The Lutra - Jacques, Brian - Redwall 09 - The Pearls Of Lutra

The perfect summer night continued happily. Wullger the otter was giving his hopskip jig when Tansy and Craklyn noticed old Rollo dozing off. They nudged him.

"Come on, Rollo, this is no time for napping, we've got work to do in Great Hall. Let's slip away quietly, shall we?"

Noiselessly the three friends padded into the Abbey's vast main chamber. It was deserted and so silent they felt obliged to converse in whispers. Whilst Rollo set flint to tinder lighting a lantern, Tansy and Craklyn gazed around. Dark shadowy niches and recesses gave way to patches of soft multicolored light where the moon beamed through long stained glass windows. Looking up towards the high polished ceiling beams gave both Abbeymaids a feeling of insignificance in the massive hall.

Rollo had the lantern lit; in its golden glow he spread the parchment on an empty dining table. "Now, where to begin? Have you got Fermald's fishing rod, Tansy?"

The hedgehog maid went to the tapestry, and from behind it she produced the rod. "I put it there this afternoonMartin's been keeping it safe for me. Read the rhyme again, Craklyn."

The squirrelmaid did not need to read, she knew the rhyme by heart because she had repeated it so often.

" 'My sixth and last tear I give unto you' ... by that I take it Fermald means us three, the searchers. Then, 'When Redwallers lie abed.' Well, in normal circumstances they'd all be in their beds now, save for the fact they're holding a moonlight feast outside. See, these next two lines, here's where the puzzle really starts. 'At midnight see, in full moon view, the purple arrowhead.' "

Lantern light glinted off Rollo's spectacles as he shook his head. “There it is again, that confounded purple arrowhead. But where do we find it?"

Tansy had a sensible suggestion. "Let's split up. I'll take one end of the hall, Craklyn, you take the other. Rollo, you can search the center, here."

Step by step Tansy combed the far end of Great Hall, around sandstone columns, inspecting every stick of furniture, feeling wall hangings and peering behind them, even scrambling onto low window ledges to check the sills thoroughly. Her search proved fruitless. Then the moon went behind a cloud. Tansy could see the small golden pool made by Rollo's lantern in the dimness, and she made her way toward it. The old Recorder was inspecting the east wall, unaware that the hedgehog maid was behind him. He was at the edge of a passage leading off the hall when Tansy's voice cut the silence shrilly.

"Rollo, stop where you are, don't move!"

The Recorder froze, wondering if he was in any danger. Behind him he heard Tansy calling out, "Craklyn, come and see this!"

Leaving off her search, the squirrelmaid came scurrying up, not knowing what to expect. Tansy was pointing to the back of Rollo's robe, just below the old bankvole's neck.

"What d'you think of that?"

Craklyn gasped in surprise. Beaming faintly luminescent purple, a perfectly shaped arrowhead was formed on the Recorder's back.

Rollo could stand the suspense no longer. He turned around to face them, and demanded, "What is it? What's all the excitement about?''

Tansy was still pointing. "Look at the front of your robe, it's therenow!"

Rollo stared down at the purple arrowhead of light. "Hah! So 'tis, it must reflect on this wall when I'm not standing here, like this ..."

He moved a pace to one side, leaving the spectral thing shining softly upon the wall. Adjusting his spectacles, Rollo stared upward to the apex of two curves at the top of a long narrow side window on the west wall, high above the tapestry.

"I thought so, it's the moonlight coming through that window, see, where it is pointed at the top like an arrowhead. The glass is reddish during the day, but in the moonlight it appears purple."

Craklyn giggled; the whole thing struck her as rather funny. "And you couldn't see the arrowhead because it was on your back!"

Tansy had Fermald's fishing rod ready. "Travel east six rods from the tip, that's what the rhyme tells us. We're at the east wall, the only way we can go further east is down this passage!"

Rollo stared down the darkened passageway. “This only goes off to the cellars, but let us see how far six rodlengths will take us."

He held the lantern high whilst Tansy and Craklyn measured off six lengths of the fishing rod at the same height on the wall as the arrowhead. At the end of six lengths there was a wall decoration carved in relief standing out from the stone: a single rose on a long stem rising up from the floor.

Craklyn ran her paw over it. "There it is, pals, the rose that blooms ever fair, summer or winter. It doesn't matter what the season, this rose still stands halfway down the passage, carved from stone, blooming eternally. It'll never shrivel or lose a single petal."

Rollo stifled a yawn. Despite the excitement he was starting to feel drowsy. "Yes, very poetic, missie, extremely touching. Now will you be kind enough to get on with the next clue. When you've seen as many seasons as I have you'll understand the value of a bed!"

Craklyn repeated the last two lines of the rhyme. "See if you can find the right hip, turn west and you're halfway there."

Tansy seemed to be performing some kind of awkward dance step.

Rollo held up the lantern and peered at her curiously. "What in the name of fur and feathers d'you think you're up to?" he said.

The hedgehog maid continued with her strange maneuver. "Well, I've found my right hip and now I'm turning west, why?"

The old Recorder slid down the wall into a sitting position. "Oh, nothing, you continue with your dance. Craklyn and I will concentrate on the carving. See, halfway up the stem is a leaf either side, and beneath each leaf is carved a rosehip ..."

Tansy stopped her quaint movements. "Rosehips?"

Rollo nodded. “Aye, rosehips, you know, those round things the size of a plum, tapered at one end. You'd usually see them after the roses have bloomed and faded; we make rosehip syrup from them!"

Craklyn grasped the rosehip on the right side of the stem. "Shall I turn it to the west and see what happens?" she asked breathlessly.

Rollo smiled wearily. "Please do, miss!"

Craklyn turned the rosehip. It budged slightly, but nothing else happened. She turned to Tansy. "What d'you think I should do now?"

The hedgehog maid bounded forward. “Keep turning as hard as you can, and I'll give it a good shove!"

As Craklyn struggled to turn the stone protrusion a bit more, Tansy hurled herself at the wall. Her body struck the stone, and a portion of it began moving inward. She pushed harder; this time it made a grating noise and opened completely.

The three friends found themselves staring into a small dark room. Picking up the lantern from the floor, Craklyn entered; Tansy and Rollo followed her in. They moved together towards the room's single piece of furniture, a small angler's stool made from canvas and strips of wood. On the seat of the stool, the lantern light revealed a tiny box made from yew wood.

Rollo picked it up and opened it.

Chapter 47

It was still dark, humid and windless. The Hawm of the sealfolk gave a quick flick of his head and tossed the rope he had been pulling back into the logboat. Martin and his crew had been standing ready for hours, since the first glimpse of Sampetra loomed upon the night horizon.

Clecky leapt overboard into the shallows. "So this is the place, eh," he said, his voice booming from the high hills surrounding them. "Jolly good work, you sealchaps!"

Martin was alongside him swiftly, his paw clamping tight over the hare's mouth. "Keep your voice down! No need to advertise our arrival!"

Inbar Trueflight held a brief conversation with the seal king before joining Grath and Martin on the sandy beach of the small cove where they had landed. "The Hawm can no longer help us now. He is worried about the young ones of his tribe being in these waters; they are leaving."