If sabers could fly we'd all be dead by now

Disclaimer: If I owned Redwall would I be writing this fic? NO I WOULD BE WRITING THE ACTUAL REDWALL SERIES! So simply put for the morons out there I don't own Redwall or make money from writing fanfiction But Vaco is mine; you may use him if you ask me...but only if you ask me!

Apparently no one is reviewing; either that or no one is reading this

Anyway here is chapter 4. Please, if you read this story, leave a review; good or bad I don't care just let me know what you think

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"Sir, wake up sir" Logalog was woken before dawn by two shrews that had been on sentry duty.

"What is it?" But even before they answered he knew that the rat had escaped. Getting to he feet he followed them to the place where Vaco had been the night before.

"What happened to the sentry watching him?"

"Dead sir....we found him not more than five minutes ago, he died of a concussion, apparently the rat bludgeoned him with the yoke on his neck"

"So, how far could he have got? He's got a huge chunk of wood on his neck"

"Uhhh sir...the wood cracked and he apparently forced it off of himself"

Logalog stifled a curse, wondering how the rat had managed to attack the sentry when he had a wooden yoke on his neck. He and the sentries arrived at the stump where the sentry had sat the night before. The sentry was indeed dead; his head had a large gash on it. Inspecting the area he found the pieces of the collar and also he realized who the sentry was.

"Damn him, he killed Ferro, took the Ferro's sabre too, the one he got off a corsair"

"Sir.... we didn't find anything except this" Taking the piece of cloth they found, he sniffed it and grimaced.

"It came from his clothes for sure, say why didn't the other sentries stop him, or even notice him leaving?"

"....sir the ones in this area are mostly asleep"

"How about you two? Why didn't you stop him?"

"We were on the other side of camp and couldn't see him sir"

As the sun rose the other shrews woke slowly, among them the sleeping sentries. Logalog took all of the sentries aside and addressed them. "How many of you were doing you duty last night and stayed awake?"

Immediately all the shrews began attesting to their innocence with loud yells and shouts. Holding up his Blackstone Logalog silenced them with a glare.

"Most of you just lied to me, you were asleep and I saw you earlier myself, but worst of all, because of your lack of discipline Ferro is dead, the rat murdered him while you were sleeping and ran off with his sabre" Immediately most of the shrews that had been shouting earlier slumped with shame.

"We do have a trail that Demmo and Sakna found, the vermin fled to the east, into Mossflower"

Glaring at those around him he spoke again "You know our law, if one of us dies to a vermin then that vermin must die too, so I'll give you the chance redeem yourselves by hunting him down. Now get going"

With cries of anger and rage the shrews ran into Mossflower to the east. Among them was Logalog's son Amron.

After burying Ferro Logalog organized the other shrews to start searching the woods. Leading one party himself they set off into the depths of Mossflower to avenge their comrade Ferro.

Vaco groaned as he pulled himself out from under the tree's roots the next morning. His back was sore in a hundred different places and he was stiff from sleeping in a cramped position all night. Picking some fruit from the nearby trees he silenced his growling stomach. Taking the shrew's sabre he thrust it through his belt and hiked off into the woods, without a clue as to where he was going.

Some time later the Logalog's group caught up with the sentries who were hunting the woods for Vaco. Striding over to his son Logalog inquired as to their progress.

"How ya doing findin the rat, anything yet?"

"Not much, did find these though"

Amron held up a few apple cores and the remains of other fruits.

"You did good my boy, he was here alright"

Striking off into the trees they continued to search but now there was a sense of urgency about their mission. The shrews could feel that they were getting close to finding the rat that had killed Ferro.

An hour later Vaco stopped to rest, leaning against an old yew tree he caught his breath. A few minutes later he heard a rustling noise before thirty shrews burst out of the trees and fanned out to try to surround him. Drawing the stolen sabre Vaco went into what he assumed was a defensive position, though he knew nothing of fighting with swords or any other weapon. Logalog stepped forward, his rapier drawn, to kill Vaco. Putting on a display of fierceness to disguise his fear Vaco barked out a warning to Logalog.

"Come no closer shrew, or I'll kill yer"

"You couldn't kill a grasshopper, I can tell from the way you hold that blade that you've never used one in your life"

Vaco was absolutely shocked, visibly shaken he decided to make a run for it before he was completely surrounded.

"Toss that sword away from yourself now and beg, I just might make your passing quick vermin"

As he listen to what Logalog said he got a malicious idea. "You want me to toss this sword eh? Fine then shrew, catch"

Drawing the sword back he threw at Logalog, not really expecting it to hit anything though, and in the same movement dashed for the weakest part of the circle of shrews. Logalog was not expecting such a move and so he was not able to dodge. But just as the sword was about to strike him, Amron stepped in front of him and took the sabre through his gut.

With a gasp of pain Amron collapsed to the ground in a pool of blood. Vaco rammed one of the shrews at the same time and burst through the circle. Thinking himself safe he was surprised when a stinging pain shot through his back. The shrew standing next to the one he rammed had struck him with his rapier!

The shrews were paralyzed by the shock of what had happened and so they did not give chase to Vaco. Logalog was kneeling with Amron dying in his arms, tears running down his cheeks openly. As he opened his eyes again the sight of the sabre imbedded in his son's stomach horrified him still further. In his mind he swore a solemn oath to hunt and kill Vaco, kill him slowly and painfully for taking his son from him. Sobbing he carried Amron back to the camp sadly, all the time thinking of how he would make the vermin suffer.

Vaco was elated at his narrow escape. His back throbbed and stung but he hardly noticed, his relief at escaping was too great. When he finally stopped at last Vaco realized that he should treat his back. Taking several pawfuls of mud he plastered them over his wound. Stumbling to his feet again he set off running to put as much distance between him and the vengeful shrews as possible.

Striding through the woods at a faster pace than he had thought himself capable of, Vaco made good time despite the painful wound on his back. By nightfall he was exhausted and when he found a small cave he fell asleep without even scavenging for food.