Dinat walked slowly forward onto the rock ledge that formed the brief shallows at the side of the deep lake. The eel turned and swam slowly forward, stalking the terror-stricken shrewmaid.
Tagg could feel himself blacking out as the crowded shrewbodies pressed down on him. The mouse warrior was suddenly in front of his mind's eye.
"Deyna!" The warrior spoke the one word, then bared his teeth savagely, opening his mouth wide and snapping his teeth together.
"Yeek! Yahee! Aaaarr!"
Pigmy shrews were sent hurtling off the pile, some ot them with blood showing on backs and paws. Furious energy coursed through the big otter's muscles and sinews. Between bites he sucked in mighty gulps of life giving air. His limbs and rudder together lashed out like steel pistons. Nimbalo felt the shrews being kicked from him and began lashing out, yelling, "Go at 'em, mate! Give 'em the ole one-two!"
Tagg was standing upright, like a colossus, shaking oft the Cavemob. He roared at the sight of the shrewmaid, locked in the eel's swirling coils as she was dragged screaming from the ledge. Then he broke free and tore toward the lake, hurtling straight into the air and diving down. He cut the water like a knife, locking all four paws around the huge eel's head and setting his teeth into the back of its heavy neck. Nimbalo booted aside a few venturesome shrews and ran to the stream. Tearing the elver net loose, he grabbed the nearest shrew, who happened to be Alfik, and shouted in his face, "Don't jus' stan' there! Lend a paw 'ere or I'll slay ye!" Between them they began dragging the net toward the lake. Bodjev joined them, seizing the heavy net and dragging with them.
Now the eel had its coils around Tagg. It had released Dinat and was concentrating upon its attacker. Arching its head back, it tried biting at the otter, but Tagg clung on like a grim nemesis, clenching his viselike jaws as he bit deeper into the monstrous neck, seeking bone. Down, down they sank, locked together. Tagg felt the air being squeezed from his lungs as the eel tried to kill him by crushing tighter and tighter. The lake was seemingly bottomless and icy cold. Otter and eel sank farther into a world of aquamarine ribboned with scarlet. Bubbles burst in a stream from Tagg's mouth, and he began to feel certain that he would die in the watery depths with an eel embracing him. Then something brushed against his face. It was the tip of the net.
Freeing his teeth from the eel, he locked them around one of the stone weights woven into the net's hem. Squirming around, the eel bit his shoulder and clung on. Despite the pain, Tagg bent his elbow around and got the monster in a headlock. They began rising swiftly toward the surface, the otter with his neck and jaw muscles rigid as he gripped the net with all the strength he could muster. Looking downward from the corner of his left eye, he could see the eel's gold-and-black-rimmed eye staring back at him, his elbow lock preventing its teeth from reaching his outstretched throat.
Then everything was roaring sound, and Tagg's head broke the surface. He saw Nimbalo and a host of yelling shrews, standing on the shallow ledge, heaving on the net.
"Pull! Pull, ye string-snouted swabs, gerrim up 'ere on the ledge!"
Tagg sensed himself and the thrashing eel being hauled sideways, felt his rudder scrape the ledge and then he was in the shallows. Nimbalo hurled himself upon the eel, kicking, biting and punching. "Ye great slimy son of a greasy rope, let's see 'ow many pies we can make outta you!"
Wrenching its teeth from the otter, the eel went for Nimbalo. Tagg felt the constricting coils slacken slightly. Like lightning he whipped out his blade and stabbed deep into the creature's neck where his teeth had been sunk earlier. Suddenly the monster resembled, in truth, the piece of greasy rope Nimbalo had called it. All power left its body, and the bulky coils fell uselessly away from Tagg. It lay hissing softly, its once bright eyes clouding over.
Bodjev waded in and patted it. "Yikyikyik! Make an' 'undred pies outta Yo Karr; mebbe two!"
Chichwife splashed in and cuffed his ear smartly. "Phwah! I not gonna cook datbeast inter pies. Back inna lake wirrim. Back inna lake, brudders!"
As best they could, Nimbalo, Bodjev and Alfik dragged Tagg from the water onto the cavern floor. He lay there exhausted and watched the shrews roll the eel off the ledge. It sunk limply into the depths until it was lost to sight. The shrewmaid Dinat and her three sisters set about dressing Tagg's shoulder, and then she clasped the otter's paw gratefully.
"Thankee much much, big fella, you save this Dinat's life!"
Nimbalo took the knife from Tagg and cleaned it. "Sorry I took so long gettin' the net to ye, matey. I 'ad t'pull Dinat out wid it first, an' by then you'd gone so far down we could 'ardly see yer. I thought you was a goner that time, on me oath I did."
Tagg grinned. "Well, I'm back now, handsome golden one."
Taking his blade back, he beckoned to Bodjev. "Yo Karr's dead now. Listen, friend, you're the Chieftain here. You should never have let that happen to your own daughter."
Bodjev looked sheepish. He shrugged awkwardly. "Law. It was ole Cavemob law, always be'd thataway."
Tagg jabbed his fat stomach with the knife handle. "Don't let it ever happen again. Sacrificing creatures' lives! What an awful idea. You're the Chief, make some new laws. The elvers'll still come back, you'll see."
Bodjev stuck out his stomach and shouted to the pigmy shrews, "Lissen, alla Cavemobs. I Chief make lotsa new law. Nomore Yo Karr, nomore die, snakeyfish still come back, you see."
Alfik stepped up beside his father amid the cheering. "Nomore Cavemobs die! Good ole Daddy!"
Bodjev cuffed his ear. "Worra I tell you, nit'ead?"
Tagg caught Bodjev's paw as he raised it again. "And no more ear-smacking, or name-calling. Why not be kinder to one another? It'll make life a lot nicer."
Alfik saw his father's footpaw starting to rise. "An' nomore tailkick!" he shouted.
Bodjev stared at Tagg in disbelief. "Nomore tailkick?"
The otter shook his head. "No more tail kicks, ear smacks or name calls. The Cavemob will be polite and live happily together. This is the law now. All who wish it this way, raise your paws and shout aye."
The response was thunderous. Paws waved wildly and roars of "Aye" resounded throughout the cavern. Tagg noticed that Bodjev was looking rather crestfallen, so he waited for the noise to die away and made another announcement.
"This is the new law of Bodjev, mighty Chief of the Cavemob, whose name will be forever remembered among your tribe."
Cheering themselves hoarse, the pigmy shrews waved their clubs and danced around the big otter as he carried Bodjev shoulder high around the cavern.
"Your biggun be wisefriend," Alfik whispered to Nimbalo. "Lookit Daddy, he smile an' smile lots!"
The harvest mouse feigned a yawn and sat himself down. "So 'e should be, mate. I taught 'im everythin' 'e knows!"
Chapter 18
For the first time since the start of an ill-fated trip, Gruven felt himself really in command. He sat by the replenished fire, which Vallug had made, watching Dagrab, Ribrow and Rawback. Dawn was well up and the three vermin were lying so close to the fire that he could smell singeing fur. Gruven snapped twigs, flicking them at the sleepers until they stirred and sat up rubbing their eyes. Rawback looked around. "So, Vallug an' Eefera never came back durin' the night, Chief?"
Gruven poked at the fire with his sword. "Huh! Did you expect 'em to? Those two are long gone, an' good riddance too, I say. Who needs 'em?"
He listened as the three vermin speculated.
"Mebbe they picked up the otter's tracks an' went after 'im their selves, eh?"
"Suppose they got lost an' they're layin' out there in the snow, frozen stiff?"
"Don't talk daft. One of 'em lit this fire, an' it was still burnin' when we found it last night. I think somethin' 'appened to 'em!"