3
Samkin was getting angry. The 'council of war' had escalated into a tremendous fight between the elders, and the Abbey Warrior was restless. Even the 'wisest' of councillors had turned into bloodthirsty beasts, and Arula was also silently fuming in a corner.
'Why shouldn't we post sentries on the walls?'
'They might get shot at!'
'What? And give the vermin an opportunity to get in through the wallgates?'
'No! We should horde food and make sure we have enough water for a long siege!'
'Nah, 'twould be much better to defeat them there and then, drive them out of Mossflo'r forever!'
'Possibly we should lure the vermin into a false sense of security?'
'They'd take advantage... We should take advantage that they don't know we- re here!'
'STOP!'
The commanding voice belonged to a young male squirrel called Indo. The red squirrel was young, but bold and courageous. He wore a habit, like all Abbey dwellers, but liked to don a brown cloak, especially during feasts and celebrations. His bushy tail supported his favoured clothing, and made it look like the wind was always in front of him, the cloak billowing behind him, held there by his tail. He was a helpful young creature, although he did his fair share of complaining, he still did an amount of work, and obeyed most commands from the elders. He had a certain fondness for Dibbuns, and the little beasts were always flocking to him, and the squirrel enjoyed himself immensely when they were around.
However, just now, as he had been passing Cavern Hole, and heard the commotion. He had poked his head in the door, and had seen immediately that the elders were arguing, and a few beasts were not enjoying themselves at all. He had cried out, wishing to be heard, and to his utter amazement, the creatures there stopped arguing.
Emboldened, he continued, 'You call yourselves Abbey Elders, yet you behave like young Dibbuns! You should be ashamed of yourselves! Whatever were you thinking, going off into an argument, and not even considering the Warriors views! Honestly!'
Some of the elders actually hung their heads in shame, and to the utter surprise of Samkin, turned to him.
An old dormouse called Divina spoke for them all, 'Sorry, Samkin. We should have listened to what you had to say... Will you forgive us and explain your plans?'
Samkin was slightly taken aback. 'Plans?' he asked them, 'I haven't had time to...' Thinking though, he thought that the Abbey creatures would be much disheartened if their Warrior had no plans. So he continued on a different note, 'Er... Do much, as I have been planning since I heard the news. We must not let the vermin into Redwall. We must do as Martin the Warrior did, and fight for justice and freedom! Only then can we overcome the horde, but we need to work together. Rocangus has told us there are many of them, but that should not dishearten us! We will fight! We will be ready! We will stand against evil!'
Samkin's short speech was greeted by cheering and scattered applause. Indo refrained from remarking that Samkin had not actually mentioned a plan of any sort, and he seemed to be merely bluffing.
Arula had noticed this too. She nudged Samkin.
'Burr, aye. Us uns is goin' to 'ave to think 'ard 'bout a plan, you scallywagger, you'm don't 'ave a plan, do you?'
'No.' Samkin confessed silently, 'But I'll have one by morning!'
Indo however, had already thought of one. After the meeting, which was very brief after Samkin's talk, Indo strode confidently up to him.
'Sir,' he began.
'Yes, Indo?' Samkin asked kindly, 'What do you need?'
'I don't need anything, Sir. But you need a plan, and I have one...'
And Indo began to outline his strategy for dealing with the vermin.
-------------
Wirda was overjoyed! Finally she got to work with her daughter. But her daughter had seemed quite apprehensive in telling her the good news. Why? Wirda wondered, Was Aranix planning something only her twisted mind could think up? Was her and Karatinthe's life in danger?
The dwarfed ferret sighed. So many times her 'baby' Karatinthe had begged her mother to call her Kara like everyone else. So many excuses, they all whirled round into a kaleidoscope of thoughts in Wirda's head. "I don't like fancy names!" and "Karatinthe is too long! I need a short name, something the horde can dread!". When she was younger, things like, "What if people laugh?" and "It's my name!" had occurred more often.
The thoughts faded, and Wirda found herself lying back upon the rock she had lain down upon. She heaved herself up, and shook herself back to reality. She had to stop calling Karatinthe her daughter. She was not.
Suddenly, Nightclaw strode through camp, wandering purposefully towards her. Demolishing her thoughts, lest Nightclaw should read them, she focused upon an oak leaf.
'How's me liddle pretty doing today, Wirda? Are ya looking after 'er for me, 'cause you had better be!'
His midnight black claws tickled under her chin unpleasantly, and the very colour of them made her shudder. Such a contrast to his pure white fur! The claws from whence he got his name, these were also the claws from whence he got his fame. Nightclaw related that verse to many around the vermin camp, worrying them, and niggling small bits of useful information out of them.
Wirda shuddered again. A whimper fled from her pursed lips, she hated the fox. She pushed Nightclaw's heavy tall body away from her, then turned and ran.
'Run fast,
Run sleek,
Wherever hence ye go,
I shall always know,
For I have a gift of you!'
Nightclaw again related the short verse, and strode of into the forest, ready to tell Aranix he had exactly what she needed.
A/N – Uh-oh! What will happen next? Hmm... I wonder what he's got... Well I actually know, but if you want to find out, I would appreciate a bit of con/crit so please R&R! XD
ShadowSong CometShard StarGlaive The Wolf – Thanks for that, I think I will continue, because this would be an interesting story to follow through. Love your website by the way. Never knew that much about Joan of Arc!
clara200 – Thank-you, if you wanna see how it turns out then keep reading and reviewing!
saber-otter - Thank-you, I appreciate that! I will write more! Yup, thank- you again for the con/crit!
Also if anyone could come up with a name for it, then I would be much pleased! Write a suggested name in your review if ya can think of one. Oh, and for all you hare lovers, I'll put one in the next chapter if ya want! I've put 'Twins' Fate' for lack of a better name, so far, but here goes me making up strange names again! Heh! Wot wot!
Samkin was getting angry. The 'council of war' had escalated into a tremendous fight between the elders, and the Abbey Warrior was restless. Even the 'wisest' of councillors had turned into bloodthirsty beasts, and Arula was also silently fuming in a corner.
'Why shouldn't we post sentries on the walls?'
'They might get shot at!'
'What? And give the vermin an opportunity to get in through the wallgates?'
'No! We should horde food and make sure we have enough water for a long siege!'
'Nah, 'twould be much better to defeat them there and then, drive them out of Mossflo'r forever!'
'Possibly we should lure the vermin into a false sense of security?'
'They'd take advantage... We should take advantage that they don't know we- re here!'
'STOP!'
The commanding voice belonged to a young male squirrel called Indo. The red squirrel was young, but bold and courageous. He wore a habit, like all Abbey dwellers, but liked to don a brown cloak, especially during feasts and celebrations. His bushy tail supported his favoured clothing, and made it look like the wind was always in front of him, the cloak billowing behind him, held there by his tail. He was a helpful young creature, although he did his fair share of complaining, he still did an amount of work, and obeyed most commands from the elders. He had a certain fondness for Dibbuns, and the little beasts were always flocking to him, and the squirrel enjoyed himself immensely when they were around.
However, just now, as he had been passing Cavern Hole, and heard the commotion. He had poked his head in the door, and had seen immediately that the elders were arguing, and a few beasts were not enjoying themselves at all. He had cried out, wishing to be heard, and to his utter amazement, the creatures there stopped arguing.
Emboldened, he continued, 'You call yourselves Abbey Elders, yet you behave like young Dibbuns! You should be ashamed of yourselves! Whatever were you thinking, going off into an argument, and not even considering the Warriors views! Honestly!'
Some of the elders actually hung their heads in shame, and to the utter surprise of Samkin, turned to him.
An old dormouse called Divina spoke for them all, 'Sorry, Samkin. We should have listened to what you had to say... Will you forgive us and explain your plans?'
Samkin was slightly taken aback. 'Plans?' he asked them, 'I haven't had time to...' Thinking though, he thought that the Abbey creatures would be much disheartened if their Warrior had no plans. So he continued on a different note, 'Er... Do much, as I have been planning since I heard the news. We must not let the vermin into Redwall. We must do as Martin the Warrior did, and fight for justice and freedom! Only then can we overcome the horde, but we need to work together. Rocangus has told us there are many of them, but that should not dishearten us! We will fight! We will be ready! We will stand against evil!'
Samkin's short speech was greeted by cheering and scattered applause. Indo refrained from remarking that Samkin had not actually mentioned a plan of any sort, and he seemed to be merely bluffing.
Arula had noticed this too. She nudged Samkin.
'Burr, aye. Us uns is goin' to 'ave to think 'ard 'bout a plan, you scallywagger, you'm don't 'ave a plan, do you?'
'No.' Samkin confessed silently, 'But I'll have one by morning!'
Indo however, had already thought of one. After the meeting, which was very brief after Samkin's talk, Indo strode confidently up to him.
'Sir,' he began.
'Yes, Indo?' Samkin asked kindly, 'What do you need?'
'I don't need anything, Sir. But you need a plan, and I have one...'
And Indo began to outline his strategy for dealing with the vermin.
-------------
Wirda was overjoyed! Finally she got to work with her daughter. But her daughter had seemed quite apprehensive in telling her the good news. Why? Wirda wondered, Was Aranix planning something only her twisted mind could think up? Was her and Karatinthe's life in danger?
The dwarfed ferret sighed. So many times her 'baby' Karatinthe had begged her mother to call her Kara like everyone else. So many excuses, they all whirled round into a kaleidoscope of thoughts in Wirda's head. "I don't like fancy names!" and "Karatinthe is too long! I need a short name, something the horde can dread!". When she was younger, things like, "What if people laugh?" and "It's my name!" had occurred more often.
The thoughts faded, and Wirda found herself lying back upon the rock she had lain down upon. She heaved herself up, and shook herself back to reality. She had to stop calling Karatinthe her daughter. She was not.
Suddenly, Nightclaw strode through camp, wandering purposefully towards her. Demolishing her thoughts, lest Nightclaw should read them, she focused upon an oak leaf.
'How's me liddle pretty doing today, Wirda? Are ya looking after 'er for me, 'cause you had better be!'
His midnight black claws tickled under her chin unpleasantly, and the very colour of them made her shudder. Such a contrast to his pure white fur! The claws from whence he got his name, these were also the claws from whence he got his fame. Nightclaw related that verse to many around the vermin camp, worrying them, and niggling small bits of useful information out of them.
Wirda shuddered again. A whimper fled from her pursed lips, she hated the fox. She pushed Nightclaw's heavy tall body away from her, then turned and ran.
'Run fast,
Run sleek,
Wherever hence ye go,
I shall always know,
For I have a gift of you!'
Nightclaw again related the short verse, and strode of into the forest, ready to tell Aranix he had exactly what she needed.
A/N – Uh-oh! What will happen next? Hmm... I wonder what he's got... Well I actually know, but if you want to find out, I would appreciate a bit of con/crit so please R&R! XD
ShadowSong CometShard StarGlaive The Wolf – Thanks for that, I think I will continue, because this would be an interesting story to follow through. Love your website by the way. Never knew that much about Joan of Arc!
clara200 – Thank-you, if you wanna see how it turns out then keep reading and reviewing!
saber-otter - Thank-you, I appreciate that! I will write more! Yup, thank- you again for the con/crit!
Also if anyone could come up with a name for it, then I would be much pleased! Write a suggested name in your review if ya can think of one. Oh, and for all you hare lovers, I'll put one in the next chapter if ya want! I've put 'Twins' Fate' for lack of a better name, so far, but here goes me making up strange names again! Heh! Wot wot!