Brian Jacques - [Redwall 18] - High Rhulain

The vision was shattered suddenly as the cage struck the wall and banged about crazily. Leatho woke only to look up and see the Lady Kaltag battering at the bars with a spear from above. Her face was twisted into a vengeful sneer as she shrieked at him.

“Murderer! Now you will pay for slaying my son Jeefra!”

Raising the spear high, she thrust downward at him.

25

Choked and blinded by thick clouds of billowing dust inside the stairwell, Skipper Banjon took a flying leap upward. The tough otter grabbed onto a pawhold in the rough sides of the stone funnel. Buffeted by falling slats of rotted wood, he caught the sounds of wild screams and cries coming from the room above. He drove himself frantically onward, scrabbling and clawing at rocky outcrops and splintered stair ends until he managed to haul himself onto the lopsided landing. Without a second thought for his own safety, Skipper hurled himself at the door, bursting into the room. Grubbing dust from his eyes, he found himself confronted by a fearsome sight.

In one corner, Girry had bravely placed himself in front of Abbess Lycian and Sister Snowdrop, shielding them both. The centre of the room was dominated by a huge male gannet, which was shrieking aggressively. As the bird turned to face him, Skipper noted that one of its legs was lame and that the wing on the same side flopped awkwardly. The gannet’s bright-blue ringed eyes focussed on the newcomer. Throwing back its big, cream-capped head, the bird opened its long, sharp beak and gave voice to an ear-splitting scream. “Yaaarrreeekeeekeeek!”

Skipper showed no fear but stood quite still, staring intently at the fierce bird. Calmly, he spoke to his friends. “Stay there, mates, don’t make a move or a sound ’til I tell ye. I ain’t got a clue wot a gannet’s doin’ up here so far from the sea.”

“Keekaaaheeee!” Pointing its beak at the otter chieftain, the gannet hobbled toward him swiftly.

Skipper was forced to dodge backward but continued speaking. “I think that bird’s been injured an’ driven in here by a storm, maybe the same one that brought the osprey to us. Now I don’t want to alarm ye, but it’s a big gannet, an’ it must be starvin’. I reckon it’ll have to kill to eat soon. So, anybeast got an idea wot t’do next?”

Girry kept his voice to a low murmur. “I was trying to steer it out of the window until it turned and cornered us. It got in that way, so it must be able to make its way out by the same route.”

Skipper chanced a quick glance at the open window with its broken frame and flapping rags of curtaining. “Good idea, young ’un, but we need somethin’ to help with the job, maybe to use as a shield.”

The Abbess came up with a swift solution. “Skip, just behind you, to the left, there’s an old bed against the wall, all broken and battered. I think the bird must have used it to rest on. If we could get behind the bed, it could be useful as a barrier. We may be able to force the bird out of the window with it.”

The gannet made a stab at Skipper with its sharp beak, but he dodged to the right, narrowly escaping it. “Aye, that’s wot we’ll do, marm. I’ll decoy this villain to one side. Soon as it moves, you three make a dash for the bed. Right, here goes, mates. Redwaaaaaalllll!”

Skipper launched himself at the bird, feinted to the right and thwacked its good leg with a powerful swipe of his rudder. It gave a surprised squawk as it fell in a flurry of feathers. Seizing their chance, Girry, the Abbess and Snowdrop raced to the bed. Skipper backed off hastily and joined them. Heaving the cracked old frame of timber and burst mattress upright, they got behind it.

Sister Snowdrop yelled exultantly, “Charge, mates. Charge!”

Holding the bed in front of them, they bulled straight into the gannet, catching it square on. With its damaged wing flapping loosely and its lamed leg not able to gain any purchase, the bird was driven back and bundled through the window in a mad flurry of black-tipped white feathers. It tried clinging to the sill, screaming and hissing, but the Abbess and Girry kicked at it until it had to let go.

Leaning out of the window, the four Redwallers watched as the gannet made a bumbling attempt at flight but lost height immediately. The huge bird fell onto an outward sloping roof below, then rolled off and plunged earthward, still flapping about like a huge, rumpled quilt. A thickly blossoming rhododendron, growing beside the Abbey wall, finally broke the bird’s fall. From there, it tumbled to the lawn, where it flapped about, apparently unhurt.

Dusting off her paws, little Sister Snowdrop called down to the fallen gannet, “There! Let that be a lesson, you great plumed bully!”

Abbess Lycian put a paw to her brow and sat down with her back against the wall, exclaiming, “Whooh! Dearie me, I’m all atremble!”

Gallantly, Skipper helped her up. “You did fine, marm, just fine. An’ you, too, Girry!”

Sister Snowdrop nudged him indignantly. “Excuse me, but did I take no part in all this?”

Skipper laughed as he threw an affectionate paw around the old mouse’s shoulders. “Oh, you did better’n all of us, Sister. Yore a rough ole customer, an’ I wouldn’t like t’cross yore path up a dry stream on a dark night, no marm!”

Snowdrop smiled sweetly. “You’re a dreadful flatterer, sir!”

A shout echoed up through the ruined stairwell. It was Brink. “Ahoy, Skip, is everybeast alright up there?”

The otter chieftain called back down to his friend, “Right as rain, matey! We’ll be down as soon as ye throw a rope up to us.”

He turned to the Abbess. “Well, did ye find wot ye were lookin’ for up here, marm?”

Lycian cast a reflective eye over the deserted bedchamber. “Not just yet, Skip, but I have a feeling that we soon will. Sister Snowdrop, do you have a copy of the rhyme?”

The old mouse tapped the side of her head. “No need, Mother Abbess, I can remember every word. It goes like this.

“Twixt supper and breakfast find me,

In a place I was weary to be,

Up in that top tactic (one see)

Lies what was the limb of a tree.

It holds up what blocks out the night,

And can open to let in the light.

For a third of a lifetime one says,

Looking up I could see it sideways.

Tell me what we call coward (in at)

Then when you have worked out that,

You’ll find your heart’s desire,

By adding a backward liar.

Ever together the two have been set,

Since Corriam’s lance ate the coronet.”

Skipper nodded admiringly. “Well done, marm! Wish I had a memory like that. So, ye’ve found this place, the top attic. Next thing to look for is the limb of what once was a tree. What d’ye think that’ll look like?”

Girry gave a prompt reply. “Oh, I’ve already guessed that—it’s Corriam’s lance. It’s probably made of wood, so it must have once been the limb of a tree. Right?”

Skipper agreed. “Right, young ’un, but have ye sorted out the rest o’ the riddle?”

Girry pursed his lips, endeavouring to look wise. “Er, not right now, sir, but I soon will, never fear.”

Sister Snowdrop smiled fondly at her young friend. “No need to, I’ve already done it, Girry. I’ve been repeating that rhyme to myself for so long that some of it’s starting to actually make sense. When I saw the bed, it began to click into place.”

The little Sister smiled smugly until Abbess Lycian spoke to her rather sharply. “Well? Don’t stand there grinning like a ferret at a feast, Sister. Tell us!”