So you guys are still reading this, cause reviews have kind...well...

Stopped. :p

Chapter 15

As night fell, Mattimeo and Weylan set up a camp outside the cave using what little they could salvage from the ruins as a kind of awning. Lighting a small fire, they sat down and began to eat a makeshift dinner Mattimeo prepared from their supplies. Weylan sat next to the fire, using it's light to illuminate the piece of parchment.

"Wot do you suppose this reward is, mate?" Weylan asked, curious. "This parchment doesn't really say, does it?"

"No, it doesn't." Mattimeo agreed, helping himself to seconds of the meal. "It only points in the direction to go and what to look for on the way. In fact the only thing that tells us for sure that it is a map leading to this so-called reward is the fact that the destination is on a hill, which we can confirm is where the entrance to the cave that holds the reward is."

Weylan double checked the map and saw that he was right. Marked with a big "X" was their destination. A curving line swept over it, and was simply labeled, "hill."

"What I want to know," Mattimeo went on to say, "Is how finding this reward will help us defeat Toka. It's clear that there must be some kind of connection."

"Otherwise, we wouldn't 'ave been told to go get it." Weylan muttered, thinking about the series of dreams he had been having that started the whole journey.

"There must be something there with the reward that we can use." Mattimeo thought out loud. "A weapon, perhaps?"

"No real way to tell, mate, until we get there." Weylan said, starting to lie down in preparation to sleep.

"Unless you dream about what it might be." Mattimeo said, also lying down.

Neither needed to say more about the subject.

"Well, g'night, mate." Weylan said.

"Good night." Mattimeo said back.

Soon both were deeply asleep.

Weylan suddenly found himself at the hill, once again, and decided this was getting a little old. Why couldn't his dreams begin with him already being on the top of the hill?

"When I said good night," Mattimeo said, suddenly appearing at Weylan's side, "I expected it to be the last thing we'd say to each other until morning."

"Matti!" Weylan exclaimed, surprised. "This is my dream!"

"Apparently not any more." Mattimeo remarked.

They looked at each other in puzzlement, then climbed up to the peak of the hill. As always, Weylan's father awaited them there. He looked them over before speaking.

"You are wondering why you must find the reward, and what it might be, correct?" he asked, lifting the stone covering the underground entrance.

"Yes." both Weylan and Mattimeo answered together.

"Then wonder no more."

Weylan and Mattimeo lowered themselves into the cavern and slowly walked down the stone stairs.

"This is gettin' old." Weylan said. "Will this dream end suddenly, just before we find out wot is in 'ere, like all of the other dreams?"

"I do not know, friend." Mattimeo answered. "But I have a feeling that this time will be different."

They reached the bottom of the stairs, with darkness pressing in on them from all angles. Automatically, the two turned to the stone shelf where the lantern, and together they lowered it down. Weylan went about lighting it, and soon the lantern flared into life, glowing brilliantly. Mattimeo picked it up and held it aloft, as they both looked around the impressively large chamber, and gasped.

Suddenly, they were awake. Sitting up they both looked at each other form either side of the now-dead fire, shocked. In that chamber they had seen was more treasure than either of them had ever imagined.

Combined.

Marigold stared at the red sandstone wall beside her. It surprisingly told her a lot about the dormitory room. A young one had once lived in this room, for the wall bore lots of signs of wear and tear that only a young one could inflict while playing. The wall also showed signs of water damage, indicating that it had to be washed fairly frequently, probably in the aftermath of the young one's play. At least half of the wall had been rebuilt at one point, too, for the bricks did not all line up. However, Marigold suspected that had happened many seasons ago, probably long before she was born.

Not that this information did her any good, but it was interesting. But getting interesting information about a stone wall wasn't why she was lying awake in bed this late at night. She was waiting for the abbey to all go to bed, a moment she had been dreading all day.

Convinced it was safe, she got up, still fully dressed. Quietly, she snuck over to the dormitory door and opened it slowly. Sprawled out on the floor in front of door was Swayner, sound asleep.

He had promised Marigold that he would stand guard outside the door all night in case Toka decided to attack during the night, bravely saying he'd slay any vermin that came too close. Marigold couldn't help but grin at the now sleeping figure, his bushy tail curled up around him like a blanket. Obviously, standing guard all night was one night too long, but Marigold appreciated the gesture anyway.

She appreciated everything the Redwallers had done for her, they were nothing more than kind beasts, ready to help those in need even in the most dire of situations, almost like herself she realized.

So why was she out here, sneaking around?

She ignored that thought, and the thoughts that came with it, and pressed on, giving Swayner one last, mournful, look, feeling regret tearing at her mind. She had learned quickly that the main building of Redwall had more than one exit. The most common one was in the Great Hall, and thus is where the more creatures there would be about.

Marigold headed for the other most common exit, a set of doors on the bottom floor of the south wing, at the end of a long corridor of dormitories. At this time at night, it should be empty.

Quietly she tiptoed down a set of stairs, and found herself at the end of the corridor, with the set of doors leading into Cavern Hole at her back. she paused momentarily, letting her better judgement make it's argument, and, deciding it didn't have enough to convince her otherwise, slowly began to walk down the hallway.

It seemed to take forever, but Marigold was confident she could take as long as she wanted. All the dormitories were closed up, most of them withholding sleeping beasts, and those that did not have creatures tucked into bed were elsewhere in the abbey, probably standing guard. Since the only way in and out of the abbey in this corridor was the door Marigold was heading for, there were no guards around.

And there were no guards, Marigold noted, because the door in question was locked, and the Redwallers apparently thought that made it secure enough. Marigold might have agreed with that had the lock been more complex, but it was a relatively simple sliding one. If Toka knew this, it would be easy for him to get inside the abbey. Marigold wondered why he hadn't tried this way yet.

Placing one paw on the lock, Marigold paused, listening to the silence, feeling uneasy.

"I wish I didn't have to do this." she muttered under her breath, slowly beginning to open the lock so that it would make little noise.

"Then why do it, Marigold?"

Marigold jumped and swung around to face the sound of the voice. There, standing almost completely hidden in the shadows was Abbot Mordalfus.

"Father Abbot!" Marigold blurted out, and began stuttering, searching for an excuse.

She found none.

Suddenly the strain of it all was too much and she broke down, falling to the stone floor, sobbing, saying incoherent words in-between sobs. The good abbot knelt down next to her, placing one paw on her back.

"There, there, now." he said in a soothing voice, that produced almost immediate results. "Don't cry. I'm not going to do a thing to harm you in any way. I want to help, and together, we'll find a solution."

Marigold started to pull herself together, and sniffling, nodded silently that she understood.

"Now," Mordalfus began. "Tell me everything."

It was late at night when Grim pulled himself from the swollen stream, sputtering water. He looked around at his surroundings, and promptly saw that he was completely lost. Remaining ever calm, he turned to the only other survivor of the scouting party, a rat who was supposedly an expert tracker and scout, and stared at him.

The rat was licking a wound he had gotten at some point during the flash flood, and didn't notice Grim staring at him for several moments. When he did, it took the rat several moments more before he realized what Grim wanted.

"Oh." he finally said, realizing what was expected of him. "We're a good two days east from that Redwall place. Good thing Toka doesn't expect us back for another three days or so. Plenty of time to get back."

Grim stood up, and ignoring the latter part of the rat's announcement, wandered off into the woods, pausing a few feet away, looking back at the rat. The rat suddenly understood he was to follow and quickly ran to catch up. Grim continued on, silent as always.

The rat looked back at the stream, and shuddered. "Too bad we can't get washed back upstream." he remarked. "Of course, after that ride, I would want to stay away from that stream, even if it did mean a long two-day hike back to camp."

Grim gave the rat a look that quickly made him shut up. They continued on for several moments in silence, until it was broken once again by the rat.

"I notice you're still tracking." the rat said, observing Grim examine a leaf. "You don't think we can still find those two runaways, do you? They probably drowned along with the rest of the group."

Grim gave the rat another look. The rat got the impression that Grim knew something he didn't. And sure enough, once Grim was sure that the rat knew this, he mimed out what their prey had done to save themselves with his hands. It took several times repeating this motion before the rat understood.

"But why bother?" the rat asked as they continued onward once more. "They're bound to be long gone by now."

Grim shook his head, and indicated he knew what he was doing. For once the rat caught on immediately, but of course, having a blade at your throat does that to you.

They trudged on, not stopping to rest at all. Finally, they reached more familiar territory. Grim signaled this to the rat.

"Yes, I recognize it too." the rat said. "The horde passed through here about three or four days ago, if I remember right."

Grim shook his head and pointed at the stream, then pointed up along it's bank. The rat watched the motion for several moments before understanding.

"Oh yeah, this is where we ran into that lot of shrews." the rat remarked, not catching Grim's worried glance. "Why do you bring it up, though?"

Grim merely pointed behind the rat, with an exasperated look. The rat turned and looked behind him. At first all he saw nothing but shrubbery, but then an instant later, the rat was surrounded by more shrews than he could count.

"So you're the one responsible fer slaghterin' that scoutin' party!" One of them spoke up. "If I were him, I'd be ravin' mad from havin' somethin' like that on me mind. No wonder he was talkin' to himself."

"Talking to myself?" the rat repeated, and turned to point out Grim, to say that he wasn't talking to himself.

But to the rat's surprise, Grim was nowhere in sight.

And a moment later, it didn't matter anymore to the rat...