enemy. The huge, young badger was a fearsome sight, often he would cast Tung, his pitchfork, to one side, and grab a vermin from the edge. Lifting the foebeast high above his head, he would hurl him, screaming, into the mist-filled void. Salixa felt the rain driving on one side of her face, she called out in her excitement, "A wind is springing up!"
Maudie whooped. "Eulaliiiaaaa! That'll shift this bloomin' mist, wot! Come on, you vermin, let's see your foul faces. Come and face us!"
Like a magical spell, the driving wind cleared the air. Rangval groaned. "I wish ye hadn't said that, me darlin', just look at this mob comin' up at us!"
Brownrats and crew vermin could be clearly seen now, swarming up the cliffsides in their masses. There was enough of the enemy to swamp the plateau twice over. Maudie was beyond reason in her mad fury. She battered away with a captured Brownrat spear, roaring, "Yaaahaaar, let's see how many of 'em we can take with us, make 'em pay a dear price for this rock!"
Vizka Longtooth stepped out from the brush cover, his teeth bared in a triumphal grin as he turned to look at the plateau, where vermin were starting to clamber up onto the flat summit. "Guts'n' 'ellsteeth, dey've made it!"
Almost half of the first wave were on top, the second wave were only a short distance from joining them. Ragchin performed a little dance of delight. "Ya did it, Cap'n, we're winnin'. Yeeehoooo!"
A crew member, who was leaping up onto the plateau, heard Ragchin's shout. He turned, waving his blade, roaring back down to his shipmate, "Yeeeeh--"
Vizka saw him topple forward, with an arrow through him. The golden fox stared at Ragchin. "Wot's goin' on up dere?"
From behind him a bloodcurdling war cry rang out. "Redwaaaaaaaalllllll!"
It was Orkwil Prink and Abbot Daucus, heading the
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largest, most motley crowd of creatures ever assembled outside of Redwall Abbey. Scores of squirrel archers were sending flights of arrows zipping into the climbing vermin. These squirrels stayed in the upper treetops, moving neither backward or forward. In serried ranks upon the boughs they kept a constant shower of shafts, winging like angry wasps, dealing death widespread into the enemy. Moles, hedgehogs, mice, otters and more shrews, wielding a staggering array of makeshift weapons, came bulling through bush and shrub, howling fiercely. "Red-waaaaaaalllllll! Redwaaaaaaaallllll!"
Some crewbeasts and Brownrats came hurrying back to where Vizka was standing with his aides. The weasel named Jungo was clearly perplexed. He stared dully at the golden fox.
"We was up dere, Cap'n, I t'ink we was winnin', den arrows started bringin' our beasts down. Who is it, Cap'n, wot's all der shoutin' about?"
Vizka laughed, he shook Jungo by the paw, and moved among the others patting backs and nodding. "It ain't nothin', friends, I'll take care of it!" He gave a significant wink to Ragchin and the others. Gesturing Jungo to go back to attacking the plateau, Vizka called aloud, "Fight on! Fight on, me brave buckoes!" As Jungo and the Brownrats charged off to do his bidding, Vizka whispered to his five crewbeasts, "Time ta get outta dis place, take me ta the BludgulletV
The tide had turned on top of the plateau, now there were not so many vermin about. Maudie glanced down at those who were about halfway up. They had retreated from being a hairsbreadth from their goal, they seemed bewildered. Vizka Longtooth's shouts urged them to go forward, he was waving sword and mace as he called for them to fight on. However, the victory cries of vengeful Guosim shrews, and the carcasses of vermin hurtling down on them, swiftly decided their course of action. They
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turned and fled in retreat, attempting to avoid their new-assailants. The shouts of the Redwall supporters were everywhere. It was retribution time for Sea Raiders and the once-feared Brownrats of Gruntan Kurdly.
The fire of battle was in the blood of Mad Maudie (the Hon.) Mugsberry Thropple. She feinted with a right uppercut, and dealt a double flying footpaw kick to a large, fat Brownrat, who shot off into empty space with a despairing wail.
Rangval shook her paw cheerily. "We're saved, me darlin', look at 'em, the grand ould gang, an' wid our Orkwil leadin' the charge like the hero he is!"
The pair were almost knocked flat by a rush of Guosim, headed by Osbil, waving two rapiers like windmill sails. "We'll be singin' a Bladechant tonight, mates, c'mon, let's get 'em. Logalogalogalooooooog!"
Caught up in the moment, Maudie and Rangval scrambled over the rim, and went sliding downhill in the mire, chasing the remnants of their enemies. Gorath and Salixa stood watching the pursuit for a moment, then the big badger went and retrieved his pitchfork from where it lay nearby. He turned to Salixa. "I must go now, swiftly, I had a dream...."
The badgermaid silenced him with a upraised paw. "Go then, I will follow you as my dream told me to."
Without another word, he touched Tung to his flamelike scar, in salute to her, and vanished down the opposite side of the rim. A moment later the plateau was deserted, apart from the bodies of the slain. Salixa had followed the trail of Maudie and the rest. She, too, had a dream to fulfill.
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By midmorning the rain had ceased and the wind became a mere whisper of breeze. Mossflower came back under the spell of halcyon summer. Watching the back trail, to see they were not being followed, Vizka and his five cohorts emerged from the woodlands. Dripping with dew and drizzle from the foliage, they halted on the path, panting as they got their bearings. Redwall Abbey's bell tower was visible to the south, the golden fox turned to face north. "Dat way to der ford an' d'ship."
Firty cocked an ear at a sound from the woodlands. "Somebeast comin', Cap'n, we been follered."
Vizka ran across the path. "In der ditch, quick!"
They leapt into the ditch, which separated the path from the flatlands. It was full of mud and nettles, and was a sticky and uncomfortable landing, but nobeast made a sound. Crouched on the ditchbed, the crew vermin held their breath as Vizka risked a speedy glance over the bank. He uttered a sigh of relief as a familiar cackle sounded from the underbrush.
It was Glurma, the fat, old cook of the Bludgullet. She waddled across and peered into the ditch, treating her shipmates to a snaggletoothed grin. "Heehee, ya wuddent t'ink o' sneakin' off widout ole Glurma, now, would ye?"
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Vizka scowled. "Anyone else follerin' us?"
Glurma sat down on the path. "Only me, Cap'n, jus' ole Glurma. Der rest of ya fine crew's prob'ly waitin' at 'ell-gates right now, pore fools."
The golden fox glared at her. "Alright, ya better git down 'ere wid de others."
Glurma twitched her snout at the rank odour of mud and wet loam. She shook her head. "Nah, I'm too long in me seasons t'be wadin' round in dat lot. I'll jus' walk on der path alongside ya."
Vizka beckoned, as though he had something secret to impart. The fat cook bent, so he could whisper in her ear. She did not even see the spiked metal mace, which snuffed out her life in the wink of an eye. Vizka stepped back disdainfully. "Stupid ole fool, she'd give us away walkin' along in clear view. Stow 'er down 'ere, Glurma ain't goin' nowheres!"
Shocked into silence by the swift and callous murder, the crewbeasts obeyed their captain's order. Vizka thrust the sword of Martin through his waist sash, he shouldered the mace without a backward glance at his victim. "Git goin', 'tis safer down 'ere where we can't be seen!"
Back amid the woodlands near the plateau, Orkwil was being reunited with his friends. Rangval ruffled the young hedgehog's headspikes fondly.
"We thought ye were a goner when ye went astray. Where did ye go, mate?"
Orkwil related his story. "I was climbin' up to the top o' that rock, with you an' Maudie, in the dark. Then I tripped an' fell, right down the hill. Must've banged my head agin a rock, 'cos I blacked out for awhile. Then I came around a bit, an' went wanderin' off. I was still only half-conscious, an' there was vermin all over the place, Brownrats an' Sea Raiders, far too many of 'em, I thought. So I made me way back to Redwall, an' reported everythin' to the Abbot an' that good ole badger, Tabura I think ye call him."