Alright guys, thanks to all of those who have read and reviewed the last chapter. Special thanks to Foxstar24, Mangahottie740, Awesomewriter123, and Red Squirrel Writer for their support!

Squirm

"Far to the North... one who fell... heed the words... written in stone..." A small hedgehog sang softly to herself. She was the oldest of the dibbuns in Redwall, yet she was quite an enigma to everyone. This perplexed her mother, Pallaprin, who always tried to encourage her to play with other children and be more talkative. Ironically, most mothers at Redwall envied her situation, as they could hardly keep up with their young ones.

But not only did young Aduna prefer quiet solitude, but she had a tendency to spend her days humming quietly to herself. Nobeast had actually heard her sing outloud, anyway, for she always kept to mumbling to herself, as if still coming up with the words to a song.

"Aduna, will you move already?" Melo said sharply, "Your endless babbling is annoying! Just what are you doing?" Melo was in a terrible mood that day, since he'd been spending his days doing nothing more than chores. Despite the fact that Abbess Linette had only ordered him to work in the cellars, Sister Agatha was persistent and pressured his mother into punishing him further.

"Sorry," Aduna whispered hesitantly, "But I can remember the words better here." She looked downward in embarrasment awkwardly as Melo continued scrubbing the floor.

"Well do it somewhere else, would you?" he replied, his tone unchanged, "It's annoying." In response, Aduna, with her head bowed, muttered another apology and shuffled out of Cavern Hole. It wasn't until she left that Melo realized what he had done.

"Aduna! Aduna, wait!" he quickly got off his knees and ran after her. He hadn't run very far when he slipped and fell flat on his back.

"Ouch! Stupid floor! Stupid Abbey rules! Stupid Sister Agatha, that huffy old windbag!" he muttered as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head. His mutterings were then answered by a barely-stifled giggle.

"Well, seeing that you're already talking like that, I suppose you're alright," Sister Mirril offered her paw. Melo ignored her polite gesture and stood up by himself.

"Why's the floor like this anyway?" he complained.

"Melo," Mirril playfully gave an impression of Sister Agatha, "You wouldn't have slipped if you had at least completed such a simple task properly! You're supposed to scrub and dry the floor, Bartholomelo, scrub and dry the floor! Now do it in front of me so that I can see to it that you have learned from my advice. Scrub and dry!" Melo chuckled softly as he inspected the quality of his work.

"Well there's no denying that I actually cleaned the place," he defended himself, "I just happened to forget the last step. I mean, I'm just one mouse! I can't scrub all of Cavern Hole by myself!"

"Well I hope you've learned your lesson," Mirril smiled, "And by the way, why were you running anyway?"

"Huh? Oh I was just chasing after Aduna," Melo had completely forgotten about her.

"Chasing Aduna? But I thought you didn't really care much for dibbuns," Mirril replied, quite confused. It was true that Melo didn't really care much for dibbuns, in fact, there were few things in the abbey that annoyed him more. One of which was Sister Agatha- oh how he despised her.

He didn't hate them, contrary to whatever Sister Agatha says in her gossip, he just found them bothersome and preferred to keep his distance. This set him apart from the rest of the abbey dwellers, who expressed boundless love for their young ones.

"Well, I just made her cry. She's so sensitive all the time!" he replied tersely.

"Melo," Mirril sighed, "You know if she tells on you, Sister Agatha will use that as another excuse to punish you further." At this statement, Melo ran down the hall and at a moment's debate, chose to turn left.

"She went the other way!" Mirril called out to him. Luckily, he heard her, came back, and made a right. Mirril smiled at his crazy antics and continued walking down Cavern Hole.

She was always fascinated by Redwall's tapestry and the wonderful stories they told. Every now and then, important events were still being added to that vast collection of masterpieces. There was still quite a bit of empty space in Cavern Hole, as the tapestry was meant to encircle the entire area.

She stopped at the most breathtaking and ancient part of the tapestry. It was none other than Martin the Warrior, founder and greatest hero of Redwall Abbey. She then noticed the abandoned bucket of water, several washcloths on the floor, and a small dry section near the wall, probably where Melo had scrubbed around Aduna as she hummed to herself.

"Melo, how would you ever be able to cope without me?" She smiled and sighed as she rolled up her sleeves and grabbed a washcloth.

Meanwhile, Melo had just caught up with Aduna, who was sitting under a tree in the courtyard. Once he spotted her, he allowed himself to catch his breath as he walked towards her nonchalantly. She didn't seem to notice him, as she kept her gaze on a small pink flower she had in her paw and appeared to be humming to herself again.

She had only noticed him when he had taken a seat next to her, keeping in mind not to be too close. She stopped humming immediately and snapped her attention to him.

"Um... Aduna," Melo said softly, refusing to look her in the eye, "I didn't mean to say what I said back there." He paused and waited for some kind of response- a "it's alright", a nod, shake of the head, anything. But she just sat there like a statue, staring at that little pink flower she held in her paw. Giving an inward sigh, he continued.

"So I'm sorry. Would you... mind not telling anyone about what happened in Cavern Hole?" To his relief, she nodded her head in response.

"Thank you," he gave an awkward smile, "You're my favorite dibbun, you know that?" Bewildered, she glanced up at him as he got back on his footpaws and started walking back inside. When he was gone and she was finally alone again, she proceeded to sing softly to herself, having had finally remembered the words by heart.

"When the quiet of the storm does rise
And waken the guardian warrior's sleep.
He comes and speaks through willing ears
Of Redwall's advancing demise.
But fate is not truly written in stone,
So call upon the one who fell,
And he who hears the calling of the bell.
Far to the North the dangers lie,
Where pain and suffering in life do cry.
See the warrior's tale unfold,
Heed the words of the warrior of old."

Meanwhile, back at the swamp, Brink and Keetch were still picking their way through the marsh, keeping in mind not to step in the mud.

"I still say we should've gone around it," Keetch complained as he followed after Brink's path.

"Will you just shut up already?" Brink said, keeping himself concentrated on which was the best route in this maze of mud, water, and semi-dry land.

Keetch scowled and muttered curses under his breath as he cast another weary glance over his shoulder. Despite Brink's reassurance that there was nothing to fear, Keetch was not yet fully convinced. Every part of the marsh was relentless and inhospitable, a factor that didn't ease his suspicions about the place.

Every part of his insticts, he noted, seemed to sense something following them, but he could never quite find out what. He groaned to himself as his footpaw slipped and he was covered in mud up to his knee. He knew he couldn't be able to convince Brink, who was too proud to see that he was making a mistake.

Just as Keetch was contemplating his predicament, he absentmindedly bumped into Brink, who had halted in his tracks. Steadying himself after the impact, Keetch looked up to see some of the marsh's undergrowth rustling. Brink immediately took an offensive stance, looking left and right.

Keetch, frightened by everything in the hellish marsh, turned around only to find a similar situation there as well. They were now trapped and completely surrounded by unknown enemies in this alien world.

"Are they toads?" Keetch swallowed nervously. Brink didn't answer, but continued to keep a calm exterior, though Keetch could see right through it easily. Then, as if on que, their enemies revealed themselves. They were an assortment of lizards, salamanders, and toads, who slithered, squirmed and hopped their way.

Keetch was frozen on the spot, both out of horror and curiousity. These creatures were nothing like anything he had ever seen before. They had no fur and were smooth and slimy, just as Brink had said. But he was wrong about one thing- they were something to fear, that is, if they were in a group. They were quite large, and stood up to about half of Keetch's height.

Their large, bulbous eyes seemed to stare hungrily at him as their tongues flicked in and out as they advanced towards them slowly and arduously.

The lizards, on the other hand, were just as strange to him and they seemed less powerful, but faster. They too flicked their tongues in and out in a similar fashion as the toads. Some were more scaly than others and they came in more of a variety of sizes and colors. Their long tails lashed back and forth in anticipation as they wriggled towards them.

"These are toads, lizards, and salamanders," Brink whispered to him.

"You never mentioned the last two!" Keetch replied in a shaky voice.

Finally, the creatures stopped. They waited for a moment, staying perfectly still as they looked their prisoners over. Then, one of the toads began speaking in a slow, deep, croaking voice.

"You... prisoners... follow." He then turned around and started hopping back where he came from while the other creatures came closer to them, trying to herd them in that direction. Keetch then awaited Brink's move but the stubborn otter stood his ground. Keetch reluctantly decided not to resist his captors and took a tentative step forward when Brink suddenly spoke.

"Make me move, you ugly slimeball!" Brink spat. Keetch winced, wishing his companion would start using his head and stop getting invovled in fights. In response, the creatures charged at them, grabbing them with their cold, slimy, and scaly hands, pushing them.

Brink started to fight them. He fought savagely and took several of them down easily but they were just too numerous and it wasn't long until Brink found himself completely exhausted and wounded in several places. He was now without any option and was dragged around in the miserable marsh.

He didn't give up, though, as he then commenced an onslaught of insults at his captors, who ignored him. Finally, they had reached their destination and the creatures left them and retreated to the periphery of the area, encasing their prisoners in a circle.

But there, squatting before them was a massive toad which stared at them hungrily. He was massive- standing at twice their height, he was much wider than tall, and he was extremely fat. Brink noticed with disgust, a toad leg sticking out of the corner of the toad's wide, ugly mouth.

"Ksssshhh... an offering, Your Highnezzz..." A lizard said, bowing low. The toad gave a low croaking sound and swallowed, making the smaller toad's leg disappear.

"King Bull Toad... is pleased... with food..." he croaked as he hopped once, splattering Brink and Keetch with muddy water. They scrambled backwards from the horrifying toad while the other creatures looked on eagerly. In a flash, the toad's tongue shot out and gave Keetch a rough lick, making the fox scream and whimper as he continued scrambling backward, this time in an even more frantic speed.

"Tastes... good..." the toad croaked, obviously amused by Keetch's frightened response, "I'll eat... you... first."

Brink was astounded by the sheer length of his ropelike tongue as he continued scrambling backward. He hated that thing, the way it ate its kind, the fact that it was a grotesque and hideous sight, and most of all, the fact that he enjoyed seeing the fear in other beasts. That thing loved seeing his prey squirm and squeal before he consumed them.

Brink saw the hopelessness in his predicament. He was unarmed, outnumbered, and without any energy. Then, to his surprise, Keetch stopped screaming and spoke to him. He no longer seemed frightened out of his wits, but focused and determined as he whispered.

"Brink, I have a plan. Listen carefully..."

Well how's that for a cliffhanger ending? As you can see, I'm not too good with prophecies (Aduna's song). Yeah, I need to work on stuff like that and I hate poetry... seriously, that stuff lowers my grade a lot. Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter.

From now on, I'm going to have at least half of a chapter dedicated to what's going on in Redwall. Of course, there will be some exceptions where I'll have an entire chapter focused on one thing, but that will come later.

In the next chapter, I'll intoduce you to a new character. She'll be another warrior hero in the story and she's a squirrel- just for all you squirrel lovers. And she even has a specially customized weapon to boot! Redwall's autumn feast will finally begin and we'll get more in-depth with the Redwall characters. And Brink and Keetch will execute their escape plan. The chapter will focus more on Brink and Keetch's story this time since they've got a good adventure going. Have any of you guys figured out Keetch's plan yet?

OK, thanks to all of you who've read the story. REVIEW with some comments, ideas, corrections, questions, anything. Those who review will get a brief character summary of any character they want (just ask for it). Even the new squirrel character's Character Bio is available. I will not give away any really important information or spoilers but I will give descriptions of the characters' personalities or answer any simple questions.

Oh yeah, before I forget, here are some of the ages of some of the characters:

Abbess Linette: mid- 50s; Meles: same age as Linette; Wayrin: 40ish; Sister Agatha: old (70ish); Sister Mirril: 23 Aduna: 5

P.S. Over the summer I'll be out of the country for 6 weeks so depending on how good the internet is over there, I may be gone for a long time. By the way, I'M OUT OF SCHOOL ON WEDNESDAY!! YAY SUMMER!! :D