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Chapter 6: Seeds and Speculations

The Glogaswamp was a strange thing.

It looked something like a carriage, but it was pulled by slaves, instead of strange creatures called horses as Sanlo heard carriages were pulled by in the Western continent. The outside was fashioned out of dark wood, like a normal carriage, but had no doors, like a hunk of wood. Instead, it was an open-topped bowl, with a ladder fastened to the side. The inner walls were covered with sun-hardened mud, to ensure that the water that filled the carriage never leaked. A portable swamp for any toad traveling outside the real swamp. Its designer had been the famed King Glogalog Bulgum, who coveted travel above all else, and had even formed an official alliance with Salamandastron for some time. Sanlo had great respect for the legendary King, and the invention of the Glogaswamp was one of the many things that made Sanlo proud of his history.

It was usually pulled by criminal toads, but Southsward had plenty of slaves to spare, and Sanlo did not see a need to burden his folk any more, so a few otters pulled the Glogaswamp. Sanlo and his personal servants and two guards all sat down in their portable swamp, and had the opportunity to relax.

But Sanlo could not relax, and he would not let his companions relax.

"The Squirrelking said he would be joining me soon. That confirms Gogzo's theory, kruurk, the vermin will want to use the swamps as a pathway to attack Salamandastron. According to his treaty, the toads will have to support him in his attacks. Wars, and battles, rrrebb! Terrible. Burja, what is the state of our arsenal?"

Burja, one of Sanlo's guards and older brother, just shrugged. "I don't know, ribbit! We've got… tridents… and stonewhips… and… Crroik! Maybe ask a Grubloe. A Grubloe maybe know."

Sanlo shook his head. In his youth, a series of unfortunate events landed Sanlo on a scholarly Southsward journey to Sampetra. At the time, he had thought it bad luck, but the older he got the more he appreciated what he learned on that journey, and the more he wished every toad in the swamp could go on such a journery.

"Well, whatever we have, we'll probably need more. I wonder if we could make a deal with Salamandastron. We'd have to do it before Tharius gets there and starts calling for bloodshed, crooik. I'll have to organize a trading party the moment we get back. I wonder if I should go. High-quality Salamandastron weapons would be a tremendous boon to the toad cause. Perhaps even better than Southsward weapons. Salamandastron weapons to fight Salamandastron, that'd be something, rreb. Of course, now I'll have to get approval from… Dragwa."

The treaty was even worse than Sanlo imagined. It consolidated nearly all political power in "Queen Dragwa". Sanlo agreed that the Trials were defunct. But this? A full monarchy? And the taxation system! The toads barely used currency, how could they be expected to pay taxes? This could cause revolution against the regime Oygamig and Sanlo had worked so hard to build. Sanlo suddenly realized he hadn't been complaining out loud, and repeated those last few grievances to his companions.

One of the personal servants', named Dampeye, face scrunched up. "Revo… revolution? What's that mean, ribbit?"

"Revolution, Dampeye. It means toads fighting toads and blood in the swamp, because somebody's not happy with whoever's in charge, and they think they should be in charge instead.."

Burja's face scrunched up in fear. "I don't wanna fight toads. An'... an' I like Dragwa. Ribbit! Why'd any beast wanna fight Dragwa?"

"That's the problem with this treaty, brother." Sanlo waved the papers in Burja's face, though he knew the guard couldn't read much. "It'll force a bunch of laws… rules for the toads to follow, but the toads won't like these rules, because they're so bad. They'll think the bad rules are Dragwa's fault, crroik, and will try and take her place so they can get rid of the rules, but that'll be pointless because Tharius or Silvertung will just kill any toad who tries to get rid of the rules.."

Burja nodded, still looking unsure. "But… but you know how to stop it, right? You can find a way around these rules, like you did with Figgik and Bigweb Brill an' all the rest? Crroik! You gotta."

Sanlo took a sharp inhale of breath. His brother's faith in him was encouraging, and the reminder of the toads he had politicked onto his side with Oygamig's march to the throne was good for his pride, but there were so many factors at play. "Maybe. Maybe. For now, I just want you to know that when those vermin get here, they'll be cruel. They think you're inferior… worse than them. That's what Tharius will say about us, at least. Just know that they're wrong, and don't respond to any kind of taunts. That would bring trouble for the toads. Also, many of these vermin are from the far West. If you give them a good impression… maybe. It would be good at least. Can you do that?"
Burja paused, thinking about it. "I can, if I remember. Crrooik! I'll try remember."

"Good. Thank you, brother." Burja may have been a fool, and Burja may have attempted cannibalism on Sanlo when they were young, which may have set off the unfortunate series of events that left Sanlo stranded in the Great Sea, but Sanlo didn't want to see Burja dead on some vermin spear. He didn't want to see any toad dead anywhere, if he could help it. Least of all a toad on his side.

The otters were slowing down. Sanlo peeked above the rim of the Glogaswamp to shout at them to speed up, but then saw why they were slowing down.

They were passing alongside one of The Farms. Sanlo had already seen a few, mostly on his journey to Floret, but this was the biggest one yet. The forest suddenly ended, revealing a large clearing the size of Floret. It looked like a grain farm, like most of them. A large sign read: Urgansk A1. Huge fields of gold stretched into the distance, and at its center stood a tall mill. The mill was a strange thing that Sanlo still didn't really understand. Some new Floretian technology, it had these huge wooden blades that spun in the wind, and it somehow ground up large amounts of grain into flour as fast as if there were hundred beasts working. I wonder if I could get one for the Toadlands.

Now, there were a hundred beasts working, or more, though not at flour grinding. Otters, squirrels, hedgehogs, and other beasts were pulling on their backs what Sanlo heard the Floretians call tractors. It was some large, wooden contraption which could harvest large quantities of wheat at once, provided it had beasts to pull it. Other creatures were pulling along another large machine behind the tractor, and this machine would deposit large quantities of seeds at even intervals. The slaves pulling the machines looked exhausted and broken, though Sanlo supposed it was easier than planting all that wheat themselves.

No mice. No, Silvertung saw to that. Sanlo was still a bit sick from The Empire's actions there. Mice and toads were never friends, but that much death… Sanlo shuddered when he thought of what could happen to the toads if they incurred Silvertung's anger. Hundreds of screamholes, all piled high with the corpses of my kin. He would not let that happen, no matter what.

One of the otters who was pulling the Glogaswamp had stopped, staring out across the wheat. On the farm, one of the otters pulling the tractor had stopped similarly, and was staring back.

Family? Friends? Lovers, perhaps? Long-thought-lost companions, separated by The Empire. Sanlo shook his head. All the creatures who lived in the cities of Southsward had been forced into the countryside to be slaves on the farms. These otters had probably known each at Urgansk, but were separated as one was taken for the farms and one was taken for travel service. Is this what could happen to the toads? Divided, forced to slave away at farms in Southsward, a land too dry and uncomfortable for us to revolt? No, not if I have anything to say about it. And I do love to say things.

Speaking of which, Sanlo called down at the otters, "Why are you stopping? We need speed!"

The otter who stopped looked up at Sanlo with defiance in his eyes. For a moment, Sanlo was afraid the beast would leap up and strangle the toad. Hurriedly, Sanlo waved a webbed foot at the farm. "Look! You're distracting them, and it looks like their masters won't be happy."

Indeed, a group of weasels holding whips had started approaching the tractor which had stopped. The defiant otter cast uneasy glances between the weasels approaching his companion and Sanlo, then nodded and lifted the Glogaswamp. The other otters joined him. On the farm, the tractor started to move again, and the weasels started to back off.

Once they had achieved a steady pace again and moved past Urgansk A1, Sanlo called down, "What's your name, you who stopped?"
After a sullen silence, the otter answered, "Tench. Tench's my name."

Sanlo nodded, not entirely sure if the otter told the truth. "Thank you." He slid back into the water, rejoining his companions, and began to rant again.

"Now. Vafir Silvertung, rrebb. What's that fox up to? It's only been a few weeks since he conquered Floret. Why's he leaving it all to Tharius? Maybe he headed to Irgash, to check up on his capital or maybe bring in more vermin from the West. But I've heard he has a pretty loyal steward there, so I doubt it. My guess is that he's heading east with a small part of his army, maybe three or fourscore, to reconquer the Big Island. He'll probably do it, too. What then? It's likely he'll head west to supervise the battle for Salamandastron. Maybe he'd go north to Redwall Abbey, but I imagine he'd want to focus on one thing at a time. Or maybe he'd go to the far east, and recruit the vermin hordes that live out there. It's not likely, but we can't discount the possibility. It would make his army considerably more powerful." Sanlo licked his eyeball thoughtfully. "Hmm… I could see him doing that. But I think that would happen more in the future. A large horde would be difficult to move to Salamandastron without access to the River Moss, and getting to the River Moss would mean going around Redwall Abbey. Burja, what would you do in his situation?"

Burja frowned. "There are places more far than the big lake?"

"Bah. Why do I even talk to you? This is why the Toadlands need a better education system. To Vulpuz with this "monarchy" and "taxes". If we taught young toads more than how to hold a trident, we'd be unstoppable, crroik! How about this? Every young toad gets an opportunity to travel to one place. Those interested in battle can go study in Salamandastron, those interested in cooking and building could go to Redwall, those interested in science could go to Floret, those interested in travel could visit the Guosim. Then the toads would be masters of battle, building, science, and travel. But how would we fund it? We'd also need allies in Salamandastron and the rest. That's impossible, now, with Southsward forcing us to attack Salamandastron. The toads are the ones suffering, rrrebb."

Dampeye cocked her head. "Why'd we stop?"

Sanlo blinked, realizing the question was about something that had happened, and not about what was going to happen. "One of the otters saw somebody he used to know enslaved on a farm. He got all teary-eyed, as if he could do anything. These slaves should know-"

"The slaves not like it?" asked Burja.

"No, of course they don't like it. They're slaves, brother, they're put to jobs they don't like so the people in charge don't have to do those jobs."

Burja nodded. "But, if they don't like it… why not… revol… revolution?"

Sanlo rolled his eyes. "Now, I'd love it if they revolted. I'd love it if they killed Tharius Squirrelking, and Vafir Silvertung too, and freed the Toadlands of this outrageous treaty. But that's not going to happen. See, Vafir Silvertung brought all the city beasts into the farms, and all the farmbeasts into the cities, rrebbbb. No, I-" an idea suddenly occurred to Sanlo. "Tench!" he called. "Tench, one moment!"

The burly otter stopped, and looked up at Sanlo. "What, toad?"

After a moment's hesitation, Sanlo wriggled out of the water and leaped down from the Glogaswamp. "Listen, otter. What I'm about to tell you is extremely important. But you need to listen to me."
Tench and the seven other otters paused, looking wary. "What do you want?" asked Tench.

Sanlo pulled out a key. "I am known as… Lonsa. I am a personal servant of Sanlo Merggish, brother of former King Oygamig and soon-to-be Queen Dragwa. Have you heard of him?"

Tench shook his head. One otter cocked his head as if the name sounded familiar, but he said nothing.

"Well, in the Toadlands we call him a Grubloe, which means hero." Sanlo licked his eyeball anxiously. Anything for the Toadlands. "I understand the Southswardens have never been great friends of the toads, but no matter what, the Toads stand opposed to slavery of any beast, regardless of previous relations."

Tench and other otters looked curiously at Sanlo, or as they thought, Lonsa. Sanlo could see the surprise in their eyes: much of their life they had believed the toads to be savage cannibals too stupid to string together a real sentence. Now, this toad who spoke like a civilized Southwarden was telling them that all toads were really freedom fighters who cared for the Southswardens' plight? Preposterous lies are sometimes the best ones.

Sanlo continued, "Well, you otters are now a part of the rebellion. Head south for about a league. There, you'll find a hollowed-out tree, you can't miss it. While it will seem abandoned, it's actually a headquarters for the Rebellion." There were scores of hollowed out trees scattered around Southsward forests. It would be easy to hide in one. "I want you folk to go there, and wait. In a few days, a toad will arrive with a supply of weapons. You will be able to use those to start gathering free beasts here in the Urgansk duchy. With the support of the toads, Southsward will be free by winter."

The otters were just gaping at Sanlo, so Sanlo just took his key and unlocked the otters chains. Still surprised by the suddenness of it all, they just stood there, staring.

"Run!" shouted Sanlo. Slowly, unsure, the otters started to move south.

Tench lingered a moment. "What's… what's happening? Why are you doing this?"
"I'm freeing you. And I want you to free others. I won't have trouble making it the rest of the way to Urgansk."

Tench nodded. "Thank you? Thank you. And for warning me, earlier at the farm. I could have gotten Yerin hurt, but… thank you." He began to run.

Sanlo let out an exhalation of relief. He wasn't fully sure how this scheme would work out, the idea had just come to him like a fly on the wind. Perhaps these eight otters would overthrow Tharius, and Sanlo would have one less problem. Perhaps they would cause some trouble in Urgansk, which would be helpful. At the very least, The Empire now had eight less beasts serving it, and that's all Sanlo could ask for.

"Burja! Dampeye! The rest of you, get out here!"
Sanlo's six companions all wriggled out of the Glogaswamp, looking around in confusion.

"Where'd our otters go, rrrebb?" asked Dampeye.

"I let them go. You all will pull the Glogaswamp the rest of the way to Urgansk." Sanlo startled to crawl back up the ladder. "Don't worry. Not too far left."

Burja picked up the chains that would pull the Glogaswamp. "Why?"

Sanlo licked his eyeballs. "It pays to have friends scattered around. Never know when they might come in handy. Better than enemies scattered around. Now, go!"

Author's Note: I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. It's important to the overall plot, and I'm hoping Sanlo's rants can give the reader a better idea of the "political landscape" of the world. However, Sanlo's character is sort of bland, so far. I have some interesting ideas for where I want to take his character I'm starting to get a clearer idea of what his mind is like. I think I'll need to spend more time writing with him to get used to him, though. I'm hoping that once he gets to the Toadlands he'll become more interesting. The next chapter, coming out later this week (it's already mostly written), is also not yet in the Toadlands, and has some of the same problems this one does. Feedback is welcome!