| Subject: Chapter seven |
Author:
Torleep
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Date Posted: 20:51:05 03/26/03 Wed
In reply to:
Torleep
's message, "Ok, i'm going to post this story again so anybeast who missed it can read it and then i'm going to post new parts and by crickey if no one replies i'll be fair peeved because i spent ages on this story for you chaps." on 20:46:23 02/20/03 Thu
Chapter Seven
Walker awoke early the next morning. He quickly and quietly woke the shrews and they all went downstairs. Curi was there, cleaning the floors. He looked up and smiled. ‘You’s are lucky you left when you did. There were a couple of drunken brawls soon after. Those beasts really do get a bit overboard sometimes. So, what you’s doing today, eh?’
‘We’re going to Redwall’ said Walker. ‘We’re going to need to stock up on water before we go.’
‘Redwall, eh? Beautiful place, been there once meself. Never wanted to leave. Had to, o’ course. Had to come back ‘ere. Well, you’s ‘elp yourselves to the water and be off then. The quicker you get away, the quicker you’ll reach the end of the desert. Righto, be off with you then.’
They all refilled their water canteens and left the pub. ‘Once we leave the fort, we’ll be heading south towards Redwall. We should reach Mossflower about noon, then take it from there’ explained Walked as they walked towards the gate. They passed the sleeping gatekeeper. Walker lifted the gatebar while Ham pushed the gate open. They passed through, turned south and began their journey to Redwall.
They crossed one dune after another. Each dune seemed bigger than the last. After the first few, at least one shrew tripped and rolled most of the way down the next group. By mid-morning, lay were all extremely hot and sweating profusely. Stopping in the shadow of a large dune, they drank some of their water, then continued.
They ceased all talking, putting all of their energy into cresting each dune as it came. The sun climbed ever higher and the company became ever more tired. Finally, slightly after noon, they reached the summit of a large dune and saw Mossflower woods near the horizon.
‘My estimate were a bit off’ aid Walker, as they scrambled to the bottom of the dune. They lost sight off the woods. Shortly after, when they crested yet another dune, they saw the woods once again, once again for a short time. This continued fro the rest of the day. They forest came ever closer and the company eventually reached the plain between the desert and the forest. By this time it was twilight and the shrews were getting tired. Glippin spoke up.
‘Walker, can we stop soon? I can’t keep going like this.’ The others mumbled in agreement.
Walker pointed towards a hill with a cave near the top. ‘We can spend the night up there. We wandering hedgehogs know that cave as featherflop. It’s quite a comfortable place at night.’
As the sky reached its darkest above, the shrews reached the base of the hill and began crawling upwards. Walker had run ahead to check that the cave was clear. Hamflies crawled in first, then Berry, then Glippin and Brogo. They took off their packs, threw them against the wall and slumped to the ground. The shrews soon fell asleep, but walker stayed awake to watch.
A shriek rang through the night, waking the shrews. They blinked a few times to ease their weariness, but were otherwise completely alert. They all looked at each other.
‘What was that?’
‘I have no idea! That was the eeriest thing I’ve ever heard!’
‘Same here. Where’s Walker?’
‘That’s a good question.’
Hamwise crawled to the cave entrance, while the others conversed. All speaking ceased when Ham let loose an almighty scream. The others looked towards the cave entrance and saw a great, black, cloaked creature seemingly floating in front of Ham. Ham crawled back to his friends, stood up and drew his rapier.
Brogo could sense its intentions, but he could also sense more of its kind coming. ‘Ham, I think they’re after it.’
‘They?’ asked Berry, as he and Glippin drew their rapiers. Seconds later, Berry question was answered. Four more of the creatures rose up to the cave entrance and began advancing inward, swords drawn. They made no sign of stumbling as their cloaks swished around their. These creatures were fearless. All four shrews had to avert their eyes from the headspace of the creatures once they first felt the despair emanated through their sight. Brogo crawled to the back of the cave while his three friends stood their ground. The outlook as rather grim. Three short rapiers against five longswords. Trying to gain the will to fight these creatures, Ham, Berry and Glippin raised their rapiers and looked into the headspace. Immediately, the feeling of despair returned, as Berry released a great roar. ‘CHARGE!’
The shrews charged towards their foes, but were easily overpowered. They were picked up and hurled out of the cave. As their yells of surprise rent the night air, one of the creatures turned towards Brogo.
Whilst all this had been happening, Brogo had been tempted by the thing. He heard voices, whispering for him to put it on. The most powerful voice was a female, urging him to put it on, telling him of the power he could have if he were to put it on. Brogo had slowly and subconsciously been taking the thing from his bag and moved it ever closer to his claw. Then, right as the creature looked at him, he placed the ring over his claw.
Immediately, the transformation began. Within seconds, Brogo could barely fit in the cave and he could barely move.
The creature advanced on him. It climbed over his footpaw and onto his stomach, then turned towards Brogo’s paw with the thing. Brogo swiped and luckily hit the beast. It went flying back towards the other creatures. They all hissed as it hit the ground at their feet. Quickly it stood. Drawing a knife, the creature charged at Brogo and drove the knife into his footpaw, releasing its own hiss as it did. Brogo howled in pain, then latched on to the thing and attempted to remove it. It seemed to resist for a moment, then slid off. Brogo shrunk back to his normal size, then, grabbing his footpaw with the thing still in his hand, he continued to howl.
It was then that, as if drawn by Brogo’s cries, Walker appeared. He dropped into the cave, with his sword in one hand and a torch in the other. Surprising the beasts with his sudden arrival, he was able to immediately set one of them on fire. Its piercing scream rang forth and, in its attempt to escape and find water, it ran straight into the beast behind it. The two beasts ran from the cave, shrieking and howling.
Two of the remaining beasts, jolted by the cries of their friends, ran towards Walker. One slashed at his head, the other at his torso. Walker ducked beneath both and set fire to the cloak of the head-swiper. As it ran out of the cave, the other beast stabbed at where Walker lay, but he rolled away and set fire to its cloak as well. It ran from the cave, its screams mingled with those of its friends.
Walker sensed movement behind him. He turned and saw the one remaining beast edging along the wall, trying to get closer without notice. Walker threw the torch, hitting the beast right inside its hood. (OOC: Very copied, don’t you think?) BIC: It shrieked and ran out of the cave, following the same line as its friends, scorching the grass as it went.
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