Prologue.
Sagax and Scarum were visiting their parents in the mountain of Salamandastron. Although they lived at Redwall Abbey, they visited their parents every year on the first day of summer. Every year when they visited Scarum wrote in his notebook. This year was no exception.

Extract from the notebook of Scarum.
Today is the last day of our visit. We have promised to our parents that we will see each other next year at this time. My father has told us that next year we will not have to make this journey next year because our four parents will come to Redwall to visit us. My father says he's looking forward to the great food at Redwall which he hasn't had in many seasons.
Ahh. But I must stop writing because my friend Sagax is calling on me. We'll have to leave this Mountain now. (Note: There is a large teardrop stain which Scarum calls a drop of Strawberry Cordial. Could be but I don't think so Sagax). Oh well. The bright side is that we'll be traveling with the Guosim. They have some of the best foods that I have ever tasted (other than at Redwall of course).

P.S. Hopefully I will write in here many more times when my parents visit.

At Redwall 1 year 1 month later.

Book 1: Worried.

Sagax and Scarum were worried. A year and one month ago their parents had told them that they would visit them in a year. It was well over a year now and it was not like either of their parents to be even a day late. Everyone at the Abbey knew that it would not be long until Sagax and Scarum would leave to see what was taking their parents.

The Abbot had been secretly planning a going away feast in which he would send them to Salamandastron along with Trisscar Swordmaid, Skipper of Otters (Kroova), ten squirrel archers, and ten otter warriors. The feast was going to be held late at night when Sagax and Scarum had a late night snack. It was to be the biggest and best feast that had ever been held at Redwall.

Sagax and Scarum were in their bedroom getting ready to go and having their snacks. They were wondering why there were no noises. They thought that the animals at the Abbey could be planning a feast to help them to feel better, so instead of going in their nightgowns as usual they changed into their feast clothes. They went downstairs to get their evening snack.

When they got to the kitchens they noticed a light in the Great Hall. They went into the Great Hall and noticed that no one was there. As they turned around to go and walk out they heard a massive yell of "Surprise". All of a sudden the Great Hall was lit up to show the banners and the tables of food. On the tables of food were, Deeper 'n' Ever Turnip 'n' Tater pie, a very large fish, every fruit you could think of, vegetables that were picked right out of the Abbey garden that morning. To drink there was, Elderberry Wine, Strawberry Fizz, Strawberry Cordial, Shrew Beer, October Ale, and many other drinks.

Sagax and Scarum sat beside the Abbot while he told them about their trip. Suddenly everybody stopped what they were doing because they heard a noise that sounded like someone knocking on a gate. Triss quickly ran out of the Great Hall and headed up the ramparts to the Main Gate. She looked over the wall and saw a hare that she knew to be Colonel Leafblade. By now Sagax and Scarum were at the gate. When Triss saw them she told them to open the gate. When they opened the door Colonel Leafblade fainted into Sagax's mighty arms.

The next morning Leafblade awoke. When they asked him why he had come from Salamandastron he said, "Salamandastron in trouble. We have seen big ships coming toward us. I was sent to help you." Triss immediately told him that she, Sagax, Scarum, and otter and squirrel warriors were going to head over right after breakfast.

During breakfast both Sagax and Scarum seemed distracted. Everybody even the dibbuns noticed. The Abbot quickly called the dibbuns to him. He said, "Hey dibbuns. You know how much Sagax and Scarum like the Bumblebee Dance?" All the dibbuns nodded their heads. The Abbot continued with what he was saying, "And you know that they'll be leaving the abbey today?" Again they nodded their heads and the Abbot continued on, "Well. Why don't you sing that song for them? They look very sad right now." The dibbuns started cheering because this was one of their favorite things to do because they got to dance around, bump into each other, and sing loudly without getting in trouble. This greatly helped in making Sagax and Scarum happy and took their minds of their parents. They looked up from their food and noticed that Triss was at the door the Great Hall on the floor laughing. Through all her laughing she managed to let them know that they were leaving. They went quickly but not so fast that they were tired quickly. By nighttime they had made it almost a third of the way, which was a lot more than they had expected. They woke up the next morning refreshed. They refilled their water bottles at the river that they were traveling by and they heard some yelling further up the stream. Triss ran back to where they were camping and told the otters and squirrels to come quickly while Sagax and Scarum went upstream to see what was going on. When they got there to their surprise it wasn't vermin but hedgehogs fighting each other. They told the others to come quickly. They walked calmly into the camp with their weapons drawn; when the hedgehogs saw them their leader said to them, "What are you doing here? Are you friend or foe? If you are friends of the vermin who came past here a season ago we will kill you for what you have done to us." Sagax acted as the talker and said to them, "We are friends. We are hunting down the vermin you have spoken of. We think they've taken Salamandastron captive. Will you come with us?" The hedgehog leader thought about it and asked Sagax, "Where do you come from?" "We all come from Redwall. I'm asking you one more time before we leave. Will you come with us?" said Sagax. The hedgehog leader said, "You're from Redwall! Then of course we'll help you. We were about to go there to get help to attack the vermin that attacked us. Would you like some food?" This time it wasn't Sagax that spoke but Scarum. He said, "Did you mention food, wot wot? I'd jolly well love it. I've heard that hedgehogs can make the best cakes. I've had nothing but bread and water for one week. Us hares need our nourishment wot, wot!" The hedgehog said to Sagax despairingly, "Did you have to bring a hare? Last time we had a hare in our camp he ate a dinner that was meant for our whole camp. We banned him. We were going to make him stay as in our camp for 9 seasons of work but his friends, a badger and otter, talked us into taking him home. Funny thing is that they had names similar to yours. Strange eh'." "Wait a minute. When this happened were you camped right by the ocean?" Sagax asked. "Yes. As a matter of fact we were. Do you happen to be the same people. They did say they were headed for Redwall." the hedgehog leader said. Sagax replied, "Yes. I'm sorry to say that, that is the hare that ate you out of your camp. But, the good thing is, is that he's grown up since then. Now he isn't such a glutton now." They talked on and on about the past and what had happened.

The next morning they left by a ferry that the hedgehogs had. It was a lot easier and faster than going by foot even though they were going against the current. By mid-afternoon they could smell salt in the air so they knew that they were getting close to Salamandastron.

The next morning they were able to see Salamandastron far off. The shrews pulled out a large ship from a secret hiding place by the sea. The ship used to belong to a searat. It was a fast ship and the shrew knew that they would be at Salamandastron by the afternoon. But they were worried that if Salamandastron were really under attack that they wouldn't be able to beach right by the mountain. The shrews and otters both thought that they should beach a while back and come from behind. Everyone else agreed with this and soon they were off.

Around noon they were not far from the mountain and they all agreed that they should bring the ship up to shore and walk the rest of the way. They were right behind the mountain and they heard no fighting. They looked to the front of the mountain and saw two hares talking. At once they knew that the mountain hadn't been captured. Sagax and Scarum went up to them first. When the hares noticed who they were they told them about the ships and pointed out to sea. Although it was very far away Sagax could clearly see the massive ship. It was the biggest boat he had ever seen. He told the hares that he had brought help with him and pointed to behind the rocks. The hares immediately brought them inside of Salamandastron to get some food. It was then that Sagax and Scarum saw their parents. They came up to them, gave them hugs, and asked them if they had any ideas of how to fight the massive ship. Sagax told them that they'd think of a plan and that they would first need to eat. Under his breath he said to his parents,"Especially Scarum there."

After they had eaten they looked out one of the window's in Salamandastron. They saw that the ship was about 40-50 feet away. Sagax said, "We'd better think of a plan soon. They'll be here in the next hour." Sagax's father said, "What about if we lay traps on the beach?" Sagax said, "How do we know that they are enemies? They may not be vermin even. We have to be sure before making traps. Why don't we just wait until they tell us what they want?" "That's a great idea." said Scarum's father, "But what if they are vermin? What will we do than?" "You're right. We have to have a back-up plan!" said Scarum. "We'd better make it fast, too. They are about to beach their ship." Book Two: The War of Warriors.

It turned out that the ship did contain vermin. These vermin wanted to capture it. Was it possible for them to take Salamandastron? Maybe. These were trained warriors. But so was the Long Patrol. It would be the biggest battle that had ever been in Mossflower. There would be many deaths and everybody in Salamandastron knew it.
Salamandastron had been under attack for over one week by now. All the beasts in the war were tired but they new that they had to keep fighting because their lives and everyone elses lives depended on it. The name of the vermin leader was Kwah; he was a feared warrior from so Eastern Sea. He had heard of a treasure in Salamandastron and had set his heart on getting it. He had heard that the mountain was guarded by two giant badgers and all of their hares. But he had killed badgers and hares before. He knew that the warriors in the mountain had seen him coming. He had planned it that way. What the animals in the mountain didn't know, was that Kwah had another ship coming toward Salamandastron from behind.

Scarum was eating in his bedroom. He looked out the window and saw another ship heading toward Salamandastron. He immediately ran downstairs and told his father what he had seen.
Scarum, Sagax, their parents, and a couple of hares immediately went to see. Sagax's dad looked out and saw the pirates' symbol on the ship. He immediately sent for a squirrel archer from Redwall and for some matches and twigs and rope. Sagax asked his dad, "Dad. You aren't going to burn the ship are you?" "Yes I am. It is a very beastly thing to do, but the future of Mossflower is at stake. If Salamandastron falls than so will Mossflower and possibly Redwall Abbey!" said Sagax's dad, "We can't risk that."
In a few minutes the squirrel archer was there. He was very muscular and had a long bow the size of himself. Sagax told the squirrel to attach twigs to one of his arrows and light them. He told him to shoot it at the ship after he had lit the twigs. Sagax told him to hit the sail with the first arrow and to hit the ship itself with the second arrow. The archer did that and soon the entire sail was on fire. Unfortunately, the vermin had cut the sail off, and thrown it in the sea. But the deck, which was on fire, was a big problem. At first they tried to dump water on it but the fire had spread too far and they couldn't contain it. Once the vermin saw that they could do nothing about the fire they jumped over board and started to swim to land; the problem was, though, many of them didn't know how to swim. Half of the crew died.

When Sagax saw what had happened he asked the squirrel why the vermin couldn't contain the fire. The squirrel answered, "Well that's simple. I saw that they were vermin so I knew that they would have grog aboard their ship. I saw on keg of it ,and I know from experience that it is flammable, so I shot one of the arrows there. It was quite a lucky shot actually. I almost missed it." Sagax said, "Thank you for all of your help. That was the best shot I have ever seen.

When Kwah saw what had happened he got mad as many vermin leaders do