The otter ship "Rosco" had been drifting along the shore for an untold amount of days. The Father Abbot Max of Redwall had ordered them to collect fish for a special celebration for all the dibbuns. Though against their will, the old mouse was stubborn and insisted on only them to go on the journey.
The captain, Linken, glanced trough his dusty glasses into the deep blue world below. A dark figure was floating on top of the water.
"What in the name'a...Alton! Get over here!" He shouted , his voice piercing the eerie silence of a Mossflower morning. "Yes, father?" Alton answered, somewhat drowsily from his deep sleep. "Look down there laddie, tis' a deadbeast!"
Alton bumbled over to the site, almost tripping over his tail. "Aye, so it is! Sad really, we should give him a proper burial once we get back to Redwall." "Good idea, throw down your net."
After much struggle pulling the lifeless body onto deck, the net was released and it tumbled onto the wet wood. Linken gasped. "It's a wildcat! Goodness me, I've only seen one of these in my seasons! Terrible vermin, they be!" "Don't worry Pop, he's long dead."
Alton patted his fathers head. "Look, there's the river Moss. We'll be in Redwall before you can even heat up the water to rest your old bones, eh?"

And he was right. The river had an unexpected strength to it, and they were at Redwall by evening. Alton carried the net full of fish, and Linken carried the wildcat in order for Abbot Max to decide wether to prepare for a vermin invasion. An old Mossflower legend said that if a wildcat is found, vermin are close by. Of course, the elders considered this rubbish and did not believe. The young woodlanders were happy to tell entertaining vermin tales to friends, however.
As they walked inside, the dibbuns gasped, both at the fish and the wildcat. Foremole stopped Linken and let Alton pass. "Excuze me zurr, wot in ze wurld eze that?" "It's for Father Abbot to examine, and no other." Linken broke trough Foremole's heavy arms to the abbot.

The old Abbot perched his glasses on the edge of his wrinkled nose and started examining the corpse. He pushed it away and gasped. "It's...it's..Ungatt..T..Tu..TRUNN!" He gasped. "Who is this Ungatt Trunn?" Alton asked. Father Abbot composed himself and answered.

"Long ago, before even this Abbey was built, a fierce tyrant named Ungatt Trunn ruled an army of vermin so large it was said it could make the ground shake and the stars fall from the skies. The mountain of rock named Salamandastron was taken over by vermin. In a mighty effort by a badger lord, Trunn was paralyzed and his body was cast out into the sea.It was never to be seen again. It is said that a vermin from his own army drowned him, but he still survived. I have heard legends that the ruler of the Dark Forests would not accept him, and he was forced to live longer than anybeast that ever lived."
The Abbot got up and left, feeling he had said too much.

A roar of panic broke out among the crowd in the Great Hall.

"Is it alive?"

"Will it hurt us?"

"What of his vermin army?"

"Do not worry, my friends. This ...thing..creature, whatever you wish to call it, is long dea..hmm..." Alton held his furry head to Trunn's chest.
Thump. Thump Thump. He yelled for Brother Gooneo, the doctor of the Abbey. "It's alive, no doubt. My guess is that the seawater, and some magical force, like the Abbot said, kept him alive. Poor soul. He may sleep until his days are over, and he goes back to the Dark For..Yaagh!"

The crowd screamed in terror as the eyes of the creature opened, and the mouth shaped into an unearthly grin. Ungatt Trunn was alive!