"1 saw them. Me! I set up the ambush, warned you, marshaled the army, led the charge and thought that you buffoons had the brains and courage to a.s.sist me. What did I receive? Not one original idea or sc.r.a.p of encouragement."

Her whole body quivered with dangerous temper, then suddenly she slumped into a chair as if temporarily exhausted by her outburst. The quaking trio stood staring at the floor for inspiration as she scowled at them.

"Aahh, what business is it of yours, anyway? You're not supposed to think, only to carry out orders. It's my job to do all the brain work around here. I suppose nothing will bother you three until the food supplies run out. Oh, they won't last forever, you know. I've seen for myself; the stores are getting lower, since we were unable to levy tribute from the few that lived around our walls. That's the trouble with being a conqueror and having an army to feed: soldiers are no good at providing anything unless they can s.n.a.t.c.h it away from the helpless." She stretched and kicked moodily at a fallen goblet. "Well, any ideas?"

"There's always the two prisoners I caught, Milady." Cludd sounded half-apologetic.

Tsarmina sat bolt upright. "Of course, well done, weasel. Maybe you aren't as stupid as I thought. Prisoners, hmmm, yes. What do you think the woodlanders would pay as ransom for those young hedgehogs?"

Fortunata narrowed her eyes calculating^. "Well, I've had more dealings with woodlanders than most. They're a soft, sentimental lot when it comes to young ones. I think that they'd give quite a bit to get them back safe."

"Safe, that's the key," Tsarmina purred happily. "Imagine if the woodlanders saw their babies exposed to real suffering or danger-we could practically name our own terms."

The trio relaxed visibly, now that their Queen was in a saner mood.

There was one other listener to the conversation who had no cause to rejoice: Chibb the robin, perched on the outside window ledge.

144.

> Split nose was the first to slacken pace. He gradually slowed to *;. an easy lope. Blacktooth joined him, leaving Scratch to make the running. The weasel stopped and turned. He curled his lip / hi disgust at the pair, who were now sitting on the gra.s.s panting.

Scratch ran back energetically, drawing his dagger.

"Get up, you idle worms. Come on. Up on your paws, both of you."

Splitnose teased a pa.s.sing ant with his claws. "Ah what's the point? They're well away. We'll never catch 'em now." Scratch kicked out at Blacktooth. "I suppose you think the same, lazybones."

Blacktooth kicked back insolently. "Oh, give it a rest. You can't make us run."

"Right, so it's mutiny, eh!" Scratch looked from one to the other disdainfully. "Then here's something for you two buckoes to think about. One, if you don't get running, I'll stab the pair of you. Two, unless you decide to run, I won't share my rations with you. And three, think about when I : make my report. The Queen will be pleased to hear how you two lay down on the job.'' Wordlessly they rose and started running again.

Gonff trotted alongside his friends, his quick eye noting the landscape.

"It gets a bit hilly further on, mateys. We could drop down 7 and hide in a dozen places. What d'you say? Shall we give ; 'em the slip?"

Martin glanced backward. "I'd rather not risk it. They've got us in plain view. No, best keep on until evening, then we can pick a good hiding place when it's dark and camp there the night. Are you all right, Dinny?"

The mole wrinkled his snout. "Doant loik a-runnen. Lucky oi'm stronger'n most. You'm keep a-goen, Marthen. Doant , wurry over oi."

The noon sun gained intensity. Birds soaring on the upper thermals pa.s.sed over the six tiny figures below, hunters and hunted.

tTo spur themselves on, Splitnose and Blacktooth played a f game, shouting out their favorite dishes to each other. Scratch *-ran a length behind them, keeping his dagger drawn as an f. 145 insurance against further rebellion. Despite himself, the weasel had to keep licking his lips, not being able to shut his ears against the ferret and the stoat.

' 'Some of those candy chestnuts and a flagon of cold cider. Could you manage that, Blackie?"

"Oho, could I! How about a baby trout grilled in b.u.t.ter with some of that woodland October ale?"

"Very nice. But have you tried blackberry m.u.f.fins soaked in warm honey with a few beakers of iced strawberry cordial to wash 'em down?' *

"Gaw! Stoppit, Splittie. You're reminding me of that time when old Lord Greeneyes had a plunder feast at Kotir. Those were the days! I had iced strawberry cordial in a big drinking bowl, with mint leaves floating on it and crushed raspberries too. I remember I sucked it all through a cornstraw. Whew, I must have supped enough of it to have a good bath in."

"Yurghh!" Scratch called out in disgust. "I was enjoying that until I had a vision of you, all covered in mud and muck, sitting in a bath of iced strawberry cordial with two mint leaves stuck up your snout and a pile of crushed raspberries shoved into your ears. Doesn't bear thinking about. Anyhow, why don't you two shut your traps and keep your eyes on those three ahead?"

Dinny was first to gain the low hills. He ran up one side and rolled down the other. Martin and Gonff joined in until all three were dizzy. They ran onward as the shadows began to lengthen. Gonff gradually dropped back. He was breathing heavily. When they turned to look he waved his paws.

"Keep going, mateys. Phew, this is much harder work than thieving."

Without hurting Gooff's feelings, they slacked their pace to match his. Martin noticed that the blob on the horizon they had seen earlier that day was not merely a low cloud bank.

"Look, Gonff. It's a range of mountains. Big ones, too. What d'you think, Din?"

The young mole squinted hard to bring the view into perspective. "Ho boi urr, that they be, Oi reckons that be whurr the teeth o'land reaches up to ate woolen sheeps, wi' they gurt 'eads in clouds."

"Clever, Dinny mate," Gonff nodded admiringly. "Ex-146 ctly as the poem says: 'Afar the teeth of land rise up to bite the wool of sheep.' They look quite close, but don't let that fool you. We've got a fair bit of traveling to do before we reach them."

Dinny risked a backward glance through a fold in the hills. , ,**Hurr, they vurminbags be none closer either. 'Spect us'ns be moightier runners."

Scratch had taken the lead again. He knew the others were hungry and sure to follow. Trying to keep their quarry in sight was difficult, as they were often hidden by the hills. Descending the first low hill, he stopped to extract a burr from his pad. The other two ran slap bang into him from behind.

"Clodhoppers!" he shouted. "How is it that you have all this open country to run in, yet you both manage to crash into me? What d'you think this is, a game of leapfrog?"

More bickering and backbiting ensued. Scratch ended the dispute by banging their heads together. "Look, it's nearly dark now and I've gone and lost 'em, thanks to you two Oafs!" He gritted his teeth in frustration.

Martin and Gonff prepared the evening meal while Dinny enlarged a small hole on the far side of the final hill. In a short while they were happily installed in a superb little cave, pinny had even dug a ledge halfway round for them to rest on. The three friends lay on the ledge, eating their supper ! and watching the crimson underbellies of purple cloud rolls ; as night took over from the long, hot day.

$cratch and his minions sat out in the open on top of the highest hill, hoping that they might catch sight of the others at next daybreak. * Night on the open lands was both cold and windy.

Chibb paced the mantelpiece at Brockhall, relating all he had beard at Kotir.

The Corim were worried by this new theat to Ferdy and ; Coggs. "Hmm, this is an unwelcome development." Lady %Amber waved her bushy tail anxiously. ':.: The robin ruffled his crimson breast feathers importantly. I**Ahem, harrumph. On the surface it would appear to be so.

147.

However, our wildcat ally in the prison said to tell you that he may be able to forestall Tsarmina's plans awhile."

Bella looked up to the mantelpiece. "How will he manage that, Chibb?"

The robin folded his wings behind as he explained. "Well, ahem, 'scuse me. Gingivere has taken a stone from the walls on each cell, as you know. He proposes to hide both Ferdy and Coggs in his own cell, after sealing the wallholes up. That way, if the enemy do not think of searching his cell too closely, they will naturally suppose that the two prisoners have escaped."

There was wholesale approval for the clever plan.

Skipper had an additional idea. "Hark, now. What if we was to pretend that Ferdy and Coggs were saie with us? That'd take suspicion off Gingivere."

"How will we manage that, Skip?" Bella was curious to know.

"Easy, marm. We'll find two other little hedgehogs and disguise 'em, then let 'em be seen by someone from Kotir."

"Good thinking, Skipper," Bella said with approval. "But now we'll ready have to think of how we can rescue Ferdy and Coggs. Gingivere's plan is brave and daring; however, it puts all three at great risk."

Lady Amber shook her head. "Where do we get two little ones that look like Ferdy and Coggs?" "You may lend my liddle Spike an' Posy," Goody said from the doorway. "Long as they don't come to no 'arm. Though I must say, they don't look a smidgeon like my Ferdy an' Coggs. I can tell my liddle ones apart like apples from nuts."

Abbess Germaine tapped a paw to her nose. "Two blanket cloaks, two saucepan helmets, a piece of stick each, like swords of make-believe warriors. I think that would fool anyone from a distance, Goody. But what about a rescue attempt? Have we any kind of firm plan?"

"You leave that to old Skip, marm." Skipper laughed drily. "Bula, you take charge of the crew while I'm away. I think I'll pay the Mask a visit."

"What's the Mask?" Several woodlanders voiced the question.

"You'll soon see!" Bula winked.

148.

22.

Consternation reigned at Kotir.

A luckless stoat had been "volunteered" from the cell guards by Fortunata and Cludd, and he was pushed unwillingly into Tsarmina's chamber.

"Er, your Maj of the green Queenest, er upper of all ruler and lower Moss. Er, er . . . The prisoners have gone!"

"Gone! What do you mean, gone?" The wildcat Queen left her seat in a single bound and picked the stoat up by his throat.

"Yuuurrkkgghhaaaarrr . . . 'Scaped." Tsarmina threw the gurgling heap to the floor. Her voice .L-echoed in the stairway as she dashed down to the cells. ;,* "Escaped? Impossible! Guards, get down to the cells quickly."

The cells were searched. The corridors were scoured. The outer walls were surrounded. The parade ground was gone over inch by inch. The barracks were turned inside out. Not a room, pa.s.sage, cupboard, chamber, kitchen, guard-fcouse, or scullery remained unprobed.

Gingivere, however, was officially nonexistent. His cell was .',j6ot searched. n.o.body thought of looking in a prison cell that ~%s already bolted and barred. J Except maybe Tsarmina.

149.

Columbine sat up, rubbing steep from her eyes.

Was it night or day? she wondered. How long had she slept in this warm dry cavern? Everything seemed so quiet and peaceful after the noise and panic of the battle she had witnessed. There was an old patchwork quilt covering her. She pushed it to one side as a little molemaid entered.

"Mawnen to 'ee. Wellc.u.m t'Moledeep. Brekkist be ready."

She followed the mole into a larger cave, where Ben Stickle and the woodlanders who had been injured sat with the Loamhedge mice and the mole community.

Foremole waved her to a place between himself and a grizzled old mole whose fur was completely gray.

"Set ee by yurr, maid. This be Owd Dinny, t'other young rip's granfer."

Old Dinny nodded and continued spooning honeyed oatmeal.

Obviously the moles liked a good solid start to the day. There was a variety of cooked roots and tubers, most of which Columbine had never seen before. Ail of them tasted delicious, whether salted, sugared or dipped in honey and milk. (Some of the moles did all four.) The bread was wafer thin and tasted of almonds, small cakes patterned with b.u.t.tercups were served warm. There were fluffy napkins and bowls of steaming rosewater to cleanse sticky paws. As Columbine nibbled at a rye biscuit and sipped fragrant mint tea, she could not help asking Foremole where all the huge deeper V ever pies and solid trencherfbod the moles seemed to favor were.

Foremole chuckled. He gestured at the table with a ma.s.sive digging claw. "Ho urr, Combuliney. This yurr be on'y a loight brekkist for 'ee an' yurr friends. We'm fancied it up a bit for 'ee. Moles be only eaten solid vittles at even toid when they's 'ungered greatly."

Columbine nodded and smiled politely, trying to hide her amazement. "Oh, I see, just a loight brekkist, er, light breakfast."

As Columbine ate, she remembered Gonff. If only he were here amid this friendly company with her! She mentally wagered with herself that he would know the name and taste of 150.

jgvery dish (and probably be jokingly chided for having stolen gaany of them in bygone days). She pictured her mousethief jesting with everybody, imitating molespeech and singing ballads as he composed them.

The young mousemaid heaved a sigh into her mint tea. It dissolved in a small cloud of fragrant steam. Where, oh * "Where, was Gonff on this beautiful morning? "*. It was nearly midmoming when the "light breakfast" leached its conclusion. Then, guarded and guided by the mole *community, Columbine and her friends made their way back *to Brockhall by a secret woodland route.

Martin, Gonff and Dinny were wide awake by daybreak. They crouched in the small cave, eating breakfast as they watched a gray drizzly dawn. Packing the food away, the travelers .stamped life back into their numbed paws. Surprisingly, Gonff was first to step outside.

"Come on, mateys. It'll brighten up by mid-morning. You yijvait and see-I'm a Prince of Predictors."

*;;< striding="" out,="" they="" left="" the="" low="" hills="" behind,="" to="" face="" yet="" more="" .="" flatlands.="" wakened="" grouse="" whirred="" into="" the="" damp="" morning="" *air="" at="" their="">

* Sala-manda-stron, ^ Look where we've come from, ;." Three of Mossfiower's best,"

Marching out upon our quest: ^ Sala-manda-stron.

J Scratch sighted the three dim forms through the layers of {frizzling rain.

^ "There they go. Come on, you two. I've got a feeling that today's die day we catch 'em. Come on, move yourselves, sooner it's done, the quicker we'll get back to Kotir. good solid food again, a long rest, and maybe a bit of lor and glory."

'Huh, I'm soaked right through!" Splitnose complained, too," grumbled Blacktooth. "I never slept a wink Igain. Sitting out on top of a hill, miles from anywhere in

pe pouring rain, stiff all over, cold, hungry, shiver-" ^'*"Shuttup!" Scratch interrupted bitterly. "Put a b.u.t.ton on t 151 your driveling lip. Look at me, I'm weary, saturated and starved, but do you hear me whimpering on about it all the time? Up on your paws, and try to look like you're the Queen's soldiers from Kotir."

They trekked westward, pursuing the travelers.

Splitnose was muttering as he kicked a pebble along in front of himself. "Honor and glory, huh. Cludd'll get all that, and he can keep it, too. Now if it was honor cake and a mug of hot glory, that'd be a different thing."

"Honor cake and hot glory drink? Don't talk such rubbish, soggyhead," Blacktooth laughed.

"Soggyhead yourself, drippynose."

"Crinkleclaws!"

"Greasyfur!"

"Beetlebottom!"

"Stow the gab and get marching, both of you!" Scratch told them.

True to Gonff's prediction, the rain ceased. Above the plains the sun came out to watch fluffy clouds sailing about on the breeze across a lake of bright blue sky.

Dinny sniffed the air, wiggling his claws. "Buharr, they's watter nearby, likely a pond or tarn. May'ap us'Il catcher a liddlefish. Be gudd eaten, hurr."

Martin looked sideways at Gonff. "How does he know there's water near? I can't smell a thing."

The mousethief shrugged. "Neither can he, matey. Moles probably feel it through the earth with their digging claws."

Dinny nodded wisely. "O air, us'ns do smell lots o' things wi' us claws."

Gonff winked at the warrior mouse. "That's the nice thing about moles, they always have a sensible explanation which we can all understand."