A/N: Sorry that the story has been developing a little slow, but hopefully it will start to get exciting soon.
Thanks for the reviews: daevilBEAN, Xenosagi, Elven Bunny, and Butterfly Lion
Please read and review!
The next morning, Mark woke up full of vigor and ready to go back to Redwall. He hurried through breakfast, and he was about to lock himself in his room when his mom stopped him.
"Mark," she said. "I want you to mow the lawn."
"What? Why can't David do it?" Mark complained.
"Because I want you to do it, that's why," she replied.
"Fine," Mark said with frustration.
Mark knew that if he rushed through the chore and missed some spots, his mom would make him do it again. Mark did the job, but he grumbled and muttered dark things while he mowed the lawn.
An hour later, when he was almost done, Mark thought, "I know this is paranoid, but I hope David didn't go looking for High Rhulain, I left it there on my bed in the open."
Mark finished mowing the lawn and rushed into the house. Luckily, as he came in, he saw David sitting at his computer, concentrating hard on what he was doing. Mark breathed a sigh of relief.
"Phew, that was a close one," Mark though. "And now: on to Redwall!"
Mark went into his bedroom and locked the door behind him. He then sat down on his bed and opened High Rhulain. After muttering a quick prayer for good luck, he took a deep breath and put his hand on the open page. He felt a rush of excitement come over him as his bedroom began to fade and a large room with tables set up around him start to fade in. There was nobeast in the room, so Mark walked around, trying to find somebeast. Luckily, the first creature he saw was one he had already met: Abbot Maximus.
"Hello, Father Abbot," greeted Mark cordially.
"Well, hello. It's nice to see that you are back and you haven't suffered any ill effects from your fall. I'm sorry, but I didn't catch your name last time you were here," replied Abbot Maximus.
"My name is Mark. It's a pleasure to actually meet you."
"No, the pleasure is all mine," responded Maximus. "I overheard you speaking with Twighopper last time you were here. Do they really have Redwall history books there?"
"Yes they do, and young and old people alike actually like to read them. I love them. I have read about such famous Redwallers as Martin and Matthias."
"Ah, I remember reading those books when I was hardly more than a Dibbun. Of course, I hated reading them then, but now I love them. I beg your pardon for sounding uneducated, but what species are you?" queried Abbot Maximus.
"I am called a human. Where, I come from, there are so many humans they can't be counted. We also have squirrels and mices and other woodland creatures, but they are much smaller."
"That is fascinating!" exclaimed Maximus. "Would you join us for the evening meal? I'm sure that there are other Redwallers who would love to hear about your world."
"I would love to," replied Mark.
"Great! I'm going to send you up to Sister Ice and she is going to get you a habit to wear and show you where you can wash. I would hurry though, because the Dibbuns will come in soon needing a wash, and that will be quite an adventure. It always is," warned Maximus.
"Thank you so much, Maximus. I just love being here at you Abbey."
"Don't we all," replied Maximus. "Sister Ice is upstairs in the first room on the left."
"Thank you," said Mark. Mark hurried to get cleaned up and dressed for the evening meal. He couldn't wait for the evening meal so he could tell others about his world. Of course, he couldn't wait for the famous Redwall fare either.
Sister Ice was very polite and gave him a habit that would fit and showed him where he could change and wash. He had just finished washing when a rowdy herd a Dibbuns was shepherded in by Twighopper and Meadowgrass.
"Mark! You're here!" yelled Twighopper over the roar of the Dibbuns, but her attempt to be heard was futile. The Dibbuns had swarmed around Mark, and all of the Dibbuns were asking Mark questions at the same time.
"You need to quiet down!" screamed Mark. The Dibbuns immediately quieted down, and some of them had an expectant look on their faces as if they were ready for a story. "I will tell you all about myself and where I come from at dinner tonight, so I suggest that you get washed quickly so you can come down for the evening meal."
The Dibbuns immediately started fighting over who would be first in line, so Mark said to them, "If you don't form a straight line and wait patiently for your turn right now, I won't tell any stories at all tonight.
Immediately the pandemonium ceased. Mark then turned to Twighopper.
"Sorry Mark, can't talk now. I still have to watch these naughty Dibbuns, but I'm looking forward to your stories tonight," Twighopper said.
Mark smiled and headed down the stairs. Abbot Maximus greeted him again and escorted Mark to the seat of honor, often occupied by the Abbot.
"I can't sit here," Mark said. "It just wouldn't feel right. I'd rather sit near the Dibbuns. They're fascinated with me because I'm different than them, but they seem to obey me a little bit more than they normally do."
"Really? I hope you can perform a radical change in them. These Dibbuns are even rowdier than I was at their age."
Mark had a great time that night. He had never seen so much food or tasted food that was so good. There was 7 kinds of bread, 4 kinds of cheese, mountains of summer salad, 2 fruit trifles, a fruit cake, gooseberry tarts, and countless other things to eat. There was October ale, strawberry cordial, cold mint tea, and a cask of blackberry wine for the elders.
When the meal was over, Abbot Maximus stood up to say something. "Friends, as you well know, we have someone new here today. I know you are eager to hear about him, his life, and his world. I will now let him tell you all about himself." The Abbot nodded towards Mark.
"First of all, for those of you that don't know, my name is Mark. All of my kind are called humans. I would like to thank all of you for your hospitality and for taking me into the Abbey and caring for my injuries when I first came here. I will now try to explain how I got here." Mark paused to take a breath.
"In my world, we have Redwall history books. Many people read them. I was reading about the High Rhulain in the woods near my house in a tree. I have an older brother who is not very nice and he doesn't like the books I read. He tried to take High Rhulain from me, but I held on. Unfortunately, my balance was not very good. I fell out of the tree and landed on my head. I woke up in the infirmary. I'm not really sure how.
"Now, I can get back to my home using that book." Mark reached under the table and pulled out High Rhulain. He opened it, and the blue beam of light shot out. A collective gasp and exclamations of wonder came from the audience.
"There is an outline of a human hand here on this page. If I put my hand there, I will go back to my world. I do not know how. That is how I got here, now I'm going to tell you about my world. There are many things there that you have never heard of.
"We can pick up something, talk into it, and people that are farther away than Salamandastron can hear us. People have invented things that fly like birds, except much faster, and they can take people around all over the world. We have something that is almost like a closet that can keep our food cold, and then we can put the food into a box a heat it back up."
Mark told the Redwallers many more wondrous things that night. Some people almost fainted with surprise when he tried to explain the space shuttle. After a little while, the Dibbuns were ushered into bed, and the meal began to break up, with the exception of the Field Marshal. He was still going strong.
Mark went up on top of the wall with Maximus and Methuselah.
"Mark, you handled all those questions magnificently. But truthfully, are those things really real?" asked Methuselah.
"Yes they are," replied Mark. Maximus and Methuselah were facing inside the Abbey grounds, but Mark was facing out. Mark immediately saw a large band of vermin outside.
"Maximus, Methuselah," whispered Mark through clenched teeth, "don't turn around, just trust me. There is a large band of vermin outside the Abbey. Get inside the grounds and get everyone inside. Don't let anyone outside at all. I'm going to try and talk with them." They silently obeyed.
Mark called out boldly, "Who are you and why are you here?"
Silece reigned in the vermin horde. Except for one fat and stupid-looking ferret.
"We're gonna crush you!" he exlaimed doofusly.
"Oh really?" came the reply from Mark.
"Yeah, something that looks like you said he was gonna bring us some super weapons so we can kill you!"
Mark inwardly cursed his brother for doing this. He heard another vermin kicking the fat ferret for having loose lips. Mark ducked beneath the battlements and slithered to the wall steps. He then broke into a dead run. He met Abbot Maximus on his way inside.
"Father Abbot," Mark said nervously," we need to get the elders together. We're going to have a council of war."