Brian Jacques - Redwall #07 - Mariel of Redwall

" Kwirraawwwk!"

The wart-skinned toad took off with a sideward leap at the swamp. Dandin reacted swiftly, but not fast enough. He barely grabbed the toad's back leg as it sailed through the air. The toad flopped into the swamp, pulling Dandin off balance. With a squeak of dismay he toppled from the raised path, slithering on its sloping side for an instant before plunging bodily into the treacherous ooze. Spreading its bulk flat and extending its webs, the wart-skinned toad slithered off

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across the swamp surface, leaving behind Dandin, who was rapidly disappearing into the bottomless waste.

"Help, do something, I'm being sucked under!"

Holding Tarquin's paw, Mariel stretched out, flicking her Gullwhacker toward Dandin. "Here, catch on to this!"

Dandin struggled to reach the rope, without avail. The swamp had pulled him in up to his neck now. Tarquin threw his harolina to Dandin. "Here, old lad, put both y' paws on top of this. It might help to keep you up!"

Dandin did as he was told, but he could feel the tug of the swamp, and panic filled him completely.

"Help! Oh, help me, someone!"

An urgent voice was whispering to Mariel, "The tree! The tree!"

She looked up at the tree hanging low overhead and immediately understood. Clambering up into the tree, she edged out along a thick dipping bough. Below her she could see Dandin, ashen-faced as he hung on to the harolina, the swamp oozing around his chin and lips.

"Hold on, Dandin. Hold on!"

Knotting Gullwhacker tight to the end of the bough, she called out, "Tarquin, Durry, get up here and lean on this branch, belly down!"

Without questioning Mariel, they clambered up into the tree, scrambling out along the branch until they were close to her. Both Tarquin and Durry followed Mariel's example, straddling the bough stomachs down, jerking to exert more pressure on the limb.

The swamp had closed over Dandin's mouth. He took a final breath as it started to flood into his nostrils, fighting back the welling panic as it oozed around his eyes.

Mariel felt the branch bend lower. Grabbing Dandin's outstretched paws, she noosed the Gullwhacker tight

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around them, calling to her companions, "Back off now. Back along the branch. Quick!"

Following them with all speed, she managed to cry out as they hung over the path.

"Jump!"

The swamp had sucked Dandin under, his head disappeared from view.

Mariel, Durry and Tarquin jumped heavily from the tree to the path, falling in an awkward heap atop each other.

The bough straightened with a tremendous rush. Dandin was hauled clear of the swamp with a huge squelching plop\

He hung there, dangling above the swamp at the rope's end by both paws, covered from ears to tail in thick foul mud. Pulling the sword from where it stood quivering on the trailside where Dandin had dropped it, Tarquin leaned out, supported by Mariel and Durry. Holding the sword by its blade, he hooked the crosstree hilt into Dandin's belt and pulled him in. Mariel and Durry grabbed Dandin's limp body. Tarquin swung the sword upward with a mighty slash, severing the end of the bough that the Gulhvhacker was tied to. All four fell back in a heap on the pathside.

While Tarquin undid the knots to free Dandin's paws, Mariel poured water from their flasks over his face, washing away the ooze that caked it. Durry forced his mouth open whilst Mariel poured water into it. Dandin struggled feebly and coughed. Mariel sighed her relief. Her voice choking with emotion for her friend, she tried to sound busy and practical.

"Thank goodness for that. I thought he was gone for a moment there."

Tears were flowing down Durry Quill's homely face as he joked. "Our Dandin a goner? Naw, he'll be a'right, I 'member Father Abbot sayin' he use to eat mudpies when he were a Dibbun. Hahahaboohoo!"

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Laughing and crying at the same time, Durry hugged Dandin's paw.

A fire was lit, though only a small one with the limited supply of fuel in the swamp. Tarquin took a turn at making some mushroom and turnip broth while Mariel tended to Dandin. The young mouse had recovered sufficiently to sit up. He looked away from the darklands swamp and shuddered.

"Uuuuuuhhhhh! It filled my nose and eyes and sucked me under. Right under! It was horrible. I'll never forget it as long as I live!"

Mariel patted his back gently. "There, there, it's all right, you're safe now. Good job you thought of the tree, Durry."

The hedgehog looked at her oddly. "I didn't mention no tree, missy."

"Oh, it must have been Tarquin then. Thank you, Tarquin."

"Don't mention it, old thing, but y'don't mind me sayin', what tree?"

"You mean it wasn't you who said, 'the tree, the tree'?"

"Nope, sorry, must've bin some other beastie."

Dandin and Mariel looked at each other. Dandin smiled.

"Aye, the same one who told me to hold my paws up straight after I went under. Good old Martin the Warrior."

After a few hours they were able to resume their journey, backtracking until they found another path which looked fairly straight and safe. Mariel walked in front, holding the wart-skinned toad's lantern; it made the visibility slightly better. Tarquin followed at the rear, cleaning mud from his harolina.

"Supreme sacrifice, wot? Chap keepin' another chap afloat in a bally swamp with his harolina. Not many'd do that y'know. Bet Hon Rosie'd think it was a jolly

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noble effort on my partfact I'm sure she would!" He turned to the big frilled lizard that was following him. "I mean to say, a chap's harolina is a very personal possession, wot? Omigosh! Eulaliaaa!"

Tarquin suddenly brained the lizard with the harolina, knocking it flying into the swamp. Other lizards sinuously scaled up from the sloping pathsides where they had been following the travelers. There were at least twenty or thirty, an assortment of newts and frilled lizards, their reptilian tongues flickering in and out as they watched the four travelers through cold basilisk eyes.

Durry threw up his paws in despair. "Lackaday, what now? We've 'ad sticklegs, pikes, adders, Flit-chaye, mad owls, a warty toad, an' now this, dragons! My nuncle Gabe wouldn't believe a word iffen I told him. More like he'd say that I 'ad been a-drinkin' of his strong blackberry wine. Mariel, tell a poor lad who's far from home, what do we do now?"

It was a strange scene. They stood on the trail, holding a hasty conference/ watched by the silent unblinking lizards.

"We have two choices, Durry: stand and fight, or make a run for it."

Dandin drew his sword. "I'm with you, Mariel. Just say the word!"

"Now steady in the ranks there, chaps," Tarquin interrupted. "I've already cracked a valuable harolina on one blinkin' reptile's bonce. Hold fast a moment, will you. I could be mistaken, but just a moment ago I swear I felt a bit of a light zephyr."

Durry wrinkled his snout. "A what?"

"A light zephyr, me old scout. A vagrant breeze, a fortunate breath, a bally puff of wind, in fact. Just give me a moment, will you ..."

Tarquin walked back down the trail to a tree, brushing aside a newt. "Beg pardon, old lizard, 'scuse me."

With an agility which belied his awkward figure, the

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hare climbed the tree. He stood on a high branch, paw to forehead, gazing out, nodded with apparent satisfaction, then descended the trunk swiftly, pushing through the lizards.

"D'you fellows mind not hoggin' the trail? Bad form, y'know, idlin' about an' stickin' your flippin' tongues in an' out like that."

Returning through the dumbfounded lizards to his companions, Tarquin murmured under his breath to Mariel, "Tarquin L. Woodsorrel reportin' back, marm. Don't show too much excitement, but I could see the sea from up in that tree, about a couple of hours' good hike from where we are. Does that alter the situation? Just thought you ought t' know, bein' expedition leader an' all that."