Chapter Fifteen
The Long Patrol marched on, determined to get to Redwall Abbey. There was no more banter or laughter among the hares, all were grim and kept quiet. You could once in a while catch some hare, mainly Swiftspeed, send another a slight smile of encouragement, but that was about all. Major Starworthy was extremely grave during the march, his mind focused on the safety of Redwall. Because of that, he usually didn't speak or communicate with the others in any way, so Captain Glory and Sergeant Ace took over for him, although the only orders given around were pretty much, 'halt', 'break camp', and 'continue.' Not a lot more was said around the Long Patrol. Even Reene didn't laugh, and that was something that didn't happen everyday. As glum as ever, the Long Patrol trudged on.
It was somewhere around evening when Captain Glory made a small motion with her paw to everyone to stop. She was getting quite used to being a captain and enjoyed it from time to time, though insisted that hares called her just plain Glory. The hares stopped marching and settled down, while Merry and Lerarel made supper. Tapbeat sighed wearily as he seated himself between Swiftspeed and the boxing hare, Jansorio.
"I tell you, friends, I truly thought that we were going to march ourselves to sleep today. The Major's pushing us much too hard. I know he wants us to get to Redwall and defend it from Vermeng, but if we're going to be marching like this for the rest of the way, there won't be anymore hares, y'know. At least, not any fit enough to fight. We'll all be exhausted from the march."
Swiftspeed shrugged nonchalantly as he got up and started to stroll towards Ace and Tadaval.
"I don't know; it's not that bad."
Jansorio chuckled mirthlessly as he called out after the Galloper, "Yah, that's cause you're the fastest hare o' Sallawotjacallit!"
Sergeant Ace, Colonel Tadaval Kathudler, Kinorum, and Kidust were having a little 'meeting.' The stood away from the others near a tree stump as they discussed something privately. Swiftspeed bounded over and plopped down onto the stump, grinning like he always did.
"Do they know their lines, Sarge?"
Ace shrugged and turned to Kidust in question, who was practicing her voice by singing softly.
"Fa la la la la…hmm? Do I know my lines? Of course I do, silly! Pretty easy melody, nice words. Never knew you were the kind o' hare to make music, Ace!"
"Sergeant."
"Right, okay, Sarge."
"Thank you. So are you sure you know wot yore doin'? Trust me, one mistake an'-"
Kinorum grinned cheerfully, matching the Galloper's smile. "You'll chop our ears off an' cook 'em for your supper! Really Sarge, you should get some new lines. Those are becomin' old, y'know."
To ignore further argument between the two hares, because by the look on the Sergeant's face, he looked as if he would blow, Tadaval grinned cheerfully as clapped his paw together in excitement.
"Welly now, that's all good. Come on, Kidust, you too, Kinorum, sing and play out loud and strong! Remember, this is for our Major. Kinorum, m'laddie, given up on rhymin' everything y'say?"
The poet sent the officer a swift wink. "Aye, Colonel. Got a little confusin', 'specially for Glory. She has a hard time unnerstandin' what I was tryin' to say."
Kidust jumped into the middle of the Long Patrol and cleared her throat a bit loudly. All hares of the Long Patrol turned to the singer. Of all the hares, the Major Starworthy was the most confused. Kidust began with a smile.
"We've been all gloom and sad for the past few days, why not lighten up with a song? Colonel Tadaval and Swiftspeed have put together this very special song for me to sing an' Kinorum to play. Sergeant Ace has gotten us all ready for singing it, so we have to give him some credit too, right? It's called 'Gloomy Major,' dedicated to, who else but our beloved Major! Enjoy, Starworthy sah!"
After saluting stiffly, Kidust cleared her throat once more, and turned to her brother who had gotten out his flute. After giving it a small test, he winked at his sister and began playing the intro. After a few seconds, Kidust began to sing:
"I once knew a Major so sad and so glum,
Who never broke into any smile.
You would have thought he never had fun
Based on that long frown that stretched a mile.
Well, his hares tried everything they could
To make him crack his large grin.
But alas, alack, smile? He never would,
And his scowl made others upon his kin.
One day, fate bestowed upon our poor Major,
His eyes turned blue, his ears turned red.
For because of his graveness, the poor Major,
A chestnut grew on the top of his head.
His tunic turned purple, his toes pink,
And where ever he went, hares would shriek,
'Fate has bestowed upon him, I think,
Look at the Major and his orange cheek!'
Please, beloved Starworthy, our friend, our dear,
Stop this grimace on your face, please, Major.
Whenever you are sad, glum, or shrunken with fear,
Remember our song, the 'Gloomy Major.'"
There was a loud applause from the other recruits and officers as Kinorum ended the song with a little trail on his flute and a wink of his eye. The two siblings took a quick bow before bouncing up to their Major, who had a somewhat surprised look upon his grizzled face. Staring at the two hopeful faces before him, he broke out into a large, sunny smile.
"Nicely song, m'lad…an' lass. Ace helped, y'say? Well now, I never knew the old cad was the singin' type. Give my compliments to Swift and Ace, you two. Good show! Chestnut on the top of his head, eh? How horrible! Hope nobeast ever ate it!"
The twins breathed sighs of relief, thankful that their major hadn't gotten angry with their somewhat irrepressible song. But the three cheerful faces were wiped off as Acanthus and Jade scurried over. Acanthus saluted stiffly first, but Jade just rushed into the report quickly.
"Sah, pack of rats up ahead. Looks like they've already had a severe beatin', but there still might cause some difficulty. And Vermeng's catchin' up to us from behind. If we want to get away without being seen, we'll need to pass the mire."
Acanthus glared at Jade, who saluted after the report, and pointed a paw at him accusingly.
"I thought we agreed that I was goin' to do the talkin'?"
The camouflage expert smiled cheekily and batted his friend's ear playfully.
"Aye, but you were doin' the salutin' too, so I thought that I should be able to do something!"
"Enough!"
Acanthus, weapon extraordinaire, and Jade, camouflage expert, turned to the Major and saluted smartly.
"Sah!"
Starworthy sighed as he sat down onto the ground, shaking his head slowly.
"We're not going through the swamps; bigger risk that we'll lose more hares. We'll face the rats and deal them out good, Salamandastron style. We break camp tomorrow at the break of dawn."
As Long Patrol hares lined up for supper, bowls and spoons at the ready, the whole forest seemed to turn grim, along with the faces of the Long Patrollers.
The Long Patrol marched on, determined to get to Redwall Abbey. There was no more banter or laughter among the hares, all were grim and kept quiet. You could once in a while catch some hare, mainly Swiftspeed, send another a slight smile of encouragement, but that was about all. Major Starworthy was extremely grave during the march, his mind focused on the safety of Redwall. Because of that, he usually didn't speak or communicate with the others in any way, so Captain Glory and Sergeant Ace took over for him, although the only orders given around were pretty much, 'halt', 'break camp', and 'continue.' Not a lot more was said around the Long Patrol. Even Reene didn't laugh, and that was something that didn't happen everyday. As glum as ever, the Long Patrol trudged on.
It was somewhere around evening when Captain Glory made a small motion with her paw to everyone to stop. She was getting quite used to being a captain and enjoyed it from time to time, though insisted that hares called her just plain Glory. The hares stopped marching and settled down, while Merry and Lerarel made supper. Tapbeat sighed wearily as he seated himself between Swiftspeed and the boxing hare, Jansorio.
"I tell you, friends, I truly thought that we were going to march ourselves to sleep today. The Major's pushing us much too hard. I know he wants us to get to Redwall and defend it from Vermeng, but if we're going to be marching like this for the rest of the way, there won't be anymore hares, y'know. At least, not any fit enough to fight. We'll all be exhausted from the march."
Swiftspeed shrugged nonchalantly as he got up and started to stroll towards Ace and Tadaval.
"I don't know; it's not that bad."
Jansorio chuckled mirthlessly as he called out after the Galloper, "Yah, that's cause you're the fastest hare o' Sallawotjacallit!"
Sergeant Ace, Colonel Tadaval Kathudler, Kinorum, and Kidust were having a little 'meeting.' The stood away from the others near a tree stump as they discussed something privately. Swiftspeed bounded over and plopped down onto the stump, grinning like he always did.
"Do they know their lines, Sarge?"
Ace shrugged and turned to Kidust in question, who was practicing her voice by singing softly.
"Fa la la la la…hmm? Do I know my lines? Of course I do, silly! Pretty easy melody, nice words. Never knew you were the kind o' hare to make music, Ace!"
"Sergeant."
"Right, okay, Sarge."
"Thank you. So are you sure you know wot yore doin'? Trust me, one mistake an'-"
Kinorum grinned cheerfully, matching the Galloper's smile. "You'll chop our ears off an' cook 'em for your supper! Really Sarge, you should get some new lines. Those are becomin' old, y'know."
To ignore further argument between the two hares, because by the look on the Sergeant's face, he looked as if he would blow, Tadaval grinned cheerfully as clapped his paw together in excitement.
"Welly now, that's all good. Come on, Kidust, you too, Kinorum, sing and play out loud and strong! Remember, this is for our Major. Kinorum, m'laddie, given up on rhymin' everything y'say?"
The poet sent the officer a swift wink. "Aye, Colonel. Got a little confusin', 'specially for Glory. She has a hard time unnerstandin' what I was tryin' to say."
Kidust jumped into the middle of the Long Patrol and cleared her throat a bit loudly. All hares of the Long Patrol turned to the singer. Of all the hares, the Major Starworthy was the most confused. Kidust began with a smile.
"We've been all gloom and sad for the past few days, why not lighten up with a song? Colonel Tadaval and Swiftspeed have put together this very special song for me to sing an' Kinorum to play. Sergeant Ace has gotten us all ready for singing it, so we have to give him some credit too, right? It's called 'Gloomy Major,' dedicated to, who else but our beloved Major! Enjoy, Starworthy sah!"
After saluting stiffly, Kidust cleared her throat once more, and turned to her brother who had gotten out his flute. After giving it a small test, he winked at his sister and began playing the intro. After a few seconds, Kidust began to sing:
"I once knew a Major so sad and so glum,
Who never broke into any smile.
You would have thought he never had fun
Based on that long frown that stretched a mile.
Well, his hares tried everything they could
To make him crack his large grin.
But alas, alack, smile? He never would,
And his scowl made others upon his kin.
One day, fate bestowed upon our poor Major,
His eyes turned blue, his ears turned red.
For because of his graveness, the poor Major,
A chestnut grew on the top of his head.
His tunic turned purple, his toes pink,
And where ever he went, hares would shriek,
'Fate has bestowed upon him, I think,
Look at the Major and his orange cheek!'
Please, beloved Starworthy, our friend, our dear,
Stop this grimace on your face, please, Major.
Whenever you are sad, glum, or shrunken with fear,
Remember our song, the 'Gloomy Major.'"
There was a loud applause from the other recruits and officers as Kinorum ended the song with a little trail on his flute and a wink of his eye. The two siblings took a quick bow before bouncing up to their Major, who had a somewhat surprised look upon his grizzled face. Staring at the two hopeful faces before him, he broke out into a large, sunny smile.
"Nicely song, m'lad…an' lass. Ace helped, y'say? Well now, I never knew the old cad was the singin' type. Give my compliments to Swift and Ace, you two. Good show! Chestnut on the top of his head, eh? How horrible! Hope nobeast ever ate it!"
The twins breathed sighs of relief, thankful that their major hadn't gotten angry with their somewhat irrepressible song. But the three cheerful faces were wiped off as Acanthus and Jade scurried over. Acanthus saluted stiffly first, but Jade just rushed into the report quickly.
"Sah, pack of rats up ahead. Looks like they've already had a severe beatin', but there still might cause some difficulty. And Vermeng's catchin' up to us from behind. If we want to get away without being seen, we'll need to pass the mire."
Acanthus glared at Jade, who saluted after the report, and pointed a paw at him accusingly.
"I thought we agreed that I was goin' to do the talkin'?"
The camouflage expert smiled cheekily and batted his friend's ear playfully.
"Aye, but you were doin' the salutin' too, so I thought that I should be able to do something!"
"Enough!"
Acanthus, weapon extraordinaire, and Jade, camouflage expert, turned to the Major and saluted smartly.
"Sah!"
Starworthy sighed as he sat down onto the ground, shaking his head slowly.
"We're not going through the swamps; bigger risk that we'll lose more hares. We'll face the rats and deal them out good, Salamandastron style. We break camp tomorrow at the break of dawn."
As Long Patrol hares lined up for supper, bowls and spoons at the ready, the whole forest seemed to turn grim, along with the faces of the Long Patrollers.