Again, picking up from where the last chapter left off. Some important things happen to take note of. I think it shouldn't be hard to guess the basics of what will happen next chapter. ;)
Chapter 53
Later that night, after dinner, Alexander, Deni, and Terra all met up to discuss the matter of Surt, who had not been seen since he was dragged out of the classroom. Alexander was immensely worried about what might have happened to him, and asked repeatedly if there was anything they could do. Unfortunately, Terra, like Deni, saw that there wasn't much they could do.
"It's out of our paws, Alexander, as much as I hate to admit it." the mole remarked gravely. "We warned Surt not to cause trouble, but he did anyway. He brought it down upon himself."
"No, I brought it down upon him." Alexander said, feeling guilty. "We had an argument, and I admitted that Surt couldn't be trusted with some secrets, and I think he took it personally. It was what drove him to act like he did and get himself in even more trouble. Because of me."
"Don't think like that, Alexander!" Deni urged, placing a paw on his friend's shoulder. "Surt is just hot-headed and easily offended. It's his fault for letting something like that get to him. Beside, he didn't know what would happen, and, furthermore, you told him the truth."
Alexander wasn't very reassured. He sighed heavily, then glanced at Terra. "What will happen to him?" he asked.
Now Terra sighed. "Nothing good." he admitted. "It's either one of two possibilities. They either kill him, or they'll let him live, but he wouldn't be Surt anymore."
"How can that be?" Alexander asked. "How...how can they make someone not be who they truly are?"
"I don't know, nor do I hope to ever find out." Terra remarked with a frown.
"I'm more worried about us." Deni remarked. "Do we have reason to fear now that they have Surt? What if they interrogate him...?"
"If they were going to learn something from him, they would've done it and would've acted accordingly by now." Terra said. "I see no reason for them to delay the matter. Unless they're purposely making us nervous."
"Or they're trying to give us a false sense of security." Deni added, looking nervous himself. "Then they'll pounce when we're least expecting it."
Terra considered this for a few moments. "It all really depends on what they do to Surt." he finally admitted. "If they kill him, then I think we have little to worry about except the tragic fact that Surt is indeed dead. But if they don't..." he shook his head. "Like I said before, there isn't much we can do about it now. But keep an eye out for Surt. Let's see if he'll turn back up again, and then we'll worry about it."
So that was what they did. All three of them, as well as any members of the rebellion they happened to cross paths with and were able to inform them of the situation. Surt was not seen for the rest of the evening, however.
But in the morning...that changed.
Alexander had arisen that morning without incident, and was actually feeling a bit proud of himself, as he had gotten up on time and without requiring the mouse teacher to wake him up for a change. In fact, he hadn't seen any teacher as of yet this morning, which seemed doubly good. So Alexander, feeling quite pleased with himself, got up, got dressed, and went to the cafeteria to get breakfast, serving himself up a rather larger helping of the bland food than he normally would have. He was sitting peacefully at his usual table, waiting for Deni to arrive, eating in the meantime, when he heard someone clear his throat behind the squirrel.
"Ahem, Brother Alexander, may I sit here?"
Alexander froze, and couldn't reply. He recognized the voice, but at the same time, it sounded very alien to him. He almost didn't dare turn around, but he did anyway. The creature stood behind him quite innocently, looking to be perfectly harmless as he stood there with a smooth and clean sky-blue habit, carefully groomed fur and perfect posture, waiting ever so patiently to here Alexander's answer.
It was Surt.
Alexander simply stared at him for a very long moment, not entirely trusting what his eyes were seeing. This didn't seem to bother Surt in the slightest.
"May I sit here, Brother Alexander?" he politely repeated, his speech completely void of the shrew accent of old.
Alexander was still too shocked to give an answer to the question. "Surt?" he asked in amazement.
"Yes?" Surt asked, as he sat down anyway, sitting quite carefully so to not wrinkle his habit.
"Surt?" Alexander repeated.
"Yes?" Surt again responded, placing his tray carefully on the table so sat neatly upon it, matching the neatly organized food that sat upon it as well.
"Surt?" Alexander repeated one last time."
"Yes?" Surt repeated once more, using the same tone he had before, without a single hint of annoyance mixed in.
Alexander could simply sit there and watch as Surt pulled out a napkin, carefully unfolded it, then neatly placed it in his lap before picking his silverware, holding them correctly in his paws, and went to eat his breakfast in a very well-mannered method.
Finally, Alexander found his voice. "What happened to you?" he managed to get out in a hoarse whisper.
"Whatever do you mean, Brother Alexander?" Surt asked calmly. "I am the same as always, am I not?"
At this, Alexander emphatically shook his head. "Where have you been since classes yesterday? What have you been doing?"
At this, Surt looked a little embarrassed. "Getting a good scolding." he admitted. "I acted very rashly yesterday, don't you agree? But I have learned my lesson now, it will not happen again."
Alexander just stared at him.
"Hello, Alexander." Deni said as he suddenly strolled up with his own tray of food. "Who this that you're talk–" the grey squirrel trailed off when he got a good look at Surt, and recognized the shrew almost instantly, although he clearly couldn't believe it, either.
"Good morning, Brother Denarius." Surt remarked politely to the new arrival to the table. "You would care to join us?"
"Surt?" Deni remarked in amazement, much like how Alexander had reacted.
Surt's response was still the same. "Yes?" he asked, using an identical tone to the one he had used with Alexander when addressing him.
Deni didn't reply, and simply set his tray down on the table, then dropped his body heavily into a seat beside Alexander. The two squirrels then stared at the transformed shrew, just astounded, and unsure what to make of it. This didn't seem to bother Surt in the slightest, as he simply sat there and kept eating.
"Wha..." Deni finally managed to get out, trembling slightly, "How...I mean...I know they can...but...but...how...and to Surt of all creatures..." he started shaking his head, "They...they..."
Alexander understood what it was Deni was trying to say, but wasn't ready to admit it. "Surt, what happened to you?" he asked. "What have they done to you? You...you...aren't really going to be like this, are you? I mean, this is just an...an...act, right?"
"An act?" Surt seemed genuinely puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"By the paw, Surt, speak like a normal shrew!" Alexander snapped suddenly, annoyed at Surt's total lack of use of an accent. "Use your accent!"
"Why?" Surt asked, still seeming genuinely puzzled. "Rather improper way to speak that way, you know."
"What's the name of your tribe, Surt?" Deni asked quickly, stopping Alexander from speaking further, who looked ready to start yelling. "Tell me."
Surt refused. "It does not matter what my tribe was." he remarked with a shake of his head.
"It doesn't?"
"Not to Gemini, hallowed be his name."
Alexander closed his eyes and held back a wince. Surt was one of them now.
"What did they do to you, Surt?" Deni asked, crestfallen now. He blinked as a worse thought came to mind. "What did you tell them?"
"It depended on what they asked me." Surt replied innocently.
"What did you tell them, Surt?" Deni pressed more urgently this time. "Not about the rebellion?"
"Of course I did." Surt remarked, as if he couldn't see at al the seriousness of this. "There is no need to keep secrets here. Therefore, I told the truth."
It was then that Alexander caught sight of a long stream of teachers pouring into the room, blocking the exit on that side of the room as they started to slowly filter through the room, going from table to table, grabbing certain creatures as they passed them and restraining them. They were all members of the rebellion.
Deni saw this as well. "What?" he was paling now. "What have you done Surt?"
"I did what Gemini wanted me to do." Surt replied calmly, convincing Alexander that the shrew no longer knew what he was doing. "I told the truth."
"Attention, everybeast!" one of the teachers called out suddenly, grabbing the attention of everyone in the room as the other teachers continued going through the room, picking out members of the rebellion. "We require the presence of the following creatures! Terra, Silverpaw, Alexander, Sarias, Denarius,..."
Alexander and Deni exchanged the briefest of glances. There was time enough to see in each others eyes to confirm what it was they needed to do. The only thing they could do. They fled, grabbing their trays, and bolting for the other exit on the opposite side of the cafeteria. This of course did not go unnoticed. Startled by their sudden departure, Surt called out to them as they raced off, and more than one teacher caught sight of them and moved to intercept.
Several of the other youth in the chamber twisted around in their seats to watch them run, some even reaching out with their paws to grab at the two fleeing squirrels' habits, but Alexander and Deni were able to continue on their way unhindered for the moment. Other members of the rebellion followed their example and made a break for it as well, but they acted either too late, or other creatures caught up with them too quickly. One made for a window to try and break it and climb out the resulting hole, but was stopped before getting too far.
Alexander and Deni apparently had luck on their side for the moment, however, because they were able to keep running, and eventually reached the door they were heading for. Two creatures moved to block their way, but the two squirrels simply flung their food-laden trays in their faces, shoving them out of the way long enough to slip past them and out the door. They ran as fast as they could and did not look back, not needing to look to know that they were being chased...
As luck would have it, Terra was not in the cafeteria when this incident occurred, but rather in the meeting cave for the rebellion. Actually, to be even more specific than that, he was taking breakfast to the three maidens in the hidden cavern that connected to the meeting cave, and to check to see that Silverpaw was adjusting okay, wishing there was something more he could do for them.
He was just exiting the secret passage leading into the meeting cave when he heard the sound of someone shuffling around outside the meeting cave's entrance in the storeroom. Quickly, he hurried to the narrow entrance and listened to the voices he heard speaking.
"Where is it?"
"Over here, I can just barely see the entrance from here."
"Just as Gemini had instructed."
"Yes, to think these wicked, rebellious, creatures thought they could out think him."
Terra's eyes widened as he heard creatures squeezing into the space. The cave had been discovered by the worshipers.
Yet, when the two intruders had finally slipped into the cave, and looked around, Terra was nowhere to be found in that cave.
At least, as much of the cave that they could find.
Alexander and Deni kept running. Luck was still on their side; as it was breakfast time in the sanctuary, there weren't many creatures wandering in the halls, so they encountered no one as they ran. But running would only take them so far, and Alexander knew that.
"Where are we going?" Alexander called, who was really following Deni.
"The main entrance!" Deni called back, puffing as he ran. "We've got to get outside and find someplace to hide!"
"Hide...no wait!" Alexander said. "We should head for the meeting cave! There's a secret cavern there, and..."
"No time, and besides, to reach it, we would have to go back the way we came!" Deni exclaimed, shooting down the idea. "Besides, Surt knew about the cave, the followers are going to know about it now, too! Our best bet is to head outside!"
"But even out there we don't stand much of a chance!" Alexander objected.
"I know!" Deni called back. He was aware of the odds.
They kept running, the distance from the cafeteria to the entrance of the sanctuary seeming to be much longer than it should be. Behind them, a party of teachers, totaling in number to five, was chasing them, slowly catching up to them, but not enough to stop the two fleeing youth. Alexander knew that if they stopped for even a second, though, those pursuers would be on top of them in a heartbeat. So he wasn't counting on stopping at all.
But just as they two finally burst into the entry hall and raced for the large wooden doors that barred their way to the outdoors, a creature stepped out from the shadows of the room and directly into their path.
It was the mouse teacher that was put in charge of Alexander, and had condemned Redwall.
Gripping his staff tightly, the mouse swung it at the two fleeing youths as they charged towards him, having had not enough time to register the mouse was there, barring their path, and change course. Footpaws skidding on the smooth stone, Deni quickly side-stepped the swing, and Alexander went to duck under the teacher's outstretched arm. He was just about past when the young squirrel felt a paw latch onto the back of his habit and jerk him to a halt. Alexander kept trying to run, trying to pull free from the mouse teacher's grip, but the teacher's grip was strong, and all Alexander managed to do was scrape the claws on his footpaws noisily on the floor.
Deni, being further away from the teacher and therefore out of the mouse's reach, managed to slip past and continued for the double doors, probably unaware as of yet that Alexander could no longer follow. He would've reached those doors too, had the mouse teacher not quickly taken his staff and threw it at Deni like a spear. As it had no spearhead or any other kind of blade, all the staff do was hit Deni hard enough to make the grey squirrel stumble and fall, but it didn't need to do anything more than that. The other teachers that had been chasing the two had finally caught up by this point. One stopped to help restrain Alexander who was thrashing about angrily and in a blind panic, while the other hurried forward to grab Deni, who started fighting back himself.
It was of no use for either of them, however. There were too many, and they were both quickly overpowered and unwillingly dragged apart from each other.
"Deni!" Alexander called in dismay as he was dragged one way and Deni was dragged the other. "Deni! No! Deni!"
"Alexander!" Deni called back, claws scampering on the floor as he tried to prevent being dragged further back. "Alexander! Just...just keep fighting! Don't give in! Don't!"
He was silence when one of the teachers restraining him covered his mouth with her paw. Deni got the paw to be removed from his mouth by biting it hard enough to draw blood, but by the time he had, he and Alexander had been moved too far apart, only getting just enough time to give each other one last look before Deni was dragged around a corner and Alexander was taken up the staircase that sat in the entry hall. By that point, Alexander lost his will. He still struggled, but much more feebly, knowing that it would take a miracle to be saved from this fate now.
He was dragged all the way back to his bedchambers. Once inside, and the door tightly shut behind them, the mouse teacher broke away and moved to a small bedside table that sat in the room and started working discreetly with something there. The other teacher that helped restrain Alexander long enough to get him here shoved Alexander down onto his knees and held him there. Alexander tried to resist, but it was to no avail.
"You have disappointed me, Alexander." the mouse teacher remarked coldly, pulling out a corked flask from a satchel he carried and removing said cork. "I thought you were making some real progress towards repenting, too. I had high hopes for you, Alexander."
"Yes, and here's hoping I've dashed them all to pieces." Alexander spat back bitterly. "You had no right to take me here!"
"You are sheltered from wickedness here."
"No, the wickedness is here! I was better off at Redwall!"
"Proving just how truly hardhearted you have become." The mouse poured some of the contents of the bottle into a plain wooden goblet. Even from where Alexander was, he could get a good whiff of the powerful alcohol that the liquid contained. "But that is why we are here, Alexander. We are going to change that, much the same way we changed things for your rebellious shrew friend." he sighed as he turned around, the goblet in paw. "I wish it didn't come to this, Alexander. I don't wish to punish you."
"Then don't." Alexander barked.
The teacher ignored the comment. "But wickedness cannot prevail against the forces of Gemini." he continued with his comments. "Gemini will always succeed in defeating the wicked, even if it must use force to do it."
He then pressed the goblet to Alexander's lips, trying to force the potent drink into Alexander's mouth. The squirrel resisted, keeping his jaw firmly shut, and his lips pressed tightly together. He would've succeeded, too, were it not for the other teacher restraining him suddenly grabbing the squirrel's jaw and forcing it open against Alexander's will, allowing the drink to gush into Alexander's mouth. Caught off guard by the liquid's sudden presence, Alexander at first gagged, then tried to spit the drink back out, but the restraining teacher quickly shut the squirrel's mouth and pressed a paw over it, and the squirrel's nose, preventing him from breathing. Alexander still tried to spit the liquid out of his mouth, feeling it sting his tongue and cheeks as it remained stagnant in his mouth, but only succeeding in letting much-too-small rivulets trickle out from around the edges of his mouth.
The urge to breath grew severe, and as Alexander could no longer breath through his nose, that only left his mouth, and in order to breath through there, he would first have to clear his mouth of the liquid that filled it or he would suffocate. He wanted to spit it out, but the paw that was pressed firmly against his lips prohibited that. The only other option was to swallow. Alexander tried his hardest to keep from doing that, but eventually, his body's instincts took over and he swallowed a large portion of the unwanted fluid without thinking, quickly followed by a quick gasp of air.
The drink burned as it traveled down Alexander's throat, and almost instantly upon reaching his stomach did Alexander begin to feel incredibly woozy. The mouse teacher pressed the goblet to the squirrel's lips again to repeat the process. Alexander again tried to resist, but struggled to focus well enough, and couldn't put up as much of a fight, and again unintentionally ended up ingesting more of the strange liquid, not helping at all in the matter. Through this process, the two teachers got Alexander to unwillingly down the whole goblet's worth of the drink.
By that point, Alexander had become more than woozy; he was also dizzy, disoriented, and becoming increasingly lethargic. His stomach was continually squeezing and squirming uncomfortably as the unwanted liquid swirled around in his belly, making him feel sick enough to vomit, only he didn't have enough strength or will to do that even. At some point, the teacher restraining the young squirrel had released him. The world spun several times, and for a moment, Alexander couldn't tell what was up and down. The next thing he knew, he had toppled over onto the stone floor and lay there on his side, blankly staring across the floor, between the mouse teacher's footpaws, to the opposite wall. He felt drool drip out of the corner of his mouth, his tongue lolling unceremoniously out of his jaw, but he couldn't find the mental power to change that, to correct that.
Alexander's first, disoriented, impression about all of this was that the clearly highly alcoholic drink had made him drunk; but then these symptoms were becoming much more than being merely drunk, or so Alexander thought. In addition to all of the aforementioned symptoms, his eyes were also blurry, creating ghost images in his vision of objects that couldn't possibly be truly there, and all the sounds he heard sounded painfully loud, and had a distorted echo to them. He had begun sweating profusely, and had lost nearly all motor control over his body. And yet his mind, though still fairly groggy in it's own right, was clear enough that he could think about all of this, and register all of this. It was enough for Alexander to realize that there had to be something else besides alcohol in that drink, some kind of drug, but he couldn't think of what it might be.
He was suddenly aware that the mouse teacher was moving back and forth, and speaking quite professionally. After a moment of listening, Alexander realized the teacher was reciting the teachings of Gemini for him to listen to, and suddenly the method to all of this madness came together; how the Followers of Gemini had managed to change Surt from the rebellious shrew to a proper and well-mannered convert overnight. It was the drugged drink. Drug the poor creature to the point that they reach this mentally-unstable state, then bombard them with the teachings of Gemini until it starts sticking, as the creature wouldn't have the mental defenses to resist. Eventually, those teachings would be burned into the creature's brain. To the point that they would consider it true doctrine, and believe it and follow it.
Alexander thought it was devilishly clever and ingenious of them to think up such a plan, in addition to being outright cruel. He wanted to fight it, to find someway to resist and keep this plan from working on him, but the whatever was in that drink, it was doing it's job well. He had the mental power to realize all of this, and to hear and comprehend the teacher's words, but not a thing more. He had no power left to resist. He could simply lie there and take in the teachings of Gemini through forced osmosis at best. He could do nothing else.
The world was spinning again, even though Alexander was fairly confident he wasn't actually moving this time. The room degraded into a swirl of colors for a long moment. Alexander blinked his eyes a few times to try and clear his vision, and it helped, and things reformed back into something he could make sense of. His eyes suddenly locked onto the footpaws of a third creature that was now in the room, standing somewhere behind the mouse teacher, who was still droning on. For a moment, Alexander couldn't identify the creature the new set of footpaws belonged to, but out of the blue, he realized they must belong to a mouse. The said mouse pointed his sword to the floor and Alexander could hear speaking.
"Alexander."
"Yes?" Alexander's mouth was suddenly and extremely dry, and the response was nothing more than a faint, but audible, croak.
"They are coming Alexander."
"Who? Who's coming?"
"They are coming. Remain strong."
"Who's coming?" Alexander wanted to know. "Who's coming?"
But Martin was not anymore forthcoming.
