Redwall! ((Private... ish.))

[Lecky]

Srel hit the ground. Where would he go? He leaned over and grabbed the knife he had liberated from the Abbey. He looked back up at the window. The squirrel had gone. He turned towards the Abbey gate. He ran to it and lifted the bar. He would have a head start, so, hopefully he would be able to outrun them. The South Gate swung open and he walked out. He didn’t bother to close it. They would find the bar down anyway.

He thrust the knife through his belt and ran.

[The Evil Overlordess]

Britta looked coldly down at the hare. She was nearly bouncing on her feet.

"No. I will tell-- one of the otters-- and you'll stay in here. We both will." The fox's attempt at a smile was a bit twisted. "This is a dangerous beast. If he doesn't think to come back, that's fine with me. No need to go running off."

She stared down the stairway, trying to shake off Sylvia. The stairway emptied into a hallway on the first floor. Britta cursed.

"Which way was it, now?"

[Skiv]

Sylvia stared at the fox, flabbergasted.

"You mean you don't want to know why he wanted to know your name? Or who he is? Or where he's going? Or anything?" She boggled, though not quite as well as Britta can.

"Surely you want to know! I mean why shouldn't we go after him? It might be fun!" She stared around at the corridors.

"Where are we?"

[The Evil Overlordess]

"No! I don't know! And I don't know where we are!"

Britta looked around helplessly and ground her teeth.

"I think this is somewhere near the hall place. Do you want to go that way while I go this?" She pointed down the left hallway. "If you find someone, meet here?"

[Skiv]

"Sure!" Sylvia said brightly, saluting, doing a stiff about-face, and dashing off down the hall singing brightly.

"Left right left right left right FORWARD!
Right left right left right left FORWARD!"

[The Evil Overlordess]

I hope she doesn't find anything, for her sake.

Britta winced as she went down her own hallway. She could here Sedge, the hare cook, singing, somewhere far down the hall, but the sound echoed too much in the stone corridor to give her any indication of where it was coming from.

She took the first door to the outside she came to and started across the lawns. A small orchard lay nearer to the walls, most of the fruit still hard and green.

"He wouldn't do something obvious, would he, now?" she muttered to herself, digging her claws into the bark of a young apple. She shook her head. She hadn't spoke to this beast at all-- how should she know how he would think?

And he wanted to know my name.

She turned and started back towards where she thought the main gates were, staying close to the wall.

((Vauge directions because we really need a map of the inside of the abbey. If anyone knows which book might have one, tell me, I'll scan and upload somewhere.))

[Skiv]

Sylvia was still trotting happily when she ran face first into a small mouse.

"Hello there chap! Oh well I say! I just found somebeast! Come with me then, wot wot!" She grabbed the stunned mouse's wrist and bounded back down the corrider.

"Britta! Oye! Britta! I found somebeast!" She called out in a sing-song voice. "Oh Britta! Where are you?" With the poor mouse still in tow she managed to find her way into Cavern Hole, still calling for her friend.

"Britta!" She yelled. "Would you blinkin' well come out here! I found a mouse! A bit quivery, but seems like a nice enough chap!"

[The Evil Overlordess]

Britta, meanwhile, was not harassing mice. She worked her way around to the south gates of the abbey. Though it had been wet earlier, the climbing sun was drying the lawn off, making the horizon a distant smudge with haze. The soil under the grass was just damp enough to take the shape of pawprints well.

No. I am not going to get anything silly into my head and try to follow him by myself, wherever he went. I am not a fighter.

The bar on the gates was off, though the gate itself was closed. She took a deep breath and sprinted back to the door she had left from, still slipping on the damp grass.

[Skiv]

Sylvia noticed the door and leap towards it, mouse still in tow. She pause to fling the door open, and, bursting through it, slammed into Britta.

"Oye, Britta! Looky what I found!" She pointed bright to the mouse that was quivering beside here, looking a bit faint. "I found a somebeast! Now we can find our way out of here! Oh wait a moment... We're already out. Fie." She hung her head, ears drooping.

"Well I did try. I guess you can go." She knudged the mouse with her foot, sighing.

[Quites]

The breeze was blowing faintly through Mossflower wood, stirring the leaves on the trees and causing the pattern of dappled sunlight thrown by the bright sun to dance and change on the soft loam of the forest floor. Insects buzzed through the air, but otherwise no noise disturbed the quiet serenity of the forest. It was quiet, calm, and tranquil, just like always.
That’s why Kelby Watercourse was whistling as loudly as he could.
He had found that humming wasn’t really loud enough, singing wasn’t his style (the rich baritone timbre bestowed naturally on most other otters was not, for some reason, something he had been gifted with), and just traveling in silence was not an option. Kelby was a daredevil, addicted to excitement, and he was so accustomed to the roar of rapids in his ears (he had never been the type to seek still waters) that it felt like the stillness of the forest was smothering him. So he whistled something that was not quite on pitch with the minor key he was straining for and therefore did not quite qualify as a merry tune, but still was very loud.
But suddenly his whistling was cut off as he turned a corner in the path and nearly tripped over a skeleton. He jumped back reflexively, then regained his balance and stared down at it. It had once belonged to a rather short creature, maybe a stoat, Kelby thought. There was a small dagger, very rusty from wear, a few feet off beside his hand by the path where he had apparently dropped it. And even more interesting was the arrow lodged between the ribs right outside his spine on his back.
Kelby blinked.
“Wow.”
He laid his tall oak walking stick down next to the skeleton of the unfortunate creature and leaned down next to it, but just as he had begun to examine the bones, he suddenly heard a crashing in the brush, as of somebeast hurrying up the path the opposite way. Quickly, he snatched his stick and vaulted over the bushes beside the path and gripped it tightly with one hand on either side of the middle and readied himself.
…Just in case.

[Skiv]

{Do they say 'Wow' in Redwall?...}

[Quites]

{Why not? ;D}

[Skiv]

{Because it's an American term...}

[The Evil Overlordess]

((Leave it be. Does it matter? No one heard him say it, anyway. I think. ^_^))

[Lecky]

The trees made Mossflower wood seem gloomy and primitive. The glassy glint of the few strands of sunlight that made it through the thick foliage did little to lighten the atmosphere. Srel was lost. He didn’t know where he was going. The path was getting thinner and he had only been running for a few minutes. He looked over his shoulder, and tripped headlong over a root.

The crash was audible. He cursed under his breath. Things like this weren’t supposed to happen to him. This was the second time he had fallen down and he had also lost a very nice flail. He lay there, contemplating his coordination, when he heard a stray minor note. Someone was whistling. He rolled onto his knees and pulled his cloak around himself. The stick that poked out of the bushes took him by surprise, but the 'O T T E R IS CENSORED.' that followed was much more of a shock. He stood and pulled the knife from his belt.

“What do you want?”

// Conveniently converted the weight of the story onto you. //