Brian Jacques - Redwall #07 - Mariel of Redwall

The badger weighed a large chunk of rock in both paws as she pondered the question. "I don't know, really. I wasn't counting. Maybe we'd better check around the walls to see they're not laying some sort of trap. You take the south wall and I'll cover the eas Oh, thundering fur! The east wall, look, there's Dibbuns over there!"

The three small comrades in arms were looking for more ropes to cut when Mellus, Saxtus and Flagg descended upon them.

"You naughty little rascals! What are you doing out of your beds, eh?"

"Burr, us'n's oanly a-cutt "

"Give me those knives this instant! You could have cut the paws off yourselves, playing around with them. Oh, you scallywags!"

"But we was on'y savin' the Abbey!"

"Not another word, do you hear me! Wait until Friar Alder sees his best vegetable chopping knives. I wouldn't like to be in your fur!"

Flagg picked up a three-pronged grappling hook. "Hold on there, marm. Look at this there's lots of 'em lyin' about. I wonder where they came from."

Grubb shook his paw severely at Mother Mellus. "That's what oi be tryin' a-tell 'ee, missus. 'Twere us'n's who chopped 'ee ropes off'n they 'ooks."

"But we won't nex' time if you start a-shoutin' an' a-scoldin'. So there!"

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Saxtus was peering over the wall. "Golly! Look at this!"

Upward of half a dozen searats had been killed by the fall, impaled on broken branches or crushed by their falling comrades. The rest lay about in a pitiful state, moaning as they nursed broken and aching limbs. Flagg scratched his whiskers in disbelief.

"Well, give me fins an' call me a fish! So that's what the rest of the pesky vermin were up to ..."

Grubb shook his furry head. "Not oop, maister. Only arfways oop!"

Saxtus laughed loud at the joke, but his merriment withered under Mellus's icy stare. Flagg, however, was shaking paws, hugging and patting the three Dibbuns.

"Well done, fellers. Strike me, you saved the Abbey an' no mistake!"

Bagg and Runn sat against the wall, rubbing their eyes and yawning. The badger swept them up, one in each big paw. She tried to look stern but could not help smiling.

"Come on, heroes. Bed for you three, and stay there this time."

Grubb rode down the wallsteps piggyback upon Flagg's broad back. "Oim not afeared of nobeast. Mar-then 'ee Wurrier, that be oi!"

oo

Graypatch stood out on the path, his sword tight at Pakatugg's neck as he called up to the ramparts, "Truce, or I kill the squirrel!"

Rufe Brush slackened off his sling. "Truce then. Speak your piece, rat."

All along the west and north walls the defenders put aside their missiles to listen. Graypatch stood in a pool of moonlight and delivered his message:

"Stop throwing and let us withdraw."

Rufe chuckled scornfully. "Had enough, mangy chops?"

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Pakatugg squealed slightly as the sword pressed closer. Graypatch was in no mood to bandy insults.

"Aye, we've had enough . . . For one try. You may have won the battle but I'll win the war. Now let us walk away in peace, or this one dies."

Simeon appeared, leaning on his friend the Abbot. "Go then. You could have done that anytime without threatening the life of a helpless squirrel."

At a signal from Graypatch the defeated searats began their retreat north along the path. Graypatch could not resist a parting shot.

"Wait and wonder when we will return, mouse-then you will really see what a battle is like."

Simeon turned his head in the direction of Gray-patch's voice. "Alas, I will never see anything for I am blind; but I can sense a lot. I can feel you are both evil and desperate. They say you have only one eye. I am surprised at youeven a fool with half an eye could see that you will never triumph against good if you are evil."

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After their meal and a short rest, the four travelers struck off westward once more, into the gloomy dark swampland.

Mariel took the lead. Peering into the deceptive half-light, she chose a relatively straight path. The other three followed her in single file along the raised trail, avoiding smooth slippery rocks and testing each fraction of the way with hesitant paws. To both sides of them the overhanging trees grew out of stagnant-smelling smoothness, which occasionally threw up a liquid bubble, betraying the treacherous nature of its surface.

Durry sounded apprehensive. "Oh, nuncle, it wouldn't do a poor lad much good to fall in there."

Dandin brought up the rear of the file, his paw on Durry's shoulder. "Aye, be careful and take your time. I just wish it were a bit lighter in hereit's like trying to plow your way through pea soup, all muggy and dark green. What is it we have to beware in here? The wart-skinned toad?"

Second in line, Tarquin turned his head slightly as he spoke.

"Not a sign of the old wart-skinned blighter. I hope we're goin' the right way, trail leader old gel."

Mariel kept her eyes straight ahead. "As far as I can

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see, we are. I chose the longest and straightest of the paths. Aha! What's that up ahead? Stop a minute, please."

They halted. Directly ahead of them a light was shining in the gloom, a small flickering golden glow. It stopped, hovering farther up the path. When Mariel moved forward again, it moved also. Dandin recalled the rhyme.

"Beware the light that shows the way!"

"Right you are, Dandin old lad, wot? There's the very light we've jolly well got to watch out for."

Mariel halted once more. "Lie down and be still, you three."

They dropped down and lay perfectly still. Mariel flattened herself against the path and began inching forward. This time the light remained still, glowing a short way above the trail.

Durry lifted his head for a quick peep. "Where's she a-goin' to?"

Dandin stifled the hedgehog's mouth with his paw. "Ssshhh! Keep quiet and be still, Durry."

Mariel's crawling figure had now disappeared into the murky gloom. Ahead of them the light still glowed steadily. They waited with bated breath, pressing themselves flat to the earth. Suddenly from along the path a dismayed croak sounded, followed by a whoop from Mariel and the familiar thwack of Gullwhacker. Springing up, the three travelers made their way along the path as speedily as circumstances would allow.

The mousemaid stood over a stunned toad. It was an indescribably ugly specimen, completely covered in large wartlike growths. In one paw Mariel twirled her Gullwhacker, while in the other she held a curious contrivance. It was a lantern on a small carrying frame, wonderfully made from thin-cut rock crystal. Inside the lantern half a dozen fat fireflies buzzed, giving off a pale golden light.

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Mariel prodded the toad lightly. "Two puzzles solved with one Gullwhacker: the wart-skinned toad and the light that shows the way. Three, in facttake a look ahead."

By the light of the lantern, they saw that the path ended sharply a short distance from where they stood.

Durry shivered. "If we'd follered that 'orrible beast with his light we would've gone ploppo! Right into that swamp!"

Dandin prised a rock from the trail. "Aye, ploppo is the right word!" He threw the rock into the swamp. It disappeared, making a small hole which swiftly filled in, leaving the surface undisturbed.

The wart-skinned toad was beginning to recover, groaning pitifully and rubbing his head with slimy webbed paws. Mariel thumped the Gullwhacker down close to the repulsive creature.

"Want some more?" she inquired.

The toad recoiled in fear. "Muurraakk! No more. Rrrreb!"

Dandin unsheathed his sword and tickled the creature's nose. "Listen, I don't know what your game is but we want to get out of this place and you're going to lead us. Understood?"

Still rubbing its head, it nodded unhappily.

Dandin turned to Mariel. "Right, let's get going. Keep this creature in the lead."