I wonder how long it'll take to get three reviews... Heehee. PH and I agreed not to post the next chapter 'til we got three reviews. Heh. Anywho, My turn for the Disclaimer.

Disclaimer: Aspen is mine, and I like her name! Eulalia is not mine, as it's an old Norse battle cry which means 'Victory!' in case you didn't realize that. Whoop, I'm getting off track. As mentioned before, anything you recognize from any BJ books isn't ours. Everything else is and might be used with permission. Personally, I would be flattered if you did a fanfic with one of my characters, as long as you didn't mess them up. --beady eyes--

NEXT DAY: Hey! Not very long! Thanks, guys! Here's more...

yeah, really, maybe we should notch it up, otherwise we'll be like writing machines and making a new chappy every day! but please don't expect that... won't happen I don't think... anywhoozle, ON TO THE STORY!

As Chillaxe went searching with a score of foxes, (being that they are smarter and stealthier than rats or the other types of vermin.) he thought over what creatures would be most helpful to his cause.

Squirrels were pesky creatures; they could stay in the trees hidden and take out an entire army. It would be nice to turn the tables on them with their own kind. So squirrels, but what else?

He had heard that mice could be extremely vicious when they needed to be, so a mouse.

Hedgehogs… well, they were hard to handle with the spikes, and moles, they could dig places, but they were often hard to understand.

As he was walking down the path that he had found, he noticed a sign on the side of the road referring to a 'Redwall Abbey'. This intrigued him, so he went off the path and continued to follow the road from the woods, so as not to be seen and reported to the 'Abbey' dwellers and headed off.

Saloo stepped out of the mountain and began retracing Aspen's route. A distant 'Eulalia' stopped him in his tracks and he listened until he heard it again. He bounded off in its direction at full speed, slipping a bit as he scaled a tall sand dune.

Once at the top, he saw Aspen, surrounded by vermin and at the brink of collapse.

"Eulalia! Chin up m'gel, wot!" he shouted, drawing his own blade and running toward the skirmish.

Aspen was hard pressed; the vermin kept advancing over their fallen comrades. She backed up, blood streaming from her numerous wounds and her vision starting to cloud.

Saloo sprang onto the vermin, kicking and stabbing furiously until he was at Aspen's side. Thanking his lucky stars that Aspen was smaller than the average haremaid, he hoisted her onto his back and scrambled out of the fray.

Ripwave was furious.

"Chase them! Run, ya blithering idiots! Don't let them get back to the mountain!" he shouted.

The vermin raced after Saloo as he fairly flew up the imposing sand dune.

"Confounded spoilsport, you are," Aspen said weakly, "I almost had them..."

She went limp and Saloo mounted the sand dune, sliding down the hot sand on the other side. Sunstripe saw the hares approach and ordered more hares out to help them in.

Soon, two ranks of javelin throwers were armed and ready to meet the vermin. Saloo ran between them, his breath ragged, towards Colonel Krump who was waiting to take them up to the sickbay. When the vermin got close enough, hare javelins rained down upon them and Ripwave screamed for a hasty retreat.

"Don't follow them old chaps!" Commander Ratbane ordered when several of the younger ones looked as if they were about to give chase.

When the last of the vermin disappeared over the sand dune, the hares filed back inside the mountain stronghold.

Saloo followed Colonel Krump up the stairs and into the sickbay where he was shoved into a bed, physicked, and bandaged. After the nurses left him to help the others tending to Aspen, Saloo got up and stood by the crowd of them, listening anxiously.

"Ooo, that one's gonna leave a scar, wot!"

"Pass me that extra long bandage, Duckie."

"You better close all these cuts before she runs bloomin' dry, eh, wot!" Saloo said with a nervous chuckle.

No one else laughed. Saloo hopped around to the other side.

"Is she going to be alright? By the fur, I feel responsible for that little maid's life! Tell me she'll be alright!"

The nurses looked distinctly uncomfortable.

"Go back to bed, Saloo, you need your rest!" one of them ordered, gingerly treating a nasty looking cut.

Saloo's ears stood upright in indignation.
"Rest!" he spluttered, "I've done more work than this on bloomin' holidays!"

The nurses ignored him, muttering about Aspen's condition quietly among themselves.

"Well? Is she going to be alright?" Saloo asked, hopping around to the other side again.

"Saloo!" they all cried in exasperation, "Stop asking questions!"

When his pestering grew to be too much to stand, the nurses called for reinforcements. The other nurses forcefed him a sleeping draught and lifted him bodily into his bed.

Later that day showed a silver wolf followed by twenty foxes approaching the massive Redwall Abbey. Everyone was out in the orchards enjoying a late lunch, with dibbuns asleep away from all the commotion near the south gate. It was a grand day, the sun was shining and flowers were everywhere.

The creatures of the abbey sat about tables half cleared, lazily munching food while they laughed and joked and told stories to each other. Abbess Bryony quietly went over to where the designated dibbuns' napping place to check to make sure everything was alright.

How she loved the little ones of the abbey; they brought joy to her face at everything they did, be it for good or trouble. And they knew it too, they would always come to 'A'bess Byney' when they did something naughty. They knew she would help them. As she looked over the mice, hedgehogs, moles, voles, otters, and squirrels, she felt an overwhelming love for all of them.

What she would do if something happened to any of them, she didn't know, nor did she want to think about it. After all it was a time of joy and relaxation. She went back to rejoin the rest of the group.

Firepaw stood with his back pressed against the wall right next to a flimsy gate. Honestly, these creatures were so trusting. He was about to open it and go through to do his master's bidding until he saw a old mouse come to look over the sleeping young ones. He watched as she looked lovingly at them and had to bite his lip to keep himself from laughing aloud.

He waited a little while after she left until slowly creeping open the gate and stepping in to look over the babies. His instructions were to find the youngest and strongest looking of the lot, but only squirrels and mice.

He spotted two young squirrels curled up together, most likely brother and sister. Both were good looking beasts; he motioned to two of his comrades to come take the pair back to the camp, and continued his search.

As he looked around further he found a brawny odd colored squirrel that was a deep brown, almost black. He sent another fox to take this one back to Chillaxe, and finally he grabbed a small mousemaid that could become useful in the future. Confident that his master would be pleased with his choices, he left with the mousemaid in paw and went back to camp, careful to disguise his pawsteps on his way.

Right then a burly otter walked around the corner to check on the soon to be waking young ones...

Yay! I like this chapter; I think 'tis my favorite (and the longest) so far. I've done so much work on this story tonight that my right hand is hurting like the dickens now and sending shooting pains up my arm. Owww... (if ye dunno what I'm talking about, read my profile) Anyway; reviews help relieve pain! --hint--

true true, did I mention that I have a bruised thumb? I smashed it into a doorway, not in the door, the doorway, I was just running to another part of the house and my arm went too far out and BAM! a scream of agony goes thruout(yeah I know it's spelled wrong)the house! anyways, how's that for a cliffy?