Durry, Rufe, and Patch were fighting as a team. Slinging hard pebbles they would pop up in strategic places, hurl off a volley, and drop down again, only to appear in another place. Rufe spotted Silvamord slinking along the side of a corridorthe vixen was looking for an avenue of escape. Threading her way between the horderats that were backed to the wall, she weaved sinuously toward one of the staircases, staying well away from the area where Muta and Rab were beset by a crowd of gray foe-beasts. Setting a good-sized stone in his sling, Rufe swung it hard and accurately. It struck the vixen somewhere between neck and shoulder, and she went down. Yelling triumphantly, the young squirrel threaded his way through the chaos to where Silvamord lay. Durry saw him go and followed him, calling out, “Rufe, come back here! Stay with men Patch!
Patch had not realized Rufe was elsewhere until he heard Durrys shout. Seeing the danger his friend was in, the shrew overtook Durry, crying out a warning. “Rufe, stay away from her!
The young squirrel had reached Silvamord. He turned his back on her, shouting to his friends, “Ive captured their leader!
Silvamord sprang up and slashed at his back with her sword. Patch saw Rufe go down. He hurtled forward and threw himself upon the vixen; swinging his stone-loaded sling, he caught her in the face as she brought the sword up to finish Rufe off. Silvamord thrust backward at the shrew, clinging doggedly to her backshe felt him go limp and slide off. A slingstone caught her paw, and Durry rushed in howling as he readied another stone to his sling. With a snarl the vixen raced off up the stairs.
Freeing himself of a rat, Rab Streambattle glimpsed Silvamord disappearing up the steps and pointed in her direction. Flinging aside a stunned rat, Muta grunted and took off in pursuit Rab went in an entirely different direction, as fast as his paws would carry him. He knew Floret and he was certain of the exact point on the battlements where the vixen would emerge.
Rufe staggered upright helped by Durry, The hedgehog saw the rent in his friends tunic and the blood seeping from his back. “Rufe, she got you. Are you all right?
Rufe crouched beside Patch, cradling the shrews head in his paws as he replied, “Im wounded, but Ill live. Whats wrong with Patch?
Durry saw the rips on both sides of the shrews tunic and the spreading dark stains. Silvamords sword had gone right through. Patchs head lolled to one side as he smiled weakly into Rufes face. “Told you Id look after you, didnt I, mate?
The eyes of Patch, the loyal Guosim shrew, clouded over and closed for the last time. Durry Quill turned and guarded both his friends. Rufe had both paws around the body of his protector, weeping softly as he rocked him back and forth.
Silvamord panted hard as she pushed herself upward on the stones of the spiral stairs. Behind her she could hear the relentless pad of Mutas paws getting nearer. Not daring to look back, the vixen pressed onward and upward, fear clutching her heart in its icy claws. Fumbling hastily, she unlatched the roof door, slamming it behind her as she dashed out onto the battlements with a sob of relief.
Rab Streambattle stepped out from behind a turret, sword at the ready. Silvamord heard the door behind her burst into matchwood as the badger came cannoning out onto the battlemented roof. Whirling like lightning, she struck at Muta. The badger dodged aside, catching the blade in one paw as it hit the stonework. Though the edge cut into Mutas paw, she hardly felt itthe hated vixen standing before her was all that she could see. Dragging the sword from Silvamords nerveless grasp, the big badger snapped the blade between her paws like a twig. With a scream of terror, the vixen took a running leap over the battlements.
Muta and Rab dashed to the edge and watched Silvamord falling, down, down, down, to land with a dull splash in the moat.
Rab smiled into Mutas angry, frustrated eyes. “Shes mine, friend. Nothing escapes from an otter in water!
Dropping his sword, Rab sailed in a graceful arc as he dived from the battlements of Floret. He struck the water cleanly with hardly a splash. Muta watched the still moat from her high vantage point for a long time, but nothing disturbed the water save ripples. Then she saw Rab slip from the water and sit watching on the bank. Moments later a still-bloated form bobbed to the surface. Rab had spoken truly; nothing did escape an otter in the water. Silvamord, the mate of Urgan Nagru, was no more threat to any living creature than the weeds she floated among. A great calm fell over the badger as she waved to her friend below.
The horderats were broken and defeated inside Castle Floret. Pearl Queens crew and Bleruns otters had helped Mariel and her friends to carry the day. Parties of the victors scoured passage and chamber, combing out any final pockets of resistance. Mariel and Dandin watched a wall curtain moving slightly.
“Looks like a couple hiding behind that curtain. Lets give them a Redwall greeting! the mousemaid whispered as she readied her Gullwhacker.
A lump stuck out of the curtain fabric and Mariel gave it a sharp tap with the knotted rope.
““Ouchooch! I say, go easy there, you rotters!
Dandin ripped the curtain aside to reveal the Hon Rosie Woodsorrel, rubbing her rear end ruefully. “Hah, so there you are at last. Whereve you been? she cried.
Mariel thoughtfully hid the Gullwhacker behind her back. “Hello, Rosie. I think we should be asking you where youve been.
The garrulous harewife shifted a fallen rat and sat down wearily on the floor. “Well may you ask, young uns; well may you ask! Ive been doin a passable impression of a bloomin mole. Lost underground in all those bally tunnels an turns, trekkin this way an that until I was dizzy. Dont snigger, you two. Snot funny, yknow. Moles have my undyin sympathy if they have to tramp around tunnels all their lives. No wonder they speak funny. I say, have I missed the jolly old battle? Not a scrap left for Rosie, eh? Well, theres a-fine thingcome all this way through shipwrecks an sharks t be disappointed. Tchah!
Finnbarr Galedeep stood in the banqueting chamber watching groups of defeated horderats being marched off to the dungeons by Bleruns otters. Their weapons were stacked in heaps on the floor. He turned to Joseph, who was anxiously scanning the valley from a window, and said, “Ahoy, whats goin on out there, BeUmaker?
Joseph continued to peer at the far side of the valley floor as he spoke. “More fighting! It looks like some creatures need our help down there, Finntake a look at this.
Finnbarr and Joseph were joined at the window by Meldrum. The old hare assessed the situation right away. “Hmm, that must be the Foxwolf an his force in the dipthose chaps in the trees have got to be Southswar-ders. Hullo, looks like old Foxwolfs layin some sort of trap for those lads in the trees. Look at those two squads droppin back toward hereIll be bound theyre out to ambush from both sides, sneak around through the trees at the Southswarders in the old pincer movement, wot?
Joseph took up his stave. “Youre right! Come on.
Finn, lets rally our crew and get down their fast. Meld-mm, keep a small squad here to watch those prisoners. Wherere Mariel and Dandin? Theres not a moment to lose!
36
The two horde Captains, Blade tail and Coldclaw, had the tables turned on them so fast it made their heads spin. One moment they were about to split their forces and go separate ways, the next instant they were engulfed by two silent waves of hard-eyed warriors rounding both sides of the plateau. The ambushers found themselves ambushed. The rats who were not immediately cut down dropped their weapons and lay on the ground in token of surrender. Coldclaw was laid low by a single blow from the Bell-makers stave. Blade tail dodged Dandins dagger and made a run for it, back to Nagru and the main force.
The Foxwolf was busy directing his rats to keep up constant barrages of arrows, javelins, and slingstones at the Southswarders in the trees. He had the advantage of numbers, and it was beginning to tell.