Brian Jacques - Redwall #06 - The Outcast of Redwall

With a hefty kick from Warpclaw, the lookout went straight over into the water. Still massaging his aching head, the Corsair looked over at the spluttering rat in the water. “Gutsn-tripes! Who stuck them there? he snarled. “Give the babes back, seascum!

Warpclaw whirled around. Sunflash was striding across the beach, flanked by the two otters and backed by sixty shrews. The badgers voice was like thunder as he hefted his mace.

“I wont tell you twice, rat! Deliver those little ones back. Now!

Warpclaw was a quick thinker. Forgetting his throbbing , head, he leapt down amidships and came up with a shrewbabe, then, holding the tiny creature upside down by a single foot-paw, the searat pulled out his scimitar and swung it aloft. “Stop right there or Ill slay thisn! he bellowed. Sunflash and the rescuers ground to an immediate halt. The badger pointed with his mace at the wriggling, weeping babe. “I warn you, rat, touch one hair of him and youll die!

Warpclaw knew it was a standoff, but he had the upper paw. “Shift those boulders or Ill kill em all, every last one!

The crew of Gutprow sprang to arms; suddenly the rails bristled with armed vermin. Log a Log looked at the two ot-; ters, despair stamped on his scrubby face. ; Warpclaw chuckled; he knew how soft woodlanders were about their young. “Well, stripedog, you look big enough. Are yer goin to move the rocks?

Sunflash could not stop his voice trembling as he answered, : “Give the babes back and Til free your ship. ; The Corsair knew he had won. Drawing the scimitar farther back, as if ready to chop, he called down to the badger, “Tell i yer wot Ill do. Well call this liddle maggot number one, then Ill keep slicinem until you move those rocks!

The wide blade glittered in the sun as he swung at the babe.

“ Kreeeegaaaaaar!

Skarlath hit the searat like a thunderbolt from out of the sky! One set of talons buried itself in the swordpaw while the other took Warpclaw round his throat. He fell backward, dropping the babe into the water. Then Sunflash the Mace was aboard the ship in a flash, bloodwrath of the Badger Warrior Lords rilling his eyes.

Skarlath knew what was about to happen; he was powerless to stop it. Seeing the shackle that connected the slave chain, he wrenched at it madly until it clattered free, then he shrieked at the oar slaves, “Kreeeh! Grab those little ones! Get clear of this ship!

One paw at his throat, the other scrabbling for his scimitar, Warpclaw rasped hoarsely at the crew of the Gutprow, “Kill the badger, rip im, tear im to shreds!

As the crew advanced on Sunflash, the oar slaves splashed overboard, clutching the yelling shrewbabes.

Skarlath swooped down beside Log a Log as the babes and their rescuers were hauled from the water. “Kreeeh! Stay clear of the ship!

A blood-chilling roar rang out from the deck.

“Eeulaliaaaaaaaa!

Log a Log drew his rapier, saying, “But we must help him!

The kestrel knocked the blade from his paw. “If you value your lives, stay clear of the ship, all of you! The sight of that rat nearly slaying the little one has set off the bloodwrath in him; Sunflash is berserk! I have seen it before, though never like this. He will slay anybeast in his path, he is a Badger Lord. Stay clear, I beg of you!

The gathering on the shore stood in shocked silence as roars, screams, and chaos echoed from the Gutprow. Sunflash the Mace was visiting death upon the searats who had stolen babes from the shrews.

17

With his back against the mast, Sunflash faced the searats six at a time. Daggers stabbed, blades slashed, but nought could stand before him. The mace swung and fell, whirling in arcs, sweeping like a scythe, smashing like a sledgehammer. The searats fought back with desperation, but their swords snapped like twigs as the Badger Warrior wielded his mace so fast that it was hard for the eye to follow. His speed and strength were unmatched.

Onshore, the shrews covered their babes eyes and ears as they looked away from the swaying vessel. The oar slaves, however, stood watching, grim satisfaction stamped on their thin faces. The vermin of the waves were being paid back in full for every lash mark, every chain scar, every day of near-starvation, every night they had separated the oar slaves from their loved ones. An old squirrel raised a clenched paw and shook it at the hated Gutprow, crying, “Let them reap the whirlwind they have brought upon their own evil heads!

Not one searat or wave vermin left the ship alive. When his terrible task was at an end, Sunflash let slip the mace from his paws and fell down in a stupor by the mast. Folrig, Ruddle, and Skarlath had long since herded the shrews back behind the rocks at the shores edge, where they ate and stayed resting until sunsets scariet fires began lighting the horizon. Then the kestrel flew out over the silent ship.

Sunflash was awakened by the lonely cry of seabirds. Lowering himself over the ships side, he washed all traces of battle from his body and cleaned off his mace in the cold water. The badgers eyes were normal now, back to their usual mild, dark-brown hue.

Skarlath landed nearby and watched as Sunflash took his jpnace and smashed two gaping holes in the Gutprow, one each ; side, amidships, just above the waterline. Placing his mace to one side, he waded into the broadstream and, bending his back and grunting with exertion, he loosened the two boulders from the streambed and rolled them ashore. The water had been building up behind the vessel, and now that it was free of the restraining boulders, the ship sprang clear. Night winds caught the sail, billowing it out; the Gutprow was off on its last voyage.

Sunflash sat down on the sand beside Skarlath, his shoulders wearily, saying, “She will sail out into deep waters until the waves find those holes; then she will go to the bottom.

A great fire was lit on the beach; shrews sat round it with eir backs to the rocks, and a cauldron of soup made from iratershrimp, herbs, and leeks bubbled away merrily. Bread and cheese was shared, shrewbeer was poured, with blackberry iial for the little ones.

Sunflash sat alone, apart from the festivities. Log a Log brought him food and said, “Lord Sunflash, we of the Guosim thank you. Words do not come easily to show our gratitude for what you have done for us, but our hearts are full for you. The name Sunflash will live for ever with the Guosim.

The badger echoed the curious word: “Guosim?

Log a Log explained. “Guerrilla Union of Shrews in Moss-flower, first letter of each word. We are warriors, we honor you!

Sunflash nodded his thanks, but still he sat alone, knowing the first real feelings of being a Badger Lord, fearing his own bloodwrath, shuddering at the sight he had been granted of his own dark side.

Skarlath sat perched by the fire, watching Sunflash from a distance. The shrewbabes were too excited to sleep; they played and danced, laughed and sang with boundless energy. The kestrel knew how little ones affected his friend, so he called them over. “Poor old Mr. Sunflash, doesnt he look sad, he said. “Why dont you go and say thank you to him for saving you from the searats? Go on, maybe hed like to play with you!

When the little shrews had run off to Sunflash and there was peace around the fire, two shrewmaids began singing. One of them played a small stringed instrument not unlike a mandolin. It had a sweet, tinkling tone, and to it they sang a ballad that they had written that very day, a song that would become a great favorite around shrew campfires for countless seasons to come.

“Oh, twas all in the summertime,

Our hearts did sadly grieve,

The searats stole up in the night,

And with our babes did leave.

Full four and thirty little shrews