Creeps from the Deep

right|300px|link=Special:FilePath/PlaceholderCreeps from the Deep is a fanfic for the wikia. 
===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==
A hot summer shines on the Western sea, seabirds like common sandpiper flew over the waves. Nearby was the Twin Islands, where Vilu Daskar caught Luke the Warrior, and while Vilu and his ship were long gone, another ship was sailing by: a cog-ship was traveling around hoping to chronicle the island due to having history, however another ship was nearby, a galley-ship called the Sinister Shark, it was a corsair ridden ship, ruled by a sea scorpion wearing only a belt and carried a Javelin, going by the name Passel the Nasty: he was a large eurypterid called Acutiramus, which normally live underwater, but not this guy, he prefers the air, and believes the sea rules the land, so he became a corsair, and acquired several pirates, mostly other eurypterids, but occasionally some landlubber or two, like a monitor-lizard wearing a belt with a Bill hook, a grey-bliaut and brown-cowl named Marka Frildur as he was related to Lask Frildur. "Master, there was another ship sighted near Twin Island by Rotfoot" the lizard gestured to the crow's-nest, where a male-rat wearing a brown-cloak, purple-jacket, and carries a War scythe and a telescope resided, who waved at them, "has he? was it other corsairs?" Passel asks, "no, Rotfoot believes there are woodlanders on it" Marka answers, "really? than they are fair game, ready the crew" Passel orders and the lizard complies while the eurypterid steered the ship in the direction of Twin Island.
Further away, on Isle of Irgash, another band of corsairs were starting a rite-of-passage for the relative of one. Standing at attention was a female stoat wearing a purple-bodice with a chemise and pink-skirt named Thorborg Daskar (she was related to Vilu Daskar, but nowhere as evil) was crying, both from sadness and joy. Her adult son, who wore a turquoise-hose and was adorned with tattoos on his torso, plus a bellybutton-ring, rolled his eyes, "oh mom, they won't be gone forever, I came back" he confides, "true, but, this just brings back memories of when you set off when you came of age Torkel" Thorborg laments to her son, named Torkel Daskar, "well Yvonne has always wanted to be in this, and now she can" he asserts as another older male stoat wearing his own tattoos and bellybutton-ring, just a belt with yellow-pantaloons and carried a Mace, and another younger female stoat wearing a pink-gown and carrying a Blowpipe step out: the male was Vidar Clogg, a descendant of Tramun Clogg, and Thorborg's wife, while beside him was Yvonne Cuttlefish Clogg, the daughter, "oh Thorborg lassie, you were always a worry-wort" he teases, but Thorborg merely shoves him, "only because you go off plundering and conquering other vermin, and sometimes woodlanders" she complains, "what can I say? it's in my blood, and yours too, and both our children's" Vidar counters, "though I didn't get as much tattoos as him or Torkel, and no piercing" Yvonne adds and unlike her brother and father, she couldn't be bare-chested, even though it was a tradition of sorts for all their corsairs to go shirtless, decorate their bodies with tattoos and get their bellybuttons pierced, complete with a signature tattoo drawn on their bellybuttons to reflect their character, as a result Vidar only recommended male vermin to join his little band, but he won't turn down females if they have proven their worth, which Thorborg did. "That may be, but there is always the risk of dying and never coming back you know" Thorborg retorts, "why don't you come along this time, see what it's like? Torkel can reminisce" Vidar offers, "well alright" Thorborg concedes, "yes, Wattson, ready the Ominous Wind" Vidar shouts to a fox wearing a grey-cape, blue-belt with a Sling and pink pants (and of course was shirtless with tattoos and bellybutton-ring), who immediately saluted and began directing everyone: the fox's name was Wattson Firetail and like his ancestor Plugg Firetail, only his tail was red, the rest of him being grey. After the stoat family settled aboard, the Ominous Wind (a hulk-ship) set off to begin its passage.
==Chapter one==
In Redwall abbey, a juvenile vole-maid awakes to a bright new day. Her name was Fantina Dubbidge (a descendant of Marja Dubbidge) and she wore an orange-kirtle with a chemise and a braid. Upon looking out the window, a coal tit flies by chirping. "I see you're up Fantina" said a female voice and Fantina turns to a badger wearing a blue-bonnet, orange gown and sandals named Ackmena Widestripe, and yes: she's a descendant of Rawnblade Widestripe, "oh Ms. Ackmena, I didn't see you there" Fantina remarks, "no trouble at all, but could you go gather some fruit from Mossflower-Woods for me? I plan on making a special in the kitchen" Ackmena requests, "oh sure" Fantina obliges and quickly readies herself, then left her room.
Outside, it was as Redwall is suppose to be. A bunch of moles were busy tending the gardens and other things. Their leader, Foremole Ooryl Longladle, a descendant of Gurth Longladle, who wears a red-doublet and pink-chaperone was directing everyone, though he stopped momentarily to see a shrew wearing only a codpiece and wristbands named Neomys bring out a net full of European grayling-fish, with the help of a female European shag wearing only a sash named Corax and a naked female otter named Tekli Shellhound (a descendant of Leatho Shellhound). "Burr aye, how's it going on your end?" Ooryl asks, "never better Foremole" Tekli answers as Fantina arrives, "hey Corax, Neomys, mind if you joined me in looking for fruit outside Redwall?" the vole asks, "uh sure, but won't we need weapons incase of vermin?" Neomys asks, "I got it covered" Tekli assures and left for a moment, she later returns with a Glaive for herself, a Cutlass for Neomys, a Rapier for Corax, and, of all things, Martin's sword for Fantina, "uh, why am I getting Martin's sword?" she asks, "it was the only weapon left" Tekli claims, but secretly, she heard Martin's voice requesting her to give the sword to Fantina, and nobody goes against his wishes. Either way, they were suit up for any trouble that would come their way if it happens.
----
Passel was in a good-mood: their little hunt went well and not a single life on his side had been lost. Now he was setting his sights on something bigger like Salamandastron for one. "Rotfoot, anything ahead of us?" he asks the rat, "nothing but seabirds captain" Rotfoot answers, and Passel turns to a stoat wearing black-pantaloons and a green-doublet while carrying a Flail, "Stumpnose, takeover for a while" the eurypterid requests, "yes sir" Stumpnose obeys and they switch places, Passel later heads down into his cabin, and upon coming to his desk pulls out a map of the land and surrounding islands. He figured it was time to try the mainland when another sea scorpion, this one wearing a beige-kilt and green-mantle, and armed with a Sabre came in frantically. "Are you trying to kill me? I'll execute you for it" Passel howls clearly peeved at the interruption, "but sir, Rotfoot claims to have seen a storm on the horizon" the other eurypterid informs fearfully, and this stopped Passel from beating him up: he knew from experience that none of his lackeys would barge in without good reason, so he pushed past the subordinate and ran out on the deck to the bow of the Sinister Shark. Indeed, he could see a dark blob miles ahead, with a few flashes coming from it. He turned to Marka. "Marka, has Rotfoot sighted any land nearby?" Passel asks, "yes, I believe it's Volcano Island" Marka claims, "good, have Stumpnose steer us to it, assuming the storm is headed there too" Passel orders.
----
Back on the mainland, Fantina, Corax and Neomys followed Tekli diligently. These three have been inseparable since they were dibbuns, in part due to all three being aquatic animals (Neomys was a Eurasian water shrew, a rare species of shrew few see, while Fantina was a water vole). As a common linnet chirped and flew off from the woodlanders, Tekli spots something. "Look, here's some lemons" she says and quickly the four get to work. Unknown to them, a tribe of vermin was near: it was a juska tribe, led by a male ferret wearing only a belt and a purple-cape while wielding a Spear. His name was Terref Rath as he was a descendant of Sawney Rath. His own Juskarath was little more than a bunch of marauders, but they have robbed and threatened woodlanders. "Hey boss" a weasel wielding a Scimitar and wearing a pink-cote, grey-hose and a yellow-cowl peeps, "yes Bladefinger?" Terref responds, "I saw some woodlanders pass by: three juveniles and an adult" Bladefinger informs, "really, what species were they?" Terref presses, "a vole, a shrew, an otter and an aquatic bird" Bladefinger lists, "hmm, did they have anything worth our interest?" Terref considers, "only weapons, but the vole had a scabbard that looked like the one that carries the Redwall sword" Bladefinger claims, "ooh, now I'm interested, bring me to them" Terref requests and Bladefinger obliges, resulting in the whole tribe moving off.
==Chapter two==
On the island of Ruddaring, the otter holt residing there has not changed since the time of Martin II. Inside one little hall-house, a female otter wearing a pink-robe, a grey-bonnet and teal-skirt was adding some mackerel to hotroot soup. Her daughter who wore green-pantaloons and a purple-cotte worked beside her. "Nee, have Fassio and your brother catch some fish, we're running low" the first otter instructed the other, who's name is Nee Shellrudd, making her a descendant of Raura Shellrudd, while the mother was called Stass Shellrudd, "yes mam" Nee obliges and walks to where her father and brother were. The male otters were doing a little game: one wore a white-doublet, the other younger one wore black-shorts, a belt and teal-bandanna. Their names were Fassio and Lucian Shellrudd. They looked up when Nee shows up. "Yes Nee?" Fassio asks, "mom wants you guys to get some fish, we're running low" she informs, "of course" Fassio obliges and both he and his son set off. What none on Ruddaring know was a storm was near the island.
----
Fantina and her group had finished getting enough fruit for Redwall when they were suddenly surrounded by vermin. "Oh crud" Tekli swore as the four woodlanders draw weapons. "Ah so you young missy do have the legendary sword" Terref notes at Fantina, "you want it? come and get it" she taunts, Terref giggles, "stand back my juska, this'll be quick" he orders his tribe, and the two begin. Fantina was nervous as she had little training with weapons, whereas Terref had more experience, and easily bested her, though shockingly, he was disappointed by the outcome. "You call yourself the champion of Redwall? you couldn't defeat a dibbun with that garbage" Terref mocks much to Fantina's fury, "what!?" she howls, "come on let's get outa here" Terref orders his tribe and turns away, leaving three gawking woodlanders and a pridefully-wounded vole, "oh no you don't" Fantina roars and attacks again, but Terref again bests, "please, when you put up more of a fight, let me know" he requests and continues walking away, "you okay Fantina?" Neomys asks, "aside from my pride, yes" she answers grumpily, "just be thankful they're not interested in Redwall" Corax said, "yeah, that's actually good" Fantina admits before continuing back to Redwall.
----
With Passel, his ship had reached landfall, and judging by the geography, he deduced they were on Volcano Island. They were fortunate to sail into a sheltered lagoon that would surely spare them the worst of the storm should it arrive. Passel was maintaining the ship while Marka and a few others explored the island to see if they could resupply on food and water. Thunder boomed in the distance, but it sounded close. "Yes Sharphand?" he addresses the same eurypterid that told him about the storm, revealing his name too, "sir, there's plenty of fish in this lagoon, we shouldn't have any trouble with food while waiting out the storm" Sharphand informs, "I see" Passel acknowledges when another boom of thunder sounded, this time even closer than before.
----
Back at Ruddaring, Fassio and Lucian were hulling in common ling-fish for the island. The sea was getting choppy now that the storm was upon them, and it was raining, and windy. "Think this is enough dad?" Lucian yells, "well, we'll have to end it early anyway" Fassio reasons and brings their hull ashore, joined by another male otter named Sharkbite (due to wrangling in a shark once) who was naked, "better hurry, the storm's getting intense" he calls, but without warning, one big wave slaps the beach and smothers the three otters, taking two away along with a raft. Sharkbite was fortunate to cling to a rock and coughs, then when he saw his chance scrambles to higher ground. "Guys?" he calls to the other two, but suddenly finds himself alone, "oh no, Fassio, Lucian?" he calls again but still gets no answer, and he knew what that meant.
Lucian struggles to fight against the waves, and by luck saw the raft and swam to it. Gasping for breath while grabbing hold of the raft, he braced himself, then heard a voice. "Lucian" Fassio calls struggling nearby, "dad over here" Lucian shouts and waves and eventually they reunite, and together, they tried to ride the waves back to shore, but in the process Lucian slams his face into the raft and faints.
==Chapter three==
It was night at Redwall, but Fantina was restless: she couldn't stop thinking about Terref and his offensives words, to the point where she began practicing with Martin's Sword excessively. A male hedgehog wearing the brown habit of typical Redwall-residents finds her working herself to death. "Hey Fantina, you should rest" he requests, "I can't Brother Kapura, not after what that ferret said" she rejects, "Fantina, working yourself to death won't make you better" Kapura reprimands, "but he-" Fantina began, "no buts, winning isn't everything" Kapura interrupts, "okay" she concedes and left, while Kapura went to tend to the beehives, "and I know you don't argue my little friends" he coos to the bugs.
----
Out at sea, Lucian starts to wake up. The storm had passed, and the waves were much calmer. He rises, and finds his father with him asleep, but alive, he then looks around, but sadly saw no land whatsoever: they were completely lost at sea. "Oh man" he whispers, massaging his snout which started to ache, at least his nose wasn't broken, but how were they gonna get back home?
At Ruddaring, things have calmed there too, well, except for Stass and Nee. "I never should've sent them off" Stass cries, "calm down Stass, I'm certain they've survived, me and the others didn't find any bodies" Sharkbite claims, "doesn't mean they are alive, they could be miles away for all we know, and under too" Stass doubts, "well I think they'll come back, maybe not tomorrow, or the next day, but I'm sure they'll be back" Nee ascertains.
----
At Salamandastron, things were more peaceful. The Long Patrol was doing some sort of sport on the beach. The current badger-lord was called Korrina Forgefire, a descendant of Brang Forgefire and one of the few female-badgers to get the position. She wore a teal-wimple and a brown-bodice with a chemise, and carried a Trident. Standing next to her was a hare named Thorton Bletgore (a descendant of Blenkinsop Wilford Bletgore) dressed in a general uniform and carries a bow. Also present was a younger male badger wearing brown-shorts and a pink-doublet: this was Korrina's son Vanto Forgefire. "Why exactly can't I participate?" he asks, "'cause it's meant for jolly hares young sir" Thorton answers, but that didn't make the badger feel better. At the same time the competition begins: one hare, a female dressed in a recruit uniform, passed with flying colors. "Good job Mirax" said a colonel male hare wearing a captain's uniform, carried a Morning Star and was called Fastpaw, "ah it was nothing" Mirax shrugs (her full name was Mirax Highreach Crumshaw, and yes, she was descended from Buckworthy Crumshaw).
Vanto, bored, got to his feet and went back to the fortress. "You don't wanna watch anymore?" Korrina wonders, "no I don't, I wanna do it" Vanto answers and left, making Korrina sigh, "oh it's alright lady Korrina, he just needs time and he'll get over it" Thorton assures, "I hope so, ever since my husband died, I've felt like we're drifting apart" Korrina laments, "yeah I know, but I'm sure deep down, he still cares about you" Thorton speculates, "I know" Korrina agrees before turning back to the sport, where a few hares have passed the trial like Mirax, though some failed to, which meant redoing it another day. Korrina honestly couldn't see her son doing the feats the hares do: a badger would struggle to pull off things this sport required.
Vanto went to his own personal bedroom, looking out the window: he didn't understand why his mother nor the hares would let him take part in the activity, it seemed easy to do. Well some of it, Vanto knew he'll never jump as high as a hare can, but he was pretty sure badgers could pick up things heavier than a hare can, though that wasn't in the activity at all. Could that be why he wasn't allowed? Perhaps, but he only wanted to join because he thought it was fun.
==Chapter four==
The Ominous Wind continued to sail as Yvonne was learning some combat from a rat wearing yellow shorts and like all the corsairs has a bellybutton-ring and tattoos over his body, his name was Wikstrom Figlugg, a descendant of Hemper Figlugg, and he wields a Pike. Yvonne was using her dad's mace while they spar, but in the end Wikstrom won. "Not bad little miss, but you do have a long way" Wikstrom determines, "meh" Yvonne shrugs off and left, deciding that melee wasn't for her, "ah don't feel down Yvonne" Vidar consoles, "it's not that I'm down dad, I think I should stick with what I'm good at" she corrects and gets to practicing her blowpipe. 
Meanwhile, Torkel and a male crow wearing beige-shorts, a belt with a War hammer and yellow-cowl who goes by the name Worc were catching fish: most of it being the common sea needle-fish, but they also amazingly caught a common stingray. "Whoa, hey everyone we caught a stingray" Torkel shouts and many who gather were blown away, "well I'll be: nice catch" Wattson praises, "I'll be sure to make a grand feast from this" Thorborg vows and helps gather the fish into the ship's galley. Worc then took to the air to return to his post as lookout, and to his amazement saw an island. "Hey Vidar, there's an island to our right" he calls out, Vidar looks and sees there is an island, he quickly looks over a map and deduces it to be Peace Island, "Well I'll be, I think we've just found Peace Island" he suspects and steers the ship to it.
----
A few miles further away, Passel was on the move, moving to the coast. A marten carrying a Dirk and wearing a belt, a teal-cowl, a red-cape and a white shirt named Deadcheek was standing beside him to help his presentation. "Today, I propose we strike somewhere big, somewhere that is a symbol of great importance" he yells, then pauses, "I propose, we attack Salamandastron" he finishes and most corsairs cheer, but one eurypterid who wore only a brown-chaperone and carried a hatchet named Slowtail looked nervous: he heard the fortress had a dragon skull that could breath fire, that and it housed badgers: the most susceptible to bloodwrath, and as far as he knew, the only vermin that ever defeated the fortress and claim it was a wildcat, the others that tried to follow didn't do nearly as well. Maybe that was why Redwall Abbey was coveted more, though if Slowtail recalls correctly, Redwall has badgers too. In fact Slowtail doesn't believe any of the woodlander territories were worth it, except maybe Noonvale, but that place was almost impossible to find. Even so, he'll take that over Salamandastron, but he was too afraid to tell Passel that directly, for now.
----
At Salamandastron, Vanto was trying the course from last night, but it became apparent why he wasn't allowed: it was hard for him to do some of the feats the hares do, and he kicks the sand in frustration. "I figured you'd be here wot" said a girl's voice and Mirax shows up, "really?" Vanto says grumpily, "really" Mirax repeats when a male barn owl named Molayne McGurney (a descendant of Stonehead McGurney) suddenly lands near them, "greetings young ones, how's fortress life going for you?" he asks, "it's going fine" Mirax answers, but then realized something, "although we could do for some jolly scones: our harvest was sloppy" she adds, "hmm, I could get you some from Redwall" Molayne offers, "ah no thanks, it's the beginning of summer, we can still grow plants and harvest them" Vanto reminds, "yeah but I hate working in this flipping heat" Mirax complains much to the badger and owl's amusement. 
----
At Redwall, things were quiet, save for Fantina still trying to perfect her fighting, and Tekli was helping her. "Try to keep your grip on the ground" Tekli instructs and shoves Fantina, but the vole manages to keep her balance, only to have her legs swept off by Tekli's tail, "and enemies won't give you time to recover" the otter warns before withdrawing her glaive, while a pridefully wounded Fantina gets to her feet, "again?" Tekli offers and Fantina raises Martin's sword. For an hour they spared in the heat, and while Fantina was improving, Tekli still proved better. "I think...that's enough...for today" Tekli pants and Fantina agrees for she was exhausted, so they part ways and Fantina finds a female squirrel wearing teal-trousers, a red-surcoat and a purple-bonnet approaches, her name was Lerriuqs Nodrey, a descendant of Russa Nodrey, and the current healer of Redwall, beside her was a female rabbit wearing a green habit: this was Abbess Coney, the first rabbit abbess on record, "oh, mother abbess, Lerriuqs" Fantina greets with a bow, "save the formalities" Coney requests, "and you look like you've been working out a lot" Lerriuqs notes at how sweaty Fantina was, "yeah, been trying to become a powerful fighter after those juska" Fantina admits, "hmm I figure, go and freshen up, but remember: winning isn't everything" Coney suggests and left, "that's what Brother Kapura said" Fantina whispers and continues on her way.
----
As for Lucian, he and his father were still stranded at sea, but they didn't have to worry about going hungry: they had found several sea-needle fish and subsisted on them. Unfortunately their thirsts couldn't be helped due to the salt in the water, and the two were baking on their raft desperate for something to drink, not noticing a reptilian fin breach the water before submerging, though Lucian at least heard it. "What was that?" he pants, "what is it son?" Fassio asks, "I heard something surface" Lucian explains, "could've been a fish or something" Fassio dismisses, but little did either know, a Platypterygius (an ichthyosaur) was stalking them from below, then it swims up and with its mouth open, ambushes Fassio, "gah!" he screams as the ichthyosaur chomps on him and wretches him away, "dad!" Lucian screeched but it was too late: the ichthyosaur dives with its prey, leaving clouds of blood in its wake. Lucian attempted to follow, but it was hopeless and he didn't dare risk losing the raft. He surfaces and swims, but not without crying over his father. When reaches the raft he collapses on his belly and balls his eyes out. "No" he sobs, wondering how he was gonna tell his mom and sister, assuming he ever gets back to Ruddaring. Either way, he couldn't believe Fassio was just eaten by a sea monster, and continued to cry to dusk.
==Chapter five==
The next day, Lucien sat, starved, thirsty and grieving. A Coloborhynchus scouring for food lands on the raft to see if he was dead. If he was the pterosaur will eat him, but Lucien opens an eye, proving otherwise as the pterosaur shrieks in alarm and flies off. Lucien watches and to his luck spots an island where the pterosaur was going to. He tries to get up, but lack of freshwater have sapped his strength, rendering him too weak to even move. All he could do was hope the waves push toward the island, but it was a big gamble.
----
At Redwall, Fantina was scouring mossflower-woods, hoping to find Terref again and have a rematch, though chances are he probably didn't stick around. Several European goldfinch fly out of her way as she walks through, then stops, hearing what sounded like voices up ahead. "Bingo" she whispers and follows. To her relief, the juska haven't left after all: they were merely lounging around the river. What she doesn't know was that Tekli and a male mouse wearing a brown-habit was following: the mouse's name was Brother Fievel and he was the recorder of Redwall. "Are you sure we shouldn't try to stop her Tekli?" he asks the otter, "if we did she'll throw a fit, you know how prideful she can be" Tekli warns, "yeah but some things are more important than your pride" Fievel complains feeling Fantina was losing her common-sense, "look, if she does need help we're here for her, but only if it comes to that" Tekli suggests, "I hope you're right" Fievel concedes when they see they've already arrive.
"Ah, we meet again" Terref taunts, "I'm here to give you the fight you want" Fantina claims and Terref gets to his feet, "then let's prove it, Bladefinger, my spear" Terref requests and Bladefinger hands him the spear. The Juska spread out to make room, and after the two combatants did a warm-up, engage: Terref went on the offensive, but to his surprise Fantina counters and manages to match up to him. "Ah so you have gotten better" Terref notes, "told you" Fantina confirms as they continue. Faster than you can blink they traded blows, occasionally getting nicks and cuts from each other. On one clash they try to win a pushing match, but Terref decides to end it by kicking her in the stomach, forcing her to her back, but she instead summersaults backwards, which Terref didn't expect and Fantina slashes him on the chest, knocking him down, but he quickly gets back up. They trade one more blow before Bladefinger puts an end to it. "That is enough" he demands and steps between them. Terref merely laughs. "We're just having a little fun Bladefinger" he assures before touching his wound, "seems you've beaten me miss Fantina" he concludes, "shake on it?" he offers and presents his left hand to the vole, who after giving it some thought, shakes it, "so what now?" she wonders, "well it's been fun, but we might as well leave these woods" Terref answers, "you're not gonna come after Redwall?" Fantina asks, "yeah I'm not brave or stupid enough to want that place, as far as I'm concerned, you woodlanders deserve it" Terref scoffs and with that the Juska walk away, leaving Fantina standing there looking at them. She then heard the bushes behind her move and turned to see Tekli and Fievel, "I had a feeling some-beast was following me" she jokes in greeting, "I must admit, even though I thought you were making a mistake, that was a great fight" Fievel compliments as the abbey's bells could be heard, "looks like it's lunchtime, hungry?" Tekli asks Fantina, "well, the fight did work up an appetite" she admits.
At the abbey itself, the current bell ringer, a male hare wearing a pink-coat who goes by the name Tehutti Fieldbud (a descendant of Merriscut Fieldbud), was pulling the ropes. "You sure have a knack for knowing when to ring for food" Ackmena teases, "can you blame me wot? us hares have high metabolisms, though I do find it annoying" Tehutti counters: he stood out among hares in that he finds being hungry all the time disruptive, as he likes to do less energetic things like painting or gardening rather than more highly active requirements, "and yet you don't hesitate to remind the rest when to eat" Ackmena giggles, "I'm just being generous is all" Tehutti retorts as they leave the bell-tower. It was at this point that Fantina returned and some dibbuns wish to hear it, particularly a female dormouse wearing a teal-surcoat and beige-bonnet named Soara. "So what was it like?" she asks the vole, who chuckles before describing it, which amazed the dormouse, "being a warrior is so awesome" Soara says dreamily.
----
At Peace Island, the Ominous Wind lay moored, a common redshank-bird was laying on the crow's nest. The crew had pilfered a good amount of resources from the native hedgehogs, and Yvonne got her first kill as a corsair. Unsurprisingly, Vidar and Thorborg were proud of her, and now they plan on sailing elsewhere. "That was so fun" Yvonne exclaims, "ah that was nothing, wait 'til you meet a Rogue-Crew like group, or maybe Passel the Nasty, then you'll see the real fun of the corsair-life" Wattson jokes, "uh I don't think I'd wanna meet Passel or any Rogue Crew so soon" Thorborg dreads as Worc flew up to the crow's nest, "shoo" he dissuades the seabird, then began to settle when he caught sight of something at sea: squinting revealed something he never would've expected. "Captain, there's a woodlander on a raft over there" he shouts, "what?!" Vidar gasps as he and everyone else gather at where Worc directed, and Vidar couldn't believe it either, "it's an otter" he deduced, then turned to his crew, "ready the ship, we need to bring that fellow onboard immediately" he orders and many obey, "what do you suppose an otter is doing on a raft out here?" Torkel asks, "we'll have to ask him that when we get him" Wikstrom reasons before prepping the sails.
==Chapter six==
Lucian didn't know where he was, but he can hear voices: voices that sounded like pirates. He secretly hoped they were woodlander-pirates, no telling what vermin sailed this sea. "A tad young isn't he?" said a female voice, "what's an otter-boy doing alone out at sea?" said a male voice, "probably escaped slavery or something" said another male, "hey he's waking up" said one more male voice before Lucian was able to open his eyes. To his horror, he finds himself in the care of vermin, as he feared. He also noticed he was in a ship's cabin, a medical-ward to be specific. "Great, just when it couldn't get any worse" he moans, "worse? we just rescued you" Torkel complains, "sure: first I get swept away from home with my father by a storm, then my father is eaten by an ichthyosaur, and now I'm a prisoner to corsairs" Lucian rants, "we don't do slavery young one, in fact we usually prefer avoiding woodlanders, be thankful you didn't run into Passel the Nasty" Vidar lectures, "Passel the Nasty?" Lucian asks, "aye, he's a sea scorpion who despises landlubbers, had a few run-ins with him" Vidar explains, Lucian tries to sit up, but was still too weak, and a male salamander wearing white-shorts, a belt with a bow and a red-cape (and of course has a bellybutton-ring and tattoos on his torso) pushes him back down, "don't try to move, and before you ask, we're at Peace Island" the salamander orders, "why are you helping me?" Lucien asks, "not all vermin are bad you know, plus, I didn't think you deserve to die" Vidar claims, "so what are you guys called anyway?" Lucian asks, "well we prefer to call ourselves the Manly Marauders, we are an all male band" Vidar answers with pride, "ahem" Thorborg coughs in offense, "well, except my wife here, and daughter" Vidar corrects and Lucian could guess why: both the male stoats and the salamander were shirtless, much like Lucian himself, not only that, but they had tattoos on their bodies and piercings on their navels, Lucian had to admit, they looked kinda cool, "well, I never thought I'd say this but, thanks for taking me in mister" Lucian thanks, reasoning that if it weren't for these vermin, he'd probably die of thirst or exposure, or from another marine pseudo-dinosaur, but that last thought immediately reminded him of his father, and thinking about his father reminded him of his mother and sister back at Ruddaring. He couldn't restrain his crying and turned away from the corsairs, who actually became sympathetic. "Thorborg, Torkel, why don't you go and make sure nothing happens at my station" Vidar requested and both his wife and son left, the salamander, who's name is Brutaka Droptail (a descendant of Scurl Droptail) decided to leave as well for now. Lucian appreciated the corsairs for helping him, but they probably thought he was being weak in is current state. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost my wife, or kids" Vidar says, Lucian said nothing though, "you're pretty brave you know" he adds, getting Lucian's attention, "w-what?" the otter asks, "you broke down right in front of us, most of my corsairs get embarrassed when they're caught crying, but you didn't ask us to leave" Vidar remarks, "well, I didn't think you'd be that polite at all, in fact: I expected you to mock me right now" Lucian reveals, "which is why I didn't permit any of them to come see you" Vidar claims, "I'm Vidar Clogg" he introduces, "I-I'm Lucian, Lucian Shellrudd" Lucian returns, "look boy, I know you're apprehensive about being with so many vermin, but we'll help you in anyway we can, and get you home, wherever that is" Vidar offers, Lucian though didn't think it was a good idea to tell Vidar, "well, I suppose I have no choice, and I was never your prisoner was I?" he submits, "no you weren't, now rest, as soon as you can walk again, you'll be indoctrinated" Vidar vows, "indoctrinated?" Lucian gasps, "yes, to be staying with me, you must have our symbols" Vidar explains, "but I don't wanna join you" Lucian objects, "my ship, my rules, though you don't have to stay with us forever" Vidar maintains and left before Lucian could object again. The otter didn't wanna look like a corsair, even though he did find the tattoos cool (he wasn't sure about the navel-piercings though), but it didn't seem like he had much choice: he was way too weak and alone, and if he had to choose between these corsairs and facing the dangers of the sea, he'll take the corsairs.
----
Korrina and Molayne were having tea in the former's bedroom, where they got a view of Vanto trying out the hare's trials, and needless to say, he still sucks at them. "That's why I told him it was for hares only" Korrina laments, "seems like you've had quite the eventful life lord Korrina" Molayne jokes, "yeah" Korrina agrees sadly, Molayne figured she was thinking of her husband, "you miss him don't you?" he asks, "once or twice" Korrina admits before looking out the window again and found Mirax and Thorton socializing with Vanto, "what's going on down there now?" she wonders while watching, and sees Thorton hand Vanto a Halberd while Mirax got a Dagger and Thorton himself had an ax, "looks like Thorton is planning to teach them how to fight" Molayne deduces when a knock suddenly echoed from the bedroom door, "come in" Korrina permits and in comes a male hare wearing a sergeant uniform who calls himself Uhlrich Ffolger (a descendant of Pikkle Ffolger), "yes Uhlrich?" Korrina asks, "sorry to interrupt but we're out of those Redwall scones" Uhlrich laments, "already?" Korrina asks, "afraid so wot, and no: none of us ate more than allowed or we would deplete them sooner, we had more than five season's worth" Uhlrich swears, "I could always fly to Redwall and request a new batch" Molayne proposed, "maybe tomorrow Molayne, you did just get here" Korrina suggests.
----
At night in Redwall, several lesser horseshoe bats fly over the abbey, but in it, Fantina was struggling to sleep. In her dream, she meets an unforgettable mouse. "Tomorrow Fantina, an owl will come to the abbey for a supply of Redwall-scones for Salamandastron, but trouble is approaching the fortress, be sure to take the delivery in order to help lord Korrina" Martin requests, "trouble, what kind of trouble?" Fantina asks, "the usual vermin kind, only this one is not like any of the ones you're used to" Martin answers and fades away, "could you at least tone down the cryptic-talk? what vermin should I expect?" Fantina demands but doesn't get answered this time.
==Chapter seven==
A new day arrives over Redwall. While birds like a red crossbill fly overhead, Fantina just couldn't get the words from her dream out of her head. "You alright?" Kapura suddenly asks catching Fantina looking into the sky, "yeah, it's just, Martin came to me last night" Fantina admits, "really, should we expect a vermin to attack?" Kapura asks, "I don't think we do, he said trouble would befall Salamandastron" she answers, "really?" Kapura comments: Salamandastron was less popular to vermin than Redwall was, probably due to the fact Redwall is supposed to be all about peace, and the vermin assume the inhabitants wouldn't fight back (which is a total lie), the only vermin Kapura knew that ever wanted Salamandastron at all were Ungatt Trunn, Swartt Sixclaw, Ferahgo the Assassin, Ripfang and Gormad Tunn: Ungatt only because Redwall wasn't even made yet, while Swartt and Ripfang attacked mainly for personal reasons, and Ferahgo and Gormad probably only did it because they thought it would be easier than Redwall.
----
At Salamandastron, Molayne was gearing up to head to Redwall. "I'll try to be back as soon as possible" the owl promises, "no need, take your time" Korrina dismisses and the owl flies off, Korrina turned to see the cadet hares doing exercises, Vanto watching along, except he was given his own lessons separately. Korrina decided to use this moment to her advantage and bond with him. She sits beside him, but he doesn't acknowledge her. "You think they'll make promising warriors?" she suddenly asks, startling Vanto, "huh?" he asks, "the cadets, like your friend Mirax, you think they'll make great warriors?" Korrina clarifies, "oh sure, yeah" Vanto shrugs, and there was a moment of awkward silence between them, "listen Vanto" Korrina suddenly requests, "have you ever considered being a badger lord?" she asks, much to Vanto's shock, "uh, not really, I've never been into making weapons" he admits, "well I understand, but the offer's still open, since it's partly necessary and all" Korrina shrugs, "I know that" Vanto reminds, Korrina nods and having nothing else to say, decided to leave, though doing so actually made Vanto look at her in slight sadness: sure losing his father caused a small rift between him and his mother, he still cares about her, it's just he felt Salamandastron wasn't his place, and that his place was somewhere else.
----
Molayne made it to Redwall by about two hours, and his request was complied, but when Fantina catches him, she recalled her dream about Martin saying something about an owl coming for scones for Salamandastron. "Hey uh, you're from Salamandastron right?" she asks, "that's right" Molayne confirms, "well, mind if I come with you when you're ready to go?" Fantina asks, much to Molayne's surprise, "if you insist" Molayne shrugs, "it's because Martin the Warrior told me to" Fantina admits, "did he?" Molayne comments now interested, so Fantina told about what might be coming to Salamandastron and that she was chosen to go rescue it, needless to say, Molayne couldn't deny it, "well, if you're right, I'm not taking any chances" Molayne concedes, "great" Fantina said and left.
An hour later, Fantina and her friends mounted on an Iguanodon carrying another four-season's worth of Redwall-scones in packages, and without breaking a sweat either. "Well, whatever trouble Salamandastron will face, be sure to come back alive" Abbess Coney urges, "we will mother abbess" Neomys vows as Ackmena opens the gate to let them through, "say hi to Log-a-Log if you run into her" Ackmena suggested, "will do" Corax vows as they left.
----
Lucian's recovery went faster than expected: already he could stand and walk after Brutaka and a few other corsairs gave him enough liquids and fed him Atlantic pomfret-fish. As soon as Brutaka was sure the otter wouldn't struggle to keep his balance Vidar gave him a little tour of his ship. Lucian was admittedly impressed with how un-vermin-like everything in the ship was (having expected a mess-hall that was, well messy and full of drunks, the cargohold full of jewelry and money, and maybe cages for prisoners, but the ship had none of that). Vidar also gave him a cabin he could stay in due to no one else residing in it (it was meant for Worc, but the crow usually preferred sleeping in the, no pun intended, crow's nest). After bringing Lucian on deck, Vidar lent him a Lance. "You might need this" Vidar presents, "I think I can handle myself" Lucian prides, "I know that, that's why I'm giving it to you" Vidar replies and Lucian accepts the lance, then swings it around experimentally to get a feel of it, "ever used a sword before?" Wikstrom wonders, "no, but I know how they work: you just swing them around to damage, and hold it parallel to protect" Lucian answers, "plenty more to it than that, here I'll show you" Wikstrom states and for a few hours the rat teaches the otter how to properly fight with a sword. By the time they finished it was dusk, which meant Lucian's initiation into the crew, much to his dismay. Torkel brought him up from his cabin and to the ship's bow, where the whole crew has gathered and placed torch-lamps on the bow's borders. As soon as they see Lucian arrive, they immediately made a path for him which lead to Vidar, Thorborg and Wattson, who had bowls of body-paint and a ring ready to be used. Cautiously and timidly Lucian walks in, noticing that none of the corsairs looked resentful toward him at all: some smiled in surprising encouragement while others didn't seem to care about having an otter with them. Upon reaching the end he straightened himself as Vidar placed his hands on the otter's shoulders and looks with seriousness. "Lucian Shellrudd, you have agreed to join us so you can find your way back to your home and family, until that happens, will you help us in anyway you can?" Vidar questions, "I shall" Lucian answers, "will you save any of our lives when we're in jeopardy?" Vidar quizzes, "I will" Lucian agrees, "will you assist us in slaying Passel the Nasty if we ever run into him?" Vidar adds, Lucian gave it a thought, reasoning that if there was any corsair the world was better off without, it was Passel, these guys spoke of him in hatred and disgust, and Lucian has heard about vermin like that, "okay" Lucian concedes, Vidar nods, "lay down, face-up" he directs on a big table that could fit a musteloid on it, and Lucian guessed it was to receive the navel-piercings and tattoos. He timidly lays himself on it as Thorborg presents pictures of tattoos to choose. "Which would you like?" she asks showing several that seemed to be themed around corridors or something: some were gaping maws of predatory sea animals like sharks, others were the openings of structures like a volcanic-crater, and others were what looked like ritualistic circles used by seers. There were so many to choose from, but Lucian noticed one in particular stood out the most, "I've never seen a fish like that before" he points to a picture of a can-opener smoothdream-angler fish, neither he nor the vermin know the species, but they did have their own name for it, "ah the fishing-fish: Torkel caught one seasons ago one night, but we had never seen anything like it, all we know is that it seems to live in the deepest areas of the sea, where we cannot reach, is this what you desire?" Thorborg explains and offers, "I guess I'll go with it" Lucian shrugs, so Wattson moved in with a threaded needle and began applying numbing cream on Lucian's bellybutton to reduce any pain the otter might receive, while Thorborg began drawing an outline of the angler-fish around his belly. Lucian winced the second he felt the needle and the paint make contact with him. Thorborg stopped when she drew the fish's eyes and Wattson attached the ring to the slit he made onto Lucian, then removed the thread to prevent any infections. "Tattooing will continue tomorrow" Thorborg explains and Lucian was allowed to sit up, where he runs his left-finger over his piercing, "you are now a part of the Manly Marauders, may your time among us be good" Vidar announced and the crew cheers on their new member.
==Chapter eight==
Fantina and her gang ride their dinosaur mount through Mossflower-Woods. A red deer gallops away the second it heard them approach, and several yellowhammer-birds took to the air for the same reason. "So what do you think this vermin attacking Salamandastron will be?" Neomys asks, "don't know: Martin wasn't specific, as usual" Fantina laments, "sheesh it's like he enjoys leaving us in the dark" Corax fumes, "I know" Fantina complains until she heard something, "hey does anybody hear voices?" she suddenly whispers, stopping the Iguanodon their riding, "yeah, it sounds like...shrews" Neomys deciphered happily and mushes them forward. Sure enough, they come across a guosim-camp full of shrews having a good time, but they stopped what they're doing upon seeing the new arrivals. "Hey Log-a-Log" Neomys calls and a female shrew wearing a white-jacket, purple-cloak and carried a Crossbow looked up in astonishment, then smiles, "Neomys" she acknowledges and they hug, "I see you brought Fantina and Corax" she adds, "hey Log-a-Log Boshti" Corax greets, "it's nice to see you too, what brings you so far from Redwall?" Boshti wonders, but the teens become nervous, "you might wanna sit down" Neomys suggests and they tell how Fantina had a dream about Martin telling her Salamandastron will be attacked, and that they were heading there to protect it (and deliver scones). Boshti nodded to each of them. "Hmm, that makes sense, who would be willing to ignore Martin?" she jokes before getting serious, "and if it's no trouble, we'll head there too" she declares and several shrews support her, "well that's good, hopefully Molayne's already notified them by now" Fantina replies.
----
Out at sea, the Ominous Wind continues to sail. Vidar and Yvonne were driving, with the former teaching the latter how it works. "Now remember Yvonne, if you need to go fast, well you'd need the sails to be raised, and you can't do that and steer the ship at the same time" Vidar explains, "I understand" Yvonne replies. At the same time Torkel was watching from the crow's nest, feeling a bit of pride at his sister. "Hey Torkel" Worc responds, "what is..." Torkel wonders until he spots an island further away, "that's why" Worc confirms and Torkel decides to tell his father, "hey dad there's an island to our left, maybe we could make a stop" he shouts, "I'll look into it" Vidar returns before turning to Yvonne, "think you can steer without me?" he asks, "of course" Yvonne assures and Vidar left to get a map.
Inside the ship, Lucian was undergoing examinations to see how the corridor in his bellybutton was forming around the piercing. At the same time his tattoo was getting finished, so he was laying on a table again as Wattson and Thorborg did their thing. The paint for the tattoo was cold and Lucian couldn't resist shivering from it. "Try not to shiver" Thorborg chastises, "easier said than done" Lucian retorts as Wattson moves his ring through its nub to see how the tissue was accommodating, "seems like your ring has been accepted into your body, so we don't have to worry about infections or anything, but it has to be removed for the tattoo to be perfect, if you want" Wattson offers, "no it's fine" Lucian declines, so Thorborg paints around the ring until not a spot was left. "There we go, best not to swim until it dries" Thorborg instructs, "I figured I couldn't swim, how long does the drying take?" Lucian groans, "eh, couple of hours" Thorborg shrugs as Wikstrom comes in, "yes Wikstrom?" the stoat asks, "we've found an island, and Vidar thinks it's one your ancestors visited" Wikstrom reveals, "really, which one?" Thorborg asks, "I think it was the one home to black squirrels, at least that's what Vidar said" Wikstrom deduces, "hear that rookie? your first outing with us" Wattson says to Lucian ecstatically, "woohoo" Lucian says without enthusiasm.
----
A few miles away from the Ominous Wind, the Sinister Shark was nearing the mainland. Passel could see Salamandastron ahead, barely, and had Stumpnose steer a little ways north of it. A male polecat wearing brown-breeches, pink-cape, teal cowl and carries a Bolas named Thickarm due to his rather buff appearance, makes his way over. "Sir, we're running low on rations" he informs, Passel groans in annoyance, "tell them to can it until we reach landfall, we're almost there anyway" he reasons and Thickarm left to carry out his order: Passel didn't care what his crew thought, they'd follow him because he said so, or so he thought. Before he could go back to his cabin, Slowtail stops him. "Uh sir?" Slowtail asks timidly, "what is it?" Passel demands, "I uh, might think uh, attacking Salamandastron is a bad idea" Slowtail spits out, making Passel scowl, "you're afraid of a measly badger and a bunch of comical hares?" he asks threateningly, "well, that's not what I mean, I'm saying that-" Slowtail clarifies before Passel suddenly grabs him by the neck and holds him over the water, catching the other corsairs' attention, and they knew what was coming: Passel didn't like anyone who backs out from his conquests, "let's be clear that I am the one you should be worried about, because one: I'm right here and therefore, can end you, and two: they're woodlanders, woodlanders can't stomach the thought of going to war and taking lives" Passel growls, "doesn't seem to stop them from beating us at our own game anyway sir" Slowtail warns, but this got Passel to loosen his grip, threatening to drop Slowtail and leave him to the sea, "but I'll give it a chance" he hastily adds and Passel brings him back onto the ship, then drops him, "that's what I like to hear, but if you chicken out again, you'll be visiting Hellgates early" Passel warns and walks off, leaving Slowtail shaken and unable to decide who's scarier: his boss or the badger-lord. Either way he still wasn't looking forward to attacking Salamandastron.
==Chapter nine==
The Ominous Wind reaches the island in an hour and a half, and Vidar took some corsairs to explore for possible settlements to raid. Among the corsairs he's bringing include his daughter, Wikstrom, Lucian (against his will) and at least five others. They instantly found signs of habitation, but sadly it turned out to be a Loamhedge-like place in that everything was old and neglected. "What happened to this place?" Lucian asks, "well I believe the stoat named Vilu Daskar enslaved squirrels here, yet did not leave any to live on this island" Vidar explains, "eek, Vilu Daskar, wasn't he the arch-nemesis of Martin the Warrior's father Luke?" Lucian notes, "so you know your history eh?" Wikstrom teases, "oh shut up" Lucian growls, "to answer your question, yes he was: and he happens to be my wife's ancestor too" Vidar admits as they get to examining the objects left behind, though sadly most were too degraded to be of any use or value. They continued to scour until sunset.
----
At Redwall, things were completely normal. Tehutti was walking in the sun when his stomach growls. "Ah not again" he complains, cursing his high metabolism, "hungry again hurr?" Ooryl teases, "unfortunately yes, I was having a nice walk when it happened" Tehutti notes, "no reason not to resist it though, enjoy your walk, then eat" Ooryl suggests, "you know I think I'll jolly do that" Tehutti considers and went right back to walking, leaving a chuckling Ooryl. The mole went back to doing foremole duties when he caught Fievel writing a scroll. "Making a record?" the mole asks, "yes sir, who knows what kind of vermin Fantina will tell us when she gets back" Fievel says giddily, but then turned glum, "I just hope she does come back" he adds, "relax, she's the champion, the champion always comes back" Ooryl confides, "I wouldn't bet on it: she's prideful, and what scares me the most is if the vermin will take advantage of it and use it against her, you've seen how it takes over her, what if it becomes her biggest weakness?" Fievel explains and Ooryl could see where he was going with it: Fantina never took kindly to humiliation or anything that would portray her inferiorly, Ooryl had seen how hard she took to being downgraded at things, and when it happened, she'd strive to improve herself so not to suffer it again, but Fievel had a point: sometimes pride can betray you and become your enemy, Ooryl dreaded the possibility of Fantina actually falling prey to that. Their contemplation was interrupted however by the sounds of running and screaming, and they see the dibbun Soara running from Ackmena. "Get back here" the badger demands, "I guess there are things you can't change no matter what" Fievel notes to Ooryl, who laughs.
----
Fantina and her troop continue their trek to Salamandastron. Boshti and the guosim wished them luck, sending half the guosim to meet them at Salamandastron while she and the rest stayed in Mossflower-Woods to keep an eye out for more vermin. The trio continued until it was sunset, and as a common reed bunting chirped into the evening, they settle at a clearing not far from the end of the woods. "Won't be long now" Corax reasons, "my my, you're all awfully young to be way out here alone" said an ominous voice from nowhere, startling the trio, "who said that?" Fantina demands drawing Martin's sword, "up here" the voice beckons and they look, but it was too dark to discern anything, "could you give us some movement or something?" Neomys persuades, "my apologies, I forgot you're kind can't see in the dark as well as I" the voice laments and from the branches and shadows a male bat swoops in and lands in front them: he was a common pipistrelle-bat; a rather small bat that prefer living in forests to caves, as a result he didn't talk like the bats of Bat Mountpit (who talk like they were constantly echoing). He was about the same size as Fantina and went natural like most bats. "I am Pipistrellus, it's been awhile since I had visitors" the bat introduces, "don't you bats live in caves, and talk like there's always an echo?" Corax comments, "little maid, not all bats live in caves: me and my species in particular prefer the closeness of trees, and it's the reason why I end my speeches with the last words said once" Pipistrellus explains, "you know I've always wondered if there were any bats who don't live in caves" Fantina comments putting Martin's sword away, though Pipistrellus noticed the writing on it and was instantly interested: These young fools have no idea how I have plans for them he thought sinisterly, "you know, it would be safer if you spend the night in my dwelling up in the trees" he proposes, "uh thanks, but I'm not good at climbing trees: I'm no squirrel" Neomys laments, "yeah same for me, plus someone's gotta stick with our steed and cargo here" Fantina adds, "I guess, in that case, would you like anything? I have food and drink" Pipistrellus offers, "we're fine: we already have enough food" Corax assures, "though I am out of water: I've never gone this long without swimming before" Fantina admits, "well I do have a stash of Buttercup 'n' Honey Cordial, among others" Pipistrellus claims, "that would be lovely" Fantina requests delighted, "coming right up" Pipistrellus complies with a glint of slyness in his eyes, though unknown to him Neomys noticed it and suddenly got apprehensive. As soon as the bat flew back into the trees though, he shrugs it off, but stays on guard just incase: you never know what kind of dangers you'll encounter in Mossflower-Woods.
Pipistrellus flew up into his house, and immediately went to a cabinet which held dozens of drinks: Buttercup 'n' Honey Cordial being one of them, but that's not all, he also had a sleeping-potion, which he used to drug the drinks he gives to unwary travelers so he can rob them blind. "Ah children, so gullible, and that's what I like about them" he cackles like a maniac before getting to making the drugged-drinks.
==Chapter ten==
Late at night on the Moss River, half the guosim were sailing through en-route to Salamandastron. The one leading is a male wearing teal-shorts, a white-cloak, a blue-doublet and carried a knife, named Piruk. They were sailing in the dark before they decide to stop and rest. "Keep your guard guosim, no telling what lives out here" Piruk warns. One shrew unfortunately wasn't looking where he was going and walks right into a massive English sundew-plant. "Gah, help" he screamed and a few other shrews hear him and come to his aid, but the plant wasn't gonna allow that and soon more shrews were suddenly caught in the plant's gooey-tentacles. Piruk was quick to come and free his brethren, but it wasn't easy and even he was caught. The plant began curling it's leaves around its prey to smother and suffocate those caught on them. One shrew inadvertently scared a common moorhen-bird right into the plant, getting it entangled in the slime. Piruk fortunately was freed along with two others, but the plant still claims three shrews, never to be seen again, although the moorhen was freed. Piruk was left staring at the killer-plant as it claimed three of his guosim. "Let's try somewhere else" he suggested and the survivors don't object, wanting to get away from the sundew.
----
Pipistrellus took his time, the trio of teenagers should be asleep by now, so now was his chance to loot. Flying down to them, he sees they were indeed asleep, and began to take Martin's sword. "What a marvelous weapon, if I didn't know better, I'd say this is the Redwall-sword" he comments, and deciding it would serve him, he puts it on him before continuing to search through Fantina's stuff, then moved to Neomys, but what he didn't know was the shrew wasn't drugged at all: he had suddenly grown wary of this bat, and decided to manipulate him back, he had chosen to save his drugged cordial, pouring out some to look like he had drunken it. Pipistrellus creeps to him, and the moment he touches Neomys' things the shrew shot up. "Busted" he exclaims startling Pipistrellus and waking everyone else up, where they see Neomys and Pipistrellus wrestling each other, "what's going on?" Fantina asks and noticed the bat had her sword, which suddenly clicked in her mind, "no way" she whispers, "how are you not drunk? I saw you drink the cordial" Pipistrellus yells, "I didn't, I was pretending: I knew there was something off about you, but I wasn't expecting you to be a mugger" Neomys answers, "stop it right now" Corax shouts, then turned to Pipistrellus, "you drugged us? I thought bats were good-beasts" she demands, "I am a good beast" Pipistrellus lies, "then why do you have my sword, and for that matter why were you and Neomys fighting?" Fantina demands not buying it, "why?" Neomys suddenly asks, "what?" Pipistrellus asks, "why did you try to rob us? you obviously defy the normality of bats, but why?" Neomys clarifies, "because you flightless creatures are inferior, being free of gravity makes me feel powerful" Pipistrellus admits, "ahem" Corax coughs, "and why do you hang around them if you're a flier like me?" he asks the shag, "because they're my friends" Corax growls offended, "a shame, you could've been my partner but oh well" Pipistrellus shrugs and lifts off, though Neomys saw it coming and threw his cutlass like a spear at him, impaling him in the chest and killing him. The trio went over and retrieved their weapons. "I thought he was just a lonely hermit" Corax notes, "let's hurry and bury him, then get outa here if he has friends" Fantina suggests: so they did, and not a moment too soon as they've been hearing strange sounds in the shadows that has their dinosaur-steed on edge. With one last look at Pipistrellus' grave they walk off.
----
Morning arrives over the west-coast, and the Sinister Shark finally reaches landfall. Passel, having no regard for the well-being of his crew, rouses them to get ready for invading the fortress. Most of the corsairs were still sleepy and would rather wait a few more hours, but death-threats from Passel insured they wouldn't dare slack off. "We have arrived my minions, judging by the time the fortress should be quiet and completely oblivious, so let's move" Passel orders and most corsairs only moderately cheer due to still being sleepy. Slowtail in particular was walking sluggishly. "You hanging in there?" Rotfoot asks him, "not really, I think Passel's biting off more than he can chew" Slowtail dreads, "ah come on, if Ungatt Trunn could do it, anyone can" Rotfoot says confidently, "but Trunn is the only one that did it, all the others failed" Slowtail counters, "eh doesn't mean you're right, and besides: Passel won't take kindly to hesitance" Rotfoot shrugs off and warns, "I am aware of that Rotfoot: he did threaten to drop me in the water yesterday" Slowtail growls, not having any faith in Passel's odds: as far as Slowtail was concerned, it was his funeral.
----
In Salamandastron, everyone was fast asleep, unaware of the incoming danger. When Passel and his horde reach the fortress, they attack. Korrina was sleeping when she heard the cries. "What the?" she wonders and looks out the window, "oh no" she gasps and immediately changes clothes and sets off to rouse everyone else, "alert, corsairs attacking!" she shouts, getting as many hares as possible to join her, though forbids Mirax and Vanto, "not you Mirax: you're still a recruit, and Vanto, you protect all who can't fight" she instructs, "what, why?" Vanto complains, "being invaded by vermin is never a game: they won't care if you're elderly or a kid, all they'll see you as is an enemy that must be eliminated, meaning die" Korrina explains seriously and left before Vanto could say anything, "mom!" he calls but she doesn't answer, so he goes with following her orders and hoping she survives.
==Chapter eleven==
Passel and his corsairs have breached through the main gate, now they were invading the fortress. Even so, they were met with resistance: several Long Patrol hares that were on nightshift either meet them or go alert the rest of the fortress. It didn't really matter to Passel, but the sea-scorpion does hope to find the badger lord and kill it. In the fight itself he caught sight of Thickarm capturing a hare and drag outside for possible bargaining. Passel grins: if a full-on assault doesn't work, bargaining lives of prisoners would be next. Suddenly a shriek he recognized from a corsair drew his attention, and he sees said corsair get thrown to wall and go limp. Looking back he finds the killer: Korrina, who was plowing through the vermin as if they were just air. "Hey badger" Passel yells getting her attention, and she gladly tackles him.
In another corner of the fortress, Uhlrich snaps a fox's neck with his bare hands. "This is what happens to vermin who don't heed our warnings" he taunts, "and this is what happens to woodlanders who don't listen to us" said a voice and out of nowhere Sharphand swings in with his saber. Uhlrich dodges and swings his left-leg under the eurypterid, making him lose balance and drop his weapon, reducing the fight to hand-to-hand combat. Punches, kicks, slashes and slams were delivered, but in the end it was Sharphand who emerged the winner by pinching his right-claw through the hare's neck so hard he punctured the jugulars, then slams him into a wall, which officially killed the hare. Unknown to Sharphand, Fastpaw had been watching and was horrified to see a fellow hare lose, he snaps and assaults Sharphand, clubbing him in the face until he was certain the sea-scorpion was dead. He then went to drag Uhlrich to safety.
Back with Passel and Korrina, they were still fighting. "You're either fearless or stupid to even try attacking this place, maybe both" she remarks, "just because you're scary doesn't mean you're invincible" Passel counters and whacks his tail into Korrina, then stabs into her left-leg with his javelin, bringing her down to her knees, "told you so" Passel emphasizes as Korrina struggles to stand, but the injury prevents her, and just when it looked to be game over for her, a "eulalia" bellows from behind her and Vanto rushes at Passel with reinforcements. Passel leaps away, escaping Vanto's halberd by centimeters, but decides to fallback. "I thought I told you to stay out of this" Korrina lectures her son, "hard to do when I knew you could be dead" Vanto counters and helps his mother up, "well, I do owe you one" she admits as she sees the vermin withdraw: they were starting to take heavy casualties, and while Passel could care less about his corsairs' well-being, he didn't wanna sacrifice too many to the point his side was outnumbered, so he and the vermin beat it. The Long Patrol follow until not one live corsair was left in their territory, and cheered when they see they've won.
----
Fantina, Neomys and Corax were continuing to Salamandastron through the flatlands leading to the fortress. A meadow pipit flies out of the way upon seeing them approach on their Iguanodon. They had relocated to somewhere else after their run-in with Pipistrellus, and were still shaken from meeting a bat who defies the woodlander-ways, but at least the continent doesn't have to worry about him anymore. They continued until their ride began to tire, so they stopped to rest near a stream. Neomys dives in, emerging later with several three-spined sticklebacks. "Lunch is served" he presents, though Corax didn't seem interested, "what's the matter Corax?" Fantina asks, "I still can't get over meeting that bat Pipistrellus" the bird admits, "yeah, who knew a bat could be bad" Neomys remarks, "exactly: nobody expects a bat to be evil in some way, they're supposed to be like all woodlanders" Corax rants, "true, but there are exceptions: there's bad shrews like Tugga Bruster, bad voles like Druwp, and even a bad mouse and hedgehog: at least one of each race in the course of history, it was only a matter of time before a bad bat like Pipistrellus came into existence, though I'll admit, I never thought I'd meet one" Fantina explains, "I guess so" Neomys shrugs, having accepted such possibility even before meeting Pipistrellus, though Corax still finds it unnerving.
----
Back in Salamandastron, the residents were recuperating from their sudden surprise-invasion. Korrina was pleased to hear that not a single child, elder, or cripple had been lost despite a few close calls, meaning Vanto had done his job after all. Of course there was still the issue of the dead and wounded they did have, like herself. "Ow" she gasps as a female hare wearing a medic-uniform fixes her wound up, "sorry" the hare apologizes, but Korrina dismisses her and turns to Thorton, "who did we lose?" she asks shyly, "around eighteen: at least thirteen dead and eight missing, most likely taken prisoner wot wot" Thorton laments, "hope the corsairs suffered more than us, or we could be facing a defeat" she dreads, "if it's any assurance mistress" Molayne suddenly speaks, having been quiet the whole time, "before I left Redwall, a young vole-maid named Fantina Dubbidge had foreseen this event via Martin the Warrior and along with two additional youths, is on her way to assist us right now" he adds which got surprise from the mammals, "well, that actually makes me feel better" Korrina replies, "think she'll make it in time?" Vanto wonders, "I could go and bring her here personally" Molayne proposes, "let's put that in reserve, and wait until nightfall to leave Molayne, it's not like the vermin can see in the dark" Korrina suggests, "can't argue with that" Molayne complies, "I'll go do some reconnaissance on the corsairs: see what the odds are right now" Thorton states and left.
==Chapter Twelve==
Passel and his corsairs flee to where Brogalaw's Holt once resided, but they had long since moved south after eliminating Ungatt Trunn. Salamandastron apparently wasn't as groggy as he hoped when he arrived, but it wasn't a total loss: they did make off with some prisoners: one being a male hare dressed as a lieutenant named Wilthurio Hurdleframe Hillwether, making him a descendant of Jodd (or Wilthurio Longbarrow Sackfirth Toxophola Fedlric Fritillary Wilfrand Hurdleframe Longarrow Leawelt Pugnacio Cinnabar Hillwether, as he's also known). Like his ancestor Wilthurio is a good climber, and his weapon is a voulge (a pole with a meat-cleaver), which got taken from him. Passel surveys him and the other captured hares. "Not a bad catch" he muses, "I don't flipping know what you want with Salamandastron, but I'm not jolly talking wot" Wilthurio growls, "oh I don't plan on interrogating you, not yet anyway" Passel assures and turns to Marka, "how many corsairs unaccounted for?" he asks, "well, there's Sharphand for one" the lizard lists, "pity: he was one of the most useful I ever had" Passel mildly laments, "shall I bargain the fortress for the prisoners?" Marka proposes, "not yet: get Dashwing and have him recon the fortress to see their state" Passel requests and the lizard complies: Dashwing it turns out, was a male western jackjaw-bird who wears only a beige-jacket and a red-coif, he acts as a spy for Passel and this situation was no different, "once you've gotten enough intel, return at once" Passel orders, "it will be done lord Passel" Dashwing complies in a rather deep voice and flies to Salamandastron.
----
In Mossflower-Woods, Tekli was again collecting things for the abbey, with Ackmena and Lerriuqs beside her. They were just minding their own business when they began hearing music. "Is that singing?" Lerriuqs wonders, "yeah, but, from who?" Tekli adds, "could be vermin" Ackmena theorizes readying herself, "I don't think so, sounds more like..." Tekli objects as the music came closer, which Lerriuqs was able to recognize, "guosim" the squirrel finishes.
Near them, the guosim indeed were paddling on log-boats up the Moss-River, singing along the way until Ackmena, Tekli and Lerriuqs flags them down. "Ahoy there guosim" Tekli calls jumping into the water, "hello miss Tekli" Boshti greets and the guosim come ashore right in front of Ackmena and Lerriuqs, "hello redwallers, whatcha doing out here?" Boshti asks, "just gathering herbs and other plants we can use in Redwall" Lerriuqs answers, "ran into your champion yesterday" Boshti reveals, "Fantina? have they reached Salamandastron yet?" Ackmena wonders, "not yet, but they told me about the disaster that's befallen them, so I lent some of my guosim to join them, I merely came here to make sure no other vermin take advantage of your champion's absence" Boshti answers, "that's assuring, we did have a juska tribe show up, but they were only interested in Fantina, not the abbey for once" Ackmena recalls, "is that so? seems vermin are finally giving up on ever conquering Redwall" Boshti expresses, "only to move on to places like Salamandastron" Tekli laments, "maybe, but that's a fortress meant to battle vermin, I'm sure they'll be fine" Lerriuqs reminds, "I know that, doesn't mean none of the valiant hares and or badgers will leave this world for the Dark Forest: it's impossible to have a war without participants losing their lives in it" Tekli counters, "okay you got me there" Lerriuqs admits, "you worried about Fantina and her friends?" Ackmena asks the otter, "a little" Tekli confirms, "relax, if the other champions survived their wars, odds are Fantina will survive hers too" Boshti confides.
----
Back at Ruddaring, things were trying to carry on, but for two female otters that was easier said than done: Nee and Stass couldn't stop mourning their loss of Fassio and Lucian, and had to do all their roles in their absence too. Currently, Stass was foraging in the surf with Sharkbite, snatching a common seasnail-scorpionfish. She surfaces to get a breath, then dives again. Sharkbite kept an eye out for anything dangerous, in part due to Stass' request. "That should be enough for today" he reasons with her and she complies, so they both return ashore.
Upon returning into the heart of Ruddaring, Stass brings her catch to be prepared by other otters, then she checks on Nee. "How are things going on your end Nee?" Stass asks, "fine, fine" Nee said, though Stass noticed something off about her daughter, "you alright?" she asks, "yeah, just...I feel like dad and or Lucian might still be alive somewhere" Nee admits, Stass wasn't sure if Nee was in denial or somehow correct: she herself wasn't hoping, but she didn't want to assume the worst either, "one can only hope" she finally says and left.
==Chapter Thirteen==
Thorton follows the vermin tracks to find they had taken shelter at where the Bark Crew once operated against Ungatt Trunn. Carefully he zips and creeps behind several rocks, eliminating a few patrols along the way. Getting closer, he finds Passel basking in the tide until Stumpmose comes to him. "Yes?" Passel asks, "sir, one of the prisoners has tried to escape, but we stopped him" Stumpnose informs, much to Thorton's shock: so Passel does have prisoners, "and you're telling me this because?" Passel demands, "it took ten of us to subdue, two didn't even survive" Stumpnose laments and Passel was admittedly surprised, "two dead, from nothing but the hare's bare paws?" Passel asks, "afraid so lord" Stumpnose confirmed, "hares can't sit still for a second: order everyone to bound them with our strongest ropes, and gag them too, so they don't bite through the ropes" Passel requests, but also caught sight of Thorton right after the stoat left, and immediately tried to act natural to catch Thorton off-guard. Thorton himself waited for a second before chancing to look again, only to find Passel gone. Cautiously he tried to make his way back, only for Passel to leap toward him. Thorton jumps away, dodging the eurypterid's javelin by an inch, then draws his ax. "You think you can get away spying on me?" Passel provokes and attacks again, sending Thorton running into the grass-infested dunes. Thorton knew that he had to find a way to lose him, or else Korrina won't be able to come up with a countermeasure to respond to Thorton's information. Passel is dead sent on stopping him, either killing him or capturing him, but sees he's gone into more vegetated ground where it's harder to leave footprints, and finds the trail has gone cold. He continues searching in the direction of Salamandastron, certain he'll find the hare this way by either getting in between them or catching up. Unbeknownst to him, Thorton knew that too: while Passel has gotten between him and the fortress, Thorton had predicted Passel would head in it's direction and stealthily made his way through a long way back.
----
Meanwhile, Fantina and her group have finally reached the infamous Toadlands. Little grebes fly through the marsh as the woodlanders' dinosaur-mount carefully navigates the muck. "I hate this place" Corax shivers, "relax, we'll be outa here in no time" Neomys assures, "this place is called Toadlands for a reason: it's what lives here that worries me" Corax clarifies, "you're worried about a few frogs?" Fantina teases, "kind of, and there may be painted-ones here too, or even flitchaye" Corax answers, "I'm not sure about flitchaye, they're more common further north than here" Neomys reminds, "tell that to the ones Martin met when he went to discover his father's fate" Corax retaliates as they kept going, but their Iguanodon suddenly stops in fear, "hey what is it?" Fantina asks the dinosaur and looks ahead, suddenly getting nervous herself, Neomys gets down to scout ahead, "either of you wanna join me?" he asks, "I'm not going in there" Corax refuses, "yeah, I think I'll stick with our precious cargo" Fantina adds, "what, you afraid of the mud now?" Neomys asks, "no, it's just I don't wanna leave the scones and suddenly have them lost in my absence" Fantina reasons, "suit yourself" Neomys shrugs partly-convinced, maids are neat-freaks he thought and walks forward into the marsh. Halfway there he was beginning to feel paranoid, mostly because he was alone, but the only signs of life he could find were bugs flying around and fish like stone loach swimming in the water. Unknown to him, several figures were watching. Neomys whips his head to the direction of a breaking-twig, cutlass ready. He didn't see his stalkers until they were right on top of him.
With Fantina and Corax, they waited, though were anxious: Corax wanted to go after Neomys, but was too nervous, and Fantina felt leaving the Iguanodon and cargo was too risky. "Think he'll be alright?" Corax asks Fantina, startling her, "sorry" Corax acknowledges, "it's fine, just a little jumpy, what'd you say?" Fantina brushes off, "think Neomys will be alright?" Corex repeats, though Fantina had to think about it, but about a minute after she says "I hope so", until a scream, immediately joined by many more, suddenly echoed from ahead, startling all three, "I stand corrected" Fantina adds and gets to her own feet, but first turns to Corax, "you stay here, keep our cargo safe" she orders the bird and takes off.
----
Back with Thorton, he manages to lose Passel completely and was approaching Salamandastron, but upon nearing it he spotted a bird at a window. At first he assumed it was just some seabird until he noticed it's clothes. Focusing, he was alarmed to see it was a corvid: Dashwing to be exact, and Thorton noted how the jackjaw was looking into the window while keeping himself out of its view, meaning only one thing: this jackjaw was one of Passel's corsairs. Thorton got a little closer, but noted Dashwing was too high to hit with an arrow: he'll have to be lured down somehow. He positions his bow, draws an arrow, pulls back to fire, then lets out a whistle to get Dashwing's attention. 
Dashwing himself had been trying to find what the fortress was planning against Passel for hours, and so far the only piece he could consider information was that Redwall's champion was on its way, which could be a problem, but if they could best this place first, the champion would be less of a threat. He jumps when a whistle sounds out from the beach, which meant only one thing, a patrol was about, and had spotted him. He surveys the dunes and noted something standing out among the beach-vegetation, a contrasting color. Quickly he flies toward, which became his biggest mistake: an arrow flies to him, but misses by a centimeter. "Blast it" Thorton swears upon seeing he missed his target, and decides to just rush up to the corvid, only for Dashwing to fly higher where he couldn't be reached at all before heading back to Passel. Thorton, seeing that Dashwing was now hopelessly out of range, growls in frustration before rushing to Salamandastron.
==Chapter fourteen==
Neomys struggles against his restraints. Of all the things he was expecting to attack him, the painted-ones were not one of them. Tied to a stick, they carried him up into the trees until coming to a platform and place him upright in front of what looked like the chief, who was rather tubby. One painted-one walks to him, and they speak in their native language. Neomys couldn't understand it, but the way the one who kidnapped him was gesturing to the shrew didn't sit well. Suddenly the leader got to his feet and gave what Neomys assumed was a grand speech, then all the rats started celebrating. Neomys was only alarmed when they suddenly moved him to what looked like a primitive crane-winch, then suddenly untie him and move him to the hoist. He fought, but they proved too strong and soon he was tied to the hoist, with the leader draping a necklace over him for some reason, then spoke a word Neomys could make out. "Meg" he says, and Neomys suddenly realized he was being offered up to something as a sacrifice, but what was a "Meg"?
Not far away, Fantina was following the trail. She found where the painted-ones attacked Neomys along with his cutlass, which she took with her, then saw the footprints leading away, and has been following ever since. Along the way she pauses, hearing what sounded like drums. She followed it to where she presumed it'd be, but it took her a moment to realize it was coming from above. She couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the painted-ones' domain. Sticking to the shadows of the underbrush, she scopes around until she caught sight of Neomys on the hoist, which made her gasp. 
Suddenly Neomys felt himself get pulled to the edge by the crane, eventually being taken off the platform and suspended in midair, then be lowered a few stories before suddenly stopping. Neomys hung there by his hands, waiting for whatever the "Meg" was to come over, assuming it even exists. That was suddenly confirmed when what sounded like thunder began coming his way. From the ground Fantina felt the ground itself shake on and off, which meant only one thing: something big was coming. Drawing both Martin's sword and Neomys' cutlass, she readied herself. Not a moment too soon a massive Megalosaurus emerges from the trees. Neomys' suspicions proved correct: he was a sacrifice, and Fantina realized it, so she chose to act; taking a glob of mud, she threw it at the dinosaur, startling it and gaining its attention. "Hey, over here, you're mother was Baliss the Slayer" she insults and that seems to get the theropod riled up for it completely ignores Neomys for her, prompting her to run as the dinosaur's presence sent many Eurasian bullfinches fleeing. Fantina dove into water to escape the dinosaur, then swam around it to backtrack for Neomys, but she wasn't quiet enough. 
Neomys struggles with his rope when he heard running approaching, and Fantina bursts from the bushes. "Fantina" he cries, and Fantina swings his cutlass frisbee-style to free him. He plummets to the mud the second the rope was sliced and plops in mud, while his cutlass lands a few feet to his right. Unfortunately the Megalosaurus returns, nearly getting them with a bite. It homes in on Fantina, but she thrusts her sword right into his nose, repelling it, then dove under and slashed it's chest, making it roar in agony and unknowingly back up into the painted-ones' tree hard enough to shake it, causing several to fall around it. Seeing the new targets, it decided to attack them whilst Fantina and Neomys fled into the marsh. "Thanks" Neomys whispers, "don't thank me yet, let's get back to Corax and leave this swamp" Fantina suggests and together they happily head back to Corax, leaving the Megalosaurus and painted-ones to battle it out among themselves.
----
Back at Salamandastron, Thorton was telling all he found out about the corsairs to Korrina. "Hmm, this is gonna be tough, now we know for sure they have hostages" she laments, "what should we do?" Mirax asks, "how about we capture some of the corsairs and do a trade-off?" Vanto proposes, "that could work" Fastpaw shrugs, "I don't know: Redwall tried that against General Ironbeak the raven, but he used it as a distraction to claim half the abbey, what if Passel does the same?" Molayne warns, "that is a possibility" Korrina admits when a female hare suddenly came in, "my lady, Passel has arrived with the prisoners wishing to talk" she says, "already?" Thorton gasps but along with everyone else, follow the hare out.
Right in front of Salamandastron, Passel and his corsairs stood with the captured hares waiting for the badger, who came soon enough. "What do you want?" Korrina demands, "isn't it obvious? your fortress in exchange for the lives of these hares" Passel answers, "and if I refuse?" Korrina speculates, "then you can kiss your friends here goodbye" Passel threatens and does the fake-decapitating on one hare to emphasize, "I'll think about it, now git" Korrina assures, "suit yourself" Passel shrugs and turns to his corsairs, "let's go", now they were marching back to the abandoned otter-holt, but Rotfoot suddenly walks beside him, "my lord, do you think they'll take your offer?" the rat asks, "unlikely, I trust them to sneak over and free the prisoners when we're not expecting it or something, but I'm no fool: I'll set a trap for them" Passel answers connivingly.
----
Back with Fantina's group, they were continuing through the marsh, albeit in a direction leading away from the painted-ones. Corax was blown away by how the painted-ones attempted to appease a dinosaur with Neomys, but was relieved to hear Fantina arrived in the nick of time. By the time Fantina and Neomys finished the story, they had reached the edge of the swamp that led to the mountains that sits between them and Salamandastron. "Finally, I thought we'd never get out of the swamp" Fantina moans, "well, there's no time to waste, let's get to Salamandastron" Corax suggests and flies ahead, with Fantina and Neomys on their Iguanodon steed following.
==Chapter fifteen==
Noon arrives over Redwall, and the sun beats down on the abbey. Due to the heat, the only outdoor activity most were willing to do was swim in the pond, which a couple of dibbuns like Soara were doing, being watched by Tehutti. At the same time Kapura was tending to the beehives with Abbess Coney and a female dormouse wearing a brown-habit named Sister Rachi (the current cellar-keeper) assisting him. "Better get all this honey to the cellar as quickly as possible" Kapura suggests, "on it" Rachi complies and carries a few jars stocked with honey to cavern-hole, "ah I love pleasant warmth of the sun" Coney says basking in the sun, "not me, makes me sweat" Kapura complains wiping his forehead, "you know you could just take a dip in the pond later" Coney suggests, "but I'm not an otter, I'd probably be laughed at or drown" Kapura dreads, "just because you're not an otter doesn't mean you can't swim, take the dibbuns for instance" Coney retorts, "I guess I'll try after we're done here" Kapura chooses and gets back to work, until hearing the dibbuns get into a water fight, "hey watch where you're flipping splashing" Tehutti complains, "sorry Mr. Tehutti" Soara apologizes, making Coney laugh as she semi watches, but Kapura only got more nervous, especially when Tehutti decided to join in their little game, and while he was having a blast, Kapura chalked it up to the hare being tall enough to wade in even the deepest part of the pond: an advantage Kapura doesn't have.
----
Out at sea, the Ominous Wind has traveled to the Twin Isles due to Vidar recalling encountering some fascinating marine-life, such as common eider-ducks (an oceanic duck). This was part of Yvonne's rite-of-passage to find an extraordinary creature to tackle and capture, and believes Lucian will be a valuable help for this. "Now remember Yvonne, if you can find something unique, you'll be a good corsair" Vidar instructs, "yes dad" Yvonne complies, "ah I remember when you caught that giant crab" Wikstrom recalls to Torkel, "yeah, that crab was a monster" Torkel agrees, "do I have to help though?" Lucian complains, "you're the only crewmember from an aquatic species, Torkel had to rely on me, Wikstrom and several corsairs to real in that crab" Worc explains, "and besides, I don't want anything bad to happen from this, so promise me you'll have Yvonne's back please?" Thorborg begs Lucian and the otter could see her concern was real, "you do have Brutaka" he reminds, "promise me" Thorborg repeats a bit more forcefully, "okay okay, I promise" Lucian relents a little startled, "calm down Ms. Thorborg, I'm sure nothing'll happen" Wattson appeases, "why can't Brutaka come with though?" Lucian suddenly asks gesturing to Brutaka, who suddenly got embarrassed, "yeah amphibians like me don't take to saltwater all that well" Brutaka explains shyly and Lucian partly believed him: he knew amphibians were notoriously sensitive to their environments, he has yet to see any that live on a beach with ease, let alone in the ocean, as far as Lucian knew, all amphibians only tolerated freshwater, "whatever" he shrugs and climbs down the ladder leading to the water, Yvonne right behind him.
Once in the water, both see several fish swim around seagrass. Yvonne gets to searching while Lucian sticks close to her, keeping an eye out for anything dangerous. Upon reaching several meters from the ship, Yvonne spotted something. "Over there" she points and they dive toward it. What they find is an Atlantic torpedo-ray: a ray that can generate electricity, it was simply swimming minding its own business when Lucian grabs its tail, causing the ray to zap him and make him convulse. Yvonne, alarmed immediately hauls him to the surface. "W-w-w-what was that?" he asks through his jitteriness, "I don't know, but a fish that can deliver a seizure is instantly worthy of hunting" Yvonne determines, "more like the opposite, and how are we gonna catch it if we can't even touch it?" Lucian wonders, "I can shoot it with a poison-dart" Yvonne reasons though Lucian had to wait until his spasms diminished, then they get back to hunting the ray. It took a while but Lucian found it buried itself in a bare patch of sand. Yvonne takes aim and fires with all her might at it, and like the weapon the fish was named after, the dart lands a bull's eye. The ray leaps out of the sand and flees again while the stoat and otter follow it, but the ray doesn't get very far as the poison begins to take effect. Yvonne decided to wait a minute before checking to see it was dead, not wanting to suffer the same experience as Lucian. They gave it two minutes, then they investigated. Lucian hesitantly prods it, and while he did receive another zap, it was much weaker than before, too weak to make him spasm again, still it swam off little, so they gave it more time until it was too weak to defend itself. When Yvonne was sure it was dead, or at least almost, she deemed it safe enough to haul it onshore, where she would bring it back to the ship on foot.
----
Korrina and some hares were making their way toward Passel's little outpost. Their mission: to free the captured hares. They stuck close to the dunes covered in plants, hoping to get to their brethren without Passel noticing and using the prisoners against them. "Remember the plan: sneak in and free the prisoners before they can be used against us. Kill any and every vermin if you have to" the badger instructs. The trek took them through the maze of rocks and sand, a few vermin who happened to be walking toward them were either killed upon discovering them or ignored if they weren't. Eventually they find the prisoners sitting in an outcrop, guarded by the stoat Stumpnose. Thorton rolled a rock into the stoat's line of sight, and while it did get his attention, he doesn't walk over to investigate. "Try it again" Fastpaw suggests and Thorton does, and this time Stumpnose was interested enough to come over, which put him in range of Korrina, who carefully rises up behind him and catches him in a headlock, then breaks his neck, it all happened in front of the captured hares who were astonished, but then delighted as Korrina and her rescue-party make their way over, "you all alright?" she asks, "mostly yeah" Wilthurio answers, unfortunately that's when the corsairs struck, "but not for long" Passel announces revealing himself with his horde all surrounding the woodlanders, "I should've known it would be a trap" Thorton peeps as their mission suddenly takes a turn for the worst.
==Chapter sixteen==
Korrina and the Long Patrol have walked right into Passel's trap, and Passel was unable to resist bragging in his accomplishment. "Hehehe, I knew you'd come save your little friends, ever think we vermin don't do friendship or trust for a reason?" he taunts, "actually, I did expect this" Korrina retorts. but Passel didn't seem surprised or even concerned, "oh really, and why's that?" he asks nonchalantly, "because I'm only one of two groups who came" Korrina answers and out of nowhere arrows and stones began raining on the corsairs, most of it coming from a distance inland. On closer examination, it was Vanto and Mirax who were leading an additional rescue-party: one which was tasked to assist should Passel have set a trap, and it was a good thing they did. "Careful, don't wanna injure our allies" Vanto cautions as the corsairs either dove for cover or try to shoot back, but either way were distracted from Korrina's group freeing the captured hares. "This will not happen" Passel roars and rushes at Korrina, though she saw him coming and repels him, throwing him into a rock headfirst, which knocks him out, "fall back, take shelter" Marka shouts taking charge. 
Eventually, Korrina, her squad and the prisoner hares reach Salamandastron. Vanto and his group rejoining as well. "Told you...it would...work" he pants, having run all the way back to avoid dying, "I'll admit Vanto, if it weren't for you and you're group, our mission would be a failure" Korrina admits, "hope you killed that scorpion mistress" Thorton prays referring to Korrina incapacitating Passel, "I doubt it, they're bound to be back sooner or later, though I'm hoping for later" Korrina contradicts and thunder boomed somewhere nearby, "looks like a storm is the one doing the sooner, let's get inside" Fastpaw proposes and they all do just that.
----
At the Ominous Wind, Yvonne had presented her acquired torpedo-ray to her father and Wikstrom, and both, along with the whole group, were astounded. "Impressive: been awhile since I've seen these beasts" Vidar remarks before smiling at Lucian, "gave you a zap eh?" he teases, "oh shut up" Lucian moans, "so what now dad?" Yvonne asks, "why, we shall celebrate your accomplishment, tonight" Vidar and the corsairs cheer, "I'll be sure to turn this creature into a special feast" Thorborg declares, which also got cheers, "man, who would've thought she'd get an electric-ray" Worc notes to Lucian, "yeah, whoopee" Lucian cheers weakly, causing Worc to pity him, "and you did good too you know" the crow assures, "really?" Lucian wonders, "oh yes really" Worc confirms, "yeah, you've got corsair power in you" Wattson adds, much to Lucian's flattery, who laughs shyly.
----
At Redwall, Kapura was standing at the moss-river, naked, about to take a dip. Tekli was with him incase he needed help. Kapura was nervous: he hadn't swam since he was a dibbun, and didn't exactly enjoy it, leading him to hate swimming, though he was fine with boat rides. "Come on Kapura, it's not gonna hurt you" Tekli assures, "yeah, unless it completely engulfs your head so you can't breath" Kapura reminds, "that's why we otters start in the shallowest parts, we're aware of drowning, but if you're confident and can handle it, nothing will happen" Tekli retorts, Kapura finally relents and wades into the shallows, then crouches to get himself used to the cold water before feeling comfortable enough to go further, "see? you've already gotten into belly-deep water and nothing happens" Tekli says and Kapura admitted it did feel nice, then he tried paddling around and was surprisingly good at it, of course he could never be as good as Tekli, but that didn't matter, and he found himself enjoying this. "Having fun are we?" said a voice and the duo see Boshti was watching, "gah, do you mind?" Kapura demands flustered, but Boshti just waved him off, "oh relax: I've seen some of my guosim in the nude everyday, being that we're nomadic and all, we can't exactly keep it private all that well" she reveals and giggles, and neither Tekli nor Kapura knew how to respond to that.
----
Back at the coast, rain was pouring. Korrina and the Long Patrol have sealed themselves in Salamandastron, while Passel's corsairs were trying to recover from their failed attempt at killing the badger-lord. Passel himself has been unconscious for two hours, and during that period, he's been restless as if he were having a nightmare. Marka recalls hearing words like "mouse" and "warrior" being spoken together, but wasn't sure what it could mean. Eventually, Passel manages to wake up, and Marka comes to his aid. "Easy boss, you're safe" the lizard tells him, but Passel just pushes him away, hard, "boss?" Marka asks, "that badger is digging her own grave now: she's beating me, and I refuse to lose" Passel growls through his chelicerae, "my lord, we're not defeated yet, the crew are still willing to fight" Marka assures, and while it was true, he wisely left out that Slowtail was being the opposite: he may need to be dealt with, "that's good" Passel comments and steps out into the rain, letting it wash over him: being a eurypterid, it was no surprise he'd find comfort in this weather. He quickly shifted his gaze to Salamandastron, where the infidel badger lady and her precious army of hares resided, undeservingly. "You'll wish you'd taken my offer of surrendering badger lady, for I'm going to mutilate you and have all the vermin in hellgates torture you forever when I send you to them" he whispers to himself.
==Chapter seventeen==
Dusk arrives over Redwall, and things were beginning to settle down now the heat was diminishing. Sister Rachi was serving nutbrown beer with Lerriuqs and Abbess Coney while they were having a little girl's night out on the lawns. "I'm telling you girls, nighttime is the only time I can gather the materials for drinks" the dormouse complains, "meh, I've never complained about this season: it's practically impossible to catch a cold in this heat" Lerriuqs jokes and this gets Rachi and Coney to laugh a little, "okay that's true, you don't have to worry about a cold" Rachi comments, "nope, just sweat" Lerriuqs says, "true, I can't stand smelling like a rat" Coney adds and this makes all of them laugh big time. They stayed quiet for a while when Soara came running out the building frantically. "Come back here" Ackmena yells following the dibbun, "seems like Soara is avoiding bath-time again" Lerriuqs comments, "haven't we all wanted to stay dirty when we were that age?" Rachi remarks and this made both her and Lerriuqs laugh, but Coney strangely doesn't, "actually I hated being dirty as a dibbun" she admits much to her friends' surprise, "really?" they ask, "it's due to having a sensitive nose after all, I couldn't stand anything smelly, not even myself" Coney explains, "okay" Lerriuqs comments somewhat shocked, "I guess there's an exception to everything" Rachi shrugs.
----
At Salamandastron, it had a moment of peace and quiet. Soprano pipistrelle-bats fly about in the cloudy-night. Korrina was being vigilant: so far the corsairs have not attacked again, yet Korrina could see campfires, showing that they weren't leaving them alone. Whatever they were up to, she wasn't liking it. She was so focused on the corsairs that she never heard Molayne arrive. "My lady?" he asks, startling her, "what is it Molayne?" she asks dismissing the scare, "well, I am ready to search for the Redwall-champion now that night has arrived" Molayne offers, "let's wait a few more minutes" Korrina suggests and goes back to watching the corsairs, only Molayne joins her, "what do you think they're up to?" he wonders, "don't know, that's what worries me" Korrina answers, "best not to find out: that one eurypterid, called Passel I think, seems to be the leader, I noticed him giving commands to the other vermin, without him they'd be lost" Molayne notes, "yeah, lost" Korrina agrees, then gets an idea, "in that case Molayne, you can leave whenever you're ready" she suddenly permits, "oh, right away my lady" Molayne complies and leaves the room, not wanting the corsairs to see him jump out the fortress, which might arouse curiosity.
Unknown to either, Dashwing had been spying again, and had heard every word between owl and badger, or at least he hopes so (it was tough to hear them with the tide from his position), regardless he stealthily flies off back to Passel, careful to stay in covered and shadowed areas on his way so he won't be noticed. As soon as he was close enough, he walked the rest of the way. Making his way into the camp, he searches for Passel, and found him relaxing in a tide-pool. "Lord Passel?" Dashwing whispers, "yes?" Passel responds, "I think the fortress' resident owl is gonna go off looking for the champion of Redwall" Dashwing informs getting Passel's full attention, "are you sure?" the eurypterid asks, "partially, I couldn't make everything the owl and badger said, but I'm sure that's what the former will do" Dashwing asserts, "as if this isn't hard enough" Passel seethed: a Redwall champion here would make it virtually impossible to take down Salamandastron, unless..."follow the owl, and once you find this champion, eliminate it" he orders the corvid, "I was actually gonna suggest that, and it shall be done" Dashwing complies and went off to wait for Molayne. 
Molayne himself walks onto the beach outside, he spares one look at the corsairs before deciding to walk behind Salamandastron so he wouldn't be seen, then takes to the air, not seeing Dashwing residing at the very peak of the fortress waiting for him. The jackjaw immediately gets airborne the second he saw the owl and follows from a distance.
----
As for the manly-marauders, they were having a good time: the celebration over Yvonne's capture of the torpedo-ray would be something to remember by. They were partying in the galley like you'd expect: singing sea-shanties, drinking too much grog and getting loopy from it, and occasionally some unsavory things. Needless to say, Lucian was overwhelmed by the rowdiness and left the galley, but not without Thorborg noticing. 
Outside, Lucian walked to the stern and watched the sea, savoring the silence and fresh air. Hearing footsteps on the deck, he turns to see Thorborg had followed him. "What are you doing out here? you should be having fun with the rest of us" she reminds, "Yvonne's the one deserving of that party" Lucian dismisses, "but you had a hand in it" Thorborg reminds again, "maybe, but..." Lucian began, and Thorborg noticed his uncertainty, "what's the matter?" she asks, "I don't belong here" Lucian eventually admits, "what, why would you resent praise?" Thorborg asks shocked, "because I'm an otter, a woodlander, a woodlander surrounded by vermin, I'd be seen as a traitor or weirdo to my kind, while other vermin won't see me any different" Lucian admits bitterly, startling Thorborg as the otter turns away, letting out tears, "hey, you may not be a vermin, but vermin and woodlanders share things in common believe it or not: one being that we can switch places in the good and evil roles" Thorborg soothes patting Lucian's shoulders, "I know, I've heard about good vermin like Romsca and bad woodlanders like Blodd Apis" Lucian admits, "secondly, if all of us vermin were evil, we wouldn't be able to keep ourselves in existence: you don't see Torkel or Yvonne wanting me and Vidar dead like Tsarmina Greeneyes, or me and Vidar being negligent to them like Swartt Sixclaw do you?" Thorborg adds, "no" Lucian concedes, "see? we may not be meant to be friends, but that doesn't mean we have nothing in common, in the end both our sides are more similar to each other than either of us know" Thorborg consoles and Lucian felt slightly better, but he knew he couldn't stay with the corsairs forever: getting back to Ruddaring was his first priority, and nothing was gonna stop him from that.
==Chapter eighteen==
Fantina and her group had finally reached the mountains which stood between them and Salamandastron, and continued a little through them until their mount was too tired. They found an overhang where they decided to rest and built a fire, unknowingly giving their location away to Molayne, who couldn't be more happy. "Look out below" he shouts and swoops in, "whoa, nice entrance" Corax compliments as she takes a bite from a white bream-fish she found in a nearby gulley, "thank you, unfortunately I come bearing bad news" Molayne laments, "don't tell me: Salamandastron is being harassed isn't it?" Neomys guesses, "exactly: a corsair named Passel the Nasty wants to claim it for himself" Molayne explains and tells of what's been going on in the meantime, but what stood out the most was Passel's species, "no way, a real sea-scorpion? I thought those guys only lived underwater" Fantina remarks, "well this one doesn't, and some of his troops are sea-scorpions too" Molayne informs, "well, as much as I want to get there now, our ride's spent" Corax laments, "I understand" Molayne concedes when his ears suddenly twitch and he immediately became on guard, "we're not alone" he warns and turned toward the shadows. Picking a rock up, he hurls it up the ridge. Instantly a shape bursts from the darkness to dodge, revealing itself to be Dashwing. "Aha!" Molayne yells and zooms at him, then the two birds get into a brawl, with Molayne winning. "I'm guessing that was one of the corsairs?" Neomys asks poking the now dead body of Dashwing with his cutlass, "unfortunately yes, guess Passel sent him to stop me" Molayne answers, "hey Thon, think you can go a little further?" Fantina asks the Iguanodon, who gets to his feet as a yes, "Corax, why don't you and Molayne go on ahead, Neomys and I will catch up" the vole instructs, "okay" Corax shrugs and the birds fly off, while the mammals mount the dinosaur and follow on foot.
----
On the shore, Fastpaw was moving through the shadows toward the vermin's abode. He was assigned by Korrina to attempt an assassination on Passel, reasoning that if Passel dies, the corsairs will no longer be a threat and may even compete to the death for his place, something that Fastpaw was more than eager to bring into reality. Staying in the shadows, he makes his way until he sees what he thinks is Passel standing out in the open. Getting into position, he attempts to get close enough to club the scorpion, not noticing another vermin had shown right behind him. Without warning, the second creature, which turned out to be Marka, slays the hare in one swipe of his bill-hook. The scorpion, actually Slowtail, jumps and turns around to find Marka over Fastpaws' body. "Whoa, thanks" he expresses, "what's going on here?" Passel suddenly demands showing up out of nowhere, "found this hare sneaking up on Slowtail lord, but got him" Marka gestures, "just one?" Passel asks, "so far" Marka answers, "he must've been attempting to assassinate me, and mistook Slowtail for me" Passel deduces, though he wasn't concerned about Slowtail's well-being: in fact had Marka not arrived the hare would've done Passel a favor; not only removing the whiney Slowtail from his life, but Salamandastron would assume they wouldn't be a threat anymore, and he would've caught them off guard in his next assault. 
Unknown to him, Passel wasn't the only one to have found this out: Piruk and his guosim had found them and witnessed Fastpaws' demise, now they try to make their way to Salamandastron, but it was not to be. "Hey lord I'm smelling something" Marka suddenly says and flicks his tongue to the air, "what do you smell?" Passel asks, knowing monitor lizards had noses better than a hare's, "I'm smelling...shrews" Marka announced, "guosim" Passel deduces and mobilizes. 
The guosim continue their way to the fortress, careful not to betray their existence. "Be careful y'all" Piruk whispers, but it was for naught when an arrow hits one shrew from nowhere, and the corsairs spring from the darkness at them, "nevermind" Piruk screams and gets into battle.
From the air, Corax and Molayne were flying back to the fortress when they heard the sound of battle. "Uh oh, Corax go get badger lord Korrina, I'll see what's going on" the owl orders and Corax reluctantly does as told. As Molayne swoops in, he finds to his shock, the corsairs battling several shrews, most likely the guosim. Unfortunately Thickarm sees him and launches a bolas at the owl, scoring a direct hit, and with his wings bounded, the owl plummets and by sheer chance lands neck first on a big rock, killing him. The battle continued until Korrina and the Long Patrol arrive, forcing the corsairs to retreat. "Is everyone alright?" Korrina asks, "I've found someone who isn't" Thorton announces presenting one dead shrew, "oh no, they got Molayne" Corax gasps and Korrina and Thorton rush to her to see she was right, "no" the badger cries but it was already too late, "what about Fastpaw?" Wilthurio asks, "I think he's dead" said Piruk who explained witnessing a hare die after sneaking up on a sea-scorpion, and a few shrews bring his body over, "so he failed" Korrina weeps seeing the now dead Fastpaw be placed beside Molayne.
----
The corsairs flee to where the Sinister Shark is, but Passel was fuming: once again Korrina bests him, and he hates losing. "Grr I'm not gonna stop even if it takes me forever" he roars, "can't we just go back to sailing?" said a familiar voice, "who said that?" Passel demands and everybody points to Slowtail, though Passel wasn't surprised, "of course" he groans as he walks over to the trembling Slowtail, "I'm just saying there's no shame in admitting defeat" Slowtail reasons, but this got him grabbed by the neck of Passel again, "I don't do defeat" he growls and flung Slowtail into the ship's hull, denting it but not killing Slowtail, Passel though ignores him and turns to the rest, "and I expect all of you to keep going until you succeed as well, no matter what" he warns before walking off somewhere to sulk.
==Chapter eighteen==
Morning arrives over Salamandastron, but the atmosphere was full of sadness: Fastpaw, Molayne and a few other hares and shrews had been buried some time during the night after being killed. On the bright-side Fantina and Neomys arrive with their delivery of scones, though by then they were exhausted, so Korrina decided to let them rest up. By the time they felt recharged it was near noon. "I'm glad you came, seems like Martin the warrior is with you" Korrina notes, "that he is, he told me ahead of time to come join the fight" Fantina acknowledges, "but even with the number advantage, what's to stop this Passel the Nasty from continuing to harass this place?" Neomys notes, "should we do a recon to see how his forces are holding up?" Thorton proposes, "unnecessary: let's just go in and slaughter as many as possible, most vermin can't accept losing and will fight to the death" Corax reasons, "but we should take care not to suffer as many casualties as them" Piruk reasons, "agreed, and that reminds me" Korrina reasons and turns to the assembled cadet hares, "well youngins, you all proved an asset in this little war, I think it's time you graduated, from now on, you're all officially enlisted in the Long Patrol as privates" she announces and the rookies jump for joy until Korrina puts up her left-paw for silence, "be warned though: this isn't a game, these corsairs will kill you if they get the chance, so be careful" she adds and the hares acknowledge, and Korrina herself was about to walk off, but her foot-injury suddenly flared, "mom, you okay?" Vanto asks, "yeah, just the foot Passel struck is acting up" Korrina admits, "maybe you should sit this out lord Korrina, exacerbating an injury like that can be life-threatening" Piruk warns, "staying here doing nothing is the last thing I wanna do, but if it comes to life-threatening, well..." Korrina laments and looks at Vanto, "...that is even worse" she finishes, "I'll be in her place" Fantina proposes and most accept it, "it's settled then: you guys can attack whenever you're ready, but first there's paying our respects to our fallen friends" Korrina announces.
Outside Salamandastron, the main fighting force, comprised of Fantina, Neomys, Corax, Mirax, Thorton, Piruk and half the Long Patrol and whole guosim, say their farewells to the graves that identified the dead. Mirax was in the middle saying last words to both Molayne and Faspaw. "Fastpaw, you were like a brother to me, and Molayne, you were the coolest bird of prey I ever got to meet, hope you'll both be happy in dark forest" Mirax eulogizes and lets Fantina takeover, "even though we've only known each other for a few hours Molayne, I'll never forget you" the vole promises and after everyone was done, they set off to confront Passel and hopefully end him.
----
At Redwall, things were less tense. In the medical-ward, Lerriuqs was tending to her stuff when she looks out the window and saw Ooryl being helped by his moles to sit, and then Ooryl massages his left-foot. Lerriuqs immediately suspected he was hurt and left the infirmary, running into Rachi. "Hey Lerriuqs" the dormouse greets, "can't talk Rachi, Ooryl seems to be in pain" Lerriuqs states and left, "what?" Rachi gasps and follows the squirrel outside, finding that Ooryl does indeed seem to be in pain, "what happened? Rachi asks, "I stubbed my toe while doing some digging for the orchard" Ooryl admits, "well, it's nothing serious, but best to stay off the toe for a while" Lerriuqs advises, "yes mam" Ooryl concedes and Lerriuqs, seeing she wasn't needed here, went back inside. Rachi had gone to the Orchard and finds Coney in it, most likely taking over for the foremole. "Hey mother abbess" the dormouse greets, "hello Rachi, just finishing up harvesting and stuff, who knew there was a rock lying in the patch" Coney responds and points to where Ooryl had dug, Rachi peers in and could see part of a rock jutting out, so she digs it out, "better get rid of it, don't want anyone else to have stub toes" she reasons and Coney laughs in agreement.
----
As for Passel, things weren't going well on his end, while he and most of his band wish to continue attacking Salamandastron, others like Slowtail would rather cut their losses and go back to sailing, but Passel won't allow it. For Slowtail, he at least took precautions to ready the ship to flee with some other corsairs should they be overwhelmed. "Make sure no one tells Passel that we plan on leaving, with or without him" Slowtail warns as he casts one last look at where Passel was, "that scorpion is a fool" he mutters. 
Down below, Passel was toughing up his corsairs so to make sure they'll win the next fight, until Rotfoot came bursting in panicked. "Now what?" Passel snarls at the rat, "sir, the forces of Salamandastron have deployed and are heading this way" he alerts and this stunned Passel and the other corsairs, "battle stations, our moment has come" the eurypterid suddenly yells and several corsairs get into position. A few minutes later, the woodlanders spring out of the trees and attack. Slowtail, seeing the action has arrived sooner than expected, doubles his efforts to leave. "Hurry, the woodlanders are here" he shouts and some vermin raise the anchor and turn the ship, unfortunately they were noticed by Deadcheek, "hey some of the crew are abandoning us" the marten screams to Passel, who looks in surprise, "what?" he screeched but sees Deadcheek was right, "cowards" he roars while a few other vermin break off from fighting the woodlanders to reach the ship before they could be left at the heroes' mercy. 
Corax flies and slaughters as many corsairs as she could, but gets wrapped by a bolas from Thickarm. "Gotcha" he gloats and Corax immediately realizes he's the one that killed Molayne, "why don't you say it to my face?" she taunts, though Thickarm decided to literally do it, "gotcha" he repeats, but this gave Corax the chance to bite him on the snout, making him flail about before finally being silenced by Piruk. "you alright?" he asks Corax unravelling her, "yeah" she confirms. 
Passel hated to admit it, but he was outmatched here, most of his loyal crew had to go retrieve the Sinister Shark from the deserters, and only a handful had stayed by his side to fight, but it was too few, and soon, he found himself the only one left in the fight. "Give it up Passel, you've lost" Fantina threatens, "this isn't over, for I don't lose, I'll be back with more" Passel vows and shot off into the water, however Fantina follows, much to Neomys' dismay, "Fantina" he calls but she doesn't hear him. They swim all the way to the re-moored Sinister Shark, where Passel's loyalists have all gotten aboard, and makes a lunge for the ladder hanging on the deport-side of the ship, then climbs up. "Marka, raise the anchor" he orders the lizard who complies, then Passel grabs the ladder, seeing Fantina has reached it and is climbing up, "ooh, you're a feisty one" he comments and pulls the ladder up with some others helping him, just barely dodging Neomys who attempted to follow, "no" he cries as the ships begins to flee from shore, taking Fantina with them, "Fantina" Neomys shouts but it was hopeless.
==Chapter nineteen==
Fantina was now a prisoner of Passel, despite putting up a good fight, and as the Sinister Shark sails away from her friends and the land, some corsairs had restrained her so she couldn't start a killing spree. Passel also took Martin's Sword, and decided to keep since it was probably mystical, and definitely powerful, reasoning that with it, he'll win for sure now. Currently, he was dealing with the treacherous Slowtail for nearly abandoning him to the woodlanders. "What a shame Slowtail, what a shame: when I first brought you onboard, you were more than happy to be a corsair, but now you've disappointed me: refusing to fight to infinite enemies to win, and now you try to up and abandon me, taking my ship as well, that is just outright treason" Passel lectures, but Slowtail was done cowing and looks at Passel angry, "unlike you, I can tell when a task becomes impossible to achieve, continuing to achieve it is futile" he growls, "and that's the problem: I for one refuse to accept futility and impossibility, for even they can be overcome if you keep trying" Passel reasons, "but your attempts were costing too many lives among us" Slowtail reminds, "caring about someone else's life is for woodlanders, we are vermin" Passel growls and suddenly turns to Deadcheek, "Deadcheek, throw the juiced meat overboard" he commands and Deadcheek does, the second the meat lands in the water, a few common thresher-sharks that happen to be nearby, swim toward the source while Passel turns to Slowtail and cuts his skin to make him bleed, "normally I would eat you for this, but you're too submissive and defeatist for my appetite, so you'll be spared" Passel states then grabs Slowtail for the third time and throws him overboard, and because he's bleeding, the sharks instantly focus on him. Slowtail, seeing this tries to fight his binds, but it was hopeless and he gets whipped and pelted by the sharks' deadly tails, wounding him more, before finally eating. Fantina was predictably horrified. "You are one sick arachnid" she growls, "I figured you'd say something like that" Passel shrugs off and turns to the other mutineers, "and since you were only followers, you are welcome to rejoin me, or join your lead conspirator" he offers and unsurprisingly, they all choose to ally with him, "we'll never desert you again lord, corsair's honor" said a male weasel wearing a yellow-coif, a codpiece, a teal-doublet and carries a voulge, his name was Bonebody due to his lanky frame, "that's what I thought" Passel reasons and finally turns to Fantina, "as for you, I'm not much into taking prisoners, but you're obviously valuable if you have this sword" he deduces, "I ain't telling you any weakness about Salamandastron" Fantina vows, "maybe you won't now, but you'll crack sooner or later" Passel calculates, "even if I did, they still got the number advantage, you're horribly understaffed" Fantina reminds, "unfortunately I do know that, but I'll get some new ones" Passel promises before Fantina gets brought below deck.
----
Back onshore, the other woodlanders can only watch as the Sinister Shark sails away, complete with one of their own. "Please tell me you have another boat or something" Corax begs the Long Patrol, "well, we do have a ship" Thorton reveals. 
In the next scene, we find the woodlanders have gone to some rocky crags where a cog-ship was residing, but it looked neglected. "Some adventurers left it here after they went through a storm and decided they were done with sailing" Wilthurio explains, "it'll do, us shrews are all about working with boats" Piruk accepts and he, his guosim, and Neomys set to work in bringing it back into prime. Vanto offered to stock them up on food, and knowing how gluttonous hares are, that meant more food than the ship could probably handle, but their friend Fantina was in danger, and they can't afford to lose her. By an hour, they were set. "Well, looks like we won't be seeing you for a while, happy hunting" Korrina bids to the questers (Neomys, Thorton, Mirax, Corax, Piruk and his guosim and two-scores of hares), "all aboard" Neomys whistles as the ship was let off into the sea, intend on bringing Passel to justice. Korrina and the hares who chose to stay waved them off until they were barely seeable. "Well, better get to business" Korrina reasons and she and her hares walk back to the fortress.
----
Further out at sea, the Ominous Wind was on the move, seeing what else the sea was hoarding. Lucian was admittedly beginning to enjoy being with these vermin: they went against the stereotype (though not completely) and treat each other like family. He was also getting better at combat: while training with Wikstrom, the otter actually defeated the rat. "Nice shot" Wikstrom praises, "thanks" Lucian thanked, and while that was going on Worc was, as usual, being the lookout. "Hey captain, do we need to make a stop?" he asks Vidar, "not really" Vidar replies, which would be smart, for Worc had spotted an island to their port-side, but none of them knew this was the island Beauclair Fethringsol Cosfortingham resided when Luke the Warrior found him, however, this was the island where Passel makes his home, and his ship was not far off.
==Chapter twenty==
The woodlanders' ship, deemed the Lifesaver, was sailing nicely, Piruk doing the driving. "Keep an eye out for Passel's ship, he can't be too far ahead" the shrew recommends, "understood wot" complied Wilthurio, "I'm gonna go grab a quick bite" Thorton says and went below deck. There, he began rooting in the cargo hold for a bite, but heard some movement from within. A stowaway? Thorton took out his ax, and probes it into the cargo, then began moving it outa the way, only to find a sight he didn't expect. "Vanto?" he gasps revealing it was indeed Vanto, "hehe, hi" he said embarrassed, "what were you thinking? sneaking off onboard behind all our backs, Korrina is probably worried sick" Thorton rants, "that may be, but Salamandastron isn't my place" Vanto argues, "huh?" Thorton asks confused, "what I'm saying is, I think I'd rather be something other than a badger lord: I've never been interested in forging weapons and such" Vanto explains, "I know that, but that doesn't mean you should've snuck aboard while we weren't looking, or come along without your mother's permission" Thorton chastises, "she'd never allow me to do something like this, plus, what if you need some extra muscle? Fantina's a prisoner of that swimming spider, and I'm the next best thing" Vanto counters, "have you tried to be a leader?" Thorton asks skeptical, "no, but if mom can do it, so can I, aren't badgers leaders to begin with?" Vanto shrugs, "I guess, and although you're not wrong on what you're saying, I still don't approve it, but it's too late to bring you back anyway" Thorton relents, "that it is" said Neomys' voice and both badger and hare look to see the shrew had been watching and listening, "how long were you standing there?" Thorton asks, "eh, a few seconds give or take, but I heard your words: Vanto's got a point, with Fantina Passel's prisoner he's the next we have to turn to, and who knows, we might need some of his badger-oomph" Neomys reasons. 
As they emerge on deck, everyone else was equally surprised to see Vanto had snuck onboard, and like Neomys said, Vanto was the best substitute for Fantina. Just when that was cleared up, Corax, acting as lookout, spotted something ship-like ahead, and more. "Guys guys guys" she shouts getting everyone's attention, "what's the matter Corax?" Mirax asks running to the bird, "I think I saw Passel's ship, and there was an island ahead of him, can't be more than an hour or so away, maybe less" Corax announces and that got everyone in high-gear, "get ready everyone, we're almost there" Piruk orders as the ship's additional sail was lowered to gain speed, some hares and shrews also employed oars as backup, "you wanted to help Vanto, well, seems jolly like you'll be doing a lot of helping" Thorton remarks to Vanto, who admittedly was nervous.
----
Ahead of them, Passel was brooding in his cabin, Martin's sword laying in his lap. He kept staring out at the sea, looking ahead to see an island. Passel felt slightly better: they were near what he deemed Castaway Island, where several marooned corsairs were known to live, but Passel had recruited a lot of those corsairs, now he was back to do it again, and he wasn't looking forward to it. A knock on his door got his attention. "Come" he permits moodily, and in comes Rotfoot, "um, is this a bad time boss?" the rat asks cautiously, "we've been having nothing but a bad time, but whatever it is you came here for, spill it" Passel demands, "well I saw another ship near the island sir" Rotfoot informs and this got Passel's full attention, "another ship, is it vermin or woodlander?" he asks, "it was hard to tell, but most beasts I saw on it looked like the former sir" Rotfoot answers, "hmm, then we can use it to our advantage, order Marka to bring us toward it, we'll simply replenish our losses with it, and then some" Passel plots and Rotfoot took it as his dismissal, "yes indeed sir, right away" he bids and left. Passel stayed looking out the window for a few more seconds, before deciding to check on Fantina. Marching into the cellblock, which was rarely used, Passel comes over to the vole, who greets him like how any woodlander would greet a vermin, "what do you want?" she growls, "just checking" Passel answers, "and you know, you could be a great asset to me" he adds, "and do ugly things you vermin are known for? I would rather kiss an adder on the lips" Fantina rejects, "why help others when, as the champion of Redwall, you could use your status to get what you want?" Passel inquires, "because we woodlanders have something in our bodies that most vermin like you somehow can live without: a heart, and with a heart comes compassion" Fantina explains, "of course it is, but if you ask me, compassion and a heart are burdens you're better off without, you'd be the best help I could ever have, but seeing as enticing you to the dark side is hopeless, you're only good to me dead" Passel laments and left, intending to eliminate her after rebuilding his forces. Upon emerging to the deck, he finds everyone was suited up for war. He comes to Marka and ahead, could see the foreign ship become active and likely gearing up for a brawl. "What's the status Marka?" he asks the lizard, "resistance most likely: they seemed panicked when they saw us, so I took liberty to prepare for battle" Marka explains, "smart thinking Marka: you never fail to disappoint me" Passel compliments as he took the wheel, steering it to what he was certain a battle.
----
The ship in question was none other than the Ominous wind, just minding its own business. Lucian once again was doing some sparing, only this time with Wattson. The fox was an experienced warrior, but Lucian was able to catch him by surprise once or twice. Sadly, the spar got interrupted by Worc screeching. "Ship ahoy ship ahoy" he cries, "whoa Worc what ship?" Wikstrom asks trying to settle the crow, "it's the Sinister Shark" Worc screams frantic, and Vidar, alarmed runs up to the bow with a telescope and sees Worc is right, "oh scots it is Passel, and heading our way" he gasps, "Passel, here?" Yvonne gasps, "oh no, oh no no no" Thorborg cries begging this to be some dream or something, "easy miss Thorborg, let's get you below deck" Brutaka calms and escorts the female stoat inside the ship, "well Lucian, you now get to fight other corsairs" Wattson says to the otter before taking charge with Vidar, "I'm not really looking forward to it" Lucian dreads as he stands by Torkel, who looked a lot more relaxed than the otter as he branded a glaive, "you nervous?" he asks Lucian, "scared to death, and might pee myself" Lucian answers, "ah we can take them, been in a few battles myself, and willingly showing your fear to me, that makes you braver than most of us: I for one got too much pride to do that" Torkel reasons as the Sinister Shark drew in closer, and when they were in firing range of slings, arrows and blowpipes, that's when it began, "attack" Vidar yells as the two fire on each other before pitting themselves parallel for melee.
==Chapter twenty-one==
Passel and his crew have found the bare-chested-marauders, who responded by attacking him since they don't like him. Passel however had no intention of wiping them out, so as soon as their ships were parallel together, Passel holds Martin's sword above for the marauders to see, and indeed, most stop cold at seeing the infamous blade, though Lucian was unable to believe it. "That's right my friends: I have the Redwall-sword, meaning I am invincible" Passel boasts, "how did you get that?" Lucian demands startling even himself, though when Passel and his band actually notice the otter, they were less than pleased, "why do you have an otter working for you?" Passel asks, "we saved his life, that's why" Wikstrom answers boldly, "you saved him? disgusting: I was planning to merge you with my crew, but seeing you befriend a woodlander, well, you've just made me wanna kill you all" Passel growls and they were just about to fight when from above, Corax swoops in and pummels him into his ship's deck, sending the sword flying off, where Lucian snatches it, "my sword, give it to me" Passel screeched as the Lifesavor sails in from behind the Sinister Shark as fast as it could've managed, "no one as despicable as you deserves this sword" Lucian growls wielding the sword, and Passel was not happy, "attack" he roars and dashes at Lucian, who lost any and all fear now.
With the Lifesavor, they were making great time with the second-added sail and the rowing oars that were speeding it along. They got near enough that they could see the Ominous Wind was beside it. "Uh oh, there's another bally ship wot" Mirax dreads as Corax hurried back, "guys, you're not gonna believe this: there's an otter among the corsairs on the second ship" she reveals, "what? what otter would hang out with vermin?" Thorton gasps, "apparently ones who want nothing to do with Passel: they were shooting arrows at each other before coming face-to-face, and Passel was holding the sword too" Corax explains as they get close enough to hear fighting, "well if they're enemies of Passel, then they're friends of us" Neomys reasons as they hurry up.
Back with the dueling corsairs, Wattson was throwing stones at several of Passel's corsairs, scoring some, but Deadcheek got him with his dirk, all while it was witnessed by Yvonne. "Wattson" she shrieks, "aw, what a pretty little stoat" Deadcheek taunts and Yvonne, now afraid, backs up, until an arrow plunges through the marten and kills him. Yvonne turns and sees Brutaka had fired. "Yvonne help me with this" the salamander requests and they both drag Wattson below deck. While that was going on Worc was busy with a ferret from Passel's side, getting pushed into Wikstrom who was dueling another eurypterid, eventually overpowering both. Worc got airborne to survey the battle, then caught sight of the Lifesavor. "Oh heads up captain, a ship full of woodlanders has arrived" he calls to Vidar who was busy fighting Passel with Lucian, "woodlanders?" the otter asks, and got his answer when the Lifesavor rolls up, "hope you don't mind us joining the party" Vanto announced and together with his group, join in the brawl. 
Piruk, who had chosen to remain on the boat, wishes them luck, but Bonebody had other plans: the weasel swings in from a rope and throws his voulge at the shrew, who saw just in time to be speared. "Never liked shrews" Bonebody spits, "well I never liked weasels" said a female voice and Mirax arrives, sweeping Bonebody off his feet, then plunging her dagger into his chest.
Neomys and Corax were quick to aim at Passel, but find Lucian fighting him with Vidar, "that must be the otter" he reasoned, "hey you" Corax asks, startling Lucian into swinging Martin's sword at her, though she thankfully ducked, "oh sorry" he apologizes, "no hard feelings, we're looking for our friend Fantina Dubbidge, the Redwall champion" Neomys explains, "so that's where he got the sword" Lucian realizes, "she must be below deck wot, go and find her" Wilthurio reasons and the three teens do that while the hare finds himself attacked by Rotfoot, "where do you think you're going hare?" the rat snarls and they duke it out, but Wilthurio makes a critical mistake: he jumps back to the railing and ends up falling over, dropping his voulge but grabs the railing, unfortunately Rotfoot doesn't give him the chance to climb back up as he pounds his scythe into Wilthurio's left-hand, making him lose grip with the other and fall into the water, where a shortfin mako shark, attracted from the carnage of those fallen overboard, attacks the hare. 
In the Sinister Shark's sanctum, Fantina was restless: she could hear the sounds of battle and then some, and had been looking for a way to escape, but had no luck, until..."Fantina" Neomys' voice suddenly called out, "over here" she beckons waving her hand out the bars, and Neomys, Corax and Lucian see it and set her free, "I'm so glad you're okay" Neomys expresses hugging her, "who's the otter?" she asks accepting her sword back from him, "I'm Lucian, but we can chat later, come on" Lucian urges and they rush back on deck, just in time to see Vidar get defeated by Passel, "you're so weak" the scorpion spat and slashes Vidar's back, and before Vidar knew it, Passel kills him, "no" Lucian screams: he was growing to like Vidar, and he didn't deserve to die, "we got bigger problems" Corax informs as Marka and Rotfoot come to them, "you'll join him soon enough" Marka vows and engages Neomys while Rotfoot tackles Corax, "you monitor lizards are the worst" Neomys snarls as they fought. Suddenly Marka swings his bill hook downward and gets it stuck in a hole on the deck, and now that he was distracted, Neomys throws his cutlass at him, but he grabs it and flings it aside, then pulls his own weapon free, "rather stupid of you to try that" he taunts, then with claws flexed tries to charge at Neomys, only for the shrew to dodge, resulting in the lizard accidentally falling overboard onto the Lifesavor, Neomys quickly runs down and as Marka tried to get up, Neomys picks up Marka's weapon and swings it into the lizard's skull, killing him. Corax meanwhile had fought Rotfoot to the railing and he falls down as well, but misses the Lifesavor. "Good fight Corax" Neomys praises.
Thorton was sticking close to Vanto to insure he at least survived, slaying a rat with his ax, though by then, nobody in Passel's crew seemed to be left, save for a raven until it's slain by Torkel. Vanto immediately got his guard up at the stoat, who drops his weapon and puts his hands up. "Easy, I'm not one of Passel's" he appeases and Vanto, after seeing the dead raven Torkel had just killed, reasoned he was honest, "where's Passel?" he asks, "over there" Thorton points and we see Passel and Fantina fighting at the stern, Lucian was standing by watching, kicking a dead marten he had fought and killed. Eventually, Passel and Fantina pause as the surviving marauders and woodlanders gather around them. "It's over Passel, you've lost" Fantina announces, "I never lose" Passel retorts, "not to rain on your parade bug boy, but you have lost all your crew" Yvonne points out and at this Passel could see no one was coming to aid him, but that didn't mean he was giving up, "not for long, for I have killed your leader" Passel reveals making all the marauders gasps, "what?" both stoat siblings gasp, "it's true, I saw it" Lucian laments, "well I still won't work for you Passel" Wikstrom declares suddenly, "me neither" Worc adds and pretty much all the marauders refuse to leave for Passel, "looks like you'll be alone after all" Fantina smirks unable to help herself, "no no no" Passel rants horrified, this couldn't be happening, this couldn't happening at all, "yes yes yes" Fantina mocks getting cocky, "I, won't, lose!" Passel suddenly roars lunging at Fantina and begins fighting like a maniac, in fact, he got bloodwrath. Fantina dodged as much as she could, realizing that she probably should've kept her mouth shut. During her dodging, Passel throws his javelin at her, and though she still evades, it did get Torkel, much to Lucian's horror, then fury, but before he could act, Passel jumps at Fantina and they both fall overboard, Fantina dropping Martin's sword too. "Oh no" Lucian gasps and leaps after the sword, intent on getting it while it was still in shallow water. Vigorously he swam to it, and just barely gets it before it could be lost into the abyssal zone. Looking up, he sees Passel still chasing Fantina and, succumbing to bloodwrath himself, launches over and right after Fantina dodges the Acutiramus once more Lucian swings the sword upward, slicing through Passel's cephalothorax, then slices some more, cutting off his pincers and mutilating his face before feeling satisfied. As Passel's ripped up corpse sunk into the depths, Fantina quickly helps Lucian to the surface, where everyone else was waiting anxiously. "There they are" Corax yells and quickly dives in to help the two over to the Lifesavor, where their friends lower a rope and, with help from Worc and Corax supporting the super exhausted duo, they haul them onboard, "is Passel dead?" Mirax asks, "he is, we no longer have to worry about him" Fantina assures and together, the marauders and woodlanders cheer into the fading twilight.
==Chapter twenty-two==
Night has fallen, and Passel the Nasty has been vanquished, even so it was not without sacrifices, like all wars. The Manly Marauders were devastated over the loss of their leader, and other members like Wattson, while the woodlanders had to suffer the loss of Piruk, Wilthurio and several other shrews and hares. While cremating the bodies, the two sides got to know each other. "...and that's how I'm with these guys" Lucian explains to the woodlanders, "well, good vermin are not unheard of wot" Thorton notes looking at the dead marauders, "and I'm sorry about your loss" he adds, "this is what scared me the most for my husband, but I'm glad Yvonne and Torkel survived" Thorborg expresses, and Torkel sported a bandage wrapped around his mid-section from the injury Passel gave him, "but with Vidar dead, are any of you now the leader?" Neomys suddenly asks, "I've never been leader-material" Thorborg says, "and I'm still new at being a corsair, so..." Yvonne adds and all turn to Torkel, "what, me?" he gasps, "Torkel, you have done your dad's job before remember?" Worc assures, "yeah, there's no one I'd wanna follow than you" Wikstrom adds, "you're are leader" Brutaka adds and for good measure, he turns to the rest and says "all hail Torkel Daskar, the new leader", and the marauders simply mimic it, causing Torkel to blush. 
After burying Vidar and the dead marauders at sea, it was time to say goodbye. Thorborg and her kids went to see off Lucian, knowing he had no reason be with them anymore. "So I guess this is it huh?" Torkel says to the otter, "yeah, what should I do about my tattoo and piercing?" Lucian asks gesturing to his membership-symbols, "keep them, I think you deserve to look like a fighter" Torkel suggests, "well, they have grown on me, same with the lance?" Lucian wonders, "keep that too, you never know when you might need it again" Torkel answers, "also true, I...I won't forget you, ever" Lucian concedes emotionally, "neither will we, and who knows, we might see each other again someday" Yvonne assures and with that the corsairs give Lucian a rather big hug, much to the amusement of the other woodlanders, "now that's something I never expected to see from vermin" Mirax jokes as Lucian boards the Lifesavor and it sails off. The marauders, meanwhile, decide to scuttle the Sinister Shark by beaching it and setting it alight, so it could never be used again, then left for a brighter future.
----
At Ruddaring, Nee was gazing out into the sea. It's been weeks since Fassio and Lucian disappeared, and was considering giving up when she saw a ship approach. Unsure if it was friend or foe, she quickly went back in the interior to alert the tribe. 
Unknown to her, this was the Lifesavor, coming to drop Lucian off. "This the place Lucian?" Vanto asks, "this is, thanks for the ride" Lucian bids, "may we meet again, corsair" Fantina bids jokingly and Lucian giggled: the second he got home, they'll be in for quite a story. Breathing in, he leaps off into the water and swam ashore.
On the island, Stass, Nee, Sharkbite and many more otters were gearing up for battle when they see the ship hadn't moved at all, and only one beast was approaching the island, from the water. "Hey, you guys" a familiar voice to Nee and Stass reached them, "can it be?" Stass gasps, and both she and her daughter rush down to the beach. Sure enough, it was Lucian, back safe and sound, and they hug in glee. "My boy, you're alive" Stass gasps in amazement as the rest of the otters gather around happily, "I knew you'd be alive, I knew it" Nee cheers, "and why do you have a tattoo and navel-piecing?" Sharkbite asks curiously, "it's a long story you guys" Lucian answers while looking out at the Lifesavor, which was heading off. He quickly waves goodbye to it before turning to his tribe.
----
At Salamandastron, Korrina was trying to carry on like normal, but she couldn't stop worrying about Vanto: after he was reported missing, she suddenly suspected he snuck off with the others hunting Passel. She was worried so badly that she started hyperventilating, until one hare said the ship was back. Korrina was quick to rush, and after the ship reached shore, Vanto was indeed on it, but they looked like they were successful as Fantina was with them too. "Hey guys" Thorton greets after they disembark, Korrina quickly going off to berate her son, "don't ever do that again, you were giving me heart attacks" she scolds, "okay, I'm sorry for making you worry mom, but at least Passel is dead" Vanto apologizes, "he is?" Korrina gasps, "yes he is" Fantina confirms showing herself, "well, guess I can understand why you snuck off" Korrina admits to Vanto, "although I'd rather be something more civil, like a farmer or something" Vanto decides and Korrina was admittedly glad for that. So the badgers and Long Patrol do a celebration, but not before bidding the Redwall-trio farewell, who depart on Thon.
----
At Redwall, things were still quiet and uneventful. Kapura was tending to the bees, Tekli was playing with the dibbuns in the pond, and Ackmena was helping out in the orchard. As a red grouse flies overhead, Boshti was acting as guard when she saw the greatest sight of her life. "Everyone, everyone" she shouts getting all's attention, "they're back, the champion and her friends are back" Boshti announces and that made everybody cheer: Tehutti spread the word with the bells while Ackmena rushes to the gate to open it, and in comes Thon carrying Neomys, Fantina and Corax looking like winners. "You're back, how'd it go?" Abbess Coney asks, "boy do we got a story to tell" Corax claims, "oh please tell us" Soara begs and the other dibbuns enforce it until Rachi stops them, "hush younglings, if you're quiet they will tell" she advises, "well it started like this: we were..." Fantina began.
===Epilogue===
Extracted from the writings of Brother Fievel, recorder of Redwall.
Things continue to be peaceful in Redwall-Abbey, as it means to be. We had a feast in honor of the nameday, which we dubbed "Summer of the Corsair Vole", a bit misleading, but it was the best we could come up with. To start off, Fantina Neomys and Corax have settled back in Redwall, becoming its guardians. It was quite the story they told when they returned: a sea scorpion corsair named Passel the Nasty, and a group of corsairs who saved an otter and are willing to fight alongside woodlanders, who would've thought. The trio remain certain they were the few good vermin in the world. While none of them have found love yet, I believe Thorton Bletgore has: he showed up one day with Vanto and a female hare, and I can tell she was smitten with him. Vanto has settled to being a merchant, not the most exciting career, but it certainly got approved by his mother, who has no qualms about being heirless. Lucian has become Ruddaring's analogue to Fantina: despite their wariness about the manly marauders, they did save him and mold him into the hero he is now, and he has started passing some of the vermin's tricks to his tribe, and somewhat become a maid-magnet due to his appearance and experience. Ha! Well, that's all I got, I need to get on my feet and move, but remember, our doors are always open for you.
Brother Fievel, Recorder of Redwall-Abbey.
The End
==Gallery==
Category:Fanfiction
Category:OC-Centric
Category:Complete