Parus Rides Again

right|300px|link=Special:FilePath/PlaceholderParus Rides Again is a fanfic for the wikia and a sequel to Invasion of Bugs.
===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==
Extracted from the writings of Brother Esuom, recorder of Redwall.
It's been twenty seasons since the "Spring of the Invasion of Bugs", and nothing has tried to ruin our peace. Kav Furrel, our champion, is caught up with parenting: he and Nomi now have an eight-year old (by human standards) daughter named Freja Furrel, though she didn't inherit her father's albinism. She's rather a handful, often doing things just to get her way since she was the champion's daughter, kinda like Mattimeo, and her friends Algot Muskar a descendant of Wortle Muskar, Gjord the mouse and the lizard Zootoca (a viviparous lizard) are of no help. As for the last children we had, well besides Kav and Nomi, Myotis, Alzbeta Grang and Erinaceus Quill have also grown, and the hedgehog is the only other one to have found love and start his own family: he now has a wife named Hedwig and a baby-daughter named Jori Quill. As for those that came next, Alzbeta's brother Ganner Grang is now adolescent, and he had to be educated on where babies come from and why his crotch was acting up. Same for Zonder Banksnout, though he just hit puberty a few days ago and so far his hormones haven't activated yet (aside from his penis frequently showing itself). Oh and it's almost lunchtime, I can tell because Koor's hard at work on the bells, and I'm hungry, so I'll stop here and continue later. Safe travels.
Brother Esuom, Recorder of Redwall-Abbey. 
----
A beautiful autumn day shines near Camp Tussock: the Long Patrol garrison a little ways north of Mossflower county. One male hare wearing a codpiece and a purple-mantle and carried a Flail (but was more of a boxer) was gathering special plants for the garrison, and his name was Poove. "Ah nothing like harvesting before the autumn ends" he muses as the trees had turned orange a few weeks ago, signaling it was autumn now, "better check on Kasper" he reasons and went to where a little hare maid had been harvesting a few hours ago, "hey Kasper how's..." Poove began until he found Kasper's basket toppled over, and footprints in the dirt around it, and some of the footprints didn't match hare feet. Now alarmed, Poove knelt down to sniff the track, and sure enough he caught several vermin scents, plus one in particular. "Great Tit" he gasps and heads to Camp Tussock.
A few meters south, Kasper herself (full name Kasper Thistledown, and yes: she was a descendant of Bart Thistledown), who wore a pink-bonnet, a grey-skirt and a turquoise-tunic, was being marched with a few other prisoners by vermin, and leading them all was a great-tit, and not just any great-tit. "Where to now miss Parus?" asks a male stoat wearing a beige-tunic, a blue-cowl and carries a Bill hook, and was named Fuzzface due to having shaggy facial-fur, "to Redwall Abbey" the tit named Parus answers, and this wasn't any great-tit named Parus, it was Parus the Manipulator, except she now wore different clothes than the last time we saw her: now she wears a green-cowl, a red-mask with black fire-shaped splotches, a yellow-coat and pink-pantaloons, but still has her cunning mind, and was back with a vengeance.
==Chapter one==
Parus and her band have chosen to use Saint Ninian's as their staging ground on Redwall, reasoning that Wuya the Toxic was long gone by now, but hopefully, that albino mole is still around, and she has a bone to pick with him, a bone that stems from a few seasons back, and she rubs her left-cheek from the memory. A male Great spotted woodpecker wearing beige-breeches, a belt and a blue-cape named Whitebelly strolls to her, carrying a Mace. "So when do we attack Redwall?" he asks, "we won't be attacking, we're here to capture slaves remember?" Parus reminds when a female fox wearing a green-coat, teal-pants with a belt and carried a Trident arrived, "yes Xof?" Parus asks the fox, whose name was Xof Chopsnout, a descendant of Reynard Chopsnout, "all slaves are accounted for miss" the fox claims, "very good, get me Botaurus, I have a mission for him" Parus requests and the fox leaves for a moment, but returns with a male Eurasian bittern wearing a yellow-cloak, a belt with a Dagger and orange-tunic, "your request my lady?" Botaurus asks, "I need you to act as my spy against Redwall, go there, say you come in peace, and return tonight with all you find out" Parus instructs, "yes mistress" Botaurus agrees and flies to the abbey.
----
West of the abbey, a now juvenile Ganner Grang was lingering on a tree. He now wore a black-vest and orange-breeches. He looked to be waiting for something, or someone. "Are you done yet Zonder?" he calls out behind him and from the bushes emerged a now juvenile Zonder Banksnout, who still goes natural, "yeah, thanks for coming with me" Zonder thanks, but Ganner looked annoyed, "why can't you bally put on pants? you'll no longer have to worry about your wiener exposing itself at the worst time" the hare complains, "I keep telling you clothes make me itchy, besides a lot of us otters go natural because we swim a lot" Zonder retorts: having just entered puberty a few weeks ago, he has been dealing with teen problems, like his "wiener" constantly inflating itself, which gets worse whenever he bumps into girls. His caregivers kept telling him it was all natural, but it did become a problem when there were children younger than him around, who would try to ask about the "wiener", and Zonder had to be helped by an adult to get out of an embarrassing situation. "Yeah well, that doesn't stop otters from wearing clothes when they're not intending to swim" Ganner groans when Koor flies down to them, "you guys done?" she wonders, "aye we're done" Zonder assures, "good, 'cause little Freja is getting on everyone's nerves again" Koor claims, "I say what has that mole done now?" Ganner wonders.
----
In Redwall, Freja Furrel, the daughter of Kav and Nomi, wearing a purple-skirt, black-blouse and had a long braid, had just snagged some honey from Vakama Foeseeker with her friends Gjord (wearing a yellow-chaperon, a white-samite and teal-hose), Algot (who wore black-coat, a white-cape and was chubby) and Zootoca (who wore only a red-bliaut), with a mad squirrel in pursuit. "Get back here!" he shouts and some woodlanders decide to lend a hand: Brother Esuom joined the chase, but his age was catching up to him and he tires out too soon. Myotis fortunately, thanks to her flight-capability, was able to catch the mouse Gjord, and Alzbeta snatches Zootoca. "Even we hares know stealing is wrong wot" she lectures as Algot was caught by Scarlette Broadstripe and Freja hid in a bush, and everyone was still looking for her, "now where's that mole gone?" Mareike wonders when Zonder and Ganner return, "are we too late?" the latter asks, "no we caught all but Freja herself, I followed her here, but then she disappeared" Mareike claims when Ganner suddenly heard quiet giggles from the bush near him, "hang on" he urges and crept toward the bush, then opens it and there was Freja, with Vakama's honey, "gotcha" Ganner taunts and grabs both, though he tries to take a sample of honey himself when Erah Grang confiscates it, "ah ah Ganner, this is for Vakama" she berates, "awe" Ganner complains letting Freja go, who was just about to make a run for it when her grandpa Jala Furrel catches her, "not so fast missy" he scorns and carries her off.
Up on the wall, Erinaceus and his new wife Hedwig, who wore a black-veil, red-jacket and orange-trousers, were hanging out. They were spending some quality-time together with their daughter Jori who wore only a black-cowl and pink-blouse. "This is so nice" Erin remarks, "you silly hedgehog" Hedwig teases when she saw something coming, "hey there's a bird approaching" she points and closer examination revealed it was a bittern, "hello there hedgehogs" Botaurus greets secretly, "hello, need something?" Erin asks, "I was wondering if I could stay awhile" Botaurus requests, Erin shrugs and looks for the abbot, "hey has anyone seen Giotto?" he shouts, "he just went inside, I'll go get him" Telma Furrel responds and left to do so, while Erin turned to the bird, "I'm sure you'll be staying" he assures and heads down himself, though neither he nor anyone else (except Jori) see the evil smirk appear on Botaurus' face.
==Chapter two==
Poove and Kasper's father who wore red-trousers, a belt with a War hammer and a black-cape who goes by the name of Jaxxon Thistledown, were following the trail of Kasper's kidnappers. When Poove relayed the news to both parents, the mother predictably burst into tears while Jaxxon himself chose to go after the culprit, and Poove tagged along. A grey wagtail-bird chirped in a tree above as the two hares focused solely on following the tracks, though by twilight they began to get tired. "Let's stop and rest here Jaxxon" Poove suggests, though Jaxxon was reluctant, clearly not wanting to delay in rescuing his daughter, but his feet were getting sore, "why would whoever is behind this take my daughter?" he wonders and sits on a rock while Poove was getting out snacks, "good question, but when I smelled the tracks, one scent stood out: great tit" he reveals, "great tit, as in a songbird?" Jaxxon asks, "yep, though what great-tit would mingle with vermin and kidnap a leveret is beyond me wot" Poove shrugs, "is this what the redwallers felt when Slagar the Cruel took their kids?" Jaxxon wonders, "I'm pretty sure you are going through that sir, though Slagar's reasons were a bit unfounded: I mean, he kidnapped Mattimeo and his friends as payback for getting his face chomped and poisoned by a snake wot" Poove rants, "that is the worst excuse I've ever heard: I mean I thought it was sick to leave your mother's dead body behind and rob from Redwall after getting their help, but the fact he thought Matthias caused it all and took his son just to prove it, I think that mutt was demented or something" Jaxxon comments, "a lot of vermin turn out to be insane, Gulo the Savage certainly proves that by eating everyone he kills" Poove jokes as he offers bread, and Jaxxon happily accepts. Once they got enough rest, they'll continue at night until feeling the need to sleep.
----
Outside Redwall, a male marten wearing a red-cowl, a white vest and a belt while carrying a Crossbow, watched Botaurus get admitted into the abbey. He then drops down from the tree he was in and heads back to Saint Ninian's grounds to alert Parus. Upon arriving, the first to greet him was a female little egret wearing a purple-blouse and pink-cowl while carrying a Scimitar, plus Fuzzface. "Hey Brownarm, did Botaurus make it into Redwall?" the former asks, "that's for Parus to hear missy" Brownarm snaps, which provoked the egret into grabbing the marten by the neck, hoisting him up to her height and point her sword at his nose, "try to push me around tree-weasel, and you'll be my dinner" she threatens until Parus herself catches them, "Spearbeak, put him down" she demands the egret who rolls her eyes but obeys, and after Brownarm got his breath Parus asks him the same question Spearback asks, "has Botaurus gotten in?" she presses, "aye miss, I saw him go in myself" the marten confirms, "good, now all we have to do is wait" Parus reasons and left to find something to eat, while Spearbeak was fuming from lack of respect, "oh sure, he'll answer the tit's question, but when I ask him, all he does his insult me" she rants which Fuzzface found funny, but would whistle at nothing when Spearbeak glares at him.
As for the slaves, they were none the worse for wear. Most of them were kids around seven to twelve in human-years, with the occasional teenager or two, though unlike Slagar the Cruel, Parus wasn't restricted to enslaving adults, but doing so was easier said than done. A male Eurasian coot-bird wearing yellow-breeches, a blue-jacket and a beige-cape while carrying a Spear was put in charge of keeping them healthy, but upon seeing the scary bird, some of the slaves began to whimper. "Oh don't start that again you twerps" he berates, but it only encourages more whimpering, "why I outa-" he began and raised the rear of his spear to bonk them into silence when a paw grabs it, and a female-ferret wearing a teal-coat, purple-breeches and had flowing head-fur resembling a curtain comes into view. She looked at the coot with disapproval. "Whitemouth, Parus said not to harm them" she reminds as Whitemouth wretches his spear back, "bah you're too soft Linda" he retorts, which only made the ferret madder, "you think I joined by choice? Parus forced me into servitude remember?" she growls, "ah right, though I still think it was a mistake" Whitemouth claims and stomps off, letting Linda do his job just because she was nice to them, if you ask me duck, this whole conquest is a mistake she thought but handed food and water to the slaves, who actually begun to like her.
----
At Redwall, Botaurus was indeed inside, and while it was an act, he got along with everybody, except Freja: the little mole demanded he show respect to her due to being Kav's daughter, and was about to when everyone else begged him not to, though when he listened to the latter, Freja threw a fit and any hope of them being friends was dashed. "Oh cut it out missy, you don't always get what you want" Botaurus lectures, "that's wrong, everyone always gives me what I want" Freja fumes and was about to start a fight had Koga and Alzbeta not shown up, "no they don't" both said to her and Koga points away, "and you march yourself to your parents young maid" he demands, Freja was about to throw a tantrum when..."Freja" said an ominous voice and we see Kav, still the same except for age, and he was not pleased to see his daughter up to her princess-ish behavior, though she submits to him and walks over while Botaurus looked amazed, "sorry about her mister" Kav apologizes and when he and Freja were gone, Botaurus turned to Alzbeta and Koga, "was that the warrior?" he asks, "aye, Kav Furrel is his name, slew that centipede Wuya the Toxic" the hare claims, "interesting" Botaurus muses: this has to be the mole Parus was talking about, and he hit the jackpot.
==Chapter three==
The sun eventually sets, and at Saint Ninian's, Parus was gearing up herself and her pack into disguising themselves as circus performers. "Do we have to wear these?" Brownarm complains holding up a costume, "yes: if we want to kidnap anyone, we'll have to go inside, and to do that we'll need to look harmless and civil" Parus answers as Botaurus suddenly returns, "ah Botaurus, what have you found?" the tit asks the bittern, "well one: you were right about there being an albino-mole living in the abbey" Botaurus claims, "I knew that centipede would lose, anything else?" Parus pressed, "oh yes: he has a daughter named Freja" Botaurus reveals and this got Parus' interest, "does he? then this has gotten a lot better, she'll be the perfect slave for us to add" Parus revels, "what about everyone else?" Whitebelly questions, "unimportant, but if we can we will take more, but Freja is top priority, we must capture her at least" Parus instructs, "is it because the mole gave you a scar?" Fuzzface wonders, "yes it is" Parus growls and turns to Botaurus, "return there, we'll need you to persuade the redwallers into letting us in the abbey" she orders and Botaurus obeys and flies back to Redwall, "are you sure it will work mistress?" Whitemouth asks, "if Slagar the Cruel could do it, so can I, besides conning is my specialty" Parus assures, "but do you think they'd be just as gullible as Matthias and the others?" Xof wonders, "well there is a possibility of otherwise, especially if I run into their resident bat again" Parus admits thinking of Myotis: she'll need a very big disguise in order to fool Myotis, or else the bat would instantly notice and try to kill her again like last time, "what does the bat have against you?" Spearbeak asks, "just that she claims I had eaten her parents" Parus admits not very sorry and goes to disguise herself.
----
Freja went to the orchard: her punishment being to help Scarlette gather some medicinal-plants for the infirmary. Scarlette already had Erah and Myotis helping her, but none of them object to including Freja. "Ah Freja, just in time, these herbs need to be harvested for my medicines" Scarlette instructs, "yes mam" Freja says submissively and gets to work plucking some herbs a few at a time, "how are these Scarlette?" Erah asks presenting a really full basket, "thanks Erah, you can rest for now" Scarlette expresses, "well if you need me, I'll be in cavern-hole wot?" Erah claims and left, "try not to hinder Bairdon's work, tonight's the seventh anniversary Kav's been the champion" Scarlette reminds, "I know, and I can't wait" Erah expresses happily, all the while Freja listened and feared she'd be excluded from the party scheduled, "um, aunt Myotis?" she asks the bat, "yes?" Myotis responds, "will I be able to go to the party tonight?" Freja wonders, "you'll have to ask your parents that" Myotis shrugs and goes back to work, Freja was disappointed, but at least she didn't get "no" as an answer, but still dreads it, she was busy when her friends join her suddenly, "hey Freja, you excited about the party tonight?" Gjord asks, "I would be if I'm going" Freja laments, "don't worry you will" Zootoca assures getting Freja's attention, "I am?" she asks, "yeah, we saw Nomi and she said you're allowed" Algot confirms much to Freja's delight, "yes!" the mole cheers, "but only if you behave" Scarlette's voice suddenly joins and the kids got submissive.
Outside the orchard, several woodlanders were setting up tables, chairs and an arena for demonstration-fights. Abbot Giotto was supervising and was currently directing Alzbeta and Vakama on setting up one tablecloth. "A little to the right" Giotto urges, "mine or yours?" Alzbeta asks, "I'm pretty sure his" Vakama answers, "aye mine, just a little" Giotto confirms and the hare and squirrel move the cloth further, "and, perfect" Giotto halts and the cloth looked good, "looks nice" Telma compliments, "thanks, how's the arena going?" Giotto wonders, "going well so far" Telma says and points to where Koor and Erin were putting the arena together, "hey wasn't Ganner and Zonder helping?" Giotto asks, "they were, but Zonder had to be excused after another of you-know-what" Telma claims, "of course" Giotto giggles, "any way I could help?" said Volkner Streamdog as his holt have arrived, "Volkner you made it" Giotto praises, "wouldn't miss it for the world" Volkner jokes, "and yes I believe you can be of help, follow me" Giotto beckons and the otters follow.
Hedwig was busy keeping Jori pleased, and Esuom was with her. Both were watching Jala and Kav catch fish again. "Hehe, some things never change" Esuom jokes while Kav and Jala began to feel bored, "I don't think we're getting any fish today" Jala laments until Zonder and Ganner arrive, "I could get you fish" Zonder offers, "well if it helps" Kav shrugs and lets the otter pass, who then dove into the water. He scoured around but didn't see much, until a vendace-fish swam into view. Quickly Zonder lunges at it and catches it, then surfaces with it. "Here we go" Zonder presents, "good catch Zonder" Esuom praises as Jala and Kav help Zonder to the kitchen.
==Chapter four==
Soon the party has begun and everyone was having a good time. Bairdon Bardwing once again cooks up a lot of meals just for the occasion, though he and Scarlette had to keep the hare family from hogging it all, like when Erah tried to snatch a biscuit and the badger grabs her paw. "Nice try Erah, but you'll have to wait" Scarlette reprimands and Erah sulks. At the same time Kav was showing off his sword wielding, much to Freja's awe. "You think you'd be able to do that Freja?" Gjord asks, "maybe" Freja shrugs while little Jori tries to get on the platform, but Erin catches her, "oh no you don't missy: you're too young to be around swords" he reprimands. 
Meanwhile Bairdon was taking to practicing food-jokes. "What do you call a burned bird?" the owl asks his audience, who were stumped, "I give, what is it called?" Myotis asks, "fried chicken" Bairdon answers and laughs, but the audience groans except for Zootoca, "haha, I get it: fried chicken is basically a bird on fire" she laughs, "honestly, I thought it was offensive" Koor moans, due to being a bird herself, "eh it was a little funny" Marieke admits when sudden pounding came from the front-doors, "now who could that be?" Telma wonders as she and a few others investigate.
Right outside, Parus and her pack were present disguised as circus-performers, with Parus herself donning a brown-cloak. All were doing some circus-related activities to impress the redwallers. "You guys a traveling circus or something" Giotto asks, "yes indeed, we are the Aeronauts, I am Starbuster. the most talented performer on the continent" Parus lies, "cool: I vote we let them join in" Botaurus requests knowing full well who they really were, "well, you mind leaving any weapons out here?" Kav asks, "are you ser-" Spearbeak growls until Parus slaps her on the head and takes over, "we don't have any weapons, being mostly made up of birds, we usually just fly away from danger" Parus claims, "hey you kids, you wanna see them in action?" Botaurus persuades to Freja and her friends, "yes" they answer vigorously, "eh alright, come on in" Giotto relents and opens the doors wider, making Parus smirk.
Soon the so-called "Aeronauts" were doing a show in the center of the courtyard. Parus dazzles all by sprinkling sparkly dust over the ground, which the dibbuns made a game of catching the sparkles. Despite the entertainment, Myotis felt unnerved by Parus in particular, which Alzbeta noticed. "Hey Myotis, why aren't you having fun?" the hare asks, "it's not that I don't think it's fun, it's just that, that bird Starbuster, she just unsettles me" Myotis admits, "how so?" Alzbeta wonders, "I don't know, but it brings back memories of what happened to my parents" Myotis claims shocking Alzbeta who looked at Parus: indeed this bird did look like Parus the Manipulator, but it could just be another great-tit, and as far as Alzbeta knows, Parus was killed seasons ago by Wuya. "I'll keep an eye on her" Alzbeta offers.
Parus meanwhile decides to take a break, and personally greets Kav. "You must be Kav Furrel" she feigns, "yeah, you know me?" Kav blushes, "sweet mole, your story has spread like a disease: there was not one woodlander I ran into on the way here that hasn't heard of you" Parus states which was true, "figures" Nomi jokes, "and I'm their kid Freja" Freja interrupts, "awe what an adorable little maid you have here" Parus compliments, "well thank you, though she's become another Mattimeo" Kav alerts much to Freja's annoyance, "she looks well-behaved to me" Parus shrugs, but secretly suspects Freja was like Mattimeo.
Zonder, who had been enjoying the night so far, felt his penis puffing up again. "Uh I need to excuse myself: nature's calling me" he lies to everyone around him and hurries to the pond to get his nether-regions under control, Ganner sighs as he gets up to follow the otter again, "if we miss the show, you can tell us about it" he requests to Jala and Vakama, "and we'll save your seats for you" Vakama calls before turning back to the show, where Parus was gonna play her trump card. "And for my greatest spectacle, the one that gave me my name: the shooting star!" the tit announces as her lackeys play drums, "ooh this is gonna be awesome" Scarlette gushes in anxiety, but unknown to the good-guys, Parus was bringing out the weapon that would help her capture slaves. She leaps into the air, and flies around while letting out a trail of dust. The other bird lackeys join in with their own, but everyone suddenly starts to feel drowsy. "What kind of dust is this...?" Erin wonders but couldn't stay awake, and just about everyone except the vermin pass out. "Sweet dreams" Parus smirks as she then moves to take Freja, but two residents have avoided the sleep-powder, "is this part of the show wot?" said Ganner who looked a little worried, Parus cursed herself for not noticing those empty seats she flew over seconds ago, but Whitebelly, Spearbeak and Botaurus tackle him and Zonder and knock them out, "should we kill them?" Whitebelly asks, "no, they're too young for that, let's take them" Parus reasons and they did so, along with Freja, but none of the vermin could've expected to find Vakama and Telma still awake too, "hey what are you doing?" Telma shouts shocked to see the performers kidnapping, "can we kill these at least?" Whitemouth asks Parus, "yes actually" Parus permits and Whitemouth happily throws his spear at Vakama, killing him, and making Telma scream in horror, but she too was silenced when Spearbeak lands on her from above and stabs her in the head, both bodies also get carried out of the abbey with the prisoners to avoid suspicion, but none of them noticed a fifth witness: a male Eurasian siskin-bird, who had been sitting on the roof of a hall-house.
==Chapter five==
Redwall was having a great time, or at least it was until the troupe of "circus-performers" knocked everyone out, took two teenagers and a kid, and killed two residents, all of which was seen by a little bird. As Natterer's bats fly through the night over the abbey, one Eurasian siskin, a type of finch, flies down to check on the redwallers and maybe wake them up. The first he reaches is Kav, who coincidentally was also being woken up by Martin. "Kav, you have to wake up, your daughter is in danger" Martin cries, and that got Kav rising fully awake. He takes a moment to get his bearings when he realizes everyone else was asleep and the circus was gone. "You okay mister?" said a voice and Kav turns to find the bird, "yeah, help me wake everyone else up" Kav asks and shakes Nomi awake, who also does, "ugh my head" she moans, Kav, satisfied, then decides to find Freja, remembering she was with her friends, but when he did arrive, she wasn't there, and Kav had a gut-feeling it wasn't good, "oh man, that must've been some party" said a familiar voice and Kav finds Hedwig awake, "Hedwig" Kav calls helping her up, "hey Kav" Hedwig greets, "what happened to everyone, and where's the circus?" Nomi asks when Scarlette wakes, "huh circus?" she slurs and Nomi helps, "easy Scarlette, for some reason everyone fainted" Nomi advices as Giotto wakes up next, "ugh, I knew I shouldn't have had that fizz" he complains, "I don't think your drink made you pass out, it was...Starbuster!" Nomi exclaims and her sudden outburst got more to wake up, "could you keep it down?" Erin moans, until he heard a baby crying, "Jori!" he gasps and both he and Hedwig rush to where they hear their child, but fortunately she was alive, until they find blood on the ground in front of her and on her hands, "oh my Vulpuz you're...wait" Hedwig gasps until she inspected Jori's paws, but found no cuts anywhere where the blood was, "this isn't Jori's blood at all" Hedwig deduces while trying to soothe Jori, "but still someone's" Erin dreads, "question is who's, and where are they?" Marieke wonders, "I can answer that" said a new voice and everyone look up to see the siskin, and when he was sure he had everyone's attention, he begins, "ahem, that circus that showed up, I think their leader drugged you all with some trailing-powder" the siskin states, "of course: that's the last thing I remember before blacking out" Bairdon recalls, "me too" Jala adds and just about everyone agreed, "but I've noticed five are missing: Zonder, Ganner, Telma, Vakama and Freja" Koor counts, "that's the scary part, brace yourselves: the circus abducted three of them, all children" the siskin reveals causing gasps, "I say why would they do that?" Erah wonders, "but I'm not finished: the other two, they were slain" the siskin reveals getting even bigger gasps, and suddenly Kav took charge, "everyone spread out, Bairdon Myotis and Koor take to the air now" he orders and the three fliers get airborne while everyone else scatter to find the missing, Giotto turns to the bird, "thanks mister, what's your name?" Giotto thanks, "my name is Spinus" the bird claims. 
----
The woodlanders scour outside Redwall for signs of their missing loved ones. "Ganner" Alzbeta calls, "Zonder" Volkner calls, "mom, Freja" Kav calls while Koga was helping him, "this feels a lot like Mattimeo's time" the vole notes when they meet up with Marieke and Alzbeta, "any luck?" Marieke asks, "nothing, you?" Koga asks, "nothing either" Marieke laments, "oh hey a feather" Alzbeta discovers and picks up a feather, then sniffs it, and gasps, "Alzbeta what is it?" Kav asks noticing the look, "this feather, it's from a-" Alzbeta began, "guys!" Koor's voice screams urgently, startling everyone, but they followed it until they find Koor on her knees crying, and to their horror, Vakama and Telma were in front of her, except dead, "mom!" Kav gasps after seeing the blood on her and the open wound on her head, he tried to shake her to get a response, but it didn't work, "no, mom please" Kav begs but it was hopeless, "guys is every-" Bairdon asks upon showing up until he saw the corpses himself, Myotis and Volkner also arrive and were just as horrified, "no" Myotis gasps, "Koor, please tell me this is some sick prank you vermin do to woodlanders" Volkner asks, "if it was a prank, I'd be laughing right now, but I found them like this: they're dead" Koor confides, "the siskin was right, the circus did do it" Marieke realizes, "but what kind of circus would kill and kidnap" Myotis wonders, "maybe they aren't a circus at all" Alzbeta reasons, "hey wait a second, Alzbeta just before Koor called you were going to identify that feather" Koga recalls, "oh yeah, but let's get these two back first" Alzbeta suggests and none argue.
----
Upon bringing Vakama and Telma back to the abbey, the reaction was predictable: Jala was just as devastated as Kav, and nobody had found Freja Zonder or Ganner. Beside Spinus who had seen it all, Alzbeta does have a clue as to who the kidnappers are. "You said you identified the scent on the feather, correct?" Giotto questions, "aye, but what shocked me was it was familiar" Alzbeta claims, "what's it from?" Erin asks, "great tit" Alzbeta reveals shocking everyone, "you mean like that con-artist Parus?" Nomi asks, "not just like Parus, it is Parus" Alzbeta asserts making everyone gasp again, "as in Parus the Manipulator, she's still alive?" Volkner gawks, and Myotis scares everyone by pounding the table so hard it breaks, "I knew there was something familiar about that Starbuster character, and I knew we shouldn't have let my parents' murderer roam free" the bat roars, "Myotis calm down" Kav orders, "I thought Wuya killed that bird" Erin recalls, but this got Myotis to suddenly focus on him, "yeah, yeah you did, and it became a mistake trusting that centipede to carry out our justice, she must've outsmarted them, just like she outsmarts everyone and gets away with it: first my parents, then the attempted robbery seasons earlier and now this event" Myotis rants and suddenly walks off, "where are you going?" Volkner calls, "to find Parus, and make sure she gets justice personally this time" Myotis answers hotly, "but we don't even know where they went" Kav reminds and Myotis, reluctantly, stays, "even if it is Parus, what does she want with Zonder Ganner and Freja?" Giotto wonders, "maybe the same reasons Slagar the Cruel wanted revenge on Matthias?" Alzbeta claims, "I have a feeling you're right Alzbeta: Slagar had an unjustified grudge against Matthias after he killed brother Methuselah and got attacked by Asmodeus Poisontooth, and kidnapped Matthias' son Mattimeo because of it" Erin recalls, "but what reason would Parus have to do something similar on us?" Kav asks, "well I did give her a bruise on the cheek right before she escaped" Nomi recalls, "and there's when I caught her stealing everyone's stuff and got it away from her" Myotis adds, "that has to be it, the cheek bruise I can understand, but not escaping empty handed" Alzbeta theorizes, "then that means she wants to hurt you all because you hurt her cheek and of her own actions, she's just as vain as Slagar" Volkner deduces, "well there you have it, can we go and look for her now?" Myotis asks, "yes you can, but you should better pay your respects to Vakama and Telma, and I need to get Bairdon to prepare food for your mission" Giotto reasons and the meeting was adjourned. 
==Chapter six==
Morning arrives over Saint Ninian's Cemetery, and Freja was just awakening. Upon stretching her arms she heard the clatter of a chain, and looking down she found herself cuffed, much to her shock. She almost screamed when a hare grabs her to shut her up. "Quiet, or they'll do something horrible to you" it warns and Freja, after noticing her current captor was a hare relaxes, and finds she too was a prisoner. The hare releases her and she finds Ganner and Zonder with her and quickly wakes them up. "Ganner, Ganner" she whispers and Ganner eventually does, "that was fun" he slurs until he raised his cuffed right-hand and finds it, "what the?" he gasps as Zonder wakes up too, "ow, must've hit my head" the otter whines and Ganner finds he too was cuffed, "Zonder we got a problem: we're prisoners" Ganner informs and Zonder jumps awake from surprise, "what?" he gasps and suddenly finds his own cuff and the chain leading to Ganner, Freja and more, and instantly knew who was responsible, "the circus, they did this to us" he realizes, "indeed we did" said a sinister yet familiar voice, and Parus arrives with Linda (who wields a Javelin) accompanying her, "glad to see you're awake" Parus notes, "you, you're no circus-performer, you're some kind of warlord" Zonder accuses, "well you're half-right: I'm a slaver" Parus corrects, "oh what you're a Slagar fangirl?" Ganner taunts, "I don't care about that dog, and my name is Parus, Parus the Manipulator" Parus counters, but her name made Zonder remember something, "Parus the Manipulator, as in the great tit who orphaned Myotis?" he deduces and got the other prisoners' attention, and Linda's, "you did what?" the ferret gasps, but Parus ignores her, "I'm sorry but I do not recall meeting you at all" she states, "yeah well Ganner here and I were there when you came with Wuya the Toxic's plans, and then tried stealing our stuff" Zonder reminds, "oh really, you must've been one of the dibbuns that day" Parus guesses, "we were, and we thought Wuya took care of you, but I guess that was wishful thinking" Zonder remarks bitterly, "oh the centipede did try to kill me for betraying her, sending one of her lackeys after me to do it, but I knew she would, so I tricked the assassin and killed her" Parus claims, "but since when are you a slaver?" Ganner asks, "only a few seasons ago, sometime after your friends in Redwall drove me out and gave me this scar" Parus answers removing her mask to show the scar Nomi had given her all those seasons ago, "and the reason you're a slaver now?" Zonder demands, "payback" Parus answers.
----
Elsewhere, Kav, Jala and Nomi were paying their respects to Telma. "It's all my fault: if I had objected to that circus coming mom would still be alive and Freja still here" Kav laments, "now you know how I feel" Myotis interjects but Alzbeta elbows her, Kav suddenly turned to the bat seriously, "Myotis, we need to talk" he says sternly and Myotis cautiously follows him to somewhere secluded, "did I say something wrong?" Myotis asks after they found a spot, "no, but I'm worried your feelings are gonna blouse us all up" Kav claims, "what? what makes you think I'll be a burden?" Myotis pouts, "every time you so much as hear Parus' name you go all psychotic and lose common-sense, which is why I'm not sure I should let you accompany me burr" Kav reasons, "oh come on: you've just lost a parent to her too now, so why do you get to go get revenge? because your daughter is her prisoner? it isn't fair" Myotis complains, "can I trust you to restrain yourself then?" Kav questions, "I'll try to be strong" Myotis promises, "alright, you can come, but the children are first priority: you'll get your shot at Parus, but only after we rescue my daughter, understand?" Kav orders, "of course" Myotis appeases and they return to the others, where Bairdon had packed food for them and who will be accompanying them, which are Alzbeta, Spinus and Erin, though the hedgehog seems reluctant to leave his family, "are you sure I should go Hedwig?" Erin asks, "Kav's your friend, he needs you" Hedwig asserts, "will you and Jori be alright while I'm gone?" Erin persists until Koor came over, "don't worry Erin, they're safe here with us" the rook assures, "I wouldn't bet on it though: when Matthias went after Slagar, a raven named General Ironbeak decided to attack Redwall during Matthias' absence" Esuom warns, "seriously?" Koor complains, "gee thanks for making me feel better Brother Esuom" Erin moans, "sorry, but it's true, even though I do agree with Koor" Esuom assures, "thank you" she says. 
Alzbeta was also saying her farewells to Erah. "Be sure to bring Ganner back, I couldn't live with myself if neither of you make it back" Erah expresses, "we will come back mom, all of us, I bally promise" Alzbeta swears as Kav bids farewell to Jala and Nomi, "be safe" Nomi requests, "and if you corner Parus, kick her butt for me" Jala requests, "I intend to, and so does Myotis" Kav vows and together the five hunters set off, with Spinus leading the way due to witnessing where the vermin went. "Did you have to say something like General Ironbeak taking advantage of Matthias' absence?" Giotto chastises Esuom, "probably not, but it could happen" the mouse reasons, "what are the odds another vermin will show up while Kav's away?" Volkner scoffs.
----
A little ways west of Redwall, a tribe of rats was traveling through Mossflower-woods. The tribe was the Brownrats, which have not been seen since the days of Gorath the Flame. Their leader was a female wearing a bone-necklace, a bone hairbow and a loincloth while carrying a club. This was Göte Kurdly, a descendant of Gruntan Kurdly. She was a lot like her ancestor: she was ruthless toward her enemies, but cares about her tribe. "This looks like a good spot to rest" she suggests and the tribe happily settle, Göte herself spots a European stonechat and decides to hunt it. She climbs up the tree as quietly as possible, and when she had the bird in reach, it noticed and bolted. Göte almost fell when she caught sight of something ahead, something red. Curious she climbs higher for a better look, and sees what she thought was some kind of fortress. She quickly climbs back down and calls to attention. "Everyone, listen up, I've found a building up ahead, most likely a fortress, I'm going to go on ahead to check it out, stay here until I return" she orders and left, leaving the tribe, where the females were dressed like Göte, the males were left bare-chested, and the children naked, mingle in the meantime.
==Chapter seven==
Parus and her band were now on the move, taking the slaves with them. During the trek, Freja speaks to the hare she met. "Hey I'm Freja, these are Ganner and Zonder" the mole introduces and Ganner actually felt drawn to this hare, "h-hi" he stutters, "hi, I'm Kasper, Kasper Thistledown, either of you three have last names?" the hare named Kasper greet, "mine's Grang, hers is Furrel and his is Banksnout" Ganner explains, "nice to meet you, and by any chance is there a warrior at Redwall?" she asks curiously, "that's my father, Kav Furrel, Parus for some reason hates him" Freja answers, "which is unreasonable if you ask me" Zonder fumes, but Freja suddenly saw his genital showing, "uh what's that wiggly thing right there?" Freja asks which was overheard by Whitebelly, who grimaced and suddenly decided to intervene, "oh it's nothing, it's just what every boy has that lets them pee-pee" the woodpecker explains, "yeah it's a...peeing tentacle" Zonder adds, which made Freja and a few other slaves her age and even the vermin laugh. Parus, a little confused about Zonder's predicament, examines the otter and noticed he looked to have just entered adolescence, which would explain why his genitals are acting up, and it could be a problem. "We're gonna need to do something about it" she reasons, "it doesn't involve slicing it off with a knife or anything does it?" Zonder asks nervously and Ganner suddenly felt protective of his own manhood, "oh please, at your stage you'd make a great breeding-slave" Parus speculates, "b-b-b-breeding?" Zonder gasps: he knew where babies come from by now, but the thought of being forced into pairing up with a girl and do...whatever it is animals do to have babies was scaring him, "hey mistress?" Xof suddenly asks and Zonder thanked her for interrupting, "I'm smelling a woodlander up ahead" Xof finishes, "just one?" Parus asks and the fox nods, giving the tit an idea, "you all rest up in the bushes, and keep an eye on the prisoners" she orders the other lackeys and they comply, then she and Xof go off to find the lone woodlander.
----
Not far behind, Kav, Erin, Myotis, Spinus and Alzbeta were trying to find Parus. They've arrived at Saint Ninian's and Alzbeta was smelling something. "They were here, and so were my brother Freja and Zonder, plus several other woodlanders" Alzbeta deduces, "more woodlanders? then that means Parus must have taken the life of a slaver" Erin suspects, "not to mention following in Slagar's footsteps" Kav adds, "hey guys, I heard a fight going on back the way we came" Myotis calls out and the landlubbers suddenly wonder what this is about, "lead us to it Myotis" Kav orders and the bat and Spinus oblige. Eventually they come across a scene where two hares were battling a weasel wearing a green-jacket, black cowl and using a War scythe against one hare, while the other was battling a stoat wearing grey-pantaloons, a grey-cloak and belt while wielding a Cutlass, the weasel was named Fleshtooth due to being known for biting his opponents, while the stoat was aptly named Blackear due to having black-colored ears. There was also a dead crow nearby, which clearly worked for the vermin due to it wearing clothes. "Where is she?" one of the hares shout enraged while swinging his hammer, "got a beat me first" Fleshtooth taunts and due to the hare's rage making him lose his observation, the weasel bests him and was about to finish him off when Erin decided to jump in. Instantly the weasel's scythe collides with a trident, and the hare, who had been expecting his demise, looks in shock. "Hey no helping" Fleshtooth pouts as he turns on Erin, but the hedgehog was now a veteran-warrior and more than a match for the weasel, whacking the trident's rear-half into Fleshtooth's face, who drops his scythe and Erin finishes him off with a stab, at the same time the other hare finishes Blackear by snapping his neck, then Erin turns to the first hare, "you alright?" he asks while offering his right-hand to help the hare up, who accepts, "yeah thank you" he thanks and turns to his teammate, "you good Poove?" he asks, "not a jolly scratch on me boss" Poove answers as Erin's friends emerge, to the hare's amazement, "whoa" the first hare gasps looking at Kav, "I know I know, my color's not normal, I'm Kav Furrel, an albino and Champion of Redwall" the mole greets, "I'm major Jaxxon Thistledown, related to Bart Thistledown and major of Camp Tussock, and this is sergeant Poove" the hare introduces, "hang on Camp Tussock? my dad was from there" Alzbeta notes, "well hello gorgeous, and you are?" Poove flirts, "hehe, I'm Alzbeta Grang, related to Rockjaw Grang" Alzbeta returns immediately liking this hare, "and I'm Erinaceus Quill, descendant of Durry Quill, though you can call me Erin" Erin adds, "and we're Myotis and Spinus" Myotis finishes before examining Halfear, "definitely a member of Parus' gang" she deduces, "Parus, Parus the Manipulator? you've seen her?" Jaxxon asks giddily, "we've just picked up her trail when we found you, she took my daughter and Alzbeta's brother, along with an otter from Redwall" Kav explains, "she took my daughter too" Jaxxon gasps, "wow she really is mimicking Slagar" Erin remarks about Parus, "yeah it was bad enough when she tried to robs us and turned Myotis' parents into a snack wot" Alzbeta adds, "wait what? you guys have met Parus before?" Poove gasps, "aye, when I was a little maid, she showed up out of nowhere one night and slaughtered my parents, she likes eating bat brains" Myotis growls, "and just a few seasons ago, while we were at war with a giant centipede named Wuya the Toxic, Parus stole plans from her and tried to steal from us, but escaped our persecution, I had hoped Wuya would succeed where we failed, but I guess Parus is a lot more cunning than we gave her credit for" Erin adds, "that's some story wot, but since we share a common goal, let us be off together shall we?" Jaxxon proposes, "of course, the more the merrier" Spinus accepts and the now group of seven continue after Parus.
----
Ahead of Parus, and adult male squirrel wearing dark-blue-trousers, sandals and a green brocade vest was out collecting edible plants. His name was Russell Swordmaid, making him a descendant of Trisscar Swordmaid, and like his ancestor, he does carry a Sabre strapped to his back, and knows how to use it. "These will work" he says to some berries and stashes them in a basket he has. Unknown to him, Parus and Xof were watching, Parus pulls out a blowpipe and stuffs a paralyzing dart meant to capture, not kill. She then climbs up a tree, hides in the leaves and when she found the right moment to fire, she does so. Quick as lightning the dart sails to the squirrel, striking the left-shoulder. "Ow!" he gasps, then became alarmed at seeing the dart, and tried to removed it, but suddenly struggled to move and falls to the ground. Parus and Xof then emerge, and Russell was really scared now. "Another slave for my collection" Parus coos.
==Chapter eight==
Parus' lackeys and the slaves were resting, waiting for Parus and Xof to return from their excursion, and it wasn't long before they do, complete with a squirrel. Russell struggled to free himself, but due to the paralyzing dart he suffered, his movements were small. Parus and Xof then place a cuff over his right-wrist, and only then could he move again. He was horrified to see the other slaves, particularly that most were kids, while there was only one or two adults present. "If you can stand, do so, I got places to be" Parus demands, and Russell slowly gets to his feet, "who are you? Slagar the Cruel reincarnated?" he demands, "not really, I am Parus the Manipulator, the most cunning great tit in all of Mossflower and the land as a whole" Parus introduces as the slaves were ordered to march with their captors, "you made a mistake capturing me, my twin brother and I are fighters, and I'm-" he threatens and reaches behind for his saber, only to find nothing there, "scrud" he whispers, "oh, you missing your weapon?" Xof taunts before poking Russell in his belly with her trident, and Russell saw it was hopeless and walks along without objection. Freja though decides to cheer him up. "Hey don't worry mister, my father's the champion of Redwall, he'll find us" she assures, "really, I'm Russell Swordmaid, like Trisscar Swordmaid" Russell introduces, "I'm Furrel, Freja Furrel" Freja adds, "you can call me Kasper Thistledown, and my dad's a major for Camp Tussock" Kasper interjects, "really, and your brother there?" Russell asks gesturing to Ganner, "oh no, we're not related, but I do have a sister named Alzbeta, I am Ganner Grang, and naked boy here is Zonder Banksnout" Ganner corrects and introduces, "hey we otters are clothing optional, also we prefer to call it natural" Zonder objects, "I've always thought it was weird for otters to go natural, but by brother for some reason likes it, and does it himself sometimes" Russell admits, much to the others' shock, "I don't think Freja at least needed to know that" Kasper considers.
----
Jala was sitting at the pond, depressed: he always envisioned him and his wife living together into old age, but Parus all but shattered any hope of that, and there's still the dilemma that Freja probably doesn't know about Telma's fate either. How was he gonna tell Freja that? Would Kav tell her? A small gudgeon-fish surfaces in front of him and looks right into the mole's eyes, but Jala gives no reaction. The fish gapes at him, hoping Jala would give it bread or something, but the mole doesn't so much as twitch. Scarlette and Koor find him, and look at each other in concern. "Maybe you should talk to him Scarlette" Koor suggests, "me, I only specialize treating physical injuries, not mental ones" the badger gawks, "well I'm not the right person for him either, I mean look at me: I'm a bird, and a bird was what killed Telma" the rook retorts, "then I'll talk to him" said a new voice and they find Koga right behind them, "uh, okay" both Scarlette and Koor shrug and let the vole pass. 
Jala heard Koga approach, but didn't even try to look up, although the gudgeon darted off. "Hey Jala" Koga said cheerfully in the hopes to lighten the mood, and Jala at least looks at him, "hey Koga" Jala returns quietly as Koga then sits beside him, "look I uh, I'm sorry about your loss, I'm still struggling with my son leaving" Koga confides, getting Jala's attention, "Darovit choosing to move out from shame must've been hard for you wasn't it hurr?" Jala guesses, "you don't know the half of it: I still wonder if I'll see him again, and I hope he's finally come to terms with himself" Koga prays, "how did you feel when your own wife passed on?" Jala suddenly asks: if anybody could empathize, it'd be Koga, "probably no different than you, she had been looking forward to parenting, but childbirth decided to be cruel to her, I wasn't sure how to tell it to Darovit for years" Koga laments, "how did he take it?" Jala pressed, "probably worse than me: remember when he tried to get himself killed all those seasons ago?" Koga reminds and Jala shivered: when Koga broke the news to Darovit about how his mother died, Darovit felt he didn't deserve to live and ran out of Redwall in the hopes something would end him. Jala was disturbed at the idea of a child believing they should pay for their own birth killing their mother with their own death. It was scary. "Yeah I do" Jala confirms, "and I know my wife wouldn't want it, and I know she wouldn't want me to be depressed forever, and I know Telma won't approve of you being like this forever" Koga asserts, "true" Jala admits, and Koga decided he said enough, so he left.
----
Parus' pursuers (Kav, Alzbeta, Erin, Poove, Spinus, Myotis and Jaxxon) were hot on the trail. Night has fallen, and they were benefitting from it: one was that Myotis, as a bat, had the advantage of being able to see in the dark better than everyone else. Another was that Kav didn't have to worry about sunburn while in the open. They were just walking while Myotis was keeping watch from the air incase of trouble, though not a moment too soon did she see movement up ahead. Stealthily flying further, she saw it again, darting among tree-branches, and this alarmed her. She quickly hurries back to the others, and Poove was the first to spot her coming. "See anything Myotis?" he calls as she descends to the ground, "yeah, something's coming right to us, I'm don't know what it is, but we should be ready" Myotis advises, "probably just a deer or some other wild animal" Erin theorizes, "or cannibalistic toad or snake" Jaxxon adds, "well it definitely can't be Parus" Kav reasons and all got into battle stance, and a second later, a male squirrel wearing dark-blue-trousers, sandals, an orange brocade vest and grey-bandanna on his head while wielding two sabers springs from the tree-branches, joining him are a male otter wearing a black doublet (a type of vest), red-hose and carried a Pike, and a female mouse wearing black-breeches, a red-coat and wields twin Dirks, but they relax upon meeting fellow woodlanders. "Oh sorry, have you seen my twin brother?" the squirrel asks, "uh what does he look like?" Alzbeta asks unsurely, "exactly like this guy, except with a green-vest and no headwear" the mouse explains, "sorry, but we haven't seen any squirrels, we're busy following a great tit named Parus the Manipulator who has kidnapped our loved ones" Poove explains and all seven tell about Parus and their beef with her, leaving the squirrel otter and mouse curious, "hmm, this Parus could've taken your brother Reggie" the otter theorizes, also revealing the squirrel's name, "oh yeah, my name's Reggie Swordmaid, my brother's called Russell, the otter here is Howard Axehound, related to the mighty Skor Axehound, and the mouse is Sasha Churchmouse, descendant of Tim Churchmouse" Reggie suddenly introduces, "okay, I'm Kav Furrel, champion of Redwall-abbey and an albino, the hedgehog's Erinaceous Quill, Erin for short, the bat's Myotis, the bird's Spinus, the lady hare is Alzbeta Grang, and the male hares are Jaxxon Thistledown and Poove, we're all from Redwall except the male hares, who are from Camp Tussock" Kav explains, "so we got Reggie's brother missing, and you guys have two daughters and a brother taken by this Parus, might as well join you" the mouse Sasha shrugs, "ten woodlanders, well I suppose it's better than seven" Spinus shrugs, "let's head for shelter, my parents' house is not far away, and trust me, these woods crawl with dinosaurs on a daily basis day and night" Reggie advises and sure enough some branches were heard braking, unsettling everybody, even Myotis wasn't liking it, "yeah, spending the night in a house is good" Myotis jokes and they went off.
==Chapter nine==
Dawn arrives over Mossflower-county. Parus and her group had found shelter themselves for the night, though for most of the slaves it was uncomfortable due to being chained. Zonder in particular was having a weird dream, where he was with girls and doing some rather mature things with them that he wished he could forget, particularly whenever it involved his nether-region. Unfortunately parts of the dream would become reality when he felt said region suddenly got slimy. Waking up, he looks down in his lap and finds strange white-goo all over his crotch: at first he thought it was some kind of discolored urine, but touching it revealed it obviously wasn't, and while he didn't know what it was, he did feel embarrassed from it, which got worse when Linda finds him. "Oh, I see you had a little accident" she stutters knowing exactly what was on him, Zonder blushed, but Linda took pity on him, "relax, we'll be heading into a swamp soon, you can wash yourself there" she consoles and Zonder actually felt better until Russel woke up, "what's this about..." he asks until catching a glimpse of Zonder's crotch and winced, "oh, looks like you had a...sleep leak" he figured, "don't tell Freja" Zonder pleads, "secrets safe with me" Linda assures and then looks at Russell, and neither knew why, but they instantly started to like each other, "hey uh, I'm uh Russell Swordmaid" Russell stutters: he's never met a ferret before, let alone one this beautiful, and she thought the same thing about him, "I'm uh Linda" she returns, Zonder thought this was abnormal, are they falling for each other? but if they did, that would cause serious repercussions, I mean squirrels are woodlanders and ferrets are vermin, who would accept seeing the two in a relationship? he thought, and he doubted anyone in Redwall, the other slaves or Parus and her other lackeys would approve, but he himself just isn't sure. He couldn't dwell on it for long though as everyone else was waking up and getting ready to continue onto wherever they're going.
----
Kav and his team stretch their limbs outside the house of Reggie's parents. His folks were horrified at the thought of Russell being taken by vermin and made a slave, but Kav vowed to bring him back and kill Parus, and was backed up by Myotis. Currently all ten rescuers were just setting off. "Wow your parents are nice" Alzbeta compliments Reggie, who blushes, "well they are pretty great" Reggie shrugs, "I owe them a lot: they took me in after my parents became rather bad woodlanders" Sasha reveals, "that sounds like Nimbalo the Slayer" Erin comments, "so where to gang?" Howard asks, "well they're scent seems to be pointing straight-south" Poove estimates, "any idea where Parus would take slaves to in that direction?" Reggie asks, "well the only place around for miles down there would be Castle Marl, but it's home to civil vermin wot" Jaxxon notes, "unless Parus swindled them into making her their new ruler, it's what she does best after all" Myotis reminds, "you're right: most of those vermin probably aren't even fighters nowadays burr aye" Kav dreads, "if we hurry we could catch Parus before she even gets there" Spinus proposes and with that they set off.
----
Ahead, Parus and her group had entered the swamp. Zonder was able to scrub himself of his little mishap when Parus caught sight of him, and downright insisted he clean up before they continue. Once he did, they trekked into the marsh. The only signs of life were some bugs and the water rail-birds that hunt them, but Parus was weary. "Stay sharp everyone, there may be toads, lizards or something in here that we need to avoid" she warns and they proceed with caution, "oh I hate toads" Ganner groans, lizards he was okay with, but toads were the worst, "yeah, I hear that if you try to eat them, they'll exude a poison" Botaurus teases, "buzz off Botaurus" Freja growls, "or what missy mole, afraid to become toad-food?" Botaurus taunts, which received a swipe from Freja, barely scratching the bittern's legs, "maybe if we're lucky, they'll have you for breakfast" she snaps, but not a moment too soon, a tentacle shoots out of nowhere and sticks to Whitemouth, and just as quickly as it came, withdraws with the coot, leaving only his spear behind. Fuzzface had seen it and creeps forward. "Whitemouth?" he calls, but was answered by another tentacle approaching, right at him. Instinctively he put his bill-hook in front and the tentacle sticks to it, but Fuzzface refused to let go and plays tug-of-war with the tentacle. "Toad tongues, move!" Parus yells and flies off, and everyone else follows. Fuzzface managed to keep his weapon by clawing the tongue he wrestled with, and together slavers and slaves make a run for it. Spearbeak Xof and Whitebelly were acting as guards, whacking away any tongue that came their way. Brownarm was firing arrows at the origins of the tongues with his crossbow from the tree-branches, though some of the toads become aware and aim for him, but he escapes. One tongue makes contact with Kasper, halting the prisoners, "Kasper" Ganner shouts, and from the bog the toad that caught her arrives, intending to eat her, but Ganner and the others grab her, resulting in a tug-of-war until Linda spears the toad with her javelin, killing it, but also making it ooze out its poison, much to Ganner's disgust. "I think I'm gonna be bally sick" he moans and turned green for moment, "wow thanks" Kasper expresses to Linda, "don't thank me yet come on" the ferret urges and they continue through the gauntlet until they reached a bog and the toads suddenly stopped attacking. Parus does a head count and was sure she had a Eurasian-coot in her crew. "Did we lose anyone?" she asks Brownarm, "just Whitemouth" the marten answers shivering at the thought of Whitemouth now being toad-food, "I can live with that: at least the toads will leave us alone now" Parus shrugs not upset about losing Whitemouth, though Linda was the opposite, "I didn't think he deserved it" she mutters, "you really don't like Parus do you?" Russell asks, "not one bit, when she first showed up at Castle Marl, she tricked her way to the top and made us her servants: she threatened my family if I didn't help her" Linda fumes, "I can understand: in Redwall we have this bat named Myotis, who claims Parus ate her parents, and then many seasons later, she tried to rob us" Zonder reveals, secretly seeing that maybe Linda will be accepted by woodlanders if she cares about them and loathes Parus, but he'll need more evidence to insure she was a good-beast, "so I've heard" she recalls.
==Chapter ten==
At Redwall, things were mostly normal. Nomi and Esoum were reading stories on Redwall's history, mainly the ones centering around slavery. At most, what's going on was similar to the Autumn of the Warrior's Return. "Well, it's safe to say Parus is on a similar path to Slagar" Esuom remarks, "yes, but where would she take the slaves to? I doubt Loamhedge has become the center of it all again" Nomi notes, "well, my best guess is that Parus is taking them to Castel Marl, the castle where those Marlfoxes resided, it's populated by vermin" Esuom deduces, "aye but peaceful vermin who detest the actions their kind do, and I don't think they'd make good warriors" Nomi theorizes when Marieke arrives in the gatehouse with snacks, "hey guys, hungry?" she offers, "sure why not?" Esuom shrugs and accepts some Skilly 'n' Duff from Marieke, while Nomi was offered Deeper 'n ever pie, "what you guys doing?" the dormouse asks, "trying to figure out where Parus the Manipulator will take her prisoners to hurr hurr" Nomi answers before eating some pie, "oh right, any ideas?" Marieke wonders, "just Castle Marl: home of the Marlfoxes" Esuom shrugs, "well either way, Freja's friends are pretty bummed about losing their friend" Marieke notes, "oh the dears, I figured they'd be sad" Nomi adds and left to find them.
----
Kav and his group have the fortune of running into the guosim, and after telling Raoul their story, most of the guosim were in full support, but Raoul reasons half should stay incase Redwall gets attacked at the same time, so he called for volunteers. "Well guosim, which of you would like to join young Kav Furrel on his sudden endeavor?" Raoul announced and got a lot of raised hands, but Raoul wanted a small number, "I appreciate your loyalty, but remember when Matthias went after Slagar the Cruel? The vicious General Ironbeak chose to attack the abbey while Matthias was away, if there's another warlord around besides Parus, they may be tempted to attack Redwall while I'm away, so I can only take a few of you" Kav reasons and the guosim couldn't argue with him, another shrew, a female wearing white-breeches, a yellow-coat and carried a hatchet named Láilá Bigboat acted as second in command, and yes: she was a descendant of Jango Bigboat, "log-a-log sir, I think's it's best if I join Furrel, you should stay in Mossflower to keep it safe" she proposes and Raoul couldn't argue, "yeah, so which of you are willing to stay with me?" he offers and several shrews march forward, around ten have chosen to side with Láilá, "looks like that answers it, good hunting" Raoul bids as he and the rest of the guosim head back into Mossflower woods.
----
In the swamp, Parus and her band have continued after their run-in with toads, but Parus suddenly decides to stop. "There's some clean water and edible-plants over here, let's stop for now" she recommends and the troupe take a break at a clearing where there was no floating-plants on the water, but Xof sensed more to it than Parus was admitting, "mistress, you look troubled, something wrong?" she asks, "no, just thought that we could use those toads that attacked us against our pursuers" Parus reasons, "how do you know we're being followed?" Xof wonders, "Freja's father is no doubt after me because I took his daughter, and maybe the relatives of the other slaves as well, Slagar was followed by a pack of parents, and I'm certain we are too" Parus explains, "so what does it have to do with the toads?" Xof wonders, "simple: we make sure our followers and the toads meet, and if we're lucky, the toads will win, eliminating one of our problems" Parus states, "that's genius" Xof praises, "isn't it? and I'd like you and Spearbeak to assist" Parus requests, "but who'll watch the slaves?" Xof wonders, "I think Whitebelly is the best choice for that" Parus reasons. 
----
Back at Redwall, Koor was doing some reconnaissance over the land incase of threats. While she was ticked off about Esuom bringing up Ironbeak, and the possibility that another vermin would attack Redwall with Kav gone, it was better to be safe than sorry, at least Giotto reasoned it was. She was near the Moss-River when she spotted splashing near the shore. At first she thought it was otters from Volkner's holt, but a closer look revealed they were rats: tribal rats due to their attire, or lack of. Slightly unnerved, she flew down to the trees and climbed stealthily down until she got a clear view of them. Indeed they were tribal, so that assured Koor that they couldn't be a big threat. She surveyed them and found Göte talking to a group, making Koor believe she was the chief. "Look alive my rats, there's a fortress ahead, no doubt full of delicious food" she announces and this made her subordinates cheer, "whatever they have, we shall gorge ourselves 'til our hearts content" she adds, "great" Koor swore quietly, but on the bright-side, these guys don't seem intent on conquering Redwall, they never even called it by name, "so what will we do if the food's run out?" asked one rat, "simple: we move on and search for more fertile pastures" Göte reasons and that made Koor feel a little better, "when do we go?" asked another rat, "hmm, let's do it tonight" Göte proposes and the rats eagerly cheer. Koor decides to leave and find Volkner, knowing he'll be near.
==Chapter eleven==
The slaves were resting as Parus left for some mission, and while she was away, Botaurus decided to play. "Hey Freja, you should know that Parus has taken precautions to insure your daddy and anyone else looking for the slaves will never find us" he taunts, "what makes you so sure?" Freja growls, "simple, Parus believes they're hunting us as we speak, but she will lure them to the toads" Botaurus laughs and Freja paled, "Botaurus, don't you think she's broken enough?" Linda chastises, "she tried to hurt me, and has been disrespectful toward me, it's only fair I crush her hopes of rescue" Botaurus counters, "you're sick" Linda growls as Whitebelly planned on offering food, but Botaurus intentionally trips him so Freja wouldn't get any, "make that double-sick" Linda adds, "and you did that on purpose" Whitebelly snarls and shoves Botaurus into the mud as payback, making Linda and the slaves laugh, "I'll get you for that Whitebelly" he vows, but none of them noticed Russell had taken Botaurus' dagger while he was taunting Freja and hides it behind him. As soon as Whitebelly and Botaurus left and the other slavers weren't looking, he brings it out. Linda noticed, but pretended not to since she wasn't a fan of slavery anyway, and Russell felt he could trust her. "Guys" he whispers to Freja, Ganner, Kasper and Zonder, and presents the dagger, "if I can free us, first thing we'll do is backtrack the way we came, and hopefully meet our pursuers" the squirrel plans, and cautiously unlocks his cuff, then did the others, "are you sure we should leave the rest wot?" Ganner asks feeling guilty, "we can always come back for them" Russell reasons and together the five wade into the nearby water, though Ganner hesitates, "you seriously wanna go in that?" he pouts, "it's not so bad when you get used to it" Zonder assures, "easy for you to say" Ganner retorts, "well we can hide in it, besides if we will meet our rescuers, it'll be worth it" Kasper reasons, "okay" Ganner relents and gets in, Freja climbed onto Zonder's back because moles were bad swimmers, and Zonder stealthily pulls them all into the water, until Ganner felt something brush him, "ah!" he screams and gets clamped by Kasper, "keep it down, you'll wake the slavers" she warns, but it was already too late: Brownarm, who had been patrolling for toads and other cannibals, heard Ganner and rushes back, thinking everyone was in trouble, but finds he was only half-right, "we got escapees" he yells summoning all vermin, and for said escapees to dive underwater, but the sound of doing so caught the vermin's attention, "they must've gone in the water" Whitebelly reasons, "wait a second, where's my dagger?" Botaurus asks after finding his dagger missing, "maybe you dropped it in the mud when you fell in" Linda answers, earning a growl from the bittern, "focus you two: if Parus comes back and finds out, she'll eat our heads" Fuzzface warns, "uh correction: only Whitebelly's head is in danger" Brownarm reminds, "me, why mine?" Whitebelly complains, "because you're the one in charge here, if anyone's gonna lose a head, it's gonna be you" Brownarm explains, "Botaurus was the last person with them" Whitebelly counters, "true, and he did suddenly lose his dagger at the same time" Linda adds in part to stall, "it wasn't my fault" Botaurus denies, "will you all shut up and help me find them?" Fuzzface yells while wading in the water. 
Ahead of them, the escapees have hidden among some vegetation. "How long do you think they'll look?" Kasper asks, "I don't know, but let's move underwater, hang on tight" Zonder beckons and dives, taking the rest with them. The water was murky and you couldn't see far ahead, but Zonder could navigate it just fine. Eventually, after deeming they went far enough, they surface and creep ashore. "I think we lost them" Zonder suspects, "now let's find my dad burr" Freja suggests and they all head off.
----
Ahead of the escapees, Kav and his group were just entering the swamp. "A swamp? why did it have to be a swamp?" Alzbeta groans, "what, don't like getting dirty?" Poove teases, "no, they're home to toads and snakes, which are cannibals" Alzbeta answers, "well either way, our loved ones are in there, and if we want to save them, we'll need to go in" Kav reasons, "true" Jaxxon agrees and all walk in, but none were aware that Parus was flying over them and had seen them, and she heads back to where the toads were.
Up ahead, Xof and Spearbeak lay in wait among the reeds with the toads. Parus was able to sway them into joining her side to take down Kav, though Xof in particular didn't trust the amphibians, and was relieved to see Parus return. "Well, are we being followed?" the fox asks, "yes indeed, that albino mole and his friends, plus more are on their way here right now" Parus confirms and turns to the toads, "just head in that direction, and you'll find your meal" she persuades and the toads comply, "well now that that is settled" Spearbeak reasons and made to leave when Parus grabs her, "not yet: I wanna make sure Kav's out of the picture, and I feel safer with you both with me" the tit reasons and Spearbeak reluctantly obeys, and all three follow the toads.
----
Near Redwall, Koor was relaying what she saw with Volkner to Giotto. "Hmm this could be a problem" the shrew reasons, "well, from the looks of it, it wasn't very big tribe, so we may have the number advantage" Koor reasons, "and the element of surprise: you said they don't seem bent on conquest, just raiding, it sounds like they don't even know what this place is" Volkner deduced when Scarlette came in, "hey uh, has anyone seen Gjord, Zootoca and or Algot?" she asks, "no why?" Koor replies, "why ever since Freja got kidnapped, they've been acting rather off, and not from sadness last time I saw them" Scarlette explains, "what do you mean by off?" Nomi asks, "well, they were acting like they were planning for something" Scarlette answers, "if that was true, why would...?" Nomi questions when she suddenly realized something, "what is it Nomi?" Giotto asks her, "guys this might sound crazy, but I think they've went after Freja" she exclaims, earning a simultaneous "what?!" from everyone else, "what makes you say that?" Koor asked confounded, "Scarlette, you said they looked to be planning for something, well, I can only think of one something they'd plan for at all" Nomi explains and after the rest gave it some thought, it hit them like a ton of bricks, "oh scrang!" Scarlette cries, "as if one problem wasn't enough" Volkner complains, "Koor spread the word" Giotto demands the rook, "on it" Koor and complies and rushes to the bell-tower.
----
Outside Redwall, just a mile south of it, a little mouse's head pokes through grass: it was Gjord, and behind him were Zootoca and Algot, the former tracking by smell, and once in a while sight. "Hey look, tracks" she announces and the two mammals crowd with her, "those has to be theirs, looks like we're in the right direction" Gjord deduces, "I hope Redwall's not worried" Algot dreads: he felt guilty for leaving Redwall behind everyone's backs, even though he did leave a note about their absence for them to find, but it didn't make him feel better, and he hoped they were too far to be followed and brought back anyway, "relax Algot, Cheek Stag Otter was allowed to accompany Matthias in saving Mattimeo from Slagar" Gjord reasons, "that's only because he was an orphan and didn't live in Redwall at first" Algot counters, "Zootoca and me are orphans too, remember?" Gjord reminds and Algot couldn't respond to that, so he stayed quiet and continued with them, but deep down, he hopes he knows what he's doing.
==Chapter twelve==
Kav and his group were traversing the swamp, and fortunately, they haven't encountered anything unfriendly yet. "I don't like this place, gives me the creeps" Erin shudders, "you and me both" Sasha adds, "hey Reggie, either you, Spinus or Myotis see anything?" Howard calls out to Reggie who was in the trees while Spinus and Myotis were flying by, "so far coast is clear" Myotis informs, "yeah nothing threatening yet" Reggie adds, but Spinus suddenly saw something coming, a lot of somethings. "Uh oh, incoming!" he yells and darts back to the group, and a second after, a bunch of toads ambush them, "toads: open fire" Láilá orders while bringing out her hatchet, "eulalia!" Jaxxon and Poove shout as they tackle the toads, "Redwall!" Kav, Myotis, Erin and Alzbeta shout and also engage, with the shrews following.
Ahead of them, the five escapees were near enough to hear the battle-cries. "Guys, hold up, I hear something" Kasper whispers and both she and Ganner strain their ears, "I just heard someone shout 'eulalia'" Ganner deduces, "and I heard two others: one said 'Redwall', and the other said 'logalog'" Kasper adds and Zonder was the first to figure it out, "those could only mean woodlanders: we are being followed" he exclaims, "oh thank the stars, which way hares?" Russell cheers, "this way, hurry" Ganner beckons and all rush there as fast as they could in the marsh, "I knew daddy would come, I knew it" Freja cheers happily.
----
At Redwall, everyone searched high and low for the missing dibbuns, but turn up nothing. Some wish to go after them, and others suspect they were kidnapped by the vermin tribe, but the latter was shot down by Koor saying they don't know much about Redwall, and were too primitive to have done it either. "So the little ones have gone after Freja to save her" Koga remarks, "bless their little hearts: they must be just as worried as Kav and I" Nomi comments, "yeah, pretty heroic of them" Hedwig says while rocking Jori, "but pretty stupid too, they can't defend themselves" Jala reminds, "as much as I'd like to go out and search for them Jala, we're in a pickle right now with the vermin-tribe, hopefully they and Kav aren't too far apart" Giotto reminds, "right, the tribal-rats, any idea when they'll attack?" Erah asks, "good question: I'll have Koor and Bairdon do some recon, maybe the gousim can help drive them off" Scarlette proposes, "I live to serve" Koor assures, "I'll keep watch for rats" Volkner claims and left, "and we'll take to the skies" Bairdon adds and with Koor flies off, "well, guess that settles it, meeting adjourned" Giotto announces and everyone left to their own thing, "such brave souls those dibbuns: going to save my little Freja" Nomi says admirably, "hope they know what they're doing" Jala dreads, "yeah me too" Scarlette adds.
----
Back with Kav, they were in the grip of a battle with toads. Poove in particular was fighting one and kicked it hard enough to knock onto its back, except it landed on something sloppy and hard. Poove creeps toward it and to his shock he finds he knocked the toad into a nest: a big nest full of big eggs. Cracking and squelching sounds he heard were clearly some eggs being flattened by the toad falling onto them, as evidenced by some yolk and amniotic-fluids spread around the toad. And if it couldn't get any worse, what looked like a mound rose up from the mud, revealing a scaled hide and clawed-hands, with its thumbs sporting the biggest claws, and the head was triangle-shaped with fangs sticking out of its upper-lip. All of which point to this being a dinosaur: specifically, a Baryonyx. "Uh hehehe" Poove giggles nervously when the beast lays eyes on him and the toad that just killed some of its eggs, and Poove had the gut feeling he was gonna be chomped by the big momma. He quickly bolted, right when the dinosaur lunged at him. "Every beast run!" he screams and immediately everyone else see the dinosaur chasing him, but suddenly turns its sights on the toads, who scatter for their lives, "where'd that thing bally come from?" Alzbeta gasps after jumping into cover, "there was a nest where I found it, and I uh...may have squashed some of its eggs" Poove admits ashamed, "oh great now we're the ones on the end of a parent's wrath" Sasha realizes when the Baryonyx devours a toad, then set its sights on the woodlanders, "everyone split up" Kav orders and they do: Myotis and Spinus get airborne, Reggie climbs up a tree, Howard dives into the water, and the rest run for their lives, and they are the ones the Baryonyx homes in on.
From a nearby tree, Parus was watching it all, and honestly didn't expect a dinosaur to join the party. "Ooh this is getting good" she comments while Spearbeak and Xof were more unnerved, until the former spots something, "hey what are the prisoners doing here?" the egret wonders having spotted the escapees, which surprises Parus, "what, where?" Parus demands and Spearbeak points, and indeed, the five escapees had arrived following the sounds of battle, Parus growls, "how did they escape?" she demands Spearbeak who backs up, "I don't know, Whitebelly was the one you had watching them" Spearbeak reminds, "ah of course, Whitebelly, Spearbeak go and get him and the others to recapture our escapees, they can't do anything with that dinosaur in-between them and their intended saviors" Parus orders and Spearbeak complies.
Down below, the escapees had just arrived when they saw the Baryonyx rise up from the marsh and head straight for the battle, and along the way find its nest. "Whoa, someone made mommy very angry" Zonder remarks upon seeing the toad on some squashed eggs, "come on guys, my father's down there" Freja urges not wanting her father to be eaten, "so is my sister, oh if she gets eaten how will I explain it to mom?" Ganner dreads, "let's not think about it shall we?" Russell suggests and all follow the dinosaur discreetly.
==Chapter thirteen==
Algot, Gjord and Zootoca were continuing on Kav's trail, and from a hilltop they could see the same swamp. "Look at that, it's a swamp" Zootoca gushes, "uh I heard that swamps are home to toads" Algot warns, "and lizards, which I am, maybe if I talk to any and say you're my friends, they won't eat you" Zootoca proposes when a dinosaurian roar echoed from the swamp, "that didn't sound like a toad" Gjord notes and cautiously all three head to it.
----
The escapees continue following the Baryonyx pursuing their rescuers, but were careful not to draw the dinosaur's attention unless they have to. "Be careful kids, dinosaurs are super dangerous" Russell warns, "hang on, where's Zonder?" Ganner suddenly asks and everyone could see Zonder has disappeared, then out of nowhere a Bolas wraps around Russell, making him drop his dagger. Following suit was Parus and her crew, complete with Zonder in Xof's clutches. Parus snatches the stolen dagger before anyone else could. "Pretty bold move of you five, and clever, but alas, not clever enough" she taunts while looking at Zonder, "okay you win, just don't hurt him" Kasper pleads, "good hare, and as much as I'd like to check on your rescuers as much as I do, I got a schedule to keep, so let's move" Parus orders and the former escapees reluctantly comply, though none notice Howard watching from the nearby water.
Ahead of them all, the Baryonyx has cornered the guosim, Kav, the hares and Sasha amongst an outcropping. The dinosaur was halted by rocks being in the way, but it simply battered them down to continue. "Great now what?" Laila asks, but her prayers were answered by Myotis and Spinus swooping in from above and mobbing the dinosaur. Reggie also leaps onto it and the two go into a rodeo-dance, with the dinosaur winning by flinging Reggie down to the others. "You okay?" Jaxxon asks helping the squirrel up, "yeah thanks" Reggie thanks, "guys here's a cave" Sasha calls and darts in, and the rest follow, but the cave turned out to be another dead-end, "you got a be kidding me!" Alzbeta complains and worse, the dinosaur tries to bust into the cave to reach them, prompting all to press themselves at the end as hard as possible. When the Baryonyx was finished everyone stood completely still. "Nobody, move, a muscle" Kav whispers when some strange woodlander sound called out, and the dinosaur turned to it and went to investigate, letting the gang go free. "Well that was lucky" Erin notes creeping out of the cave, "what was that sound anyway?" Poove wonders when a splash was heard and the dinosaur was seen moving toward it, and leave completely, and then Howard arrives with a common dace-fish he had brought incase he needed to bait the beast, but promptly tosses it away, "Howard, thank Martin you're alive" Spinus cheers, "yeah, and I saw Russell and a few others heading your way" Howard announces, and tells of how he saw Russell and some kids momentarily escaped Parus, only to be captured again, "man, if it weren't for the dinosaur we could've saved them right there" Alzbeta laments, "well, Parus may have more slaves than just the ones we know personally" Myotis theorizes, "that is a possibility" Erin agrees, "so we would have to keep following even after we got ours back" Jaxxon adds, "agreed, so let's get to it, but stay sharp, no telling what else lives in this swamp" Kav orders and they resume pursuit.
----
Sunset arrives over Mossflower-Woods. Raoul and his guosim have finally returned after a long march. As a mistle thrush chirped, one male shrew wearing a purple-cowl and a yellow-doublet while wielding a scythe named Greyface walks up to Raoul. "So what should we do?" he asks and Raoul was about to answer when they heard flapping noises, and looking up they see Bairdon arrives. "Well I'll be, nice to see you gousim" the owl greets, "same to you Bairdon, we ran into Kav and his party before we came here: I lent them a small portion of my gousim if that's alright" Raoul informs, "that's good to hear, for we have a problem ourselves" Bairdon responds and tells of the tribal rats near Redwall, which gave Raoul something to do, "say no more my avian ally, let's drive them off before they do any damage" Raoul announces and the shrews follow the owl towards the Brownrats.
==Chapter fourteen==
Parus and her band eventually emerge out of the swamp, and through the trees, Castle Marl could be seen. "Let's rest here for now, Whitebelly, you shall accompany me back in the swamp incase we lost anything" Parus suddenly orders though Whitebelly was nervous, "uh, okay" he murmurs and reluctantly follows, making Botaurus giggle, "ooh he's in trouble" the bittern snickers which the others find annoying.
As soon as Parus deemed she and Whitebelly were far enough in the swamp, she decides to talk. "Whitebelly, how did those five slaves escape you?" she suddenly asks and Whitebelly feared it would come, "I-I suspect they took Botaurus' dagger and used it as a lockpick, that squirrel was still holding it when we caught them" the woodpecker explains, "yes I remember" Parus recalls, "so you're not gonna kill me?" Whitebelly asks, "well you did try to get them back, so killing you because of that wouldn't be right" Parus answers and Whitebelly was relieved, but the second he let his guard down, Parus threw a knife at him, which landed in his chest, knocking him down, she then pounces on him and wretches the knife back, causing more pain while clamping his windpipe with her left-wing, "but you said-" he gasps, "I can't be trusted, I am a con-artist after all, and for the record: you're fired" Parus clarifies and finishes him with several pecks to the head. She was hungry now, and Whitebelly's brain will be the perfect meal.
----
Raoul and his guosim had joined Bairdon, Volkner and Koor in spying on the Brownrats, which weren't doing much. "Well, should we attack now or wait for them to come to us?" Volkner proposes, "let's get rid of them now so we can focus on rescuing your missing dibbuns" Raoul offers, "I think it's too late for that: those three must be miles away with Kav by now" Bairdon laments, "well, if they are with Kav, then they should be safe" Greyface assumes, "true, so what should we do about these guys?" Koor asks, "I have an idea, wait here" Raoul suggests and casually walks into the rats' view, much to his friends' concern, "what the, what's one shrew doing here?" said Göte, "pardon me madam, but are you the chief?" Raoul asks, "yes, I am Göte Kurdly, and you?" Göte requests, "I'm Raoul, I heard you were talking about that red fortress nearby" Raoul converses, "you know about that place?" Göte wonders curiously, "indeed I do madam: it's a vermin's worst nightmare, many tried to take it, but all died doing it" Raoul claims and some of the tribe started getting worried, "oh come on, it couldn't be that red-colored abbey, what was that place called again?" Göte scoffs, "Redwall mam" Raoul answers, "yeah that, it wouldn't be that place, uh, would it?" Göte wonders, "maybe this'll give you a hint" Raoul offers and turns to the others in the foliage, "oh guys, come on out" he calls and reluctantly they do. Amazingly not a single rat attacks, and the woodlanders don't either, in part because the tribe had innocents in it. Göte gulped upon seeing Bairdon, as well as the size of the group Raoul summoned: a group this huge and intimidating could only be from Redwall. Quickly she turns to her tribe. "Change of plan my tribe, we're leaving" she orders and most oblige, "but what about our mission tonight?" one male rat stupidly asks, "and risk their wrath? don't think so" Göte chastises, "yeah, and I do include rats in my own personal food recipes" Bairdon warns and the tribe chose not to see if he means it, they packed up and headed northward. As soon as they were gone, the good-guys laugh. "Hahaha, the look on their faces was priceless" Volkner wheezed, "I'll admit, I thought there'd be a fight for sure" Koor adds, "how'd you know they'd chicken out boss?" Greyface asks, "I wouldn't say know, just guess: I had assumed they'd be intimidated by Bairdon at least, if not our shear numbers, but I'm glad you had your weapons ready just incase" Raoul claims, "so you gambled on it huh?" Bairdon mocks, "yeah, primitive tribes like that aren't as brave or obsessed as villainous hordes last I heard, but I wasn't sure if it was true until now" Raoul informs.
----
Kav and his squad continue through the marsh with caution, though so far they haven't encountered anything deadly. Alzbeta was still bummed about that Baryonyx preventing them from rescuing their loved ones sooner than expected, but she knew it wouldn't have mattered since their loved ones were most likely not the only slaves. Still there's nothing she wants more than to have Ganner back, even if he was hard to tolerate at times. Poove walked beside. "Um, you okay?" he asks, "yeah, I just miss Ganner" she confides, "hey cheer up, we'll get them all back, and then some wot" Poove assures and Alzbeta smiles. Ahead of them, Láilá was in front and without warning trips over something. Spinus saw her and came over to check. "You alright?" he asks, "aye, just a little..." Láilá answers until catching a glimpse at what tripped her, though when she investigated further, she turned as white as Kav, "holy freak-show!" Spinus gasps and got everyone else to look, though they instantly regret it, for lying in the mud was the corpse of Whitebelly, minus his head and brain, Howard looked about ready to throw up, "I think I'm gonna puke" he warns while Erin kneeled down to the body, "it's a great-spotted woodpecker, a civilized great-spotted woodpecker" he identifies, "wanna bet this is one of Parus' lackeys?" Myotis guesses, "I think that, but what happened to him, or her" Sasha wonders and Jaxxon kneels to look at the neck, finding skull-pieces, "judging by that only the head is messed up, I'd say that is how this bloke died, but not by a toad, or a lizard: neither of them obliterate only the head" Jaxxon deduces, "could it have been a dinosaur of some kind?" Alzbeta suggests, "possible" Jaxxon agrees, "or it could be Parus herself that killed the blighter: remember how some villains off their subordinates for failure?" Poove proposes and everybody couldn't deny that, "of course, this one must've been in charge of keeping an eye on their prisoners, and when our loved-ones temporarily escaped, Parus must've done this because of that" Kav deduces, "yeah but none of the warlords were known to eat beasts for failure, were there?" Reggie asks, "actually there was Gulo the Savage the wolverine: he ate everyone he killed, failing minions included" Laila informs, "so true" Poove remarks, "and don't forget, Parus ate the heads of my parents seasons earlier" Myotis reminds, "but I thought she only did that to your species" Erin reminds, "could she have eaten this one's head?" Spinus wonders, "well, there's no strands of flesh for the head left, not even the brain is left" Jaxxon examines, "you know what a brain looks like?" Kav asks, "when you're a major of Camp Tussock, you tend to get into doing autopsies" Jaxxon explains, "that's nasty" Reggie remarks, "no maggots no fungi, it hasn't started decaying yet" Sasha notes, "then this couldn't have happened too long ago" Howard suspects.
Not far behind, Zootoca, Algot and Gjord were still following. They had come across the battlefield full of dead toads and were rather intimidated by it, but all scavengers that were feasting let them pass. Algot whimpers as everything wasn't all that friendly, and he jumped when a common chaffinch zipped past him by a centimeter. "Relax Algot, it's just a bird" Gjord assures, "yeah, and it was birds who took Freja away" Algot reminds, "oh yeah" Gjord realized, "well, at least we won't get lost, I can still smell them" Zootoca claims and leads the way, "I hope we find them soon, I don't want to sleep alone out here" Algot prays, "you and me both" Gjord adds looking a little unnerved himself: this swamp was nothing like Redwall, predators lurk around every corner. Will they even make it to Kav's group before dark, or before something comes for them? either way, Gjord had no intention of sleeping alone without Kav far away from home.
==Chapter fifteen==
Dusk arrives over the land, and Parus and her band were making progress, though some of the slaves and lackeys were getting exhausted. "How much further mistress?" Spearbeak complains, "we'll get there when we get there" Parus informs annoyedly, "I think we're gonna have to stop, some of the slaves are getting tired" Brownarm proposes, and wasn't lying as Freja looked about ready to pass out, Russell decided to carry her the rest of the way, but Parus doubted he could do it for long, so she relents, "alright, let's set camp in this clearing over here, Linda you watch the slaves" she orders and all settle in a clearing for the night. Linda took this opportunity to get to know Russell more, "are you a fighter?" she asks, "what makes you say that?" Russell asks, "when we first caught you, you looked like you expected to have a sword on your back, and you were pretty good with Botaurus' dagger" Linda recalls, "well when you live in Mossflower-woods, it pays to be combative and armed" Russell reasons, "true" Linda admits and looks at Freja, "fallen asleep?" she asks, "looks like it" Russell suspects and lets Freja rest on his lap, "poor thing: to be taken from somewhere peaceful and forced into one of evil, she must be traumatized" he adds while petting Freja, "I hope not, but either way, I'm not proud of myself at all right now" Linda laments, getting Zonder's attention, "would you kill Parus and set us all free first chance you got?" he suddenly asks, "actually yes, but unlike most vermin, I've never killed another sentient beast, I don't know if I can either" Linda confirms, "I feel the same, I have ran into some vermin with my brother, but we never had to murder either" Russell reveals, "and I wish beasts like Parus never existed" Linda wishes, and Zonder decided to try and ask both their opinions on Redwall, "um, what do think of Redwall Linda?" he asks shyly, but she smiles, "I think it's a happy place to live, minus all the vermin wanting it" she answers, "I think that too, though I've never been there, tell me Zonder, is it true that it's guarded by a ghost-mouse?" Russell inquires, "his name is Martin, but yes: he is somewhat of a guardian; he visits someone in their sleep to tell them of something coming or to take his sword and become the champion" Zonder explains, "d-do you think they'll accept me?" Linda asks timidly, and Zonder felt sorry for her: he could see this ferret stood out among her species, "I think so, I know I would" Zonder confides, "don't hold your breath wot" Ganner suddenly interrupted, "Ganner" Zonder berates, "Zonder, even if she is different than other ferrets, the abbey might not accept her anyway, remember the last ferret they had, Veil Sixclaw? they welcomed him, but the blighter still turned into a bally jerk" Ganner reminds, "I think the only reason he didn't become nice was that his father was a psycho, I mean, a lot of kids tend to share personalities with their parents, and Veil did have some morals" Zonder counters, "and didn't he save a mouse's life?" Kasper suddenly asks, "well aye, but Bryony didn't think he would save her had he known Swartt was gonna kill her, and she even admitted to everyone else he was bad all along" Ganner claims, "even if you're right, I agree more with Zonder: if Veil was as bad as his father, he wouldn't have tried to save Bryony at all, so I believe he did have some good in him" Russell asserts, "whatever, just don't expect your new friend to be treated any better" Ganner warns and turned away, "ah don't listen to him, I can tell you have a heart Linda" Zonder assures, making Linda smile, "thanks Zonder" she praises.
----
A few miles behind the slavers, Kav's group finally left the swamp and were still on the trail. A dunnock chirped in a nearby tree as they came to a clearing large enough to fit them. "This looks like a nice spot to rest" Laila proposes, "I'm in, feels like forever since I've last eaten" Poove approves, "hares" Sasha mutters but doesn't object, so they began setting tents and making a fire, and while the boy hares gorge themselves without hesitation, Alzbeta still couldn't stop thinking of Ganner, "hey Alzbeta try some of this pie" Jaxxon offers, "better not eat all of it you gluttons" Howard advices, "thanks, but no" Alzbeta refuses which came as a shock to everybody except Kav Erin and Myotis, "a hare declining food? my mind is blown" Spinus gasps, "well when Alzbeta gets down she loses all thought of eaten" Kav explains, "she still misses her brother?" Reggie asks, "looks like it" Myotis shrugs when Poove scoots near her, "hey, turn that bally frown upside-down, we'll find them, you just gotta have patience" he assures, "I guess" Alzbeta shrugs, "here, your brother wouldn't want you to starve wot" Poove adds and Alzbeta couldn't resist, "you sure know how to make me feel better Poove" she concedes and accepts his food, "way to go Poove" Erin applauds and suspects these two will make the perfect match.
----
Back in Redwall, it was almost night. The bells ringing signaled the day was over. Scarlette was putting all the dibbuns to bed, but stops at one empty bed, and realized it belonged to Gjord, who along with Algot and Zootoca, were still away. She fixed it up and then left. Walking down the hall she finds Koga ahead of her. "Good evening Koga" she greets, "good evening Scarlette, put the dibbuns to bed?" he questions, "yeah, though I still miss Zootoca Algot and Gjord" she answers and Koga takes pity on her, "I know the feeling, but I'm sure they'll be back after Zonder Ganner and Freja are saved" he assures, "I hope you're right" Scarlette prays not as confident as the vole.
Outside, Nomi was practicing some archery to help keep her calm, with Jala watching her. Hedwig later joins them. "Hey Hedwig, Jori doing okay?" Jala greets, "aye, she's sleeping like a, well babe, though she did cry for daddy earlier" Hedwig laments, "she misses him doesn't she?" Nomi suspects, "yep" Hedwig confirms, "can't say I blame her, I miss Kav and Freja" Nomi expresses, "cheer up Nomi, Matthias came back with Slagar's catches, I'm sure Kav will return with Freja burr" Jala assures though he too missed them, "I guess" Nomi shrugs and decided she's had enough for tonight, "well goodnight" she bids and left.
----
Back at Kav's group, everyone was asleep, except for Myotis since she is a bat. She was standing guard incase something tries to pay them a visit in the dark. She was fiddling with her blowpipe, imagining herself shooting Parus with it when she suddenly felt a presence in the shadows. Looking around, she doesn't see anything out of the ordinary, but kept her guard up: there could be anything out here. Casting a glance at everyone else, she takes to the air to get a better view of and land, and hovers right over her friends. Not far away, she catches a glimpse of something in the direction they came from. Her instincts telling her to check it out, she cast another glance at her friends before flying off. She homes in on where she saw the activity, and finds she is right in front of it. Not sure what it was, she assumed it was a group of marauders and readies to pounce. She could make out three child-sized entities walking underneath her, and she lunges at them, catching one of them while the other two scream and flee into the bushes. What surprised Myotis was that they all emitted childlike sounds, and when the moonlight began shining on them, she was more surprised. "What the, what are you doing here?!" she gasps, for in her clutches was a certain lizard maid who should be in Redwall right now.
==Chapter sixteen==
A new day arrives over the land, and Kav's group were having breakfast. They were all floored when Algot Gjord and Zootoca were brought over by Myotis, though after hearing why they followed, some of them couldn't help but admire their bravery. Still they all agree it was an idiotic decision, but it was too late to bring them back to Redwall since they were all far away already, so the rescue group reluctantly let the runaway-dibbuns tag along, under certain conditions. Currently though everyone was relaxing. Spinus was surveying from the air and could see Castle Marl in the distance, which he did believe was where Parus was taking slaves to. He flies down to report. "Hey guys, there's a big castle a mile or so ahead of us" he alerts, "that's gotta be Castle Marl" Erin suspects, "Castle Marl, as in the lair of the marlfoxes?" Sasha asks, "afraid so missy, but the vermin who worked for them gave up on villainy after the foxes died off" Alzbeta answers, "but wouldn't Parus reignite said villainy?" Howard wonders, "don't know, they can't be the same ones that served the marlfoxes: that was seasons ago, all the vermin living there now would have to be descendants, so it's more likely they don't even know how to fight" Kav answers, "then that would mean Parus could've conquered and enslaved them, turning the place into an empire" Reggie theorized, "that is a possibility: even vermin don't deserve to be slaves wot wot" Jaxxon sympathizes, "and who knows, maybe they'll join us in slaying Parus" Poove says, "I wouldn't go that far Poove, even if they did have hearts, I doubt they'd be of much help" Laila warns, "you're sounding like they're serving Parus by choice" Poove retorts, "well most vermin tend to hate us woodlanders specifically because we're good" Laila retorts, "I don't hate woodlanders for being good" Zootoca peeps, "well that makes me feel better" Laila humors, "well I'm all set to continue chasing Parus, anyone else?" Myotis proposes, "I am" said one of Laila's shrews, "I'm done too" Algot adds and just about everybody felt ready, "well, let's move, you too kids" Kav orders, "oh yeah" Gjord cheers, "but remember, stay close, don't wander far from us and don't do anything that could get us all in trouble" Erin warns, "yes sir" all three dibbuns nod and the gang gets back on the road.
----
A white wagtail flies over Redwall calling out due to the climate starting to cool. In the abbey itself, several woodlanders were doing things: Scarlette, Marieke and Nomi were gathering herbs for the infirmary, Hedwig was collecting honey from the bees (since Vakama wasn't around to do it anymore), while Esoum and Erah babysat Jori, but she was being fussy. "Come on little one, time for your snack" Esoum urges with a spoon full of baby-food, but Jori refuses to eat it, "here let me try wot" Erah offers and starts making faces to get Jori to laugh, which she does, and when her mouth opened Esoum plunged the food into it, at first the babe tried to spit it out, but found she liked the taste and begged for more, "okay okay here comes another" Esoum chuckles and gives her more when Hedwig checks on them, "having trouble?" she asks, "not really" Erah answers, "hey could one of you help with this basket?" Marieke suddenly called and the trio see she was loaded with four baskets of herbs, "certainly" Erah accepts and lends a hand, taking two of the baskets, "where to?" she asks, "the infirmary" Marieke answers and leads the hare off. 
From the orchard, Nomi had caught sight of Erah and Esoum babysitting, and it made her think about Freja. "Hedwig's lucky" she sighed, "thinking about Freja?" Scarlette asks unwittingly startling the mole, "aye, I wish I knew where she's been taken to" Nomi moans, "nowhere good I'm sure, but we'll have to wait for Kav to bring her back before we can know, I'm sure" Scarlette assures, "I guess so" Nomi shrugs and Scarlette feels sorry for her, "why don't you take some time off, I got enough anyway" the badger offers and tries to carry all her baskets at once, "I don't think you can-" Nomi began but Scarlette ends up dropping two of the baskets, spilling herbs, "-carry all of them burr" Nomi finished and Scarlette concedes to handing her two baskets before deciding to regather the rest, "I'll try to listen to you next time" she jokes.
----
Parus and her group were continuing toward the Great Inland Lake, where Castle Marl awaits. Zonder unfortunately had another leakage during the night, and since there wasn't any water available right away to clean himself, he was forced to endure the sticky goo drying over his crotch. Luckily Linda had offered a cloth to scrub himself of some. "So when are we gonna get to Castle Marl?" Kasper asks, "soon my slaves, soon" Parus promises, "I'm scared to know what Castle Marl's become" Ganner whispers, "well back then it was much like Redwall" Linda claims, "really?" Russell peeps interested, "really, everyone was living a life like a woodlander's, that is until she showed up" Linda continues, "Parus swindled you all to make her your leader didn't she?" Zonder inquires, "you don't know the half of it, when she first turned up seasons ago, she had that scar on her cheek and kept going on and on about some white-mole" Linda reveals, "that's my father" Freja notes, "so it seems, then she began turning everyone against each other so she could rise on top and turn us into her fodder, and since then we've been working our butts off for her" Linda pouts, "well, my dad will save us, I promise" Freja assures, "that's assuming he didn't get eaten by that dinosaur first" Ganner reminds, "I'm sure at least one of our rescuers will arrive, I feel it" Russell confides as they continue on.
==Chapter seventeen==
A few hours pass and the guosim have found no vermin whatsoever, so they might as well settle. Volkner and Giotto were there helping the shrews set up their tents and other essentials. "That's it, a little more" Raoul directs to some shrews setting the biggest tent by far, "hey cousin, where do you want this rack?" Giotto asks presenting a rack meant for drying clothes on, "just put it over by the tree" Raoul directs and Giotto does with Volkner, planting it in front of a tree, "so how long will you be here?" Volkner asks, "at least until Kav gets back from his mission" Raoul states as Greyface was patching up a boat.
----
Parus and her pack have made it to the Great Inland Lake, and the group was kinda relieved. "Wait here, I'll be back with our ship, Xof, you're in charge" Parus orders and flies off to the island, and while they wait, Fuzzface decides to take a nap, "if no one minds, I'll be catching zees" he announces, "and I'm going fishing, I haven't had a natural meal in days" Spearbeak announces and went out into the lake, "ugh isn't there pike in the water?" Ganner asks, "oh yes, there's pikes, which we'll feed you to if you try anything" Botaurus taunts, "oh I'd be more worried about your friend since she went in by choice" Kasper retorts, "oh please, Spearbeak's an egret, the water is her element" Brownarm counters and Spearbeak scores a Ferox trout in her mouth, "I'm still certain a pike can take her" Ganner insists, "knock it off all of you" Xof orders. 
"So what should we expect?" Russell asks Linda, "well, they got knew slave barracks for guys like you, Parus will arrive with some slave ship that's captained by this vicious wildcat" the ferret explains, "yikes, anything else?" Zonder asks, "well, there's also a wolverine that acts as babysitter when Parus is away" Linda claims, "whoa an actual wolverine?" Freja gasps having never seen a wolverine before, "oh yes, and she's the meanest-ow!" Botaurus says until Xof whacks him with her trident, "what did I just say?" she berates and Botaurus stalks off, secretly hoping Parus will backstab Xof after this.
Near twilight, Parus finally returns and a boat could be seen approaching. "Anything happen while I was away?" Parus asks, "not really, and the slaves behaved themselves" Xof answers, "I wouldn't worry about the slaves this time, I'd worry about Botaurus" Parus suddenly warns, "huh, what about him?" Xof asks confused, "he's up to something, I don't know what, but he's up to something" Parus whispers carefully, "well, he was trying to scare the slaves" Xof admits, "really? well that just proves he can't be trusted, he'll probably try to backstab us the first chance he gets" Parus asserts and now Xof was worried, "don't worry mistress I'll keep an eye on him" she promises, "no need, if anyone's gonna deal with him, it'll be me" Parus vows, "okay then" Xof shrugs and gets to rest while Parus looks for Botaurus, and finds him at the boardwalk, "hey Botaurus" she calls and he comes over, "yes mistress?" he asks, "keep your guard up, I think we have a traitor among us" Parus revealed suddenly, "what?" Botaurus gasps, "it's Xof, I think she has plans to take over Castle Marl from me" Parus dreads, "knowing her, I wouldn't be surprised if you're right: all foxes are backstabbers" Botaurus shrugs, "precisely" Parus agrees: she knew Xof and Botaurus didn't get along very well, and since Parus doesn't hold any loyalty, she'll use their rivalry to her advantage and have her crew squabble over themselves, besides looking like she achieved bringing in slaves singlehandedly will keep the island-vermin respectful to her, and that's all that matters.
The slave ship finally reached the mainland just when the sun was setting. A hulking male wildcat who wore a yellow-cape, a grey-doublet and a white-cowl stood on the vessel, which was the same type as the Bloodwake from Tsarmina's time. This wildcat goes by the name of Brafilius and he detested children, but obeyed Parus. As he walks down to her, she gestures to the slaves waiting on her. "Ah I see you did indeed get more" he notes in a thick voice and walks over, Freja actually found him intimidating and huddled behind Russell, who put his arm on her protectively, but the feline merely snorts in disgust, "but couldn't you have spared dibbuns this time?" he asks Parus, "youth are the most physically fit Brafilius, and don't forget who's in charge here" Parus retorts and the cat sighs, then drags the slaves over to the boat, Linda follows, "what are you doing?" Parus asks, "I wish to check on my family, 'cause I don't trust you with promises" Linda growls, "wise choice ferret, but alright" Parus relents and both also board the ship, leaving the rest of Parus' crew to their fates.
==Chapter eighteen==
The slave ship swam from the mainland into the Great Inland Lake. Unlike most slave ships, Brafilius didn't employ the slaves to row oars, he assigned that to slavers only, while the slaves were kept in rather untidy cells. By the time it reaches Marlfox Island, the sun was almost gone. Our main five were napping until Brafilius rudely awakes them. "Get up fresh-meat, we're at the castle" he announces and all slaves reluctantly walk out and onto the pier the ship was moored to. They all gaze in awe at the castle, "whoa" Ganner awes but this got him thwacked by Brafilius, "get moving little scud" the cat hisses, ahead of them, a female wolverine wearing a grey-bodice with a chemise, orange-bonnet and yellow-pantaloons while wielding a Halberd stood waiting, bowing as Parus arrived, "welcome back mistress" she greets, "it is good to be back Viqi, how are things going here?" Parus asks, "same as usual" Viqi shrugs and got a good look at Parus' newest batch: like Brafilius Viqi was considered intimidating by the slaves, but she seemed confused at Linda, "so you finally brought back an ally for once?" she wonders, "what do you mean 'for once'?" Linda asks, "oh it's nothing, except Parus tends to ditch any helpers she had on the mainland and take the slaves here alone, she's just that good" Viqi claims, "what I tell you? Parus is a little miss betrays-a-lot" Zonder snarls, though it took a moment for Linda to get it, but when she did, she was ticked off, "you sick bird, you intentionally turned on your own team by deserting them?" she gasps, "I'm called the 'manipulator' for a reason, and yes I was planning on doing the same to you, but you insisted on coming back for your family" Parus admits, "I bet you killed her family anyway, didn't you?" Russell accuses, "for once, I made an exception to a promise, rest assured Linda, you're family is still alive" Parus objects, but Linda was so furious that she believes the woodlanders more, and feared Russell was right, angrily she lunges at the tit, but Viqi saw it coming and slams her halberd into the ferret. Russell, horrified tries to intervene, but Brafilius stops him. "Do not interfere tree rat" he warns, but Russell could care less and elbows the cat in the face, then charges at Viqi, dragging his friends with him, and attacks the wolverine with bare hands, trying to strangle her until Brafilius tried to slice him off, but the others saw this and prevented it, resulting in the cat tripping over their chain, by which point Russell had already released Viqi while Linda took the halberd. "Anyone who tries to hurt this ferret, will be hurt by me" Russell swears, "thanks Russ" Linda praises, "how romantic, I never thought I'd see a woodlander have a crush on a vermin, or vice versa" Parus comments much to everyone's shock, "what?, I don't...I mean..." Russell denies, "nice try, I knew Linda was soft, but I noticed she looked interested in you Russell" Parus deduced, "you mean you know?" Linda gasps, "eventually yes" Parus affirms, and Brafilius suddenly slams both squirrel and ferret, "disgusting: you bring shame to all vermin species" he chastises Linda, "I never thought I'd say this but, I agree with the cat" Ganner adds, much to Zonder's horror, "Ganner!" he howls, "well it is, I mean no woodlander would accept seeing one of us flirt with a vermin" Ganner counters, "or vice versa" Viqi suddenly adds, yanking Linda up in her grasp, "slow down, all of you, I myself have no qualms about this, but since Linda has chosen the woodlander side, she is now an enemy and thus, a slave, take her and the squirrel to the castle's dungeons, I'll deal with them later" Parus orders, Viqi and Brafilius shrug and the latter removes Russell's cuff, then the wolverine takes the odd couple away, much to Freja's worry, "what are you gonna do to them?" she demands, "things that you cannot know" Parus answers, "might as well get these four settled in" Brafilius says and prepared to escort the remaining slaves to a prison-cell, but Parus stops him, "not this one" she gestures to Zonder, "what?" he asks, "what about him?" Brafilius wonders, "he's recently fertile, therefore he should be relegated with the sex-slaves" Parus orders, "the what?" Zonder gasps but Brafilius complies, unlocks his cuff, and has some other vermin drag him off, "I don't even know what you mean by sex-slave, but if you-" Kasper growls, "relax, he's only gonna be placed with girls to make future slaves" Parus interrupts, "oh no" Ganner gasps knowing what they're gonna do to Zonder, but could do nothing as he Kasper and Freja were escorted away.
----
A few miles back, Kav and his group were still on the trail, but as it was getting late, they decide to stop and rest. "How much further?" Poove asks Myotis, "probably an hour or less, we're pretty close" the bat claims, "well I'm beat" Erin pants, "let's set up camp, we'll continue in the morning" Kav suggests and most oblige, though Sasha noticed Reggie looked distracted. "Hey Reggie, you okay?" she asks, "I don't know, I feel something's happening to Russ, something bad" Reggie confides, "we'll get him back, I promise" she vows and left, though Reggie still couldn't shake the feeling something was happening to his twin brother. Little did he know how right he was.
----
At Redwall, Scarlette was gazing out into the night due to a similar feeling, except it centered on Zonder: that otter is probably experiencing the first phases of sexuality by now, and she had been meaning to educate him on it: she had a feeling he finally experienced a leakage from his nether-region in his sleep, which was completely normal for males of all species. Ganner had suffered a few just weeks before Zonder started gaining fertility, and so did Kav, Erin, and just about all boys she nurtured as the badger-mother of Redwall. She could only imagine the look of horror and embarrassment on that otter's face when he finds he wet himself with white-goo, but what really concerned Scarlette was Freja's reaction to that: the badger doubted the vermin would care about Zonder's sexuality awakening or Freja's well-being on the very concept, she shudders at the thought. "What's wrong with you?" Bairdon's voice suddenly asks and the owl was standing right beside her, how she didn't hear him approach was beyond her, "I was just thinking about our missing children" Scarlette confesses, "those runaways?" Bairdon asks, "no, the ones kidnapped by Parus: Zonder should be going through the phase all males enter when they reach puberty" Scarlette corrects and Bairdon suddenly understood: even he had been a victim, "you mean like when he'll...wet himself in his sleep...with white-goo?" Bairdon dreads, "aye, don't know if vermin have any standards on sex, but I worry Parus won't care to educate Zonder about it, or keep Freja from being scarred from it" the badger fears and the owl shudders at the thought. 
==Chapter nineteen==
Parus had come to the dungeons where Russell and Linda were being kept due to having romantic-interests in each other, something unheard of in the Redwall-universe. Parus knew Linda wouldn't be the most reliable lackey, but this was something she's never dealt with before. However, she sees no reason to prevent their romance, if Linda wishes to be with a woodlander, so be it, besides it just means one more slave for Parus, and she knew perfectly what to do about it. "Unlock the door" she orders the guards and they do, letting her go in first and follow, "what do you want?" Russell growls, "nothing, just checking on you, did you enjoy your time together?" Parus taunts, "no, we didn't" Linda snarls, but Parus merely shrugs and turns to the guards, "well if you are meant to be, let's take it up a notch shall we?" she taunts and to the guards she orders "strip them naked", making Russell and Linda jump in alarm, but could do nothing as the guards carry the order over and confiscate the duo's clothes, humiliating them, "you dirty lowlife of a songbird" Russell roars while covering his crotch, "oh don't worry, it's all for you, and even better, you can go back with your friends" Parus states and has the guards forcibly tie the duo's hands behind them, so they can't hide their genitals (or chest in Linda's case), "you seriously gonna show us nude to children, to Freja?" Linda asks, "yes" Parus said simply and the two were dragged out of the cell to follow her.
Zonder found himself thrown into some random room. Upon getting to his feet and brushes himself, he looks and sees several otters of both gender, but all were either naked or pants-less, and some even cradled babes. Now he knew what Parus meant by sex-slave: she intends to make him mate with females and spawn children, but this place was too sickening for having babes: they don't deserve to be born in a life like this. Parus, you are one messed up bird he thought angrily and decides to just make friends.
Ganner, Freja and Kasper were sleeping in some other prison, but were awoken to the sounds of the door being opened, and in came Russell and Linda being forced in. The hares in particular were appalled that the couple were naked, but came to their aid. "Of all the bally tortures she could bestow, she chose to strip you naked?" Ganner gasps undoing Linda's binds, "unfortunately yes, I've never felt so humiliated" Linda laments and after Ganner was done did Russell's binds while Kasper chose to cover Freja's eyes, though the mole wasn't having it. "Freja it's not polite to stare at naked beasts" Kasper objects, "I don't care, they're our friends and I accept them anyway" Freja swears while Linda and Russell were a little conflicted; they appreciated Kasper's efforts, but knew Freja couldn't look away forever, and reasoned there wasn't any harm if Freja was willing to tolerate it, "it's all right Kasper, she can look" Russell allows, "I can?" Freja asks, "yeah but, it isn't pretty, or funny" Linda answers and cautiously Kasper lets Freja look, and the mole was shocked once she looked, "why would Parus do that?" she asks, not finding their predicament funny at all, "probably because we wanna marry" Russell laments, "eww, although, I wouldn't mind having a mommy and daddy of two species" Freja shrugs which made everyone laugh, "oh I feel better already" Linda giggles as Ganner suddenly handed her his vest, "umm, if you feel cold you can have this" the hare offers shyly and Linda didn't have it in her to reject it, "sure Ganner" she accepts and puts it on, feeling much better, and Kasper offers her bonnet, which now sported a hole in its center after Kasper bit through it and bent the ring-rim to mimic a skirt, "and you can wear this around your waist, I did some tweaking" Kasper claims and Linda accepts, "it's a little loose, and feels weird, but I'll take it" Linda shrugs, "I'd offer my skirt to you Russell, but it's too small" Freja laments to Russell, "yeah, but I appreciate it" Russell expresses gratefully.
----
Morning dawns over Castle Marl, and Parus' lackeys were starting to wake up, with Fuzzface being the first. "Hey where'd Parus and the slaves go?" he suddenly asks, "what?" Brownarm gasps and looks around for the slaves and Parus, but found neither, "she must've taken them to the castle last night" Spearbeak deduces, "without us?" Botaurus asks feeling a little betrayed, "maybe she was making sure you didn't hog it all to yourself Botaurus" Xof scoff, "what?" Botaurus gasps, "just admit it Botaurus: you were planning to take us for granted" Xof accuses, "me? you're the one Parus expects to betray us" Botaurus retorts, "what? why would you say that?" Xof gasps, "uh guys?" Brownarm suddenly interrupts, "not now Brownarm" Xof says, "oh I don't know, maybe it's because it's a fox thing?" Botaurus answers, "that's it, I'm slaughtering you" Xof shouts and wields her trident at him, and Botaurus follows with his dagger, but suddenly Brownarm screamed and all see Sasha had snuck up behind them and killed the marten, and the other woodlanders were right behind her, "now that we have your attention, where are the slaves?" Sasha demands, "how should we know, they and Parus disappeared when we woke up" Spearbeak claims and just outright attacks them, getting into it with Howard, and loses, "you're outnumbered ten to three now, if you have any common sense, you'd surrender now" Erin warns and reluctantly Fuzzface, Botaurus and Xof do, "good vermin, now where are Parus and the slaves?" Jaxxon demands, "probably on Marl Island by now, honest, but she left us here" Fuzzface swears, "what do you think guys?" Howard asks the others, "let's take them with us: we could use them as bargaining chips" Laila proposes, "or beast-shields" Alzbeta suggests, "well that's one problem solved, but how are we gonna get to the castle?" Reggie wonders, "yeah I heard there are pike in this water, and maybe other things" Spinus dreads, "well it's too risky to use a boat, we'd be more evasive underwater" Kav deduces, "and risk running into the pikes and who-knows-what-else? personally I'd rather be bombarded by arrows wot" Poove complains, "but we would have the element of surprise underwater" Myotis reasons, "can't argue with that" Sasha notes, "well then, let's do it" Erin hollers and everybody get to it, except the dibbuns, "not you three though" Howard advices, "awe why?" Gjord pouts, "because it's vermin-territory, you're much safer here" Myotis answers and the dibbuns reluctantly obey.
==Chapter twenty==
Russell, Linda, Freja and the hares were just sitting in the cell, bored, until the door was opened again and Viqi enters. "Alright, you lot, time to get to work" she orders, "can I have my clothes back?" Russell asks, "sorry, but I answer only to Parus, and if she doesn't say you can, you won't" Viqi says and Russell reluctantly walks behind his friends: earlier he and Linda had become a laughing stock after being reunited with Freja and the hares, but it seems one of them will have to deal with it a little longer, "I see one of you have been given clothes from your partners" Viqi remarks on Linda, but thought nothing of it and gestured them to follow, where she leads them to the farm-patches that dot the island, "hey look, it's the naked squirrel" said a rude voice and we see two weasels laughing themselves to death at Russell, who blushes, and Freja tried to throw mud at them to avenge the squirrel, but Russell stops her, "don't bother Freja" he requests and she reluctantly obeys, "smart move" Viqi comments before bringing Russell and Ganner over to some plows, "you two shall do the farming" Viqi orders and after the boys accept their plows, she turns to the girls, "and you can tend to the crops" she reasoned and sent them on their way, "wait, what about Zonder?" Kasper demands, "he's with the sex-slaves" Viqi answers nonchalantly and left them supervised by a stoat wearing a teal-chaperone, purple-doublet, a pink-hose and wields a Rapier, who goes by the name of Crookfinger due to his left-middle-finger being deformed, "put your backs into it woodlanders" he demands and swings his sword at them to emphasize.
----
In the water around Marlfox Island, the rescue-party were progress beneath the surface. Howard handled the swimming, towing the rest behind by their arms. Fuzzface, Botaurus and Xof had their hands tied, but were held onto by Jaxxon. Luckily, they haven't encountered any pikes, but they have encountered crucian carp, which were harmless. What wasn't was the European river lamprey: a bloodsucking-fish. One latches onto Laila and takes a bite, but immediately releases and swims off, apparently disliking the taste of shrew-blood, unfortunately, the bleeding wound would become a problem, as swimming in the deep was a creature that terrified even the pikes: the Deepcoiler was long gone, but a new lake-monster had taken its place, only this one wasn't a snake, but a rare freshwater-dwelling plesiosaur known as Brancasaurus, and it smelled Laila's blood. When it saw the woodlanders swimming overhead, with one trailing blood, it darted toward them. Erin was the first to see it, but couldn't exactly cry out in water, though thankfully his flailing got their attention and they too saw the plesiosaur. Howard swam with all his might, but the Brancasaurus still caught hold of their captives and a guosim-shrew, taking Jaxxon with it, though he let go and got thwacked by a flipper as the beast leaps out of the water and gobbles the three slavers. After sinking back in, it swam off, leaving the woodlanders, who surfaced. "Did you see that thing?" Alzbeta gasps, "yeah, I knew this place was home to the deepcoiler, but that didn't look like a snake" Erin answers, "could it be another deepcoiler?" Spinus wonders, "unlikely, the deepcoiler was a snake, that thing looked more like a plesiosaur" Poove corrects, "I thought plesiosaurs lived in the ocean" Reggie gasps, "obviously not this one" Kav realizes and Howard did a quick look underwater incase it would return, "well, it left, let's move before it comes back" he propose and none object, "I think it was attracted to Laila's blood" Myotis guesses, "I think your right Myotis, and it cost us our prisoners" Laila laments, "hang on, Jaxxon's missing too" Alzbeta realizes but thankfully Jaxxon swims over, "I'm over here" he calls and they swim to him, "for a moment I thought we lost you" Erin remarks, "not until I get my daughter back" Jaxxon swears and all continue to the island, getting there by about noon, and Howard was exhausted, "man Howard, who knew you could pull so many beast with you far out in a lake" Spinus pants, "comes from my evolution" Howard jokes, "well, what now?" Poove wonders, "simple, find the slaves, break them out, and kill Parus" Kav answers and they move to the castle grounds.
----
At Redwall, things were mostly normal. Nomi was once again practicing her archery, with Hedwig and Jori watching, but Nomi felt something was off. "You alright Nomi?" Hedwig asks, "I don't know, I feel like something big is gonna happen, something that will involve Kav and Freja" Nomi admits and Hedwig was getting a similar feeling, "I'm starting to agree" she admits, but couldn't dawdle on it as Jori demands to be fed, Nomi however decides to stop doing the archery and left, finding Erah looking over the south-wall. Curious, Nomi walks over to her. "Hey Erah" she greets, "oh hello Nomi" Erah returns, "you getting a strange feeling about something big about to happen?" Nomi ask, "aye I am actually" Erah admits, "so do I, and think our loved-ones will be in it" Nomi theorizes, "I think so too" Erah agrees and goes back to looking, with Nomi, not sure what else to say, left the hare to it.
==Chapter twenty-one==
Back on Marlfox Island, the ten woodlanders that have come for their kidnapped love-ones now find they have a bigger mission: freeing all the slaves here. At first, they simply took out the patrols and supervisors, freeing the slaves who couldn't believe their luck, but gladly pitch in. Eventually, they reach the spot where their loved ones are. "Guys look, there's Freja and Ganner" Erin gasps and points, "oh thank Martin" Kav expresses, "and there's Kasper" Jaxxon expressed, "and my brother Russell, except naked" Reggie expressed, "hang on, Zonder was taken too, where's he?" Myotis suddenly asks and the others could see she was right, "it'll have to wait, let's get these four first" Spinus proposes and all agree.
As for the main four themselves, they were working their butts off until fighting sounds got their attention, and see Crookfinger has disappeared, but to their delight, an albino-mole walks around the corner, a mole Freja and Ganner knew personally. "Dad" Freja gasps and rushes over, followed by her friends, "Freja" Kav greets and happily hugs her, and the rest of both groups get to reunite, "dad" Kasper gasps upon seeing Jaxxon show up, "Kasper, oh my darling" Jaxxon cries, "Alzbeta" Ganner cheers, "come here you" Alzbeta says while hugging her brother, "Russ" Reggie calls and Russell was majorly happy, "Reg, I see you brought some friends" Russell cheers and the twins hug, Linda meanwhile felt left out, "um, any chance I could join?" she asks timidly, "and just why were you working alongside them?" Poove wonder recalling seeing Linda working with the woodlanders earlier, that and she seems to have a wardrobe-malfunction, "it's alright, she's against Parus, the bird even stripped her and Russell here naked before throwing her with us" Ganner defends, "that explains you're lack of attire" Howard notes and Russell was feeling embarrassed again, "and even let my daughter see you in this state? now I'm sharing Myotis' desire to kill her" Kav growls as Jaxxon took his cape off and hands it to Russell, who gladly accepts and ties it around his waist, "thanks I needed that" he jokes, "Ganner, what happened to Zonder?" Alzbeta asks, "Parus put him with sex-slaves" Ganner claims, much to the rescuers' shock, "now that's sick, even for Parus" Sasha gagged just imagining the otter being forced to mate, "where is he now?" Erin asks, "don't know, they took him somewhere in that direction" Kasper directs, "I know I've said this before, but I'm gonna kill Parus" Myotis vows as Laila shows up, "well, how about we get back to freeing the rest of the slaves?" Laila proposes, "you'll have to get through me first" said a sinister voice and everyone turn to see Brafilius watching them, with an axe, "oh no, not a wildcat" Spinus complains, "and it gets better, we've got a wolverine" Brafilius reveals and snaps his fingers, and in an instant, several vermin spring out of nowhere, Viqi and Parus included, "I knew you'd come, some of you anyway" Parus taunts, "wow Parus: you've gone from con-artist to a Slagar wannabe, I must admit I didn't think you'd get this far" Erin taunts, "I'm guessing you were hoping Wuya the Toxic had killed me for robbing you" Parus theorized, "aye, we did, but this time, we're making sure you die" Myotis promises, "don't get your hopes, you're outnumbered: you can join your loved-ones as additional slaves, or die, either way, you won't win" Parus warns, "that would no doubt be true, except for one thing: we did recruiting" Jaxxon claims and shouts "eulalia!" up to the sky, then came all the other freed slaves (some of which were vermin) suddenly on the attack, catching the slavers by surprise, "charge!" Kav shouts and the main heroes quickly join, well, except for Freja, Kasper and Ganner, "you three, go and free whatever slaves are left" Alzbeta orders and the three couldn't argue.
----
On the mainland, the dibbuns Algot Zootoca and Gjord were just sitting by the water bored until they could sounds of battle from the island. "Do you hear that?" Gjord asks, "yeah, sounds like...a fight" Algot notes, "that's gotta be the slaves breaking free" Zootoca concludes and all three dibbuns look at each other, then jump up and cheer: Parus was being annihilated.
----
Jaxxon personally squares off with Viqi despite the obvious size disadvantage, but in his book, size doesn't matter. He leaps at Viqi, swinging out his hammer, which she intercepts with her halberd. Though she was bigger, Jaxxon was faster therefore got several hit-and-runs on her. "Hold still you morsel" she demanded, "sorry, but I don't intend to die anytime soon" Jaxxon vows and leaps to avoid another attack, then piggyback rides her. She thrashes to shake him off, but Jaxxon's grip was strong, and he managed to land one hit right on her skull, taking out her right eye and caving her head in. Viqi roars in pain and shakes harder to remove the hare, but Jaxxon was having none of it and delivers another hit, this time right on the neck, breaking it and bringing her down to the ground, struggling to breath. Jaxxon decides to just leave her there, knowing she'll die anyway, but Viqi refuses to admit defeat and tries to get up. Jaxxon hears her and readies himself, but she won't be attacking and does die. "Heh, even wolverines can't take a hammer blow" the hare jokes and moves off to fight other slavers.
----
Zonder was sitting by himself, minding his own business and not wanting to mate with anybody. Suddenly he heard sounds from outside and listened, with the other otters joining him. "What's that noise?" said a female, "sounds like...a battle" Zonder deduced, then he realized something, "everyone, your days of torment are about to end" he announces and this got the other otters to get hopeful, Zonder then looked out the door's window which was lined with bars, and caught sight of a familiar face, "Kasper, Kasper over here" he calls, "Zonder, is that you?" said a familiar voice which Zonder recognized as Kasper, "yeah, along with a lot of otters, I don't think Freja should see this" Zonder answers, "well she's freeing other slaves as we speak, oh and our loved-ones who followed us are here" Kasper reveals, "ha ha, this day couldn't be better" Zonder cheers as Kasper opens the door and was startled by the sight of the otters, "oh, did you...?" she asks, "don't worry, I didn't become a father" Zonder and they both race out, the other otters eventually following.
==Chapter Twenty-two==
Poove, Reggie and Spinus were all tackling Brafilius, but the cat quickly bested the hare, leaving him unconscious. Reggie growls and leaps with his saber drawn and gets on Brafilius' back. The wildcat thrashes and eventually grabs the squirrel by the vest and yanks him off, ripping the vest off in the process. Reggie landed on his belly and quickly noticed his vest was gone. "Hey, my mom made me that vest" he pouts as Laila was tending Poove, "so what? we could see your bellybutton anyway" she teases and Reggie blushes while looking at his bellybutton, "oh don't worry, you'll be joining it soon enough" Brafilius promises and prepares to strike, only for Spinus to swoop in and harass him, but Brafilius struck back and landed a hard hit, sending Spinus flying into a wall, "Spinus!" Reggie gasps and now he really wants to kill this feline, "what, you gonna cry?" Brafilius taunts, but Reggie instead swings out his saber without holding back, Brafilius was able to block it, but Reggie simply swung at his legs and struck both at once. Immediately Brafilius tumbles toward Reggie, who doesn't notice and swings his sword into the cat's head, nearly slicing it in half, but he still falls and smothers Reggie, who flails to get him off, and after he does sees Brafilius was dead. Sasha and Russell arrive to help. "You okay?" Sasha asks, "yeah, but I'm more worried about Spinus" Reggie dreads gesturing to the still finch, "uh oh" Russell gasps and went to investigate.
----
Parus was on the run, Myotis, Erin, Alzbeta and Kav in hot pursuit. The chase took them to the dock where the slave ship was, but Parus didn't truly need it to escape. Myotis in particular was straining to fly faster and catch the tit. "Oh no you don't" she roars and gives herself over to bloodwrath, making her maddeningly more determined. Parus trying with all her might to getaway from her, Myotis eventually caught her, sending both tumbling into the lake, and there they continued to tussle: Myotis to kill, Parus to survive, and eventually won out, but did not see the approaching plesiosaur homing in on her as she breached the surface. "So long suckers, we'll meet again" she vows, but it was not meant be as the Brancasaurus bursts out directly beneath her, mouth open, and eats her, then sinks back into the lake. All of it was witnessed by Kav, Erin, Alzbeta and a few others. "Okay, now we've definitely seen the bally last of Parus the Manipulator" Alzbeta concludes as Myotis climbs onto the dock, "so who got her?" she asks, clearly having missed it, "a plesiosaur" Kav answers and Myotis was skeptical at first, but looked and saw a red speck in the water, a big speck which could only be blood, "oh" Myotis murmurs unsure of what to think of that, "Parus is dead?" Freja's voice asks and we see her leading several slaves to the ship, "yep, Parus the Manipulator is dead for real" Erin says happily and when word spread, everyone cheers.
----
A few hours pass and peace was restored to Marlfox Island, but it was not without sadness. "Good news, my family's alive, and they fully support me being in love with a squirrel, well most of them" Linda announces, now back in her own clothes, "looks like that's everyone" Ganner deduces, "not everyone" Howard corrects and watches as Reggie brings Spinus' body over, "oh no, not Spinus" Jaxxon dreads, "I'm afraid he did Jaxxon: took a hit from that wildcat to save me" the squirrel laments, "well, at least it wasn't in vain" Zonder consoles, "he was a big help for us" Poove eulogizes, "aye, if it weren't for him, we wouldn't have known you were taken in the first place" Kav recalls, "would've loved to know him more" Kasper laments, "yeah, me too" Russell adds.
----
Back at Redwall, things were bright and beautiful. Hedwig was letting Jori play with some babes, Jala was continuing his foremole duties, and everyone else wasn't doing much. The only person not happy was Nomi, who stood on the wall gazing out into the horizon, wondering when, or if, Kav and Freja will return. "Anxious for their return?" said a male voice and Nomi finds Esoum approaching, "oh hey Esoum, and yes, they should've been back by now burr aye" Nomi laments, "these quests take time Nomi, it's not like they're gonna show up in the blink of an eye" Esuom pities, Nomi was just about to reply when she saw something dart from the woods, "Volkner?" she gasps, and while it was Volkner, he seem ecstatic about something, "Guys, they're back, and they've brought a lot of souls in need" he calls, "what are you talking about?" Esuom shouts, and before Volkner could reply, another, familiar voice calls out, "Brother Esoum, is that you?" it called, and Nomi recognized it, "Myotis?" she whispers and she could see something flying to her from the distance, and when it was close enough, Nomi's guess proved correct, "Myotis" she exclaims and rushes to tell everyone, "they're back, Kav's home" she shouts and this delighted all: Koor was quick to ring the bells and Erah immediately opens the gate, and their heroes return with new faces, "Kav, Freja" Nomi cries and hugs both, "aw mommy" Freja teases as Jala joins in, "so good to see you both still kicking" he praises, "Erin" Hedwig calls, "Hedwig, Jori" Erin greets happily, "dada" Jori peeps, "Ganner, oh thank Martin you're safe" Erah expressed hugging her son, "I'm fine mom, really" Ganner assures, "uh, hello there miss" Poove greets shyly, "Alzbeta, is this-?" Erah began, "well, we haven't really started yet" Alzbeta claims, "I'm Poove, I met your daughter and her friends after Parus took my superior's daughter" Poove introduces gesturing to Jaxxon and Kasper, and Erah thought the latter would make the perfect girlfriend for Ganner, "oh I see, where're you from Poove?" Erah asks, "Camp Tussock" Poove answers, "my word, my late husband was from there, shame he passed away, he would've liked you" Erah reveals, "sorry about your loss" Poove consoles, "Zonder" Scarlette cries, "hey Scarlette" Zonder happily greets, "you must have quite the story to tell" Giotto deduces, "so we do" Myotis confirms, "and I have something to tell to you miss Alzbeta" Poove suddenly announces and he kneels in front of her, which immediately gave away what he was about to do, but he couldn't quite say it, "Poove, come on, it's not that hard" Reggie orders, "just give me a moment" Poove growls, "what's the matter you sick?" Marieke asks, "can a guy bally propose?" Poove demands and a few laugh, "I accept" Alzbeta declares, "but I haven't even started" Poove reminds, "I still accept" Alzbeta repeats and Poove nods, "any chance I could have a place here?" Linda asks shyly and most look at her unsurely, "uh, any reason you brought a ferret here?" Bairdon asks, "it's alright, she's on our side, she even helped take down Parus" Howard defends, "another vermin living in Redwall, well I've been feeling lonesome anyway" Koor admits, "you never told us you had a corvid living with you" Russell complains to Ganner and Zonder, "oh right my bad" Zonder said embarrassingly, and everybody laughs.
===Epilogue===
Extracted from the writings of Brother Esuom, recorder of Redwall.
It's been a few days since the "Autumn of Parus' Return", our nameday, has happened, and the weather was cooling fast. Those naughty dibbuns Algot, Gjord and Zootoca have indeed joined Kav as we suspected, but Scarlette mercilessly grounded them for a month since they did make us worry, even though we had found the note Algot left for us, and they are still heroes. Jaxxon and Kasper Thistledown have left for Camp Tussock, and Ganner was sad to see them go: I suspect he and Kasper have a thing going, and they promise to return and visit in a few seasons, and offered Ganner to do the same to them. Freja was rarely mischievous anymore, probably due to the abduction, not that I blame her, kinda sad, but at least we're spared from the wackiness. Zonder was going through those puberty issues children aren't allowed to know: one night, he wets his bed with white-goo, and apparently this isn't the first time (he claims the first time was when he was a prisoner), and I feel bad for him: Scarlette knew it would happen sooner or later, and I can relate since it happened to me a few times when I was his age, but we assured him it was completely natural to all males of all species, and he felt much better for it. By far, the most interesting thing is probably Russell Swordmaid and Linda, a squirrel and a ferret who are, against all odds, in love. Never before has our land ever beheld a romance between a woodlander and a vermin, but I have nothing against it, shame that most on both sides do, for I think this could've put our eons old special-rivalries to rest, but I guess not. Not sure if they can conceive children, but they are willing to try, amazingly, but first, there's the wedding of Alzbeta and Poove: the latter plans to stay in Redwall rather than return to Camp Tussock with Jaxxon, and Jaxxon was sad to lose Poove, but respects it. Well, I'd better be off to see their marriage, don't wanna be late, and I've still got some seasons left in me before the Dark Forest claims me.
Brother Esuom, Recorder of Redwall-Abbey.
The End
==Gallery==
Category:Fanfiction
Category:Complete
Category:OC-Centric