Brian Jacques - Redwall #06 - The Outcast of Redwall

“Wake ee oop, tis a bran new day, Or oill eat all ee vittles an run away!

Bryony sat up, staring at the flower. “Where did this come from?

Togget busied himself slicing cold deepernever pie. “Ow shudd oi know, missie, et be thoi own biznuss if youm want to roam roun al! noight a-picken flowers, hurr aye!

Bryony curtsied prettily to her molefriend. Thank you, sir. Ooh! Deepernever pie with dandelion-and-burdock cordial. What a good breakfast!

They dallied awhile after the meal, enjoying the bright summer morn. Then, packing their gear, Bryony and Togget set off, still trekking southwest. About midmorn they reached the top of a high grassy hill and stopped momentarily to enjoy the breeze.

The mousemaid looked around. “You know, if this hill were any higher Til bet I could see the tip of Redwall Abbey from here. Its not that far away, really, only just over a days journey.

Togget was looking the other way. Shading his eyes against the sun, he peered southwest before scanning all the land around. “Yurr, missie, lookit, thurr be somebeasts a wanderin oer yon!

Bryony looked hard in the direction he was pointing; she could make out a huddle of dark shapes. “Well, I dont think it could be Veil, hed be traveling the wrong way. Can you make out how many of them there are?

Togget had exceptionally good eyes, for a mole. “Lukks foik two, nay three, aye, et be three. Yurr, wot if n they be foebeasts or villyuns?

Bryony decided that they should lie flat so that the other-beasts could not easily see them. Stretched out on the hilltop, they watched until the trio drew closer. Bryony stood up. “Theyre dormice. Looks like two of them are only small. Come on, Togget, they wont harm us. Lets find out what theyre doing in this country.

The two little dormice were weeping piteously, clinging to the blanket draped about Ole Hoffys shoulders. He had a wound on his head, crusted with dried blood around a swelling lump. Staggering crazily toward Bryony and Togget, he fell, pushing the babes from him as he toppled over.

Bryony was at his side in an instant. “Oh, you poor thing! What happened? she cried. Dampening a cloth, she bathed the dormouses head as he relayed a halting account of the previous night.

“Ferret, “said his name was Bunfold, camped with us, gave him supper an a blanket to sleep. Mustve rolled over an burnt my paw in th fire embers, woke me up this mornin, head achin, food gone, knife an1 staff gone too. Huh, ferret gone an all!

Bryony looked at Togget and shook her head. “Bunfold! That could only be Veil. Build a fire and take care of the babes, Togget. Ill see what I can do for this old fellow. Hmm, hes not badly injured. He should be all right.

Togget issued the little dormice with a slice of deepernever pie apiece and some dandelion-and-burdock cordial. He also dug out a packet of candied chestnuts for them. They had not eaten since the previous night, and both fell gratefully upon the food.

The mole patted their heads. “Baint much wrong wi these two gurt rascals, theym a vittlin oop loik a pair oare-beasts!

Bryony soon had Ole Hoffy feeling better; she cleaned and dressed his wound and fed him. He told her of his life so far and the hard times he had experienced with the two babes. And the mousemaid came up with a solution that would solve all the dormouses problems.

“You must carry on walking east for a day, or a bit more, and then you will see a path. Once on that path you will be close to Redwall Abbeygo there with your babes. Tell the Mother Abbess Meriam that Bryony sent you. Redwall Abbey is a place where all goodbeasts are welcome; you may live there in peace and plenty. The babes will be brought up well, never again knowing hunger or want. You will all find the love of good friends there. Have a safe journey, and fortune attend you and your grandmice, Ole Hoffy.

The dormouse did a little jig, surprising for one of his long seasons, then he bowed to the two friends as he took the babes paws. “Good comes out o bad, some say. Last night that villain wished me good fortunenIuck on the morrow. Whod have thought that a bad ferrets wish brought menthe babes good!

Calling loud farewells, they went their separate ways, but not before Bryony and Togget had donated one of their food haversacks to the dormice, more than enough to see them to the Abbey.

There was no talk of Veil between the two friends. Bryony set her face and refused to discuss what he had done to the good dormice. In silence the two set off, tracking the ferret once more.

Veil was back on the southwest trail again. Armed with a knife, staff, and food, he had cut the blanket up to make a cloak for himself. Finding a patch of wild strawberries, he ate as many as he could, streaked his face and renewed the red on his paws with the juice, then stamped the remainder into the ground until the strawberry patch was a sludge of red fruit and bruised leaves. Blissfully unaware that Bryony and Togget were less than a day behind him, he strolled off in search of the great mountain of Salamandastron and the father he had never known. He wondered occasionally if his parent, the one called Swartt, was as cunning and tough as himself. Mentally Veil wagered that he wasnt.

Sunflash the Mace was down. Vermin crowded to jump and stamp on the sand-heaped canvas bundle, screaming and yelling with triumph. Swartt stood imposingly on top of the rock groyne, hero of the hour. Up at the chamber window, Colonel Sandgall leaned far out over the sill, anxiously watching the threshold of the main mountain entrance.

Sundew stood alongside the Colonel, beating the rock sill with her paws. The young hare was trembling and sobbing. “Oh, help him, help him! Where are they?

Sandgall replied without looking at her, “Steady in the ranks, mgel, stiff upper lip an dont let the side down, wot. By thunder! Here they comelisten!

A band of hares came bursting through the main entrance, Sabretache at the head, swinging his long saber like a drum majors baton. Two stout Captains, Fleetrunn and Rockleg, flanked him, and behind them bounded fifty hares of the famous regiment, all armed with lances and slingshots, loaded with iron lumps from the forge.

“Long Patrol, give em bloodnvinegar! Eeulaliaaaa!

Soaring through the air like hungry eagles, they cleared the horde-filled trench in a mighty leap and went crashing into the midst of the startled vermin who were surrounding Sunflash. Swartt vanished down the far side of the rocks and ran toward the sea as if pursued by demons.

Hordebeasts fell like leaves before a winter gale. The veteran warriors of Salamandastron took no prisoners; javelins flashed in the sunlight, and metal-filled slings thudded savagely into their targets. Sabretache took a tattooed rat through his midriff with the saber, yelling as he did, “Cut through the canvasfree Lord Sunflash!

Swiftly the vermin who were left alive fled, and a tight circle of hares, javelins pointing outward, surrounded the big canvas bundle. Then keen-edged hare-blades sliced the canvas to shreds. Sabretache and his Captains pulled Sunflash from his stifling prison. The badger was limp and unconscious; Reetrunn was at his side, unhinging the helmet roughly. Supporting the Badger Lords head, she called to Bloggwood, “Bring water, hurry!

Swartt had regained his courage. Gathering a crowd of hordebeasts, he led them up the back of the rock groyne and around to the front of the mountain. They massed across the big rough timber gate at the main entrance, blocking the way back into the fortress.

Swartt issued orders to his archers in the trench further down the sands. “Dont let em pass, drive em down to the sea with yore arrows! He turned his attention to his own group. “About face an give those in the mountain plenty o rocks an shafts. Thatll keep their heads down!