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fandomweekly2022-03-21 09:18 pm
m_findlow) wrote in fandomweekly2022-03-21 09:18 pm
Entry tags:
[#130] TOO BRIGHT FOR TROUBLE (REDWALL)
Theme Prompt: #130 - Moonlight
Title: Too bright for trouble
Fandom: Redwall
Rating/Warnings: PG
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1,000 words
Summary: Matthias and Constance are busy patrolling Mossflower Wood for troublemakers.
Matthias loved wandering through Mossflower Wood. It was full of the most wonderful sights and smells. Even now, in the evening after the sun had sunk well below the abbey walls, he could still make out the crispness of the pine needles and the dewy scent of moss. Crickets chittered in the grasses and a gentle breeze swept through the tall trees, rustling leaves with a pitter-patter sound. It made him feel so alive that his tail tingled with delight.
'Just look at that moon, Constance,' he said, staring up at the bright white ball of light as it shone down into the clearing, illuminating the elderberry bushes and every last rock and twig. It was so bright that even the stars in the night sky could scarcely compete with it. 'I'll bet it's so bright the whole of Redwall Abbey is casting a giant shadow across the fields.'
The badger looked up at the sky, sniffing the air as she did so. 'Not much good for us though. We're supposed to be staying hidden, aren't we?'
'Oh, you're becoming an old grump like Methuselah,' Matthias chastised his dearest friend.
'Not all of us can stay quite so well hidden as you.'
'I suppose,' he said, noticing now the way the moonlight made the badger's white stripes glitter like silver in the darkness. He imagined Martin's sword gleaming with the same silvery light if he pulled it from its leather scabbard, but for now it was as well concealed as a mouse could be. And he was a lot smaller than Constance. 'Perhaps we would be best if we were not so hidden,' he suggested. They were patrolling the woods for rats, after all. Matthias wanted them to know that they were not welcome in this part of Mossflower Wood. Keeping a watch of the evening was the only way to make sure that they didn't get any ideas, sneaking up on Redwall Abbey when its residents were curled up in their beds fast asleep.
'Cluny's band of brigands may have scarpered, but not all rats,' Constance reminded him. 'And there are weasels and foxes as well. You just leave those to me, young Matthias. They wouldn't dare pick on somebody bigger than them.'
Matthias drew himself up to his full height, though he'd never been a tall mouse. Not long ago he'd been falling out of his own sandals because they were too big for him, tripping him up constantly. 'I'm not scared of any weasel! I have Martin's sword!' He tugged it from its sheath and gave it a swing. True to his thinking, it glimmered in the moonlight, bright and sharp as the moon itself. 'Just let them try to challenge us!'
Constance shook her head. 'Oh, sweet mouse. You needn't be so brave all of the time. Redwall Abbey is quite safe now. No rat or weasel or even a fox would dare attack the abbey walls. Not when they've heard the tales of Matthias the Great, Warrior of Redwall, a mouse so large that he towers over horses! They will be shuddering in their foxholes and heading as quickly as they can in the opposite direction, all the way to St Ninian's and beyond.'
Matthias couldn't tell if Constance was making fun of him or praising his bravery. There were times when he didn't feel brave at all, and times when he missed his dear old Abbott Mortimer, whom he failed to save from Cluny the Scourge. Mortimer had always reminded Matthias that no mouse was greater than Redwall. It was only when they rallied together that Redwall truly became the great abbey it was.
Even so, he felt the need to make sure that Mossflower Wood would never harbour those that might want to harm them ever again. Perhaps he'd never have made a proper monk of the abbey, but it had been his destiny to arrive there and to be brought up by the very fine mice that occupied its sandstone walls. Were it not for them, he never would have found the sword of Martin the Warrior, and just like Martin, he would protect the abbey as best he could. Not all field mice could be expected to be as brave as him.
'If there are enemies out here I think you have scared them all away, Matthias,' Constance said, loping along quietly beside him as she continued to scour the night time woodlands with her keen eyes. 'That or it is too bright a night for nasty creatures to hide from us.'
'We should wish for a full moon every night,' he replied, glad that tonight he did not have to be brave. 'But perhaps we should still wander for a little while longer, just to be sure.' Rats might not be very clever, but there were stoats and ermine who were much more cunning. Even foxes, cleverest of all of them, and he kept a careful watch for their glowing yellow eyes catching in the moonlight as they hid in the undergrowth, watching and waiting to strike.
'Perhaps we should,' Constance agreed. 'Then again, we could be back at the abbey, feasting on Cornflower's delicious apple pies and custard.'
Apple pies and custard! Oh, what he wouldn't give for apple pie! Cornflower made the best pies in all of Mossflower. Just thinking about them made his mouth water. Even at this late hour there would be food aplenty for any weary traveller or warrior.
Matthias' stomach growled at the thought of food. 'On second thoughts, Constance, perhaps you are right. I think maybe we have indeed scared them all away. Or perhaps the moon scared them away for us.'
'Or your loudly growling stomach!'
'And what better meal could there be for Redwall's protectors after a long night of patrolling?'
Constance smiled at him. 'You are quite right, my dear friend. And on a night like tonight, it should take us no time at all to find our way back.'
Title: Too bright for trouble
Fandom: Redwall
Rating/Warnings: PG
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1,000 words
Summary: Matthias and Constance are busy patrolling Mossflower Wood for troublemakers.
Matthias loved wandering through Mossflower Wood. It was full of the most wonderful sights and smells. Even now, in the evening after the sun had sunk well below the abbey walls, he could still make out the crispness of the pine needles and the dewy scent of moss. Crickets chittered in the grasses and a gentle breeze swept through the tall trees, rustling leaves with a pitter-patter sound. It made him feel so alive that his tail tingled with delight.
'Just look at that moon, Constance,' he said, staring up at the bright white ball of light as it shone down into the clearing, illuminating the elderberry bushes and every last rock and twig. It was so bright that even the stars in the night sky could scarcely compete with it. 'I'll bet it's so bright the whole of Redwall Abbey is casting a giant shadow across the fields.'
The badger looked up at the sky, sniffing the air as she did so. 'Not much good for us though. We're supposed to be staying hidden, aren't we?'
'Oh, you're becoming an old grump like Methuselah,' Matthias chastised his dearest friend.
'Not all of us can stay quite so well hidden as you.'
'I suppose,' he said, noticing now the way the moonlight made the badger's white stripes glitter like silver in the darkness. He imagined Martin's sword gleaming with the same silvery light if he pulled it from its leather scabbard, but for now it was as well concealed as a mouse could be. And he was a lot smaller than Constance. 'Perhaps we would be best if we were not so hidden,' he suggested. They were patrolling the woods for rats, after all. Matthias wanted them to know that they were not welcome in this part of Mossflower Wood. Keeping a watch of the evening was the only way to make sure that they didn't get any ideas, sneaking up on Redwall Abbey when its residents were curled up in their beds fast asleep.
'Cluny's band of brigands may have scarpered, but not all rats,' Constance reminded him. 'And there are weasels and foxes as well. You just leave those to me, young Matthias. They wouldn't dare pick on somebody bigger than them.'
Matthias drew himself up to his full height, though he'd never been a tall mouse. Not long ago he'd been falling out of his own sandals because they were too big for him, tripping him up constantly. 'I'm not scared of any weasel! I have Martin's sword!' He tugged it from its sheath and gave it a swing. True to his thinking, it glimmered in the moonlight, bright and sharp as the moon itself. 'Just let them try to challenge us!'
Constance shook her head. 'Oh, sweet mouse. You needn't be so brave all of the time. Redwall Abbey is quite safe now. No rat or weasel or even a fox would dare attack the abbey walls. Not when they've heard the tales of Matthias the Great, Warrior of Redwall, a mouse so large that he towers over horses! They will be shuddering in their foxholes and heading as quickly as they can in the opposite direction, all the way to St Ninian's and beyond.'
Matthias couldn't tell if Constance was making fun of him or praising his bravery. There were times when he didn't feel brave at all, and times when he missed his dear old Abbott Mortimer, whom he failed to save from Cluny the Scourge. Mortimer had always reminded Matthias that no mouse was greater than Redwall. It was only when they rallied together that Redwall truly became the great abbey it was.
Even so, he felt the need to make sure that Mossflower Wood would never harbour those that might want to harm them ever again. Perhaps he'd never have made a proper monk of the abbey, but it had been his destiny to arrive there and to be brought up by the very fine mice that occupied its sandstone walls. Were it not for them, he never would have found the sword of Martin the Warrior, and just like Martin, he would protect the abbey as best he could. Not all field mice could be expected to be as brave as him.
'If there are enemies out here I think you have scared them all away, Matthias,' Constance said, loping along quietly beside him as she continued to scour the night time woodlands with her keen eyes. 'That or it is too bright a night for nasty creatures to hide from us.'
'We should wish for a full moon every night,' he replied, glad that tonight he did not have to be brave. 'But perhaps we should still wander for a little while longer, just to be sure.' Rats might not be very clever, but there were stoats and ermine who were much more cunning. Even foxes, cleverest of all of them, and he kept a careful watch for their glowing yellow eyes catching in the moonlight as they hid in the undergrowth, watching and waiting to strike.
'Perhaps we should,' Constance agreed. 'Then again, we could be back at the abbey, feasting on Cornflower's delicious apple pies and custard.'
Apple pies and custard! Oh, what he wouldn't give for apple pie! Cornflower made the best pies in all of Mossflower. Just thinking about them made his mouth water. Even at this late hour there would be food aplenty for any weary traveller or warrior.
Matthias' stomach growled at the thought of food. 'On second thoughts, Constance, perhaps you are right. I think maybe we have indeed scared them all away. Or perhaps the moon scared them away for us.'
'Or your loudly growling stomach!'
'And what better meal could there be for Redwall's protectors after a long night of patrolling?'
Constance smiled at him. 'You are quite right, my dear friend. And on a night like tonight, it should take us no time at all to find our way back.'
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