Mouse Guard: The Black Axe (#1-6)

"A lone mouse, even with the mythic Black Axe was poor odds against a single fox in its own lair" - Celanawe.

Time to return to artist and writer David Peterson's tale of the titular Guard, a fantasy story in which mice have formed a protective organisation made up of fierce little furry dudes who, armed with swords and suchlike protect the common mice from all the dangers life can throw at them. The first two tales were set in Autumn and Winter of 1152, and the correct guard were aided by a grizzled old veteran called Celanawe, who also was known as "The Black Axe" after the mythological weapon he wielded it.  He came out of retirement to help them and died after mentoring a replacement for him in the form of the "redfur" Lieam.  This story is a prequel to that already covered, set in 1115 it tells the story of how Celanawe came to discover The Black Axe and wrote his story into legend.  As well as the main miniseries, this collection includes the Free Comicbook Day prologue, epilogue and maps, guides and cutaways, all of which help with the world building of the series.  So without further ado, we shall begin.

It starts with said prologue set in Spring 1153.  The Matriarch of Lockhaven is writing her diary over images of the mice gathering food and so on.  She reflects on the fact that young Lieam has gone missing, he left armed with the Black Axe after Celanawe was killed in the Winter 1152 story.  She knows Kenzie and Saxon are worried about him but cannot spend the resources to look. Celanawe's death has shaken her, "I did not know the myth was truly protecting us, and when we found out that he was, we lost him forever".   She ruminates that she hopes one day soon the Guard and the common mice can soon once again "have a new hero in which to believe."

Celanawe.

We then join the young Celenawe in Spring 1115, we see him doing his chores, while ruminating "it was the day my life would change forever."  He tells us that he had lived alone for forty seasons, working as a Guard Mouse who trained new Guard Mice whose first lesson was locating him.  That day he was returning to Lockhaven, and a younger mouse was going to take over his post.

He readied himself for the three day journey when a female mouse arrived flying in on the back of a crow, while he watched her hidden in the long grass.  He did not fear her or the bird, but he detected larger beasts nearby and we see a pack of armed ferrets.  He calls her into the safety of the grass while she asks if he is indeed Celanawe.  She tells him they are kin, but he cuts her off saying they need to move "for we are hunted."

The crow starts cawing and the ferrets appear and attack, ripping it apart while the female mouse sheds a tear but it gets her to understand the danger they are in and they make their way deeper into the wood.  The ferrets have their scent and pursue them, but the two mice hide in a tree and the ferrets move on and catch and kill a squirrel, wanting to make use of the bones for "adornment".

However the ferrets are still a threat and Celanawe realises their only chance is escape via the water.   He starts to ready a boat when one of the weasels spots him.  But the female mouse makes a duck sound and brings a duck to then. Just in time they leap aboard it leaving the ferrets floundering in their wake.  Celanawe asks if she can take them to a settlement where he can alert the Guard.

She tells him her name is "Em" and she has a letter from the Guard's matriarch saying he must do whatever Em wants.

Letter from Bronwyn: "Celanawe. Em, has greater need of you than the Guard can offer. Treat her words like that of a Matriarch, her commands as mine.  With all my love, Bronwyn".

Celanawe agrees, she says they are related and both have a "bloodline oath to fulfill".  It's across the sea, the duck can't take them that far, so Celanawe says they will go to "Fort Sumac" which has ship builders.  He asks the quest and she says simply, "The Black Axe".

The only way to travel.

They steer the duck to the bustling port of Fort Sumac.  He and Em go looking for a ship and a boat mouse, "willing to sail of of the edge of any map."  Em keeps to herself what she knows about the Black Axe and how she got the Matriarch's blessing.  She tells Celanawe not to mention the axe when bartering.  He grumbles but she says she's sure he will manage.

They go to a seedy bar where everything has its price, although Celanawe has very little cash to work with.   A fight is on the verge of breaking out, and Celanawe is told the Guard has no rule there when he tries to intervene.  Celeanawe fixes on a grizzled old mouse called Roarke  he can play one mouse off against another - "To gain Conrad's service without payment, I needed to make Roarke believe my goals were in his best interest."

Celanawe tells Conrad he can take him and Em across the Northern Sea and if he does he will be braver than the deeds of any Captain's Captain.  Roarke laughs and says if Conrad makes it there and back with "things my eye has never seen, he won't just be on the Council of Captains.  I'll make him Captain of it". So Conrad agrees and he cuts his paw to form a blood agreement with Roarke.

Conrad seals the deal.

Celeanawe squashes the slight guilt he feels for manipulating Conrad knowing he'd be in no more danger than he himself will be facing.  Next morning he and Em board the ship, Em doesn't talk much just sits "silently scrawling in her book". Conrad tells Celanawe his father was Captain's Captain and he suspects Roarke murdered him while Conrad was drunk. 

Celanawe: "I questioned my own judgement that day.  I was blindly following Em off the edge of the world for a mythological axe that no mouse had seen in twenty seasons.  Was I no better than Conrad?  Manipulated into this quest?"

He makes sure a note is sent to Matriarch Bronwyn letting her know what's going on.  And then they set sail.   The first few days are uneventful, once they hit the North Sea he loses track of where they are, though Conrad says he has little time for maps.

They are hit by full on summer sun then at night it pours, on the sevententh day they lose sight of the birds. Celanawe tightens the rations and tries to pry more information out of Em but that proves fruitless.  Until the night of the thirty-second day while Conrad sleeps, Em recounts the history of The Black Axe.

An difficult journey.

There was a farrier who forged The Black Axe due to his sorrows.  He took it to Lockhaver so one mouse could avenge the death of the Farrier's family.  Em says it is no legend, it happened.   After he took vengeance he began a new family and his bloodline continued on in secret.  She and Celanawe are his last living descendents of his line.

According to her research the axe had been forged in 915. Then handed down over two-hundred years until 1086 when it went missing.   She used every tool at her disposal to look for it and her beasts revealed an older brother called Benn who was the last mouse to lay a paw on the weapon.   And he was last seen on the shore across "Storvind Sea".  Which is now known as the "North Sea". She believed he had perished, just leaving her and Celenawe.

Conrad then wakes up and slurs "what are you two whispering about over that book?"  Celanawe says he is just looking at her drawings of the constellations.  After that night, Conrad didn't get drunk and stayed awake most of the time, they have a few close calls with attacks by octopi and squid.  After fifty-six days their larder was empty, but they collect rainwater and catch fish to eat, even getting a free tow by a large one.

Celanawe is uncomfortable eating fish as he had never consume flesh before, "it would take near starvation before I would do it again".  Then they are caught in a dreadful storm and the boat is broken apart.  He scrambles to find some wood to hold onto but is sucked under and his vision goes black as he begins to choke on the salty water.

Celanawe washes up on shore.

He comes to on a beach and feels like he's broken some bones.  He calls for the others and finds Em lying unconcious and he brings her round.  She stills has her book which Celanawe notes is in "impossibly good shape."  It's made of waterproof birch.  They search for Conrad but can't find him and Celanawe silently mourns him.   Then in a stroke of luck they come across a skeleton, and Em recognises the clothes as belonging to Benn, she wove that tunic on her loom and gave it to him a long time ago.  She grieves for him and calls some crows down to them.

The crows tell her that twenty seasons ago a mouse came to the shores with an axe and "marched to the Hall on the Hill".  So Celanawe and Em trudge uphill to a large dwelling, made for something bigger than a mouse.  They push the door open together and inside they find a ferret sitting on a throne, wearing a crown.  He taunts them and asks if Celanawe is here to slay him?

Celanawe says he is just here to reclaim what is his.  The Ferret King says there are no more mice on the land and sneers that Em looks too old to repopulate the place. Celanawe tells him to watch his tongue, Em is kin to him.  The King says if he gives the word they'll be slain.  Celanawe retorts that he'll feel his blade if he does so.  The King says his name is "Luthebon" and he takes only what he needs and two mice are no sport to him.

Luthebon, Ferret King.

He gives them his word they'll be safe for now, as long as they don't give him cause attack them. Celanawe says that's fair, "I take you at your word."  Luthebon sits back and asks why they have come,  Em speaks up saying the crows told her a mouse came to the gates five years ago.   Luthebon remembers hearing about it, but they didn't find him until he came to the hall.

He wanted to murder them all but they laughed at him because he was only one mouse and no threat to them.   The king cleaved him in two and swallowed both parts whole.  Confused Em asks if the mouse had a title and Luthebon says he was called "Merek" and the weapon he raised against him was The Black Axe.

Celanawe politely asks for the return of the axe as it is mouse property.  Luthbon says no.  He has it hanging from his belt as a reminder to all of what will come to those who threaten him.   Celanawe offers his service in return, but Luthebon says there is nothing he can do for him his own kind cannot.

Then a wounded ferret is brought in, and lain at the King's feet.  He is Luthebon's son and he is dead and Luthebon mourns the loss.  He was killed by "the Red Beast".  Celanawe offers to kill the fox for them in return for the axe.  Luthebon tells him he "cannot wander into the lair of that wretch and just will him dead because you boast it."  

Luthebon cradles his dead son.

 As Luthebon's son is burned on a pyre, Luthebon finally agrees he has nothing to lose allowing Celanawe to take on the fox.  Em says he'll need The Black Axe to do it, and she agrees to stay as a hostage so Celanawe won't scarper with the axe.   She trusts Celanawe will defeat the beast in the briar, "your weapon will be that axe.  Mine will be faith".

Luthebon says it's a deal and hands over the axe.  But Celanawe has to do it in two sundowns, or Em will be a tasty morsel for him and they'll hunt Celanawe down as well. So he marches off into the dark, feeling the weight of the axe in his paws.  He walks into the briar patch with trepidation.

Celanawe: "After that storm I had thought I'd awoken on the shores of a glorious afterlife... and now I walked into the thorny bowels of the horror it must be like to die, only to find there is no afterlife at all."

He careful makes his way through thorns reflecting that his oath to the Guard's Matriarch leaves him no option but to slay the fox.  He's hungry, tired and finally lost.

He tries to put himself in the place of the hunter, not the hunted.  He remembers seeing a mink bury itself to snag a bird for its meal, so he digs a hole and waits.  Come the morning it's misty and his vision is almost zero.  He climbs a branch and suddenly the fox walks past him and he freezes. The fox slips away as fear grips Celanawe and he loses sight of it.

A misty reunion.

He returns to the ground and experiments with swinging the axe.  He feels a few well landed blows from it could take out the fox. He starts to follow the fox and bumps into Conrad who made it to shore alive.   Celanawe quickly fills him in on what he's doing.  Conrad recognises The Black Axe and Celanawe says he is now The Black Axe which grants him long life, and hasn't Conrad heard of his deeds which "extend beyond the natural life of any mouse?"
 
Conrad says teaming up with Celanawe and taking down the fox will surely make him the Captain's Captain.   Celanawe is encourage by his optimism.  Not long after, the fox finds them and battle commences.  The fox bites down at them and they dodge, Celanawe slices it's nose. Conrad leaps on it's face and digs his harpoon in its lips.  As Conrad hangs on Celanawe jumps down onto the fox's head, but it jerks back and he slashes Conrad instead taking off a foot.

They hide and Celanawe apologises profusely, putting a tourniquet onto the wound.  The angered fox comes gnashing down on them but in its rage it tangles itself up in the briars and Celanawe is able to climb onto it's head and bury the axe in it and thus it dies.  Celanawe collects evidence of its death, but then two fox cubs appear.  Conrad says they will be easier to bring down but Celanawe tells him, "I have no lust for their blood."  They won't pose a threat for many seasons yet.

The fox is dealt with.

He feels a little sad when he leaves them, "these kits had done nothing and hadn't asked to be born."  They were old enough to stay alive as long as Luthebon's people didn't hunt them.   He tells them to grow tall before you leave this place and they show they understood.  He and Conrad return to Luthebon.  He presents him with one of the fox's eyes as proof, Luthebon is subdued and it turns out Em had passed away that night causing the King's troubled look.

Celanawe is furious, but the King says he did not hurt her, "I did not kill her, brave mouse" he tells him. A subject of his, the healer, was greedy for a live mouse to study and picked her up accidentally mortally wounding her.  Luthebon killed him for it saying "my word and my honour are worth more to me than the life of one of my own".

He goes on to say they tried to save her but to no avail and she passed quickly.  Celanawe thinks how the Axe's history continued its tradition of being "steeped in the loss of loved ones as surely as it had with its forger".  They bury her at sea, Luthebon and several subjects attend the funeral scattering petals as she floats away and as Celanawe recites a eulogy.

Em's funeral.

Celanawe and Conrad camp out away from the ferrets for a few days as Celanawe reads Em's book on the Axe.  On the sixth day after her death his eyes alight on one passage, he should return to Shorestone and speak to the "Haven Guild, Keepers of the Ideal."  He tells Conrad that although Luthebon has said they can stay and make lives there they should return to mouse territories.

Conrad agrees, he wants to be Captain's Captain, and Celanawe is still a Guard with Bronwyn as his secret love. So with they help of the ferrets, they build a small sturdy boat. Luthebon gives them some sea and star charts and they set sail, following bird migrations to land on small islands to stock up on food.  He and Conrad bond over stories of their fathers.  Conrad's taught him all about the sea and sail. Celanawe says his father cared for him but his sister was his favourite.  When she died young his father never showed warmth again.

Conrad has taken the loss of his leg in his stride (sorry). He becomes obssessed with what will happen when he gets back to Fort Sumac.  Conrad also quizzes Celanawe about the Guard, its operations and symbolism.  He also asks about The Black Axe, Celanawe dodges the questions and peppers his responses with "answers that came from vague legend".  They make their way slowly via the islands and even craft songs about the trip.  Finally they make it back to the lands of mice.

The parting of the ways.

Celanawe gets out just east of Bawnrock while Conrad sails on to his native town. Celanawe wishes him a better life, and also asks him to keep The Black Axe a secret.  Conrad agrees, they shake hands and part ways.   Celanawe gets to Lockhave in two uneventful days.  He sneaks in via the tunnels, he only wants to see Bronwyn.  They kept their love a secret and he climbs the stairs up into her rooms.

He looks for her and to his horror finds a "Decree of Death", while he was away she had died two days before he reached land.  He searches his office to see all trace of him had been removed from the records.  He reads the letter she had Em give him again and realises she never thought he'd come back.

Celanawe: "Alone in that memorial of Matriarchs past, I clung to the axe.  It was all I had left.  Ny kin, my love even my status as a Guard were all the cost of the weapon.  I held it as I would have held Bronwyn, and I wept."

Three days later he arrives at the gates of Shorestone, a place known for its craftsmice, especially stonemasons. He asks where he can find the Haven Guild.  But no one seems to know what that is.  A craftmouse takes him to their archivist to see if he can help.  The archivist tells Celanawe he is speaking aloud of what they keep secret. He takes Celanawe into a secret room so they can speak more openly.

The Black Axe secret keepers.

He says Em must have found him and that he must have recovered The Black Axe.  Celanawe shows it to him, and informs him Em and Benn are both deceased.   The archivist declares him the "last living farrier."  He says the guild had dealings with his family when he was young.  His sister was next in line to wield the axe, but her death prevented that.

He asks if he has the next wielder chosen and Celanawe says it will be of his bloodline, "my burden".  The archivist says that bloodline isn't for the wielder but for the person they choose to wield it.  The axe is passed on to worthy mice by the Farrier's bloodline then returned to them on the death of the wielder to be passed on anew.  Benn passed it onto Merek and over the years eight mice have been granted use of the axe by Celanawe's bloodline.

Celanawe says he didn't know that, thinking for what it cost him he had no plan for the axe to leave his paw for anothers.  The archivist tells him that whoever takes on the axe must "shed their name, duties, life."  They become an immortal legend, leading a solitary life not placing the need of one mouse or town above any other.  Celanawe says it might take some time to find a worthy mouse.  The archivist says he should come and tell them when he decides they'll need to document them.

He departs Shorestone, he walks and thinks about who might be worthy amongst the mice he's trained. Then he thinks Conrad would be the ideal mouse, "he was brave, up to the challenge and his missing leg didn't even seem an impediment. A mouse in need of some subtle forging... I owed a visit to my friend in Port Sumac". 

He arrives there, stowing the axe so no one will know and returns to the shady bar where he finds Conrad drunk off his face.  Conrad moans that no one believes his story of what they did, even if Luthebon himself was there Roarke wouldn't honour his agreement.   Celanawe tells him he's better than this, that he should sober up and make something of his life.

Conrad yells at him saying he cost him his leg and his father's ship, "my life's worse for knowing you".  Even Em died because of the Axe.  He then attacks Celanawe tearfully, Celanawe backs away and hides under the cliff faking a fall off it, deciding he'll hang onto the Axe for now and that Conrad will think him dead.

Conrad attacks and Celanawe fakes a long fall.

We then jump forward in time to 1153, south of Lockhaven.  Lieam has been reading this story to Kenzie and Saxon.  He says he's been doing the job Celanawe entrusted to him and he hands over his Guard cloak to be returned to Gwendolyn the Matriarch.  They are to tell her that is all they found of him.  And the story wraps up with a quote from the last recorded words of The Black Axe: "Death is as powerful a weapon as it is an easy escape,  Heroes can pass into legend, legends fuel new myths, myths fuel new heroes."
There is a two page epilogue, which flashes back to Benn begging Merek not to confront the ferrets, but was then murdered by Merek who saw him as an obstacle for getting revenge for the death of his kin.   A crow is telling Lieam this now.

Crow: "The Axe of Black grants you the method to shape the world.  But not the knowledge or right to do so at your whim".

Lieam reflects that even if history is nothing more than a dream, "I do not believe its moral to be any less true."

Dream crow has all the answers.

And that brings this story to a close.  There are maps, guides and assorted extras bundled into this gorgeous hardback book which really help fill out the mouse society David Peterson has created.  It goes without saying this book looks gorgeous, a real visual feast.  The various animals drawn just the right side of cute that we can also note they are predators that like to feast on little mice.  I really liked the characterisation of ferret King Luthebon.  It would have been easy to make him a moustache twirling villain but he comes off as honourable and generous.  Especially when he helps mourn the loss of Em during her funeral and grants Conrad and Celanawe a safe place to live if they chose to stay.  Conrad is also a cool character and I liked how he and Celanawe became bros, which made it all the sadder when he ended up blaming Celanawe for his woes and tried to kill him.  Celanawe's backstory filled out here is very engaging.  He's brave and clever and it's pretty badass how he kills a fox armed with just the titular axe.  Its history was very interesting, felt properly mythological and the burden of carrying it heavy indeed.  Of course the truly sad thing is with Celanawe's death in Winter 1152 and no offspring mentioned it seems the guiding hand of the Farrier's bloodline is lost.  But Lieam is a fine choice to shoulder the responsibility of wielding it.  All in all this is great stuff.  The agonising wait for Spring 1153 goes on!

Mouse Guard: Winter 1152 (#1-6)

"Oh so a good guard mouse abandons his fellow guard?" - Lieam

It's been a while since I covered Mouse Guard: Autmn 1152, you can blame fluctuating Amazon prices for my delay in picking up the sequel miniseries Mouse Guard: Winter 1152 as a birthday gift from my dear old mum.  But here we are.  A quick introduction, Mouse Guard: Autumn 1152 was first published in 2006 written and drawn by David Peterson.  It featured the titular guard which is made up of sword wielding mice who protect their own from the dangers posed to mouse sized animals.  The first book saw them deal with a traitor in their own ranks and an assault on Mouse Guard headquarters by "The Army of the Axe" lead by the rebellious Midnight, wielder of the stolen Black Axe. He proclaims that the Guard is a joke, and that they need one strong leader to rule all the terrtories. They need "One who can offer security and prosperity. One who is not afraid to hunt down our predators. One who is more than a mere Guard mouse". The rebellion is crushed and Midnight defeated when the real, legendary Black Axe makes himself known and The Mouse Guard restore order. But it ends on an uncertain note with leader Gwendolyn noting in her diary about mounting distrust of the Guard in the mouse terrtories and the threat still posed by those in the Army of the Axe who melted back into their normal lives. She finished up by saying that winter is coming and they are dangerously low on supplies and that ended Mouse Guard: Autumn 1152.  We now move onto the direct sequel, Mouse Guard: Winter 1152 published in 2007-2008.  We follow the main characters from the first miniseries as they act as ambassadors for Gwendolyn in an attempt to unite the Mouse territories to aid their base town of Lockhaven through the winter and adventures ensue. 

We're reintrodued to the major characters who have been sent to retrieve some Elixir from a mouse town.  There's Kenzie and Saxon the brothers in arms, Sadie the scout and Lieam the youngest who has been taken under the wing of the oldest, Celanawe who is also the legendary "Black Axe" which he carries with him at all times.

The band of mice make their way through the snowy weather as a storm rages around them.  They have the city of Sprucetuck to get to, but they'll never make it in this weather.  Celanawe has another plan though, there is an underground route they can take if they tunnel their way there.

Celanawe, Sadie, Kenzie Lieam, Saxon.

Saxon and Sadie take up the rear and Saxon grumbles that  it is "foolish to hide from a storm". Sadie says a sword can't defeat everything. Lieam says sometimes it takes an axe. And thanks to Celanawe they find a safe route to Sprucetuck and introduce themselves, saying they want to meet the governer.

The elderly governer wants to know what brings the guard in such heavy weather.  Kenzie says the Lady Gwendolyn extends an offer of "continued goodwill" and also that they are in dire need of elixir.  The governer says their own stocks are low and can only spare two bottles, which are accepted with grateful thanks.

The guard pay with currency this town does not use, but the governer says they'll make an exception for them. The governer says the town owes its existence to the guard, they are mice of "science, not swordmice". The elixir is brought to the mouse guard, it has been infused with special herbs so less per dose is needed.

The governer says the letter they bought mentions a summit.  Kenzie says in "seven sundowns the neccessary escorts will arrive", but for now they need to get these supplies back to Lockhaven. The mice then leave and return to the surface.

Saxon takes Kenzie to one side and asks who really leads the group, Kenzie is supposed to, but is it Celanawe?  "You bend an ear anytime he speaks" and Lieam follows his steps in awe says Saxon.  Kenzie says Celanawe  is Gwendolyn's ambassador and the voice of experience but he, Kenzie leads the group.

Saxon says his loyalties lie with Lockhaven and Gwendolyn, "not that axe".  Kenzie says Celanawe has done nothing but protect them and the guard.  Saxon says the incident with Midnight proves threats can come from anywhere.  Saxon says he's been friends with Kenzie too long to question his loyalty, "I will always follow your lead."  Kenzie says "I know."

Sadie sees off a threat.

Celanawe interrupts their conversation to say they are being "hunted".  And an owl looms overhead.  They draw their weapons and huddle together so they can't be picked off.  Sadie hurls a rock at its foot saying it was a warning and that she doesn't miss.  She fires another one which hits the owl in the eye.  It squawks and flies off, the others congratulate Sadie on her shot.  Kenzie says they must carry on through the night rather than make camp, "Lockhaven is depending on us".

Back there, Gwendolyn writes in her diary about sending out the guard to collect provisions.  Then she and a couple of other mice pour over a map and discuss the places the various groups have been sent to.  Kenzie's team have the most arduous journey but Gwendolyn has great faith in them.

Gwendolyn: "I hope we have that much time.  Starvation and illness will take more lives than the last Winter War."

She goes to see how a mouse called Rand is faring as he is in the throes of sickness.  She asks Abigail who is tending him how long he has.  She says with no medicine to treat him he'll not last long.  Gwendolyn hopes he can last long enough for Kenzie's group to return with medical supplies.  The mice in question are stocked up and returning with Lockhaven two days away when the ground suddenly give way beneath them and they all bar Celanawe and Lieam fall down a hole.

The party gets into trouble.

Lieam is hanging down, gripping Celanawe's axe and is pulled up, but the others have fallen right into the murky depths.  They both look down and can't even see the bottom of the hole, but they can hear the others who are all OK, but there is no way to climb back up for them.

Kenzie relights the lantern and they have a good look around the tunnel they have fallen into. It appears to go in the same direction as Lockhaven so both parties will travel independently now.  Celanawe and Lieam have the much-needed supplies to take there, the others will just have to see where the tunnel takes them.  Unfortunately that is likely to be a place called "Darkheather", but Kenzie grimly says he will lead them out come what may.

As Celanawe and Lieam travel, Celanawe gives his assessment of Kenzie and Saxon.  He says they rely on each other too much:

Celanawe: "Saxon knows he can afford to be reckless since Kenzie acts as his conscience.  And Kenzie can linger in his thoughts and plans because he knows Saxon can depend upon him".

Celanawe says he "tested" Kenzie earlier, and saw that it was Saxon's coaxing that made swayed Kenzie's mind.  He tells Lieam, "be complete within yourself young redfur.  You will never disappoint.  Even in solitude."  As they walk, Lieam takes a plunge into some water

They make camp so he can warm up and Celanawe says he had heard of Lieam's slaying of a snake through its mouth before he met him.  Then freezing rain starts up and they go on their way back to Lockhaven, Celanawe notes "it seems I have an apprentice".

The underground team are also making their way along.  They find ruins and Kenzie says it is important to travel deeper into them as they have found "potential threats to the securities of the territories".  Celanawe and Lieam will get to Lockhaven, they have a new mission.

Saxon is dubious about the youngest and oldest of the guardmice making it, but Kenzie says with the Black Axe and Lieam having proved worthy he has no concerns they won't make it.   They come across an enormous wooden door guarded by two opossums.  They immediately draw their weapons and ready an attack.

Saxon is headstrong.

Saxon charges then he realises they are statues.  Kenzie chews him out for his recklessness.  Saxon says he thought he could take one down and Kenzie and Sadie take the other one. Kenzie is still mad he didn't wait for a proper plan.  They open the doors and find what appears to be an abandoned building, with high vaulted ceilings made of stone.

They are confused as to why it wasn't destroyed in "the war".  Then they hear something and Kenzie orders Sadie to scout ahead, to the annoyance of Saxon.  They have arrived in Darkheather and Saxon says "I need to know you're ready to fight our way out."

Back in Lockhaven Gwendolyn goes to check on the sick Rand, who is Lockhaven's "shield-bearer".  He groans in agony and she realises he's been poisoned with hemlock. Gwendolyn orders all of Lockhaven immediately sealed, much to the annoyance of Isabel who was about to ride out to Oakgrove and Lake Cities.

Isabel goes to see Gwendolyn and finds a group of mice all talking at her. They have sealed the city and the suspected culprit, Abigail who was caring for Rand, must still be within the city walls.  Gwendolyn has hidden Rand away to keep him safe, they have cured the poison but he is still dreadfully sick.

Gwendolyn: "I know not of Abigail's motives. But it makes little difference.  Hunt her down."

Back with Celanawe and Lieam, the sleet has got so bad they are drenched in it.  Celenawe says they must stop and dig in.  Lieam says what about the mission?  Celanawe says they will fail it if they die.

A very cold Lieam and Celanawe.

They dig a hole under the snow and light a fire to warm up.  They only have enough candle to last one night and they begin to thaw out.  Celenawe asks Lieam what went through his mind when he faced the snake.   Lieam says it was the words, "it matter's not what you fight, but what you fight for." 

Celanawe says that can be a "dangerous slogan".  Midnight thought what he was fighting for was right and that the ends justified the means.  Lieam asks him if he truly is the Black Axe.  Celanawe wonders how, after all the time they spent together, Lieam can doubt him.  Lieam says he was afraid to ask before.  Celanawe says he is indeed the Black Axe.

He then tells Lieam how Midnight managed to acquire the Black Axe itself.   He was crafty and able to move in the shadows.  Midnight is the only user of the Black Axe who was not the Black Axe in person to "have wielded the Black Axe and not felt the bite of its blade."

Celanawe: "Yet despite his theivery, murder and motives, he was not wholly wrong... his goals were selfish, he wanted to rule on high. But the idea of the territories needing unification and protection is what I do with this axe."

He goes on to say he does good for the mice of the territories but is beholden to no matriarch, he puts the needs of all mice before his own.  He has shaped the course of wars, fought predators to beyond their borders and "carved portions of this very landscape".

Lieam asks how that can be possible, he's not old enough to have been around when the axe was first forged or accomplish all the legends attributed to him. Celanawe just responds that he is "shrouded in myth and legend" and mystery has grown up around him.  The tale of when his paw first touched the Black Axe is for another day, "tales are best told at the end of a journey".

He asks Lieam where he got the scar on his ear.  Lieam won't say. Celanawe says they both have their secrets even if those secrets can't keep them warm.  Meanwhile Kenzie, Saxon and Sadie are carefully walking through Darkheather the old weasel kingdom. 

Bats!

Sadie says Kenzie and Saxon "squabble like an old mouse couple."  Saxon says they don't, but Sadie says now is a good time to stay quiet.   Up in the ceiling are many bats, who don't eat mice, but Saxon says are the ears of their enemies.  One of the bats tells them they are "unwelcome".

Sadie says it's time to go.  Saxon says the bats will alert the enemy weasels  within a day flight away.  The head bat is annoyed by this.  Saxon however draws his sword.  The bats fly at him en masse.  Bats say that long ago they offered to fight for either side.  But the birds did not trust their fur and the earth dwellers did not trust their flight.  So after the war, they secluded themselves in this ruin:

Various Bats: "Our seclusion is our life...we are accepted by none when we offered loyalty to all...  You come to our sanctury where we eat.  Where we breed.  And you challenge our trust?"

Saxon manages to jump on the head bat and hold his sword to its throat demanding it show them a way out.  There is a scuffle and Sadie hurls a dagger through one of the bats and its thrashing causes some of the masonry to crumble, which blocks our plucky mice safely away from the angry bats.  Apart from Saxon that is, who is flown away on the back of the head bat.

The owl returns.

In their ice hole, Lieam discovers the cold has shattered one of the bottles of Elixir, now they only have one left for Lockhaven. Celanawe says he heard something and standing above the entrance to the hole is the huge owl.  They climb up out of the shelter and engage the owl, with Celanawe brandishing the Black Axe he goes in on the attack.

Saxon meanwhile is hanging off one of the bats, they tell him freedom is above him but he needs wings to reach it. The bats say mouse bones sleep below the soil and Saxon will join them, but Saxon says he'll take a few of them out before he does so.  He slashes the throat of the bat he is holding and they both fall into a dark hole.  He lands on a mountain of bones, meanwhile all the bats fly out of the hole in the ceiling taking their fallen brother's soul "to the stars."

Kenzie and Sadie are wandering through a maze of tunnels shrouded in darkness.  Kenzie calls for Saxon, Sadie says they don't know if he is alive, but Kenzie knows he is. He says Saxon was a fool for starting a fight with the bats, but Sadie says there was no other way out.  She says she hoped calm talk would prevail, but she expected a battle.

Kenzie says Saxon drew first blood though, Sadie says Saxon can be "stubborn and crude.  I doubt he agrees with the idea of ladymice as guard".  Kenzie laughs and says he knows Saxon loves someone from afar.  Sadie asks if there are any ladymice Kenzie admires from afar?

Kenzie says they life of the guard isn't generally conducive to relationships. He hunts opossum, sleeps on the hard soil and spends more time outside than other mice.  "Where do you think I would find a ladymmouse who would appreciate such things?" Then he and Sadie share a silent moment. Kenzie starts humming a tune to break the awkward silence, Sadie asks what it is and he tells her it's a ballad of "The Ivory Lass".

Saxon finds the remains of his old teacher.

We then return to Saxon, as the ballad narrates the images, he comes around on the pile of bones.  Using material from his cloak he fashions a torch and starts walking.  The corridors are full of mouse skeletons.  Then he finds one intact in a cloak, it holds a sword and has a buckle Saxon recognises.  It belonged to his old teacher Loukas and he tearfully embraces the skeleton.

In Lockhaven, Abaigail has been cornered. She calls them fools and says she was instrumental in ridding Lockhaven of its stock, while in the other mice territories the same thing occured.  She says countless mice still stand by Midnight's views and she was to be his queen.  She throws herself down the well as she is peppered with arrows, and poisons it as she lands to her death.  Then we briefly cut to the battle against the owl, Celenawe has fallen and Lieam is facing it down alone.

Kenzie and Sadie are snoozing together, when Saxon suddenly appears. He teases Kenzie for "snuggling with your new lady".  Kenzie splutters it's nothing like that, he asks where Saxon ended up.  Saxon says never you mind, it certainly wasn't "dreaming next to a lady". Kenzie says if Saxon is mad at him, leave Sadie out of it.  Saxon apologises then shows them the buckle he found.  He is also now wielding Loukas's sword.

Kenzie and Sadie snuggle, d'awww.

Kenzie then says he's going to lead them out of Darkheather, too many mice have died there and only a handful have returned from there.  He tells Saxon he was lucky to be alive after what happened.  They find a waterfall and look for something they can sail in, "pray Celanawe and Lieam fared better than we are" says Saxon.

And that takes us back to the battle against the owl.  Celanawe is back in the fight and picks up the Black Axe and cuts the foot of the owl with it.  He tells Lieam to run and get the medicine back to Lockhaven, "make sure the greater good is served".  The owl's wing knocks Lieam down, then it's foot grabs Celanawe and crushes him.

Lieam will not be deterred.

The owl flies off with Celanawe but Lieam manages to grab onto it's wing.  He climbs up its body and drives his sword into the top of its head.  The owl crashes to the ground, Lieam uses a feather to land safely in a tree, Celanawe has been dropped, but he isn't moving.

The others are in a small bucket paddling up the underground river.  Saxon checks the compass in Loukas's sword and confirms they are heading north-east towards Lockhaven.   Sadie wonders how the weasel kingdom could have come so close to the mice territories.  Kenzie says the weasels might not have built this, the caverns could be older and the weasels simply annexed it like they tend to do.

They spot something in the water.  It is a mouseguard's corpse with mouse arrows in it.  It's Abigail's corpse although they don't know that as it's floating face down.  They find the mark of Lockhaven and climb up the well arriving back in Lockhaven safely. Gwendolyn greets them saying after sending Abigail down there to death they never expected three live mice to come out.  She fills them in on what has been going on and the fact that Celanawe and Lieam have not returned.

The owl, is still alive.  Celanawe too, he brandishes the Black Axe and leaps at the owl, who snatches him out of the air and bites him before dropping him on the ground him to Lieam's horror and distress.  It turns its attentions to him as he holds his sword and prepares for a last stand.

Lieam tearfully remembers all the advice Celanawe gave him as the owl bears down on him.  As the owl makes to snap him up he stabs it in the throat and the foot and it collapses.  He goes and picks up the Black Axe and brings it down onto the top of the owl's head finally killing it.  Then he collapses too.

Lieam takes up The Black Axe and gets his revenge.

Back in Lockhaven, Kenzie and Saxon go to where Isabel has the hares they ride readied to go out.  Kenzie pleads with the head hare to help them find Celanawe and Lieam before they carry on to where they were supposed to be going.  The hare agrees and the mice mount up.

They ride out and find the dead owl, and footprints leading away to the east. They follow them and find Lieam deliriously carrying Celeanawe's body, the Black Axe and an owl feather.  When he sees them he collapses again.

The hares take them all back to Lockhaven.  Lieam is conscious again and has a broken arm which he just shakes off. Gwendolyne is told the bad news about Celanawe.  His body is laid out on a pyre and he is cremated with great ceremony.  Gwendolyne gives a heartfelt eulogy while a recovered Rand whispers that he thought the Black Axe was immortal.  "No mouse is Rand..." says Saxon, "no mouse is".

After the ceremony Saxon opens his heart out to Gwendolyne, the ladymouse he admired from afar:

Saxon: "M-M'lady Gwendolyne.  I have been to hell and back... twice now... and I need to know there is more to our lives than this".
And they kiss.  Lieam recalls Celanawe's last words to him, he knew this journey would end in his death and he declares Lieam as the new Black Axe then he dies, which brings the story to an end.

Saxon and Gwendolyn kiss, double d'awwwww.

But there is an epilogue.  Gwendolyne writes in her diary that there was a successful summit of the representatives of the mice territories.  Lockhaven is now a neutral location for summit leaders to meet annually to resolve greivances.  Reserve harvest will be stored there, in return they will provide the outer territories with more guardmice.

Kenzie and Sadie oversaw the excavation and repairs to the cistern which purged the well of poison, "they have been inseparable since their return". She writes that dealing with threats from within still are hampering their efforts to deal with threats from without.

Lieam was aimless after the funeral, as she writes that she wants to give him more responsibility we see him going to where the Black Axe is.  She also writes that Saxon has made an impact on her life and says that although she has no plan to leave her post anytime soon, the situation between her and Saxon has her on the lookout for a successor. The book then finally finishes on Lieam, with the Black Axe, walking out of Lockhaven to make his own way in the world...

A new Black Axe strikes out into the world.

What a lovely book. David Peterson's artwork is beautiful and manages to wring all sorts of emotions out of the simple but strong mouse designs.  His script manages a olde worlde feel without getting hackneyed or irritating.  He carries on world building around a story of five mice thrown into dangerous situations, and gives each of them a distinct personality.  From the bickering bros that are Kenzie and Saxon, to the snarky Sadie, to the wise old Celenawe and his young, fiercely brave apprentice Lieam.  The battle against the owl is epic and stunningly realised, as are the vaulted halls of Darkheather and all the bats that live there.  And with traitors still lurking within the mouse guard and Lieam leaving for adventures new there is plenty of fodder for future stories.  Which is why it's so frustrating that the series seems to have ground to a halt.  One issue of Spring 1153 was released as part of free comicbook day a couple of years ago, but apart from that there has just been a Black Axe miniseries and a couple of volumes of Tales From The Mouse Guard.  C'mon David, pull yer finger out.  I want more sumptiously illustrated adventures of the brave little mice and the scary world they live in.  Do it now, I command it!

Mouse Guard: Autumn 1152 (#1-6)

"We will fight and defend all that is ours" - Gwendolyn

You know, looking at what I have covered this month, it's been kind of bleak.  Rape and incest.  Mass machinegun massacres. Weird alien sex. A future where humanity is almost extinct and those who aren't are mind-slaves.  Undead walking fish and an apocalyptic stench. A village wiped out by those helping to defend it. A colony wiped out by madness, death and alien zombies, yes it's all got kind of depressing.  So it is to Mouse: Guard 1152 that I turn in the hope for something a little more uplifting - it has adorable anthromorphic mice in it 'fer chrissakes it's got to be more cheerful.  Mouse Guard: Autumn 1152 is the first miniseries featuring the titular guard, written and drawn by David Peterson and first published in 2006. The Mouse Guard are soldiers dedicated to protecting ordinary  mice from the dangers of the world they live in. This volume follows the investigation by three members of the guard - Lieam, Kenzie and Saxon - of the possibility that there is a traitor in the ranks. The artwork is beautiful, seriously good stuff, the mice are wonderfully expressive and the threats they face everyday marvellously depicted.  The dialogue is fairly sparse as Peterson lets the images tell the story and the whole thing, bound in a lavish hardcover, feels a lot like a childrens storybook, which is no bad thing. So let's continue.

Each chapter starts with a text page.  Chapter one starts with an introduction to the Guard.  The Mouse Guard was formed and after the "weasel war in the winter of 1149 the territories are no longer trouble." The Guard are escorts, pathfinders, weather watchers, scouts and body guards.  The keep the borders safe and lead shipmets from one town to another.

Narration: "Hail those who are able, any mouse can, any mouse with, but the Guard will prevail."

Then the comic begins with an old mouse pulling a cart of grain.  He stops for a while in a wood, then someone or something approaches unseen and he disappears.  We then cut to Lieam, Kenzie and Saxon investigating his vanishing.  Saxon climbs a tree and spots the cart.  There is no blood by it and it is getting dark so they make camp and take in turns to stand guard. 

Lieam, Kenzie and Saxon, our main characters.

The next day Saxon finds a trail of grain, however it leads to a large snake.  Our mice here are the same size as normal mice so a snake is very dangerous.  They try to attack it but it is too much and they retreat to a hole in a tree until it is safe to leave.  Saxon says reproachfully that they could have taken it. Kenzie responds that they couldn't have and "it's not what you fight for but who you fight for."

They venture back out and find a nest of snake eggs which they enthusiastically smash.  But then the snake reappears.  Lieam allows the snake to start swallowing him and once half inside it's mouth he stabs his sword up through the snakes head and kills it.  "We turn around and you're inside a snake" chides Saxon as he and Kenzie pull him out of the snakes mouth.

They slit it open and find the missing grain merchant inside.  They then head to "Barkstone" and Kenzie reveals that the grain merchant was a traitor and was delivering Mouse Guard secrets to person or persons unknown.

Lieam proves his worth.

The next chapter begins by telling us that Gwendolyn, Head of the Mouse Guard has sent to word to Sadie who watches the shoreline and asks her to make contact with a missing Guard member called Conrad who is incommunicado.  So Sadie heads to his shoreline dwelling Calogero.

She sits in a leaf and rows her way to Calogero.  She finds messages from the Guard hidden outside and footprints leading away that can't be Conrad's as he has a peg-leg.  She goes into Calogero and think it abandoned, then Conrad appears behind her and holds a fish-hook to her throat saying "speak if yeh wish to keep your life."  Sadie says Gwendolyn sent her to find him and Conrad relaxes, saying Gwendolyn must know about the traitor.

Conrad surprises Sadie.

When Sadie queries this, Conrad says he'd recognise the voice, but then wobbles and collapses, passing out.  He comes around a few hours later, Sadie has built a fire and made some soup.  A grateful Conrad drinks some up.  He starts to tell her he suspected a traitor "a season ago".  He tucked himself in the ceiling of Calogero with only a bottle of booze for company and saw a merchant mouse pledge his service to one who was shrouded in shadows, and was handed a map of Lockhaven.

He was going to follow but Sadie arrived and he needed to check her voice to make sure she wasn't the shadowy mouse.  Sadie says they will make for Lockhaven the next day.  They wake up and it is mid-morning but the windows are dark, they discover that it is because Calogero is covered in crabs.

They break out through the thatched ceiling but it looks like they crabs won't allow them to go.  Conrad uses his hook and thread to attack and confuse them, Sadie attacks another but loses her daggers in the process.  She is grabbed by one, but Conrad manages to climb on top of it and squeeze it's eye stalks and it lets her go.  He tells her to run as a crab grabs him, they crowd round and we hear but are thankfully spared the sight of him being crunched apart.  "Goodbye brave friend" says Sadie to herself as she runs away in tears.

A nasty case of crabs.

Hey, no!  I loved Conrad.  Thanks mainly to the art I gave more of a damn about him in less than one chapter than I did for the seven main characters in Demon Knights volume one.  A peg-legged, alcoholic, badass mouse?  Awesome.  Conrad, you were only around for a few pages but you made your mark most excellently.

Saxon, Kenzie and Lieam head to Barkstone.  They do not know who the traitor is and don't know what information Sadie has nor about the death of Conrad.  They decide to take the subtle approach in Barkstone. "Saxon knows not from 'subtle'" snarks Lieam.  They cross paths with a black mouse called Midnight who greets them as fellow guards.  Lieam starts to tell him about the traitor, but Kenzie stops him, saying just that the merchant was eaten by a serpent and they were too late. 

Barkstone.

The Midnight affably leaves, and Kenzie says they don't know who to trust right now.  They enter Barkstone, a small town full of mice and surreptiously search for leads but come up empty.  Then Kenzie says they have been followed:

Kenzie: "This is not open country.  We are not the law here.  We have no authority"

He then says he has a diversionary plan.  Saxon calls out to the townsmice that there will be a fight between two guard members, a crowd quickly gathers and they start laying bets.  Kenzie and Saxon fight, giving Lieam a chance to anonymously slip off his cloak and sword and get away unseen.

He goes to the map shop and inquires after a detailed map of Lockhaven.  "Come to join the Axe, eh?" says they shopkeeper.  He says he expects delivery of it shortly but that it has been delayed.  He says he has heard there are Guardsmice in the town but with or without the map "We march at dawn".  Upstairs Lieam spots some mice changing into black armour.

Kenzie and Saxon playfight a little too seriously.

Outside Kenzie and Saxon are still battling, suddenly they are captured and subdued by black clad mice using lassos.  They are dragged out of the town and we next see them in a house in a tree.  They are hung upside down in a room with a mouse smoking a pipe in front of the fire.

We find out that Lieam is hiding out in the ranks of the black clad militia, the "Axe". and the old mouse is called Celenawe who dragged Kenzie and Lieam into his house after the guards left them outside the town for dead, "and a dark plot quietly grows."

Celenawe heats a poker and demands to know what "you little theives have done with my axe?" Kenzie says the Guard are not theives.  Celenawe says the axe "stood for all I stood for, what the old Guard stood for."  It was the "Black Axe".  Saxon manages to free himself and he and Celenawe fight.

Celanawe.

Still hung upside down Kenzie says Barkstone is corrupt and hiding a plot to over throw Lockhaven.  He frees himself and shows Celanawe the map they took from the dead merchant's cart.  Maps of Lockhaven are not supposed to leave the town's walls.  The fight has caused a fire to break out and Kenzie makes a plea to Celenawe:

Kenzie: "A group is plotting against the Guard.  I believe they have also stolen your axe.  If the guards ancient champion the Black Axe lives, let him help us.  Else, the guard may perish."

The army of black clad mice with Lieam still disguised in their midst are on the march to join up with the rest of the army of the "Axe".  Lieam tries to sneak away, but as he takes off his disguise, he is confronted by two of the Axe.  They attack him with spears but he breaks the ends off.  They beat him with the sticks instead and one grabs him in an armhold and they take him to their commander who is lurking in the darkness of the back of a hollow log.

Lieam is captured.

The mysterious unseen mouse promises to spare Lieam if he agrees to join their attack on Lockhaven.  "No" says Lieam simply.  After threatening to behead him when they reach Lockhaven as a gift for Gwendolyn the Mouse Guard leader, the voice then says to tie up Lieam and bring him with them.

Meanwhile Saxon, Kenzie and Celenawe have escaped the burning tree-home.  Kenzie says they will recover Celenawe's legendary axe.  Saxon points out a muddy trail where the army of the Axe passed through towards Lockhaven and they start to follow it.

Lieam: [thinks] "The Guard has been betrayed.  Midnight, the Guard's weaponsmith revealed himself as commander of the army, the 'Axe'".

Midnight armed with The Black Axe.

Lieam is securely tied up, it's pouring with rain and the army of the Axe draws closer to Lockhaven.  Midnight says he will approach the gates alone and when they open them they'll coquer the fortress together.  Midnight tells Lieam that the Guard is useless, only pawns of the towns and cities:

Midnight: "The territories need one sole leader who can offer peace and prosperity.  One who is not afraid to hunt down our predators.  One who is more than a mere Guard mouse."

And he brandishes the stolen Black Axe, saying he will command every creature with it.  There are then some text pages filling in the history of The Black Axe.  It was taken up by a mouse of Lockhaven, his true name kept a secret, "he took the name of his weapon, The Black Axe."

We then cut to Kenzie and Saxon following Celenawe at a distance.  Kenzie wonders if he could be the legendary Black Axe, but Saxon says he is not old enough.  They also wonder why if he was the Black Axe he gave no help in the Winter War.  "My assisstance was given.  Because you failed to notice it does not mean it did not exist."

Celenawe heads to higher ground and points out a place where he stashed some weapons near Lockhaven.  They find two rusted swords, which Celenawa gives to Kenzie and Saxon saying he will be fine without.

Sadie warns them just in time.

A mouse enters through the main gate of Lockhaven and turns out to be Sadie.  She gives her superior, Rand, the information that a map of Lockhaven has was handed to a traitor.  Rand orders a lockdown and places the Guard on high alert.  They brace the main gate and put archers in the windows.

Midnight: "Our suprise is lost.  Prepare for an all out assault!"

Saxon, Kenzie and Celenawe lurk in the bushes and Saxon makes a plan; kill the leader, save Lieam and conquer the army.  But Kenzie thinks the plan suicide and Celenawe agrees saying three against one-hundred is poor odds.  He then tells them of a secret passageway into Lockhaven that won't be sealed.

Outside, Midnight calles for Gwendolyn or he'll kill Lieam.  The Axe then break down the front door and a group including Midnight and Lieam rush inside.  But then the rusted portcullis is snipped by a mouse and drops down behind them meaning the rest of the army can't yet follow.  In the confusion of battle as the first mice guards start fighting the Axe, Lieam manages to sneak away still tied up.

Ah the Bees, my eyes, my eyes!

The Apiary Keeper is asked if he'll allow his bees to be used as weapons against the Axe and he agrees and the bees start attacking the army outside.  Some of the Guard want to take Gwendolyn somewhere safe but she says "no" she will make her stand with them.  Lieam manages to free himself and grabs a sword and dagger.  He then metes out some payback on some of the Axe in the stronghold.

Midnight confronts Gwendolyn, he accuses her of being a puppet.  He wants to rule everywhere.

Gwendolyn: "Villages and towns will remain free to do as they please, and the Guard will not stand down."

Midnight: "Then they will be forced to comply under the authority of The Black Axe."

Celenawe suddenly appears, followed by Saxon and Kenzie from a secret passage that lead to Gwendolyn's office.  He says to Midnight he has come to claim what's his.  There is an epic fight and finally Celenawe wrestles the Black Axe from Midnight.

Celenawe takes down Midnight.

He is about to kill him when Gwendolyn yells "Stop!"  She doesn't want Midnight to become a martyr.  Midnight is banished instead and the main story comes to an end.  But there is an epilogue that takes the form of Gwendolyn writing in her diary.

She worries about distrust of the Guard and how the one hundred or so warriors of the Axe, simply went back to their old lives.  Sadie has been reassigned to Lockhaven and been denied the retrieval of Conrad's remains.  Kenzie and Saxon remain the best of friends and rivals.  Young Lieam is being mentored by Celenawe who's identity as The Black Axe is being kept a secret.  She winds up by noting that winter is coming and they are dangerously low on supplies and so this miniseries ends.

Gwendolyn wraps things up.

How fantastic is this indie comic?  A great cast of characters, a believable world sketched out in broad detail with everyday creatures shown to be epic threats.  The autumnal quality a prescence all the way through.  An exciting story with cool fight scenes and just beautiful, beautiful art.  There are  more books in the series, Mouse Guard: Black Axe is a prequel.  Mouse Guard: Legends Of The Guard is a series of one-shots and the one I am most interested in reading is the direct sequel, Mouse Guard: Winter 1152, which for some unfathomable reason is out of print and going for stupid amounts of money on Amazon.  I can only offer a plea to whom it may concern to put it back in print so I can enjoy more adventures of the badass little mice (RIP Conrad).  This is also a book I intend to put into use getting my young nephew into comic books.  Although it's not a "kids comic" by any manner of means, it is "kid friendly" and with so few comics nowadays being suitable for children it's nice to have one that can be used to instill a joy of comics at a young age.  Any fan of comics that are a little bit different should have this on their shelves and I absolutely love it.