Brian Jacques - The Rogue Crew

The pretty hogmaid shook her head. “See that thick rope hanging from the back of the ship? It’s an anchor, to stop it drifting. Now paddle, mate!”

Posy was right. In the first streaks of grey dawn, they had gone a good distance. Uggo laid his head upon the arrowshafts.

“I’m dead tired. Got to ’ave a little sleep—just a doze, eh?”

But his companion would have none of it. “Now’s not the time to be sleeping. Keep going. We’ve got to get ashore, before those vermin find us missing!”

Uggo opened one eye, staring at the way ahead. “There ain’t no sign o’ land anywhere. We could be goin’ the wrong way—out t’sea, for all you know.”

Posy was beginning to lose her temper with Uggo. “We’re going the right way, I’m sure of it. Now, stop complaining and start paddling. Honestly, you really are the limit, Uggo Wiltud. Yeek, what’s that?”

The sea rose around them as something huge and black displaced the water. It had four shiny humps, and several fins. Moreover, it made the most awful noise.

14

The army of pygmy shrews and sand lizards was taken completely by surprise. A huge piece of the wall smacked down on their front rank. In that same instant, Captain Rake Nightfur and Colour Sergeant Miggory came at them, leading over a halfscore of Long Patrol hares, all of them bellowing and roaring fearsome war cries.

“Eulaliiiiaaaa!”

“Give ’em blood’n’vinegar!”

“Forward the buffs an’ lay on ’em!”

“Eulaliiiiiaaa!”

Demoralised by the speedy assault and deafening battle shouts, Queen Dukwina’s horde fled in disarray. They left eight of their number stunned flat by the section of wall.

Miggory came smartly to attention, saluting Rake. “H’all runts defeated, sah! Tootled h’off like billyoh h’at the sight o’ proper warriors, sah. H’any further ordahs, Cap’n?”

The tall, dark hare sheathed his claymores. “Ah cannae see us pursuin’ ’em, Sarn’t. Form the column up, an’ let’s follow the others, at the double!”

The young Patrollers were jubilant at such a quick victory.

“I say, chaps, see how those blighters took off, wot!”

“Shouldn’t wonder if they’re still jolly well runnin’, eh!”

“I say, we should’ve pursued the little scoundrels an’ kicked a few tails, wot wot!”

It was Sergeant Miggory who brought them back to reality. “Nah, then, young gennelbeasts, h’I’ll be kickin’ h’a few tails if’n yore not back in line smartish. Follow yore offisah’s h’orders now, lead h’off by the left!”

The main party had come out amidst the dunelands. Buff Redspore was sufficiently recovered to use her pathfinding skills; she led them as her instinct directed.

“Let’s get to the flat coastland so I can get a bearin’ on our position.”

Lieutenant Scutram was feeling his temper sorely tried by Queen Dukwina. She stamped her paws in the sand, trying to intimidate him with her imperious manner.

“I’m not moving from here, d’you hear me, rabbet! I’m a queen, being dragged off from my own domain! Well, I won’t have it, you ruffian. I’m not going another step!”

Scutram favoured her with a small stiff bow. “Apologies, marm, but I’ve got my orders, an’ you’ve got to accompany us. ’T’aint your decision, d’ye see!”

With that, Dukwina plumped her backside on the ground. “Hah! Well, I’m not going, an’ you can’t make me—so there!”

The empraking tugged at Scutram’s tunic. “Stick things in her—that’ll shift her!”

Dukwina spat at him, in a most unqueenlike manner, “Shut up, you little worm!”

The little empraking twitched his snout and stuck his tongue out at her. “Yah, yah, ole bossy bum!”

Scutram had taken enough. Grabbing a rope, he looped it around Dukwina, pulling it tight.

“Drander, tow her along if she won’t walk!”

The empraking found himself a thick twig. “Please, can I beat her if she slows down?”

Big Drander turned aside, stifling a laugh. “As ye wish, Majesty.”

The queen was forced to comply, but that did not stop her screeching the direst threats and insults upon the heads of her captors.

Scutram winced, commenting to Drander, “’Strewth, what flippin’ language. It’s enough t’make a stricken toad blench, wot!”

Crumdun, the corsair stoat, climbed a small rise and peered behind. “Ahoy, ’ere’s yore cap’n an’ ’is mates comin’ through, an’ they ain’t ’angin’ round!”

When Rake Nightfur and his party caught up with Scutram and the rest, the captain was a bit breathy.

“We routed ’em back there, an’ they retreated, but Ah’m bound tae tell ye, Lieutenant, nae sooner were we in the clear than the wee villains came back in greater numbers than afore. There’s a great, braw assemblage o’ wee beasties hot on our tails. Like leaves in an autumn gale, ye ken. Och, there’s far tae many for a score o’ Long Patrollers!”

Scutram nodded. “I see, sah. Then we’d best put a bit o’ jolly fair space betwixt us’n’em. Young Redspore’s takin’ us out o’ these confounded dunes—t’the shore, she says, wot?”

Behind them the sandhills resounded with the yipping and hissing of countless pygmy shrews and sand lizards. Captain Rake signalled the column.

“Forward at the double, mah buckoes. Once we’re on flat shoreland, we’ll leave them a guid league in our wake. There’s nae a creature livin’ can outrun Long Patrol hares!”

Speed was imperative, even though it was heavy going through the soft, deep dune sand. Sergeant Miggory, bringing up the rear with another young ranker named Bribbs, could feel the enemy gaining on them. He jollied the young hare along, noting the look of fear on his face. “C’mon, young Bribbs, make a shape. Yore pa was battalion sprint champion. Let’s see ye do h’as good h’as ’im. Those shrews’n’lizards are lighter’n us, so ’tis h’easy goin’ for ’em. They don’t sink h’in the sand like h’us, y’see.”

Miggory dropped back slightly, allowing Bribbs to take the lead. “That’s the ticket, laddie buck, make ’em h’eat yore pawdust. We’ll show the blighters, eh?”

Bribbs managed a tight smile. “Indeed, Sarn’t, we certainly will!”

The column broke out onto the shoreline, setting a flock of gulls, who had been resting on the sand, wheeling into the air, crying harshly. Rake called a brief halt and issued further orders.

“Corporal Welkin, Lancejack Sage, take left an’ right point! Redspore, front an’ centre. Head north along the tideline. Scutram, ye an’ Ah’ll drop back tae the rear. Sarn’t Miggory may need us, Ah’m thinkin’.”

As they ran back toward the rear, scores of foebeasts could be seen, sweeping over the dunes in massed waves. Scutram spotted Miggory, who appeared to have been slowed down. He was supporting Bribbs. They hastened to join him, relieving him of the burden as they shouldered Bribbs between them.

Miggory ran alongside, explaining. “Young Bribbs was’it by somethin’, sah—a dart, h’I think. Couple h’of ’em just missed me, but ’e was unlucky. One or mebbe two of ’em got ’im h’in the back, sah.”

Bribbs winced, then blinked, his footpaws hardly touching the sand as he was rushed along. “Sorry about that, sah. Silly little things, never hurt much, just slowed me down a flippin’ bit.”

Scutram peered across his shoulders at the two tiny spikes tufted with downy feathers. They were buried right in the centre of Bribbs’s back.

“Slowed ye down, eh? Don’t fret—we won’t tell your pa. Get ’em out for ye once we’ve outdistanced this little lot, eh!”