Chapter 3
"Well that's a bit of a mess, wot?"
"A bit of a-you caused a flippin' avalanche sah, pardon my language!"
"Like I said old chap, a bit of mess."
- Brigadier Shadawdale and Sergeant Buckhort, after the testing of the first cannon.
802 AR: Halstein, Oberjarl of the Lands of Ice and Snow, leads his armies of white foxes, ermine stoats, fellow wolverines, and mighty wolves in a massive invasion of the Northlands. The massive horde smashes through one Northland kingdom after another, almost completely regardless of any resistance.
Later that season, a lone vole is found collapsed on the path leading to Redwall. Half dead from exhaustion, his rescuers take him to the abbey where he is nursed back to health. There, he reveals himself to be the only beast from the community of Noonvale to have escaped Halstein's army. The village had of course not put up a fight, and perhaps that had been for the best; unlike many of the fortresses, tribes, and kingdoms of the Northlands and Border, Noonvale's population had mostly survived in captivity.
The news is of course quite distressing to the Redwallers, and when a falcon messenger reaches Salamandastron, Lord Grithrun as well. The Redwallers are horrified by the atrocities committed by the cannibalistic denizens of the Land of Ice and Snow. Lord Grithrun, while also concerned for the innocent beasts of the Northlands, is also alarmed that Halstein's force has moved through the Border Region so rapidly. He realizes that the wolverines will soon have conquered the Northlands and moved on to Mossflower.
803 AR: Lord Grithrun and 300 Long Patrol Hares march from Salamandastron to aid the Northlanders against Halstein.
Upon reaching the Northlands, they find that even with most of the Northlander tribes and kingdoms, both woodlander and vermin, having united against the beasts from the Lands of Ice and Snow, the sheer number and power of the wolverines and wolves have resulted in loss after loss for the defenders. One wolverine is a match of a badger, and the terrifying wolves are almost unstoppable. So far, only a handful had been defeated by the Northlanders, and only when the wolf was separated from the main invasion force.
Nevertheless, Lord Grithrun commits to leading the Long Patrol into battle with Halstein's forces, and, if possible, kill their leader and end the threat at its source*\.
Towards the end of the season, a lone Long Patrol Runner from the north arrives back at Salamandastron. The next day, two hundred more hares, along with several unmarked wooden crates, board ships at Salamandastron's harbor and sail north.
804 AR: As summer draws to a close, Halstein's forces are taken aback as the Long Patrol puts to use a weapon that the wolverine and their allies had never imagined: Stormpower.
Over the seasons, the Badger Lords had experimented in secret with the substance, resulting in much more powerful weapons than those Bashou had introduced to Mossflower. Catapult and ballista-thrown caskets where still brought along (and even those had minor improvements, such as shards of metal attached to the sides or oil in separate attached containers to increase the lethality of the explosion), but mostly as insurance in case the new designs had failed: Thick brass and iron tubes, hollowed out and sealed and reinforced at one end. By packing stormpowder in one end, the explosion could be used to fire a cast iron ball tremendous distances and with bone (and fortress)-shattering force.
With the new weapons, the Long Patrol and their Northlander allies manage to push back the wolverine's hoard, but there is no climatic battle, and the Oberjarl remains in command.
A stoat is born this season in Mossflower, bearing on his paw a unique pink flower-like birthmark.
805 AR: Eventually, the invading hoards retreat back to the Lands of Ice and Snow, but at a terrible cost. Thousands had perished, either falling in battle or devoured by the invading armies. The reputation gained by the dwellers of the Lands of Ice and Snow would also be tarnished: The idea that all beasts from the farthest north where cannibals and savages would remain in the minds of many Mossflower dwellers and Northlanders for several generations, to the detriment of the peaceful beasts living under the Oberjarl's oppression.
Moreover, the secret that Lord Brockvine had kept from the world so many generations ago was now revealed. Even those Redwallers who did not consider the existence of such a weapon by nature heinous still felt slightly betrayed that their longstanding allies in Salamandastron had kept the continued existence of stormpowder a secret. Grithrun claimed that, regardless of whether Brockvine should have done what he had or not, he and all Badger rulers before him had been honor-bound to respect that decision and keep the secret until the current Badger Ruler deemed it necessary to use the weapon.
Another result of the war was the acquisition by several Northland chieftains and leaders of samples of stormpowder, despite Grithrun and the Long Patrol's efforts to keep the powerful substance to themselves. While many of the Northlanders are incapable of replicating the formula, a handful have the right ingredients and alchemical know-how. The balance of power in the Northlands is about to change.
As far as the Long Patrol can tell, Halstein's forces had not absconded with any samples, which is possibly the only silver lining in the entire aftermath.
