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yew bottle-nosed, slab-sided, doodly-tailed idlers, git those paws poundin' at the double!"
Rangval heard the horde long before he saw them. Standing out in full view, the roguish squirrel tugged gently on the ropes, which were tied to both willows at strategic limbs. "D'ye hear that, bhoyos, ye'll have company soon, shure an' I hope those stings are well sharpened!"
With Biklo and Noggo in the lead, the horde came thundering along both banks, splashing through the shallows and bulling through the reeds. Biklo was first to spot Rangval up ahead, he stabbed the air with his spear. "That looks like one o' the rascals, watch me take 'is 'ead!"
Rangval laughed. "Faith, an' aren't you the bold feller, take this, vermin, an' bad luck to ye!" He yanked hard on both ropes, then somersaulted up into the trees and vanished.
In a trice, the war cries and shouts of pursuit were transformed into piercing shrieks of agony, under the full onslaught of a wasp attack. The torture was heightened when several vermin tripped against the rotten wych elm trunk, releasing a veritable storm of maddened hornets. The air was filled with the zing and buzz of ill-tempered insects, as they stung and stung again at their helpless victims. Brownrats performed weird dances of pain upon the wrecked wasp nests and the pulpy wood of the hornet lair.
Gruntan leaned his weight sideways, upsetting the litter, as he launched himself into the streamwater. More than one rat died that day, overcome by hundreds of stings, each laden with wasp or hornet venom. Most of the horde fled into the woodlands, attempting to outrun their tormentors. Others, Gruntan among them, tried submerging themselves for long periods, and pressing on upstream.
Rangval the Rogue arrived at the cove as evening was on the wane. Maudie, the otters and the Guosim were standing
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ready for an attack, with weapons drawn. Rangval looked around, slightly disappointed. "Have ye not got an ould bite o' supper for a beast?"
Luglug sheathed his rapier. "We was expectin' Kurdly's crew, never cooked no vittles."
The squirrel chuckled drily. "I don't think they could make it, they was unavoidably detained by some little buzzin' friends o' mine."
Osbil shook a paw at Rangval. "The wasps an' hornets around those two willows, ye mean. Thanks for not tellin' us about 'em, mate!"
Rangval dismissed the indignant young shrew with a shrug. "Ah well, me ould tater, there wasn't much time for explanations, as I recall. I told ye t'watch out for Owch Mansions, tellin' meself ye weren't some thick'eaded horde rats, but intelligent shrews. I trust none of ye were stung by me liddle mates?"
Maudie wiggled her ears at Rangval. "Not to worry, old lad, our Guosim friends were jolly lucky to have one of the finest brains in the blinkin' land along with 'em, wot! 'Twas I who spotted Owch Mansions and brought us safely through to this fair haven!"
Barbowla murmured confidentially to the squirrel, "Miz Maudie's right, but it was she who wouldn't allow us t'cook, for fear we were attacked."
Rangval shook his head in mock sadness. "Ah, 'tis always the way with maids, beauty an' brains, but totally lackin' in the supper department. Right, if'n ye'd all like to get in yore boats, I'll take ye someplace where we'll get an ould bite o' grub!"
With Rangval in the lead vessel, they pressed on. It was fully dark, and drizzling, when the squirrel halted them. He pointed to a medium-sized hill, not far from the bank. "There's my lovely ould home. Rogue's Retreat, I call it."
It was a natural cave inside the hill, the entrance to which was a bushy screen. Portaging the logboats, they
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made their way inside. Setting steel to flint, Rangval soon had a torch lighted.
Maudie gazed around, it was a huge sandstone cavern. "I say, this is splendid, how'd you find it?"
Rangval touched light to several other torches. "Find it? D'ye mind, missy, I made it!"
Barbowla's wife, Kachooch, gave Rangval a playful shove, which almost sent him sprawling. "Ah, away with ye, great, treewallopin' fibber! I was brought up in a holt, just like this. It's a place where the river ran through, when the land was young."
Luglug agreed with her. "Aye, I've heard o' places like this, it was carved out by the water, over countless seasons. Then for some reason the river changed course, an' prob'ly dwindled to yon stream outside, leavin' this place."
Rangval did not seem at all put out by being caught lying, he grinned cheerfully at Maudie. "I'll allow ye the honour of cookin' supper for me, marm. On the way here these Guosim were after tellin' me wot a marvellous cook you are, so carry on, please!"
Maudie found herself smiling at the garrulous squirrel's impudence. "Right ho, you cheeky wretch, but only if you agree t'go a few rounds boxin' with me afterward. I'm the undefeated Champ of Salamandastron, y'know."
Rangval made a show of rolling up his nonexistent sleeves. "Shure, 'tis not often that I have to knock the block off'n a pretty maid to get supper, but I'll do it!"
Assisted by the Guosim helpers, Maudie put on a tidy spread, considering their limited resources. She made a pastry from cornmeal and chestnuts, filling it with preserved fruit and nuts, and working it into a long roll. To complement it, she made a thick, sweet, white arrowroot sauce. With some cheese and apples for starters, and coltsfoot dandelion cordial to drink, it proved a successful supper. They lolled about a fire as the Guosim servers apportioned it out.
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One of the shrewbabes found, to her delight, that the cave had a pretty little echo. She began to sing a song which her mama had taught her.
"Don't run away from yore mamma's side,
'cos the woodland's big an' wide, hold on tight to her apron string, an' y'won't get hurted by anything.
"I'm a good likkle shrew so that's wot I do,
I'm not a naughty likkle shrew like you!
"When you go inna big logboat, sit very still when it's afloat, if you jump an' dance about, my mamma says that you'll fall out.
"I'm a good likkle shrew so that's wot I do,
I'm not a naughty likkle shrew like you!
"Go near a fire an' you get burned, this is a lesson I have learned, one day I'll be big, you see, an' I'll have a pretty likkle shrew like me.
"I'm a good likkle shrew so that's wot I do,
I'm not a naughty likkle shrew like you!"
Rangval lay back, both paws folded across his stomach. "Ah, charmin', well sung, liddle missy, that was grand, grand!"
Luglug drained his beaker, wiping a paw across his mouth. "Don't get too comfortable there, rogue, you've got to box a few rounds with Miz Maudie yet."
The roguish squirrel sighed. "Shure, I'm too stuffed t'move, an' I've never struck a pretty maid in all me life. Just suppose I slew her wid a single blow, which I'm quite capable of doin', havin' laid several o' me best friends low
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in that manner. Now I ask ye, who'd ever cook a fine ould meal like we've just had, widout the beautiful an' fasci-natin' Maudie t'do the honours?"
Luglug lay back, closing his eyes. "I never thought of it that way, mate, yore excused boxin'."
Maudie added, "But only if you sing us a song."
Rangval leapt to his paws eagerly "Faith, I thought ye'd never ask, I'll give ye a ballad that'd have a stone in tears. Silence now for the golden voice o' the woodlands." Placing a paw on his heart he began warbling dramatically.
"As I was lyin' in me bed the other night, sewin' buttons on an' scoffin' skilly pudden, when a thought flashed in me mind just like a light,
Shure bedad, said I, now isn't that a good 'un!
"So I hauled me pore ould body off the bed, kicked the family frog an' put me greasy hat on, an' roved forth to take a beneficial walk,
'cos lately I'd been pilin' too much fat on!
"Well, I'd not got very far along the way, when I met a toad, all big'n'fat'n'warty,
Oh good evenin' to ye, sir, meself did say,