Chapter Twenty-Two: At Redwall Abbey

Maplefur loved Redwall Abbey. The morning after she arrived, Aspen had shown her around. They had seen the famous kitchens; Friar Cibus had given them breakfast. Lutran had tried to get some, but was chased off; Cibus muttered something about a missing batch of scones. They had been to the bell tower, and Aspen had told her the story behind the two bells. They had practiced archery in the orchard, and she could see that Aspen was impressed with her skill. He took every opportunity to compliment her on anything.

It was quite obvious that Aspen was in love with her. She hadn't seen Beechtail much since coming to Redwall, he spent most of his time with Skipper and Log-a-log, talking about how best to defend the Abbey, but judging from the look on his face every time Aspen complimented her on whatever, for the fifth time in as many minutes, she could tell that he was too. Beechtail was still her best friend ever, but over the past few days he hadn't been particularly nice to her; he still hadn't apologized for hitting her with the pole, so she was happy to let Aspen drive him crazy, for a bit. Anyway, it wasn't as if they were in any real danger at the moment.

Skipper, Beechtail, and Log-a-log were walking along the west battlements, discussing how to best defend the Abbey. At least, Skipper and Log-a-log were; Beechtail's mind was on other things. He had seen Aspen and Maplefur in the orchard shooting at targets; Aspen seemed to have another compliment ready every time Maplefur lodged another arrow in the center of the target. Maplefur had been his best friend, ever since his parents were killed by vermin, Rapscallions, he now realized. But now she seemed to spend every moment with Aspen…

Beechtail forced himself to pay attention to Skipper, who was making suggestions about how to stop the Rapscallions if they had a battering ram. Since it was getting late, they stopped and went inside.

Dinner was quite an event, with Lutran and Skipper in a shrimp-and-hotroot soup eating contest. Lutran won by a very wide margin. Beechtail was seated next to Skipper, and took the opportunity to ask, "How long have you known Lutran?"

Skipper sighed, "A very long time…back before he got hurt."

"And…how did he get like that?"

"Vermin raided his home, he killed most of them, but one got behind him and got him with a mace and chain."

"Ouch."

"Yes, the vermin killed his family, but afterwards, Lutran stood back up, ha, that gave them a shock. I don't think any of them got out alive. He's twice the fighter he was before, and that's sayin' a lot. He doesn't remember a thing, other than his name, which was Lutran, even before he got injured."

Beechtail thought about that for a few minutes, "Maybe if he remembers his name, then his memory isn't completely gone."

Skipper shrugged, "Who knows, the Redwallers have dealt with that sort of thing before, but it's difficult."

Eventually the meal drew to a close, and everyone headed off to bed.

Beechtail was back at Angdelve, he was standing in the trench by Flodrun's body. He knelt by the dead otter. Wait, it wasn't an otter, it was a squirrel! He turned it over. Maplefur! Form somewhere nearby, he could hear the ferret laughing.

Beechtail shot up instantly, all was quiet. It was just a dream, just a dream.