Genevieve awoke to someone prodding her with a long, pointy object. She let out a yowl and grabbed a hold of the end nearest her. There was a frightened squeak and the sound of small paws running away.
Gen slowly sat up. She looked about her. It wasn't raining anymore and the sun was shining brightly overhead. Gingivere and Marisol were lying on the bank of a still swollen river a short distance farther down.
She found that she still had the offending object in her paw. It was a thin elm stick. She looked around for its owner. There was no one in sight. Just a single set of tiny paw prints. She tossed the branch into the river and got to her footpaws.
Her brother was nearest, so she checked him first. He was just unconscious. Next she checked Marisol. She was awake. Gen kneeled next to her friend.
"Mari, are you alright?"
"I thought I was going to die in that river."
"Hey, so did I, but here we are, safe and sound."
She helped her friend into a sitting position.
"Come on up. I still have my haversack. Let's see if any food survived. I'm sure the water did at least. I wouldn't drink the river water. Too silty."
The mention of water caused Marisol to shudder.
"Please, I've have enough water to last me ten seasons."
They looked at each other for a moment. Then they broke out laughing. It was a healing laugh after the ordeal they had just lived through.
"Wha's so funny?" Gingivere asked, sitting up rubbing his head. "I have a bump the size of a mountain on my head."
"Let me take a look," Gen said.
While she was looking at the bump, Mari pulled off her torn and battered kirtle. Her smock wasn't in much better shape.
She sighed. It was her favorite kirtle, her dark green one. She thought it set off her dusty yellow and grey fur. She folded it up and set it aside. She would have to ask her grandmother to make her a new one.
Gen opened the pack and emptied it. The flasks were intact and so were the apples and carrots. Everything else was all mashed together.
After finishing administering a compress with a few of the herbs she had brought along on her brother's head, Gen examined the remains of her possessions. Her tunic and cloak could be washed, but her most of her mementos were ruined.
The dried flowers and leaves her father had given her. The drawing Marty had given her when he was just a season old. She felt like crying. Her brother put his arm around her shoulders.
"They were just things Gen. You still have the memories connected to those things. That's what really matters. I'm sure that dad and Marty would be honored just knowing you thought enough of their simple gifts and of them to bring them on your long journey."
Genevieve wiped at her misty eyes and sniffed.
"Thanks Ginge."
She gently placed the mementos in the river and watched as they were taken away. They were parts of her old life. She was starting her new life now. She would treasure her memories, but it was time to let go of items of the past.
She turned her attention to the mementos that had survived. A small rock that was pink and looked like a rose, a few shiny pebbles, the medal and a tiny silver dagger. She put all but the dagger back in the haversack. Using the dagger, she cut up one of the apples into thirds. Each got one slice.
"We need to ration our supplies. Who knows when we will find more," she said. "Plus, we aren't alone."
Genevieve pointed to the tracks that were heading in a northwesterly direction.
"Whoever it was poking me with a stick and then ran off when I woke up."
Mari sniffed the tracks. She shook her head.
"I can't tell what creature made these. Obviously it was a very small creature that made them, based on the size of the tracks."
Marisol followed the tracks for a few yards. They disappeared into the tufts of short grass on the dunes on the other side of the bank sand from the river. She returned and sat down next to her two friends.
Gen brought up an issue that had been bothering her.
"Mari, how did you end up in the river?"
"I was fishing in my logboat a few miles upstream from our village when the storm approached. As soon as I saw the clouds, I headed for home, but the storm came on fast. I was near my home when it hit. I saw the faces of the elders as I was swept by. There was nothing I or any of them could do."
"Don't worry, Mari. We'll find Redwall. Then you can head home. It's a straight shot to my family's farm and then onto your village," Genevieve said.
"Hey, Gen," Gingivere tapped her on the shoulder. "Look at that."
Up to that point, Gen had been too preoccupied to notice much of her surroundings. What she saw astounded her. It was the ocean, shimmering in the midday sun, no more than a mile away. The storm had taken them to the dunes by the ocean.
"Wow, I've never dreamed it would be so beautiful," she said.
With a laugh, Genevieve trotted off toward it. The other two young ones followed her, but Gingivere had some misgivings.
"I don't know about this you two. Shouldn't we figure out how to get food and how to get to the abbey?"
The two females ignored him and ran on. Once he got his paws into the lapping shallows, Gin forgot all his previous worries. The crusty beach sand was much different than the silty river banks he was used to.
The water tickled his footpads and the wet sand was cool and soothing. He picked up one of his footpaws, the breaking of the suction caused strange sucking sounds.
Gen and Mari had found a tide pool full of tiny fish, sea plants and creatures they had never seen before. Gingivere ran over to join them, marveling at the wide assortment of life and color in the small pool.
"That looks like a spider!" Gingivere exclaimed, pointing to a black, armored creature with eight legs and two pincer claws. Marisol knew what it was.
"It's a crab. Don't get your paw too close. Those pincers are strong."
"What are those things? They look like mum's pincushion," Gen said. She pointed to several black, spiky, round creatures grouped in one corner.
Marisol shook her head.
"I've never seen anything like them," she said. "They are like underwater hedgepigs."
Gin straightened up.
"I think we should…"
He squinted his eyes.
"What's wrong, Ginge," his sister asked.
He pointed up the beach.
"Don't you see it? There's a dark splotch up there."
"Maybe it's a rock or a piece of driftwood," Gen suggested after taking a look for herself. She saw it, but couldn't tell what it was.
Mari ran up a rocky outcrop just to their right. She sniffed the breeze. Gen and Gin joined her. The shape was more visible. It was too large to be a piece of driftwood.
"I smell rats. A heavy stench of rats," Marisol told them. "There are a few other smells mixed in. Dirty seawater. I think it's a wrecked ship."
"Maybe that's where that small creature came from," Gen said.
"Maybe, maybe not," Gin said.
"Do you think we should investigate?" Gen asked. "They might have food."
"If they are rats, they'll be searats," Mari said. "They would as soon as kill us as look at us."
"Mari's right," Gin said. "We'd best stay away from them. Let's go back to the river. Dad said that at some point a path that runs by the abbey crosses the river."
"Wait, there's movement by the ship," Gen said.
They all watched closely. Mari couldn't see much, her eyesight was no match for the cats,' but her sense of smell was much better than theirs. She sniffed.
"The scent of the other beasts is much clearer now. Mice."
"There are two creatures by the ship," Gen said. "I can't tell what they are."
"I'll take a look," Mari volunteered. "My coat blends right in to the sand."
Slowly, Mari made her way up the beach. The two cats could barely make her out. Several minutes past before Mari came back and reported her findings.
"The ship is wrecked. There are two very young mice there. A male and a female, both barely out of their infancy. They look harmless enough. No rats in sight. When I got closer I could smell additional things. Death and lots of it. I would say the two mice are the only survivors."
Genevieve jumped down from the outcrop.
"Come on. Let's see if they need help."
"Gen, wait," Marisol called. "They'll just be frightened of us. Two wildcats and a coyote. They'll think I'm a fox. Everybeast does. They'll scream and run off. Best just to let them be."
"But Mari, they are two infants on their own. They won't last long here. They might not have any food at all. We have to do something. We'll just have to be careful. How about I approach alone? Then they won't feel cornered."
Genevieve took off for the ship. She approached cautiously. There were indeed two young mice. They looked to be only four or five seasons old, babes. She looked at the ship closely. It was a recent wreck. Water was still dripping from the planking, the ship was high above the tide line. There were lines of portholes in the side of the ship. Oar holes. It was definitely a searat ship. Gen's mother had told her tales of the horrors of what searats did to good creatures.
The two mice, dressed in rags and emaciated, were moving in and out of the ship's hull through a large hole in the bow. They were piling food on the beach, eating portions of it as they did so. Genevieve made her move.
She walked the last several yards so that she would be immediately seen by the two mice. When they spotted her, they rushed into the ship. Gen poked her head in through the hole.
"Hello? It's alright, I won't hurt you. My name is Genevieve. I'm from the flatlands east of Mossflower Woods."
There was a scrabbling noise from the far end of the dark interior of the ship. Gen was hit directly on her nose by a small piece of wood.
"Go 'way, kitty. You no capsure us anna make us row," came a squeak from the darkness.
"I'm not here to capture you. I'm here to see if you need help. Are the two of you alone? Where are your parents?"
"Paren's dead when boat crash inna rocks."
"I'm sorry to hear that, dear. Please come out. I promise I won't hurt you. I'm a nice cat."
She heard noises coming toward her, so she stepped to the side. Two tiny baby mice came out of the ship, blinking in the light. She kneeled down in front of them.
"That's better. What're your names?"
"I Wally," the male said.
"I be Polly," the female said.
"Those are fine names. My full name is Genevieve, but you can call me Gen."
"Yer a big cat," Wally told her, jumping in the air trying to touch the top of her head.
Polly giggled and stroked Gen's upper arm.
"Yer soft Gen."
"Thank you Polly. Do you want to meet my friends?"
"The big cat an the fox?" Polly asked.
"Yes, how do you know who I came here with?"
Polly snickered and put her paws over her mouth.
"I poka you wid a stick."
"Hah, I knew I saw you, you little imp!"
Polly laughed uproariously as Gen tickled her. They all went to bring Gingivere and Marisol to the ship.
Gingivere took to the two mice immediately. Mari was more standoffish, but not unfriendly, chuckling quietly at their antics.
"Thisa our food," Wally exclaimed when they returned to the ship. "We getted it outa the galley."
"It's a good stock, Wally," Gen said. "Can we have a little bit of it? Most of our food was ruined in the storm."
"OK, yous our frens now," Polly said, sitting on the sand near the food. "We share wid you."
The three friends dug in. Oat biscuits, dried fish, apples and variety of food items were at their disposal, but in difference to their new friends, they only ate what they needed. As they ate, Gen asked the two mice questions.
"How did you end up on the ship?"
"Da rats raided our 'ome. Took us'n our mum'n dad," Wally told her. "We live on rat ship."
"Did they make you row?" Gen asked.
"No, we too small," Polly said. "Dey make us work in galley. But, no let us eat food."
Gingivere saw red. The thought of anybeast treating anyone in that way, much less babes, infuriated him.
"We on'y 'llowed to eat scraps," Wally continued.
"What happened to the ship, rats and the oarslaves?" Gen asked.
"A storm, many days ago, smashed on some rocks unner the sea," Polly told them. "We safe in galley, but udders were washed over da side an' drown."
"And the oarslaves?" Gen pressed.
Polly started to cry. Gingivere put his paw around her shoulders.
"Dey drown. When we washed onna shore, we look," Wally said. "Dey were drown in dere chains. We unlocked dem. We put dem inna sea to wash 'way."
Gen hugged the small mouse.
"I'm sorry about your parents, Wally. You were very kind to unlock their chains. You freed them."
"Wadda we do now?" he asked, scrubbing at his eyes.
"You come with us," Gen said. "There's no sense in you two staying here on this beach until your food runs out. We are headed to Redwall Abbey. I am sure that they would provide you young ones with a home."
Gen and Gingivere and their three acquired but welcome companions finally started their journey down the river to find the path to Redwall. They had put as much food into Gen's haversack as they could. Mari made two more packs from pieces of the sail and straps of leather and they filled them full of rations.
"On to Redall!" Wally shouted.
They returned to the river and turned inland, traveling until the sun began to set. For most of the day's trip, the two mice were skipping and scampering about in front of the three older creatures. From time to time, one or both of the young mice would run up to them and show them something they had found. A shell, a colorful pebble, a flower.
The two mice seemed to have an unending supply of energy.
"It must be from their lives combined on the ship," Mari remarked. "They are making up for lost time. I would go mad if I was confined like that. My kind wouldn't make good oarslaves I expect."
Wally and Polly skipped stones on the gently flowing river as the other three set up camp. Mari gathered wood for a fire. They had stopped at the edge of the dunes. In front of them stretched grassy flatlands, dotted with woody shrubs.
Mari returned with dry sticks and soon a small fire was crackling. The young mice came over and sat by it.
"Warm fire. We no know to make it, so we cold at night," Wally told Gingivere who was heating six oatcakes by the fire. He placed slices of chive and leek cheese on the cakes.
Soon the cheese had melted and they each took an oatcake. Gingivere broke the sixth one in half and handed the two mice each a piece.
"We need to fatten you up a little bit."
"Wha' you fatten us for?" Wally asked squinting at Gingivere. "You gorra eat us up?"
Gingivere gave him a horrified look, but then he realized he was joking. He pounced on the small mouse tickling him.
"Why you little scamp!"
The other three laughed.
After they finished eating, they bunked down for the night. Marisol dug them each out a small hole in the sand to curl up in. Genevieve draped her traveling cloak over the two dozing mice. It was decided that she would take the first watch.
It was almost completely dark now. Countless stars shone overheard. As she lay in her hole, Gen traced patterns in the sky. She saw what looked like a billowing mist or maybe a plume of smoke, but it sparkled just a tiny bit.
"My grandfather used to tell us stories," Mari said softly. "Each of the stars is part of what he called a constellation. The constellations form beasts, warriors, healers and scholars of old. He said that when they died, their images were put into the night sky in honor of their great deeds."
Mari raised her paw and pointed out a series of stars.
"Megar the Strong One, Tombolda the Weaselcleaver, Begge the Scrivener, they are all there. My grandfather was forever staring up at the skies. He told all us young ones of the adventures of the heroes who now live in the stars. All those warriors and wisebeasts, lived long ago, before we moved to Mossflower country.
"Now, those times are over. The times when my family was great warriors are gone. Even the strongest warrior is powerless against the plague. We fled. I will never know the life my forefathers did."
Marisol fell silent. Gen and Gin felt that she wanted to be left to her own thoughts. Gen felt sad for her friend. It was at that moment that she realized how little she knew about the coyotes.
She listened to the soft snores of her companions. She snuggled down into the sand, still warm from the day's heat. Several hours later she woke her brother to relieve her.
Across the river two pairs of sharp eyes peered at them, waiting for the hour before dawn. At that hour, their forces would be ready and they would strike.
The eyes had been watching the small group of young ones since they had returned to the river bank. One of the creatures sniggered.
"S'foodss."
Just before dawn, two score or so creatures silently circled the five young ones. Marisol heard and saw nothing. She was not to be blamed for this. The invading creatures blended in perfectly with the surroundings.
They silently dug themselves down into the sand, leaving their heads above the surface.
The creatures drooled in anticipation.