"What on Earth is a-goin' on 'ere?" (A Farravale log, in which Liam gets kidnapped and almost fed to Riana and Wesly confesses some of his crimes......)

From Redwall MUCK Wiki


Out in the woods somewhere....

Cerah the ermine. Liam the marten. Crazy doomsayers who are wanting Riana to not eat them. Wesly weasel. Kinktail the rat.

With a fresh layer of snow across Mossflower the air is a bit chilly, especially by the river. The colder air hardly dissuades the small gathering of beasts who have come here. While some are dressed in sack cloth (or some manor of burlap sack) most have not forgone their senses to wear coats.

Liam does not actually need a coat persay, not while wrapped up in his own well insulate natural fur, although it didn't mean he didn't want one while tied up spread eagle between four posts in the ground.
The little clearing along the river was the perfect place for the eagle, or dare they say eagles, to come swooping in and devour their victim. The dozen or so beasts worked hard to drive the stakes into the ground and make sure the poor plump pine marten was truly secure.
"Is...is this really necessary?" Liam sighs, "You know...if it's money you want..."
"Hah! Leave it to this old viper to fall back on his ill-gotten gains to save his miserable hide!" An old bearded rat dressed in a potato sack chuckles darkly. "There is no hope for you! Soon the eagles will come and pick your bones clean vermin!"
"Er, how soon is soon?" asks a ferret near by, "I need to take my dibbuns to piano lessons in an hour..."
"Soon!" Replies the old rat, waving his arms in the air.
"About that." Says Liam, "I've been wondering...how exactly will they know we are HERE?"
"Oh...they will know, marten. They will know. They can smell your wicked hide for MILES."
"Riiiiight. I was afraid of that." Afraid the rat would be too crazy to reason with, thinks the marten.

"What on Earth is a-goin' on 'ere?" A female ermine, the colour of snow in her winter coat, with deep brown eyes, comes into the scene. She is dressed in the uniform of a village guard, and has a rapier at her side. "Th' only eagles that Ah know of are livin' at the Abbey place at the moment."

"Oh thank all that is holy, some sanity at last." Liam sighs in relief. "Guard. You came at just the right time. Another moment and I would have to descend into some rather embarrassing pleading and calling for help..."

"Silence yer tongue, beast." The rat hisses to Liam before addressing the guard. "This doesn't concern you, beasty. Go back to the village!"

The small mob of beasts crowd around their captive, they are unarmed, save for a few clubs but they look ready to fight if needed. The only one with a sword is Wesly the weasely guard.

The ermine quickly puts up her paws. "Och, yer settin' out bait fer that golden eagle, Ah take it? Well, lemme tell ya somethin'. Ah saw 'er alright. Oh, yes Ah did, indeed. Ah visited Redwall a few days ago and she was there, 'er wing all broken like. She can't fly. I would suggest a-waitin' to put yer offerin' thar out 'til after the New Year. That's when that 'Ealer beast tole me the eagle could leave the Abbey place." She smiles in a friendly manner, extending her paw out to the rat, who looks to be in charge. "Cerah McIntyre, by the by."

The rat begins to reach for the paw as if by habit then quickly pulls it away. "The eagle isn't coming?" He gasps. For a moment his eyes process this information, then something just...clicks. His eyes glaze over and common sense is pushed aside as rationalization takes the reigns. "No! It...it's a test. It /has/ to be! The eagles...they, they are testing us. Testing us to see if we are really willing to rid ourselves of true vermin!" A murmur of agreement goes through out the crowd.

"We have to kill the beast OURSELVES!" In a quick fluid motion the rat reaches over to Wesly, drawing his short sword free before he can react. The murmur of agreement is starting to fade. Tying up a beast and feeding him to a bird is one thing, actually killing him themselves? That carries a murder charge...
"And here is where I start to plead and beg and call for help." The marten says with a nervous gulp, "Hello? Miss guard? He-help?"

"Och, for the love of sanity, Ah didnae wanna do this, ye crazy lump. Have at ye!" Cerah draws her rapier and starts poking at the rat, trying to get him to drop the sword. "Och, dinnae jus' stand there, ye idjits! If ye dinnae want me to report to Miss Blisa and Lord Scioto that ye murdered our Innkeeper, stop this rat and untie the marten!"

Faced with the grim reality of actually having consiquences for their actions the group of beasts scatter to the four winds, leaving the very confused rat and Wesly alone to deal with the ermine. "What? No! You cowards! The eagles will eat your livers! Mark my words!" The rat knocks the ermine's blade to one side then the other, holding his own sword in a defensive posture. "You! Ermine! You did this! You DOOMED THEM ALL!" He raises his blade high to strike at the ermine. The blow is precise, if slow and stops only when a beast shouts across the clearing.

"STOP!" The old rat blinks in surprise as another rat arrives on the scene. "Kinktail? G-get out of here! This doesn't concern you!"
"Like the blazes it does, Dad!" The younger rat rushes to stand between them, holding a paw up to the ermine, "Please! Wait! Don't hurt my pa. He's just...he is just confused. If you let me explain I..."
"No!" The old rat shouts. "No! Justice has to be done! This wicked beast has to be killed! He...he killed them! He killed them both!" The rat drops the blade, falling to his knees and crying profusely.

Scratching her ear, Cerah stares at the rats in a slightly bewildered fashion. "Okay, then, laddie, ye'd better explain /everythin'/ to me. Does yer Papa need some 'elp at the Abbey? Ah could take 'im there, 'twouldn't be any trouble 't'all." She walks over and starts trying to free the Inkeeper.

"I...I don't know. Maybe. If he does it's all that weasel's fault!" Wesly gives Kinktail a shocked look. "Er, sorry, I meant fatso." When the plump weasel gives her another wounded look Kink rolls her eyes, pointing at Liam. "That.../beast/. My father worked for a couple of peacefull ferrets as their task master on their vineyard until they died. They were...murdered by a group of minks. I don't know how but the land fell into Liam's grubby paws after they died and he FIRED my father. He worked there for years and Liam just tossed him out on his tail!"

"I fired him because he kept accusing me of /murder/." Liam growls. "For the love of, yes, they were murdered by minks."
"Minks that you hired!" The old rat shouts, "You conspired to have them killed so you can get their land!"
"They were my friends!" The marten hisses. "They were good people. They were kind beasts. And those $%@#$! murdered them... I only took the land because I didn't want it to fall to pot until their children came back to claim it."
"Oh oh! And where are your mink pals to give your story any credit? Eh?"
"Dead." Liam says flatly. He looks to the guard beast and struggles with the thought of admitting the next fact, "I...hired a mercenary to avenge them. A wild cat named Russet. The minks are...the minks are dead." The rat stands there for a long moment, staring at Liam.
"I don't believe you...it can't be true..." He matches eyes with the marten for a long moment then begins to waver on his feet.

Cerah looks between the 2 beasts, then sits back on the ground. "Well......'tis nice to know that. Nah, then, 'ow 'bout we just 'ead back to the village an' Ah'll buy everybeast nice warm tea, eh?" And maybe have Valerie lace the old rat's with some sort of sedative....

"One of us won't be going back." Wesly stoops to pick his sword off the ground. He brushes snow off the blade. "The pine marten may be innocent but...but..." He continues to smile as tears begin to roll down his cheeks, "I'm not." He chokes. "I did, I did a bad thing. The fox deserved it but...but that didn't mean it excused what we did...not like that. Bandit wasn't supposed to die like that." He takes in a deep breath. "I helped kill him. I helped sell the head guard to a fur trader and...and he died. You want a wicked beast to sacrifice to the eagles, well...I guess you found one."

The weasel reverses his grip on his blade, holding it high above his head. He hesitates, "I'm so sorry..." he is going to stab himself!

"Och, no!" Cerah leaps up and goes to tackle the weasel. If she succeeds, she will then sit on him and pin his arms down. "Ye dinnae wanna do this!"

"It's the only way to-GAK!" The weasel let's out a shout as the ermine tackles him by the waist, throwing him to the ground, hard, with the sword falling from his paws. Thankfully there was a big fat pine marten to cushion his fall behind him.

"No! It's the only way! I have to redeem myself I...I..." The weasel flails under the ermine. When he can't get free he begins to cry. The marten for his part merely let's out an estranged cry, especially when the sword lands pointed end down only a few inches from his head.

Cerah sits up and goes to hug Wesly and just let him cry. Maybe she does have some comforting ability in her, after all. "Och, no, laddie, the /best/ way to redeem yersl' is to tell me all that's 'appened. An' then we can tell Lord Scioto and Lady Blisa, an' Ah'm sure they'll spare ye from punishment if ye 'elp take out everybeast else wot did that." She grabs the sword and tosses it as far from the trio on the ground as she can.

The weasel just cries and cries. "We, we didn't mean to...we only wanted to protect the city and...and I was so angry..." His eyes widen at the thought of punishment and Scioto. He clams up after that, just rocking back and forth staring off into space.

"Far be it from me to interrupt your teary eyed confession or impede the duties of the guard, but could you both kindly GET OFF!" Liam rants from where lays with the beasts still on top of him.
"Come on pa. We need to get you somewhere...else. While they are distracted." Kinktail begins pulling her father away but he shrugs her off.
"No." Stomping over to his potential victim the rat points at Liam like scolding a dog, "I don't believe this conniving, scheming snake. You had something to do with my employers murder. I KNOW it. If I can't feed you to an eagle maybe I can feed you to a serpent! Guard! I accuse this beast of murder. Arrest him!" Kinktail slaps her forehead.

Glaring balefully at the old rat, Cerah pokes the weasel in the chest. "Stay put or Ah'll tell Lady Blisa everythin'. If ye tell me later what all ye did, Ah'm sure Miss Blisa will spare ye from all punishment." Standing, she goes to shoves the old rat over and goes to tie his paws together. "Y'know what, Ah'll just arrest the 2 o' ye and lock ye both in the holdin' cell until Lady Blisa c'n deal with ye!" She's keeping a wary eye on Wesly, ready to tackle him again should he try to bolt.

"You can't do that!" Both marten and rat shout at the same time. "You can't arrest me! I didn't do anything /wrong/! Kinktail! Tell them I did nothing wrong. Kinktail?" The rat maiden only bites her lip.

"You can't arrest me either! I didn't do anything wrong! I just hired a bunch of...mercs to go...murder bandits is all." The marten fidgets his whiskers, "Ok yeah, when you put it like that..."

Scowling, Cerah ties up the rat so he can walk....barely, and he can't use his forepaws. She then unties the Innkeeper, then reties him just like she's tied up the rat. "C'mon, ye carzy coots. Ah'll let Lord Scioto and Lady Blisa decide if ye did anythin' wrong..." She gestures at Wesly as she stands up. "Miss Kinktail, is it? Please 'elp the weasel thar to follow me. Ah wanna get some nice wamr food in 'im, but Ah'm afraid he'll run away. If ye 'elp me, Ah'll be able to keep yer Pa safer 'cause Ah'll only 'ave 2 beasties to worry about. Ye ken?" She starts to walk off.

The beasts begrudgingly set about their tasks. Oh, the indignity of being tied up and marched away with these...peasants, Liam manages to only say to himself rather than out loud. The old rat looks happy actually. Content. Justice is finally going to be done! Kinktail just looks sick, knowing full well that her father is not well enough for trial. Wesly...he just looks down to his feet and shuffles along. Strangely enough confessing his crimes did not have the relaxing effect he thought it would. Instead it just gave him new worries.

Like being fed to a snake for murdering the head guard...

Will Blisa and Scioto execute Wesly for betraying the Head Guard Bandit? Will Kinktail ever see her father free again? Will the old rat be excused from trial and locked up or something because he's mentally unstable? And what, oh, what will happen to Liam? Blisa might be sorely tempted to feed him to Riana or somebody. And what about Cerah? How does she know that Blisa won't punish Wesly? Tune in next time to find out the answers to these questions and more!!!!! Thanks for reading! :D

Groups: