Graitin put his paw on his sword, Kellist and Mother Amber helped usher the children into the abbey. Father Abbot formally greeted the visitor, "Welcome to Redwall, how may we be of service to you and your, army??"
"Aye, army, my name is the Whiplorn, and these are my captains, Brassas and.... Doofus." The fox pointed to Brassas, and an odd stoat with brown fur. "We are a wandering tribe seeking simple shelter for the night."
The Father Abbot noticed that the Whiplorn's army all were vermin, they looked (and smelled) and acted the part, "Alright, you can stay, but you must leave your weapons in the gatehouse."
Whiplorn bowed. He ordered his army to drop all their weapons. They did, but grumbled reluctantly as they did.
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Unknown to the Redwallers, the slave chain was left behind with a two guards. One, a weasel, was wearing a strange sort of "nose patch" over his burned and blackened nose. The other, a ferret, had a scar on his face from ear to ear. Twyla and Lilla were sitting far away from earshot, with the old otter sitting between them.
"We have to find a way out of this chain." Lilla tried to pull it.
Twyla started feeling around for a rock or something. Her hand rested on a sharp stone, small enough to fit inside the lock. Lilla grabbed the rock, she jammed the rock in the lock and it snapped off, "Don't worry, I'll be back."
The weasel guard, Firenose, was sitting down sleeping while the ferret, Carbad, was scratching designs in the wall with his knife. Carbad looked up and saw a squirrel throwing a stone. Carbad was knocked out in one movement. The knife that Carbad was holding clattered to the floor. Lilla quickly grabbed it and in a single fluid motion, had it held underneath Firenose's throat. Firenose made a choking sound.
"Alright Freaknose," Lilla smiled, "where's the key??"
"Grrk!!!" Firenose began to sweat.
Lilla pushed the sharp blade in deeper, "What??"
Firenose started whining. He reached for his pocket, he was shaking as he gave her the key.
"Thank you." Firenose caught his breath, just as Lilla kicked him in the nose. Firenose grabbed his nose before going down.
Lilla unlocked the slave's chains. They sat there cheering. Lilla got to the end of the line and started talking, "Alright, now listen, everyone, go to your homes, I have no idea where they are, but wherever they may be, just hurry. If Whiplorn gets back and we are free then he will be totally angry and no way will we be let live."
The slaves nodded and rushed out of the cave. Twyla grabbed air, "Help!! I can't see what happened!!"
Lilla grabbed Twyla's hands and helped her out of the cave.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Caitin grabbed his large broad sword and walked out of the door.
Ax, Randy, and Nulaer followed him out the castle.
When they had walked several miles, they heard a rustling. Caitin spun around and saw his daughter, Ann-Lee, following him.
She was dressed in a gown and had a bow in her hair.
"Ann-Lee!! What are you doing here??"
"I…I…"
"Go home, it's too dangerous for you!!"
"I…I…I…"
"GO HOME!!!!!!"
"MOMMY MADE ME COME!!!!!!!!!!"
"Julia???"
"Yes."
"Oh."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, back at Paladin
Julia sat on her bed. The queen smiled and sat down and heard nothing. She smiled and giggled to herself, "I'm going to go take a
BATH!!!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At Salamandastron
Three hares grabbed large brushes and soap. They threw Hulk into a huge boiling tub. Like an infant he splashed and floundered around as soap began pouring over his body. The main hare, Rosebell, was wearing an apron. She had roses and bluebells tied around her ears.
"Now there, that's not too bad, lets get that dirty yucky ripe odor off of your body, I'm Rosebell. It's my duty to clean the house, and now you're merely getting me angry!!!"
Hulk started rubbing at his eyes, "You got the soap in my eyes."
"Now, It isn't quite that bad, now your eyes are gonna smell like lilacs and posys!"
"I'm a warrior!! I don't smell like roses and daisies!!! I smell like sweat and blood!!!"
"NOT IN MY HOUSE!!! NOW SETTLE DOWN!!!!!!!!!"
Hulk yelped and sat back, "Okay." He said with a very frightened voice.