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!
