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swordling of the GG
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Date Posted: 02:57:00 09/09/07 Sun
The summer sun shown down peacefully upon Redwall Abby. It was early afternoon, the lunch had been served and eaten long ago. All who had no immediate duties to attend to were lying about in the soft warm grass, passing the day away in luxurious bliss. Yet there was one who was not feeling the warmth of the sun or the drowsiness of the day. Ma Mellus was looking for someone.
“Swordling, Swordling.” she called for what felt like the hundredth time. “Where is that little mouse Swordling?”
She sighed in frustration. Then she spied two dibbuns sitting by the pond. One of them was the hare Lettuceleaf Horatio; the other the squirrel Mossyra. Both dibbuns were talking in hushed tones, their heads close together.
The badger mum smiled. She quickly rushed up to them, noting their guilty countenances. “Have either of you seen Swordling?” she inquired suspiciously.
Lettuceleaf shook his head, “No mum, not since this morning at breakfast.”
Mossyra gave Ma Mellus a face that was the picture of innocence, “Why did you want to know?”
“None of your business.” the badger snapped, but Mossyra saw the towel over her arm and knew she was looking for Swordling to bath her. She gulped. If only they could keep it secret.
“I’ll tell you where Swordling is.” Jakken Swiftpaw the hare dibbun said as he walked casually over. “She said her nose was brothering her so she and Samkin went into Mossflower to find out what was wrong.”
“Jakken” Mossyra leaped up outraged. “How could you? We promised we wouldn’t tell!”
Lettuceleaf leaped up as well. He could see that Mossyra was about to attack Jakken, so he laid his paw on her shoulder keep her from doing so.
The badger ignored the young squirrel’s anger and turned to Jakken. “What do you mean her nose was bothering her?”
Jakken flopped lazily down and stared at the calm surface of the pond. “Hmm? Oh yes her nose always twitches and stuff when there’s vermin about, or something’s not right She must have found some by now.”
Ma Mellus threw her hands up in despair. “Great she’s done it again. I must have told her over and over to stay away from vermin, but does she listen? No, of course not, why should anyone listen to me?!”
Skipper the otter was just going to take a quick dive in the pond when he saw Ma Mellu’s fit of rage and decided to investigate.
“Hold on there ma’am. What seams to be the trouble?”
Ma Mellus breathed a sigh of relief. “Skipper, just the beast I was looking for. Swordling and Samkin are out in the woods looking for vermin. Could you go out and find them?”
Skipper gave a false wince to try to lighten the situation up a bit “The double S’s. You’ve got trouble if you’ve got them. Don’t you worry I’ll find them in a flash,” and with that the otter headed toward the gate.
The badge mom, satisfied that the missing dibbuns would soon be found, turned in search of some one else to torture.
Skipper was about half way through the gate when he heard a loud splash. He turned surprised to see two dibbuns standing by the water, with the smallest hare spluttering with rage as he floundered about in the pond.
Skipper smiled and shook his head. Dibbuns and there games. He turned and disappeared through the gate.
Swordling stood up straighter as she reached the top of the small hill. Her nose was twitching visibly now. Slowly she tilted her head up and stared sniffing, turning slowly in a circle. She muttered quietly to herself as she let her nose erupt with all the smells and feelings of Mossflower. After a minute she smiled triumphantly and pointed with her right paw.
“They’re that way!” she said, joy evident on her face.
Samkin looked doubtfully the way she was pointing. “Are you sure ‘Ordsling?” He asked his squirrel voce taking on a rather winy sound at the thought of more marching.
Swordling laughed softly at Samkin’s nick name for her then became serous once more. “Yes, I’m sure we’re almost there.”
Samkin sighed. “You’ve been saying that for the past two hours. Can’t we hunt for vermin another time?”
Swordling turned and looked down at the inpatient squirrel. How was she supposed to explain this?
“Oh Samkin, this is more then just looking for vermin! Something is wrong, I know it. Please just trust me.”
Samkin gave Swordling a playful shove. “Course I trust you. Very well then, if we must follow your nose then I will follow it.”
Swordling stared walking casually with Samkin behind her. Every now and then she’d stop and sniffed the air to confirm that they were headed the right way.
Samkin was rather board he yawned and plodded after Swordling, not really paying any attention to where he was going. This is why he nearly walked into Swordling’s back when she stopped suddenly.
“’Ordsling, what is it?”
Swordling put up a warning paw “Shhhhh, listen.”
Samkin rolled his eyes, but obliged never the less. He pricked his ears up, trying to hear anything unusual. He was just about to give up and tell Swordling that they should head back to Redwall when he heard it, a faint sound of raised voices and shuffling.
His throat tightened and his heart began to pulse with excitement. “Vermin?”
Swordling nodded. Then she grabbed his arm and pulled him down. Putting a warning paw to her lips she began to crawl slowly forward. Together they pushed their way through the tick foliage.
At one point Swordling the caught the hem of her cloak on a branch. Samkin was able to reach up and unhook it without causing much noise, and they pressed forward. Suddenly Swordling stopped and motioned to Samkin. The squirrel pulled himself up beside her and his eyes widened with fright as he took in the scene in front of him.
“Vermin!” was the first thought that slammed into his confused mind. Score after score of them were crowed around in a huge circle with two vermin standing in the midst of them.
Though one of the two vermin was just your average sea rat, without must unusually about him, the larger, more foreboding of the two caught Samkin’s attention. It was one of the biggest weasels he had ever seen, with sliver fir and yellow eyes. It stood before the terrified sea rat then raised his voce to a roar, a harsh, grating voice that chilled Samkin to the bone.
“Well!” it hissed “You all heard what Gruffer said.” Gruffer, Samkin guessed, must be the rat. “He called me a shiny worm, didn’t you Gruffer? Said I couldn’t take over any old abbey even if its defenders laid down at my feet, didn’t you!?”
Gruffer could only whimper in fear.
“No one makes fun at the expense of Glothen Singledeath!” With a blood stopping shriek the weasel pulled forth two Bangkok swords. It was over in seconds Gruffer squealed in pain, and then disappeared in a blur of tag dust. Glothen laughed cruelly while spreading his arms wide, showing to all the tag dust-stained blades. “Who rules all!?” he demanded from the onlookers.
The answer was load and clear. “Glothen, Glothen Singledeath Glothen, Glothen!!!”
Swordling shook Samkin gently. He turned, startled. She inclined her head, signaling they should go. Slowly the pair began backing out of the bushes that were concealing them.
Samkin fought to keep from bolting away. Fear welded up inside him until he thought it would burst through and leave him exploding in sheer pain, but Swordling helped him out and soon they were safely away from the hideous hoard. Once out of the foliage, they both jumped to their feet and ran. The one thought that was burned into their minds was that they had to get to Redwall to warn the others.
They ran and ran, driven on by fear. Suddenly a figure stepped out in front of their path. “Whoa! Slow down there little mates.”
Before she knew what she was doing, Swordling leaped onto the figure, clawing and tearing at him, knocking him over.
Then Samkin recognized the otter. “ ‘Ordsling stop, its Skipper! Stop!”
Dazed, Swordling climbed off the otter chieftain. Skipper leaped up and brushed off his tunic front.
“Swordling! My goodness, you do know how to attack a beast.” He stopped short when he saw their faces. “What’s wrong? You both looked as if you’ve seen a ghost.”
Slowly, haltingly, Swordling and Samkin told Skipper what they had seen in the clearing. It took a while for the otter to get the whole story, but as soon as he had it he immediately hoped it wasn’t true.
“Show me.” He whispered hoarsely.
So Swordling and Samkin lead him to the foot of the bushes where they had crawled through only shortly before. Skipper told them to wait where they were, which they were only too willing to do.
The otter ducked down and crawled trough the bushes.
To the two, dibbuns it seemed like hours before the otter was back, though it was only a few minutes. His face was graven and ashen. “Come on we need to get back to Redwall.”
So, slowly, the three abbey dwellers made there way through Mossflower, fear digging into their hearts with every step. It was clear what Glothen meant to do. He was going to capture Redwall.
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