Chapter 9

Vivian and Mickel were getting closer to their destination, they only had two more weeks of travelling until they came to the entrance of Redwall Abbey. The sibling fighters sat near their fire, eating some of the provisions that the cooks at Salamandastron gave them. Mickel reached into his haversack and pulled out a canteen. The pouch was filled with aged blackcurrant wine. The young captain popped the stopper off and took a few swigs. Mickel drank merrily oblivious to some of the run off. Two small streams of wine flowed down from his chin and onto his officer uniform. Mickel stopped drinking and placed the cork back onto the canteen. Mickel looked down at his stained uniform.

"Oh corks! I've ruined my ol' officer uniform, wot! Not to fret, blackcurrant wine stains are easy to get out of a chaps uniform."

"I sure hope you are jolly well correct, dear brother," Vivian said eating an apple turnover. Mickel dug into his haversack and pulled out an onion, mushroom, and rutabaga pasty. As soon as Mickel took that first big bite, the onion and mushroom gravy started to ooze out. The thick savory liquid was oozing out from the pasty very fast, Mickel shoved the open end of the pasty into his mouth to stop it from leaking onto the snowy floor. Vivian finished her turnover and started to lick of her claws of any sort of apple syrup that leaked from the pastry.

"I wonder how Abbess Winry is holding up. I hope she's doing well, by jove. I think when we do eventually arrive, she'll be as jolly as a hare at a banquet table," said Vivian. Her brother sniggered underneath his breath.

"Good thing Corporal Gummel isn't here with us or if he heard you say the word 'banquet,' he would start panicking thinkin' there was a bally banquet at the ol' Abbey, and we were missin' on all of the bally delectables."

"Yes that is true, we better get ourselves some shut eye. Let's keep the fire burning, keep us from freezing to bally death, wot," said Vivian. Mickel nodded in agreement, the two used their cloaks and blankets and laid on their sides near the fire. Vivian became entranced from the dancing fire that slowly faded as the winds began to pick up.

It was breakfast time in the Abbey, everybeast gathered in Cavern Hole including the Hytar Rangers. Nikolas sat with Trussa, Mavellous, and Wendell. While the remaining beasts of the Hytar Rangers sat with the brothers and sisters of Redwall. Kelisa, Delilah, and Begonia sat at the table nearest to the kitchens. Kelisa looked over to where Nikolas and his friends were, watching as they ate and drank happily. The squirrel turned to her friends who were eating their breakfast.

"Why did that Nikolas fellow reject me? Most creatures fall head over footpaws for me," she said. Begonia placed the fork down and swallowed. The mousemaid breathed in heavily and exhaled slowly.

"You want to know why he rejected you? It's because little miss, you are too vain, you think too highly of yourself and you tend to disregard any other beast's needs. The reason why most of the creatures here fall head over tails for you is because they think they can get with a pretty squirrelmaid like you, but you like to flirt with everybeast here in the Abbey. Heck, I've seen you try and flirt with Delilah. You are very pretty, don't get me wrong, it's just your ego is overinflated and perhaps that's why Trussa put your forepaw in that painful position and why Nikolas rejected you, to teach you that you've got to me more polite if you want to get something. You're nearly eighteen seasons old, please start acting like it."

Kelisa looked down, her lips in a pout. She sat in silence and resumed eating her light breakfast. Abbess Winry stood up and silenced the woodlanders, everybeast in the room gradually became silent, all eyes were on the Abbess. Abbess Winry smiled at the brothers and sisters of Redwall.

"Thank you all, as we all know, a horde of vermin are on their way. Are we scared? No we are not because we all know that we can achieve victory if we stick together and follow Martin's example. Kerei, is the Redwall Militia ready?" Abbess Winry asked.

"Aye we are shipshape and ready to battle any greasy vermin that comes to our gates."

"Good, and Commander Mavellous, is Nikolas ready to wield the sword of Martin into battle?"

"Almost, Mother Abbess, I still have a few more moves to teach him, he's been showing a lot of potential."

"I am very glad to hear that, today I would like two archers and two guards on the battlements today, skipper, commander, if you'll be so kind and to have a few of the militia forces and the rangers up on the walls after breakfast?" The Abbess asked. Both parties bowed courteously to the Abbess and agreed to her request. Abbess Winry smiled and resumed speaking.

"Very well, but let's sit back and enjoy this breakfast Friar Hubble created. Breakfast had ended and everybeast headed to the courtyard to watch Nikolas and Mavellous train. The woodlanders watched the two warriors.

"I've taught you a few techniques with the sword, now let's put them to the test. We will now engage in combat training. Know this, I will not go easy on you, Nikolas. That stoat could be arriving any moment and I need you to be as ready as ever. Right, let's begin."

Nikolas and Mavellous both got out of the warrior's salute and gripped their blades with both paws, they walked closer to each other, both in the warrior's stance, gripping their swords tightly. A sudden silence fell upon the Abbey, the only thing they could hear was the howling of the wind. In the dead silence, Nikolas could hear his heartbeat, he became extremely focused on his opponent. Mavellous was also extremely focused.

"Begin!" shouted Mavellous. The two beasts lunged forward at each other, the sound of their swords clanging together echoed loudly. The two engaged in combat and the creatures watching on the sidelines became intrigued and watched in silence as Nikolas and Mavellous swung heavy blows at each other.

Swish, clang, shang!

Nobeast said a word as the two continued to fight. Nikolas jumped high in the air and performed a downward slash at Mavellous. However, Mavellous quickly kneeled down and blocked the oncoming attack. Mavellous saw an opening and sweeped underneath Nikolas' legs, knocking the squirrel down. Mavellous sprang up to his hind legs and pointed the tip of the blade to Nikolas' throat. But Nikolas was not ready to yield. He swung the Martin Sword in his left paw, knocking the blade at his neck away from him and allowing him to get back up on his footpaws. Nikolas launched himself at his trainer, his attacks more heavy and ferocious. Even though his attacks were more heavy hitting, Mavellous kept his cool and blocked, and parried each one.

"Do not let anger get the best of you," Mavellous said as he blocked each sword attack. Nikolas kept coming at Mavellous hard and heavy. Mavellous thrusted his blade near Nikolas' shoulder, but the young squirrel quickly sidestepped and parried the attack. Nikolas thrust his blade at Mavellous' stomach, only for him to get blocked by the mouse's sword. Mavellous saw another opening and instead of thrusting his sword, the commander balled his paws and punched Nikolas straight in the face. Nikolas dropped the sword and clutch his snout in both paws. Blood began to seep from the gaps of his claws. Mavellous relaxed his stance and sighed heavily.

"Sorry, I got carried away, we'll take a short break. But I had to do that, your anger was getting the best of you and I needed you to snap out of it," he said. Still clutching his nose, Nikolas grabbed the red pommel stone hilt with his right paws. He looked to Commander Mavellous with a determined glare in his eyes, he was far from ready to call it quits. Nikolas slashed downwards at Mavellous, blood from his snout dripping as he performed the attack. Mavellous easily blocked it, Nikolas jumped back and turned at a ninety degree angle, and slashed sideways at Mavellous' ribs. Mavellous blocked the attack and parried. Nikolas was becoming weary, sweat beaded down his fur and his breathing became more labored. His upper lip caked in blood from the punch he received from Commander Mavellous. On the sidelines, Trussa and Wendell kept a watchful eye on the two.

"Looks like Nikolas is getting tired," said Trussa.

"Aye, that looks about right, Trussa. Nikolas has got a lot to learn before he can truly master the sword. He has a lot of determination and potential, he just needs to keep his anger from clouding his judgement. If he learns to do this quickly, then he will become victorious in most battles."

Trussa scratched her cheek and replied. "Yes, you're right, sir. If he can control his rage in battle, then he will become a victorious warrior. But what if the he is outmatched or outclassed?"

Wendell looked down at the snow covered grass and then back up to Trussa.

"Then it'll be his decision to either take his enemies head on alone, or seek aid from his companions," said Wendell. The two rangers continued to watch as Nikolas and Mavellous trained. In the Abbey Kitchens, Begonia and Delilah were peeling potatoes and chopping carrots. Begonia sliced the peeled potatoes into cubes and then chopped up some celery. They put the sliced up vegetables in a cauldron of water that was hanging over a fire. Kelisa was kneading dough for scones and pasties, she watched Nikolas and Mavellous train from the window. Delilah turned to Begonia and whispered into the mouse maiden's ear.

"Do you think she's finally realized she needs to stop acting like a spoiled dibbun?" Delilah asked.

"Hopefully. She's a young adult squirrelmaid, she needs to know that looks and hissy fits won't get her what she wants," Begonia whispered back. The two maidens continued to converse quietly.

"I agree, she hasn't said a word ever since breakfast, and she's there kneading the dough all by herself. Perhaps she is reflecting on what had happened," whispered Delilah. The kept their pretty eyes on the pretty squirrelmaid, who kept on kneading the dough and watching as the two rangers trained.

Two weeks had finally passed on buy and the Abbey bells tolled. Abbess Winry and Mother Abretia ran out from the building and into the courtyard. Norman the Bellringer popped his head out from the bell tower window and called down to Mother Winry.

"Mother Abbess, two hares from the Long Patrol have just arrived!" he announced.

"Good, let them in!" Abbess Winry called back. The dwellers of the Abbey unlocked the main gates. Vivian and Winry were granted access to Redwall Abbey. The Abbey denizens were oblivious to Fangshade, Geirana, and Ulsu spying on them. Geirana gave a look of pure happiness to see the Abbey. Oh how lovely for her to finally find a new home with plenty of slaves inside, she spoke devilishly to her compatriots.

"This place can be ours. Those beasts don't look like they can put up any sort of fight and will easily surrender to us, once the stoat and the horde get here, we storm the gates and enslave each and every one of them," Geirana proposed. Fangshade turned to the ferret mistress and calmly muttered a single word.

"No."

Geirana squinted her eyes at the tree rat. "'No,' what do you mean by 'no?' When your master arrives, we can take this red stone house, it'll be our fortress! I'll be its ruler, and your master can be my general."

"Is that so, well I didn't agree with that," said Riean. Geirana quickly turned around and saw Riean and his horde standing before her. The ferret's nerves failed her and she started stammering.

"I-I-I was only sp-speaking hypothetically."

"Oh really, because it sounded like you were sincere, Geirana," replied Riean, "come on, let's make our entrance."