Lilac's Story
By Lilac Blacktip
I suppose that the best way to tell you about how I started the Sentinels is to start at a certain point in my dibbunhood. My father, Longleg, and an old hare named Rockpelt were telling my elder brother, Swiftpaw, about the Long Patrol. Swiftpaw was going to be a warrior once he was old enough. I was envious of my brother then. He was going to be a fearless warrior and I, Lilac (by the fur, did I hate that name), was going to be a dull, boring healer.
"I wanna be in the Long Patrol!" I said, interupping my father at one point. My father got really upset and told me to forget about the Long Patrol. Sometimes, I wish I had. Maybe I would of, except Rockpelt disagreed with my father and secretly began to train me in the ways of a warrior. Nobeast know of this, not even my best friend, Goldtail.
My family adopted Goldtail after my father's lifelong enemy, a ferret named Bloodeye, killed her parents. Goldtail and I were the best of friends. We had a terrible fight one day. That same day, I heard my father and mother, her name was Treebloom, talking. I'm not going to reveal what they spoke of, buy it made me very upset.
Right after they finished, I ran, tears stinging my eyes, to Rockpelt's hut. I sobbed out all I had heard my parents say. That day, I told Rockpelt that I was going south and Rockpelt gave me some stuff to help me on my way. This included a keen-edged dagger, a bow with lots of arrows, a small belt bag containing different healing supplies (I took this reluctantly) and a beautiful sword. Then I said good-bye to my friend and mentor. I left my home in the mountains that cold autumn night.
* * * * *
A score of days had passed since I left the mountains. There had been numerous snow storms in those few weeks. I was now at the edge of a forest, Mossflower, I think. I hoped to find some shelter amid those trees. Right after I entered the snowy forest, I was attacked! Several beasts jumped on me and pinned me down. Before I could blink, they had relieved me of my sword and tied my paws. Then I was hauled upright and a sword, my sword, pricked my throat.
"Well, what have we got here? A pretty little hare. All alone, too."
I looked up fearfully at the speaker. My heart suddenly froze. It was Bloodeye! I recognized those blood-shot eyes and more importantly, the three scars that streched across his face. My father gave him those and because of this, Bloodeye promised to kill every Blacktip, including me, but maybe he wouldn't recognize me, since several seasons had passed since he'd last seen me. But what if he saw my ears! NO! He won't see them! You see, my family is called Blacktip because the very tips of our ears are black, while the rest of our body is sandy brown. So I flattened my ears against my head so he wouldn't see the tips. Unfortunally, this didn't work. A rat grabbed one of my ears and yanked it upwards. "Look, Chief! Her ears!"
Bloodeye's face was one of pure hate. He raised my sword. "No!" I whispered. As the sword came down, I kicked out strongly with my hind legs, catching Bloodeye in the stomach. He went flying backwards, but the sword still hit. The tip hit me on my forehead, traveled across my right eye, and ended near my chin. I screamed in pain and lunged at Bloodeye. Somebeast accidentally cut my paws free at one point. I managed to get my sword back from Bloodeye by jumping on him. Then I went into a kinda Bloodwrathy faze and started killing all in sight. I killed a lot of vermin before I managed to get into the woods. As I ran, I heard Bloodeye call out to his remaining beasts. "Let 'er go! She won't last long like that!"
It sure seemed that way. My body was covered with numerous wounds and it was starting to snow. I kept running til I collapsed from loss of blood and exaustion.
* * * * *
I woke up and found myself staring at a red sandstone ceiling. A mouse came in and told me that I was in Redwall Abbey. I had been found by several beasts who were searching for some fire wood.
I stayed at Redwall til spring. All my injuries healed and you couldn't tell that I had been in a terrible fight unless you looked at the large scar that went over my right eye. I moved into Mossflower. I found a cave near the River Moss. I managed to turn it into a cozy home. I took numerous trips to Redwall, mostly at mealtimes cause I'm a terrible cook. When I wasn't eating at Redwall, I would patrol Mossflower with a group of woodlanders.
One day, we were drawing near to my home when something jumped on me from the bushes. It knocked me down with a growl. One of the otters in the group hit the beast on the head with his staff, knocking it out. I scrambled up once it was down and turned to see what it was. It was a large fox-like creature, decorated with feathers and covered with armor.
"What is it?" a squirrel asked.
"A foxwolf, I think," an old mouse replied. "A wandering vixen told me about a crazy foxwolf named Wolf's Blood that lived in a gorge not to far from here. She said that the foxwolf's father had driven her mad. The foxwolf escaped a while back. Bet that's her."
The otter who had knocked the foxwolf out pulled out a dagger, "We'd better kill the beast if it's mad."
"No!" I said, there was something about this beast that felt important to me. "Bring her to my place. I know a method for healing insane beasts."
The otter looked shocked, "You're not thinking of helping this...this thing. It's suicidal! She'll kill you!"
I thought for a second, "I'll tie her up til she's better. I've gotta help her." After a few minutes, I convinced the others to let me try to heal Wolf's Blood. We took her to my cave and securily tied her up.
In the back of my mind, the otter's words echoed, "It's suicidal! She'll kill you!" Was he right?????
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