"You traitor, you sc.u.m! We came here to warn you," Skan spluttered.

"So you did," Slagar laughed scornfully. "You were prepared to sell your own kind out. Let me tell you, Skan, when it comes to double-dealing, there's n.o.beast better at it than Slagar the Cruel. Chain 'em up!"

Weeping with frustration, the shrews were disarmed nd chained to the slave line.

fe.

teaching across, Auma pinned Skan to the ground with a hefty paw at his throat. "Give me the right answers, turncoat, or you're dead.

My father is Orlando the Axe, that mouse's father is Matthias of Redwall, the squirrel has a mother named $$tf and the young hedgehog there, his father's name is

abez. Are they alive and well?" - Skan gurgled and spluttered until Auma released him.

" "Yes, yes, they're alive, and an old hare named Basil and a young otter too, though I didn't get his name." "Mattimeo and his friends laughed with delight and ffefief. Auma gave Skan a mighty pat on the head that Completely stunned him. %;"Haha, they're alive. Oh, I do feel better now!"

us.

204.

205.

The evening bells tolled out across the countryside at Redwall. It was a windless summer twilight; not a leaf stirred on branch or bough, the earth and gra.s.s were still warm from the hot afternoon. The Abbey dwellers ceased their daily tasks and went indoors for the evening meal. Mole cooks had baked a traditional tater'n'turnip-'n'beetroot deeper'n'ever pie. There was fresh fruit and cream, mint wafers and cider. A garland of yellow flowers graced the table center in honour of the season. None of them knew that murder had been done that day.

When the sun was at its zenith, General Ironbeak and his raiders had flown up as high as they could, hovering on the high thermals far above Redwall, then they quietly plummeted down. Four by four they came, each bird entering under the high eaves from a different point. The General led the secret attack, swiftly and silently dealing death to the few old sparrows and iate nestlings who were unable to fly. The dreadful deed was accomplished with quiet efficiency; Ironbeak and his birds were seasoned warriors.

Mangiz perched in the crossbeams next to his General 206.

while the rooks searched through the pitifully empty sparrow nests. One cackled harshly. Ironbeak swooped down and felled him with a savage peck.

"Silence! The great redstone house is not yet ours. I do not want those creatures below to know we are here. Quickbiil and his brothers will bring in food soon, when night falls. Until then you must all be still and make no noise."

He flew back to perch with Mangiz, but the crow seemed somewhat disturbed. Ironbeak noticed his seer was not his usual self.

"What is it, my Mangiz? Are you having more visions?" he asked.

"No, the strange thing is that my vision is clouded. The eye within my mind has been blurred since we came here today. Whatever I try to see becomes difficult. It is an earthcrawler, a mouse dressed strangely; he carries a sword and seems to bar all my visions."

Ironbeak closed his eyes. "Do not worry, Mangiz. Maybe it is a good omen."

Mangiz clacked his beak doubtfully. "We will see, my General."

. Oops a daisy! Up the stairs to bed with you, HtdeRoUo."

Mrs. Churchmouse chased after baby Rollo, but he ducked beneath the table and began singing.

"I wrestle a fish upon a dish, Cut off his 'ead while he's in bed, an' take a rat an' make him dead, for goooooood ooooooold cideeeeeeemTnr!"

Sister May and Cornflower helped Mrs. Churchmouse. They scrambled under the table and chased Rollo out into her waiting paws.

"Gotcha, you little monster. Now off to bed with you." - "No no, dowannago! Dowannagorrabed!"

"Please, Rollo, be a good fellow. Tell you what, if I 207.

come up with Cornflower and Sister May and we sing songs, then will you go?"

Rollo chuckled until his little fat body shook. "Yep, yep. Singa singa song f Rollo."

The three mouse ladies took the infant bankvole up to the dormitory on the floor above Great Hall, where he was dutifully put into a cot.

After several songs, Cornflower held a paw to her lips. "Ssshhh, he's asleep. Come on, quietly now."

Rollo opened one eye. He watched them tip-paw out. As soon as the door was closed, he pulled his nightshirt above his paws and scrambled out of the cot.

Halfway down the stairs. Sister May heard the dormitory door slam. "Mercy me, the little rogue has escaped. Quickly!"

They bounded back up the spiral staircase, reaching the landing in time to see Rollo climb another curving night of stairs.

Cornflower stamped her paw down hard. "Back to bed, baby Rollo, this instant!"

Rollo turned and giggled, then he waved to them. Mrs. Churchmouse heard a slight noise on the stairs above Rollo, and was about to call out to him. Suddenly a large raven poked its villainous black head round the spiral and seized Rollo by the nightshirt in its wicked beak.

The little bankvole screamed aloud as he was dragged backwards up the stairs.

Darkness had fallen when Matthias and his new-found army reached the foothills. They were forced to camp there for the night until morning light revealed their position. Shrew fires glimmered, and the chatter and noise of the argumentative little beasts made Matthias wish Log-a-Log had never offered the help of the Guosim. The warrior mouse sat alone on the brow of a small rise, then he was joined by Orlando and Jabez Stump.

208.

The hedgehog nodded towards the cliffs rearing high overhead. "Puzzles me as to 'ow any creature 'ceptin' a bird could get to the top of there. You're sure they went mis way?"

Basil Stag Hare sauntered up out of the darkness. "Sure? You could bet your summer spikes on it, old lad. They've scaled the bally heights all right, though how they did it beats me. One clue though, I've just stumbled over the carca.s.s of one of those stoat fellers. Either he thought he could fly or he missed his paw hold. Ugh! Nearly put me off m'supper, it did."

"It must have been pretty grim to banish thoughts of food from your mind, Basil," Matthias chuckled. "The question is, how do we get up there tomorrow?"

Orlando tested his axe blade against his paw. "And when we do get up there, d'you think they'll have laid some sort of trap? Maybe the fox is waiting until we're halfway up to start hurling rocks and boulders down on us."

"That's a chance we'll have to take," Matthias shrugged, "though I don't think Slagar knows we're alive. He'll probably press on to get his captives to their destination, wherever that is."

The old hare squatted down beside Matthias. "I picked up the tracks of that young shrew Skan and his cronies this afternoon. They were making for this point well ahead of us. I think the bally old fox knows we're still alive and kickin', one way or another."

The warrior mouse unbuckled his sword and lay down in the gra.s.s.

"We'll know tomorrow. Rest now."

Mattimeo and his companions on the slave line were being driven hard and fast. Evidently there was to be little rest that night. Slagar and Stonefleck led the column. Before they set out, the masked fox had addressed them: "Tonight you must move swiftly and silently. I tell you 209.

this because there is no other way. Stonefleck here will guide us, he knows the paths to take. When we reach the Forest, there is danger, so be silent, travel fast, and you will come out unharmed. Now get moving!"

It was difficult going. They were forced into a stumbling dogtrot; the chain manacles and the heavy slave line were a great handicap for the prisoners. Surprisingly, the slavers helped them all they could. Sam was baffled.

"Matti, Tess, why haven't they got the canes swinging? Usually we get beaten and bullied, but all of a sudden they're being almost nice to us."

Auma caught Tim as he stumbled. "They're not shouting and yelling at us either. I'd say they look pretty frightened themselves."

"There's a forest up ahead," Jube called back to them in a loud voice. "D"you suppose that has something to do with it?"

"Please, don't shout or you'll get us all killed!" Drynose the weasel guard had an almost pleading whine to his voice.

The forest, when they reached it, looked eerie and forlorn in the dim light. Old gnarled trees spread their knotted branches wide and low, there was little gra.s.s on the floor, and no flowers were to be seen anywhere. Mattimeo saw the withered and bleached skeleton of a rat dangling from a bough halfway up a tree, and there were other bones too, scattered here and there throughout the branches. The young mouse decided to keep quiet about them; no sense in panicking his friends, chained up as they were.

"I've noticed those bones too," Auma whispered in his ear. "We'd best keep quiet. If anybeast gets attacked if 11 probably be us, who have no chance of making a run for it."

Bending low to avoid hanging branches, they pushed onward as fast as possible, following Slagar and Stone- 210.

fleck. Occasionally Mattimeo could hear guttural noises up in the trees, and now it seemed that everyone had sported grisly remains hanging in the boughs, though no creature made mention of it.

Tess Churchmouse shuddered. She had never been in such a sinister place. Catching up with Mattimeo, she grasped the back of his robe and clutched it tight. The young mouse patted her paw in the darkness.

"Don't be frightened, Tess," he whispered. "We'll make it. There's nothing to be afraid of. Hold tight and look straight ahead."

Tess was comforted by his quiet confidence.

Marching half the night, pawsore and exhausted, they carried on, driven by fear of the unknown. Stonefleck nudged Slagar. He pointed ahead to a break in the trees. The forest was thinning.

At that very moment, Browntooth the stoat, who was marching pn the left flank of the slave line, received a sharp jab in the eye from an overhanging branch which Halftail had brushed to one side. The springy branch swished back into place just as the unfortunate stoat drew level with it. The spell of silence was broken by his screams.

"Arrrgh! Owow! Me eye, me eye!"

Slagar broke into a fast sprint, shouting as he went, "Run for it, follow me, to the sh.o.r.e, to the sh.o.r.e!"

The slavers dashed off, leaving the captives to fend for themselves. They ran, tripping and stumbling, scrambling over their fallen comrades in an effort to get out of the woods.

"Pick up the rope, keep in line, run as fast as you can," Mattimeo shouted to the slave line. "Help the others. If one of us falls we're all done for!"

They went pell-mell, pulling their stumbling comrades up with the line as they ran, and the back runners were virtually dragged along. Suddenly the air was full of harsh cries, and a number of dark shapes descended 211.

upon them. It was a fierce onslaught on slaves and slavers alike. The screams of the injured echoed round in the forest. Auma felt sharp claws strike back at her back. She bared her teeth, snapping at the thing that was attacking her.

"Help, help! Eeee!"

Caught by several of the strange attackers, Skan the shrew began to rise into the air. He screamed and kicked for dear life. Tim and Mattimeo felt the slaveline straining and dragging them back as Skan was pulled upwards. Auma turned and grasped the rope in her teeth. Aided by Tim and Mattimeo, she tugged sharply. Skan fell to earth with a b.u.mp, but even this quick action had not saved him. Auma seized the limp form and swung it across her broad back.

Rushing from the forest, they found themselves on the broad sh.o.r.es of a wide river, it glimmered and waved in the starlight. Stagar stood by a broad trench covered with boughs urging diem on.

"Come on, in here, hurry!"

Gratefully they threw themselves under its protection. Most of the slavers had already arrived, and they sat shivering and breathless. Slagar was the last to enter. "Scringe, Vitch, cover each end of this trench," he ordered. "Keep yourselves awake, and keep an eye on those woods. Threeclaws, did all the slaves make it?"

"All except Skan the shrew. He's had it. Chief."

"Then unchain him and sling his worthless hide out. What about you lot, are you all right? Anybeast missing, Halftail?"

"Two of ours. Chief; Browntooth and Badrag. I saw 'em go meself. It was 'orrible, screamin' an' kickin' they were. By the claw! What are those things that attacked us?"

Stonefleck squatted impa.s.sively. "The painted ones," he said, his voice flat and matter of fact.

Slagar moved aside as two slavers carried the dead 212.

Skan out. "Look at that, a good slave lost to those devils out there. Ifs just as well Browntooth got taken. I'd gut him myself if he was here, screaming and yelling like that."

Auma rubbed a paw across her bleeding back. "Painted ones, I've never heard of them before."

"Quiet back there!"

Slagar paced the slave line. "You lot can have a long rest. Ifs too late to cross the river now, we'll have to wait until tomorrow night. Right, Stonefleck?"

The rat strung his bow. Selecting an arrow from his quiver, he poked it through a gap in the boughs which covered the trench and fired straight up into the night sky. The arrow gave a shrieking whistle as it sped upward.

There was a moment's silence, then an answering whistle from an arrow fired on the other side of the river. Stonefleck unstrung his bow.

"Tomorrow night, Slagar, my rats will be waiting."

213.

29.

Baby Rollo screamed. The raven had him tight by the nightshirt, and he wailed in terror as the big bird tugged and pulled, shaking its head fiercely from side to side.

Cornflower and Mrs. Churchmouse momentarily froze with horror at the awful sight.

But not little Sister May. She went immediately into action. Rushing to the stairs, she sprang up and grabbed baby Rollo, at the same time sinking her teeth into the raven's foot, which she bit clear through to the bone.

The bird promptly let go of his prize. He gave a loud, agonized squawk and fell flat upon the stairs. Rollo yowled, Sister May screamed, and they both rumbled down the spiral staircase. Cornflower and Mrs. Church-mouse dived in. Clutching Sister May and little Rollo, they hurried downstairs towards Cavern Hole, all four shouting aloud: "Help! Help! Strangers in the Abbey! Help!"

Like a great grey furred juggernaut, Constance came bounding out of Cavern Hole, closely followed by Winifred the otter, John Churchmouse and Foremole.

Between them, the three mice gasped out the story of what had happened. Rollo had got over the fright quickly. He kept pointing a chubby paw over his back to 214.

show them all the tear in his nightshirt where the big bird had seized it.

Constance wasted no time. She got the little group safely back to Cavern Hole and issued emergency orders.

"Brother Trugg, sound the alarm bells. Winifred, Ambrose, Foremole, Brother Sedge, gather staves and light some torches. We must find out more about this strange bird. Cornflower, tell the Abbot where we have gone. The rest of you, stay down here. Don't go wandering off alone."

Torches shone on the darkened spiral stairway as Constance led the party. They had searched the dormitories, the sick bay and all the first-floor pa.s.sages, and were now on the second-floor staircase which led to tiie gallery overlooking Great Hall. Foremole went snuffling along to an old side staircase, a straight flight which ran up to the disused chambers on the east wing of the third floor. He held up a paw and called out, "Yurr, over yurr. Lookit oi found."

A faint trace of bloodspecks spattered the bottom steps. Constance held up a torch to investigate.

The shadows leapt back to reveal a large raven standing on the top stair, together with a crow and six rooks. Boldly the badger climbed the stairs until she stood one step below the intruders.

''Who are you and what are you doing in our Abbey?'' Constance demanded, never one to mince words.