Brian Jacques - Mossflower

creature that wields it. A sword is a force for good only in the paws of an

honest warrior. But enough now. You and your friends are tired. I will talk to

you tomorrow and show you

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many things. Sleep here. If you wish to bathe the dust of travel away, I will

send my hares with dry towels for you." Boar took his leave of the travelers.

The hot bath was deep and refreshing. Trubbs, Wother and Ffring turned up with

huge soft towels.

"One each, you chaps. No splashing."

"Wash behind your ears, old sport."

"Night-night. See you in the morning."

Dry, full and warm, they lay on the moss-covered ledges.

"Hoo urr," Dinny yawned, "so we'm come to Samman-dastorat last."

Log-a-Log stared at the high ceiling.

"A wonderful place indeed. Strange creature that Boar, eh, Martin?"

"Oh, he'll tell us what he intends when he's good and ready," Martin said

airily. "Let's get some sleep. I've a feeling tomorrow's going to be a full

day."

Gonff could not resist a rendition of his latest song.

At last the weary travelers

Have reached their hearts' desire.

We quested overland to reach

The mountain of the fire.

To meet with Boar the Fighter,

Who knows secrets dark and deep—

Gonff sat upright scratching his whiskers, "What rhymes with deep, mateys?"

Three wet towels knocked him flat. "You'm moight troi sleep!"

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The woodlanders were caught completely unawares in the early morning.

Led by Bane and Tsarmina, the joint forces hit swiftly. Luckily the little

ones were still abed at Brock hall and the Loamhedge mice were preparing

breakfasts. The only creatures at the diggings were moles, otters and a few

squirrels.

Bane's mercenaries dashed in, hacking madly, backed by Tsarmina's spears.

Urthclaw, Billum and Soilflyer were deep underground. The rest were caught in

the open.

It was chaos!

Skipper took an arrow in his side. Lady Amber lost an ear to a fox's sword.

The woodlands were alive with yelling, slashing animals. There was only one

thing to do: retreat with all speed. Disregarding his wounds, Skipper stood

fast with a small band of otters, hurling stones as he roared aloud, "Get

away, quickly!"

Amber and her squirrels managed to escape through the treetops, leaving two

slain on the ground. Skipper and his otters saw to it that the few moles were

safely carried off across the river, before vanishing into the water

themselves.

Tsarmina gave out howls of victory across the now silent woods.

Bane leaned on his curved sword breathing heavily. "See, I told you they're no

match for us. Phew! But they can put up a tidy fight, even when they're

outnumbered."

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Brogg swaggered up and saluted.

"Two squirrels, three otters and a mole slain, Milady,'* he reported.

He was about to turn away when Bane tugged on his cloak.

"How many of ours lost?" he asked tersely.

"Three ferrets, a stoat and a weasel, four rats and a fox."

Bane shook his head in amazement. "Good job, we outnumbered them. No

prisoners?''

'.'No, sir, not a one."

"Hmm, pity."

Ratflank limped up, nursing a cracked paw.

"We've found three big holes over there by the river," he said.

The commanders strode across to the spot. Bane bent down and sniffed the earth

around each hole, while Tsarmina stood watching.

"What d'you suppose they were up to?" she wondered.

Bane spat into one of the holes. "Your guess is as good as mine. We didn't get

time to chop the trees or fire the woodland. Maybe there's some of 'em still

down these holes."

"Then we can fill them in." Tsarmina grinned wickedly. "Brogg, get some big

rocks, fetch that timber lying about there, use the spears, fill them in well

and press the earth down hard. They'll be imprisoned down there until the air

runs out."

Bane wiped his sword and sheathed it.

"Well, that's that. There's not much my band can do around here. We'll head

back to Kotir and try another dawn raid tomorrow."

Tsarmina was right beside the fox leader. She was not about to stop out in the

woods with her soldiers, leaving Bane to take over Kotir in her absence.

"Right, Bane. I'll leave Brogg with some of the others to get on with the job.

The rest of us will go back to Kotir with you."

As they marched off through the morning brightness of Mossflower, one of

Bane's foxes sniggered as he trod on the back of Ratflank's cloak.

"Yah, I think your pussycat Queen's frightened of us locking the fortress door

on her."

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Ratflank tugged his cloak free, sneering. "Oh yes? Well, you just try calling

her pussycat to her face, hero!"

The first Bella knew of the attack was when the Corim leaders re gathered

their crews at Brockhall. Abbess Germaine and Columbine organized bandages and

herbs, Loamhedge mice bustled about ministering to the wounded. Skipper

refused to stand still, and Goody Stickle chased about after him, dabbing at

his injury, trying to get a bandage around it.

There were tears of rage in the otter's eyes. "Six lost, by the fur. Where did

they come from? Who was that fox with all those scruffy murderers? Tsarmina

could never have done this on her own."

Lady Amber adjusted the bandage around her head so she could see properly.

"I heard someone call him Bane," she told him. "Get Chibb. Tell him to go to

Kotir. He'll have to be very careful, but we've got to find out all we can

about this other lot."

Foremole tapped a digging claw upon the table.

"Us'll avter do summat 'bout Urthclaw, Soilflyer V Bil-lum. They'm stucken

down 'oles. Oo be a-tellen wot they villyuns do to *ee."

"Yes," Bella agreed, "it's most important that we rescue the moles from the

tunnels. Next on the list is to make sure that the area around Brockhall is

completely hidden. If they don't know where we are, they can't attack us.

Furthermore, we will need to find a second hideout, somewhere deeper into the

east of Mossflower. If ever Brockhall is discovered, another refuge will be

very necessary."

Messengers were sent out to find Chibb, and the wood-landers set about erasing

the tracks around Brockhall, while Germaine and her mice tended the wounded

with dedicated care.

The memory of the murderous ambush still lingered.

Lady Amber was not one to forget.

Neither was Skipper.

Before noon, Chibb had reported back to the Corim, but the news was not good.

"Er, ahem. Very serious, very serious. It seems that this fox Bane is an

expert, a mercenary with a band of about

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sixty. Harrumph. 'Scuse me. Evidently they are planning another ambush, as

deep as they can get into Mossflower in one early morning march. Tomorrow,

they plan to set out at dawn in a skirmish line, killing or capturing all

before them."

Columbine held up her paw. "Then we must not give them any targets. Everyone

should stay here, completely out of sight, in case Brockhall is discovered."

Bella nodded approvingiy. "I second that. Good thinking, Columbine. Are we all

agreed?"

There was a low murmur of assent. Nobody noticed the look that passed between

Amber and Skipper.

In the early afternoon, Bella left command of Brockhall to the Abbess and

Columbine. Alone, the badger set out eastward into the woodland depths to find

a second place of refuge.

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37

Martin woke feeling pleasantly fresh. He opened his eyes to see Boar

supervising the laying of a beautiful breakfast table. Hares were wreathing