Martin smiled winningly at her, and whispered, "This food? Great seasons no, Sister, this is our supper. Rollo and I thought we'd just nip up here and sit awhile with Tansy and Higgle. If they wake we'll see that they take all their broth."
Sister Cicely smiled back and curtsied. "Thank you, Martin, I know they'll be safe in your sensible paws."
She slid silently out, closing the door softly after herself.
Higgle sat bolt upright, paws clenched and teeth grinding. "Grr, that ole Siss Cicely, I'd as like chuck meself in the Abbey pond wi' a boulder tied to me footpaw as lay up 'ere another day! Open that window, Rollo. 'Ere, sling this filthy nettle broth out afore it makes me any sicker!"
Tansy sat up and clapped her paws with joy. "Look, Friar, real food! Turnover an' cheese, redcurrant tart an' maple cordial! Thanks, pals, you've saved our lives!"
Martin could not help smiling at the irrepressible little hogmaid as she tucked into the supper. "So, how are you feeling now, Tansy?" he asked.
The answer came from around a mouthful of celery and leek turnover. "Hah! Fit as a firefly an' brisk as a bumblebee, sir. Heeheehee! I heard that Viola bankvole saw what happened as she was cleaning the inside of the gatehouse windows. Wullger said she went down in a swoon an' had to be revived by sniffing burnin' feathers, hahaha! I hope the smell made her dreadful sick!"
Friar Higgle munched thoughtfully on a wedge of cheese. "Silly really, isn't it, why should four great birds attack us?"
Rollo shrugged, saying, "From what I heard only two attacked you, the other two were after Abbot Durral's cake. Going for you and Tansy like that was merely a diversion, so they could steal the cake."
Martin waited until the hogmaid had taken a drink of cordial, then asked, "Hmm, what do you think, Tansy?"
The young hedgehog looked serious. "It sounds strange, I know, but they didn't really seem interested in the cake, or even us. The only other thing was the marchpane balls, but why?"
"Another mystery!" said Martin, turning to Rollo who was deep in thought.
Rollo shook his head worriedly. "Mysteries and riddles," he sighed. Then he jumped, startled. "Riddles! Goodness me, in all the excitement I'd quite forgotten!" From his sleeve he drew forth Fermald's parchment, saying, "Listen to this ..."
The Recorder of Redwall sat reading Fermald's note aloud in the sick bay whilst Friar Higgle Stump carried on eating his supper. Tansy had forgotten all about food. She and Martin hung on every word that was read out to them.
Chapter 11
Corsairs and searats roaming the hills of Sampetra did not bother Ublaz undulythey would be taken care of when he had dealt with their ringleaders, the captains. Slouching on his throne, sipping wine and nibbling on a roasted bird's wing, the Emperor turned over events in his mind. Barranca was the one who had started all this. Accordingly he was the one Ublaz intended to make an example of. The other captains were not so important. If Sagitar did not slay them, then he, the Emperor, would sooner or later. However, next time he would promote Trident-rats to be captains: good, loyal, Emperor-fearing Trident-rats. As for the vermin horde who had taken to the hills, well, they would soon jump back into line when they witnessed the punishment he intended meting out to Barranca. It was an old cure for rebellioncut off the snake's head and the rest ceased wriggling. The snake!
Ublaz tossed aside the meat and strode briskly from his throne room, towards the cellars carved in the rocks beneath the escarpment.
Two Monitors stood at attention in front of a heavily barred door in the cellars. Ublaz pointed with his silver dagger blade, ordering, "Open it!"
The lizards obeyed with alacrity, throwing the door wide. Pulling a torch from a wall bracket Ublaz swept inside, leaving the door ajar so the guards could watch him. The pine marten sighed aloud with pleasure as he went to a stone plinth and lovingly picked up the crown from it. Made to the Emperor's own design, the thick gold band fitted his head perfectly. Studded almost halfway round with purply red garnets, it was a crown fit for an Emperor. But with something missing. Six empty claw settings on the circlet's front lacked the six rose-colored pearls to fill them. When he possessed the Tears of all Oceans, his crown would be complete.
A damp rustling and a loud hiss caused the Monitor guards to shuffle fearfully away from the door. Fixing them with a glare of his strange eyes, Ublaz rasped, "Stand still! Watch and witness the power of your Emperor!"
Mutely they obeyed, reptilian eyes unblinking as they viewed the eerie scene beyond the doorway.
The entire chamber flickered with gold light, reflecting from the pine marten's torch and highlighted by his shining crown. A long shallow trough built into the floor was filled with water, casting shifting patterns of golden lights around the walls. Gliding sinuously out of the trough and across the floor, the snake came hissing toward Ublaz. It was a dull ivory color, but the water rippling on its scales caught the light, turning the serpent into a long moving stream of liquid gold.
Rearing up, the creature quivered and hissed menacingly as it faced the intruder. Few snakes in the world are more highly venomous and unpredictable than the coral water snake. As Ublaz concentrated all his powers upon the angry beaded eyes confronting him, the reptile arched, preparing to strike, mouth open wide, a crimson cavern with dark flickering tongue and poisonous fangs.
Ublaz began chanting in a high steady cadence.
"Golden guardian of my wealth,
Hear me now, be still,
Deathly fang and coiling stealth,
Bend unto my will."
Over and over the Emperor repeated his dirgelike chant, swaying from side to side in time with his adversary. Wide and unblinking, the mad eyes of Ublaz radiated all their power. He moved slowly forward as he chanted and swayed, until the snake's damp breath wreathed his nostrils. With his head a hairs-breadth from the serpent's, he strove to pierce it with his strange hypnotic stare. Side to side the two heads moved, challenging and seeking with the cadence.
The snake began to subside, its mouth closed. The stiffened head relaxed and sank slowly into the snake's bunched coils, both eyes filming over with a clouded membrane. Ublaz moved with it, down to floor level, still staring and chanting, until the venomous reptile lay still and subdued, conquered by his power. He stroked its head lightly then ceased chanting.
Ublaz stood upright, turned his back on the snake and faced the awed Monitor sentries. "Now you have seen the power of your Emperor!" he hissed.
Then he swept past them and strode upstairs, knowing that tales of the sight they had witnessed would spread and grow in the telling. Ublaz knew that mightiness brought dread, and total fear and respect were based upon a frightening reputation. Soon even the sea vermin ranging the hills would realize that resistance was futile against his power.
Ice hung from the rigging of Waveworm as she nosed into a thick fogbank. The crew had long oars to manipulate port and starboard; they rowed wearily. Romsca strode up and down the welldeck, swinging a knotted rope's end at anybeast she saw slacking.
"Bend yer backs, ya barnacle-pawed swabs! Come on now, pull! It's row or die in this weather, an' this ferret ain't goin' t'die! Put some backbone into it, ya spineless seaslugs. Row!"
Rubby the cook was up in the bowsprit, on the lookout for rocks or the great lumps of ice that sometimes cruised the seas in the cold latitudes. Cupping his paw, he called back to Blade-tail, "Clear ahead, mate, steady as she goes!"
The steersrat wiped frosty rime from his lips as he answered, "Aye aye, steady she is, dead ahead!"
Lask Frildur was wrapped in any available stitch of material he could lay claws on. The Monitor General sat dull-eyed and almost rigid in front of a miserable charcoal glow from a brazier in the for'ard cabin. As Romsca entered the foul-smelling accommodation, he winced, saying, "Cloze that door, I'm freezing to death, it'z cold, cold!"