Frozen Terror

right|300px|link=Special:FilePath/PlaceholderFrozen Terror is a fanfic dedicated to the wikia. It doesn't follow any of the books.
===Notes===
Before we begin, here's some heads ups.
*Don't expect me to include any songs or a riddle from Martin, poetry was never my thing (and I'm terrible at it).
*Some of the characters I'll feature will be named after other fictional-characters, though others will have names I just made up.
*I can do the speed-impediments of hares and various birds, but not moles.
*I'll still use the in-universe terminology (somebeast, everybeast etc.), but I'm also gonna switch around between it and real-world terminology too (by having characters be referred to as "man", "woman" and "person").
==Prologue==
Winter on the Redwall-continent was a harsh mistress: you could not grow crops and only a few places permit fishing. On the bright-side, cold-blooded vermin-species like reptiles are less active, so woodlanders didn't have to worry about running into any adders or toads, but there was one kind of reptile that faced the frost head on: a reptile that would be considered mythical. It ruled the continent with an iron-fist, and was the apex predator of the food-chain. Stalking through the northern ranges was a creature like no other. It towered up to two-point-five meters at the shoulder, and it had a mouth full of sharp-teeth and hands ending in three clawed-fingers. This animal...was a Neovenator. It struck fear in all who are familiar with it. Even badgers, wildcats, toads, birds of prey and snakes cowed from it, and unlike most reptiles, it was not only cold-blooded, but warm-blooded too. It was so powerful, so cunning and so unfamiliar that woodlanders and vermin too need to beware: few are lucky enough to survive an encounter with this monster, let alone see it at all, for it will happily snack on any creature, and sure enough, it found something: off in the distance, a female badger wearing a pink wimple, a purple samite and orange-pants with a backpack and riding a big horse were trekking through the light-storm, until the horse suddenly stopped and became edgy. "Whoa girl, what's wrong?" the badger asks but starts feeling uneasy herself: to her left, she could've sworn she saw something creeping toward them, and by the time she realized the danger, it was too late: in a flash the dinosaur bursts out of nowhere and attacks the horse, sending the badger flying just when she drew a broadsword which she had brought just incase something like this happened, but was knocked away before she could fight back. When she looks she was blown away by what she saw: a live dinosaur with her horse in its grasp. The horse was now dead, and the badger jumped to her feet with her sword ready, but the dinosaur ignores her: having acquired a kill, it saw no reason to add her in the meal and drags the horse away, disappearing into the wind. The badger, shaken but unhurt, puts her sword away and continues her trek on her own.
==Chapter one==
The fjord where Riftgard sits was a sight of salvation: ever since its evil rulers, the pure-ferrets, were eliminated, it became the "Redwall of the sea" as some called it, the only difference was that no vermin have shown interest in conquering it, but that would change. On the fjord's northwestern shore, far from the fortress' eyes, a big ship parks near the beach. Vermin crawled aboard it, but the leader was a first in history: he was a toad, known as Nihilus the Fiend, who wore brown-pants, a belt, and a buttoned red-vest, plus a black-cloak. He was more adventurous than most toads, and more imperialistic, desiring more than just a swamp and eating woodlanders, he wanted to be known in the world as the first toad-warlord, and what better way to do that than conquer a sanctuary? He actually wanted to conquer someplace that was like Redwall-abbey, just not Redwall itself and therefore easier, a place lesser known that few, if any had tried to conquer at all, and settled on Riftgard after hearing about it: that was just the place he needed to conquer; it was so like Redwall, yet no vermin showed interest since the time of Trisscar Swordmaid, lesser known means less prepared for an invasion. So Nihilus travelled far and wide to recruit vermin and build a horde, and when he had enough he set sail to Riftgard and here they were. "Burr aye, when do we attack lord Nihilus?" asked a mole voice, catching Nihilus' attention, and we see a rather scary-looking mole known as Talpa. Nihilus had met him when the toad was a young adult and the mole was a babe. The mole's parents had been unlucky enough to wander into the home of Nihilus and his toads, but he and a few others couldn't exactly bring themselves to eat a cute babe, so they kept him and only ate his parents. Nihilus took to seeing Talpa as a son somewhat, though Talpa did have nightmares about first meeting the toads, yet doesn't hold it against Nihilus after he decided to leave when some toads still wanted to eat the mole, and Nihilus was against it. They were just two outcasts until Nihilus decided to show the world he was no mere nobody, and Talpa loyally followed. The mole wore yellow-trousers and a black-surcoat, and some head-fur stuck up like a mohawk. "After we set up a camp, best to get acquainted with the land around our target so we know what we can use to our advantage" he croaks and Talpa didn't object, "I hope so, I'm dying for mouse-meat" Talpa complains while Nihilus surveys his horde, then approaches a male wildcat wearing only a blue-cote and a male arctic-skua dressed in a grey-samite, blue-bandanna and dark-red pants with a belt. These were Nihilus' elite warriors and strongest after him. The cat was called Vezok and he was more brawn than brains, not that it meant he was useless: he would happily smash Nihilus' enemies into the ground if he wanted, and would do anything for the toad after being taken in due to being branded a failure by other vermin. For weaponry, he keeps a broadsword and a crossbow. The skua was definitely the smarter one, but was no less a weakling. His name was Tritannus and he was born on the Island of the Wrecked Ships. His species were sometimes called "pirate-birds" due to their habit of looting other birds (and sometimes killing them). It was by accident that Nihilus ran into him, but the promise of conquest attracted the skua to work for the toad. His weapons were a blowpipe where he shoots neurotoxic-darts to capture woodlanders, plus a pair of bolas and for melee a single-bladed axe. Pair these two together, and they become unstoppable. "How goes the crew?" Nihilus asks, "they're ready and eager sir" Tritannus answers, getting a nod from the amphibian when a ferret dressed in a purple-samite and green-coif and wields a rapier arrives: this ferret was unusual in that his right-paw had a sixth-finger, giving him his name Mustela Sixclaw. Like his ancestor Swartt Sixclaw, this ferret was a brute, unlike Swartt, he wasn't ambitious and only follows Nihilus out of necessity, which made it hard to tell if he was more Swartt or Veil Sixclaw. "Yes Mustela?" Nihilus addresses the ferret, "Riftgard is visible down there sir" Mustela informs, "I see, you and Talpa do some scouting, see if there are any defenses we need to watch out for" Nihilus commands, "yes sir" both ferret and mole comply and walk into the woods.
----
At Riftgard itself, there were some new royals in town: a female otter named Osclor Wildlough, descendant of Tiria Wildlough, had chosen to settle at Riftgard and maybe do a better job than King Agarnu did. She was welcomed warmly which would be expected for an otter, royal or not, and now has a husband named Potamo: a rather tubby river otter wearing only a codpiece and a gold and blue-samite, while Osclor wore a purple-bliaut (a gown-like dress), both wore crowns made of some copper the moles of the fjord had dug up, with blue gems in the fronts. They were just chilling, having some tea in their bedroom when a knock sounded from their door. "Enter" Osclor permits and in comes a male mouse wearing a grey-shirt and purple-kilt, "a letter your highness" he presents, and Osclor took it and reads, when she was done her face showed delight, "well it looks like my childhood friend Zimber is gonna pay us a visit" she expressed happily, "haha, it'll be a blast, say, he lives at Redwall right? is he the champion?" Potamo asks, "says here no, but his son apparently had a dream where Martin demanded he take the sword" Osclor reads, "oh, well at least that sword is being used by some-beast" Potamo jokes, "true enough" Osclor replies and looks at the mouse, "by the way, Helia, what's are son doing?" she asks, "he's training again" Helia shrugs.
In another chamber, a muscular juvenile otter-boy dressed in dark blue-pants, cloths wrapped around his hands, a modified chest-strap and a bronze-tiara with an emerald embedded in the front was swinging unique-weapons. This was Potamo and Osclor's son Vaniel Wildlough and he was a prince, armed with twin dual-headed spears, the spearheads being shaped like arrowheads. They were a gift on his fourteenth-birthday by his mother, who claims it was important to defend yourself if necessary. He also had a Taggerung tattoo on his upper left-arm, much like Deyna (whom he idolizes). Vaniel wasn't like most princes: he found the royal life a bit boring and annoying; almost everybody treated him like a deity, and he hated it. The only exceptions were his tutor/bodyguard and friends: the tutor/bodyguard was a male red-kite named Nowl Redkite, and was a descendant of Stryk Redkite, though he didn't wear any clothes. The friends were made up of a female-hedgehog and a male-mouse: the hedgehog wore a yellow-dress and green-skirt. Her name was Wibble Pintips as she was a descendant of Bowly Pintips. She was an accomplished archer armed with a bow, but also carried a dirk for melee. The mouse was dressed in only a teal-tunic and a red-belt which carries twin cutlasses, being better up close than far away, and his name was Dile, Helia's son. Vaniel finally stops after swinging so much, earning praise from Nowl. "Good job Vaniel, Vaniel be great warrior in no time" the bird praises, which was shared by Wibble and Dile, "that was awesome" the mouse cheers, "are you done yet?" said a new voice and everyone turns to see a young female otter wearing a teal-kirtle with a chemise and the same tiara as Vaniel, plus a braid, this was Korlac Wildlough, Vaniel's little sister who unlike him, tends to be a bratty princess, "just finished sis" Vaniel answers much to Korlac's delight, "yay, now we can play" she cheers and grabs Vaniel's right-hand before he could object, but he did get to putting his weapons away first, Nowl just shakes his head, "what a silly river-dog" he jokes, making the hedgehog and mouse laugh.
===Notes===
*Fun fact, the European mole has been known to eat mice and shrews. Imagine that happening in Redwall!
==Chapter two==
In Redwall, things were, at the moment, peaceful. In one room rests the badger-mum known as Sunspot, named because she has a yellow spot on her forehead, and yes, she was a descendant of Sunflash the Mace. She wears a brown-kirtle with a chemise and beige-coif. She was chilling in her room when a male sparrow wearing a modified brown-habit walks in. "Yes father abbot?" she asks, and yes: the sparrow was the abbot, the first bird to be so. His name was Abbot Wingbreath. While this was unusual, few could argue against Wingbreath's good leadership: he was quick to direct others when the need arose, and it seldom resulted in anything bad happening. "Killee, dormouse-worm and son are leaving" the bird informs, "oh right, forgot" Sunspot recalls and gets to her feet, then follows the sparrow out.
Outside, a tubby dormouse wearing only a brown-surcoat and a blue-chaperone and armed with a saber stood at the front-gate. "Be careful Zimber" said a female hedgehog wearing a green-habit named Sister Diffen, the infirmary-keeper, just when Wingbreath and Sunspot show up, "oh there you two are" Zimber says, "sorry, be safe, you and Pryce both" Sunspot demands, a younger dormouse wearing a green-cote and beige-trousers and was more buff than fat stood beside his father: he was Pryce and he aspires to be a warrior, since his dad was a bit of a warrior himself, and he was carrying Martin's sword due to having a dream with Martin telling him to. A trio of dibbuns run over. “Pryce, can we please go with you?" asks a mole-boy named Skarloey dressed in a blue-surcoat, the son of the foremole, "sorry Skarloey, but it's best that you wait until you're older" Pryce advises, "older older older, I hate that" whined a badger-boy wearing a yellow-cote and green-renaissance cap named Adorjan, "sorry, but only teenagers like myself, Myodes Lightpaw and Saffo can come" Pryce maintains and gestures to two other teenagers: one a female vole wearing a dark-pink surcoat and green-skirt. Her name was Myodes Lightpaw and yes, she's a descendant of Yoofus Lightpaw, and she carries a chained mace. Next to her was a female teenage otter wearing a purple-shirt with a yellow-vest, red-pants and a grey-wimple on her head. Her name was Saffo and she wields, uncharacteristically, a hatchet. "So true" Myodes noted as the current gatekeeper, a male squirrel named Brother Tahu Reguba (a descendant of Dannflower Reguba) wearing a straw-hat and a black-tunic, opens the gate, sending the four trekkers off, "goodbye, we'll let you know when we reach Riftgard" Zimber shouts as they left.
----
At Riftgard itself, it didn't know what was coming, yet. Nihilus was in a meeting with Tritannus, Vezok, Talpa and Mustela. "Okay, so we saw that there are guards on the walls, and the building looks heavily fortified, but I'll need to send someone inside to get more information" the ferret claims and at the mention of a spy, everyone turned to Talpa: since no one would expect a mole to be evil, Talpa was made a spy and saboteur, "hurr hurr, I can do it" he said confidently, "that's just what I wanted to hear" Nihilus replies, so it was decided: Talpa would go in and find more info from the inside.
----
On the coast on the mainland, a female-badger was resting at a dock after having a close call with a creature the likes of which couldn't imagine. She studies her map and sees she had a long way to go if she were to reach a fortress known as Riftgard. "Won't be long now" she said to herself and boards a boat, then sets off.
==Chapter three==
In Redwall, things were still the same. In Cavern-Hole, a male mole wearing a purple-vest and black-kilt was having some turnip-pie. This was the foremole Noptar. Sitting with him was a female otter dressed in a green-habit and a male rabbit also wearing a green-habit: the otter was named Skipper Depa and she was the current skipper of the neighboring holt, the rabbit was named Oppo and he was the current abbey-recorder (the first rabbit to be such). They were having a nice warm meal when shouting was heard from the kitchen. "Out out you bally thieves" echoed a hare's voice and three dibbuns running out with chestnuts: Adorjan, Skarloey and a female-squirrel dressed in a pink bliaut named Teedle Reguba, chasing them was a hare wearing the friar uniform named Gamut Braebuck, he was a descendant of Hortwill Longblade Braebuck and the first hare to become Redwall's friar, though fortunately he doesn't hog all the food to himself. "Burr aye, are you three causing grief again?" Noptar demands stopping the dibbuns, "no" they hastily answer, but it was futile, "nice try younglings, but we see the candied-chestnuts behind your back" Depa taunts and she snatches the treats out of Adorjan's paws, "hey" he complains, "come on son, no treats and early to bed for you" Noptar declares to Skarloey, "never, we're the D.A.B." Skarloey objects, "the what?" the foremole asks confused, "D.A.B!" all three dibbuns shout, "it's short for 'dibbuns against bedtime'" Oppo explains, "oh ho, you're a dibbun against bedtime eh Teedle?" said a new voice and it belonged to Brother Tahu: Teedle's father, "oh yes daddy" Teedle says proudly, "she and the-" Gamut began, "I know I heard what was going on along the way" Tahu interrupts and looks sternly at Teedle, "and you're now in a timeout" he declares grabbing her arm, "no not timeout" Teedle shrieks, "same to you Skarloey" Noptar adds to Skarloey, "aw" the younger mole complains, "haha, no timeout for me, I'm an orphan" Adorjan cheers and yes he was an orphan: his parents were killed en-route to Lilygrove by a vermin-gang a few seasons ago, and while he was devastated by his loss, he does relish in not having to obey any rules, well sometimes, "don't be too sure you scallywag" said another voice, revealing Sunspot towering over the younger badger, "barnacles" Adorjan mutters as he is escorted out, much to the remaining adults' amusement, "hehe, seeing that ruffian suddenly cheer when Sunspot shows up is funny" Depa jokes.
----
Right outside the abbey, a pair of eyes were watching, having seen four abbey-dwellers leave for somewhere else, one carrying the legendary sword. The eyes belonged to a black rat dressed in a black-cloak, a dark-brown-buttoned-vest, and fire-red-pants while wielding a saber and a shield, plus had a flame-tattoo on her muzzle and golden-earrings. Her name was Blackfire Warfang, a descendant of Damug Warfang. She was a brutal rodent, using her feminine-features to take advantage. This was how she built her army: mostly black rats like herself, but with the occasional musteloid or two, like a male stoat wearing a red-cloak and yellow-tunic. Many in her army were males she seduced to her cause to takeover Redwall, and hopefully succeed permanently. "Miss Blackfire?" said a male rat named Sidorak approaching behind her, who serves as second-in-command due to how far he pushes himself for her, he too was dressed in a black-cloak, but a grey-renaissance-shirt too, "yes Sidorak?" Blackfire responds and sees the stoat was with him, "Ogron here says the sword-carrier should be leaving at any moment like he saw in a vision" Sidorak explains and introduces the stoat, "he wasn't kidding: I just saw a dormouse carrying the sword out a few hours ago, along with another older dormouse, a juvenile vole, and a juvenile otter of roughly the same age as the first dormouse" Blackfire recalls, "oh good, with their champion away, Redwall won't stand a chance" Sidorak expresses happily, "don't get your hopes up: I read that a raven named General Ironbeak chose to attack the place while its champion Matthias was away rescuing children taken by a fox, though whether or not he knew about that I don't know, and sure he did takeover, it wasn't permanent: they still managed to kill him without the champion at all" Blackfire warns, "well my visions assure me that we won't be facing a bird-of-prey in their care, just the regular-warriors and badger-mum" Ogron says, "maybe, but there is a holt full of otters in close proximity, not to mention the guosim that sometimes show up, let's wait a few more days before we strike" Blackfire orders, "I had foreseen you suggest that, and that we will attack in a week" Ogron informs, "that's exactly when I plan to attack" Blackfire chuckles, she wasn't sure how seers do it, but they sure were helpful.
----
Back at Riftgard, Talpa has gained entry in the fortress, secretly carrying a bow and a quiver full of messenger-arrows for his mission. Already he found out about the royal-otter family and their bodyguard, then had asked various questions concerning the defenses, how many guards lived here, what kind of weapons they have etc. He was careful not to get suspected for conspiring, but few, if any displayed suspicion toward him. Talpa wasn't surprised most would trust him immediately without any caution: who would expect a mole to be evil? It's never happened before, anywhere. Nevertheless, Talpa wasn't gonna press his luck. Upon finishing his tour and given a room to sleep in, he began writing down what he found: I'm in the fortress, and already I've found they have royals residing again, this time otters: Queen Osclor Wildlough, her husband King Potamo, their son Prince Vaniel Wildlough, and daughter Princess Korlac Wildlough, they also have a red-kite named Nowl Redkite who's their bodyguard. I've also discovered there are up to thirty-five guards, and they're apparently expecting a badger to show up soon. This place really is heaven though: it's exactly like they say about Redwall; the food is good, and they do have an arsenal with weapons, but I have found some weaknesses: one being a backdoor that's seldom guarded. I would advise also trying to tunnel underground to the courtyard in the heart of the fortress as an alternative, but there are other moles here besides me, they would notice any tunneling you'd do. Of course you could always throw a grappling-hook after I knock out some guards, but the main-door is guarded and if I open it I'd give myself away. So either breaking through the backdoor or scaling the walls would be the best choices, but I'll let you decide. I'll shoot the arrow into the woods from as high up as possible while no beast is looking toward where you are He wrote and folds it neatly until it fit in the messenger-arrow, then hides it in his stuff so nothing would look suspicious. He then decides to get something to drink.
==Chapter four==
Four days have passed since Zimber and his son Pryce, Myodes and Saffo had trekked off. They were heading for the Moss-river estuary since that was closer to where you could get to Riftgard, though since the river was mostly frozen, they couldn't ride any boats out, but they could at least fish, which Saffo was happily doing. Pryce was practicing with Martin's sword. "You're getting good at swinging that thing son" Zimber comments, "thank you dad" Pryce thanks, "and your mother would be proud" Zimber adds, making Pryce happier, but also sad: Pryce's mother was a victim of giving birth, and Pryce barely knew her. Zimber sometimes blames Pryce for it, but felt responsible for it himself: if he had known she would be sick he wouldn't have mated her right away. Sunspot had filled in the role of mommy since, which Zimber was grateful for, but he still wished he was more careful. "So what was Osclor like?" Myodes suddenly asks, "oh her? she's a great woman, a little feisty at times, but great, we were like siblings when we first met on Sampetra, we travelled around the western sea before bumping into a pirate-ship, we fought the pirates, found they had oar-slaves, freed them and sank the ship, most of the pirates either died or fled on the debris and lifeboats, but that was where she met Potamo, and they fell in love, I joined them in settling at Riftgard for a while before deciding to see what Redwall was like" Zimber explains, "wow" Myodes awes as Saffo arrives with some aquatic arthropods she caught, "here we go" she presents and they get to lighting a fire to roast the arthropods and warm themselves up, but the scent of cooking drew unwanted attention: a Neovenator was patrolling its territory when it caught the scent of fire and the sweet aroma of burned food, this dinosaur has experience with these scents: when there's fire, there's food, either what the beasts were eating or the beasts themselves. Either way it found something to eat. 
The woodlanders were enjoying their meal when they felt the ground shake, and a European green woodpecker even emerges from its hole to investigate. "Did you guys feel that?" Pryce asks as another tremor rippled: making the water move and some snow fall from trees, plus several gadwall-ducks residing by the frozen-river become uneasy, "we better put out the fire, we can eat on the go" Zimber suddenly suggested and hurriedly they smother the fire with snow and packed their stuff, then walk off while eating. The ducks in turn fly off while the woodpecker returned to its hole to hide. Not but ten seconds after the dinosaur finds the campsite, disappointed that the campers had left with the food, probably having detected the dinosaur's approach, but it did catch their scents and follows it.
----
In the fjord where Riftgard sits, Nihilus decides it is time to strike: his horde was getting impatient anyway. After reading Talpa's reports, Nihilus decided on the backdoor, and had Talpa informed of that, but had Tritannus take out any guards he finds with his darts first, which Talpa would tie up and hide anywhere he could. Tritannus loads his blowpipe with a dart while surveying from the northeast-tower. He spotted an otter-guard, took aim and fires, hitting square in the neck. The otter passes out unable to move when Talpa himself (armed with a dagger) arrives and drags the otter away. Tritannus smiles in satisfaction at seeing the mole, then flies off down to Nihilus waiting among the trees. "Got all the guards" Tritannus whispers, Nihilus nods, "good job, now we just have to wait for Talpa to let us in" he says, and in ten-minutes Talpa opens the door, "come on in" he beckons and his friends happily do so. Unlike most toads who prefer tridents, Nihilus wields a pike and a broadsword so to stand out among toads more, "I can take you to the queen and king" Talpa offers, "certainly, Tritannus, take a score to the guard's dormitories to subdue those guards that are asleep, Vezok, you and a score round up the civilians, Talpa, you go find the princess, Mustela you and a few others head to the prince, the queen and king are mine" Nihilus directs and they spread off.
In Vaniel's bedroom, the otter prince was having trouble sleeping due to having some strange dream about a mouse who looked like an older version of Martin. He looked out the window, though could've sworn he saw light flickering on the cliffs, meaning it was a fire, but who? Following the ghost-mouse's advice, he gets dressed, dons armor his mom also gave him and brings his spears. Opening the door, he proceeds slowly down the hall when another door opens and out comes Dile with his own weapons, but jumps at seeing Vaniel. "Oh you scared me Vaniel" he expressed, "you can't sleep?" Vaniel asks, "no, I just got this weird-" Dile began but was interrupted by another door opening and revealing Wibble, "what are you two doing?" she asks, but has a good guess, "huh seems like we all can't sleep...what's that?" Vaniel answers when he hears footsteps coming from the hall, a lot of footsteps, instinctively they draw out their weapons, feeling a sense of dread coming, and sure enough out of the darkness came a ferret.
In the queen and king's chamber, Nihilus enters with a few other vermin. He spies the couple sleeping happily in their roofed-bed when he and a rat wearing a white-tunic and belt named Sharpfang grab the otters, instantly waking them up. "What the?" Osclor almost screamed but was silenced by Nihilus drawing his sword to her, "your days of ruling are over" he whispers menacingly.
----
On the southern shores of the fjord, a badger sets up a tent and looks at the distance: she could slightly see a fortress ahead. "Ah there it is, Riftgard" she says before going to sleep in the tent, not knowing what was happening.
==Chapter five==
On the mainland, Zimber, Pryce, Myodes and Saffo have chosen to settle for the night, hoping they put some distance between themselves and whatever made the ground shake. The teens were now asleep, Zimber choosing to stand guard since they were still vulnerable out here. Polishing his saber, he looks around the darkness for anything out of the ordinary, but saw nothing. Not convinced they were alone, he gets up and walks off into the woods to make sure nothing's hunting them. What he didn't know was that something was watching him, but turned to the camp. 
Inside one tent, Saffo was asleep when she felt the ground shake slightly, and heard what sounded like giant feet. Suddenly a massive shadow engulfs them from outside, circles around to the entryway and pokes its head in, and that's when Saffo recognized the creature: a Neovenator. I thought they were only a myth she thought but lay still, her hatchet clutched to her when Myodes wakes up, "what's..." she whispers but froze when she heard the obvious right next to her, she eyes her chained mace and sticks her hand out slowly toward it, fearing the dinosaur might see the movement and attack. 
Right outside, Pryce awakens and nearly jumps when he saw the beast sticking its head into the girls' tent. Quickly drawing Martin's sword, he scoops up a snowball and throws it the dinosaur, hitting it on the right-hip and startling it to rise with the tent on its head, and that's when all hell broke loose. "Run" Saffo said to Myodes who complies, grabs her flail and both dash off, all three teens making a run for it while the theropod was busy getting the tent off.
Elsewhere, Zimber was finally returning when he saw something watching him from a burrow, then revealed itself to be an adder. "Uh oh" he mutters, probably having disturbed it without knowing, then both jump at a big roar echoing in the direction of the camp, alarming Zimber into bolting back, forgetting the snake and crashing into the teens, "oh dad there you are" Pryce expresses until he saw the snake show up: having followed Zimber. The dinosaur had followed too, but now the reptiles focused on each other out of competitiveness. "Move" Zimber orders and all four woodlanders leap away as the two reptiles clash: the adder chomps on the theropod's neck, injecting venom, but the dinosaur wasn't fazed and struggles, eventually breaking free. The snake tries to wrap itself around the Neovenator, but the clawing from the dinosaur's hands repel the serpent, then the dinosaur chomps onto the neck. The snake flails desperately but it was no use: the neck twists and a crunch was heard from it, then the snake gets flung to the ground, dead. The Neovenator stands victorious over its new meal, the woodlanders all but forgotten. A feast like this will last him for weeks. In its victory, it draws its head back and roars into the night, making everything in hearing range shiver.
----
As for the woodlanders, they ran for their lives until finally being forced to stop by exhaustion. Once they got their breath back, they checked themselves over for injuries. "I think we lost them" Zimber pants, "what was that thing, the one with limbs?" Myodes asks while sitting on a rock, "I know: a Neovenator" Saffo answers, "a what?" Pryce asks, "Neovenator, a dinosaur" Saffo repeats, "I thought they were just a myth" Pryce remarks, "obviously not, and judging by that big roar, that snake it tackled is no more" Zimber comments, "well we lost one of our bags in the skirmish, where are we gonna sleep?" Myodes asks, "lets keep moving, we'll stop when one of us gets tired" Zimber suggests and they walk off, leaving their campsite and a happy dinosaur behind.
----
Back at Riftgard, it was complete mayhem. It was Vaniel's luck to find vermin in the fortress, but Mustela hadn't expected him (and his friends) to be wide awake. The brawl it resulted drew everyone else out of their rooms and into the fight. Most of these defenders being fellow teenagers, but they were willing to fight for the prince. Said prince had gotten away with a heavy heart: the thought of leaving so many teens to die didn't sit well with him, and it was one of the reasons he hates being a prince. They turned to the guard-dormitories, only to see the guards as prisoners to more vermin, and Tritannus spots them. "What the?" he mutters but was forced to drop from an arrow fired by Wibble, "get them" he orders some vermin who comply. 
Vaniel Wibble and Dile make it out on a wall-walk and see down below more vermin gathering up the inhabitants, two of which were Vaniel's parents. "Oh no they got mom and dad too" he gasps, then heard screaming up ahead and saw Korlac running for her life, Talpa and some other vermin chasing her, "sis!" he calls, but Talpa catches her first, "nice try brat" he taunts, "what are you doing mole?" Dile gasps, "what do you think? I'm taking her hostage" Talpa admits, "but you're a mole, moles aren't evil" Wibble notes, though that's when Vaniel recalled his dream, "Beware of the mole, for he is not like the rest, you must escape Riftgard and get to the mainland, that is your test" it said and Vaniel suddenly realized who this mole really was, "you're a spy" he discovers, "I didn't think you'd catch on: after all no one would suspect a mole to be bad" Talpa chuckles while Mustela arrives from behind and sees the standoff, "let my sister go" Vaniel demands, "not a chance, if you want her to live, put your weapons away" Talpa bribes, "and your surrounded, you don't stand a chance" Mustela adds, making the three teen woodlanders look at each other, but they complied, however Vaniel had another trick up his sleeve: he grabs his friends and jumps off the wall to the ground below, "he didn't" Talpa gasps looking down, the fall lasted for about three and a half seconds, Vaniel intentionally placing himself beneath his friends with Dile in the middle and Wibble above them both, they landed on soft snow, but the impact still winded them and though they were sore, they somehow survived, "it's not over yet: come on" Mustela orders and he and his band rush back to the stairs.
Down below, Wibble Dile and Vaniel couldn't believe their luck: Vaniel took the brunt of the impact, but his armor helped keep from being too hurt. Sadly the armor itself was damaged and therefore useless, but he'll have to worry about that later. "You gonna explain why you did that? you almost got us killed" Wibble fumed while helping the otter up, "personally I'd rather die than be prisoner" Dile remarks and sees the vermin on the wall were dispersing, "we better move" he orders and they agree, Vaniel ripping his armor off along the way until he was back in his bare-chested self.
By the time Mustela arrived at the scene of the crime they were too late. "Curses they survived" he swears but sees the footprints and follows them.
==Chapter six==
The three teens keep running, eventually reaching a rocky outcrop where a cave was. "Over here, we can escape in this cave" Vaniel informs pushing a rock out of the way, "but won't they follow us?" Wibble asks, "I had found this cave seasons ago, and when I showed mom and dad, mom thought it would make the perfect escape plan, one tunnel heads to the sea" Vaniel answers, "well just incase" Wibble says and goes back in the snow, then walks back and forth between two trees to confuse the vermin following them, then while keeping on the footprints leading to the cave, she takes out her bow and brushes it behind her to erase the prints while Dile and Vaniel climb into the cave, "hurry Wibble, I can hear them" Vaniel calls and just in time she finishes and Vaniel pulls the same rock to hide the cave, then they climb down and flee down the cave.
Up above, Mustela and his followers arrive at the scene, but become confused at seeing the footprints split to two trees. "Lets light the trees, that'll get them out" said a weasel, "no that'll set the whole grove on fire, besides they aren't as good as squirrels, it must be a trick" Mustela deduces and looks in the snow surrounding the footprints: ahead to the rocks, he noticed that the snow looked liked it was brushed, like..."aha, they were trying to trick us, but they really went to the rocks, follow me" he orders and investigates the outcrop.
----
Back in Riftgard, Nihilus has lined up the prisoners. "Allow me to introduce myself: I am Nihilus the Fiend, the first toad warlord in history, and you are now my slaves" he declares, "gr, Nowl never serve bad-toad" Nowl growls, "be careful what you wish for" Nihilus warns when Talpa arrives with Korlac, "what happened to the prince?" Nihilus asks, "hurr he and two others made the dumb decision to jump off the wall" Talpa answers causing the prisoners to gasp, "I hope he was wearing his armor" Osclor prays though Nihilus heard her, "what was that?" he demands, "nothing" she lies, "Mustela is going after them, certain they aren't dead" Talpa informs earning a nod from Nihilus, "toss her in with the other children" he orders and Talpa does, laying Korlac with several others surrounded by vermin, Nihilus then turns his attention to all the prisoners, "as I mentioned before, you are all now slaves, but slack or revolt, and well...you can consider yourselves served, as food to us" he warns making some prisoners tremble, "though that doesn't apply to babes and dibbuns" Nihilus suddenly adds and all babes and dibbuns cheer at their luck, until Nihilus adds "but we will take them and raise them into bad-beasts", at this the babes and dibbuns fell silent and some began to cry, "but I don't wanna be evil" said a shrew-boy, though this would only be the beginning.
----
As for the prince and his two friends, they hurried into a chamber with two passageways, stopping to catch their breath. "I think we're safe now" Dile notes while massaging his foot: the rocky ground was uncomfortable and in some places treacherous; he nearly tripped or fell on a stalagmite once or twice due to how hard it was to see, "well, I don't know about you guys, but lets reach the end that leads to the coast, then we can rest" Vaniel suggests, "okay, which way do we go?" Wibble asks, "see the carving in the floor?" Vaniel points and indeed there was a carving in the ground, looking like a directory, "we just came from this tunnel marked 'W'" the otter points at the 'W' on the rock, "this one has 'R' for the main road leading to Riftgard, and this one has 'B' for beach, and that's where we need to go" he concludes and together they head down the tunnel marked 'B'.
==Chapter seven==
Dawn arrives over the island. The badger that spent the night on the beach eventually wakes ups, has some breakfast, then packs up and continues to Riftgard, unaware of the recent events.
----
In a cave not far from the coast, Vaniel Dile and Wibble lay sleeping, though the sunlight entering the cave forced them awake. They had gotten far into the cave before succumbing to sleep. They made sure to sleep behind rocks facing the exit, but it was now late morning and therefore the sunlight got further enough to reach them. Finally Vaniel gave up and awoke, and sees Wibble getting up. "Ugh, note to self, never sleep on bare rock" she recommends and turns to Dile, "hey Dile wake up" she urges but he stays asleep, and mumbles, "wake up" she repeats louder and Dile does wake up, "aw, I was having a nice dream" he groans, "I don't know how you could have a nice dream while sleeping on stone" Wibble skeptically notes, "well no matter, let's get out and to the pier so we can get away from here" Vaniel proposes putting his chest-strap back on and the three head to the exit, when they emerge they find themselves uphill of Riftgard, the pier could be seen in the distance, "there's the pier, we just need to take the most ready boat and we're outa here" Vaniel concludes and they jog the rest of the way.
----
At the other end of the cave, Mustela and his trackers found the way in and were now trekking at this very moment. "Hehe, those delinquents thought they could outsmart us, but I'm not as stupid as some woodlanders make us vermin look like" he chuckles and marches on with his band.
----
At Redwall, things were going okay. On the wall-top stood a male vole wearing a guard-uniform. This was Myodes' father Onewa Lightpaw. He takes his job very seriously, especially since they don't have a champion at the moment. He was well known for being a fighter, and taught his daughter about combat since she was a little girl. His focus was interrupted by squabbling down below, and upon turning sees the usual dibbuns-against-bedtime up to their tricks again, while being chased by several adults. "Skarloey!" shouted Noptar chasing his boy, Onewa couldn't help feeling sympathetic: Myodes was like this too seasons before, he wondered if he should help catch the rogues, but Depa had caught Adorjan, and a female mole wearing a dark-purple dress and dark-beige skirt catches Skarloey, and Teedle was caught by her dad, "aw mom" Skarloey complains, and yes: this mole was his mom, named Yaddle, "now what are you doing this time?" she demands, "nothing" Skarloey lies until Oppo shows up, "I caught them stealing paint and draw on the gatehouse" the rabbit informs, much to the dibbuns' dismay, but the evidence was on them: their faces and hands were smothered in paint, "double bath-time for you three" Sunspot declares which was met with whining and protests, much to Onewa's amusement, "some things never change" he jokes before returning to looking out across the woods, where a few long-tailed tits fly by.
==Chapter eight==
Vaniel, Dile and Wibble arrive at the pier and had selected the first boat they found good to go: a catamaran-like vessel similar to the Freebeast from the time of Martin-II. It was made of wood, but the hull was fitted with metal-plates to protect it against icebergs. Even so, Vaniel decided to clear a path in the water (being half-sea otter, he wasn't bothered) while the hedgehog and mouse prep the ship, and when Vaniel was finished the ship was launched away. Vaniel climbed onboard when it approached. "So where to?" Wibble asks the prince, "well, we'll have to ask the badger lord of Salamandastron for aid, that place is the closest to us" Vaniel deduces and directs the sail to face eastward to the mainland, "well, I just hope everyone back home can wait that long" Dile laments as they sailed into the ice-infested sea.
----
A few hours later, Mustela emerges uphill. He cleverly knew this cave would lead to inside the fjord after finding what looked like a directory on the cave-floor and followed the letter 'B' in the rock, and sure enough he found footprints in the snow leading away from the cave toward the pier, though this alarmed him: if they were at the pier, then they would escape the island. "Hurry, we must not let them escape" he cries and runs down the beach, the others follow, but soon fell behind, though by the time Mustela made it, he sees he was too late: a boat was missing and the icebergs look like they were moved. Mustela slumps on the boardwalk just when his partners arrive, and Tritannus. "Mustela, what's wrong?" the bird asks, "we're too late: the prince escaped by boat" Mustela admits, "well, at least we're doing better: a badger showed up and fell into our trap" Tritannus shrugs, "a badger?" Mustela asks, "come, you need to report anyway" Tritannus beckons and the ferret fallows.
----
At Riftgard, Nihilus stands in front of the captured-badger after Talpa once again plays a woodlander for a fool. Apparently this was the badger that was expected to come here, too bad she was a little late to the party. "And what be your name miss?" Nihilus asks, "My name be Gald Bowstripe, descendant of Lonna Bowstripe the seer badger" she introduces bravely, "ah the seer badger, you get visions of the future?" Nihilus wonders, "no, only my brother had gotten that power, but he's at Salamandastron" Gald admits, "I see, but I have no interest in seers, it's all a bunch of mumbo-jumbo" Nihilus dismisses and with a flick of his wrist has Vezok drag her to the dungeons below.
In the dungeons, Osclor, Potamo, Nowl, Helia and several other woodlanders were kept in cells, only being let out to do chores. Nowl was napping when he was awoken by a door opening and a grunt from being thrown in. "Hey what going on?" he demands, "nothing" Vezok lies and locks the cell, then leaves, allowing Nowl to get a view and to his horror, it was a lady-badger, "badger? badger?" he whispers once he was sure Vezok left, "I'm alright" she answers, "what's going on? who is that?" said Osclor's voice, "I'm Gald Bowstripe, I took an invite to be the badger-mum of Riftgard, but I can see I arrived at a bad time" Gald responds, "afraid so, I'm Osclor Wildlough, the queen of Riftgard, my husband is Potamo, we also have a son named Vaniel and a daughter named Korlac" Osclor responds back, "where are your kids?" Gald asks, "Korlac's being corrupted by that ugly amphibian, along with the majority of our children" Potamo answers, "that fiend" Gald growls, "that's what he calls himself: Nihilus the Fiend" Helia's voice responds, "at least Vaniel got away with two others: they can take care of themselves, and are no doubt getting help" Osclor says, "Nowl hopes so" Nowl prays.
----
Back in the otters' throne room, Mustela was with Nihilus. The toad was slightly disappointed in the ferret's failure, but sees no reason to make Mustela sorry or panic, still he decides to not take any chances. "The prince must not be allowed to return" he growls, "he and his friends are mere rookies, send me and Vezok after him: we shall not fail" Tritannus offers, "go, be sure to bring him back in ropes, or kill him, whichever you need most" Nihilus orders and the cat and bird leave.
==Chapter nine==
Pryce, his dad, Myodes and Saffo have the misfortune of being caught in a snowstorm while trekking through the open flatland near the Moss River, and it was getting bad. "Please tell me we're near some village or something?" Myodes shouts desperately, "we should be near one in a few minutes" Zimber assures, "you already are near me" shouted an unknown voice and out of the wind steps a male magpie dressed in a green-cloak and belt, "I'm Rheneas, and you three look like you could use some fire" the bird notes, "three? but there's..." Pryce corrects until he sees their otter is missing, "oh no Saffo's missing" he gasps and was about to run out to look, but his dad stops him, "Pryce no, if you go out there you'll freeze to death and get lost too, and that's the last thing we need" Zimber forbids, "but we-" Pryce argues, "I know, and I don't wanna, but no one will help her if we all go out and die" Zimber interrupts, "you're father has a point: come, you'll be safe in my cabin" Rheneas beckons and the three mammals follow.
Elsewhere, Saffo had taken a wrong turn and found herself further from the river than she intended, and worse she was alone, and cold. "Hello" she shouts but gets no answer, and just when she was about to pass out from hypothermia, she spots a cave in the distance, "oh thank heavens" she wheezed and with as much as she can muster, stomps to it and makes it before succumbing to the cold, but decided to go further to get away from the entrance and actually felt a welcoming warmth in this cave, and saw light coming from inside, meaning she wasn't alone in here. "Hello?" she asks shyly, her voice echoing down the tunnel, "who goes there, there" said a bat-like voice and a shape comes into view, "I'm on your side, just trying to get out of the storm" Saffo assures and a bat comes into view, "oh my gosh, gosh, come in, in" it demands and practically grabs Saffo and drags her to the fire, where more bats were gathered, but look up when they see the otter, "holy smokes young-maid, young-maid, come warm up, up" said a female bat who appears to be the leader of the group, "thank you, I'm Saffo" the otter introduces, "I am Lord Blackear, Lord Blackear, welcome to our domain, domain" the female bat welcomes and they make sure Saffo gets comfortable.
----
Out at sea, things were actually okay for the most part. Dile was steering the ship while Wibble was using a pole to push icebergs away from the boat, and Vaniel was gathering seafood. "Here we go, fresh European anchovies" he says presenting a net full of fish, "you should be careful Vaniel, there could be dangerous creatures in the water" Wibble warns, "oh please, sharks aren't around at this time of year" Vaniel argues, but he was only half right: while sharks wouldn't be active in the frigid water, something else is, something more...prehistoric. Not far away from the boat, a fishlike form with reptilian features begins following.
----
Back on Riftgard, Vezok and Tritannus had taken a boat of their own and were heading to wherever the otter prince was. "Uh, you think they went this way?" Vezok asks dumbly, much to Tritannus' annoyance, "why do I bother?" the skua complains to himself as they set off.
==Chapter ten==
A new day dawns on the mainland. Saffo was fortunate enough to have stumbled into a cave full of bats, who took her in and warmed her up. Now she was setting off to find her friends: the temperature has warmed slightly and there was no wind. "Are you sure you want to head out, out?" asks lord Blackear, "I have to: my friends are still out there and no doubt worried about me" Saffo maintains, "well you should check with Rheneas, Rheneas, he's a magpie, magpie, but a nice guy, nice guy" Blackear suggests, though Saffo wasn't sure: magpies were vermin-birds, and like the mammalian-vermin, tend to be mean and nasty, "I'll give it a chance" she shrugs and left to do so.
Coincidentally, Rheneas was also looking for her: after getting the dormice and vole to his cabin, they told of an otter that was lost and could be freezing to death. Rheneas set off as soon as possible, his first thought was to check the bat-cave. This wasn't the first time he had to search for lost adventurers. He flew close to the canopy incase there was something in the trees, which is the likeliest place to look. He keeps his eyes diagonally focused while scanning the ground, and sure enough he saw something that stood out: he swerves and dives into the branches and indeed it was an otter. "Hello there" he greets, "hello?" the otter returns unsurely, "you wouldn't happen to be named Saffo would you?" the bird suspects, "how did you...who are you?" the otter asks, and yes it was indeed Saffo, "I am Rheneas, and I found two dormice and a vole that know you, they're names are Zimber Pryce and Myodes" Rheneas reveals, "that's them, oh thank goodness" Saffo gasps relieved, "they're at my cabin just ahead, come I'll take you to them" Rheneas gestures and gets airborne, but keeping slow to make sure Saffo was in view. 
Up ahead, Saffo saw the cabin and three figures, closer examination revealed it was indeed her friends. She excitably bursts from the trees over to them. "Guys" she calls and they were happy to see her, "you're alive" Pryce gasps as Rheneas rejoins them, "I was found by bats and spent the night with them" Saffo reveals, "Lord Blackear? I should've known" Rheneas chuckles, "you know them?" Saffo asks, "we're neighbors, and she's helped as many lost adventurers as I have, that was the first place I thought you would be" Rheneas claims, "well tell her you both have our thanks, but we got to get going" Zimber says and they set off, "goodbye, and try to stay together when you reach the coast" Rheneas waves which the mammals return until they couldn't see each other.
----
Back on Riftgard, all was not as peaceful. In the training room, several children (all dibbuns and big kids) were gathered together while a weasel wearing a turquoise-shirt, dark-brown pants and a beige renaissance-cap named Blackeye (named because of his habit of punching people in the face and giving them black-eyes) paced in front of them. "Youngsters, today you start as newbies for our leader, and in a few seasons, you will be full fledged killing-machines" he declares, "but I don't wanna kill" said a hare-boy, but this only got him grabbed and drawn to the weasel's face, "too bad, you're gonna be evil and you'll like it, besides: ever heard of the saying 'it's good to be bad'?" Blackeye argues, "and those who accept get candied-chestnuts" announced a male marten wearing a grey-surcoat and cloth-wrapped hands named Flatfoot, which is an understatement as his feet do look flat. A few kids succumb to the bribe, though Korlac was torn between getting the treats and staying good. Big brother, where are you? she thought: wherever he was, she hoped he was coming back.
----
At Redwall, things were about to change. Blackfire decided the time to strike was now, and was walking to Redwall alone. She decided not to bring her army with her, feeling that it would give the redwallers an advantage to what they'll face. No, she thought it was better to show up alone and pretend to be the only enemy, and if any of them leave to get help or find out her secrets, well she already had plans for both incase they happen. She emerges from the woods and is spotted by Onewa. "Who goes there?" he calls, "I'm just a traveler, would you be so kind to let me in?" she requests, "leave your weapons out here, then you can come in" Onewa advises though Blackfire figured as much, "I left my weapons at my camp a little ways away, I'm unarmed" she claims and opens her cloak to prove it, Onewa shrugs and turns to Tahu, "open the gate Tahu" the vole calls and the gates get raised, then Blackfire is welcomed into the Great-Hall. She saw the tapestry, and recalls how valued it is by this place. She'd have to do something about that. Ahead she sees the usual guards and the abbey-leaders: one was Sunspot the badger-mum, which Blackfire reasoned was definitely the biggest threat present, though Blackfire wasn't worried: she knew their weaknesses, and they were fun to fight. Beside her was the abbot, odd as it was a sparrow, though Blackfire doubted it meant anything different. She also spotted an otter, a rabbit, a mole and the usual civilians. "Killee welcome to Redwall stranger" Wingbreath greets, "what brings you here?" Sunspot takes over, making Blackfire grin, "just this...conquest" she declares revealing herself, making everyone gasp, "rat!" Onewa gasps and readies his spear, prompting other guards to ready their weapons, but Blackfire wasn't intimidated, instead she simply giggles, "what's so funny?" Sunspot growls, "you guys: you call yourselves peaceful, and yet here you have guards and this place has claimed more villainous lives than I can count, ironic isn't it?" Blackfire jokes, "just because we adhere to peace doesn't mean we won't defend ourselves" Depa counters, "too true" Blackfire agrees, "allow me to introduce myself, I am Blackfire Warfang, descendant of Damug Warfang" she announced to all, "how's that possible?" Noptar asks, "eh who knows" Blackfire shrugs, "doesn't matter, you're a fool to come here alone" Sunspot warns, "well, if you want to avoid giving up some lives, I suggest you hand over this place and I'll let you all go free" Blackfire retorts, "you and what army?" Oppo asks, "oh I'm not stupid, I have an army, you'll see" she answers and turns around and runs out the door, "oh no you don't" Onewa yells and chases her, intending to end the threat before it even begins, "Onewa wait" Noptar calls, but it was too late: both rat and vole are out the door and disappear into the woods.
Blackfire was running back to her camp with Onewa right behind her. She had figured this would happen, just as Ogron claimed in one of his visions. She sped off as fast as possible, but kept in Onewa's sight. 
Up ahead, her horde had set up camp and were just chilling, being supervised by Ogron and Sidorak. They perk up when they hear sounds coming from the woods. "Get ready, she's coming back" Sidorak orders and draws out a bolas, and in a flash Blackfire bursts from the foliage and turns to face where she came from, and in a second Onewa arrives, skidding at seeing the vast army behind Blackfire, but before he could turn and run, Sidorak threw the bolas and snares the vole, forcing him to his knees, "gotcha" he cheers while Blackfire walks up to Onewa, "pretty stupid to follow me" she taunts while Onewa gulps.
==Chapter eleven==
Out at sea, Vaniel Dile and Wibble continue to the mainland. It had been over a day since they fled Riftgard, but were near the coast now. Out of all the teens, Dile was the happiest to see land: the seafood Vaniel had gathered was giving him bellyaches and as a result, he was forced to squat over the stern to relieve himself. At the moment he was feeling better, somewhat. "You okay Dile?" Vaniel's voice asks startling the mouse, "no thanks to you, and have you ever heard of privacy?" Dile snaps, "oh relax, I loved following the otter custom of going around naked" Vaniel giggles, "yeah like when your mom forced you to show off your manhood to the girls" Dile recalls making Vaniel blush, but it was true: when Vaniel reached puberty and his hormones were letting themselves known, Osclor had forced him to wear a codpiece to prove he had the healthiest nether-regions, Vaniel less than enjoyed it: some brave beasts (mainly other teens) laughed when they thought he was out of hearing range, and even Dile and Wibble thought it was funny, though Potamo claims it's important for a prince to make sure you can pass on your genes, "very funny" Vaniel retorts and swims ahead of the boat to clear a path when he suddenly spotted something move in the water, "what's wrong Vaniel?" Wibble calls, "I think I saw something big swim by" the otter claims and that made Wibble nervous.
Underwater, a creature was stalking. Like the Neovenator on land, this animal was often confined to myth, and is closely related. Often a menace to boats and sea otters, it looked like a mutated shark at first glance, but had reptilian features and couldn't breath water. It surfaces to breath, letting off a geyser from its nose, loud enough to alert Dile. "What was that?" the mouse asks but sees nothing. Suddenly the boat was rammed with such force that Dile went flying, plunging into the frigid-water, and the boat toward an iceberg beams first, which break and splinter on impact. "Hang on Dile" Vaniel shouts and dives with both spears drawn, and sees the attacker: an ichthyosaur: another prehistoric reptile that is fishlike in appearance, but was all reptile. This species is known as Platypterygius. One of the latest of ichthyosaurs to appear on earth, it could give the killer whale a run for its money. They're willing to eat any creature they can sink their teeth into, including mammals. Vaniel reaches Dile first and thrust his spears forward to repel the great reptile, then brings Dile to the boat. "Ugh I was afraid I'd be in the water" Dile complains shivering, "couldn't be as bad as being eaten by an aquatic dinosaur" Vaniel suggests pointing behind them where the ichthyosaur was coming over, "ah crud" Dile gasps and swims faster, just in time for Wibble to hull him up, "you alright Dile?" she asks as she then helps Vaniel onboard, "I'm soaking wet and cold, but alive" Dile answers when the boat was rammed again in the bow, sending them into another iceberg and damaging the rudder, "I can't control it" Wibble yells when all of a sudden the Platypterygius launches itself up and lands on the bow, tilting the boat toward its maw, Wibble was fortunate to be hanging onto a rope when it happened, while Vaniel dug one of his spears into the deck to secure himself and grabs Dile who was nearing reach to the snapping jaws, the ichthyosaur also using its flippers to crawl up to its prey, "Wibble, if you have your bow and arrows, now would be a good time to use them" Dile screams, and Wibble, while securing herself with her legs grabs her bow and one arrow, then aims and fires, hitting it in the face, "direct hit" she cheers as the reptile howls in pain and scoots back into the water, but Vaniel notices the water creeping toward them, "we're sinking" he shouts, the ichthyosaur's second and third rams damaged the bow so hard the metal-coverings got bent and the wood behind them broke, allowing water in, "Wibble take Dile and swing to the nearest iceberg" Vaniel orders and throws Dile to the hedgehog who catches him, "but what about you?" she asks, "I won't get hypothermic, I'll be fine" Vaniel assures and drops into the water, then swims over and joins the hedgehog and mouse in hopping from iceberg-to-iceberg, but the Platypterygius wasn't giving up and follows, Vaniel sees the shore a little closer and sees the ichthyosaur approaching from the opposite direction, "get ready, I got an idea" he orders and they brace themselves, and instantly the ichthyosaur rams their iceberg so hard they went flying even closer to the shore, and seeing this Wibble and Dile take the chance to go in the water and swim the rest of the way, eventually reaching waist-deep (for Vaniel at least) water and make it. 
The Platypterygius, shocked to see it had unwittingly helped its prey escape, growls and swims away to find an easier target. "I never thought I'd see one" Wibble remarks, "what was that thing?" Dile wonders rubbing himself to warm up, "I think that was an ichthyosaur: a reptile that looks like a shark" Vaniel identifies, "it is, that one must've been a Platypterygius, one of the more dangerous ones" Wibble informs, "I thought they were just a myth" Vaniel notes, "let's find shelter, and get you warmed up" Wibble suggests, the last part to Dile and neither boys argue.
----
Back at Redwall, things were looking grim. Noptar was standing on the wall-platform looking for Onewa; he and the vole were childhood-friends. It's been hours and he still hasn't returned. "You okay foremole?" Depa asks, "no, Onewa's been gone a long time" Noptar says, "Onewa can take care of himself, he'll show up" Depa assures, "but there's Blackfire and who-knows-how many she has, what if he's been captured?" the foremole wonders and Depa couldn't argue with that, but before she could say anything else, a commotion down below in the abbey caught there attention. Once again the dibbuns-against-bedtime were at their usual tricks: being chased by Sister Diffen. "Get back here you rogues, I'll have your heads!" she shouts, though Teedle was caught by Sunspot while the boys were stopped by Oppo and Wingbreath, "killee, what did dibbun-worms do this time?" the bird demands, "broke my window with one of their toys, that's what" Diffen answers hotly, "it was an accident, honest" Adorjan claims, Noptar was pulling his head-fur: he had enough problems without his son and his friends becoming one of them, angrily he marches down the stairs, "oh boy" Depa whispers while following, "Skarloey!" the foremole shouts startling everybody, "so you broke Diffen's window eh?" Noptar growls, "we didn't mean to, and it was Adorjan, not me" Skarloey pleads, "accident or not, you still had been involved, no treats and double chores for you, 'cause you're grounded" the foremole declares, "what?!" Skarloey gasps, "no excuses, now march yourself to your room" Noptar demands, "yes dad" Skarloey concedes reluctantly, "that goes for you two as well" Sunspot announces to Teedle and Adorjan, "awe" they complain, "too bad, now off you go" Sunspot orders and they comply, "I don't know what's worse: Onewa missing, Blackfire and who-knows-what she has, or those three dibbuns?" the foremole rants while thinking of Onewa.
----
Outside Redwall, Onewa was anything but fine: he was kept in a tent with his hands tied behind his back. Blackfire checks on him. "Comfortable?" she asks, but the vole only growls and turns away, "I'll take that as a yes" she shrugs and left, finding a frantic Ogron running to her, "lord Blackfire, I had another vision" he pants, "what about?" Blackfire asks, "an otter will leave the abbey, either any minute now or tomorrow or so" Ogron answers, "I remember seeing an otter during my visit, was the one you saw female and wearing a green-habit?" Blackfire presses, "yes, she was going out a door, but then it got clouded with a warrior mouse" Ogron answers, the last part stunning Blackfire, "so the rumors are true: Martin's ghost does haunt the abbey" she suspects, causing some murmuring, "uh I don't like ghosts" said a male rat wearing a yellow-renaissance-shirt, beige-pants and was named Bashknee, "oh grow up Bashknee, sure the ghost picks the defenders and harasses invaders, but it can't directly hurt us, as far as I know it never has harmed anyone itself" Blackfire chastises, then turns to Ogron, "got any clue as to when your vision took place?" she asks, "yes, when the otter opened the door, I saw it was bright and sunny out, right before it was clouded over" the stoat claims and Blackfire looks at the sun, which was nearing dusk, "then it won't happen today" she deduces and loads a blowpipe with darts full of sleeping-potions, then finds a European greenfinch perched on a branch nearby. Licking her lips, she aims and fires one dart at the bird, knocking it off the branch and killing it. She wasn't gonna plot on an empty-stomach.
==Chapter twelve==
At Riftgard, Nihilus was sitting in the queen and king's bedroom with said queen and king present. They winced when they heard screaming outside, meaning either some vermin were getting into a fight or a child was goaded into committing a murder. Either way they hated it. "Can you feel it river-dogs? you're children are becoming the very thing you hate the most" Nihilus taunts, "you're sick" Potamo growls, "I know" Nihilus says giddily, "as soon as our son returns you'll be sorry you even came here" Osclor vows, "I think not, for I have sent my feline and avian-friends to take him out" Nihilus reveals, "even if he is dead, as long as at least one of us royals is alive, the others will have reason to fight back" Osclor states, "oh I know, but I'm already planning to remove you from this world" he claims much to the otters' horror, and with a snap of the toad's slimy-fingers two rats arrive and haul the otters away, with Nihilus following, though not before telling another rat to spread the word about his intention.
Outside the fortress, both horde and prisoners lay present right in front of the building. Osclor and Potamo were tied back-to-back, while Nihilus polishes his pike, then he turns to the audience. "As you can see, three of us are rulers of this fortress, but only one can have it all, so I reasoned if these two must go, they shall go together" he announced, Nowl struggles against his restraints: he had vowed to protect the royal otters by any means necessary, but here he was helpless as he watched Nihilus rush in with his pike, skewering both otters (Osclor first, Potamo second) in a row, sparking gasps from the prisoners and cheers from the vermin, "mommy, daddy!" Korlac screeches and runs over, Talpa moved to stop her but Nihilus denies it, "let her come, she deserves to say her goodbyes" the toad reasoned and the princess was allowed entry, where she falls to her knees, "remember Korlac, we've always loved you and Vaniel...we always have...and always will" Osclor says before passing out forever, and Korlac could do nothing but cry, "do we kill the princess too?" Talpa asks, "no, I want to see if she can be turned to the dark-side, but if not, she will die" Nihilus requests, "Nihilus will pay, Nowl swears it!" Nowl roars and struggles harder, but it was hopeless: he had failed to protect the king and queen, and the sight of Korlac broke his heart. How was he gonna tell Vaniel?
All the slaves were forced back into the fortress now that their rulers were dead. Gald looks at Korlac and felt sorry for her. She was pushed to move, but Nihilus stops her. "You badger" the toad calls making both her and her captor halt, "come retrieve the princess so she doesn't get a cold, she'll trust you" he adds and Gald complies, "come on your majesty, we need to get inside" she entices, "no" Korlac refutes, "look, I'm sad too, but they'd want you to be strong, for me and others, can you do that?" Gald consoles, "I'll try" Korlac relents and Gald carries her back to the fortress.
----
At Redwall, things weren't going well here either. The dibbuns-against-bedtime were confined to their rooms and denied treats, only chores, and they hated it. Fortunately they weren't forbidden to be together, which was partially necessary. Currently they were plotting to runaway. "Okay, I don't know about you two, but I've had it with all the rules here, so I'm running away" Adorjan declares, "I'm in" Teedle adds eagerly, "so am I, but how will we get out?" Skarloey asks, "when the whole abbey's distracted, we make our move" Adorjan plans when they heard running right outside, "I spoke to soon" the badger guessed and opens the door, seeing a female shrew wearing a teal-bliaut and beige-wimple running down the hall, he gets her attention, "hey what's going on?" he asks, "Blackfire's back, I gotta ring the bell" the shrew answers and she hastily runs to the bell-tower, that was Ingrid, the first shrew to become Redwall's bell-ringer, "now's our chance" Adorjan whispers to his friends and they sneak out.
Up at the front of Redwall, Blackfire and a score of her army had arrived with Onewa. While Sunspot, Wingbreath, Yaddle, Depa, Noptar, and Tahu were present up top. "Onewa" Noptar gasps: he knew it! "so that's his name eh? no matter, either surrender the abbey, or the vole gets it, unless of course you want to meet us on our turf" Blackfire proposes, she knew they were gonna take the third option, last redwallers did, "meeting you on your turf it is rodent" Noptar yells, "have it your way" Blackfire shrugs and turns to her lackeys, "let's go" she orders and they obey, though when she was sure they were out of sight, she suddenly darts into the foliage, eventually circling around to a postern in the wall, and waits. If Ogron's vision was accurate, then the otter he saw will no doubt come out this way. Too soon someone was at the door and opening it. Blackfire poised her blowpipe. Was the otter leaving earlier than she expected? Her question was answered when to her shock, she sees three little dibbuns coming out instead. "We're out, now lets close the door" the badger orders and he, the squirrel and mole close it as quietly as possible, then run headlong into the woods, not even seeing Blackfire, who stood there gawking. What an unexpected turn of events. She was open to adding more hostages, but she had a better idea: those dibbuns displayed rebellion on their faces, meaning they must be runaways fed up with authority, she could use that to her advantage. Surely the abbey won't even try to fight their own children, even if they were the enemy, and all they want was to be their own boss. Smiling Blackfire follows them, not caring about the otter that's scheduled to leave anymore: there was no need.
==Chapter thirteen==
Out at sea, Tritannus and Vezok were continuing their quest to the mainland after Vaniel. Their trip had gone downhill when Vezok accidentally drove their boat right into an iceberg and it sunk. Unlike most cats Vezok could swim, but didn't exactly like doing so, especially in water that could freeze you to death. So here they were, Vezok riding an ice chunk while Tritannus pulled him in flight, almost like water-skiing. Vezok let go of Tritannus' right-leg to scratch an itch before looking at the skua. "Are we there yet?" he asks, much to Tritannus' irritation, "we would be if you paid attention to your driving" the bird chastises, "hey, it was foggy, how do you see through fog?" Vezok counters, "oh brother" Tritannus moans as they continue east, hopefully they'll make landfall by tomorrow or so.
----
On the mainland, three dibbuns had just broken out of Redwall and were milking their freedom. "Ah this is the life, no more baths, no more rules, no more chores" Adorjan lists, "and no more clothes" Skarloey suddenly adds and rips off his surcoat, now he was naked, but hardly felt the cold around him, not even when he began burrowing into the snow, "we have Blackfire to thank for this opportunity" Teedle notes, "you're welcome" said a fourth voice surprising all three dibbuns, who turn to where they heard said voice and right on cue, Blackfire steps out of the shadows, the dibbuns back up in fright, "oh man" Skarloey mutters, "relax, I don't wish to hurt you, just talk" Blackfire appeases crouching to look them in the eyes, "well what do you want?" Adorjan asks trying to sound brave, though Blackfire thought it was funny, "I overheard you talking about how miserable you all were in Redwall: they wouldn't let you have any fun would they?" she questions, making the kids look at each other, "no, not really" Adorjan admits, "exactly, that's so like them abbey-beasts: wanting to control you" Blackfire claims in the hopes to entice the dibbuns to her side, "you'd make better vermin than woodlanders, being a vermin is fun" she adds making the dibbuns look at each other unsurely, "I...I don't know" Teedle says hesitantly, though Blackfire just shrugs, "well if you wanna go back to Redwall and be their slaves, fine by me" she says and gets up to leave, "wait" Adorjan says stopping the rat, "vermin don't have to obey any rules and can do what they want?" the badger asks, "of course, we make our own rules, and do what we want when we want" Blackfire answers happily, "vermin don't do chores?" Adorjan asks, "only if we feel like it, though that doesn't happen often" Blackfire answers, "vermin don't need baths?" Adorjan asks again, "hahaha, I'm a rat, we don't do baths" Blackfire laughs at such a question, "then I'm in" Adorjan declares much to Teedle and Skarloey's shock, "what about you two? it'll be fun" Blackfire urges, "okay" Skarloey accepts, "well...if you say so" Teedle shrugs reluctantly, not as enthusiastic as the boys, "splendid, let's get to my camp before your folks find out you're gone, you'll be safe with me" Blackfire beckons and leaves, making the dibbuns follow her (Skarloey leaving his clothes behind too).
----
Back inside Redwall, Noptar was looking for Skarloey. "Where is that boy gone to now?" he groans, then runs into Tahu, "oh hey Tahu, you didn't happen to see Skarloey did you?" the mole asks, "no, but have you seen Teedle?" Tahu asks, "oh I know what that means" Noptar suddenly realizes as the current cellar-keeper, a female mouse wearing a green-kirtle with a chemise and a blue-wimple named Eliana Fieldmouse (a descendant of Cornflower Fieldmouse) shows up, "hey what's going on?" she asks the fathers, "both of our kids have disappeared, probably to avoid bedtime again" Brother Tahu answers, "well I haven't seen either them or Adorjan, but I did find one of the postern-doors left unlocked for some reason" Eliana answers and then all three froze looking at each other, "hurr you don't think...?" Noptar dreads but he didn't need to say more: it hit them like a ton of bricks, they immediately dash to the door Eliana was talking about and wretch it open, and their fears were confirmed in the snow, "they did!" Tahu gasps after seeing the footprints that could only have been made by dibbuns go into the woods, "oh they've certainly done it this time" Noptar growls and rushes out, Tahu and Eliana following.
==Chapter fourteen==
Back at the coast, a night and a half has passed since Vaniel Dile and Wibble had reached the mainland. Vaniel was being a typical boy doing boy things, like playing in the snow. "Come on prince, we don't have time for fun and games" Dile orders shivering, still a little blue from his swim in ice-cold water, "oh relax Dile, can't a prince have a little fun not doing royal duties for a change?" Vaniel groans as he sits up, digging snow out of his bellybutton, "we still gotta get help for our home, come on, I can see Salamandastron ahead" Wibble claims and Vaniel gets serious, "oh" he gasps and joins his friends, Wibble having lit a tree-branch she got for light.
After trekking for an hour, they find themselves at a hillside full of caves, some with beast-made objects in them or in front of them. "Looks like these caves are homes to somebody" Dile guesses, but upon closer examination on some objects revealed something else, "guys, I think we're at a holt" Vaniel suspects due to recognizing some of the tools belonging to otters, "I think you're right Vaniel" Wibble concludes and they get to searching, "hello" Dile yells, his voice travelling over the waves right beside the holt, but they didn't find any life save for a Eurasian oystercatcher walking along shore, "hello hello!" Dile repeats, but they still don't get answered, "I guess this holt is abandoned" Vaniel suspects now losing hope, "otters don't just leave their holts, there must be a reason" Wibble suspects, "then where are the otters?" Dile asks, "over here prince" said a sinister voice and they see a feline above one cave, "that's Nihilus' kitty cat" Vaniel recognizes and indeed it was Vezok, who draws out his crossbow and fires an arrow, Vaniel drew out his spears and twirls them to deflect all shots, which they do, then the teens take cover behind a dune, but Dile immediately comes out with his cutlasses drawn, "a warrior knows no fear!" he shouts while charging at the cat, but he didn't see Tritannus come over and fling a bolas, instantly ensnaring the mouse, "gah, Vaniel, Wibble, there's a warrior down" Dile cries as the two elite vermin gather around their prize, prompting Vaniel and Wibble to join in, and both Vezok and Tritannus ready their weapons, "Redwall!" shouts a new voice from nowhere and looking up, we see a dormouse with a saber leap at the duo, "now what?" Tritannus complains, and the dormouse was joined by another, albeit juvenile dormouse, a vole and an otter, "be gone fiends, I am Zimber, the bane of all vermin lives" the adult dormouse introduces, "I am Tritannus, elite servant of Nihilus the fiend, we merely have to eliminate that otter over there" Tritannus reasons pointing at Vaniel, "so either help us or stay out of our way" he adds, "not gonna happen bird" the vole objects and swings her flail at him, meeting his axe, the dormice and female otter engage Vezok, leaving Dile, "hey what about me?" he complains, "we got you Dile" Vaniel assures and cuts the bolas off, then help in the fight. 
Tritannus had to admit, this vole was a good fighter, even though she's smaller. Flail meets axe repeatedly. "Who are you?" he asks, "call me Myodes Lightpaw" she responds and whacks more until Dile joins in with his cutlasses, "I've got a bone to pick with you bird" he growls and whacks at the skua.
At the same time Zimber, his son Pryce, and Saffo had been joined by Wibble and Vaniel. "Hey I'm Wibble" she introduces, "I'm Pryce, this's Saffo" Pryce responds, "hi" Saffo answers, "I'm prince Vaniel Wildlough of Riftgard" Vaniel introduces making Zimber freeze, "you're the prince?" he gasps, but in doing so let his guard down, "dad watch out" Pryce shouts and intercepts a downward attack by Vezok's sword, "what are doing so far from Riftgard?" Zimber asks Vaniel, "these guys and their leader, a toad named Nihilus the Fiend attacked and took over, my friends and I barely escaped with our lives" Vaniel explains making Zimber grim, "hope we're not too late" he says before going back to engaging Vezok, "eulalia!" said a new voice and all see a squad of hares rushing in, "wonderful" Tritannus complains and flees after pushing Dile into Myodes, then puts his axe away, takes to the air and flies to Vezok who was backing up toward the Long Patrol, "let's go you hairball" Tritannus orders and launches another bolas, getting Saffo, then a dart and hits Zimber, instantly paralyzing him, "can't...move" he stutters and falls on his belly, and while Pryce and Vaniel turn to help, Wibble fires at the skua, but he dodges them all and slices her bow in two with his axe, "my bow" she gasps as Tritannus and Vezok make there escape: Vezok leaps onto a chunk of ice in the water and grabs Tritannus' feet the second the skua flew near, dragging the cat out to sea and leaving the Long Patrol in the dust, "well, looks we were jolly on time wot wot" said one male hare who wore a tattoo of an Iguanodon hand on the back of his left-hand and a purple uniform showing him as a general, "thanks mister" Saffo express as Vaniel freed her from the bolas, and they instantly froze at looking in each others' eyes, "h-hi" Saffo says, "hi" Vaniel returns, "ooh, I'm sensing romance" said the same hare, much to the otters' embarrassment, "shut up, I'm a prince from Riftgard" Vaniel warns, "oh my apologies your majesty, I'm Lotte Spikethumb Thropple, descendant of Mad Maudie Mugsberry Thropple" the hare introduces, "dad, you okay?" Pryce asks Zimber, who could barely move, "I'm...paralyzed" Zimber coughs as Dile removes the dart, and another hare instantly examines it, "a neurotoxic dart" he deduces, "will he be okay?" Pryce asks, "he'll be fine, the poison's effects will wear off in a while, but in the meantime lets get you to Salamandastron" the hare suggests and carries Zimber toddler-style while everyone else head to the mountain-fortress.
----
Near Redwall, Blackfire returns to her camp with the dibbuns after brushing away the footprints so they won't be followed. Sidorak was the first to notice. "Oh lord Blackfire, got some more captives?" he inquires, "not captives, recruits: these three dibbuns hate the abbey-life due to how controlling it is" Blackfire corrects as more gather in interest, "listen up my army, these three dibbuns have agreed to join us in taking over Redwall so they won't have to live with rules, treat them well, and if any of you harm them, you'll regret it" she announces, and the army nods, "I'm liking these vermin already" Adorjan notes, eliciting a smile from Sidorak, though he was a little confused why the mole wasn't wearing any clothes despite being a hundred degrees below zero, "uh any reason why the mole's naked?" he asks Blackfire, who just shrugs, "probably just the phase of when children want to be natural, there's no harm in it, so let him enjoy his time off of wearing clothes" she suggests, "okay" Sidorak shrugs and decides to get to know them a little more, "I must say I didn't expect to have dibbuns join us" Ogron notes, "did you have a vision of three dibbuns running from the abbey and joining us?" Blackfire humors, "no, though I've been trying to get a clear vision, that ghost-mouse won't leave" Ogron complains trying to mix up some potions as if to create a magic spell, "then who's to say you can't be wrong? besides, I doubt you'll need your visions, not with abbey-children working for us" Blackfire reasons and left the stoat to do his own thing.
==Chapter fifteen==
At Salamandastron, a badger wearing chainmail and had a big saber named Adelmo Bowstripe (Gald's brother) stood before Zimber and the teenagers in the infirmary. "So this toad, Nihilus the Fiend, attacked Riftgard and you three had to jump off a balcony to escape?" the badger lord gasps in pure horror, "yeah" Dile answers, "oh if I had known I never would've let my sister go there" Adelmo laments, "we didn't see any female badgers at the docks, but we were expecting one" Vaniel admits, "you must've missed her then" Myodes deduces, "well, that settles it, I'm going with you to Riftgard" Adelmo declares, "well I could use all the help I can get, my parents and sister are prisoners, and I feel something terrible has happened while away" Vaniel says, "count us in" Pryce announced gesturing to himself and his two friends, "does...that...include...me?" Zimber managed to say, "sorry Zimber, but the neurotoxin in that dart won't wear off for hours, so I don't know" said the medic-hare wearing a sergeant uniform named Yarael, "Vaniel, you said your armor was damaged in your fall, I can make you a new set" Adelmo offers, "don't bother, I've been away long enough, and got to get back soon" Vaniel rejects, "in that case, hares, which of you would like to go along with these adolescents and free Riftgard?" Adelmo asks, "well since Zimber needs me more, I'm stuck here" Yarael laments, "but I'll go" proposed Lotte, "and me" said a female hare wearing a corporal-uniform named Jumpkick (because that's her favorite form of attack) and half the Long Patrol joins in, "it's settled then, and I have an idea on how to get there quicker" Adelmo says and beckons everyone to fallow, though Pryce held back to be with his dad, "son...I'm proud...and so...would...your...mother...be" Zimber stutters, "I'll try to survive dad" Pryce promises, "go...they...need you...champion" Zimber urges and Pryce felt weird: he's never intended to become Redwall's champion, then again there hasn't been a dormouse to be the champion before, so why not? "thanks dad" he expresses, "also...I'm sorry...for being...harsh...toward you" Zimber adds, "apology accepted, personally I think it's both our faults that mom died" Pryce laments, earning a nod from Zimber, "what happened to your mother?" Yarael asks, "she died right after giving birth to me, at least that's what dad said" Pryce answers and left to catch up with the others, "sorry about your lost" Yarael says to Zimber, who said nothing, not that he needed to.
----
Near Redwall, Onewa was still a captive, but he was being taken care of, somewhat. Sidorak then enters the tent the vole was being kept in with some breakfast and a bowl of water. "Here you go" he presents, but Onewa turns away, "would be like you to suspect the food and or water was poisoned" the rat remarks, "exactly, what makes you think I'll chance it?" Onewa says, "you're too valuable when you're alive, Blackfire will only off you if she no longer has need of you, which might happen now that we have children on our side" Sidorak reveals much to Onewa's shock, "what?" he gasps, "yep, we've got children working with us now" Sidorak giggles and leaves, "you liar, what child would serve that witch?" Onewa demands but Sidorak doesn't answer, though the vole could hear talking outside and a second later, a little badger head pokes through the entrance, "Adorjan?!" Onewa gasps, this being the last thing he'd expect as a prisoner, "hi Onewa" he said rather angrily, "you a prisoner too?" Onewa wonders, "nope, me and my friends are with Blackfire now" Adorjan declares, it took Onewa a moment to realize not only Teedle and Skarloey were here too, but they must be the children Sidorak had just referenced, "you, you're the new additions to this horde?" he gasps, "oh yeah" Adorjan says happily, "how could you do this Adorjan, you Skarloey and Teedle?" Onewa cries, "you and the abbey-beasts were always bossing us around and never letting us have any fun, well guess what, we're not your friends anymore" Adorjan says harshly, "Adorjan, we only do those things to protect you" Onewa claims, "yeah, sure" Adorjan scoffs, "you think Blackfire will give you a happy life? she's a warlord who wants to dominate everyone else, she won't shower you with kisses and candy, don't trust her" Onewa pleads, "there you again, telling me what to do, well you're not the boss of me, I am gonna trust her, and you can't do anything about it" Adorjan growls and stomps off, leaving a saddened Onewa to look at his breakfast, though he didn't have an appetite much, only eating because his stomach growled, and was almost done when Sidorak returned and yanks the vole harshly up, "let's go vole" he orders and Onewa doesn't fight it.
----
At Redwall, it's been a day and the missing dibbuns still haven't been found. Some were assuming the worst. "Maybe we were too hard on them" Sunspot guesses, "yeah but how else would they learn their lesson?" Yaddle wonders when Wingbreath bursts in the room, "killee, sound the alarm, vermin-worms back" he shouts and everybody get to their feet, the bells were rung and many guards got up the front wall, "now what do you monsters want?" Noptar demands, "the abbey of course, and your answer to what you're gonna do about it" Blackfire calls, "fight back of course" Tahu shouts, "would you want to, now that I have some new friends?" Blackfire asks and steps aside to reveal the three dibbuns, making the Redwallers gasp, "Skarloey!" Yaddle shrieks, "Teedle!" said a female squirrel who was Tahu's wife, "I swear if you lay one finger on them-" Sunspot roars, "you misunderstand, I didn't kidnap them, they came on their own" Blackfire corrects, "what?!" said all Redwallers, "that's right, your dibbuns here have embraced the dark-side: they're done listening to you and your controlling ways" Blackfire says, "that's a lie, we were protecting them" Noptar clarifies, "by treating them like slaves? that's what they felt it was like" Blackfire asks, and the Redwallers look to see true hatred on the children's faces, "you have exactly two hours to decide what your choice will be" Blackfire announces and turns to her army, "Black Death, march" she orders and they walk away, dibbuns included, by choice.
Up on the wall, the woodlanders were left staring, none of them able to comprehend that three dibbuns have willingly joined the vermin. "That tears it: we've lost" Yaddle announced sitting, her husband and the squirrel-parents also look like they were throwing in the towel, "are you seriously giving up?" Diffen gasps, but her response only made the foremole get back up and look at her hostilely, "you really expect me to ignore the fact that my son is with the enemy, and maybe fight and kill him? what if it was your child down there?" Noptar demands furiously, "I mean no disrespect foremole, but we can't just hand over the abbey" Diffen clarifies, "what choice do we have? I'd rather surrender this place than treat my own child as an enemy that must die, besides, when did you start to care? you never liked them anyway" Noptar retorts, "that's a lie!" Diffen roars angrily at such an accusation, "knock it off you two" Sunspot orders shoving herself between them, "killee, can't worms see? this exactly what Blackfire wants, turn worms against each other" Wingbreath reasons, "yes, we need to focus" Depa adds, "well count us out, I'm not gonna risk facing them while my daughter is there" Tahu declares and he and his wife leave, "same here burr" Yaddle adds and she and Noptar also leave, "well now what? that's five fighters we're short on now" Diffen wonders, "we need to get the dibbuns back on our side" Sunspot says, "but how? whatever Blackfire said to them, they won't want to return willingly" Oppo reminds, "we'll have to get them to see Blackfire isn't a good influence" Depa strategizes, "Depa have plan?" Wingbreath asks, "well, I was gonna head back to my holt, I could try to challenge Blackfire to a duel or something" Depa proposed, "try get vole-worm back at least" Wingbreath requests and Depa nods, then she leaves and heads to a postern, though not the same one the dibbuns went through. With a staff in one hand, she opens the door slowly, and after seeing the coast was clear tiptoes out, closes the door and made her way to the direction of the river.
==Chapter sixteen==
At Salamandastron, the badger lord has led the teenagers and Long Patrol to an unexpected sight. "This is how we'll get to Riftgard faster?" Vaniel gasps, for in front of him lay a rookery of pterosaurs: Ornithocheirus. A big pterosaur that could carry one or two anthro-creatures onboard. They normally migrate to some land further south at this time of year, but these have been domesticated. Though predatory, they eat little more than fish and crabs. "Well flying is the fastest way to travel wot wot" Lotte claims as Adelmo walks up to one pterosaur and amazingly bond with it, "yeah I've had enough with giant reptiles thank you very much" Dile rejects, "you had a run in with them?" Saffo asks, "with one of those fish-like ones yes, what do you call them again? icky-saur?" Dile reveals, "ichthyosaur" Wibble corrects, "yeah that" Dile confirms, "wow we ran into one of the land ones, a Neovenator" Myodes reveals, "well if you wanna stick with the time-consuming boat go right ahead" Lotte shrugs, "well, desperate times call for desperate measures" Vaniel reasons and walks over to the pterosaurs as Pryce arrives, "whoa" he gasps, "yep, those are what we'll use to get to Riftgard" Jumpkick explains as Vaniel gets on one Ornithocheirus and was amazed at how easy it was, "hey, I'm riding a pterosaur...I'm riding a pterosaur" he exclaims startling his mount, "easy prince, they can sense how we feel, get excited and you'll get it excited into shooting off" Adelmo warns while Lotte turns to a female hare with markings showing her as a commander, "Malani Swiftback, I'm putting you in charge while we're away" he declares, "yes sir" Malani salutes and yes: she was a descendant of Riffle and Algador Swiftback, then Zimber arrives, "dad, you're better" Pryce gasps happily, "indeed, meaning I can come along after all" Zimber states making Pryce happier.
----
Near Redwall, Skipper Depa was creeping toward Blackfire's camp with her holt behind her, though one had been sent to find the guosim. Once they made it, Depa turns to the other otters. "Okay here's the plan: me and Lentorb will search for Onewa, the rest of you get to Redwall as fast as you can" she instructs and all but one otter head to Redwall, the one who stayed was a male completely naked with a club, "what about the dibbuns" he asks, "they won't come willingly, whatever Blackfire put into their heads, it'll have to wait" she says and they then crept toward the camp and split up to cover more ground. They peak under each tent, but neither found their target, and they didn't have a lot of time. Just when both were thinking to look further in the camp, Depa struck gold. "Onewa" she whispers loud enough to get his attention, "Depa?" he gasps as she creeps in and unties the ropes around his wrists, "we better get to the abbey, she's planning to attack in a few seconds" Depa informs and when she finished they jump at hearing Blackfire's voice outside, "the time has come Black Death: we attack Redwall by whatever means they'll meet our demands with" she shouts gaining cheers, "Ogron you watch the camp" she asks the stoat, "I just wish I could be sure you succeed miss, but the ghost-mouse won't get out of my visions" Ogron complains, "I am confident we'll win anyway, especially with the dibbuns being our secret weapon" Blackfire assures and then marching was heard, which eventually faded, "did you know that three dibbuns joined her?" Onewa asks Depa, "aye we know" Depa confirms as she and the vole peek out, now seeing the camp was empty, they creep out, where they find Ogron walking around, too frustrated to notice the otter sneak to him, "why won't this mouse go away?" he yells, slightly startling Depa, but she composed herself, "because you're evil" she spoke startling Ogron into looking, and gets punched in the face and passes out, just when Lentorb arrives, "oh good you found him, and extra" he notes on the unconscious stoat, "Lentorb, get this stoat to Redwall, Onewa and I'll catch up" Depa orders and Lentorb heaves the stoat onto his shoulders, then heads to Redwall while Depa and Onewa follow the vermin, Onewa grabbing a random spear laying on the ground too.
----
At Redwall, many beasts were armed for battle. They were lined up right in front of the abbey, as they reasoned it was too dangerous to attack from the walls while the vermin had the dibbuns with them. Among the fighters were Sunspot (wielding a double-bladed axe), Friar Gamut (wielding a cooking pot) and many others, now joined by Depa's holt. "Burr hey" said a mole voice and all turn to the last face they expected to see: Noptar, "room for one more?" he asks, "what made you change your bally mind?" Gamut asks, "well if my son is coming, I hope to find him and apologize" Noptar reasons while brandishing a staff, "worth a try" Sunspot shrugs but sees everyone was looking at something, so she turns to follow, and wished she didn't, for Blackfire and her army have arrived, from the wall Wingbreath could see the full extent of Blackfire's army, "killee, that a lot rat-worms" he gasps, "too many for us" Eliana moans, "attack!" Blackfire shouts and they rush in, causing the redwallers to rush at them. Blackfire had started with her blowpipe and fell several woodlanders, but switches to her saber and shield for melee, and immediately engages Sunspot.
----
Back at Salamandastron, the badger lord, half the Long Patrol, the teenagers and Zimber were now on the pterosaurs, most being buff and therefore able to carry such heavy loads. "Alright hares, we got a fortress to save, eulalia" Adelmo shouts and with his battle-cry his pterosaur shoots up in the air and takes flight, the rest immediately follow, and upon reaching a good enough height where they could still breath and not feel cold, they level themselves and head west, "hang on mom, dad and Korlac, I'll save you" Vaniel said to himself, though little did he know about what happened to his parents.
==Chapter seventeen==
Further away from Redwall, one male otter wearing an orange-cote and carrying a trident was shoving his way through the foliage in search of the guosim. Eventually he heard sounds ahead and followed at a slower pace. When he arrives it was in fact the guosim. "Well welcome stranger, who might you be?" said one shrew wearing a yellow-kilt, a beige-shirt and had some head-fur sticking diagonally backward on his head, and wields a sling and a javelin, "I'm Creekbed, Redwall's in danger, again" the otter informs, "oh say no more, I'm log-a-log Jolee Rosebud, descendant of Petunia Rosebud, guosim" he calls the other shrews who instantly stop working and focus on him, "Redwall's under attack again, and as allies we need to help, who's with me?" he adds and just about every shrew steps forward, then they follow Creekbed back the way he came, yelling their battle-cry (probably the silliest of them all) along the way.
----
Over the western sea, a platoon of pterosaurs were heading west, each carrying an anthro and or cargo. Saffo was amazed at the view from here, she's never seen any like it before. "Wow" she sighs, "it is pretty cool up here isn't it?" Vaniel remarks, "you are too" she says without thinking, "so are you" Vaniel returns also without thinking, and then they start babbling dumbly, which their mounts noticed: the pterosaurs, knowing what's going on, look at each other mischievously and suddenly rotate themselves toward each other, making the otters kiss, then return to their normal positions while looking innocent, knowing the otters enjoyed it, "careful, they like to play pranks on lovers" Adelmo warns making both otters blush. 
An hour or so later, Pryce angles toward the prince. "Hey prince, would that land down there be the one you and your friends came from?" he asks pointing down, where a fjord could be seen, Dile squints his eyes to get a better look, "yeah, that's the fjord" he confirms, "we better dive, we'll easily be spotted up here" Zimber suggests, "good idea Zimber, but where do we land?" Lotte asks, "we can land on the beach" Wibble points, "sure thing, everyone dive" Adelmo orders and they dive and continue while closer to the sea, "you think your family is alright?" Myodes asks Vaniel, "I hope so" he prays, though it wouldn't be good when he does find out.
----
At Redwall, it was now a bloodbath: several vermin and woodlanders were either killing or being killed. Friar Gamut was currently engaging Bashknee who was wielding a war-hammer. "Is that all you got rabbit?" the rat taunts, "I am not a rabbit, and no, I've got a lot more" Gamut retorts and fights back hard.
Not far away, the three dibbuns were watching from the sidelines. For them this was pretty horrific: Blackfire did say they would be attending the fight, but even she was against having them actually fighting, and they were now having second thoughts about their choice of alliance. "This is...awful" Teedle cries, "what are they doing?" Skarloey demanded, not really familiar with death and murder, yet here he was seeing it, Adorjan said nothing, just staring in horror and confusion: he may have hated the abbey, but this was wrong, maybe joining the vermin wasn't a good idea, "I think...we made a mistake" he finally spoke, "so you understand it now eh?" said a new voice and all three turn to see Onewa and Depa, the dibbuns were shocked to see the vole free, but made no move to alert Blackfire, "how did you-" Adorjan asks before Depa clamps his mouth, "I didn't wanna resort to this, but seeing is believing, this is why you shouldn't have sided with Blackfire: they're nothing but monsters" Onewa describes, "I understand, we should've listened to you" Teedle cries and hugs the vole, though the boys were being more stubborn, "traitor" Skarloey growls, "you're still mad at us?" Depa groans having thought for sure seeing the trauma would help them come to their senses, but it seems to be only slightly successful, "you adults are all the same: you guys never let us do anything, but they're worse, we don't need anybody" Adorjan howls after pushing Depa's arm away and both he and Skarloey flee into the woods, "guys wait" Teedle calls, "try to talk to them Teedle" Onewa encourages and she nods, then left while the otter and vole join the action.
==Chapter eighteen==
Friar Gamut continues to square off with Bashknee. "Come on, give me all you got" the hare taunts until Depa jumps in, "I'll take it from here" she assures and Gamut left to tackle someone else, "pretty rude otter" Bashknee comments, "oh yeah?" Depa retorts and whacks her staff, where he meets with his war-hammer, "you fight like a boy" Bashknee teases, "well you're gonna croak like a frog" Depa retorts and kicks the rat in the crotch, causing him to drop his war-hammer and clutch his crotch, leaving him vulnerable, and sure enough Depa whacks him in the head, then plunges her staff into his skull, hard, and while it didn't kill Bashknee right away, he definitely won't be fighting anymore, she then left and found Noptar. "Hey how's it going?" she greets while whacking a rat away, "I don't know so far, but I saw Onewa" Noptar responds, "we also found the dibbuns, but only Teedle is listening to reason, the boys are still holding a grudge" Depa informs, "where are they?" Noptar asks, "they went into the woods away from here" Depa points and Noptar nods and left.
As for Onewa, he was fighting Sidorak, though the rat proved more than a match for the vole. "Oh please, I've seen dibbuns fight better than you" Sidorak taunts locking his twin scimitars with Onewa's spear, and on one collision Sidorak disarms the vole and knocks him onto his back, "looks like I win" the rat mocks and readies his blades to impale, but Onewa kicks him in the right-leg, causing him to lose aim and strike on around the vole’s head, then Onewa punches Sidorak in the chin and scuttles over to his spear, by the time Sidorak recovers Onewa was armed, "and they say we villains fight dirty" Sidorak notes, "battles to the death seldom have any rules" Onewa argues and they reengage.
----
At the fjord of Riftgard, the rescue-party reached landfall. They landed right next to Nihilus' ship which was now abandoned. "What should we do about the ship?" Jumpkick wonders, "sabotage of course" Zimber answers and several hares do so, "hey prince, what should we expect when we get to Riftgard?" Adelmo asks the otter, "well, the walls will no doubt have guards on them, and they'll use the hostages as living shields, there is a backdoor, but that was probably how they got in" Vaniel deduces, "there's this mole who's actually serving Nihilus, he's the one who let the toad in and acted as a spy" Wibble notifies, "egad an evil mole?" Pryce gasps, "heavy" Myodes remarks, "afraid so" Dile confirms, "I say, I guess tunneling under a wall is out, this mole would no doubt notice" Lotte deduces, "we could try luring them out with a decoy" Saffo proposes, "so we need another me?" Vaniel asks, "precisely" Saffo confirms, "but you're the only other otter here, are you sure?" Zimber asks, "I'm sure" Saffo maintains, "in that case, here" Vaniel requests and hands Saffo his tiara, "when they see you wearing this, they should be convinced" he adds and Saffo tries it on, "how do I look?" she asks everyone, "like a princess" Wibble jokes before everyone gets down to business and they head into the woods after the sabotaging on Nihilus' boat was finished.
----
Adorjan and Skarloey didn't know where they were heading, but anywhere was better than Redwall (and the battle happening there): they decided they could take care of themselves, pity that Teedle wanted to go back being their slave. They eventually reach the ruins of Brockhall and stop there panting. "Well...looks like this place will be a good place to live" Adorjan deduces seeing the door in the tree, he walks to it, but Skarloey hesitates, "uh what if something scary is living there? I heard that after Redwall was built, this place became the home of snakes" he recalls, "that was then Skarloey, there wouldn't be any snakes here now" Adorjan assures, "it was also home to sables once" Skarloey informs, "that too was then" Adorjan counters, but Skarloey was still reluctant, "well just incase, I'll be hiding right here incase something answers the door and attacks you" he asserts while hiding behind a root jutting from the house, "helpful" Adorjan jokes but nevertheless walks to the door, though he hesitates, he was just about to grab the knob when..."Skarloey, Adorjan" shouted a familiar voice in the direction the boys came from, "that sounds like dad hurr hurr" Skarloey identifies, though Adorjan panics and tries to open Brockhall's door, throwing any caution he had on what could be living inside the tree-shaped house to the wind, "boys, if you can here me, I'm sorry" Noptar shouts, now sounding closer, Adorjan realizes they hadn't thought about erasing their footprints in the snow, meaning they'll be found, he tries harder to pull the door open, but it was too late: Noptar emerges from the brush right in front of them, though Skarloey was happy for once, "Skarloey" he gasps and immediately rushes to him, and was surprised when the smaller mole accepted the hug, "I'm sorry, for punishing you, I was being too harsh" Noptar cries, "I forgive you" Skarloey expresses as Teedle comes over, "it's nice to see you're listening" she remarks, then looks at the badger, who remained stubborn, "ugh I don't believe this" he rants while leaning on the door, only for it to suddenly move inwards and have the badger fall on his back, though he was more wounded in his pride from this, I was turning it the wrong way?! he thought angrily: he couldn't see the hinges in the tree, how would you expect to know which way the door would open? his thoughts were interrupted by something growling from in Brockhall, and he saw eyes, then a face full of sharp-teeth, then feathers, and perhaps most eye-catching of all, two giant claws on the feet: it was a dromaeosaur; Ornithodesmus. It had taken residence here when it heard Adorjan pulling on the door, and at first was merely gonna be territorial and chase the intruder out, but seeing that it was a little badger, it suddenly got hungry and wasn't gonna pass this up. "Ha, I knew there'd be something dangerous in there" Skarloey gloats as Adorjan jumps to his feet and ran, with the dinosaur right behind him.
==Chapter nineteen==
At Riftgard, Mustela was placed on night-watch. He was a little shaken at seeing Nihilus killing the king and queen, and actually felt bad for Korlac. He actually had nice parents, unlike his ancestors: Mustela's mom actually survived giving birth to him, and his dad wasn't a psychopath, they were...civil, probably more than even Veil Sixclaw, and certainly more than Nihilus. They would probably be ashamed of him, but his dad did say one day he might find himself in a horde serving a wicked warlord. He was more right than he could've predicted, but he did suggest Mustela desert if it became too much for him, though at the moment, Mustela wasn't sure about that: he's been quite loyal to Nihilus, but he was beginning to have second thoughts. His debacle was interrupted when he saw a shape head to the fortress. "Hey who goes there?" he calls, the shape doesn't answer, but presents a tiara on its head which glimmers in the moonlight, Mustela recognized it right away, "no way" he whispers before bolting down from the wall and to the front-door, which was being guarded by a fox wearing a black-cote, a green-kilt and carried a lance named Spitpaw, he was asleep when Mustela suddenly began rising the portcullis (the medieval gate-barrier), waking him up, "hey what are you doing?" he demands, "the prince has returned, go alert the boss" Mustela orders and the fox complies, by the time Mustela was finished, several vermin suddenly arrive, one of them being Sharpfang carrying a bolas for capture, "come on, I saw the prince out here" Mustela informs and rushes out with his rapier, the other vermin follow. They see the prince had neglected to cover his tracks, but what confused Mustela was that the tracks were circling around Riftgard and leading to where their ship is.
Up ahead, the "prince" turned out to be none other than Saffo, dressed in a cloak so to disguise herself. When she saw a shape up on the wall move, that was her cue to move, but she took care to leave a trail for the vermin. Eventually she reaches her friends who were lying in wait with a big net hidden in the snow. "They took the bait y'all" she shouts and gets behind Vaniel, "get ready everyone" Zimber orders and they could hear the vermin approach, and in a few seconds they walk right into the woodlanders' trap, catching the majority, but not all, "what the-" Mustela gasps but was silenced by Pryce getting him in a headlock with Martin's sword raised to the ferret's face, and at least three other vermin, one of them a female weasel, the second a female rat, and the last being Sharpfang, remained free, but now were cowering from the sudden sight of many woodlanders, but they never got the chance to surrender or run: the weasel was skewered by Vaniel, and the female rat followed, Sharpfang looked at his comrades and threw away his bolas, "I surrender" he offers and was quickly tackled by Jumpkick with rope, "I can't believe it: Saffo actually did it" Dile notes, "well of course, I had a vision that showed all this happening" Adelmo claims tying the net to a tree to secure it, "you were right about him being related to Lonna" Myodes remarks to Lotte, "told you" the hare gloats, "now then ferret..." Wibble says to Mustela when she noticed something odd about his right-paw, "am I crazy or does this guy have one extra finger?" she suddenly reveals to everybody, "a ferret with an extra finger? sounds familiar, I think there was one, swat or something like that once" Jumpkick recalls, "that's Swartt, Swartt Sixclaw, he and his son Veil Sixclaw are my ancestors" Mustela admits, "sheesh I hope you're more like Veil then Swartt, that warlord has got to be the worst parent ever" Saffo notes, "I actually think that too, and truthfully, I'm somewhere in-between: I don't share Nihilus' desires for power, I'm only serving him because it felt necessary" Mustela answers, "hmm, then you aren't exactly loyal to him?" Zimber presses, "fifty-fifty, though it's dropped after what he did to the royal otters" Mustela says, "what?!" Vaniel gasps and immediately grabs the ferret away from Pryce and brings him to his face, and Mustela found it unnerving, "what did he do to my family?" the prince snarls, "you're sister's fine at the moment, but your parents...well..." he answers but hesitates, though Vaniel understood, yet didn't want to: he drops the ferret in horror, "no...you're lying...please tell me you're lying, you villains do that all the time right?" Vaniel pleads, "not all the time, but I would be if I said you're parents were alive" Mustela confirms and was about tell them for sure, but found it unnecessary: the prince let out some tears and ran to where the shore was, "prince?" Pryce gasps, "Vaniel wait" Dile shouts but Adelmo stops them, "best to leave him alone for now" he suggests, "Pryce Saffo, why not you two stay with the prince, we'll handle things from here" Zimber suggests and the female otter and younger dormouse comply: Pryce in particular could exactly understand what Vaniel was feeling, partially.
----
Back at Brockhall, things have gone downhill: an Ornithodesmus residing in the old home of badgers has been disturbed by Adorjan and now saw a meal. Adorjan quickly scampered away and Noptar was quick to stop the dinosaur. "Kids run!" he orders and for once the dibbuns obey without complaint, but Skarloey was reluctant to leave his dad, "Skarloey come on" Teedle urges and Skarloey does, though not before looking at his dad once more. "Be safe son" Noptar whispers while whacking the raptor in the face with his staff, but it didn't deter it, "come on you overgrown bird" the foremole taunts and the theropod leaps at him, landing a kick on the staff, and it was so powerful it send him on his back, then the raptor leaps up again and attempts to land feet-first, but Noptar rolls away, though not without getting clawed in the back by the dromaeosaur's right-hand. The mole grimaced from the pain and blood leaking out, but refused to die, and braced himself for another, this one damaging the staff. "Ah man" he wheezes: he couldn't go on for much longer, sooner or later the raptor would best him, and he can't give it a chance. The raptor lunges again, only to be whacked away again, but managed to cut the mole's left-elbow, though Noptar hardly noticed and whacks the raptor again just when it got to its feet. The dromaeosaur, seeing its prey now on the offensive, decides to retreat, for now: it knows the mole is wounded, and if lucky he'll weaken from blood-loss or something, either way it could wait, but the mole knew this too, and he had no intention of suffering such a fate. "Better get back to the abbey" he pants and runs as fast as possible with the strength he had left, leaving a trail of blood behind him.
----
Saffo and Pryce follow Vaniel's footprints and eventually find the otter prince sitting on the shore not far from the pterosaurs balling. Pryce felt empathetic: he knew what it was like to lose a parent, at least a mother. Saffo on the other hand was because of her feelings for him, that and he still has his tiara. "Prince?" Pryce says and the male otter jumps at hearing the dormouse, Pryce walks over and sits beside him, "I know how you feel" Pryce admits, "how? you're dad is still alive" Vaniel reminds, "but my mom isn't" Pryce counters shocking Vaniel, "Right after I was born, she died, my dad kind of blamed me for it, but felt he was just as responsible as I was, and I think we both are" the dormouse continues, "that's sad" Vaniel remarks, "yeah, but dad apologized for blaming me, even though I kind of deserved it" Pryce laments, but got serious suddenly, "but you still have your sister, and she needs you right now, they all do" he adds and Vaniel nods, gaining a determined look on his face, "you're right, they need me, I can't let them down" he says, "here's your crown back" Saffo offers, "oh right, thanks Saffo" Vaniel realizes and touches her hand when he grabs the tiara, resulting in her blushing, "you're welcome" she thanks, and all three head back to the others.
==Chapter twenty==
Blackfire was enjoying this: she was able to defeat several redwallers and even Sunspot can't stop her, and they were losing. This is it: Redwall is almost mine she thought when a cry rang out from the horizon. Looking up, everyone could see a bunch of shrews coming. Impossible she thought: the guosim should've been a day or more away, too far to come in time, but now they turned the tide. Sidorak suddenly found himself confronted by Creekbed. "Going somewhere?" the otter taunts and swings his trident at the rat, who fights back with his twin sabers, eventually besting and killing the otter, "not to Hellgates at least" Sidorak smirks, but was then tackled by Jolee, "you'll pay for that" the shrew swears and swings madly with his javelin, scoring a gash on the rat's muzzle, and knocking him down on his back, the shrew showed no mercy: he quickly plunged his javelin into Sidorak's chest, ending him, "that takes care of that" he notes and goes after the rest.
----
Not far from Riftgard, the rescue-party were interrogating their prisoners. Mustela was the only one willing to hand over what he knew: not caring about Nihilus much anyway. "...and that's all I know" he finishes, "well, our best bet is to use the same way they got in" Zimber deduces, "the backdoor?" Myodes asks, "yep" Zimber answers, "I say, weren't you listening? Nihilus posted a guard so he wouldn't make the same mistake as Vaniel's parents" Jumpkick objects until he saw Vaniel return, "oh hey prince" she suddenly greets, "feeling better?" Adelmo asks the otter, "yeah, you got a plan?" Vaniel asks, "well we were thinking of sneaking in through the backdoor like they did, but it's guarded" Lotte fills in, "we could trick the guard into opening the door" Pryce proposes, "now I feel stupid" Lotte moans, "it's worth a shot" Dile supports, "yeah, the only other way would be to climb the walls or just turn ourselves in" Wibble adds, "I guess that settles it: we'll do the backdoor" Zimber shrugs, "what about these guys?" Saffo asks, "don't worry, Mustela isn't as psychotic, just selfish, I see no reason he should die, but I'm not sure about the rest" Adelmo reasons, "oh please spare us mister badger, we'll desert and never return" Sharpfang pleads, "in that case, you can take Nihilus' boat, we haven't touched it" Vaniel suggests though Mustela was a little skeptical about the "haven't touched" part, "Come on you bums: it's better than having to see Nihilus angry and maybe kill us" he suggests and after they were freed, they head to the direction of Nihilus' ship, while the woodlanders head to Riftgard.
----
Back on the mainland, the three dibbuns run back the way they came. Luckily their tracks haven't faded yet, and they could still hear the battle going on, so they found Redwall easily. "Well Adorjan?" Teedle suddenly asks the badger, "well what?" he replies, "you ready to go back to Redwall?" Teedle explains, "and be their slave again? as if" he stubbornly rejects, "burr, incase you've forgotten, my dad just gave his life to save us a few minutes ago, I'm pretty sure Blackfire would've just let that dinosaur eat us" Skarloey growls and Adorjan felt his defiance wanning, partially, "that may be true, but who's to say they won't treat us differently?" Adorjan counters, "ugh you know what, go ahead and run away, but I'm going back, and I don't care if I'll never be allowed to play anymore, it's better than this" Skarloey roars and stomps away, Teedle follows, "okay, have fun being slaves again" Adorjan shrugs and turns away, "I don't need them, I can take care of myself" he adds quietly and walks into some random direction, though it started to get creepy fast, looking around it looked like the trees themselves were predators out for his blood, or sheltering a predator out for his blood, speaking of which he suddenly smelled something gross, "ugh, I must've went closer to the battle than I intended" he guessed, but immediately thought that didn't make sense: the battle sounded farther away, so what could the scent of blood be coming from? he suddenly heard a stick crack, and a moan, "h-hello?" he calls timidly, "Adorjan?" said a familiar voice, "foremole?" he gasps and went to its origin, only to step back in horror: it was foremole, but he was bleeding, leaving a trail of it too, "oh man, I gotta get you home" Adorjan gasps not caring about getting in trouble anymore, the father of his friend was more important, "funny, I thought you didn't want to go back" Noptar jokes, "I don't, but I won't leave you until then" Adorjan maintains until he heard a sound behind them, and looking saw a familiar sight, "ah not again" Noptar groans after the Ornithodesmus emerged from the darkness, having followed the blood patiently to see how weak its prey gotten, and by the looks of it, the mole is obviously on the verge of collapsing, "I can't fight him again" Noptar laments, "can you run?" Adorjan asks, "I don't know, I'm so weak" Noptar answers wobbling, and Adorjan had doubts, the raptor crept when suddenly..."Redwall!" shouted a new voice and a rock came out of nowhere and hits the dinosaur's head, bursting from the trees came Tahu, then Yaddle, followed by their kids, "back you freak of nature" Tahu growls toward the dinosaur, flinging another rock at it with his sling, and Yaddle swung a staff at the dromaeosaur, and it runs off, "dad, you okay?" Skarloey asks his father, "hopefully, I can see you haven't been dressed before coming to save me" Noptar jokes at his still naked son, "some things are more important than getting dressed" Skarloey claims, "for once he's right: he was too worried about you and Adorjan to put on the clothes I offered" Yaddle adds and helps her husband to Redwall, "you guys came back?" Adorjan asks his friends, "it just felt like the right thing" Teedle shrugs, "well...thanks, I guess Redwall isn't all bad after all" Adorjan relents and together, the three dibbuns and parents head back home.
----
Back at Riftgard, the woodlanders gather around the backdoor. "Now who would like to knock?" Zimber asks everyone else, "ooh ooh ooh, I'll do it" Myodes volunteers and happily strides over, backs herself to the wall beside the door where the hinges were, and knocks hard, in an instant a male sable answers, "yes?" he asks, only to have the door suddenly slammed on him from the other side, Myodes opens it again with a big smile on her face, "I've always wanted to do that" she giggles, "I actually had a vision you would" Adelmo jokes, "alright let's get serious" Zimber orders and they slink into the doorway, "prince, which way to wherever the inhabitants are being held?" Pryce asks Vaniel, "most likely they're in the dungeons, follow me" Vaniel answers and takes the lead, being careful to avoid or eliminate any guards that happen to cross their path, eventually they made it to the door leading to the dungeons, but it was guarded be a female ferret, "any ideas on how we subdue her without raising an alarm?" Lotte asks, "I got one" Dile offers and sticks his finger out and whistles, "hey sweetheart, wanna hang out?" he beckons seductively, "oh brother" Wibble whispers in annoyance, "who goes there?" the ferret demands, "just another ferret looking for love, so sweetie, wanna have some fun together?" Dile continues, "fine, it's boring here anyway" the ferret conceded and walks over, but gasps at what she finds, "what the-" she says but was silenced by a punch to the face by Dile, then dragged into the group, "you hit a girl?" Saffo gasps mortified, "only vermin girls" Dile claims while messaging his hand, "though her skull was a lot harder than I anticipated" he adds, "found the keys" Pryce presents and together they unlock the door, making all prisoners look out and gasp at seeing a badger appear, and more woodlanders, "Adelmo over here" said a female voice and Adelmo recognized it, he sprinted to where he could see a hand waving, "Gald" he gasps and quickly frees her, where they then hug, "I can't believe you're here" Gald expressed, "I didn't either, but I did have a vision showing something like this" Adelmo adds as everyone else was freed, "Vaniel alright?" Nowl asks, "I'm here Nowl" Vaniel assures and reveals himself to the prisoners, making them ecstatic, "you're alive" Helia cheers and nearly everyone else did too before Pryce stops them, "whoa whoa whoa let's not give ourselves away yet, grab anything you can use as a weapon, we're here to take back Riftgard" Pryce claims and draws the sword of Martin for all to see, "Nihilus the Fiend, your time has come" he shouts and this also got cheers from everyone.
==Chapter twenty-one==
Nihilus wakes up out of instinct: he didn't know why, but he felt something was wrong. He walks over to a window and looks out into the woods, but sees nothing out of the ordinary. He suddenly heard noise from outside the room. Grabbing his weapons, he creeps to the door, only for it to burst open from a panicked weasel. "Blackeye? what is the meaning of this?" the toad fumes, mainly from getting a heart-attack, "intruders sir, and they freed the prisoners" Blackeye wheezed, but this alarmed Nihilus, who plows through him and down the halls where he could indeed hear battle sounds, and hoped he was wrong in who the intruders were. He emerges into the courtyard and sure enough, there was fighting, and not just the prisoners: several hares were here too. "The Long Patrol? how?" he gasps, "there you are you murderer" said a hostile yet familiar voice and when Nihilus looked, there standing was Vaniel alive and well, only angry, beside him was a dormouse of the same age and had a sword, and not just any sword: "that sword, you must be the Redwall-champion" Nihilus deduces, "you could say that, I'm Pryce" the dormouse introduces, "you're gonna pay for killing my parents you ugly frog" Vaniel growls vengefully, "ugh I was hoping Vezok and Tritannus had taken you out, guess I'll have to do it myself" Nihilus groans and engages both.
----
At the fjord's entrance, Vezok and Tritannus have finally made it, both exhausted and nervous. "What do we tell lord Nihilus?" Vezok asks, "nothing, pea-brain, let's..." Tritannus answers until he noticed something was going on at Riftgard, "I think we're a little late, come on" he urges and the feline fallows.
----
Back at Redwall, Blackfire was now losing: while she knew the guosim could be a problem, she had thought they were way too far to come turn the tide. Apparently she miscalculated the distance they went, and now they were beating her, eventually reducing it to just herself and three male rats. "You've lost Blackfire, give up while you can" Sunspot warns but Blackfire merely chuckles while she and her remaining lackeys back up to where the dibbuns were hidden by her, "silly stripedog, I still have the dibbuns" the rat reminds and turns to where she had stationed the dibbuns, "come on out little ones" she calls, but after a while, nothing happens, "you, go get them" she demanded one rat and he complies, but looked horrified when he looked, and when she gets a good view she is stunned to see they weren't there, "what the? where'd they go?" she gasps, "looks like they abandoned you" Onewa taunts and spears one lackey, killing him, "no...impossible" she begs terrified but she couldn't do anything now except runaway, she tries to but Sunspot rushed in at that moment and axes Blackfire in the back, the rat struggles but went limp a second later, "now then, if you two want to live, I suggest you git" the badger advises the remaining lackeys and they do so, fleeing down the road to never be seen again.
Up on the wall, Wingbreath, Eliana, Ogron and Ingrid had been watching the whole fight: Ogron only to satisfy his own curiosity, and he was not too happy to see Blackfire lose and die. "I didn't see this coming" he moans, "um, you're not gonna kill me are you?" he adds to his escort, "well..." Eliana muses and suddenly grabs the stoat and throws him off the wall, where he fell right in front of the front-door, bruised, but somehow alive, barely, "that was cruel" he moans, but eventually does die, "wasn't that a little extreme?" Ingrid asks the cellar-keeper mouse, "meh" she shrugs, "killee better get Diffen and doctor-worms" Wingbreath announces and flies down to the main-building.
----
Back at Riftgard, it was war: vermin and woodlander were dropping like flies. Jumpkick was having a blast kicking vermin after vermin. "Haha, this is awesome" she squeals until suddenly a massive shape drops behind her, turning she sees a massive wildcat with a broadsword in his left-paw, "it is fun isn't it?" he jokes before swinging the sword through her, and though she tried to block with her lance, the impact sends her into Flatfoot's spear, killing her, "whoa" the marten whistles, but this was seen by Adelmo, "you'll regret that cat" he swears and tackles the feline with his saber. Despite his lack of intellect, Vezok was a good fighter: he manages to score a slash on Adelmo's left-arm, but the badger in turn lands a hit on Vezok's right-leg, almost tripping him. Vezok decides to get dirty, literally: he kicks snow into Adelmo to blind him, then swings his sword at the badger's head, but Adelmo, courtesy of his foresight, had seen this happening and ducks, then whacks at Vezok's right-leg, almost cutting it off, but the cat was far from done: he grabs more snow in his right-hand and throws it at Adelmo's face, repelling him, but still the cat can't get a killing blow through. "Sheesh where is an opening when I need one?" he complains, "I knew you'd say that" Adelmo mocks, "what, you a psychic?" Vezok asks somewhat confused, "actually yes, and I can tell you you're future" Adelmo offers, "really, what will happen to me later?" Vezok asks stupidly, which gave Adelmo the advantage, "you get punched by me" the badger claims and punches the cat in the face, "then you trip" Adelmo adds and indeed Vezok trips backwards due to his leg injury, "then you die" Adelmo finishes, "what?" Vezok gasps and before he knew it, Adelmo impales his saber into the cat's chest, "told you" the badger teases and Vezok dies.
Tritannus meanwhile, was duking it out with Zimber, who had a bone to pick with the skua for paralyzing him. "Champion or not, you won't get out of this alive" Tritannus vows whacking his axe at Zimber's saber, "maybe not, but I'll make sure you don't either" the dormouse promises and fights back, each clash ringing out. Tritannus then somersaults over Zimber, who throws up his saber to shield himself from one attack by the axe, but not from a foot striking him in the belly: momentarily stunned he blocks another attack by the bird, only to be kicked again, which also resulted in him weakening his push against Tritannus' axe and the bird hits him in the spine, forcing him down on his belly before Tritannus yanks the axe out, lifting him slightly and inflicting more pain that knocks him out. "I think not fatty" the bird taunts but didn't see Gald approach behind him and thrust her sword at Tritannus, who blocks at the last moment. The two get at it, trading blows. Tritannus tries the same trick on Gald, but she saw it coming and disrupts him by grabbing his tail and yanking him back in front of her, slamming him into the ground, then with such strength, throws him into a wall, though it didn't kill him: he tries to get up, but Gald won't give him the chance and slices her sword into his back, killing him.
==Chapter twenty-two==
Helia and Dile have teamed up to protect each other: Dile with his cutlasses, Helia with a club. "I'll admit, I never thought we would be fighting side-by-side" the older mouse comments while killing a polecat, but didn't see the marten come over spear first, "dad look out" Dile shouts and Helia barely manages to avoid getting impaled by Flatfoot, suffering a gash only, a big gash, Flatfoot didn't stop though and swung his spear and whacks Helia in the head, knocking him out, "dad" Dile screams then looks at the marten angrily, "aw did I hurt your daddy?" Flatfoot mocks, but that only made Dile even madder, enough to get bloodwrath, and Flatfoot realizes he went too far: immediately he shields himself, but Dile swings both his cutlasses out so strongly it went flying, and sent the marten down on his side, he scrambles to getaway from the mad-mouse, but Dile was quicker and impales both cutlasses into the marten's back, killing him, and that's when he suddenly felt his senses come back and he sees that everything was still the same, "that was weird" he comments before removing his cutlasses and goes to check his father.
----
At Nihilus' ship, Mustela, Sharpfang and the other vermin arrive and began boarding, though Mustela felt something wasn't right. "Ugh guys, I don't think we should get on" he warns but no one listens, "we're not part of Nihilus' horde anymore, so you can't tell us what to do" Sharpfang objects stubbornly, "I'm only saying that it's a bad idea to set sail, they may have sabotaged the ship" Mustela explains, "oh please, they said they didn't touch her, and woodlanders never lie" Sharpfang objects as the ship's sails were unfolded and the anchor raised, "uh yeah they do" Mustela corrects: he can't believe how gullible Sharpfang was sounding, "well if you wanna get left behind go ahead, we're outa here" Sharpfang shrugs and doesn't wait for the ferret to beg to be let on: he steers the ship away from the beach and sets off into the water, though in a few minutes, when they were about a meter out, they notice they were sinking, "what the? we're sinking!" said a weasel-man and they hastily try to bail the water out, but it was hopeless, while Mustela was still on shore shaking his head, "I tried to warn them" he laments and walks off to the pier.
----
Wibble was acting as an artillery: firing arrows (now that her bow was repaired) at many vermin, until Blackeye finds her and attacks with a scimitar. Luckily she saw him coming and switches to her dirk. They fight aggressively, but Blackeye bests her by punching her in the face, bruising her left-eye. "And that's why they call me Blackeye" he claims, but failed to see the shadow looming behind him, or the grasping foot grab him. "Nowl give you free ride" the kite offers and flies up into the cold night sky, and when he felt he was high enough he drops Blackeye outside Riftgard, the weasel screaming along the way before being abruptly silenced, Nowl swoops down to where he saw Blackeye land and as he expected, it was messy, "so sorry, mind Nowl call weasel...splatter-man?" he jokes and laughs to himself.
Back in Riftgard, Nihilus was busy with both Pryce and Vaniel, the latter being driven by rage over his parents' deaths. They parried each until Nihilus kicks Vaniel away, far away. When he gets up, he sees a rather horrifying sight: Talpa with Korlac. "Don't move prince, or she'll die" Talpa warns holding his dagger at Korlac's face, who was crying, Vaniel drew his spears, but drops them, Talpa smiles until he heard footsteps behind him and intercepted an attack by Saffo, the mole fled into the fortress, with Saffo following, Vaniel hesitates: he wanted so badly to kill Nihilus, but he didn't wanna risk losing his sister, so begrudgingly he goes with Saffo.
Lotte was busy with Myodes: the vole was good with her flail, but it prevented her from blocking attacks up close. "You're not so bad Lotte" she compliments the hare, "I say, and you're one bally awesome vole" he returns, Myodes wraps her flail around Spitpaw's lance, resulting in a tug-of-war until the flail's chain snaps, making both fall on their butts, "awe man" Myodes whines, but Lotte kills the fox with his war-scythe before anything could happen, "well maybe you should stick to getting the wounded out of harm's way" Lotte proposes and Myodes figured she didn't have much choice now that she was unarmed.  
Talpa fled through a maze of corridors, but he wasn't sure how to get outa here. He makes for the kitchen, but Vaniel emerges on the other side, while Saffo traps him from behind. "Let her go mole" Saffo threatens, "not a chance: as long as I'm holding her, you wouldn't dare attack hurr" Talpa objects as Korlac was beginning to cry again, until she heard a manly voice, and saw what looked like another Martin (but it was really his father Luke), Do not be afraid, little one, you just have to be brave and help them it said, and she suddenly felt courage in her and bites Talpa's arm, making him scream and let go, she then dashes away toward Vaniel, "Korlac" the teen otter exclaims hugging her with tears, "big brother, mom and dad are..." she began but Vaniel shushed her, "I already know, I'm sorry" he grieves and they remain together until squabbling from Talpa and Saffo alerted them, "you are one messed up mole" Saffo comments, "well it comes from having a toad as a dad" Talpa admits, "dad? you mean that toad adopted you?" Saffo gasps, "aye, when I was just a wee dibbun, he thought I was too cute to eat, so he ran away from his home with me while my parents were eaten, all to protect me" Talpa claims, "then why work with that slimy freak?" Vaniel asks, "burr, he does care about me, I can't blame him for that, he's done everything for me, just like my real parents" Talpa counters, "I'm pretty sure your parents disapprove in following in that toad's footsteps, he's killed woodlanders, your parents included" Saffo says skeptically, "believe what you want, but being evil is too much fun" Talpa shrugs and attacks Saffo, but Vaniel by reflex threw one of his spears and struck Talpa in the back, Korlac turned away at the sight while Talpa stood there in shock, then falls flat on his front on the floor. Vaniel wretches his spear out with remorse, "never thought I'd have to kill a woodlander" he laments, "yeah, I was hoping we'd get through to him, but I guess all hope for him was already gone by now" Saffo adds, "well I for one am glad he's dead: he's a jerk" Korlac says not the least bit sad to see him like this.
Back outside, Nihilus continues to fight Pryce. The dormouse proved to be quite a match. At one point Nihilus tried to hit him with his tongue, but Pryce slashed it. Nihilus falls back, leaps onto a ladder and climbs up to a battle-tower, Pryce follows and Nihilus almost kills him there, but arrows from Wibble prevented this and she only stopped when Pryce makes it, now they were on the wall-walk and continuing there. After a while they stop to catch their breath. "You are good dormouse, I guess what they say about Redwall's champions is true, I was smart to avoid it" Nihilus comments, "awe really, well we've never had a toad warlord before, I'll be sure to tell the world about you" Pryce promises, "like that will happen" Nihilus mocks and they reengage, but on one collision Nihilus swings his sword into the railing and gets stuck, Pryce headbutts him, loosening the sword and Nihilus stumbles off the walkway and falls, right over a chevaux de frise (a log covered in spikes) that was placed there some time ago, and gets impaled. Everyone crowds around the now dead toad and look at Pryce, who smiles at them: Riftgard was free.
==Chapter twenty three==
Dawn arrives over Riftgard, which is now quiet: the bodies of the vermin (and Talpa) were gathered in a pile and set ablaze while all the woodlanders were covered in sheets for burial. Among the dead was Jumpkick, which saddened Adelmo Lotte and Gald, but perhaps the most heartbreaking was Zimber, especially when Pryce found out. "Dad!" Pryce gasps and kneels beside his father, "that seabird got him in the spine, our healers tried everything, but he's doomed" Gald laments, "no!" Pryce wails, "son, be strong" Zimber begs, "Dad please survive, it was bad enough to lose mom, I can't lose you too" Pryce argues, "your mother would want you to be strong, and so do I, I may not have been the best father, but I'm glad I was one at all, we're both proud of you, son" Zimber pants and passes out forever, making Pryce burst into tears over his father's corpse, "Pryce?" said Gald and Pryce gives her his attention, "we can bury him next to Queen Osclor and King Potamo, Nihilus was decent enough to give them a burial" she reveals, "wait is that true?" Dile asks, "yeah it is" Helia confirms, "I think it's a good idea, your dad and my mom were best friends, I'm pretty sure they'll still be in death" Vaniel consoles Pryce, who does grin at that, "I guess so" he concedes.
So they moved Zimber outside to where Osclor and Potamo were buried, and indeed two tombstones lay where Nihilus killed them. Vaniel rushes over and knelt while some moles dug right beside Osclor's spot, and once they were done Zimber was laid in and buried. Everyone clasp there hands and bend their heads down slightly to show respect for the casualties. "I'm sorry I could save you mom and dad" Vaniel laments to his parents' graves, Pryce places his right-hand on the otter's left-shoulder, who returns the affection, "so now that they're gone, does that mean you and Korlac are king and queen now?" Wibble asks Vaniel, "I guess so, but I don't know anything about leadership, mom never taught me" he laments, "Nowl can teach Vaniel leadership" Nowl offers, "I'd like that" Vaniel says and looks at Saffo, then walks to her, "so I guess you'll be going back to Redwall?" he asks, "yeah, it is my home, but I'll come back when we're older, promise" Saffo vows, "you better, I don't wanna see you wind up like the legendary Laterose" Vaniel demands which Saffo laughed about before she joined Pryce, Myodes, Adelmo and the Long Patrol back to where their pet-pterosaurs were.
----
At a shore inside the fjord Mustela was just sitting there unsure of what to do now. He was free from Nihilus, but had envisioned he would remain with the toad to death, but here he was, and he had a feeling Nihilus was dead now, so he had no idea what to do, except maybe try to be normal. What would Veil Sixclaw do if he survived? he wondered, though he doubted there would be an answer to that: Veil died before he could think about where to go on from the defeat of Swartt, and ironically it was Swartt himself who ended Veil, but Mustela himself has survived, he just wished someone could give him advice. "I wondered what happened to you" said a familiar voice right behind, spooking him, but when he turned he found his former captors looking at him, "oh it's you guys, I'm guessing you won?" he asks, "well yes, but why are you just bally sitting here?" Lotte asks, "I just don't know where to go from here, I'm no longer Nihilus' lackey, but my ancestor didn't get the chance to be civil or anything" Mustela laments, "well I had a vision where you began living at Castle Marl" Adelmo suddenly says, "Castle Marl? but wasn't that place the lair of a fox-family with a mental illness?" Mustela recalls, "yes, but those foxes are long gone, though I do agree with them being looney, anyway it has become a place of peace now, inhabited by friendly rats and ospreys" Myodes explains, "then that sounds like a perfect place to live, sure" Mustela concedes and follows the woodlanders back to where Nihilus' ship was.
----
Back at Redwall, it was recovering from Blackfire Warfang and her Black Death Army. Diffen and a few others were tending the wounds of the survivors while the dead were laid to rest. Currently she was tending Noptar's injuries. "You sure gave us all quite a scare, taking on a raptor" she remarks, "I'm surprised we didn't even need a champion for this" Ingrid notes, "well redwallers had defeated the raven General Ironbeak without their champion" Oppo recalls, "oh yeah I've heard of that" Sunspot reminisces, "speaking of champions, I wonder how Pryce is doing at Riftgard" Onewa wonders, "well I doubt he's faced a warlord there: Riftgard has never been attacked" Noptar comments, though he couldn't have been more wrong.
Many hours later, at sunset, Redwall gets a new surprise: Depa was patrolling a wall when she sees something coming from the sky. "What is that?" she wonders and when the shapes got closer, she gasps, "no way" she adds and was about to raise the alarm when she heard a voice, "don't shoot it's us" it said making her look back and she could've sworn she saw people waving from on the creatures, "are those pterosaurs?" Lentorb wonders, but he too saw people, and before either could react, one creature, which was indeed a pterosaur, lands right in front of them, and two more join, getting everybody's attention, but what really did it was seeing three familiar faces on each pterosaur, "Pryce?!" Wingbreath gasps, but it was, "yep we're back" Pryce announces and gets off his pterosaur, Myodes and Saffo following suit, "hey where's Zimber?" Eliana asks noticing the adult dormouse was absent, "it's a long story you guys" Myodes warns, "I wanna hear it" Skarloey demands, "yeah me too" Adorjan adds, "me three" Teedle finishes, "they really are dibbuns-against-bedtime" Tahu chuckles to Yaddle, who agrees, "well might as well get it out, they won't stop until you give in" Yaddle requests, "okay, but it isn't all good, you see..." Saffo relents as everyone gather around.
===Epilogue===
Extracted from the writings of Oppo, recorder of Redwall.
Seasons have passed since the "Winter of Riftgard's Rescue", our name-day name, has happened. We were all sad to hear Zimber died saving the fortress, and the royal otters before that. On the bright-side, Pryce has officially become Redwall's champion: the first dormouse to ever have the title. The three rogue dibbuns (rogue is an understatement) have grown and are rarely trouble for us anymore, I guess seeing death did affect them to grow up, but at least we're spared from pranks and such. One day we were visited by a friendly ferret: unusual since not only that, but he had a sixth-finger on his right-paw; apparently this was Mustela Sixclaw, a descendent of Swartt and Veil Sixclaw, but fortunately, he's a lot nicer than either. He apparently cast off his villainous ways and had become friends with our champion, and was merely visiting to reminisce. Coincidentally, the new king of Riftgard, Vaniel Wildlough and his sister Korlac had decided to visit us. Who knew that a toad could be a warlord: Nihilus the Fiend. Quite a fitting name. Anyway, Vaniel has arrived and he too was now full grown like our main warriors, and even better, he asks Saffo's hand in marriage, and she accepts. A wedding is planned as we speak, and thankfully we won't have any more vermin to crash it (no offense to Mustela). Everyone's gonna be there: Nowl, Dile, Wibble, Myodes, Abbot Wingbreath, Friar Gamut, Adelmo and his sister Gald (having foreseen this of course), Lotte and so many more, there's also myself of course. Oh there's the wedding bells (no doubt rung by Ingrid of course), I don't wanna be late. Gotta go, may Martin the Warrior be with you.
Oppo, the first rabbit recorder of Redwall.
The End
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