Chapter 11

Redwall Abbey

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After saying their good byes, the group left Midgar to leave to Redwall Abbey the was a couple

of miles off of their location. Cloud decided to come along and go venture some more but decided that

Tifa should stay behind and keep and eye on the bar. The group finally made it out of the polluted

skies and made it to clear, blue skies. It had been a while since Fox had taken a breath of fresh

air in a long time. Falco, on the other side, was acting more strange as the days passed by.

He had not been talkative as he once had been and had been disappearing everywhere without word.

Bill grew concern but decided not to bother Falco in his affairs and went on with life. The team decided

not to break because the abbey was near by as they drew nearer to it. Minutes became hours, and still

no sign of the abbey. Ray stopped and looked at the scenery around them.

Fox came up to Ray and asked, "Are we getting close?"

Ray nodded. "Do you see that?" said Ray pointing in the distance.

Fox squinted as he saw a smoke rise to the air beyond a large scale of hills. "Is there a fire?"

asked Fox with some concern in his voice.

Ray shook his head. "No, only that of cooking." replied Ray.

Ray continued forward as the rest followed behind him. After about thirty minutes, they finally

arrived in front of the large, red gates of Redwall Abbey. The walls were very high and wide, all

painted in rose red. Within the walls was a large and tall tower with a large bell that stood silent

at the moment. Ray stood in front of the large gates and punched the door with his own might making a

loud, eruptious noise.

Ray looked up to see a small squirrel stand up on the walls from within. "Who ther'?" asked

the squirrel with a light voice.

Ray grinned. "Where is your mother at there?" asked Ray. "Where is the gate keeper at?"

"I'm right here!" replied a loud, stern voice.

A hare stood next to the squirrel wearing silver armor with a painted rose on each side of the

shoulder guards. The hare's fur was brown and his long ears erected high. "Sah, how have ya been, Ray?"

Ray chuckled. "I'm well, thank you Kiska." said Ray to the hare named Kiska. "Is that Dibbun

showing you how to control the gates?" he said with sarcasm in his voice.

Kiska chuckled and patted the young squirrel's head. "'E's been doin' fine for a lad." said

Kiska. "I'll open the gates fer ya."

"I shall see you later then." said Ray.

The gates opened slowely and Ray and the crew entered into the busy streets of the abbey. There

were people who were doing business and children playing on the streets minding their own business.

Fox came up to Ray and asked, "What are we here for?"

"I have to attend a large council meeting with two friends." said Ray. "If you'd like to, you

can come and watch it tomorrow."

Ray swept through the crowd as some of the abbey dwellers greeted him. They came to a large building

that was next to the bell tower and entered. It was dark with the exception of a few lit candles.

There were chairs aligned in front of them facing a large pew with a tapestry hung on the wall showing

a mouse dressed in armor weilding a shield and a sword.

Ray kept going and knocked on a large door across from the rows of chairs. The doors opened

and a mouse wearing a green cloak opened the door wearing glasses. "Oh, how may I help you today?"

asked the mouse adjusting his glasses.

Ray smiled adjusted his glasses as well. "How long has it been, Masidus?" asked Ray to the

mouse, Masidus.

Masidus' eyes grew wide as he smiled. "Ray?" asked Masidus. "Oh my heavens! What are you doing

here?"

"Do you not remember the council meeting tomorrow?" asked Ray as Masidus ushered him and the

other inside the small office.

"Of course I remembered, I just didn't expect you, that's all. And who are these?"

Ray briefed Masidus on everybody and told him of the journey they had participated in.

"Exploring the world, eh?" asked Masidus. "It is a large world, it is. Full of mystery and wonder.

I do hope you see every last part of it."

Masidus looked up at Ray. "You won't wear that to the meeting, will you?"

Ray shook his head. "Of course not." Ray said. "I have a uniform to wear. I would also like to

invite my friends as part of an audience, if that's alright."

Masidus nodded. "Of course it's alright. I'm sure you young ones will behave much better than

the Dibbuns already do."

" 'Dibbuns?' " asked Bill.

"The children of the abbey are reffered to by that name." said Ray. "They are very humorous,

but sometimes act inappropriately."

Just then, a mouse a little younger than Masidus walked in wearing a blue tunic. "Father Abbot!"

he ejaculated. "I heard news of 'his' arrival!"

"He's right here, Martin." said Masidus to the young mouse as he pointed to Ray.

The mouse, Martin, looked at Ray with such curiosity. "My has it been a while!" said Martin.

"It has!" said Ray.

"Your taller than me even though I'm older!" Martin pointed out.

Ray laughed. "So, are you coming to the meeting?"

"Of course. I must protect my Father Abbot if anything is to go wrong."

"That's good."

"Martin," started Masidus, "why don't you show Ray and his friends to their rooms? I'm sure

they are tired and famished from the day's walk."

"Of course, Father Abbot." said Martin. "This way, friends."

Martin led them through a few flights of stairs and through a long hallway. He stopped and

turned around to the group. "These three rooms are for you." he said. "The boys can share one room

while you two," he looked at Ray and Cloud, " can sleep in your own rooms. I will call you and announce

when dinner is prepared.

"I shall see you later"

He handed three keys to Ray and walked off.

"Who was that?" asked Fox.

"That was Martin the Warrior." said Ray. "He protects this place with his own life. I met him

when I was thirteen and was getting my place for the rebellion."

He handed a key to Falco and one to Cloud.

"Don't lose them!" said Ray. "You'll be locked out of your room for good."

They all entered their rooms. Coincidentally, in the boy's room, there were four beds made

out for them. The rooms walls were tan and had a large window at the end of the room. They looked

around and decided to rest until dinner had been called.

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Fox woke up alone in the room. His stomach was still full from the large dinner he had had the

previous night. He got up and saw that it was morning already. He looked over at the night desk to find

a clock of some sort, but there was none. "Oh...lack of technology...." said Fox remembering what

Peppy had told him about Redwall's religion that was against technology.

Fox got up and dressed in his usual outfit. After putting on his boots, a knock was heard from

the door. Fox opened it and found Ray standing before him. However, Ray was dressed in a black uniform

with a high collar buttoned by a golden medal. There was red outlines on the collar, sleeves, and

pant leggings on where it ended.

"Are you ready to go to the meeting?" asked Ray.

Fox nodded. "Where is everyone else?" asked Fox.

"They went ahead to the meeting." replied Ray. "Let's hurry up. It appears that you accidently

overslept."

They exited the dormitory building and went to the belltower. Instead of going through the doors,

Ray went behind the building and looked in the grass. Fox was confused and asked, "What are you doing?"

Ray stopped and grabbed a small lever. He pulled it up and revealed a passage way that led

underground. "After you." said Ray to Fox.

Fox, amazed, entered the into the secret passage way. Even though it was dark, Fox continued

down the stairs until he saw a glint of light at the very bottom. He finally reached a solid, white

tiled floor where light was present. Ray came following behind him and looked around the room.

There were some torches lit in the hallway as it led down to a door.

"This way." said Ray going to the large door.

Fox ran by him and they stopped in front of the door. Ray knocked twice and yelled, "Der Wille

zur Macht!"

The doors opened slowely and they walked in.

"What does that mean?" asked Fox curiously.

"The Will of Power." replied Ray.

They entered a large room that had chairs aligned on the wall and had a reception desk with

a woman behind it wearing glasses and wearing her brown hair in a pony tail. Ray walked up to the

desk and said, "I'm chairman Ray Faithorn of the third branch of the Exile Forces. Do I have entry

into the meeting?"

The woman scanned her desk. "Ah!" she said. "Yes, you have permission to enter. Please go in."

"Also," started Ray, "I have a Fox here to go in with the audience."

The woman scanned her desk again. "Yes, he may enter as well. Please take care."

"Thank you." said Ray smiling.

Ray lead Fox to a silver door with strange markings and said, "Sit by Cloud and your friends.

I have to go in and start this. If you have any questions just ask Cloud, he'll know it."

"Good luck." said Fox smiling.

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Fox found an empty seat in between Wolf and Cloud. Falco, however, was not present. Fox sat

down and looked over the heads of a few other guests. Although there was not a lot of people at

the meeting, the room was large enough to fit a whole crowd of people. The room was shaped like

a large sphere, colored in red and gold.

There were six large balconies, three across from another set of three. At the very end was

a larger balconey with a large red leaf which said: 'Exile Forces.' Underneath it, it read: "God's

in his heaven. All's right with the world." Fox was a little confused at the subtitle, but disregarded

it.

Then, a loud horn was heard and the audience became silent. Suddenly, a loud voice from the

intercome said, "Presenting the leader and co-founder of the Exile Forces, Commander Wilhelm!"

The audience appluaded as a young man, Wilhelm, with gray hair, wearing a red velvet suit walked in on

the center balconey with the Exile Force logo on the wall. Next to him, stood an older woman wearing

a gray outfit and brown hair. Then, the loud voice said, "Chair man and leader of the first branch

of the Exile Forces, Chair man Gendo Ikari!"

The audience appluaded again as a man in his fourties stepped forward on a balconey to the

right of the main balconey. The man, Gendo, had hair on his chin but not on his upper lip. He wore

dark glasses and wore a black suit. He sat down with his hands held together up to his face as

he stared into empty space. "Chair woman and leader of the second branch of the Exile Forces, Fara

Star!" said the loud voice.

An anthro woman, a fox named Fara, with brown, long hair stepped up on the second balconey from Gendo's

wearing a blue suit. She was in her early twenties. She sat down and pulled out some documents from

her desk. "Chair man and leader of the third branch of the Exile Forces, Ray Fathorn!"

Fox and the other clapped as they saw Ray stepped up on his balconey from Fara's. He sat down

and waited for his time to speak. "Chair woman of the fourth branch of the Exile Force and intelligence,

Shion Uzuki!" said the voice again.

The woman, Shion, wearing glasses, in her twenties, orange hair, and an outfit with the colors of tan

and blue came up on the balconey across from Gendo's and sat down. "Chair man of the fifth branch

of the Exile Forces and commander of weaponry, Gus Ryder!"

A raptor who was tall with green scales came into the balconey next to Shion's wearing a dark

blue uniform with plenty of medals and badges on the left side of his chest. He sat down with his head

resting on his hand. "And finally," began the loud voice, "the chair man of the sixth branch of

the Exile Forces and abbot of Redwall Abbey, Masidus Killeena!"

Masidus sat in the balconey next to Gus' and sat quietly. Wilhelm got up and said, "We will

begin the Exile Force's fourty-third meeting in this century."