Brian Jacques - [Redwall 10] - The Long Patrol

afore we goes at it. Now I know y’could snuff me out like a candle, marm, but I’ll try to stop ye if’n I can, for the

good of all ’ere!”

Lady Cregga Rose Eyes raised the terrible axpike high over her head with one paw. She brought it smashing down

into the rift wall, knocking out a great quantity of soil-bound rock.

“So be it, we wait! But those hares of yours had better be quick, Sergeant, because I won’t wait long!”

53

Vermin screamed and wailed as the blazing pine trunk cut a swathe through the Rapscallion ranks. It thundered off

the hillside, over the valley, and disappeared with a crash of loose earth into the rift, where one side of the defile fell

in on top of it.

This was followed by a frightening silence.

Galloper Riffle rubbed both his eyes, peering into the fallen night. “What’s happenin’? Why’s everythin’ so bally

quiet—I can’t see a flippin’ thing!”

A shrew standing by Riffle blinked hard several times. “Neither c’n I, matey, all’s I see is colored lights, poppin’

all round. ’Twas that burnin’ tree wot did it.”

Most of the Redwallers were grouped at the center of the ridge, in the place the otters had launched the trunk from.

A shout from the far side of the ridgetop alerted them.

“Help! They’re attackin’ this end!”

With their sight growing clearer, the Redwallers rushed to defend mat end of the summit, only to be hailed by

another distress cry. “Yurr, on ee t’uther end, they’m up ’ere too!”

Damug had not been slow. Even as the burning trunk was launched from the crest of the ridge, he had issued

orders for his army to split up again and attack the summit from both ends. Now the Redwall army was in deep

trouble. Damug’s plan had worked; he had gained the precious moments he needed to put his Rapscallions on the ridge

summit.

Tammo fought back-to-back with Pasque, sling in one paw, dirk in the other. Vermin came at them in mobs.

Lieutenant Mono was surrounded and alone; gallantly he battled away, hacking at the encroaching Rapscallions with a

cracked pike. Tammo and Pasque began forcing their way through to Mo-rio’s aid, but too late. The brave Lieutenant

went down, fighting to the last.

“Eulaliaaaa! ’S death on the wind! Eulaliaaaaa!”

Captain Twayblade, too, was ringed by the enemy. Her long rapier darted and flickered as she wove it around

cutlass and spear, slaying every vermin she touched. “Saha! Come an’ meet me, sir vermin, I’ll have ye crowdin’ at

Dark Forest gates this night!”

Tammo glimpsed a fox working his way behind Twayblade, and as the fox raised his sword, Tammo let fly with

the dirk.

“A hit!” Twayblade laughed. “Over here, Tamm, come on, Pasque!”

They were joined by Skipper, and between them they smashed free of the crowding foebeasts. The otter pushed

them toward the standing rock. “Over there, mates—get our backs agin somethin’!”

Perigord and Gurgan had been outnumbered and driven back along the ridge. Striving valiantly with what was left

of their group, they too managed to reach the standing rock. The Major’s saber decimated the ranks of vermin

swarming to get at them. Blood ran from a cut above his eye as he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Gurgan.

“Whew! I keep choppin”em down, but they’re still comin’!”

The Waterhog’s huge mallet hit the Rapmark Skaup, wiping him out. “Aye, there’s nought left but to take as many

as we can with us. Hearken though, I’d like t’get yon Damug atwixt my paws!”

Log-a-Log gritted his teeth, bringing down a weasel with his heavy loaded sling. “Y’won’t get close to that scum,

mate. Damug’s the kind who leads his army from be’ind, like the true coward he is! Tamm, did they get ye, bucko?”

Tammo almost collapsed as Pasque drew the pike from his leg. “Aaaagh! He got me, but I made sure I got him, the

blackguard!”

They ringed the pair, fighting off the attackers as Pasque stuffed herbs into the awful gash and bound it with the red

silken ribbon. “There, that’ll hold you, sir. Lean on me. I knew that ribbon’d come in useful. Good job you won it for

me, wot!”

Deodar and Algador slumped on the rift floor, gasping for breath after making their report.

Lady Cregga acted instantly. “Sergeant, take the right flank; Corporal, you take the left. I’ll hold the center. Let’s

get out of this ditch and form up in a skirmish line, ten deep, fifty long. Double-quick speed, weapons out and ready.

We’ll come at that ridge from the back. Rapscallions haven’t got the brains to think we’d attack that way!”

Still fighting for air, Algador and Deodar drew their blades. “We’re comin’ too, Sergeant!”

Trowbaggs nodded to Shangle Widepad. “Grab old Algy there, chum, we’ll help him along. Fallow, Reeve, lend a

paw to Deodar, there’s good chaps!”

The night air thrummed to the paws of five hundred Sala-mandastron hares. Silent and determined, they sped off

into the darkness.

Damug Warfang was delighted beyond measure. He stood back from the fighting, leaning on his sword by a fire.

The Rapscallions had suffered heavy losses, but nothing to what the creatures of Redwall had sustained. From his

position he viewed what he considered to be the last stages of the battle. His enemy would soon be soundly defeated

and the famous Abbey of Redwall his for the taking.

Rapscallions crowded in on every side around the standing rock, but there was a space at the center between them

and their opponents. The Redwallers had fought more fiercely than anybeasts they had ever encountered, and now, at

this final part of the battle, many vermin were growing cautious, not wanting to be on the lists of the slain while their

comrades enjoyed the spoils of victory.

The stoat Captain, Bluggach, was a bigger and more reckless beast than his confederates. Pike in one paw and a

wicked steel hook in the other, he swaggered into the open space between the armies and began taunting his

beleaguered enemy.

“Haharr, so yore the bold crew who were gonna spank us an’ send us off in tears, eh? I wager the one who

shouted that is ’idin’ somewheres at the back now, prob’ly in tears hisself!”

Mass laughter and cheering from the Rapscallion horde prompted Bluggach to become bolder. He leered at the

Red-wallers, licking the tip of the hook he carried. “C’mon out an’ face me, ’tis my turn t’do the spankin’!”

Gurgan Spearback was already out as he spoke, wielding his tree-trunk-headed war mallet. “Stoats be windy

braggarts. Come an’ spank me if thee thinks thou art warrior enough to do it!”

Bluggach gave a wild yell and charged the big Waterhog. Gurgan sidestepped and swung the mallet once. Just

once.

Bluggach slumped to the ground, never to rise again.

But Gurgan’s sidestep had carried him close to the Rapscallion mob. A crowd leapt upon him, overwhelming the

Waterhog Chieftain.

The Redwallers could not leave their friend in enemy paws. They charged forward into the vermin pack, roaring,

“Red-waaaaallll! Redwaaaaaallll!”

They were hopelessly outnumbered, but prepared to sell their lives dearly. Strangely, though, it was Damug

Warfang who saved them.

The unpredictable Warlord strode among his vermin, lashing out with the flat of his swordblade. “Halt! Enough, I

say! We will take these creatures as prisoners. Nobeast must touch them. I will keep them as captives to serve me!”

The Greatrat halted in front of Perigord. “All except you, hare. Nobeast talks to me as you did and lives!”