The haunting of Vladmir Stormfeather (Thorns of Steel TP)

In the cell...still...

Oz has been quiet and trying to make sure Blisa is somewhat comfortable, when food was brought in, he had decided it was best to let Blissa have most of his, he ate only a small amont of his, now its quiet in the room and he has been doing alot of thinking as well.

Blisa has been awake for a little bit, staring at the wall and daydreaming, though how anybeast could daydream in a place such as this is a mystery. Now she looks up at Oz and whispers, "Where's the nice raven and the crow?"

Oz looks at Blisa "I..don't know, that raven is basicly the only one to trust in here."

Blisa snuggles up against the badger, taking care not to jostle her arm. Pain is in her eyes, although she's trying to hide it. "Will you finish the story from yesterday please?"

Oz smiles a little, "Sure...see Martin was a mouse, a warrior, he came from somewhere north think it was, close to the sea shore. He ended up in the Mossflower area and helped free some slaves and even helped build Redwall Abbey so beasts could be safe and live in peace."

Blisa smiles a little, her eyes shining as she sees the events in her mind's eye.

One other beast with shining eyes stalks into the room wordlessly...Vladmir has entered again to see what the situation is regarding his prisoners. He leans against the wall casually, not adressing the pair yet.

Oz smiles telling how Martin won agaist the vermin and build the abbey, even layng aside the sword for peace to be a brother, he has yet to notice Vladmir as he finsihes the story for the dibbun.

Blisa is smiling happily at the end of the story. Her eyes begin to slowly close as her body demands sleep to help heal her arm.

In a move that will most likely jolt the Dibbun out of sleep, Vladmir emerges from the shadows with a cold laugh. "But yet his enemies always rose again..."

Oz now turns and sees Vladmir and shakes his head, he clears his thoat " And good always won too Vladmir"

Blisa is rather rudely awoken by the fox. She sits up and wimpers, then whispers, "And Martin guides the Abbey Champion...and he'll help, Daddy, too!"

"Good may win sometimes...but never without a price," the fox retorts. "And," he adds, looking at Blisa, "I do not fear living or dead."

Oz shakes his head "Yeah yeah you said that, your repeating yourself"

Blisa gathers more courage, though she does wriggle closer to Oz, and says, "You should be scared of Martin! And my Daddy! My Daddy'll kill you! And I'll laugh!"

"I repeat myself only because the message doesn't seem to sink in...And your daddy's half-dead already, brat. He lost his left eye and the will to live," Vladmir says triumphantly

Oz glares at Vladmir, "Shut Up vermin" He says simply, yeah he said shut up, he looks to Blisa "Do not worry, your father willl be ok, he has alot of friends to help him."

Vladmir's eyes blaze, and he murmurs in a low voice, "How dare you." He takes two large strides and strikes the badger across the face with brutal force.

Blisa screams as the fox strikes the badger in the face, and she hides her own in his shirt.

Oz growls as Vladmir gets closer and goes to kick him when he is closer, maybe it connects and maybe it doesn't, the strike across the face is fairly hard, he gives a weak sort of groan. The guantlet most likely helped to knock him out, blood from a cut runs down his face and some from his mouth, he is out cold and will be for a good couple hours or so.

Vladmir throws back his head and laughs, his eyes twinkling in merriment at the badger's suffering.

Blisa begins to shake the badger, tears pouring down her face. "Wake up, Ozzie, please." She freezes at the sight of the blood, and something seems to snap within her. She turns to Vladmir and screeches, "You hurt Papa OZ! I hate you!" she leaps with all the skill of a predator, slashing at the foxes paw, legs, face...whatever she can reach.

Most of the Dibbun's strikes are ineffective, glancing off the fox's boots or guantlets, but a few slices pierce the grey one's skin, and small streaks of red stain his fur, blood flowing in small trickles from his arms and paws. However, Blisa doesn't get the chance to inflict more damage. Vladmir kicks out at her with his metal-soled boots, and steps back in the same motion.

Blisa screams and begins to cry again as his foot breaks a rib. She crumples into a little heap near the badgers footpaws.

At the instant the foot impacts, Vladmir suddenly doubles over and winces, clapping one paw over his face. Suddenly everything disappears before him in a piercing, golden beam of radiance, beautiful and terrible..."The...light...get it out!"

A mist creeps into the room and surrounds the terrified Blisa, and begins to take shape. The form of a mouse maid, only about 4 or 5 seasons old, is now standing beside the dibbun, and the apparation speaks : "Stormfeather!" the mouse has brown fur and the most remarkable violet eyes.

"Get--out!" comes a shocked, strangled, hoarse snarl from Vladmir. "You're dead already!" He whips out the sword that took the mousemaid's life and swings it wildly, aimed in a way that would rend most beasts from head to tail, and the jagged edge of the blade bites on...empty air. The mist swirls as the blade passes through it, but with no other visible effect.

Blisa screams at the sword, but it is diracted away from her. The mousemaid laughs grimly. "Yes, I am. By your paw. Don't you remeber my name? I am LilyMoore." more misty shapes appear -- all the creatures that Vladmir has ever killed. They begin to whisper..."2 flowers...parted for an hour...Rose...Lily...lost...1 gone before...the other..coming..to seal your fate...fate...Fate...Rose..."

Vladmir blinks and slices again. "Get away! I killed you, I'll kill them too, nobeast will stop me!" he says desperately.

The ghost of LilyMoore shakes her head, and the others around her begin to whisper again. "Moore flower...Lily...Tell him!...She brought a message...Revenge...Vengance...To avenge us...Coming...Justice..."

"GET AWAAAAAAAY!" the fox bellows, sweeping his blade like a scythe in all directions. "So you've come for revenge? Then show yourselves and fight like true warriors!"

The whispers turn into shouts, and red-hot anger begins to burn in Vladmir's mind. "We would...you killed us...the dead cannot FIGHT...if we could we would...Tell him!...Tell him, Moore flower!..."

"You're--dead! You can't--touch me!" A deranged cackle slips through Vladmir's lips.

LilyMoore raises her paw and points at Vladmir as the dead draw nearer. She whispers, "To the fox who scorns all pity, open wide Dark Forest gate..." the room darkens, and skelatal paws reach through the floor, grabbing at the fox's feet. "The blue Rose is comeing, is chasing you, Stormfeather...." the dead begin to murmer again, this time indistinctly. "The black sword thirsts for the blood of the feather..."

"I...fear no sword! I'll...kill them all!" Vladmir mumbles.

"Late Rose speaks to living Rose..." LilyMoore kinda closes her eyes. "Thirns of steel rise...Beware the warrior of the south...Beware the Roses...Beware the ancient river...beware the Cheiftan...Beware your brother!" here her eyes flash open, and a violet light covers Vladmirs' sight."

"I...don't fear water, the Chieftain is broken already, my...brother--One is--gone, the other a soft, weak fool!" Vladmir's attempt to use reason to dispel the spirits goes awry. He finishes with barking, "YOUCAN'TSTOPME!" in one sharp desperate breath.

LilyMoore chuckles. "You're right -- we can't. But /they/ can." and the misty figures begin to vanish, with the violet-eyed mouse beggining to fade last. But they are not quite gone yet...

Vladmir, hoping against hope that he's won, lets out a strangled laugh. "Flee! The Stormfeather will kill you all if you remain!"

The mouse laughs grimly. "How can you kill the dead?" Then they are gone, but, just as the last of the mist vanishes, a whisper floats through the fox's mind, "If you harm the dibbun again, we shall fill you with darkness...so much darkness, that you," laughter, like that of a thousand beasts, echoes in the backround. "Shall kill yourself...and then you shall be /ours/!" then all are gone, and Vladmir is left alone with the unconcious Oz and sobbing Blisa.

"I do not fear the darkness! I /am/ the darkness!" Vladmir cries to the now-empty room. With a hoarse, strangled gulp, holding a paw to his face, he stumbles out of the room.