Romsca- the story

[Romsca]

-Chapter 1-

The ferret Siobhan paused to catch her breath. Pirates had been chasing her for the past half hour, and she was not used to running long distances. She waited for a few minutes, and could not hear them any longer. She could finally relax. As she was starting to head home, it started raining slightly. She took shelter underneath a nearby tree. At least this rain will probably keep them from being able to find me, she thought. She closed her eyes and thought over the day's events.

Her brother Niall had left that afternoon to be a sailor on a merchant ship sailing to southern Mossflower. She went with him to the docks. Soon after he left, as she was going back towards home, she ran into a small group of three rough-looking pirates, two stoats and a ferret. The ferret appeared to be the leader of the three. He had dark fur for a ferret and wore odd-looking clothes. Something about him bothered Siobhan. He stared at her for a few seconds, turned and said something to his friends, and they laughed and stared at her too. Feeling awkward and embarrassed, Siobhan turned and walked down a side street. A voice behind her stopped her.

"Hey, you!"

Siobhan looked behind her. It was the other ferret. She grabbed the hilt of her dirk. He drew his scimitar. The look in his eyes made her feel uncomfortable. He noticed her reaction and smiled disarmingly. Siobhan drew her dirk and started to back away. He grabbed her wrist tightly and she almost dropped her dirk. The pain was obvious on her face. She tried to pull away, but he only gripped her wrist even tighter. She blinked away tears as she desperately tried to keep a hold of the dirk. He laughed at her attempts to get free. Angered, and seeing no other way to escape, she kicked him where she knew it would really hurt him. He immediately let her go and collapsed on the ground, swearing and screaming for his stoat friends to chase after her.

Now, even though she was in a part of Green Isle she never seen in all of her eighteen and a half years, Siobhan finally felt safe. Sometime late in the evening, the rain died down and left the ground outside muddy. As she walked out from underneath the tree, she suddenly remembered a map she had seen of Green Isle. This is probably wildcat territory, she thought. I best get out of here as soon as I can without being seen. The cats were notorious for being merciless to those they caught trespassing. To see exactly where she was, she climbed a small hill and looked around. Off in the distance, above the trees, the towers of the cats' castle were visible. The cats considered the land where their towers were visible, and the land immediately surrounding that, their territory.

Eager to get back to where she came from, she turned to leave. At the bottom of the hill was a young cat guard. She jumped in surprise. He looked inexperienced, as if he had been doing his job for no more than a few weeks, because of the clumsy way he held his spear. He was on his patrol, and he hadn't seen her yet. He also did not notice the ferret who was in plain sight to his right, up the hill. She dropped to the ground and waited for him to pass. However, the movement caught the corner of his eye. He saw her and walked up the hill towards her.

"Get up," he ordered.

She got up, wincing as she noticed the mud on her green tunic. The cat pointed the spear in her face.

"What exactly were you doing here?" he demanded.

"Running from pirates," Siobhan answered, trying to ignore the spear in her face. She glanced behind the guard to see if there were any others. She saw that there wasn't, and that she could take him. It would have to be just at the right moment, though. If there was a way she could distract him...

The cat interrupted her thoughts. "What is a ferret, especially an armed ferret, doing running from pirates?"

Curse him, she thought. He's noticed my weapon. I won't be able to surprise him with it.

"I thought ferrets were pirates," he continued. "Why would you run from them?"

She slowly moved to her right in an attempt to circle around so she would be able to run from him. The cat noticed and lowered his spear to her neck.

"I said, why would you run from the pirates?" This time he was more persistent.

"They chased me," she answered. She started to back up, but the cat followed her.

"Pirates chase you this far?" he challenged.

"They did."

"Why?"

"How would I know, other than maybe they were scared of failing their leader?" Even though she had lost the element of surprise and the cat had noticed her dirk, she drew it anyway.

The cat hit her paw with the haft of his spear. Since her paw was already sore from the way the pirate had been gripping her wrist, she dropped the dirk in pain. The cat moved his spear back to her throat.

"Leader?"

"Yes. Another ferret. Possibly the captain of the two stoats who were chasing me." She looked behind the young cat guard and saw another cat guard coming.

He was older, looked more experienced, wore better armor, and had the look of a guard captain. The younger cat noticed her looking behind her and saw the captain. The captain addressed the younger cat.

"Conner! What did you find?"

"A ferret, sir! Trespassing! And carrying a weapon!"

While he was turned away, talking to the captain, Siobhan picked up her dirk and sheathed it. The captain motioned for the younger cat, Conner, to look in front of him. He did, and as he did, the ferret punched him in the face. He dropped to the ground, unconscious. The captain raced up the hill towards her. Siobhan turned to run away, but the guard captain was too fast for her. He soon grabbed both of her arms so she couldn't get away. He tied her paws together with some rope and dragged her back to where Conner was. He kicked the unconscious cat. The younger cat moaned softly and slowly got up. One of his eyes was already swollen shut.

The captain motioned to Conner's spear. "Pick it up," he ordered.

He did, and waited for further instructions.

"You know what to do with it." He looked at him long and hard.

"Really? I mean, she was just trespassing!" he protested.

"And the punishment for that is...?" He waited for an answer.

"Death," the younger cat mumbled, staring at the ground. He sighed.

Siobhan continued to struggle against the captain. He calmly held the rope that bound her paws together behind her. Conner was trying to bring himself to kill her. Eventually, he threw his spear on the ground in resignation.

"I can't do it," he said to the captain. He began to walk away.

The captain was furious. He left Siobhan so he could deal with the inexperienced young cat. She turned to face the cat so he couldn't see behind her, and began to try to undo the knots. She could hear the captain yelling at him.

"You're worthless, you hear! You are as bad as any trespasser!" He continued to yell at him and slap him repeatedly.

Despite the fact that she had been caught by him, Siobhan felt sorry for him. She gave up trying to untie the knots that held her wrists, but because she was able to grab her dirk, she started to cut through them. In no time at all, she was done. However, she had not been able to do that without also accidentally scratching herself a few times. Gritting her teeth and trying to ignore the pain, she wiped her paws on her tunic. Now it would just be a matter of trying to sneak past the guards.

The captain glanced back at her. She quickly moved her paws behind her back so they appeared to be tied. He stared at her a moment. She held her breath, hoping that he hadn't noticed. He went back to yelling at the other cat. By now, the other cat was trying not to cry.

She ran down the other side of the hill and waited a few seconds to see if anything would happen. Nothing. They must not have noticed yet. She walked around to the other side of the hill, and ran in the direction she had come from. She was free! She glanced behind her to see if they had seen her yet. They had, and where coming up close behind her. It was now almost completely dark, so she knew that soon they would have a hard time seeing her. She jumped to the right side of the path and hid behind a tree. She could hear their voices close by.

"Find her!" the captain ordered.

She could soon hear Conner hunting for her in the bushes. Thankfully, he was looking to the left side of the path.

"She probably ran on! Come on, you!" the captain yelled. They went off down the path.

Soon, she could hear a muffled conversation between the cats and probably another guard, asking if she had come this way. She heard the captain curse in frustration and turn around.

"You'll get twenty lashes for letting her get away if the king feels particularly merciful!" he threatened.

Conner moaned.

Siobhan could not help but feel guilty for the young cat's punishment. She had not intended to cause him misery; she had only wanted to get away. She sighed. There was nothing she could do about it now. Even though she knew the two cats had already left, she kept off of the path and ventured further into the dense woodlands. As she went through the woods, she stopped occasionally to make sure there were no cats following her. None came.

After a while of wandering around in the woods, she decided she probably wasn't going to be able to get home in the dark, but at least she could look for the path. She tried to stay awake. Soon, she thought she saw a dim light ahead. She thought it was just her imagination, but it was worth checking anyway. As she got closer, she could tell it was a small fire, and there were some others around it. Soon, she could hear voices. From what she could hear they didn't sound menacing, but she still made sure she wasn't making much noise as she was coming towards them.

When she was close enough to see who was around the fire, she saw it was just some hedgehogs and squirrels. She knew they could be friendly, however, she was a ferret and she knew too well how unwelcoming certain squirrels, hedgehogs, and various other types of creatures could be.

She remembered something that had happened when she was seven. She saw an otter hitting her one of her brothers with his shillelagh. She went and told her mum. Her mum came and told the otter to leave him alone.

As the otter had left, he yelled, "You're all rotten vermin! This island belongs to us otters, not you vermin!"

From that day on, Siobhan had not trusted those who called themselves "goodbeasts". Now, however, was slightly different. She didn't trust those she saw around the fire, but at least she wouldn't be completely alone. She walked cautiously into the camp, expecting them to attack. They didn't. She then noticed they were asleep, except for the lone squirrel guard, who was sitting on a log, staring into the woods on the opposite side of the fire. Noticing the fire was dying, Siobhan put a few more logs on the fire. There was suddenly a lot more smoke since the logs had gotten rained on. She walked over to the guard. As she got closer, she realized he had also fallen asleep; she hadn't been able to tell since he had been facing the other direction. She gently tapped his shoulder.

"Hello?"

The squirrel gave a start. "Sorry for fallin' asleep on my watch, Brushtail..." here he yawned "... I won't do it again, I promise." He turned and saw her. "You ain't Brushtail!" He rubbed his eyes and looked closer at her. It took him a moment to get over the initial shock of seeing a ferret. When he did, he raised an alarm. "A vermin! A vermin! A vermin!" He ran closer to the fire and started digging through his possessions to find his bow and arrows.

By now, everyone in the camp was awake and had their weapons out. Siobhan glanced around her. She was surrounded. She was afraid if she drew her dirk they would take it as an attack, so she kept it in its scabbard. She felt somebeast coming closer behind her. She glanced quickly behind her and saw a large hedgehog brandishing a sword closing in on her. She then decided against keeping the dirk in its scabbard and tried to draw it, but the decision came too late. She barely had her paw on the hilt by the time the hedgehog brought the flat of his sword down on the right side of her head. She cried out in pain as she fell to the ground. She saw stars, and could feel blood running down her face. She was hit again, and she lost consciousness.

[Shadowed One]

Why are they on Green Isle? It only ever had cats and otters living on it if I remember right.

[Romsca]

Well this was long time before High Rhulain, and the cats and otters could have killed the other species off by then. Remember the otter said

“You’re all rotten vermin! This island belongs to us otters, not you vermin!”

EDIT: If I don't get any feedback I will not, I repeat I WILL NOT post any more. I can see how well received this is already! It's not worth throwing my work away to people who won't even read it!

[Shadowed One]

I like it!

[Romsca]

Thanks!

[Kitsune]

Great!

[Maudie]

It's pretty good! I'm looking forward to more! You've been working on this for a long time, haven't you?

[Romsca]

Thank you! And YES...  I have been working on this for a LONG time. Mostly planning, though. I only started writing it sometime back in June

[Tam and Martin]

Great job!

[Romsca]

Thanks! Would anyone like me to post any more?

[Captain Tammo]

please post more! i loved reading it. i think looking at fanfictions is awesome because it's both the redwall world we all know and love, mixed with the creativeness of new writers.

I like how you set the stage for so much to happen later on.
"What will happen to the new catgaurd?"
"Will the 'goodbeasts' really act as goodbeasts?"
"This is before the book High Rhulain, so is there still an otter queen, or is she long gone?"
I'm eager to find out!
Great work, you deserve to be proud!

[Romsca]

-Chapter 2-

Siobhan first became aware of the rough wood of the floor she was on. She soon found the strength to open her eyes. When she did, she saw that it was pitch black. She was confused; she did not remember what had happened or how she had gotten here. She sat up, but the pain in her head was so overwhelming she nearly passed out again. Once the pain had subsided, she noticed she was chained to the walls of the cell she was in. Blood matted her reddish fur. She lay back down on the rough wooden floor and tried to remember what had happened right before she got here. The last thing she remembered was cats chasing her. Did the cats capture me, and am I now in their dungeon? She thought. I wonder why they didn't just kill me. Soon, fatigue over took her and she fell asleep.

What seemed liked only a few minutes later but was probably an hour later, footsteps outside of the dim cell woke Siobhan. A squirrel who dressed and acted important was standing outside along with another very familiar looking squirrel. At first she thought it was odd that she could see them, but then she realized there was light coming down from above a flight of stairs leading down to her cell. She saw there were more cells to her right and left. It appeared as if she and the squirrels were all on a ship. The important squirrel turned and stared her in the eye.

"You're awake," he said, contempt obvious in his voice.

Siobhan did not answer.

"The hedgehog hit her good, didn't he, Captain Brushtail?" commented the other squirrel.

The squirrel called Brushtail nodded. "Yes."

Brushtail. Hedgehog. That all sounds so familiar, thought Siobhan. Where have I heard Brushtail before? And I feel like this has something to do with hedgehogs.

Brushtail addressed her. "Can you speak, ferret? You aren't saying anything."

"I can speak. Why? And I am Siobhan, not just 'ferret'!" Siobhan tried to make her voice as contemptuous as Brushtail's.

Brushtail did not seem to notice. "What were you doing at our camp last night?"

Suddenly, Siobhan remembered everything and recognized the other squirrel as the guard she had woken up. "I was trying to get home. I was lost."

"Why did you come to our camp?" the important-looking squirrel inquired.

"It was dark, and I didn't want to be alone in the woods. There could've been bandits out there. Why did you act like I was attacking you? I didn't draw my weapon or anything." She glanced at her belt and saw that the dirk and its scabbard had been taken away. "And why did you take my weapon?"

"You're a vermin, and the only good vermin's a dead one. It did not matter if you had a weapon or not. The only reason we didn't kill you is we have someone with us from a place called 'Redwall Abbey', and they're all peaceful like there and they don't believe in killing outright," Brushtail explained. "We're delivering iron ore to a forge in the Northlands. That forge is owned by a badger who has the expensive and time-consuming hobby of forging weapons. He has a dungeon that would be perfectly suited for the likes of you." With that, he and the other squirrel turned and left.

Siobhan felt more trapped than she ever had in her life. She thought of her family: her mum and dad, her two brothers, and her sister. She was sure they were wondering where she was, with the exception of Niall, who was sailing and wouldn't get back to Green Isle for at least several months. She had to find a way to contact her family. She would ask the squirrels or hedgehogs the next time they came down, if they did. She hoped they would; she hadn't been given any food or water, and she was extremely thirsty.

Later that day, a hedgehog came with some fish and bowl of water. He unlocked the door and opened it roughly, and tossed the food and water in. Siobhan caught them. Some of the water splashed out on the floor and on her. The hedgehog slammed the cell door. She tried to get up, but the chains held her.

"I need to write someone! May I borrow a pen and some paper?" she begged.

The hedgehog ignored her.

"Please?"

The hedgehog looked at her and shrugged. "Not my job. If you want to write someone, ask the captain."

"Will he be down here soon?"

"Can't guarantee anything," he answered, "but I guess I can get you some paper to write with if you want." He sounded obviously annoyed. The hedgehog turned, left, and closed the door at the top of the stairs leading down to the cells. It was almost completely dark.

Siobhan drank the water greedily. She started to eat the fish, but soon she stopped and threw the fish on the floor because it tasted old and stale. She was hungry, but not yet hungry enough to eat food that had gone bad. She sighed. Where is that hedgehog? He should be here already if he was telling the truth, she thought.

Just then she heard somebeast coming towards the door above the stairs. The door opened. It was not the hedgehog. It was just the squirrel who had been the guard and who had accompanied Brushtail. Still, Siobhan was hopeful.

"Did you bring the paper?" she asked him as he came down the stairs.

"Captain Brushtail wanted me to tell you that you have been denied that privilege." With that, he turned and left.

"But that's not—" the slam of the door cut her off. "Fair," she said to herself. She sat down against the wall and couldn't help but start to cry.

The next several days were uneventful. The only time Siobhan saw the light of day was whenever a grumpy squirrel or hedgehog came down twice a day to give her food and water. The water seemed fresh, but the food was barely edible. She ate very little and spent most of her time trying to sleep or thinking about her family.

One day, about four or five days after she was captured (she lost count), Siobhan woke up to different squirrel opening her cell.

"We've reached land," he said.

Siobhan realized she didn't feel the ship moving as much. What's the big deal? You're just taking me to a badger, whose prisons are worse than this, probably. And just because I'm a ferret. Thanks a lot, she thought.

"You don't talk much," the squirrel commented as he walked toward her. He unlocked the chains around her paws.

"What's there to talk about? You capture me, throw me in here, and you're now going to take me to a cruel badger. Why?"

"He's not that cruel! Just sensible about how to treat the likes of you, that's all." He led her out of the cell, onto the deck of the ship.

Siobhan did not resist. She didn't see the point. However, she knew she was going to die in a dark prison cell without having committed any crime. Can't really do anything about it, though. I guess this is just the way it is. I wonder if my family's ever going to know what happened to me, she thought. The squirrel led her to the captain, who was at the wheel.

"Captain Brushtail, sir." The squirrel saluted. "What am I supposed to do with this vermin?"

Brushtail looked her over. "The badger wants her."

"As a prisoner, right? So should I take her to him?"

"Yes, you should take her, but I just got a letter from the badger sent by a seagull that says what he wants with her." He pulled the letter out and read it. "He says, 'Good. You have a prisoner who's a ferret. I've been testing this one weapon I made to see how effective it is against vermin, and I've been able to try it on a rat, stoat, weasel and fox so far. Once I make sure it is effective in killing a ferret, I will know it is safe for me to ship them to Salamandastron for their weapon supply.' It sounds like he wants to use her to experiment with a weapon he's making."

The squirrel near her started to laugh. "What a good idea! What kind of weapon is it?"

Brushtail scanned the paper. "Some sort of axe, I think. He wants to make sure it's sharp enough for a vermin's neck."

Siobhan was horrified at what the badger was planning. She would never have thought of murdering anybeast so cruelly and carelessly. She fought back tears as the two squirrels continued to laugh. The captain drew a weapon from his belt and threatened her with it.

"Scared?" he taunted.

The weapon he had was her dirk. Without thinking about the risks, she snatched it from his grasp and jumped over the side of the ship and began wading for shore. It took a moment for Brushtail to realize what had happened. At first, he just stared at his empty paw in shock.

"Uh, captain...?" the other squirrel asked.

Brushtail shook his head and refocused. He barked out orders. "Well, don't just stand there! Get!"

The other squirrel stood tentatively at the railing of the ship. "It's awfully far, captain."

Brushtail walked up behind him and pushed the other squirrel over the side. "We've already lost her, you idiot! Get out there!"

The squirrel hit the water painfully with a loud smack. He got up slowly and shook himself dry before continuing towards the shore. He hauled himself, dripping wet, up onto the beach. He did not see any sign of her. Nevertheless, he picked a direction at random and went that way, searching for any sign of her. If she was found, she would certainly pay.

Brushtail glanced at the paper he was holding. It simply listed what the badger had ordered. Oh well, she deserved to be scared. She was a vermin anyway, he thought.

[Captain Tammo]

Interesting ideas in this story! I like the underlying "what really makes someone good?" kind of theme. When will the next chapter come out?

[Romsca]

I'm going to guess maybe a week or so from now

Thanks for reading!

[Romsca]

Sorry for the double post but do you think I should use seasons or years in my story? Both would be canon, since years are mentioned in Mossflower