Redwall Wiki | Brian Jacques and Redwall Information

Welcome to the Redwall Wiki, your communal Redwall and Brian Jacques information resource! Free registration eliminates the ads!

READ MORE

Redwall Wiki | Brian Jacques and Redwall Information
Redwall Wiki | Brian Jacques and Redwall Information

Prologue

-

Trapped. Trapped in a cold airless world.

Water. Tsarmina hated it. It obscured her vision, clogged her ears, stifled her breathing, and muffled her screams for help.

And pain. Pain from the long fur at the back of her neck being clutched in a grip of iron as her head was submerged like a hot piece of metal.

Tsarmina's writhing slowed as she felt her strength leave her, and she began to slip into a sea of total darkness as her lungs screamed for air. The heavy blackness that thundered against her skull intensified and she almost surrendered to the cold icy fingers of death, when suddenly the world came rushing back in a large wave of dangerous enlivening reality. The grip on her neck had been released and she was rescued from a watery grave. Tsarmina coughed and spluttered as she struggled for air. At last she spat out the last of the water, and sucked in choking gasps of air. The wildcat's lungs burned like fire with the sudden action of finally being able to breathe. When Tsarmina's consciousness finally returned she took in her surroundings.

She was in a cave, with an underground pool. It was Gloomer's cave. How she came to be there she did not know. The only thing she knew is that she wanted to get out of there. Water dripped from a stalagmite and landed in the small pool with a resounding plunk. Tsarmina shivered involuntarily. The wildcat suddenly noticed an armed guard of half a score of soldiers standing behind her, holding back the squirrel who had tried, unsuccessfully, to drown her. Rising from her crouched position, she strode toward the miscreant. The guards shifted nervously in their clanking armor, moving about their torches as they awaited orders from the sopping-wet princess. But Tsarmina wanted a moment of triumph to recalibrate her nerves. Her voice dripped menace as much as she was dripping water as she said,

"This was all about your stupid father, wasn't it, Aconite?"

Aconite looked unwaveringly into her eyes. He hadn't struggled when he was seized by the guards, being too numb with grief and anger combined, and too shaken by his sudden outburst of murderous wrath. His voice was scarce more than a whisper as he said slowly and and deliberately a single word,

"Murderer."

Tsarmina's sanity seemed to snap at the sound of that loathsome word. She growled with rage and struck the side of the squirrel's face, leaving three bleeding claw-marks on the right side of his face. Even the guards took a step back from the deranged and enraged wildcat as she shouted in a hysterical voice,

"Executed! He was executed! It was justice!" Tsarmina panted and shivered, clutching herself and rubbing her fur. The guards exchanged confused looks. They had never seen her act this way before. The wildcat paused, glared at the dumbfounded guards and shouted, "Take him away! Bring him to my father. He will deal with him!"



Read more in: Vigilantes of Mossflower