The website is down so here is Trouble at Lillypad Pond:
The patrol’s destination
The patrol had been traveling to the southern part of the Territories for some days. The winter of 1152 was certainly harsh and the loss of Celanawe, the legendary Black Axe, or so the rumors say, killed while out on patrol struck a blow to many of the members of the Mouse Guard. The current Matriach, Gwendolyn, had set in motion a plan to establish a rough way in which the various towns and villages scattered throughout the Territories can bring forth their problems to the Mouse Guard and or other settlements. This patrol of Guardmice were traveling to the towns of Lillygrove, Oakgrove, Flintrust, Willowroot, and Brichflow to infrom them of the new development. Two members of the patrol were tenderpaws, the newest Guardmice. Tuli was from Whitepine, located northwest of Lockhaven. The other tenderpaw, Fendril, was an orphaned mouse raised by an oldfur couple in Mapleharbor, southeast of Lockhaven and on the coast of the Southern Sea. The other two Guardmice were longtime veterans of the Guard. Lucious had already spent 13 years as a Guardmouse, and came from a small village west of Flintrust and was the overall leader of the patrol. But, the other veteran Guardmouse, Gilbred, whose 11 years of experience with the Mouse Guard had a long established reputation as a hired bodyguard and had seen more of the Territories than nearly half of the currently serving Guardmice. Lucious and Gilbred had agreed to co-lead the patrol.
As the patrol worked their way south, stopping at small cottages to aid those mice in need, clearing trails, forging new ones, resting at inns, or camping in the wild; they began hearing tales of a small pond and the creatures that claimed it as theirs. As they traveled, met more mice and heard more stories, a picture emerged of a clan of toads living near the pond. They were known locally as the Slimy Toad Clan. Some of the tales talked of their contempt for mice and how they never shared the resources the pond possessed. Many of the mice had said the toads did not care about the plight that many mice were facing after the harsh winter and in some cases, chased away the mice causing injuries.
One night, after setting up camp in a hallowed log, Tuli brought up the matter. The encounter with the old peddler earlier in the day and his story about mice being injured by the toads clearly bothered her.
“I don’t like it,” she said. “Why has not word of this reached Lockhaven? If mice are being denied a chance to survive the harsh winter, how have we not heard of this until now!” she hissed. Her whiskers twiched angrily as he scrunched her nose.
Gwendolyn
Lucious looked over at Gilbred. Gilbred twitched his ear in the young mouse’s direction in agreement with Lucious’ unspoken question. “My dear,” he began. “The winter had not subsided but two weeks ago. Gwendolyn had been unable to send patrols no further south than Treefell and Appleloft when the winter storm was at it zenith. And in the past two weeks, you had been brought to Lockhaven, just as Fendril was.” Fendril gave a small nod toward Lucious, showing that he was following where his point was going. “Trade, mail, and other necessities that require travel have all be severely impeded by the winter. Flash floods; trails have been ruined, some beyond repair, villages and other smaller communities have suffered grievous loss of life and property.” He sat back, looking quite tired, something to two tenderpaws had never seen before. “And us,” gesturing to himself and Glibred, “have been working tirelessly to provide aid where we can.” Lucious looked up at the quiet night sky, sighing. “And, this… this issue with the toads was probably swallowed up in all that is happening.” He looked at Tuli, she was looking down at her tail, flicking the tip. “Get some rest you two. We still have a few more days of travel ahead of us, not to mention the obstacles we will face before we reach our destination. Me and Gilbred will take the watch tonight.” The two tenderpaws looked to one another and silently complied with Lucious’ orders.
Gilbred, who was lounging against the round wall of the log looked curiously at Lucious. “Ain’t never seen ya like that before Lu.” His nose wrinkled from side to side, his whickers darting back and forth. “What’s eat’n ya?”
Lucious stroked his chin, “this business with the toads. Something is not right. We may have to look into this on our way back.”
“Aye, that may be Lu. But, what if yer wrong an we run in ta some problems wit the toads? I think we myght have ta investigate it earlier than ya’d like.” With that, Glibred rolled his dark green cloak around him and settled onto his side. “Oh yeah, you get tha first watch Lu.”
The patrol set out early that morning to make the most of the day. It was not long before the rustling of bushes off to the right of the trail they were on drew their attention. Fendril, who had been scouting ahead returned saying that several mice where scurrying through the brush in their direction. He had signaled to them with his cape, directing them toward the patrol.
Moments later three mice burst onto the trail ahead of them. One mouse, with sandy blonde fur collapsed onto his knees loudly sucking in air. Another light grey fur slide down onto her hunches. The third with dark brown fur was bent over, breathing hard and glanced in the direction of the patrol. And warily waved them over. All three were perspiring heavily and covered in debris.
“What…” he panted. “What fortune to find Guardmice all the way out here!” He gasped.
“Tuli, give him some of your water. Fendril, take mine and give it to the one on the ground and yours to the other on his knees.” Lucious handed Fendril his flask and rested a paw on the dark brown mouse. “What be your name sir? And what happened to make you three so afraid? No predators should be in the area or we would have had known about it.”
“The name’s Canton.” He slowly raised himself back up and shook Lucious’ paw. “And well… it’s kinda long story.”
“Humph,” Gilbred rocked his shoulders along with his remark. “So you went to this… Lillypad Pond to try 'n barter with tha toads an they gon an chased yas away. We been earin about them toads. Not much o good at that.” He reached up and pulled on one of his ears, rubbing its tip between the digits on his paw. “Anthin ya can tell us bout tha toads?”
“Yes,” the female said. “Apparently there is a whole clan of toads residing by the pond. However no one has seen them. Just this one toad guarding the pond.” She trailed off at the mention of the toad.
Fendril crouched down in front of her as she sat down on the side of the trail. “Can you tell us more about the toad?”
“Yeah I can. I’ve met him once already.” The light grey fur spoke up some so the Guardmice could hear him. “He’s a big stoic brute. About…” He puzzled for a moment before looking at Gilbread. “About a half-mouse taller than that charcoal colored mouse” he said pointing at Gilbred.
“Tha name’s Gilbred,” he said, sounding rather put out.
“Apologies sir,” he stammered. “Forgot to introduce us I suppose.” He pointed at the sandy blonde furred mouse, “you already met Canton. He’s my older brother, well not exactly but we’re like brothers anyway.” He next gestured at toward the light grey furred mouse. “That’s Catalina. Our closest friend.” Then, standing up, he put a paw on his chest, “and I’m Herald and we all come from Burrowtown, a half-day’s walk from here.” He pointed in the direction of the town, it was to their left and was where the three were headed until they bumped into the patrol.
Lucious introduced the other Guardmice before Herald continued. “The toad, well he calls himself Giblik and the clan he’s from is called the Slimy Toad Clan.” Gilbred snorted while Tuli snickered. “I’m not making that up.” Herald sat down again, “anyway he’s a big toad and just sits on a leaf near the pond. But its up high and away so he can see the approaches to the pond while allowing him to jump down on you if he feels like it.” Taking a sip from a flask he continued, “his eyes sit up high on his head and has two pointy parts on top of them. His color is mostly brown with blackish looking stripes and some green around his legs. His skin is also very rough looking on both his back and legs.” He then scrunched up his nose, clearly deep in thought. “I…I don’t think any other toad guards the pond but him. He’s always there, like a statue or some spiritual guardian. Ya know the type that never waivers. It’s hard to say really, since so few of us know the actual size of the clan or at least what we think it is. They’ve been there a while but no one really knows.” He took another swig from the flask and burped. “Excuse me. Anyway,” he said wiping his mouth on his arm. “Every now and again you can hear the whole lot of them croaking deep into the night. Some think its some kind of religious ritual, others think it could be a funeral, and sometimes others say they’re out there having a festival of sometype. But they’re very secretive so no one has any idea escept for those wild rumors.” As he finished speaking, Fendril had scratched down what notes he could take while Tuli provided the three mice with some food. Lucious and Gilbred moved off away back down the trail to contemplate their next course of action.
“I say you might have been right last night Gilbred,” Lucious mused. “I think we need to have a discussion with this, Giblik and see what is going on here.”
“Aye,” Gilbred agreed. “But ya don think he’d be non too 'appy ta see us dontcha think Lu?” He glanced over his shoulder at the three mice who were now eating and chatting nervously with each other and Tuli. “I mean, he just don 'n chased them lot away an I don think he’d be real happy to see us a comin, especially with us bein armed n all.”
“True,” Lucious acknowledged. “But us being armed may give us the room we need to talk with the toad.” Gilbred nodded.
Both groups parted, the three other mice were told to make haste to their homes and let the villagers know that the patrol was going to investigate the problem. They had traveled for more than an hour when the reverberating and unmistakable sound of a full grown and mature toad’s call echoed through the trees.
Without warning the patrol stumbled into a clearing right on the edge of the pond. The ribbit was louder and stronger this time. Fendril and Tuli had begun reaching for their weapons as the patrol searched for the toad. Gilbred stopped them short. “We don want any unnecessary problems with tha toad aright ya two?” The tenderpaws nodded and slowly pulled their paws and arms away from their weapons, anxiously scanning the area around the pond. Strangely no lily pads were to be found floating on its surface, just a few leaves and flower petals. However, a few leaves were quite large and collected a number of petals on top of them which resembled lily pads.
“WHAT, brings micewarriors to MY pond!!” croaked a thunderous voice. A large creature bounded down out of a dark, leafy area to the left of the patrol and landed with a loud thump on the solid rock, causing slight tremors to be felt under the paws of the guardmice. The toad looked down at them, his throat bulging out as he breathed heavily. “We toads of the Slimy Toad Clan have done nothing to interfere with your little kind. Begone. We have no quarrel unless you come here following the lies of the three who snuck in here last night,” he bellowed.
Tuli and Fendril had both unconsciously backed away from the toad but the two veteran guardmice stood their ground. “We have heard a great many rumors about this pond, and even a few about you yourself and possibly other toads from your clan as well.” Lucious said in a diplomatically neutral voice. He held his hands out to prove he meant no ill will. “We only come to see what has been happening down here and if an agreement can be found between our species.” The two tenderpaws stared at Lucious, bewildered by his ability to communicate with the toad. Gilbred just silently looked on.
“HUMPH!! How do I trust an armed mouse who has brought his comrades when his fellows have been stealing from our pond!!?” He raged. His throat ballooned out even further than it had previously and more quickly. “I and my clan will not suffer any more intolerances from you mice unless you keep your kin out of our territory!” The toad glared down at the mice.
“The previous winter, that I am sure your clan has also recognized as being especially harsh, has been especially difficult for us mice. And I am to presume some were driven to come here and hope to replenish their water supplies.” Lucious swept a paw at the pond. “This looks to have mostly fresh water in it and despite the melting snow, not enough of it was collected in time to store it. A lot of mice go hungry and thirsty as of late. Is there not some form of an agreement we can come too?”
A long silence passed before the toad answered. “My clan has lived here, around this pond for generations.” He looked out around the pond. “You mice and your war not long ago with the weasels have driven many an animal away. Most of whom have lived here longer than my clan. We are a stubborn creature little mice and we will not simply abandon or share our pond with your kind. Especially with you warriors. We will fight if we have to, it would not be the first time. Now, this is over, tell your kin to not come back or more harm will be brought upon them if they do. And even more harm will come to anymore of you warriors. We have nothing more to speak about.” With that, Giblik turned around and in one leap, disappeared back up onto his perch above the pond.
Giblik returned to his perch
A day after the confrontation with the toad, the patrol arrived at Burrowtown. They told the villagers the news and to let all the others in the area know what had transpired. Meanwhile they still had to head south and pass along Gwendolyn’s message. Before returning to Lockhaven they would see if they could gather some more mice to aid in rebuilding the local infrastructure to relieve the pressures the winter had left upon their shoulders. Although Tuli was still a tenderpaw, she was sent back to Lockhaven. Upon her arrive, Lucious instructed her to brief Gwendolen on the situation in the south and to see if there were anymore resources available and or guardmice to spare for the rebuilding effort needed. Lucious knew it was a longshot but he had to try.
And thus, ends another chapter in the long and fabled history of the Mouse Guard.
Also just an fyi, the three pictures of the toad, tiled lily pad picture across the top, and the light green strip middle-bottom were required for the assignment (ya know showing our prowess with the internets and all that).
It is much better with the larger pictures but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless