Prologue: What the Night Hides

It was a typical cool spring night at Redwall Abbey. Most creatures were asleep, Brother Dolon, the gatekeeper was walking with old Abbot Thren near the orchard. Many seasons of peace had passed since the last vermin attack on Redwall. No one noticed a small black shadow slip over the battlements of the west wall. No one saw it slip into the gatehouse. Shortly the Abbot and Dolon finished their walk and bade each other goodnight. Dolon entered the gatehouse and took a drink from a mug of October Ale on the desk. He accidently knocked a book off the desk, and when he bent to pick it up, an arm reached out from behind a curtain and sprinkled powder into the mug. Dolon retrieved the book, and straightened up. He took a swig of the ale, put the book on a nearby shelf, yawned, swayed, and fell to the ground.

A ferret in a black cloak stepped out from behind the curtain. Nettleclaw was a rapscallion shorter than most ferrets, but faster. After their near annihilation at the Ridge of a Thousand, the rapscallions, as a tribe, had recovered. However, lack of a strong leader resulted in many small bands roaming the southlands instead of a huge army. Nettleclaw was not a strong fighter; he owed his position as a leader of a dozen or so other vermin to his cunning. His few followers were like him, not powerful, but tricky, and most importantly, almost fanatically loyal to him. Nettleclaw envisioned himself as the ferret to unite the vermin bands. All he needed was a symbol to impress them so they would follow him. The answer was obvious; the Rapscallion sword. Nettleclaw had obtained information that led him to believe that the sword was made of metal that was resistant to rust, so therefore it still existed. He looked through old records until he found what he was looking for. He lifted an ancient scroll and read, "After the battle, the Warriors buried the Rapscallions in the rift, and our own on the ridge top.". Nettleclaw smiled, now he knew for sure where the sword was, it was probably broken, but he could fix that. Once the rapscallions were following him he could conquer both Redwall and Salamandastron, but not yet. Silently as a shadow he slipped out of the gatehouse and over the wall, leaving Dolon still deep in his drugged sleep. No one would ever know he'd been there.