The Outcast of Redwall Part 25

Sunflash turned to the two horses. "Here is what we'll do. You wait here until the rest of your Long Patrol arrives; I'm going off to skirt this hill and pick up the streambed south of here. Watch the sky; when you see Skarlath dive then you may charge the vermin, but do it carefully, keep out of arrow range. When you hear me attack then come in fast. Take your Long Patrol to this hilltop and watch for my hawk's signal."

It was hot and uncomfortable in the depression around the stream, and those with Nightshade were anxious and impatient. The shallow water had been warmed by the sun, and the presence of the vermin caused a cloud of midges and gnats to descend upon them. Nightshade swatted at the insects, sweat blurring her vision as she tried to focus on the hillslope in front of her. A quarrelsome rat drank some stream water and spat it out, complaining, "Yurk! Doesn't taste too good after twenny odd pair o' dirty paws 'ave been slos.h.i.+n' through it!"

Tension hummed on the air as the vixen snapped at him, "Then don't drink it, fool, keep your eyes on the slope and your claws on that bowstring. Lord Sixclaw wants no slipups."

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A burly weasel scoffed as he spoke his thoughts aloud. "No slipups eh? Lissen, mate, it's been one long round of slipups since I took up with this lot, an' who was the one who did all the slippin' up, eh? Ole Sixclaw, that's who!"

The vixen stared hard at the burly wease!. "I'll tell Lord Swartt you said that when we catch up with him in the forest- or would you sooner tell him yourself? You look like a big brave beast."

The rat who had complained about the water signaled the vixen. "Look, atop of the 'ill, I kin see those 'ares, they're watchin' us!"

Nightshade could barely see a few javelin tips and long ears poking over the hilltop. "Aye, they're up there sure enough. Strange, I wonder what they're waiting for?"

The burly weasel ventured an opinion. "Some sorta signal maybe?"

Then the vixen spotted Skarlath, hovering halfway between the streambed and the hares. "That's it, the badger's hawk, it must be able to see something that we can't. I'll stop it spying on us!"

Wiping the moisture from her eyes, the vixen rubbed dirt on her paws to prevent them from slipping. She selected an arrow, sighting down the shaft to make sure it was straight and true, from feathered flight to poisoned barb. Testing the air with her eartip, Nightshade noted with satisfaction that there was not even a slight breeze to ruffle the still summer noon. Notching the shaft to her bowstring, she took aim and drew the arrow back until the yew-wood bow bent almost to a perfect semicircle.

Then Skarlath dropped from the sky, giving the signal.

Nightshade was quick. She dropped her aim instantly and fired. The arrow struck home. Skarlath gave a piercing cry, and his wide wings flopped loose as he tumbled to earth.

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The vixen turned in triumph to the others when she saw Sunflash charging along the streambed from around the bend in the hill. Her courage drained from her. The huge Badger Lord pounded toward her, bellowing out his grief and rage. Dropping the bow, she fled, deserting the vermin in the depression. They turned too late. Sunflash was among them with an earsplitting roar.

"Skarlaaaaath!"

On top of the hill, Sabretache heard the Badger Lord's anguished cry and saw the hawk lying halfway down the hill, a bundle of feathers and a broken arrow. The hare Captain drew his saber.

"Long Patrol! Eeulaliaaaaaa!"

The hares came charging down the hill, dust rising in clouds from their paws, weapons at the ready. With a bound they sprang into the depression. The stream was slowly being dammed, choked by dead vermin and smashed weapons. The berserk Badger Lord had done his work, and now he was gone. Sabretache signaled them forward, and they rushed off in a spray of streamwater, following the shallow bed toward the distant forest.

Nightshade ran as she had never done before. Paws pounding, brushy tail standing out behind like a streamer, her heart banged like a trip-hammer as she fought to suck in the hot air. The wound in Sunflash's footpaw had reopened, tinging the stream water red as he sped roaring in the wake of the beast who had slain Skarlath. Terror lent speed to the vixen; she dashed for the shelter of the forest, well ahead of the badger, though a quick glance over her shoulder confirmed that he was beginning to shorten the gap between them. Blinded by tears and aching all over from battle wounds, the Badger Lord pursued his enemy doggedly, determined to catch up with the lighter, swifter fox.

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Swartt was well within the woodlands, ravaging a wild cherry tree with the rest of his vermin. He turned swiftly at the approaching patter of paws. It was a stoat he had left on watch at the forest edge.

"Lord, I climbed a tree and saw your vixen," gasped the stoat. "She is running fast toward these woods, with the badger hard on her tail. There are no others; he must've slain those you left to ambush him. It looks like Nightshade escaped! There are hares, too, more than half a score, coming up fast!"

The Warlord did not hesitate. He took off north into the trees, taking his band with him. "The vixen bungled the ambush," he growled. "If the badger catches her, well, that's 'er lookout. If not she'll pick up our tracks an' find us. But that badger an' his hares can track too, so move yerselves if you want ter stay alive!"

Nightshade made the forest cover on trembling limbs. Expecting Swartt and the others to be waiting there, she slowed her pace as she dashed into the trees, yelling for a.s.sistance. "Lord, the badger's after me! Get him! Cut him down!"

But no help was forthcoming. Staggering with exhaustion the vixen loped off through the woodland. The crash of heavy footpaws pounding through the undergrowth in her wake caused Nightshade to turn her head fearfully. She tripped over an exposed tree root and fell flat. She managed to scramble halfway up before a huge footpaw knocked her down again. Sunflash the Mace stood over her, tears coursing down the golden stripe, his ma.s.sive paws shaking with fury as he raised the great war club. Nightshade scrabbled against the earth. "No, Lord! Mercy pi... Yaaaaaggh!"

Sabretache leapt over the carca.s.s of the dead seer, following the trampled undergrowth to where the badger lay, too ex-

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hausted to rise and shaking with grief, now that the bloodwrath had left him.

"Skarlath," he wept. "Skarlath, my true friend." The hare sheathed his blade, speaking low to his followers. "Camp here tonight, it'll be twilight soon. Rockleg, Fleetrunn, attend to Lord Sunflash, rebind his wounds. Hedgepaw, see if you can fetch some clean water from the stream; the rest of you stand easy. We'll pick up the ferret's trail at dawn."

Refreshed by his rest in the woods while waiting on the results of the ambush, Swartt drove his band hard. Soon after dawn be came across a wide river flowing down through the trees. Halting his band for a short rest, he drank sparingly and waded in to test the depth of the water. The weasel called Grayjaw waded into the shallows beside him. "It looks deep in the middle, Chief. Wonder where this river goes?''

Swartt was not listening. He was facing upstream, staring at the green slopes of the distant mountains.

"Up on yer paws, you idlers," he shouted to the horde. "That's where we're bound, the mountains upriver. Stay in the shallows, stick t'the water, it'll make trackin' difficult fer the badger. Come on!"

Grayjaw splashed alongside the Warlord. ' 'But Chief, what about Nightshade? You said she'd be able to follow our trail."

Swartt looked pityingly at the weasel. "If the vixen was goin' to catch us up she'd 'ave done it durin' the night. Ferget that one, I'm more concerned about that badger an' his hares. If we can make it t'those mountains, I'll think up a good plan to deal with 'em."

Sunflash and the Long Patrol were a day behind Swartt and his band. They arrived at the river in the late evening and made camp on the bank.

Sabretache inspected me bruised and broken overhead foliage of the trees that dipped to the water's edge. "Hmm, 322.

about a score an' five of 'em, tryin' t'put us off the trail by takin' to the water. See here-willow branch cracked, leaves bruised an' damaged on that rowan farther along. Hmph! One of 'em even stepped ash.o.r.e for a while an' left a few pawprints on the bank edge. See, a stoat."

Sunflash had waded in almost waist deep, wanting to feel the cold current pus.h.i.+ng against him. He stared up at the mountains, distant in the gathering dusk of the dry summer day. "We'll take only a short rest now and travel by night," he said. "It's cooler and we don't need to track any longer. Swartt has gone to the mountains, I feel it in me. When he attacked Salamandastron I thought we would meet there, but it was not to be. Still, one mountain is as good as another when there's a score to be settled with a six-clawed ferret!"

42.

Bryony regained her senses in a pale flickering world. Somewhere close by, the sounds of the waterfall carried to her, echoing all around. She was draped across a rock slab, up to her waist in water. Togget's face was next to hers; he was still unconscious, but breathing slowly. Surprised that she was still alive, the mousemaid stood swaying groggily with the water lapping gently around her. As she heaved Togget's limp body up onto the rock, she noticed that the lifeline had held. Unfastening it from both their waists, Bryony coiled the line and shouldered it.

She climbed up on the rock slab alongside the mole and took stock of their surroundings. It was a gigantic cavern inside the mountain. Redwall Abbey would have easily fit into it, with room to spare. The waterfall formed a broad river, dotted with rock islands and natural stepping-stones. Luminosity from the river flickered all round, forming s.h.i.+fting liq- 323.

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uid light patterns on the high rock walls and surfaces. It was a timeless world where neither night nor day held sway, forever bathed in its own pale radiance, constantly echoing to the sound of water everywhere, flowing, falling or trickling.

Their food haversack came floating gently by. Bryony hooked it out and emptied the contents onto the rock slab. The fruit was all right; she wiped off an apple and took a bite.

Togget stirred, opening his eyes slowly. "Yurr, be this place Dark Forest? 'Tain't loik oi 'magined et t'be. Broinee, be us'n's dead or still alivin'?"

The mousemaid chuckled and unstoppered a flask of dan-del ion-and-burdock cordial. She pa.s.sed it to Togget, who sat up blinking like an owl, and drank deeply. "Hoourr! That's betterer, missie. Yurr us'n's sh.o.r.ely landed en a roight strange burrow."

The mousemaid relieved him of the flask. "Well at least we're still alive. Most of our food is ruined by the water, though-a bit of fruit and this cordial seems to be all we have. Rest awhile here, then we'll search for Veil. If we've survived the waterfall then I'm sure he did."

Togget wrung moisture from his tunic. "Burr, wot if'n ee diddent survoive?"

The mousemaid was unwilling to contemplate such an idea. "Don't say that, Togget. He is alive, I'm almost certain he is."

The faithful mole shook his velvety head. "Hurr, Broinee, you'm wasten yore loif a-chasen after yon furret, ee'm a bad-beast an' will bring you'm nought but 'arm!"

Bryony packed what little food was still edible into the wet haversack and started the search. "Veil wasn't always bad. Remember when he was a tiny Dibbun? He was such a nice babe. He'll change one day, you'll see."

Splas.h.!.+

Outcast of Redivdtl 325.

A large rock hit the water nearby. "He'll change! He'll change!" a voice echoed eerily. "Hahaha! Are you fools still followin' me?"

Bryony whirled and looked upward. Veil was standing on a ledge behind them, the luminescent light playing oddly across his face. He waved a crimsoned paw at them and vanished into a dark crack in the cave wall.

Bryony clambered over the wet rocks, with Togget following. She shouted as she made her way to the spot where Veil had been. "Wait, Veil, please wait for us! He's alive, Togget, I knew it!" The crack turned out to be a concealed entrance to a winding tunnel. Hurriedly the two friends pursued Veil into the dank, musty darkness.

The young ferret crouched in a niche, hidden from Bryony and Togget. They dashed by, b.u.mping and stumbling blindly, trying to catch up, as they thought, with Veil. Sn.i.g.g.e.ring silently to himself, the ferret listened to their footpaws recede down the dark tunnel. It had been easy to trick them. He made his way back out onto the ledge, intending to run off and leave diem searching the winding tunnel for him.

Then he noticed the slab. It was a broad, heavy oblong of rock precariously perched higher up on the brink of another ledge. Veil climbed nimbly up to it and found that he had only to lean on the slab and it rocked. Rubbing his paws together delightedly, he began rocking the big flat piece of stone. The harder he pressed and jerked both paws on it, the more it rocked. With a groan it slid forward and downward a little. Veil could hear Bryony and Togget calling him; they were obviously coming back to the tunnel entrance. He jumped wildly on the tilting rock, bouncing up and down for all he was worth; the rock wobbled perilously on the brink of the ledge, inching forward, then it went altogether. Veil threw himself from the teetering slab; sitting down hard on the ledge, he watched the stone slip over the edge. It slid down, stopping 326.

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only when it reached the lower ledge, blocking the crack that formed the tunnel entrance. The ferret's face was a picture of fiendish delight as he climbed down to survey his work.

The slab was wedged immovably into the crack, sealing the tunnel. He leaned his back against it, laughing. "Hahaha! Now try an' follow me, Abbey oafs!"

He could hear the frantic scratching from the other side of the slab. Bryony's voice was shocked and reproving. "Veil! What have you done? Let us out of here. Please!"

The young ferret turned and walked away. "Why don't yer try movin' it with kindness? Good-bye an' good riddance to the both of yer!"

"That was neatly done!"

The big lean ferret, surrounded by a score or more heavily armed vermin, stood paw on sword-hilt, watching Veil. He came forward, walking around the young ferret, inspecting him curiously from ear to footpaw.

"Friends of yores, were they?" he said.

Veil eyed the other coolly. "Don't have friends-they were my enemies!"

One or two of the vermin hordebeasts, who had followed Swartt since the early days, began nudging each other and nodding toward the two ferrets. Apart from their age difference they were almost identical, the one being almost a younger edition of the elder.

Swartt fixed the young ferret with his piercing gaze. "What's yer name, an' how did y'get 'ere?"

The young ferret stared boldly back at the Warlord.' 'I came in over the waterfall; they call me Veil Sixclaw the Outcast!"

There was an audible gasp from the hordebeasts as Veil continued, "I know who you are, you're Swartt Sixclaw the Warlord!"

They stood with their eyes locked, staring each other down.

Swartt smiled mirthlessly, his voice heavy with sarcasm. "Yer a hard-faced brat, aren't yer? Veil-who gave you a name like that?"

Before Veil could reply, Grayjaw came splas.h.i.+ng along from the far end of the cave, shouting, "Chief! The badger an' those 'ares are comin' upriver, they'll be 'ere in a couple of hours!"

Swartt pointed to the ledges and craggy galleries leading into the darkness overhead. "C'mon, let's see which way that takes us!"

Veil stood in Swartt's path. "What about me? I can fight."

The Warlord brushed him aside contemptuously. "Stay out o' my way, brat, I got enough trouble t'deal with!"

Veil smiled thinly. ' 'Aye, so it seems. Looks like the badger defeated yer an' yer on the run. Huh, some Warlord!"

Swartt almost lost his balance. Stung by the insult, he shot a venomous glare at the young ferret as he began climbing. "Step careful around me, whelp-a smart tongue could be the death of yer!"

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Sabretache stood out in the shallows, peering at the dark, shaded cave where the river exited from the mountain. He signaled to Rockleg and Fleetrunn. "Scout it out, chaps, go easy, see the villain hasn't laid any traps, ambushes, or nasty surprises."

The hares sat on the bank, making a hasty meal while they awaited the return of the Long Patrol scouts. Sunflash sat apart from them, the food by his paw untouched, two great rivulets scored deep from eye to jaw where his tears had run. Brad-berry sat next to Sabretache, watching the Badger Lord from the corner of his eye.

Sunflash took a leaf, split it, and pressed it to his lips, then he blew, producing a long, high-pitched whistling sound, then he dropped the leaf and watched it float away downriver. A great shuddering sigh ran through him as he buried his gold-striped face in both paws.

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Bradberry whispered to the hare Captain, "What did he do that for?"

"That was the way he called Skarlath sometimes, old lad. They were t'gether a jolly long time, doncha know. It'll take some seasons before he stops grievin', poor chap."

It was not long before the scouts were back. They reported the way clear. Weapons drawn, the hares entered the cave, wading through the river with Sunflash in the lead. Once inside, the scouts went ahead again. Sunflash and the others gathered on a rock islet in midriver. Standing silently, they stared into the pale, eerie stillness of the huge cavern.

Sabretache drew his blade. "Hist! What's that noise?"

It was a clack-clacking sound, as if somebeast were knocking one rock against another. Bradberry murmured to Hedgepaw, "It could be them, tayin' a trap for us, maybe. Where's the sound comin' from?"

Hedgepaw looked about and shrugged. "Hard t'say, too much echo an' waternoise in here. I say, is that Rockleg an' Reetrunn comin' back?"

Rockleg made his report to Sunflash. * 'Thumpin' great waterfall back there, they never went that way."

Sunflash looked up at the high ledges and galleries winding away into the darkness above, and nodded. "Then they're in here somewhere. Sabretache, take the Long Patrol outside and climb to the top of the mountain. It's my guess that's where Swartt will be making for. I'll stay in here and find my way up from the inside; we may be able to trap them in between us. Those are my orders. Go!"

The hare Captain saw it was useless arguing, but he tried. "Sire, p'raps you'd best take Rockleg an' Fleetrunn with you."

The Badger Lord splashed into the water and began wading to the side of the cave where the ledges began. "I'll be all right on my own. Do as I say!"

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