Disclaimer: If I owned Redwall it would probably be a lot more dramatic/romantic.

A/N: This chapter is a tad bit longer than the other ones have been. Just as a warning, there is a bit of graphic violence in this chapter.

Chapter 7

The Committee of the Avaborit clan woke early the next morning to discuss the clan's participation in the campaign. They met beneath an old oak tree and held a meeting in the traditional style, meaning, the one who held the blackstone could speak. Since Calimb was the chief he opened the conference by addressing the issue.

"The young mouse Keem has asked for the Avaborit's assistance in his crusade of sorts, doncha know? He's determined to hunt down the vile stoat Radin, aye, and the rest of his Band too. I'd like to hear all of your opinions on the jolly matter. Kenafon." He handed the blackstone to his son.

The young shrew eagerly voiced his opinion, "I believe we should help them. After all, it is our clan's duty to uphold the safety of our society and this Radin certainly poses a threat." He proceeded to pass the stone to an older shrew lady on his left.

She spoke in a crackly voice that reminded one of snapping twigs, "I think we should stay out of it, mind our own business. If we partake in this war it will bring nothing but trouble, I can feel it in me bones." Having said her share she handed the rock to the next shrew.

His voice quivered and he fidgeted with the stone as he spoke, "I don't r-really know what w-we should d-do. I'm fine either way!" He practically lobbed the stone back to Calimb.

The head-shrew chuckled deeply, "Oh-ho it appears it's up to my good self to decide! Well, I do believe I'll have to side with my son on this one, doncha know? We travel with them!" He smiled at his son, who grinned back.

The old female shrew grimaced and whispered, "Nothing good can come of this, mark my words."

Kinliv was on her hands and knees, grunting as she tried to force the last of the shrew's hardtack biscuits into a haversack for travel. She looked up as a shadow was cast upon her and her task and smiled slightly as she saw the face of Rowan above her. He bent down and began rearranging the foodstuff so all would fit properly. Kinliv leaned back on her heals, attempting to brake the silence between them.

"Is it not grand that the clan has decided to travel with us?"

""Well in one sense, yes, but there have been mutterings." At the confused look on the other squirrel's face, he continued, "You see, this morning in the Committee they took a sort of vote to decide whether they would join us or not. One beast who is regarded very highly in the clan strongly opposed aiding us in our cause. She is suspected to have seer blood in her veins and predicted a grim future if they were to join us. Calimb's son, on the other hand, was fervently for the clan to assist us. The third Committee member was indifferent, so it was up to Calimb to decide. As you may have guessed, he settled on coming with us. Many beasts believe he only chose that because of his son, others support the chief and his decision whole-heartedly. You can see where this causes a tremor in the tribe's foundation."

Kinliv nodded, "I was unaware of this strife. Is there anything we can do?"

Rowan shrugged, "I guess we can wait and see, hope it all settles itself out."

Kinliv's eyes began to glaze over as she became lost in thought, internal strife was never a good thing and even less so for an army on the brink of war. With a divided force, they had no hope of destroying Radin and all he stood for. The blast of a battle-horn broke her reverie and she and Rowan's heads tuned simultaneously to locate the source of the noise. The instrument was held by Kenafon and he was gesturing with his free paw to the boats. It was time to leave.

The squirrel shouldered the pack and walked side-by-side with her companion to the stream where they boarded a logboat already occupied by Keem, Farah, Calimb and Kenafon. The young shrew looked intently at Kinliv and she flashed her palm at him to show that, true to her word, she had not broken open the cut again. He smiled and nodded before assuming a position at the stern with his father to help deliver orders.

The trip that followed was not of a pleasant caliber for Kinliv. Rowan had his arm around Farah and the two spent the time staring intently into each others while talking in low whispers. Try as she might, she could not take her mind of the depressing display and looked over at the young mouse across from her, hoping he would strike up a conversation. But, the world was lost upon Keem as he stared at the river flowing by, and so, Kinliv had no choice but to join him.

She had to admit, there was something soothing and tranquil about the flowing water passing beneath the keel, but it was not quite enough to distract her from her emotional agony. Every time she began to mentally drift off, scenes of her in Farah's place would enter her head, only to be crushed when the boat rounded a particularly violent bend or such. Every time Kinliv was brutally forced back into the real world, a sudden pain grasped her heart and her soul pined for the only thing she wanted, but could not have. She dug her nails into the flesh on her paw until it became slippery with blood, then pushed back the tears that threatened to overwhelm her. Tears not only of misery, but of shame. She had failed at maintaining control.

At long last the shadows of dusk descended on the earth and the voyage stopped for the day. Though they disembarked, they decided not to set up camp, choosing only to unroll ground pads and dine on hardtack as they wanted to make a quick and early start the following dawn.

As night fell, Kenafon approached the distressed squirrel, "What's wrong."

"Same as before."

"Ah, yes. Things like that take time." When he only received a nod in response, he decided to change the subject, "In two days and a bit we'll reach the ford, and then it's only half a day of sailing until we reach Redwall."

"Hath thou ever seen the marvelous abbey of which they all speak?" Kinliv asked, genuine curiosity tinting her usually un-fluctuating voice.

"Aye, I have. Once when I was just a lad. It was a decent enough place with food to kill for. The creatures are nice enough, very hospitable, though in my opinion they can be rather strict or silly at times." As Kinliv listened the sleeve of the cloak she always wore slipped down to her elbow, revealing all the pearly scars that marred her arm. Kenafon gaped, "What in the name of hellgates?"

Kinliv's sharp intake of breath indicated that he had seen something he shouldn't and she quickly drew the sleeve back over her forearm, "It is nothing." She said firmly.

"Nothing! How in the name of all things did you get such scars? Are they all from your depressing over Rowan?"

"No, it is not that. Thou hath proven to be a good friend in the short time that I have known thee so I will tell thee of these wounds. Thou must swear once again to repeat none of this to anybeast."

The shrew agreed and swore the oath once again, a look of shock still spread across his features. Once the vow had been made (without blood this time) Kenafon asked once again, "How did you receive such cuts."

Kinliv sighed, "There is one for every creature I have killed." At this point she raised the cloth covering both arms, displaying the array of marks she supported. "It is a tradition in the North, for every beast that you kill, thou must sacrifice some of thy own blood to the Eastern sky to assure the dead one's passage to the other world. It is the least one can do after taking a life."

Questions buzzed inside the shrew's head, yet he managed to settle on one, "Why the Eastern sky?"

"The sun is reborn every morning in the east, representing new life. By sacrificing thy blood to the east, thou art praying that a new life will replace the one you took."

"Ah, that makes sense. You've killed that many creatures?"

"Yes."

"That's more than half the clan kills in a year!"

"I am not proud of it, but it was my life or theirs."

"Such is the way of survival." Both beasts quieted, in tune with each other.

Kinliv broke the silence, "It is late and we have much traveling on the morrow." And with that note she departed, leaving her companion behind to puzzle over the nature of the strange creature he had befriended.

The next two days passed like the first, with Kinliv attempting and failing at overcoming her depression. Finally, the day dawned that they would reach the ford and, hopefully, Redwall Abbey. The sailed on smooth waters in the early morning, liquid sunlight drizzled down upon them as a quiet wind passed over the boats. Kinliv leaned back and closed her eyes listening to the birdsong. Suddenly, her ears pricked up, something was out of place. It was more of a feeling than sight or sound, but it was definitely there. With a jolt, she realized the birdsong was gone as well. She looked to see if anyone else had noticed the sudden change in the atmosphere. It appeared no one had, Rowan and Farah were nonverbally…occupied (they were moving along quiet fast in their relationship having shared their first kiss the night before, a night that had been hell for Kinliv as she had spend it sleeplessly, laying on her ground pad, knees tucked up to chin, shaking and fighting back tears until dawn) as usual and Calimb and his son were putting there attention into steering the boat.

Kinliv nudges Keem and asked softly, "Dost thou notice anything?"

"Besides Rowan and Farah being a bit more, ah, distracting than usual?" when Kinliv glared and rolled her eyes he hastened to become more serious. He sat still for a moment, tensing, and then he spoke, "Yes I see what you mean, there's a kind of felling, so to speak.

But before they could continue their conversation any further Kenafon yelled out in a booming voice, "We've reached the ford! All beasts disembark for portage!"

Farah and Rowan broke apart, thankfully, and the creatures came ashore. They all assisted in picking up the boats and hoisting them over their heads in order to cross the ford. They were about halfway across when the world exploded in chaos! Horrendous yells split the air as hundreds of vermin charged out brandishing weapons.

"Ambush! We're being ambushed!" shouted a nearby shrew.

"Obviously!" muttered Farah, but helped overturn a boat to form a barricade and began firing off arrows.

Kinliv and Keem drew their swords and Rowan his belt knife and the three of them charged into the thick of the fighting. Blood spattered across Keem's arm as he slashed open a leering rat's face, revealing the formerly white skull beneath. Beside him, Kinliv's rapier was a blur as she pierced the vital organs of countless enemies. Rowan was hacking about madly with his knife. It was clear he wasn't a fighter, but he managed to cause damage by crashing the blade into his opponents' limbs. Far too soon it became apparent that they could not keep this up much longer. Keem saw numerous shrews fall screaming to the hordes of rodents around them. Grimacing, he fought his way over to Kenafon who was delivering mass damage with his claymore.

Keem sidled up next him and yelled, "We won't last much longer! We're far too outnumbered! We need to retreat!"

The young shrew nodded and beheaded a ferret, grimacing as the blood spewing from the jugular vein spattered across his face, "I know! Look, there's a cove down stream about a quarter of a mile! It's hidden, look, spread the word around and we'll meet back there!"

Keem nodded and hurried back to where Kinliv, Rowan, Farah and Calimb were crouching behind a barricade. He quickly told them of the plan and the shrew chieftain nodded, "I know of that place. Follow me."

They fought there way to the edge of the water, informing as many shrews as possible of the escape plan. "Can you all swim?" Calimb shouted over the noise.

When they all nodded he jumped in. The companions followed, seeing countless other shrews do the same all around them. Kinliv hit the water with a splash and immediately struck out. An arrow grazed her side and she dove under in the hope to avoid anymore of the missiles. She opened her eyes to a world of bubbles and blood, and began searching for a creature to follow. She saw Keem in front of her and swam after him. A second later she came up for air. Glancing back over her shoulder, she noted that most of the shrews had made it in. She noticed with satisfaction that their attackers seemed to be terrified of the water and were reluctant to follow. Maybe they would get away after all. She dove back under and struck out once more.

Before long she noticed that the creatures around her were turning to the left, disappearing in an underwater tunnel. She followed and after swimming a couple feet, found herself emerging into dimly-lit cave. She stood still, willing her eyes to adjust to the darkness around her. A soon as she could see again, she wandered around, looking for anyone she knew. She quickly located Kenafon and approached him.

"Which way is east?" she asked.

He jumped at the sound of the voice and turned, grinning when he realized it was Kinliv, and then grimacing as her question sunk in, "Kinliv…" he cast about frantically for away to avoid answering, knowing what his answer would bring. He pointed to her side that was oozing crimson, "Doesn't that count as a blood sacrifice?" When she shook her head, he sighed, giving in. "That way." He pointed and she nodded.

"I hath taken the lives of others, I shall pay for these lives with the blood that gives me life." She drew her knife and delivered thirteen new cuts. Kenafon was somewhat relieved to see that these new wounds were shorter than and not as deep as the others. "The sacrifice hath been made. Thy souls shall now join the realms of death with the others I have killed."

When she had completed the ritual he approached her, "Father's probably going to hold a meeting, and we should attend." She followed and they walked into a small circle lit by creatures holding torches.

"Avaborit lost one hundred and three creatures in this battle." He said grimly and many beasts gasped at the expansiveness of this number.

The old Committee seer stood up, her voice shaking with fury, "I told you nothing good would come of this!" she snarled, "We haven't lost this many creatures since the Battle of the March over twenty seasons ago!" many shrews nodded and grumbled in agreement with this statement.

Calimb spoke over them, "Never the less, we will continue on our quest. We will stay here for the night and travel to Redwall tomorrow." Some of the protesting beasts toned down a bit at the prospect of a rest. So the meeting broke up and the creatures dispersed into their own groups.

Kinliv walked over to where Calimb, Kenafon and her three companions were situated. They had all suffered a few cuts and bruises as to be expected from a battle, but nothing too serious. They settled down and waited, all their supplies were gone as they had abandoned them with the boats in their mad dash, leaving them only with their weapons. And so, sodden, hungry, and tired, the friends went to sleep, hoping they could reach Redwall without anymore trouble.

Radin was in a terrible rage. After checking and double-checking he had concluded that none of the targeted creatures were among the dead. As he was prone to do when fits of anger engulfed him, he became drunk. This caused him to become even more violent and he laid about his army with his sword yelling at them for their stupidity and cowardliness.

"What's the problem?" he roared, "Are you worms afraid of a little water? Bloody morons, useless idiots! See what your damnable error has done? Allowed them to get away!" he took a particularly ferocious swipe at a cowering weasel and lobbed of his arm at the elbow. The pitiful creature thrashed about on the ground, howling in pain and grasping his severed limb, blood washing over his paw and arm. "Shut up! Do you hear me? SHUT UP!" Radin bellowed at the screaming creature. When he failed to obey, the intoxicated stoat thrust his blade through the hapless weasel's skull.

The dead beast's companion stood up. Something in his brain had snapped when he saw his only friend being slaughtered, "Whatja do that fer, huh?" he yelled at his leaded, "'E wasn' doin' nothin' wrong! Whatja want us t' do, huh? Jump in the water an' drown! Half o' us can't swim, ya know!"

Radin didn't look at him; he simply slew the beast with a thrust to the gut. He rubbed his temples, snarling, "We're going to rest here for two weeks. Then, when you're all fit to travel again, we'll follow the creatures and kill every last one! Do I make myself clear?" At the murmurs of consent, he nodded and swept away into his pavilion to plan.

More A/N: Like always, thanks for reviewing.