The Fallen Star

A Tale of Redwall

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Salamandastron stood like a mighty citadel of the sea, the great mountain standing almost as high as the clouds. Smoke sailed up from the crater atop the mighty mountain of badgers, warding all vermin away from the mighty stone fortress within its depths. In truth, the mountain of Salamandastron was once a volcano; but its glory days of destruction and might, the fires within having been put out, was long gone. It was now ruled by the Badger Lords and their mighty hares, the legendary Long Patrol. Many a foebeast had mistakenly tried to take the mountainside, but were defeated by the stout-hearted Long Patrol and their mighty Badger Lords.

The current lord of Salamandastron was a mighty badger, whose forehead carried a birthmark first seen in his ancestor. His name was Morath the Moors, and all vermin trembled at the sound of his name. A mighty beast he was, the great grandson of the legendary Gorath the Flame, and the twin brother to Morwen of Redwall. A legend passed down by the mountain said that all of Gorath the Flame's legacy would carry his traditional forehead mark; a red discoloration of the forehead, resembling a flame. Though Morath's "flame" was nothing like his ancestor's, his color was much brighter, resembling more like a candle that had a flame that flickered larger than most instead of a mighty blaze. That was nothing, however, compared to his Bloodwrath, which was part of how he got his name.

Long ago, there was once a tremendous battle at a great ridge, where mighty vermin hordes attempted to defeat and enslave the woodlanders of Mossflower. In that battle, the legendary Lady Cregga Rose Eyes had managed to drive the enemy back, losing her sight in the process, and never again was able to live in the great Badger Mountain. Since then, the Ridge stood as a reminder for those who had died in the battle, and that good will always triumph over evil. Lady Cregga's mighty axe-pike, placed there as a reminder to all those who dared to defy peace, was still there to this day.

Not long ago, when Morath was experiencing his first years as Badger Lord, a mighty winter had sprung up and froze the countryside, turning the ridge and the land surrounding it into mighty moorlands that stretched all the way from the coast to the edge of Mossflower. At the time, a vermin warlord, a fox by the name of Geddra Foxburn, had decided to camp his horde there during the spring-winter, where they would begin to besiege Mossflower and cause terror later that year. They hadn't counted on being so close to the mountain, and they certainly didn't count on being spotted by Long Patrol runners, who reported it all to the mighty Badger Lord.

Morath, quick as a flash, took ten of his best fighting hares, his mighty war armor, and his legendary weapon; the Di-Blade, a two-bladed sword that acted as a powerful means of destruction and terror against foebeasts. With the odds stacked against them, Morath made his way to the vermin camp and almost single-handedly destroyed the lot of them, leaving only a few survivors, including Geddra, to run off and never return. Geddra had lost his tail as a sign of humility and had his sword hand maimed, so that he could never again be able to fight and threaten goodbeasts. Henceforth, Morath was named Morath the Moors, after the lands where he had beaten this mighty enemy.

Morath stared out onto the horizon, gazing across the dunes and moor lands that led straight to Mossflower Woods. He sighed as he gazed across the lands under Salamandastron's protection, dearly missing his sister greatly. He wouldn't show it though; a Badger Lord has great duties to perform, and couldn't be bothered by simply missing one's sister.

Morath left the room he was standing in, returning to the halls of Salamandastron. He brushed his claws against the stone of the halls, letting their cool surface brush against his fur and skin. He loved his mountain, more than anything else in the world…well, save for his sister of course. He'd do anything to ensure its safety, and to ensure the safety of all of those inside and outside of the great mountain.

On his way to the great Forge Room, he bumped into an ongoing young hare, who had turned the corner on his mad rush upstairs. The hare hit the ground hard, rubbing the back of his head in surprise. One look at who it was he bumped into and he jumped to his feet and stood straight, saluting the Badger Lord smartly.

"I'm sorry, Lord Morath sah!" he said, "Didn't mean to bump into ye, sah! I was on my way upstairs for the big campfire story, sah."

"Slow down, young 'un," Morath said chidingly in his big deep voice, bending down on one knee and gazing at the young one carefully, "You are Bragus, am I right?"

"Bragus Christopher Mcthorn, at your service, sah!" the young hare said.

"Just yes was enough, young 'un," Morath said with a smile, "You're Colonel Chris Mcthorn's boy, am I right?"

Bragus was about to answer, but a cocked eyebrow on Morath's face caused him to shut his mouth and just nod. He was still holding still, however, out of fear that he might do something wrong and get shouted at.

Morath chuckled at the sight the young hare made. "At ease," he said, "If I'm correct, you're birthday is coming up soon, right?"

After gratefully changing his position, Bragus nodded.

"That would mean that you'll soon be joining the Long Patrol soon," Morath said, "following your father's footsteps all the way. I remember when he was a young lad like yourself. He still is rather young for a Colonel, as a matter of fact; the youngest ever to get the rank. Perhaps one day, if you are lucky, you might just beat his record. Would you like that?"

Bragus nodded hysterically, his eyes beaming in delight of the thought.

"Then when the story is being told tonight, you'd better listen carefully," Morath said, "The history of Salamandastron is an important one. I want to make sure that all of the next generation of Long Patrol Hares knows a thing or two about it. I will be testing them when the day comes to choose your weapons. Am I clear?"

"Yes sah!" Bragus said with another salute. Morath's cocked eyebrow caused Bragus's hand to slowly come back down. Morath chuckled, placing a gentle paw on the young one's head.

"Go on, young Bragus," Morath said with a smile, "Do me a favor while you are there; save a spot for me to relax by the fire before I tell the story tonight; someplace where I can put my feet near the flames. You know how cold they can get. Run along, now!"

Bragus beamed like a midsummer's day, quickly running up the stairs and up to the top of the mountain. Morath sighed. That one would make a fine Fleetrunner Scout one of these days, he said to himself. He made his way to the Forge Room, where he would pick up his signature weapon, as well as a tablet that he had gotten from the vaults earlier that month.

As he walked into a section of the mountain facing the sea, he could not help but note that a chill wind was coming from the west. His fur stood up on end as he glared over the horizon from a window, keeping close eye to see if he could spot out any ships. When none came to sight, he continued his path, only to stop again when the same chill wind blew through another window.

Mother Nature is not happy this night, the Badger Lord thought.

The ocean tossed and turned as a great wind blew across the waves. Though there was no storm, summer winds coming from the west constantly caused this section of the great sea, the Rolling Ocean, to continually chop and have tremendous waves that break upon the shores. This causes the shores to have incredibly deep drop-offs, allowing large ships to come in and dock as close as the beaches.

As the winds continued their wrestling match with the waves, a mighty ship began to speed off towards the east. The ship was huge; like a gigantic whale from hell, with a hull built with enough timbers to have leveled down a forest. Five mighty masts stood at least a hundred feet high, with rigging that covered the tree-like masts like spider webs. A huge captain's deck, divided into three separate decks not including the wheel deck, stood in the back of the ship, with fins jutting outward like a tremendous whale's tail. The ship's masts, not including the bow-spirit and mizzen-mast, had at least two-to-three tremendous black sails, each able to carry the ship at great lengths across the ocean. Below, an average of ten decks, each divided out and used for different purposes, made up the entirety of the hull, with a very large sub-deck that kept the ship balanced in the waves. Extra supports by means of large buoys attached to the ship's sides kept the mighty thing from capsizing itself in the waves. The ship's bow contained an engraved name deserving for such a monstrous thing: Hellgates.

Standing at the bow, a mighty Pine Marten gazed at the open sea. The Pine Marten, Guldar Deadeyes, was the captain of the mighty vessel called Hellgates. Guldar watched with pride as his mighty vessel sliced through even the biggest of waves as if it were not but a calm day at sea. Guldar had put his heart and soul into all that was Hellgates, and he was proud of it.

Guldar was a frightening Pine Marten, as terrifying as much as he was deadly. He looked different than other Pine Martens though. While most had brown fur that helped blend with the surroundings on the forest floor, his was reddish-brown in color. He also had a large, black stripe that went down from the tip of his nose to the end of his big, bushy tail. Even his eyes were different, being a maddening orange color with distinct pupils, the orange parts shining with some kind of inner fire. The only thing he had in common with Pine Martens was the yellow "collar" of fur around his neck, which gleamed like honeyed cream. If it weren't for his stature as a vermin, one would almost consider him a handsome devil, though those that did put the emphasis to "devil" when speaking of him. Guldar wore a golden breastplate attached to a velvet cape, which helped conceal the saber hidden in a sheath on his back.

Guldar was unlike most Pine Martens. Pine Martens were normally land dwellers, enjoying the splendor of the forests and the shade of the trees, were vittles were plenty and the going was good. Not Guldar. Guldar was a Pine Marten born of the sea. Legend had it that he was descended from Ulbaz Madeyes himself, the legendary Pine Marten whose eyes had hypnotized an entire army of Monitor Lizards into helping him build the kingdom of Sampetra. Of course, Guldar's eyes couldn't hypnotize, but get him in the mood and one look would spell death to any beast who stared long enough into those black and orange orbs.

Long ago, Guldar was a lieutenant in a horde of the western lands. His mighty master had made him a lieutenant above all other Pine Martens because of Guldar's eyes, which would spell death to any beast who looked into them. Guldar was smart, cunning, and, above all, ambitious. He wisely never shot above his current rank, knowing well that his master, the paranoid wildcat as he was, would kill him on sight if Guldar even looked at the hordemaster's throne the wrong way.

When the mighty horde had conquered the lands of the west, they discovered a kingdom that had built a mighty ship, clearing all of the forests as they did. The horde naturally took it over, stealing all that they could and preparing slaves to help finish the ship and make it seaworthy. The hordemaster chose Guldar as the captain; he alone would be declared the emissary of the horde through the oceans. Being granted at least a hundred vermin to crew the ship, and two hundred more to act as a private army, Guldar set off to sea to conquer distant lands and bring plunder to his hordemaster's name.

That was many years ago, when Guldar was young and carefree; almost like a homing pigeon the way he moved back and forth to the horde's ocean base. One fateful day, the horde wasn't at their fortress anymore. Men had declared that the place was besieged by a great army, and the rest died through a horrible plague. Guldar knew wise not to stick around. Killing those who went ashore to get fresh weapons from the fortress, to ensure that infection wouldn't occur on his ship, Guldar got much in the way of supplies and timber from the surrounding lands, and left those shores, never to see them again.

Guldar had a different role now that he was master of his own ship. Since he was officially captain of his own, albiet small, horde, he decided to put them to work as they travelled the high seas. Travelling all throughout the western shores and the eastern islands, Guldar gathered as many mercenaries and bounty hunters as he possibly could, and declared that the Hellgates was to be a treasure ship; a ship that would carry only the finest of all things, whether it be good food, good wine, beautiful treasure, or even living treasure. Guldar was the collector of the rare, and his new guild of bounty hunters and mercenaries helped him get the job done. He had been declared by those on board as King of the Bounty Hunters, a title that suited him greatly.

He walked back over to the stern of the ship, passing rats, ferrets, weasels, stoats, foxes, and many other vermin that were proud to call themselves his crew. Every one of them had been either seabeasts or made into seabeasts at one point in time in their lives, and each one of them came from a different land than the other. Save for Guldar's original crew, barely a single one of his creatures could declare that they had come from the same land, the same forest, or the same island.

"Hogsteeth! Grimfeather! Get down here and report!"

Guldar's shouts immediately brought forth a big rat and a slim weasel from their places up in the secondary mast; Guldar's boatswains. They both saluted as they stood there in front of their Pine Marten captain.

"Yes, cap'n!" they both said.

"Give me a report on our position," Guldar said.

Grimfeather, a weasel with clothes covered in gull feathers, trophies from the many seabirds he shot in the past, spoke first.

"We are currently in da' south-most part of da' Rollin' Ocean, sire," he said, "We're on a course towards da' south seas, likes you requested."

"Head back north," Guldar said, "I want us heading on a course for Sampetra. I want to make sure that our cache is still there. Hogsteeth! You were leader of the raiding party; did anyone see us?"

"Not a soul, cap'n," Hogsteeth said. The big rat was a rather large rat, with a mouth full of teeth that had been askew from all of the different things he had tried to eat in the past, earning himself his name. "Da' forest was as silent as a sleepin' birdie! No-beast knows we was 'dere!"

"And…the bear?" Guldar asked, his right eye cocked dangerously.

"Dat stupid bear on'y got der shore when he sees his nest empty," Hogsteeth said, "By den we was already on our way to der ship! Dere's no way dat stupid bear could follows us!"

Guldar kept his eyebrow cocked for a few seconds before lowering it. Stupid, maybe, but relentless. Bears were more stubborn than any beast in the western world. Get one mad, and it would have to take either an army as big as the ocean, or a tremendous gorge as deep as the earth would allow, to shake it off. Guldar knew this for a fact; a scar on his arm alone was from when a bear tried to get at him. Unlucky for that bear, Guldar's sword was bigger than its claws.

"Good," Guldar said, "Get your men up on that mast to work tightening down the rigging. Grimfeather! Get over to the boatswain at the wheel and tell him to set a course for Sampetra Island. Once we get there, it's feasting for all of us. That should brighten the crew's day!"

"Aye, aye, cap'n!" both vermin said.

Guldar watched as the two wordlessly got to their chores. He let loose a reckless smile. The stupid bear. Had it have gotten to its nest earlier, it could have somehow managed to stop his men from bringing the ultimate prize. It was probably on the shores right now, roaring like a madbeast, unable to do anything except vent its rage on the air and kill its lungs while it was at it.

Guldar made his way to the captain's cabins, where he planned on getting a firsthand glimpse of his newfound prize. He chuckled menacingly at the thought of what the little scamp was doing now in its cage.

The mighty Furborgg had watched the mighty wooden whale as it headed south. His keen eyes kept track of the mighty thing as it made its way through the waters that wrestle the wind, the black clouds dragging it across as fast as the mighty winds.

Furborgg watched as the thing suddenly turned around, heading towards the north. Furborgg laid a careful eye on which way it was going, watching as the mighty wooden whale made its way to the north and the east.

With a roar, the mighty bear took to the water. Calling upon the might of the ancestors, the great bear dug its paws into the waves, pushing against them with all the might of a monster from the dark lands beyond. The waves were beaten aside like bushes as the mighty bear swam in the direction of the great wooden whale riding the black clouds.

Furborgg was coming…

Manchester Goodheart Mightybringer (Chester for short) sat upon his chair upon the beach just outside of Salamandastron. He was rather strange amongst hares, because he wasn't ambitious or battle hungry like most young ones. He was very bright, however, and used his mental gifts to every advantage he could find, particularly in discovering things.

Recently, he was messing around with his latest gadget; called a telescope. Combining different sized crystals helped enhance visual effects, enabling a beast to see further off into the distance. Chester had managed to build a huge one with the help of Lord Morath, its design meant to allow a person to look up into the stars with ease. Chester shifted himself around in his special seat, staring up into the night sky. He began turning the huge contraption around with a special crank to see the different stars, planets, and other glowing objects in the heavens.

Chester suddenly jumped as he felt someone's paw tap on his shoulder. Turning around suddenly, he had almost grabbed the small dirk in his belt until he noticed that it was just another young hare. He sighed and let go of the dirk handle before turning his seat around to properly face the young hare.

"Ginny!" he said, "Confound it, gel, what did you have to go and do that for, wot? I'm making a bloomin' big discovery an' all that, and you come up and tap me on the flippin' shoulder and scare me out of ten season's growth!"

"Nice to see you too, Chester," the haremaid said.

Ginny, or Gingivere Marigold Rosemane, was a young hare about Chester's age. She wasn't the prettiest of hares, herself admitting that she bordered the line of average girls, but she was one of the fastest of the bunch. Chester had once seen Ginny challenge Colonel Christopher Mcthorn, the Long Patrol's greatest runner during his time, to a race. Ginny almost beat the Colonel in a neck-to-neck race, only to be beaten as the Colonel made a mad sprint to the finish line. The fact that she could almost beat the Colonel, who wasn't even in the prime of life yet, was quite a stalwart feat for a girl her age.

Chester sighed before turning back to his telescope. "What do you want?" he asked as he busily moved the telescope around to check the night sky again.

"The big bonfire at the top of the mountain is going to commence soon," she said, "Lord Morath's declared that all young hares have to get to the mountain soon, and Sergeant Goodie said that if he catches any slackers they won't get supper for a week!"

Sergeant "Goodie," or Shamus Goodsbury Thropple, was a very terrible brute of a sergeant. The female hare was a legendary hare-boxing champion, descended from the famous Mad Maudie herself, an old companion of Lord Morath's ancestor, Gorath the Flame. When Sergeant Goodie said something, she meant it, and any arguments or excuses past the point would earn them a good boxing to the ears.

"I've got permission from Lord Morath to look at the stars tonight," Chester said, his eye peering through the end of the telescope, "I already finished my test last year with full colors. I've got nothing to fear of Sergeant Goodie today."

Ginny sighed. Her curiosity got the better of her as she came closer to where Chester sat. Chester was busily turning several knobs and dials, focusing the lens of the big invention of his as he tried fervently hard to gaze at an object high up in the sky.

"What are you looking at?" Ginny asked.

Chester turned and looked at Ginny, a serious expression on his face. He shrugged and got off of his seat, motioning for Ginny to hop on. Ginny did as she was told; peering into the end of the telescope at whatever Chester was gazing at earlier.

"See that star up there," he said, "the one in the middle of the lens?"

Ginny spotted the tiny thing; a star that seemed to glow stranger than the rest, as if it was a different color or something.

"I think I see the bally thing," she said, "Your point?"

"That star wasn't there three days ago," Chester said, turning the scope so that it pointed up and two the left about two to three degrees, "It was over there when I first spotted it. I thought it was a brand new star, though I'm not exactly sure where it came from, or how it got there."

"So what?" Ginny asked, "It's just a bloomin' star. What's the point of being curious about it?"

"That star isn't an ordinary star," Chester said, "It looked smaller three days back. I had to refocus my lens today in order to see it right. That star's getting closer for some strange reason."

Ginny's ears lifted up in mild surprise. How could a star get closer when their supposed to be in the night sky? That's impossible, isn't it?

"Do you think we should tell this to Lord Morath?" Ginny asked as she turned to face her friend.

"That's why I got permission to stay out here tonight," Chester said, "I've been keeping track of that star for three days straight now. I originally had asked Lord Morath if I could add it to the star maps, but after a while I was so busy trying to put it in a proper constellation that I kept getting the coordinates wrong. When I saw the coordinates were arranged in a pattern, I noticed then that the bally thing was moving."

"So, what now?" Ginny asked, moving off of the seat.

Chester took another peek at the star before coming to a decision. "I think we should let Lord Morath know about this," Chester said, "Let's get up there and report it."

Chester grabbed a piece of parchment from a rock next to his telescope, and quickly began to scribble another set of coordinates. When he was pleased, he quickly shifted the telescope and began locking its position so that the wind wouldn't shift it during the night, and motioned for Ginny to follow along. The two of them swiftly and wordlessly ran back to Salamandastron, where they would meet with Morath the Moors and tell him about Chester's discovery.

Kerian: The plot thickens as we include the Hares and Badger Lord of Salamandastron into the story, and you get your first glimpse of the villain of this perilous tale. Did I hear Deadeyes correctly? A bear? If that's true, Guldar probably is in hot water! And what could Guldar have in a cage in his cabin?

This book is going to have a few really interesting points in the story. One of them includes new technology (though not too sophisticated). The first is a telescope; an object made using two crystal lenses of different sizes that allows a person to see at a great distance. The size of this thing is rather sophisticated. It's probably as big as a badger, but due to its design it can only see as far as a regular handheld telescope could. Designed by Manchester "Chester" Goodheart Mightbringer of Salamandastron. I wonder what new technology we'll see later...

Well, this chapter has quite a few cool points in it, and the next one will come swifter than you know it. Until next time, me out!

-Kerian