Kellist greeted the little shrew, "Yes."
The shrew jumped down, "I'm Aldalak, an owl told me to bring you and your friends to the Great south Lands, come on."
Adalak led the group to his ship, which was still berthed a few miles from Salamandastron.
"This is my ship, the Sirius, never been a better craft, only problem is the corsair armada, but we can get by that." The shrew cupped his paws, "SIIIGSLLLLLLIIMMM!!!!!"
Several voices called back, "SIIIGSLLLIIMMM!!!"
Ten shrews hopped out of the brush, "Adalak you ol' frog stomper, 'ows it been since ye left the SIGSLIIMMMM??"
"Intersting. 'Ow bout you?"
"Borin'. Who're these??"
"These are some fine beasts, Kellist, Whitetip, Lilla, Twyla, and Audrey."
The group, with the addition of the SIGSLIM (Shrews in Great South Lands in Mossflower) went on the Sirius and sailed away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Down below the decks, the group from Mossflower were singing and dancing with Whitetip playing his flute and Aldalak playing an old shrew harp. The youngest shrew, Aldalak's nephew, Garren, was singing a shrew sea shanty in a high tenor:
Oh the SIGSLIM are
Such a merry old troupe
They sleep under the stars
And they eat fishy soup
They know how to swim
If you give a chance
In the SIGSLIM
though, you've got to dance!!!
Oh ho, yo ho,
Never mess with us
Oh no, yo no,
Do and we'll make such a fuss
Oh hey, yo hey
Travelling round the rim
Oh day, lo yay
Sailing with the SIGSLIM
We can sail all day
We can sail all night
Just as long there's a way
We can get in a fight
We can sail we can sing
We know how to, we can win
That's why you are a traveling
With the SIGSLIM
Oh ho, yo ho,
Never mess with us
Oh no, yo no,
Do and we'll make such a fuss
Oh hey, yo hey
Travelling round the rim
Oh day, lo yay
Sailing with theeeeeeeeeeeeeee SIGSLIIIIIIIMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!
The young shrew blushed as he received a standing ovation. Whitetip walked over to Audrey and whispered in her ear, she giggled and grabbed Kellist's arm and led him to the stage.
"What's up??"
"We're gonna sing the Awtter's Day Pawade!!"
Kellist winked, "Alright, this oughta be interesting."
Kellist had a deep bass and Audrey had the highest voice anyone had ever heard, Whitetip trilled an introduction and began playing:
One long winter day
Far ago
The otter's were bored
Because of the snow
They needed to do
Something or they'd pay
So the leader of the town
Decided to give the day
The Otters they are singing,
Otters they are dancing,
Otters they are shouting,
It's a Parade, the Otter's Day PARADE
There were tumblers galore
the crowd how they cheered
They'd never seen this done
In a hundred-million years
The otter's they would play
They would sing and dance
All because of this day
They decided to give the chance
The Otters they are Juggling,
Otters they are playing,
Otters they are marching,
It's a parade, the Otter's Day Parade
They danced all day
And they danced all night
They made it so nice
The snow seemed alright
The otters then they played
A lullaby to sing to sleep
The town of the otters
Into sleep so deep
The Otters they were playing,
but the Otters now are sleeeeepiiiing.
But they gave all they could
To make the day good
That's why they do it every year
They sing, they dance, every year
They wipe away every tear
With the parade, The Oootteeers, Daaaaaayy, Paraaaade!!!!
The cheering for this duet was so loud that they were forced to do an encore. When they had finished, a loud boom from outside shook the Sirius.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mother Amber exited the secret tunnel in the kitchen of the Abbey. She snuck out into Cavern Hole. Amber heard the sounds of the vermin upstairs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brassas was leaning against the wall and next to him stood Doofus. Brassas kicked a rat on the floor up.
"HEY!! Git yerself cleaning faster, this ain't no game."
The rat scowled as he scrubbed a mark on the floor. Brassas looked towards the Cavern Hole door and just saw it close.
Brassas strained his eyes towards the darkness and nothing was there, all of a sudden, a rat on the opposite side of the room started choking and he slumped on the ground dead. The captains ran over to the dead rat, Brassas saw the marks of strangulation on the poor rat's neck.
"Another one!" Then Brassas saw the white streak rush out of the Great Hall, "There's a badger in there!! GO GET IT!!"
Mother Amber ran right into three weasels coming back from the Kitchen. She staggered backwards right into a stoat. She ran past the stoat with her fist out. The stoat was knocked senseless. Amber threw open the door and ran back into the dark Great Hall. Amber opened the main doors and ran right into Whiplorn.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Streamtail had seen the whole thing from a lookout on the top floor. He saw them drag her away into the Kitchens. He smiled and left the abbey through the hole in the back of the Father Abbot's cabinet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The rain continued, the grounds around the ditch were destroyed by the rainwater.
Raya's horde had retreated at the onslaught of the pikehares. The vermin which weren't killed or horribly maimed were wounded in a dozen places. Out of 10 score, only 4 score remained.
Raya saw several corsairs coming up from the South.
The largest one waved and called, "Ey, are ye Raya, scourge o' the Northlands???"
Raya called, "Yeah, but I was never the scourge of anything."
Steelpeak shouldered his warhammer, "Are you kiddin'!!! Yer conquests range far and wide."
"Really," Raya's face was the picture of confusion.
Sleekfur took over, leaning on her javelin, "YEAH!! The Great Raya destroys another town of innocent people to fulfill her quest of conquering the world."
Raya took on a noble posture.
Martin looked the most corsair-like, because he sort of looked like a searat, "Aye mateys, this be Raya 'erself. I don't think she'll need our 'elp."
Goldpaw unsheathed her sword and placed it in Raya's hands, "Our sword is yours."
Raya whispered in the ferret's ear.
Caitin's group walked away, "You never pledged your sword to me."
"It wasn't my sword."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ann-Lee and Talon were given the duty of cooking dinner for the weary travelers. Talon had caught several fish and Ann-Lee found spices. "This will be the best Filleted Flounder ala Mossflower my father has ever tasted."
"TSSSSEEEERR!!! And it'll be hearty for my lord to eat, you have seen his tummy haven't you?"
Ann-Lee laughed, "If my father eats any more, he'll become so big that he'll have to be lowered into his throne."
Talon cocked his head, "You laugh like your mother."
Ann-Lee stared hard at the falcon, "I laugh like Julia??"
Talon cocked his head to the other side, "And you look like her too."
Ann-Lee threw a dish towel at the falcon, "Now you've got me all confused, I almost burned the fish."
Just then, the group returned, Goldpaw walked over to Talon and whispered something to him, he straightened up and flew away to Salamandastron.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Salamandastron army fared better than Raya's horde. Only losing three hares.
Saberpaw was sitting by the window when a dark feathered mass knocked his head away, the falcon landed next to Broadstripe on an anvil, "Lord Broadstripe??"
"Yes??"
The falcon bent his head under his wing, "I am Talon from his majesty Lord Caitin Shortclaw, he would like to give you some help."
Talon scratched in the sand with his claws, "This is your mountain, Raya's main horde is right here, Caitin will have a small section of her army, as well as Esellis. Caitin will be here, Esellis is here. Now Caitin will not actually fight until he sees Esellis get to the crater, then he will rush ahead, and screw up Raya's plans. He will order his archers to fire at the crater, limiting their supply, then when he and the rest from Paladin get past that window, you will pour rocks and stones out of the window, Caitin will turn around and slay any of the escaping vermin. Then up to the crater to get rid of Esellis and Raya's vermin, only 27 to each team, minus the 27 already killed by the rocks and Caitin, it oughtn't take to long to free Salamandastron from the onslaught of the vermin horde."