early risers

[carabadgermum]

"He locked it from the outside. I can't budge it from in here." She crossed from the window to the door and tried to open it again. Still no go. As much as she wanted out though she wished they would send somebeast out to look for the fox. He had to be found and made to pay for what he had done to her.

[Silas]

"Hmmm..." The shrew stroked his chin, examining the lock. "Shawn," He said to the mouse, "Get the rest of the guard. We're hunting a Marlfox." The mouse nodded and ran to the main building, wasting no time. The shrew then walked back to the open window. "Well, miss, I could pry it open with somethin' thin but strong... Is there a pen knife in there? The one that says 'Hawk-whatsit' on the handle?"

[carabadgermum]

Tamar ran over to the desk. She had dropped the knife on the floor after she had cut her bonds. She picked it up and ran back over to the door. "Yes, I have it here. What do I need to do with it?"

[Silas]

"I'll take it, miss." The shrew held out a paw after a second. On the grip of the flip-open pen knife was indeed engraved a name, visible against the light wood used in its construction. One simple word: Hawkeye. It had been given to Tom, the stand-in recorder and caretaker of the gatehouse by none other than Silas just a few weeks ago.

[carabadgermum]

Tamar looked at the knife as she walked back from the door to the window. She hadn't gotten a good look at it earlier because she had been too worried about getting free of the cords that bound her. Hawkeye, it said. She couldn't help asking before she handed it over, "Does this belong to Silas Hawkeye?"

[Silas]

"It used to, yeah." The shrew replied, taking the object and pausing to examine it furthur. " 'E gave it to Tom because he thought 'e needed it more than himself." The shrew walked over to the door and called out, "Now hold on a tick while I see t' this lock." He took off the cover of the bolt-lock and started fidgeting with it, an occasional tiny ping and a whispered curse by the shrew as he lost the grip on the lock mechanism. It was delicate work.

[carabadgermum]

Tamar thought about the knife and its original owner while the shrew worked. The knife had got her out of her bonds and now it was going to free her from the gate house. So in a way it was like Silas had saved her. She smiled at the thought.

[Silas]

After a minute or so, the lock clinked, and the door swung open without impediment. The shrew held it open, putting away the pen knife as the mouse came back with the other guards. All were stone-faced and silent, for they read the note affixed to the main door. A few stopped and asked if Tamar was alright, which she undoubtedly was, but nevertheless they were guardsbeasts. They had to protect the Abbey. And they had failed.

[carabadgermum]

Tamar wiped every trace of a smile off her face and put on her regular smug expression. "It took you creatures long enough," She brushed past them towards the Abbey building, "And yes I'm just fine." No thanks to any of the guards, huh. She was off to find Saol. The Mother Abbess would have a thing or two to say about this.

[Silas]

As the guards marched out of the abbey to hunt down the Marlfox, word spread quickly across the Abbey, the note on the door being read by nearly every adult in attendance. And indeed, most of their valuables were missing. A flurry of worried conversation and mild panic ensued in the main building as well as outside. For perhaps the first time in existence, Redwall Abbey has been robbed by a single creature.

[carabadgermum]

"Saol!" Tamar yelled she still hadn't gotten used to calling her friend Abbess. She wanted to be the first one to tell the molemaid what had happened, especially that which concerned herself. She was already thinking of ways to embellish the story to increase the merits of her own actions and down play those of the male guards. Not that it would take much doing. They hadn't done much of anything at all.

The Abbess who had just woken saw the flood of abbey beasts coming up the stairs toward her with Tamar in the lead. "Wat is et Tamer? Wot 'appened?"

"Marlfox," Tamar began. "There was a Marlfox in the grounds. He locked me in the gate house at the point of his knife."

[Silas]

At this statement, several beasts gathered over to hear Tamar's story, now heavily concerned for the Abbey's safety. Questions were being murmured, paws thrown into the air, many 'lack-a-day' comments intermittently overheard throughout that same murmur.

[carabadgermum]

"I had gone out all alone onto the wall top to see if there was anybeast on the path because I just had a feeling something bad was going to happen today." Tamar addressed her assembled audience. "And then he came out of nowhere, because you know Marlfoxes are magic. Then he put his dagger to my throat and told me I had to do what he said or he would run me through. He bound my fore and foot paws with a cord and forced me into the gatehouse."

"How'd ya get in there if'n yur footpaws were bound?" Somebeast shouted out.

Tamar tuned a dirty look in the direction of the speaker. "He dragged me and threw me in." she corrected. "Then he locked the door and headed up here to the Abbey. Meanwhile I found Silas Hawkeye's penknife on the desk and I cut my bonds apart."

Saol rolled her eyes even in the midst of the serious events. Lately it always came back to Silas Hawkeye with Tamar.

[Silas]

Tom slid through the crowd, just coming back from the attic. Marlfox? he thought as he heard Tamar's story. That's never good. The rest of the group, mostly the younger members, asked various questions.

"What did 'e look like, miss?"
"Why didn't he attack anyone?"
"Was it really a Marlfox?"

[carabadgermum]

Tamar was enjoying the attention. "He looked exactly like Abbess Song describes them in her book, all motled grey with the green brown cloak and when I turned around he vanished. I don't know why he didn't attack anyone. He must have just thought I looked like someone important." Then without thinking she flipped her paw toward her old friend, "Saol, go get that Abbess Song book so we can show everybody what it says about Marlfoxes."

"Tamer!" The little molemaid stamped her foot angrily.

Tamar realized her mistake in ordering the Abbess and was brought back into her place. "I'm sorry Mother Abbess."