Does fate rule us, or do we rule fate?
At what point in time were these shackles of destiny placed upon us?
Does blood alone make the measure of one's value?
These answers I sought, and seek still, for my life has been a trail of questions.
Hate breeds hate and the land becomes stained crimson;
As the chains of destiny tighten their grasp the world becomes a stark place of contrast.
However, even if the last vestige of peace is stripped from us…
A spark of hope still remains…
For those who are willing to move towards the future…
I leave it in your paws…my children.
-Note in abbey records, author unknown
"By unclean blood the darkness falls. Fire shall spread by the will of the Light, and the putrid tide shall leave a pathway of blood. The twin seed shall be sown by the bloodless paw and when the flame and wind join as one the sword of the sky shall fall and cleave the world apart…"
- Prophecy of destruction foretold by the Emperor's Seer…
The Twin Chronicles
Prologue
Mossflower Woods had not seen a storm such as this in many a season. The sky brooded with endless dark clouds, lances of lighting playing about them and thunder echoing from their every corner. On the ground it seemed even darker than a night should properly be…and the rain only added to this effect. It came down in a constant piercing torrent of thin needle-like drops that shattered upon the already soaked ground. The noise would have deafened most creatures, the wind howled like an unleashed demon, the flood of rain and running water created a constant deluge of sound that came close to drowning out the thunder that boomed across the woodlands.
Redwall Abbey stood in the center of it all, its ancient red-sandstone walls steadfastly withstanding the powerful forces of Mother Nature in full swing around them. Most any beast would have missed it in the haze of the storm and night…but as always the fires burned bright in the abbey building, lanterns and candles lit on the inside casting a warm glow that was still just barely visible in the storm's torrent. It was this glow that attracted a single solitary creature who was desperately struggling through the night…carrying a carefully protected bundle between her two drenched paws. She was a small diminutive rat, wearing little more than tattered rags over a body that was now soaked to the very bone, but even the floods of water over her body did not conceal the trickle of blood that seeped from a deep gash in her side. She stumbled forward, focusing on the soft light she saw ahead of her, from some building she did not recognize…but any type of sanctuary would be a miracle to her.
Out of the forest she staggered, up the muddy pathway, and right up to the large and sturdy main gate on the west side of the structure. Reaching it she leaned against the door, she could feel her strength leaving her with every passing moment…she reached up with one shaking paw and banged on the door. For what seemed to her like hours, but was only a few moments, nothing happened. Then the massive doorway creaked open and a mouse's head poked out into the stormy night. He looked at the female rat with surprise, but before he could say a single word she pushed forward past the door and into Redwall's gatehouse.
Brother Halem was shocked to no small amount at the sight of the creature as she collapsed to her knees on the floor. "Oh my! You need help marm!" he called over to a female hedgehog who was standing nearby, his good friend Sister Lilium "Lil! Go fetch the Abbess and Sister Alora, quick now!" Lil nodded, at a loss for words and scurried out of the gatehouse. Halem turned his attention to the rat, who seemed to be trying to regain her feet, but her whole body now was trembling and Halem could now see the blood trailing from the wound in her side. He kneeled down next to her, pulling a piece of his habit off and putting it to the wound to try to stop the flow of blood. The rat spoke, her voice shaky "P-p-please…you…you m-must take them…" Halem helped her up and laid her down on a nearby sofa, trying to calm her down "Now, now, marm, your injured and must save your strength…your safe here and help is soon to arrive." The female rat shook her head and held up the bundle, "N-not much time…take them…make s-sure they…stay…safe." Halem took the warm and now wriggling bundle; he opened it to find two small ratbabes looking back at him, both looking cold, hungry, and terrified. He looked back at the female rat, to tell her not to worry and he would do what he could for them, but she had already used the last of her life to push her two offspring into the Brother's arms…she now lay on the sofa with an almost serene look on her face, no trace of life left.
A few moments later the door into the gatehouse from the abbey grounds swung open. Abbess Songbreeze, along with the Abbey Warrior Dannflor, the Abby's Badgermother Cregga, the abbey healer mouse Alora, and Sister Lilium, came into the room and crowed around Halem and the now dead rat.
"What happened Halem?" asked Song in the musical voice that was her namesake, now filled with concern. Halem just shook his head, tears running down his eyes, "S-she just came in all of a sudden, I didn't have time to do anything for her…" he held up the bundle with the two ratbabes in it "The last thing she said before dying was to asked me to take care of them." By his look Song could tell that Brother Halem was practically filled to the brim with sorrow…she turned to the others "It looks like there is nothing more we can do for her…Dann can you take care of a burial." The squirrel warrior, and Song's long time friend nodded "I think I can handle that Song…but what are we going to do with the two little ones?" Cregga was busy appraising the dead rat mother, "Hmmmm…this wound was made by a blade, it would seem she was fleeing from somebeast…" Alora had taken the two ratbabes from Halem and was inspecting them, the two babes shook with both cold and fear, not being able to know what was happening to them, "I'll get them dried and fed and put them in the infirmary…other than being soaked they don't seem to have been injured." Song could see Halem breath a sigh relief, and she guessed she felt the same way…though the babes were technically vermin they were still just babes and of no harm to anybeast. "Thank you Alora, I trust you to take good care of them for the time being." Alora nodded and genitally took the two ratbabes from Brother Halem. Being sure to keep the two young ones well covered with a blanket Redwall's healer left the gatehouse and crossed the abbey grounds through the rain to the main building where she would take her two charges to the comforting safety of the infirmary. Song turned back to Brother Halem "If you wish I'll have somebeast else come out and take over gatehouse duty…you might need some rest." Halem was staring in the direction that Alora had went, he seemed to not hear the Abbess for a moment then with a quick blink he seemed to come back to reality "Huh…oh, that's alright Abbess, I think I can keep up gatehouse duty for the night…I just…" he trailed off, and Song nodded "I understand, I'll have Friar Kal bring some food out in a little while." She turned to Dann "Shall I have somebeast give you a paw with the burial?" her friend nodded, but in a strange detached way, Song knew he was worried about the abbey's safety and was thinking about what this latest event could mean for Redwall. Song had to admit that she felt a bit worried as well, she had only taken the position as Abbess last season and Redwall was still recovering from a war with a group of foxes that had invaded.
She still freshly remembered those events as if they had happened yesterday. How a mysterious and infamous family of fox's known as Marlfoxs had attack Redwall Abbey. She had just been a visitor then, having traveled there with her family. When she first set eyes on the Abbey she could never have guessed that one day she would be it's Abbess, or of the adventurers she and her two good friends Dannflor and Dippler would share. During one of the battles outside the abbey a pair of Marlfoxs had sneaked into the abbey and stolen it's fabled and valued tapestry and like the impulsive young ones they had been the three of them had set out to get it back. Song smiled to herself at all the memories of those days that seemed like they had happened so long ago. She shook her head to bring herself back into the here and now, where there were matters to attend.
For now Dann had covered the female rat's body with a blanked and had turned to her "I'll go find my father and a few others and give her a proper burial." A flash of lightning from outside and the roar of thunder made Song giver her friend a dubious look. "In that? Digging would probably be near impossible in this kind of weather, wait for the storm to die down a bit then go ahead with the burial. In the meantime we'd better get back to the abbey." She turned towards the door and walked for it. Dann and Cregga followed, Cregga saying in her deep voice "I assume your going to check on those two babes." It was not a question. Song did not break step as the three of them left the gatehouse and into the open fury of the storm as they crossed the abbey grounds.
Once safely back inside the main abbey building Dann said, "Hey Song, I'll join you in the infirmary in a sec but I need to go get my father up and find some digging tools."
"Sure, can you also tell the Friar to bring food out to Halem…he's just gone through a serious ordeal and something to eat will probably do him good." Dann gave a little wave as he went his way. "Can do Song, I'll see you in a little while." And with that he was off, leaving Song and Cregga to go on to the infirmary.
Redwall's infirmary served as a place of healing for all in the abbey, it's walls line with soft beds on one side and shelves and cupboards filled with herbs and medicines both common and exotic. In the far corner of the room by one of the windows, Sister Alora was gently rocking what appeared to be a makeshift crib. As Song and Cregga entered the room Alora turned to greet them. "Ah, glad to see the two of you came. The two little ones are still scared near half to death, the poor little darlings…I tried to give them some food earlier but they both seem too frightened to take it." The mousemaid gave a worried shrug, "They are at least warm and dry for the moment but if they don't take any food or drink they are sure to starve." Song came up to the crib and looked inside as Alora spoke. Inside the two ratbabes, one male, one female, clung to each other near the far end. Both were still as wide eyed as when Song had first seen them in the gatehouse, and they both still shivered even though Alora had dried them and warmed them. "What do you suppose has them so scared?" Song mused aloud. Alora came up beside her while Cregga walked around to the other side of the crib. "I imagine whatever happened to their mother had been a frightening enough experience for ones so new to the world, then being carried in such a ghastly storm for who knows how much distance or time, then suddenly being taken from their mother's arms into the company of complete strangers…would you not be frightened?" Song did not have to think on what Alora had said to understand it, she knew that under the same circumstances and if she were the same age she too would have been terribly afraid. But this was Redwall, a place of peace and safety to any creature who needed or desired such things and it was detected to helping other creatures. So of course Song wanted nothing more at this moment then to see these two ratbabes not scared but peacefully sleeping and recovering from their ordeal.
So of course she immediately set about trying to accomplish this. "Alora, could you give me the food you were trying to feed them?" the Sister nodded and turned to a shelf where she plucked up a bowl filled with warm soup from which a steam still rose. "Here, this should be more than enough to calm them and keep them well fed until tomorrow…if we can get them to eat it." Song took the bowl with a nod of thanks and turned her attention to the crib. Slowly and carefully she placed the bowl into the center of the crib. The two ratbabes both sniffed the air, obviously smelling the enticing meal…but the sheer intimidating presence of what was to them a monolithic creature of imposing size made them stay where they were. Song was not daunted in the least bit by this and gently pushed the bowl a bit closer. Still the babes would not move, though they did visibly shiver less. This encouraged Song and she decided to try something.
She took in a deep breath and summoned her ever so well-known voice to do what she was so named for. The tune of her voice was like that of a soft flowing stream in spring, kind and soothing as it hummed a very old lullaby that her mother had long ago hummed to her to help her drift off into sleep after hard days on the road. The lullaby continued to hang in the air as Song's angelic voice gave the old notes new life. Both Alora and Cregga stood completely silent, both of them fully moved by the sheer pureness of emotion in every note Song hummed. The two ratbabes had stopped their shivering altogether at first hearing the lullaby, and for a moment they seemed less frightened and simply more unsure of themselves. Song continued to hum as she placed her paw into the crib and guided the bowl of still steaming soup closer to the pair of babes.
Strangely enough the two ratbabes exchanged a glance before tentatively crawling over to the bowl. Once there each eagerly starting sipping their fill, all the while listening to Song's soothing voice as the lullaby continued. Song had gotten so caught up in what she was doing, so determined to see that these two young souls were at peace in her abbey that it took her a moment to notice something rather odd. She looked down to see that the two ratbabes had finished with the soup and were now clinging to her arm. Song looked down into their eyes as they looked up at hers and she felt something she had never felt before. This was the first time that any so young had held on to her like this, in such a loving and in some ways desperate manner. The shinny little eyes of the young ratbabes already told their own tale and Song realized with some amount of shock that the two ratbabes had accepted a replacement for their lost mother.
For a long moment Song was a little too shocked by the realization to do anything but stare down at the pair of tiny ratbabes who stared back with a almost blind need in their eyes. The two literally needed something, sombeast, to hold onto to keep the sheer fear of being lost and confused at bay. Song found herself smiling and whispering soft comforting words of the kind only the very young could really understand. With careful gentleness she eased the two ratbabes down into the crib and stood there, coaxing them into sleep with whispering tunes. She did not even realize it as the storm outside slackened its ferocity and the darkness outside the small infirmary window became lighter with the coming of dawn.
Long past had Cregga and Sister Alora left the room, leaving the young ones to their sleep and the Abbess to her tending of them. When the first golden rays of sunlight streaked in over the red sandstone walls to light upon Songbreeze's eyes, she gave a small start as she realized just how much time she'd spent in here. By now the two ratbabes were sound asleep, looking for the entire world as peaceful and content as if the troubles of the previous night had never occurred. By now the storm was all but gone, as fading memory with only the misty vapor and thinning clouds as evidence that it had ever been.
Song breathed a sigh of relief, both glad to see the storm pass and even more so to see her new charges finally resting. Outside she heard the clamor of voices and saw out the window Dann and his father Rusvul talking with the badger mother as the three walked with grim faces and digging tools towards the gatehouse. They would give the mother of the two ratbabes a proper burial, even with the difficult of digging in mud. It still troubled Song the knowledge of how the female rat had died…more from a slash in her side then the storm last night. Who did that to her and why? And perhaps even more importantly, would this mean danger for Redwall Abbey?
Turning from the window and the crib, Song silently strode towards the door of the infirmary. She would have to talk with her father and Dann's, along with the Dann himself and Cregga. Maybe she should call a full meeting of the abbey in Cavern Hole. No…that would cause undue commotion among the abbey and until she knew more she did not plan on getting everybeast worked up over what might be nothing. So far all that happened last night was a poor female rat died from the previous nights storm and it was now the abbey's duty to look after the now orphaned young ones. After all, that was part of what the abbey had been built to do. There would be of course some talk of it, two vermin, even if they were just babes, in the abbey. But It would pass and Song intended to see that the last wishes of the mother be carried out. Song reached the door and opened it, turning back to look once more at the crib.
"Even if I have to replace what they lost…" she whispered to herself, then left, closing the door softly behind her.
