"You shouldn't be up here! If Sister Beryl finds out, then we're all in big trouble!"
"Yar, then keep yer mouth shut Bramble and maybe she won't!"
Ripeye stood on the top of the abbey's storied red walls. He overlooked his kingdom with the enthusiasm of a young prince sitting on his father's throne while no one was looking. He was joined by his fellow regent Twinetail and their trio of Abbey underlings. Unfortunately, the court fool Bramble had also joined in on the fun.
"If Sister Lilac finds us, we'll be grounded for the rest of winter!" Bramble said with a look between annoyance and the excitement of breaking the rules.
"I heard ye the last five times ye joker! We'll be fine unless ye decide tah trip over yer fat feet!"
"My feet aren't fat!" Bramble snapped as Ripeye began walking along the rampart of the southern wall.
"Yes, they are!" Twinetail said as he kicked at the light dusting of snow that covered the tops of the abbey's walls. Each night the winter weather dumped freezing rain, bitter snow, and howling wind onto the abbey. The days were much nicer than the nights as a beautiful cold blue sky or ashen overcast clouds meant that one could play outside away from the watchful eyes of parents or the Queen of the Dark and her minions.
"They're so fat you don't know how fat they are!" Twinetail giggled as he ran past his brother and skidded to a stop, keeping his balance as he slid along the slick snow-covered stones of the wall. Beskit followed shortly behind trying to slide to a stop with much less success as the younger weasel.
"Keep yer head down and mouth shut Twine, unless yew want somebeast tah notice us." Karic chimed from his squat behind Ripeye. Except for Ripeye, Twinetail, and now Beskit the Redwallers crawled or knelt, warry not to be caught and punished. Ripeye thought they were being their cowardly Woodlander selves. Their parents had apparently been furious after Bramble and Karic ruined their game of pirate. Stupid Redwallers didn't know how to have fun. Twiggy said that Bramble had cried after being scolded by her father. The hare fiercely denied the fact when Ripeye brought it up, so clearly, she had. Bramble still wanted to hang around him and his brother for some stupid reason Ripeye had forgotten, so he'd get his opportunity to taunt her about it.
"Ruddy and that rabbet saw us climb the steps to the wall and they didn't stop us. So, I think nobody should care if we're up here." Ripeye chimed crossing his arms. "For some great protectors of Redwall, you lot are a bunch ov wimpy lettle fraidy frogs." Ripeye stuck his tongue out at them.
Karic and Beskit took exception to that below-the-belt insult and tossed one back of their own. "You two are tha fraidy Frogs! Yew wanted tah pee yerselves when Sister Beryl said hello!"
"Twinetail did pee himself!" Twiggy pointed an accusatory claw at the younger weasel. Ripeye bit his tongue not to curse them and his brother. The badger had intercepted the Queen of the Dark as she led the dibbuns outside. The other dibbuns were excited to see the badger but Twinetail ended up peeing himself when her dark lifeless eyes and gaudy scar-covered maw settled on the two of them. To defend his brother from embarrassment he had called her what he thought was an apt name for the scar-covered brute. Unfortunately, he got paddled by the Queen of the Dark because of it.
"Yeah well, Scarface said that she knows how t' make weasel stew and I don't really wanna be made intah weasel stew dummy!" Twinetail defended himself.
"Don't call Sister Beryl that!" Bramble marched up to Twinetail. "Your stupid brother called her that mean name like a big bully!" Her small pink nose twitched in agitation.
"Well, she's got one doesn't she?" Twinetail snapped back. His dark eyes shone for a proper fight with the hare. Ripeye knew his brother was still angry after being pegged by a snowball when they were playing pirates. Twinetail was hoping to even the score.
"Sister Beryl is pretty on the inside and out! She wouldn't have those nasty scars if yew didn't come here!"
Ripeye snarled at the hare, she was mean and always acted like she was better than them, but never left them alone. "Shuddup Bramble, why don't ye go play wid yer other friends? Oh, wait yew don't have any!"
Bramble's white-furred face crumpled in disgust. "I have t' make sure you and your brother don't hurt anyone!"
"No, you don't you hang around us because we're fun an' you don't have any friends aside from those baby mice who wanna have a tea party!" Ripeye snapped. He and Twinetail had been approached by a smaller mole and group of mice who invited them for 'tea and cookies.' When they were told that they couldn't steal all the tea and cookies and run off to eat it for themselves they declined with some strong words followed by snowballs. The two brothers had spent the rest of the day inside after that.
"I have friends! I just wanna make sure dey don't get hurt by you vermin!"
"Name three friends you have aside from Scarface, the Queen of the Dark, and your parents!" Ripeye snapped.
"Well, there's Brother Samuel." Bramble started before being interrupted by Beskit.
"He's a teacher, not a friend you fool!" The light brown furred mouse's small face was alight with shock at the thought that their teacher was anything more than that.
"He's, my friend. My dad says there's nothing wrong with that." Bramble retorted, with her paws on her hips.
"Yeah, but that's the only 'friend' could come up with." Beskit retorted. "You've only wanted to play with us since these two got here."
"Then that means" Twiggy gasped as he pointed at the two. "Bramble likes Ripeye!"
"Ewwwwwwww!" Beskit, Karic, Twiggy, and Twinetail responded in unison as Ripeye and Bramble attempted to defend themselves.
"I do not like Ripeye!" Bramble shrieked, but no beast was listening.
"She's as red as a tomater, she's gotta be lyin'!" Twiggy ribbed.
"That's why Bramble kept following us! She wants to hang out with Ripeye!" Karic laughed at the two miserable dibbuns.
"Rip was tellin' our parents how much he liked this white hare tha' other day! Speakin' about how she was the most pretty beast he'd ever seen!" Twinetail taunted. Of course, he wouldn't defend his brother.
"Shuddup Twinetail I don't like her! She's got big ears, an' big teeth, and a big mouth!" Ripeye snapped.
"Easier for you to kiss her!" Beskit mocked.
"Shuddup Beskit." Ripeye shoved the mouse into the snow, but Beskit just laughed harder.
"Does yer father like 'im?" Twinetail asked as he shook with laughter. "I know that big Long Patrol hare's intah Sathe-"
"Shuddup Twinetail! Shuddup!" Bramble pushed the weasel into the snow before stuffing snow down his cloak as he squeaked in laughter and tried to scramble away.
Bramble and Ripeye fought furiously to clear their names of such heinous allegations. But the others just laughed away every excuse they could think of. Their fun was cut short by a sharp barking yell.
"Oi! Get down from there!" Ripeye instinctively ducked as the noise from the laughing dibbuns stopped. A horrified look was shared between the dibbuns.
"Who said that?" Ripeye whispered to the other dibbuns. After a couple of shrugs, they carefully crawled to the ramparts of the wall and looked toward the courtyard below. The courtyard was covered in a messy dusting of snow from the constant comings and goings of scores of beasts. A small mouse with a purple vest and a black scarf stood on the ground below with his paws on his hips. He was flanked by a lanky otter and a sharply dressed Long Patrol hare.
"Oh no! It's Eli!" Beskit whispered.
"Who's that?" Twinetail asked.
"He's Redwall's champion! If he finds we're on the wall we're gonna spend the whole winter in the nursery!" Twiggy shuddered.
"What do we do?" Twinetail asked with terror in his eyes. "I don't wanna be inside all day!"
"We wouldn't be in trouble if you didn't have t' climb the wall!" Bramble scolded.
Ripeye ignored her. He didn't want to be forced into the nursery again. He just about lost his mind the last time he was there. One could only spend so much time staring out the window before one jumped from it. But then an idea sprung to mind.
"We won't be caught if they don't think it's us."
The dibbuns looked at him like he was mad.
"An' we won't get in trouble if they think we're a guard."
"That's stu-"
"Ripeye you're a genius!" Twinetail chimed, and that was all Ripeye needed. Pressing himself as close as he could to the sandstone red ramparts, he cleared his throat and put on his best adult voice.
"Ah, Eli what can I do fer yew?" Ripeye called over the wall in the deepest voice he could muster without hurting his throat. He gleefully looked at the other dibbuns. Twinetail could barely hold his excitement, while Bramble looked like she would throttle him. Looking down at the mouse a look of confusion flashed across his face, and he looked between the two beasts at his side.
"Who's up there? I don't remember posting anybeast on the south wall for watch." The one-legged mouse called back.
Ripeye opened his mouth to respond but snapped it shut.
"Who should I be?" Ripeye asked the Redwall dibbuns.
"You should tell the truth and tell Eli-"
"Say you're Firnen." Beskit interrupted Bramble. Ripeye remembered the mouse was as miserable in the nursery as he was. "You sound almost exactly like him."
Ripeye smiled. "It's Firnen I was told tah stand guard by-by uhhh…." Ripeye struggled to remember the old mouse that seemed to be a big deal with the Redwallers. "By Abbot Martin! No no Abbot Micah."
Ripeye's fur stood on end. As the other dibbuns silently cursed his stupidity. The mouse's brows furrowed in confusion before he flashed a quick smile before the otter leaned over and whispered in his ear.
"This is gonna work!" Ripeye whispered to the other dibbuns.
"No, it's not." Bramble snapped flatly.
"Well, d'ye see anything of note lad?" Eli called back to them.
"Uhh no. Dere's nuffin but snow and trees out there. No sight o' vermin ."
Ripeye peaked over the side of the rampart to look at the mouse. Ripeye locked eyes with the mouse for a split second before bolting behind cover. Eli was smiling at him.
"Well, we're about to start training so I suggest ye come down now."
Ripeye thought quickly. He knew that if they came down now, they were caught. He remembered that the closest door to the kitchen was back along the wall.
"Sah, could I stop by the kitchen t' grab a bite yah eat? I've been out all mornin'."
"Do what ye wish. But come down from the wall and be ready for training." Eli waived them off.
"Now's our chance run!" Ripeye whispered frantically before bolting down the wall away from Redwall's champion as he giggled in mischievous glee. Twinetail followed laughing as if Ripeye had said the greatest joke of all time at a funeral.
Ripeye sprinted along the slick stones sliding about the corner to the east wall and sprinting along it with reckless abandonment before sliding to a stop. Twinetail, Karic, Beskit, Bramble, and Twiggy followed shortly behind. Panting heavily against the rampart Ripeye slid to a seat. He was cackling like a mad warlord at his foxlike cunning. Redwall's champion was just as he had expected, a weak fool. If he could fool Redwalls champion now he could only imagine how great of a warlord, he could be once he grew older.
"You're an idiot Ripeye!" Bramble snapped after catching her breath.
"Eli's an idjit, hare! I'm a genius." Ripeye proudly stated. Twinetail was quick to leap to his aid.
"Yeah, he's so smart he fooled your champion!"
"You didn't fool him he saw you! Eli was just being nice."
"Naw we fooled him," Beskit said with a pleased grin. "Now nobody will suspect us up here we can play as long as we want!"
A cheer went up from the assorted dibbuns save Bramble who remained her prickly self. Ripeye didn't understand how or why she was such a stubborn jerk when it came to following the rules. He only could guess it's because she's a hare, Ripeye found over his time at Redwall that they're the worst rule followers of them all. Behind them are mice and hedgehogs.
"Yarr now let's look over my kingdom!" Ripeye said as he poked his head over the rampart and looked at the abbey in front of him. The giant oak where they had first met stood tall and bare greeting the weasel. Beyond its dead branches, he could see the round library where his father was helping that odd mouse, Samuel. To the left of the tree lay an entrance to the great hall and kitchens and to the right was the orchard. At the foot of the wall beneath them was a massive pile of snow from the stone paths that crisscrossed the abbey grounds. Ripeye wondered if he could jump into the pile to escape if Eli or the Queen of the Dark found him. He hoped he didn't have to find out. The only beasts in sight were a tired Ruddy and an annoyed hare. Ripeye had noticed the fox had been taking long walks about the abbey from dawn until dusk. Today he didn't have his crutches and he waddled about with his arms flailing about like Twinetail when he first learned to walk.
"Your kingdom? Why does it have to be your kingdom?" Karic complained.
"It's mine because I saved us all from Eli! An' Twinetails my head general."
"Then what am I?"
"You can be a warrior, Beskit can be one of my advisors, and you Twiggy can be the hedgehog."
Twiggy frowned. "What does that mean?"
"It means you do whatever hedgehogs do." Ripeye could tell Twiggy wasn't convinced so continued. "You're the best at being a hedgehog that's why I chose you fer it."
"Well, what's Bramble gonna be?"
"She's the court fool!" This elicited peals of laughter from the dibbuns save Bramble.
"Why can't I be a warrior?" The hare's ears drooped as she frowned. "I'm probably better at fighting than all of yew."
"She can be your queen!" Twinetail bounced up and down.
"No!" Ripeye and Bramble snapped at the smaller weasel.
"She's the court jester because she's dumb and I don't wanna play with her!" Ripeye snapped.
"I kinda wanna play with her," Twinetail said bashfully, shuffling his paws.
"Then d'you wanna be the assistant court jester? Because I'll demote you!"
"Then whose gonna be your general?"
"Twiggy will be the general!"
"How do we play this game anyway?" Karic interrupted. Thankfully changing the subject.
This game was one Ripeye didn't play very often but since playing pirates was banned, he had to fall back on this. Besides, Redwall was a far better place to play this game than the horde. Redwall is a real castle, not a tree or a broken tent.
"I am the king of this wall, and we need to capture all the other walls and the rest of this abbey to make it my kingdom." Ripeye proclaimed as he stood and addressed his followers. "We must capture the abbey so I can rule over it. I'll be the bestest warlord Redwall has ever seen!"
"I don't wanna help a warlord!" Bramble shriveled her nose in disgust. "I'm gonna rebel against you evil beasts!"
"Nuh-uh! We already have a villain with the Queen of the Dark!" Twinetail informed her.
"Villian?" Bramble spat in disbelief. "You vermin are the villains! You two laughed when Lord Urthstripe died!"
Ripeye couldn't believe that Bramble was still mad because of a stupid story. The Queen of the Dark's squishy mouse apprentice had read to them the story of Urthstripe the Strong and his daughter Mara. Ripeye and Twinetail were more excited to hear about Feragho the Assassin rather than a couple of dumb badgers. They had cheered to everyone's shock when Feragho slew Urthsripe. They had been put into timeout for that.
"Why? Feragho slew two badgers that's awesome!" Ripeye snapped back. Feragho was a cool weasel, and it was stupid how these Redwallers didn't see that. If only his son and his armies weren't as stupid as they were then Ripeye would probably be living in Salamandastron with his parents and a bunch of other vermin to play pirates with.
"You're a villain and I'll tell Sister Lilac that you wanna be warlord and that you were up here!"
"You were up here with us Bramble!" Beskit snapped. "You tell her then you get in trouble too."
"Yeah! Iv you tattle then you're a big taddle-toed muddlebrain!" Twinetail snapped.
"No, I'm not!" Bramble stomped. Ripeye and Twinetail continued the taunt.
"Bramble's a taddle-toed muddlebrain! Bramble's a taddle-toed muddlebrain!"
"No, I'm not! You two are rotten weasel dung!" Bramble snapped as her lower lip began to quiver.
"Aww is the baby hare gonna cry?" Ripeye taunted as he cackled in mean glee. "You gonna cry tah yer mommy?" Twinetail and Ripeye burst into manic laughter.
"No, I'm not!" Bramble cried as she burst into tears. "You're a bunch of bullies!" Twinetail and Ripeye laughed even harder.
"Oi! What are ye doin' up here!" The lithe dark-furred otter that had been with Eli earlier strode toward the dibbuns.
"T-The vermin are being mean!" Bramble snapped before bursting back into tears.
"No, we're not! She was gonna taddle and wuz acting like a vile wench." Ripeye snapped back at her. He wished he could run away but he wouldn't be able to run very far as the otter would've easily caught up with him.
The otter closed the distance between the two and cuffed Ripeye on the back of the head.
"Ow! Whadja-" A massive, webbed claw slapped across his face.
"Watch your tongue vermin!" Dokkur hissed, his face warping into a terrifying snarl before calming into a smile as looked at the Redwallers.
"Let me show you how to deal with bullies." Dokkurs face was void of any anger or malice as he looked at the Redwallers, it swiftly changed as he looked back at the vermin.
"What were you doing up here? You two should know that dibbuns aren't allowed on the walls. Not in this weather." Dokkur said releasing his grip on Ripeye's mouth and pushing him away from the other dibbuns.
"Well, it's not snowing." Twinetail bargained. "And we were being safe."
"Yew idiots know that there's still ice on the stones, right? Even if we scrape them clear the ice remains." Dokkur mused. "If you slip you fall to the ground far below and die. Wouldn't want your parents to find yew then wouldja?"
"We're not gonna slip riverdog." Ripeye snapped. "We're good climbers and we're just playing. Mebbe ye should go back t' playing Redwalls champion since yer current champions as dumb as a pile o' stones!"
Dokkur grabbed Ripeye by the collar of his red cloak and pulled him to a whisker of his face. Ripeye thrashed about like a hooked fish, but the otter wouldn't budge. Twinetail started attacking the grey otter punching at his chain mail-covered legs and midsection before finding the otter's tail and biting into it.
"Yeowch you little-" Dokkur caught himself before swearing in front of a group of dibbuns. Instead, he whipped his tail into the ramparts. Twinetail released his grip with a cry. Ripeye furiously started flailing his paws at Dokkur who threw him into his brother. Ripeye groaned before his eyes adjusted and he noticed a blade pointed at his throat.
Dokkur was breathless and had a crazed or excited light in his eyes as he looked down at the weasel brothers. He swallowed and collected himself as the other dibbuns looked on in silent horror, but kept his blade pointed at the vermin.
"The first rule of dealing with vermin," Dokkur started glancing at the Redwall dibbuns. "Is that vermin are stupid, evil, brutes who only understand violence! There's no reasoning with them or gettin' them t' do anything unless you put a blade to their throat."
Ripeye didn't move. He had been warned by his father to stay away from the otter. The young weasel didn't think the Redwallers had the stomach to carry weapons, watching them spar he didn't think they knew how to use them. Of course that didn't matter with a blade pointed at his throat. Twinetail groaned but squeaked in terror seeing the blade.
"Get up!" Dokkur barked keeping the blade leveled at the weasels. The two beasts scrambled to their feet. The otter cracked a wide grin.
"Now apologize t' Bramble! Don't try an' be sly vermin or else I'll snap e'ry bone in yer body!"
"Sorry." Twinetail and Ripeye muttered one after another. Bramble dried her tears on the back of her paw, awkwardly looking between the weasels. Twinetails whiskers were twisted as he held back tears, as Ripeye's face was rife with fury. Dokkur furiously knocked them to their stomachs at Bramble's feet.
"You didn't mean it! Try it again an' I won't hurt yer lettle sister!" Dokkur hissed at the vermin.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Twinetail bawled. As Ripeye bit his tongue not wanting to cry out as the otter stomped on his tail.
"I don't hear any apologizing, vermin!" Dokkur twisted his foot, sending new shockwaves of pain through Ripeye's tail. The weasel resisted for only so long but with tears in his eyes, he finally caved.
"I'm sorry Bramble." Ripeye could only think of how pathetic a warrior he was. Bramble didn't respond.
"See they listened. The only reason they did was because I forced 'em too." Dokkur said with a smile as he instructed the other dibbuns.
"Is that not good?" Beskit asked with an unsure look painting his small face. "Sister Beryl said you can convince anyone of something. But you want them to want to apologize. That's how you know they mean it."
The mouse shrunk under the otter's unapproving glare. "Sister Beryl means that for woodlanders, not vermin. You're young so I don't expect you to understand this now but every vermin is evil even these weasels could one day grow up to be like Cluny the Scourge or Feragho the Assasin. We all know how terrible they were so it's our job to stop them long before that."
"How do you do that?" Karic asked with great interest to pick the brain of the older, wiser otter.
"Well ye can tell 'em never to do it again or return, but that usually doesn't work. Or ye can threaten them which sometimes keeps 'em away for a bit longer." Dokkur said before pressing the tip of his sword against the back of Ripeye's neck. "The best ye can do to protect yerself from vermin is t' slay 'em before they slay you."
Ripeye didn't move a hair. His breath came out of him in heavy white clouds. The dibbuns looked between him and his brother as they waited for the adult otter to plunge the sword into the vermin. That's all that ever happened anyway. Redwall's heroes slay the evil vermin hordes. The stories in the Abbey speak of the glorious battles, while the fires in the horde warn of the harrowing defeats. Ripeye began to squirm, but Dokkur held the weasel in place.
"Tell me, Miss. DuHoyt. Your father's warned you about these vermin, yes?" Bramble nodded.
"Should I slay them, and prevent them from doing any more trouble? Or let them go so they can be villains for another day?"
Ripeye looked up at Bramble who returned the gaze as her mouth opened and closed like a fish.
"I don't want them do die!" Bramble squeaked.
"That's a shame." Disappointment filled Dokkur's voice. "They want you slain; they want all of us dead! But I'll respect your decision. I think you already know that your father would be very disappointed." Bramble's face fell like a stone.
Dokkur sheathed his sword. "The second and final rule is always to run them off. Slay 'em or threaten them, but make sure that they never return unless they wish to die." The otter hauled the two weasels off the ground by their red cloaks.
"Rember lass and lads this is our little secret. Eli wouldn't like it I let you in on his secret rules when it comes to vermin." Dokkur said with a deadly grin. "As for you vermin, the same goes for you too. If I catch you bullying another dibbun, I'll toss ye from the bell tower onto yer heads!" Ripeye felt the color drain from his face.
Dokkur twisted them about so that he looked them dead in the eye. "An' if ye tell yer parents or anyone else about what happened on this wall. Your parents and little sister are gonna get really hurt!" Dokkur's voice was kind, almost caring towards the vermin kids. Ripeye thought he was barely controlling his anger. "Now we don't want that to happen, do we?"
Ripeye and Twinetail both trembled as they shook their heads.
"Good!" Dokkur praised. "Now remember. Stay off the wall!"
Dokkur tossed them backward and for a split second, Ripeye felt his heart catch in his throat as he saw the rampart pass by his footpaws. He heard Dokkurs mean laughter and Twinetail scream as the wall's red stones sped past him. Before Ripeye could scream he landed in a massive pile of snow with a whump. From his crater in the snow, Ripeye could hear Dokkur laughing and kindly escorting the dibbuns down from the wall. He was happy he was alone so his Redwall friends couldn't see him cry.
Hopefully, the formatting isn't goofy. This was supposed to be twice as long but I didn't want to put too much into this chapter. Plan on getting more out soon.
As always please let me know what you think and what I can improve on. Any and all feedback is appreciated!