Chapter IV

The boat had drifted quite far in the past few hours, all about them was water and, well, more water. Blinking the salty spray from his eyes, Imaldu prepared a meal for himself and Krewdy. Taking a portion fruit salad and a flask of pear cordial, Imaldu set them down beside his friend as he operated the tiller. Licking his lips at the sight of food, Krewdy tied off the tiller rope through a hole in the seat, which was made just for that purpose. Attacking the food and drink with a vigour that belied his small form, he sent tender lettuce leaves and drops of cordial flying.

"Mmm! This's the best salad I've ever tasted! Even this cordial's pretty good, though I think I like damson wine better," Krewdy showered Imaldu with pieces of salad, even eating didn't seem to stop his friend from talking.

After wiping his face off and taking a sip at from the flask, Krewdy went back to his duties as Imaldu brought the cordial in the cabin, and washed out the fairly large bowl of finished salad.

Knowing that Krewdy could probably handle the ship on his own, Imaldu sank into his thoughts.

What had come over him to strike out at the badger guards, and even threaten to kill the chief elder, just because they wanted his axe? Maybe he just wasn't cut out to be part of the tribe. He had heard that badgers usually were loners, because they didn't enjoy many others about them.

'But those are male badgers,' he reminded himself in the same instant. 'If only I wasn't so quick tempered.' Something he hadn't thought about for a few days since the time hit him like a slap. Hilira! His only good friend, and he dropped her from the quest like a hot scone. Memories piled up in his mind at the fun they used to have together. Sad regret and self-disappointment showed plainly on his face. He had promised her about the trip, and then he just flicked her away. Too many thoughts to count whizzed by in his head.

His eyes began to droop, even though he wasn't that tired. 'Must be the heat,' was his last thought before the realm of dreams took over.

Vermin of all kinds scattered before his axe. The bloodwrath (which he had vaguely heard of) seemed to radiate full force from him. He could barely see the weasels, rats, ferrets and stoats that he felled with mighty sweeps of his axe.

Ploughing through the vermin, he guessed he might have even trampled a few as he ran. The horde of beasts soon thinned and he was facing a fox. A swirling cloak of mice fur and shards of amber sewed to it, added to the impressive nature of the vermin leader.

Showing no signs of fear as Imaldu came closer, the black-furred fox drew out a mace of incredible size. The mace came closer to his face as the bdager yelled out in surprise.

Suddenly, he was back in the cabin, though he was sprawled about the floor with a chair leaning against his face. Krewdy was standing worriedly over him.

"You alright matey? You were screechin' yer 'ead off so I came to see what the matter was. You were rollin' all over the floor, shoutin' that you were comin' after a fox. I didn't wanna get crushed so I tried to trap you under the bed with that chair that 'it ye. Must 'ave 'urt greatly, after you hit yer block off it like that," Krewdy explained.

"It does hurt... alot," Imaldu winced as he rubbed at the lump on his forehead.

"You might make it worse if ya keep doin' that," Krewdy scolded.

Rolling his eyes, Imaldu walked back on deck, lightly touching the bruise. He knew it would go away soon, as being clumsy can help you learn how long the hurts would last. Sitting by his friend at the tiller, Imaldu couldn't resist asking any longer. "Do you know anything about a black fox, with a mice fur cloak, an' a huge mace?"

Staying silent for a moment, Krewdy twitched his snout sourly. "Sadly, yes. He came and raided around our summer campsite a few seasons back, took me an' six others as 'ostages. They said somethin' about showin' the way to the magic sword. They meant Redwall Abbey. Vermin are allus makin' up stories. That's what they sometimes refer Redwall to. Like I was sayin', they wanted us to take them to Redwall, but we were rescued by a hoard of otters returnin' from one o' their summer celebrations. Why?"

"Because I had a dream about a black fox, with a huge mace and an army. I don't know much else about it, save that it looked like I was going to get killed by the fox," Imaldu shrugged. "By the way, I was doing some thinking earlier, and I figured out that I've sorta... got a bit of a problem. I always get to aggressive around others. You have suggestions?"

"You could always take a deep breath, think about what your going to do, and see if you'll have any regrets," Krewdy replied.

"Do you ever use that idea?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"We have a good enough system already."

Smiling inwardly, Imaldu added, "Uhh, the tiller?"

"Oh yeah! Thanks for remindin' me!" Krewdy raced around the other side of the cabin, then backagain.

"We've got a problem!"

"What?" Imaldu asked, looking at his friends worried face.

"We're bein' followed!"

To be continued...

It's not a very long chapter, but I'm trying to make this more interesting. Thank you for your reviews, I tried to take some of your advice, as I am trying to make my first story (not poem) a good one.

Thank you for all your help! )