Marlfox
Chapters (79)
CHARGE!
Marlfox axes slashed the air and spears bristled in the night as the vermin pressed in. Any beast unfortunate enough to fall was trampled flat in the melee. Though they were heavily outnumbered, the Noonvale Troupe were giving a splendid account of themselves. Florian had formed them into a tight circle. Standing at its center wielding a long grass rake, dealing out devastating blows over the heads of his companions to the rats who pressed them in on all sides, the lanky hare boomed out his challenge. “C’mon, babe-stealers, try me for size, wot! I’m the son of the rip-snortin’ rat-tippin’ Wilffachop, try stealin’ me away in a sack an’ I’ll peel your hides to th’bone an’ feed y’to each other!”
As soon as he heard the war cry of Redwall being shouted over by the southwest corner, Log a Log drew his rapier and roared out the battle call of the Guosim shrews.
“Logalogalogalogaloooooog! Chaaaaarge!”
THE REDWALL BOOKS
Redwall
Mossflower
Mattimeo
Mariel of Redwall
Salamandastron
Martin the Warrior
The Bellmaker
Outcast of Redwall
The Pearls of Lutra
The Long Patrol
Marlfox
The Legend of Luke
Lord Brocktree
Taggerung
Triss
Loamhedge
Rakkety Tam
High Rhulain
Eulalia!
Doomwyte
The Sable Quean
The Great Redwall Feast (picture book)
A Redwall Winter’s Tale (picture book)
OTHER BOOKS
Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales
Castaways of the Flying Dutchman
The Angel’s Command
The Tale of Urso Brunov (picture book)
The Ribbajack and Other Curious Yarns
Voyage of Slaves
Urso Brunov and the White Emperor (picture book)
Dedication
To the memory of a true Redwall friend
and talented illustrator, Allan Curless
Map
To where will they go,
This is a secret nobeast may know.
Marlfox!
Plundering murdering vulpine thieves,
Who blend with stone,
Or meld with leaves.
Marlfox!
See the pale eyes and swirling cloak,
Appear like nightmare,
Vanish like smoke.
Marlfox!
What steals upon the silent air,
Gleaming fangs, mottled fur,
A deadly axblade lying there.
Marlfox!
Nobeast living can hide from thee,
O thou who treads invisibly,
Cross hill and vale, through woods and rocks.
Marlfox!
Marlfox!
Marlfox!
PROLOGUE
Who are we but strolling players,
Wand’ring through the long ago,
Joys and sadness, hopes and longings,
Keep us traveling onward though
The laughter and applause of others,
Who view the passing cavalcade,
Leave echoes hovering some far summer,
Floating round a woodland glade.
’Twas but a tale for your amusement,
Like my small unworthy rhyme,
Gone, alas, into those realms,
The land of once upon a time.
ACT ONE
Enter the Players
1
1
Eternally serene, the moon ruled over star-strewn vaults of cloudless sable night, like a round shield of flecked amber, casting pale light to the earth below. Vagrant breezes from the distant sea drifted idly through Mossflower Wood’s southwest margins, cooling the heavy warmth a bright summer day had left in its wake.