Skipper felt pain, more then he had ever had before. He felt great loss, anger, and pain, and he couldn't remember why. As it suddenly came back to him, he screamed louder then he had before, a scream that would haunt many creatures till the end of their days.

Both Waterflash and Tam felt the fur on the back of their heads stand, but as soon as Skipper stoped screaming, they went to him. He was breathing hard, and had a faraway look in his eye, murmmuring "Its gone. Their gone. Its all over..." He kept repeating this, as Tam and Waterflash were trying to calm him down.

"Skipper, what's wrong? Calm down! Your not making any sense!"

"Mate! Please, Calm Down! You need to tell us why your doing this!"

Tam suddenly grabbed something from his pack, which caught skippers attention. "Skip, please, why did you do that?"

"Mate, please tell us!"

Then skipper looked at Waterflash, with a look of hatred and said, "They always loved you, never me. It was always the youngest! And then you betrayed them! You killed them! And then you had the nerve to do it here."

Waterflash gasped, a memory that he had lost after the attack on his holt surfacing. Looking at the confused tam, he saw the tail bracelet he had made for Skipper many seasons before. "Deep? Deeprudder?" Skipper strained against the ropes binding him, and yelled "Don't call me that! Scum cannot use that name!"

"But thats the name of our holt, given to you so that you could lead it."

The ropes finially snapped, and Skipper had to be held back by Tam, and yelled so loud that the surviving dibbuns began to cry. "Our holt! OUR holt! They wanted you to lead! They wanted me gone! Thats why I left!"

"But deep, they never wanted that. They wanted you to be happy, thats why they gave you the best!"

"Then why did they send me out

..." His voice trailed off, a memory that had long ago been repressed, and started murmuring and crying, saying, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for what I've done!" Waterflash said "Deep, mate, I don't understand. Why didn't you tell me who you were? I was loney, and what are you talking about."

"They thought you knew, I wanted to tell you..." then he shuddered "They were merciful."

Then tam spoke, letting him slide to a chair. "What do you mean Skip? Who is them?"

"Them! The ones that took tne abbey! The ones that used me! I helped them kill my holt. They thought he knew, they didn't want me removed!" Waterflash said "Deep, why did you do this?"

"They brainwashed me. I left to find the skipper at redwall at the time for guidence. They found me, and tortured me for days, until I believed them. I don't deserve to live!" and grabbed for a dagger Tam had. Both Tam and Waterflash knocked him to the ground, and Waterflash said "Its not your fault! But we can't save redwall if your dead!" Then, a knock came at the outet door, and an evil voice said "We know your in there! We had a friend who swam to tell us!" And Skipper started shaking hard, saying "I can't, but I need to, but why?"

Suddenly he grabbed a dagger from Tam, and then grabbed Waterflash, putting a dagger to his neck. "I have what you want." Then he loosened the dagger a bit, and started shaking. "Tam,don't try to stop me. They'll make me kill you. Run now, don't tell me where your going. They'll make me kill you." and began to take Waterflash, who looked scared, out. "Deep, no, you don't want to do this!" Suddenly Waterflash found himself bound and gaged. Skipper said "The squirrel is running. Elders and dibbuns are down the hall to the right. A rat, the one who had been giving commands, said, "Get the squirrel, otter." Skipper paused, and said, "I can't. He's my friend..."

The rat moved, revealing a nasty looking torture device. "Get him, now, or your brother will see what will happen to him happening to you." He motioned, and two rats came at him. Ducking into Brockhall, he said "I'll get him!"

The rat grinned, and said to Waterflash "Now otter, your going to do as we say, or else we'll do this to you after this time." They ungaged him, and said, "It only worked on my brother because he was young. I'll kill you, and make you pay for what you've done to my family." The rat grinned more, and said "Your brother said the same thing."

Tam was running through the woods, ready to kill skipper or Waterflash if he saw either of them. He knew by the screams in the air what they were doing now, and wondering how they could drive a beast as to do what Skipper had done. Running towards the ocean, he ran the events through his mind. Deeprudder. That was the name of the traitor of redwall, and the one he thought had been his friend. And the shy otter from the abbey, there could be no trusting him now. Tam ran, but soon triped over a tree root, knocking himself senseless. In his dreams he saw Skipper, Waterflash, and Martin. Waterflash started first, and said, "Help me! The vermin won't stop. They've made the suevivors slaves. They won't stop hurting us, any of us!"

Then Martin Spoke, "Don't use my sword to slay another redwaller, no matter what they have done. You must get to Salamandastron, and kill the vermin. Only then can your friend be free. Remember this: Listen to the shy one. He is strong willed, and if you hurry they will not break him. However, if he is on their side, then salamandastron and the free world will likely die. Tell your friend that his father still lives, the vermin have told him he is dead to make him work."

Then Skipper spoke, "Tam, I'm really sorry about this, mate."

Tam suddenly awoke. Martins sword was pressed to his neck, and he was gaged and tied to a cart. "I'll undo the gag in the morning, then I'll take you to them. You'll probably be...punished." He shuddered, as another scream came out of the distance, in the direction of redwall. "They will only do it once, if you agree to do what they want you to do."

At Salamandastron, the badger lord Arryo the brutal, shuddered. Suddenly, for reasons he could not tell, all the peace was gone, and an ominous evil was settling over the land.

WA: I think this answers a few questions that have been asked. And before anyone asks how an otter could betourtured into believing things, let me tell you what the torture device does(I call it the Ultra Torture). It stretches its victim until arms and legs are disclocated, and turns back and forth, making small cuts. Spikes cut the victim, just a little. Next, the vermin throw salt water on the victim, which makes his body feel like its on fire. The device pushes his limbs in at the same time, relocating them, but adding to the pain, as they are whipped. Also, When they did it to deeprudder, they had the convinience of an ocean. They had him submurged completely for a few minutes. Did it to him for days, until they brainwashed him, and almost drove him to insanity. I won't tell you how they use it to kill. Lets just say I didn't sleep very well after thinking it up.

Also, I will be breaking up the first chapter into at least three. I am working on that now. Thanks for the reviews!