Rating: T (for blood and gore stuff)

Author's Note: So here it is, the first oneshot that I promised. Like already stated, it does tie in with "Warrior of Redwall," (as chpt. 34 alludes to this event) and even a little bit of "Weylan's Family" (although that is much more discreet and loose) but if you are a reader who has read neither of those fanfics; no worries! This one shot takes place well before "Warrior of Redwall," and many generations after "Weylan's Family" so you can read this without needing to know anything about either. :D

As my oneshots typically go, this one is actually oddly short, and is more informative than it is dramatic and impacting like my past Redwall oneshots. I had an idea that I could've used for this that would've changed that, but ultimately decided not to, and I think it's still an interesting work that gives some insight to a lifestyle I didn't touch much on during "Warrior of Redwall."

Anyway, enjoy! :)

No Loose Ends

Out here on the edge of the southern frontier of the Northlands, life was rough. It was either fight or avoid all you encountered out here and try to survive on your own with the meager supplies that were generally not very readily accessible out here in this harsh terrain, or be conquered by a more prosperous warlord, where you would be forever be subject to the rule of that powerful creature, but as long as you remained loyal, you could survive. If you couldn't do any of that, then you simply did not have the abilities to survive here, and would likely and simply die off during the night.

It was interesting how that worked. Like the land was really one vast organism that favored the strong, and ignored the weak, knowing that there would be more benefits to be gained from the strong. The weak could hardly offer any such benefits, and as a rule, it was usually a loss, and a sign of weakness, for any one to associate themselves with such creatures.

To some, that would seem cruel.

But to Northlanders, that was simply how one survived.

These were the thoughts of the young female rat hiding on the top of a hill's crest, in-between some boulders and some unhealthy shrubbery that tried to grow in the lifeless soil, which was all that she had to use for cover, that sat not far from shore. It did not bother her. She had been trained for this day. She had been taught how to make herself disappear, to make herself one with the land. Her life for the past season had been building up to this point. All she had to do now was wait.

Aurora shivered as a cool breeze rippled through her fur. It was late summer, at the very peak of the warm season when the weather should be at it's hottest, but for a born and raised southerner, the warm season in the Northlands wasn't warm enough, and was another cruel reminder about how cold it could get here. It didn't help that all Aurora had to protect her from this cold was what articles clothing she wore which never seemed to insulate her well enough and a thin summer coat of fur, which was not fur enough for this chilly climate. Worse still, her winter coat of fur wouldn't start growing in until some more weeks still, when the truly cold weather started to settle upon the Northlands. If everything went as planned today, however, Aurora hoped to be long gone from here before it got to that point, however. She knew that she just wasn't adapted to live long term this far north.

Ironically, though, Aurora knew that apparently, her ancestry eventually led back to here. At some point, her relatives had left this land for the warmer climates much further south, obviously, but it was funny to think about how their first choice had been this land of near perpetual ice and death.

As Aurora understood her family history, a distant relative had come here many generations ago, after encountering what could only be summed up as bad luck in other lands and having little place else to go. Actually, Aurora now knew that there were plenty of other places one could've gone that were infinitely better than this place, but for reasons lost over the course of time, this one relative chose to take up residence here and stayed for quick awhile until some future generation decided they had enough and wanted the easier life further south.

The reason Aurora knew so much about this distant relative was because this relative also happened to be her namesake, a vermin warrioress that was not one you would want to anger, according to Aurora's mother.

It was also how Aurora came to know Grim, at least partly anyway, after they accidently met up with each other for the first time. The weasel had wandered down south into Aurora's homeland, and was staying there for a brief while to resupply, and while he was there, the two happened to cross paths, and swapped stories. Grim, being a very quiet , reclusive, and secretive creature, wasn't always the easiest to talk to, but he became interested in Aurora when he learned of her name. It was then that he revealed that Grim actually wasn't his given name. It was in fact the name of another beast, also a weasel, who had lived some generations before him. Grim fancied this creature, his reputation, and his skills, and despite dying in battle, Grim had decided to adopt this creatures ways.

What was interesting, however, was that this Grim from generations past had a very high chance of having known Aurora's namesake. Maybe they both participated in the same event that ended with them going their separate ways and ending up where they did. Whatever the case, it made Grim curious to know whether or not Aurora had the same skills and talent at fighting that her ancestor did. If so, the weasel made it clear that he would have uses for a rat like Aurora in his line of work.

And of course, Aurora wanted to prove to a mercenary such as Grim that she did have what it took to be like him. Furthermore, the creature's lifestyle intrigued her, his skills impressed her, his attitude to his line of work was fascinating, and his line of work overall seemed more along her lines of employment than the simple job she had as a ship docks guard. So she of course jumped at the chance to accompany him as a traveling mercenary, and when Grim left at the end of his stay, he had a young and anxious female rat tagging along with him.

As they traveled north during the course of the summer season that followed, Grim taught Aurora much of what he had learned about the art of being a mercenary that he himself had learned over the years of his life. Aurora learned a lot, and frequently had to learn lessons the hard way, as Grim was a strong believer of learning by doing. As a result, Aurora had a few scars, all hidden, to show for it.

But now she was a very different creature. She was a mercenary now. She had lived, eat, drank, and breathed the art ever since she had come to stand beside Grim in his journeying, and as far as Aurora could tell (because Grim was a hard weasel to read at times) he was pleased and maybe even proud of Aurora's progress. He had even stated once that had he ever thought of obtaining an apprentice to teach all he knew to, Aurora would be a strong candidate. Except he said it in the usual flat and unemotional, matter-of-fact way that Grim usually speaks, but it was still quite a compliment.

During all of this time, however, Aurora had little chance to put it all to real practice. Because of Aurora's training, Grim wasn't looking for work, and did not accept many assignments while they were traveling. Furthermore, while they were passing through Mossflower Country, there were few to be found, as the populace there was mostly woodlanders who favored peace and thereby had little demand for a pair of mercenaries. What jobs they did accept, usually only when times were at their toughest, Grim usually took care of himself, half of which Aurora didn't even get to tag along for, if Grim even bothered to tell her about it (because sometimes he didn't).

For those she did get to accompany, she usually had little to no role in. Mostly she watched from afar to further her learning experience while Grim did all of the work. Other times she was naught but a mere tool for Grim to use to carry out whatever task they had been assigned, like the time Aurora (begrudgingly) had to make use of both her species and gender to lure their target (a male rat) out into the open, at which point Grim took over. In two instances, both many weeks apart from each other, the assignment had gotten regrettably out of control and Aurora was forced to jump in and fight. One of the two was Aurora's fault, who accidently fell out of the tree she had been watching Grim in as per his request during a pivotal moment during the assignment (for which she was reprimanded firmly for afterwards), while the other, to this day, not even Grim could figure out what had gone wrong that had ended up with the pair of them (Aurora jumping in to help bail Grim out) getting caught in the middle of a bloody and lethal vermin bar fight gone mad.

These two instances were generally more eventful for Aurora as it gave her a chance to fight, and to make use of the new fighting skills she had learned from Grim, but even then, it almost didn't count, as Aurora had no chance in either instance to make use of any of her other mercenary training. It wasn't until recently as they arrived in the Northlands did that change. About a week previous, they were hired by a warlord who was battling a rival who asked them to secretly "take care" of the commander of his enemy's armies. On this one, both Grim and Aurora worked side by side, and successfully pulled off the mission.

Therefore, Grim afterwards decided that Aurora was ready to carry out an assignment on her own.

So here she was, waiting for her chance. The mission was simple. Their employer, same one as their last mission, had arranged for a truce to try and peacefully delegate an end to their conflicts, inviting his rival, the leader of the opposing armies, to his fortress that was located out of sight, further inland, to work out a peace treaty of sorts. However, it was all a ruse staged by Grim and Aurora's employer; he wanted his rival dead, and thought luring him here virtually unguarded by his usual armies would be the best opportunity to do it with. Once his rival was out of the way, the employer could then seize control of his enemies forces and merge them into his own, doubling his control of the land. So he again hired Grim to carry out the assignment, who, in turn, asked Aurora to carry out her first solo assassination and kill the rival the moment he showed his face.

And she was now anxiously waiting for the rival to do just that. But thankfully, she didn't have to wait for much longer, as a small rowboat soon beached itself on shore. It was the convoy bearing the wanted rival and his bodyguards, arriving as planned. Crouching lower to play it safe, ears folding back to rest against her skull, Aurora analyzed the newcomers, unaware that she was there, but on their guard nonetheless. There were five in total. Climbing out of the small row boat they had probably rowed all the way along shore to get here from further up the back where the rival resided, they gathered into a group and started off, with the fifth member of the party staying in the middle.

He was the rival that was wanted dead, a tall and lanky stoat with a grey coat of fur and carried himself with obvious self-prestigious and self-admiration, strutting along proudly across the sandy beach. His clothing was both lush and expensive, made from fine silks, or dyed with elaborate colors that had to be difficult to create artificially. No wonder Aurora's employer, a much more modest and practical creature, wanted him dead.

The rival seemed to be unarmed, but the party of four fox bodyguards that surrounded him protectively were. With deadly, decorated, swords, and judging from the professional uniforms they wore and their observant eyes looking everywhere for trouble, it was clear that they knew how to use them as well. In a paw-to-paw conflict, Aurora was at a disadvantage.

However, these foxes were clearly expecting to be attacked by something more along the lines of a whole army suddenly popping out of nowhere and surging towards them, and thereby were keeping their line of vision fairly linear and straight ahead, as that was where they expected any attacks to come from. They clearly didn't trust the warlord they were coming to visit presumably on peaceful terms.

However, they clearly were not expecting a hidden sniper from attacking, from the top of a nearby hill that ran alongside the path they were taking. And as such, Aurora had an easy shot at the rival. Grinning to herself, she placed an arrow on her bow, and took aim. She had a perfect shot already, but to just insure victory, Aurora waited until the group came a little closer, keeping her arrow tip pointed at the rival. She wasn't too worried about the bodyguards, as they weren't her target. So why waste arrows on them?

She waited another moment, thinking just how much in the bag she had this. No wonder Grim was willing to let her do this assassination.

Without warning, she released the arrow with a twang.

The arrow struck home, and with a splurt of blood, the stoat fell making nothing more than a sharp gasp before he hit the ground, where he would not rise again. The sound of the nearby ocean suddenly seemed loud enough to drown out all other sound as the four bodyguards, caught completely off-guard by this sudden attack, all looked in dismay at the body of their leader. Aurora stifled the urge to cheer at her success.

It was a good thing she did, because then the four bodyguards all turned and started running in Aurora's direction, having deduced, accurately where the arrow had come from. It was too soon to celebrate.

Realizing that now she had to deal with these bodyguards and knowing that she couldn't just make a break for it, as she wouldn't be able to maintain her cover, Aurora quickly reached back and grabbed another arrow and laid it on her bow, taking aim. The fox bodyguards came closer, she could hear their voices speaking. Quickly, she picked one out to shoot. But she didn't have time to take proper aim like she had when she sniped the rival, and it was harder to take aim fast when she was lying on her front like this, and worried her aim would be off.

It was, she missed her target completely, and worse still, it confirmed to the quartet of foxes that they were heading the right way, and they redoubled their pace. Aurora cursed, and quickly tried again. This time she was more successful, downing one, but she didn't have anymore time to try and get the others like this, so she quickly sought options. She could fire off arrows faster and more accurately if she was standing up, but to do that would mean blowing her cover, and assuming one of the foxes escaped, alive, having seen her, then he could spread the alarm to his fellow creatures and mess up everything for everyone. Secrecy was a must. But if she didn't do something soon, she'd be worse off than she already was, possibly dead, as these bodyguards no doubt wanted her blood spilt as vengeance for their dead leader.

She shot a quick glance at the large bolder that sat just beside her, and upon getting an idea, hoped it would be big enough to hide behind. Keeping as low to the ground as she could, she scooted back until she was past the boulder in question, then quickly rolled behind it before finally jumping up to her footpaws. Pressing her back to the cold stone, she quickly placed another arrow on her bow, and worked to calm herself down, to quiet her harsh and rapid breathing, and to slow her beating heart. Now that the foxes were no longer within her range of vision, she would have to rely upon her other senses to determine where they were and where they were coming from. Closing her eyes, she concentrated.

She could hear the foxes, their footpaws beating at the sand, as they approached the boulder. They had stopped talking now, orders having already been given, and were trying to be quiet as possible. As they arrived at the boulder, their pace slowed dramatically, and progressed further slowly and cautiously. They were playing it safe, knowing that a sniper was supposedly hiding here, and didn't want to get caught off guard by her. They also hoped to catch their culprit sniper by surprise.

They were breathing heavily, but trying to slow their breathing. Their run up here was work enough to draw a sweat; Aurora could just barely detect the scent of the salty liquid dampening their fur, which alarmed her, telling her they were close.

Too close.

Curses, they were splitting up, trying to surround her!

Acting quickly, Aurora twisted around to point her bow and arrow at one side of the boulder as the first fox moved around it and fired without hesitation, downing the creature instantly. Then, without pausing, she twisted around again, pulling out another arrow and placing it on her bow as the next fox stepped around the boulder's other side. She again fired without hesitation, striking the creature and downing him, but as her arrow hit higher than she had hoped, she fired another into the fox to insure that he was indeed dead.

Quickly slapping yet another arrow onto her bow, glad she had chose to bring a whole quiver full, she pressed herself back against the side of the boulder, breathing heavily as she awaited for the next attack. But only silence fell, and after it continued on for a few moments, and Aurora realized she wasn't being attacked by anybeast else, she started to relax a little. Was that really it? Did she get them all? Let's see, first she killed the stoat rival, then killed the first fox guard as they were running up to where she was hiding, then she killed two more just now, that made for three guards total, not counting the stoat rival.

Now wait, only three?

She heard him before she saw him, his claws scampering on a rock surface, in preparation to leap. Aurora spun around to face the boulder, then looked up in time to see the fourth and final fox push off from on top of the large rock with a yell, sword in paw as he leapt to pounce on the sniper rat. With a yelp, Aurora fired her arrow at the fox, watching as the object embedded itself into the creature's middle, but very little could stop the fox's jump now, and he landed heavily on top of Aurora, knocking her flat to the ground.

At that point, it was proved that the fox was still very much alive, and he quickly started to struggle with Aurora, the intent of killing her glinting darkly in his eyes. Growling angrily, Aurora freed one of her paws, and then clubbed the fox over the head repeatedly. Finally, the deranged fox who probably had nothing left to live for, went limp, and lay like a dead weight on top of Aurora. Aurora struggled against the creature's body and finally managed to roll it off of her.

Breathing heavily, she looked around for a moment, then at the fox that had jumped her. He wasn't dead yet, but was bleeding profusely from the arrow wound Aurora had managed to deal him whilst he was pouncing on her, made worse when he landed on the rat, driving the arrow deeper into his body. He would likely soon die from loss of blood, probably long before he'd regain consciousness. Relieved, Aurora lay back down on the ground, exhausted from her close call.

Then she sat back up suddenly as she realized she had done it. She pulled it off. She succeeded in finishing the assignment All on her own. Didn't go quite as smoothly as she had hoped, but at least she didn't totally mess it up. Excited now, she hopped up onto her footpaws, and rushed off, heading towards the small gathering of trees that sat off very far into the distance, to where she and Grim had prearranged to meet up with each other again once it was done, though Aurora knew that the weasel was probably somewhere nearby already, secretly watching her and her progress.

She didn't care. She had succeeded, and finally achieved something at being a mercenary, at least something worth noting career-wise. So she was quite pleased with herself as she waltz up to the embankment of trees. She was some feet away still, when she thought she saw movement. It might have been caused by the breeze, but Aurora saw little reason to doubt that it might be something else.

"Grim!" she called happily. "I did it! I'm done! You can come out now!"

There was a pause, then the weasel himself slowly stepped out from behind a tree, looking as stern as usual. In fact, he looked, to Aurora, to be highly skeptical of her claim, which offended Aurora. She noticed that he had his bow out with an arrow laid upon it, held pointed down, but ready to use regardless, like he expected there to be a need to.

Aurora held her paws out in frustration, knowing that even if Grim hadn't hid somewhere and watched her carry out the job, which was highly unlikely, he should still be able to tell she had succeeded, as she showed all the signs of it. The victory, the happiness that she had succeeded, the knowledge of what she had done, and a wearied countenance on top of all of that, including some fox blood that had been spilt on her during the fight. So why didn't he act like it?

"What?" she asked, growing annoyed now. "What did I do that you didn't like? What could I have possibly done wrong that make you so unhappy? Or are you just so incapable of being happy for anyone, despite…whoa."

She stopped dead in her tracks when Grim suddenly snapped up his bow, and drew back the string, pointing the tip of his arrow seemingly at her. Aurora felt her heart leapt, startled at this new and unexpected development.

"Okay, I didn't mean that!" she quickly said in her defense, although her mind was reeling, wondering what it was that she did that could have set Grim off. As heartless as the weasel usually was, she had never seen him act like this before.

Grim did not reply, but his eyes narrowed, a calculating look being quite clear in them. Aurora realized he was lining up his shot, and was just about to duck or turn and run for her own safety and well being when Grim let the arrow fly. Aurora instinctively flinched, and started to turn herself away and out of the arrow's path, despite knowing that there was no way she could move fast enough to succeed.

But the arrow hadn't been aimed at her after all. Instead, it whisked past Aurora, coming dangerously close to both her left shoulder and adjoining neck. But it missed both, and instead hit something behind the rat. The grunt that followed told Aurora with a jolt that it had hit a creature. Surprised and alarmed, she twisted around in time to see the fox fall flat on his face from where he had been standing only a few paces behind Aurora. The dagger that the fox had been gearing up to hurl into Aurora's exposed back rolled out of the creature's limp claws and onto the grass.

Aurora stared at the dead creature for several long moments, starting to hyperventilate as it dawned on her just how much danger she was in still as Grim slowly ambled up, shoulder his bow, looking completely at peace, like he always, frustratingly, did. Aurora glanced at him bewilderedly for a moment, then back at the dead body that had been about to kill her.

"A fifth fox?" she finally managed to gasp out, still completely shocked. "Where the devil did he come from?"

"With the others." Grim replied calmly, and matter-of-factly. "He sailed to shore with the others in the rowboat, and then stayed behind to stand guard. You did not seem to take note of the event."

Aurora paused, and racked her mind for any evidence to confirm this statement, wondering how she had failed to notice. Finally, she realized that she had noticed that this creature had stayed behind at the rowboat out of the corner of her eye, but at the time, didn't think it important, and had simply shrugged it off. Rubbing at her face in dismay, Aurora realized just how critical error she had made.

"He saw everything, and probably had a better angle to see what was happening than anyone." Grim continued relentlessly, apparently determined to give Aurora every detail, despite how much more it rubbed the foulness of the messy and critical error into her face. "When it became clear to him that things were not going well, and that his fellow creatures were all dead, or soon to be, he pursued you, with the intent of slaying you in vengeance." He paused, then glanced sideways at the rat. "Consider yourself lucky that he chose to kill you instead of going to spread word of what he had seen to those we do not want knowing of this event."

Aurora made a noise that was somewhere between a snort, a sigh of exasperation, and a sadistic laugh at this.

"May this also be a lesson to you." Grim continued still. "Always take account of ever element of your surroundings. See everything. Hear everything. Know everything. Take time to consider consequences. Do not rush when you can help it. Overlook nothing. Know where everyone is at, and always keep track of them. And above all, leave no witnesses. Doing otherwise will only cause more trouble, every time, and can cost you your life. You never, ever, leave any loose ends."

Aurora was silent for several long moments. She was finally starting to get herself to calm down, but she still stared leerily at the dead body of the fox, scared at the idea of just how close to death she came. Finally, she turned to look curiously at Grim.

"Why didn't you just kill him yourself when it was clear that I was overlooking him, avoid any risks, and then explain all of this to me?" she asked innocently.

Grim gave her a look. "Then you wouldn't have learned."

They were silent for a moment. Then Grim placed a paw on Aurora's shoulder to get her full attention.

"Come," he urged, "we need to report our success to our employer."

He then turned and started off. Aurora gave the dead fox one last glance, then hurried to follow him.

As she went, she made a mental note to never again leave any loose ends in her work.