Author's Notes: Hey, guys! I know my updates are straying… and getting less frequent… but I haven't dedicated my ENTIRE life to writing fanfics! I also have a lot of other projects and stuff to do (some of them fanfics, others not), so… yeah. Plus I'm going on vacation soon. Happy reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Redwall in any way. It belongs to Brian Jacques.

Zale's POV

Ah… I'm so hungry…

That was my first thought as I woke up. The next thing I noticed was that I was out of the cruel sun, and that there was a bowl of cool water lying next to me. But when I finally came to my senses, I realized I was chained up and was being stared at by a bunch of smug shrews.

I raised my ears in interest.

In the center of the crowd, there stood a young shrew. He appeared to be of importance and I immediately took a disliking for him.

He cleared his throat. "I am Logalog Damon of the Guosim."

"Great," I answered. "And my name is Zale, I come from Redwall Abbey, and, by the way, could you please untie me?"

The shrew glared at me. "Who said you could speak?"

I shrugged. "Well, no one said I couldn't." I answered smartly.

The shrew snarled. "Sorry, fox, but you're on my turf! What business do you have here, vermin?" he asked aggressively.

I raised an eyebrow. "I was just passing, shrew. Say, you haven't seen a black fox around here, have you? I'm looking for him, and I guess I got lost."

"Black fox? There are no black foxes here, vermin. And if there were, we would have killed them by now." replied the shrew coldly, before leaving.

Damon's POV

As soon as I left the fox, my younger brother Eamon ran up to me. He fixed me with a worried stare, and asked, "Brother! What of the vermin?"

I shrugged. "Ah, forget the guy. He says he's from Redwall and that he's looking for a black fox. Probably one of his mates."

Eamon creased his brow and frowned. "So… what do we do with him, brother?"

"Jeez, maybe we should just let him go." I answered. "There really ain't much to do with him. He doesn't pose a threat to us."

"Yeah, but if we just let him go, he could attack us. And what about the sword we found with him?" my brother asked.

"Eh… it's the blade of Martin the Warrior."

"Yeah, I know! But if the fox has it, it means that the fox is a fighter! And maybe he ain't from Redwall! Maybe he stole the blade!"

I grunted. My brother had a point. The blade could have been stolen. But I was the leader, and according to my laws, the fox wasn't to be harmed without proof.

Innocent until proven guilty. That's my quote.

I strolled around the camp whistling a tune to myself. I grinned at two shrews that were bickering and watched the smaller one tackle the other. He would have punched the beast and knocked all his teeth out, if I hadn't intervened.

"Ahem." I said, quite casually.

The shrew spun around and smoothed out his tunic. "Er… hi chief! I didn't see you there… Ah… my and my good mate weren't really doing anything… I was just showing his a wrestling move." he said lamely.

The other shrew, however, wasn't pleased with his mate's lie. "WRESTLING MOVE?" he thundered. "I'LL GIVE YOU A WRESTLING MOVE!" This being said, he raised a fist and slammed it into the other shrew's gut.

The poor beast yelped. "OWIE! AH! Kundro, mate, what's your problem?" he screeched.

Kundro merely grinned smugly. "Why, whatever is the matter, good friend? I was just showing you a wrestling move." he declared innocently.

Upon hearing this, the smaller shrew almost poked Kundro's eye out. I shook my head and headed back to my longboat, retreating from two somewhat-crazed fighting shrews.

Deatheye's POV

The rats all stared at me expectantly. I had chosen only the stealthiest rats, and the most cunning. Not that any of them were particularly smart, but at least they weren't complete idiots.

I went over the plan with them. "Alright, the Redwall place ain't too far from here, so we can expect to see a Redwaller walk in this direction sooner or later. We capture him and bring the goodbeast back to the Master to use as a hostage, understood?"

The rats all nodded.

We were hiding in a tree, and were all scouring the area for any sign of one of the abbey dwellers.

Original POV

Derora was a small agile red squirrel who liked to explore the woods. She was still quite young, but was an ace climber.

That day, when she was climbing a really tall tree in order to get fresh apples for Galen's pie, she spotted a small band of rats and a weasel.

Derora was a smart squirrel, so she silently went back to the abbey to call for help. She was frantic, yet kept her cool while she raced back to the abbey, unseen by Deatheye or his rats.

Jason's POV

I was chatting with Skipper about fishing techniques when Derora burst into the hall. She was out of breath yet refused help from Sister Rhea.

She finally managed to articulate a few words. "Its urgent." she breathed. "Vermin… in Mossflower… not to far from here…"

It took a few moments for the news to sink in. Then, the hall was catastrophic. Beasts everywhere were panicking, and some of the youngling started crying, not because they were aware of the situation, just because they were scared by the noise level.

The Abbot chose this moment to speak. "My friends, please calm down." he stated firmly.

Silence reigned over the hall as all turned to see what the Abbot had to say.

"Yes, I'm aware that this is troubling, however, running around won't do any good. Please, I say we send someone to apprehend the… vermin." he said.

I nodded. "Yeah, he's right."

Deatheye's POV

I gnawed on an apple while staring at the floor lazily. I was bored; nothing was happening. Then, I heard a noise that made me sit up, startled.

"REDWALL!"

I then heard one of my rats scream, and when I turned around, I saw him squirming on the floor, clutching an arrow that was sticking out of his shoulder. I gulped and looked around me frantically.

Suddenly, an otter appeared behind another one of my rats, wielding a stout club and a sling. He smacked the rat's face with the club, while hurling a smooth pebble.

I drew my curved blade and scampered out of the tree, just in time to see a volley of arrows emerge from the other trees. "Ah, squirrels! Bowbeasts!" I cursed. I hated squirrels; they always hide in trees, where you can't reach them.

I turned my attention back to the otter, and rushed at him with my blade raised. But I didn't reach him. I felt a sharp pain in my paw, and realized I was hit by an arrow. But the moment I halted to examine my wound, I was an easy target. The otter hurled his sling again, this time knocking me out cold.

Author's Notes: Ah, the long awaited update… What do you guys think is going to happen to Deatheye? And Zale? K, R&R, please.