Disclaimer: See Chapter One
Author's Note: See Chapter One
Chapter Three
For a while Darkstar listened to exciting tales of Skipper and Snowpaws. Both had been on many exciting adventures and sounded like they were powerful warriors. They were friendly beasts and she soon realized that she enjoyed their company quite a bit.
"See, this is my faithful weapon given to me by a good friend of mine. Its name is Bladestrike. 'Tis a great sword." Snowpaws said proudly, unsheathing the sword from his side and handing it to Darkstar.
She felt the blade in her hand and ran her paw up the cool smoothness of the metal. She weighed it evenly in her hand and tested the sharpness against her palm. She nodded, "It does seem like a fine blade, but a bit unbalanced."
She handed the blade back to Snowpaws who nodded in agreement with her. "Aye, it is a bit unbalanced. I was hoping that I would get to Salamandastron soon and have the badger lord see if he could even it out a bit more. The unbalance is hardly noticeable though, you surely know your swords."
Darkstar shrugged. "I wouldn't know.I don't remember," she said in a flat tone.
There was a bit of an awkward silence that followed her statement, but Skipper soon broke it. "Well, the good abbot says that you might travel to Salamandastron to have him view your own weapons. I heard they were a mystery to even Rosestripe. Mayhaps Snowpaws would like to accompany you to get his blade fixed. I also, wouldn't mind seeing the great mountain myself again. It's been many seasons since I've visited it." Skipper offered.
"Where is Salamander-- what was it again?" Darkstar asked with a confused look upon her black face.
"Sal-a-man-da-stron." Skipper said, breaking up the syllables for her. "It's an old fire mountain, where it's now the home of the badger lord and hares. The badger lord residing there is now Lord Silverstreak. A young lord but quite able to rule. He's been all over the land so there is a good possibility he's come across weapons such as yours, or even better, maybe he'll have heard of your family name 'Ripclaw.'"
Snowpaws nodded in agreement with his friend. "He's gathered a lot of information from his travels and although he is young he's also wise. Salamandastron is in the middle of the water protected by fierce hares."
Water.
Another flashback, but this time more recent.
Must get away. Far away. Dark. Stormy. Water. So much water. Fear. Nervousness. Must get away. Far away. SPLASH! Ice cold water all around her. Enveloping her. Black water surrounding her. Can't see anything. Must get away. So far. SMACK! Pain. So much pain. Oh, her head. Darkness. Peaceful unconsciousness.Darkstar had her eyes shut tightly and was holding her head in pain. She opened her eyes to see the Snowpaws and Skipper with worried looks on their faces.
She took her paws away from her head. No pain. It was so real though.
"I had another flashback, and it was recent too. I kind of remember too." She said slowly.
"Come, lets go get the abbot and then you can recount what happened." Skipper said, taking her by the paw and leading her over to the abbot.
"It's not much." She muttered, but followed anyway.
"She remembers something." Snowpaws said as they reached Abbot Etherwood.
Darkstar shrugged and shook her head. "It's barely anything," she started, a bit embarrassed. It was hardly worth telling, actually. She sighed and explained her flashback. "I was on a boat, and I needed to get away from something. I don't know what, but it was urgent that I get away. So I dove off the boat even though I was afraid of water. But, my fear of the water hindered me from swimming properly, and it was dark and stormy. I couldn't see anything and my head hit something hard and I blacked out. I imagine it was the time right before Skipper and his crew found me washed upon the shore."
Skipper nodded, "Aye. That would make sense, I imagine you hit your head on a large rock."
"Well, we're getting somewhere at least. It might help if you could remember what urged you to jump off the boat, but I think this is a start." The abbot said with a warm smile. "Any other dreams you've been having that might help?"
Darkstar shook her head. She felt embarrassed and scared to try and explain her bloody dream and she was also afraid of what it might mean. "No, Father, I do have a couple of flashbacks from my childhood every now and again, but nothing that's helping with anything."
The abbot got up and looked towards the sky at the burning sun, "Hm, I'd say it's about time for supper, shall we go see what's being served in Cavern Hole?"
"Ah! The food in Redwall is the best part by far. You'll love the food here!" Snowpaws said taking her by the elbow and directing her towards the great dining hall.
As they entered Darkstar was quite surprised to see so many beasts already sitting down, anxious to start eating, but were waiting politely for the abbot.
Darkstar took a seat between Skipper and Snowpaws and the abbot said the blessing.
Darkstar filled her plate with the delicious food at the abbey and never had she tasted anything so good in her life. There was such an abundance of everything too; it was overwhelming for the young fox!
She ate till she couldn't force another bite without bursting and then sat back in her chair and observed everyone around her.
Her eyes fell upon a young mole dibbun who was getting chastised by his elder next to him, getting a gentle rap on the paw for something.
She couldn't take her eyes of the young mole and slowly her eyes began to get out of focus and another memory interrupted her thoughts.
SLAP!Pain across her face. Blood falling from her cheek and staining the ground. Whimpering. Tears about to fall.
WHACK!
"Clumsy! Worthless! You'll never reach anywhere near my skill level unless you train HARDER!"
"Papa, I'm sorry!" Came the small voice of her younger self. She brought her small paw up to her bleeding cheek and got another back paw across her face.
"You fool around too much and you're careless. FOCUS!!!" Said the gruff voice of a male as he dealt yet another blow. "Now! Pick up your weapon and concentrate on hitting the target!"
The sickle and chain. Slashing. Thrusting. Hitting targets. Losing grip. Paw in the way. More blood.
"Eh, mate, are ye alright?" Skipper asked, nudging her a bit.
The memory faded and Darkstar returned to the present, furiously rubbing her paw.
She looked to Skipper and nodded. "Yes, I'm alright." She looked down at her paw and noticed a silver scar shine through her dark fur where the sickle at pierced it seasons ago.
"Did you have another flashback?" Snowpaws asked anxiously.
She nodded. "I was training for something. And it seemed important by the way my father was pushing me to focus and concentrate. When I was training with my weapon.I lost hold of it and it pierced my paw." She held out her paw for Skipper and Snowpaws to see the mark.
"So you saw your father in your flashback?" Snowpaws inquired.
"Not really actually. The flashback was mostly concentrated on my younger self, but I called the other person 'Papa'.so he must have been my father." She replied. She took a deep breath. "Most of my flashbacks seem to be disturbing and unhappy."
A young ottermaid was listening to the conversation and decided to comment. "Mayhaps, it's not just the bump on your head that is causing you to not remember anything. Maybe there are memories that you are subconsciously trying to forget and getting hit on the head just made it easier to do so."
Darkstar thought back to her previous nights dream, all the blood. It was a good possibility the young otter was right in her assumption.
Skipper smiled proudly. "Ah, the intelligence of otters. This witty young one is part of my crew. May I introduce you to Karia."
Karia gave Skipper a flat look, "I'm not much younger than you, old fogey. You make yourself sound ancient." She turned to Darkstar and smiled brightly. Thrusting out her paw she shook Darkstar's paw warmly. "Silly, Skipper. He thinks himself to be so mature and grown up when he's not but a season older than you and I." She turned back to Skipper and pinched his cheeks. "And he's still got a bit of a baby face to him as well."
A horrified look was on Skipper's face as Karia distorted his face by pulling his cheeks every which way.
Snowpaws laughed heartily and Darkstar's eyes showed great amusement as she watched on, although her stoic expression still etched upon her dark face.
Skipper broke free of Karia's grasp and put his paws to his face. "Really, Karia." He said sternly, but then broke out in a laugh as well.
Karia became serious and looked towards Darkstar. "Putting all joking aside, Skipper is a great leader. Probably the youngest we've ever had, but great nonetheless."
Darkstar nodded, she could see that Skipper had a good head on his shoulders and seemed to be a born leader.
Karia placed a paw on Snowpaws' shoulder. "Now, this young fox here isn't a leader at all, but if you've ever seen him in a paw to paw fight you would never want to face him in battle."
"That good, eh?" Darkstar said in her quiet manner.
"Eeeh, I'm not that great." Snowpaws said modestly, turning a bit pink around the ears.
Skipper slapped his back, "Of course ye are, matey! The best around Redwall!" He turned to Darkstar. "No one around here can beat my pal in a sparring match. What about you? Do you know of any fighting experience in your past? I'd love to see how a mysterious weapon wielding fox could hold her own against our warrior champion."
Darkstar couldn't remember anything about paw-to-paw fighting, but there was something about her that just couldn't resist a challenge. Her body also seemed to be telling her that she had the abilities to fight without weapons and she was anxious to see what exactly she could do.
"I can't remember much about training paw-to-paw, but I'm willing to see if I know any." She said with determination.
Snowpaws smiled, "Don't worry, Darkstar. I'll go easy on you."
The two headed outside for this sparring match and Skipper and Karia followed, with the two otters announcing to everyone about the sparring match between Darkstar and Snow.
Darkstar closed her eyes, focusing on the match at hand. This probably wasn't the best idea, especially after eating, but she doubted that this would get very far. She was already at a disadvantage not being able to even recall if she could fight.
A large group of Redwall members had gathered outside to watch the match, and Abbot Etherwood laid a paw on Rosestripe's broad back. "Be sure to stop this fight if it gets out of hand, friend."
Rosestripe nodded, "Aye, Father."
As Darkstar stood in ready stance, with Snowpaws also in his ready stance across from her, she felt a familiar excitement and adrenaline rush surge up and down her veins.
Snowpaws began with a simple round kick towards her side and Darkstar immediately down blocked his attack.
As she blocked, Snow sent his fist flying towards her face. Ducking underneath his outstretched arm she lunged forward landing her own punch in his mid section.
She was relying greatly on second nature and instinct. Although her mind didn't know what to do, her body obviously did, probably by repetition training.
Snowpaws was greatly surprised by her quick reflexes and agility. Seeing her fight, it was obvious she was a skilled fighter.
To step this match up a notch, Snow flipped backwards, giving space between the two and then in two giant leaps came at her with a flying sidekick towards her chest.
Darkstar jammed his footpaw and then crouched low and lifted upwards, flipping Snow behind her.
Snow quickly flipped over and landed on his footpaws. "You're good, Darkstar." He panted regaining his breath.
She gazed calmly at him with her dark eyes, without even breaking a sweat. "You're very good yourself." Every move she made in battle felt so right.like she was trained exactly to fight.it was a rather disturbing feeling.
"Shall we continue?" Snow said with a grin. Darkstar nodded and Snow rushed towards her and in the last second jumped into the air.
Darkstar turned her head upwards and saw the bottom of Snow's footpaw coming down swiftly towards her face. She flip backwards out of the way of his attack and waited patiently as he landed neatly back on the ground. A glint in her eyes shone through their darkness in color and then she smirked slightly. Enough of defending, time to attack.
With a hop and a skip she brought her right leg out into a kick towards his neck and followed with tornado kick towards the side of his head.
Snow was ready though and blocked both kicks, but didn't see her paw shoot out as he blocked the second attack. Grabbing his blocking arm, Darkstar turned herself around so that they were facing the same direction and then flipped him over her shoulder.
Snow bonded with the ground. He got up quickly though and was again in ready stance.
Time to finish this. With mind-blowing speed Darkstar rushed at Snowpaws but actually went to the left side of him. As she passed him on purpose she brought her knee up into his stomach and then when she was behind him she kicked him forward in the back with a back kick.
As he lurched forward from the force of the kick she turned around and grabbed his arm. Pulling him towards her, she soon had her claws outstretched and aimed towards the critical part of his neck.
Rosestripe was about to go in and break up the fight, but Abbot Etherwood stopped her. "She'll stop." He said with quiet confidence.
True to his word, Darkstar stopped her claws right before they penetrated the skin on Snow's neck.
She stared wide-eyed into Snow's brown eyes, also wide in surprise. Both were breathing rather heavily and sweat was drenching Snow's fur. Their gaze was locked for a couple of seconds and then Darkstar released Snow from her grip. "I apologize." She said quietly and then walked off away from the noise and buzzing of the onlookers.
She shook her dark head and growled angrily at herself. Where did I learn to fight like that?! If I hadn't stopped myself I could have killed him! What happened in my past?
Karia watched silently as she saw Darkstar stalk off by herself and then raced after her.
----
"So ye were finally beaten, eh?" Skipper said smiling as he walked up to Snow.
Snow shook his head in bewilderment. "Never have a seen a beast fight so smoothly and flawlessly. I've traveled much and seen many battles, mate, I know what I'm talking about." He wiped sweat from his eyes and watched the back of Darkstar as she walked off. "I'm quite curious as to how she learned to fight like that." He turned to Skipper with a dead serious look on his face. "That fox, her fighting, her techniques, weren't learned to just defend, her techniques of fighting, were meant to kill."
Skipper turned his own serious eyes towards his friend. "Aye, that last technique with her claws was proof of that. She's a curious beast and I know there's something mysterious about her past."
----
Karia easily caught up with Darkstar. She patted the fox on she back. "Good fighting, Darkstar! You were marvelous out there."
Darkstar turned worried eyes towards the ottermaid and shook her head. She looked down at her paws. "No, I could have seriously hurt Snowpaws back there. If I had known what I could do, how I would fight, I would never have agreed to spar him."
Karia smiled warmly. "Aye, but now you are aware of what you're capable of. You learn a bit of your past that way. Besides, you were able to stop yourself before you seriously harmed him. He's fine. Don't blame yourself."
"But, where did I learn to fight like that? And why? So many loose ends, just bits and pieces of my past." She turned her doleful black eyes towards the otter. "But then, there's part of me that wants my past to remain hidden. Karia, I have this dark feeling that I've done horrible things in my past and I don't think I want to remember them. I just want to live in peaceful ignorance."
"Would it really be peaceful ignorance? I mean, yeah you might not know your whole past, but you'd still have that feeling. Would you just be able to bury what little you do know of your past and live on happily? It doesn't take any courage to run from what you fear, but if you can face it and rise above it, now THAT takes courage." Karia responded.
Darkstar wanted to believe what Karia said, but her dreams, so horrible, so bloody, argh, what had she done in her past?!
