"Go after the ferret," Luna told Fluttershy, while still keeping her eyes on Clogg. "We can't lose track of him again."
"But are you sure you'll be okay without me?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yes! Go!"
Fluttershy flew off in the direction that Veil had run.
Luna turned her attention back to Clogg. "Let Rainbow Dash go. You have no quarrel with her."
Clogg ran his claws gently along Rainbow Dash's throat. "Maybe I will. Maybe I won't. Maybe I'll… AAARRGH!"
Without warning he dropped Rainbow Dash and rushed at Luna, drawing a cutlass from his belt. His steel clashed against Luna's horn.
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Joshy Stag Hare was Discord's son. Like Discord, he had magical powers, but he never would have dreamed of using them for evil. He could do amazing things. For instance, he could make food appear just by saying the name of the desired food.
Joshy had been born a slave. In fact, he had labored in Marshank alongside Martin the Warrior. After Princess Celestia and her pony army had helped Martin escape and free the rest of the slaves, Joshy came to live in the town of Noonvale. He spent many happy seasons there, but when he heard one day that Swartt Sixclaw was attacking the mountain of Salamandastron, he decided to go over there and enlist in the Long Patrol. He ended up meeting Veil, and got swept up in a time travel spell, along with Veil, Twilight, and Fluttershy. So Joshy was there to witness the death of Swartt Sixclaw. Afterwards, he decided not to join the army after all, and he went to live at Redwall Abbey. Some of the Abbey mice had come to Salamandastron to help the Badger Lord, Sunflash the Mace, fight the invaders. They brought Joshy Stag Hare back home with them. Because the mouse who had been in charge of the kitchens, Friar Bunfold, had died in the battle for Salamandastron, Joshy eventually became his replacement. He was a good choice for the job because he could conjure food by magic.
Right now Joshy was sleeping in a wheelbarrow in the Abbey orchard. His bulging stomach rose and fell with each snore, the leaves of an overhanging pear tree trembling with every exhalation of his breath.
A pretty little mousemaid named Bryony complained to her friend, a mole named Togget, "Ole Joshy's still snoring, I can't wake him."
Togget waved a paw in the air as if creating a spell, except of course he wasn't creating a spell because he wasn't a wizard like Joshy. "You'm leave that beast to Oi, moi dear."
Bryony covered her mouth to stifle a giggle as Togget shook Joshy by his sleeve urgently. Instead of wearing a simple brown habit like the other Brothers of Redwall, Joshy always wore a blue and white striped robe. "Coom on, ole zurr, wakey oop, ee toald Oi to wake ee if'n ee gurt cake was a-burnin' in ee h'oven!"
Joshy fell out of the barrow with a start. "Cake burnin', where, what cake? I wasn't sleepin', wot!"
Cheerful Redwallers called out to Joshy as he bustled through Great Hall on his way to the kitchens, with Bryony and Togget following.
"Good afternoon, Friar. What's for dinner tonight?"
Joshy gave a mock scowl at a young squirrel. "Boiled frog an' toasted clouds for you, Brugg, m'laddo!"
Brugg made a face, playing along with the hare. "Yuck! Sooner have lightnin' soup an' ditchwater!"
Togget managed to pull Brugg's tail as he passed. "Loightnen zoop 'n' ditchwater, Oi'll see wot Oi c'n do for ee, maister, bo urr!"
Bryony giggled helplessly at the face Brugg made, and gasped, "Don't be sad, Brugg, I'll see if I can bake a little thunder cake to dip in your lightnin' soup, hahahaha!"
The Abbey kitchens were all a bustle, clouds of steam wreathing the woodlanders as they dashed to and fro. A huge hedgehog wife called Myrtle waved a ladle at a large cake that lay on a stone cooling slab, saying, "D'you want to slice it now, Friar? It baked well."
Joshy glared over his shoulder at Togget. "Burnt cake, eh?"
Togget nodded ruefully. "Dearie me, but Oi do tell whackin' fibbers, tho' et did wake ee oop, hurr hurr, that et did!"
"Food's no jokin' matter, laddie buck. Always remember that, wot!" Joshy sniffed the air. "Whaaaw! What's that smell? Have you been eatin' wild garlic again?"
"Turrible, baint et. Oi can't aboid the smell of woild garleck, moiself. Oi dearly loiks the taste, though."
Two tiny otters scooted past with a laden trolley, both yelling in deep olderbeast voices, "Gangway, watch y'backs there, mates!"
Joshy arrested their progress, catching both by their aprons as he halted the trolley with a quick footpaw. "Whoa there, steady up, Dibbuns. What's all this?"
The otter twins, Blatt and Scrimmo, waggled their tails respectfully at the Redwall Friar.
"Butt'n mushrooms, matey, sir!" said one otter.
"Aye, an' watershrimps too, sir, matey!" said the other otter.
Joshy sorted through the snowy white mushrooms and inspected the netful of almost transparent shrimp. "Good work, chaps. Did you gather these?"
"Sir, this very mornin' out in the woods, matey."
"Our mum 'elped us too, she said to bring 'em straight t'you."
Joshy gave the otters a candied chestnut apiece. "Champion stuff, wot! Don't forget an' thank your mum for me. They'll make great pasties for the feast this evenin'. Want to stay an' watch me cut 'n' fill this big cake?"
Blatt and Scrimmo nodded furiously. Myrtle lifted both and stood them on the cooling slab for a good view of the proceedings.
With swift sureness Joshy sliced through the sides of the pale fawn cake, and then sliced again. The little otters watched wide eyed as the hare worked, separating the cake into three flat circles, moist and gently steaming.
Blatt and Scrimmo spread cherry conserve on the bottom layer of the cake. Then Togget and Bryony spread meadowcream on the middle tier. Joshy and an otter named Heartwood carefully placed the three circles together in their former positions and coated the cake generously with the remainder of the meadowcream.
The six cake makers began decorating, working around the sides and top with a random pattern of hazelnut and almond flakes, sliced early strawberries, and tiny young rose leaves crystallized in honey.
Joshy Stag Hare surveyed his masterpiece proudly. "It's the very picture of a spring afternoon, wot. Shame it has to be eaten, really." He looked around the kitchen. "Let's see, we've got hotroot soup for the otters, turnip 'n' tater 'n' beetroot pie for the moles, hazelnut scones. An' now, the piece of resistance." He raised his paws and shouted "Fried chicken!" and a whole bunch of fried chicken appeared. "Feast's ready, wot!"
Today was a special day. Joshy's one year anniversary as Friar. It had been four season to the day since he came to Redwall, so they were having a feast to celebrate.
It was a jolly meal, and the food was excellent. Lanterns twinkled around Great Hall. Moles jostled shoulders with mice; hedgehogs sat next to otters and squirrels. Servers went around with large jugs of dandelion fizz, specially brewed by Morton, the hedgehog cellar keeper, and his friend the Foremole, leader of the moles.
Joshy was sitting next to Meriam, the Mother Abbess. Meriam was tall for a mouse, slender and of middle seasons, though her great wisdom and serenity would have done credit to one twice her age. The Abbess viewed Joshy's great cake, sitting in the middle of the table, and said, "A truly beautiful cake, Friar Joshy."
Joshy's face glowed with pleasure. "Thankee, marm, I had lots o' good help t'make it, wot wot."
"I would not doubt the truth of that, Friar. It might have spoiled in the oven whilst you were napping in the orchard, had it not been for the vigilance of Togget and our little flower, Bryony."
The surprise on Joshy's face was forestalled as Barlom, the mouse who was the Abbey Recorder and Gatekeeper, came into the hall. He had a look of consternation. "Mother Abbess, marm, there's a ferret at the gate, demanding to be let in!"
Abbess Meriam remained calm. "Very well. I will go and look at him." She got up from her chair and went out to the gatehouse. Joshy followed her, and so did Skipper, the leader of the otters.
Veil was pounding on the Abbey gate. He was out of breath, having run the whole way to Redwall. "Let me in! You've got to let me in! I've got urgent news!"
Meriam and Skipper peered through the gatehouse windows at the ferret. "He looks like a low down cheap little punk," said Skipper. "Look at that jacket he's wearing. It's a leather jacket, and we all know leather comes from animal skin."
"Let me take a shifty at him," said Joshy. Skipper moved aside so Joshy could look out. "Why, I know that ferret!" the hare cried. "That's Veil, wot!"
"Is he good or bad?" the Abbess asked.
Joshy considered. "Hmm, hard t'say, wot. He says he has urgent news. Might as well let him make his statement before he pegs out. I shouldn't think one lone villain could bother us too much, wot wot!"
So they opened the gate and let Veil in. The ferret could only gasp out one word, "Vampire," before he collapsed from exhaustion.
