Brian Jacques - [Redwall 18] - High Rhulain

“Huh, we’ve been stuck here guardin’ this door all day. When’s Scaut goin’ to send us a relief, eh? When?”

The other guard replied gruffly, “I don’t know. Why don’t ye stop complainin’ t’me? Go an’ ask him. I dare ye!”

Leatho felt the speaker lean his back against the door as he continued taunting his companion.

“Go on, mate! You go down there an’ tell ole Felis you’ve stood guard long enough. Have ye heard wot ’appened to Yund? Hah, ye’d end up bein’ sliced to bits, just like him. Scaut might chop ye into smaller pieces, ’cos you ain’t even a scorecat. Yore only a . . . aaaaagh!”

The door swung inward, bringing the catguard stumbling backward with it. Leatho slew him with a single blow of his club. However, before he could get to the other, the catguard was already rushing downstairs, yelling, “Help! Escape! Shellhound’s on the loose! Escape!”

Leatho heard the rattle of spears and Scaut roaring like a madbeast, “Don’t let him escape! Get up there an’ capture him, quick!”

Footpaws thudded upon the stairs as catguards began racing upward. The outlaw seized a jug of water, together with a platter of bread and half a fish, which the two guards had been sharing. He retreated swiftly back into the chamber. Dragging the dead guard out of the way, he barred the door with the table and benches. Now nobeast could reach him, but it was a tricky situation. He was virtually being held prisoner again.

He retrieved the spear, which had fallen in with the guard, then stood swigging water and stuffing down bread and fish. The door began to shudder under blows from the guards’ weapons, but it was a solid oaken door and withstood their efforts well. The banging went on for a while, then suddenly ceased.

The next thing Leatho heard was Scaut calling to him, “Shellhound, I warn ye! Open this door, or it’ll go badly for ye!”

The outlaw otter laughed recklessly. “If’n ye want to see how badly things’ll go, then try openin’ the door an’ comin’ in here, ye lard barrel!”

When Riggu Felis received the news of his captive’s escape from the cage, he went into a fit of rage. Bounding out onto the pier with a score of catguards, he glared up at the empty cage hanging beneath the high window. The chain mail half-mask rattled against his fangs with each sharp intake of breath as he turned to the guards.

“Archers, fire arrows through that window!”

Leatho heard the command and threw himself flat against the window wall. Three shafts made it into the chamber; two stuck into the floor, while the third thudded into the door. Other arrows did not make it that far and stuck like feathered twigs into the wooden tower walls.

The outlaw presented himself at the open window space, grinning down at the warlord. “Is that the best ye can do, skinface? Try again!”

Leatho watched the guards fire more arrows and moved swiftly out of the way. The cats were selecting their next arrows, under their leader’s exhortations.

“Kill him! Wound him! Anything, but get him!”

Before they had a chance to notch arrows to strings, the carcass of the guard, whom Leatho had slain earlier, came hurtling down. Felis jumped out of the way, but the body struck two archers, stunning one and killing the other.

A booming shout rang out from the pier end. “Good shot matey, hang on, we’re comin’!”

Big Kolun Galedeep and a mob of otters came thundering along the pier. Riggu Felis yelled, “Archers, fire at those otters and retreat. Back inside!” The battle had begun.

As the fortress doors slammed shut, the pier and the shore to either side of it were swarming with otterclan warriors. Rocks and stones, arrows and lances hit the fortress walls.

Leatho leaned out of the high window, roaring his warcry. “Eeeee aye eeeeeh! Forward the clans! Eeeee aye eeeeh!”

Alerted by the cries of battle, Scaut came scurrying downstairs with his guards. His voice was shrill with surprise as he met with Riggu Felis.

“Lord, are we under attack?”

It was the wrong thing to say. A butt from the wildcat’s steel-helmeted head sent the weilmark sprawling.

“Of course we’re under attack, you blockheaded dolt! Call the guards out of the barracks, get them here quick!”

Weilmark Scaut obeyed his master’s command hastily, but his face was a picture of bewilderment as he accosted the last guard to leave the barracks. He grabbed the cat and shook him.

“There must be more’n threescore missin’. Where’ve the rest of ’em gone?”

The shaking guard’s teeth rattled as he tried to explain. “They’ve gone with Commander Pitru. I thought ye knew!”

Scaut shook him harder. “Gone! Gone where?”

The hapless guard tried to salute as he replied, “Lookin’ for otters. They went out the back o’ the barracks. Commander Pitru said it was Lord Felis’s orders.”

Scaut shoved the puzzled guard away from him. “Go an’ report to Lord Felis right now. Tell him wot you’ve just told me. Go on!”

The weilmark took his own good time getting back to the fortress doors, not wanting to be around the warlord when the catguard made his report. Riggu Felis heard the guard’s report without comment. Then, spotting Scaut loitering a safe distance away, he beckoned him over. The weilmark scurried to his master’s side, where he listened whilst the wildcat spoke scathingly of his son.

“You’ve heard, I suppose. The cowardly kitten has cut and run! I should have expected it. Hah, I don’t need that traitorous idiot and his followers. At least now I won’t have to watch my back while I’m facing the otters. Once those rebels are defeated, we’ll hunt the bold Commander Pitru down. I’ll kill him personally, just as I should have long ago, instead of letting him become a threat to me. The filthy little turncoat!”

A wild laugh nearby startled Riggu Felis. There stood Lady Kaltag. The guards had been dismissed from her chamber door to assist in defending the fortress, leaving her to wander freely. She looked manic and unkempt, her silken robes stained and tattered, her red-rimmed eyes blazing hatred at her husband. With neither the time nor the desire for a confrontation, the warlord muttered to Scaut, “Who let her out? See to it that her chamber is guarded. Get her out of my sight!”

Kaltag was hauled off by four guards, kicking and scratching, as she poured scorn on her husband. “Aye, kill your son, my lord, just as you murdered his brother! You won’t find my Pitru as easy to slay, oh no! Hahaha, he’s left you in a fine mess, hasn’t he? Taken a band of guards and broken free of your vile schemes! How are you going to defend this fortress now, O Lord of Green Isle? Hahahahaaaa!”

The wildcat brandished his axe, shaking it at her. “Get that madbeast out of here, Scaut. Lock her up!”

The weilmark hurried to assist his guards in dragging Kaltag off, but her mocking shouts could still be heard, echoing down the passage.

“Your enemies will dance on your grave, Felis! Evil has its own reward, a long slow death. Hahahahaaaa!”

Bravely the otterclans were fighting their way along the pier outside. Arrows, spears, javelins and all manner of missiles rained through the slitted defence windows at them, with long pikes bristling from every opening. Banya Streamdog and her slingers retaliated with heavy volleys of stones. So fierce was their assault that it allowed Big Kolun to lead his comrades in a wild forward charge. Otters fell on either side of the Galedeep chieftain, but he thundered recklessly on, batting away shafts and spears with his big oar. Kolun made it to the fortress gates, where he was joined by Lorgo, who had led a party up from the shore. Both brothers raised a bloodcurdling warcry.