Not total devastation...But still bad. (Thorns of Steel TP)
Leon is up on the walltops looking over them again to se what he can see and frowns slightly as he is clearly not seeing what he wants to see.
Lorimis walks along the wall, he is making sure the guards are doing well, if any need a break, one does and another takes thier place, one of the novices pass out water as the abbot nears Leon and offers him a glass, "What are you looking for child?"
Leon answers the abbot, "Just to see if Dorarose got back safe yet or not, I have heard nothing and I tend to worry sir."
Lorimis smiles, " She and Zarok returned last night, luckly a guard seen them and let them in, neither was hurt which is also good."
Leon smiles at a bit of good news, "Thats good, I will worry alot less knowing she is safe in the abbey."
Lorimis nods "Yes she is safe inside, no need to worry
Lorimis nods "Yes she is safe inside, no need to worry"
Leon smiles, "Good, knowing Dorarose is back inside is good, less to worry on"
Lorimis nods "Yes having less to worry on would be a good thing, but guards have been doubled in a couple places and the abbey on lockdown, no one can get in or out."
Meanwhile at the ruins of St. Ninian's Church...
Gildor is by a tombstone. His original intent was to wait for Darkwatcher, but he soon forgot about that as he has found a patch poison ivy and that seems to be his plant of the week or something.
After tolerating this for several minutes, Darkwatcher, waiting in the crumbled remains of the church building itself, decides he's had enough. The black-furred mercenary silently enters the graveyard, saying, "Are you /quite/ finished?"
Gildor looks up "Hmmm? Oh yes." He stands and walks over to Darkwatcher "Remind me to come back here. The plants are abundent."
"I know a marsh east of here that you might like," Darkwatcher comments. "But now we must travel."
Gildor rubs his paws together "I will check it out." He seems to want to go to this marsh right now, but Darkwatchers words stop him "Travel? where?"
"According to Dethwing," although there's no sign of Darkwatcher's winged companion, "there's trouble brewing up even as we speak at Redwall. Follow me, and /stay quiet/, by Hellsteeth." Darkwatcher moves off into the woods without waiting to see if his comrade follows or not.
- Back on the south wall...***
The abbot is speaking with Leon on the southern wall of the abbey walltops, the day is fair with a few clouds in the sky and the guards are nearby but are more in force near the abbey gates and other parts of the walltops, the wall right behind the pond seems less guarded right now as the two talk quietly.
Lorimis nods "Yes she is safe inside, not to worry Novice Leon, so shall we go on back down and inside the cavern hole maybe?"
Leon smiles, "Sure Abbot Lorimis and I am glad Dorarose made it back safe, its less to worry about."
"Is this the courtesy shown by Redwallers?" calls a voice from beyond the walls. "To go inside when a beast would speak with them?"
Lorimis starts to head downstairs when he makes out the voice and carefully peeks over the walltop to find the sorce of the voice, "Hello?"
Leon blinks and stays where he is, "Who is it?" He asks, he walks slightly closer.
"So...The sun has risen seven times since I came," the voice continues. "What is your decision?" Upon further inspection, a white-cloaked figure can be seen standing near the treeline.
Lorimis frowns, he is quiet as he counts in his mind, yes it has been seven days since the theat was mentioned, he clears his thoat, "I am not going to change my reply, it is the same, the abbey will not surrender to you sir fox, and by now we have freinds close by or on thier way to help defend this abbey, as well as any inside and teh champion"
Leon walks back so he is closer to Lorimis and so he can hear what us said, one guard is clse but slightly out of hearing range, but does notice now the two is talking to someone and starts to also walk over to where they are.
"Are you certain? This is your last warning; continue to defy me and the blood of my victims will rain across all of Mossflower," Vladmir warns, although he seems to be a bit excited at the prospect of a massacre on such a scale.
Lorimis stands quiet as the guard comes to be closer to him, seems he is staying with his answer.
Leon peers down at the fox but doesnt add anything to the talking, but he doesnt leave the walltop either.
"Very well." Vladmir turns around and departs into the treeline, is this all that's going to happen?
Lorimis tilts his head as he watches, he hmms softly and frowns, he scans the forest, a guard starts to walk over and the abbot speaks, "He seems to have left for now, you can relax for now as he seemed to be alone also, but he could come back."
Leon asks, "That was odd, why did he just leave like that?"
In the next moment, several things happen at once. Vladmir completely disappears into the treeline, and with a bloodcurdling shriek, a flock of ravens leaps into flight from the woods, streaking towards Lorimis with talons extended. Meanwhile, at the edge of the woods, a dark-cloaked figure swiftly releases several arrows from a longbow at the birds, felling several of them, but not nearly enough to put a dent in their formation.
Lorimis was starting to relax but its short lived as he sees the raverns, he gasps, luckly archers from the walltops see them or rather hear them and fire off arrows at the raverns, about 3 of the raverns fall from the sky instantly but one gets a bit too close to the abbot as he goes to back up, but being carefull notto fall down thw stairs at the same time.
Leon eyes go wide, he quickly goes to shove Lorimis out of the way as one of the large ravens starts to grab the abbot, He mutters a sorry and then blinks as he is..yes airborn, at this he panics.."Help!!!!!!" Well least it missed Lorimis, but still Leon is airborn and the guards stop fireing the arrows out of fear of hitting Leon.."Let go!WAIT..NOOO...dont let me go!!!"
Gildor mutters something as he creeps up near the cloaked figure. He is not really equipped to fight birds and he looks over at the cloaked figure "Orders?" he whispers in a slightly strained voice. He looks up at the airborn mouse with a slight look of suprise.
"Attack any of them that you can, but focus on seeing where they go to afterwards," the cloaked figure, Darkwatcher, whispers to his comrade.
Vladmir is no longer in view, but a mad, triumphant laugh echoes from the forest as the bird carrying Leon flaps higher and higher, and farther and farther from the walls. Seeing this, Darkwatcher, a bit more callous when it comes to the concept of friendly fire, closes one eye and releases another shaft, this time at the raven carrying Leon. However, he is /somewhat/ careful to avoid hitting the mouse, and the arrow misses its mark by a small measure.
Lorimis oofs as he is knocked down, he isn't out but his glasses fell off his nose and down the stairs, luckly he didnt fall down the stairs, he frowns more as he hears Leon scream for help, a guard quickly helps him down the stairs and into the abbey grounds.
Leon shivers and is not liking being so high up in the air, he doesn't dare try and get the bird to release him and right now too scared to even scream for help again.
Gildor nods and drifts back into the woods, watching the birds carefully. He hears the laugh and frowns, thinking about trying to find it, but he shakes his head. He is not about to get into a full blown fight with a beast he has of yet to even find.
Darkwatcher sends a few more arrows sailing up at the bird, but most of them fall short as the bird climbs ever higher, and the few that make it to the raven's altitude miss by varying degrees. Gritting his teeth in frustration, Darkwatcher growls a curse and focuses his attention on the other ravens closer to the ground which are circling and occasionally making lightning-fast runs at the wallguards, who, mostly, are doing a decent job of fending them off.
Gildor walks a bit further into the woods and low and behold finds a patch of poison ivy! He grins in delight as he pulls out his tweezers, keeping an eye on the birds as well as the plant.
"Gildor, /what in blazes are you doing/?" Darkwatcher snaps off a few more arrows, then sprints off into the woods, following the bird bearing Leon, which is circling to the east, and from there, heading north.
Gildor looks up and glares at Darkwatcher "What does it LOOK like I am doing? The birds arn't really moving so I had to do SOMETHING!" He stands and starts to follow Darkwatcher.
- Mad dash through Mossflower! RUN! RUN!! RUN!!!...okay, I better get a grip...***
Barely a minute after Leon was plucked from the walltops, the bird carrying the Healer soars over the fringes of the woods and into the real Mossflower woods, Darkwatcher following it close behind at a sprint.
Leon whimpers and looks down, thats a mistake as he screams again and quickly closes his eyes.
Gildor follows close behind Darkwatcher, glancing longingly at all the plants that go zooming past.
Darkwatcher, in an incredible feat of dexterity, manages to snap off a final arrow at the bird while running, before finally the bird heads out of range, and out of sight, lost amidst the endless treetops.
While looking over to the side, Gildor does not see the branch looming in front of him. WHACK! He lays on the ground, dazed, but not hurt.
Darkwatcher skids to a halt, shaking his head. "Too far...maybe Dethwing can track it. Gildor, are we being followed?...Gildor?..." He turns to face the stunned cat and shakes his head again. "Really?"
Gildor blinks as he stands up "Followed? Not to my knowledged." He rubs his head as he glares at the fox "Really what?" He dares him to finish.
"I recruited you for the Nightblades becaused you seemed like a competent fighter, and here you are, defeated by a random branch." Darkwatcher sighs and gives the bird call he uses to summon Dethwing.
Gildor shakes his head "I did not see it. It could have happened to anyone. Even YOU."
"No. Branches fear me," Darkwatcher says, totally deadpan. There's some strange noises coming from surrounding areas in the woodlands, and he scans the forest quickly. "We should get moving; I have a bad feeling about this spot." Meanwhile, the raven carrying Leon has reached such an altitude that Redwall, far in the distance, looks like a somewhat large red pebble.
Leon has by now fainted, from fear of falling.
Gildor grins and says mischeviously "Mere branchs do not fear me, all living BEASTS fear me." He nods "Very well."
Meanwhile, Dethwing arrives, circling overhead, and heads off in the same direction as the raven at a paw signal from Darkwatcher, who heads back towards the Abbey.
Gildor waves to Darkwatcher, even if he might not see him "I will be in that marsh you talked of if you need me." He starts to walk east, glaring at the low hanging branches.
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