Chapter One: Beechtail of Angdelve

Several weeks later,

Beechtail steadied himself in the upper part of an ash tree with his friend Maplefur. He was taller than other squirrels, and heavier with almost orange-red fur. Maplefur was lighter and had, as her name implied, beautiful dark reddish-brown fur. Trying not to look down, he listened nervously as his friend tried to explain how to grab on to a branch without falling.

"Okay, Now try to jump to that oak, see the big branch, try to get to that," Maplefur explained.

Beechtail steadied himself. I'm a squirrel, I can do this, he thought. He leapt for the oak, his paws clutched at the branch, slipped, and Beechtail felt himself falling, "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"Look out below!" Maplefur shouted form the top of the tree.

"Ooofff," Beechtail landed flat on his back at the bottom of the tree. He lived at Angdelve, a small iron mining settlement, on the southeastern edge of Mossflower woods. Moles did most of the actual mining, the other creatures mostly squirrels and otters farmed and protected the settlement from vermin raiders. He was quite a good swordsbeast, but since there weren't many vermin brave enough to attack the settlement, he had never been in a real fight. However, his climbing ability was about average, for a mole. He was also an abysmal shot with any sort of ranged weapon. Maplefur on the other had was agile and a dead shot with a bow.

Maplefur somersaulted out of the tree and landed next to Beechtail. "Are you okay?" she asked, looking worried.

"I'm fine; I didn't land on anyone this time."

"We better head back, it's almost lunch time."

"Yeah, I'm hungry and sore, I think that was the fifth time today."

"Sixth."

Still chattering to each other, the two squirrels headed back to Angdelve.

Nettleclaw signaled for his army to stop. He had found the sword right where the scroll said it would be. After mending it, his band traveled around and demanded that the other bands serve him. Nettleclaw gave the leaders of the bands the option of a one-on-one fight. After he bested a few strong fighters through trickery, none dared to challenge him. At last count his horde totaled over four score scores. Next he had set his sights on a small settlement a scout had spotted. It looked like a mine. The iron would be a valuable resource to his horde, as most of them were not very well equipped.

"Blackskull, Mudeye, take your troops and circle around to the other side. I don't want anybeast to get away, and everyone, don't burn the village, just kill the inhabitants, we need the forges. Let's go."

Maplefur and Beechtail had just reached the edge of a deep ditch that separated Angdelve from Mossflower wood, when they heard shouts and saw vermin swarming through the village. A few fighters were providing a rearguard to the survivors, but archers were picking them off. The captain of the guard, an otter named Flodrun, was fighting with a ferret much smaller than him. Flodrun evidently noticed that everyone else was slain, so he tuned and fled. The ferret took a short run and threw his sword. It took Flodrun through the back and he fell into the ditch, his body rolled to a stop at the bottom. The ferret said something to the rest of the vermin and they ran back toward the village. The ferret began to climb into the ditch to retrieve his sword. Beechtail slid to a stop by Flodrun's body. One look at the awful wound with the blade still in it confirmed he was dead. Beechtail pulled the sword out and scrambled to get out of the ditch. The ferret saw him, jumped the rest of the way and climbed up after him. Beechtail barely made it to the top before the ferret did.

"Give me my sword, squirrel," the ferret demanded.

Beechtail took a step back, tripped on a tree root, and fell to the ground. The ferret ran forward, drawing a dagger, but when he was only a few paces away, Maplefur dropped down out of the tree grabbed a low branch, and landed a double footpaw kick right on the ferret's chest. He was lifted off his feet, and thrown backwards into the ditch.

"Beechtail, we have to get out of here," Maplefur warned, "Angdelve is lost, and there must be hundreds of them."

Beechtail looked at the sword he had taken; one side was curved in and out, like waves. The other side was straight. There was a line halfway along the blade where it looked like it had been broken and reforged. "I'm taking this; maybe someday I'll get a chance to give it back to the ferret, just like he gave it to Flodrun. In the meantime, we'll head for Redwall; they'll want to know about this."

The two squirrels turned and vanished into the depths of Mossflower.