Immediately, Wilce and Ullig shouted aloud, "Long live High Queen Lantur! Long live High Queen Lantur!"

The cry was taken up by the attendant crowd of water rats until it became a chant. Lantur inclined her head to one side, smiling shyly as Ullig gestured for silence. "What can I say to you, my loyal subjects? I accept!"

Ullig and Wilce were about to lead the cheering when the logboat nosed up to the plateau and Mokkan leapt ashore.

Mokkan had been watching, as usual. He never made a move without first studying the situation shrewdly. From out on the lake he had seen his mother's body being committed to the deep. Making for those he knew to be the two main conspirators, Mokkan seized Ullig and Wilce by their throats. They blanched in fear. Mokkan spoke in a low grating tone, so none but the two water rats could hear. "So this is how you sell out behind my back. Shut up and listen hard. When I give you the nod, both of you get everybeast shouting. And here's what you'll shout..."

Lantur was beginning to feel uneasy. Of all her brothers and sisters, Mokkan was the slyest of Marlfoxes. She watched him carefully. He came to her, his face wreathed in smiles, and clasping her paws he shook them joyfully. "My little sister, High Queen Lantur, what a happy homecoming for me!"

Lantur tried to break Mokkan's grip on her paws, but he was far too strong. He clasped her more tightly.

"What fortune, that I should return the very moment you are proclaimed Queen. Alas, I knew our poor mother's days were numbered, but she'll rest peacefully, knowing she has you to rule in her stead. But wait. I brought back a thing of great beauty for our mother; it shall be my gift to you, High Queen. Here, let me show it to you!"

While he had been talking, Mokkan had maneuvered Lantur to the edge of the rock plateau. He called out to the rats who were dumbly sitting in the logboat awaiting orders. "Open the tapestry, spread it wide. Captain Ullig, tell your bearers to bring forward the torches. Let everybeast see the prize I have brought from afar to celebrate the start of High Queen Lantur's reign!"

The onlookers gasped in wonderment as the fantastically woven tapestry of Martin the Warrior was unrolled in the torchlight. All eyes were upon it when Mokkan made his move. With a quick flick of his paws he pushed Lantur into the lake. She screamed once, thrashing about in the wet shreds of her mother's shroud, which were floating up to the surface. Had she remained still, Lantur might have been pulled to safety. But anything that moved in the waters was fair game to the pike shoals that hunted there. The lakewater boiled briefly as the heavy predators struck, then Lantur was gone. Mokkan nodded to Wilce and Ullig, and they shouted as though their lives depended upon it, which indeed they did.

"A sign, 'tis a sign! Mokkan is the rightful ruler! Hail High King Mokkan! Hail High King Mokkan!"

The last Marlfox of all turned to face his army, with a look combining tragedy, innocence and surprise. "She slipped. I tried my best to hold onto her, but she slipped! Alas, I could do nothing to save her. Lantur was taken by the spirit of the lake!"

Wilce and Ullig appealed to the crowd.

" 'Tis a sign, the lake judged her unfit!"

"Aye, Mokkan rules! Hail High King Mokkan!"

Soon everybeast joined in, shouting themselves hoarse until the din rang across the island.

In the slave pens the otter shook his head woefully at the aged mouse. "So that one's back, eh? I wonder 'ow Mokkan murdered the murderer? I think I'd sooner be a slave than a Marlfox, you live a little longer."

The old mouse shrugged, resting his head against the bars. "Don't be too sure of it, pal. How long d'ye think we're goin' to last with Mokkan as King around here?"

Chapter 31.

Morning sunlight shimmered on the river. Megraw balanced on the rail of the raft, watched by everybeast aboard. The osprey flapped his reset wing experimentally, then, slightly doubtful, he set his fierce eye upon Gawjo. "Mah wing still hurts. Are ye sure et's fixed?"

"Sure I'm sure," the old squirrel warrior assured his patient. "The wing's bound to hurt, 'tis stiff through bein' idle. Ye'll have to try usin' it. Go on!"

Megraw launched himself from the rail. Flapping madly, he flew a short distance, then crashed into the river. Torrab and Song extended a long punting pole to him, and Megraw grabbed it in his beak, allowing himself to be pulled up onto the bank. He stood shaking water from his plumage. "Ach, ah kin fly, ah'm sure o' et, but ye lot are mekkin' me nervous, stannin' there watchin' me. Gang aboot yer bizness an' leave me tae mahself!"

"Sure I've seen everythin' now," Burble muttered to one of the big hedgehogs. "An eagle who's too shy to fly? Yiss yiss, that's the blinkin' limit!"

Dann threw a paw about the watervole's shoulders. "Oh, let him be, Burb. Come on, Torrab an' the gang are goin' to show us how t'make hodgepodge pie."

In the cabin the hedgehogs were tossing anything they could find into a cauldron, which sat squarely atop a potbellied stove. The four friends had never seen anything like it. Torrab and her gang went at the business of making hodgepodge pie with wild abandon, singing in gruff off-key voices. What they lacked in melodiousness they made up for in volume. Gawjo had heard it all before, and he clapped both paws over his ears to gain a little peace.

"Oh you take an 'odge, an' I'll take a podge, If anybeast asks us why, Jus' tell him that some clever cooks, Are makin' 'odgepodge pie.

We start with an 'azelnut an' a leek, "Cos they're wot we likes best, An' tho' they don't look much to speak, Till we toss in the rest!

"Odgepodge 'odgepodge, good ole 'odgepodge, That's the pie for me, I'll scoff it 'ot at suppertime, Or wolf it cold for tea.

Oh savage a cabbage, tear a turnip, Rip ripe radishes too, Chop up chestnuts, they're the bestnuts, Chuck in quite a few.

Dannyline ransom, mushrooms 'andsome, Beetroots nice an' red, An' watercress, that's more or less, With piecrust over'ead!

Oh 'odgepodge 'odgepodge, good ole 'odgepodge, North west east or south, You can shove it up yore nose, but I suppose, 'Tis better off in yore mouth!

Who loves an 'odgepodge ... Hedge'ogs!"

Surprisingly enough, when it was served at midday, it looked good and tasted even better. Gawjo fought the hedgehogs off, rapping paws with his ladle and muttering darkly about manners. Then he dug through the thick golden piecrust and ladled out portions to them all, steaming hot and delicious.

Dippler scraped his platter clean and winked at Torrab. "Great stuff. I'll 'ave to remember that recipe. Wot's it called, podgepodge pie?"

"Yaakaaareeeeeegh!"

A bloodcurdling scream caused them to leap from their chairs. Gawjo went racing out of the cabin, dagger at the ready.

"Sounds like somethin' bein' torn apart by wildbeasts!"

Hustling and shoving, they piled out onto the deck of the raft. The wild cry cleaved the air once more, and a dark shadow fell over them, causing everybeast to duck as something large hurtled by. Song was knocked flat on her back, but she lay there pointing skyward, shouting with joy. "It's the Mighty Megraw! Look, he's flying!"

With his tremendous wingspread stretching, closing, backing and flapping, the osprey flew as none had ever seen such a big bird fly. Soaring, wheeling, plummeting and twirling out of dives like a corkscrew, Megraw put on an exhibition of flight for his earthbound friends, sometimes skimming so low that his wing pinions clipped their ears. Song felt her heart soar with the eagle. She was thrilled that his wing was healed due to her grandpa's skill.

"Go on, Megraw, fly! Fly! Fly!"

And Megraw did just that. Winging up into the blue until he was a mere speck in the summer sky, he turned and did several victory rolls. Folding both wings tight to his side, the eagle dropped like a thunderbolt toward the raft, and for a breathless moment Song thought he would smash into the deck. But he spread his wings again, and the mighty talons shot out as he swooped and landed on the rail, where he stood with both wings spread to their extent. For the first time since she had met her friend, Song saw the fish eagle in his element. Filled with the exhilaration of his own savage strength, Megraw flapped his wings, shouting aloud his challenge. "Ah'm the eagle whit kin outfly a lightnin' flash! Mah egg was broken by the thunderstorm! Kareeeeeegha! Megraw rules the skies tae the world's edge! These talons o' Mighty Megraw cuid plow a field o' rocks! Oh weep, ye foebeast, there's a braw bonny bird a-comin' yer way! Karaaaaagh!"

Gawjo nodded in admiration of Megraw's brave display. "I take it yore about ready to go to the lake?"

The fierce golden eye winked at him. "Aye, laddie, ah ken ye'll be comin' wi' me?"

Gawjo Swifteye picked up a long raft pole. He nodded at Megraw and his crew. "This very day!"

Out on the river it was broad and fast flowing. The hedgehogs would not let Song or her friends use the raft poles, so they worked on the Swallow, putting the finishing touches to their sleek craft. Torrab and the others formed two lines, port and starboard, and they punted deep with their poles. Gawjo sat on the stern rail, using a broad paddle as a rudder to steer the sprawling vessel. By mid-noon they were cruising free along a wide calm stretch, while the crew sat eating cold hodgepodge pie and drinking cider, watching the raft drift steadily downriver. Song joined her grandpa at the stern rail and showed him her parchment, torn, tattered and barely decipherable from the batterings it had endured.

"Grandpa, 'tis not very clear now, but there were a few lines of the rhyme here, let me see now. Ah, here it is.

"And should you live to seek the lake, Watch for the fish of blue and gray, Betwixt those two's the path you take, Good fortune wend you on your way!"

Gawjo's hooded eyes scanned the waters ahead. "Aye, the fish of blue an' gray, I know 'em well. You'll see those fish afore twilight. I'll say nothin', pretty one. See if'n you can spot 'emyore young an' sharp."

Twilight came as a relief after the long hot day, gold and crimson flakes of dying sunlight dancing on the waters. Song had positioned herself on the forward rail of the raft. She watched keenly from side to side, taking in all, searching for the signs. From the cabin window she could see Grandpa Gawjo and her friends observing her. The young squirrelmaid paid attention to the tiniest details. Rocks lining the banks, trees growing either side, any patches of bare earth. Then she sighted the fork ahead. A rock that was so large it was almost an island in midriver, causing the waters to part and run both sides of it. The left fork wound off sharply east, the right one curving slightly west, but farther downriver straightening to flow due south. It was on the right fork of the island rock that Song spotted the fish. It was a natural spur of the grayish-hued rock, sticking out at an awkward angle, high up. Curiously, it closely resembled a trout, for the shrubbery growing atop it looked like the fish's small dorsal fin. Where the eye would be positioned there was a crack in the stone, with a thick spray of delicate blue-flowering wall speedwell growing out of it.

"Ahoy, me beauty," Gawjo called from the cabin window, "which course do we steer? Has the fish showed you yet?"

Without turning Song held up her right paw. "Take the west fork an' sail due south, Grandpa!"

Gawjo chuckled as he emerged from the cabin to attend his steering paddle at the stern. "Yore a born Swifteye, gel. West'n'south it is!"

Night had fallen when the lake came into view. The river was running steep and fast, with outcrops of rock poking dangerously from its surface. Gawjo gave the order to his crew. "All paws on deck. Pole 'er over these rapids an' keep yore eyes peeled for those rocks. Lively now!"

Song and her companions found themselves standing alongside the burly hedgehogs, pushing and punting with the long raft poles. Burble was slightly tardy lifting his pole and was thrust up into the air, the raft rushing by him. Dippler saw him rise and shouted a warning. "Watervole overboard! Er, I mean up in the air!"

Torrab and one of her burly sisters were aft. They snatched Burble and the pole, heaving them back onto the deck before he was left clinging to a pole in midriver as the raft went on without him. Song and her friends were laughing about it when the big craft began to buck and plunge. A hedgehog shot by, looping them all to the raft with a stout rope. Spray struck their faces, and Dann yelled above the din, "Look out, here we go, mates!"

Song would have been frightened had it not been for the confidence she felt in the skill shown by her grandpa and Torrab's crew. Instead, a wave of exhilaration swept over her as the raft virtually flew down the rapids. Turning and heaving, sometimes head down, other times bow up, night-dark water crested with star-swept spray rushed by in a blur. Megraw balanced firmly on the for'ard rail, calling directions. "Rocks comin' up aheid, swing tae yer left. Left! Left! Noo, awa' right a wee bitty. Hauld 'er steady, laddies, steady!"

Without warning a waterfall came up, and they shot straight over the top, right out into space. The breath was whipped from their mouths as they stood frozen, still holding on to the raft poles, water roaring at their back.

Wwwhhhhrrrrraaaaaakkkkkkkkssssshhhhh! The raft landed flat with an earsplitting splash. Gawjo wiped water from his eyes and shrugged carelessly. "Well, this's the lake. We've arrived."

Even in the darkness they could feel the immensity of a vast body of water, calm and smooth as a millpond in the warm summer night. Everybeast aboard collapsed into a sitting position, dog-weary and gasping.

Gawjo was first to recover, and he paced the deck sternly. "Come on, me babies, up on yore paws, we're stickin' out like a bandaged ear if'n any foebeast shows up. Let's get 'er ashore an' into some cover. Jump to it, crew!"

They chose a spot farther east on the lakeshore, where trees grew thick, willows on the fringes dipping their branches into the water. Waist deep in the lake, they levered the raft onshore with the punting poles. Burble stumbled and spat out a mouthful of muddy liquid. "A proper ould slave driver that grandpa of yores is, Song. Yiss yiss, a right ould whipcracker!" 1 1 Gawjo's hooded eyes appeared over the stern, staring straight at the grumbling watervole. "Wot was that you were burblin' about, Burble?"

"Er, ah, 'twas nothin', sir, yiss yiss, nothin'. We're all doin' a fine grand job down here, enjoyin' ourselves, yiss!"

Dawn was streaking the lake with beige and pink amid low-lying cloudbanks. The stillness was eerie; there were no sounds of singing birds over the far-reaching inland sea. From stem to stern the raft was covered with boughs and fronds, tufts of vegetation and shrubs. Song thrust a final willow bough into the cabin chimneytop and climbed wearily down to the deck. She threw her grandpa a limp salute. "All covered, sir. Permission to sleep?"

A smile hovered around Gawjo's slanted eyes as he nodded at the exhausted crew. They had worked hard and well. "Hmmm. Well, all right, permission granted. Y'can all sleep standin' on yore heads with one eye open."

Dippler bit his lip with feigned emotion. "O sir, yore too kind to us ungrateful wretches!"

Gawjo tweaked the shrew's ear. "Aye, maybe I am, so I'll stay awake an' cut the throat of any crew member found snorin'. HowTl that do ye?"

Dann sniggered. "Better cut yore Song's throat right now!"

"Ooh, you listen, Dannflor Reguba, you're the snorer, not me!"

"Oh yiss yiss, Dann's a grand ould snorer, but I think the champion's got t'be me good mate Dipp, yiss yiss!"

"Hah! Stripe me blue, look who's talkin'. Anybeast out on that lake'd think it was a foghorn if you kicked off snorin'!"

"Who, me? Ooh, y'fibber, watervoles don't snore, 'tis a fact!"

Gawjo shook with laughter as he watched the indignant young creatures. The old squirrel cut short the dispute with a wave of his paw. "Hah! Snore, you think you can snore? Now Torrab an' these hogs, they can snore! I'll be surprised if there's a leaf left on any tree within the area by the time they're done snorin'. Huh, you ain't heard snorers until you've slept in the same cabin as my family. I should know, 'tis me who's had to suffer these many long seasons!"

Torrab gave Gawjo an affectionate pat, nearly knocking him flat. "Thou sayest the nicest things, ancient one!"

Song giggled. "Give him another pat, Auntie Torrab!"

Whether through excitement or overtiredness, the occupants of the cabin had difficulty in getting to sleep. Dippler propped himself up on a cushion. "C'mon, Song, give us a little tune. Mayhap that'll help us to doze off. Yore grandpa ain't heard you singin'."

Song recalled a ditty of her Grandma Ellayo's that reminded her of the joy she felt at watching Megraw fly.

"I sit alone and wish that I Could be a bird up in the sky, I'd join the breezes that do blow, Whichever way they chanced to go, Far o'er the waves, across the sea, I'd drift along quite happily, Or maybe out on field and fen, I'd circle round some forest glen.

I envy bee and butterfly, Maybe the birds could tell me why I wipe a teardrop from my eye, I sit alone, for I can't fly."

In actual fact it was Gawjo who was wiping a teardrop from his eye, his mind wandering back over the seasons. "Ellayo my wife used to sing that, almost as pretty as you do, Song. Of course, she was much younger in those days."

Song stroked the old gray head of her grandpa. "She's still young at heart, you'll see."

Gawjo stretched out, closing his eyes. "Maybe I will, if we live through what lies ahead, young 'un."

Outside it began to rain, softly at first, increasing as a breeze sprang up over the vast reaches of the hidden lake.

One of Silth's ceremonial cloaks, held on the spear-points of two soldiers, provided cover for Mokkan against the driving rain. The Marlfox was in high spirits, far too cheerful to allow a wet morning to ruin his joy. Striding across a high-walled roof at Castle Marl, he peered over at the ground far below. "Set it up here!"

With the aid of twelve slaves, Wilce and Ullig staggered forward, bent beneath the weight of Queen Silth's palanquin. Grunting and groaning, they strained upward until it rested precariously atop the wall. Wilce and Ullig stood bareheaded in the rain among the slaves, awaiting King Mokkan's pleasure. He flicked a paw dismissively at them. "You two, shove it over!"

It needed only a slight push, and then there was several seconds' silence, broken by a rending crash. The Marlfox giggled like a youngster as he stared over the walltop at the smashed palanquin on the ground.

"I always hated that thing. Tell somebeast to burn what's left of it when the weather clears up. Right, follow me, come on, come on, all of you!"

Wilce and Ullig exchanged apprehensive glances before running in the wake of slaves and soldiers after Mokkan, down the winding slopes of the castle's corridors. The Marlfox rushed helter-skelter in the lead, and arrived at the door of Castle Marl's main chamber smiling and exhilarated.

"What took you so long? Haha, getting too fat, Ullig, and you Wilce. Inside, all of you, step smartly now!"

A big carved oak chair had been set in the center of the floor. Mokkan practically skipped over to sit on it. He banged his paws down on the chair arms. "What d'you think? Not bad, eh? Of course, it's not a real throne, but it'll do until I have one made. The throne of High King Mokkan. Hahaha, I like that! If my fool brothers and sisters have survived they'll meet a fine welcome if they try to return."

He waved imperiously at the two water rats who had been holding the cloak aloft with their spears. "You've been with me since I left Redwall Abbey, right?"

The two stolid guards nodded silently. Mokkan leapt up, energy surging through him, and smiling and winking at the two dullards he clapped their backs heartily. "Tell me your names. Speak up, don't be afraid!"

"Toolam, er, sire, er, Majesty!"

"Durrlow, your Majesty!"

The Marlfox paced a circle around both rats, looking them up and down approvingly. "Good honest soldiers, faithful and obedient, just what a King needs. Durrlow, you are now my Personal Adviser. Toolam, I promote you to be Commander of my army!" Adopting a look of mock sadness, he nodded at Wilce and Ullig. "Loyalty brings its rewards, you see. I always told you, never trust a vixen, and now look what Lantur has brought you to. Oh, don't look so glum. I've found an important job for you both, so cheer up!"

The two water rats managed to put on uneasy smiles. Mokkan winked mischievously at them. "You can hang my beautiful tapestry for me. Hmm, let me see, that wall over there should do. Toolam, Durrlow, see to it that they hang it good and straight, use your spearbutts to chastise them if they don't. Ullig, I'm sorry, my old friend, I can't afford an untrustworthy Captain, so you're back to being a rank-and-file soldier again. Wilce, you've had it too easy for long enough, it's back into uniform for you, I'm afraid. Right, that's that! I'm off to see what the cooks have prepared for my breakfast. I'm famished enough to eat a meal fit for a King. Fit for a King, good, eh? Hahahaha!"

Mokkan paused at the door and pointed to the slaves. "You'll find that nothing escapes your new King's notice. Work hard and well, I may free you from slavery and promote you to be soldiers in my army, tell your friends this. And you soldiers, if I find you to be slow and lazy, then I'll take away your uniforms and make slaves of you, let your comrades know this. But remember this, all of you, even think of playing me false and you'll find out the lake still possesses teeth. Make sure everybeast knows that!"

The door slammed, and the self-proclaimed King Mokkan could be heard trotting off down the sloping passage, laughing at the echo of his own voice. "I'm feeling hungry today, hungry! Hahahahaha!"

The slaves were left in a bewildered group by the door, murmuring quietly to each other.