Redwall Isn't Safe Anymore! (Is Redwall as Safe as they Say it is? Part Two)

[LT Sandpaw]

"S-sure I'll sit next to you." Petu decided, putting down the sopping wet rag and taking the seat next to Fang. For a moment the rabbit considered the appetizers in front of him guiltily. Did he deserve to eat while everyone else starved in the cellars?
Deciding that it was better to have food in his belly, and energy available to help the others. He dug in, eating quickly in case Rapshade decided that this arrangement wouldn't be allowed to continue. "Thanks Fang," Petu muttered around a mouthful of bread. "I owe you one."

[Ashleg]

Fang giggled, "One what? Oh, 'ere comes Cap'n lookin' very mad..."

"What are you doing?!" yowled Rapshade as he glared down at Petu.
Lots of the vermin, including Alfhild, began looking.
The female ferret put on a hard frown.
Hissing in frustration, Rapshade pulled Petu up from his chair.
"Stop," he half-snapped half-begged.
"I never said you could do that. Y' only listen to me."

Just as he finished speaking, a few woodlanders burst from the kitchen and ran inside carrying plates and trays piled high with food.
The feast had begun!

[Hickory]

OOC: @Groddil: Did you ever do your stuff with Asher?

[Groddil]

OOC: Go to Morty's room, find the poison she used against Rapshade in Part 1, then put it in the food! Three vermin with one vial!

@LT Sandpaw: Sure, they weren't being used for anything other than sequel things. They can be thinned out a bit.

BIC:

Asher nimbly sidestepped the mouse's swing. Flesh or no flesh, he was still old. The squirrel kicked at Jergle's paw, sending the cleaver flying across the room. Jergle bit down roughly onto Asher's foreleg, causing the squirrel to wince. Jergle used the opportunity to snatch Asher's knife, but found him being tackled before he could do anything with it. Asher knocked Jergle to floor, holding the knife back with one paw and forcing the mouse into the fire with the other. Jergle's screams filled the fallen log as the flames began to jump to his fur, every thrust he attempted to make missing. With one last burst of adrenaline, the mouse burst free of Asher's grasp and ran for the snow, still holding Asher's knife. He didn't notice the cleaver knocked on the ground. Jergle tripped roughly over the blade, falling in a heap to the floor of the dwelling, Asher's knife stuck between his ribs. The mouse chuckled. The chuckles turned to coughs. The coughs turned to silence.

[LT Sandpaw]

Quailing on the floor Petu laid still, spitting out some food that was still in his mouth. "I - I'm sorry," he said for what felt like the tenth time that day. Crawling away Petu kept low to the floor, keeping one eye on Rapshade all the while, leaving a tiny blood trail on the red stones from where his leg wound had reopened.

[Groddil]

Shank snarled, shoving against Bracklew's club. The weasel jumped back out of the squirrel's reach, slashed in front of himself to halt Bracklew's advance, and jumped behind Third Eye.
"Shoot him again, you fool!"
The rat already had another shaft ready to go. He grinned, loosing it, and dived into the bushes.
"'Urry up, boss. We'd best git out of 'ere while we still 'as the sword."
The weasel nodded, and began backing up.
"Alright, treerat. Here's what's gonna happen. Third Eye an' me is gonna leave. Yer not gonna follow us."
The weasel jumped into the brush after the rat.

OOC: An idea - Bracklew has to go get Martin's Sword in Part 3 because Shank and Third-Eye run off with it.

[Hickory]

OOC: So... would he return to the vigil, or will they be gone by then?

[Ashleg]

OOC-
It would take ten seasons for him to get it?
Unless we wanted to just skip a little while like we did with this one.
IC-
Rapshade puffed, glaring as Petu inched away.
He coughed blood into his sleeve as he took his seat.
"Just stand there and don't do anything lest I say so."
And then, to shrug off any awkwardness left, the ferret fell upon the food.
He could barely remember the last time he'd eaten, and it showed.

OOC-
Do you guys want to skip to when the feast is over and it's night, soon as the thing with Brack and Shank is finished?
Also, Merry Christmas if you celebrate it.

[Groddil]

OOC: If he runs, he can get back to Moledeep before the Vigil attacks. They're gathering strength atm.

[LT Sandpaw]

"As if, you scummy vermin." Bracklew yelped, sidestepping quickly to avoid the arrow. The squirrel's eyes blazed red as he pursued Shank and Third Eye into the trees, sighting his nemesis's back, outlined clearly from the snow. His breath came in ragged bursts as he tried unsuccessfully to close the distance. His injured footpaw held him back, and the vermin began to draw further away. "No," he gasped to himself, watching both Shank and Martin's sword began to escape. "No, stop you can't do this."
Making a running throw Bracklew hurled the club at Shank's back sending the weighted wood spinning through the air towards his target. He was starting to get the hang of throwing weapons, and this one was no exception.


OOC:

I'm down for a time-skip to the end of the feast.

[Groddil]

Shank ducked, the club whizzing over his head and slamming into Martin's Sword, the tip of which poked up over his neck. The blade hurtled from the weasel's paw and thudded itself into a tree. Third Eye went to grab it, but Shank pushed him back.
"Forget it, fool. Run!"
The two vermin vanished into the undergrowth.

OOC: So, during the timeskip, @Sagetip , Asher should make it back to Moledeep. That way he's not left out during the attack.

[Hickory]

OOC: Great.

[Ashleg]

OOC-
Okay whup starting Timeskip. 

IC-
The feast was over.
Well, for the most part.
It had gotten pretty rowdy, leaving the three leaders a bit on edge.
Rapshade, for one, was tired.
It was dark outside, and of vermin had fallen asleep in random places, tipsy from being drunk.
It looked like Alfhild was out, too.
Rapshade silently stuffed some leftovers in his pocket and then grabbed Petu, beckoning Fang along with his tail.
"Stay there and somebeast still eating will shank you..."

He led them down the dimly lit hallways to the cellars, struggling to suppress a cringe.
Stealing the key off of a sleeping guard's tunic, the ferret unlocked the door and poked his head in.
Everybeast who had helped cook was now back inside.
"I need the mouse who answers t' the name Rayne."

[LT Sandpaw]

"Rapshade...?" Squinting up from the dusty floor, Rayne hesitantly stood picking her way over a few of the sleeping wounded Redwallers. She stared at Rapshade in distrust, not sure whether to go closer or not. Seeing Petu with him she made up her mind and stepping forward nervously.
"I'm here, what do you want?"

~*~*~*~*~*~

Bracklew would have kept up the pursuit, if his exhausted legs hadn't given out. Stumbling to a stop the young squirrel leaned against the tree that Martin's blade had become lodged in, his entire body shaking in protest.
"Why'd you run, couldn't fight a one-pawed little squirrel like me?" He panted, more or less to himself and the tree. Resting his back against the trunk, Bracklew sheathed his sword, and lay still taking a breather. He supposed he ought to follow the tracks back, and find Roscoe's, that'd lead him back to Redwall. If that was where Roscoe went...

"Not that there's much of a point," he reminisced to himself tapping his claws on a patch of ice. "He betrayed me the first moment there was trouble, and even offered to join up with those horde vermin. I ought to hate him. I really ought'a. Where would he go anyway, surely not back to Redwall alone, they wouldn't let him in, especially not with the Vigil guarding the walls. But he can probably look after himself out here anyway, which is more then I could say." Bracklew glanced around at the unfamiliar landscape, the eerily frosted trees swaying in their dance of death. Creaking softly in the silence.
"What'd do I care?" Bracklew decided, standing up. "I don't owe him anything, in fact, he owes me. And I bet I could find my own way home, this way, I think." Stepping out boldly Bracklew took a single pace forward, and as his injured footpaw touched down, the thin layer of snow gave way, sending Bracklew and a good deal of snow careening underground, sounded by nothing, but a short scream.

[Ashleg]

Rapshade sniffed and folded his arms, leaning callously against the wall.
"I guess I'm doing him a...favor," he said, dragging her out by the wrist and then locking the door again. He waved a paw in front of his face. "Don't know why. I must be going soft in the head. Can't have both of you with me, though...two verses one is never good. You're going t' stay in the sickbay, Vadoma will watch you."
He started upstairs without another word, hopping to keep his leg elevated.