Chapter 15 Partings

Mara's vermin, three hundred strong had finally arrived in Mossflower. Snow was still quite thick on the ground, but after marching leagues of barren paths, trees, even dead ones devoid of leaves, were still a welcome sight. Quite quickly, the vermin came upon a thick grove of trees by the River Moss. It was huddled in one of the meandering river's many curves so that three sides were flanked by water, now ice, leaving only one land entrance.

"This would make an excellent winter camp," remarked Captain Taron.

"I agree. Although the river's iced over, an enemy would be hard put trying to cross it, and we can ice fish," said Bladepaw.

"Luckily we still have those carts of food we brought along, because we'll be living on these for a long time, until we can produce our own food," remarked Todd. The princess agreed with her captains and soon, fires were burning and tents were being broken out. The various soldiers were chatting about how lucky they were to have stopped marching. On the edge of the camp though, a different conversation was taking place.

"Remember to keep that sword sharp!" said Mara as she ruffled Lewis's ears.

"Hey I'm not a dibbun! I'll keep that sword sharp, even if my paws are frozen!" snorted the squirrel.

"I'll…miss you Mara," sniffed Abby.

The ferret sighed and briefly, very briefly, embraced the mouse.

It had finally come. Lewis and Abby felt that they could set out on their own to find other woodland communities. Mara was sufficiently confident in Lewis's sword skills and Nibbleteeth, after witnessing the shot that brought down Screamclaw, was also in agreement with Mara. Now Mara was escorting her two former servants to the edge of the camp. To her surprise, Metalclaws was waiting for them.

"Caw! I need to thank the young mouse maid for saving my life from Screamclaw. I thought I was dead for a moment," croaked the crow. With that, the crow plucked a feather from his wing and gave it to Abby.

"This feather will grant you immunity to all crows, jackdaws and magpies, as long as you keep hold of it, farewell and good luck!" with a final caw, the crow took off to do a scouting run.

"Now run along and good luck to you both!" said Mara. The two woodlanders nodded and ran. The ferret watched them, and listened to the two, yelling their goodbyes, until they were out of her sight and until she could only hear the whistling winter winds.

"At least I did one thing right," said the ferret to no one in particular. She stood there, in the snow, among the leafless trees, contemplating. The mouse warrior had not visited her dreams again and she still did not know where Redwall was. She knew it was in this wood, but winter was setting in even this far south and Mara knew the first thing she needed to do, was to set up a winter camp and ensure the safety of her soldiers as the weather got colder. With a sigh, the ferret marched to the bustle of the camp.

Phew, update finally… Oh and I am also running a Redwall Fanfiction competition. Please go to my account's forums for the rules and regulations and how you can participate. Firestorm Narauglos has been the first one to post her story and a few other authors such as Quavera Tava are working with me to help work the poles. The competition this year is FOOD! Winners are decided purely by voters voting through the voting account, but right now we only seem to have Firestorm as the only participating author. So if you know any fellow authors who want to participate, tell them to visit my forums!