Book One
Journey's Start
(also titled: The Bronze One)
Chapter One
Catari grew up on his own, his only weapon was his father's dagger, which he so longed for as a babe. He survived the seasons, and grew up strong and smart. His rough childhood gave him the knowledge of the lands and the plants.He knew Mossflower like the back of his paw and knew of the tall red Abbey in the western part. He knew of the huge lake in the center, and knew of the island in the middle, and of the legends surrounding it. He knew of the Guosim, and their tribes along the Great South Stream.
One soft summer day, he heard cheering and yelling and other happy noises coming from the big red building. He decided to inspect. Making his way through the leafy canopy, he soon saw the sandstone to the north.
Catari swiftly climbed an elm tree, and leapt upon the ramparts. He climbed down to the battlements, and peered at the sight below. Happiness was much in evidence; there were many beasts frolicking below. There were mice, otters, squirrels, even a badger. Moles, hedgehogs, and voles were around too. Tiny babes chased each other around, looking quite sticky. A burly hedgehog was rolling a giant keg of some refreshment across the rolling lawns. Somebeast must've noticed him, as many beasts' heads turned to him. All of the squirrels gasped, and looked helpless, in a way. The badger made its way towards Catari.
"Come down here, young 'un!" it called.
Catari leapt off the wall, and to everyone's surprise, landed safely. He looked boldly into the badger's wide brown eyes and said, "I'm Catari."
The young squirrels were now pulling their way towards him with their parents were trying to hold them back. Catari had no idea why the squirrels were so awed by him. They hung on to him, and Catari was rather enjoying their adoring attitudes. The badger said "Why have you come to our Abbey?"
"I wanted to see why the beasts were yelling and cheering, I heard it from the meadow south east from here."
The badger said "You are welcome to stay, if you'd like. You are always welcome here. I'm Tenda, the Badger Guardian of Redwall."
After Callow's introduction, everyone scrambled to introduce themselves. Tendan hollered for calm, and soon everyone was in a small line, fidgetting with impatience to meet the bronze newcomer.
The first beast was a tall, slender, male mouse. "Hello. I am Father Abbot Reatoll. You are always welcome here, my son."
The line slowly made its way past Catari. He felt welcome in their presence, happy, sort of. He couldn't explain it, even now. He just wanted to live among these peaceful creatures.
Amidst the happiness inside the walls, a dark shadow moved through the trees. A stick cracked. Bitten ears perked up as the cheering of the Redwall feast reached their ears. Somebeast tripped, and yelped quietly. Harsh, whispered reprimands were heard.
"Torneye, shush yore sorry mouth, slobberchops!"
"Aye, sir, I'll make sure to, sir, sorry, yew see…"
"Shut up! The Redwallers might hear us!"
Of course, there was no chance that the Redwallers, enjoying a feast, would happen to hear the vermin lurking about.
"There it is, mateys, Redwall Abbey. All ours for the taking. Just look at it!"
The vermin looked up with awe at the massive sandstone building. The gigantic building was more than just seasons away from destruction.
"Okay, yew've had yore look. Back to camp, messmates!"
The camp was set on the shores of the Inland Sea. As the scouting patrol walked through, there were scores of vermin, mostly stoats, weasels, and ferrets, about. Every now and then, you saw the odd rat or fox as a common rank and file soldier, but they would've been demoted from Captain. Because the Chief preferred foxes and rats over stoats and ferrets.
The Captain of the scouting patrol, Kangal, a tall, confident fox, walked calmly to the Chief's tent, set on a small hill. The blue silk waved slightly in the wind. Kangal strode up to the guards, and said, "I have news for the Chief!"
The huge weasel guarding the tent said, "Go on in, an' make it fast, yew stoopid fox!"
Kangal ignored the insult and walked in. A tall stone marten towered over Kangal. His dark brown fur glistened in the lantern light, making him seem even bigger. A ragged black tunic hung over his shoulders, and was held by a thin leather belt. Into the belt were stuck all manners of blades; throwing knives, hunting knives, skinning knives, straight swords, scimtars, sabers, and cutlasses. A bandolier slung over his shoulder held what looked like small bottles, each filled with a different poison. A quiver hung at his side, and a bow leaned against a tent post. Evil, staring green eyes glared at Kangal from underneath a dark red headband. His ears were tattered and torn, but they still held earrings, all manners of hoops and studs. Around his neck was a small, woven necklace, on which hung a beautiful pure white stone, set into bronze.
This was Kanyker the Shadow, chief of the Shadow Raiders!
Kangal quivered slightly in awe of his chief, then made his report. "North an' a bit west o' here, me and my scoutin' patrol came 'cross an ole Abbey, Redwall, they call it. They're o'er there makin' a big fuss, a feast or summint."
Kanyker's voice was much more cultured and well-said than the fox's. He calmly replied, "Redwall Abbey? You think I will attack Redwall? Do you even know the history behind that building? Quite a few vermin have tried to take that Abbey and failed miserably. Let's see," Kanyker said, counting on his paws, "there was Cluny, Mokkan, Slagar, Damug, Furgan Bor…you see, there's lots of them. I'm not going to be one of those failed leaders."
Kangal replied, "But yore the Shadow, the top of 'em all! Yew cud bust those stinkin' Redwallers outta there!"
Kanyker's temper broked. He ordered, "Just leave before I behead you!" He pointed out the tent flap. Kangal scurried out.
Sighing, Kanyker sat down. He mumbled slightly to himself. "My Shadow Raiders are complete buffoons. 'Let's attack Redwall Abbey!' Well, if I could pull it off, that would be nice. All I would need to take away is their inspiration, their hope. Hmmm…guard!"
The big weasel stuck his head into the tent. "What is yore will, sir?"
"Go get that rat, Prikk. I want to talk to him."
Kanyker waited for a while. Eventually, the weasel came back, with a disgruntled rat behind him. The rat was dyed completely black, like the rest of the horde, except for the high-ranked officers, Stelks. They were dyed green and brown, to camoflauge. Kanyker had no dye at all, the natural earth tones of his fur were good enough for any stone marten.
"Sit down, Prikk. Have some wine. It's not poisoned, you know."
The greedy rat slurped thirstily at the cask. He wiped his mouth and said, "So why did yew call me up fore?"
"I'm asking the questions. Now, you've been inside Redwall, correct?"
"Aye, one time. My mateys left me fore dead, and I figgered that sum life is better'n none, so those Redwall ninnies took me in fore three days, 'til I was healed."
"What did they seem to value most?" Kanyker was getting close to what he needed.
"Oh, that'd be ther Martin the Worrer, or sumthin like that. He's on a great sprawlin' piece o' cloth, a tapestee or sumthin like that. An' they have a great treasure there too, a shinin' sword that can cut through rock!"
Kanyker hid his wonderment, and continued. "Anything else, Prikk?"
"No, notta thing. They got a few odds and ends, but nuthin' else real worth it."
"Thank you, Prikk. You can take that cask with you," Kanyker offered.
Prikk got up, grabbed the cask, and walked out.
The stone marten sat down and pondered these pieces of information. The "tapestee" Prikk mentioned would be a tapestry, of a Martin the Warrior. And a great sword? If Kanyker had these things, Redwall would practically be his. All their hope gone, their leader, even their beloved weapon. If he had these things.
"Guard!" he called again.
The same weasel stuck his head in the tent once more. "What is yore wish, sir?"
"Fetch Darkon!"
The weasel shuddered visibly as he strode off to carry out his orders, mumbling to himself. "The Darkon? Argh, why did I volunter fore guard tinite?"
The Darkon was a naturally pitch black pine marten, the only other marten in the horde. He was long and skinny, and was armed with a spying kit, containing a padded grappler hook, a small, razor-sharp knife, a thin but strong rope, rolled up bark, a bottle of pine resin, and a small mallet. Darkon made his way back with the weasel to the tent. He went inside.
When the two martens stood, facing each other, Darkon was nearly as tall as the towering Kanyker. Kanyker dismissed this small fact and announced, "Darkon, I have a task for you."
Darkon's throat was cut as a small martenbabe, but he survived and lived to talk, even. But he had an odd accent, not pronouncing m's, b's, or p's, and rolling his r's and stretching his s's.
"What isss thy will, O 'asssster?"
Kanyker hid his disguist and said, "Do you know of the redstone abbey to the northwest?"
"I do, 'ajessty!"
"Fine. I would like for you to go there. Inside will be a great sword, long and sharp. Take it. Also, there should be a big tapestry. Take this, too."
"Yourr wisssh isss 'y co'and!"
"Leave now, and be back by dawn!"
"Verry well, 'asster!" Darkon slinked out of the door.
Kanyker shuddered and collapsed on a pile of fur. "My job is so disturbing," he muttered quietly to himself, falling asleep.