Disclaimer: I don't own Redwall or Mossflower or anything created by Brian Jacques, because he owns that. I own the OC's, and any town that came from my mind.
CRA-ACK!
The sound echoed through the darkness of the cave. A large badger, dressed all in the hides of other animals, sat upon a rock with his kill, an adult bat. He'd snapped its neck and was now proceeding to tear the wings from the lifeless corpse.
Grinning, the badger put the wings aside for later and turned his attention back to the rest of the corpse. A massive paw gripped its head and, with a ripping sound as the flesh, muscles and blood vessels were torn, decapitated the unfortunate creature.
The large mustelid hummed as he worked; a dark tuneless sound echoing eerily throughout his cave. He worked the knife back and forth, scraping the skull a little with the blade of his long, decorated knife. Gradually, he scraped the flesh away, revealing the bone beneath, until nothing covered the bat's skull.
With a soft squelching and pop, the bat's eyes were removed and, more carefully than one might expect the badger to be capable of, he reached inside and began to scrape out the brain through the eye sockets.
Upon finding that he was unable to remove a large chunk near the back, the mustelid calmly turned the bloodstained skull and carved a sizeable hole there and, upon a moment of thought, created a similar one in the top. Finally, he removed the remains of the brain and stood up, walking out of the cave. The decapitated, wingless body was left for the scavengers.
The badger blinked as he moved out into the sunlight, making his way down to a waterfall and a large lake to wash the skull. He reached the water's edge and crouched, washing and scrubbing the skull clean with a piece of dried sponge that he'd picked up during a trip to the western shores.
A noise caught his attention. It was the sound of somebeast clearing their throat.
"Ahem, do you know how hard you were to locate sir?" The voice belonged to a small, but rough looking, weasel. He was accompanied by at least 15 other beasts, of mixed species and evidently military.
The badger growled and turned with his eyes narrowed.
"Name and why you look for me. Also how know where I am. Then fuck off." He stated simply.
"Now, Sir Tailor, I have a proposition for you... My name is Ambassador Eret of Odigin. We knew how to find you easily... You tend to leave a rather obvious and destructive trail... But you were bloody hard to actually find..."
The larger mammal nodded with a slight smile "I enjoy the process of destruction... Tell proposition quickly now. Or I destroy you. All of you." He grinned, looking around at the small army.
The ambassador smiled back "So, I have heard and I have no doubt you could, but I know that you are a hunter, no...?"
"I live for the hunt and the kill"
"Well then... I have a challenge that I know you will find difficult to refuse. Also, if you do well, the rewards that the Lady of my city bestows upon you would be great..."
"What is the challenge...?" The badger asked, clearly interested.
Eret smiled. He had him. Blood Tailor was about to be hired and, from what he had been told, no beast escaped from Blood Tailor...
Corvus Donnelly was reasonably well off. He certainly wasn't poor and was capable of living in some luxury, but he most certainly wasn't rich and (although he wouldn't have them anyway) afford servants.
Despite this high status among the poor and low status among the rich, he was well liked by just about anybeast that met him. He had charm, kindness, intelligence, confidence and sophistication, but there was one thing. Of all the beasts that had met him, hardly any could say they truly knew him. Even some of his oldest friends were completely clueless to whom, exactly, the real Corvus might be, but of course, they didn't often realise that.
The pine marten, however, knew lots about them. A glance could tell him a lot about a beast, and he knew details about them that they might not even realise.
Corvus strode among the stalls of the market as he shopped for fish. A pastime that he did not enjoy particularly, but still, he did enjoy the taste once it was cooked, and Giles, an acquaintance of his, a mole who was also an excellent chef (worthy of cooking for the Lady on two separate occasions), had promised a favour.
The marten stopped by a stall as he found a fresh looking trout and enquired to the otter vendor on the price.
"How much is it?" He asked.
"Um... 3 bronze..." The otter replied with a sigh. Clearly business wasn't too good. Corvus nodded handing over a silver coin and taking the fish, wrapping it in some bark parchment.
"Keep the change." He smiled, walking off. The otter couldn't believe his luck. He had more than he'd made over the last week.
"Bloody hellgates... Hey thanks!" He called, grinning as he watched the marten walk away through the crowds.
Corvus hadn't been walking long, before he heard someone call his name. He turned to see a young squirrel hurrying to catch up with him.
"Corvus, Corvus! Ah... I thought I'd never find you..." She gasped
The marten looked down, an eyebrow raised slightly. "Satya, is something wrong?"
"Um, we need to... talk somewhere more... private," She replied, still out of breath "It's urgent..."
"Okay, come. We can talk at the house."
They walked, slowly to allow Satya to regain her breath, to Corvus' house. It was not a very extravagant place; four rooms and one large upstairs room. Corvus led into the dining room, at the back of the heavy, brick structure and sat upon an old willow chair, inviting the squirrel to do the same.
"So, what was it that was so urgent?"
"It's about John... They've arrested him..."
"What? When did this happen and why?!"
"Well... They figured that... Well, he's an inventor and The Wraith always seems to have access to whatever technology that The Lady's own scientists have come up with..."
"So they're arresting all the inventors that have access to official technology..." The marten finished the sentence.
"I wasn't sure what to do... They're holding them all until one of them confesses that they know who The Wraith is..."
Corvus shook his head. "None of them know... I can swear to that... There are only three beasts who know that; me, you and Retta."
"So what do we do?"
"Go and find Retta... We'll think of something..."
Satya nodded and scampered away. Corvus rose and walked over to an old armchair, sat in the corner of the room. He moved it forwards and felt along the wall until he found a small lump. Grabbing it between his paw fingers, he tugged it slowly and a small rectangular piece of the wall swivelled to create a flap into a tiny darkened room. He felt the floor, and finding two small holes, lifted a tiny square of it up to reveal a box. The lid pulled back and there, on top of the cloak, the blood red mask stared hollowly up at him.
Author: Eheh. Okay, I must admit that I feel the chapters are not quite the quality I had wished them to be... I shall just have to keep at it. Anyway... I am uncertain as to the rating at the moment... To my mind, this chapter doesn't really warrant an 'R' rating, yet I believe that some may find it offensive... The mild gore and swearing don't really seem to scream 'R' at me, but if you should feel the rating needs to be boosted up, then let me know. For now, I have left it at a pg-13.