Disclaimer: I don't own Redwall or Martin the Warrior or
Rose or any of these characters. All
characters are either real people or were created by the fabulous Brian Jacques
for his wonderful Redwall series.
Author's Note: This story contradicts a few of the Redwall
books. It takes place in a happier
reality where Rose didn't die, but for some reason she and Martin and many of
the other characters didn't go to Noonvale, but instead kept on traveling until
they reached Mossflower. And the rest
is history.
One day I took a peaceful walk in the woods with my
friend, Anna. The trees loomed around
us, long arms stretching toward the heavens.
Suddenly, we came upon a vast expanse of meadowland, stretching out as
far as the eye could see. Staring at it
in wonder, we started out. The grass
was a beautiful golden color, and it stirred in the breeze, waving gently. Above us. Larks and swallows and who knows
how many other kinds of songbirds trilled their sweet melodies, soaring and
dipping in ecstasy. The sky was a
beautiful sapphire blue, completely cloudless.
I caught my breath. "Look," I
whispered softly, pointing. There, only
a few feet away, was a mother deer and her tiny fawn. They looked up, startled by the sound of my voice. Upon seeing us, they loped off to graze
elsewhere.
After a short while, we came to a single, beautiful,
ornately carved swing, which seemed to hang from absolutely nothing at
all. The seat was carved from mahogany,
covered in beautiful designs of all kinds of wildlife scenes. Ropes of gold spiraled up towards the
heavens. The seat was wide enough to
accommodate the both of us, so we climbed up on it and sat side by side. Then, very slowly at first, but getting
faster and faster, we began to swing.
Eventually I noticed that with every swing, we were
rising higher and higher. It happened
so fast that I had no time to jump off.
We eventually reached a point where we seemed to
rise up from the ground in a completely different reality. When we had fully emerged from the ground,
the swing came to a sudden stop. We
hopped off.
"Umm, Gwen?" Anna said tentatively. "I don't think we're in Kansas any
more." I laughed weakly.
We stretched out, observing our surroundings with
curiosity. We appeared to be in a
woodland of some sort. Suddenly, out of
the corner of my eye, I saw movement. I
told Anna, and we both turned toward whatever it was coming toward us. We gaped, mouths hanging open. Coming towards us, talking animatedly and
not seeming to notice our presence, were two enormous beasts! Well, all
right, maybe not quite that big, only
about our size, but for what they were, they were certainly huge. Mice.
That's what they were. Giant mice, each wearing some sort of dark green
robe. Habits, I realized. One of
them, who appeared to be male, (I think the other was female) had a sword,
scabbard and all, attached to a matching belt around his waist. The sword, which was obviously a magnificent
blade, had a glittering ruby attached to the hilt. The female gazed adoringly at his face as he spoke. The two were
obviously in love. I shared this same
thought with my friend. She nodded
vigorously.
They stopped when they noticed us standing in front
of them. Then he cleared his throat.
"Good morning, stranger. How are you today?"
I stared.
"Are you . . . Martin the Warrior?" I asked, dumbfounded.
Why yes, I am! You've heard of me?" I nodded dumbly. "And this is Rose, my uhhh . . . friend." He gestured toward his
attractive companion. "And who might
you be?"
This might be a good time to explain. Martin the Warrior is an important
influential character in the fantasy series Redwall,
by Brian Jacques, a British author. He
was one of the founders of Redwall Abbey, for which the series is named. His sword is particularly famous, which is
why I used it to recognize him. But I
should also explain the basics of the Redwall world. You see, there are certain
"good and evil" animals. The "good"
animals include: mice, shrews, moles, voles, squirrels, hedgehogs, otters,
badgers, sparrows and most other small birds, and owls and other birds of prey.
The "evil" animals include: rats, ferrets, weasels, martens (not to be confused
with Martin!), stoats, foxes, crows, ravens, magpies, jackdaws, and the
occasional wildcat. (There were actually a few "good" wildcats, too.)
"I'm Gwen, and this is my friend, Anna," I replied.
"You've heard of Redwall Abbey, I trust?" Martin
asked.
"Yes," we said in unison.
"Well, we were just returning there, would you like
to come with us?" Martin inquired. "Of course, you're welcome to stay as long
as you like."
"Yes," we replied. (In unison. [Again.])
"Well, then what are we waiting for?!" Rose spoke to us for the first time. "Let's go!"
We took off at a run through Mossflower Woods, for that is surely where
we were. When we arrived there, we were
introduced to some of the many friends of the warrior and the mousemaid. There were the two badger mothers, Rowanoak
and Bella, several mice, including Gonff, Brome (Rose's younger brother),
Gauchee, and Kastern; the hares Ballaw De Quincewold, Trubbs, Wother, Ffring,
Harebell, Honeydew, and Willow; Starwort and Skipper, the two otter leaders;
the moles Grumm, Young Dinny, Old Dinny (the former's grandfather), and
Buckler; and the squirrels Lady Amber (the squirrel queen), Felldoh, Celandine,
and Trefoil. We also met Abbess
Germaine, a mouse, and the friendly wildcat Squire Gingivere Greeneyes, with
his wife, Lady Sandingomm.
Redwall Abbey was the idea of Abbess Germaine; she
was the other founder of the great sandstone building. Gingivere, rather ironically, was the son of
an evil tyrant and the younger brother of Tsarmina, Queen of the Thousand Eyes,
an even more evil character than her father ever was. This vile cat had murdered her father and immediately blamed it
on her brother, who was promptly thrown in prison for his sister's crime. Anyway, long story; if you'd like to the
rest of it, read Mossflower.
Oh, I almost forgot! While we were there, Martin proposed to Rose! She accepted, of course. The ceremony was beautiful. After much thought, the groom finally named
Gonff Best Mouse. Rose, most
appropriately, named Columbine, Gonff's wife, with whom she had become great
friends, Mousematron of Honor. Little
Gonff, or Gonflet, named after his father, was the ring bearer. It was a day filled with joy for all at
Redwall.
Before we knew it, a week had gone by. Within that week, Rose became pregnant, and
not too long after that, a beautiful, healthy baby girl was born. Delighted, her parents named her Rosebud, in
honor of her mother. She developed
rather quickly, and, to the delight of all, soon found a faithful friend and a
lively playmate in Gonff's young son.
Together, the two youngsters thought of all sorts of new and imaginative
games. Anna loved to watch them as they
pretended to be one person, then another, in one place, then another, and as
there is there is nothing a child loves more than an audience, they enjoyed it,
too.
One day, I sat on the grass with Anna, chatting
rather lazily with her. Rosebud snored
softly in my lap, and Gonflet slept in hers.
"They look so peaceful," my friend remarked. I nodded my agreement, yawning in just the
slightest manner. We sat quietly for
several minutes, each with our own separate, different thoughts . . . or maybe
not so different.
"We've been gone for quite a while, haven't we?" I
said suddenly. Anna nodded. "But . . . we can't leave. It's so wonderful here. So . . Magical."
"It is wonderful.
I don't want to stay here either," Anna replied rather sadly. "But what about our families, our friends,
our homes? We can't just forget about them and stay here forever. We have
to go, sooner or later.
Quite reluctantly, I agreed. "Oh, but I hate to leave."
"I know," Anna said softly. "I do too.
I do too."
"Martin, we need to speak to you," I said. The mouse warrior waved a paw
distractedly. "Yeah, just a second,
okay?" He was demonstrating to a
spellbound Rosebud and Gonff some of his favorite sword tricks.
"Okay, we'll wait, but make it quick, will you?" I
called back as we left the room.
"Now, what was it you wanted to speak to me about?"
Martin asked. It was later, of course,
and we now had his undivided attention.
"You see," Anna began, "we love it here. We really
do. It's just that, well, we've got
homes of our own, too, and friends and family that might be worrying about us
as we speak."
Martin sighed.
"I understand. And you're right,
you must return to your own homes, where you belong. I wish to thank you, for making a difference in my life, in
Rose's life, and most importantly of all, in my daughter's life. We will never forget you, Anna and Gwen."
"Nor we you," I said softly. Anna nodded slowly. "Martin, you
are unforgettable. You all are." He was silent for several minutes. Neither Anna nor I made a single sound
either. Then he said briskly,
"Well, I suppose I should inform the others of the
sad news. Later." He left.
Suddenly, Anna and I flung our arms around each other in a tight
embrace. Together, we wept.
I must have given more hugs that day than I have in
the entire rest of my life, and nearly fifty percent of them were for Rosebud
and Gonflet. The dynamic duo had become
overly fond of the two of us over the time we had spent in their home. For Anna the situation was similar. The four proud parents, Martin, Rose, Gonff,
and Columbine, nearly burst with barely
suppressed laughter as we tried in vain to pry the little paws from our
legs and arms. Finally, after bidding
farewell at least a dozen times to each resident of Redwall, we started out,
accompanied by the two tiny youngsters and their parents.
It was quite a while before we sighted the golden
ropes, the intricately carved mahogany seat.
When we finally did so, we turned to our friends with sorrowful
faces. One by one, we warmly embraced
each of them. Then, we approached the
swing, sitting down slowly. Before we
knew it, we were back in the beautiful meadow. We found our way back to the trail without much difficulty and
within about twenty minutes arrived back at my house. No one was home. I
checked the calendar. Blinked. Looked
again. I saw the same thing I saw the
first time.
The date had not changed.
