Twenty seasons later:
Martin Redguard grunted, his claws scrambling for purchase on the red sandstone ramp as he pushed his shoulder against the heavy block of red randstone
"Push!" He shouted, breathing hard from the strain as the heavy block slide another foot up the ramp. "Push!" He repeated, over and over, each time the six beasts of Martin's team managed to heave the heavy block a foot or two up the ramp.
Hours later the small team had finally pushed the block to the flat area at the top of the ramp where another team started pulling it to the docks where several barges waited for blocks.
"Alright team, let's take a breather before we start pulling again! I doubt the Overseers will mind all that much" Martin shouted, loudly enough that his team could all hear him, two of them were leaning against a block trying to catch their breaths.
Marin Steamrudder chuckled, barely out of breath, the otter moved some wood scraps away and removed a small bundle wrapped in leaves. "Lunch!" she cooed, unwrapping the bundle she handled each member of the team a small loaf of flatbread which they all gratefully ate, the bread had been tucked away when the team arrived that morning and was starting to turn stale but still the hungry woodlanders ate the bread quickly, a passing overseer, one of the ambiguous gray armored rats, this one wielding a baton and whip, watched them eat for a moment shaking his head but ignoring the rule violation and moving on to continue his patrol
When everyone had finished their snack Martin clapped his paws together and rose to his feet..
"Alright everyone we should just need to get two more blocks to fulfill our quota for the day!" Martin lead the way back down the ramp, groaning his team traipsed on after him,
Careful to avoid getting in the way of the other teams going up with their own blocks but still several of them shouted and cursed at the downwards heading teams.
When Martin's team arrived at the bottom of the quarry,several square blocks of red sandstone were waiting to be pushed up to the surface, and the moles of the quarrying teams were working on splitting more from the designated tunnels.
Sighing Martin pointed towards one of the blocks, and with his team at his back, the six beasts got to work pushing it to the surface…
By the time the team finished their quota for the day, the sun had set over mossflower wood and after confirming with the overseers that they had met their quota for the day, the six beasts traipsed through the packed dirt streets of Quarrytown, the moon letting out enough light that they made it back to their small wooden cabin, which was all but pressed against the wooden palisade that surrounded the entirety of the town.
Each member of the term soon collapsed onto their bunks and fell into a dreamless sleep, all except for Martin…
Martin woke up on the banks of the Redwall abbey pond, he remembered it faintly from when he was a pup, before the Grey Horde came, before his father was that's not why he really remembered the pond.
"Hello Martin" Another mouse said, clad in polished plate with his sword nearby, he was sprawled out despite his warrior appearance, his hand in the cool water of the pond.
Redguard sighed and turned away. "I thought you would leave me alone…" He muttered.
"I'm sorry Martin, well Martin the younger." Martin the warrior said with a chuckle. "But there isn't much time…" the mouse said, suddenly serious,"if Nasiur doesn't die by the end of the season the magic that sustains me will fail and all the magic we wove into Redwall will fade and it will fall, once and for all.."
"It already fell so I really don't care." The living mouse said exasperated.
"Please Martin…" the dead Martin said, a tone of desperation in his voice.
"No!" Martin Redguard shouted. "I won't! Go find some other poor soul to do your bidding!"
Martin the warrior's face hardened, "Fine, I will." He sighed, "Goodbye then I suppose.." he waved his hand and the pond faded to black, and Martin awoke with a start just as the sun rose over Quarrytown.
On the other side of the world:
Boarwing & Silvertail trudged through the frigid grasslands of the Badger empire, even at the height of spring the air was cold enough to have their breath fog in front of them.
"I see it!" Silvertail said excitedly, the young silver furred fox pointed to where the half hill-half castle of Cete Boar loamed.
Boarwing just nodded and chuckled, the much taller Badger maid had been able to see Boarhall for hours but she knew how excited Silvertail got seeing it and didn't want to ruin the young man's fun.
Two hours later Both of the two were standing just outside of the gatehouse as the colossal gates groaned open and a small welcoming party waited just inside composed of uniformed woodlanders. "Welcome home Lady Boarwing." the elderly Silverfox at the middle of the party said, bowing deeply, his colleagues following his lead. "How did your patrol go milady?" He asked, straightening.
"Thank you Sir Fox-of-Boar" Boar wing said, looking down at the much shorter fox. "But I noticed signs of a wildcat raider party near to the coast so you will need to send some foxes to deal with them."
The Knight raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure?" He asked, it was never good to send foxes off for no other reason then idle speculation.
"Aye" Boarwing said gruffly, she knew what the tracks she found meant.
The knight frowned "Very well I will get right on it, would you like a bath or would you prefer to meet with your father right away?"
"I suppose I will go meet with my father, I hope you don't mind but I desperately need some fresh clothes before I meet with the Lord."
Sir Fox-of-Boar chuckled. "I remember the feeling Mi'lady, I will have a runner alert your father when you are ready."
"Thank you Sir" Boarwing said, turning to leave, "Oh and you can have your grandson back." she said after a few steps, gesturing to Silvertail who had been standing besides her silently this whole time but upon her dismissing him from her side he promptly trotted over to stand besides his grandfather and commanding officer.
Leaving behind the welcome party who soon dispersed to go back to their duties, Boarwing stepped down into her family's half submerged personal quarters, six doors led off of the rounded hallway with Boarwing opening the door to her own quarters, the low space perfectly sized for a badger's comfort, but Boarwing quickly changed from her traveling clothes into a clean blue dress, leaving the dirty clothes to be cleaned by a staff member as she left her room and went up the semi hidden staircase at the end of the hallway and emerged into the main hall of Castle Boar, the smoke hazy hall was filled with tables that normally were used to feed the population of the castle, but at the moment, only a large scar covered male badger wearing a simple chainmail hauberk was inside of the open space and he was sitting in the large stone throne at one end of the room.
"Hello Daughter." He said gruffly, his voice little more than a low growl, one side of his lips permanently curled up exposing his broken yellow teeth.
"Hello Father," Boarwing said, going in front of her father and curtsying. "While traveling along our coast I noticed signs of a band of wildcat colony raiders, roughly five score strong so me and Silvetail were unable to engage." the Badger maid recited, looking off into space clearly rattling off a prepared report.
Her father grunted and rang a bell sitting by his throne and at once a mouse scurried out. "Sir?" the Mouse asked, looking up at his liege lord expectantly.
"Tell Sir Fox-of-Boar to ready six scores of his soldiers to march in the morning, Boarwing will command the detachment." The Badger lord said, ignoring his daughter, "You are dismissed, both of you." He said looking at Boar wing for the first time since she spoke, the mouse scurrying off to the barracks as Boarwing let out a sigh of relief before going back down to her family's apartments to collapse onto her bed and soon fall asleep, a week of patrolling does not give you a chance to sleep well.
When Boarwing opened her eyes, she expected to be met by the wood-and-brick walls of her room, but instead she was outside, sitting by what seemed to be a pond, flanked on one side by a red sandstone wall, a well maintained orchard of fruit trees on another side and a luxurious garden on the rest.
At first Boarwing thought she was alone, until she spotted a mouse clad in platemail lounging by the pond, half hidden behind an old weathered block of sandstone. "Oh hello Boarwing" the mouse said as soon as she spotted him.
"Who the hellgates are you?" She growled, reaching to her waist to grab her sword but only grabbing air. Looking down although she was wearing her wargear all of her weapons had disappeared, she could only see a sword sized for the mouse in front of her, one made of shining steel with a red ruby in its pommel.
The Mouse just blinked up at her, not even moving despite the angry badger maid staring him down, that more than anything sent a shiver down Boarwing's spine and she reluctantly backed down.
"Now then," the mouse said after a minute. "My name is Martin of Redwall." He gestures at the pair's surroundings, "And this is Redwall abbey, or at least, it was." He says grimly.
"I have never heard of this Redwall abbey and what do you mean it was? This place looks pretty fine to me" Boarwing replies gesturing towards past the Orchard where a large structure can be seen looming over the grounds.
"Let me show you what it looks like now." Martin says with a snap of his fingers, and where once it looked idyllic the entire place changed, the pond was now much larger and turned into some sort of cistern, the orchard remained more or less the same, but where once the lawn was covered in short cropped green grass, now it was all but barren and had simple wooden cabins in neat rows, but the biggest change of all was the building itself, the lower windows had been bricked up and fortifications had been added.
Boarwing gasped, although she had no strong connections to this place she was still shocked by the changes it had undergone. "What do you want me to do?" She said, feeling the call of duty.
Martin smiled, "I need you to rescue this place from the Wildcat who conquered it." He said, as everything began to fade.
"Where? How?" Boarwing said, looking around for some clue.
"Travel to the island of Mossflower, look for my sword." Martin said, moments before everything faded to black and Boarwing woke up with a start to a loud banging on her bedroom door.