The quarry snakes were gone. When Matthias had done away with Asmodeus, that had only been the beginning of the solution, but over the series of following seasons many a warrior made it a specific point to find a snake in the area and eradicate it. That almost became a ritual, but it ended with the snake problem essentially going extinct.
Which is why such nonmilitant beasts as Amos Stickley and the hedgehog and Gabbro the mole could head to the quarry without needs for special defenses. The two each had long family ties to Redwall and natural ties to the earth. These criteria made Amos and Gabbro the logical heads of the Redwall Abbey Renovation Committee. Again over the seasons the Abbey itself had become sonewhat worn down from the original. The committee therefore wished to make renovations using material from the primary source.
The foundations were still sound, but weathering against the outer faces of the Abbey was the main issue. The West Wall in particualar had been eroded, battered by more intense wind and precipitation that had faced the other walls. Several of the sculptures along the western wall had been melted down to no particular form and needed to be redone, for the sake of maintaining good old times. Finally, there was damage from various ancient attacks that, while historic, now only threatened to become a structural weakness.
But the West Wall would come first. The plan was to replace the uppermost layer of bricks on the rampart wall, for aesthetic improvement more than anything else. Therefore mole and hedgehog worked with precise movements, tracing chalked lines along the quarry of red sandstone, using careful chipping and chiseling in time-honored practice to break the rock in a neat planar fracture.
An airborne sliver of rock nearly struck the Sparra warrior that glided down to perch between Amos and Gabbro. Unnoticed at first, the bird clicked its beak with much agitation until it was finally acknowledged.
Gabbro's dark features crinkled into a smile, the creases highlighted by the rock dust in his fur. Whoi hullo, zurr Nuthead.
The Sparra nodded fiercely, now swerving his beak upward. Nuthead see-um flyworms in the sky. Verystrange flyworms.
Amos Stickley twanged a headspike. Yeh saw flyin' worms? That's definnilly strange.
Sparra Warrior no makeup thingss, Nuthead snapped back.
Digging claws gently patting Amos' spikes, Gabbro translated. Ee saw floyin' things, burr aye. And ee doan't know whut koind.
Amos nodded slowly. One dialect isn't much improvement over another when neither one is your own. Yeh think they're dangerous? What'd they want with the mining likes of us?
Thissa Sparra dunna know, Nuthead retorted, shifting his weight from firm feet to foreclaws. Butta warrior needsto make anythreat nothreat.
Doan't get ahead of yoreself naow, Gabbro cautioned. Doan't start unnything big, hurr.
Nuthead lifted off with a rustle of feathers. Quiet, moleworm, you quiet. Thissa Sparra knows whattodo. And he darted off.
Amos twanged a spike again, then resumed plotting out blocks on the sandstone ledge. Well, that tweren't anythin' but peculiar.