It was the time of the Late Rose Summer Wars. Cluny the Scourge and his rat army had been besieging Redwall Abbey for weeks. There was only one weapon that could defeat Cluny: the legendary sword of Martin the Warrior!
Matthias the mouse had been searching for Martin's sword throughout Cluny's invasion, but to no avail. He had figured out by now that the sword was in the possession of the monstrous adder Asmodeus, but he didn't know exactly where Asmodeus's den was.
Matthias's friend Warbeak, queen of the Sparra sparrows that lived in the Abbey rooftops, wanted to help him recover Martin's sword. One day she told her mother, Dunwing, "Me helpa Matthias mouseworm find his magic sword."
"How you do that?" Dunwing asked.
Warbeak outlined her plan. "We know sword is held by giantworm Asmodeus Poisonteeth, right? Well, me fly out into Mossflower and find Asmodeus, follow him back to his lair without him seeing me. Then, me go back to Matthias and tell him where Asmodeus lives."
Upset, Dunwing flapped her wings wildly. "Me no let you do that! Too dangerous! Snake'll eat you alive!"
"How he doing that?" Warbeak scoffed. "Me got wings. Me can fly. No let him get close enough to eat me."
Dunwing sighed. "Warbeak, me never tell you this before, but it was Asmodeus who kill you father Greytail many many seasons ago."
"All the more reason for me to want him destroyed," said Warbeak. "I be just fine. Me stay well out of his reach. Just gonna watch him from sky and see where he goes. Then me tell Matthias so he can kill Asmodeus and get the sword back. Not gonna be in any danger myself."
Dunwing continued to try to argue her daughter out of her reckless idea, but Warbeak was stubborn. She would not be dissuaded.
In the end, Warbeak flew out from the Abbey, despite her mother's wishes, hoping to sight the great serpent and track him to his lair.
It was midafternoon when she finally spotted Asmodeus in the woodlands. He was slithering along, leaving great slithering marks in the grass. "Asmodeus," he hissed. "Asmodeussssssssss!"
Warbeak followed him, keeping herself concealed in the treetops so the snake wouldn't see her. Even if he did, she thought, what harm could he do her? He'd have to have wings of his own to reach her up there.
She shadowed him the rest of the afternoon until, just before sunset, they came to the edge of a clearing. Spread out beneath them was a vast disused quarry pit. Warbeak watched Asmodeus slither into a hole in the side of the cliff.
"Me did it!" she cheered silently. "Me find where snake live! Now just gotta go back and let Matthias know…"
She was about to turn and fly back home when an arrow struck her in the shoulder! Gasping, she fell down to the ground like a stone.
She looked up and saw a company of rats armed with bows and arrows emerging from the trees behind her. The rats fanned out, forming a circle around Warbeak. She tried to fly away, but the arrow lodged in her shoulder prevented her.
Then Cluny the Scourge himself appeared. He strode over to Warbeak, his wolfish face leering at her. His missing eye made him a fearsome sight. "Hello, little feathered friend," he said sarcastically.
Warbeak curled her lip at him. "Why ratworms shoot me?"
"I'm terribly sorry about that," Cluny said, in a manner that clearly showed he wasn't sorry at all, "but you see, I've been having a bit of a problem lately. That giant snake, Asmodeus, has been eating far too many of my soldiers. I thought perhaps he would desist if I offered him a sacrifice."
"Sacrifice?" Warbeak gulped.
Cluny grinned wickedly. "Yep. I feel certain that if I offer him a fine meal of one helpless juicy female sparrow, he'll be so grateful that he'll leave me and my army alone."
The other rats guffawed.
"Tie her up," Cluny said.
The rats pounced on Warbeak and bound her with ropes. She tried to fight, but in the end, she was overcome by sheer force of numbers. They lashed her wings to her sides, and tied a tight knot around her beak to keep her from crying out for help.
Then Cluny and his minions were off, disappearing back into the woods and leaving Warbeak tied up on the ground just outside the quarry where Asmodeus made his home.
Warbeak struggled to free herself but couldn't. Her bonds were just too tight, and the pain in her shoulder was excruciating.
Then she heard the snake's voice again. "Asmodeus, Asmodeus!"
Asmodeus had come out of his hole to see what all the commotion was about. And what did he spy but a plump, trussed up sparrow lying on the ground!
"What a nice surprise," he said. "Here's one that can't scurry off. Come with me, little bird. I will show you eternity."
His sinister blunt head moved in a lazy rhythm. His forked tongue flickered endlessly in and out. His round eyes locked upon Warbeak's as he slithered closer and closer to her.
Warbeak's breathing relaxed. Her wings and legs began to feel limp as she went into a hypnotic trance. Soon she was so mesmerized that she wouldn't have been able to fly away even if she hadn't been wounded. Even the pain was leaving her. She barely felt the snake's coils wrapping themselves around her body, squeezing all the breath out of her.
Asmodeus opened his mouth wide, lowering it down toward Warbeak. Warbeak could see those enormous fangs getting closer and closer to her, but she wasn't scared, not anymore. He had her in an Esdaile state, and she couldn't feel emotions like fear anymore.
And then he reached out and swallowed her whole, and she stopped feeling anything at all.
THE END (IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE!)