Prologue[]
A tall fox stands outside of his mighty fortress, once castle Floret. With his mighty army, nothing gets in his way. Because of him, not a single free squirrel was left in Southsward. His high general, Renard, exited the castle to speak with him."My lord, may I tell ya somethin'?" Bane Slytung turns around to speak to the other fox. "What, Renard?" The smaller fox smiles. "We know `ow ta capture the red building." Bane plays with one of his daggers, twirling it for awhile, waiting for his general to continue. Renard chuckles happily and speaks again. "There is a fault in the stones' walls, m'lord. If we dig beneath it, it may fall." Bane smiles evilly. "Interesting, Renard, interesting. Bring me Badeye so we may put this plan in action." Renard bows and goes over to a slim, tall, strongly built fox with a blind eye. After a few minutes he comes to his lord. "Yew wanted me, sire?" Bane smiles. 'Ah, yer looks stronger then last time, me ould matey." The fox looks surprised at such sudden praise. "Well, um. yew wanted me?" Bane threw a paw on his shoulder. "`Course, Badeye! Yer a strong fox, I need ya to gather a few shovels, take some soldiers and go dig at Redwall Abbey. Tell Renard to show ye where the fault is." Badeye saluted smartly. "Aye, aye, m'lord. I will not fail yew!"
After he leaves, Bane chuckles. He wasn't called Slytung for nothing. "Aye, Badeye, ya better not fail me, or else!" He hops back onto his throne.
Chapter 1, chief Grinner's mongooses[]
A mongoose slowly peers from his hiding place behind an oak tree. "I t'ink I sees `im. " Another mongoose peers from an oak nearby. "We better get `im dis time or we're goners!" A small squirrel hops down from an elm nearby. Mongoose number one pulls out a stolen shrew rapier and advances slowly towards the squirrel. Mongoose number two fastens a stone to his sling and shoots. The squirrel nimbly hops up into the branches and the stone hits mongoose number one on the snout, where the squirrel was a moment ago. The mongoose drops his rapier and grabs hold of his now bleeding snout. "Schtupid idjit!" He hollers. The other mongoose hides his sling in his stone pouch and waits for the other to stop screaming. Tears slide down the first mongoose's face and he rips a bit of material out of his tunic and ties it over his unlucky nose. " I can't believe shoo did dat" The other mongoose slowly gets out from his hiding place, shrugging. "Sorry, Pikebaen, it was the treewhiffler, tried to get it, but OW!" He rubs his forehead. Looking up, another nut hits his eye. He screeches, putting a paw over his eye, he takes a stone and throws it at his attacker. "Stupid squirrel!" The squirrel giggles and hops onto another tree. The other mongoose, Pikebaen, shakes fist at squirrel and heads towards camp, leaving the other one behind. The other mongoose, Latchtaz, fixes his sling and heads back too. With the squirrel still staring teasingly at them.
Chapter 2, murder with a hint of deserting.[]
Kragg the rat, a black furred scarred creature, takes out his curved dagger, watching the two foxes talk. "Hm...Looks like ol' Bane's gonna `ttack Re'wall soon, we dont wants `im ter do dat, I knows Slytung, `e'll hop in an' kill `em all, we don't want dat, den we can't ask `em `bout de sword, eh mates?." Another rat who was dozing nearby opens his eyes and spits. "Yeah, but wot're we gonna do `bout it?"