Old Phredd croaked impatiently. “See what? I can’t see a thing!”
Brother Weld described what he had seen. “The big badger fired off an arrow, huh, more like a spear. It struck a Searat, up on the ramparts. Got the vermin dead centre and drove him clear off the wall onto the lawn!”
Sister Setiva shook her head in disbelief. “Och, what a shot, ah’ve never seen aught like it!”
The Abbeybeasts set up a great cheer. Lonna caught sight of them and waved. Leaning out from the upper windows, the Redwallers waved back furiously, shouting encouragement.
“Give ’em blood’n’vinegar, well done, friend!”
“That’s the stuff big feller, keep those shafts coming!”
“Hurr, zurr hoojbeast, you’m give ee vurmints ole billyoh!”
With her eyes shining fiercely, Martha yelled at Toran, “Isn’t he magnificent! Can’t we do anything to help him?”
The ottercook bit his lip anxiously. “We got nothin’ to throw that’d span the range twixt this Abbey an’ the walltops, ’tis too far off for slingstones. There ain’t a single bow’n’arrer in the buildin’. I’d love to ’elp the big badger, but wot kin we do, miss, wot?”
Brother Gelf, normally a quiet, inobtrusive mouse, spoke out. “Er, I may be able to help, but I’ll need to be down in Great Hall. I think I’ll need a long windowpole, some twine, a couple of those pepper bombs and a few stones. Er, make them slightly larger than slingstones, but not much.”
His curiosity immediately piqued, the Abbot bowed to Gelf. “You shall have them, Brother. Let’s go down to Great Hall. No pushing there, please, let Gelf go first.”
Up on the walltops the Searats were lying low, stunned by the accuracy of the bowbeast. Raga Bol was trying to instil some confidence n his crew. “We’re safe be’ind this wall, buckoes. That stripedog’s got to stay out of our range. Soon as ’e moves forward we’ll get ’im. Ain’t been a beast born yet that spears an’ arrers can’t slay. All’s we gotta do is stay inside these walls!”
Wirga shuffled closer to Bol. “Aye, but while we’re on the inside, the stripedog has us pinned down from the outside. No Searat owns a weapon with the range an’ power of that big bow, Cap’n.”
Bol did not want to hear this. He stared cold-eyed at the Seer. “What would ye ’ave me do then, run out an’ charge ’im?”
The loss of her three sons rankled Wirga, who now did not lose the opportunity to needle Bol. “We outnumber the bigbeast by about twoscore. I never saw a Searat cap’n back off with those odds on his side!”
Before Bol could strike out, or argue against Wirga, a Searat further along the parapet gave out a shout. “Aaargh, wot the . . . Oooch!”
He fell sideways, slain by one of the big arrows. Raga Bol crawled swiftly along and inspected the dead crewrat. “Wot in the name o’ blood’n’thunder ’appened to ’im?”
Cowering fearfully against the battlements, the rat who had been crouching beside the victim babbled out. “I saw it, Cap’n! Gornat was ’it by summat from be’ind. There ’tis, see, one o’ those liddle bags o’ pepper, tied on a string, wid a stone at the other end!”
Bol unwound the object from around Gornat’s waist. “From be’ind, this thing got ’im—ye mean from the Abbey?”
The Searat nodded vigourously. “Aye, it came from over that way, I swear it, Cap’n. Pore Gornat got a terrible smack from it, the thing ’it ’im an’ wrapped right round ’is waist. It musta cracked a rib, ’cos Gornat shouted an’ jumped up. That’s when the arrer took ’im, straight through the neck!”
Turning to face the Abbey building, Raga Bol saw another of the missiles come whirling through the air. It spun round and round on its twine, weighted on one end by the pepper bomb and on the other by the stone. This time it missed and struck the wallside. The pepper bomb burst, sending its load over two rats crouched directly beneath. One had the sense to stay down and do his sneezing. The other leaped up and sneezed once, then an arrow silenced him for good.
Down in Great Hall, the Redwallers had unblocked the shutters from one of the tall windows.
Toran took the windowpole from Brother Gelf. “Can I try yore new slingpole out, Brother?”
Gelf smiled quietly. “Be my guest, sir.”
Laying the twine across the hooked metal end of the pole, the ottercook raised it straight up, facing out of the window. Holding the end of the pole in both paws, he let it lean back across his shoulder until it lay flat. Then he whipped it upright with swift force. The missile flew off through the high open window. There was a short interval of silence, followed by an agonized screech.
Toran grinned. “It works!”
There was no shortage of the homemade weapons. More window poles were brought, and more volunteers came forward, eager to try out the new weapons. Competition became so fierce that, owing to several of the defenders hurling the missiles at the same time, some of them missed the open window space. These projectiles struck the walls and lintels, bouncing back into Great Hall and bursting. Undeterred, the Abbeybeasts kept going, muffling their faces with towels. Soon, however, the atmosphere proved too much for the onlookers; many fled the scene, sneezing uproariously.
The Dibbuns thought the whole thing was huge fun. They chortled and giggled, dashing about and bumping into one another, shouting, “Hachoo! Blesha! Harrachoo! O blesha blesha!”
Martha helped Abbot Carrul and some of the elders to shepherd the little ones downstairs into Cavern Hole. The haremaid actually carried two Dibbuns down the steps on her back, chuckling and joking with them.
The Abbot cautioned her. “Careful, Martha, should you really be doing that? You don’t want to put too much strain on those limbs!”
Martha deposited the Abbeybabes in a corner seat. “Oh fiddledeedee, Father, I feel stronger than I’ve ever felt. It’s as if I had brand-new footpaws and legs, they’re as supple as greased springs!”
Granmum Gurvel sent down some kitchen helpers to carry baskets of fresh-baked tarts and pastries and jugs of sweet elderflower cordial.
Martha lent a paw to serve the Dibbuns, then went to sit on the stairs with the Abbot. She felt very happy and carefree as they shared the food. “Oh Father, isn’t it wonderful, having that giant badger on our side! I wager things will be different now.”
The Abbot seemed somewhat thoughtful, though he agreed with her. “Yes, indeed, those Searats obviously fear the big badger a lot. Wouldn’t it be marvellous if he were inside the Abbey with us? Things would be so much easier.”
Martha sipped her cordial. “In what way?”
The Abbot warmed to the subject, propounding a theory which had been growing in his mind ever since he had first sighted Lonna standing out on the flatlands.
“Our badger fires that bow like a mighty warrior, that’s for certain. If he were inside the Abbey with us, I guarantee he’d send those Searats packing in short order.”
Martha thought for a moment about what the Abbot had said. “Aye, he could stand at the dormitory windows and pick the Searats off at his leisure. They’re hemmed in by the outer walls, so it would make it hard for them to avoid him. The badger could use the upstairs windows on all sides.”
Abbot Carrul put aside his food. “But the problem is that the badger’s outside the walls at the moment. Those Searats aren’t stupid, they’re not likely to leave Redwall and take their chances outside. Not with that giant and his bow waiting for them.”
Martha saw the wisdom in her Abbot’s logic. “Hmm, that could make Raga Bol doubly dangerous to us because he’ll probably try twice as hard to get inside the Abbey now. It would give him an advantage over the badger, who would have to fight his way into the grounds and take the Searats on from inside the grounds. That would place him in range of their weapons. Oh dear, I wonder what the answer is to all of this!”