I actually find it kinda funny. I write way better when I listen to music. Some people can't concentrate whatsoever on reading or writing when there is music in the background. It kinda sucks. For them. Here I am, screaming along to my Underoath as I write a happy-go-lucky Redwall story. Well...Actually, it is kinda depressing. I've almost killed an entire Abbey. Broken Salamandastron into factions. Made everyone hate a wicked-awsome-cool mole, who can flip and climb like a squirrel. I've killed Mulch. Which is too bad, he was a good character. I could have gone somewhere with him. But that is why we have ARK! So this right here. Is me being too lazy to write chapter nine, because I'm just a sucker for reviews. But I don't beg.
Oh, yeah. And I apologize in advance for the lame guinea pig puns later in the chapter.
PLEASE, please Review!!! I need your help! Whaaahahahaahhaha :P
A dark haze filled Redwall. It was a gloom so deep that it dampened even the lightest of heart. Those already suffering from emotional scars were dragged deeper into the pit of growing blackness. The darkened hallways seemed to spew night from each open doorway. Marta did her best not to shudder as she walked down the more than gloomy hallway. Rounding the corner, she entered the infirmary finding all the patients in all their usual places. They had already lost nearly half-score beasts to the plague within their stone walls. Only if something miraculous happened would Redwall survive the raging epidemic and the siege in the middle of winter.
Marta surveyed the patients, some were actually beginning to pull through, but they would be weak for many days, and be forced to remain in the disease ridden infirmary. Tobias, the little mouse whom Marta cared so deeply for, not wanting to see such a young creature pass on, had begun to recover. Even at fifteen seasons of age, he was still the youngest by far in the infirmary.
Marta came over to his bed and sat on the edge, removing the damp cloth that had been placed on his head earlier that day. To her great surprise, it was only body temperature. Startled at this great revelation, Marta quickly shook Tobias' shoulders, attempting to wake the mouse. Either he is dead or better Marta thought to herself, pleading for the answer to be the latter. Like a boat being pushed by a light breeze on a midsummer's day, Tobias came to. His delicate eyelids flickered, giving brief glimpses of his deep hazelnut brown eyes. "Hello Tobias," Marta gently intoned, "You seem to have recovered from the sickness, you no longer have a temperature."
Weakly, yet with determination, the young mouse replied, "That is good, when can I get out of bed?"
Marta laughed at Tobias' audacity, "Soon enough Toby, soon enough. Now get some rest, the only way to get out of the bed is to stay in it for a bit longer."
The irony made them both smile.
Marta got up and left the infirmary, having other important business to attend to. She once again marched down the long gloomy hallways, wishing for some source of light. Abbot Steich had placed the abbey under strict orders in an effort to conserve fuel and food. This meant no light in the hallways, no snacks, and the infirmary was the only place allowed to have a fire.
Stumbling slightly in the self induced darkness, Marta continued on her way to her meeting with Abbot Steich, Gwen, Grumman, Dwaka, and Cellarhog Furny. After a few more steps she entered the library. A safe haven in times of peril.
The five greeted her as she walked towards them. She sat down beside Grumman, patting him on the back as a thankful greeting. Now that all six members of the newly appointed war council were sitting together Abbot Stiech started out to begin the meeting. "My dear friends, it seems that we have a major dilemma on our hands. An epidemic within our walls, an enemy outside, we are trapped with our worst nightmare by our worst nightmare. We need a solution here and now." To emphasize his point, the elderly abbot slammed his paw on the table, rattling the legs and startling the rest of the group.
A silence fell over the group for a fairly long time, each beast doing their best to formulate some sort of solution to this seemingly unsolvable dilemma.
"Maybe we should just try to wait it out," Marta suggested, "In the infirmary Tobias is nearly recovered fully, and the others could make a recovery anytime soon." She looked hopefully into the eyes of the other councilbeasts.
They only returned her hopeful glance with pity in their eyes. They didn't see the hope in the situation. Marta felt her insides turn to lead, sinking far into her gut, making her feel sick.
Abbot Stiech slowly spoke, choosing his words carefully, "Marta, you seem to see a fair amount of hope in this situation. I hate to be a pessimist," The abbot paused to clear his throat, "but if you haven't noticed, realistically, there is no hope. Even if we survive this plague, we could die of famine. If we somehow survive the lack of food and the extreme cold of this winter we still have to deal with the polecats." Stiech's eyes dropped, until he was staring at the table.
"There has to be a way to save us," Marta claimed, "Redwall has never fallen. Why should it now? Matthias faced Cluny the Scourge, yet he found a way to kill the vile beast and save Redwall. So many young heroes have found so many ways. This is not impossible. We can and WILL find a cure for this sickness. The polecats are nothing compared to previous foes that Redwall has repelled." Marta felt her blood rising in temperature, a righteous anger flowed through her veins, "So, now after all these seasons of prosperity, all these seasons of soft living, are we just willing to give up at the first sign of adversity? Who are you beasts? How can you call yourselves Redwallers when all you do is sit around and mope all day about how your beautiful fortress will soon become your grave? Well, I have a message for you, THAT WILL HAPPEN! UNLESS YOU DO SOMETHING!" Marta screamed. Hot tears of mixed emotions boiled their way down her face. "Now think," She took a deep breath, "What can we do? What would Martin do?"
Surprised by the sudden outburst of emotion, Abbot Stiech sat rigid in his chair. A silence fell over the group once again. Marta stared at each of the others; they avoided her gaze, ashamed looks coming across their faces.
"Marta, never in my time here as Abbot have I heard a beast speak so passionately about protecting our abbey." He looked down, reaching deep within trying to summon the courage to speak again, "It seems that you are right," the proud abbot admitted. "We have been lulled to sleep by our complacency." Stiech smiled, "We do need to act. And judging by your demonstration here," he glanced at Marta, "I see no one better than you Marta, to lead the organization and direction of food and supplies within this abbey. Would do this old mouse a favor?"
Marta accepted this prestigious responsibility immediately with a resounding, "Yes!"
Before anybeast could congratulate Marta on her bravery and encourage her in her new job, a knock came at the doorway into the library. The group whirled to see Tobias standing at the door, in his infirmary smock. His hazel eyes stared blankly off into oblivion, and an eerie peace surrounded the near angelic figure.
Marta began to rise to send him back to bed, but quickly took her seat again when a strong noble voice spoke from deep inside Tobias.
Your foe searches for a weapon which will mean the end of Redwall
Follow closely, to save you all.
The smallest entry, leads to the greatest destruction
If taken by the wrong beast
The smallest entry, leads many to safety
When the time is right
Search for this, to save your life.
Tobias immediately closed his eyes, slumping to the floor. Marta rushed over to him, checked his vital signs, and declared him fine. She picked up his limp form and carried him to the infirmary.
Back in the library, the remaining five were furiously discussing what Tobias had said, and what it meant. They knew for sure that it had been Martin speaking through Tobias, and that whatever the message was, it was important.
"Gwen, do you remember the entire riddle?" Furny asked quickly.
"I remember most of it," Gwen replied, and she began to recite Martin's words, "Your foe searches for a weapon which will mean the end of Redwall
Follow closely, to save you all.
The smallest entry, leads to the greatest destruction
If taken by the wrong beast
The smallest entry, leads many to safety
When the time is right
Search for this, to save your life."
Abbot Stiech stood up and began to pace in circles around the table. He spoke aloud, mainly to himself, but loud enough for the others to hear. "They are trying to find something powerful. That is clear. The entry is important, is it someplace in Redwall? If it is, where is it?" He stopped pacing and looked at the other councilbeasts, looking for approval as he spoke, "We are looking for a small entrance to Redwall, which can cause major destruction if evildoers use the way." Dwaka nodded in agreement, so did Gwen, Furny, and Grumman. Steich paused, as if he lost his line of thought.
Politely, Dwaka continued Stiech's thoughts in his own words, "So that means that we are looking for a door. A small door that beasts can sneak in and out of."
"The wicker gate!" exclaimed Furny, "Back when foebeasts seemed to attack the abbey every season, many tried to sneak in through the wicker gate because it was small and out of sight of the main gate and gatehouse."
Gwen continued excitedly, "And if us Redwallers ever needed to escape quickly into Mossflower, the wicker gate would provide a safe, unobservable way out."
All their eyes collectively lit up, immediately proud of their ingenious discovery.
"Well then beasts, we need someone who will go examine the wicker gate to the best of their ability and find whatever it is that Martin has told us about. The rest of us should go to sleep."
Gwen spoke up. "You know Abbot, we do have all winter, maybe we could all go to bed, and then search tomorrow when there will be a bit lighter."
Seeing no objection from Furny, Grumman, and Dwaka, Abbot Steich agreed with Gwen. "Yes, it would be best for us to get a good night's sleep before we go gallivanting around our polecat surrounded abbey." The group mused at the dry humor and then stood up and went their separate ways, heading to bed.
Gwen made one quick stop in the infirmary before going to bed. She met Marta there, as she was finishing up her rounds. "Toby is fine. I think that he will be able to come out of the infirmary by tomorrow." Marta smiled with pride, as she stroked Tobias' forehead with gentle pride.
Gwen spoke quietly from across the room, "That is very good Marta, unfortunately for us, Toby is the only one getting better. So far, all the others have only got worse. Why do you think Toby has recovered?"
Marta thought for a moment, examining the pieces and trying to fit them together. Suddenly a radical idea struck her, "Gwen," she excitedly asked, "what symptoms do the other patients have?"
Stalling slightly, Gwen looked at Marta as if she was from a different planet, "Well, they get very cold, shiver, yet complain about the heat constantly."
Marta was shocked, maybe her idea was correct! Quickly she asked another question, "Did Tobias ever have any of those symptoms?"
Gwen started to catch on to Marta's idea, "Yes, but he had vermin fever before it. Not a very bad case, but enough to keep him in bed. He was nearly better from it when he was hit by our mystery disease, but he recovered even faster than he did from the vermin fever." Both Sisters paused, staring at each other, wondering if this radical idea could be anywhere close to viable.
"Gwen, do you think that Toby's fever caused him to be partially immune to the disease?"
"It is a strong possibility Marta, but I don't know for sure. We need to test it. But how?"
Marta looked around the room, all of the patients were quite sick and relatively old, but none seemed to be sick and old enough to be willing to try out Marta and Gwen's possible miracle cure.
A groan came from the corner, and they both turned to investigate the noise. "I heard you talking," said a weak voice from a dark corner bed. "I am willing to try it."
Marta and Gwen squinted, opened their eyes fully, and did various things to try to put a face to whoever was speaking to them. "Besides," the voice continued, "I am a guinea pig."
"Oh! Crandle, no, we couldn't do that to you," Marta replied, almost pleading with the elderly guinea pig. "You hardly even got to live at Redwall, now you may already be dying. I can't risk the life of someone like you."
In the darkness, Marta imagined Crandle smiling from his tone of voice, "Marta, don't worry. I have lived many a happy season, and if this possible cure doesn't work then it will quicken my passing, and end my suffering."
Begrudgingly, Marta accepted this sacrificial offer. "Ok Crandle, thank you so much. And if this doesn't work, I am very sorry and will take responsibility for your death."
"WE will," Gwen added, comforting Marta.
"Oh you two, really, this is my decision, if I die, then it is over. It won't be your fault. Now please, try this miracle cure before I die of this dreaded disease."
Gwen hurriedly got up and headed over to a cabinet and slowly drew a pin from the pincushion. She walked over to Tobias' bed and pricked him lightly on his paw, and a small droplet of blood rose to the surface like a rose bud. She rolled the pin in the blood and then stood up and carried the pin to Crandle's bed. "Please hold out your paw Crandle." The guinea pig obliged, placing his paw, palm up in Gwen's outstretched paw. Gwen dragged the pin across the tough skin, scratching the surface enough to raise small rivulets of blood on Crandle's paw. She swirled the pin with Tobias' blood into Crandle's paw. "There, that's it." Gwen declared.
Marta gently wrapped the cut to make sure that the infected miracle blood would not drip off. "Thank you so much Crandle. Your willingness may save an entire abbey from dying of this dreaded disease." She looked at Gwen in the dark room, and declared with a sense of tentative hope, "All we do now is wait and see if this will save us all."
Finally, after a day of finding two major possible solutions to two major problems, Marta and Gwen headed off to bed.
Yeah. So if you are wondering about the science here...
The mystery disease is a bacterial infection of unknown origin or make.
Vermin Fever is a virus. It is a bacteriophage, meaning it attacks and destroys bacteria. Normally, it would attack the helpful bacteria in the Redwaller's guts, rendering them nearly incapable to digest food. But with Vermin Fever attacking the cells that are reproducing the quickest, the bacteria cells in the Redwaller's body, the mystery disease is rendered hopeless as it is eaten away by a simple, easy to cure disease.
You can thank Biology 11 for the science, and my imagination for the rest.