This is quick! I've fixed the last chapter's typos now. Please R&R.
During Which the Grass Will Grow
Chapter Three: Garrin's Hidden Valley
It was definitely a great shocker for Lupin and Foremole. Tears had come to everyone's eyes. The Guosim and Redwall were closely tied to each other for as long as any Redwaller had known. Many generations passed through Mossflower, and every single one, good or bad, had known the famous group of shrews.
"I knew this would come soon. I've just never...never thought that it would.... it would happen....now...." Greenleaf said, a tear coming down his face. Martin, the macho mouse and warrior that he is, was the only one that did not shed even a tear. Warriors were born and trained not to show any outside emotions; that was a sign of weakness, as the teaching goes.
Lupin gave a somber sigh, and then brought back the other issues. "I know this is a huge loss for our lives, but we must not sit here crying over our losses forever. We have a huge mission to complete, and unfortunately we must move on. Up we go, our next stop is the Topaz Holt!"
Martin's eyes widened, expecting to say that himself. He quickly got over it. Everyone then packed up, and they were soon on their way.
Later on, everyone became quite weary after the afternoon's journey. It was then that the group heard a rustling in nearby shrubs.
Martin froze. "Everyone, stay still!" he whispered, and the four obeyed. Again, the rustling sounded, and a shadow dashed from one side of the path to the other. It looked as if it was a badger, but Martin couldn't be sure. Then the dark figure jumped out from behind the bush, yelling at the top of its' lungs, waving a large club at them.
"Yaaaaarrrgggghhhh!!!!" it yelled at them. Everyone then gave a sigh of relief. It was just an old, disgruntled badger.
"This is ridiculous..." Martin said under his breath.
"Hey? Who do you think you are scarin' us like that!?" Lupin yelled, obviously mad because of the fact he was probably scared.
A younger badger then came out from somewhere, after hearing the noise, shaking his head. "Father, what are you doing scarin' them like that? They obviously aren't vermin, they would've attacked you by now!" he hustled the old badger away, back to their hidden home. The badger quickly returned. "I'm sorry for that. He gets cranky sometimes. Too old to tell who's good and who's bad, y'know? But I guess he doesn't like anyone nowadays. You wanna come in for supper? It's gettin' late. We're makin' hotroot soup an' plenty o' vittles," the polite badger offered. The five agreed and thanked the ironically nice badger. "My name's Garrin by the way. Here, follow me. I've got a hidden place not far from 'ere."
They followed Garrin, who let aside low-lying branches to reveal a beaten-down path, which, not visible from the main path through Mossflower, was quite distinct. Ahead on small forest-floored hills, the path continued far on, and you could see on for a bit, until what looked like a clearing in a valley.
Once they got to the clearing, they all looked in awe that a small village that beheld at the bottom of a small valley. They all gasped in awe of it, and continued walking downward, getting closer to it. "How can you keep from vermin seeing such a magnificent place and not attacking it?" Martin asked in curiosity.
"Funny you ask that, because I never thought of that. I guess nobeast explored so far into it. Strange, isn't it?" Garrin responded. Lupin, on the other hand, wasn't saying anything. The place looked strangely familiar, but he just couldn't tell where he saw that before. "Hmm..." he said aloud.
"What?" Greenleaf asked quietly.
"I...I could've sworn I've seen this place. I just don't know wh.." Lupin stopped talking. Now he remembered. This was the hidden valley that he'd seen the large band of evil vermin! "Greenleaf! Remember the hidden valley I was talking about before? The one with the evil ones?" Lupin whispered. Greenleaf's eyes widened. "Is this...the place?" he said, and Lupin nodded. He then told Foremole and Mortimer, and thankfully Garrin didn't notice.
Martin, on the other hand, probably noticed, as Martin was still questioning Garrin about the valley. He usually wasn't very inquisitive, mostly because he knows everything already. Lupin played along with whatever plans Garrin had for them, until they got to the village. By the time that happened, they pulled out their swords. Garrin knew now the jig was up.
"GET THEM!" Garrin yelled, and suddenly a pack of rats came out to take them away, but not without a fight.
"Redwaaaaaaal!!! Topaz Hoollllllllt!" they yelled out their war cries. Many swords clashed, and it seemed as if the enemies never ended. They soon became tired after around 20 minutes of warfare, until Martin said, "Retreat! Run!!" and they dashed up the valley for their lives. They were a bit ahead of the band, and, not looking where they were going when they ran back onto the Mossflower path, ran farther across it and fell into a ditch, which seemed pretty secluded from the rest of the forest. There was a whisper somewhere that seemed inside of the ground.
"You! Hurry! Get in!" the voice whispered, as they heard the band thumping closer. A door opened through the forest floor, and they dove inside, the door closing behind them. It was extremely dark, but they then realized they were hidden from the vermin as they heard them thumping by, running through the forest still. A candle was suddenly lit, as they saw a burrow dug into the ground that someone had been living in. It looked quite habitual; there were books that were in "shelves" that were actually dug into the wall, and they realized a mole lived here, not too far off from the Mossflower path. There was also a desk with many scrolls on them, chairs, a fireplace with a kettle adjacent to the 'door' and many spices jarred up in another "shelf" dug into the wall.
"Who are you?" Greenleaf asked. "I am Gerrek. Yes, I know that I am a mole, but I happened to break away from the small boundary that separates the mole language from that of normal woodlanders. I read a lot. Who, may I ask, are you?"
"I'm Greenleaf of Redwall, and that mole over there is Foremole, also of Redwall, as well as Martin and Mortimer, Martin the official warrior, and Mortimer, the second Chef. This is Lupin of the Topaz Holt, to the east of here. We're on a mission to defeat that band of vermin, but we must get together the rest of Mossflower to fight them off." And Greenleaf told the rest of the story.
The mole was in awe, he'd never realized that the band of vermin had grown to such a size. "Well, you've certainly had an adventure. Would you like something to eat on your way off?" The mole offered.
"No, thank you. I suppose we should go. But we shall return, thank you for hiding us! We would stay, but we've a long journey ahead of us. Thank you, Gerrek!" Lupin said, and the five reopened the door and walked back up the hill, thanking the pleasant mole on their way up, and the warriors were soon on their way to the Topaz Holt, keeping a keen eye out for any danger that might come upon them on their way.
Well, I hope this chapter was a bit longer, I'm tired now of writing. This took a couple hours to write and revise. Anyway, please read and review, and thank you for your support an critiquing.