Author's notes:

Thank you to everyone who's reviewed, especially Grey Coincidence, Waycaster, and Sebias, which I guess are the only ones who have reviewed so far. Moving on...

This is the last chapter for Book I, The Empire Arrives. Book II will be Shout Your War-Cries, then Book III with The Battle of Seven Armies. I hope you enjoy this! (Just kidding. You'll hate me for all eternity once you read this). ;)

So, on we go!

Redwall

The sun rose, like a beacon of hope, truth, and light to all those who dispair. The Redwallers looked up to the sky and watched it rise, filled with wonder.

Then they ran.

Most Redwallers, Skipper and his otters remained outside, with young brothers and sisters who'd been trained, and the squirrels. The very young and old retreated to the cellars, ready to retreat down Foremole's escape tunnel, or let in any who was forced to run from the battle. The exception was Old Uggo Wiltud and Posy Wiltud, who were in the gatehouse with the books and young Kell, a mousemaid with legs that were disabled from birth and used a wheelchair, and hence was unable to go down to the cellars.

Down in the cellars Zeela prepared herbs with the infirmary Sister Chamomile and Abbess Fern. At first she worried Chamomile would not like to work alongside a fox, but the mouse was surprisingly open to the help. Though she had so far not been much impressed by Fern, the Abbess had been very welcoming to them when others hadn't. Furthermore, the Abbess had a great knowledge of herbs, and the expansions she made to the gardens when she became Abbess were invaluable to having enough herbs to help a beast that was injured.

"Yarrow, Echinacea, Fenugreek..." the fox looked up from her herbs and was sad to see her Mervo standing in the corner, growling at the groups of whining Dibbuns. She walked over to him and placed a paw on his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

The young fox shrugged off his mother's paw. Biting the inside of his cheek, he said, "I need to fight my own battles, mother."

Zeela nodded. Mervo would tell her when he was ready. Going back to the herbs she sighed. What would happen? Erzvin was up there, ready to fight. What if they lost the battle? The moles had an escape tunnel ready, but...

ooooooooooooooooo

Kell the mouse dug into the pie Uggo gave her. "Thank you, Mister Wiltud."

Uggo smiled. "It's my pleasure."

The mouse smiled at him, her face beaming with joy. "Thank you for being so nice to me, Mister Wiltud."

The hedgehog nodded and smiled again. And his heart filled with worry for the young mouse.

Then the malicious voice of that rat split the peaceful air.

ooooooooooooooooo

Skipper's eyes were blazing with anger at the vermin on the other side of the gate. He held two otter javelins, twirling them in his paws as he growled. Erzvin slashed with his sword, ready to fight, but nervous to the core.

"Woodlanders of Redwall Abbey!" called the loud voice of Darkblood. "The sun has risen. I give you one last chance of surrender."

The barking laugh of Skipper called out. "Hah! We'd rather eat our ears than serve you!"

"I can arrange that!" replied Darkblood, a laugh in his voice.

Growling, Skipper shouted, "Just try!"

ooooooooooooooooo

On the other side of the wall, Darkblood nodded to his horde. "Back it up."

The horde nodded, and pushed the trebuchet back. Of course, it would destroy them to shoot so close, so they pushed it back to Mossflower woods.

"Remember," commanded Darkblood. "Aim for the walls, we just want to breach them so we can send the horde. And try to choose captive over kill. We want slaves."

The horde nodded, though Griv just did a little grumble. Darkblood surveyed the ranks. He had pikes and spears in front, then swords, then axes, clubs, and hammers (and Griv Beastcrusher), then the bowbeasts. They would take the walls down, then charge through, taking over. Oh, those Redwallers would feel pain, yes indeed. "Prepare to fire!"

ooooooooooooooooo

The squirrel lookout shouted down to the Redwallers. "Hey! They're moving back! Mayhaps they're retreating!"

The first Trebuchet projectile hit the wall, blasting him and part of the wall to pieces. Gasps came from within the army. More projectiles came, blasting greater holes. The Redwallers gasped and were angered by this.

"They're destroying our home!"

"We used to have tea up there!"

"They'll kill us all!"

The vermin horde had not charged yet, but stray projectiles would hit Redwallers, blowing them to bits. Skipper didn't even flinch when one blew up right next to him, killing two otters. He held his paw up, telling the Redwallers not to attack yet. "Wait for them to reach us. We'll have the advantage on our own land!"

The Abbeybeasts nodded and prepared their weapons, fear on their faces. Projectiles came, blowing the wall to pieces. Little remained, and then the gate was destroyed.

The vermin charged!

The pikes and spears broke through the majority of the Redwallers, but they were no match for the Skipper of otters. Swinging his two javelins, he barraged the ranks, taking out the vermin. Ripping his javelin from the carcass of a dead ferret, he jumped at the horde of vermin.

Battling for his life, Erzvin kept trying to refrain from killing the vermin, keeping his grandfather's vow. He battered them with the flat edge of his sword and its hilt, making sure they weren't dead. Other Redwallers made a break for the cellars, out numbered by too many. Realizing the battle was lost, Erzvin followed them. An arrow hit him in the shoulder and he fell to the ground.

A rat stood triumphantly over the fox, laughing. Holding his sword up high, he plunged downward.

Just before the blade hit him a brown flash hit the rat, and there was a sickening crunch as it smashed the rat against the wall. Skipper turned away from it, then charged back into the mêlée.

"Skipper! We won't win! Most of us are dead or captured!" called the fox.

"Haharr! Go withou' me! I'll make these vermin pay!" replied the fox, cracking his javelin on a weasel's skull.

"No!"

"Lissen matey, Tench'll make my replacement. 'E's a good 'un. I'll go back to bein' Tunger the otter!"

"Tench was captured!" But the otter had already ran off at the vermin.

Biting his cheek, Erzvin ran off to the cellars.

Skippers smiled at the vermin, and his vision turned red. Stabbing, crushing, or whacking, Skipper barraged through the vermin, killing mercilessly. Fyron the ferret and Griv Beastcrusher charged at the otter, hoping to put a stop to him. Cutting down one of the last fighters, a squirrel, Fyron prepared to strike. "Ha! Die, otter!"

Laughing louder than the ferret, he stabbed Fyron with the splintered half of an otter javelin. The general seemed to gape, look down, then fell over, dead. Furiously, Griv attacked. He picked the otter up and crushed him against the earth, though even as he died Tunger was laughing, a nightmare that would haunt the surviving vermin.

ooooooooooooooo

The Abbeybeasts scurried down the moles' hole, escaping. Erzvin was the last one down, and caved the entrance in on the way out, so the vermin would not find them. They were thankful that the underground cavern the moles had found had air in it, otherwise they would suffocate.

The caver was actually a long buried room. There was an extremely old bed there, and an even older desk.

"Kotir!" called Mervo. "We must be in Kotir, and I think this would be the king or queen's chamber!"

"Aye," said Darrow. "This must."

The old ones and Mervo admired the place, while the younger just snorted in disgust. Mervo found a few parchments, but were dismayed to find they were in some old tongue.

"Well, we need to find a way to get out of this place," said Fern.

"Burr, us molers be a-makin' another tunnel," replied Foremole.

Sylva Wiltud the hedgehog opened the door. "There's some stairs here–waaaaugh!"

The old wood stairs snapped under the pressure and Sylva fell to whatever was down below. Her siblings, Darrow and Tinsel, ran to the doorway.

An old mouse elder put his paws on their shoulders. "She's gone, there's nothing you can do."

A blank expression on their face, the two hedgehogs made it to some old chairs at the desk. Mervo was hurriedly going through the parchments on the desk. "Come on, there's got to be something here! Aha!"

He pulled out an old document and read aloud, "Dear Rordan, I wish to tell you. Do not listen to my father's plans! They will bring about our fall. Say no. Sincerely... oh my."

"What is it son?" asked Erzvin, his shoulder covered in a yarrow tincture.

"This letter... it was written by Arbor Brock."

There was a silence, at least at the desk. Then Mervo began repeating to himself. "Codíra, Codíra, Codíra, Codíra. Codira. Codira? Codira. What if... Cotira? Kotira? Kotir..."

Darrow gasped and got off his chair, looking under it, he found an inscription.

"It's in badger script. I know a bit, father taught me. That first word... villainous? No, it says sinister, aye, sinister, then it gives the number seven. Umm... An' I think that next word is somethin' like stir... no, astir, that's it! And then it shows thirteen. So sinister seven, astir thirteen."

The others looked at the old hedgehog curiously. "What on earth does that mean?" asked Erzvin.

The hedgehog shrugged. "No clue."

Mervo looked at the inscription. What could that possibly mean. Hmm... Astir meant up, yes. So maybe it was giving directions. But sinister wasn't a direction, was it?

He put his head in his paws. Wait... yes, it was a direction! Sinister meant left!

He put his paw on the brick and started counting to the left, the others confused on what he was doing. "Five... six... seven! Okay, now up, or I think it means forward. One... two..."

Mervo reached the wall and started counting up the wall. He ended on a brick seven off the base and pressed it. He felt something come loose, so he pressed harder.

Erzvin saw what he was doing, though he wasn't sure why, so he went to help. Slowly the brick gave away, along with the bricks surrounding it. They fell down, and a strait passage from high to low was revealed. Mervo wordlessly walked into it, finding a ladder, and began climbing down. "I found a way out!"

A few other came after him, but not many. They were to old to climb down ladders, so they would wait as the moles dug a tunnel.

Mervo, Zeela, Erzvin, Darrow, Tinsel, Sister Chamomile, an otter called Rivertunnel, Bungle the mole, and a squirrel named Ilia reached the bottom. They found they were very deep, and a long tunnel stretched underground. Shrugging, Mervo began walking. There was no turning back now.

The Gatehouse

Young Kell was hiding behind a bookshelf as Uggo and and Posy fought to defend the gatehouse. They slowly began losing ground. Uggo wielded a powerful hawthorn staff, and posy had a dirk. They slowly lost ground as more and more vermin got into the gatehouse.

Panting, Uggo called, "We can't hold' em much longer!"

Posy nodded and stabbed a rat. "Aye, but let's do our best. For Redwall!"

Uggo shoved a bookshelf over, crushing five vermin. Whacking a weasel with his staff, he shouted, "For Redwall!"

Kell screamed. A scrawny little rat had snuck past the defenses and had a knife at her throat, laughing at her frightened face. Turning, Posy stabbed the rat in the gut, but it was two late. The knife had found its mark, and the scared expression was frozen on the small mouse's face. Crying, Posy turned to see as Darkblood had just entered the gatehouse.

"You let two old hogs stop you?" asked the black rat.

Screaming, Posy charged at Darkblood, slashing. The rat howled in pain as the blade ripped up his left shoulder, tearing through skin and tendons. Furiously, the pushed her against the wall and stabbed Uggo in the gut. The old hedgehog fell to the floor, clutching his wound. Turning, Darkblood cracked his sword's pommel on Posy's head, killing the old hedgehog. Letting her slump to the ground, Darkblood laughed wickedly, holding up his good arm. In his victory he failed to notice Uggo get up, holding his wound, and roaring like an angry wildcat.

He smashed his hawthorn staff against Darkblood's skull, shattering. The rat and Uggo fell to the ground at the same time, dead and dying.

Uggo put his paw under his late wife's chin. With his last breath he spoke his dying words. "Well, that was another adventure, wasn't it, Posybud."