Begon didn't bother going to dinner in the abbey that night, he was too upset to eat with any abbey beast. Begon had been angry at Gred the other day for winning the gold badge that he felt should have been his! Then rubbing it in on top of that! Not to mention that nobeast seemed to notice him unless he was getting scolded or being told how grate Gred was.

Begon's stomach growled.

The pie that Mariah's mother made sounds good right now, he thought with a sigh, me and Mariah could sit down together and eat the pie. Get to know each other better...

Just then, Begon lost his appetite, recalling how Mariah doted over Gred and his victory, while not even noticing he was on stage!

Begon clenched his fist. I like Mariah, I like her a lot. But she doesn't like me back. She only has eyes for Gred.

In his anger, Begon also noticed how much Abbot Nill was always on his case, but never really reprimanded Gred.

Begon sighed and plopped down on his bed. Then he saw the badge he had won the previous day siting on his nightstand. He had not felt like wearing it on his habit because it was last place. But Gred was wearing the gold badge on his habit and boasting of how he won.

Why didn't Abbot Nill correct Gred on stuff like that? If I did anything like that, Abbot Nill would come down on me just like that.

That made Begon angry. He looked at his badge and couldn't stand the thought of keeping that disgraceful thing! He got out of his shelter and went to the abbey pond. He flung the bronze badge far into the night sky and it landed squarely in the middle of the pond, where it sank.

But he was not satisfied.

His dinner consisted of berries from the orchard and some apples. He decided that he would take what should have been his! He would wait until the abbey was asleep, and take the gold badge that he should have won! After all, he was a mountain mouse, what made Gred so superior to him? In the meantime, he was going to check out the book he had discovered.

He lit a candle and started reading.

The book was some seasons after the events of 'The Rogue Crew.' It didn't really say how long. Anyway, it said that the badger lord, Russano the Wise II, had made some kind of peace treaty with a tribe mice, who also had rats, stoats, foxes, and weasels. He had promised to protect them from corsairs and pirats.

That seems like a stupid promise, Begon thought with a confused scow. If the mice already had vermin in their tribe they were just inviting trouble. The vermin in their tribe would backstab them in a second to save their own skin.

He continued reading. Needless to say that not long after the treaty had been made the tribe was attacked by corsairs. And the tribe sent a rat called Braveheart Strongpaw to get help from the badger lord.

At this point, Begon was already disgusted with the book. He put it down. If this book was about the sword of Martin the warrior, he could already see why it was lost. Why would any honest beast trust vermin? A mountain mouse would not make such a fatal mistake.

He looked at the abbey building through his roughly crafted window. The candle lights were out. Everybeast was asleep. Now was the time to get what he wanted. He remembered from abbey school that the gatehouse had a tunnel that led to the abbey building. The gatehouse used to be a cottage of the abbey warrior Matthias and his family. Matthias had been the reincarnation of Martin the warrior. Begon imagined that such mice as Matthias or Martin were probably descendants of mountain mice.

After Matthias's time, the gatehouse cottage was home of the abbey recorder. However, in recent seasons the abbey recorders lived inside the abbey and worked in the library. The gatehouse was not locked because somebeast would occasionally be there at the times they excepted company. Begon went inside and found the tunnel.

Once he entered the abbey, he found an unused candle. It was in the kitchen. He lit it and crept by the kitchen staff. He climbed up the steps and went into the dormitory. He knew where it was since he had spent his earlier seasons inside the abbey. He found where Gred slept and saw the badge on the night stand. He took the badge quickly and silently. He also looked at the place where the creature's habits were hanging.

How he longed for the day when he, Begon, would be a brother of Redwall. Perhaps even become Abbot himself one day. Gred would be sorry then! He would make sure not to mollycoddle him like Nill. He would give him the hardest task and chores. And if he never made a young one feel bad, like he made Begon feel now, he would go three days with no food only water. That would teach him! And if it didn't he would throw Gred out of the abbey and tell him to fend for himself.

It was only after he had gotten out of the abbey, and back to his shelter he realized that he could be punished for stealing from Gred. And so, he loosened the east wall gate, should he have to run.

The next day Gred woke up, and found his gold badge gone. He immediately went to Abbot Nill and told him that the badge was missing. About ten minutes later they both went to Begon's shelter. Abbot Nill knocked calmly on the door. But Gred didn't want to wait and pounded on it.

"Come on, you thief! I know it was you!" Gred shouted. "You have always been jealous of me ever since I have known you!"

The Abbot's voice was slightly calmer, "please Begon, I am not accusing you, but if you did take the badge, hiding away won't help yourself."

Begon burst out of his shelter. He was wearing the gold badge on his habit, and he carried a sack with some fruit and the book about the sword of Martin. He started running towards the east wall gate and shouting, "it should have been mine! The games were rigged because Gred is everybeast's favorite! He wore this badge and kept bragging, and you did nothing to correct him Father! Well, I am taking this badge and I leaving this abbey to find the sword of Martin the warrior! I will not come back until I do!"

Before either of the mice could stop him, he bolted out of gate. Gred called after him, "go on then. But don't come back if you don't! Thieves don't belong in this abbey! You are a pitiful excuse of a mountain mouse! You make me ashamed to call myself one!"

With that he shut the door and bolted it. Abbot Nill just shook his head hoping that Begon would not come to harm if he went far away, and hoped that when he came back his attitude would be better.


A/N: Sorry this took so long to post, it was suppose to be out days ago. And Redwalllover pretty much wrote this whole chapter, thanks :) for the help.