2

Abbott Walden was not the only early riser in the Abbey that morning. Fentress, a young ottermaid, was having unsettling dreams. She woke with a jolt, throwing a paw to her mouth to extinguish a gasp. Heart pounding, she wiped her brow and tried to focus her eyes in the pale light of morning.

Stertorous snores filled the room as bundles of covers rose and fell in the beds around her. Careful to make as little noise as possible, she climbed out of bed and walked tippaw between the rows. Fentress had only been at the Abbey for less than a season, but she had heard about creatures having dreams like hers before, and knew she had to tell somebeast. The problem was, she still felt uncomfortable speaking to the Abbott or any of the other authority figures at Redwall, despite their kind attempts to make her feel welcome. She knew they meant well, but whenever she saw Abbott Walden's stern, serious gaze or heard Sister Selma's hoarse, barking voice Fentress could not help but shirk away behind the nearest protruding object and hope they had not seen her.

She did have one friend to which she could turn, however. Kneeling beside the bed at the end of the hall, she shook the creature nestled beneath the blankets.

"Sully, wake up… please," Fentress whispered.

The squirrelmaid Sullyana, or Sully for short, turned over and bopped Fentress on the snout with a wayward paw. Fentress recoiled, rubbing the offended spot.

"Come on Sully, wake up, I need to talk to you…"

Sully mumbled a little. "Who's there, it's too early."

"It's me, Fen. Please, Sully… It's important!"

Sully had achieved at least some semblance of wakefulness. With one eye clamped shut, she opened the other a midge, scouring the shadows. "What, didja forget the way to the kitchens again? I've shown you a hundred times already!"

Fentress glanced both ways over her shoulders to check if Sully had woken anybeast with her comment. The dormitory remained as still as ever. "No, it's nothing like that—I think I saw Martin the Warrior in a dream!"

A minute later the two friends were scrambling out of the dormitories, haphazardly throwing on the green habits that served as traditional garb at Redwall Abbey. Sully led the way down the stairs.

"Y'mean to tell me Martin the Warrior, the one an' only Martin the Warrior, visited you in a dream. That wasn't something I just dreamed up myself, right?"

"It had to be him. He looked exactly like he does on the tapestry."

"Well, wot'd he tell ya? Did he say you'll be a great warrior? Did he spin you a riddle? Maybe he pointed the way to some treasure buried underneath the Abbey!"

"No, no, it wasn't like that," said Fentress. She lowered her voice, glancing around lest anybeast was listening. "I don't think it was a good dream, Sully."

"Well, we'll find Abbott Walden and tell him all about it. Perhaps it'd be best to fetch my sister, too. As the Abbey Recorder, Laramie knows all about this kinda stuff. Y'know all the famous Abbey Warriors saw Martin in their dreams? It's a big deal, I'm sure everybeast will be thrilled."

At the mention of Abbott Walden and Sully's sister Laramie, Fentress gritted her teeth and rubbed the back of her neck. "I was thinking I could just tell you about it, and then you could go tell the Abbott if you thought it was worth telling him."

Sully stopped at the foot of the stairwell, rolling her eyes and giving an exaggerated sigh. "Oh, quit the sniveling, Fen. Abbott Walden may be scary when he dishes out chores, but I promise he won't eat you. Especially with your big news!" She seized Fentress by the paw and dragged her along toward the door into the northern courtyard. "Come on, he's always roaming around outside at this hour, let's go find him!"

Although she was a good deal larger than the eager squirrelmaid, Fentress allowed herself to get pulled along. "As long as you promise to do all the talking, Sully."

"What am I gonna say? It wasn't my dream, silly! You'll have to get over your fears, Fen, especially now that Martin's singled you out as the next hero!"

Before Fentress could protest that Martin had done nothing of the sort, they had barreled out the door into the gardens. Although she had lived there for a season, Fentress had never acclimated herself to the grandeur of the Abbey and its tall red walls that loomed into the sky to keep them all safe. But she had only the slightest moment to appreciate the sight before Sully whipped her along and they sped off together paw-in-paw.

"I bet Laramie'll write a whole entry about you in one of her big books. A visit from Martin is nothing to scoff at, Fen. You'll be the talk of the Abbey for the rest of the season!"

The thought of everybeast in Redwall chattering about her did not make Fentress want to hurry any quicker. In fact, maybe the whole thing wasn't worth it anyway. Already parts of her dream were fading from memory. Perhaps it had been nothing but a dream after all.

She was about to tell Sully to forget it and go back to sleep when the squirrel stopped suddenly at the corner of the Abbey belltower. Clinging to the wall, she motioned for Fentress to be silent, her eyes wide with fear.

"Vermin in Redwall!" Sully mouthed.

Fentress's blood went cold. She hugged the wall beside Sully as voices emanated from around the corner.

The first voice belonged to Abbott Walden. Fentress caught only the last snatch of his words: "— I must politely ask you to leave."

The next voice was brusque and vulgar, steeped in vermin dialect that Fentress knew too well. "Relinquish our arms, 'e sez! 'Ow'm I suppos'd to relinquish somethin' attached at the socket!"

She didn't need to hear any more. Turning to Sully, she asked, "What do we do?"

"We have to warn everybeast, or else they'll be murdered in their sleep." Sully took a quick look around. "The belltower! We're right here, we can use the bells to alert the Abbey!"

Sully had already started to scurry for the belltower door when Fentress seized her by the shoulder. "No wait, look over there, at the gatehouse." She pointed. Although it was a long way across the front lawn, a figure could be made out in the upper story gatehouse window, a lanky creature with a bow and arrow. "Whoever they are, they're watching the belltower, probably to stop anybeast from sounding the alarm. We'll be shot dead before we even got one good tug on the ropes."

"You're right," said Sully, taking stock of the situation. "I never would've noticed that, but it's clear as day. Come quick, then—we'll have to warn everybeast the ol' fashioned way!"

The squirrel and the otter dashed back the way they came, up the stairs to the dormitories. Almost all were still asleep, with only a few early risers yawning and stretching as they sat up in bed. Fentress had no time to think; as soon as she and Sully burst through the doors, they immediately started calling out.

"Please, you must wake up, you're in grave danger!"

"Get up, get up, get up, we're under attack!"

A old molewife poked her head out of a cavern of sheets. "Burr, wot bee's all th'commotion about?"

"There's vermin in Redwall," said Sully. "They've taken Abbott Walden prisoner and they've got archers watching the belltower. We need to move fast, now!"

A bustle went up through the half-asleep woodlanders, some still too uncertain about what was going on to fully panic, a few of the more lucid ones rising in fright. There were only two narrow exits at each end of the dormitory; with everybeast confused and disoriented, it was only a matter of time before a stampede erupted, especially if Sully kept screaming her lungs out and working them into a lather.

Taking advantage of the penumbra of the dormitory, Fentress stood at the head of the dormitory and announced, "Please, calm down. We can't go rushing off all over the place, or else the vermin'll cut us down for sure. If we ensure the young and the elderly are taken to safety, we can—"

She froze. Could what? Fight? Run? Fortify? She had no idea if the vermin were in the Abbey itself, or simply on the grounds outside. She tried to consider what the best option would be, but with a hundred eyes fixed on her blinking out of the darkness, her mind went blank and she could think of nothing but to turn her head and stare pleadingly at Sully for aid.

"Vermin, y'say?" boomed a massive voice. From the shadows emerged Friar Alger Delapinn, the Abbey's head cook. Despite his modest occupation, the hulking hedgehog cut an imposing figure, towering over Fentress as he approached with a slight limp he received during his younger seasons. In one paw he clenched a cooking ladle about as menacingly as one can clench a cooking ladle. "'Ow many of the blighters didja say there was again?"

Fortunately, although Friar Alger had addressed Fentress, Sully stepped forward. "At least four, sir—three on the front lawn harassing the pore Abbott, and a fourth skulking in the gatehouse with bow n' arrer."

"A measly four varmints, y'tell me!" said Alger, leaning back and loosing a guffaw. "'Tis no need for panic, missies. Four vermin ain't got the snuff to pick a fight with ol' Alger Delapinn, that they don't!"

Fentress was relieved; Alger had taken charge of the situation. With his powerful voice, he addressed the entire dormitory. "I'll mop up the villains posthaste. T'be safe, though, everybeast here keep their heads down and stay quiet. Oh, and you ladies run along and fetch Fannin from his room. He wouldn't want t'miss a chance t'take a crack at some vermin!"

Although Alger punctuated his order with another hearty bellow, he gave Fentress and Sully an urgent look. Fentress stood dumbstruck with her mouth agape, but Sully, always the quick one, tugged on her habit.

"Come on, let's go!"

They scrambled toward Fannin's room on the opposite side of the Abbey. Fannin was the Abbey Champion, and had been since before either of the girls had been born. Some of the earliest stories Fentress had heard when she came to Redwall were of Fannin's past exploits, adventuring in distant lands and prevailing against exotic foes. In his later seasons he had become a solitary beast, often quiet and reserved even when the subject of his past accomplishments was breached. By "Fannin's room" Friar Alger had meant the library—the place where Fannin spent almost all of his time.

They had not cleared half the distance before a furious din arose from elsewhere in the Abbey; a ferocious melee of war cries and the clatter of metal. Fentress and Sully skidded to a halt along the tile of one of the Abbey's many hallways.

"That ain't the sound of four vermin," said Sully, piquing an ear in the direction of the noise.

"Oh no—You don't think there's more of them, do you?"

Fentress's question was answered immediately. Around the bend at the end of the hallway appeared a pack of vermin, whopping and wielding all manner of blade. Leading the charge was a portly rat with an oversized helm and a wobbly cutlass, which he swished back and forth as he directed his troops.

"Chaaaaaarge! Slay anybeast who fights, but take th'others alive, by orders of Lady Alagadda!"

Fentress and Sully turned the way they came and rushed down the hall, the vermin at their backs. The corridor stretched halfway across the Abbey, lined with pointed windows looking onto the orchard. They had hardly gone two strides before another group of vermin flooded from the opposite end of the hallway.

"We're trapped!" said Fentress.

"This way, quick!" Sully snatched a candlestick from a holder on the wall and hurled it at the nearest window. The pane shattered, the glass shards raining onto the orchard below. In an instant Sully had leapt through the narrow aperture, tumbling onto the grass with an expert somersault that allowed her to land without harm.

Fentress, however, was not a squirrel, and thus not taken to such aerial endeavors. She spent a moment to consider the long drop from the second-story window to the grass. Sully, looking so small down below, beckoned her to follow.

The rat with the wobbly cutlass, being rather fleet of paw despite his roundish size, had pulled ahead of his troops. With a savage hiss, he swung the cutlass at Fentress's head. She ducked the blow and dealt the rat a swift wallop with her rudder, doubling him over. Not waiting for the rat to recover, Fentress dove out the window.

She hit the ground before she realized she was midair. A shock of pain went through the shoulder she landed on, but nothing broke. Immediately Sully grabbed her and started pulling her along. "Com'n, slowchops, there's Friar Alger by the east gate!"

They did not wait around to see if any of the vermin were bold enough to jump after them. Fentress gritted her teeth through the pain in her shoulder and dashed after Sully, who had already sped ahead into the orchard.

Friar Alger stood at the open the east wallgate, holding the door as an assortment of Abbeydwellers trickled through. As Sully and Fentress reached him, he said, "There's far more'n four of 'em out there! The whole Abbey's o'errun with the villains. I had to double back an' get as many as I could out of the danger, e'en if that means gettin' 'em out of the Abbey. Did you reach Fannin?"

"No," said Sully, gasping for breath. "They cut us off afore we could make it to the library."

Alger pushed both of them through the wallgate, along with the last of the refugees from the Abbey. "'Tis alright, ye did th'best ye could. Fannin 'n the rest're on their own fer now—but you can bet a plateful o' me famous plum turnovers we ain't leavin' 'em fer long!"

As he shut the wallgate behind him, Fentress took one last look at Redwall Abbey, which she had only just gotten used to calling home. Then she was on the other side of the wall, and did not turn until Sully tugged at her sleeve and told her it was time to go.