Chapter 1

It was a pleasant day at Redwall Abbey. A few hours had passed since the strange, exhausted Rat was found at the Abbey door, and things had soon returned to usual pace. The Infirmary Keeper was seeing to his new patient, and had him in one of the beds in the Infirmary. For the most part the Rat was just exhausted and malnourished, and other than a few scrapes, bruises, and a small wound on his left arm he just needed to rest and then eat something whenever he finally regained consciousness. Maybe then they would learn the poor beast's name, and how he ended up in such a distraught and disturbed state. The Infirmary Keeper, who was a slightly plump Squirrel named Fenwither, adjusted his patient's blanket and went to go check on some small noises that were on the other side of the Infirmary door.

Fenwither opened it to find four dibbuns pushing and poking each other as they all tried to be the first one to open the door. As usual, it was the two Mice brothers Urlus and Hansel, the Vole maid Barbra, and the Hedgehog Levo, the son of the Cellarkeeper Lerman. As he opened the door they all stopped and looked up at Infirmary Keeper, then began talking all at once.

"Brother Fenwither! How be's he?"

"Is he dead?"

"Who do ye think he is?"

"Has he'm talked?"

"Can we see 'im?"

"Is he comin' to lunch?"

"Is he really a Rat?"

"'ave ye cured 'im?"

"Can we's help?"

"Enough!" Fenwither finally said, exasperated. "He's still resting and needs to be let be so he can recover from whatever caused this. So the very last thing he needs is four noisy dibbuns chattering around him- now off with the lot of ye!" He shooed them away, and was just closing the door when the Rat began making sounds like he was regaining consciousness. He finished closing the door, and went over to his patient. The Rat groaned and tried to sit up. Fenwither gently but firmly tried to calm him. "Easy now," he said, and managed to get the Rat to stay reclined in the bed. "You're still in too weak a condition to be getting up and about yet. It's all right. You've made it to Redwall Abbey. Do you have a name?"

"Wibear," the Rat managed, coughing. "Me name is Wibear. Ye mustn't let those things get me! They are-" And then he collapsed and fell back into unconsciousness again. "Well, Wibear," said Fenwither, adjusting Wibear's blanket again, "Ye just keep resting. We'll get you better again, and then you can tell us about who they are."

Outside in the Orchard the other Abbeydwellers were starting to have lunch. The four dibbuns who had visited the Infirmary came and joined the other dibbuns and members of the Abbey and the lunch began. Everybeast sat in different groups by the trees- in one group a young Mouse, Vole, and Otter sat together under some apple trees eating and talking. Of course they were conversing about the Rat who had been brought in.

"I wonder where he came from," the Mouse, whose name was Roan, said. "You don't suppose he is or was part of some horde headed for the Abbey? Like we've read of in the Abbey library?"

"Wot? Like those Cluny and Gulo and Vizka Longtooth beasts?" said the Vole, whose name was Vilnos. He swallowed, both because of the bite of food in his mouth and at the thought. "I hope not. According to the texts in the library we haven't seen anything like that in countless seasons."

"Personally he really didn't look the type to me," the Otter, named Sergeo, replied frowning. "And he wasn't giving off the feeling like he was threatenin'." This caught the other two's attention; Sergeo, somehow or someway, seemed to have developed some special ability or awareness that sometimes allowed him to sense things- like whether somebeast was a threat- and get feelings that nobeast else could understand. He also sometimes would have dreams that seemed so vivid and real that they seemed to him to be more like visions- during which he would often talk in his sleep occasionally. Throughout the Abbey they had all noticed this ability, and in the past several weeks it had seemed to increase in its appearances. The dreams seemed more detailed, more urgent- but he rarely could remember much from them, and only really remembered the feelings that they gave. The only other further clues to them were what otherbeasts might have heard him say in his sleep.

"Although..." Sergeo paused, and the other two looked at him to hear what else he might have sensed. "There was something . . . off about him. Like there was something in him that felt foreign, wrong." The Otter frowned again. "I can't explain what it is. Maybe it's just an omen of something unpleasant approaching."

"Like a vermin horde?" Roan asked.

"Sergeo shook his head. "No," he said, and stopped for a moment, frowning again. "but at the same time, in some different forme . . . yes." The three young creatures sat there quietly for several moments, each wondering what this possible omen might mean.

Under a nearby tree was another young Mouse, named Eleadir, who was quietly eating his own lunch by himself. Ever since old Abbot Marnian had died, he'd mostly kept to himself. When the Abbot had died, Eleadir had felt like a large piece of him died too. Abbot Marnian had been the one beast in the Abbey that he had always felt closest to and could really talk to. Eleadir had always been real shy, and the old Abbot had been the one who had really helped him come out of his shell- they often would have long talks, especially about fishing, which Eleadir had really discovered he had an interest in. Now that Abbot Marnian was dead, he didn't ken what to do- even the food he was now eating barely tasted like anything at all, where previously he would have enjoyed it. He sighed, and looked over at the other Abbeybeasts. Many of them were still sad about Abbot Marnian, but nobeast else seemed to be feeling as much hurt as he did. He sighed again and took another bite of his lunch.

Two days later, Fenwither's patient in the Infirmary had definitely improved- Wibear was now awake, and had become able to eat. He was still having to stay in his bed- he still couldn't take a step without collapsing on the floor- but in other ways he was improving. Despite his general condition, he still found he couldn't say a word about that night- he would only talk about it as 'that night', and the creatures as 'those things' or 'them'. The scrapes, bruises, and other small injuries he'd had were starting to clear up. Only that small wound on his left arm remained the way it was- in fact, Wibear would often feel it tingle strangely. He hoped that would eventually heal too, but- something in his mind kept worrying him from his flight. He couldn't seem to remember exactly what the thing was that was worrying him. All he could remember was that night, and the running, running, running . . . and then the waking up in the Infirmary at Redwall Abbey. That was all. What was it that had happened during the flight? And why did he always get an ice-cold chill down his spine when he started thinking about it and trying to remember? As if something horrible and terrifying had occurred during that flight . . . Something that it was absolutely vital he remember and warn the Redwallers about...