Kroova opened one eye and nudged Sagax. "I 'ope ole Scarum means that. At least we'll get a bit o' peace!"

Sagax replied with both eyes still closed, "No such luck, mate, he's too hungry to die. Oh well, we'd better get up and see about breakfast. Anything to report, Scarum? Disasters at sea, ships in the night?"

The mention of breakfast had cheered the hare up considerably. "What, er, oh, not a confounded thing, just the bally usual. Water, water an' more flippin' water, wot! I say, I'll bet that jolly good sleep you've had is makin' you feel a bit peckish. What d'you say 1 make brekkers, eh, wot?"

"Put one paw near that grub an' I'll chop it off!" Scarum stuck out his tongue at Kroova. "No y'won't, 'cos then I wouldn't be able to steer!" Sagax was about to start preparing the breakfast when Kroova's sharp eyes caught a dark ma.s.s on the eastern horizon. The otter yelled out in fine nautical fashion, "Land ho! Take 'er bow east, matey!"

Scarum managed to turn his eyes from the food. "Wot, er, righto, me old messmate, me salty seadog, er, er, bow east it is, shipmate!"

The otter sighed wearily as he retrieved the tiller from the jaunty hare. "Yore 'eadin' out t'sea, bow east is the other way. Go an' do somethin' else, I'll take 'er in."

This did not diminish Scarum's happy mood a whit. "Do somethin' else, right ho/ Cap'n. Shall I bail out the bilges or scuttle the masthead, wot? I say, perhaps I'll lend a paw an' help me old messymate Sagax with brekkers!" The badger stowed the rations back under the bow seat. "Breakfast will have to wait until we make land, so forget your stomach and help me to look out for reefs."

Scarum's long ears wilted. He sat in the bows staring down into the clear blue water, muttering, "Forget about breakfast, the very idea! First shark that comes along can have me. Huh, providin' sharks like scoffin' thin, sickly-lookin' chaps!"

As they drew closer to the coast, Sagax could feel excitement beginning to bubble up within. "I can see a stream running out across the sh.o.r.e, coming right through those woodlands and out of the hills. Do you think we've reached Mossflower country, Kroova?" The otter grinned triumphantly. "I certainly do, mate!" Scarum set the craft rocking to and fro as he leaped up and down on the bows in a victory jig.

"Well hey ho and a nonny no, good old us, wot? We finally made it, chaps, the land of scoff'n'honey. Hoorah!" Sagax grabbed the leaping hare by his tailscut. "Keep bouncing about like that and you'll capsize us. I'll watch the water. If you want to use some energy up, go and furl the sails. Take them down completely and roll 'em up. We'll need them to make a shelter."

Scarum's attempts at sail-furling were pathetic. He tugged the sternsail down on his head, enveloping himself. Sagax and Kroova exchanged winks as they watched the ma.s.s of sailcloth wriggling about. They joshed him: "That's the stuff, mate, fold it nice'n'neat now."

"You can tell Scarum's a trained seabeast. Wish I could furl a sail like thatyou'd think he was born to it!"

The parcel of canvas sprouted lumps as Scarum tried madly to extricate himself from his prison. "Yaaagh, gemme out, you fiends, it's dark in here. Come on, you dreadful rotters, help a chap out. Don't you dare make breakfast until I get m'self free of this lot. Gurrrr!"

Midmorning saw the ketch Stopdog Stopdog glide smoothly into the stream's outflow. Kroova dismantled the bow seat, and together he and Sagax began paddling the craft upstream, across the sh.o.r.e. glide smoothly into the stream's outflow. Kroova dismantled the bow seat, and together he and Sagax began paddling the craft upstream, across the sh.o.r.e.

Scarum had finally managed to extricate himself from the clutches of the sail. He folded it carefully, muttering darkly against life's injustices. "Might've bally well smothered in there, huh, a lot those two would care. Almost half blinkin' well through the day and food hasn't pa.s.sed my perishin' lips. Next time I go t'sea it'll be with a fat duck an' a jolly frog, wot!"

The Stopdog's Stopdog's keel ground to a halt on the sandy streambed. keel ground to a halt on the sandy streambed.

Kroova shipped his makeshift oar. "That's as far as she'll go until the evenin' tide washes up this way an' deepens these shallows. Away, boat's crew mates, all ash.o.r.e that's goin' ash.o.r.e!"

Sagax was first overboard. He took a deep drink from the streamwaterit was fresh, though slightly sun-warmed. He drove a stake into the sand and moored the ketch to stop her being washed seaward.

Kroova gathered driftwood from the tideline and set about lighting a fire with flint and tinder. Soon they had a camp pitched on the dry sands, with an awning of sailcloth and a concoction of supplies bubbling merrily away over the fire.

Sagax sat under the shade of the awning, facing landward. The warm umber sands gave way to high hills topped with gra.s.s and backed by thick woodland. It was a pretty sight on a bright summer's morn.

They had relented and allowed Scarum the position of cook. He was throwing ingredients w.i.l.l.y-nilly into the pot and gurgling happily. "Just wait'll you chaps taste this. Ooch! It's a bit hot right now, but delicious all the same, wot. Even though one says it oneself, absoflippinlutely delicious!"

Headed by Slitfang, a score of Freebooter vermin wandered the coastline, looking out for the landmarks that Captain Plugg had described to them. Tazzin panted as she climbed a steep sandhill. "Is this the one Cap'n Plugg said ter look out for?" Slitfang shrugged. "Could be. We won't know 'til we gets to the top an' takes the lay o' the land."

The stoat Sc.u.mmy gritted sand between his few teeth. "Wouldn't ye think old Plugg'd come an look fer hisself? Bet 'e's playin' wid 'is new likkle boat, 'im an' that fat white sissy Prince."

The weasel Stinky grabbed at a tussock of gra.s.s. It came out by the roots and he tumbled backward. Wiping sand from his eyes, he flung the gra.s.s away savagely. "Yore right there, bucko, I don't see the sense in traipsin' up an' down the beaches. 'Tis a flamin' vinegar trip if'n yew ask me!"

Slitfang turned to face the complainants. "Well, I didn't ask yer, Stinky. Vinegar trip, eh? That's wot ye call carryin' out Cap'n's orders, eh? I ain't askin' ye now, I'm tellin' youse two. Shut yore gobs an' stop talkin' mutiny, or I'll report ye to the Cap'n when we gets back. Now I've warned yer, one more word"

Tazzin had reached the hilltop. She called out to Slit-fang, "Ahoy, Slitty, come an' take a dekko at this!"

The weasel turned his back on the two crewbeasts and scrabbled his way to the top.

Below them the sh.o.r.es stretched south, broken only by the broad stream that flowed across from the woodlands. This was what they had been looking for, exactly as Plugg had described it. However, it was not the stream that caught most of the Freebooters' attention.

A smile of villainous delight crossed Slitfang's ugly face. "Well, sc.r.a.pe me barnacles, will ye look at that. I swear, 'tis the old ketch wot King Sarengo used to tow abaft of 'is big ship. I remembers it from when I was young. Haharr, an' there's a camp alongside it, all nice 'n' cosy like!"

By this time the others had climbed up and joined him. The rat Ripper licked the edge of a sharp sickle he carried.

"Couldn't be crewed by more'n 'arf a dozen, an' there's twenny of us. Wot do yer say, Slitty?"

Slitfang spat on his paws and rubbed them gleefully. "I say we takes a walk down there, nice'n'quiet, so as not ter frighten 'em off. That fire's burnt low, bet they're 'avin a peaceful noontime nap under that there lean-to. Now lis-sen, youse lot, I don't want no killin'. We'll take 'em as prisoners back to the Cap'n. I gotta feelin' Plugg'd want to 'ave a word with 'em. Foller me, an' no noise."

Tazzin tossed her blade skilfully and caught it. "Right y'are, Slit, let's pay 'em a visit!"

Beneath the awning, Scarum was snoring gently. Something tickled his nose; he brushed it away. It tickled again, and he hit out at it. His paw struck something hard. Opening his eyes, the hare found himself staring into Slitfang's grinning face.

The weasel was dangling a dagger over his nose. He winked at Scarum. "Wakey wakey, rabbit, you got visitors."

The Salamandastron hare came awake fighting. His long back legs shot out into the weasel's stomach as Scarum shouted, "Eulaliaaa! We're being attacked, mates!"

His companions leaped up, Sagax flooring a rat with a hefty blow. Kroova caught a ferret's footpaws and sent him flat. Then the Freebooters swamped them. Fighting like madbeasts, the three companions tried to battle with overwhelming odds. Scarum seized their makeshift paddle and broke free. He batted the campfire with it, sending showers of hot embers at his foes. Sagax exerted his mighty strength. Grabbing the rat Ripper, he whirled him bodily over his head.

Slitfang roared out, "Surrender, or this 'un's a deadbeast!" Slitfang had stunned Kroova from behind with his cutla.s.s hilt. Both he and Tazzin crouched over the otter, their blades at his throat.

Fear for their friend's life caused Sagax to drop Ripper. Scarum ceased scattering fire. Immediately they were set upon by vermin and bound with ship's ropes.

Slitfang spat out a tooth he had lost in the melee. He looped a rope around the half-conscious otter, nodding with satisfaction. "That's better. No sense in slayirT youse . . . yet!"

Four vermin had Sagax lying bound upon the sand. He tried to struggle upright, but was kicked back again. "What's the meaning of this attack? What do you want with us?"

Slitfang held his cutla.s.s point to the young badger's chest. "Oh, nothin', stripedog, just a bit of information, but that'll wait 'til ye meet Cap'n Plugg Firetail."

Scarum was lying facedown, the ropes biting cruelly into his paws. Lifting his head, he blinked sand out of his eyes. "I should've booted your belly through your backbone, you sc.u.mfaced villain. If I wasn't jolly well trussed up, I'd give you such a blinkin'"

"Yah Shuddup, rabbit!" The stoat named Sc.u.mmy ground his paw on the back of Scarum's head, pushing his face into the sand.

Tazzin felt heat on her back. She turned. "The ship's burnin'!"

Blazing embers from the scattered fire had stuck to the pitch and resin coating of the bows. With such inflammable materials, the Stopdog Stopdog immediately burst into a sheet of flame. Everybeast leaped back from the blaze. Slitfang tried running forward to see if he could fight the fire, but a breeze caught the conflagration. He, too, was forced to leap back from the blistering heat. Then the awning caught light from a salvo of pitch- and resin-soaked splinters. Dragging their captives, the Freebooters abandoned the site, beating at their smouldering clothing as more sparks leaped out from the burning vessel. immediately burst into a sheet of flame. Everybeast leaped back from the blaze. Slitfang tried running forward to see if he could fight the fire, but a breeze caught the conflagration. He, too, was forced to leap back from the blistering heat. Then the awning caught light from a salvo of pitch- and resin-soaked splinters. Dragging their captives, the Freebooters abandoned the site, beating at their smouldering clothing as more sparks leaped out from the burning vessel.

Slitfang kicked out viciously at the young hare. "Yew caused that, rabbit! It was yore fault, whackin' fire all over the place like that!"

Scarum bit at the weasel's paw, but missed. "Rabbit y'self, you great smelly bully!" He looked over at Kroova apologetically. "Sorry about your ship, old chap."

Half dazed, the otter managed a lopsided grin. "Bet-ter'n lettin' the Stopdog Stopdog fall into the paws o' vermin, eh." fall into the paws o' vermin, eh."

Slitfang waved his cutla.s.s at Ripper and Stinky. "Youse two get back to the Seascab. Seascab. Tell the Cap'n wot 'appened, an' tell 'im we've found the stream wot crosses the sh.o.r.e-Well wait 'ere for 'im. Go on, git goin'!" Tell the Cap'n wot 'appened, an' tell 'im we've found the stream wot crosses the sh.o.r.e-Well wait 'ere for 'im. Go on, git goin'!"

Reluctantly the pair moved off, muttering under their breath.

"Huh, while 'e waits there, all nice an' easy-like."

"Aye, picks the good jobs fer 'imself, don't 'e?"

Before they had made it to the hill, which they had earlier descended, Tazzin caught up with the pair. She smiled slyly and twirled her knife expertly.

"Slitty sez I'm t'go with ye. Oh, an' 'e said somethin' else, too. Gave me orders to cut off yore 'eads if'n ye start talkin' mutiny or not movin' fast enough."

Slitfang watched them scrabbling back up the hill with Tazzin and her knife close behind. He turned to his cap- tives. "Yew three just lay there quiet an' try not to annoy me. Ye wouldn't like to see me annoyed. We'll all wait 'til Cap'n Plugg comes sailin' up in the ole Seascab Seascab an' see wot 'e's got to say about all this. Haharr, shouldn't imagine that snooty Princess KurdaTl be too 'appy when she sees 'er old grandad's ketch burnt to a cinder!" an' see wot 'e's got to say about all this. Haharr, shouldn't imagine that snooty Princess KurdaTl be too 'appy when she sees 'er old grandad's ketch burnt to a cinder!"

Scarum whispered to Kroova, "Who in the name of my auntie's pinny is Princess Kurda?"

Slitfang cuffed Scarum across the ears. "I tole ye t'be quiet, rabbit."

Scarum could not resist having a last word. "Actually, I'm a hare, old chap."

Slitfang raised his cutla.s.s threateningly. "Yew ain't an 'er, yore a him, but one more peep out o' ye an' you'll be twins, 'cos I'll make two of ye!"

Sagax gave his friend a glare, warning him to be silent.

Evening fell with the three prisoners still lying bound upon the sand, listening to the vermin's coa.r.s.e banter about their eventual fate at the tender mercy of the one they called Plugg Firetail. Sagax closed his eyes. It did not make for cheerful listening.

25.

The stream that Shogg and Triss were following took a curve into thick woodland. Both kept to the water, sometimes waist deep, other times paddling through the bank shallows. It was not easy going, trying not to leave signs that could be tracked. In the late noon they took a rest, sitting on a mossy ledge overgrown by hanging willows. The otter peered back up their trail.

"Luck's with us so far, mate. I can't see nor 'ear any sign of 'em, thanks to those Coneslinger squirrels."

Triss stretched out on the velvety moss, tired and hungry. "Maybe fortune is favouring us for the moment, but we'd be fooling ourselves by thinking Riggan won't pick up our trail sooner or later. Kurda won't rest until she's got us back in her clutchesyou know that."

Shogg slid back into the water. "Aye, yore right. Though if we can make it to the sh.o.r.e an' get our ship back somehow, we'll show em a clean pair o' paws. A big clumsy Freebooter vessel like theirs wouldn't keep up with us if'n we sailed close to the shallows an' reefs. They'd find it 'ard to follow."

Evening began falling over the tree-shaded stream as they plowed their way onward. Triss was wading alongside her friend when she began feeling a touch uneasy. Leaning across, she whispered in his ear, "I don't like it hereabouts, but I don't know why."

Keeping his gaze straight ahead, the otter replied, "I don't like it either, Trissy I think somebeast's watchin' us. Keep movin', maybe we're just pa.s.sin' through their territory an' they'll let us go by. Don't look around, keep goin'."

Triss peered downstream and saw shadowy figures flitting about on the banks. "Don't have to look around, Shogg, they're up ahead."

But the otter had already chanced a backward peep. "Then 'tis woe to us, mate, 'cos they're be'ind us, too!"

The squirrelmaid felt her paws tremble. "As if we haven't got enough trouble. What d'you think is the best thing to do? I'm too tired to think straight."

Shogg halted, placing his back against Triss so that he was facing upstream. "We got nothin' to lose, matey, so let's brag it out. You any good at the braggin'?"

Triss faced downstream, glad of her friend's back to lean on. "It's worth a try, I suppose. You go first."

Clenching both paws, Shogg shook them above his head and roared aloud to the unknown watchers, "Come an' face a champion streamwalloper! Don't skulk around like maggots in a rotten log! I've cracked skulls, sailed stormy seas an' leaped o'er mountains! I ain't got a foe in the world, know why? 'Cos they're all dead!"

Gruffing her voice, Triss yelled out her challenge. "I was born in the thunder, I'm a warrior, the child of warriors! Stand in my way an' I'll tramp right over ye!"

There was a splash in the water as something dived from the bank. A moment later a large water vole's head popped up, almost directly between the two friends. He shook his fur, bushing out his big hairy face, and smiled, addressing them in a slow rustic voice.

"Oi do berleeve we means you wayfarers no 'arm. Oi be named Arvicola. Me'n my voles allus been friendly wi'

streamdogs an' treemouses. Hush ye now, though oi do berleev oi did enjoy lissenin' to such good braggers as you be."

Triss heaved a sigh of relief and held out her paw. "I'm Triss and he's Shogg. We're runaway slaves trying to reach the sh.o.r.e. Some very bad rats and an evil white ferret are probably on our trail. That's why we stuck to the stream, to save leaving tracks."

Other water voles popped up all around the fugitives, each one as big and bushy as Arvicola, who was nodding his head sagely as he digested the squirrelmaid's information. He plucked a reed and began nibbling on it.

"Dearie me an' lackaday, you creatures be in trouble greatly, no doubtin' o' that. We got families an' babes nestin' in these 'ere banks, can't 'ave otherbeasts a-botherin' 'em. Do ye follow us now, we'll be takin' ye down to the sh.o.r.es. Oi be thinkin' 'tis the best solution. Come you now, voles, let's be helpin' these two."

Surrounded by water voles, Triss and Shogg continued their journey, with Arvicola pointing the way ahead. "Our stream splits an' joins another up yonder, oi do berleev that will be a-takin' you to the sh.o.r.elands."

Kurda was relieved when darkness fell. She beckoned Vorto to her side. "Vot you t'ink ve do now, Captain?"

Vorto answered, knowing he would be saving the Princess's face by suggesting the obvious. "They could keep us pinned 'ere forever, yer 'ighness. Best thing is to back out an' slip away. Then we can circle the trees an' let Riggan find the slaves' trail. Unless, o' course, they're still 'idin' in there."

A pinecone whizzed out of the darkened tree fringe, pinging off Kurda's sabre blade. She began wriggling backward.

"Nah, slaves not 'ide in dere no more. Ve do like you say, yarr!"

Shuffling backwards on their bellies, the Ratguards re- treated, still pelted by stray pinecones. When they were out of range, Kurda ordered Riggan to scout the area for signs.

Less than an hour later, the slavecatcher returned to make her report. "They left these trees, a bit round the other side, Princess. I found a stream close by. Runners always try to lose yer by takin' to a stream."

Kurda touched Riggan's paw with her bladepoint. "You are de best. Ve vill go catch dem, yarr?"

The tracker led them off, giving the trees a wide berth. "We'll lay 'em by the paws, never yew fear, marm!"

Vorto held the guards back whilst Riggan inspected the streambank. Kurda watched her closely.

The tracker's keen eyes missed nothing. She smiled to herself. "Aye, just like I figgered, they went downstream, west."

Kurda pointed her sabre. "You sure dey not go upstream? I t'ink dey go dat vay, east!"

Riggan waded a short way downstream and returned with a broken reed. She held it up for Kurda to see. "Yore a princess, marm, I'm a slavecatcher. This came from down yonder. It'd be natural for anybeast t'think they'd gone inland, but I knows me slaves. They always try an' fool ye by goin' the opposite way. 'Tis west, sure enough!"

Kurda and Riggan led off downstream. Vorto and the rest followed, marvelling at the tracker's skills as she confirmed the route by noticing bent reeds, disturbed pebbles and bruised leaves hanging down from streambank trees.

Plugg Firetail had misjudged his landfall by anchoring too far north of Mossflower. Immediately after Tazzin and the runners arrived with news of Slitfang's discovery, the silver fox had the Seascab Seascab under way, rousing the rest of his crew from their night's sleep. With the recovered craft in tow, he sailed south down the coast. Grubbage spotted the smoke and flame from the under way, rousing the rest of his crew from their night's sleep. With the recovered craft in tow, he sailed south down the coast. Grubbage spotted the smoke and flame from the Stopdog Stopdog shortly before dawn. He roused Prince Bladd, who was sleeping out, snuggled in rope coils on the afterdeck.