Nasiur Greyhide looked out over his castle and the fast forming city just outside the walls of the former abbey, a warren of tightly packed wooden houses cut through by packed dirt roads and penned in by a still under-construction wall made of Red sandstone bricks
Not to long ago, the quarters Nasiur himself called home were nothing but empty storage space in the attic of the abbey, but soon after taking over the abbey he had been inspecting his new lands when he spotted the window, and going to investigate soon found the attic, at the time rebels had hid within, but they were soon wiped out and his slaves were put to work retrofitting the space from a large empty room filled with broken furniture and general storage into an apartment worthy of a warlord of the Wildcat Colonies, including a recessed balcony that the warlord and two of his wifes were currently eating breakfast at, the three splitting a simple stew of shredded fish and gravy.
The sun had long since risen over Mossflower wood and even from the attic the sounds of Nasiur's capital city going about its day could be heard.
Nasiur paced along the balcony, glad in loose trousers he was bare chested, something seemed to be bothering the fearsome wildcat but his wifes, used to his moods, ignored him and enjoyed their stew.
"Sit down and eat you fool," one of them snapped, slightly exasperated.
"No" Nasiur snapped, still pacing, "Rebels struck at a farming village and no one will talk and we have no clue where in the godrealm they went."
The Wife who spoke, Bast, shot her sister-wife, Sekhmet a glance, things must be serious if Nasiur mentioned the unspoken ones or at least their cursed realm.
"Calm down beloved" Sekhmet purred, taking Bast's cue and standing up to stroke her husband's shoulder, but the angered wildcat just shrugged off her affections but stomping off the balcony and into his apartment.
The Wifes looked at each other again, an entire conversation passing between them without words needing to be spoken in mere moments, clearly these two were used to their shared husband's silent rages but after a few seconds they decided it was best to let the warlord cool his head before being bothered.
Nasiur paced around his training room one hand loosely gripped his scimitar as he sliced the air with it, and with every slashing strike he imagined he was fighting, and slaying anew every enemy he had faced on his path to becoming a warlord of Elu-Grey-Heid.
It had taken a long road with many enemies going from a simple Scorecat of Elu-Grey-Heid, the lowest rank a free cat could hold and still one of the clanned, to being one its most feared living Warlords, even before his Sultan had exiled him from the clan to seek out new lands, and his grey furred body was covered in the marks to prove his hard work and dedication.
But it was many hours later that the middle aged wildcat, barely out of breath, hung his sword on its dedicated mount and left the room where two mouse slaves were kneeling bearing Nasiur's ceremonial garb, no doubt they had been sent by Bast to wait for him to finish his workout as soon as he was inside of the room.
Stopping Nasiur let the mice do their work of garbing him in his ceremonial armour and robes before handing him his golden mace, the steel cored weapon was the emblem of a warlord across the Colonies and Nasiur deftly swung it through the air, careful to only come close to hitting the two mice, the two had worked quickly and efficiently, and with a nod, they were released from their current duty and darted off to one of the hidden slave passage ways to wait until another rat or wildcat had need of their services.
Garbed and ready to perform his duties as ruler of Castle Redwall and the surrounding mossflower, Nasiur stalked through his stronghold, until he arrived in the great hall where a multitude of beasts of all sorts, the only beasts not present were badgers and hares, Nasiur even spotted a wolf and his pack lurking at the edge of the congregation, were waiting on the wildcat to arrive and dispense punishments or rewards as needed, some were there seeking an audience with the warlord but the vast majority were merely bored citizens of the fast growing city just outside his walls who wished to see blood be shed.
Nasiur sat upon his throne at one end of the great hall, merged with the false wall that hid access to the rest of the castle, and as soon as Nasiur sat down. The guards who had been standing watch over the throne since Dawn when the gates opened for petitioners permitted the first party to approach the throne which they immediately kowtowed to before Nasiur could take offense and have the guards carrying long handed axes relieve them of the burden of their heads.
After a moment Nasiur granted permission for them to speak with a slight hand wave and of course the duo began to speak, both talking over the other and telling near completely opposite stories, the only thing the two squirrels could agree upon was that they were brothers, and their father a cobbler in the city had recently died and hadn't said which brother would inherit the shop upon his passing and both wanted to lay claim to the shop.
"Oh Great warlord!" One pleaded, "My brother is a drunkard and a fool, if he inherits the shop he will soon sell it off to pay for another bottle of booze!"
"Oh Great cat, Warlord of these lands!" His brother replied, a note of desperation in his voice, all knew of the warlord's hatred of strong drink, no doubt why his brother brought it up. "I might love my drink, my brother speaks true but he is wrong, I am no drunkard!. Instead he is a bumbling clutz who will burn down the quarter before he sells a pair of boots!"
Nasiur looked down impassively at the arguing brothers from his red sandstone throne.
"My Lord if you give me the shop I pledge upon the abbey that I will double my taxes to you!" the first brother said, thinking fast.
"BUT! I my lord shall triple those very same taxes!" his brother countered, and the two soon began a sort of bidding war to see who could pledge more of the income of the shop to the Warlord.
"It's yours for sixty percent of your taxes" Nasiur said after a minute to the second brother, who gulped loudly as he realized how much he had just given away.
"Thank you my lord" He said, regaining his composure and pressing himself flat to the ground, his brother soon following his lead.
"Next!" one of the guards bellowed as the squirrel brothers fled before Nasiur could change his mind about their fate.
A half score of vermin pushed their way through the guards and into the audience square where half bowed at the waist and the other half barely ducked their heads, a move that infuriated Nasiur but after his morning warm up he was in a good enough mood to let the arrogance slide for now, but their leader sealed their fate by demanding "tribute" from the Grey horde. After the fat white rat's little speech, Nasiur waved his hand and his guards effortlessly decapitated the ten vermin before returning to their at ease positions, not making a sound and it was as if nothing had happened but one of them rapped their axe on the false wall and servants soon appeared and dragged the bodies behind the wall, leaving the blood.
"Next!" one of the guards barked, and a group of woodlanders, clad in red dyed habits, some of the few members of the strange offshoot of the Church of Jacques who once owned Redwall, after those not enslaved were cast from the abbey they took to dying their habits in red to remember those who fell.
"What do you want?" Nasiur growled, leaning forward to get a better look at this new party.
"We would like access to your storerooms so we might give bread to the poor." Their leader, an elderly mouse said, looking up at the fearsome warlord without fear.
"And what makes you think I will grant your request and you won't just follow their example?" Nasiur said pointing to the blood pool the mouse stood in.
The mouse shrugged, unbothered by the blood, "If you kill us we shall go to the Dark Forest knowing we did what we could."
Nasiur surprised everyone by letting out a loud laugh that echoed throughout the hall. "My guards shall give you a hundred loaves to distribute as you please."
The Mouse bowed deeply. His followers following his lead. "Thank you my Lord truly you are as generous as you are fearsome."
Nasiur just shook his head in disbelief of this strange mouse's defiance.
"Next person to try that get's their head chopped off!" he bellowed, loud enough for everyone to hear.
The rest of the day passed fairly uneventfully, petitioner after petitioner coming before the warlord and having their case judged, when necessary they were punished, and in other cases rewarded.
When Nasiur was tired of dealing with these cases, he stood up and left in the middle of a petitioner pleading for vengeance for the murder and dishonourment of his daughter.
Knowing their warlord's signals, the guards started pushing the visitors out of the hall, laying about with their trudgels and axe shafts when orders did not suffice, Leaving Nasiur free to return to his quarters without bothering about the chaos in the great hall, but this was a daily occurrence, as just making it to the Great hall does not guarantee an audience with the Warlord himself, but by the time Nasiur was halfway to his quarters, the ancient bells that once were named for two monks, began to ring, cursing, Nasiur recognized the pattern, warriors had been spotted near the City Walls, Breaking into a run he reversed course and loped through the halls of his castle, the massive beast literally and figuratively bowling over several smaller beasts who had the misfortune to be in the Wildcat's path as he ran to the Castle Walls and when he arrived at the top of the colossal red walls of the fortress he found several of his more senior officers already ready receiving reports from sentries on the less City Wall towers.
One of them, a Wildcat with gray and black fur Bowed to his warlord as soon as he spotted the Beast, his comrades following soon after.
"Warlord!" The first one said, still not straightening, "An Army of Otters carrying the Banner of Southsward were spotting sailing the Mossflower River and were about to enter the Canal to arrive here."
Nasiur growled softly, staring at where the Canal split off from the Mossflower river to allow ships and fresh water to arrive at the City-to-Be, however the canal itself was obscured from his vantage point, blocked by buildings. "How long?" He growled, not looking at his officers. His eyes still fixed on the Invisible canal.
"The Scouts calculated around an hour assuming they stick to their current pace, My Lord." The first of the Officers said, still in a deep bow staring at the tiles that made up the top surface of the wall.
"They would have arrived more stealthily if they wished to attack…" Nasiur mused out loud, his thoughts whirling through his mind as he puzzled over what the Otters could be up to. "Most likely they are here to talk…" He said slowly as the last few pieces of what to do came together.
"Gather four score guards. I will join them and we shall meet them at the canal!" He snapped.
"Yes, Warlord!" The gathered officers shouted, still bowing and staring at the tiles.
"Dismissed!" Nasiur Roared, before descending back to the castle grounds, where a score of Guards were already waiting and the other three score he had ordered were soon running over from their barracks, things move fast when the Warlord commands it.
Nasiur and his warriors stood impassively on the docks that lined the canal, watching through hooded eyes as the river ship, decked from the sails themselves to the deck, every so careful slid up to the dock, and experience otters, ignoring the clear threat of the guards as they tied thick ropes to the mooring posts, and as soon as the ship was tied solidly, a gangplank was lowered, allowing a young squirrel clad in gilded platemail, his helmet under his arm to step daintfully from his ship to the docks, bowing before Nasiur, before rising straight. "My name is Prince Geran Squirrelprince the third of Southguard, my Father King Gaelen Squirrelking the tenth sent me and two score of our otterguard to meet with you to discuss peace between our great kingdoms."
Nasiur smiled wolfishly, he could work with this, and gestured to the castle that loomed on the horizon, "Right this way my Prince~"
Author note: I'm so sorry for the delay in writing this! I got sick after writing chapter one and couldn't write this until recently!