morning light to come stealing over the horizon.
* * *
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Something had gone radically wrong with the flooding. Bella slumped in the
grass by the river with Skipper. "No joy, marrn?" he asked solicitously. "I'm
afraid not, Skipper. There seems to be only a trickle going down the tunnels."
Lady Amber joined the pair. "Aye, it seemed to be going , go well at first.
D'you think it's because it's summer and we haven't had much rain?" she
suggested. : Skipper chewed a blade of grass. "Maybe so. There's not .»lot
we can do about it, anyway."
; "Maybe we could dam the river?" Bella offered tentatively.
- "Impossible, marm," the Skipper of otters snorted. "Dam the River Moss?
Stow me barnacles, you couldn't hope to r«top a river that size from flowin'
to the sea." Columbine stopped by to join the discussion. "Perhaps it will
fill gradually."
. "Aye, missie," Skipper chuckled drily. "We could all sit there growing
old and watch it doin' just that. No, we'll give
-ft a bit more time, then if things are still the same we'll have
to think of another scheme." v Lady Amber whacked her tail down irritably. f
"After all that underwater digging and tunneling, then fthere's the lives
that were lost, too. Huh, it makes me mad!" ;; The river carried on flowing
its normal course, only a thin
trickle diverting down the tunnels.
'it was the evening of the following day. Abbess Germaine imd Columbine were
helping Ben Stickle to take the little (Ones out for an evening stroll along
the river bank. Ferdy and fCoggs played with Spike and Posy, together with
some young ;4aice. They were sailing miniature boats that Ben had made :for
them.
Germaine watched fondly as the young ones dashed boisterously up and down the
bank, bursting with energy after being confined to Brockhall the past few
days.
"Be careful, Spike. Watch you don't fall in," she called.
"See my boat, Abbess. It's faster than Coggs's."
"Ooh look, Ferdy is cheating. He's pushing his boat with ;«i stick." '; "No,
I'm not. It's the wind. Mine has a bigger sail."
':•
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"Columbine, mine has gone down the hole. Can you get it back for me, please?"
"Sorry, Spike. It's gone for good now. Never mind, I'm sure Ben will make you
another."
Ben Stickle crouched to look down the hole where the boat had vanished. He
stood up, wiping his paws and shaking his head.
"Flood tunnels, they're about as much use as an otter in a bird's nest. How
far d'you suppose they'll have filled up the lake under Kotir? A paw's height?
A whisker's level?"
The Abbess watched the rays of the setting sun through the trees. "Who knows,
Ben. One thing is certain, though: Kotir still stands, dark and evil as ever
it was. What a shame that Foremole and Old Dinny's plan never worked."
They turned back to Brockhall.
"Bella says there's no likelihood of rain; the weather is staying fine," Ben
added.
Ferdy tucked the boat under his small spines.
"Maybe they should have done it in the winter, Ben," the Abbess observed
unhelpfully.
Ben ruffled Ferdy's head. "Maybe frogs should have had feathers. Come on,
young 'uns. Get your boats. Back to Brockhall and wash up for supper.' *
It was a warm night. As the Corim sat about in the main room, an air of defeat
hung over the company.
Bella yawned, stretching in her deep armchair.
"Well, any more suggestions?"
There were none. The badger searched one face then another. "Then we must
explore the possibilities open to us. But let me say this, I do not want to
hear any more plans of mass attack or open war."
Skipper and Lady Amber shifted uncomfortably.
"Foremole and Old Dinny still think that the flooding will work, if they can
figure out certain alterations to the original plan," Bella continued. "I know
a lot of us do not agree with this, but personally I think that the flooding
is our only hope. With this in mind, I propose we visit the site tomorrow
morning. Maybe with all the Corim there we might come up with a good idea. If
not, then there is only one other sensible thing to do."
312
Goody Stickle wiped her paws on her flowery apron.
•'What might that be, Mix Bella?"
"To move all the woodlanders and everything we can carry away from here. We
would travel east to Gingivere's new borne. I have told you that he and
Sandingomm will accommodate us. We would find a welcome there, far away from
Kotir."
Skipper jumped up, unhappiness written on his tough features. "But that'd mean
the cat has won."
Cries of support rang out for the otter leader.
"Yes, why should we be driven out?"
"We already left our homes to come to Brockhall."
• "It wouldn't be the same in a strange place." "I was bora around here.
I'm not moving!" Abbess Germaine banged a wooden bowl upon the table to
restore order, but it broke in two.
"Silence, friends, please. Let Bella speak," she shouted above the din.
, Bella picked up the two halves of the bowl, and smiled ^Mefiilly at
Germaine.
"Thank you, Abbess. Friends, there is more to my plan first meets the eye. If
we were to make this move I am ^peaking of, then think of its effect upon
Kotir. Tsarmina would not have won; she would not have chased us through pie
woods—we would have left of our own free will. Now, what would it accomplish?
Imagine for a moment if we stayed io the east until next summer, or even
spring. All the time we were gone the water would continue to run down the
flood tunnels. In autumn there is more rain and the wind drives the liver
faster. Winter would see the current run under the ice, and on warm days the
snow would feed the river and swell it. Finally when the thaw arrived in
spring, the river waters would flood, mighty and unchecked, then we would
truly see the lake rise beneath Kotir. One other thing. Between now and next
spring my father, Boar the Fighter, may arrive. He
•tone can face Tsarmina and defeat her. That is all; I have spoken my piece."
>• Foremole rose and came to the table. Taking the two broken halves of the
wooden bowl, he held them up.
**We be loik this hobjeck—splitted up we'm baint much >
313
use. But if n us sticken t'gether, then we'm useful, hurr." He pressed the two
halves together for all to see.
Old Dinny seconded him. "Foremole be roight, Miz Bell. 'Tis wunnerful
molesense."
Columbine was allowed her say.
"Let us do as Bella suggests. Tomorrow we will go to the flood tunnels, then
if nothing can be done we will follow her plan."
Immediate agreement followed.
"See, Columbine," the Abbess said, picking up the broken bowl in her frail
paws, "old and weak as I am, yet somehow I managed the strength to perform a
small bit of magic. Let us sleep now. It is late, and tomorrow we can tidy up
here and wash the dishes—all except this one."
The Abbess placed the broken halves carefully on the table.
"Maybe a lesson in mole logic would not be a bad thing for a wildcat Queen to
learn."
Log-a-Log was in his element as leader of his tribe once more, he roused the
entire village an hour before dawn to get the ship under way. With a hundred
extra shrews to help, Wuddshipp fairly flew along the river. When they were
not rowing, they were punting, pushing or hauling on ropes.
"Come on shrews, hoist sail," Log-a-Log commanded. "Two of you on this tiller.
Make yourselves busy. Double up on the oars there. You two in the crosstrees,