The Long Patrol Part 24

The life of the valley hummed peacefully on, lulled by summer's warmth, unaware that three armies were marching toward it.

Trapped in the tunnels of old Castle Kotir, far beneath Redwall Abbey's south ramparts, five creatures sat dozing fitfully in the gloom. Giving off an occasional flicker, their lantern warned that its light would soon be out.

Abbess Tansy gazed ruefully at the small golden tongue of flame as it gently swayed. "I should never have encouraged you to come on this silly venture, friends. I'm sorry."

Craklyn snorted, wagging a paw at her old companion. 11 You encouraged us, you? Hah! Let me tell you, Tansy Pansy, we're all down here because we wanted to come. We encouraged ourselves!"

Tansy clasped the old squirrel Recorder's paw affectionately. "Dearie me, 'tis some long seasons since anybeast called me Tansy Pansy. D'you remember when Arven was a Dibbun, he was always saying that name? Now what was it he used to chant at me?"

Craklyn thought for a moment, then chuckled. " 'Tansy Pansy toogle doo.' Hahaha, he was a proper little wretch."

Foremole wrinkled his nose severely at the pair. "Beggin' ee pardun, but do you'm be soilent, oi can yurr summat."

268.

269.

There was a moment's silence. Young Friar b.u.t.ty looked around. "Aye, I c'n hear somethin' too. Sounds like water drippin'."

Shad pressed his ear to the tunnel wall. "That's water, all right, on the other side o' this 'ere wall. I can 'ear it drip-drippin' away. Sounds like 'tis fallin' a far way down. Wot d'ye think, Abbess, marm, shall I 'ave a go at breakin' through the wall?"

Foremole Diggum waved a digging paw hastily. "Ho no, zurr, you'm'll be a bringen ee tunnel topplin' on us 'eads agin fur sure!"

Shad scrambled upright and retrieved the lantern. "P'raps yore right, mate. You all stay 'ere an' I'll scout about further down this tunnel t'see wot I can see."

While Shad was gone, the remaining four creatures sat in complete darkness without the lantern. To keep their spirits up, Tansy sang a simple little ditty.

' 'If I were a leaf upon a tree, Then I would live right happily, I'd grow up flat and green and big, Unless of course I was a twig, A twig with a leaf upon its end, And then the leaf would be my friend, I'd grow to such a wondrous length, And from my branch I'd take my strength. If I were a branch upon a tree, With leaf and twig for company, I'd grow so round and fair and trim, Sprouting from a great stout limb, But if I were a limb all thick and wide, Branch, twig, and leaf I'd hold with pride, And they would all depend on me, And the mighty trunk of my big tree. Then if I were a tree with bark for husk, I'd stand up firm from dawn 'til dusk, And limb, branch, twig, and leaf would be, All through the season part of me!"

She had barely finished singing when Shad's voice boomed up the pa.s.sage and they saw the welcome glow of the lantern.

270 "Ahoy there, mates! Come an' see this-I've found a way down!"

Stumbling through the half-light behind the fading lantern, they followed Shad down the corridor. He halted in front of a heavy wooden door, swinging it open with a jarring creak to reveal its other side, covered in fungus.

"Welcome to the ole castle cellars, me hearties, though I don't see wot good they'll do us. We should be goin' up, not down'ards!"

Dropping his bag of treasure, Friar b.u.t.ty pushed past the otter. "Look, torches!"

From rusted iron rings in the wall he pulled four hefty wooden bundles, their ends coated thick with pine resin. Tansy took one and lit it from the last dying lantern flame. "Of course, it makes sense to leave torches at the entrance to cellars. By the seasons, they do burn brightly!"

Brilliant yellow light radiated around, revealing then- position. Far larger than Great Hall, the cellars stretched above and below them. Water dripped from long stalact.i.tes hanging from a high-hewn rock ceiling, falling down from a great height to splash far below where they stood. The five questors were on a narrow step jutting from the wall. Other steps wound their way downward, hugging the wallsides until they ended in the depths below.

Shad lit another torch from the one Tansy carried. "Only one way t'go, mates: down. C'mon, foller me."

Placing their backs to the wall, they descended carefully, step by step, each holding the other's paws. The stone stairs seemed never-ending, and by the time (hey had covered three-quarters of the distance, wet moss and slime made the going treacherous.

Shad stopped and rested by crouching against the damp walls. "Phwaw! This place is enough t'give a crab the creeps. You got any rope left, Diggum?' *

The Foremole unwound a coil from "round his waist. "Yurr, oi gotter liddle len'th."

Shad took it and knotted it 'round his middle, then pa.s.sed it back. "Best rope ourselves together fer safety-Yaaaaar! Gerraway, yer filthy sc.u.m!"

271 A large, gross toad with sightless eyes was trying to gnaw the end of the otter's tail. With a swift flick of his rudderlike appendage, Shad tossed the amphibian in the air and batted it off the step. The toad whirled in an arc, then hit the liquid below. It vanished with a squelching plop, leaving a small dimple on the surface.

Tansy held her torch out over the stair edge. "That isn't water down there, 'tis more of a swamp!"

Other toads were crawling upstairs toward them, the dreadful creatures apparently attracted by Shad's cry and Tansy's voice.

Craklyn hid behind Foremole, shuddering. "Ugh! Horrible monsters, keep 'em away from me!"

b.u.t.ty had been carrying his treasure slung on the end of the silver-headed spear he had found in the rubble. Untying the bundle, he pa.s.sed the spear along to Shad.

The otter Gatekeeper began clearing the toads off into the ooze below. Some spread their webs to prevent themselves from sinking instantly, and these were set upon and torn to shreds by creatures not half their size, who appeared in packs. At the same time they were being devoured, the toads began eating their tormentors.

The five friends watched, revolted but fascinated by the sight.

"Yurr, they'm all a h'eatin' each uther!"

"Aye, those small 'uns look like some kind o' mudfish, they're blind as the toads!"

"So they all live down here in this slimy darkness, feeding off one another. What an awful existence!"

"Yukk! What are we doin' in this terrible place? Let's get out!"

Foremole Diggum tugged against die rope as they began moving. "Hurr no, us'n's mus' goiter stay. Lookee!"

They followed the direction his paw was pointing, across the underground mora.s.s to a dark hole in the wall at the cellar's far side.

Tansy held the torch high. "What is it, Diggum?"

The mole's reply was prompt and confident. "That thurr's a tunnel dugged boi moles, oi'd stake moi snowt on et, oi surrtinly would, 'tis a mole tunnel, 'twill lead oopward!"

272 Shad shook his head doubtfully. "Are you sh.o.r.e 'tis a mole tunnel, mate? 'S a long way off."

Diggum Foremole would not be shaken from his belief. ' *Oi said 'twurr, din't oi, oi'm ee Foremoler, oo'd know better!"

Friar b.u.t.ty stared unhappily across the expanse of cannibal-infested bog.

"If that's the way out, then how do we get to it?"

A small meeting was being convened in the kitchen at Redwall Abbey, It was for elders, though the Dibbuns had invited themselves along too, because there were always plenty of tasty bits to nibble at in the kitchens.

Viola Bankvole presided. "Mother Abbess always appoints me in her place when she isn't here, so if you don't mind I'll take charge. Gubbio, get your head out of that oven, please!"

Mother Buscol shooed the little mole from the oven, nipping back to the table just in time to stop Russano the badgerbabe grabbing a bowl of soup. "Indeed to goodness, Viola," she said, pa.s.sing a paw across her fl.u.s.tered brow, "what is it you're wantin' now? Can't you see we've got our paws full as H is?"

Viola shook her head primly at die old squirrel. "Abbess, Craklyn, Foremole, Shad, and young b.u.t.ty are still missing. Sloey! Put that ladle down this instant! Now, have you all searched properly?"

Pellit the dormouse tried to wrest the ladle from Sloey's grasp. "Well, I searched the entire orchard and down as far as the gatehouse, Sister. I don't think Ginko was looking very hard, though."

Ginko die Bellringer glared across die table at Pellit. "I done my share o' searchin'. Found you asleep 'neath the stairs in my bell tower, didn't I!"

Gurrbowl Cellarmole, who was sitting with Taunoc and Or-occa, tending the owlchicks, ventured a suggestion: "May'ap they'm losed theyselves unner ee gurt 'ole at south wall."

An owlchick fumbled itself loose from her and lumbered into the bowl of soup that lay nearby. Viola leaned over and fished the little bundle of downy feathers out. ' 'Good job that soup was cold. Under the south wall, you say? Ridiculous! What would our Mother Abbess be doing grubbing about 273 down there? Personally I think she may have gone up into the Abbey attics to look for something, and taken the others with her. Barfle, stop pulling Sloey's ears. She'll end up looking like a hare. What do you think, mister Taunoc?''

"About what, madam, the Abbess in the attics, or Sloey looking like a hare?"

"Silly! I'm talking about the Abbess in the attics!"

The Little Owl ruffled his feathers and blinked at her. "Silly yourself, madam! All this meeting has achieved is to get one of my chicks soaked with soup. Wherever the Abbess is at this moment, it will be exactly where she wants to be. Your Abbess is a hedgehog, old and wise. She will return in good time."

Russano looked at Taunoc and spoke the only word he knew. "Nut!"

Sloey the mousebabe managed to hit Pellit a good whack on his nose with the ladle he was trying to take from her. Reaching over to a.s.sist Pellit, Viola Bankvole upset the bowl of cold soup, and it spilled all over Mother Buscol's ap.r.o.n. An owlchick fastened its small sharp beak on Ginko's paw, who yelped with pain and woke the remaining owlchick, who had been sleeping. The owlchick set up a din. The meeting dissolved in disarray, with Viola Bankvole struggling to maintain her dignity in die position of deputy Abbess.

"Er, continue the search. I will inform you later of when the next meeting is to be held. Be about your business now!"

Viola was about to make a stately exit, when she slipped on a patch of cold soup diat had dripped from the table, and sat down hard on the stone floor.

The molebabe Gubbio tried pulling her upright by the ap.r.o.n strings, lecturing the bankvole severely: "Doant ee play abowt onna floor, marm, you'm get drefful dusty!"

The meeting ended widi everybeast of the opinion that without a Mother Abbess to run things, Redwall Abbey would grind to a halt.

Underground, young Friar b.u.t.ty made his way back up to a dry step, where he sat nursing his rumbling stomach. "Ooh, am I 'ungry, I've never been so 'ungry in all me life!" Abbess Tansy sympathized with b.u.t.ty, but she could not 274 show it. "We're all hungry, but sitting complaining about it isn't going to do us any good. Look at Shad. He's bigger and hungrier than the rest of us, but he isn't moaning, are you, Shad?"

The otter, who was perched on the bottom stair amid the mud, called back up to Tansy, "No I ain't, marm. I think I've got a plan t'get us across to yonder mole tunnel!"

Picking their way carefully down the muddy steps, Tansy and the others joined Shad. He s.h.i.+fted a big venturesome toad off into the swamp with his spearb.u.t.t before explaining. "See, about halfways along the wall there, 'tis a chain, hangin' from a ring set high in the stone. If'n we could get hold o' that chain, I reckon we could swing across to the ledge over yonder an' make our way along it to the mole tunnel."

Craklyn studied the scheme, looking doubtful. "It'd be a mighty big swing needed to get onto that ledge, and look, the ledge itself is piled high with those loathsome creatures. But the main difficulty would be getting hold of the chain. It's much too far away for us to reach."

The thin, rusty chain hung down into the mud, well out of reach by about eight spearlengths. Shad scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm, yore right, marm. I could soon clear those ole toads off'n the ledge when I got there, but 'ow t'get the chain over 'ere, that's the problem. Any ideas, mates?"

"Burr aye, farsten summat to ee rope an* try to snare ee chain!"

Shad's hearty laugh echoed boomingly 'round the vast cellar s.p.a.ce. "Haharr, leave it to our ole molemate. Good idea, Diggum!"

Knotting their own belts and habit ropes together, they fastened them to the rope Foremole had brought with him. Shad coiled it up. ' 'That should be long enough fer the job. Now, wot we needs is an 'ook to tie on to our line. Let's 'ave a look at yore treasure trove, young b.u.t.ty."

The squirrel Friar tipped a glittering heap of precious objects from their cloak wrapping and began sorting through them. "Nothin' here that looks like a hook, mister Shad."

Craklyn selected a long thin dagger. It was a beautiful thing, more ornament than weapon, with a hilt crusted with seed pearls and blue John stones. Its slim, elegant blade was made 275 of solid gold. "Here, this should do. Gold is soft metal, it'll bend."

Shad took the dagger and, setting it in a crack between the stair stones, he bent it double with a few powerful shoves. The rope was tied tightly to the dagger handle, and Shad twirled it like a sling.

"Right, mates, let's go fis.h.i.+n'!"

The first few throws went short. Hauling the line back through the watery mud, the otter winked broadly. "I've got the range now, this time does it. Redwaaaaaalllll!"

Mud splattered all 'round as he swung rope and hook in a circle above his head. Shad let go, paying out the coil as his hook streaked out. It landed with a splodge, slightly beyond where the chain hung. Crouching down, he began drawing the rope slowly in.

* 'Easy does it, messmates. Come t' me, you liddle beauty..."

The chain moved toward them. b.u.t.ty waved his paws wildly, crying, "Good throw, Shad, you've got it!"

It was indeed a good, or a lucky, throw. As the chain appeared from beneath the surface of the swamp, they saw that the point of the hooked dagger had actually pa.s.sed through the center hole of a chainlink, snaring the chain securely. But Shad took no chances; he continued drawing the line in carefully until he could reach out and seize hold of the rusted and muddied object.

"Gotcha!"

Craklyn backed off, surveying the risky venture with a jaundiced eye. "Er, who's going to go first?"

The otter Gatekeeper tugged boldly on the chain to test it. "Bless yer 'eart, marm, who else but me, seein' as I'm the biggest an' 'eaviest? If the chain 'olds fer me, 'twill be safe fer all."

Without further ado Shad climbed up five stairs and stretched his paws high, holding the chain as far up as he could. Abbess Tansy had a sudden thought. "Here, Shad, you'll need the spear to clear those toads from the ledge. Stay there, I'll bring it to you!"

Shad bit down on die spearhaft and nodded, and the Abbess stood aside. He took a short run and launched himself from 276.

the stairs. Tansy watched the gallant otter swing out in a huge semicircle over the vast lake of liquid mud, with a spear clenched in his teeth and his tail standing out straight behind him, and knew she would never forget the sight. She held her bream. It looked as though the wide, arcing swing was about to dip downward and plunge Shad into the swamp. But on the final stretch he kicked out and up with both footpaws, jerking himself onto the ledge. The four friends on the steps cheered heartily. Shad held the chain in one paw and thwacked at the fat revolting toads that had already crawled up onto the ledge with his spear handle, sending them flying high and wide with dreadful hisses and croaks of protest.

"Shove off, ye great blobs of blubber, g'wan, jump fer it!"

The oozing surface boiled with writhing mudfish tearing at the toads who, in their turn, gobbled down as many mudfish as they could.

"Stand ready wid the 'ook an' line," Shad yelled across to Diggum Foremole. " 'Ere comes yore chain!" He swung the chain out in a wide arc. Foremole threw the line, hooking it as it came within range.

"Oi got 'er. Coom on, miz Crakkul, doant ee be faint'earted!"

Craklyn went next, aided by a mighty shove from her friends. She wailed and yelled the whole way across the ledge as she swung over the toads, mudfish, and deep mora.s.s.

"Whoooooeeeeeeeaaaaaa . . . Heeeeeeelp!"

"Well done, marm. Never fear, I've got ye, yore safe now!"

The old squirrel Recorder ceased her din, smiling sweetly at Shad. "There, it didn't hurt a bit. Send the chain back to Tansy now, mister Shad. I've never heard an Abbess scream, have you?"

Tansy was next to go, but when Foremole and Friar b.u.t.ty pushed her from the step, she did not scream at all. Instead she clung on like grim death and closed her eyes tight. Shad and Craklyn caught her. She wagged a mischievous paw across at the Foremole. "Guess who's next, Diggum?"

When he had hold of the chain, Foremole looked pleadingly at b.u.t.ty. "Oi 'opes they toadyburds an' muddyfishes doant get oi!" As it was, Foremole probably had the best crossing 277 of all, coming in to land so fast that he almost hit the wall.

Young Friar b.u.t.ty was last to go. His was the most difficult trip, because he had n.o.beast to give him a good starting push. The fat little squirrel launched himself off, only to swing in a faint halfhearted circle and land back on the steps.

Abbess Tansy roared across at him, "Oh, come on, Friar, you can do better than that. Imagine twenty hungry hares are chasing you to cook dinner for them, and run."