Sunbreeze
It was dawn. Grey light surrounded me as I stared into the misty depths of the swampland. This was my time for thinking before my small family awoke. This past summer had given me a lot to think about. My father had died early on and then one of my brothers had come down with Meadow Sickness. He had been in delirium for several weeks now. Suddenly I heard my mother call me. My brother needed my help while she rested.
" Coming!" I called, my voice echoing hollowly over the timeless decay and rot.
I plodded slowly toward the burrow, dragging my paws through the muck.
"Thank you Sunbreeze," said my mother, fatigue evident in her voice. "Wake me at midday. You are a wonderful badger-maid to care for Moonbeam so."
I went to my brother's room wishing I could be allowed to go far to Mossflower Wood and Redwall to seek a healer. But my mother had said no every time I had asked in the past week. Suddenly I couldn't stand it anymore. I knew if he did not get help soon he would die. I packed a small knapsack of clothing and food, set it by the door and began to wait for midday.
As soon as I had woken my mother, I said," I can wait no longer mother! I must go seek help or else Moonbeam will die. I am going to Mossflower Wood to find Brennem the healer. I will return. I love you!" I gave her a kiss and picked up my knapsack. I hoped I was doing the right thing.
Days into the journey I was doing ok. I was alive at any rate. Well fed too. My mother had taught me well the food that could be found in the plains and forest. As I sat under a spreading Poplar tree, an odd noise fell upon my ears. A thin scritching sound was coming from the brush to my left. Suddenly out popped a tiny baby mole.
"Oh!" I gasped in complete shock.
"Hewwo, my name be Drolly, wot be yurs?" He said quaintly and polite as you please.
I burst out laughing at the sight of him covered in burrs and thistles talking so politely. "I'm sorry," I spluttered," My name is Sunbreeze."
"Dat be a gurt purty name burr-aye," ha said shyly.
"Why thank you. Where are your parents?" I inquired suddenly. A little mole babe shouldn't be alone in the woods. They were dangerous.
Drolly's face clouded. " Day be gurt dead!" sobbed he. "Day be hurted by bad vermins in da forest. Drolly rund away quick. Day was gonna kill me burr-aye!"
What kind of vermin were they, Drolly?" I asked, feeling a pang of relation to Drolly. We had both lost loved ones lately.
"Day be gurt big foxes day be, wif swords!" he said animatedly.
"Well you can come with me, I'm looking for Brennem the healer." I said with compassion.
He started, "Brennem? He be in da forest too I seed him de otha day! He be a gurt big badger like you. I afraid of him. I show you him. Do you want to mawy him? He be gurtly hansum."
"No," I laughed, "I want him to heal my brother who is very sick at my home in the plains. I do hope I won't be too late though."
I took his claw, dwarfing it with the size of my paw. Together we set out to find Brennem. Periodically we stopped to snack or pick berries that grew along the path. He whistled quietly to himself until I asked what tune he was humming. He said it was a song without words his mother had taught him long ago. He taught it to me as we meandered along, not in a hurry since we didn't know exactly where we were going.
After a while it began to get dark, though it was still early in the afternoon.
"We're in for a storm I think, Drolly. We better find a place to spend the rest of the day. Let's look for a cave." We searched without luck for half an hour before we reached a sandy bank. I started to dig.
"We can camp here tonight," I said as I scraped more dirt out of the growing dent in the bank. Soon it was big enough to sleep in comfortably. We crawled in to wait out the storm, just as the first rain started to pelt down.
The storm lasted all through the night, with thunder and lightning. But we were dry and safe, Drolly snoring uproariously. 'What am I to do with him' I thought, he'll die if I leave him. I guess, seeing as he has no parents, I'll have to bring him along. I do hope he doesn't hinder me too much. Maybe my mother will adopt him.' I was quite amused with the little fellow and hoped my mother wouldn't turn him out. If we got that far…
When I woke up I thought I was still asleep for a moment. We were surrounded by big ugly brutes pointing swords at us. I pulled Drolly up close to me, startling him awake. He squeaked in terror, "Those be the bad vermins who gurtly killed my muvver burr-aye!" and he ducked out of sight behind me. I quickly regained my voice. "Get away from here you ugly foxes or I shall call Brennem the healer. He is a mighty warrior and together we shall destroy you!" I said rather more bravely than I felt. How did I know he was in calling range or that he even knew how to fight? How did I know if he even knew the legendary badger cry? I had to try though, for Drolly. I already felt like his older sister. Lifting my head to the sky, I cried, "Salamandastron!" Please let him come I prayed as the vermin closed the circle around us.
Suddenly the circle was scattered. I had never actually seen Brennem before, and despite the fact that he was a badger, I was terrified. He was larger than anybeast I had ever seen, even in the old pictures of badger lords. In just a few minutes he had lain half the vermin flat. I recovered enough to help him just in time. He would have been over whelmed despite his power. But between us we were able to lay the last vermin down.
" Thank you," I said choking as I did so. He removed the paw I had clasped to my side. I had been stabbed very deeply by a particularly tough fox. Blood was pouring out of the wound like a river. Then I knew no more.
I woke up with Drolly peering at me very intently. "She's live!" he cried with joy. Brennem came over. "We were afraid you were dead. That was a bad stab you took there. A lesser beast would have gone to the Dark Forest gates. How did a young thing like you ever become a fightingbeast?"
"My family housed a few badger lords from Salamandastron when I was younger. They taught me the battle cry and the fighting though I never thought that I would need either of them." I smiled ruefully. "I had been looking for you actually. My brother is very ill with Meadow Sickness and I was hoping you would cure him, though I expected not a badger lord."
"Hardly," he said. "I resisted the urge to go there knowing that I had more power of healing than of leadership. But never mind that, as soon as you are fit for travel we will go to your burrow so I may see your brother. I cannot promise anything, though I will do my best."
A few days later we set out. The journey was easy but I could not push a faster pace, Brennem wouldn't allow it. He was afraid it would over tax me. Drolly entertained us boundlessly, crawling all over Brennem playing in his luxurious fur and teasing me about 'mawwying Mr. Bwennem'. After two weeks we reached my thinking swamp. "It's just over this hill!" I said in anticipation, though I was mortally afraid of what we would find there.
Walking into the burrow, I knew we were too late. My brother was dead and my mother was at Dark Forest's gate. She had caught the sickness trying to take care of everything while I was away. Brennem did not despair though. He was truly a miracle worker. In just one month my mother was better than she had been the day she was born. We buried Moonbeam in his favorite patch of garden. And we had a surprise….
Brennem had asked me to marry him. I accepted (after very little deliberation).
We adopted Drolly and he was an only child for a time until life settled down enough for Brennem, who was still a healer and was called upon often. We settled down a little way away from my mother and were extremely happy.