Going back to explain what's been happening at Redwall, which isn't much. Really a filler cahpter, because most of it's humor, especially towards the end. Anyway, enjoy. ;)
Chapter 35
Marigold opened her eyes slowly, squinting at the bright sunlight that streamed in through the window behind her. Moaning slightly, she turned her stiff joints slowly and looked around, seeing that she was lying in a bed, one of many in the long, rectangular, room. Two sets of double doors were on the wall opposite, a set placed at each end of the room. In-between the two doors were lines of cabinets and a long, stone, counter that stretched almost the entire length of the wall.
Most of the beds in the room were empty, but one bed other than her own, sitting on the opposite end of the room, had somebeast in it, although who it was, Marigold couldn't tell. Feeling her throat dry, she looked around for water and saw a small clay cup filled with the liquid sitting on a little side table next to her bed. Draining the cup, she noticed there was also a vase of flowers. Marigolds, to be exact. They were very pretty, but Marigold pushed the vase as far from her as possible without pushing it off the end of the little table.
She settled back into the bed again, knowing from the pinkish-red stones that built the walls of the room that she was in Redwall, but this room she did not recognize, telling her that she hadn't been in this room before. However, there was only one room she knew of in the abbey that fit the description, and that was the Infirmary, the room which had been closed off to other Redwallers, until now apparently.
This theory was confirmed when a little door in the sidewall of the room opened and in walked Sister May. The good sister noticed Marigold awake immediately, and rushed to her side.
"Marigold!" Sister May exclaimed, "How are you feeling?"
Marigold shifted positions. "Stiff." she replied bluntly, then amended, "A little achy, but other than that, good."
Sister May smiled. "Good." she replied. "You had me worried a couple of times. I wondered once or twice if you were going to live. That villainous Toka really sent you for a loop."
Marigold blinked a few times, cautiously sitting up, only to have the sister push her back down again before walking off to the row of cabinets. "How long have I been out?" Marigold asked.
"A couple of days." Sister May replied, pulling out some herbs, a bowl, and some water, quickly preparing a dose of medicine. "Like I said, you were in poor condition when you came into my paws." She made a few finalizing stirs in her concoction, then carried it over to Marigold. "But, you pulled through, thankfully. Drink this down, please."
Marigold obeyed, draining the bowl of the substance, making a face afterwards. "The taste leaves something to be desired." the squirrel remarked.
Sister May smiled again. "Trust me, this tastes like strawberry cordial in comparison to some of the medicines herbalists before me have created." the sister said, taking to bowl from Marigold , putting it away, then returning with more water, which Marigold thankfully drank.
"So, what did I miss?" Marigold asked. "Because last thing I recall, I was still Toka's prisoner."
"Quite a bit." Sister May replied. "We managed to strike an agreement with Toka. You, among other things, in trade for our surrender."
Marigold looked up, alarmed. "You what?" she asked.
"Let me finish." Sister May said, then continued. "We aren't actually surrendering. This is just a ploy to buy us more time, and to lure Toka elsewhere, to a treasure here in Mossflower. At the moment, Redwall is free of vermin."
"What about when Toka returns?" Marigold asked, skeptic. "What then?"
"If everything went according to plan, he won't come back." Sister May said. "He and his horde will be marching into a trap, one they wouldn't be coming back from." she shuddered at the thought of all the bloodshed that would bring. "There's no word yet if it's happened, but..." she trailed off, deciding not to inform Marigold of word of Mattimeo's capture.
A moment of silence fell, until Marigold decided to change the subject.
"I thought the infirmary was off limits." she said.
Sister May grinned yet again. "That has since changed." she said, sounding pleased. "Matthias is recovering. He'll pull through, and live to see a few seasons more."
Marigold glanced over to where the warrior mouse lay. "Is he awake?" she asked.
Sister May shook her head. "No, he hasn't wakened once since he started to recover." she said. "He didn't get much sleep while he was ill, so he must be catching up now."
"His family must be very happy that he is recovering, though." Marigold remarked.
Sister May suddenly stood up. "Oh dear, that reminds me." she said. "I nearly forgot."
She walked back through the little door she had entered from and vanished from sight. Several moments passed while Marigold patiently waited, listening to the faint sound of somebeast talking. Finally, the sister returned, followed by...
"Swayner?" Marigold asked, sounding surprised.
Swayner started to reply, but got no further than a soft squeak before losing the ability to speak altogether, looking embarrassed. So Sister May explained.
"I found him sitting at your bedside late last night, sound asleep." she explained. "Must have snuck in while I was elsewhere. I had him moved to my bed to spend the rest of the night. I'm assuming he has something to say to you."
Swayner nodded vigorously, blushing under Marigold's curious, almost heartfelt, look that she was giving him. Sister May, seeing where this was heading, wandered off to where Matthias lay, saying she needed to attend to him, while in reality, Matthias was still very much asleep, so much so, the mouse hadn't changed positions in several hours. Pretending to be preoccupied with something else, the sister listened to conversation the two had.
At first, a long period of silence fell, where both Swayner and Marigold nervously sought for something to say. Finally, Marigold broke the silence.
"You were sitting at my bedside last night?" she asked.
Swayner nodded anxiously. "Yes, I mean, if that's okay with you, I mean, you weren't really awake to say yes or no, but...er...see...um...is...it...okay with you?"
Marigold instantly nodded. "Very much okay." the squirrel replied. "Don't worry about asking." she spotted a stool, and motioned to it. "Please, have a seat."
Swayner sat down, glad to get off his quaking paws. It was then that Marigold noticed that Swayner had something behind his back.
"What's that?" Marigold asked, pointing with one paw.
"Oh, er, more flowers." Swayner said, bringing out another bundle of marigold flowers. "It...it was Cheek's idea."
"Oh, er..." Marigold said, accepting the flowers Swayner handed to her, looking slightly unsure. "Um, Swayner, not to seem rude, but while these flowers are very pretty, I'm allergic-" she sneezed suddenly, "-to marigolds."
"Oh. Oh!" Swayner exclaimed, quickly taking back the bundle and carrying them over to the infirmary counter, grabbing the vase of marigolds sitting on the side table while on his way, his tail drooping in dismay. "I'm sorry, I...I didn't know...so...er..."
"It's okay, Swayner, you couldn't have known." Marigold said, pulling out a handkerchief and blowing her nose. "Besides," she added as Swayner returned, looking ashamed, his head hung. Marigold reached out with one paw and lifted up his chin. "It's the thought that counts."
Swayner smiled.
"A beast could go mad up 'ere." Cheek muttered loudly, sitting uncomfortably on the tree branch.
"Hush." Log-a-log Flugg said monotonously from the base of the tree, where he and a small party of other Guosim shrews stood guard.
"I can see why squirrels always seem to be a liddle odd." Cheek rambled on, regardless. "They spend all day in these trees. Must go nuts on a daily basis."
"I said hush!" Flugg repeated, annoyed.
"Now, spendin' all day in a stream, or a river, or some body of water like that, that I can do." Cheek persistently continued. "But sittin' in a tree..."
"You'll live." Flugg stated. "Now hush."
Cheek leaned over and looked at the shrews below. "Anybeast want to trade posts?" he asked.
"No." the shrews all jointly chorused.
"Now hush an' do your job." Flugg added.
Cheek fell silent for a moment. He felt a little nervous, and usually when he was nervous, he ate something. He didn't have anything to eat, though, so he had begun to jabber over various topics, usually having some relation to getting out of the tree he had spent the past several days in.
And he was nervous for several reasons. First, there was news of Mattimeo's capture by Toka. That, alone, put everyone at Redwall on edge, knowing that if something didn't happen to change that, they were all in grave trouble. Second, in addition to that, was the fact that no word from the horde had come in from Toka's communication chain for some time now, going on to a couple of days. In fact, it had pretty much fallen silent.
This could mean one of two things. Either Toka and his horde had all been finished off, or that their plan had backfired terribly and now the horde was on it's way back, keeping silent to maintain the element of surprise. Everyone was hoping it was the former over the latter of the two, but no one would know until word got through.
And until that point, he would be stuck...in...this...stupid...tree!
Hearing his stomach grumble, Cheek peered down at the shrews again. "When's dinner gonna get 'ere?" the otter asked.
The shrews groaned in annoyance.
"Will you hush?" Flugg said, getting angry.
"I was just askin'..."
"Wot part of hush don't yeh understand!" Flugg roared suddenly, waving his rapier. "Now HUSH!"
Cheek did. But only for a moment, when something caught his eye.
"Flugg?"
"Now wot?"
"There's somebeast comin' this way."
Instantly, the shrews were on the alert, turning towards the source of movement they could see further up the path. Flugg squinted his eyes at it. "Who is it?" he asked, mostly to himself.
Cheek, who had a better angle of vision than the shrews, answered, sounding very relieved.
"It's Mattimeo and Weylan!" he exclaimed. "They're back!"