Queen Amber perched on a tree branch, watching the dawn break over Mossflower. Her injured foot was much better now.

Her attention was arrested by a figure walking along the road. It was a strange fox, and he was heading right for Brockhall!

Amber notched an arrow to the bow she always carried with her and pointed it at the fox. "Stop right there and state your business, vermin!"

The fox did not seem unduly bothered by the arrow aimed at his chest. "Do you know a guy named Martin the Warrior? I heard he was living in this area now."

Amber's reply was abrupt. "Well, you can't see him! No doubt Tsarmina has sent you here to spy."

"Who is Tsarmina? I don't know a Tsarmina!"

"Spare me your mumbo jumbo, fox." Amber showed her teeth. "You've got till the count of three to sling your brush back up the road before I let daylight into you!"

The fox threw up his paws. "But I mean you no harm! Please, just let Martin see me. He'll tell me I can be trusted."

Amber hopped down from the tree. "All right. You can come along with me, but if you make one false move…" She left her sentence unfinished.

"Open ended threats are cool," the fox said.

Amber led the stranger to Brockhall, keeping her bowstring trained on him the whole time. She knocked on the door in the hollow oak, and Martin was the one who opened. To Amber's surprise, when Martin saw the fox, his face lit up, and he embraced him like an old friend.

"Skalrag!" Martin cried.

(For those of you who don't know, I once wrote a fic based on Martin the Warrior that was a crossover between Redwall and My Little Pony, and in that story, Skalrag became a good guy and teamed up with Martin, instead of dying.)

"Hey, Martin," said Skalrag. "It's good to see you again."

"What brings you to Mossflower?" Martin asked.

"Well, I got bored living in Noonvale," the fox said. "Every day was the same. The same of nothing happenin'. So, I went searching for new adventures. I paid a visit to Princess Celestia in Equestria, and she told me you were living down in these parts now, so I decided to look you up."

"How are all our old friends? Brome and Grumm and Joshy?"

"They're doing fine. Brome's father has retired, so Brome is Chieftain now, and Grumm is as fat and happy as ever. Joshy Stag Hare actually left town a few weeks before I did- apparently he got an invitation to some special school where he could learn to control his magic better."

"Well, good. Come on in and we'll have some breakfast."

"So, this Skalrag really is a friend of yours?" Amber asked.

"Oh, yeah. He used to be evil, but he's not anymore. You can trust him."

"Well, if you say he can be trusted, Martin, that's good enough for me."

Martin introduced Skalrag to Bugs, Bella, and the rest of his friends. They told him about the trouble they were having with Tsarmina, and how she had kidnapped Ferdy and Coggs. Skalrag took their story in with interest.

"Say, maybe I can help you guys out," he said.

"How?" asked Bella.

"What if I went over to this Kotir castle and pretended to join up with Tsarmina? Then I could be your spy on the inside and pass you information about her battle plans and stuff. Maybe I could even find a way of freeing your friends. What do you think?"

"I think that's a good idea," Martin said. "You'd be like that otter, Keyla, who pretended to be on Nightmare Moon's side so he could free everybeast from Nightmare Fortress."

"I'll go over there today if you want me to," said Skalrag.

"It's a risky scheme, but I suppose you know that," said Bella.

A grin broke over Skalrag's face. "Life's not much fun for a fox without a bit of trouble."

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"So, I think I figured out the first part o' the rhyme, Doc," said Bugs, back in Bella's study a few minutes later. "Ya know how it says, 'Behind me as the dawn breaks clear, woodpigeons come awake'? Well, if the sun rises in the east an' the dawn was breakin' behind old Olav, then he musta been goin' west. So that's the way we gotta go."

Martin shook his paw. "Good thinking, Bugs! What's the next bit o' the poem?"

Gonff answered, "It says, 'See brown dust roll twixt green and gold, unwinding like a snake.'"

Bella nodded knowingly. "Aha, friend Olav gave me an easy one there. I know the very place. Between the woods and the flatlands south of Kotir, the road has a twist in it. I've walked down it many times and thought it was just like a snake trying to slough its skin."

Gonff shuddered at the mention of snake. "So, mateys, we walk through the woods, heading west, and cross the path below Kotir. Then there's only one way we can go. Straight out across the flatlands and the open plains, like the poem says, 'O'er the golden acres' to where the 'snake of blue' lies- brr, snakes."

"That's no snake, Gonff," Martin interrupted. "It's the same as Bella's winding road, but this one is blue- it's a river. What puzzles me is the teeth of land eating the wool of sheep line."

Bella stretched and yawned. "Woo! I think we must be going stale sitting around this dusty old room. Sheep and land, wool and teeth… Ah well, maybe we can't se the wood for the trees, but whatever it is, you'll know it when you see it. What do you want to do? Sit here half a season solving riddles, or follow the clues you already have and work the rest out as you go along?"

"She's right," Bugs said. "The supplies are packed an' ready and we have our wits to help us along. What more could we want?"

So, Martin, Bugs, and Gonff set out from Brockhall that very afternoon. Skalrag also went with them part of the way, but he separated from them when they got near Kotir.