Haunted By Ariyh
Chapter one: Running...
A young ferretmaid ran through the woods to where her mate waited for her at the center of mossflower woods. She had
been followed by an unknown hunter, pursued until she had dropped. Exhausted, she had curled up behind a rock outcropping where she guessed that no one would find her there.
She had awoken alone only to be pursued even farther. She was en route to her dwelling where her mate waited for her. Her name was Katya. The name of her mate was Mikhail, a ferret like herself. As she neared her dwelling, she knew something was off. Mikhail was not there, outside waiting like he always was. She ventured inside, aware that the door was hanging open on one hinge. There, in a mixed pool of moonlight and blood lay Mikhail, a deep gash in his chest running across his lower torso. Tears sprang unbidden to Katya’s eyes, as she whispered; “No….No…no, no, NO!” A deep malicious chuckle behind her caused her to whirl round. A tall weasel stood in the doorway, his cutlass dripping with blood. Stifling a scream of terror, Katya turned and bolted for the back door, forcing it open even as the weasel strode towards her.
Katya ran for her life, twisting and turning, attempting to throw off her pursuer. Looking over her shoulder, she failed to see and ran into a bramble thicket. She gasped as the sharp needles stung her and she soon found that struggling was entirely useless. There was nothing else for it: Katya reached down and unbuckled her belt, sliding smoothly out of her tunic and free of the bush. The cool night air swept over her naked body, ruffling her fur and causing her to shudder.
A telltale noise in a bunch of greenery caused her to jump and, having no time to retrieve her tunic, she bolted. She ran for as long as she could, some kind of inner terror keeping her awake and running. Soon she sighted a huge Redstone structure and, slowing to a walk, Katya apprehensively stepped out onto the path. She came up to the structure and pounded on the gates, pleading;”Please let me in! Please open up I need help!” A figure on the wall top noticed her, waving to her as it went to unbar the gate. Suddenly, Katya felt something hot on the nape of her neck. She spun round, coming to see the weasel directly behind her.
He smiled evilly and glanced down at her midriff. She looked down and was surprised to see the cutlass blade protruding from her side. A sudden agony engulfed her as he drew it out with a sharp jerk. She fell to her knees, a grunt of pain escaping her lips as her attacker disappeared into the woods. She lay on the ground, bleeding in the dust, aware that she had failed to escape her hunter and she felt defeat creep over her. A tall, odd figure stood over her, murmuring to her in a soft voice. The last thing she heard before slipping into mercifully painless coma was; “c’mon, lets getya to the infirmary.”
The first thing that assaulted Katya’s vision was a harsh blinding light. She spoke her thought aloud, her voice sounding alien and unfamiliar in her ears; “Am I…dead?” A warm, friendly voice spoke to her; “No, my child, you are safe at the abbey of Redwall.” Slowly, Katya opened her eyes. The world before her was blurry, a mixture of shades of red green and white. Slowly, everything came into focus, allowing her to see an young, oddly dressed mouse sitting beside the bed that she lay on. She went to sit up, and immediately regretted it.
A sharp, agonizing pain assaulted her wounded body. She looked down at her side through a haze of intense pain. With a gasp of pain, Katya lay down again. The young mouse took a damp cloth and wiped her forehead. “Careful, young one. You need rest.” “W-who are you?” she questioned. He answered: “I am Casca, father abbot of Redwall abbey. Katya sank into a deep sleep, repeating the name over and over in her mind: Redwall abbey…red…wall...Red…wall…abbey…
Chapter two: Fitting in
When Katya awoke once more, she found she was clothed. Moreover, her garb consisted of a light brown tunic and a belt around her middle. The infirmary was empty. When she sat, a lancing pain shot up her side and into her shoulder, causing her to cry out. With a bit of trouble, Katya managed to stand, hodling her side as she did. Slowly, the ferretmaid walked to the door and, with some difficulty, pulled it open. Ther, before her, was a long hall, high ceilinged andvery wide. Walking along the corridor was Abbot casca, who, upon seeing her, went straight to her.
"How do you feel?" "Better, though my side still hurts..." "Are you well enough to meet the rest of the abbey?" A sudden fear periced Katya; "T-the rest of the abbey?" Casca nodded, frowning slightly. "Yes. do not feel well enough?" Katya shiifted her weight to one side, and grasping her bicep with the opposite arm. "No-no I'm fine." The abbot smiled, gesturing for her to follow. She did so warily, looking around her in wonder at the huge proportions of Redwall abbey.
Soon they came to a huge staircase that they descended, Katya supported by the abbot. The room in front of them was massive, with a soaring ceiling and dusty red floors and walls. A large tapestry dominated the far wall. In front of it was an otter, a fully grown male. This otter came up to the two of them, nodding respectfully to the abbot. "Father." The abbot gestured to the ferret. "This is Katya." Katya dipped her muzzle down, acknowledging the otter. "Katya, this is skipper." "I belive it was him whom you signaled at the gate." Skipper nodded at her, smiling. "Feelin' better, mate?" Katya nodded. "Yes, thank you. I owe you my life."
Skipper grinned at her. "t'werent nuthin'." The abbot turned to both ferret and otter. "Skip, I would like you to get the abbey together. I must speak to them." The otter saluted with his ruddeer-like tail. "Sure thing, father." Several minutes later, when everybeast was gathered out on the lawns, Casca adressed them. “Creatures of Redwall! I would like to introduce you to our newest member!” He motioned for Katya to step forward, and he again spoke: “This is Katya. Her home and mate were taken from her and she sought refuge among us here at Redwall. You are to be courteous to her, as she is just as much as innocent as anyone here!” Katya looked about the crowd, her heart hammering wildly. Suddenly, a water vole stepped forward.
He had a look of deep hatred on his face as he addressed first Casca and then Katya: “I aint gonna get all friendly with that’n! Her kind murdered my family an’ im not about to fergit that!” Katya stepped backwards once, whispering: “Please...No…I’m not…” Before she could finish, the vole silenced her. “Shut up yew liddle bitch! I never asked fer a word from yew! I want no part o’ this, see?! None!” he turned on his heel, storming off to the gatehouse, and barricading himself in. Katya fell to her knees, sobbing.
A young ottermaid walked up to Katya, who flinched away. The maid wrapped her arms around Katya, attempting to comfort her. There was silence, and then abbot Casca spoke to skipper in a deadly quiet voice. “Skipper, get that good-for-naught little misery out here where I can see him!” Skipper nodded, going to the door. Upon finding that there was a huge chair blocking the door, skipper stepped back. With a ferocious burst of strength, he kicked the door in, sending the chair across the room. A moment later, he came out dragging a kicking and biting vole with him.
“Ow! yew stoopid riverdog! Put me down!” Skipper threw him down on the grass before the abbot, who stepped down, his paws hidden in his wide sleeves. A heavyset gray squirrel waved a paw at the vole. “How could you say summat like that? You heartless liddle scumbag!” The abbot addressed the vole. “Give me one good reason as to why I should NOT exile you. The vole’s expression paled. “Y-ye wouldn’t! Ye can’t! This is the only home I’ve got!” “Well, as it happens, Katya here has no home at all. So what in heaven’s name made you say something like that? “Did you expect us to see your side of the issue, with all its petty prejudices and hatefulness?”
The voles head drooped. “I will not exile you, but you will be confined to your dormitory during the day, leaving only at mealtimes. You will not participate in any celebrations of any kind for the next two seasons. If this happens again, I will be forced to exile you. I will not put up with that kind of talk in my abbey. Skipper, get him to his dormitory.” As skipper led the vole off, Casca placed a paw about Katya’s trembling shoulders. He helped her stand and brought her inside, down to the kitchens where Friar Tomal had been finishing breakfast. He sat her down and presented her with a beaker of mint tea.
As he left to find skipper, Casca contemplated his decision in keeping the ferretmaid her at Redwall. He had made the right decision, he was sure of it. She would have to learn how to shrug these prejudices off her back and just keep on going. He was still thinking these thoughts when he met up with skipper. The two of them went to the abbey pond where they sat, in complete silence. Katya would learn to fit in. she would have to.
Chapter 3 Waking up
Katya was wandering the walltops alone, thinking on what the vole had said. Contrary to what he had called her, Katya was most certianly not a vermin. She was a ferret, yes, but that meant nothing to her and did not appear to overly concern the aFather abbot, who allowed Katya the same rights as any redwaller. However, the voles words had still stung her, causing her to seriously reconsider her realtionship with the abbey creatures.
Most, if not all of them, had accepted her, but there was still a small amount who could not tolerate her presence. They had complained many times to the Father Abbot about Katya and her "influence" on the abbeybabes, but the abbot had brushed it aside without notice.
However, there was only so much that could be done about this. Katya was alone on the walltop one day, thinking about this in a small corner of the wal, where one wall met the other. She was still lost in thought when something caught her attention: a feeling of imminent danger pervaded her, but what irked her was that it was not directed at her, but somebeast else. She cast about to see if ther were any others aside from herself on the walltop, and was startled to see skipper's nephew resting against a battlement. She peered cautiously out from between two battlements and saw, to her horror, an object she recognized only to well: the traveling cart of her former horde leader, a pine marten named Zirven Dorn.
Its mounted ballista was aimed at the reclining otter and it took Katya two moments to realize that sound that she had heard was the mechanism winding up before being shot. Knowing that if she called out, she would startle both the gunner and the otter, she stood up and sprinted at him, aware of how little time she had to act. Upon reaching him, she wrapped her arms about him and launched them both of the walltop. The ballista bolt whistled overhead not a whisker-length from where their heads had been a second ago. The suprised otter wrestled with her in midair, but Katya forced them both around until she was beneath him. They hit the ground, landing on a large, flowering bush with a dull 'whoom!' Katya was periced by a breif, intense wave of agony before her vision blacked and she knew no more.
A/N: well, this is part one of the third to last chapter. the rest is coming soon! (hopefully) Ariyh, Scriptor mirifice 23:07, September 6, 2011 (UTC)