Note #1: For this fanfic, one seasons is approximately equivalent to one year.
Note #2: NDL stands for Northern Defense League.

Book one: Actions and Consequences

Chapter 1

Fourteen seasons later...

Dear Rab,
So, you've finally decided to visit your roots? How are you and your family doing? All of us at Vanguard are interested in hearing what you've been doing over the last few years. Especially since I hear you had a run in with Nagru - we were wondering where Old Ironbrains had gotten too!
I also heard you're a father now. Tells me a lot about what Iris and you were up to when you weren't out keeping order in Southsward! Please don't tell Iris I said that. If your son is anything like you were in your younger days Iris and you must have your paws full. I still remember some of the times you pulled me into your schemes. I also remember how many times we got into trouble together. Most of those incidents were your fault and you know it.
I should point out that you'll probably have to stay in Vanguard for the winter, because only insane captains like Densir try to take ships out for non critical missions during winter. Since you plan to visit Redwall before coming here, I can only assume you'll be arriving too late to leave before winter.
Then again, if what you told me about your job was true, getting stuck up here all winter was the point, wasn't it?
I'm not going to make fun of you for taking a desk job, since I got pressured into one myself. They were only able to pressure me into it because people around here seem to think I'm some sort of hero for undertaking that damn scouting mission to the far north a couple years back. Worse waste of NDL resources ever, even if it seemed like a good idea at the time. However, I think a desk job is probably worse for you than for me. No offense, but issuing orders from behind was never your strong suit. If it wasn't for the fact you now have a family, I'm guessing you'd still be out risking your neck on a daily basis.
I'm looking forward to hearing some good stories over a pint of Vanguard Navy rum - if Hallenna doesn't chew me out for it, of course.

General John Elmsworth, Commanding officer, Port Vanguard, Northern Defense League.

P.S. Please - just call me John. I hate my title.
P.P.S. Is it true that you almost decapitated yourself showing off your wood chopping skills once? Hallenna said you did.

"Rab, why are you blushing?"
"Nothing, dear. Just something funny John put in his letter."
Rab quickly folded the paper and slipped it into a pocket on his tunic. He had read the letter several times since leaving Southsward, but each time he couldn't help but be embarrassed about it. He had changed over the years, and although he was still fairly flameboyent, he still found parts of his past embarassing.
Eight seasons ago he had decided to leave the Northlands, having become bored with the endless patrol missions he had to undertake as a up and coming field commander. Since Nagru had been gone for a season at this point without the NDL hearing anything about his whereabouts, Rab was able to convince his NDL commanders to give him a ship on which to try and track Nagru.
He had managed to find a captured searat vessel, which although serviceable was very run down and not of interested to the NDL's military. Meanwhile, Iris tracked down several other northlanders who wanted to see the south to crew the vessel, and so within a couple weeks they were read to sail. As a parting gift, John Elmsworth, then a commander, gave him a map marking the location of Roaringburn - a current John had discovered while returning from a mission to find possible allies for the NDL in the far north.
Rab had intended to scan the coast for signs of Nagru instead of looking for Nagru's ship, which would be tough to find. Unfortunately for Rab, the Roaringburn current actually caused him to overshoot Nagru's ship. At the beginning of winter Rab ended the mission, sending a message via a messenger bird to Elmsworth that said only one thing about the whole mission:

If Nagru's ships haven't sunk, then he's already gone so far south you aren't going to have to worry about him anymore. So don't worry about it.

Within a week of that, Rab's ship, know as Southwind, was caught in a bad storm and was driven into land. The crew decided to stay put and send a message to Elmsworth rather than attempt to repair the ship, and so Rab and company settled down to a new life in the land known as Southsward.
Since few northlanders ever visited so far south, Rab and Iris quickly established a name for themselves. During their first winter, the two of them managed to break up a group of woodland bandits with almost no outside assistance, catching the eye of Southsward's ruler, King Gael. Gael needed a replacement for his retiring captain of the guard, and since Rab didn't have the means to leave the area anytime soon, he decided to take up the position until a suitable replacement could be found. Which meant he ended up staying a lot longer than he had originally thought he would. At first, the guards didn't like the fact that a northlander was getting promoted ahead of them, but Rab's personality and antics quickly won over any hard feelings. Iris also signed on, and the two decided to stay a lot longer than they had originally planned.
Unfortunately, Rab had seriously underestimated just how far off course his adversary had gone, causing Rab and Iris' trial by fire to come in the summer after they arrived. This battle pitted them against their former northland enemies, Nagru and Silvamord. Southsward's otters, lead by Rab and Iris played a huge part in saving the day, and in Castle Floret's own moat Rab beat Silvamord in a paw to paw duel. The conflict also yielded a promising officier: Greenback, who over the seasons Rab had taken as a trusted advisor.
Rab and Iris' son, named John Streambattle in honour of Rab's friend, was born in the fall following the battle of Southsward; the not so accidental product of Rab and Iris' activities when celebrating their reunion after that conflict. However, by the following summer, Rab was starting to get nostalgic. With Greenback now a extremely capable officier, Rab had decided to take his family for a trip back up north to visit his old stomping grounds.
Rab had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing as he thought of Greenback in command of the otters. Although a capable officer, Greenback was a bit of a tyrant. The first thing he would hear from his troops upon his return would likely have something to do with Greenback requiring the others to polish his boots daily.
The big reason for this trip was to visit Port Vanguard, where Rab had lived during his NDL career, but first he planned to visit Redwall. He had never actually been to Redwall, but he had heard stories of it from the group of Redwallers who had participated in the Battle of Southsward, as well as from some of his friends from Vanguard.
One of these friends, who had travelled between Vanguard and Redwall every few months for several years, was standing right above Rab. As Rab's boat passed under an overhanging tree on the River Moss, Oak Tom took the cap off a large water bottle, dumping the entire contents of the bottle onto Rab.
Barely flinching, as otters like water, Rab got up in the boat, steadying it as he stood, and swung his paddle back. It caught Tom, knocking him clean into the river.
"Yaaaaaaahhhhhhh! Watch were you swing that thing, you old waterdog!"
"Oak Tom. I should have guessed it was you after that type of stunt. I take it you got the message I sent to Redwall?"
"Sure. I'm supposed to guide you the rest of the way in. It's only an hour or two up from here. I figured that a northland rogue like you would still appreciate another rogue's company, even if you have settled down to start a family." Said Tom, climbing onto the boat.
"Say I settled down once more and I wouldn't count on you staying around to guide us in, mate!"
The small craft sailed up the River Moss with the former northlanders chatting away like the old friends they were. Night closed in as the small group approached Redwall.

As he stepped through the thin fog that had come with an early fall night in Mossflower, listening to frost covered leaves crunch under his feet, Garsider couldn't help but think of why he was outside on a night like this.
He still couldn't believe that after fourteen seasons he was once again on the run. Something told him that this time he would not find escape such an easy task.
True, getting dragged down the Scimitar river when it was in the middle of a spring run off had not been fun, but at least it had gotten him past Nagru's forces unnoticed.
After, that, Nagru had sent bounty hunters after him, but they had not had an easy time tracking him down in the vastness of the Northlands. That wasn't to say that they never did find him. Garsider did remember setting ambushes for some of his hunters. In fact, that was how he had supported himself for so long - bounty hunters usually carried a fair load of loot.
Garsider was careful not to create more enemies for himself. Since many of his comrades had died in the battle of the Scimitar River, not many creatures recognized him. To keep it that way, he had stayed out of the matters of any of the Northland powers - until recently.
Although the bounty hunters had left him a rich fox, the stream of bounty hunters died off after Nagru left the Northlands. Garsider had eventually run low on money, prompting him to take up a new career - espionage.
One Northern warlord had hired him to analyze the plans of a fox called Kellgan. Kellgan had been a renowned weapons engineer before creating his own miniature empire in the chaos that followed Nagru leaving the Northlands to some of his followers. It was the part about Kellgan being a weapons engineer that worried Garsider's employer - he suspected Kellgan had some suprises under development. Garsider's employer had been right.
At first, the mission had gone well for Garsider. Kellgan had recently set sail south for some odd reason, and after he had located Kellgan's ship, he set about attempting to get information off of the vessel. Several of Kellgan's officers were all too willing to help him acquire information. Unfortunately, of the three officers Garsider had hired, only one made it back to Garsider. The survivor had simply given him the information, told him to watch out for "the cloaked yellow eyes", taken his payment, and left, booking passage on a nearby vessel as if he had demons after him.
The information Garsider received was Kellgan's journal. The journal outlined in detail Kellgan's plans for growing his empire into a superpower - one greater than even Nagru could have dreamed of. The weapons he planned to use to do so were absolutely terrifying and seemingly unstoppable.
However, Garsider still had hope. The journal also contained Kellgan's plans for building his rather unconventional weapons. Garsider knew that if the plans fell into the hands of anyone who could build the weapons it would likely turn the recipient into a conqueror, so he could not give the plans to his employer. However, Garsider also knew Kellgan would do anything to get the plans back for this very reason. He needed protection while he considered his next move. Was it better to use the weapons against Kellgan and let another warlord gain the weapons, or was it better to destroy the plans and battle Kellgan in a seemingly helpless conventional war in an attempt to prevent him from having time to redesign the weapons?
His only hope was to get to Redwall. According to the journal, Kellgan would use Redwall as a test of the effectiveness of the new weapons. Garsider seriously doubted all the tales of the abbey being impenetrable to attack, but if he could warn the abbey's inhabitants, they might have a chance to weather the coming storm and rally an army against Kellgan.
Since Redwall was the only place he could think of to hide the plans, it would have to weather the storm... or nothing else would.