Burble found a flask of dandelion and burdock cordial and swigged thirstily at it, massaging the back of his neck. "Aye, you three go off an' explore awhile. Yiss yiss, I'll stay 'ere an' guard our gear. Me ould neck's a bit sore. You didn't 'elp matters by leapin' all over me head'n'shoulders to get up on this ledge, missie, you serpintly didn't!"

Song helped the watervole to rub his neck. "Ah, poor old Burb. Never mind, mate, you'll live, but don't doze off now. Keep an eye on everything while we're gone."

When they had finished eating, Song, Dann and Dippler took the rope from the Swallow and set off across the rocks to explore downstream. The grandeur of the scenery was awesome: hurtling water, towering stone and spray forever cascading through curtains of mist, over which the rainbow arched like a massive colored bridge. Traveling in single file, they made good use of the rope to span places where there were gaps in the ledges. Sometimes they rested in somber moss-strewn crevices where sunlight never reached. Other times they pawed cautiously over expanses of smooth banded stone, almost hot to the touch. Just beyond the two big rocks that stood center stream, the mist cleared and they halted with gasps of wonderment at the sight.

It was as if they were standing at the very edge of the earth. Billowing, leaping, roaring, vast masses of water fell abruptly downward into the shrouding fog of boiling spray far below. Dippler clasped his friends' paws, eyes wide as he stared down into the hurtling chaos, his shouts almost lost in the reverberating din.

"Lookit that waterfall! Wooooooow!"

They sat on the rock edge, drenched with spray, watching the awesome majesty of the waterfall. Dann pointed to the far side, where the bank ran out a short distance underwater, forming an incredibly swift shallows. There was a great bird pacing up and down the bankside, watching the water intently.

"Great seasons, look at the size of that feller! What sort o' bird would you call him?"

Dippler had spent his life around waterways. Though he had only ever seen the species once before, it was unforgettable. "That's a fishin' eagle. 'Tis called an osprey!"

The bird had a white crown of plumage, and its underparts too were snowy white. A mask, dark brown, almost black, stretched around its savage golden eyes, spreading back over shoulders and wings; it had a heavy hooked beak and fearsome talons. Silently they watched it prowling the bank. It struck once, but came back without any catch. Song was puzzled. "Aren't they supposed to fly and swoop on the fish, Dipp?"

"Aye, that's what they usually do. Aha, look!"

The eagle struck the water again, but could not catch the fish it was chasing. It gave a shriek of temper and charged awkwardly into the water, one wing flapping to retain its balance. Dippler nodded knowingly. "It can't fly, see, keeps one wing close to its side. Musta been injured at some time, I reckon, Song."

The pretty young squirrelmaid was full of sympathy. "Oh, the poor bird. Imagine having big beautiful wings and not being able to use them. Oh, it's so sad to watch him!"

Dippler chuckled as he saw a brown trout leaping and squirming in the shallows as the osprey chased it.

"Pore bird? What about the pore fish, missie? Mind though, that trout's leadin' the eagle a merry dance. Mebbe it'll escape!"

As the Guosim shrew spoke, the trout gave a mighty leap and made it to deep water. The osprey was almost out of its depth. Squawking angrily, it stumbled and was swept into the wild lashing deeps.

Dippler put a paw over his eyes. "Nothin' we can do to save 'im now. That'n's a goner!"

Before the words had left his mouth Song was in action. Tying the rope hastily around her waist, she slung the end to Dann. "Hang on to this. I'm goin' after him!"

Dann grabbed the rope instinctively, shouting, "Song, no, you'll be killed!"

But the young squirrelmaid had already plunged into the roaring melee of waters.

Chapter 24.

During the night the White Ghost's eerie sighing and wailing echoed ceaselessly around the Queen's bedchamber. Silth crouched in her bed, gaunt and hollow-eyed, her voice reduced to a hoarse croak from shouting for her guards.

"Oooooh, Silth, come to me, Siiiiiilth!"

There it was again. Silth buried her face in a satin coverlet, knowing it was not a dream. When she ventured to peep out, all the candles had sputtered and died. Only a single lantern remained burning on the bedside table. The room had become an ill-lit cavern of shifting shadows, drafts and breezes moving the silk wall hangings like fluttering shrouds. Silth's voice was a piteous whine. "Guards, help me, where are my guards?"

Spectral tones answered her desperate plea. "Gone, all goooooooone!"

Lantur beckoned Wilce out of the room from which she had been impersonating the White Ghost. "That's enough wailing for now, rat. There's no reason for any of the guards to be up here since I dismissed them for the night. But just in case anybeast tries to gain entrance, you stay at the head of the stairs and keep them away. Tell them the High Queen is very ill and any creature coming up here against my orders does so under pain of death. Got it?" Wilce nodded silently and went off about her task.

Lantur took up the tray she had prepared. It had two goblets upon it. One was Silth's own drinking vessel, beaten from fine gold, with her personal crest embossed on its stem. The other was a plain serviceable pewter type. Lantur made sure the Queen's goblet was on the far side of the tray as she carried it into the bedchamber. Silth cowered away from her, bunching the satin coverlet tight under her chin.

"Where are my guards? How long is it until morning light? The White Ghost has been haunting me again. Did you hear it? Well, did you? Speak, daughter."

Smiling benignly, Lantur perched upon the bed, placing the tray next to the lantern on the table. Her voice was that of a true Marlfox, sweet as honey and deadly as an adder's bite. She removed the coverlet gently from Silth's chin.

"Don't upset yourself, Mother dear. I sent the guards away because I don't want them clanking and tramping about outside your door when you need rest. This White Ghost, 'tis all in your imagination. Sleep will cure all that. Things will look better in the light of day."

Silth seemed to regain some of her regal composure. She chided Lantur skeptically. "Sleep? How can I sleep? You haven't the slightest idea how I suffer. I order you to stay here for the rest of the night to keep me company through the dark hours. What's this you've brought, eh?"

Lantur held the tray out to her mother, taking care that she presented it so the Queen's cup was nearer to the royal paw. "'Tis a harmless drink, made from warm damson wine and special herbs. It will help you to sleep."

Silth sniffed the goblet without touching it. "I don't care what it is, I'm not drinking any!"

Lantur moved the tray closer to her mother. "Now don't be silly, Mother. See, I've filled a goblet for myself. I'm going to drink, aye, and enjoy it."

She picked up the plain pewter goblet. It was halfway to her lips when the Queen rasped out, "Stop! Put that goblet back on the tray. I command you!"

With a look of long-suffering hopelessness, Lantur did as she was bidden. Silth smiled craftily at her. "You placed the two goblets on the tray so that my personal one was closest to me, as if you wanted me to drink from it."

Lantur smiled innocently back. "But of course, Majesty. 'Tis your own cup. None but the High Queen would dare to drink from it."

Silth pushed the royal goblet across to Lantur. "Here's a better idea. You drink from my goblet and I'll drink from yours. What do you think of that?"

Lantur shrugged and picked up the golden vessel. "A wonderful idea, Majesty. I've never taken wine from a Queen's cup. Mayhaps I'll get used to it!"

Silth snatched the golden goblet before Lantur could taste it. "No you won't, that's mine. Now, let me see you drain the other one. Drink!"

Lantur's face blanched with fright. Her paw trembled as she picked up the pewter goblet. Silth cackled evilly. "Drink it all, you wicked young schemer, or I'll have my guards feed you to the Teeth of the Deeps. Drink!"

Lantur was forced to swallow, her throat quivering fitfully, wine dribbling from the corners of her lips, her eyes wide with horror. Silth sipped at her own goblet, fully recovered from her former cringing self as she lectured her treacherous daughter.

"Did you think you could outwit a Queen of Marlfoxes, my dear? I knew that you would put the poison in your own goblet. You thought I'd think it was in mine, the silly way you offered the tray so that my cup was nearest to me. I saw through your ruse, Lantur, I knew you wanted me to drink from your goblet, suspecting that mine contained the poison. So tonight you learned your last lesson. Never try to outwit a Queen of Marlfoxes. Hee hee hee!"

Lantur had drained the pewter goblet. She put it aside and watched her mother, a smile suddenly beginning to play upon her lips. "There, I've drunk it all as you commanded. Have you drunk yours yet, O High Queen?"

Surprised, Silth looked up questioningly. "Only a few sips. Why?"

Lantur removed the golden cup from her mother's paws. "One sip would have been enough. You did just as I gambled you would. Your Majesty outfoxed herself. The poison was in your cup all the time!"

Queen Silth's paws dithered helplessly for a moment, then her body flopped limply back. Lantur plumped up the pillow behind her head and folded the satin coverlet neatly under her mother's chin. The Queen murmured faintly through numbed lips, "Guards, where are my ..."

Lantur wiped away a dribble of wine from the corner of Silth's mouth. "Hush now, your Majesty, go to sleep and remember your own words. Never try to outwit a Queen of Marlfoxes. I am Lantur, High Queen of all Marlfoxes, now!"

Silth blinked her dimmed, watering eyes. All power of speech had left her. Without a word she slipped silently into the deepest sleep of all.

Lantur washed the golden goblet out carefully, three times. Then she filled it with new damson wine and drank a toast to herself.

Morning sunlight flooded the island as Wilce the female water rat wandered down to the field where the slaves were husbanding fruit and crops. Seating herself on the ground, she opened a flask of damson wine and poured two beakers. Captain Ullig, the slave master, saw her from the corner of his eye. He cracked his long whip expertly over the bent backs in front of him. "Keep those 'eads down, you scum, or I'll teach yer a lesson you won't forget the rest o' yore lives!" Satisfied that nobeast would dare look up, he joined Wilce. "Thirsty work, eh? Wish I could lay me paws on more wine that tastes like this. Well, ye didn't come down 'ere fer nothin', Wilce. Wot news up at the castle?"

She poured more wine for Ullig, keeping her eyes fixed on the toiling slaves as she spoke. "There'll be lots more o' this wine, much as y'want if you lissen t'me, Slave Cap'n."

Ullig drained his beaker and held it forth for a refill. "Oh aye? Wot is it now, another surprise inspection from 'er Majesty, or is the noise o' this whip disturbin' 'er royal peace?"

"Oh no, the royal peace won't be disturbed ever again, Ullig."

"Wot d'yer mean by that?"

"High Queen Silth is dead, long live Queen Lantur, and her Chief Adviser Wilce!"

Wine ran either side of Ullig's mouth as he slopped it down and held out his beaker for more. "Haharr! I'll drink ter that. So, you an' yore Marlfox friend finally finished off the old one. Clever, Wilce, clever!"

Wilce's paw was like a vise as she grabbed Ullig's, restraining him from lifting the beaker to his mouth. "Keep talkin' like that an' yore a deadrat!" she hissed viciously. "Queen Silth was slain durin' the night, by the White Ghost. I knew all along that White Ghost was the spirit of 'er mate returnin' to avenge hisself for the treacherous way she slew 'im. Right?"

A thin smile crossed Ullig's cruel features. "Right you are, Wilce. Everybeast knowed that someday Silth'd pay fer killin' 'er mate. Lantur was 'is favorite daughter, so 'tis only fittin' that she rules the island nowwid you to guide an' advise 'er, of course, an' me to command the army."

Wilce released Ullig's paw and allowed him to drink. "Well spoken, Ullig. You catch on pretty fast. Now, there'll be a buryin' ceremony at the lakeside before long. What we need is for you to get everybeast yellin', 'Long live High Queen Lantur!'"

Ullig tossed the empty beaker aside and tilted the flask to his lips as he toasted the conspiracy. "Long live Tgh Queen Lantur!"

Wilce gathered up the two beakers. "Not so loud, friend. Nobeast's supposed to know she's dead yet!"

One of the slaves, a sturdy female hedgehog, whispered to an otter working alongside her, "Did you 'ear that? Silth's dead an' Lantur's Queen now."

The otter labored on, not raising his eyes. "Makes no difference to us, does it? One Marlfox is bad as another to a field slave."

The news would have made little difference to Mokkan either. The Marlfox, following his own secret route, found himself attacked by lizards. He had deviated by mistake from the river into a watermeadow, which, half a paddle's depth beneath the surface, was swamp. Berating the rat paddlers and the shrew Fenno, he had them turn about, only to find that the way back to the river was blocked by a teeming horde of lizards, newts and toads. The first inkling he had was when a rat in the prow fell overboard with a gurgle, his throat pierced by a sharpened dried bulrush stem. Then the water came alive with reptiles swimming toward the logboat, while others hurled rush lances from the reeded shallows. Mokkan crouched low and shouted frantic orders to his crew. "Use your paddles! Don't let them aboard or we're lost!"

The logboat rocked from side to side as Mokkan made his way to the prow, pushing past the paddlers. He seized the slain rat's oar and began wielding it energetically, making toward the twin tongues of land that formed the watermeadow entrance. Smashing a toad over the head with his blade, the Marlfox urged his water rats onward as they alternately paddled or hit out at the reptiles who attempted to board the logboat. In the stern of the vessel, Fenno gnawed on the thong like a beast in a trap. Slobbering and spitting, he chewed madly, straining the thong tight by pulling hard with his strong neck. The rawhide snapped as they were passing through the jutting landspurs. Fenno bundled himself ashore and lay still among the reeds and bushes, watching the cold-eyed reptiles hurrying by, trying to catch the vessel before it struck open water.

Mokkan felt the pull of the current. Knocking water rats aside, he dashed to the stern of the boat. "Paddle for your lives! Keep to the center stream! Go! Go!" Slashing left and right with his ax, the Marlfox slew a toad and a frilled newt who were clinging to the after end. Powered by panic-stricken rats, the logboat shot off downriver.

It was long after midnight when Fenno risked moving a limb. Shutting his ears to the horrible screams of a water rat whom the reptiles had captured, he crawled off stealthily through the undergrowth.

Mokkan forced his remaining nine rats to paddle all night. They halted at dawn on the bank of a dry sunburned field, but before he allowed them to eat, drink, or tend their wounds, the Marlfox had them spread the precious tapestry out on the grass. "Clean it, brush the edges well and make sure the fringe isn't tangled. It must be kept in perfect condition for High Queen Silth. It is a thing of rare beauty!"

Mokkan posted two guards, then choosing a shady spot he spread his cloak and lay down to rest, thinking of Fenno and the fate he would suffer in the hold of the merciless reptiles. Mokkan felt slightly cheated. He had planned on killing Fenno himself.

Raventail surprised even himself. When he and his cohorts went out scouring the countryside to the north and east, they recruited nearly one hundred assorted vermin. Naturally, the Marlfoxes had promised Raventail anything his avaricious heart desired. Armaments, food, power, even the rule of a conquered Redwall. Vannan had assured the barbarian ferret that Marlfoxes had no need of the Abbey, because their home was in another place. She explained that the reason Redwall had to fall was because their creatures had murdered two of her kin. Raventail figured that there would be a catch to the agreement somewhere, but his overpowering greed got the better of him. Besides, he reasoned, with a hundred at his command he could always turn the tables on his strange allies. Raventail was not a stupid beast. He took note of the fact that Vannan had made a serious mistake in her talks with him. She had admitted that Marlfoxes could be slain.

Vannan, Ascrod and Predak sat surrounded by their water rat soldiers, watching the vermin horde dancing and chanting around a blazing log. Evening shadows, combined with the eerie flicker of flames, cast a wild and primitive air on the proceedings. Weasels, stoats and ferrets leapt and stamped, pounding the earth until a dustcloud rose around them, flinging their weapons high in the air and catching them expertly as they wailed their killing chants.

"Who be death? We be death!

Here's d'blade wot stop yore breath!

Kye arr rakkachakka whummwhummwhumm!

Plunder good! Slayin' good!

These d'blades wot shed yore blood!

Kye arr rakkachakka whummwhummwhumm!"

Over and over they repeated the chant, getting faster and louder as the tempo of their frenzied dance increased. There was a contemptuous, if slightly nervous, edge to Ascrod's tone as he viewed the primeval proceedings. "Stupid savages. What do they think they're doing?"

The flames reflected in Vannan's pale, immobile eyes. "Working themselves into a blood frenzy, of course, brother. Here comes Raventail. Don't refer to them as stupid savages while he's around. Greetings, Chief Raventail. You have done well, my friend, these are true warriors you have brought us!"

The ferret cast a swift sidelong glance at Ascrod, as if he had heard the Marlfox's insulting remark. Twirling his scimitar deftly, he thwacked it into the ground a mere whisker away from Ascrod's paw. The Marlfox twitched. Raventail's red and black daubed face leered at him momentarily, then he turned away to address Vannan.

"Kyre arr, magicfox, desebeasts ready for warfight, muchslay muchkill, bettersoon we go fightnow, fight-now!"

Predak and Ascrod looked to Vannan. "Now?"

The vixen stood, drawing her ax. "Well, they won't get it done chanting and dancing here. What better time than now? 'Twill be full dark when we reach the Abbey. Our scouts report that they have been celebrating a victory. This is the time they'll least expect us."

Chapter 25.

Abbey bells boomed softly on the still warm air over Redwall. Grandma Ellayo, in company with Sister Sloey, halted their evening stroll by the northeast wallcorner. Janglur turned from the battlements, a half-smile in his lazy eyes. "Now then, ole Mother, don't ye go breakin' into a gallop down there. Supper'11 be about ready, time ye get to Cavern Hole."

Ellayo shook her stick at her impudent offspring. "If'n my rheumatiz would let me climb yon wallsteps I'd tan yore tail for ye, Janglur baybelly!"

Skipper winked at Rusvul. He admired the feisty old squirrel. "Haharr, that'd be a sight t'see, mate. Stop there, marm, an' I'll come down an' lend ye a paw. A spot o' tannin' wouldn't go amiss on this son of yores!"

Ellayo shook her head, smiling up at the otter Chieftain. "Aren't you three comin' inside for supper? Me'n'Sister Sloey baked a great blackberry jam roly poly pudden this afternoon."

Rusvul Reguba gnawed his lip regretfully. "With pear'n'honey sauce, too, I'll wager. Trouble is, by the time we got down there, marm, ole Florian forkbottom would've scoffed the lot!"

Sister Sloey, normally quite a sedate old mouse, broke out into hoots of laughter. "Whoohoohoo! Florian forkbottom, that's a good 'un. Whoohoohoo!"

Ellayo turned Sloey in the direction of the Abbey, lecturing her with mock severity. "Now now, Sister, that's not very nice. Don't you dare call that pore hare Florian forkbottomleastways, not afore I do. Heehee!"

"Don't forget us three 'ungry beasts up 'ere, ladies," Janglur called after the retreating figures. "See if'n ye can get supper sent out to us, please."

Ellayo waved her stick in acknowledgment.

Skipper turned back to the wall, leaning his chin on it. "Hmm, it don't look like there's much doin' out there t'night, mates. Quiet as a butterfly's bedroom 'tis."