times of trouble.

Tam saw that Martin was, as usual, carrying his awesome sword, and had on full armor. He pointed to Tam.

You mustn't fight the vermin horde

Save it for the murdering lord.

Let them travel over to you,

Heed my words, what you must do:

Let them besiege my Redwall Abbey,

So you may find the slaves and set them free.

When the time has come, I shall call

You must go out and challenge them,

Take my blade and challenge all

Fight for Redwall, and recall:

Hit him down below the knee on his leg-

And whatever you do, don’t listen to him beg!"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

At breakfast the next morning, Tam was thinking over what Martin told him. Why must Zelsh take over the abbey? His thoughts were interrupted when Troobil jumped on him.

"Am I a great wurriah now? I sleeped and and-"

"No, no, not yet. You must eat all your food first, and you must wait until you're older."

"Awww. But i wants to help you fights the bad guys."

"No. You must stay here and protect the others while we're fighting."

"Ok, me protect them from shoopid varments."

"Hey! Watch your language!"

"Sowwy!" _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Captain Funkworthy and a score of hares were about to walk out to ambush the vermin again.

"Hey! Wait! Where are you goin'?"

They turned to see Tam running towards them.

"To ambush the stinkin' vermin again, wot!"

"Don't go!"

"Why not?"

"I dunno. Ask Martin! He said to let them come!"

"And let them besiege the abbey? Hmph!"

"Yep, that's what he said!"

"WHAT?!"

"Why don't you go and question Martin?"

Flunkworthy sighed and turned to his hares, "Ok. Yah, relax, you can go eat lunch now."

"But we just had breakfast, sah!"

"Oh. Right. Then go umm...do what ever!"

After the other hares ran off, Flunkworthy ran of towards to abbey. Tam caught up with him.

"And where are you goin'?"

"To the bally kitchens! I'm hungry."

Tam shook his head as he watched Flunkworthy run like a galloper, "Hares."

Chapter 7
The rat that Zelsh appointed as spy for him had dressed up as a rat that was from jidpoi's band. He made his report to Zelsh.

"Sir!"

"Whatdoyawant?"

"Umm...that rat leader, Jidpoi, umm..."

"WHAT ABOUT HIM?!"

"He's plannin' to, erm, kill you tonight. While you're sleepin'"

"Ah-ha! i knew it! that dirty traitor! Good work Ripnose!"

"Er-er-er thanks chief!"

"Yeah, now go outside! Oh and tell our original horde that we're going to raid the abbey in two days."

"Yes sir!"

After Ripnose left, Zelsh began to form a plan in his mind.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Help! Heeelllpppp!"

Tam, Abbot Humble, and Melesme showed up in the kitchens at the same time.

"What happened?"

"What is it?"

"Is there a vermin in here?"

"No, It's those hares! They're raiding my kitchens and, and-"

Lady Melesme roared, "YOU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?! YOU JUST HAD BREAKFAST! THIS IS NOT SALAMANDASTRON! THIS IS NOT YOUR HOME! YOU MUST TREAT THIS PLACE AND ALL THE INHABITANTS WITH RESPECT! YOU-"

"Whoa! Calm down! It's ok!"

"Yeah, if they are hungry then, they can ask politely and Friar Glisum will happily make their food!"

"I will?"

"Yes. You will."

"Right, right, i will. but they just need to ask, not raid my kitchens!"

"Yes sah!"

All the hares ran out and came in again. They dropped on their knees and begged.

"Dear friar glisum. would you please make us famished hares some food? We're soooo hungry, wot!"

"Umm...yes, Just wait a while."

"Oh, thank you sir! We're are sooo grateful, wot!"

"Yes, yes, thank you!"

Father Abbot turned to Melesme, "see, they can be really polite when they have to."

Chapter 8
That night, Jidpoi sneaked into Zelsh's tent. He smiled and saw that Zelsh was laying on his bed. He took his knife and stabbed him in the throat. But it had gone in too easily. something was wrong!

"So, traitor, trying to kill me, eh?"

Jidpoi turned around. Zelsh was standing there with his scimitar drawn.

"Umm...I...umm...mercy!"

Zelsh sliced Jidpoi throat with his blade. "Too bad, traitor! Hahahaha!"

The next morning, Zelsh kicked Jidpoi's carcass outside and showed everybeast.

"Jidpoi here was a traitor. He thought he could outsmart Zelsh the Murderer. This is what you get if you betray me!"

Later, the other half of his army returned. The leader of that half came to Zelsh.

"Sire!"

"What?"

"We found a Juska clan with over three scores of beasts."

"Ok, good, bring their leader in!"

"Yes sir!"

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________-

Tam climed over the abbey walls into Mossflower woods. He arrived into the vermin camp and spied on them. It took all his strength to keep himself from jumping on Zelsh and tearing him to bits.

"Tomorrow, we march to Redwall and take over! Those stupid woodlanders don't stand a chance! If you come, there's bound to be lot's of treasure for you! More than you could ever have. Now, go rest, we have to be in perfect shape when we take over!"

Tam heard all that he needed to. To keep himself from turning mad, he hurriedly headed back to the abbey.

Chapter 9

"Council of war! Council of war inside the Great hall!"

Tam scurried around the abbey yelling for a meeting. Armel went up to him.

"What's the matter Tam?"

"Vermin are goin' to attack tomorrow. Gather everybeast for council of war inside the great hall."

Once everybeast was in the great hall, Tam started to speak.

"As you all know, this is a council of war. Tomorrow, the vermin are planing to lay a siege to the abbey. Though their number is less than ours, we still cannot underestimate them. Anyone who feels that they cannot fight in this war is given permission not to participate. But you must assist those that are in the war, for example help heal the injuries, cook, and bring food to those on the walls."

Sister Screeve raised her hand.

"Yes?"

"What about the dibbuns?"

"Umm...they must stay in the dormitories at all times."

A wail from the dibbuns arose. They were soon complaining.

"Why we gotta stay in the dermiteries?"

"We wanna fight the evil ratters!"

"Hurr, we'm sloied twenny hunerids!"

"Silence! You dibbuns need to protect those that cannot fight. They need great warriors like you!"

"Butta we needs weapons!"

"Skipper, go get them sticks from the orchard."

"Okay! Enough about dibbuns! We need to post extra sentries on the walls."

Ferdimond jumped up and saluted. "Yessah! I can take care of that right now!" He motioned to a group of hares and dashed out the doors.

"Ok, now, does everyone who can fight know how to use a bow, or sling? Whoever doesn't raise your paw."

No paw was raised.

"Good. Now, Martin told me to charge them when the time comes. Is everybeast able to do that?"

"YES!!!"

"Are we going to show them that we can defeat them?"

"YES!!!"

"Ok, dismiss!"

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Zelsh came out of his tent. He ordered his servants to pack it up. Scringenose, the slave master, came up to him.

"Sire!"

"What?"

"Errm, we found a colony of voles, bein' attacked by a hunerid stoats and weasels. What do we do with them?"

"Well, take voles as slaves of course! And with the attackers, make them join the horde."

"Yesir!"

Scringenose went about his duties. Zelsh stepped onto a old tree stump.

"Hahar! Well my loyal horde, are we ready to take over the abbey?!"

"YES SIR!"

"Are we goin' to destroy those redwallers?!"

"YES SIR!"

"Are we goin' to make them pay for daring to attack my horde?!"

"YES SIR!!!"

"Alright, lets march!"

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Captain Xurxeo of the ship Bloodstream and his crew marched deeper into Mossflower woods. His ship had crashed into a rock because his steerbeast had been sleeping again. Now, his ship was completely destroyed. Though he didn't know it, he was only 3 days march from Redwall.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tam paced around the Abbey walls, impatient. His daughter, Melenda, just stared at him.

"Why are you pacing around like that? You'll wear a hole on the floor."

Tam sat down and sighed, "are you sure you want to fight in this war melenda?"

"Yes! I'm old enough. I'm not a baby any more!"

"Yes but wars are dangerous. I don't want you killed."

"Don't worry about me, dad, I'll be fine. After all, you taught me how to use a blade, so I'll kill the vermin easily!"

Tam muttered, "It won't be as easily as you think."

Melenda just shrugged.

Ferdimond De Mayne suddenly shouted, "Ring the bally bells! Vermin are here!"

Tam charged to the bell tower. He took the two bell ropes, one in each paw. He tugged on them with all his might. Then he shouted as loud as he could.

"EVERYBEAST TO YOUR ASSIGNED POSTS! VERMIN ARE HERE!"

Tam raced out and up the stairs to the walltop. He went to Ferdimond.

"Where?"

Ferdimond pointed, "They haven't crossed the ditch yet."

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Zelsh marched faster and faster towards the abbey. He jumped over the ditch with his vermin army following in pursuit. "Redwall Abbey, you're mine!"

"Urmm...sire?"

"What is it this time?"

"Do you know their numbers?"

"No, how many can there be? Several hundrid at the most!"

When they got to the abbey gates, They saw no sentries.

"Hahar! see? They don't even know!"

He knocked on the gates. "Heeelllooooo!"

Suddenly all around the walls, Warbeasts appeared, more than a thousand of them crowding the walls.

"Uh-oh, we're in trouble."

"Shut up idiot!"

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________--

Ferdimond placed himself infront of Tam. "So fatty, what're you doin' here? playin'?"

"Grr! No beast speaks to Zelsh the Murderer like that!"

"Well, i just did, so ha! Y'don't stand a chance ya flippn' cad!"

In a second, Zelsh was dodging stones being thrown at him. When the vermin fired back The Redwallers were gone! They threw gappling hooks up and began to climb. when they almost got to the top, they were suddenly falling. The last thing they saw before dropping with a thud, was Ferdimond's smiling face.

Zelsh was worried, "This is goin' to be harder than I thought."

Chapter 10
The redwallers' side had been mocking the vermin for a long time. Every time the vermin get hit with stones, they would shout out some insult and stick their tongue out at them. To the hares, squirrels, otters, and shrews, they thought it was a lot of fun. But the Redwallers took things more seriously. They saw no humor.

Ferdimond tried to lighten things up. "So, what're you doin' here all sad like this? Get some stones and start insulting!"

The redwallers didn't move. Ferdimond showed them "real insulting".

He threw a stone at Zelsh, hitting him on the head. "So ya flippn' stupid, one-eyed, fat, disgusting, weasel, why did you pull your fat, flea ridden, bottom here for? to get it kicked by some decent woodlanders? I think that's wot you came here for, wot! Right mates?"

Everyone started throwing insults to Zelsh, Redwallers included. Zelsh's blood was boiling. He was angrier than ever. He was shaking with rage when suddenly, Plonk a huge stone hurled by lady melesme hit him on the head and the last thing he heard was the jeering of the enemy before being knocked out cold.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

That first day attacking the abbey was a disaster. Several of his Vermin had been killed in traps. The vermin slept in the ditch that night. Zelsh couldn't sleep. He had waken up to a huge headache, and had been raging. Nobeast could come near him. He swing his scimitar at anyone that came near. He now had to figure out what to do with the redwallers.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Captain Xurxeo and his 300 beast crew had marched all day. now, he had to rest. He was getting closer and closer to Redwall.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tam was happy now. He had finally been given a chance to kill Zelsh. But Martin told him to Charge Zelsh. He wondered why. His thoughts were interrupted when Troobil jumped onto his head. Holding a half eaten Slice of pie.

“Ahh! What is it this time, you rascal?”

“Yaaahh! Hide me! Capin Clunkworty be looking fors me!”

Tam lifted Troobil over his head. “Hey, Flunkworthy! Troobil’s here!”

Flunkworthy took Troobil from Tam and began to tickle him.

“So steal my pie, will ya!”

“Hahaha! Heeheehee! Stoppit! I give you pie back!”

“Gimme that! Thank you! Wa? Only the crust left?”

“Heeheehee! You funny, Capin Clunkworty.”

“M’name is Captain Flunkworthy, not Capin Clunkworty!”

“Oops sowwy.”

Father Abbot sighed. “Well, at least they’re happy still.”

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Like most Vermin leaders, Zelsh had no brains. His intelligent Captian, Fumyter, had to do all the thinking. He showed Zelsh a plan he made up to attack the Redwallers.

"So you gotta use tha battering ram on the main gates while attackin' on tha other side."

"Good idea, you really deserve to be captain."

"Thank you sire!"

Fumyter walked away thinking, why do i have to do all the work?

Chapter 11
In the morning, Tam had woken up early. He took his breakfast to the battlements. He stared out at the vermin camp. He wondered how long it would take until he was finally able to take revenge for his family. He also wondered who would get killed in this war. He was so deep in thoughts that he didn't hear Melenda sneak up to him.

"Boo! Hahaha!"

"What the! I was eating!"

"Oh, oops. didn't ya hear me?"

"No."

"Why? Thinkin' again?"

"Yep. Shouldn't you be getting your sleep? You're on sentry duty tonight."

"Ya, i can't sleep! I'll just take an afternoon nap later."

"Huh, like you will."

"Hmph! So when are we gonna fight those stinkin' vermin again? It was so fun yesterday!"

"War isn't a fun thing. It's sad, scary, and terrible. You'll regret you ever fought in one someday."

"Hmm..." Melenda turned and walked away.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Zelsh brought his horde closer to the abbey, whithin earshot now.

"Hurry up and bring that battering ram! You! take your group to the other side! Attack it!"

Tam heard, "Hurry! Secure the main gate! They're gonna bring a battering ram! And go to the other side too, While they batter our doors, they're going to attack that side!"

Zelsh cursed himself, "Drat! they've heard!"

"Umm...sire?"

"WHAT?"

"They've poured dirt and stuff over the gates."

"Aaarrgg! So! Do it anyway!"

"Yessir!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

At the wall top everyone was cheering.

"Waahooo! Hey! Foremole! Where did ya manage to get all that dirt so fast?"

"Moi moles and oi wers diggun' on ee ground a'course."

"Oh. You guys do dig pretty fast! That was amazing!"

Foremole blushed and covered his eyes with a digging claw. "Hurr, Cause we'm bee molers!"

"Oh, right, yeah, I knew that."

Tam shouted above all the cheering, "Get water! It's time for mud!"

Right away, Hares, moles, shrews, and otters dashed to the abbey pond where they could get plenty of water.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Zelsh made a score of his horde charge the main gate with a battering ram. Right when they got to the dirt, redwallers appeared out of nowhere pouring buckets of water into the dirt.

"Yeah! Time for some mud!"

"Want some water to go with dirt? Well, here ya go!"

Everywhere, vermin slipped on the mud, fell, and panicked. Zelsh was angry. The redwallers have ruined his plans again!

Chapter 12
Captain Xurxeo was almost at the abbey. His scouts brought back information.

"So Cap'n will we join ther fight?"

"Of course! Hmm...From wot i herd, Redhall has lot's of booty!"

"Ooohhh! boooty! Lets go fer it!"

"Yes, but first, we have to meet with their leader...In two days."

"Whoi cap'n?"

"We have to see what he's like first. Then he might have a weakness!"

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It was nearly dark. Tam was on sentry duty. He looked out into the vermin camp. Armel came up to him.

"It's time for you to sleep."

"Not yet. The others sentries have to come replace me first."

"Well here they come now!"

"Hey Tam! Time for ya to get some bally rest wot!"

"Thanks Derron. Well, time for me to get my sleep!"

Derron Fortindom looked suspiciously outside the wall. Had he seen a moving figure? No, it must be lack of sleep.

Armel leaned her back to the wall. She looked at the abbey and sighed. So beautiful, but how long would this last if vermin were attacking the abbey? She sighed again.

There was a weasel at the wall, where Armel was standing. He hit her with a slingstone. she fell unconscious and toppled over, down the wall. She fell onto the weasel. He took her to camp, thinking of his rewards. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next morning, after breakfast, Tam, Cheresa, and Melenda went up to the walltops.

"Dad, where's mom?"

"I dunno, isn't she in the infirmary?"

"No, I can't find her anywhere."

"Cheresa, have you seen Armel?"

"Nope, why?"

Then suddenly, they heard a scream. Melenda whirled around and saw Armel held by two vermin and being whipped by Zelsh's scimitar.

"Mom!"

"Armel!"

Tam shaking so much, he couldn't speak. He drew his sword.

"Redwaaaaaalll!!!"

Tam climbed down the wall.

"Dad! Wait!"

"Tam are you mad?"

They both climbed after him.

Doogy had come to see why Tam was yelling. He gasped when he saw the three of them climbing down the walls.

"Help, help!"

Brooky arrived, "What is it?"

"Look!"

Brooky gasped, then ran to Skipper.

"Nunky Skip!"

"What?"

"Armel is being beaten by vermin and Tam, Cheresa, and Melenda have gone over the abbey walls to rescue her!"

"What? Tam is being mad! Alarm the long patrol!"

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tam saw nothing but red mist. he slashed everywhere, trying to get to Armel. He saw Zelsh laughing madly, while whipping her. Cheresa and Melenda were fighting their way through to him. They all were wounded, but Melenda suffered the most. Yet she kept fighting. Tam had killed off more than a score of beasts. The vermin saw that the red-eyed, berserk, huge, heavily muscled squirrel armed with a glistening blade. Though they knew he was only one, they ran.

Tam finally got to Armel. Zelsh and the two vermin holding Armel, lost their wits and ran too. Tam slung Armel over his shoulder (for she was unconscious now) and scurried back to the abbey.

He climbed up the abbey wall and laid Armel on the floor. Cheresa followed, carrying Melenda. She laid her next to Armel. Melenda had suffered a lot of damage and was too weak to even walk now. Her ear was cut off, and she had dozens of cuts and scratches all over her body.

They were all exhausted. Skipper and his otters came up with four stretchers. They carried the four squirrels to the infirmary. Captain Derron Fortidom was walking along side Tam's stretcher.

"You were flippn' crazy! Wot did y'think you were? A blinkin' badger? Personally, I think even a bally badger can't hold off a horde, wot."

"Well, I wasn't thinking. He's killed my family, destroyed my village, trying to take over my home now, and then, he tries to kill my wife! I just wanted to kill him so badly..."

Doogy tagged along and interrupted. "Yah! Y'never think!"

Tam stuck his tounge out at Doogy. Derron continued. "Well, you three did a flippn' good job! You killed almost two score of the flippn' vermin, wot!"

"I did?"

Cheresa piped up, "Yep, we did! I saw your eyes, totally red! That was scary!"

Derron thought for a second, "You had bloodrath? I thought only badgers had bloodrath. Oh, well, here we are! The flippn' infirmary!"

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Zelsh was sitting in his tent. Three squirrels, three tiny tree jumpers had scared off his army. He called to his captain, "Fumyter!"

"Yessir!"

"How many were killed from those tree jumpers?"

"Errm... 38 killed, 31 injured, sire."

"What? Three squirrels killed 38, and injured 31, of my army?!"

"Yessir."

"Grr...go and get reinforcements. Now!"

"Umm..."

"What are you waiting for?!"

"Well, there is a corsair wantin' to talk with ya. he's got over 300 beasts with him."

"Why didn't ya tell my earlier?"

"You were already angry and-"

"Ok, never mind! take me to them!"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tam and Cheresa were treated and walked out of the infirmary. Tam limped down the stairs with a huge bandage around his head. Cheresa close behind him with an arm in a cast. Skipper caught up with Tam.

"What were you thinking, matey?! Chargin' out to a horde armed with only a sword! Sheesh! And you Cheresa, you followed him?"

Tam grunted and sighed wearily, "She and Melenda only came to protect me. This was all my fault."

Skipper patted his back, "It's ok, I woulda done the same thing. Had to save Armel, eh?"

"Yeah, of course..."

"Let's get some dinner, mates!"

After dinner, Tam and Cheresa brought two trays of food for Armel and Melenda. When they went in, Melenda was sobbing. Tam put his tray down and put his arm around her.

"What's the matter?"

"I...I...I...I killed...I killed somebeast! wahahaha!"

"So?"

"I had no idea what i was doing. I just started to slice at them with my blade! wahaha!"

"See? I told you war isn't fun."

Cheresa shooed Tam away, "Huh! You're being too hard on her." She hugged Melenda, "It's ok, you had to kill those vermin. If you didn't, they would have killed you mother and your father."

"Yes, your right. But still it feels terrible!"

"You'll get over it. wow! you lost an ear!"

Melenda felt for her ear. One of them was missing!

"B-b-but how? I didn't feel anything!"

"Ok, now, enough of that, here's dinner!"

Armel had just woken up. She looked around in confusion. "Where am I?"

Tam walked over and sat down on the bed. "In the infirmary. How are you feeling?"

"Ok, i guess, but my back still hurts." She looked at him and started yelling at him. "Why did you climb down that wall like that and try to destroy a horde of vermin? are you mad? What were you thinking? You just-" "-Ok, ok, i wasn't thinking. I just lost my senses and wanted to kill Zelsh."

Armel looked at the next bed. "Melenda! What happened to you?!"

Melenda tried to get up, but her injuries didn't let her. "Mom! you're alive!"

"What happened to you?"

"I was injured. And look, my ear is gone!"

Armel gasped, "Tam, you let her go down there too?!"

"Don't blame him, Armel, we dove after him to try to get him to come back."

Armel sighed and lay, back, "You should have just stayed up there."

Tam hugged her, "Never! I'd die before I'd do that!"

[edit] Chapter 13

Zelsh paced in front of Captain Xurxeo and his crew.

"So, you're thinkin' about joining us, eh?"

"Yarr! Me'n my mates will will fight for ye on won condition..."

"What's that?"

"Ye gives us some of the booty from that Redmall Shnabby place."

"Deal!" They both shook paws, both not trusting each other.

"We have enough beasts t'crush those stupid redwallers now! Hahahahahaha!"

"Yep! And I've already got a plan!"

"What is it? Tell me." _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Hurry up and get choppin' ye group of spineless beasts!"

Zelsh had a plan in his mind. He had ordered some big strong beasts to chop down trees to get wood.

"We have t'have at least three trees chopped by tomorrow! hurry up!"

"Urm...Wot's the trees fer, sir?"

"Hahaha! A siege tower o'course! We'll make those stupid redwallers pay for messing with Zelsh! Hahaha!"

"Ermm...ha...ha...ha...ha."

"Git back to chopping ye idiot!!!"

"Yessir!"

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"DAD!!!"

Tam looked up from where he was playing with a bunch of dibbuns, "What?!"

Melenda grabbed his arm and pulled until he stood up. "Come with me. There's something I want you to hear."

"Ok, ok, I'm coming."

Melenda kept pulling at Tam. "Come on! Faster!"

"Alright I'm comming! Yeesh!"

When they got to the walltop, Melenda knelt down and cocked her only ear to the wall.

"What do listenin' for?"

Melenda stood up and pulled him down. "Listen."

"Sounds like...chopping?"

Melenda nodded. "But who's chopping?"

"Vermin!"

"And why?"

"A battering ram?"

"Consisting of three trees?"

"How do you know?"

"I saw."

"Y'went you there? All alone? Unarmed?"

"No, I had your dirk with me."

"I thought you said you weren't gonna fight anymore."

"Well, I thought about it and if I don't fight, then Redwall might never stand."

"I think that's true. Anyway, what are they gonna do with three big trees?"

"I dunno! That's why I'm telling you to come here!"

Tam patted her head, "Right, right. We'll have to battering ram proof our gates."

"I'll get the moles!"

A while later, Melenda came back with Foremole.

"So, how much dirt can you dig up in a day?"

"Hurr, as murch as you'm warnt!"

"Good! Now will you start digging?"

"Arlrite! Oi'm goina get moi molers!"

Chapter 14
"Hahar! See, Zelsh? I tolded ye we'd have three trees cut by dawn!"

"Aye, and when do ye think the siege tower will be finished?"

"Hmm...maybe in a day if things are goin' accordin' t'plans."

"Perfect! We'll rule Redwall yet!"

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

An huge, unconscious otter laid on the banks of the river. He awakened and tried to stand up. When he finally got up, he looked into the river. His face was covered with scratches. He thought for a second. How did he end up in Mossflower? He was on a ship…sailing to somewhere to get help because his home on the Green Isle had been overrun by cats longer than anybeast could remember…then his ship hit a rock while trying to go to this mountain…and now he’s here? Oh, well, he might as well look around for somebeast to help. He drew his dagger which was luckily still in his belt. He walked on until he heard a screech. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Ok! bared up the gates! Good job moles! Now hares and otters, go get some water! Alot of water!"

"Yessir!"

"Right away sir, wot!"

"Aye aye, sir!"

"Stop saluting and get down there!"

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Zelsh was very happy now. His siege tower was finished!

"Sir!"

"What is it this time?!"

"Umm...", he lowered his voice, "There's an gigantic otter spyin' on us."

"Make him a slave then!"

"Oh, right!"

The otter watched from behind a bush. Where was that ferret going with a score of beasts? Suddenly, he was being hit with sticks. He tried to fight but somebeast got him on the head. he pretended to fall unconscious. The vermin dragged him to Zelsh. He suddenly sprang up and stabbed a rat and a weasel close by with his dagger. From behind, Zelsh hit his head with a stone and this time, he did fall unconscious.

When the otter awoke, he found himself chained next to a vole.

"So yer awake now, eh?"

"Uhh...where am I?"

"In a pit with alot of slaves."

He stood up and pulled at his chains which were rusty. After several hard tugs, they broke. The voles gasped.

"Right mates, now that I'm free, I'll get some help."

With that he took his chains and climbed out of the pit. Zelsh was walking by and saw him climb out. bonk! he hit the otter on the head with the hilt of the scimitar and the otter fell back in the pit.

"You! get stronger chains and him up tighter!"

"Yes sir!"

Chapter 15
"Tam!"

"What?"

"Come here!"

"What?"

"Look!"

"Vermin!"

Tam saw about 300 more vermin that there had been before. Zelsh stepped foreward.

"Surrender!"

Brooky leaned over the walltop and shouted. "You ain't goin' t'give me any orders stinkface!"

"Fine, don't! He'll die!"

Zelsh had the captive otter dragged infront of him. The otter was kicking, scratching, biting, and punching whenever he could. Zelsh put his scimitar blade on his neck.

"Surrender or he dies. Oh, and don't worry, I've got a whole colony of vole slaves too!"

Tam heard Martin's words, find the slaves and set them free. Tam whispered to Brooky, "Is he from your uncle's clan?"

"Umm...i don't think so. Never seen him before."

"Go get Skipper."

"Ok!"

Tam turned to Zelsh. "We need to think about it. Give us a day."

"Fine, a day it is!"

The otter yelled, "Don't worry about me mate! Let him kill me if he wants!"

Brooky returned with Skipper. "There he is!"

"Hmm...nope! he's not one of my otters."

"Still, we have to rescue him."

"I know that! But i don't know how."

"I have a plan!"

They all turned to Tam.

"Tell us your plan mate!"

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The otter was thrown back into the pit with the voles. The one chained next to him poked him.

"Wot is it mate?"

"Umm...I'm Dingo. Never got your name..."

"I'm Streamrudder. Nice to meet ya matey!"

"Yaahh!"

The vole had vanished into a hole in the ground. Soon some others had too.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Woah!"

Streamrudder fell flat on his back. In a second he saw a mole's face.

"Umm...hi? Uhh...thanks for freeing us..."

"Hurr, no proberlum zurr! cumm wi' uz to ee abbey! foller thart moler thur."

"Sure, are the voles comming too?"

"Yep, they'm already goned ahed of yoo."

Streamrudder ran off through the tunnel. He later popped up in a place full of life. A female otter was standing on the ground next to his head.

"Hello matey! I'm Brookflow, niece of the Skipper. Y'can call me Brooky. Who are you?"

Streamrudder stared into her eyes, he hardly heard her. "Huh? What? Oh! I'm Streamruddder, nice t'meetcher, Brooky."

"Come with me, I'll show you around."

Chapter 16
A ferret came to Zelsh.

"Whatd'yawant?"

"Umm...er..."

"I said what do you want?!"

"All the slaves...umm...disapeared...and all the chains are gone too..."

"WHAT?!?!?!"

"Umm...I said-"

"I heard what you said. now go get me Scringenose!"

"Yessir!"

Scringenose came a moment later. Zelsh drew his scimitar and pointed it at his throat.

"So, you let the slaves escape, eh?"

"Umm...they just disapeared...somehow."

"Did you post guards around the pit?"

"Yessir, i found them dozing when I came to check on the otter..."

"so how do you think they escaped?"

"Umm...They climbed out of the pit an'-"

"Fool! How can voles climb out of a pit that deep?!"

"I-i-i-d-d-dont know sir."

"Grrr!"

Zelsh threw him aside and walked away.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Streamrudder and Brooky walked up to the battlements.

"So these vermin have been tryin' t'take over Redwall?"

"Yes, and we don't know how to get rid of them."

Skipper walked up to them, "Haharr! Ye found a friend, eh Brooky?"

"Hi Nunky Skip! This is Streamrudder. Streamrudder, this is my uncle, the skipper of otters around here."

"Nice to meet'cher."

"You too, mate. So i suppose you know about the vermin?"

"Yes, and I'll help you fight them if'n you want."

"Sure, anyone is welcome to fight them."

Later at dinner, Tam stood up and made a announcement.

"Redwallers, Long Patrol, Guosim, and you squirrels, I thank you for fighting and risking your lives for Redwall. We soon will have to charge them, let's say in five days, if they don't give up. Redwall has never fallen and I hope it never will. But for now, we have to keep an eye on those vermin. Yesterday, Melenda heard chopping. I think they are building a battering ram but, I may be wrong. So, we have to be alert and don't let those stinkin' vermin catch us off guard!"

A roar of approval rang inside the room. Tam sat down. The Abbot said the blessing after everybeast quieted down. With an "Amen" Everyone started to eat. Melenda and Armel went to serve the senteries. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Zelsh and Captain Xurxeo lead the army to the walls. about three score of vermin rolled the newly finished siege tower to one of the walls.

"Haharr! We'll git that booty inside Redwall yet!"

"Ssshhh! They might hear you." _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Armel and Melenda had finished serving food for the senteries. They both leaned over the walltop. Suddenly, a tower appeared and a ugly weasel popped up.

"Hahaha! You again! And somebeast else too! It's my lucky day!" Zelsh hit them over the heads and they both fell unconscious.

The senteries came running to try to fight off the vermin. Captain Flunkworthy charged to the bell tower and rang the two bells. Tam came running out of the abbey at the head of an army. He saw that his wife and daughter was laying at the feet of Zelsh. Zelsh addressed Tam.

"Hahahaha! If you don't surrender, these precious squirrels of yours will die! I give you a until dawn to decide."

Tam called to his army, "Retreat! Back into the abbey!"

The Redwallers walked confused back into the abbey. The vermin was sneering at them. Cheresa walked up to him.

"What are you doing?! You're just going to leave Armel and Melenda there?!"

"No, never! I've got a plan. Now let's get back into the abbey."

The redwallers went into the great hall, all confused. There was an uproar.

Tam pounded the table with his fist. "Quiet please!" Nobeast listened. Ferdimond raised his voice, "SHUT UP!!! LISTEN TO THE FLIPPIN' ABBEY WARRIOR, WOT!!!"

"Thank you Captain. Now, the reason why i called a retreat, is because we are going to charge them in the morning. They'll think we will surrender, but at the last minute when they come to conquer the abbey, we will take up our weapons and charge them."

Ferdimond's wife, Kersey spoke, "Aye and what will happen to the dibbuns and elders?"

"They'll hide in the dormitories and watch."

Just then, Kersey and Ferdimond's dibbun son, Dauncey came running, "Mamma, Daddy, there bees a fosker in tha dermetery!"

"Where?"

"Inna dermetery!"

Kersey grabbed a bow from an otter and ran up the stairs. She found a fox with a cutlass standing over the body of an elder. She shot the fox. he fell forward at the abbot who was trying to protect the dibbuns. Everybeast sighed in relief. Kersey went back down the stairs. and sat in her seat.

"Don't worry, I killed the blinkin' fox."

Ferdimond put his paw around her shoulders.

"Good show, wot!"

Tam stood up again.

"Rest, tend to your weapons, and eat now. Tomorrow at dawn, we will make the vermin pay for daring to attack redwall!"

Roars, shouts, and screams came from the Redwallers. Tam walked off alone and sharpened the sword of Martin. He tied a sling and a bag of stones around his waist. He put a dagger into his belt. Now, Zelsh will pay for murdering his family!

At dawn the next morning, the Redwallers walked out of the abbey. Tam leading them. Behind him was the highest ranking leaders of the long patrol, log-a-log, Skipper, Melesme, and Pinetooth leading each a column of beasts, armed to the teeth.

"We are here to surrender. But only if you let the maids go."

"Fine," Zelsh shoved them toward the Redwallers, "Now, surrneder."

Armel and Melenda rushed to the abbey. Tam put down his sword. Melenda appeared again with her father's dirk. Suddenly Tam picked up the sword of martin and a battle cry ripped from his mouth while he charged. "Redwaaaaaaalll!!!"

The rest of the army ran, yelling battle cries, swinging weapons. "Eulaliiiiaaaaaaa!!! Logalogalogalogalog!!! Mossfloweeeeerr!!!."

Cheresa found the slavemaster who once held her in chains. He saw her and took out his dagger. Cheresa brandished her sword. "Now you must pay for keeping me and my pals as slaves!" Cheresa brought her sword down, fast as lightning and sliced Scringenose's head. Tam was thundering towards Zelsh, Melenda behind him. Suddenly, a score of vermin intercepted them. Back to back, the fought.

"Grr...I'll kill every one of you stupid cowards!"

"This is what you get for trying to take over Redwall! Redwaaaaallll!!!"

After they killed all the vermin Tam ordered Melenda to go help some other beast. Tam went to Zelsh.

"So squirrely, you have been wanting to kill me, eh?"

"Yes, because you killed everyone in my village, whipped my wife, took my wife and daughter captive and besieged my abbey. Now you must pay! Redwaaaaaall!!!"

Tam brought the sword of martin down onto Zelsh's paw, but Zelsh countered it with his scimitar. The danced the dance of death. just one wrong paw would cost them their life. With Martin's words Fight for Redwall, and recall... Tam swung his sword with all his might at Zelsh. Zelsh was doing what he could to stop the berserk squirrel warrior. Suddenly, Tam tripped and fell. Zelsh's leg was on his heaving chest. Martin's words echoed through his mind, Hit him down below the knee on his leg! Without thinking Tam sliced Zelsh's leg to the bone. He screeched with pain and dropped his scimitar. Tam scrambled up and headbutted Zelsh, pinning him to the ground. Tam got up, picked up his sword, and held it to Zelsh's throat.

"Any last words coward?"

"Mercy, please! I promise not to ever harm anyone ever again! Mercy!"

Tam pressed the sword harder to Zelsh's throat, drawing blood. Martin's words, again, ringing in his head, And whatever you do, don’t listen to him beg! Tam sliced his throat and charged off into the battle, which was still raging.

At about noon, the battle was over. They started to bury the bodies of the dead and tend to the wounded. Streamrudder and Brooky supported each other towards the abbey. The ones that were watching came down from the dormitories and congratulated them. Flunkworthy hopped in, missing half of his right ear.

"Is it lunchtime yet? I'm jolly well peckished, wot!"

Tam sighed and smiled, "Some things never change!" _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Extract from the writings of Melenda MacBurl Abbey Recorder of Mossflower country

"It has been five seasons since the Spring of Zelsh's Death (yes i know, nice name huh?) Aunty Brooky and Streamrudder have a son, Brookrudder. Streamrudder is now Skipper of the otters here and the old skipper, (brooky's uncle) has taken over as father abbot. everyone calls him Abbot Skip. Abbot Humble has gone to rest last season. everybeast was sad, but happy that he lived long seasons. He was a very humble abbot (well duh) and now that he's gone, skipper has turned this abbey inside out! Troobil has become abbey warroir #2, he carries a stick with him and keeps tripping over it. Ferdimond is now cellar keeper #2. Skip has also made Dauncey friar #2. He keeps eating everything!!! Ah, well, my duty as friar #3 (i hate cooking but dad makes me) is calling me. Dunno why we need three friars, two abbey warriors, and two cellar keepers! One's good enough right? Well, anyway, Good bye! ~Melenda MacBurl

Special Thanks To Shieldmaiden! Thanks for helping with this story, couldn't have done it without you! and also thanks to all those that read this story. :D