Chapter 33

Despite the fact that the two sides were neck-to-neck in a critical race to Redwall Abbey, five days passed by quickly and uneventfully. Neither the expedition nor Deatheye's army saw each other at all during this period of time.

It was starting to worry Tam. He was expecting a few encounters with the enemy. Yet not even a skirmish had happened. The rest of the party, however, was in high spirits. There had been an increasing amount of joking and merriment among the expedition. Nobeast was really taking orders very seriously. They were just excited about getting home after all this time.

The Border Warrior's mind immediately floated over to Redwall. What if the vermin were already there, beating down the gates? Was his family safe? Silently, Tam cursed himself for letting his guard down. Yet there was nothing he could do to rally his soldiers. Nothing could convince them that they were still in the heat of battle.

He had not noticed that Wild Doogy Plumm and Ferdimond De Mayne had dropped behind to talk to him.

"Och, ah know that face," Doogy grinned slyly, nudging his best friend's ribs while taking a sip of shrewbeer, "Wot's botherin' ye noo, brave Warrior Tam, eh?"

Tam's shoulders sunk at the sight of Doogy and Ferdimond taking life so easy. "Oh, come on, not ye too…?"

"Wot?" Doogy asked, perplexed, glancing at his beer mug. "Don't tell me ye've lost yore sense o' festivities, Tam!"

Tam didn't know how to word his rebuttal for an entire army who didn't think they were in any danger. "I haven't, but…don't ye think this isn't th' best time t' relax? We're not at Redwall yet."

Ferdimond glanced up, as if expecting the enemy army to drop out from the sky. "Well, no sight of anybeast lately. They're prob'ly killin' each other over the last of their flippin' supplies, wot. Typical vermin. I know 'em better."

Tam was at a loss for words as the expedition trudged on. There was no arguing with warm Mossflower weather and a sunny day.

Gry was the first to hear the pawsteps. "Do ye hear that?" he asked Skipper.

Skipper, whose mind was obviously on other things, didn't answer. Gry tapped him on the shoulder, asking the question again.

"Oh, w-wot?" Skipper asked, whirling around suddenly.

"Do ye hear that?" Gry asked. "Sounds like somebeast marchin'."

Skipper cocked an ear. "Aye, I hear that, too. They aren't vermin, though. I don't hear the clangin' of weapons or the arguin' and bickerin'. Probably friendly soldiers."

"Maybe Kyrin's come back?" Gry wondered aloud.

Just then, Log a Log spotted them. "Hoi! Pikejaw Flint! Good t' see ye alive an' well! Come on an' join us!"

Tam watched as the entire voletribe materialized out of the thickets. There was much back-slapping and laughter going around as everybeast stopped marching to greet old friends.

Pikejaw walked up to Tam. "Is this a bad time?" he asked, grinning.

"Aye," Tam replied. "We've – "

"Wot Tam means tae say," Doogy cut in rudely, shooting his friend a glare, "is that we're all really happy tae have ye here an' that we'd love tae share our food an' drink with ye!"

Tam sighed, defeated. "Alright, well, keep marchin'. We've still got a while to go before we're at Redwall."

Meanwhile, Mena was having a little trouble with Tergen.

"Excuse me, but could you not stand on my shoulders like that? It's bothering me."

"Sorrysorry, Mena. Tergen tired. Tergen goin' go t' sleep now. Hush."

Mena shook her head as she lifted the goshawk off her shoulders.

"Kraaa! Tergen no like to be handled!"

"Listen, Tergen," Mena said, dropping her voice low, "You can get all the rest you want, but for now, I need you to find out where the vermin army is. After that, you come back and report to me. Then you can get all the sleep you want. Got it?"

Tergen cocked his head so his fearsome eye was facing the squirrelmaid.

Mena rolled her eyes. "Alright, here: if you do what I tell you, I'll make you a potion that will have you sleeping like a stone tonight. I know you're tired, but the rewards are greater if you just make this little run. What do you say?"

Tergen nodded complacently, then shot off into the sky like a feathery thunderbolt.

Mena was joined by Doogy. "Wot was that all aboot, lass?" Doogy asked, still sipping shrewbeer from a mug.

The squirrelmaid flipped her headfur behind her shoulders. "Somebeast has to take charge," she replied, disgusted, as she moved up towards the front of the army.

Kyrin woke up just as the sun was beginning to go down. The air was a little cooler now, and the setting sun illuminated Mossflower Wood in shades of gold and green. Rubbing his eyes, the young Warrior looked around. The others were getting up as well.

Kyrin nudged a sleeping Firulan with his foot. "Hey, wake up."

"Mmf…five more – yooch!" the mouse was startled awake by Kyrin sticking him in the behind with his sword. He sat up, rubbing where Kyrin had poked him and muttering. "Some friend you are, stabbin' a young fella in his…"

"No sign of Orak," Kyrin mused. "Well, that's good. Roco!"

"Aye!"

"Do you recognize this place?"

"Aye! We're close t' home!"

"How close?"

"About one or two days!"

Kyrin let that sink in for a while. Then, he climbed up the tallest tree he could find.

Firulan and the shrews gathered around the base of the tree, wondering aloud what he was doing.

Kyrin hung from the tip of the tree with one paw, his footpaws resting on a branch as he used his other paw to shield his eyes from the burning evening sun.

And then he saw it, looming high above the treeline in the distance, enhanced by a backdrop of orange dusk sky. It was the weather vane of Redwall Abbey, perched atop the highest spire.

Kyrin smiled as he climbed down from the tree.

Firulan and the shrews surrounded him. "Well, wot did ye see?" a shrew asked.

Kyrin grinned a wide, genuine grin.

"Home!"

Now it was night, and Orak's army was just about to fall apart. Very grudgingly, the soldiers had acquiesced when Orak ordered them to move out once again. Every bit of morale was crumbling like old ruins in a sandstorm.

Tonight they noticed Orak was walking very slowly. He was not wounded anytime recently, and his walk did not reflect that of a convalescent but that of a brooding, psychotic being, balancing on the fine line of insanity. Nobeast wanted to deal with him, let alone be near him.

Browntail the spy pushed past the weary troops and snarled branches, catching up with Orak. "Um, sire…" he whispered. No answer.

"I don't want to be th' bearer of bad news, but while ye was sleepin', a bunch of yore soldiers up an' left."

"How many?" Orak rasped. His voice sounded like dry stone grating against metal.

"About a hundred, my lord."

Orak's shoulder's tensed as if he were lifting something heavy. "Hmm…they left, didn't they?" he said, almost soothingly. Browntail knew this was a bad sign, and backed up.

"They left, did they? Huh, well, leave me to die, will they? Leave me to die in the paws of my tormentor! They betrayed me. Who's next?"

He whirled around. "Who is going to betray me, huh?!" everybeast stopped and cast their eyes down as Orak's voice rose to a never-before-heard screech.

"Do you want to kill me?!" he shrieked. "Me, Orak the Assassin! Conquerer of the Northlands! Master of my own destiny! And you dare cross me! Huh?! Do it and you're dead! You hear me? Dead! I'll kill you like I'll kill that squirrel! Are you listening, squirrel? I'll murder you! I'll – "

The Assassin drew his sword and slashed wildly in front of his stunned soldiers. This went on for a full minute until he collapsed, exhausted.

Nobeast wanted to move. They had seen the Assassin's eyes. Each and every soldier stood dumbly, rooted to the spot, unsure of what to do, and afraid.

"Sir," Browntail whispered, gingerly approaching the unpredictable leader, "I've spotted enemy tracks leadin' just east of our position."

Orak looked up, the corners of his mouth pulling up into a crooked grin. Without a word he dashed east, his dumbfounded army trying to keep up.

"Has anybeast seen Tergen?" Tam asked. "I haven't seen him anywhere today."

"We didn't leave 'im be'ind, did we?" an otter asked.

"Maybe ye would've noticed if ye weren't partyin' an' drinkin', eh?" Tam shot back. "It's dark right now. Hopefully 'e can see the light from our campfire an' find his way back."

"Kraa!"

"Perfect timing. Tergen, where were ye? We were getting' worried…"

"Tam! Brave Warrior! Situation notgood! Enemy ahead of us!"

"Ye mean the vermin're beating us t' Redwall?"

"Aye! May be big trouble for us ahead! Kreeehaaaa!"

The camp fell silent. Apparently everybeast had heard what Tergen had to say.

Tam's face turned hard as stone in the firelight. "Did ye hear that?" he asked. When nobeast spoke up, Tam continued: "I've been watchin' our army these past few days. We've let our guard down. Just because nobeast attacked us in five days doesn't mean they've forgotten about us. Now they've moved ahead of us. Is this wot ye want? Is this wot Redwall wants?"

Nobeast dared answer; they were too ashamed. Tam shook his head and sighed. "Alright, well, no use standin' here yellin' over things that've already happened. Put out that fire now. That's an order! Get some sleep. Tomorrow, we're movin' out on the double, got it?"

"Yes sir!" Everybeast in the camp shouted jubilantly.

"Good," Tam nodded, somewhat satisfied. "If ye want t' apologize, now's not th' time t' do it. Save it for when we get back."

Mena was grinding herbs in a wooden bowl with Tergen watching over her shoulder as Tam walked by.

"Mena, stop wot yore doin' an' go t' sleep," Tam ordered.

"Sorry, sir," Mena apologized. "Today I asked Tergen to go scout ahead, since everybeast was relaxing. And I promised to make him medicine that would help him sleep."

Tam's eyes widened. "It was you?" he asked, surprised.

Mena nodded. "I hope I helped," she smiled.

Tam smiled back. "Ye did. Thank ye for showin' everybeast we aren't out of this yet. We're lucky to have a resourceful maiden like yoreself on our side."

Mena's blush was obscured as the last fire was put out. "Carry on," Tam said. "I'm goin' to bed."

"Be careful. Don't trip," Mena called after him. "Good night. There we go, Tergen. All done. This should help y – oh…you're already asleep. Hmm…figures. Well, good night! Tomorrow's a big day."

Well, we're getting ready for the holidays right now, and I'm glad to report that I can finish this book before the year is up! To everyone out there: Happy Holidays! Have fun, be together, and be safe! ~The Ghost Writer