Down below on the causeway stairs, Matthias heard the voice of his son rise clear over the pounding
drumbeats and the noise of war. A great wave of shuddering joy swept over him, and he began fighting
like a berserker. Rats dissolved in front of him as he battered his way madly up the steps. Nothing could
stand in front of the Redwall Champion and his army.
Basil Stag Hare whooped with happiness as he struck out powerfully with his long limbs.
“Hoorah, Cheek old lad. Let’s show these rotters what a fight looks like. Right, you wicked bounders,
look out. Here comes the hare for the job!”
Tess Churchmouse and Sam Squirrel flung themselves in like twin windmills of spinning chain.
“This is for the beating and the marching and the lashing and the starving.”
Thwack! Swish! Crack! Swoosh!
The woodlanders fought with renewed heart and hope. Black-robed rats went hurling over the ledge, they
fell back down the steps, and for the first time they tried to escape by the tunnel entrance. Orlando hurried
through and blocked their exit. He stood with his back against the door, wielding his axe.
“Come to me, come to me, rats. Eeeulaliaaaaa!”
The shrews fought like little demons under the leadership of Flugg, their new Log-a-Log. Leaping and
stabbing, twisting and hacking, they were everywhere at once, shouting the Guosim war cry:
“Logalogalogalog!”
Nadaz saw the battle had gone against the creatures of Malkariss. All was lost. The purple-robed rat
slipped quietly off the drum. Abandoning his bone sceptre, he weaved between the blackrobes until he was
behind the statue of the white polecat. Only Tim Churchmouse saw him enter the statue. He remembered
what he had just seen before leaping back into the fray.
Now Matthias and his slave army were near the top of the causeway steps. Behind them they left a trail of
slain blackrobes. Others had leapt from the stairs into the void rather than face the creatures they had
treated so cruelly, or the hot-eyed warlord who led them.
Basil and Mattimeo fought their way down the causeway until they met Matthias on the stairs. The old
hare twirled his ears in the most curious manner.
“What ho, Warrior. I see you’ve taken steps to help us, wot?”
The light of battle left Matthias’s eyes as he gazed upon his long-lost young one. He threw his paws
round Mattimeo, hugging him fiercely. Tears sprang to the Warrior’s eyes as he pressed his face against his
son’s ragged habit.
“Matti, you’re here, you’re alive, by the stones of Redwall!”
Mattimeo clung tightly to his father, sobbing and laughing at the same time.
“I knew you’d find me someday! I knew it!”
Basil nodded back towards the ledge. “Come on, chaps. There’s still a battle t’ be finished. Those
blighters don’t want to give up. Gang of bally fanatics, if you ask me.”
Outside, the small wooded copse lay peaceful. Butterflies fluttered about the business of summer,
grasshoppers chirrupped and small insects slept on mossy stones, oblivious to the carnage that raged in the
charnel house beneath them.
A short distance from the copse, Slagar lay behind a rocky outcrop, the deadly bolas grasped firmly in
his paws. Warm rays of golden sun beat down upon his torn and stained cloak, making the silken harlequin
pattern tawdry against the emerald green of the grass. The hood fluttered and moved spasmodically as the
Cruel One muttered to himself, his dreams of power shattered by the very creatures he had sworn
vengeance upon. But Slagar would never admit defeat after all he had been through. His breath rasped
harshly as he made insane promises to himself.
“Slagar will win in the end. Am I not the Lord of light and darkness? I never needed Malkariss or
Nadaz, or anybeast. If the blackrobes win then I will rule them. If Nadaz lives I will slay him and say it was
he who betrayed Malkariss. If the woodlanders are victorious then I will slay Matthias and take the sword. I
know now, the sword of Redwall is magic, and whoever holds it is the leader.”
The defeated woodlanders were huddled against the walls of Cavern Hole. Ironbeak stared at them and
wondered how a ragtailed little bunch of earthcrawlers managed to cause him so much trouble.
Under the fierce eye of the raven General, Cornflower drew baby Rollo close and hugged him.
Mangiz strutted up and down, his voice harsh with power. “Krakkah! Now, earthcrawlers, you will pay
for your defiance. I am the voice of the great General Ironbeak, mightiest fighter in all the northlands. He
does not wish to speak with scum like you. Think of all the silly little tricks you have played. You could not
fight like real warriors. Filthy grease and dirt, drugging our magpies, stupid mouse ghosts. Who did you
think you were dealing with?”
“A bunch of puffed-up feather bags!” Ambrose Spike said boldly.
The hedgehog was forced to curl up defensively as he was set upon by vicious rook beaks. Winifred
managed to fend them off. She helped Ambrose up, and he shook himself defiantly.
“They couldn’t hurt one of the Spikes. I’m all right,” he told the otter.
“Where is your great stripedog now?” Mangiz sneered. “She has run away in fright.”
Brother Rufus shook his curled up paw at the crow. “What have you done to our Constance, you
villain?”
“Silence, mouse! Worry about your own fate. The great stripedog will meet hers in good time, but you,
all of you, this day will be your last. You will die in this place!”
Abbot Mordalfus shuffled forward. “Let them go. It was none of their doing. I am Abbot here, and I
alone am responsible for defying your leader. Take me.”
Ironbeak dashed forward and knocked the Abbot down. “Yagga! I am Ironbeak. I say who lives or dies,
earthcrawler!”
Before anybeast could stop her, Sister May leapt at the raven leader. She kicked and bit, tearing
plumage from the raven’s puffed-out breast.
“You big bully. You leave our Abbot alone!” she shouted.
His dignity lost for a moment, Ironbeak hopped about wildly until he had shaken the mouse sister off.
As Sister May lay defenceless on the floor, the enraged raven began attacking her.
“Kraah! Stupid little earthcrawler, you will be the first to die!”
Cornflower and several other creatures were about to run in and help Sister May, when the thunderbolt
struck.
A giant red bird came soaring through from the wine cellar into Cavern Hole and struck Ironbeak like a
battering ram.
“Kreeeeeeegh! I am Stryk Redkite. You hurt Sissimay, I kill. Kill!”
Feared fighter as he was, Ironbeak did not stand a chance against the ferocity of the mountain bird.
There was a massive flurry of red and black feathers upon the floor of Cavern Hole. Over and over they
rolled, with Stryk always coming out uppermost, her great powerful talons and beak tearing and rending.
“Yaak! Help me!” Ironbeak managed to scream out to his fighters.
The barricade fell with an earsplitting crash, and Constance was in the middle of the rooks like a striped
whirlwind.
Cornflower and Mrs. Churchmouse managed to grab Rollo and the few little ones, and hurried them into
the kitchens. Settling the infants under the kitchen table, they ran to peer round the archway into Cavern
Hole and witnessed the liberation of Redwall Abbey.
Stryk Redkite fought Ironbeak across the shattered barricade and up the seven steps into Cavern Hole,