VII: The Sword
It was nearly one complete day since Marclaw had slain Sedgewick. Again all of Mossflower was dark and peaceful in the night.
It was a peace that would not last.
Marclaw emerged from behind some bushes, followed by Darkscale, Limptail, and the other lizards. They had been waiting for a long time, and now they would finally be able to act. When they had reached Redwall again, the sun had begun to rise. That wasn't satisfactory for Marclaw. Abbeybeasts could be seen pacing about the ramparts, looking for something (Marclaw had thought that they were looking for them, but in truth, they were looking for the hares), and Marclaw's grand scheme would not work if they were spotted before they even got to the walls. Luckily, none of the abbey dwellers had ventured outside, as they were unsure what had been out there that had attacked them.
Then, Caldwell had returned, along with his hares. They appeared out of the forest alarmingly close to Marclaw and his group, and Marclaw later reprimanded Darkscale for having not noticed them (much to Limptail's relief, Marclaw had started taking his anger out on the lizards, instead of him). The hares went into the abbey for a long time, but came back out several hours later, along with most of the fit and able creatures from the abbey.
They split into groups and marched into the forest at different locations. Marclaw didn't know what they were doing, but it put them out of the way. Now, it was very dark, and none of the groups had returned. There were one or two creatures up on the top of the wall, but they looked old and were half-asleep. They could avoid them easily.
The lizards would make their move now.
Marclaw dashed up to the abbey wall stealthily and silently, followed by the other lizards and Limptail. Looking around to make sure he hadn't been spotted, Marclaw then ran not to the large front gate, but to one of the small side gates. Now he would initiate his master scheme to enter the abbey.
Marclaw began ramming against the door, hitting it hard several times. "Help me!" he shouted to the other lizards, and they all joined in, banging and hitting the door.
---
The night also put Davian into action. Jumping down from his tree, he ran as fast as he could to the small door in the wall that he hoped would lead him out. He had gone the whole day unmoving, and there had been several tense moments where he thought he would have been spotted, but nothing had ever happened, and now he was going to escape. He was very close to the door now… Right next to the door now… He was just about to open the door now…
The door suddenly began rattling and shaking wildly. Davian leapt back- It was a trap! The abbeybeasts had known he was there all along, and they had set up a fake door to trap him!
Davian moaned in despair, taking a staggered step back and drawing his sword, not quite ready to fight whatever burst out of the door, but ready to try.
Then a familiar voice shouted, "Help me!" This was followed by even more banging and rattling. Whatever was behind that door had captured his soldiers!
Mustering up his courage, Davian moved slowly towards the door. His soldiers were behind there, and he was prepared to fight whatever was going to get in his way! Davian leapt forward and unbolted the latch on the door. Instantly, it swung open.
Marclaw, Darkscale, and five other lizards all toppled inside in a giant heap. Davian jumped over them to the outside, swinging his sword wildly at the doppelganger that had captured his soldiers.
Limptail's quick instincts were all that saved him from getting his head lopped off by Davian's furious swinging. He dropped to the ground, just missing Davian's blade. The lizard general flailed around wildly for a few moments, then suddenly stopped, realizing that nothing was there except the one ferret that had led them to the abbey in the first place.
"Davian!" Marclaw exclaimed as he and the other lizards all got up, "We hurry! We take over the red fort!"
Davian paused. Everything was spinning around like a whirlwind. It took him a few moments to get his thoughts together. Take over the red fort…? Wait, it made sense! All of the strong creatures in the abbey had all left, to go on their search! It was dark again, everybeast was sleeping!
The general was about to say something when the sound of a door opening came from the distance. The lizards all span around to see an old denizen of Redwall walking out of one of the buildings, yawning and wondering what all the banging was that had woken him up.
Marclaw jumped into action. He charged the elder, slaying him before he even noticed that the gate was open. "Hurry! There may be more!" Marclaw hissed. Davian and Limptail clambered inside, shutting the gate behind them.
Davian began issuing orders. "Thiz izz what we'll do. Uh… Chopleg an' Greenwart, go up onto wall, zlay the zleepy onez there, yez! Darkzcale, Marclaw, an' the furry thing, go to entrance, big gate. There may be more there. The rezt go with me, into the place where they zleep."
The lizards all ran off, not hesitating to perform their orders. Limptail paused a minute, simultaneously cursing the ill luck that put him in the same group as Marclaw and cursing the fact that Davian had called him a "furry thing", then hastened after his group, who were running to a building seemingly at random.
Davian led his group of three lizards to the building most of them had gone into as it became nightfall. Davian hadn't known what to expect when he entered the building, except that it probably looked like the inside of King Kirrent's tent, the only other structure he had ever gone into in his life. To his surprise, it wasn't anything like King Kirrent's tent.
They entered some hallway. There were a bunch of doors all over the place, and a staircase, and windows, and it was really just a confusing mess. Davian didn't even know where to begin. So, he began by opening doors at random.
---
Marclaw's group was similarly confused. They had entered one building, only to find that it wasn't anything near the entrance. Darkscale opened a door and walked into a closet. Limptail opened a door and walked into another closet. Marclaw opened a door and walked into a giant hallway.
If Corzon had been in the hallway (unfortunately, he'd never get the chance), he'd have tried to shove the whole thing into his little bag. It truly was shiny and interesting. There were stained glass windows all over, and the ceiling was incredibly high. Large columns held the roof up proudly, and Marclaw felt as if he had just walked into some sort of wonder world of magic.
Then he saw the sword.
It was stationed next to some fancy tapestry with a mouse on it, but Marclaw didn't care for that. The sword looked perfect. Had Corzon seen the sword (unfortunately, he'd never get the chance for this, either) he would have instantly abandoned trying to shove the whole hallway into his bag and simply gone for it. It was at least a hundred times shinier and more interesting than the hallway itself. And if Corzon had put the sword in his bag, King Kirrent might not have thought him such a failure.
Marclaw's slim, wavy sword clattered to the ground. He wasn't even aware that he had dropped it. Limptail was, and reached for it, but Darkscale was quicker and snatched it up first. Marclaw didn't even notice that they had entered the room. He was drawn to the sword, like a moth to light. Some external force seemed to be telling him to go back, get away, it's not your sword you savage beast, but Marclaw kept telling himself that he wanted that sword very badly, forcing himself to keep moving on.
Marclaw grabbed the sword. It felt good in his claw. It felt as if he could kill all of those hares, and even that badger. It felt as if he could rule the world with that sword.
Then, Chopleg and Greenwart, the two lizards Davian had sent to the top of the wall, came running in. Marclaw turned around, creating an imposing figure with his new sword.
Greenwart, a lean female lizard, spoke first, "Good, we find you! We thought we lozt!"
Chopleg continued, "We haz to find Davian! Bad newz!"
"What? What izz going on?!" Darkscale demanded. Marclaw said nothing, merely stood in the background, smiling his toothy smile. Limptail glanced over at him and shivered.
"We zlay the two furry thingz on roof, juzt like Davian azked," Greenwart reported, "Then we zee longearz! They came out of forezt! It izz not good!"
Marclaw scoffed. He could kill of those hares easily, now that he had this amazing sword. "I will zpeak with them, yez," he said, "Follow me." Marclaw marched past the four others and back the way he came, holding his new sword proudly. Confused, the rest followed.
---
Colonel Caldwell was exasperated. Nothing had turned up, not even any tracks. His group had met back up with the other groups about a half hour prior and decided to go back for the night. They'd try again tomorrow, but the general consensus was that the lizards had gotten away.
"It doesn't look as if there's anyone up there to let us back in…" pointed out a squirrel. Caldwell shrugged.
"I'm sure that they'll be back up soon. They wouldn't leave us out here," announced the hare, dejectedly.
"Lookit! It izz great warriorz, they haz returned!" exclaimed a mocking voice from high above. Caldwell gritted his teeth in fury; he didn't have to look up to recognize who it was: the lizard that had killed Sedgewick.
"Die, you worthless scum!!" screamed Maudy, who hurtled his spear up at the lizard on the top of the wall. Marclaw sidestepped it masterfully, laughing. Maudy nearly exploded in rage.
"Lookit me, I took over big red fort! Hahaha!" Marclaw shouted down. His four companions all seemed to materialize behind him, with uneasy expressions on their faces.
"Give me another spear! I'll hit him this time!!" Maudy shouted as Gavin attempted to restrain him. Marclaw continued to laugh.
"Hahaha! I am very hungry now, yez! Mebbe I eat the weak creaturez you left for uz! Hahaha!"
This time, nearly everybeast down below exploded in rage, shouting all kinds of threats up to Marclaw, who merely laughed at all of them.
Limptail had slunk back a little, afraid that more things would be thrown, and that perhaps they may hit him. Then, he saw something that captured his interest, far behind the woodlanders below.
He pushed in front of Marclaw, who abruptly stopped laughing. Then he screamed, at the top of his lungs, "Conrad!!! Wemys!!! Haaaaaalp meeeeeeee!!! They have me—" That was all he was able to say, before Marclaw slashed him across the face with his empty claw, causing the ferret to recoil in pain.
Down below, the fox Conrad, as well as Wemys and Swiss, had just walked out of the forest. Conrad hadn't wanted to come. Limptail had never done anything particularly useful for the group, and going near Redwall was an unnecessary risk. However, Wemys had talked him in to it, somehow. But now, despite anything Wemys had said, the wily fox wanted to bolt that very instant. Between him and the abbey was a group of furious, armed Redwallers.
"Great," Conrad spat, "Just great. I'm leavin', Wemys."
"Wait, Conrad," Wemys interjected, "I don't think they're mad at us."
"So what?" exclaimed the fox, "They're mad. They don't like foxes, or stoats, and I'm pretty sure they don't like whatever Swiss is. It's only a matter of time afore they decide to start bein' angry at us. Right now, I personally feel that Limptail is pretty safe, what with him being all up on the wall. So, we're going to leave now, and maybe we'll come back later. Maybe."
"Conrad, they haven't even noticed us," Wemys pointed out, annoyed at his leader's rashness, "Right now, it looks like they're too busy throwin' things up at the top of the wall."
Conrad looked. Indeed, the group stuck outside of Redwall had begun to throw anything they could at Marclaw and the lizards- Spears, stones, anything. Colonel Caldwell simply stood there, transfixed to the spot, shaking his sword up in the air.
Marclaw and his group had long since departed from the top of the wall. Darkscale had been hit in the arm with a stone, Chopleg had narrowly missed being hit by a javelin, and Limptail of course had three long gashes running diagonally across his face, but none of them were seriously injured.
After a while, the stones and spears ceased to be thrown. Not because the throwers had realized that they could no longer hit Marclaw, but because there was nothing left on the ground to throw.
Looking around for more things they could hurl at Marclaw, they finally noticed Conrad and the other two. "Great," Conrad repeated, "Now they've seen us. Now we're in big trouble. Wemys, I'm leavin' now, and I suggest you do too. Come on, Swiss."
"Hey, you vermin!" shouted an otter, "What're you doing here?"
"We're leaving," Conrad muttered under his breath as he turned around.
"We're tryin' to rescue one of our own, the ferret," Wemys yelled back. Conrad hastened his departure.
"Just ignore that lot," Caldwell ordered, "We have much bigger problems." He pointed back to the top of the wall. Marclaw hadn't shown his ugly face again, but it was only a matter of time before he did, just to get the last laugh.
The group of woodlanders did as Caldwell asked, remembering the predicament at hand. Wemys called back at Conrad, "See? They don't care 'bout us."
Conrad's voice echoed out of the forest, "They only don't care 'bout us now, when we aren't near them. What do you plan on doing? Waltzin' up there and saying 'hello'? I know Limptail's your friend and all, Wemys, but I'd have expected you to get over things like that pretty quickly. You weren't this determined when your brother left."
Swiss frowned at the mention of Wemys' brother. He had always been really mean, and really angry, and Swiss was sort of glad that he had left.
Wemys sighed. "I couldn't do nothin' to stop my brother. He left 'cuz he hated us all, me included. I wasn't gonna stop him. There wasn't nothing I could do."
Conrad's voice sounded exasperated. "There isn't nothing you can do now! How do you plan on gettin' into Redwall? How do you plan on fightin' off an army of lizards? It ain't possible!"
"I don't hafta do anything," Wemys replied, "All I hafta do is wait for those woodlanders to find a way in an' fight off the lizards. Then we just grab Limptail and leave. It'll be simple."
Conrad materialized out of the forest. "Fine, then. If that's all you're gonna do, then you don't need me, do you? If not, then I'm gonna leave, cuz I left Weltsnout in charge, an' you both know how he handles power."
Wemys and Swiss exchanged glances. Yes, they knew very well how Weltsnout handled power, and he didn't handle it very well. "Whatever, then," Wemys sighed, finally giving in to his leader.
Conrad smiled victoriously, and then left very quickly. Wemys and Swiss slunk behind the bushes, watching the woodlanders from afar as they began to discuss the problem they had just found themselves in.