Matthias and his friends struck off to the northeast. They made steady progress through the woods.
"We'll be in Captain Snow's territory at any moment," Joshy warned. "Stay close by us, Matthias. Don't go wanderin' off. That owl could swoop down an' eat you. This is the perfect place for an ambush."
As soon as he said that, a shrew leaped from out of nowhere, barring the travelers' path! "Who are you? Why are you trespassing on shrew land?"
"Never mind who we are," said Matthias. "Who are you?"
The shrew seemed uncertain for a moment, then she stormed back in her low gruff voice, "My name is Guosim, and you still haven't told me what you want in shrew territory."
"Your name is Guosim?" Twilight echoed. "I thought Guosim was the name of a tribe. Guerrilla Union Of Shrews In Mossflower."
Instead of answering, Guosim stuck her paws between her lips and emitted a sharp whistle. Fifty more shrews leaped from the undergrowth. They packed around the travelers, creating an angry hubbub in their deep, rough tones.
"Amigos," Guosim shouted. "Tell these animals what we do to trespassers."
The responses that came back were varied.
"Break their paws."
"Skin 'em alive."
"Chop off their noses."
"Hang 'em by their tails."
"Stuff their whiskers down their ears."
"This doesn't make any sense," said Matthias. "I'm a Redwall mouse. I thought the Guosim were friends of Redwall."
"I say, where's your Log-a-Log?" Joshy asked.
An older shrew stepped forward. "Hola. I am Log-a-Log," he said.
"Well, shouldn't you be in charge?" Pinkie said. "I always thought the Log-a-Log was in charge of the Guosim, not an individual shrew named Guosim."
"Well, this was the first story Brian Jacques ever wrote, so it was before he decided how he wanted the tribe to be," Log-a-Log muttered.
"You still haven't told us where you're going," Guosim said.
"We're looking for Captain Snow," said Matthias. "I need him to tell me where to find Asmodeus the snake."
Guosim shuddered. "Ay caramba! Those two are massive shrew killers! If you go near them, you'll just get them stirred up, and then they'll go after us!"
"But Asmodeus has Martin's sword," Matthias insisted. "I need to get it back so I can defeat Cluny the Scourge."
"Let them pass through our territory," said Log-a-Log. "Maybe they'll kill Asmodeus, and we won't have to worry about him anymore."
Fierce quarrelling broke out among the shrews. "We could be stuck here a while," Joshy whispered. "These shrew chaps will argue over any flippin' thing, even whether water is wet."
"'Course water is wet!" said Guosim.
"Except when it's not," said Log-a-Log.
She rounded on him in surprise. "What?"
"Ice isn't wet until it melts."
"Clouds aren't wet," said another shrew. "I can walk through fog without getting wet."
"Oh yeah? Then where does rain come from?" shouted another shrew.
A riot broke out. Shrews began kicking, punching, arguing, screaming, wrestling and shouting. Even Pinkie Pie started shouting. "Look at me! I'm a Guosim shrew too! I'm arguing! Argue, argue, argue! Bicker, bicker…"
"QUIET!" Twilight yelled.
Everybeast shut up, except for one shrew who was shouting, "I know you took my sandwich, Jeffery!"
"Listen," Twilight said. "Redwall is under attack by Cluny the Scourge. The only way for us to stop him is to get the sword of Martin the Warrior. Asmodeus has the sword, and Captain Snow is the only one who knows where to find Asmodeus. If we talk to Snow, maybe we can convince him to stop eating you guys."
"Nobeast can get that owl to stop eating us," said Guosim.
"You'd be surprised. I once knew a unicorn named Starlight Glimmer who was always doing evil things like stealing magic from other ponies and going back in time to try to destroy the world. I convinced her to stop being evil, and now she's one of my best friends."
There was a long silence. At last Guosim said, "All right. We'll let you try your loco scheme. If you fail, at least we won't be any worse off."
"Wow, Twilight!" said Matthias. "You got those shrews to stop fighting and cooperate with us!"
Twilight smiled. "I'm not the Princess of Friendship for nothing!"
The shrews led them to a barn at the edge of the woods. "Captain Snow usually hangs out in here," Log-a-Log said.
"Thank you," said Matthias.
As the shrews marched away, one of them called to Matthias, "Cuidado con el gato!"