Uh-huh, uh-huh! *does a victory dance* I am baaaaaaaaaack!!!!!! Do you know how long it took for me to convince myself that only 26 reviews would suffice? No one was reviewing for so long … *does a puppy face* Why? Why was no one reviewing? *starts crying* WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY???????????????????

(A reviewer named Skipper pointed out to me that at the end of Mossflower, Redwall wasn't built yet, and it wasn't even finished by the end of The Legend of Luke. So, lets change the setting to after The Legend of Luke. Ok wif all ya peeps out there? Good.)

*clears throat* Anyways, that over, here is chapter 5 … it's kinda short, but guess what? Chapter 7, THEY meet! Yay! Wahoo!! Yippee!!!

Kewl!!!! Yay! Wah—wait a minute, I already used those … dang … Soooooooooo … on with the fic—huh? HARE!!!

Attack on Noonvale

Chapter #5

By~ Krazy Kitty

"Talking"

'Thinking'

* look at the bottom at the end

** quickly—look at the bottom—it's urgent!

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They had been marching for at least 7 days*. Lily had lost count around the 5th, but she was beginning to recognize different things—for example, at that pool of water she had filled up all of her canteens: they had been desperately low; that grove of trees over there, she had slept in for protection from any renegade searats. They were very close.

Martin turned. "We'll halt here for the night!" As everyone set up for the night, a small shadow said from beside him: "We're very close, Martin."

He bent down to look Lily in the eye.

"How do you know?" Lily turned a full circle, pointing to things as she turned: "The pool I drank from, the trees I slept in ... all on the 5th night." She smiled. "We'll be there in two days at the most."

"Good." Martin straightened and looked into the sky, but Lily didn't budge. Finally, he sighed and looked at her.

"You want to talk, about ... about ... somebeast, don't you, Martin?" There was something eerily strange, eerily all knowing, eerily confident about her voice. It un-nerved Martin.

"Yes, you're right. Can we go somewhere private?" Lily led him to a small clearing detached from the rest, but not far. "Sit down." She complied. After a while, Martin asked hesitantly, "Who were your parents?"

Lily answered, with a break in her voice, "Brome was my father, and Kastern was my mother."

"Did ... did ... never mind."

"I was very close to my aunt, though."

Martin looked at her sharply. "Aunt?"

She nodded. "My auntie Rose, my daddy's big sister."

"But...." Martin shook his head. "She died!" Tears came to his eyes and his words stuck in his throat as he choked out, "I watched." He words grew softer. "I saw her die."

Lily looked up at Martin in confusion. "She's not dead! At least, last time I saw her she wasn't dead. Although ..." here Lily trailed off and shuddered. Taking a deep breath, she continued, "Although you never know what those," she shuddered again, "those things would do to anybeast."

Martin didn't reply. He was in shock. In fact he was so deep in shock that it would take a sword slashing right down in front of his nose for him to realize anything was happening outside his mind. Outside, his eyes were open and glazed over, while he was breathing shallowly and heavily. Inside, he was screaming, over and over again, She's alive! Rose is alive!

Noticing that Martin wasn't responding to her, Lily looked over at him and got the shock of her life. "Martin?" she ventured. "Martin? Are ... you okay? Hello, Martin, hello—" her paw was waving up and down in front of his nose, with no response. "MARTIN WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU—"

"What ho, chapess, isn't that being a bit too jolly loud? By Jove, a chap can't get a bit of bally sleep around here." Lily started and jumped up, turning a full circle to try and find the owner of the voice. Unfortunately, she couldn't find the voice. "Eh? Can't find me? I'm right here." Lily spun around, locating the voice and honing in on it. She caught sight of a hare stepping out of the trees surrounding the clearing. Her jaw dropped.

Lily squeaked, "What—who—" she cleared her throat and continued, "Who are you?"

"Of course, my dear, how careless of me." The hare swept a low bow. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Halliray Hound Hare, cuisine expert and camouflage extraordinare, at your service." When Lily's jaw dropped even lower, he added, "My given name was Halli Hare, but I really did not like Halli, so I changed it to Halliray, and I just adore hounds. Such noble creatures ..." Lily's jaw dropped even more, if you can believe it. "So one day I just went down to the pool there and christened myself Halliray Hound Hare." Lily's jaw hit the grass. He looked at her and commented lightly, "Didn't your mother ever tell you it's rude to stare?"

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*do they even use days? I have no idea. So lets just say they do.

*singsong voice option: on* the hare is here!! The hare is here!! I am so happy coz the hare is finally here!! *singsong voice option: off* By the way, do you like the name? I made it myself, but thanks anyways for the names, peeps! I got it out of Harry. Sees, Harry, Halliray ... okay sorry. I've been doing that a lot lately. I got Aillisane from Alison, Kahyatie from Katie ... I don't even know why I do it. It is fun, though ...

And just to clear it up, Halliray is Basil's ancestor.

Now, thanks to:

TrU-W4Rr10R: Ummmm ... well, a lot of time has passed since Rose was unconscious, and she heard about him from travelers passing through Noonvale ... Clear? Thanks, I pride myself on explaining everything as clearly as possible, but flawless? Now that's a compliment!! *suddenly the full implication of what just happened hits Krazy Kitty* practically flawless? Ohhhhhh *keels over in a dead faint*

Cammy: Really? Really? Thanks!! They're meeting soon, don't worry! And of course she won't die—I love Rose! The ... best ... story ... Oh boy ... *keels over in a dead faint*

Laterose's Song: Here it is! I'm sorry I took so darn long to do this but like I said I was not home and there wasn't a comp where I was.....

(): Thank you, and I will! I will!

Skippy: Thanks! And I just got lots of inspiration right now, but I foresee writers block in the future....I'll need your help!!

Rose of Noonvale:............I hope you're not dead! *breaks down crying* I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! You love? Really? Noonvale.........hmm........oh I know how to do it!! Twins? Twins can work!! Boy/boy, girl/girl, or boy/girl? Your call!!

Starose: OMG I love that ballad!! 5 min tops? You should be a poet! Quality work? I like the sound of that, but I doubt that it's true. You're quite welcome for updating.........it's a pleasure!

Skippy: Thanks a lot for pointing that out to me! It's not in the way of my creative abilities—I really appreciate constructive criticism and I dote on it as well.

josi wood: I'm glad that you think it's getting really good! I hope it is...