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Chapter Three

"Pity not the Raccoon. While she is not strong like the Wolverine, or a far runner like the Fox, she has the keenest eyes and spirit of all Itazou's Children. The prey's deepest cunning is but a shallow stream before her gaze." -- Eighth Proverb of Ayako Ueda Nezushi

Broggen centered himself at the entrance to the Dark Forest and glumly stared at the sword-wielding mouse who barred his way. For nearly six hundred seasons, he had taken part in this daily ritual and the events had never changed.

"I am Broggen the stoat. In life, I served with honor in Lord Urthblood's army. Like any beast, I have done shameful things but on the whole I have led a decent life. I humbly request entrance into Dark Forest, for I have earned my rest," Broggen said to Dark Forest's gate-keeper.

"Nay, vermin. None who do harm in Martin's house may pass into Dark Forest. Hellgates is the only proper end for your ilk." Matthais, whose duty in death was to be Dark Forest's guardian and gate-keeper, waved his sword in front of him from right to left. The healthy oak and pine trees of Dark Forest faded away to make room for the blasted salt basin of Hellgates. The mouse stepped aside to allow Broggen passage into the realm of the Damned.

Broggen beheld the endless plain of salt baking under a scorching sun. Small gangs of beasts were fighting each other with claw and fang for possession of the tiny pools of water scattered through the wasteland. He could smell the salt and blood on the hot wind flowing out from Hellgates. "No! I have done nothing to deserve that. I will not enter that place and you can't make me!"

"Not even to succor the spirit of your best friend?" Matthais asked maliciously.

Matthais' question shocked Broggen so deeply that he forgot cultured speech for the dialect of his youth, "What d' ye mean, Mouse?"

"Have a look for yourself, Vermin," Matthais said, waving his left arm towards the scene beyond the gate.

In the midst of the vermin viciously fighting each other, a thin mouse huddled by himself in misery. Aside from the tattered remnants of a burgundy beret perched between his ears, the mouse was naked as the day he was born. His fur looked like it had not been groomed in a badger's lifetime and was caked with blood and salt.

If he were still alive, Broggen's heart would have seized up at the sight of his best friend suffering in that place, "Jansey! I'm comin' for ya, Matey!" Broggen rushed towards Hellgates, his earlier refusals of Matthais' invitations forgotten. If Broggen did not deserve Hellgates, then Jans deserved damnation far less than he.

Just as his leading footpaw was about to cross the threshold into Hellgates, a paw tightly gripped his right shoulder and pulled him back. "NO! You must not fall for the nezumi's tricks, my kit," the paw's owner commanded Broggen with a voice like thunder. Broggen looked behind him and saw the most beautiful stoatmaid that he had ever seen. Something about her vaguely masculine appearance and scent reminded him of Trembula but this maid's beauty and enticing scent eclipsed all who came before her.

The thought of Trembula reminded Broggen of his friend suffering in Hellgates, "But Lass, Jansey's me best mate. I don' wanna lose 'im again. I have ta 'elp 'im 'ere, like 'e 'elped me in th' bog!"

"I am sorry, Broggen. That place will not allow you to ease the suffering of your friend. Misery can never be lessened there, only increased." She stroked his fur with her left paw in the same way that his own mother did when he was a dibbun. "Come with me, and I will show you how your friend Jans can be rescued," She released Broggen's shoulder and held out her paw to him.

As Broggen took hold of her paw in his, Matthais stepped forward and held the point of his sword at the stoatmaid's throat, "Halt! You have no right to interfere in this matter."

"I have every right to 'interfere' in this matter, mouse. I am Itazou, and Broggen here is one of my children. Now, remove your sword from my throat or I shall surely feed it to you." Itazou's voice was like ice in Matthais' veins. The Champion of Redwall and Gate-Keeper of Dark Forest squeaked in sudden terror and dropped his sword, which clattered on the path's stones. He could only stare after the stoats as they walked into the aether and disappeared.

* * *

Itazou led Broggen through the aether's mist for some distance until they broke through the mist into a moonlit forest clearing. Broggen looked around the clearing, from the small vegetable garden to the cozy little cottage, to the weathered tree stump with a hatchet embedded in it. Something about this place tickled his memory, like he had been here before. As he stared at the moonlight gleaming off the hatchet, the answer came to him and his eyes widened in shock. Itazou hugged him at that moment and whispered to him kindly, "Yes, Broggen. This is the place where you lived out your last days before a shrew stole your life away."

"Why have you brought me 'ere, Marm?" Broggen asked Itazou, whose beauty now looked to his eyes like a matronly stoat in the middle of her seasons.

"We are here to return to you that which was stolen from you a century and a half ago." When her words were spoken, a patch of ground near the stump began to bulge upwards. The bony paw of a long-dead beast thrust up from the earth and gripped the grass. That skeletal limb was soon followed by the second paw and a stoat's skull. At that moment, Broggen wanted nothing more than to run from the reminder of his own death, but Itazou's embrace held him still.

"Lemme go! 'tis nothin' I want t' be rem'mbering."

"Do not be afraid, my kit. This vision of death will not remain long." While embracing Broggen's spirit with her right paw, Itazou drew forth his skeleton from the grave with her left. His mortal remains were soon completely freed from the grave. Broggen stood transfixed as Itazou released him and hugged his re-animated skeleton. She gently blew into the skull's nasal opening and licked between its eye sockets. What followed next only compounded the day's strangeness. Mist boiled out from the bones and became flesh, skin and fur. In moments, Broggen was staring at his own face. The last thing Broggen saw before darkness claimed him was Itazou pressing her muzzle against his other self's muzzle.

A clap of thunder reverberated in his ear. The thunder was a voice, and the voice commanded him to "Awaken!" Broggen gasped in pain when his lungs filled with air and his heart beat in his chest for the first time in nearly six hundred seasons. Broggen opened his eyes to see blue skies and a few wispy clouds. Night had become day while he slept, and Itazou was kissing him.

Broggen pushed her away and scrambled to his footpaws. As a warrior, Broggen learned to pay close attention to how his body moved and felt. When he stepped back from the other stoat, his warrior's intuition told him that something was very wrong. Looking down, he could only stare at what he saw. "What've you done to me? I'm all mixed up!"

"When I brought you back to life, I made you one of my children. My children are not male or female, but both in one perfect whole."

"A perfect 'ole? I gots a male's spear on a maid's body. Not ver' perf'ct where I'm standin'!"

"Calm down, Broggen. You will become comfortable in your new body as time passes," Itazou examined Broggen thoughtfully, "You're actually pretty easy on the eyes and nose. You will steal more than a few hearts in the years to come."

Itazou chuckled with good humor at Broggen's discomforted expression, "Enough talk of your body. I have given life to you for a reason. I have brought several hundred of my children here to this world. It is here that they must build new homes and raise their children, for they can never go back. I would not be so cruel as to leave them empty-pawed, and that is where you come in. My children need reminders of their past and a guide to this world. Will you help them, Broggen?"

"I dun know, Marm. I'm grateful t' be alive 'gain n' all, but ye're askin' an awful lot o' me. Firs' ye stick me in this crazy mixed up body, n' now ye wan' me to play guide? I need somethin' more than jus' me life to accept yer task."

Itazou grinned at Broggen then, "Such a brave little hunter you are. Very well, in return for your service, I shall guarantee you a far better home after death than what the mouse was willing to give. I will also re-unite you with your friend Jans, both in life here, and in death."

Broggen's eyes lit up upon hearing Itazou's offer to re-unite him with Jans, "No lyin' yer really gonna take Jansey out o' that 'orrible place, n' let me see 'im 'gain?"

"I give you my solemn vow. If you take up this task, I shall rescue Jans the mouse from damnation, and re-unite the two of you here, in Mossflower. From that time forward, you shall be together in life and in death, forever." Itazou clasped her paws together and bowed to Broggen.

"Yer gots yerself a deal, Marm. I'd do anythin' to rescue Jansey." Broggen spit into the palm of his right paw and held it out to Itazou.

The stoat matron took his paw in hers, "Then it is done."

When they clasped paws to seal the bargain, Broggen felt a tingling warmth spread through his body. The sensation reminded him of Jans' skills at massaging footpaws. "'ang tight, Jansey. Ye'll be free soon 'nough." Broggen dropped his paw from Itazou's, "Where do I go from 'ere?"

"First, you must journey to Redwall Abbey. Long ago, I deposited a library there. Your task is to retrieve the books and travel down the river Moss. You will meet my children on a large iron ship. When you encounter their ship, you are to surrender the books to them and offer your services as guide. If the beasts of Redwall should deny your request, you are to make haste to my children's ship. You will then inform them of Redwall and of their duty to possess the books I have left for them." As Itazou passed on her instructions, she stared closely into Broggen's eyes.

"Before I send you on your task, I have three gifts for you. These will aid you in your task." Itazou held out her paws to Broggen, and draped over them were a blouse and a skirt, both the color of blood. "Take these vestments, so that ignorant beasts are not afeared by your beauty."

Broggen took the clothes from Itazou and wore them. "Thank you, Marm. Never thought I'd see th' day when I'd dress up like a stoatmaid."

Itazou placed on Broggen's head a red beret, and a manacle bracelet, made of pure gold, on his right wrist, "Wear this cap and this bracelet forevermore as symbols of our covenant."

"I don' mean t'be disparagin' yer color sense, Marm, but me beret is more the color of elderberry wine than blood," Broggen said while he adjusted the beret's fit until it rested at the proper jaunty angle.

"It is my holy color, so you will just have to accept it. Speaking of acceptance, that brings me to the third, and most vital, gift I have for you." Itazou blew into Broggen's ear. "I bring you the twin gifts of knowledge and acceptance."

Broggen shuddered as her mind was filled to bursting with the language and culture of Itazou's Children. New ways to grapple with the enemy showed themselves to her. She knew that a sword or javelin-wielding beast would be no threat to her now, even if she had no weapon herself save her own paws.

"I leave you to your task now, Broggen. Farewell." Itazou hugged her one last time before she faded away. When Itazou's presence left her, Broggen witnessed a drastic change come over the forest clearing. The cottage, which had seemed so cozy and inviting, was a long-abandoned ruin. The roof had partially collapsed and the door's frame had warped out of shape, wedging the door ajar. The carefully tended vegetable garden had become completely over-run with weeds. Her former grave was undisturbed, with no sign that her bones had clawed their way free. Finally, the stump that she was using to split wood on the day he was killed had rotted away and the hatchet was nowhere to be seen.

Broggen hurriedly left the clearing and walked northeastwards towards Redwall. "Well Broggs, looks like you'll be headin' back to Redwall after all." The memories of what had happened during that Nameday feast brought a sigh to her muzzle and a droop to her tail, "Poor Aurelia, I never did mean t' hurt you so. I hope you look kindly on ol' Broggen as I travel.

"I can't really be callin' meself 'Broggen' anymores. That's a malebeast's name, n' I be more maid than malebeast now." Broggen thought long and hard on the dilemma of her name as she walked through the forest. "Trembula? Yes, that'll do. She was a nice maid, even if her pater did make Jansey n' me wait tables. The times we've had together made it all worthwhile in the end. Trembula it is, then. My name is Trembula." The matter of her name being settled, Trembula quickened her pace and started whistling one of her favorite Northlands drinking songs.