Disclaimer: I do not own Redwall. Also, this fic is being co-written (in a sense) by Much Ado About Nonny, so please be sure to give her some credit.

Chapter 1

". . . Mariel? Dandy? Are we gonna die?"

Bowly Pintips looked around nervously at the situation he and his friends had landed in: they were all tied to a stake each, surrounded by the most horrendous group of lizards any of them had ever seen. All of their weapons lay just out of reach, carefully guarded. A humongous bonfire was roaring nearby, casting an eery red-gold light on the gray-blue scales of the baleful reptiles.

"Don't worry, Bowly," Mariel Gullwhacker said encouragingly. "We've been in worse jams."

"That's right!" put in Dandin Swordcarrier. "Er, let's see. Were any of them like this?"

"Dandin!" Mariel glared at the other mouse-warrior.

"Well I'm sorry," replied Dandin, looking more irritated than sorry, "but we're completely tied up, surrounded by gigantic lizards, unarmed with little chance of getting our weapons back, and its possible they're about to cook us once their leader gets here! I don't think we've ever been in a situation like this before! Unless you count the incident with the Flitchaye, but gigantic lizards with big sharp teeth and claws are undoubtedly worse than runty little weasels that dress up like bushes. So I'd say I'm pretty sure this is the worst we've been in."

On the inside, Bowly was ready to cry, but he bravely kept a tough face. If he was going to go down, he wasn't going to go down like a blubbering coward.

Mariel, however, got a glint in her eye. "Ohhh no! I am not going to be eaten! No, no, no, NO!"

Just at that moment, the lizards gave a strange hiss, their long slithery tongues shooting in and out of their muzzles as they performed an odd sort of bow. The two mice and Bowly stared before realizing that another lizard appeared.

This newcomer, however, was much, much bigger than the other reptiles, clad in bracelets and necklaces made of teeth and bones. Weird little tattoos of mud scattered across his scales, and a crown of feathers perched atop his head. His dark muddy eyes raked over the three captives, and then he grinned. A hungry grin.

The reptilian leader turned to his subjects and raised his arms, speaking in a strange hissing language. Even though they couldn't understand him, Mariel, Dandin, and Bowly all knew it couldn't possibly be in their favor.

The leader suddenly turned back towards the captives and pointed a long, sharp claw straight at Mariel. Two lizards scurried forward as the rest of the savage reptiles gave an awful cheer.

"No!" shouted Dandin.

"Mariel!" screamed Bowly.

Both mouse and hedgehog strained and struggled against their bonds as Mariel's stake was hoisted into the air by the two lizards.

Mariel also fought for freedom, screeching in rage and frustration, her eyes widening then squinting as she was brought closer to the bonfire. Closer, closer, closer. . . .

Just then a strange, albeit fortunate, thing happened.

One of the lizards carrying Mariel had particularly sharp claws. As he had been helping his comrade carry the mousemaid, he had taken a hold of her bonds, and accidently sank his claws into them. The ropes were sliced in half, and Mariel suddenly fell to the ground with a bump.

For a fraction of a second, nobeast moved. They were all paralyzed with shock. Then many things happened at once. Mariel seized one of the ropes that was still entwined around her, and swung it with full force up into the faces of the two lizards standing over her. As she did, she rolled to the side to avoid the stake falling on top of her. As for the other lizards, they had started to come forward to grab the mousemaid, but they were hindered by the flailing bodies of the two lizards Mariel had struck out. The leader of the lizards had also come forward, except he was tripped up by the fallen stake.

In the commotion that followed, Mariel raced over to where their weapons had been stowed and hurled herself in the direction of Dandin and Bowly. A tidal wave of lizards suddenly appeared before the mousemaid, but her warrior spirit refused her to quail.

Thwack! Smack! Bang! Thud! Crash! Whack! Splat! Crack!

Mariel's newfound Gullwhacker was everywhere like a whirlwind, cracking skulls, knocking out teeth, and felling nearby lizards to trip up the reptiles behind them.

Finally, Mariel made it back to her friends, where she cut Dandin's bonds with his dagger before heading back towards the lizards. Swiftly, Dandin released Bowly and the two of them joined in the fray, hacking and stabbing and whacking lizards here and there, until finally Dandin roared out, "There are too many! We have to get out here! Back to the boat! Back to the boat!"

Within seconds the three warriors were running for their lives, the cannibalistic lizards hot on their tails, but well-aimed rocks and pebbles from Bowly's arm kept them from retrieving their meal.

At last, they were on the beach, the Pearl Queen in view, the lizards a greater distance away now. Putting on an extra spur of speed, Bowly, Dandin and Mariel made it back onto their ship. As soon as they were in the shallows, the lizards stopped giving chase; the water was far too cold for their liking. The leader hissed and roared at his subjects, laying about them with his tail and claws, but not one of the reptiles made any move to go into the water.

The Pearl Queen was soon sailing majestically back over the ocean, its three passengers breathing heavily onboard. After a few minutes, though, Dandin spoke.

"Well, that was a close call, wasn't it?"

Mariel and Bowly immediately saw the funny part of that, and soon the three warriors were laughing and giggling with giddy relief. Finally, after taking a few more deep breaths, Bowly hopped up towards the tiller and called down to his mice-friends.

"Well, where to now, mates?"

For a moment, Mariel pondered this. "Hm, I don't know. We've never really been particular over what we've found over the horizon, have we? What do you think, Dandin? Dandin?"

Mariel turned and finally noticed the quiet, pensive look on Dandin's face. "Dandin? Are you still with us?"

For a moment, the warriormouse was silent. Then, speaking softly, he turned and looked at Mariel.

"Let's go back to Redwall."