A vermin-hating headgehog and an overprotective lizard

Redwall:Entry

DoraRose the mouse;Rafe the headgehog;Zarok the monitor lizard

Rafe has stayed a few more days than he planed,why he is not sure,maybe the food as it is good, or other reasons, he now seems to be ready to go finally as he adjusts his pack.

The sound of running footpaws resounds from the direction of the Abbey building, and DoraRose comes hurrying up, her cloak swirling behind her. "Wait, sir, please! I must speak with you!"

Rafe starts to leave when he sees the mousemaid and waits,"Yeah, what ya want and no sesnse in runninng not like gonna miss me, dont travel that fast, thougt can when needed, rather dislike this place."

DoraRose catches up to the headgehog and swirls to a stop beside him, silently deciding to ignore the rather rude comments. "You are Rafe, yes? You helped Leon get back to the Abbey safely. I wanted to thank you."

Rafe listens as he lets her talk, he sighs and gets out a pipe,placeing some stuff in it before taking a couple puffs, he answers,"Leon...Leon, oh yeah...him, yeah he is back ere;, somewhere, not sure where as dont go to far around te abbey"

The mousemaid gives him her most winning smile and nods. "Yes, thank you. I appreciate the help you gave him. Oh...I'm DoraRose, by the way."

Rafe has a reaction to that, he nods, "So your Dorarose..heard that name muttered alot,asked once who it was but didnt ask again..didn't seem to matter, well to me anyways."

DoraRose blushes slightly, and why shouldn't she? It's touching to hear that the one you love mutters your name when he's asleep or whatever. "Yes, I am. Why wouldn't it matter?"

Rafe shurgs,"Not a name I knew, But your friend was happy to be back ere', this abbey is ok,only got one problem with it"

DoraRose looks slightly surprised. "And what is that?"

Rafe does answer,"A fox,hate them...alll foxes, served him right when he got quills in his paw, should of been left in there, not removed by someone who should of been getting rest and recovering."

DoraRose looks thoughtful. "Do you mind telling me why you hate foxes so?"

Rafe leans on his staff, "They are verimin, that is all you need to know, no other reason,if a fox is injured on the road, I would walk around it, includig the so called good one around ere'"

DoraRose cocks her head. "You know, I have the right to hate foxes as much as you do. Let me tell you about my sister, LilyMoore. She was gentle and kind. She was not a warrior. And she only 5 seasons old when the fox Vladmir Stormfeather murdered her. Wouldn't you agree that that s a good reason to hate all foxes?"

Rafe nods, "Yes it is, and to hate verimin, was this beast stopped?"

DoraRose nods. "Yes, he was. And I could've hated foxes very easily, except for 1 thing...At that time, I knew many /good/ vermin, including a fox who helped secrtely save hundreds of enslaved creatures. And then I came here and met yet more good, noble 'vermin' who are trying to be good. Flicktail takes offense when he is called a vermin...he insists that he is an otter." she takes a step foreward. "Not all vermin are bad, evil creatures. You should never judge a book by its cover, and you should never judge the individual by the actions of its fellows. That is what I believe, and I'll stick by it until I am proven wrong."

Rafe rolls his eyes, "Like told couple others, Flicktail is fine inside here, but cant promise the same outside,I have traps around my den, fer..-vermin-, course a non verimin could fall into one and did..lucky I was around to pull them out"

DoraRose smiles slyly. "You do realize that if you attack or harm Flicktail, both Redwall and Ferravale will be mad at you and probably hunt you down? But, that's your descision."

In the background, something of a spontaneous winter conflict is taking place. Snowballs/slushballs are flying and Dibbuns screech, or in one certain case that DoraRose may recognize, roar. The snowballs are aimed ever less carefully, and several barrages begin encroaching on the two conversationalists.

Rafe says, "Ferravale,heard of it, not my kind of place"

DoraRose cocks her eyebrow at the roar, and just as she turns to look, a snowball rams her right in the eye, thus totally distracting her from what the headgehog just said. Wiping her throbbing (and very cold) face, she hollers, "Oi! Watch where you're throwin' those things! Who threw that?"

"It okiez, Dorrozze, I gerrim back forya!" comes a harsh, raspy voice. WOP! "Yeeee!" comes a high-pitched screech from another, on the recieving end of a lizard-propelled snow projectile.

Rafe frowns as he sees the lizard,"They let..those in ere'?"

DoraRose rubs her eyes. "Zarok! Oh great. Never mind." she nods and sighs. "Yes, they do. And I seem to have gotten the responsibility of helping keep track of this one." she ducks another snowball and yells, "What did I just tell you! Be careful! We have a guest over here!"

Zarok promptly abandons the snowfight and storms towards the hedgehog, growling. "Whaddya mean 'thosssssssse'?"

Rafe narrows his eyes and rasies his staff,for now he has it, but thats only cause its a staff right? For walking right?"Back away from me or else" He warns in a flat voice.

DoraRose gets slightly ticked and speaks sharply to Zarok and Rafe in turn. "Zarok, this is one time when you need to not be quite such a warrior. And you, /sir/, will not threaten anybeast in this Abbey, especially not a Dibbun."

"I...am...not...an...animal," Zarok says, flatly and plainly, but he doesn't advance, although that fact is more due to DoraRose's statement than Rafe's threat. He bares his teeth, but only momentarily. His tail lashes energetically, fiercely.

Rafe pushes a button on top of the staff and its shown its a handle of a thin fenceing type blade,"Dont matter or not with his kind.Dibbun or adult"

DoraRose freezes. "Zarok, go get my blade. Now." a yell resounds from up on the wall, and the sound of running footpaws sounds out as 4 guards come toward the headgehog.

In the same precise instant of the blade's unveiling, Zarok moves in a flash and seizes the staff firmly in vicelike jaws, like a clamp, not attacking or struggling, simply holding the staff and keeping it from being used--he has considerable strength even compared to grown beasts. He holds it, calmly, without fear, until the guards arrive and wrestle Rafe to the ground. After that, he stands there, peaceful.

Rafe tries to get the staff loose and yells some not so nice words, hope the mouse maid covers the dibbuns ears, a guard is punched out,two more grab him,one on each side,he struggles and drops the weapon as he kicks, anther guard sighs and knocks the hedgehog out, "had to" The guard says. Rafe is carried off somewhere till the abbot can see him.

DoraRose gasps as Zarok lunges at Rafe, then frowns at the words he says. When the guards have left and the dibbuns had continued palying, she turns to Zarok and says, "OK, first off, if I ever find out that you've said those words I'm gonna wash your mouth out with soap, give you a bath and send you to bed. Second, why didn't you do as I told you?"

"Becauzzze if I left you alone th' spikybeazzzt might've hurted youzzz," Zarok states. "Th' blade might not've got through my zzzzkin, but it could've eazzzily cut youz." Zarok seems to have no regard for the fact that if he'd been wrong, he would've been skewered.

DoraRose crosses her arms. "Oh, really? And how do you know that the blade isn't sharp enough to cut through lizard skin?"

"I didn't," Zarok admits. "But it would /definitely/ 'v cut you. An' I decided I'd rather be cut then let you get hurt inssssstead."

DoraRose covers her eyes and sighs. Reasoning with this creature is nigh on impossible.

"If he'd hurt you I would've torn 'izz th'oat out like I did t'Rakthor," Zarok whispers.

DoraRose sighs again and kneels so she's looking into Zarok's eyes. "And how do you think I would feel if you got hurt, hmm? Or even died?"

Zarok hangs his head. He doesn't even need to say it. He knows.

DoraRose shakes her head. "Honey, you've got to learn to do as I say. I'm trying to protect you. When you're older and wiser and more skilled, I'll let you stay and help. But for now, I'm sorry, but you're too young and inecsperianced. I can't risk it."

Zarok nods and turns away to head back to the Abbey building...Just then a nasty-looking ice/snow/slushball blasts towards DoraRose's head from somewhere on the grounds...With the speed of the ultimate hunter, Zarok leaps and interecepts it, smashing it with his tail and shattering it to nothingness before he heads inside.

The side of DoraRoses' head gets covered with a fine dusting of white stuff, and she sighs. It's so hard to stay mad at the little guy when he does slightly epic things like that.