Sister Serena was the abbey's doctor. She was known for her wonderful charm, beauty, and kindness. The abbey doctor was wearing a blue smock. Her eyes were a beautiful pale bluish-grey. Her fur was a dusty brown.
Serena took hold of Twyla and held her down, "Now listen hard, open your eyes, as far as you can!!"
Twyla opened her eyes, the light was easier to see, but anything else was a shadow, "I can see sort of better."
"What can you see??"
"Light and dark."
"Hmmmm, I've heard of this before, in the case of the weasel Greyfur.Your eyes have been cut. Luckily, in your case, your eyes can heal, but only to half the original power. You'll either see black and white, or you'll just need glasses. So you don't have to worry about prolonged blindness."
Twyla hugged Serena, "Thank you. Thank you!"
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When night arrived, the Redwallers all fell asleep. Kellist was having a restless slumber, a strange poem kept popping into his head:
Young mouse of Redwall, the slave from places unknown,
You must now find my sword, and make honor your own.
To find my sword, simply travel faraway south,
Far past the forest, and down through the Otter's Mouth
Along the desert, that's on the Big Inland Sea,
That is the place where I shall reveal the key.
Continue south, into a dark mouth in the ground,
Don't forget some help from the boat that is around.
The Mount of Mart is your final destination,
Gather up my sword, and then save Redwall Nation.
That is all, Martin the Warrior has spoken,
Arise now Kellist, for the battle has broken.
When Kellist awoke, he saw a weasel sneaking through the halls. Kellist sat up in his bed until the weasel left the hallway. Kellist followed, making sure the weasel didn't see him, Kellist hid in the darkness. The weasel led Kellist down the Abbey stairs, through Great Hall, out the doors, into the Abbey grounds. Kellist hid in the dark portal.
The weasel snuck to the gates and undid them, the fox and his minions burst through the door. Kellist rang a small bell by the door and yelled at the top of his voice, "Vermin in the abbey, everybeast at arms!!!!!"
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In Paladin, the leaders of all the squads were standing with Caitin by the banks of the river Palana, a swift flowing river that fed into the Peledin to create the Paladin river. Caitin, Ann-Lee, Ax, and Randy were surrounded by all sorts of creatures, a squirrel, a hare, a mole, an otter, a mouse, a fox, a ferret, and a falcon. Aragorn, the leader of the Woodland Squad was speaking to Haistess, the leader of the Mountain Squad. Caitin raised his hands for silence, "All of you squad leaders, only four of you can join me. That is because I need someone to protect Paladin in my absence. Digur, your skills are necessary for vermin traps. Nightshadow," Caitin noted the mouse leader of the Green Palace, "Your smarts are needed. Aragorn and Haistess, you're my strongest men, so that leaves Sleekfur, Steelpeak, Goldpaw, and Talon."
The otter, fox, ferret, and falcon stood up, Talon, a blue peregrine falcon, screeched and said, "M'lord Caitin, we shall follow you into your grave. TSEEER!!"
Sleekfur, a sleek brown otter put a finger in her ear, "Aye, maybe not that far but you get the picture mateys."
Steelpeak, a black fox carrying an immense war hammer, agreed, so did Goldpaw, the ferret leader of the Amazon Squad. Her fur was all black except for her brown paws. All the squad leaders raised their weapons as the eight Paladins left the river banks, heading north.
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Dimitri was relating to Broadstripe the strange message that Martin the Warrior left on the wall.
"The Brock Rock, what is that??"
"Hmmm," Broadstripe pondered for a moment, "The Brock Rock, the rock of badgers. A rock that is entirely to heavy for anyone to lift. I think we can chisel out enough, how much do you need?"
"The whole rock."
"It's a small rock, but it's too heavy!"
"Let me try at it."
Broadstripe pulled a curtain away from a large shelf, on top was a rock cut with deep gouges. "That is as far as anyone has ever gotten."
Dimitri stepped on the shelf, wrapped his paws around the Brock Rock and lifted. The rock showed very little resistance to Dimitri and it pulled away very easily. Dimitri carried the rock over to the forge and dropped it over the fire pit.
"How long does it have to melt?"
"One hour."
So they waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited. Finally an hour passed and the rock had become black and easily snappable. Dimitri snapped off three badger fist sized balls and threw them on the anvil, then he took out another small bit.
"Out of this remaining, can you make three small chains??"
Broadstipe stood to attention, "Aye aye captain!"
Dimitri looked important, "Alright, double march and start hammerin' Hup, hup, hup, hup!"
Broadstripe fell down laughing at Dimitri's impersonation of Captain Willowbree.
"Laughing, that's a three month kitchen duty, triple work, now hop to it."
"We'd...hee, hee.. better get...ha ha...started before the rocks become too hard." Broadstripe picked up a mallet and smashed the remainder of the rock into three short chains. Meanwhile, Dimitri was forming the three balls into perfect round spheres and attaching sharp spikes to the surface. He stuck the balls in the water and went to the weapons. A stave stood upright, it was broken near the center. Dimitri snapped it in half and attached Broadstripe's chains to it. Then he melted them again, but only a little, and then he attached them by molding them onto the spiked balls. Dimitri held the weapon high over his head and twirled the three balls.
"EUULALIAAAAAA!!! I am Dimitri the Flail, son of royalty, brother of Abbey Dweller, grandson of the Fire Mountain, EULALIAAAAAAA!!!!!"