An Old Mistake
(Disclaimer: I don't own Redwall, I only own my characters; everything else copyright Brian Jacques)
~Part One ~ The Last Days Of Summer~
~Chapter One~
On a hill far north of Salamandastron stood a mysterious cloaked beast watching as another figure wrapped in a similar cloak ran down a small path through the woods below. A strange little smile flitted across the beast's face as it watched the other run. A trail of tears shimmered in the moonlight as they fell to the dirt below. A little maid, not too far out of dibbunhood, had shed the tears as she ran under the cold moon. She looked up at the moon, as it stood uncaring in the sky, seemingly indifferent to her sobs of pain, of hate, of sorrow.
The figure standing on the hill began speaking in a light feminine voice that didn't carry in the midnight breeze as the maid reminisced about her life while she ran. "Run my child and don't look back. Your life there is dead and gone. Don't stay in the past. Forsake those memories. Forget those possibilities. Run little maid. Run from them." The shadow spoke softly into the night, its eyes watery and strange for the words she had just spoken.
The memories were fresh in the little maid's head. She could see her father, a tall, strong otter second to their skipper of otters, with the dagger, his eyes bleary and unfocused in a drunken stupor. He screamed at her, cursing her existence while he beat her with his fists through her meager protection of a blanket. Tears streamed from her face then as well as now as she trudged along the path in the darkness bound for anywhere, anywhere but there. As she looked back at the village she had come from with its lights glowing dimly in the night, she saw the small hut where she had lived through childhood. She could remember her father's constant mantra well.
"You're a mistake, Ari, you're me biggest drunken mistake. I'm sorry to have ever clapped eyes on ye or yore mangy mother." Her brother would stand by sadly, he was older then her and knew the whole story of how Ari came to be his 'mistake'. It wasn't that she was ugly, cruel or anything that merited being called a mistake.
She wasn't full otter and that was it. She was part ferret though it only really showed in her through her size. Otherwise she looked like an otter with a thick, rudder-like tail and webbed paws for swimming. Her mother had been a ferret maid who'd been captured by the crew. She had been unfortunate enough to be a ferret traveling alone in their area. Unfortunately Ari's drunken father had been assigned guard duty for her. Things had happened during the night. Anyone who knew stayed quiet, silent bystanders to the horrors, and so it was lost to history.
The ferret maid was released soon after. A few months later she came back and was met by the Skipper's wife. The ferret carried as small bundle, clutching it tightly, protecting it from all harm. Jimene, the Skipper's wife, had spoken with the ferret far from their Holt and everything was explained in time. The ferret wanted her child to grow up somewhere good and when Jimene had asked how she expected that to happen it was all revealed.
After the meeting, which was kept very quiet, young Ari was introduced as a little ottermaid Skipper had found and dumped in her biological fathers care. The only beasts in the whole crew that knew the truth were her immediate family and Skipper's family. The rest of the crew took her as a strange but nice little otter. She was a friend to many of the crew's children her age and younger. Her brother had taken care of her, but for now she had to run from her home before the crew would awaken to find the long dead corpse of her father.
"Run away from home, run from your past, but you best run fast my child!" A shadowy figure watched as the small figure disappeared into the woods and ran from her home, never to return. In a flick of the eye the figure was gone, lost in shadows with all the hopes and memories.
Morning found the young maid sleeping under a tree, tears staining her cheeks and the cloak wrapped around her tightly. Rays of light spilled through the canopy of the forest sending brilliant beautiful patterns in the dirt floor. Above, a family of squirrels sat down for breakfast in their home made from a hole dug into the side of the tree. As they ate, they tossed what was left heedlessly out into the forest. One piece of trash, a half eaten apple thrown by a little dibbun, chanced to land upon Ari's head. The impact forcefully stirred her from rest as she bolted up looking around to find herself helplessly lost and afraid. From above she could hear the family of squirrels chattering away.
"Why'd ye throw the apple out Relie, that was perfectly good food!" A motherly voice berated another.
"I dun wanna apple mummy!" A young whiny voice yelled out loudly. A flock of birds flew off from a nearby tree irritated at their slumber being interrupted.
"Uhh . . ." A male voice sighed loudly and soon Ari found the head of a stressed looking squirrel staring down at her from the tree. "Did he hit ye?" The male smiled, but it disappeared when he only got some swift motions of the maid's hands in response. He scrambled down the tree quickly and stood in front of the maid. He looked under her hood and took her for some sort of otter as she shrank back a little. "I ain't gonna hurt you little one. Can you talk?" He reached his paw out and grasped the maid's shoulder as she shook her head and signed a few words with her hands.
"Harold, what're ye doin' down there?" A squirrel mother poked her head out of the tree as well and climbed down with what Ari presumed to be her child Relie.
"Havin' a one-sided conversation Lila . . ." He answered looking at Ari confused as she make a few more gestures and resigned to dig in a small sack she'd left by the tree.
"What are you doing talkin' to vermin, you know they're evil little thieves?" Lila whispered to her husband glaring down at Ari as she dug in her pack. Ari heard this, but made to stay out of it. Jjudging by her father not a great deal of creatures were accepting of the truth.
"Vermin? Are you blind dear? That un's an otter ya know?" He pointed to the thick rudder that poked out from under the maid's cloak.
"Look at 'er face, probably slayed an otter an took their tail so she could fool the likes of you." The squirrel maid whispered angrily. Her little son had taken advantage of his parents being distracted, and he jumped on Ari's tail holding it tightly.
"Me gotta da vermin!" The little squirrel babe cried out excitedly digging his claws into the thick tail as he clung on, a wide smile on his small features.
"Relie! Get off there, that's dangerous!" The squirrel mother began screaming as she ran towards the little ottermaid. Ari stood up and lifted the dibbun up with her tail into the mother's arms. As the mother stood staring at the sight in front of her, Ari had come up with a small pad of paper and a charcoal pencil.
Could you please get him off, his claws are sharp Ari wrote hurriedly wincing in pain as the squirrel hung from her tail swinging. The mother snapped out of her trance and pried her son off giving Ari a sigh of relief.
"Told ya." Harold bushed past his wife and over to the maid who stood rubbing her tail. "My name is Harold, this is my wife Lila and my son Relie."
Ari She wrote and stuck her hand out which Harold shook gently before she continued writing. Could you tell me which way is to the River?
"You mean the River Moss?" She nodded. "It's southeast of here, that way." He pointed out for her.
Thank you She scribbled and thrust the pad and pencil into a pocket sewn on the inside of her cloak.
"You have to go now?" She nodded and closed up her sack. "We should at least let her stay a while." He whispered to his wife as she scolded their son.
"We should." His wife admitted and looked up to find her husband staring at a tree.
"She's gone!" He hurried to where she had been standing to find only an impression of her foot in the earth where Ari had stood and nothing more.
"Wonder what that was about?" The squirrel wife asked softly, cooing to her overexcited babe. "She just took off like she was being chased, not a word."
"Guess she was in a hurry." Harold muttered strangely before turning to his wife with a giant smile upon his tired features. "Told ya it was an otter!" He smiled as his wife shoved him playfully.
"Yeah, yeah. That makes one out of what? A hundred?" She stated smiling softly before retreating into their humble abode giggling loudly with her babe.
"Hey!" Harold shouted before playfully giving into pursuit of his giggling wife already forgetting the day's encounter.
(Disclaimer: I don't own Redwall, I only own my characters; everything else copyright Brian Jacques)
~Part One ~ The Last Days Of Summer~
~Chapter One~
On a hill far north of Salamandastron stood a mysterious cloaked beast watching as another figure wrapped in a similar cloak ran down a small path through the woods below. A strange little smile flitted across the beast's face as it watched the other run. A trail of tears shimmered in the moonlight as they fell to the dirt below. A little maid, not too far out of dibbunhood, had shed the tears as she ran under the cold moon. She looked up at the moon, as it stood uncaring in the sky, seemingly indifferent to her sobs of pain, of hate, of sorrow.
The figure standing on the hill began speaking in a light feminine voice that didn't carry in the midnight breeze as the maid reminisced about her life while she ran. "Run my child and don't look back. Your life there is dead and gone. Don't stay in the past. Forsake those memories. Forget those possibilities. Run little maid. Run from them." The shadow spoke softly into the night, its eyes watery and strange for the words she had just spoken.
The memories were fresh in the little maid's head. She could see her father, a tall, strong otter second to their skipper of otters, with the dagger, his eyes bleary and unfocused in a drunken stupor. He screamed at her, cursing her existence while he beat her with his fists through her meager protection of a blanket. Tears streamed from her face then as well as now as she trudged along the path in the darkness bound for anywhere, anywhere but there. As she looked back at the village she had come from with its lights glowing dimly in the night, she saw the small hut where she had lived through childhood. She could remember her father's constant mantra well.
"You're a mistake, Ari, you're me biggest drunken mistake. I'm sorry to have ever clapped eyes on ye or yore mangy mother." Her brother would stand by sadly, he was older then her and knew the whole story of how Ari came to be his 'mistake'. It wasn't that she was ugly, cruel or anything that merited being called a mistake.
She wasn't full otter and that was it. She was part ferret though it only really showed in her through her size. Otherwise she looked like an otter with a thick, rudder-like tail and webbed paws for swimming. Her mother had been a ferret maid who'd been captured by the crew. She had been unfortunate enough to be a ferret traveling alone in their area. Unfortunately Ari's drunken father had been assigned guard duty for her. Things had happened during the night. Anyone who knew stayed quiet, silent bystanders to the horrors, and so it was lost to history.
The ferret maid was released soon after. A few months later she came back and was met by the Skipper's wife. The ferret carried as small bundle, clutching it tightly, protecting it from all harm. Jimene, the Skipper's wife, had spoken with the ferret far from their Holt and everything was explained in time. The ferret wanted her child to grow up somewhere good and when Jimene had asked how she expected that to happen it was all revealed.
After the meeting, which was kept very quiet, young Ari was introduced as a little ottermaid Skipper had found and dumped in her biological fathers care. The only beasts in the whole crew that knew the truth were her immediate family and Skipper's family. The rest of the crew took her as a strange but nice little otter. She was a friend to many of the crew's children her age and younger. Her brother had taken care of her, but for now she had to run from her home before the crew would awaken to find the long dead corpse of her father.
"Run away from home, run from your past, but you best run fast my child!" A shadowy figure watched as the small figure disappeared into the woods and ran from her home, never to return. In a flick of the eye the figure was gone, lost in shadows with all the hopes and memories.
Morning found the young maid sleeping under a tree, tears staining her cheeks and the cloak wrapped around her tightly. Rays of light spilled through the canopy of the forest sending brilliant beautiful patterns in the dirt floor. Above, a family of squirrels sat down for breakfast in their home made from a hole dug into the side of the tree. As they ate, they tossed what was left heedlessly out into the forest. One piece of trash, a half eaten apple thrown by a little dibbun, chanced to land upon Ari's head. The impact forcefully stirred her from rest as she bolted up looking around to find herself helplessly lost and afraid. From above she could hear the family of squirrels chattering away.
"Why'd ye throw the apple out Relie, that was perfectly good food!" A motherly voice berated another.
"I dun wanna apple mummy!" A young whiny voice yelled out loudly. A flock of birds flew off from a nearby tree irritated at their slumber being interrupted.
"Uhh . . ." A male voice sighed loudly and soon Ari found the head of a stressed looking squirrel staring down at her from the tree. "Did he hit ye?" The male smiled, but it disappeared when he only got some swift motions of the maid's hands in response. He scrambled down the tree quickly and stood in front of the maid. He looked under her hood and took her for some sort of otter as she shrank back a little. "I ain't gonna hurt you little one. Can you talk?" He reached his paw out and grasped the maid's shoulder as she shook her head and signed a few words with her hands.
"Harold, what're ye doin' down there?" A squirrel mother poked her head out of the tree as well and climbed down with what Ari presumed to be her child Relie.
"Havin' a one-sided conversation Lila . . ." He answered looking at Ari confused as she make a few more gestures and resigned to dig in a small sack she'd left by the tree.
"What are you doing talkin' to vermin, you know they're evil little thieves?" Lila whispered to her husband glaring down at Ari as she dug in her pack. Ari heard this, but made to stay out of it. Jjudging by her father not a great deal of creatures were accepting of the truth.
"Vermin? Are you blind dear? That un's an otter ya know?" He pointed to the thick rudder that poked out from under the maid's cloak.
"Look at 'er face, probably slayed an otter an took their tail so she could fool the likes of you." The squirrel maid whispered angrily. Her little son had taken advantage of his parents being distracted, and he jumped on Ari's tail holding it tightly.
"Me gotta da vermin!" The little squirrel babe cried out excitedly digging his claws into the thick tail as he clung on, a wide smile on his small features.
"Relie! Get off there, that's dangerous!" The squirrel mother began screaming as she ran towards the little ottermaid. Ari stood up and lifted the dibbun up with her tail into the mother's arms. As the mother stood staring at the sight in front of her, Ari had come up with a small pad of paper and a charcoal pencil.
Could you please get him off, his claws are sharp Ari wrote hurriedly wincing in pain as the squirrel hung from her tail swinging. The mother snapped out of her trance and pried her son off giving Ari a sigh of relief.
"Told ya." Harold bushed past his wife and over to the maid who stood rubbing her tail. "My name is Harold, this is my wife Lila and my son Relie."
Ari She wrote and stuck her hand out which Harold shook gently before she continued writing. Could you tell me which way is to the River?
"You mean the River Moss?" She nodded. "It's southeast of here, that way." He pointed out for her.
Thank you She scribbled and thrust the pad and pencil into a pocket sewn on the inside of her cloak.
"You have to go now?" She nodded and closed up her sack. "We should at least let her stay a while." He whispered to his wife as she scolded their son.
"We should." His wife admitted and looked up to find her husband staring at a tree.
"She's gone!" He hurried to where she had been standing to find only an impression of her foot in the earth where Ari had stood and nothing more.
"Wonder what that was about?" The squirrel wife asked softly, cooing to her overexcited babe. "She just took off like she was being chased, not a word."
"Guess she was in a hurry." Harold muttered strangely before turning to his wife with a giant smile upon his tired features. "Told ya it was an otter!" He smiled as his wife shoved him playfully.
"Yeah, yeah. That makes one out of what? A hundred?" She stated smiling softly before retreating into their humble abode giggling loudly with her babe.
"Hey!" Harold shouted before playfully giving into pursuit of his giggling wife already forgetting the day's encounter.