Hey guys its SilverClaymore and I have a few things to mention. First off, I was looking on the Redwall wiki and I found some errors in my writing. 1: I forgot Razzid Wearats island was called Irgash. I changed that. 2: I forgot a few characters in Redwall, but they will appear in later chapters. The next thing I want to mention is a thanks to Marley McKinley for the nice review and favorite. Finally I want to tell you about this chapter. In todays chapter Theppler returns and you see what happens to Gulspins ships. I know I've introduced two villains that could be the main enemy in the book, and I am not going to spoil who it is! You'll have to wait.
Well, I hope you enjoy!
Reminder: As awesome as it would be, I do not own Redwall. Brian Jacques, quite possibly the nicest and best person ever, owns this amazing series. I never met him, but Mr. Jacques spread joy and happiness to all who met him or read his books. Rest in peace, Mr. Jacques.
Cap'n Gulspin Wildar stared, speechless, at the burning ships in front of him. Flames roared on the masts, prows, and decks of the ships, illuminating the dark night in an eerie glow. Trying to think, the big rat captain cleared his head, thinking beyond the box, or what was the box in his drunken state. After a minute of silence, he turned around, and bellowed at his crew. "Weill mahtahs? Tarn't you going to dow sumtin t'about it? Idjits! Dats two good ships dere! Go on! Get buckets o' waddah! Put ewt tha blaze, yer idjit scuttlebrains! Find dose scum dat dared taw seet fire taow da ships o' Cap'n Gulspin Wildar!" Corsairs sprinted off the ship with buckets, others grabbed spears and started to scourge the beach. They overturned tents, kicked at campfires, and looked behind trees. But it was to no avail. Grakul and his weasels had done their work, and they were not to be found on the beach, they were already back inside Fort Dressen. The other vermin, the ones with the task of putting out the fires, were surprisingly making progress. They dipped their buckets and the sea and emptied it over the flames, dousing some flames each time. The ships might have actually been saved, if not for the antics of a drunken old searat called Blubber. Blubber, always with a bottle of seaweed grog, tipped the bottle into the bucket he was using to douse the fire in a drunken daze and threw the whole thing into the flames. BOOM! A huge cloud of flame erupted, vaporizing Blubber as well as four ferrets, also catching fire to another ship, Death Falcon. Gulspin saw it was pointless. As all of the corsairs got back, he gnashed his teeth loudly as his second in command, an bowbeast named Vethug asked "ER, Cap'n? Woter we do now?" Drawing his cutlass, Gulspin bellowed, "Woter 'e do? We killa fowx, dats wot!"
Theppler was in high spirits. Grakul had gotten back and he was being rewarded for his services rewardingly. "Arr, Grakul maytey." Theppler patted his captain on the back. "Drink up matey! Yeve deserved't it!" "I ain't drinking nuting Theppler. I want what you promised me." "Aah!" Theppler gasped. "you don't still want that silly thing do you?" "Fox," Grakul snarled, pawing his saber, "That thing there , tis a jewel of da Ul'mox, king of vermin. Yer know that. Now give it 'ere or I'll kill yer. If anybeast should be king, I should, not a bragging idjit fox!" Noting that Grakul was , and, surprisingly keeping his temper, Theppler untied the gem, a large green orb with red specks, from his neck and handed it to Grakul. "Well, Mate, I told you to burn three ships, and do that you did. Now drink! No sense dying of thirst." Reluctantly, after asking Theppler to drink first, Grakul took a sip. The weasel was immediately enhaced. Draining the glass, he asked for more, once again asking Theppler to drink. Theppler passed him the whole barrel after he sipped it and went out the door, saying to him as he left, "Grakul mate, I'd never poison you!" Leaving the building, he cackled to himself, "No, I have other plans for you!"
As he walked along the path, he drew one of his axes and walked to the large citadel that rose out of the southern side of the fortress, a trap for Gulspin forming in his mind. Walking through the door into a huge open space, he grabbed two lengths of rope that sat on the end of a table near the side of the otherwise empty room. He tied both to the axe, then trudged upstairs to the prison chamber, where all the slaves were kept. The commanding ferret there tugged his ear in salute. "Evening sire." "Lissen to me Bleednik!" Theppler snarled, addressing the ferret by name. "And you weasel!" he said as he pointed to a scrawny-looking weasel who was guarding the slaves that were there. "Get this floorboard up!" The fox pointed to a floorboard that was coming loose. The two vermin grabbed the two ends of the loose board, and after a bit of cursing and straining pulled it up. Grabbing the board from them, Theppler tied one of the ropes attatched to his axe around it. Then, he put the ropes and the axe through the hole in the floor, so the contraption dangled below. Turning to the ferret and weasel again, he pointed to the ends of the board, which supported the dangling ropes and axe. "Nail these ends into the floor, and you will both rake ranks in my army as captains! Well, not you weasel, actually, no. You'll stay as you are, but do it anyway! Bleednik, you will, that is, only if you do a good job, as well as a few other small tasks. " Grabbing some nails and a hammer from a wooden drawer each, the two pounded away until the board was tightly secured in the floor. Running down the stairs, Theppler looked up. The axe was floating four feet off the ground, with one rope coiled on the floor. Racing back upstairs, Theppler reached through the hole and pulled the rope back up, along with the axe, but let the second rope dangle down fifteen feet, right about where it could be reached. Turning to Bleednik, he hissed, "When you feel me on the rope, let it go, alright? Do this and reap the rewards. Do not, and feel my wrath!" Dumbly nodding his head, Bleednik grabbed the axe, and stood there, awaiting further orders. But they did not come. Smiling wickedly, Theppler Burnback grabbed a young female squirrel slave and, cutting her free, told her, "Lissen, lass. I have a small liddle task fer you, then I'll free you. Can you do that fer me?" Nodding, the squirrel was led downstairs, where she was ushered into the middle of the room. Calling up to the scrawny weasel, Theppler said, "Ahoy Sclath! Bring the slaves down and line them up on that wall!" The squirrel-maid's mother and father, whose names were Razaful and Leppina, watched anxiously as their daughter, Zynia, looked about. "Er, wot is it I do, Theppler, sire?" "Oh, just stand there, you're doing fine. After you stand there a minute, you're free." The evil fox grinned. Suddenly he grabbed the hanging rope and pulled. Bleednik felt the fox pull on the rope and dropped the axe from the ceiling and before Zynia could run, Theppler had grabbed it and sunk it into her side. She fell over, dead. Her father Razaful howled, and with huge strength broke from his chains and rushed at Theppler. Shocked at the squirrel's outburst, Theppler slashed at him with the axe. He fell to the ground alongside his slain daughter, a gash in his side, but still alive. Leppina was sobbing, and the rest of the slaves were looking stunned. A few yelled, "Aye big brave thing ye just did! Hellgates awaits ye Burnback! You are worse than the Wearat! He was always overseas, and he never killed us needlessly!" Theppler hadn't thought of the Wearat in a while. He liked the sound of it as he remembered the high seas, raiding the coast, and maybe conquering some forts... he had received news about Razzids death. Some Red Tower or something. As interested as he was in conquest, he stayed true to himself for the moment, remembering Gulspin and his impending threat. For Now he roared, "No rations for anybeast! For the rest of the week! And if that mad-beast squirrel isn't dead, bind him to a pole in the front gate for Gulspin to shoot at!" Grabbing the unconscious Razaful, Sclath bound his paws once more and escorted him out of the building. The prisoners were put back upstairs and Theppler called Bleednik back down to him, a wicked grin on his face. As Razaful was dragged away, he remembered the ferret, and vowed to himself to take revenge on him, as well as Theppler. Meanwhile Theppler grinned and tugged his ear at Bleednik, recognizing him as a Captain. "Very good Bleednik, or should I say, Captain Bleednik. Now, I want you to do that again, and here's when…." The ferret smiled as he listened to the plan. Theppler Burnback was plotting more evil. But he did not forget his dreams of conquest. Conquest that would come in time.
Please do not think of me as a monster. I know Zynia's death was a bit... horrible, but ... ah just forget it. I wont make any excuses, it was horrible. Sorry. By the way, sorry for not posting Wednesday. As I said in Chapter 4, I was busy. You can expect Chapter 6 by Wednesday. Be sure to review! Hope you enjoyed.
Peace!
SilverClaymore