Author's Note: I'm hoping my story will soon break 200 reviews. After that, I will be the most popular Redwall fanfic on fanfiction! At least I think I will be... If there's one with more reviews, let me know. I want to see what they did that made them so good...

Chapter 36

Martin stared upwards into the eyes of a scary looking rat. Not only was one eye covered with a black patch, but the other was bloodshot to the point that it looked like it was going to burst. The dirt and mud that covered his body was not enough to cover the whip marks on his back. His torso was covered with the remains of an unrecognizable piece of clothing. The only thing that remained intact seemed to be his pants, much to the relief of Martin and his friends. The rat stared down on them, speaking as if he had not cleared his throat in twenty seasons.

"An' just wot do ye' think yore doin' down here in mah cave? Joy ride, eh? Guards, take 'em outta me sight!" The rat laughed as he turned away. He was surprised to hear the drawing of a sword and gurgle of some unfortunate beast.

"Yew idjit! I said to tie 'em up, not to slay 'em!"

He whirled around in his rage. He cocked his head slightly as he examined the situation. All around the warrior mouse stood creatures, weapons ready, and Martin stood with his sword through a rat's throat. In seconds, the rat was gone. Since the vermin had adjusted to the dim light in their eyes, the bright light affected them more than anybody. Martin took this oppurtunity to swing out at the rat. He missed completely, chopping off the tip of a stalagmite. The rat snarled at them, drawing a bone handled scimitar.

"From Hellgates I traveled t'live in peace wit' my friends! I'll fight ye', I swear if ye' don't leave me!"

Martin laughed scornfully. "There is no peaceful vermin! All are scum and deserve to die!"

Martin swung, this time hitting the scimitar cleanly. All around him, battle broke out. Martin battled ferociously, striking once or twice, then jumping and swinging over his head to distract him as he kicked him. The rat held his nose as he staggered back.

"Retreat! To the carts!" He roared, running and pointing his scimitar down the paths. In the meantime, Gonff and Sorin had been digging away at the rocks that held the cart in place. They grabbed Martin and Rose as the cart went soaring.

Down the path, Deadeye, the rat Martin had been fighting was also jumping into a cart with five other rats, and was gaining speed quickly. Martin easily caught up with him, seeing as he had more time. Their carts were about two feet apart, and Fighting went on between them.

Martin's long sword easily reached the other cart, but the others had trouble reaching with their dirks. Scimitar and sword clashed once again, as rocks and dust whizzed by their faces. Martin managed to slit Deadeye's wrist and was about to go for his head, when

Whoooooosh!

The carts seperated. Martin almost hit Rose in the follow-through. She glared at him. Martin smiled wryly.

"It was an accident, see." He said calmly, as their carts rushed through the tunnel. They soon met Luke, Sayna, Pallum and Derin's cart, as they went rushing alongside each other. Martin waved cheerfully to them.

"Hey! How's it going?"

Derin poked his head above the cart.

"Absolutely spiffing day over here, wot! Sun's shinin' brightly, and no vermin in sight!"

Martin nodded. "Sounds like another beauuutiful day!"

Derin nodded. "Aye. If you'll excuse me, I'm going down to the lawn to get some fresh air! See you."

As if on cue, the carts were pulled away, and, in seconds, they were back in range of Deadeye's cart. Martin did not notice in time, and the carts pulled away until they were several feet apart. Three vermin raised bows and arrows, aiming at their cart.

"Duck!" Martin roared.

Everyone in the cart sunk down low, and arrows went flying overhead. One clattered harmlessly off the cart, and the other two hit the wall.

Three more shafts came. One hit the wall, one hit the cart, But one was perfectly shot so that it would land in the cart. It hit Gonff in the paw and he yelped and stuck his head up, tearing off the shaft. He looked ahead, and ducked just in time as three shafts hit the wall over their heads. Gonff whispered to Martin.

"We're moving closer to their cart. I'd say they're within range of your sword!"

Martin nodded. He then heard the sickening words.

"Tip their cart! We're close enough! Tip the cart!"

Two paws latched onto the side of their vehicle. Martin grabbed them and flung them backwards. The vermin screamed as he was flung back from the cart and clattered amongst the sharp rocks. The cave was illuminated for a moment, then everything went back to normal.

"Not today, young ruffians!" Yelled Sorin.

Martin poked his head up. The archers were too close to fire anything. He resumed his sword battle with Deadeye. Steel hit steel again.

Martin continued his fight for a moment, and then noticed something. They were moving a bit ahead of Deadeye's cart. He took advantage of the situation. He swung again, but not towards Deadeye. Instead, he swung towards the lantern in the front of the cart. The entire thing went up in ashes and sparks. Some of them flew over head, but others went down onto the wooden spokes on the steel wheels and in the riders eyes. They screamed and roared in agony as they rubbed at their eyes.

"Haha, you porkbottoms! That'll make your eye even redder, if possible!" Sorin laughed.

They carts seperated again, each one heading down a seperate tunnel. Deadeyes cart went flaming, leaving black scorches on the tracks and going down in flames. A little while later, the tracks came together again, but there was no cart.

Martin laughed triumphantly.

"Ha! We got them!"

Gonf and Sorin roared in triumph along with Martin. Rose was happy too, though the heat of battle and riskiness of death made her want to leave the situation right now.

Martin looked down the path and realized that they were slowing down. Rose smiled.

"Oh, it's over, I'm so glad... Waaaagh!" The cart seemed to drop from the sky as they plummeted down the deepest hill yet. Martin peered ahead and saw something that couldn't be...

"Daylight?" He laughed. "There's daylight ahead everyone! Daylight!" No sooner had Martin spotted it, the cart sped down the hill, can flipped, causing everybody inside to fly out and through an opening in the wall. Instead of hitting something hard and rocky, they hit water.

Martin sputtered and threw his head up.

They were once again being looked upon by vermin. They roared and dashed at them, thinking the warrior mouse would be frightened.

A deep rage welled up inside Martin.

"For Felldoh!" Martin swung his sword and cut deep in a rat's gut.

"For freedom!" He swung again, striking another down.

"For every innocent creature that vermin have ever slain!" This resulted in some serious bloodflow. Martin knew they wouldn't last long, because they were completely surrounded. He could only hope on the arrival of some friends. Martin felt the ground shaking and looked back at the tunnel. Something was coming out!

Martin jumped to the side and let it fly past him. Three rats and a weasel were crushed under the cart of Luke, Sayna, Derin and Pallum. They stood up, rubbing their heads and blinking.

"What the... Oh my!" Sayna said, glancing around and realizing there were screams from many vermin. She snatched one of Derin's staffs and swung aimlessly at vermin. She missed quite a few times, before Derin, realizing his weapon had been snatched, took the other and went among the vermin like water to fire. He began twirling, spinning, and slicing with the small, sharp ends of the blade.

Soon, a third cart emerged from the hole in the rock behing them, carrying Grumm, Ranguvar, and Barlow. Sauvin came waltzing non-chalantly out of the hole behind them and began hurling knives. The others, obviously alerted by Sauvin, knew about the battle, too, and they came out, weapons ready. Soon, the battle was thirty against twelve. Martin smiled.

"We can win it now!"

They certainly could. For over a hill nearby came hundreds of creatures including hedgehogs, mice, otters, and all assortments of creatures, big and small physique.

The vermin had no chance. They went down begging for mercy.

The warrior mouse was anything but proud of their victory.

"I can't believe it! Thirty vermin against three hundred others! They were wailing and weeping to the last! I-I... We were horrible!"

Luke shook his head. "I cannot agree with you, Martin. Vermin are not like other creatures. Had we let them go, they would've continued killing. Think of it as thirty vermin we don't have to face in the head on charge."

Martin felt a little better. "I don't know. It just didn't feel right. I felt like I was slaying children."

"That's 'cos they 'ave the maturity of children, buster!" Sorin said, as he walked around on his forepaws.

Pallum snorted. "You have to be speaking for yourself, too..."

Sorin shook his head, and, losing his balance, tumbled and knocked Derin over.

Derin leapt up and snarled at him. "I say, it's entirely impolite to walk around on ones hand and then fall over on them afore they get a smidgen of tucker to eat. Let me finish this damson and cherry pie and I might jolly well let ye' fall on me, wot!"

Sorin scratched his head. "No thank you, sir. I'm fine without falling on other creatures."

Gonff sighed as he stared around at the huge crowd of creatures where the busy ones hustled about and gave orders to the idle ones. "This is boring. We need t'have some sorta... contest! The best of the best, y'know. Everybeast in the world that ever lived is here! It would be a great honor to win such a title!

"Think about it... Great swordmaster, Greatest slinger, Greatest singer-"

"Rose would take that title in my book any day." Martin said, raising a paw. Rose giggled.

Gonff raised and eyebrow. "Greatest lovebugs..."

Martin glared at him through one eye. Gonff smiled and continued in a harsh imitation of Martin's voice. "Martin and Rose would take that spot in my book any day! Hehe, let's go out and kill some vermin and I'll sleep well tonight!"

Martin shook his head. "You know me better than that. I'm not a bloodthirsty creature like a badger lord."

Gonff's eyes widened as a huge shadow overtook them.

"What's wrong with being a bloodthirsty badger lord?"

Martin whirled around and saw the strong, silver badger Boar the Fighter standing before him.

"Boar! You're back!"

Boar nodded. "Indeed, I'm back, and I bring good news and bad news... However, here is not the place to discuss it. If you may follow me, I think you should find it quieter."

Boar lead them off to some secluded area of the forest; past some large flowery fields, through a thin, misty forest, and to a tent set up not far from the crowd. Their loud hustling could still be heard faintly, but it would not disrupt Martin and his friends' private discussion.

"Now, Martin, Luke, everyone. I bring news; Some good, some bad. I shall start with the beginning of my travels..."

I started heading south at about the same time you head for the bell. It was quite normal for two days, with the exception of two weasels who tried to steal my haversack while I was sleeping. They were easily scared by my growls as I was stirred by their presence.

It was, as I have said, normal, until I reached a small camp set up slightly northeast of the Hellgate. There, an army of hares awaited. They were told by me not to go the the bell, if, by perchance, it should ring. I discussed matters with their captain, Whimscallop, and that discovered they had been fighting a losing battle. It seemed, that with the continuous flow of vermin, there was no getting to the gate to seal it. Whimscallop had come up with a plan, but it was poorly organized, and was voted terrible by the army. There was no chance, it seemed, to shutting the gate before every vermin that ever lived broke loose into the Dark Forest. I didn't think this at all our end. No, in fact, the arrival of the badger lord brought new hope, and, much to their approval, a new plan.

I was thinking that hares alone were not enough to stop vermin from entering the dark forest. If we were to set upon the flow some sort of missile that would drive them into fear and terror and would kill each other to get back through the hellgates, we would surely have time to shut the gate. A bright mouse, claiming to be a friend of yours, came out of nowhere to help. He came up with a neat little object called a 'Ballista'. I was said that such an object would be able to hurl huge stones at the enemy. I took an immediate liking to the mouse, and trusted him fully. We set to work to build ten ballista.

The result of these weapons were surprising. It was amazing how far these weapons could shoot and how hard they could hit. There were quite a few trees that couldn't stand a single boulder mauling it's trunk. I was confident that now, we could stop the flow of vermin.

A few days later, we broke camp and moved a days travelling to the fence that kept all vermin sealed away from goodbeasts.

The scouts went both ways and discovered the actual gate an hours walk away. We spent the rest of the day finding leaves and pine needles to camouflage ourselves. Everyone would be an archer, and a few would be ballistians. Long hours passed, and sleep time came. We were much dismayed to find our camp discovered by a wandering vermin, and a good hare archer was sleeping at the post and failed to see him. It was only after he had gone that the hare woke up and found rat tracks around our camp. I was angry. Now, our attack wouldn't be a surprise.

It was morning, and the day came seemingly earlier. Everyone was quite, know that the outcome of this battle was crucial to all of their loved ones lives. There was no comforting or tears, only solemn faces and determination. All battles start this way. We set up in our formation, ready to fight to the death. I was with two ballista near the road on which many vermin would be moving. Since it was morning, none had come yet. They were all asleep. We waited. One hare in his nervousness asked why we didn't just go up right then and close the gates. I told him it was because Vulpuz would be watching for us to do something like that. He knew we were coming to shut the gate, because the hares had been there many time to attempt. I loked again for the red flag that would signal the first motion of the vermin at watch. It seemed like hours until the hares eyes widened and his arms waved frantically to signal the movement of vermin. Boar nodded, seeing the slow line of vermin move out from the gate. Vulpuz, the golden fox, stood on top of one of the gate tips. He was the most malicious creature I had ever seen, gold from tip to halfway down his tail, where it became a shiny white. His eyes seemed to be slits, though I had been told they were once big and brown. His claws, normally short and filed, were long and intentionally sharpened. He was down and looked about and, upon seeing my silver fur, roared aloud.

"Attack!"

The vermin looked left and right, but saw nothing. Vulpuz seemed to sigh as he stole the bow from the rat below him and shot the hare carrying the red flag. It was my mistake to roar, because it was what Vulpuz wanted. Clever beast... At that moment, I realized what I'd done, and, in my hastiness, I ordered all ballista to be fired. Huge rocks, covered in moss and dry wood, were lit and fired, sending up dust and ashes into the vermin's faces. They sputtered and coughed and roared in anger as they drew their weapons and began screeching. Vulpuz smirked as his army regained composure and charged.

The fight had begun...

Author's Note: It's now 10:30 at night. I'm soooooo tired! Let me go to bed! Not yet, though... So, what do you think? Enough action for you? Strategizing and planning? Actual mine carts and fights. I thought it was a good chapter, quick as it might be. Excuse the misspslling in the later part of the story. As you might have noticed, it was written late in the night. I'm sorry.

Anyways, I would reeeaally like this story to go up to 200 reviews. It was be great, and I appreciate the help from my early reviewers, such as Lady Storm and Tic-Tac-Turtle. PLEASE, don't hesitate to rack up reviews like there is no tomorrow! Anyways, If you'll excuse me, I have to brush my teeth and go to bed. Thank you!