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

[LT Sandpaw]

"Are they?" Rayne asked, giving Fang a stern look. "Well, as long as I get to eat and sit without numerous interruptions, there is no reason I couldn't join you." She didn't mention Rapshade, that'd certainly be a downside of sitting with Fang. If it really came down to it, she'd just have to sit on the opposite side of Fang, or find her own place. There was nothing binding her to sit with the rat.

~*~*~*~*~

Excusing himself from Duncan and Grant, Bracklew ambled across the Great Hall to where Shadowmay was sitting. Choosing a spot on the bench beside the vixen, the Abbey warrior drummed his claws on the table top, checking about to see nobeast was watching.
"You n' Stumbly were going out again today, into Mossflower?" He asked, trying his best to sound casual.

[Ashleg]

"Great!" Fang exclaimed, eyes lighting up.
It didn't take much to get him excited.
Without saying another word, he led the way back to the Great Hall.
Once arriving, the yellow rat pushed the door open and snuck in, dragging Rapshade by the paw and trying to look serious--although he seemed to be having trouble keeping his snickering in.

Rapshade accidentally caught Duncan's eye and it made him want to curl up and hide.
He quickened up, ducking behind Fang.

[Groddil]

"Hmm? Oh yes, we're making another short trip later this afternoon. Not very long, mind. Unless she wants to go earlier."
The vixen tore into a pastie.
"Why?"

[LT Sandpaw]

"Mm, you'll have to cancel, she'll be otherwise occupied." Bracklew explained, jerking his head towards the door. "Max and her are going out on their own, into Mossflower, and I don't think they're going to invite you. Or me." He added as a after thought.
"I gave them permission to go, and I figured they'd leave you in the dark and I ought to tell you."

~*~*~*~*~

Rayne followed the two vermin, wondering what she'd got herself into. She quickly picked out Petu and Aver sitting on their own, noting how they barely ate at all, to focused on their conversation. That was very unlike them.
"There's room here," she told Fang shortly, pulling out a chair for herself.

[Groddil]

"Hmph, they'll be fine. We were going to much later anyway. Besides, Stumbly's a grown adult, and Maxy isn't far off it. She can make her own plans."



The mouse in question shoved her way out of the Abbey's main door and jogged towards the eastern wallgate. She looked over her shoulder at Maxy.
"'Urry up, Max. 'Ow slow are ye?"

[LT Sandpaw]

OOC: Post with Charm n stuff?

IC:

"Well, yeah." Bracklew said, looking a little bit confused. "That's why I told them they could go. I just didn't want you to be left wondering where she'd disappeared too." Bracklew decided against telling Shadowmay of Stumbly's original plan of ditching her in Mossflower. He supposed what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

[Ashleg]

"I'm not slow," Maxy frowned, "I'm just taking my time."
The squirrel closed in the distance between him and Stumbly, approaching her with a friendly slap to the shoulder.
"Happy, Stumb?"

--

Fangfang smirked and made himself comfortable, pointing airily at the seat next to him and then once at Rapshade.
"Now, see, there's two o' them an' three of us. That makes me more popular, inheritly--"

"Fang," Rapshade murmured, "I shouldn't be here..."

The yellow rat pushed him to the side to get a peek at the other table.
He turned his snout at Rayne.
"Lookit 'em. Sittin' there...gossipin'...starving themselves........"

[LT Sandpaw]

Sighing Rayne served herself some porridge and rolls, spreading strawberry preserve over the latter. "This all seems rather petty Fangfang." She told the rat disapprovingly. "You'd be better suited in eating your morning meal, and allowing others to do the same, where, and with whomever they please."

[Groddil]

"If you take your time any more Max, we won't get back here until Winter."
She snatched a set of keys from a small hollow in the wall, out of reach of little paws, and opened the footlocker near the wallgate. The mousemaid slipped her bow across her shoulder and pinned her quiver to the back of her belt. Relocking the little box, she fitted the key into the wallgate, turned the knob, and pushed it open.
"Exit, stage right."

[Ashleg]

Fangfang scowled. "Well, maybe if somebeast wasn't so rude an' actually said HELLO an' good mornin' like he usually does, THEN I wouldn't have to!"

"Fang," Rapshade said, still quiet and quite small. "What have you been having--"

The rat turned on him. "October Ale from the Cellars, why?!"

Duncan glanced up from his meal.

--

"How meanspirited," said Maxy in a huff, tail bobbing as he walked alongside his friend.
"How absolutely cruel. So, where do you want to go?" He ran a paw over his ears.

[Groddil]

Progress was well under way north-east of Riverblue. The logs had been piled up above the cave entrance, and the rope had been fitted to the contraption at the edge of the clearing. Charm gripped her javelin as Saul returned, holding an empty cask of oil.
"It's done. We've got 'em ready to go, and covered in the burny stuff."
"Good. Your boys should start headin' back t'Town. Leave this next part to us."
The mouse nodded, as his carpenters filed out into the trees. Charm grinned at a squirrel who clutched a handle on the contraption.
"Do it!"
The squirrel pulled the lever, causing the boulder to fly over the clearing and slam into the roof of the cave mouth. Rock splintered and fell into a heap, as the woodlanders loaded another boulder into their catapult. A long, blood-curtling screech echoed through the clearing. Charm wiped sweat from her brow and gripped her javelin tightly.
"HOLD!"
Above the cave mouth, the remainder of Charm's troops had positioned the logs ready to fall, covered in oil and resin, while an otter waited with a lit torch. A tap and a kick was all that separated the cave dwellers from Hellgates...



"Hmm... North. River's nice up there, lots of fish. Not many threats either, thanks to Riverblue."

[LT Sandpaw]

Covering her tufted ears, Laclin, who was standing behind Charm, cringed as the scream rang forth. Whatever had made that noise didn't sound like a normal creature, least not one she'd seen or heard before. Laclin considered retreating back into Mossflower, and back home, but a grim curiosity kept her paws planted to the ground. She wanted to see what happened next.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Surprised by this revelation Rayne turned quickly in her seat, glaring at the rat. Raising her eyebrows the mouse healer's voice rose to a somewhat higher pitch. "And who, pray tell, is allowing you to consume the Abbey's October Ale whenever you please? Presuming you haven't been stealing it?"

[Ashleg]

Fangfang chuckled sheepishly and offered a shrug.
"Well, whoever said it's stealin'? I live here, don't I?"

--

"Oh, Riverblue this, Riverblue that." Maxy scoffed, hopping over a tree root.
"Rivers aren't even blue...they're clear..."

[Groddil]

OOC: Can't a fella get a drink around here?

BIC:

"Says the squirrel who's never even been there."
Stumbly rolled her eyes, giggling, as she slammed the wallgate behind her and strolled off into the woods.



The otter waited as the screams intensified. Her paw shook slightly, but she managed to compose herself.
"Again."
Another boulder flew into the mouth of the cave, causing it to shudder and crack. The shrieking intensified as a vole pointed to the cave.
"I see 'em!"
"NOW! LOOSE THE LOGS!"
The otter tossed the torch onto the pile of logs and kicked away the brace. The fallen trees burst into flame and crashed from the hilltop, just as the cave dwellers emerged. A ragged horde of hedgehogs and stoats, all with deformed faces and missing eyes. The first few managed to evade the logs, but many were crushed beneath the huge pile of flaming wood. Those that survived shrieked even louder as the flames engulfed them, but Charm had already blocked out the noise. She raised her javelin and gestured to the woodlanders at the contraption. While four of them continued to load another boulder into it, the rest drew steel and formed a line at the fringe of the clearing, protecting the device. The otter on the hilltop, along with two other beasts who had stayed to help him, had bows pointed at the surviving Eyeless Ones, ready for the signal.
"Look at 'em. No armor. No weapons. Just teeth an' claws. Send 'em back to Hellgates from whence they came. CHARGE!"
The Riverblue guards let out a war cry and charged to meet the Eyeless Ones. The three on the hilltop loosed their arrows, bringing down a stoat. Claw met sword. Spear met tooth. Arrow met heart. To anybeast watching without context, it would be a massacre. A bloodbath. But those who fought at that clearing in the woods that day knew the truth. Yes, it was a massacre. Yes, it was genocide. And if anything, it had been a long time coming...



The flames roared in the cave mouth, licking at the sky and blocking all entrance. While Charm had managed to wipe out the Eyeless Ones outside the cavern with only a few of her own creatures being wounded, the fire would not last forever. Boulder after boulder slammed into the roof of the cave, causing more rubble to pile up behind the flames. The occasional hedgehog scaled the pile, only to leap to their deaths at the blades of the Riverblue Guard. Charm turned to a squirrel.
"This won't work. Long as Muddle an' Begskin're still alive, we don't know what they'll do. If we can get rid o' their leaders, we decrease the chances they try to rush out o'er that rubble en masse."
"Any ideas boss?"
"It's pretty 'ard t'think o' a way in. Unless we make 'em come to us."
She stepped forwards until she felt as if her fur was about to burst aflame.
"MUDDLE! COME OUT AND FACE ME!"
The shrieking, which had continued throughout the fight, finally began to subside.
"I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! YOUR CRIMES HAVE GONE UNPUNISHED FOR FAR TOO LONG!"
More Eyeless Ones gathered atop the rubble, working themselves into a frenzy.
"And guess what, Muddle? You know what happens if you beat us. You get a prize. A wonderful prize. The eyes of the leader of the Vigil!"
An old, extremely fat hedgehog clambered to the top of the rubble pile, flanked by an old stoat. If the Eyeless Ones were grotesque, then Muddle may as well have come from Hellgates itself. Rotting flesh drooped from numerous scars across his face, exposing muscle and bone. Two empty eye sockets focused on Charm, as drool dripped from sharp, yellow teeth.
"Your voice... Is... Different. Your smell... So new to me... Who comes before me?"
"Death. Come here, I'll introduce you."
Muddle cackled, licking a claw.
"Death... He is with you, yes? Then he shall take you first..."
Charm stared at the otter from the hilltop, who now stood beside her, with an arrow already on his bowstring. With a nod, he raised the weapon and loosed the projectile, which thudded into the hog's leg. Muddle tumbled down the rubble and thudded onto the burning logs. With one last shriek, he leapt from the logs and crumpled in a heap at Charm's footpaws. The otter shoved her javelin down roughly, ending the creature's life in an instant. Atop the rock pile, Begskin stood at the head of the Eyeless Ones, roaring at the Riverblue Guard. Hundreds of hogs and stoats crowded atop the rock pile, ready to charge at any moment.
"Now."
The squirrel at the device pulled the handle one final time. The boulder slammed into the top of the rubble pile, crushing Begskin and many of those behind him. The survivors stared dumbly at the corpse of their leaders. Some whimpered, others snarled.
"Again."
Another boulder crossed the clearing, smashing into the roof of the cave. No more boulders would be needed. Several rocks dropped from the ceiling, as the cavern began to shake. The rockfalls began to grow in size, taking more and more Eyeless Ones to Hellgates. With a final crack, the roof of the cave collapsed, slamming onto the rubble pile, crushing those atop it and sealing the cavern forever. Muddle's followers would no longer prove a threat to Mossflower.

[Hickory]

"A good job," said a soft voice next to Charm. A black squirrel had slipped into the ranks of the Guard, making his way up to Charm. Asher watched the destruction without pity. "Something the Vigil never managed..."