A/N This is the second chapter. As you can see it is longer than the last chapter. I hope you like it! please review
Disclaimer: Redwall and everything in it is ©Brian Jacques
As Mark continued reading High Rhulain, His brother, David, came into the room.
"Are you still reading those gay mouse books?" sneered David. " You need to be introduced to a real war, not those animals shooting arrows and hitting each other with swords. Modern warfare is what it's all about. If you charged willy-nilly into the battle, you wouldn't last half a second. If I had just one tank, I could destroy an entire army of your fake woodland creatures."
"You idiot, these books are medieval. Of course you could kill them with a tank, but if you just had a sword, you wouldn't last half a second. Go back and play your Battlefield 2 game, or are you tired of being blasted into oblivion every 10 seconds?" taunted Mark.
"HEY! SHUT UP! I could whoop your butt any day!"
"I don't care if you could whoop me, but anybody else who plays could kick you fat behind any day of the week."
"Well… uh… SHUT UP!" David stomped off in a huff.
When David was gone, Mark thought, "I really hate him sometimes, but there's nothing I can do. He is bigger, older, and stronger than me. He also was in the army for two years. He still has connections in the army. If he wanted to, he could get almost any weapon he wanted. Oh well, it's best just to ignore him. Back to my reading now."
Mark continued reading for the next half-hour. When he had finished High Rhulain, he felt content. Well, almost content.
"I so wish Redwall was real. I would give anything to be in Redwall."
Mark thought about Redwall for the rest of the day. When he went to bed that night, he was still thinking about Redwall. As he fell asleep, he had a very strange dream. In the dream, he saw a hazy figure. Mark squinted to look at the figure, but he still could not make it out. Then he heard a voice. It was very comfortable, but it seemed almost as if it was inside of his head. Somehow he knew the voice came from the hazy figure. The voice was so comforting that Mark knew he should listen.
"Mark, listen to me," said the figure. "You will get your wish. You will be able to go to Redwall. I will not tell you how you will get here, because it will come as a surprise. But, I must warn you, tell no one at all. There will be great fighting and trouble in Mossflower if the wrong people enter our world. Guard your secret with care…"
As the voice began to fade, Mark asked, or rather thought, a question.
"Who are you?"
Just as Mark asked his question, the figure split into two figures, and they became much clearer. Mark noticed that they were to strong-looking mice. The first figure answered:
"I am Martin; this is Matthias. Guard our land as best you can."
Mark slept on for a few moments, and then woke up.
"That's strange. I remember having a dream, but I can't remember a thing. Oh well." He went right back to sleep.
In Mossflower, Twighopper and her friends were begging Father Abbot Maximus to let them go outside of the Abbey walls and into the woods. Abbot Maximus completely fit his name. He was nearly a head taller than other mice, and much broader in the shoulders. Despite his size, he had a soft spot for Dibbuns and young creatures. Twighopper and her friends were beginning to win Abbot Maximus over.
"Please let us go!" begged Twighopper.
"I don't know, it can be dangerous out there," replied Abbot Maximus, even though he already knew he would allow the youngsters to go.
"Don't worry," replied Twighopper's friend Riverfisher, a young but burly otter, "I can take care of these two rascals."
"I don't know, Meadowgrass can be quite ornery at times." Father Abbot made a mental note that Riverfisher was a good candidate to be the next Skipper of Otters.
Meadowgrass fluttered her long eyelashes and voiced her plea to Father Abbot. "Please let us go, Father Abbot. If you don't, I might have to cry." She sat down on the Abbey lawn and feigned sadness and started rubbing her eyes with her paws.
"All right, you've convinced me. I'll let you go, but don't stray too far and be back in time for the evening meal. Be sure to take a haversack full of food so you don't get hungry. Tell Friar Mitch that I told him to pack you all kinds of goodies for you expedition.
"Yay! Thank you Father Abbot!" The three friends cried in unison as they ran to find Friar Mitch.
"Those are the future of Redwall Abbey. They will grow up to become respectable Abbey elders. All they need is a little bit more responsibility," thought Abbot Maximus.
As the Father Abbot continued to think about his beloved Abbey and its future. He wandered up onto the wall just north of the main gate. To the west, he saw the plains, and to the east, past the Abbey, he saw seemingly endless expanses of woodland.
"Your Abbey sure is a wonderful place, isn't it, Maximus."
Abbot Maximus looked around for the speaker and found his long-time friend Methuselah. He was named after the Methuselah who helped Matthias to find the sword of Martin the Warrior. The current Methuselah was very dedicated in his role as Abbey Recorder and Librarian. He studied the history of Redwall, especially the lives and adventures of Martin the Warrior and Matthias. Nobeast knew more about Redwall's history than Methuselah.
"Yes it is, Methuselah. It seems like it has been around since the beginning of time, yet it still stands strong. It is like a symbol for all that is good and a defiance against all evil. I love coming up here around sunset. It seems like I can see everything from up here: The plains, the sunset, the forest. Sometimes I imagine myself flying all over the land, and I see many wonderful things. But, nothing satisfies me as much as this Abbey. I can never wait until I fly home and see these dusty pink walls."
"I know exactly how you feel. When I was younger, I would often come up here and do that exact same thing," replied Methuselah.
" Was that when you were Father Abbot? I remember when you were the Abbot. You were so kind to all the young ones, and we had the grandest feasts!" exclaimed Maximus.
"Yes, I could get a little carried away with my feasts sometimes. I love a good feast just as much as the next Redwaller. Those were the days. Not to say anything bad about your feasts. Do you remember the midwinter feast in the Winter of the Frozen Rose?" queried Methuselah.
"Ah, do I ever! There was that family of hares, the Mimps, and all of their 11 leverets, and we still had leftovers for three days! It was one of the best feasts I remember. But Methuselah, I can see that you love this Abbey as much as I do. Why did you had your position over to me?"
"Oh, I just started to get old. To tell the truth, being Father Abbot required just a little bit too much responsibility," confessed Methuselah. "Besides, I love books, I always have, and I always will."
As the two long-time friends continued reminiscing about the "good old days," Twighopper, Riverfisher, and Meadowgrass started on their outing in Mossflower woods laden with crabapple tarts and plum cakes.
"Where should we go this time?" asked Twighopper.
Riverfisher replied, "I say that we should head over to the River Moss. I know where a good patch of blackberries is, and I could take a swim and maybe do a bit of fishing, matey."
"Oh, be quiet," Meadowgrass replied playfully. "We all know that you just want to show off. Everybody already knows you're the best swimmer and fisher besides the Skipper."
"Okay, Meadowgrass. Where do you want to go?" in inquired Twighopper.
" I found this place that has wild pears for me to pick, because you know how much I love pears, great tall trees for you to climb, Twighopper, and a stream for Riverfisher to swim in. There, I compromised all of our wishes. Let's go."
Thethree friends headed off. As they made their way towards Meadowgrass's spot, Twighopper started a conversation.
"Do you think there are any other worlds out there?" she asked.
"I don't know, mate," replied Riverfisher. "This world is big enough for me,"
"That is an interesting idea," said Meadowgrass, "but I don't think that it is possible."
"Why not?" questioned Twighopper. "What about all the stars? It's pretty big out there. It seems like it could happen. If there's the sun, the moon, and the stars out there, why can't there be other worlds."
"Get your head out of the clouds, or rather, the stars. This world is too big for us to comprehend. Why should we even try to think about other worlds? Even if there are other worlds, how could we get to them? Trust me, you'll only be disappointed when you find out it's not possible," lectured Meadowgrass.
"Well, okay. It would be cool if there were other worlds, though. Well, we're here. I'm going to go climb that big tree over there."
The three friends had a great time. Riverfisher swam and did some acrobatics to show off. He even caught a few fish. Meadowgrass ate a couple pears and packed away some more, thinking that Friar Mitch might bake a batch of apple and pear flans. Twighopper climbed a tree and jumbed from tree to tree with the greatest of ease. That was why she was called Twighopper. Even though she had a great time, she still could not get the idea of other worlds out of her head. After a few hours, the friends headed back. The topic of other worlds did not come up. The sun was starting to set, so the three friends hurried. They did not want to miss Friar Mitch's leek and mushroom pasties.
When Mark woke up in the morning, he had no recollection of his dream at all. After eating breakfast, he sat down to read High Rhulain again. His brother David walked into the room, shook his head, and walked off.
Mark thought, "It's a nice day outside. I'll go find a tree in the woods and read there. That way I'll be away from David."
Mark went outside and found a tree suitable to his liking. He climbed about seven feet up and settled down to read. After reading for about an hour, he heard someone coming.
"Hey, loser!" cried a voice from the woods.
"What do you want," replied Mark in an annoyed voice.
Mark's brother David came out from behind a tree and said, "How can you read so much and actually like it. I should take your book away from you. Then what would you do?"
David ran up to the tree, scaled the trunk, and grabbed High Rhulain. Mark held on, but David was stronger. David pulled the book from Mark's hand, but David overbalanced from the pull and started to fall over. He grabbed Mark in an attempt to fall over, and Mark fell out of the tree. David looked down and saw that Mark had landed on his head.
"Mark?" David asked fearfully. Mark did not move or reply.
As the world started to go black, Mark heard David say:
"Oh snap, I'm in trouble now. I can't tell anyone."