Library5

I stood on the top of Salamandastron surveying the surrounding country. Off in the distance I could barely make out the mountain that held the kingdom of the bats. Tammo had given this mission to me because all other officers had their hands full. A small hare shot out of the entrance back down into the mountain. Grinding to a halt he stammered, "Patrols ready to go sah..." I replied, "Good, now what about you makin' me patrol number 16, wot." The little hare trembled with excitement, he had just been made a full-fledged Long Patroller. "That would be absolutlyballygoodgreatbloomin....er, yes sah." He said. Chuckling, I said, "Well, then let's go getcher a weapon." Minutes later we were in the armory, the little hare, Birtail, was running his hands over all the weapons. Finally he grasped a spear and declared, "This un!" "A spear, eh, good choice," I said. Then we headed for the exit out of Salamandastron and out onto the hot beaches where my patrol waited. A few hours later we were marching through the forests of Mossflower, well on our way to Bat Mountspit. Upon entering a small meadow we found a vermin robber band. Luckily we were able to retreat back into the woods without notice. I whispered to my squad, "Arrows and javelins ready." Then I heard a sound that made me urgently whisper again, "Don't fire, those vermin got a hostage." This news made my patrol almost groan. "Sah, we have the element of surprise," piped up Birtail, quietly. "Why not make use of it?" Suddenly Birtail was being congratulated by my patrol, who had previously thought him to be too young to be here. Nodding, I gave the order to charge, but no war cried. When the vermin finally realized we were there, we were already upon them! Young Birtail accounted for three vermin; a rat and two stoats, before the remainder fled. None of my squad had even been touched. Finding the hostage we saw him to be a bat. But not just any bat; he was the son of the current ruler! After thanking us, he winged away to rejoin his clan. My patrol rested in the meadow. Later that night, bats flew in to thank us. The reason they had been so nervous was that their ruler was dying, and without his heir there would have been a war. A war over who would be king. Seeing as we had fulfilled our mission requirements, we headed home. We arrived late the next day. Birtail sent the patrol running for Salamandastron when he said, "Hope there's still some bloomin' tuck left, wot!"

When we hares of Salamandastron heard that our Lord Tammo was captured, we were in a state of shock. All of the hares were talking amongst themselves, wondering what they should do. I wasn't high in position, so I couldn't lead them, but maybe I could give a little help. I had a few hundred gold pieces from before I came to Salamandastron, and I didn't need them any more. Maybe, if I asked around, we could get to a thousand gold pieces. I doubted it. We never had need of gold; we always had plenty of food, and helped each other. I finally had a little idea. Not a big one, of course, but one that just might work. During dinner that night, I jumped up and addressed all of the hares of Salamandastron. "I don't think we will have enough gold to pay them. Who thinks a surprise attack would be more efficient and who would like to attack?" There was an anonomous reply. I smiled. What a wonderful lot of perilous hares we have. "Ok then. If you guys don't mind, wot! I will just take care of this surprise attack, wot wot! OK, weapons ready tonight. It must be tonight, for there is no moon, and tonight is the last night this month with no moon. Quickly now!" All the hares got up and rushed to get their weapons. I had mine with me already. In the nick of time, all of the hares were back with their weapons. Then, we quietly snuck to the vermin camp. It was quiet, with only three sentries keeping watch, and only two of these were awake. The other was asleep. I motioned to two of the top shooters of Salamandastron, and all three of us strung out arrows to our bowstrings. It was a quick death for them. Then, all of the hares snuck around camp. I headed for a tent with two guards snoring in front of it. I quickly and silently slew them with my long dirk. Then, going inside, I saw Lord Tammo. He wasn't asleep, but his back was to me. I quickly cut his bonds, and he got up. We both knew that the job wasn't done yet. I handed him an extra blade and we started going around, slaying the vermin. Then the camp was roused. All of the vermin attacked us in groups. They outnembered us by twice our amount, but we each fought with the furiousness of ten beasts, and soon all of the vermin had either fled or were dead. I went up to Lord Tammo and told him, "Sah! Mission Accomplished! Let's get home, you might be hungry, wot!"

I realized that this mission might not be as hard as I thought after searching the ship through-and-through. I found that most of the vermin's weapons were rusted, and that even more of them were unarmed. How lucky of me that their high commander would leave a scroll telling their army condition. Or was it a trap? I thought this over as I ordered my group to suit up and get ready to move. We left the mountain at break of day, and, since I had lived in Mossflower woods for most of my life, I thought we would have an easy time. We did, for the first couple days. I estimated it would take us at most a week to get to Redwall, becuase I had picked out some of the fastest troups in the Mountain. After the 4th day, I sent scouts ahead to tell me if they could see anything. When the said that they could not, I got a bit anxious. How far was it? I marched my troops on and we finally began seeing signs of the army. By following their tracks, I realized that they had gone around in circles about twenty times before backtracking about 10 miles. There I found them camped out. I decided that I wasn't really in the mood to fight them now, with my men anxious to get to Redwall, for their food pouches were running low and they had heard of Redwall feasts. So we left the army for now. Or so we thought. I had made exact notes, and for what the record had said, it seemed most correct. They were mostly armed withonly sharp branches and small daggers, no serious weapons. I smiled as I moved out. Suddenly, my way was blocked by an enormous Ferret. I could have sworn that he nearly matched up in size to Irongrip, and Irongrip was large, even for a badger! The first thing I noticed was that he was missing his left paw, in it's place was a hook, and his other paw was armed with a sabre. No problem. I ordered my beasts to load their bows, but the Ferret spoke. "I know you are going to Redwall I have been following you this entire way. Think you are so smart, don't you? Well, I know the exact way, and I'm leading the army straight to it! Not that you dibbins can do anything about it. I bet there isn't one of you brave enought to take me one on one!" As you guessed, I stood up to him. I'll spare the details, because this scroll is running out of paper, but we were locked in bitter battle for a long while, until finally I finished him off with the blade of my stick. I was seriously wounded, and my troups carried me the rest of the way to Redwall. I reported what I had seen to the Abbot, and waited for the reinforcements to arrive.