Duskskin cautioned the mole to be silent. “Quiet now, quiet. Foebeasts are not far above us, far above us.
Unfortunately Swartt had already heard them as the echoes of their voices bounced up from the lower galleries. Since Veil had opened the door at the mountaintop, there was a fair-sized shaft of light beaming down. Swartt looked up, judging the distance he had left to climb, an idea forming in his mind. He chose the rat he had chastised and three otherstwo stoats and another rat, all armed with bows.
Keeping his voice to a bare minimum, the Warlord whispered, “You four stop here awhile and take care o any bats or smallbeasts thatre followin beind. Ill be up on the mountaintop with the others. Come an join us there when the coasts clear down ere. Thats a nice soft job for ye, eh!
Silently Swartt led the other vermin off toward the high exit.
Sunflash had just placed Togget on a rocky outcrop above his head when an arrow came hissing down like a snake and struck the mole in his shoulder. Swiftly the badger lifted the mole down and placed him alongside Bryony, saying, “Hes been wounded. Take care of him and dont make a sound! Then, laying aside his mace, Sunflash selected two good-sized throwing rocks and popped his head out into full view. The rat saw him and fumbled to get shaft onto bowstring as Sun-flash flung a rock, hard and accurately.
Thud!
It struck the rat, knocking him off his perch. Silently he fell, bumping off ledges until he was swallowed up into the dark void of Bat Mountpit. Far below there was a splash.
A stoat showed himself, not far from where the rat had been. “Wots appened to Buskit? Anybeast seeeeeeeee? The second rock knocked him flying into space.
The remaining stoat and rat glimpsed the great striped head as the badger stooped to pick up more rocks, and panic gripped them.
“Lets get outta ere, mate, its the badger!
Stumbling against each other, they scrabbled upward toward the hole. Bats flew out, attacking them as they climbed.
Sunflash turned to Bryony and the Bat Lord. “Stop here and tend to Togget. Ive got to catch those two before they raise the alarm. Dont try to come out onto the mountain until I give you the all clear!
Leaving his mace, Sunflash sped off after the two vermin, heaving his huge frame upward, paw over paw. His legendary swiftness had not deserted him; swinging from rock to ledge, jumping, and pulling himself upward, the Badger Lord pursued the pair. The rat was scrambling up a smooth stone incline when the relentless paw of Sunflash grabbed his tail and swung him off. He fell, screeching.
Outside, the shades of twilight were beginning to fall. Swartt strode around the plateau, watching as his remaining hordebeasts sent rocks, arrows, spears, and slabs of shale hurtling down the mountainsides to batter the gallant but beleaguered hares, who were still striving to climb up and reach the foebeast. Veil stumped to the edge, staggering under the weight of a jagged slab. He hurled it gleefully down and dusted off his paws.
“Wots the matter, scared o gettin yself dirty? he said insultingly to Swartt. “Huh, some Warlord you are. Ive seen more action from a squashed frog!
“I dunno about squashed frogs, Swartt gritted back angrily, “but youll be a squashed ferret if ytalk like that to me, spindleshanks!
The Warlord left his vermin to their own devices. Crouching next to the opening, he listened intently. He heard the screech of the rat and then the agonized yelling of the remaining stoat as Sunflash caught up with him. Swartt chanced a quick peek into the opening and saw Sunflash, head bowed as he pulled himself upward. It was too good a chance to miss!
Swartt grabbed a big rugged slab of shale with both paws and raised it above his head, rushing to the far side of the opening so he would be behind Sunflash when he emerged.
He was only just in timethe Badger Lord came up so fast that he was halfway out of the hole before Swartt came to a standstill. The Warlord brought the rock crashing down on the back of the badgers skull, hitting him so hard that it broke the slab into two pieces. Sunflash fell senseless, half in and half out of the hole. Swartt yelled to his hordebeasts, “Grab him, get some rope! Pull him out of there and bind him tight!
Ive got the badger!
44?
Down on the rocky outcrop, Togget gritted his teeth bravely. “Hoo urr, oi diddent know arrers urted so much.
Bryony inspected the barbed point of the shaft she had removed from her molefriends shoulder. “Hmm, at least its not poisoned. Youre a lucky mole. Lie still and let Lord Duskskins bats see to the wound.
Togget watched as several bats gathered round him. They stopped the bleeding with skeins of spiderweb, binding the arrow hole with mountain moss and a paste made from some strange type of cave fungus.
The mole swigged deep from a pitcher of lilac-colored liquid. “Umm, this do taste noice, ee flyen mouses be gudd-beasts!
The bats hissing laughter sounded like escaping steam. “Flying mouses! Hihihihiss! Did you hear that, Lord Dusk-skin? The funnybeast calls us flying mouses, flying mouses!
Lord Duskskin glanced up anxiously. “It grows dark, dark. The mighty one has not called you, mousemaid. What is happening, happening?
Bryony curtsied politely to the Bat Lord. “Sire, will you and your creatures take care of Togget until I return? I must go and see what is happening.
The only protection Bryony had was the small knife that had been in their haversack. Gripping it firmly in her teeth, she began climbing slowly toward the exit hole.
A fire glowed in the center of the plateau on the mountain-top. Sentries posted around the edge watched for any movement of the hares during the night. Not far from the fire lay Sunflash the Mace, still unconscious. The badger was bound between two broken spear shafts driven into the surface cracks, footpaws out straight and his forepaws stretched behind his head, the ropes cutting cruelly into them.
Swartt sat by the fire, hardening an ash javelin point in its flames. Veil crouched at the other side of the blaze, watching the Warlord. “So, after many long seasons youve finally caught your enemy, he said.
Swartt rubbed the smoking javelin end against a rock until it was like the tip of a great, dark brown needle, and snarled, “Aye, many, many long seasons, longer than youve lived, brat!
Veil enjoyed baiting Swartt. “Just shows ow clumsy you are; that badgerd ave been slain all those long seasons ago if e was my enemy.
The Warlord smiled, refusing to rise to the bait. “Addle-brain, ow many enemies ave you ever ad, eh?
Veil stared hard across the fire at Swartt. “Oh, dont you worry, Ive got a great enemythe coward Ive never called father, the slimy scum who ran off an left me on a battlefield when I was scarce able to walk. Now thats an enemy whose grave Ill dance on an laugh at!
Swartt pointed the javelin at the inert form of the badger. “Try it an youll die like this one will tomorrow, long an slow, bit by bit, until he screams for me tfinish it!
Bryony raised her head slowly and carefully, noting every detail of the terrible scene on the plateau, from the sentries and the two ferrets at the fire to the still-bound badger between two spear shafts. She knew she had to save Sunflash at any cost. Inching silently from the hole, she flattened herself against the rocks and began squirming forward, the knife blade gripped tight in her teeth. The mousemaid kept herself behind Swartts back, shielding her body from the fire glow and Veil. All the sentries were looking down the mountain, one or two slumbering fitfully.
Something clacked faintly against Bryonys paw; it was a beaker, half full of whatever some hordebeast had been drinking. She paused; neither ferret had heard her over the crackle of the fire. Picking up the beaker, she circled, keeping to Sun-flashs right side and out of the ferrets vision. Inching stealthily forward the mousemaid reached Sunflash. Dark crusted blood stained the goldstriped muzzle; the Badger Lord lay quite still, his mouth slightly open. Holding the beaker up, almost too afraid to breathe, Bryony let the liquid trickle into Sunflashs mouth. Nothing happened for a moment, then the badger coughed and grunted. His head came up slightly, knocking the beaker askew so that the remaining liquid splashed in his face.