The Wildcat Needs Found
RW Abbey: Breezeway
A covered, narrow walkway connecting both the smaller building of the kitchens and the large, dwarfing building of the Great Hall. It is a walkway for the kitchen's servers for easy access to the Hall during mealtimes and Feasts. Because it is covered, it is mostly protected from the weather but outside so that more easy access to it is afforded. At almost all times, beasts can be seen scurrying across its surface -- despite their destination and the weather going on around them. Life must go on!
Even the breezeway can't be kept completely clear of the leaves and debris that is driven everywhere by the whirling winds of Mossflower's autumn. Leaves of beautiful colors -- red, orange, yellow, brown, and various shades thereof -- litter the walkway and crunch beneath footpaws as beasts hurry back and forth -- seeing as it is harvest season and the most busy for Redwall Abbey. Little flurries of dry dust and the smaller pieces of leaves can be seen leaping across this narrow path as well, blowing into eyes and occasionally causing traffic-jams, as it were.
Exits: [Ki]tchen [P]ath, [G]reat [H]all, [Sc]ullery
Leon comes wandering slowly through the abbey, having tended to Thunderwing and Zee. He also had to find Novice Pine's family and tell them grim news, not fun, and now he is looking to tell someone else what happen.
Bandit was dead.
Or the very least it felt like he was dead. Pies of all fruits and flavors, fishy platters and shrimp stews, breads both glazed with honey and slathered with butter. The fox's stomach was less than pleased with the gluttony thrust upon it yesterday at the feast.
While otters in Camp Willow were slaughtered like sheep the denizens of Redwall feasted and ate to their hearts merry content and none feasted more than the gluttonous swift fox Bandit who was now paying sorely for his sin.
It didn't stop him from getting a light snack from the kitchen this morning however, as the crumbs of pie around his muzzle indicate as he walks slowly, contentedly, out of the kitchen and into the breeze way.
Ah yes...life is- The fox pauses to clutch tightly at his gut, leaning one paw against the wall to support himself. Life is, mostly good.
Well, what you don't know can't hurt you, and all that. The Redwallers have heard mum on the Camp Willow attack as of yet, and no news is good news. While his attendance at the feast was minimal, Magramba did manage to sample a nice variety of tasties without eating his gut into a tizzy, and the day finds him walking easily through the breezeway, off to try out a new idea at the forge. A thick apron already covers his clothes, much more sparse and casual than his regular traveling ensemble.
The fox looks up for but a moment to half wave; half salute the squirrel as he passes, "Don't mind me, just dying over here. Carry on." The fox moves himself out of Magramba's way as much as he can. A moment passes and Bandit peers more intently at the squirrel, "Say, you're the Champion, right? Maggy something, right?"
The squirrel's pace towards the other side of the breezeway slows at the question. "...Magramba," he corrects, glancing sidelong at the fox. The unfamiliar /fox/ in the Abbey. "Is there something I can help you with? If you're here to see the healers, they're upstairs."
The fox smirks, turning to face Mag with his arms behind his back. "I'm fairly certain I'm beyond any help healers can provide at this point, mentally or physically. Actually, I'm here for /you/!" The fox chuckles in a sinister way as he approaches the squirrel.
At the last moment he thrusts a paw forward to shake, "I'm Bandit. Head Guard of the village up north. Benar said I needed to speak with you."
At the last moment, Magramba's arm relaxes and the hammer he's holding in his opposite paw droops as he reaches out to accept the shake. "Nice to meet you, ...Bandit." Is that name supposed to be a joke? What kind of fool does he take Mag for? "So you're the head guard of- well, that must be Ferravale," the warrior deduces, still looking at this 'Bandit' fellow as though he might actually be a bandit. "If Benar sent you to me there's probably a good reason. Who'd you kill that's trying to get revenge?"
The fox raises an eyebrow to the question. "Oh, you're a funny one," He barks in laughter even while trying to squeeze the squirrel's paw just a little bit harder to show how 'funny' he thought his joke was before letting go. "It's heh, funny you should mention that," the fox says off handedly, thinking back to Krull the badger warrior, "But that's not why I'm here. I'm actually here on Ferrivale business. I'm here to address ways to solve our...highway bandit problems between Redwall and Ferravale.
The squeezing has little effect on the squirrel, try as Bandit might. Magramba is still caught up with the name, and the phrasing throws him off. "Is there a highway bandit problem between us? We haven't sent any bandits your way, I'm sure, but it seems Ferravale has sent one to us. A Bandit on the highway, that is."
The fox raises the other eyebrow, "Yes, yes indeed they have." Rubbing his eyes Bandit chuckles, "It's like talking to Flicktail, but in squirrely body. Anyway, terribly long story short, I'm planning on sending armed groups of vermin across the roadways to keep them safe and I need to know how close to the abbey I can send them without causing...problems." The fox feels he doesn't need to explain said problems. Woodlanders tend to get, jumpy, when they see armed groups of vermin, guards or not...
"I thought we were trying to /prevent/ these bandit incidents, not cause more of them," Magramba replies, idly fingering the handle of his hammer. "Ideally I'd prefer if there were no armed vermin on the roads at all, but I understand you have to take certain precautions against your own kind. Keep them out of sight of the Abbey, and it shouldn't cause a fuss." The warrior scratches thoughtfully at his chin, doing his best to be accommodating and tolerant and all that nonsense.
Leon takes this moment to walk into the breezeway, his head fur is messed up and he has mud on his surcoat, but he can wash that if needed. He also has some blood stains on his sleeves, dried now and it's not odd to find a healer with blood stains sometimes, he glances over at Magramba and Bandit, for now not saying anything.
The fox hardly notices the mouse, too distracted by his own growing ire. "My /kind/?" Narrowing his eyes the fox decides to let the issue slide. Being accommodating and tolerant and all that nonsense as well. "I think I can live with that." Crossing his arms across his chest the fox replies one more, "And? I need to know what Redwall can do. This little venture won't work if we don't both pull our weight on it you know..."
"This is not a military base, sir," Magramba replies tersely, starting to lose his patience with the fox especially now that the harsh tone is creeping into his voice. "We don't have a highway patrol. We barely have guards to man the walls. The Abbey is a peaceful place and those around these parts know it. We don't go looking for trouble unless we have to." The squirrel's eyes do tick over towards Leon when the mouse appears, but it really isn't that unusual to see a healer looking out of sorts and covered in blood. "If there's a problem with one of our beasts, we'll deal with it ourselves, but the treaty between us is a matter of trade, goods for healing, and I'm not about to bind our beasts to spill blood for yours."
Leon frowns, "If..this is a bad time, this can wait." He sounds tried, A novice comes up and taps his shoulder whispering something and the Master Healer frowns, "I..am not sure where to keep the eagle..ok...it can't be in the infirm" His voice is tried and sort of stressed a little.
Bandit's paws once again slide behind his back. It's a little trick the fox learned to keep beasts from seeing him curl his paws into fists. "I'm well aware of your abbey's tendency to be violent pacifits. I was there for the last few invasions." He pauses to quickly add, "On /this/ side of the wall. And you seem to fail to realize that if Ferrivale ups it's patrols and you don't the grounds around Redwall will be a prime target for-"
The interruption from Leon keeps things from becoming, uncivil. Turning on his heal the fox begins stalking away from the new Champion. "No trouble Leon. I was just /leaving/. I'll give Scioto your regards..." He pauses in misstep, turning to face the mouse, "Eagle?"
As the fox turns to go, Magramba shrugs his shoulders dismissively. They have other allies, ones that have agreed to fight for them and share the same ideological views. "Good luck with your crime problem," Magramba calls, wiping his free paw off on his apron.
Leon frowns at Bandit, and this is unlike him as he speaks to the fox, “Well so far you and the chieftain have done a poor job of finding that Wildcat, I got a good look at him after the eagle crashed, Oh I was ON THE BIRD..." He clears his throat “When he crashed....me, Caleb and Pine...and seen Zurrgg. I might be dead if Zee not came but still...still" And now he frowns, slight anger over and replaced with worry and stress as he looks at Magramba "The wildcat has my son, and a dibbun...and.."
Annnnnnnd Bandit's vacation ends. Just like that. All he can do is stand there, leaning ever back away from the mouse as he unloads onto him in a jumbled mess of emotion. "Wha...?" The fox turns to Mag, "Looks like my little crime problem can wait." Then to Leon, "Slow down mate, slow down there. Start at the beginning. What happened?"
Did he say they were riding an eagle? That doesn't seem safe. Or well-advised. Anyway. Magramba blinks as the story comes rushing out, just trying to process all the discombobulated pieces. "What wildcat? The beginning, yes."
Leon frowns and nods “As I said...Me and Novice Pine were getting some supplies for the infirm in Ferravale and was on the way back. Caleb was with us ....then an arrow and cross bolt hit the eagle and it crashed into the clearing. We were ok, not the eagle but I started tending to him when the wildcat came with a small group of his friends. There were words and Zee happen to be nearby and manage to stop the wildcat from causing further damage or.." He frowns and goes on. “Zurrgg, the wildcat, did leave and I don't know where to but he took Caleb with him and a badger cub that was with Zee. Me and Zee got back here, the eagle is being tended to and...Novice Pine is.." Seems he rather not say , he sighs "He's in the infirm..."
The fox keeps a rather calm, even placid look as he process this information. Eagle riding Leon and Co were attacked on their way back from Ferravale to Redwall. Given a few hours of estimated travel time from the scene of the crime to here that gives Zurrgg..
.
A rather big head start.
It was times like this that Bandit finds himself lacking words of comfort or the usual silver tongue that his species is known for. These days he doesn't even try anymore. "Do all you can for them." Even the eagle, he says to himself, "Magramba," the fox says, turning to the squirrel, "I need to barrow a runner. Scioto in Ferravale must know of this. He can organize a search party, but by the time I would get there it would be too late." For obvious reasons the obese fox doesn't wish to go into, "I'm..." and he really, really does hesitate when he says this, "At your disposal here..."
"I'm not in charge of anyone during times of peace," Magramba replies, raising his paws to waist level. "You'll need to find a volunteer. I might go, but from the sound of it I need to get out in the woods and start looking. I know these lands as well as anyone, and I can think of a pawful of good spots I'd hunker down if I had to check on first." His attention clicks back to the healer, his mind already working through the list of things that need to be done. "Leon, does your wife know? You should tell her, /now./" Dora's temper is a well-known factor, and the longer that's put off the worse it'll be for Leon, undoubtedly. Bandit's breathless offer is met with a small measure of reticence. "...are you going to slow me down?" The warrior's eyes suggest he suspects the affirmative.
Leon shakes his head "I have not told Dorarose yet, no I was tending to the eagle first and Zee had been injured so I helped him. But I can tell her here in a little while"
Dora's wrath is well known enough that Bandit shivers a bit. In reply to the squirrel he sighs, knowing full well, that he would slow Mag down even in his prime. "You search on side of the road, I'll search the other on my way back to Ferrivale. We can take some," the fox smirks at the word despite the circumstances, "Volunteers with each of us."
"I'm going to scout around /now,/" Magramba replies, starting to head back the way he came rather than carrying on towards the smithy. "Leon, if you can help - Bandit - find a volunteer to run ahead to Ferravale that'd be helpful," he calls over his shoulder, still hung up on that name. "I'm heading into the woods." And he's off!
Leon nods and finds a sparrow to fly a message to Scioto and Blisa and then takes a deep breath and heads to tell Dorarose and Anglea what happen to Caleb and who else was captured and of poor Novice Pine. He will let Zee talk to Zinnia about Xander.
