Sathe breathed a sigh of relief as she plunged her paws into the cold washbasin. The brutish hare wouldn't allow her to leave his sight. Even when she left for the latrine that harebrained fool followed her.
"Are ya done in there ya ol' gel?" Corporal Trilloway called.
"Give me a minute fool!" She snapped.
Sathe scrubbed her paws furiously trying to wash the dried blood from her fur. She had been frantically busy most of the morning and well into the afternoon. She hadn't gotten a moment of rest until almost half an hour ago. To her embarrassment, she hadn't noticed a shaking in her paws until she stopped to go to the toilet. Her paws were covered in blood, and she suspected her new clothes would need a wash as well. Although she was a healer, she wasn't a fan of blood. She wasn't afraid, she wasn't afraid of anything of course, but being covered in someone else's blood made her a bit squeamish. She suspected that the blood wasn't the sole reason she was shaking, as even with most of the gore washed from her claws, she noted a slight tremble.
"I'm not a kit so stop followin' me." Sathe barked as she left the ladies' room.
"I wish I could lass. But Cap'n would have me ears served on a platter if I did."
He followed her with a grunt. It was a short walk between the latrine and the infirmary which made it even more infuriating to the ferret.
"That wouldn't hurt me, would it?"
"Naw but Cap'n would probably lop yer tail off before he figured I let ya run astray." Corporal Trilloway yawned. "That wouldn't hurt me, would it?"
Sathe bit her tongue, careful not to spout any abuse towards the hare or his beloved Captain. Santain's heavy blows reverberated in her ribs and cheek.
"Yer hare Cap'n's a good slave driver isn't 'e?" Sathe snapped venomously.
"He certainly knows how to get the best outah beasts, wot. He did so with ye."
"Anything else yew need me tah slave away for ya? Want me tah wash yer footpaws like a good vermin cur?"
"Ha! I'd love that but unfortunately, I probably would be passed over for any promotion. Having a ferret take a fancy tah me will cause more trouble than it'd be worth." Corporal Trilloway responded with a loving smile.
"I'd ne'er do that, yew loathsome grub!" Sathe whirled about and snapped at him. "I'd rather feel gulls rip my guts out than cater tah yew!"
"T'was a joke ferret don't get your tail in a twist." The burly hare raised his paws in defense. "Besides yer kinds done far worse than wash our paws. Did ya ever hear the story of Grosspots?"
"Naw an I don't care tah hear about 'em."
Trilloway ignored her. "Well, he was a wicked rat as vile as they come. As short as a shrew and as fat and blubbery as a whale. A nasty brute who ate everything in sight. Despicable rat even ate other beasts, woodlander and vermin alike."
"Vile cur," Sathe muttered as the shaking in her paws returned.
"Disgusting at best and monstrous at worst, wot. Stole a lettle hare from 'is family one night. Thankfully Lord Bromwell and several of the Long Patrol tracked the brute to 'is cave and butchered 'em. T'was told he a made a fine red paste, wot wot."
"Yer gonna turn me stomach yew long-eared buffoon. What does 'e 'ave tah do wid me? I don't wanna eat other beasts." Sathe responded, bile beginning to build.
"It doesn't have anything tah do wid ye, wot. Just a test, jill."
"A test!" Sathe barked at the hare as they strolled into the infirmary. "Yew probably made that story up just tah scare me!"
"Did it work?" He asked raising an eyebrow.
"N-no!" She managed to stammer out.
"Good because he was as real and as vile as the rest of yah."
Sathe snapped her mouth shut furious to be towing along this inane beast. The howling wind thrashed against the windows of the infirmary rattling the windows and stone alike. Sathe had made the executive decision, along with the Corporal, to move Sister Beryl and Ruddy to rooms without broken windows. The hare was tasked with physically moving the beasts while Sathe transported the medicines and other supplies to their new rooms. Now the infirmaries' tall ceilings were as silent as a tomb. The quiet would be enjoyable to the ferret if she didn't have this blustering hare tied to her hip.
"So, doc," the hare started as Sathe sat on the bed in the waiting room. "What's next?"
"Next?" Sathe spat, her fury momentarily stilling the shaking in her paws. "There's nothing more to do."
"That's not true ye masked mercenary. We could organize the herbs or prepare the next set of medicines for the injured when they awake."
Both options sounded terrible to the ferret. Did he even know how hard she worked today?
"You kin do dat while I get some rest." Sathe said as she rolled away from him on the bed. To her disgust, she felt his paw on her shoulder.
"Come on now. There's always something to be done." The warm smile on his face enraged Sathe as she turned to look at him. Stupid hare would get himself killed if he continued to touch her.
"Get yer paw off me yew long-eared wretch." She hissed.
"Lass the left side of yer face is swelling like a berry in the sun, at least let me look at that." Corporal Trilloway gingerly reached toward her face.
Sathe snapped her sharp teeth at him. "Go away ye blithering idjit! B'fore I make ye regret it!"
"Fine ya lazy vermin." Trilloway huffed. A sour look on his face as he pulled his paw back.
"Lazy!" Sathe snapped. "I've healed every beast in this infirmary without yer help! An I've done it wi'out a wink o' sleep."
"We're all tired ferret that's no excuse, and if yer that hurt ye just need tah tell me. I'm something of a healer meself."
"I just need a moment of quiet. Can yew handle that?" Sathe asked desperately trying to get some rest.
"Aye, lass. I'm gonna be sorting through what they have here give me a shout if ye need anything."
Sathe curled herself into a ball as he pattered over to a table loaded with herbs and medicines. Snuggling herself into the softest and warmest place on the bed. She had just closed her eyes when the door to the infirmary was thrown open.
"What's going on here!" Sister Lilac shouted as she stormed into the room. "I leave with the dibbuns for the morning and vermin start falling from the sky!"
Sathe groaned and tried to block the shrill crying that started the moment the hedgehog barged in.
"Good Morning Ma'am." The hare sounded to Sister Lilac's deaf ears.
"You! What are you doing lying around? The infirmary needs to be cleaned and every sick or injured beast needs to be monitored in case they take a turn for the worse." Sathe could feel the hedgehog's hot breath get closer and closer to her.
"You also smell something awful and need a bath. Even worse, you've managed to get your new clothes bloody. Martin, help us if you've touched one of the injured without washing your paws, you'll only make them worse." The hedgehog's grating tone scraped off the walls.
"Shuddup yew quilled pincushion." Sathe barely found the energy to snap.
"What did you say, young lady?" Sister Lilac squeaked as she pinched Sathe's ear and hauled her from the bed. Sathe growled in fury.
"I'd expect that talk from dibbuns and miserable lowlife cretins, not from good abbeybeasts! I know you're a dirty ferret, but I'd hope you were smart enough to watch your tongue. I guess I'll have to treat you like vermin if you want to act like one."
Sathe was just about to tear this obstinate hedgehog's arm off when Sister Lilac let go of her ear. She opened her mouth to protest when the hedgehog stuffed a bar of soap into it.
"You just sit like that for a while and think about what you said." The hedgehog ordered, crossing her arms.
Sathe had found her new least favorite beast in the Abbey. Trilloway turned away struggling to stifle a laugh as a small mouse watched, her thin face twisted in curious apprehension.
"Not a word from you corporal. Long Patrol or not, I'm not afraid of giving you the same treatment." The hare quieted immediately.
Furious, Sathe ripped the soap from her mouth and threw it at the beast. It missed but knocked over a mortar and pestle on the table behind her.
"If yew ever do that again I'll rip yer spikes off and gut yew wid em!"
Sister Lilac grabbed Sathe's ear and twisted it even harder than before. Sathe cried out in pain as she was bent over at an awkward angle.
"Did we learn nothing from before?" The hedgehog asked, twisting even further.
"Where's Sister Beryl? This brute needs a mighty paddling before being sent to her room." Sister Lilac asked Corporal Trilloway.
"Ma'am I've been ordered to eradicate any vermin who threatens a fellow Redwaller." Corporal Trilloway said, placing his paw on the pommel of his sword.
"Oh, I've gotten more dangerous threats from a feisty mole earlier today. A good paddling ought to teach her to watch her tongue." Sister Lilac said to Sathe's momentary relief before being dragged behind the hedgehog toward the private rooms.
"Where's Sister Beryl? She told me she was going to the infirmary before I took the dibbuns outside. I haven't seen or heard from her since."
Sathe didn't respond as she shared a glance with Corporal Trilloway. The hare lagged behind the two beasts and appeared that he didn't want to answer.
"She was caught in tha middle of the fightin'," Sathe responded feeling an angry hole grow in her stomach.
"What! Where is she?"
"She's in the fourth room on the left. But please be quiet she's probably sleeping." Corporal Trilloway added.
"Sister Beryl! Don't worry ma'am I'll be there for you in a moment." Sister Lilac shouted ignoring most of the hare's words.
Thankfully the hedgehog had released her grip on Sathe's ear before rushing off. The ferret rubbed at her dark ears as she watched her go.
"If you say something like that again I'm afraid I'll have tah run you through." Corporal Trilloway said leaning overtop of Sathe.
"Could you do the same to her? I don' wanna die while my ears bleed from that vapid prune's jabberin'."
"They don't want her in the Dark Forest. She'd wake every poor beast from their slumber."
Sathe grumbled as she followed the portly hedgehog. Sister Lilac could be heard lamenting to Sister Beryl over her injuries from down the hall. Sathe stiffened her resolve; she was in for an earful.
"It's alright Lilac, I'll be fine." Sister Beryl wheezed as Sathe and Trilloway poked their heads into the room.
The hedgehog held the badger's massive paw in one of her own as she rocked back in forth crooning over her injuries. She blubbered doting yet useless words over the bedridden beast, drowning out any attempts from the badger to ease her concern. Sathe knew Sister Lilac was a pathetic old hag, but this was far too much.
"You did this!" Sister Lilac pointed at Sathe. "If you weren't here Sister Beryl wouldn't have been hurt!"
Sathe bit her tongue careful not to say anything Corporal Trilloway might take as a threat.
"You vermin have been nothing but a nuisance since you've shown up. Attacking and threatening everybeast who's tried to help you. It's a disgrace you've been allowed to stay."
Sathe could feel herself shaking with rage. The only things keeping her from throttling the hedgehog were her iron resolve and Trilloway's steel.
"Where's Mildred? I want an answer to why she didn't bother to clean the blood from Sister Beryl's face."
"Ma'am she's been hurt as well."
Sister Lilac shrieked in horror, turning as white as a sheet. "Corporal Trilloway I've changed my mind you may put the ferret out of her misery."
"No!" Sathe snapped looking between the hare and the hedgehog. "I healed Sister Beryl and Mildred, along with Crooksnout and that other squirrel. If you wanted tah wash her fur off, you should've been here ya dirty coward!"
"Watch your tone ferret or I'll have the Long Patrol toss you onto your head!" Sister Lilac snapped, in a way that was quite unlike the saintly abbeybeast. "You've probably slipped some nightshade into their medicine. Or are purposely waiting for your moment to stab us in the back!"
"With all due respect ma'am." Corporal Trilloway started. "By my account, she's done nothing wrong. She's taught me a thing or two about the healing arts and aside from her mouth she's a kinder beast than she'd care to admit."
"Quintebec, I wouldn't trust you to bandage anything more dangerous than a prick from a sewing needle."
The hare's shoulders dropped in defeat.
"Stop arguing." Sister Beryl wheezed.
"Save your breath mum you don't have to worry about this brute anymore." Sister Lilac snapped as she walked up to the door and slammed it in the odd duo's face.
Sathe paused for a moment surprised by being shut out of the room before her anger regained control.
"Stupid hedgepig!" Sathe snapped.
"Watch your tongue ferret."
"Shuddup Quintebec yew know I'm right."
The hare looked to see if there were any other beasts around as he stretched his legs. "Aye, I know. I'm just not allowed to say it, wot."
"Yar, shuddup and help me find some wine. If she wants to be such a selfish wench, then she can take care of the infirmary!"
Sathe knew there was a flask of wine in the waiting room just begging to be opened and stormed toward it without waiting for the barrel-chested hare to follow. The shaking in her paws had returned once more, not that she noticed or cared. She had been disrespected far too many times today, and she was tired of it. She rushed into the infirmary as the wind rattled the windows and shook the flames of the torches that provided more than enough light and warmth to the room. Snatching the flask from its place on the shelf she didn't think to check its contents before knocking her head back and pouring the dark substance down her throat. A warm and velvety feeling coated her innards as a bit of wine dribbled from her mouth. After quickly draining the flask, she rubbed her mouth with the back of her claw before licking the residue of the drink from her fur. It was at that moment she noticed the thin mouse from earlier.
"Waddaya want." Sathe barked as she tossed the flask to the side with a clatter.
The small moused gulped before curtsying at Corporal Trilloway who sauntered into the room shortly after the ferret and then repeated the gesture to Sathe. To Sathe's horror, she held a small bundle in her arms.
"I'm Shmoopy, Sister Lilac's assistant." The thin mouse spoke with a gentle resonance. Sathe could tell she was afraid but did her best not to show it.
"I've been caring for the squirrel you and your friends found."
Squirrel that I was taking care of. Sathe thought, narrowing her eyes at the mouse. I could crush this pitiful creature like a grape. She decided.
"I wanted to know… well Sister Lilac and I wished to know if you've come up with a name for the squirrel?"
"A name?" Sathe asked, forgetting the conversation with the rude hedgehog from that morning.
The mouse quickly nodded. "Sister Lilac and I had come up with several if you can't think of one."
"No, I want to name her." Sathe snapped and the mouse shut her mouth.
She's mine I'll name her. Sathe thought as she racked her brain for something good enough for the squirrel. She didn't know why she was so eager to name such a wretched beast, perhaps it was out of spite towards the maggot-infested hedgehog, maybe it was because she wanted to show her genius, and maybe it was because she had become strangely attached to the little thing.
No. She's a squirrel and I'm a ferret. She'll learn to hate me as much as I hate her.
"I can come up with some ideas if you're drawing a blank jill. Me mum called me the most creative lad she's ever seen, wot." Corporal Trilloway interrupted the ferret's thoughts.
"If I want your advice Quintebec I'll ask." She snapped. "What about Soot?"
The two woodlanders looked at her with confused and dumbfounded expressions.
"Looks like ye do need me help ol' gel."
"Shuddup hare! She has black fur what better names could yew come up with?"
"Well, quite a few." The hare rubbed his paws together as his whiskers twitched in excitement. "There's Lucy, Luxwanna, Isabelle, Olivetta, Mesca, Talo, Ilyana, Zuzene, and Toulta, all of which I just thought of."
"I was torn between Emilia and Violet." The mouse politely added, clearly engaging with the hare's excitement. With a name like Shmoopy Sathe didn't think she had the tact or intellect to make such a decision.
"Give me the babe," Sathe demanded. With a restrained hesitation, Shmoopy handed the bundle of swaddling to Sathe. Sathe looked down at the black-furred squirrel, and it looked up at her with almond-colored eyes. The ferret scrunched her nose in an instinctual disgust at the sight. It simply cocked its head at her before smiling showing off the stubs of two large incisors poking through the soft gum. Sathe's disgust turned to gentle apathy.
"D'aww what a precious little lass." Corporal Trilloway exclaimed from over Sathe's shoulder.
"Why anybeast would abandon this poor babe is beyond me." Shmoopy smiled as she leaned in to look at the squirrel who held out a chubby paw toward her vermin mother.
Alarm bells instinctively rang in Sathe's head. They can't know about the cottage! Thankfully she had been rehearsing her response all morning.
"The winter's much worse farther north. You have the luxury of walls, storerooms, and infirmaries to protect you from the weather and other beasts. Those kinds of things are non-existent in most vermin hordes, and I would also assume amongst most Woodlanders. It's not uncommon for the young or the weak to be abandoned when vikkles are running slim."
"That's awful!" Shmoopy exclaimed.
"That's life mouse." Sathe snapped. "Some don't have any choice and there's no use crying about things one can't control."
"That doesn't make it less terrible." The mouse said with a frown spread across her thin features.
"If you beasts were starving, why did you take her in?" Corporal Santain asked with a twitch of his whiskers.
The alarm bells were ringing much more fervently this time. Sathe knew that Seabane had a plan for the squirrel, but he had failed to predict everything had fallen apart over the past several days. She thought the knife edge that the deserters were walking on was crumbling beneath their paws. Maybe now was the time to be honest. But that would be dragging herself to their level, even worse it would give the Long Patrol a reason to slay her. Sathe attempted to think of a response but the trembling in her paws seemed to have taken control. Racking her brain she couldn't find a good enough lie for the hare, so the truth came out.
"I don't know." Sathe didn't turn her gaze from the babe. "When we-I found her, she was cold and alone... I couldn't find the will to abandon her."
There was a silence as the two woodlanders mulled over Sathe's story. It was partially true. Sathe could never tell them the full truth, but her instincts hated admitting that she didn't want to abandon the baby. But she didn't want to make it an orphan either. Sathe knew it would've been better if the squirrel had perished in the cottage.
The wind had slowed its assault on the window, but the snow still fell heavily obscuring everything beyond the Abbey's walls. A small spider weaved a web in the high corners of the infirmary completely oblivious to the storm raging outside. Corporal Trilloway clapped Sathe hard on the back, ripping her from her reminiscing.
"Well then, you've had plenty of time with 'er ya gotta have a name for her, wot."
"Aye, I've got one," Sathe said ignoring the hare's emphatic embrace. "How does Minerva sound?"
Sathe caught Shmoopy and Corporal Trilloway sharing a glance.
"Sounds like a lovely name. Don't you think sir?" Shmoopy smiled at Sathe.
"I don't have a problem with it," Corporal Trilloway responded thoughtfully rubbing his whiskers. "I still would've named her Toulta."
Sathe awoke from her sleep with a gasp. She didn't know how long she had slept but it was pitch black in the infirmary and the only noise was from the storm that continued to rage outside and the obnoxious snoring from Crooksnout. She rubbed her head as she propped herself on her elbow. Baby Minerva slept quietly in her basket. Shmoopy had informed Sister Lilac of the baby's new name on Sathe's behalf. The hedgehog never searched the ferret out and Sathe was happy not to see the beast again.
After failing to fall asleep for quite some time Sathe carefully slid herself out of bed and onto the cold stone floor. Her mind had been wandering and she had been thinking of all the things that the deserters had completely failed at. Foraging for food, creating a shelter, and their fiasco at the squirrel's cottage. All these things shared a single similarity, she succeeded while the other vermin had failed. Of course, she didn't help with the cottage or building a shelter, but her inaction or lack thereof didn't lead to their failures. She also wasn't to blame for Ruddy giving away their position to that one-legged mouse and his brother. Sathe concluded that she had succeeded in everything that she had put her mind to. She found the river shortly after their desertion, and she had gotten rid of the poison from Crooksnout and Ruddy when they ate the deadly mushrooms. Most importantly she had managed to care for the squirrel and succeeded in her role in the infirmary which, had saved the deserters' hides. Unfortunately, these foolish Redwallers didn't see her as any different as Ruddy or Marrow, or even Herrik! She regretfully resigned herself to knowing that her skills as a healer would be for the benefit of all the deserters and not just for herself. But she had a plan.
During her short time as Redwall's sole healer, she had managed to spot several ingredients within Redwall's infirmary that were quite rare to come across in the north. A select few hordebeasts knew of their exotic uses and even fewer had access to them. Several of these were hallucinogenic and when combined with other more mellow or more controlling agents they could provide visions into the future or the past. Different ingredients would be mixed in regarding what one was hoping to see. In the horde, this created potion along with its equally as important ritual was primarily used for conquest and to further secure Zidar's demonic grip over the horde. However, it had other uses from predicting the season's harvest to matters of passion and securing a lineage. Sathe had even heard stories of the ritual being used to sniff out a long-lost treasure on Mossflower's northern coast.
The entire process was made of three parts of equal importance. The potion, which Sathe could easily make as long as she could get her claws on the correct ingredients. The ritual, which she had only seen a pawful of times but with her incredible cunning, had memorized by heart. Finally, the discernment, where the contents of the vision and the outcome of the ritual are explained and interpreted by a seer. Although in theory anybeast could make the potion, only a select few could understand the meaning behind the visions and how they could affect the future. The final step was something Sathe had never been trusted with, but Sathe was confident in her cunning and a vision shouldn't be that difficult to understand.
Due to the secretive nature of this ritual, only Zidar's trusted seers were taught the ritual's drawn-out steps and the fine details of discernment which was successful most of the time. Most of the time. One of the seers had partaken in the ritual as an initiation to the upper echelon of the seer hierarchy, but she had made a slight fatal mistake. Sathe remembered Roteye commanding the other seers in attendance to watch closely as a mink with fur the color of dirty clouds seized and writhed on the ground. Sathe stuck to her seat watching the poor seer froth at the mouth as her eyes rolled into the back of her head before becoming very still. Roteye had explained that this was the danger of making even the smallest mistake in either the ritual or the potion. All Sathe had to do was gather the ingredients without anybeast noticing and find a quiet corner in this cursed abbey. She might not be able to gather everything tonight, but she would make excellent headway. Soon enough, she would show all these arrogant, selfish, idiots what a beast like her could accomplish.
She smiled devilishly in the darkness as she crept toward the lights of the private rooms. Mildred and Crooksnout were deep asleep, but Brin wasn't in her bed! Sathe's black cloak had not been returned to her yet. But if anybeast asked what she was doing she supposed that she could just say she was making a sleep aid. It would be annoying but would stave off any unwanted attention. The difficulty would be convincing the hare. Corporal Trilloway had talked her ears off when the two went to supper. He wanted to know all about what time of the season was the best to forage for dogwood, what fungi could be used to treat colds, and if she recommended yarrow or pine bark to prevent swelling. He was annoying, but his admiration of her vast knowledge of the flora and fauna of northern Mossflower was flattering. Of course, Sathe didn't show how flattered she was. If Corporal Trilloway caught the ferret he would be much more pressing in his questioning.
Sathe sneaked by the sleeping beasts with no more noise than the soft pattering of snowflakes on the windowsill. The hallway was illuminated by the warm light from a pair of torches that hung above the doors at the end of the hall. Sathe thought her eyes saw the movement of a beast just past the light. Cursing, she readied herself for yet another unwanted conversation. As Sathe walked past the first set of doors a paw grabbed her and yanked her into the darkness.
Sathe tried to scream but a gloved paw quickly covered her mouth. She thrashed about but was quickly knocked to her knees. She scratched at her assailant, hoping to gouge an eye or hook an ear. Sathe's claw hooked on something soft and fleshy, she tore at it with as much fury as she possessed. There was a growl of pain before a knee was rammed into her lower back. Knocking the wind out of her and stunning the ferret as a knife pressed against her neck. She tried biting one of the fingers covering her mouth but that only resulted in another knee to the back.
"Hihihihi! Ye be a feisty one, ye scallywag!" The voice whispered in her ear. Sathe began to cry, the paw covering her mouth muffling the noise.
"Pipe down ol'gel! You'll ruin the fun!" The voice laughed. "Me fun, that is!"
Sathe grabbed the edge of the blade screaming out in muffled pain as it cut into her paw. The beast laughed as he slowly sawed into her flesh.
"Oi, b'ware, matey! Don't be doin' that – ye'll lose a bit of yer diggers!" The voice cackled to himself.
"Now why would oi do such a thing?" Her assailant asked no beast in particular, his voice rising to new heights. Sathe kicked about working to free herself to no success.
"Wot, mebbe it's 'cos of what yew did to Sister Beryl!" The beast roared; Sathe couldn't see through a blur of tears as she felt the knife cut into the bones in her paw.
"Count this as a lettle measure of revenge." The beast hissed.
The knife dug deeper into Sathe's paw. Thrashing about in pain her knee bashed into the foot of the nightstand. With her movement becoming more restricted, Sathe reached the top of the nightstand to find a small bowl still filled with finely ground medicine. With a final gasp, Sathe ripped the bowl from the table and threw its contents into her assailant's face.
The masked beast howled in pain as the medicine burned his eyes momentarily releasing his grip on Sathe. Sathe managed to squirm from his grasp screaming at the top of her lungs as she did so. She rushed from the room only to be jerked backward as her assailant grabbed upon the tail end of her cloak. Sathe kicked away from him as he swore horribly, tearing the bottom half of her cloak away from her.
"Eulalia!" Corporal Trilloway bellowed as he crashed into Sathe's assailant with a mighty whump.
Sathe scampered on all fours from the hallway back into the infirmary ward screaming and crying at the top of her lungs as she did so. There was a muffled shout and the ripping and tearing of clothes before a sickening crack of bone on stone followed by an immediate silence. The distant slamming of a door followed shortly thereafter.
Sathe writhed on the floor, clutching her paws together to stop the bleeding. Distant pawsteps could be heard above the blustering wind and guttural groaning from the hallway. Sathe shook like a freezing dibbun as she was wracked by sobs. She had thought that last night was some terrible dream and that her assailant was some sort of apparition of the spirit of Redwall or a ghost of some long-forgotten slain hordebeast. But the warm blood that trickled between her trembling claws all but threw out that notion. Sathe wept as scores of torches lit the infirmary. She wept as Eli demanded to know what had happened. She wept as a bruised and bleeding Corporal Trilloway picked her up and carried her to her cot, where she sobbed herself to a long and miserable sleep.
I hope you had a great new year. I am trying to get this out before class ramps up, where I am certain I will have less time to work on this story. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
As always please let me know what you think and what I can improve on. Any and all feedback is appreciated!