Bluelad the otter wandered carefully through the dusky shadows on his way to the edge of Mossflower. Somewhere in the distance a missel thrush sang to the eventide, but here along the bank of the river Moss all was quiet, save the rushing of the water. The solid looking otter went quietly through the underbrush, but stopped suddenly as he heard a twig snap nearby. Crouching motionless, he looked like part of a nearby boulder, watching everything around him. The snap of more twigs and branches filled the quiet evening air, and he soon recognized the sounds as some creature lighting a campfire. Curious, the otter scout sneaked slightly closer to the sounds, without betraying his positoin. Was it vermin in Mossflower? Suddenly, the crackling of the flames was drowned out by a merry voice:
"Ohhhhh, the winds will blow,
They come and go, across the bonny moor,
As though they know,
And they will show the reason my travels are for.
They sigh and flow,
As they come and goooooooo
Across the bonny mooooooooooor!
Coming slightly closer, Bluelad saw the crackling flames, and they lighted the face of a strange hare, who was crisping some sort of bread on a stick. At the end of the song, the hare took out a flask of cordial and took a sip while watching the bread toast. Bluelad slipped into the clearing and sat near the hare. "Have any more where that came form, friend?" he asked jovially. The hare appeared to suffer a strange coughing fit, choking on her mouthful of cordial. The otter thoughtfully pounded her back until the coughing subsided.
"Eh, what's the bloomin' meanin' o' this!?" the hare choked out. "'Ere I am, just enjoyin' my bit o' dinner when tha come up and startle me near to death!"
Bluelad chuckled. "I'm sorry mate, but your song was rather interestin, and the smell of that grub was so invitin that I just dropped by."
"Eh!" the hare exclaimed, pleased. "Flattery'll get tha everywhere. 'Ere, have a bit to sup. It mighn't be as good as porridge for tha, but it's enou' to keep body and soul together." The odd accent of this odd creature made Bluelad wonder. "What's your name? Where're you from? Your accent is different from any other hare I've ever met. I can't place it. You're not from Mossflower I wager?"
"Nay, tha's a good guesser," the hare chuckled amiably. "My name's Lass Moorland, and I come from sou'east o' here, a good half season journey travelin' slow. I come from th'moor, where 'tis loaded wi' gorse an' bloomin' wi' all sort o' flowers right now. Eh! but I miss it," she concluded sadly. "But enou' o' that. What's tha name? Are you from around here?"
"Aye mate, I come from these parts. My name's Bluelad. But what are you doing so far from your home?"
Lass sobered. "I need an army. Can tha help me?"
Lilac looked up from her bag of herbs as Bluelad came in. "Something wrong?" she asked him.
"Aye, well, I guess you could say that," he said. She noticed a shape behind him, and nooded towards it.
"Who're you?" she asked to stranger.
"I'm called Lass Moorland, milady, and I've come from the south to ask to tha to help us."
"Tell me how I can help, Lass, " Lilac answered, "and don't call me lady. Is it food you need, or healers?"
"Nay, 'tis nothin' so small, an' I quail to ask tha, but we need warriors, a strong army to defend our families."
Lilac glanced at Bluelad, who nodded slowly. "Come back at moonrise, and we will hear you," she decided.
As the Harvest moon rose over Mossflower Woods, Lass told her story to the officers of the Sentinels.
"It all started nigh on a month ago. I was searching for some treesap to boil down into sugar for our porridge, when I suddenly heard a sound like unto thunder! I looked up, an' there, atop the moor, was a smallish group o' creature As they came closer, I could see that they were rats, scrawny, ragged things, but hungry an' desperate for plunder. They had wi' 'em a huge creature, foamin' at th' mouth and lungin' again its leash. They had put some kind o' muzzle on it, an' th' poor creetur was abou' wild wi' pain an' anger. Anyway, they set it loose on our warren, which had been holdin' old an' sick creatures as well as all my kin. We tried to stop em, but their leader, who was holdin' the wild thing was too clever. He crushed our revolution. An' so" she concluded, "I'm here for an army."
Lilac had watched the expressions of her officers with interest, and now she spoke.
"Lass, it would be a great honor to help you, unfortunately, many of our warriors are but trainees yet, and the others are on missions. However," she went on as the crestfallen hare sighed, " some of our officers would take that honor upon themselves, I think."
She turned to the officers. "Who will go with this brave hare?" A ghostly shape stood. "I shall." It was Mattia. "My poisons could will disperse with the leader." Four chittering shapes swung out of a nearby willow. "We come too, eh Ghosty-hare!" Lilac rolled her eyes at the impudent little squirels.
An otter walked out of the woods. "Imagine, the things you hear at night! Lilac, I know I'm not an officer, nor much above a Dibbun Aim, but I request the permission to come as well." It was a new member of the Sentinels, an archer named Laura o' th' Greenwood. As Lilac was about to dismiss her request, Bluelad stood beside her. "I, too am going." Lilac opened her paws in surrender and smiled at the two.
"Eh!" cried Lass. "This surely is wunnerful. Tha'rt all brave an' strong, no doubt, but is there none would take on the Beast? Tis that which is destroying us.
A huge shape loomed. "I shall," boomed Strongpaw. "I need some excitment."
The nine warriors left the following morning at sunrise. Lass led them south-east at a fast pace, since it was a long way, and would take at least a week to get there. They traveled by day, and at night they sat around a fire and planned their attack. Finally, they arrived.
Mattia snuck through the camp of the rats like a true ghost, until she came to the cage which held what Lass called the beast. Her heart immediately twisted as she saw the miserable creature. Slavering at the mouth, the fully grown fisher watched her with baleful eyes full of misery. It snapped at her, starining its bonds to almost the breaking point, and she recognized the source of its pain. Its ribs were showing clearly, and the thing was in the final stages of a terrible sickness, a kind she'd seen decimate entire colonies of creatues. "This is a favor," she whispered to it as she anointed a bowl of water with poison. Putting it down, she watched as the creature drank and fell into the only peace it had ever known.
The next morning, the rats broke into chaos at finding the animal dead in its sleep. Suddenly one fell, an arrow through its heart. They ran to battle stations, as more and more were cut down by arrows, poison tipped darts, or a swift knife thrust, compliments of Bluelad. They stood warily at their posts, not knowing where to fire, and not knowing where the next arrow would come from. Their chief strode to the top of a low hill. "Hear me!!" he cried. "I am Fanal, son of Hellgates! Come out and fight me all ye who dare!"
He stood proudly atop his pinnacle, daring the unknown to get him. Suddenly, a huge paw tapped his shoulder. He turned, and was almost blown away by the badgers war cry. "Euliliaaaaaaa!!!!!!!" It was the last thing he heard before being introduced to the reason for Strongpaw's name.
As the last of the rats limped toward the south, Lass brought her remaining family to meet their rescuers. They quailed at Strongpaws size and power, and joked with Mattia, Bluelad and Laura. The Squirrel brothers had a great time with the youngest hares. Lass spoke to the Sentinels as they prepared to leave the warren. "I don't know how to thank tha, but I'll try to. Tha's done so much for us, how can we possibly repay you?"
Mattia spoke. "We always need new recruits for the Sentinels. Lass, you're a good fighter, you should join."
"Mayhap I will, someday" the hare smiled. Strongpaw shouldered his pack. "let's be off. We will meet again."
As they strode to the east, Lass grinned. She cried, "Mossflower an' the Noooooooorth! Oooodelali!!
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