They Thought Redwall was Safe! (Is Redwall as Safe as they Say it is? Part 3!)

[Ashleg]

Duncan's brow furrowed as he slowly put the puzzle pieces together.
"That's mighty brave, but Maxy's my son...If those two are in danger, I can't let you go alone. I'm coming with you. Father Abbot, you haven't seen them by any off chance?"

The old mouse shook his head with worry.

Rapshade gulped, readying himself.
To make Duncan mad was his goal. It seemed like he was peeving Bracklew off on the side--good, all the better.
"He's prob'ly dead," the ferret sneered suddenly.
Something flashed through Duncan's eyes.

--

"No!" Maxy yelped.
Syccidth lunged at him and the white squirrel went skidding off the branch, and for a moment he was flying--expecting to hit the ground and die.
Syccidth and the other rats grouped together to watch. The Chief drew back in anger when Maxy landed in a painful tumble but got back up and broke into a dash on all fours.
"Yah, chase 'im, killa 'im!" the rat exclaimed. He booted one of his warriors, screaming, out of the tree after Maxy.

The squirrel's only goal now was to get away.
Get away, and live.
A little ways behind him, he could hear Fastooth's yowling.
"I'll come back for you!" he cried, claws scraping on the ground. "I promise--aaAaAaah!"
A Painted One jumped out in front of him, vicious and menacing.
Maxy's heels scuffed the ground.

[LT Sandpaw]

"We don't know they are in danger." Bracklew corrected, still he appreciated the offer of company. Duncan wouldn't slow him down, being a hare, and as a seasoned campaigner he would know what to do if something serious did occur. Not that there was any evidence of that Bracklew quickly reassured himself.

"He's prob'ly dead,"

Bracklew stiffened, glaring daggers at the ferret for his sudden and unwanted pessimism. "Nobeast asked you Rappy. But maybe you want to come look for them with us, and perhaps we'll happen upon the Guosim too and we could ask them for help with our, problem."

[Ashleg]

"Shut up, Rappy," Duncan said, giving the black ferret a light, painless slap under the chin.
Rapshade flicked his tail. It had been a while since the pirate had last acted up so.
He rolled his eyes, "No, what I was saying is that they're dead an' your idle threats won't change that. Dead..."
He fidgeted, turned around, and looked Duncan in the eye.
"Like yer Mixy."

The hare cracked him on the jaw and they both went down, Duncan pummeling and clawing like a cat while Rappy yelped and howled.
The Abbot was about to make a move but then stopped and looked at Bracklew with a helpless expression.
"I knew Duncan would snap...could you please pull him off?"

--

The rat and Maxy went down in a biting, screeching tumble.
Maxy got in a whack or two and managed to wriggle free, fine except for a gash on his neck.
He broke into a crazed run.
The vermin's pawsteps were loud behind him.

--

Back at the camp of the Painted Ones, Inyoni waited impatiently for Fastooth to give in and be handed to her.
She started when Syccidth jumped down from a branch and landed beside her, frowning.

"Trees, they burn," he said with a grimace. "You lucky Syccidth send rats out t' catch th' snow mouse."

Inyoni wrinkled her nose at him.
Yes, she did smell smoke.

Syccidth leaned closer and jeered. "Yakkihik, Inyoni better no tell Painted Ones about t'fire yet!"

[LT Sandpaw]

"Yer trees'll burn to th' ground if'n ye don' do somethin' 'bout it soon." Fastooth said, bruised and battered as he was the rat hadn't lost the power of speech. His every limb was held by a tree rat lackey who did their part in punishing him with punches and scratches. Somerat even clung to one of his ears, twisting it painfully forcing Fastooth to hold his head at an awkward angle.
"I c'n 'elp ye wit' that, if ye let me live afterwards."

~*~*~*~*~

"The ferret deserves it."
Bracklew tossed away his sword wading into the fray between Duncan and Rapshade, yelling to make himself heard over the scuffle. "Lay off him Duncan, no violence on the Abbey grounds! The Abbot's orders, cut it out!"

[Ashleg]

Duncan froze, sides heaving. Rapshade had fainted away mid-sob. He was sick and weak and it didn't take much anymore.
"The Abbot...?" Duncan murmured. "Oh...dear. I'm so sorry I caused such a disruption." He rose and dusted his paws off.
"It won't happen again." Well, not in front of anybeast, he added silently. The cellars were dark and silent and easy enough to get by.

Grant coughed into his paws and gave Duncan a short nod.
"Rayne, please take Ra...the ferret...upstairs to the infirmary."

Duncan frowned. "But he's not allowed in thei--"

"Why don't you and Bracklew go looking for the missing children." The Abbot said curtly, making his way around the hare.
The mouse lowered his voice. "He deserves it, Duncan, but if you must punish him for his words alone at least wait until I am out of the room."
Duncan sighed gravely and glanced at Bracklew.
"Well then," he coughed.

--

Syccidth stepped forward. "Live?" He grinned, fixing his rats with the gaze of his shifty eyes.
Inyoni and he exchanged secritive nods.
"Yah, Ratty, Painted Ones let you live long-long time."

[LT Sandpaw]

"Let's go, better to not waste anymore time." The squirrel warrior ushered Duncan out of the Abbey and onto the main path towards Riverblue, while Rayne tended to the unconscious Rapshade.

She wasn't about to carry him upstairs on her own, so she would have to wait until he was conscious again. and capable of making his way to the Infirmary.
"Grant, I'll stay out here with him until he wakes up." She said, taking off her satchel and offering it to the Abbot. "Could you take this up to the sickbay for me please. I'll get it sorted away later tonight."

~*~*~*~*~

"I believe ye matey, really I do." Fastooth coughed, spitting out a mouthful of blood. "Ye seem like th' generous type, noble n' all that. It'd be right cowardly to jus' kill me, heh. I'm thinkin' we in'nt that different yew n' I. We could 'elp each other out. Wot'cha say cully, a truce between rats?"

[Ashleg]

OOC-
I am having trouble posting, I keep getting an error.
I'm gonna leave this here and edit it in a half hour if it lets me when I come back.

[LT Sandpaw]

OOC: Should we tell James?

[Ashleg]

OOC-
It's happening again, so yes, I'm surprised I got this in. *(It's not just this thread, it's the website in general). If you could tell him, that'd be swell, I don't know how long it's going to work so I'm going fast.
It's not letting me edit either.

[LT Sandpaw]

 OOC:

I'll mention him here and on the concerns thingy.

BTW can you send PMs?

@James Gryphon

[Ashleg]

OOC-
No, I couldn't send PMs. Seems to be working now though, at least at this moment.
Also, how about we start a timeskip (to night/late evening when the sun's down) after this post.
IC-
The Abbot accepted the satchel and was about to walk away, but he turned back around and shook his head at Rayne.
"I will help you get him inside. We can't have him out in case somebeast visits."
Stooping, he grabbed the ferret by his paws.

--

In silence, the chief fixed Fastooth with an imposing down-the-nose stare.
"No truce, Syccidth send bravest rats t' put out fire. Yikk, Ratty think Syccidth stupid! Poor Ratty don't know what's good."
He gestured sharply to Inyoni, rustling his leaves, and sauntered away.

The small female knew what to do.
"Hehee, Inyoni tie you up nice!"

[LT Sandpaw]

OOC: Alright sounds good to me, also, should we start mentioning @Hickory  and  @Groddil  ? Make sure they're still participating.


IC:

It had been difficult getting Rapshade up into the infirmary on their own. Nevertheless Rayne and Grant made it and Rapshade was deposited to one of the clean white beds, giving the two mice a chance to take a rest of their own.

Rayne of course had other duties to attend to, and she did so dutifully, putting every new herb in its proper place and stacking the soon to be planted bulbs in a basket by the window. Done at last she ate a quick supper and set to work preparing fresh potions and medicines to get a head start on the morrow.

~*~*~*~

"We should have brought some lanterns!"
For the third time that night Bracklew stubbed his toe on a stone. He muttered the new curses he had learned from Rapshade earlier that day under his breath, limping along the northern path beside Duncan.
"It's hard to tell with only to moon and stars to give light, I can't tell where we are. How far do you think Riverblue is from here Duncan?"


OOC: BTW could you describe how Fastooth is tied up in your next post please.

[Ashleg]

OOC-
Aye.
I know Sagey's still here but Groddil I'm not so sure. If either of them want a recap I'll give it to 'em. And there's critters at the Abbey they could interact with!
IC-
Fastooth came to to see a group of Painted Ones gathered around him, a smirking Inyoni at the front.
They had tied their prisoner upside-down from the tree by his footpaws.
"Fire maker come awake!" somebeast yelled.
There was gasping from the crowd.

Inyoni chittered and swung to and fro on the branch.
"Fire maker not scare Inyoni, why 'e scare ya bunch? Chief Syccidth decide what t'do wit' Fire Maker--then you see, Ratty not so scary."

--

Duncan lowered a brow. "What is that you're grumbling? Sounds vaguely familiar. Oh, here comes another pebble at your right, be careful."
The hare took a few paces forth and squinted his eyes to they could adjust to the dark better.
"RiverBlue, RiverBlue...I think we'd best head up that bally river." He waited for Bracklew.
"I'm being a doozy! I've never been to RiverBlue."

--

It was warm in the infirmary.
Rapshade made to sit up as soon as he opened his eyes, but something stopped him. His right paw was bound with a chain to the bedpost per Grant's request. Grimacing, the ferret lie back, taking in the scene around him.
First, he noticed himself. The old purple coat was gone; in its place were bandages, wrapped tight around his chest and leg and other wounds. His jaw was smarting and he had a nosebleed.
Not to mention...without the coat it was clear he was sick and malnourished, a drowned rat with missing fur.
Rappy stifled a sob and fixed his eyes elsewhere.
It must be night. There was a lantern flickering in the room to keep it lit, and Rayne (who had her back to him) was working medicines on the other end of the room.
He felt...cozy, once he looked past his overbearing soreness.
The ferret pulled the rustling blankets closer and burrowed down, steadily watching the mouse healer as his eyelids began to droop again.
How dare he ever have taken advantage of having a bed.

[LT Sandpaw]

Groaning aloud Fastooth squinted at Inyoni and the small group of tree rats that had gathered around him. Due to his unique imprisonment their scruffy faces leered upside-down at him and his ankles burned in protest. Whoever had tied the rope vines knew what they were doing, and a pounding headache made him irritable.
   
"I dunno lass, this ratty be a very scary fire-maker." He snarked, feeling the branch sway as Yippip, his nose covered in dry blood, bounced on the branch which his footpaws were tethered to. Fastooth growled, slashing his claws at the group, snarling like a feral beast as he swung closer to them. "I could eat ye all fer breakkers ye likkle runts. Yer lucky I in'nt hungered right now."

~*~*~*~*~

Making sure to avoid this new obstacle, Bracklew tried to contain his outburst of laughter. "Ha, the blind following the blind, that's what we are. Luckily I've been there before, Shadowmay showed me a few seasons back and I've visited from time to time. I just can't judge distances, it's too damn dark for that. But no matter, if we keep following the path we'll come to the ford, and then we just walk along the river until we reach Riverblue. Nothing to it."

[Ashleg]

Chief Syccidth appeared next to Yippip, giving the smaller rat a broad wink before starting to jump himself.
"Schyoopid Fire Maker--so sassy!" he taunted as the branch bounced up and down.

Down below, Inyoni and the others fell to rambunctious laughing.
"Yikkik, Chief an' Yippip make Fire Maker fly like a bird!"

--

Duncan shuttered.
"Yeah, blind and clueless. Nothing to it at all."
He scratched at his long ear, squinting down at Bracklew. "If only hares an' squirrels had night vision, eh? I'd bet everybeast at Redwall is asleep by now!"
He clamped a paw over his belly. He was starving.
"We should've brought rations."
Maybe I should have controlled myself. Then we wouldn't had had to leave to briskly.

--

Abbot Grant was sitting in his windowsill, reading in the candlelight.
Normally he would have gone to sleep a long time ago, but there was something this night that was keeping his eyes open.
He turned the page and began staring blankly at the window as his mind travelled.

There was some creature out there, a light flash in the darkness.
That snapped the old mouse out of his trance.
Shutting his book, the Abbot raced upstairs.
"Rayne!" he threw the infirmary door open.
Okay, Rapshade was wide awake now.
Grant continued, "I saw Maxy come back, he was running from something and collapsed outside."