And more battle stuff. Catching up with Weylan and Valia briefly, Grim meets his fate, Swayner is reunited with his family, and I'm sure Tess will remember to thank Freeman at a later date. I'm not so sure about Sister May tho... ;)

Chapter 49

Weylan didn't know much Grim. All he knew was that Grim was a weasel, had been loyal to Toka and his horde from the beginning, caused problems last time Redwall encountered Toka by showing up when everyone least expected it, and quite possibly what caused their last encounter to end the way they did, by killing the horde, at the price of another's life. And it was thought Grim had been killed, but like Toka, had somehow managed to cheat death.

Beyond that, Weylan knew nothing more about Grim. That is, until now, in which he learned that Grim was very skilled with a blade, and that Weylan simply didn't have the training to beat the ever-silent creature.

Fortunately, he had Valia there with him.

The two otters took on the weasel together. They didn't dispute, discuss, or argue over the matter. They just did. Or rather, Weylan engaged Grim in battle and Valia simply joined him. And Weylan was glad she did, because her great skill with a rapier was proving very useful. Add in Weylan, and Grim was struggling to keep them back.

But the weasel was as neutral faced as ever before, confident, and not the least bit concerned. As they fought around and around in Cavern Hole, all by themselves, Grim was not losing stride in the battle, nor was he growing tired. It seemed that no matter what Weylan and Valia tried, Grim would continue to fight.

Grim was also clever, and saw that of the two creatures combating him, Valia was the more skilled and thus the bigger threat. He should deal with her first, then focus his attention on Weylan. So slowly, he began to push Weylan to one side of the battle, and unleash his full skills with his sword on Valia, which even her struggled to defend herself against.

Weylan caught on to what Grim was doing, and tried to intervene, to keep the weasel's attention focused on both of them. Grim wasn't fooled. Pushing Valia away from him for a moment, Grim turned to Weylan, parried with him for a moment, then planted a kick to the otter's chest and shoved him aside into a table. Dropping his rapier, Weylan rolled over to retrieve it.

Turning away from Weylan, but keeping him in his view, Grim refocused his attention on Valia, redoubling his fighting against her. Valia struggled to keep him at bay, but she was rapidly starting to fail.

"Hey, can't we talk 'bout this?" Valia asked Grim as they fought.

Grim, as always, remained silent.

"Weylan, lend a paw over 'ere!" Valia said.

Weylan quickly retrieved his rapier and hurried over to rejoin the battle. Just as he did, Grim managed to disarm Valia of her own rapier. Valia watched it fly from her paw and shoot across the room. Then Weylan appeared and moved his way in-between Grim and Valia.

"Ye can't kill her until 'till ye go through me." Weylan said, brandishing his blade at Grim.

Grim titled his head, then grinned, and started attacking Weylan. Weylan did good for the first several moments, succeeding in keeping Grim at bay, and then Grim managed to disarm Weylan of his rapier as well. Watching Weylan's rapier sail across the room to join Valia's, Grim grinned and brought his blade to point at the pair of otters. It was clear he intended to slay both creatures.

Weylan gulped. Valia looked around for a way to escape, and upon not finding way, pushed her way to stand in front of Weylan.

"Wait!" she said, holding up a paw. "Wait. Can't we 'ave a chance t' say somethin' first? Y'know, some final words?"

Grim paused, and looked as if debating this choice. Finally, he shrugged with exasperation, and nodded his head. Valia grinned, and turned to Weylan and opened her mouth as if to say something. But in the end, it seemed she didn't really have anything to say after all, and instead pulled Weylan in for a kiss.

Completely caught off guard by this, Weylan, wide-eyed, didn't resist. Grim watched the two for a moment with an odd look, then rolled his eyes, and raised his sword again. He started to approach the two otters again, the murderous look in his eyes. Valia had her back turned to him, and wasn't watching. Weylan, however, did. While still kissing Valia, he slowly reached to his belt and pulled out his dagger.

Grim started to raise his sword to swing downward for the kill, but fell short when Weylan threw his dagger, and it embedded itself into Grim's lower neck. The weasel made a gurgling noise, then fell over onto his back, quickly bleeding to death. Valia couldn't but help and notice, and broke away from Weylan, turning around to stare at the dead weasel, then turned back to Weylan.

"Ye ruined th' moment!" she exclaimed.

"Um...sorry." Weylan said, feeling awkward. Then he shook his head. "Wait, wait, wait a moment! Puttin' all this aside fer a moment, I thought ye said that ye didn't like me."

Valia bit her lip for a moment. "I lied." she admitted. "From th' beginnin'."

"Oh." Weylan said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Aye." Valia said, feeling awkward herself. "So...if ye...understandably...don't...er...uh...feel th' same fer me...I...uh...won't blame ye..."

"Oh." Weylan said again.

"I mean, I'm pretty sure ye've said that ye weren't too terrible found o' me either." Valia said reluctantly, looking away. "So...really...if ye really said all o' that..."

"Well, if I did..." Weylan said slowly, "...then I guess I lied meself."

Valia looked back and grinned. Weylan went and retrieve their rapiers. "Time for all o' that later, though." he said, handing Valia her rapier. "First, let's stop this horde."


"So...now what?" Sister May asked.

She had handed care of Kaeth back to Marigold again. Marigold sat on the edge of one of the beds cradling the babe in her arms, luring the child back to sleep. She paused, considering the matter. Jaydee stood away from the pair at the other end of the Infirmary, staring at a wall, unsure of herself now.

"I guess we wait." Marigold finally said, listening at the battle that could still be heard going on elsewhere in the abbey. "Wait to find out how the battle ends."

Sister May nodded, and fell silent. She then turned around and looked over at Jaydee. Biting her lip in thought for a moment, she finally wandered over to the vixen.

"Jaydee." she began. "Um...there's no easy way to say this...but, uh...thank you."

Jaydee blinked. "Pardon?" she said, turning to look at May, surprised.

"Thank you." May repeated. "For standing up against that ferret earlier. For...well, for protecting us from harm. I must admit, that was the very last thing I expected from you."

Jaydee shrugged. "It seemed right." she admitted. "To be quite honest, I never expected myself to do it either." she grinned. "I guess I have you three to blame. I think I've been hanging around the lot of you for just a little too long."

Sister May grinned. "Jaydee, no matter how this battle turns out, we Redwallers would've spared your life, and let you go." she said. "I know, it might seem shocking to vermin such as yourself. In fact, we haven't really been very nice to you at all..."

Jaydee shook her head. "Don't worry your head over that." she said. "I deserved it. Really. And thank you, too. For making me see that maybe I haven't been making the best choices. I guess I need to decide what the right choices are." she paused. "If you have any suggestions..."

"Of course." May said, and let an almost mischievous grin spread across her face. "And let me be the first to suggest this one."

"Which is?"

"This new, radical, thing called a bath."

Jaydee chuckled sheepishly, and blushed a little.

"Marigold?"

Everyone turned to the door where a new creature stood. Marigold brightened immensely when she saw him.

"Swayner!" she exclaimed, and went an embraced her husband in a hug.

But no matter how hard she hugged the squirrel, Swayner was hugging his wife even harder, his eyes tearing up with joy.

"Marigold." he repeated. "Oh, by the fur, I've missed you."

"I've missed you too, Swayner." Marigold replied. "I'm so glad to see you safe."

"Me too." Swayner said, then stopped. "Kaeth?"

Marigold grinned, and held up their child still in her arms, and carefully handed Kaeth over to Swayner. Swayner looked down at his daughter for a long moment, Kaeth opening her eyes to look up at her father. Then Swayner hugged the babe gently as well, finally letting his tears spill.

"So this is the father." Jaydee remarked suddenly.

Swayner jumped and whirled around to look at the vixen, his hold on Kaeth switching from a loving one to a defensive one.

"Oh, don't worry about Jaydee, dear." Marigold said, quickly calming Swayner's fears. "She's...uh...I guess you could say she's on our side."

Swayner stared at Jaydee, confounded. Jaydee bit her lip and forced a grin.

"What's going on out there, Swayner?" Sister May asked, changing the subject. "Is the battle going in our favor? How is everyone else?" she paused, remembering something. "By the fur, how's Tess? She must be great with child by now!"

"Well, the battle is indeed going in our favor, but we haven't won yet." Swayner said, handing Kaeth back to Marigold. "Last I say, everyone was, on a whole, all right. And as for Tess, I believe she's upstairs resting in a dormitory. Cornflower's watching her, she said Tess has been having false labor."

"False labor?" May repeated, heading for the door. "By the claw, she could be giving birth at any time, then! I need to see her!"

And without waiting for any kind of okay, she rushed out the door, and headed for the nearest staircase. Swayner and Marigold chased at her. Jaydee hesitated a moment, then followed. May didn't stop until she had reached the door to the dormitory, found the door closed, and went to open it. She didn't notice the rat lying on the ground unconscious, but Swayner did, pulling out a dagger and pointing it at the rat. Jaydee knelt down and examined the rat, recognizing her.

"Aurora." she muttered. "Good seasons, what did you do?"

May was having trouble opening the door, and had started pounding on it. "Hello?" she called. "Tess? Cornflower? What's going on in there? Is everyone all right? Hello? Why won't this door open?" she paused, not getting any reply. "Is anybody there?"

"Aye!" a faint voice called through the door. May didn't immediately recognize it.

"Who is this?" she demanded.

"Freeman!"

"Freeman?" May repeated. "Freeman, what's going on in there? Where's Cornflower?"

"Cornflower's unconscious!" Freeman was heard replying.

He then yelped and trailed off. Sister May heard Tess crying out. She immediately figured out what was going on.

"Oh, by the fur, she's..." May began, then trailed off, and raised her voice for Freeman to hear. "Freeman, she's going into labor, isn't she?"

"What?"

"Is she giving birth?" May repeated urgently.

"Oh! Aye, she is!" Freeman replied. He sounded distracted, like he was trying to focus on two things at once.

May redoubled her efforts to open the door, but it still wouldn't budge. "Freeman, open the door!" she exclaimed. "I need to get in there!"

"Uh...uh...I can't!" Freeman cried out.

"What? Why?" May asked.

"Uh...Uh...Uh..."

Then Tess suddenly cried out again. Another cry was quickly mixed in with it. May realized Freeman was crying out as well, but not in pain, more like panic. Then, as quickly as it began, the cries stopped short, and silence suddenly fell. May listened for a moment, and couldn't make out any discernable noise.

"Freeman? Tess?" she called. "Freeman! Tess! Someone answer me! Are you still there?"

"Aye, we're still here!" Freeman called out suddenly, sounding stunned.

"Open the door, Freeman!" Sister May exclaimed.

"I can't!" he replied. "There's a bookcase in the way!"

"Then move the bookcase!"

"I can't do that either!"

"And why not?"

"Because I'm holdin' a bloomin' baby at the moment!"