Ooooo! Polecats! But now, we got to them, instead of them going to Redwall. Crazy thought eh? Oh, and you all can cheer! Wesley has planned out twenty-nine chapters! Only problem is that, well, the twenty-nine, only gets us about one third or so through the story. So, in about two?...three?...years? I might be done. I hope I have the guts to stick it out. That'd suck if I didn't. I'd be disappointed with myself. Shame...
Whatever. Here is chapter 9, even though the website calls it chapter 10. Crap. Next time, I'm just going to go with chapter one being called "chapter 1" to save confusion. But you are smart people. So it shouldn't be a big deal.
There, I am done my overly extensive A.D.D. blurb, READ NOW!
Boom! An explosion rocked the open seashore, splitting the early morning air with a resounding whump. Burntax stared at the charred remains of the holding cylinder but the lack of damage to the surrounding rock face. He hung his head, frustrated at his such near miss. Calling out in a monotonous voice, he said, "Two parts sulfur, one part charcoal, half portion saltpeter gives off a bright flash, but no damage to surrounding rock face. Bring in the one-to-one-to-half ratio powder."
Carefully adjusting his black powder dusted hat, Burntax scored a line on his slate. So far, of the fifty extra chances that the High Ruler Ddauchloren had granted him, he was on his forty-sixth. Placing the mix of black powder into the pre-drilled hole in the rock face, the head polecat scientist ran a long fuse back to his protection boulder. He yelled quickly, "Fire in the hole!"
Anybeast within hearing range scrambled for cover, knowing that even though Burntax was a systematic beast, he wasn't patient. Within seconds of warning the beasts near him, Burntax had lit the fuse with a log from his always burning fuse fire. Sputtering and spewing sparks, the lit fuse charged towards the awaiting chemicals. Burntax placed his paws over his ears. BOOM! An enormous eruption of sound and rock billowed from the rock wall. Rocks the size of a beast were hurled into the ocean, a good fifty paces away. Tons of pebbles rained down on anybeast within five-score paces, beating them with the most painful shower of their lives. Burntax's boulder was cracked in half by a large piece of rock that went flying like a javelin and landed point into the boulder. Then, all was silent.
It was so quiet that a beast could hear the dust settle, the tiny granules of filth sinking to the ground and into beasts' fur. Tiny tinkling noises continued to speak, as the tiny particles which had been launched near leagues into the air finally came down to the earth. Then, like snow, the dust began to settle completely, leaving a thin layer of brownish-grey dirt covering the entire worksite.
Burntax stood up from his crouched position, his paws over his ears and his eyes shut. He slowly removed his paws from his ears, releasing twin clouds of dust from near his ears, giving him the appearance that he was smoking at the ears. He cracked his left eyelid open, small cascades of dust falling from the moving fur. He slowly rotated his eye from left to right, surveying the dust, the sand, and the boulders in the ocean. Seeing no danger, he turned around completely, and then shook veraciously attempting to rid his fur of the dust.
"Burntax?! Burntax?! Are you here? Are you alive?" a voice from a concerned worker called out.
Burntax looked up from his undignified position as he tried to smooth his fur quickly. "Yes, I am fine, and seeing as it is so, you should be addressing me as Head Scientist."
The lowly lab polecat stared at his paws apologetically. "Very sorry Head Scientist, we were just very worried for your safety."
"Don't worry about it," Burntax comforted, "Really, the name is all show, I am just an exalted one of you, but if the Ddauchloren's guards find you calling be by my first name, they may find fault in you because of it. Very illogical, but to them, respect is number one, and life is second."
"Understood, Head Scientist." the polecat replied with a gleam in his eye.
"Besides," added Burntax, "It is hard work finding good hardworking sciencebeasts, like yourself. I'd hate to lose a good worker."
"Thank you."
Burntax gathered his slate and blasting helmet, and they went off to survey the damage done to the site. It was obvious that there would be no more work done on this rock face, over half the face was destroyed, a massive V cut out of the rock. The concussion from the blast had cracked the rock, essentially making the rock face a large pile of rubble. A couple workbeasts climbed up onto the rock pile to survey the blast, and how far it had thrown some of the boulders. With paws shielding their eyes they scanned the vicinity, their eyes growing larger as they continued to notice bigger boulders even further away than before. "What does the damage look like from up there scouts?" Burntax called out.
"It is amazing Head Scientist, there are boulders nearly one hundred paces away in the ocean. We are standing on a pile of rubble basically, considering that all the rock is cracked and unstable. I think that we have found the formula."
"You THINK!?" Burntax exclaimed, "I KNOW!"
Quickly he marked down on his slate the proportions which had just caused the devastation. Dancing around in a little circle, he dropped his blasting helmet and kicked it a few times for good measure. "Aha! Take that you old helmet! I'll never need you again!"
Then with a gleam in his eye he hop-skipped over to the mixing station, which had just missed being hit by a large boulder and began to measure out proportions for a miniature bomb. Gleefully humming to himself, he poured the mixture into a small leather sack, stuck a fuse in the end, and tied it up tightly. "Science beasts!" he called out, "Today we have found what we have been searching for for so long. WE HAVE BLACK POWDER!" he pumped his fist in the air, holding the leather sack. "You are all now free to return to what ever sort of employment you held before, or you can follow me and join the mighty army of the Ddauchloren!"
There was a large hurrah from the beasts, knowing that they would finally be paid and released from service. Burntax knew that no beast would actually want to join the Ddauchloren's forces; they had only worked as science beasts for the pay. Walking away from the worksite, clutching his slate, chalk, and bomb, Burntax took a deep breath, smelling the dust in the air. Never had such a mess smelled so good to him.
After walking for about an hour, the crew arrived at the camp. Large tents, built to whisker-widths in accuracy billowed in the wind. Their fine colors flashing in the morning sun. The crew was stopped at a sentry post by a guard, but was quickly let through as he recognized Burntax.
"Why are you back so early?" the guard questioned.
"Nothing really," Burntax teased, "we just found the formula this morning and figured that the Ddauchloren would like to know."
The guard stared at him with disbelief, and then let him through, not wanting to hinder such an important discovery.
Marching proudly through the camp, Burntax smiled a relaxed smile, encouraged by the findings of the morning, and excited that he would finally be able to go home and leave this dreaded place.
He headed towards the far end of the camp where a massive tent stood. Due to the polecats' intensity with perfection and scientific procedures, this tent had two floors, making meetings in the lower floor possible while the upper floor was reserved for the Ddauchloren himself.
Once again Burntax was stopped by guards, questioning him, and once again he showed the bomb to the guards and was let in without hindrance. Once inside the massive red tent, Burntax bowed low to the form in the large carved oak throne. The Ddauchloren rose from his throne, his two tails swishing in the morning air, and he greeted Burntax with a solemn, "Good morning."
"Good morning to you, all powerful Ddauchloren. May your reign never end." Burntax intoned, not meaning a word of it.
"Rise Burntax," Burntax stood up. "Why have you come to me now? If there are more complications with the project I will be forced to find a new director."
"Please Your Majesty, there will be no need for that." Burntax smiled, "In fact, in my paw right here, I hold a completed bomb, containing black powder. And here," he held up the slate. "I have the recipe."
"Finally," Ddauchloren sighed with relief. "I was beginning to tire or your incessant meddling. Now please, demonstrate."
"Please O Radiant One; testing here would be a grave mistake. We must at least go out side to a hill."
"Fine," Ddauchloren agreed, "Best not to destroy my entire army before attack anyway." then randomly off on a tangent he asked his general, "Where is Jaggar? That blasted cat is becoming a thorn in my side, how long could it take to control a small group of woodlanders?"
"Please Your Majesty," Burntax asked, "Will you please come outside so the demonstration can begin?"
"I guess that would be helpful wouldn't it?" Ddauchloren remarked satirically, smirking at his sense of humor.
Burntax ignored the Royal Beast's show of comedy and began to trot ahead at a good pace towards a small rise in the land about 300 pawsteps away. As he arrived at the small hill, he began to dig, making a narrow hole horizontally into the side of the hill. He reached into his utility belt and withdrew some more fuse, tied it onto the initial fuse, then lightly tossed the leather wrapped black powder into the hole.
Running back, unraveling the fuse in his hands, Burntax hid behind a fair sized tree. He looked back towards Ddauchloren and received an "ok, go" look, and lit the fuse.
Once again, the sparkling fuse charged towards the black powder, launching bits of molten string off into the grass. Soon, the fuse disappeared into the ground; Burntax covered his ears with his paws, took a deep breath, and waited. KABOOM! A huge explosion rocked the clearing, dirt was flung everywhere. Chunks of sod rained down like dirty snowflakes, smashing into the ground at maximum velocity, leaving indents in the soil.
Burntax removed his paws from his ears and survey the scene. The hill had been obliterated, now only a shallow crater remained. Sod was scattered all around the small field, or at least, what was left of it. Burntax looked approvingly over at Ddauchloren, who just gave an evil smile in return.
Standing up from his kneeling position, Burntax trotted over to where the royal party was waiting. "So, whaddaya think?" he asked, so proud of his accomplishment that he forgot formalities.
"What do I think?" Ddauchloren asked incredulously, "I think that this is the most amazing discovery since iron ore forging! You are a genius!"
Burntax beamed with pride, "One quick thing though sciencebeast," the Ddauchloren continued, "Is this recipe written down completely on your slate?"
"Yes."
"And does it require any special steps to mix the powder?"
"No."
"Ok, thank you science beast," then motioning to the guards, "Kill him, he is no longer of use to us."
"Wha-graaagh?!" Burntax began to yell before a spear jabbed him in the side, cutting deep into his vital organs, mortally wounding him.
"Leave him," said Ddauchloren, "no point wasting energy over an already dead beast."
Burntax lay in the shadow of a tree, gasping for air. His blood flowed freely from his wound; he felt his life force draining. Barely breathing, he began to close his eyes and accept death when his assistant came running up to him and knelt down beside him.
"Head Scientist! What did they do to you?"
"They betrayed cough me."
"Will you live, Head Scientist?"
"No, I fear not, Frendo, and stop calling me Head Scientist, my name is Burntax."
"Hea-Burntax, what should I do?"
"There is nothing you can do," Burntax replied. Then a gleam came to his nearly glazed over eyes, "No wait, there is something."
"What?" asked Frendo.
"You are the only beast which knew the recipe, right?"
"I believe so; all the others were just there to survey the damage for you."
"Good," Burntax wheezed, "Then I need you to go and destroy my slate. Erase the recipe, and then break it into hundreds of tiny pieces. Then run for your life until you come to the place called Mossflower, and the building of Redwall. There are woodland beasts there that may be able to help you. Now please," he began to shudder, his life nearly gone. "Go now!"
"I shall do your bidding Burntax. Now rest in piece, forever." Frendo cradled Burntax's head as he took his last breath. Closing Burntax's dead, forever staring eyes, Frendo lay Burntax's head down on the soft green grass.
Frendo knew that he needed to go through with his promise, or else the Ddauchloren would do more than just the planned excavation on Salamandastron with it. Normally not a beast based on morals, Frendo now felt a strong obligation to protect anybeast who may be affected negatively by this discovery.
He walked back to camp dry eyed; his few tears spent, and began to make plans for the evening. The cloth material which the tents were made out of would allow him easy access to the inside of the tents; he would just need to get past the guards somehow. He soon figured out that a plan would be useless and for plot reasons decided to wing it. (What great reasoning, eh?)
The evening fell quickly, almost with an audible noise as the darkness plummeted from above and smashed into the light, driving it back until the sun rose again the next day. Frendo snuck out his tent under the cover of darkness, hoping to gain even the slightest advantage. He crept along the edge of the camp, behind the outwards facing posts, but out of visible range of the Ddauchloren's tent guards. He stole silently along the edge of the clearing to where the Ddauchloren's tent was.
The Ddauchloren had only made one mistake in the placing of his tent. The clearing was just barely big enough, meaning that a beast could sneak up in the surrounding forest until they were nearly face to face with the tent. Frendo utilized this cover to the fullest, only coming near the edge of the forest when he was near the far side of the tent from the main opening.
Drawing his knife, Frendo crawled in the shadows up to the tent and started to make a small incision at the base of the fabric. His knife met steel. How could I have forgotten? Frendo asked himself incredulously, wondering how he could have forgotten the chain mail layer within the two layers of bright red canvas. Seeing only one other option, Frendo went over to one of the canvas anchor pegs, and began to pull on it, trying to remove it from the soil. After numerous efforts, the peg finally gave, scraping out of the ground quickly. Frendo braced himself, flinching as the tent gave slightly, and then secured itself without incident.
Lifting up the fabric slowly, Frendo poked his snout under the edge and surveyed the scene from a bug's point of view. In front and to the left of him was a guard covering the stairwell up to the second floor. The second guard stood at the entrance to the tent. Frendo crawled silently underneath the rim of fabric, only the chain mail rustling slightly.
He drew his knife once again and holding it with the blade facing him, he snuck up behind the guard and quickly brought the knife across the guard's throat, creating a crimson scarf which grew with every passing second. The guard merely grunted and fell over, with a slight whump. Kill one to save one thousand, Frendo thought to himself, shuddering at the horrendous act he had just committed.
With the guard out of the way Frendo proceeded to search the room for any evidence of the slate. Nothing of importance was even in the lower floor with the exception of the throne. Breathing deeply, Frendo nervously headed towards the stairs leading to the upper floor. The well oiled wood did not squeak at all, a feature which Frendo thanked the architect for.
With his knife between his teeth, Frendo crept up the stairs, until his brow was just above the last stair. For this point of view his surveyed the room. A great four-post bed with a relatively thick gossamer curtain sat on one side of the room. On the far side of the room stood a rack holding the Ddauchloren's famous blood red armor, and a small book shelf, crammed full of scientific knowledge.
On the top of the shelf, hastily set down by a tired royal, was Burntax's bag, within it, his slate and his chalk. Frendo crawled up the remaining steps, slinking across the floor to the shelf, and then standing up beside it, in a shadow it formed from the bed lamp within the curtains of the giant bed. Standing on his tip paws on his hind legs, he reached across the shelf to the far edge where the slate sat. His paws scraped against the coarse cloth, but were unable to get a good grip. Stretching to his maximum length, he caught a claw on the cloth, but missed the rest of the bag, sending the bag plummeting to the floor. A resounding crack emanated from the bag as the thin slate broke on contact with the ground.
Immediately, a shadowy figure sat upright in the bed, and called out without hesitation, "Guard! I have an intruder!"
There was no motion from the lower floor, but outside the tent the second guard heard the call and began to run into the tent. His mind working furiously, Frendo knew that his escape was cut off by the coming guard and that he needed a new way out. A quick idea splashed into his mind, what sort of self preserving beast only gives themselves one exit?
Acting upon his revelation immediately, Frendo began to pat the canvas around him, searching for an area without chain mail. Close to the bed! He ran over beside the bed, motioning with his dagger in a threatening motion in an attempt to intimidate the figure behind the curtain, while he began to test the new area of canvas.
Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, flop, tinkle, flop! Frendo did a quick double take, and then plunged his knife hand, blade first into the fabric, cutting through the woven fibers with ease. He made a second vertical slash then a horizontal cut, opening a door. He stuck his head out the hole just before he realized that the slate was still by the book shelf.
Frendo pulled his head into the tent and ran for the slate just as the guards head popped up in the stairwell. The guard caught his eye momentarily, then drew his sword and charged up the remaining stairs towards Frendo.
Frendo slid on the fur covered floor, grabbing the bag then running full tilt towards his hole he had cut. He was nearly at the hole when two tails whipped out of the darkness and tripped him. Frendo fell tail over paws and rolled through the artificial door, carrying the bag with him. As he fell, Frendo braced for impact, but remained airborne for much longer than he anticipated. The fall proved to be fatal, breaking his neck with a quick snap. His arms were broken on impact as well, his bones piercing his skin and causing him to bleed profusely all over the bag.
As if it were a dying act of vengeance, Frendo's blood seeped into the bag and stained every last shard of the recipe slate a deep crimson. He had fulfilled his promise, although he never made it to Redwall, Frendo died with a smile on his face and a light heart knowing that he had possibly saved thousands of lives.