RECAP: After helping Lord Brock dwarf the evil cat Ungatt Trumpet in my last story, Princess Luna has bean captured by Badrang the Trident. What will happen?

Martin was a young mouse, but of strong build, with a glint in his eye that proclaimed him a born fighter. A creature of few words who never chattered needlessly. The early summer sun of the Eastern Coast beat down pitilessly on his unprotected head as he carried and stacked chunks of rock beside the masons who would shape it into blocks that would enlarge Fort Marshank.

Marshank had been built by slaves under the evil stoat Badrang the Tyrant. A former corsair, Badrang wanted to become the lord of all the Eastern Coast. He had a huge army of rats, weasels, ferrets, and foxes, but no other stoats. He didn't trust other stoats. Anyway, he had forced his slaves to build Marshank, his fortress, but he was never satisfied with it and kept wanting them to make it bigger. Badrang and his soldiers were always going on expeditions to bring back more slaves. That's where Badrang was now.

A weasel Captain named Hisk swaggered up, cracking his long whip threateningly, looking for an excuse to cut loose on the slaves who toiled in the dusty heat around him. His eye settled on the young mouse.

"You there, liven yourself up! Come on, stir yer stumps. Lord Badrang is coming back to Marshank today. Get movin' or I'll stick this whip in a place you won't like it being in!"

Martin dropped the rock he was carrying and stood staring levelly at the bullying weasel. Hisk cracked the lash viciously, the tip flicking the air a fraction from Martin's face. The young mouse did not move. His eyes glazed over as he stood in silent defiance.

The weasel Captain drew the lash back to strike, but the bold, angry eyes of the young slave seemed to challenge him. Like all bullies, the weasel was a coward at heart. Averting his gaze from the piercing stare, Hisk snapped his whip in the direction of some more timid creatures.

"C'mon, you worthless idlers, no work, no food. Move your carcasses. 'Ere comes Lord Badrang!"

Flanked by his aides, Gurrad the rat and Skalrag the fox, Badrang the Tyrant strode imperiously onto the site, leading a dark furred creature on a halter. This was Princess Luna of Equestria, his newest slave that he had captured. Luna was an alicorn, a unicorn with wings. She had the ability to perform powerful magic, especially at night when the moon was up. Badrang had seen what she could do. He had watched her kill an evil rat named Doomeye with a blast of magic from her unicorn horn and thought he could use a powerful creature like that to work for him. (This is told in another story of mine, MY LITTLE BROCKTREE.)

Badrang dragged Luna inside the gates of Marshank. She was fighting him every step of the way. Luna tried to fly away, but she couldn't break free of the rope Badrang had around her neck.

"How dare you treat a pony princess in this manner?" Luna raged. "My sister is a princess too. When she finds out where I am, you'll be sorry!"

Skalrag scoffed. "Hah, everybeast says somethin' like that when they first get here. Forget about escapin'. You'll soon see it ain't no use!"

"The only escape from Marshank is death," Badrang agreed. "Skalrag, Gurrad, take this creature to Room 101."

The fox and the rat forced Luna inside the main building.

Martin and his friend, a squirrel named Felldoh, had been watching. "What's in Room 101?" Martin asked.

Felldoh shook his head. "I don't know, but I'll bet it's something horrible. They brought a vole named Druwp in there once and he hasn't been the same since."

"Hey you! No talking! Get back to work!" Hisk shouted. He cracked his whip at them but didn't actually hit them with it since he was afraid of them.

Badrang addressed Hisk. "Will my fortress be finished before summer is out?"

Hisk waved his whip about at the slaves. "Lord, if the weather was cooler an' we 'ad more creatures…"

Badrang moved swiftly in his anger. Seizing a pebble, he hurled it, striking Hisk on the jaw. The weasel Captain stood dumbly, blood trickling from his lip as the Tyrant berated him.

"Excuses! I don't want to hear complaints or excuses, d'you hear me? What I need is a fortress built before autumn. Well, don't stand there sniveling, get on with it!

Immediately, Hisk got to work, flaying about with the whip as he passed on his master's bad mood.

"Move, you useless lumps! You heard Lord Badrang, Marshank must be ready before the season's out! It'll be double the work an' half rations from now on. Move!"

A young hare was staggering by, bent double under the rock he was carrying. Hisk lashed out at him. The hare dropped the rock. The weasel began laying into his victim, striking indiscriminately at the old one's frail body.

"You worthless rabbit, I'll strip the mis'rable hide off yer!"

"I beg your pardon, old chap," said the hare. "I'm not a rabbit, I'm a hare, wot wot."

The lash rose and fell as Hisk flogged away at the unprotected creature on the ground.

"If I say you're a rabbit, you're a rabbit! I'll teach yer a lesson yer won't ferget!"

The hare sobbed with pain. "Ok! Ok!" Instead of saying "Okay," he pronounced it as
"Ock." "I'm a rabbit! I'm a rabbit! Everything's whatever you jolly well say it is!"

Martin was outraged. How dare someone make a hare call himself a rabbit?

As Hisk drew his whip back, preparing for another blow, Martin raced up to him and snatched the lash out of his paw. Hisk tried to grab it back, but Martin managed to tangle the whip around the weasel's footpaws, causing him to trip and fall over.

In a trice the mouse was set upon by the nearest six guards. He disappeared beneath a jumble of ferrets, weasels, and rats as they pounded him mercilessly, stamping upon his paws and breaking his hold on the whip. They continued relentlessly beating him with spear handles, rods, and whips until Badrang intervened.

"That's enough! Bring him to me!"

His paws pinioned by whips and a spear handle pulled hard across his throat, Martin was dragged struggling and kicking into the warlord's presence.

Badrang drew his sword and pressed the point against the young one's heaving chest. Leaning forward, he hissed into the captive's face, "You know the penalty is death for striking one of my Captains," even though he just did himself. "I could run you through with my sword and snuff out your life. What d'you say to that, mouse?"

The strong young mouse's eyes burned into the Tyrant's face like twin flames as he gritted out, "Scum! That sword is not yours, it belongs to me as it belonged to my father!"

Badrang quivered with rage as he shouted. "Take him out on the walltop and tie him up between those two posts! That'll teach him a lesson!"

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Princess Celestia, Luna's older sister, surveyed Marshank from afar. She looked just like Luna, except she was white and had all the colors of the rainbow in her mane. She had seen hoofprints leading into the prison, accompanied by several pawprints. Celestia was not the greatest tracker in the world, but it was clear from the prints that the hooved creature had been dragged along. In some places, the hooves were nowhere to be seen for a few feet, but then they appeared again, which attested to the hooved creature being able to fly as well. It was almost certainly Luna. Still, she couldn't just walk into this place. She sensed that it was dangerous.

"Hurr, gudd day to 'ee, marm!"

Celestia turned to see two creatures, a mouse and a mole. She curtseyed. "And a good day to you. My name is Princess Celestia of Equestria."

"I am Laterose of Noonvale," said the mouse. "My friends call me Rose. This mole is Grumm Trencher. What sort of creature are you?"

"I'm an alicorn. I have the horn of a unicorn and the wings of a Pegasus."

"Wot be you'm a-doing in these yurr parts?" Grumm asked.

"I'm searching for my younger sister, Princess Luna, an alicorn like myself. I believe she is being held captive in that building. What is that place?"

Rose shuddered. "That's Marshank, a horrible prison. It was built by an evil stoat named Badrang. Most of the beasts round here call it the Shank. My brother Brome is a prisoner in there. Grumm and I are trying to find a way to break him out."

"So you're trying to rescue your brother, and I'm searching for my sister," Celestia said. "Why don't we work together?"

"Sounds good," said Rose.

"You'm can join us fur vittles," said Grumm. "Oi made veggible zoop. Oi bain't cookin' vittles to lay abowt an' git cold 'n' soggy. Bo urr no."

TO BE CONTINUED: Will Martin survive the knight? Will Celestial and Rose find their siblings? What is inn Room 101? Find out next time.