A surprise meets nearly everyone every day. In the case of the Redwallers, the surprise took form as a nearly dead stoat lying between the ditch and the Abbey. Abbot Trincus the otter, who had been taking his usual morning walk around the walltops, had spotted the fallen stoat in the morning. The Abbot had hurriedly alerted the rest of the Redwallers, and they all crowded on the walltops as the Infirmary keeper, Brother Almer, and the Abbot walked out to the badly injured stoat. Brother Almer was a nice mouse, and he was friends with just about everybeast, but when it came to vermin, he had no worse hate. Just going to treat the stoat made him feel extremely uneasy. As the pair approached, they could hear the stoat muttering, "Redwall Abbey… treasure… shining, bright… glimmering… water…." As Almer inspected the stoat's many and horrific wounds, the Abbot made vain attempts to talk to the fully unconscious stoat. He beckoned the Cellarhog, Burry, from the walltop. "Will you fetch this creature a drink? She's nearly insane from lack of water." Burry nodded and scurried off to his cellars. After a kerchief full of liquid had been forced down the stoat's throat, she opened her eyes, looked pleadingly at Burry, and said one word before passing out again: "More…." Almer finished his inspection and said grudgingly, "I think she'll make a total recovery if she's treated properly." Trincus saw the look of disgust on Almer's face and told him, "I know your family was killed by vermin, but Redwall's policy is to take care of any hurt or injured beast. Let's get a stretcher."
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Belmark slowly became aware of a throbbing pain racing throughout her body. She opened an eye and examined her surroundings. She was in a small room full of white beds, like the one that she was laying on. There was one door. Bewildered, she stood up and toddled to the entrance. The last things she had remembered were fighting alongside her friends and then being given a deliciously cool drink. Belmark reached out to the door and tried it. The door was locked. Panic suddenly overtook her. She pounded on the door in a frenzy, screaming "LET ME OUT!! I DON'T WANT TO DIE HERE ALL ALONE! HELP!" She sank down the door, sobbing. Without warning, the door slammed open. Belmark found herself pinned against the door. She heard voices coming from behind the door. "The scummy vermin, she must have taken off without so much as a thank you! And I couldn't just seem to find one of my apple tarts I left out to cool on the windowsill. Coincidence?" A mouse and a giant male badger steeped into the room, closing the door behind them. The badger was the first to spot Belmark. "Ha! I've got you, you coward!" he yelled as he shook her relentlessly. Belmark said, "Guhk…" and just passed out in his grasp. The badger flung her to the ground. The mouse, Friar Halber, gasped, "Why did you just do that?" The badger replied in a gruff voice, "This vermin has probably slain more harmless creatures than you've ever seen! She shouldn't even be alive!" Belmark, which had woken up again, stammered, "I-I never h-harmed anybeast, s-sir!" The badger just said, "You're a liar, like the rest of them. I talked it over with the Abbot; you have until dusk to depart. We've packed you supplies to last three days." The giant badger trundled off. Belmark walked out of the room and went down the first stairs she came across. After wandering about on what she took to be the ground floor for about ten minutes, she came across the kitchens. Halber pressed a haversack into Belmark's paws, saying, "Here are your supplies. Hurry off now!" Belmark wandered down another hallway. Redwallers, going about their daily business, gave her a wide berth. She could hear them whispering to each other when she passed. Completely by chance, she blundered into the Abbot's private chambers. She remembered that she had been fully armed when she lost consciousness, and asked, "Where are my weapons and clothes?" The Abbot replied, "Here, let me show you to them." They went down a couple more passages to a storage room, where the Abbot handed the weapons, armor, and robes to her, telling her, "We were going to burn your clothes, but I decided to keep them in case you wanted them later." Belmark decided to fix the multiple rips and tears across her clothes. After finishing that, she donned her customary simple white robes, so she would look less of a warfaring vermin. It was nearly noon. The Abbot appeared in the Infirmary and said, "You can come down for lunch. Just be ready to leave!" Belmark remembered that her friends had managed to escape the giant horde of vermin. Instinctively, she knew that her friends would arrive at Redwall and decided to protest. "Before you found me by the side of the ditch, I was fighting alongside five other creatures: a mouse named Nirt, an otter like yourself named Rung, a mouse named Merett, and two birds, Kreel and Mandor. I want to stay here and wait for them." The Abbot thought for a moment and said, "We'll discuss this with the rest of the Redwallers during lunch." Inwardly, Belmark sighed with relief, knowing that she wouldn't have to face the horrendous vermin horde that had been pursuing her.