This is a Fan-Fiction by Me and is in NO way canon.
Acknowledgements[]
Well all I want to do is thank the people whose tales inspired me to right this one they are: 1: Gandr Adderbane, with his Two Swords series 2: Skipper Rorc, with The Runway, and The Rise of Freedom 3: Laria Wavedeep, with Redwalls Taggerung and Laria Wavedeep 4: Bluestripe the Wild, with Bluestripe, a name remembered
those are the people who most inspired me to write this tale and share it with you all so if you congratulate me, don't, go congratulate them for their work. Now on with the tale...
Prologue[]
The dibbuns gathered around the old pine marten eager to hear his tale, for long ago in seasons lost to the mists of time he was a warrior of which the likes had never been seen since Martin. He then said "Well ah guess ah could tell the dibbuns, ifit's ok with ye, Abbot?" former-abott Thibb nodded. The dibbuns huddled in closer as the pine marten told his tale...
Volume 1: He came from the North[]
Battle is what warriors crave,
but one warrior shall have,
more than all others and none,
shall wish for his place
Chapter 1[]
The heavily scarred young pine marten gazed at the huge mountain before his eyes "So this is the badger mountain." he wondered how something could be as huge as this.
In Salamandastron a leveret yelled down to another hare "Sarn't there's a boat on the water, look's like, the boat that Gulo feller used however bally long ago, wot." The hare sergeant gazed out over the water and spoke back to the young hare "Well there is a bally little ship down there, if it's vermin we'll make em wish they were never born, eh?" Lady Violet Wildstripe spoke from behind the sergeant "That is something we will do.".
The marten was much closer to the mountain now when suddenly a shaft came from it and slammed into the gunwhale of his litte craft, he rowed on hoping that once within speaking distance he would be able to convince them he wasn't a corsair or something of their ilk. Meanwhile a young ranker was being severely chastised by the sergeant for letting loose a shaft when they couldn't even tell what kind of beast was on the small craft.
Now that the little craft was in shouting distance Lady Violet spoke "Who are you and what do you want with our home?" the young marten yelled back "I would ask for nought but a wee bit a vittles and a dry place te sleep fer the night, aye?" the reply from the mountain came forth "For tonight. if you can prove your not a vermin." The young marten sighed, this would be difficult.
Chapter 2[]
Once the young marten beached his craft he was confronted by a group of hares led by one with black fur, two claymores, and a strong accent "Alright ye wee laddie buck, come wi' us an' we'll let Lady Violet decide if yer a vermin or no, an' we'll 'ave te take yon arms" he said, as the marten was led inside the hares could see his amazement and a ranker said to the hare in front of him "You'd think he's never jolly well seen the inside of a bally mountain afore." the corporal watching for voices in the ranks immediately shut the young rankers mouth.
After being taken up through the corridors to the mess hall the black hare who seemed to be in charge told him to step foreward and talk to the young female badger who was seated at the head of the hall he gathered his courage he fully expected to be pronounced a vermin before he said anything and be killed but when he stepped forward nothing happened and a important looking hare sitting beside the badger lady said " Well what d'you ave te say for yerself?" the badger lady spoke somewhat gently to the hare and said "Major Fforbes don't scare him can't ye see he's not even 15 cycles old?" the hare didn't say anything, so the young marten started to tell his tale.
Chapter 3[]
The young marten started "Thank you all fer not slaying me on the spot when I got here but now I begin my tale of how I came to this mountain. Half a season ago I was in the Land of Ice an' Snow." this brought a gasp from the assembled hares "We were being invaded by a huge army of corsairs under the leadership of a wildcat, so I joined a local group of militia going to fight them. When we got to the field I was issued the two broad short swords that hare has," he pointed at the one with black fur, "and arranged in a battle group with all the other pine martens, from the hill where we were positioned I could see the rest of our army a great force mainly comprised of ermine, or stoats as you call them and foxes but with a very large group of rats as well, the pine martens were a minority along with wolves and wolverines." a shudder went up everybeasts spine when he said 'wolverines'
" The corsairs were a motley group as usual but very numerous compared to us however led by our wolverine contingent we charged gave out blood-curdling war-cries as we sped forward but as the lines clashed something we never expected happened. Stoats, rats, and foxes from our side joined the corsairs and we found our selves with less then one third of our former strength!" at this there were some remarks among the hares of 'dirty traitors' and 'desertin' scum' then see no option but to go down fighting we continued the final charge of the LOIAS(low-i-ass) Confederation Army, at first the corsair were driven back by our berserk charge but then they regrouped and went in for the kill." The Hares shudddered at the thought of having to face down more than at least ten times more foes that allies.
Then the marten continued "They focused their attacks on the wolverines first our leader and his royal guard dealt out massive casualties to the corsair but eventually even with us and the wolves on their flanks all of the wolverines fell, the wolves were next to go down under the corsair horde, they weren't as many in number as the wolverines seeing how we never had time to gather all the packs together but they fought on till they to were overwhelmed by the corsairs who by now had lost more then half of their number to us. Finally they turned on us, but they underestimated us pine martens, they found out the hard way we are more savage in battle than anybeast I know of, badgers an wolverines included. No offense to you marm, but eventually we to fell under the weight of their numbers though we had reduced their force to a measly third of what they came with." the young pine marten looked up and saw that everybeast in the hall was hanging on his words, not wanting to keep them waiting for a conclusion he delved deeper into his memory searching for what happened inside his mind.
Eventually he found it and picked up the account of the battle. "My group fought on till we were they last soldiers standing on the field, all heavily wounded but still fighting, then the corsairs backed off and a huge wildcat stepped out of their ranks. He spoke to us and told us we would all be given places as captains in his fleet because of how hard we fought, our leader spat in his face and was immediately slain by this wildcat and before I knew it my friend were gone too. That's when it happened." the young pine marten started racking his memory trying to recall exactly the events of the battle and what possessed him.
He then spoke to the gathered folk of Salamandastron "I don't know what happened to me but something snapped and I felt an immense rush of anger as saw my vision go tinged blood red and felt an unearthly primal roar leave a body that was no longer mine, then I remembered nothing until I woke up. It was to a bloody battlefield soaked in the blood of nearly everybeast their that I found myself and I saw now pawprints leading away from the area then I realized what was all around me. I looked where I stood and realized this was in the middle of what had been enemy ranks I looked to where I woke up and saw my to swords broken and bloodier than I thought was possible, then I looked at myself I was absolutely drenched in blood every inch of me was covered in blood and saw that I had part of fur and flesh in my claws and teeth. Knowing that apparently some rage had gripped me and I had slain every corsair on the field made me think 'What if this rage gripped me while I was not in a field of battle surrounded by foes? How many innocent creatures would be slain? Seeing no other option I left, as to never endanger another beast of my homeland."
"So you set sail to see where the winds, and ocean would take you?" The Badger lady inquired "Aye." was the only thing the young marten could say. She continued "What's your name?" the young marten looked up from beneath the many scars that covered his body and face and spoke just two words "Jerrak Aglareb."
Chapter 4[]
The hare holding his swords spoke up "Ah think the wee laddie is tellin' the truth, wha' would e' 've te gain bye lyin' tae us?" again the badger ladies voice rang out through the hall "Thank you Captain Nightfur I second that opinion". The marten gazed around in amazement, he had just been believed and allowed to stay the night, in what he thought was probably the safest fortress anywhere in the world.
A lookout called from the window of the mess hall "Marm, Sarn't Miggory an' Ruggan Axehound are puttin' in fer fresh provisions, wot" "Right, Major please organize that" the badger lady said to the hare seated with her. He immediately left to organize the resupply of the of Miggory and Ruggan's group. The hare holding Jerrak's swords, whom he now knew as "Captain Nightfur" motioned him over, he returned the blades and told Jerrak to follow him.
After a couple of minutes of traversing the corridors of the Salamandastron they came to a room which was quite small Nightfur spoke "'is 'ere is your room laddie, ye ken?" Jerrak nodded "Ah'm across te 'all, by the way mah name's Rake, ye ken 'at to?" Jerrak again nodded to the hare captain. As he was opening the door a young ranker across the hall told him, "Don't sleep to late or we'll 'ave eaten all the bally food fer Brekkist, wot" again the nod that he used so often was given to the young hare. Breakfast the next morn was a simple affair for Jerrak, nought but bread, and cheese but still for the hungry marten it was the most welcome meal of his life. His appetite prompted one hare sitting near him to say "And the bally well cal me a flippin' famine-chops, wot?" most in hearing range laughed at the joke but not Jerrak, he was to engaged with his food to notice.
After the meal Jerrak was invited by Lady Violet to talk about what he had been through in the forge chamber, he asked Rake to come along as seeing the way hare had handled things the previous night he sensed a fellow warrior in him. "Jerrak I have a but of disturbing new to tell you" the marten sighed disturbing news was nothing new to him, he grew up with it living in the Land of Ice and Snow, "Lay it on me marm". So Lady Violet did, "It seems to me that you are a victim of what we here call 'Bloodwrath', it's were you can't control anything and only have a desire to kill every beast around you" Jerrak nodded, it sounded like what he had experienced "I wanted to warn you that even though in battles with no risk of hurting a friendly best it may seem like a good thing it isn't" again Jerrak nodded, he understood that perfectly, it was why he left. Lady Violet continued " I'm sure you understand this perfectly well but just in case you felt the need you re permitted to access the books which deal with bloodwrath and controlling it" Jerrak spoke instead of nodding for once "Aye marm, I might do that".
Suddenly without warning a group of more than fifteen foxes and a couple of wildcats burst in, all of them armed to the teeth. Without time for any beast in the room to do more than blink twice Jerrak was among them roaring in primal rage, he thought "How dare these fools attack this mountain!" In seconds all of the assailants were seemingly cut to ribbons by the twin grey streaks that were Jerraks' blades. Even Rake was impressed, he was a veteran warrior and had been in more battles than seasons but he had never seen anything like the speed and ferocity with which Jerrak slew the vermin.
Lady Violet spoke to Jerrak and said "That was amazing, I'll make sure to get you something for it" Jerrak turned a bit red, "Marm, 'tis only fair that I slew them you gave good place to be for the night, which is more than any I've met on my journey till no 'ave done" Lady Violet spoke again "Nonsense Jerrak you deserve a reward" Rake looked him squar and said "Face it laddie ye can't talk 'er out o' this un" Jerrak sighed finally conceding to the badger's wishes, she immediately asked him what he would like for the act, Jerrak kept his modesty up and said " As I said I don't anythin' but since these blades ave been broken an' notched afore I guess I could use a new set o' 'em" Lady Violet replied with a swiftness that surprised even Rake Nightfur even though he new she would probably grant it "Get out of the forge room, I've got work to do".
Chapter 5[]
"Yer a lucky wee lad ain't ye" Rake told him as they were walking along a corridor leading to the mess hall, they all seemed to lead there, with good reason as the mess hall was the center of activity for hares who seemed to be ever hungry. "Aye, it's what's kept me alive" Jerrak replied to the Rake, who in predictable hare fashion asked if he wanted to grab a snack from the kitchens.
After being chased off by angry kitchen staff and holding plates full of food, Rake and Jerrak laughed, as a raid on Salamandstron kitchens had never been pulled off, until now. The Tall Hare Captain laughed like a dibbun who had just pulled off the biggest prank of his life "Ah've not done like that since ah was a leveret" he managed to get out, "Aye, friend ne'er done somethin' like that either" their laughter finally subsided as the dug in to the food they had stolen. When they were near to finishing the meal they suddenly heard Lady Violet behind "Did you two honestley raid the kitchens?" a unanimous "Yes marm" came from the two guilty plunderers, "Now let's see what should I do about this, any suggestions Major" Major Fforbes had walked up soon after her and had immediately thought of several ideas "Well marm I believe these two should bally well be forced to 'pologize te the kitchen staff, an' 'ave to clean pots'n'pans for the rest of Jerrak's stay, wot" faint applause could be heard from the kitchen crew, who had heard the punishement "Well Major see that they carry this out starting next meal" the Major gave a salute and then turned to the two guilty beast an' said "Right, in the bally kitchen right now, wot" he never had time to finish before they were gone and heading for the kitchens.
Three days of agonizing scrubbing pot's later, Major Fforbes told them they had done enough, to the great releif of Jerrak and Rake and the dissapointement of the hares who usually had to perform the task of cleaning the kitchen implements needed to provide food for a thousand hares. As the two friends were wandering the corridors searching for something to do a young leveret came running up to them and blurted out "LadyVioletwatsyintheforjroomrainow" Rake looked at him severely and said "Wha' did ye say laddie" the young leveret repeated his words in a more orderly fashion and now understanding the headed off to the legendary forge of Salamandastron.
As Jerrak walked in to the forge room he had his breath taken away at the two swords that were on the table in front of him. They were short, with blades that stretched from the tips of his claws to his elbow and handles that fitted his paws perfectly, one of the blades was probably worth more than anything he had ever owned. Perfectly suited for hacking movements with the outer half flaring out and adding weight, perfectly balanced and light enough to be moved as fast as a dagger they were weapons that were truly deserving of the phrase So sharp you can cut yourself by looking at them "They're yours Jerrak" the awestruck marten could only nod as his jaw dropped from the beauty of his new weapons.
Chapter 6[]
Four weeks later he said farewell to the hares of Salamandastron, Jerrak traveled north up the coast to see where his feet would take him. He walked along the tideline liking the cool feel the water gave to his footpaws, it reminded him of the rare times when there was only light snowfall back across the sea. Walking north alone with his thoughts he barely noticed two and a half score spears with skulls impaled on them, looked at them curiously he thought about the way local warlords showed their power at home and kept on walking barely giving it a second glance.
A couple of hours later he passed a similar line of spears only noting them in his mind he thought, maybe each group was a boundry of some sort. After deciding to turn south he felt that feeling that somebeast was watching him, knowing he had always been sort of paranoid he ignored it for a while, then after plodding on for over five hours with the feeling he turned around to see what was there, "Nothing, as usual stop being such a paranoid little marten" he scolded himself. When he turned around he was faced by more than a score of burly sea otters, the first thing in Jerraks mind was "Do I have to kill them, and can I do it without using bloodwrath?". They advanced on the marten seemingly sensing his dilemma, as they charged he elbow one unconcious then dodged a blow from a axe that nearly took his head as the axe's wielder came around for another blow a cry erupted from the treeline " EE AYE EEEEEEE!" the sea otters suddenly went down under a barrage of clubs when half were knocked out the other half backed off and the young martens rescuer walked up to him and said "'Ello mate, name's Rorc an' yours is?"
"Jerrak" "Nice name, nex time try tellin the Rogue Crew your a friend o Salamandastron, at way the won't try an slay ye" "Seems like tha might a bin useful t'know afore" "Probably, anyway let's go an get us a bit o vittles" "Aye, Rorc that'll suit me somethin nice"
As they pine marten was speaking the former skipper of otters walked in "Eh, you get roun te mentionin me yet", "Ah have Rorc now if ye want te lissen shuttup", "Fine , y'old crankpot"
Chapter 7[]
As Rorc and Jerrak walked together towards the sea otters one burly sea otter with vivid green eyes and a cloak made of vermin hide stepped forward Jerrak winced, he thought he had seen some pine marten fur in the cloak. "I am Skor Axehound Lord of The High North Coast, Rorc what have I told ye about stoppin the Crew from slaying vermin?" Rorc stepped forward bodly "Skor, I'll ave ye know tha this ee beast is a friend o Salamandastron, see those swords e's carryin they were a gift from the Lady." Skor sighed "Alright ye little rip lets bring 'im back to the Holt, ut only if he help caryy the otter you knocked out."
With that the party of otter set off for the main holt of The Rogue Crew everybeast burdened with a unconcious otter. When they came to the end of the half day march the group stood at the base of a waterfall "How the heck do we get into the holt..." Jerrak started but before he could finish he was cut off by a rough voice from above "You go through the bally waterfall, wot wot." Skor turned around 'Wellif it aren't Sargn't Miggory an Captain Axehound, how are yew to lads doin" "If ye call me a lad again ye'll feel a boxing hare's punch, eh wot!" Rorc sighed 'Nubbs an Skor are always goin on like this, honestly their worse then some a the dibbuns I deal wit when I'm at Redwall." Jerrak puzzled over the word Redwall for a second but then moved swiftly the ladder the crew of the Posy Gurdy had let down to take them all through the waterfall and into the Crew's holt.
The next week passed swiftly in Jerraks minds before he felt compelled to ask Rorc about the Redwall place he had mentioned. Not knowing what to expect when he asked about the subject he approached Rorc carefully after a meal "Eh, Rorc?" "What d'ye want mate." "Wot's, Redwall like?" "What's Redwall like, matey if ye go there you'll be seein the best place ever te be on this earth!" "D'ye think they'd even let me in, ye do remember ah'm a pine marten" 'Uuh, that's a good question, ye know what mate?" "What Rorc" "I think we should go te Redwall together" "Aye, then maybe they won't stick me when Ah walk up te their walls, eh?"
Chapter 8[]
Far away from the cheery atmosphere of the Rogue Crew's holt, a horde was gearing for battle, for today was the day they would conquer Tronn...
This was no ordinary horde it was The Deathseekers, led by a vixen they were reputed to be invincible in battle. This reputation did not have any effect on Lathagarr Stormgale, Ruler of Tronn, he believed that vermin, no matter how tough would always lose to determined goodbeasts.
In the Deathseeker camp Guttail approached his commanders tent cautiously, she wasn't known a Salem the Cruel for nothing. He gently knocked on the wooden box that served to let Salem know she had someone about to enter, "Enter" a somewhat seductive and silky yet clearly cold voice came out of the tent. Guttail walked into the tent and saw her, she was the most drop-dead gorgeous vixen ever to grace the earth, but there was a aura of malice, cruelty, dread about her "Ma'am" he said as loud as he dared "Make your report scout." her voice came clearly from across the small space, Guttail continued "The woodlanders seem to believe that no vermin can defeat them, they have started marching towards our camp" "Excellent, now back to your group, ferret" Guttail walked away from the tent relieved to be out of her presence.