Redwall Forever Changed
Written by Lee Schroeder
Redwall is copyright Brian Jacques. Just so you know, this isn't canon to any story and stands by itself. The otter boy wakes up ;)
Chapter 1 – A Rude Awakening
What was the last thing that I remember? I remember…um…wait! What just happened? Where am I? The last thing I remember is…an explosion of some kind? I was surrounded by a dark void. Was I dead? What had happened before being here was a blur to me. I had called out to a blurred figure about something, and then the figure did something that had made me yell back. An explosion happened shortly after that. No matter how many times I played that memory back into my mind, it still didn't make any sense. Time passed, and it was apparent to me that I was asleep. At first, I tried to open my eyes, only to find them like trying to lift lead weights.
I began to hear the sound of birds chirping and wind blowing. A gentle and cool wind pleasantly blew on me. I smiled at the feeling only to hear female voices mutter quietly to each other. "Do you think he's coming around?" once voice said. "Hehe…he looks kind of cute." The other voice said. I was aware enough to wake up, but since I was still uncertain about the strange voices surrounding me, I faked sleeping until they left. Opening my eyes I looked at my surroundings. I was in a nice, warm bed inside of a stone room. The gentle wind was coming from the open window near the bed. Noticing that I was laying on something thick laying across my lower back, I tried to reach it with my hands only to roll right out of bed and onto a cold, hard floor.
Still groggy from sleeping, I grabbed the bed as a brace and as soon as I pulled myself up, I felt something attached to my behind, touching the ground. As I attempted to reach whatever was dangling from my body, I realized that my entire body was covered in dark brown fur. I turned my attention to a full-body mirror which relieved a frightened and confused otter person in a white shirt. Despite the lack of humanity in the eyes, I could easily tell that the otter in the reflection was scared.
As soon as I knew that the reflection was in fact me after touching my face, I screamed at the top of my lungs, letting fear take over and rammed into the door as I began to run, opened it with haste and ran out screaming some more. I kept thinking that I had to get out of this place, but seeing mice and other creatures dressed in clothing didn't help matters and I kept running and screaming. Eventually, I ran out of breath and collapsed to the floor exhausted turning my focus onto the ceiling above me.
Moments later, I saw a mouse in green robes who gave me the impression of some sort of monk. Still confused at what was going on, I could only stare at him. But he was looking at me, confused, probably because of my ruckus. "Are you alright?" it asked me in an elderly voice looking both worried and confused. "A-am I-I d-dreaming?" I asked the mouse, trying to get the words out without breaking out into tears. "You don't look asleep." he said. As I calmly breathed, I collected myself, and slowly stood up. My tail made the rest of my body feel out of place and almost fell over. Hearing footsteps, I turned to see three mousemaids run towards us with curiosity. Wiping away the tears from my eyes and made a half attempt to find my center of balance, I stood there, wondering what will happen next.
"What is your name young otter?" the robed mouse asked. I still couldn't believe what had happened to me, and looking at my furred hands was just a painful reminder. "Hello?" he asked again. Looking up, I quickly responded, "Matt." The mouse raised an 'eyebrow' and said, "Erm...Matt. A name most unusual. Where do you come from, Matt?" I said, "I'm from...umm..." I stood there thinking about what had happened. My memories were still blurry, but I could make more out. As I thought about what had happened, I thought out loud about the last thing I could remember before waking up. "That's not what I asked, although that was another answer to a question I had on my mind." he said. "I'm from...I'm from..." I said, trying to remember. "I don't know where I'm from. I thought I did. But why am I an otter instead of a human?" I asked myself, unaware at the moment that both the elderly mouse and the three mousemaids were listening to me.
"What is a human?" the elderly mouse asked. Now realizing what I had just said, I realized something. I had no proof that I was ever human, and they would have believed me to be crazy If I tried to explain it without said proof. "Never mind. It's nothin'" I said. I didn't want to take the risk of being thrown in the nuthouse, although I was still partially convinced that I was still dreaming. "Could you come with me?" the elder mouse asked. "Am I in trouble?" I asked. "No, nothing of the sort. I just want to ask you a few more questions and to get to know you better." he replied, shortly turning to the three mousemaids who were looking at me curiously. "You three run along now. I'm sure there's chores to be done." he told them.
Following the elderly mouse, I looked at my surroundings in more detail. After going outside, I saw that I was in what looked like some sort of fortress. Inside were various buildings (including a church), trees and a garden. Aside from the location and the inhabitants inside the castle, the trees and the plants reminded me of home a bit. Although I still at the time didn't know where I was from, I remember a small town on the foothills of a mountain. I have no idea how I got here, and I was still not thrilled at being an otter. Everybody was staring at me, and it was starting to give me the creeps. A few of the young ones wanted to talk to me, but the adults shooed them along. None of the adults spoke to me. It was as though they were afraid of me, or at the least, unsure of me.
After entering a large building and walking down a few hallways, the mouse opened the door and let me in first. Stepping inside, I found myself to be in a crude combination of an office and a bedroom. As the mouse sat down at his desk, he offered me to sit down in the chair in front of his table. "No thanks. I'd rather stand" I replied. The thought of sitting down the way I was made me a bit uneasy at the moment. "I'm guessing that you believe I'm crazy?" I said, half expecting him to agree with me. "Good heavens no! In fact, I think your story has some credibility to it." he said.
I raised an eyebrow, surprised at what he had just said. "Really? How so?" I asked with some skepticism to his claims. After explaining to me what he had experienced during his night watch two days ago, I could see why he was being so open about the whole 'Human' thing I was talking about. But the flash of light...I wasn't sure how that tied into the explosion, but the fact that everyone in this castle was staring at me made it a possibility. "My question is why I'm suddenly an otter instead of a human. The teleportation theory with a flash of light is one thing, but a complete transformation of my body seems really ludicrous?" I asked.
"Yet here you are." he asked, smiling until another thought entered in his mind. "I am curious though. You claim that you were once another species, yet I have no idea what even a Human even looks like." he said. "Would you care to draw me an example?" he asked, reaching for a piece of paper and a quill. Although I had never used a quill for writing, let alone drawing, I dunked the quill's end in the ink vial and did a quick rendition of myself. I was not that good a drawer when it came to drawing Humans, but at least it wasn't a stick figure. After I was finished, I handed the parchment back to the mouse where he studied it closely. "Interesting! How accurate is this drawing?" he asked. "I know that it's not entirely realistic. I only took a few drawing classes so far, but I haven't had much time to draw realistic portraits." I said.
"What color is human fur?" he asked. "Actually...there is very little fur, except for what you see on top of the head" I said. Confused at my statement, he asked, "So how do humans stay warm?" Chuckling, I responded, "Clothing...Lots of clothing." Turning to a trunk that lay near the mouse's bed and pointed. "This, I believe, is yours." he said as he reveled to a large, closed trunk near the bed. "What is it?" I asked, curious as to what was in it. "I was hoping you would tell me. We found this near you when we found you outside the gates of Redwall Abbey." he replied. Opening it up, he dragged out a photo album and handed it to me. Looking inside, I immediately recognized the images inside.