The day was nearly ending. To the east the sky was turning purplish black
signaling that darkness would be upon Mossflower very soon. To the west you
could not see the sun set because summer storm clouds were beginning to
form. In only an hour or so the sky would be pitch black and rain would be
possibly falling. Tonight would not be a good night for traveling. But that
did not stop Rosemary, a female badger who was just beginning to leave
Redwall after spending a few days there. Most of the inhabitants had come
out with her to say their goodbyes
"Are you sure you want to begin your travels tonight, it will rain soon, and Strider will catch his death of cold," said Abbot Walter leader of Redwall.
"Oh we will be quite alright, Strider has already been through one rainstorm a few weeks back, and has been traveling in the dark with me since we have started this journey," said Rosemary. Rosemary then opened a little bit of the bundle she was holding to reveal and sleeping badger pup, no more than a season old.
The badger mother of Redwall, Catspaw came up and tickled his chin. "He is so cute, I wish you two would live with us so I can watch him grow into a fine young badger," she said.
"Yes it is sad that we must head out and find my husband, he has never met Strider you know," said Rosemary. Her husband, Blaze had been missing since the month before Strider was born, he did not even leave a note for her to say where he was going.
"You know he could be at Salamandastron, the home of badger lords," said Catspaw.
"Do you really think so, but do you think he would have told me?" asked Rosemary.
"Many male badgers do that without telling their family, he was probably worried you would object to it," said Catspaw.
"Hmm I see what you mean, I bet he is waiting for me to come to him though," said Rosemary.
"He probably is," said Catspaw.
A sudden rumble of thunder caused the inhabitants to cringe. Abbot Walter began to head to the doors. "I say we should all go inside while Rosemary continues her travels, the faster she begins it the more likely she will want to find shelter when it starts raining," he said.
Everyone nodded and soon only Abbot Walter was left outside with Rosemary. "May peace be upon you on your journey," he said.
"Thank you Father Abbot I will try to visit you again someday," said Rosemary and began to walk into the forest.
Walter watched her for a few seconds before he too headed back inside.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It had scarcely been an hour into the trip when the rain began to pour down heavily. Rosemary was lucky though, she was able to find a small rocky formation that had some shelter from the storm. She sat down and began to feed Strider who stayed quiet until a large clap of thunder scared him. He began to cry loudly.
"Shh, shh its okay, the storm will soon be over," said Rosemary. Of course Strider did not understand this and continued to cry. Rosemary then decided to sing him a lullaby.
Hush my child, the storm will pass,
The storm is good, it brings life.
Life to the trees, bushes and grass,
It does not bring strife.
Close your eyes young one,
Dream of better nights
Where you can watch the setting sun
And the fireflies taking flight.
But the lullaby did not work and Strider continued to cry. All Rosemary could do was hold him and comfort him until the storm passed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
If Strider had not been crying so loudly, Rosemary would have not been seen by Tanner a vermin wolf who wandered Mossflower robbing those who were not vermin and sometimes killing them if they did not cooperate.
Tanner was a large dark grey wolf who carried around a dagger that had a black hilt and a small mother of pearl set on the top of it. He was deadly with that blade and his clan knew that. Only the foolish ones dared to challenge him.
With him were about thirty other vermin mostly rats, ferrets, and foxes. His second in command was a fox named Burr. Burr was the first to hear the cries.
"Do you hear that Tanner?" he asked.
Tanner hated it when someone heard or saw something before him and acted like he had heard it before Burr. He actually heard it right after Burr told him. "Of course I do numbskull, and I was going to investigate it," he said and hit Burr on the head.
Burr moaned and rubbed his sore head before running after Tanner. "So what are we gonna do to the child boss?" he asked.
"I won't do anything to the child, just to its parents for not shutting it up," said Tanner.
"Oh your going to rob them aren't you?" asked Burr.
Tanner stopped for a minute and stared at Burr, his cold yellow eyes showed that he did not like stupidity. "No I'm going to give them some food and entertain them, yes I'm going to rob them," said Tanner who hit Burr on the head again and then motioned for his men to follow him toward the sound.
Rosemary sat there trying to hush her son unaware that danger had heard them. "Strider it's alright please be quiet," she said.
"Yeah be quiet or someone will hear you," came a voice. Rosemary jumped up startled.
"Who's there?" she cried.
"Oh just a band of vermin passing by, I am Tanner and this is my assistant Burr and with me are my followers," said Tanner who stood in front of her with his dagger in his hands. Rosemary did not like what she saw.
"Please don't hurt us, my son is just afraid of thunder, he will stop once it is over," said Rosemary.
"Oh I won't hurt you unless you give us all of your vittles," said Tanner.
"My food but I need some of it for the journey," said Rosemary.
"Fine then, if you don't give us your food, my dagger here will give you a quick and painless death," said Tanner who wagged the dagger at Rosemary's face.
Rosemary was scared. She gently put Strider into a small basket that he slept in and quickly grabbed her food. "Here take it, and leave us alone," said Rosemary. When she passed it to them though, two pieces of bread fell into the wet ground. Tanner stared at the soggy bread and growled. "Are you expecting us to eat that soggy food?" he asked.
"No sir, I just dropped it by accident," said Rosemary.
Tanner growled. "Fine then, this will have to do for us, let's keep moving," he said.
Rosemary sighed with relief, thinking that Tanner had given her a second chance. But she was wrong.
When Tanner turned around he looked at his group and smiled. Then without warning he threw the dagger at Rosemary. The dagger went straight and true through the heart. Rosemary barely had time to react and was dead before she hit the ground.
"That will teach you for trying to give me soggy food and not giving me the food right away," said Tanner who then took his dagger out of Rosemary and stared at Strider who lay on the wet ground beside his mother, crying even harder.
"What should we do with her pup boss?" asked Burr.
"Eh just leave him there, the night will probably finish him off," said Tanner who cleaned off his dagger on Rosemary's dress and then turned to his group. "Well let's keep moving, I want to be in northern Mossflower by morning, move it," he said.
The vermin were all silent and followed Tanner up to north Mossflower while Strider lay beside his mother, all wet and crying as the rain continued to fall.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
There's my prologue and first chapter for you guys. I hope you liked it. I know the poem sucked, I'm not very good at writing poems. I know that badgers are much bigger than other woodlanders and would probably be bigger than Martins sword but just pretend a badger can wield it too, this is a fanfiction anyway. I hope you all review this and I hope you all have fun writing your stories. Have a nice week.
"Are you sure you want to begin your travels tonight, it will rain soon, and Strider will catch his death of cold," said Abbot Walter leader of Redwall.
"Oh we will be quite alright, Strider has already been through one rainstorm a few weeks back, and has been traveling in the dark with me since we have started this journey," said Rosemary. Rosemary then opened a little bit of the bundle she was holding to reveal and sleeping badger pup, no more than a season old.
The badger mother of Redwall, Catspaw came up and tickled his chin. "He is so cute, I wish you two would live with us so I can watch him grow into a fine young badger," she said.
"Yes it is sad that we must head out and find my husband, he has never met Strider you know," said Rosemary. Her husband, Blaze had been missing since the month before Strider was born, he did not even leave a note for her to say where he was going.
"You know he could be at Salamandastron, the home of badger lords," said Catspaw.
"Do you really think so, but do you think he would have told me?" asked Rosemary.
"Many male badgers do that without telling their family, he was probably worried you would object to it," said Catspaw.
"Hmm I see what you mean, I bet he is waiting for me to come to him though," said Rosemary.
"He probably is," said Catspaw.
A sudden rumble of thunder caused the inhabitants to cringe. Abbot Walter began to head to the doors. "I say we should all go inside while Rosemary continues her travels, the faster she begins it the more likely she will want to find shelter when it starts raining," he said.
Everyone nodded and soon only Abbot Walter was left outside with Rosemary. "May peace be upon you on your journey," he said.
"Thank you Father Abbot I will try to visit you again someday," said Rosemary and began to walk into the forest.
Walter watched her for a few seconds before he too headed back inside.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It had scarcely been an hour into the trip when the rain began to pour down heavily. Rosemary was lucky though, she was able to find a small rocky formation that had some shelter from the storm. She sat down and began to feed Strider who stayed quiet until a large clap of thunder scared him. He began to cry loudly.
"Shh, shh its okay, the storm will soon be over," said Rosemary. Of course Strider did not understand this and continued to cry. Rosemary then decided to sing him a lullaby.
Hush my child, the storm will pass,
The storm is good, it brings life.
Life to the trees, bushes and grass,
It does not bring strife.
Close your eyes young one,
Dream of better nights
Where you can watch the setting sun
And the fireflies taking flight.
But the lullaby did not work and Strider continued to cry. All Rosemary could do was hold him and comfort him until the storm passed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
If Strider had not been crying so loudly, Rosemary would have not been seen by Tanner a vermin wolf who wandered Mossflower robbing those who were not vermin and sometimes killing them if they did not cooperate.
Tanner was a large dark grey wolf who carried around a dagger that had a black hilt and a small mother of pearl set on the top of it. He was deadly with that blade and his clan knew that. Only the foolish ones dared to challenge him.
With him were about thirty other vermin mostly rats, ferrets, and foxes. His second in command was a fox named Burr. Burr was the first to hear the cries.
"Do you hear that Tanner?" he asked.
Tanner hated it when someone heard or saw something before him and acted like he had heard it before Burr. He actually heard it right after Burr told him. "Of course I do numbskull, and I was going to investigate it," he said and hit Burr on the head.
Burr moaned and rubbed his sore head before running after Tanner. "So what are we gonna do to the child boss?" he asked.
"I won't do anything to the child, just to its parents for not shutting it up," said Tanner.
"Oh your going to rob them aren't you?" asked Burr.
Tanner stopped for a minute and stared at Burr, his cold yellow eyes showed that he did not like stupidity. "No I'm going to give them some food and entertain them, yes I'm going to rob them," said Tanner who hit Burr on the head again and then motioned for his men to follow him toward the sound.
Rosemary sat there trying to hush her son unaware that danger had heard them. "Strider it's alright please be quiet," she said.
"Yeah be quiet or someone will hear you," came a voice. Rosemary jumped up startled.
"Who's there?" she cried.
"Oh just a band of vermin passing by, I am Tanner and this is my assistant Burr and with me are my followers," said Tanner who stood in front of her with his dagger in his hands. Rosemary did not like what she saw.
"Please don't hurt us, my son is just afraid of thunder, he will stop once it is over," said Rosemary.
"Oh I won't hurt you unless you give us all of your vittles," said Tanner.
"My food but I need some of it for the journey," said Rosemary.
"Fine then, if you don't give us your food, my dagger here will give you a quick and painless death," said Tanner who wagged the dagger at Rosemary's face.
Rosemary was scared. She gently put Strider into a small basket that he slept in and quickly grabbed her food. "Here take it, and leave us alone," said Rosemary. When she passed it to them though, two pieces of bread fell into the wet ground. Tanner stared at the soggy bread and growled. "Are you expecting us to eat that soggy food?" he asked.
"No sir, I just dropped it by accident," said Rosemary.
Tanner growled. "Fine then, this will have to do for us, let's keep moving," he said.
Rosemary sighed with relief, thinking that Tanner had given her a second chance. But she was wrong.
When Tanner turned around he looked at his group and smiled. Then without warning he threw the dagger at Rosemary. The dagger went straight and true through the heart. Rosemary barely had time to react and was dead before she hit the ground.
"That will teach you for trying to give me soggy food and not giving me the food right away," said Tanner who then took his dagger out of Rosemary and stared at Strider who lay on the wet ground beside his mother, crying even harder.
"What should we do with her pup boss?" asked Burr.
"Eh just leave him there, the night will probably finish him off," said Tanner who cleaned off his dagger on Rosemary's dress and then turned to his group. "Well let's keep moving, I want to be in northern Mossflower by morning, move it," he said.
The vermin were all silent and followed Tanner up to north Mossflower while Strider lay beside his mother, all wet and crying as the rain continued to fall.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
There's my prologue and first chapter for you guys. I hope you liked it. I know the poem sucked, I'm not very good at writing poems. I know that badgers are much bigger than other woodlanders and would probably be bigger than Martins sword but just pretend a badger can wield it too, this is a fanfiction anyway. I hope you all review this and I hope you all have fun writing your stories. Have a nice week.