Brian Jacques - [Redwall 03] - Mattimeo

strawberries lying in the patch.

“Shoot!”

There was a twang and hiss from the windows. Four arrows and two javelins stood quivering among

the strawberries.

Ironbeak swallowed hard. “What do you want?”

Constance kept a heavy paw upon the net. “You know what we want, an exchange of hostages.”

“What you ask is not possible.”

“Then your army will starve in the roofspaces,” she warned.

“We will kill your mice if you do not surrender,” Ironbeak countered.

“And we will kill your magpies. This net is weighted with stones. They will drown in the pond.”

“You are peaceful creatures. I know your ways, you could not do such a thing.”

Constance seized the net in her paws and then began dragging it to the Abbey pond.

“Your mistake,” she snarled savagely. “They may be peaceable creatures; badgers are not. It will be a

pleasure to rid Mossflower of this scum. I am done with talking!”

The big badger tumbled the net into the shallows.

Revived by the water, the three magpie brothers awoke, spluttering.

“ Yagga! Save us, Ironbeak, save us. Help, we will drown trapped in this net. Ironbeak, General, save

us!”

The birds on the roof danced anxiously around their leader, cawing and flapping. Mangiz whispered

something to him. The raven General cocked his head towards the crow, his bright eye roving across the

scene at the pond.

When Mangiz had finished, Ironbeak spoke in a level voice:

“Stop! Do not drown my magpie brethren. They have served me well. I will talk terms with you.”

A great cheer arose from the defenders at the window slits.

Constance gave a silent sigh of relief. “Then you agree to our request, three in exchange for three?”

Ironbeak spread his wings. “So be it! The exchange will take place here, in front of this redstone house

when the evening bells toll at sunset.”

Ambrose exchanged glances with Constance.

“Let the hostages be freed here and now!” she proposed.

Ironbeak folded his wings and closed his eyes with finality. “Do not stretch your luck, earthcrawlers.

You have gained a victory. The exchange will take place as I say. Agreed?”

Constance hauled the net from the shallows. “Agreed!”

When the birds had flown, Ambrose shook his head at Constance. “It’s some sort of trap, I can feel it in me

spikes. That bird has somethin’ in mind for us. Didn’t you see him whispering with the crow? They were

hatching a plan.”

The Abbot came out to greet them.

“I agree with Ambrose,” he said. “They are obviously working out a trap. You did well. It was a good

bluff, Constance.”

The big badger looked grim. “It was no bluff, Father Abbot. I would drown a dozen like these in the net

if our Abbey or our creatures were threatened. We will wait and see what they have planned for sunset.”

Chapter 34

Queen Warbeak and her sparrows stood little chance against the rats. Many of them were shot in the air.

But the Queen and her Sparra warriors were brave and reckless fighters, and they plunged in regardless of

danger. Matthias and Orlando headed the charge across the clearings; the shrews drew their short swords

and followed. Cheek, Jess and Jabez whirled slings loaded with stones as clubs, and Basil hurtled in with

both long back legs kicking dangerously.

“Redwaaaall! Mossfloweeeer! Guosim! Logalogalog!”

The speed of the attack, combined with the sparrow assault, took the rats off guard. They fought tooth

and claw, using arrows to stab with, but they were no match for the force that came at them, despite their

superior numbers.

The shrews were fearsome warriors at close quarters, with their short swords. They fought in groups

facing outwards. Circling and milling, they created a carousel of slaughter. Rats fell screaming and kicking

everywhere. Cheek and Jabez stood back to back, thwacking away with their loaded slings. Sparra warriors

fastened their claws into rats’ heads and pecked madly at their faces. The rats were unused to being

attacked in their own territory and they fought mainly a defensive action. Many brought down shrews and

sparrows. However, they were no match for Matthias and Orlando; the axe and the sword swathed into

them at every turn. And rats flew high in the air from Basil’s awesome kicks.

The battle raged back and forth. The woodlanders were still greatly outnumbered, though their

weapons and fighting skills were superior. It might have gone one way or the other, when Log-a-Log

turned the tide. He spied Stonefleck slinking away into the trees, and using his sword as a spear, he

launched it at the rat Chieftain. His aim was true. Stonefleck fell, slain by the sword Log-a-Log had thrown.

When the rats saw their leader fall, the fight went out of them. Screaming and wailing, they scurried off

into the trees.

Matthias stood leaning on his sword, breathing heavily. Ignoring the cuts and bites he had taken, the

warrior mouse extended his paw to the shrew leader.

“Well thrown, Log-a-Log!”

The shrews gave a loud cheer for their leader.

Matthias looked around. The slain littered the edge of the clearing like leaves in autumn.

“Where is my friend Queen Warbeak?” he asked.

His heart sank within him. A small group of Sparra warriors who had survived the battle were grouped

about their fallen Queen. Matthias, Jess and Basil knelt by her side, tears streaming openly down their faces

for the Sparra Queen lying there. Warbeak’s eyes were dimmed in death, the breeze moved her feathers

gently.

A sparrow passed Matthias a small scroll. “We come alla way from Redwall,” he told the warrior

mouse. “Abbot say give you this. Queen see you in trouble with ratworms. She say help um friend

Matthias.”

Jess lifted Warbeak lightly, and carried her up into a sycamore tree. Laying her on a broad bough, she

covered the Sparra Queen with leaves in the time-honored Sparra fashion.

Matthias sat at the foot of the sycamore, his head in both paws, grieving for Warbeak.

Basil came over and patted Matthias. “There, there, old lad. I know it’s a pity she had to die so far from

Redwall, but she saved us by her courage.”

Matthias plucked at a blade of grass. “Yes, the Queen loved Redwall. That was the bravest thing I’ve

ever seen any creature do, Basil. She threw herself and her warriors at those rats, knowing she and her

sparras stood no chance. They flew in against arrows and attacked with only beak and claw.”

Orlando wiped his axe blade on the grass. “I never knew your sparrow friend, Matthias, but she saved

all our lives by her brave action. I’ve seen creatures ten times her size without a quarter of her boldness.

What a warrior!”

Jess Squirrel looked up to the leafy shroud on the tree bough. “Good old Warbeak, eh? Totally mad, of

course. She’d rather die than miss a good fight. I’ll bet wherever she is now that she’s chuckling at us

standing round blubbering like a load of Abbey babes who have to go to bed early, instead of getting on

with our search for the fox.”

Matthias rose dry-eyed. He stuck his swordpoint into the ground.

“Aye, Jess, you’re right. We’ve got some burying to do here, then we will leave this place. I never want

to set eyes on it again. We must carry on south.”

Later that day they halted in a quiet place, an ash grove, far from the clearing where the battle had taken

place. Matthias took stock of the situation. The surviving sparrows would fly back to Redwall, taking with