"Springtime! Come inside! It's time for a bath!" called Laterose, knowing that she would have to exert more force to make her defiant daughter take a bath. "Oh, what am I going to do with you, little monster" Rose thought aloud, "never behaving the way a proper mousemaid should, always running about with that squirrel, Crisken, and getting yourself dirty, so that you just have to take another bath. Oh well, I believe I'm going to have to call Bella."
Bella of Brockhall, Redwall Abby's resident badger, was sitting next to the abby pond, sipping cold mint tea. She looked up and saw Rose approaching. "Springtime again, is it?" She remarked offhandedly.
"Yes, I'm afraid so." Rose answered.
"What now, won't take a bath?"
"I can't even find where she's got to. Will you..."
"Help you find her and make her take a bath? I'd be delighted."
"Thank you!" Rose cried gratefully, "I don't know what I'd do without you!"
"You can thank me later. Now let's go find that daughter of yours!"
***
Verkilde. A name feared throughout the land. Tales about him were so awful, that many believed that he was some kind of evil monster that haunted the depths of imagination. But the evil was very much real. Verkilde was a fox, black from tip to tail except for a small patch of white on his left footpaw. Tall, lithe, wiry, strong, very sly, wise and clever, and bigger then most foxes, he led a small band of robber foxes. Even though it was a small group, it was feared across the land. "I don't care about size. If I had a huge horde, then it would be impossible to sneak around undetected. That way we wouldn't get anything done." He would say if someone suggested a bigger horde. He led his band across the country, plundering, destroying, and killing. With him roving the land, no one could tell whether they would wake up with a knife at your throat. Verkilde was a plague to the land. Verkilde was coming to Redwall!