Bandits meet some wickedly-armed mice. It's a fight, y'all. And somebeast just DIED... :)

Dirt road...somewhere....

The sun is setting upon mossflower. The air is chilled from on coming winter. The Redwall abbey is far away to the north, unseen in the distance through tree filled hills. Five beasts appear on the road. Dylan the lizard is accompanied by two of his lieutenants, a plump artic fox, and a very plump brown weasel. They are out and about training a few new initiates into their gain, a much slenderer red fox gang wearing chainmail and a shifty eyed mouse with an ax attached to his back.

A small group of mice, about three strong, are traveling down the dirt road. They are fully cloaked with their hoods up, and a gray-furred one is leaning heavily on a walking staff.

The skinny field mouse bandit sees the three mice and gestures for the others to look, "Look boss! Someones coming," the lizard sighs, "Don't bother. Unless they have a cart with them I doubt they will be worth the effort." The red furred vixen looks cross, "But we have let three beasts pass already!" Dylan responds with, "Robbing every beast you see is a sure way to gain attention to yourself and get caught." He rubbs the bridge of his nose, "Fine, lets rob them"

The older mouse in the trio feels the watching eyes, but makes no outward sign of that fact. They three pass by, level with the bandits. If they're gonna attack, they need to do it, like, NOW, okay?

Dylan whispers to the two new recruits, "Here is your chance. Impress me..." The mouse gives the lizard an odd look. "You...you are not coming?" Leroy answers for the his boss by shoving the mouse out onto the road, "Wouldn't be much of a test if we helped you out right? You too vixen. Yer both up." The red furred fox grumbles but materializes out of the woods behind the her college. Time to show some initiative she thinks and draws her rapier. "Good evening gents. Nice night for a stroll?"

The elderly muse looks up at the vixen with slightly clouded eyes and smiles. "Good day. Yes, it is. Do you perhaps know the way to Redwall?" The mouse on the left is actually female, with caramel-coloured fur and large hazel eyes. The other mouse, a male, has a stony, stormy face, black fur all over, and glaring, angry black eyes.

The red furred vixen grins warmly, "Why yes, it is right up that road behind us." She levels her blade, a curved rapier with an unusually large bloodgutter and brass hilt that wraps around her paw, "Now the question is...will you arrive their in one piece, or three seperate coffins?" The mouse adds while waving his ax menacingly, "Toss down any weapons you have and then put your paws on the ground." Off in the trees behind a bush Dylan facepalms. He whispers to Elena, "Please tell me one of me own beasts did NOT just say something so cliché?" He turns back to the action, "Honestly, where DO we find these people?"

The elderly mouse looks saddened. "I was hoping this wouldn't happen. Ah, well. That is life." He suddenly whirls his staff like chain lightning, aiming at the mouse's' torso, then his head. The other male mouse produces a wicked war axe from beneath his cloak and attacks the vixen. The female mouse stands still for the moment, seeming to not even care about the potential bloodbath in front of her.

Jeffries the mouse goes down in an almost pathetic manor, the staff cobbering him to the gut would have knocked him out regardless, the blow to the head sends him to the ground in an instant. The fox is having somewhat more succes. "Bleeding grashopers!" Melody shouts as she takes a terrified step backwards. You don't fence with axes, and it one of the few weapons speciffically designed to hurt people wearing chainmail. She dodges to her left as the battle axe grazes her whiskers, she spins around in a blind move and slashes at the mouse.

The black, stormy mouse easily dodges the sword and brings his axe down once, twice, thrice on the vixen. She should be basically dead now, with heart blood coating the axeblade. The elderly mouse brings his staff down hard twice more on the downed enemy, then leans on his staff again, eyes hooded as he expects more bandits. The female mouse looks around contentedly, almost, but under her cloak she has an arrow nocked to her recurve bow.

The vixen yelps loudly as she falls. The mouses paw twitches as he lays unmoving on the ground. Dylan watches the events progress with narrowed eyes. Paw resting casually on the hilt of his rapier he walks out of the thicket of trees. Elena and Leroy exchange glances before following their leader. The fox stands to his left, Leroy stands behind Dylan and to his right with his halberd across his shoulders. The lizard greets the mice less than warmly. "Well, that was decidedly...disappointing." He points to the mice with an ax, "Correct me if I am wrong but most Mossflower beasts are not usually so well armed...or trained." Tilting his head to the side he asks, "Who are you and why are you here."

The black mouse takes a step back as the elderly mouse smiles coldly. "You are wrong. Most Mossflower beasts are this well armed...and almost this well trained. We are headed to Redwall for the Autumn feast....hopefully we have not missed it. As for who we are....well. Our real names are not for you to know. But you may call me Ancient One. My grandson you may call the Black Axe. And my granddaughter you may call Swifteye. Now, who are you?"

"Dylan Locke." The lizard takes off his hat while making an extravagant bow. He nods to the fox with various belly and shoulder wounds, "I must say I am surprised by your grandsons...skill? Tell me, did you really have anything valuable enough to defend in such a manner?" Elena whisper to her boss, "I think...we should cut bait on this one..." Leroy nods in agreement. Dylan however ignores them.

The grandfather smiles knowingly. "Yes. Our honor. And, since we are warriors and creatures who are not warriors surely pass this way, justice." Swifteye smiles and takes a few steps back, looking around easily, as if she either can't hear or doesn't care about what's going on. The Black Axe leans on his weapon, his obsidian eyes revealing nothing as Ancient One takes a step foreward. "What else would we have to value?"

Dylan sighs deeply, "Justice. Funny word that. To me it is a trial and due processes." He gestures to the mouse with an ax again, "Granted the mouse probably got what he deserved, and the fox wouldn't have lasted long in this business." The lizards mouth twists back in a half smile, half snarl, "But she did have three kits she was sending money too, and now I have to write a very appologetic letter saying she was lost at sea so her dibbuns don't grown up knowing she was a bandit..." He readjusts his hat, "...and now I have to deal with you. Don't worry me and my crew will deal with you according to your definition of 'justice.'" He gestures to the older mouse, "Elena, Leroy, you fight the Ancient staff weilder, I will take the ax weilder and the archer behind the bushes will take their bow user."

Ancient one readies his staff, then just sighs wearily as the Black Axe roars like a maniacal Bloodwrath person. Swifteye glances around, then smiles and yawns, opening her cloak and readying her bow.

Important fact about bandits. They lie. One which Swifteye is about to learn the hard way as Elena closes the gap between the Ancient and suddenly switches course for the archer. Dylan wishes his ploy to distract the mouse had worked, it would have made his job sooooo much easier. Oh well, no time to worry about the vixen right now. Leroy makes a wide circle around the charging mouse so as to avoid confrentation with them. He cracks his neck as he sets the but of his helberd on the ground. "Ready when you are old beast." Finely Dylan waits for the mouse to close the distance. He grips the hilt of his blade in his right clawed hand but doesnt draw the sword. He takes a step forward, letting the mouse swing the first blow.

Swifteye suddenyl snaps to attention, pulling her arrow back and firing at the vixens' abdomen. The Black Axe suddenly arcs and runs past the lizard just out of reach of the sword, then turns and dashes up behind him, swinging the axe. Ancient One nods politely. "Sounds good. En garde!" he brings his staff up, but instead of attacking, he prepares to defend.

The lizard takes a deep breath. The world seems to slow down around him in his own mind. He watches as Leroy makes a flurry of motions with his helberd before stabbing at the ancient. Dylan feels a pang on shock at seeing the vixen gasp as the arrow burries itself into the soft flesh of her belly. But he can not worry about that right now. He sees his opponant switch course he closes his eyes and waits. At the last possible moment he moves his body to the side, dropping low in a crouched stance he turns and half draws his blade, sending the silver hilt of his rapier to connect with connect with the mouse in regions best left to the imagination. Had he not killed one of his men Dylan would feel sorry for him.

The Black Axe oofs, bends over slightly, then forces himself to fight against the pain and roars again, swinging his axe, aiming to chop the lizard's head in half. Ancient One takes careful, expert steps back and to the side and foreward, swing at the back of Leroys' head, ignoring the trickle of blood down his side from the halberd. Swifteye shoots another arrow into the vixen's shoulder, then leaps foreward and punches her in the windpipe, a calm, happy, contented smile on her face. Okay....that's just creepy.

For such a heavy beast the weasel is surprisingly fast. He raises his own stafflike weapon the block the blow the counters with a quick poke with the but of his helberd to the old mouses stomach, raises he weapon to smack the enemy in the snout with the flat of his blade before kicking him towards his own granddaughter. On the other end of the battle field Dylan takes a step forward into the swing of the Axe and catches it by the handle. He snarls, "When you look in a mirror remember it was Dylan Locke who beat you!" With his free paw he slashes the mouse across the face with his claws, he head buts him.

Ancient One oofs, then cries out slightly as he gets hit by the blade. He stumbles back and falls on his side, seeming knocked down, but is he? Black Axe stumbles back as the claws leave ragged marks on his face. He growls low in his chest, then gets ready to defend, wiping blood out of his eye with his shoulder.

Elena struggles to breath right. She looks more with shock than pain at the shaft patruding out of the ceneter of her middle. They always did tell her to wear some armor there didnt they, the shaft to the shoulder is a bit more painfull. Thankfully the blow to the windpipe has subdued the fox enough to knock her out, she drifts back and forth between conciousness as she lays wounded on the ground.

Swifteye pulls the abdominal arrow out and sits on the vixen, pulling out a delicate looking knife. "Let's see...I want a pretty pattern..." she murmers in a cracked voice, seeming so out of place in her delicate, beautiful face. "Where should I start?" she asks the half-conscious vixen, tilting her face this way and that.

Elena gasps as the arrow is plucked from her stomach, she yelps even more as the mouse sits on the wound. Brought back to a reasonable state of conciousness the fox sees the grinning face of the mouse the fox yells, "DYLAN!" This is followed by a shrill whistle, "Hey! Crazy lady!" Leroy calls out. If Swifteye were to look up now she might see the weasel throwing his helberd like a spear at the mouse. Meanwhile Dylan is given the terrible choice of turning his back to the enemy and coming to the aid of his crew, or finish the fight. He grinds his teeth together, draws his blade and levels it with the axe weilding mouse. "Yeild."

Ancient One leaps up and takes the halberd through the gut, staff in one paw, knife in the other. Swifteye looks up and shrieks as her grandfather takes her hit, and she turns her anger on her pinned down victim. "I'm gonna break you," she whispers, sliding the flat of her knife down the vixen's cheek, then slowly going back up, cutting a thin, red, bleeding line up the cheek and onto her forehead. Black Axe snarls and spits in the lizards' eye. "I'd rather die!" he growls, smashing at the rapier once, twice, thrice!

"Old fool!" Leroy shouts as he runs past the old mouse and tackles Swifteye off of the vixen. Dylan grunts with effort as he blocks each attack. Once to the left, once up high, and once more deflecting the axe to the right the blade snaps in two. Seizing the opening he rushes in and slashes the mouse across the knee with his broken blade. He grabs the mouse by the throat and hold him close with his free hand, "Next time, I make sure you can't weild a weapon ever again...in front of those you hold dear. Today, I am content with just knocking you out." Dylan then knocks the mouse out with the hilt of his blade.

Ancient One falls to his knees, to his side, into darkness, into death...he was too old to do that. The Black Axe lays there, bleeding and unhappy looking, even being knocked out cold. Swifteye shrieks as her grandfather falls and slashes at Lerpys eyes, face, neck, throught, chest as he knocks her over. She somehow pulls out another knife and begins to stab at him.

Leroy meeps as the mousess thrashes him good. He falls backward as several wounds appear on his thick abdomen, chest and arms. He screeches, "Geteroffgeteroff!" As the mouse attacks his weasel, Dylan cross the distance sending out another hilt braced punch at yet another mouses head.

Swifteye flops over as she gets knocked out cold and joins her brother in the darkness of unwanted sleep. The Ancient One seems to stare pityingly at his enemies, even in death. Hopefully another traveler will come and help them before they awaken...

Dylan pants for breath. He couldnt last much longer against that brute of a mouse and he isnt ashamed to say it. He sheaths what is left of his blade and crouches down to examine both of his crew. Truth be told. It doesnt look good. Elena is moaning softly, caught once again between consciousness and unconsciousness. The wound to her cheek will scar but that is the least of her worries. Leroy's wounds look worse than they really are but that isnt saying much. He looks like a carved pumpkin with multiple lacerations across his arms and chest and one long gash from side to side on his belly. He wont be able to walk until he is patched up. With dread Dylan realizes he can not carry both to safety. He has to choose who will live and who will die. He helps the weasel sit up and drags him off to a ditch, "Leroy, listen to me, I need to get Elena to a doctor..." The weasel gasps, and the verge of tears he says, "Please boss, don't leave me alone...I...I..." The lizard responds, "I know, but Redwall isnt that far and Elena is in far worse shape. I'll carry here there and come back with help. Just stay alive Leroy till I get back." Leroy responds with a nod of his head. He watches Dylan pick up the fox in his arms and walk off towards Redwall. "Dylan will come back. Dylan will come back." Hours pass and the sun disappears behind the hills. "Dylan...Dylan will come back...I know...I know he will..." Leroy is starting to fall asleep. His ears twitch at the sound of movement down the road. The fattened weasel immediately brightens and turns to the noise, "Dylan! I knew you would..." he gasps in fright as he looks upon the figure looming over him, "Agelessssss...." The snake says its own name before it strikes...

Thanks for reading! Just FYI, I ran Ancient One and his grandkids.  :)