The hare stood up in clear view and leaned out from the walltop, with his long, blade-topped pole at the ready. Stukkfur could do nothing to stop himself. Whipped by small twigs and spitting leaves, he watched in horror as Florian lashed out, the razor-sharp blade severing the rope at a single blow. Then the water rat really was flying free as a bird, not up, but down, though still traveling forward.
"Yiiiiieeeeeee!"
The immovable sandstone blocks of the east wall cut short his flight. Borrakul winced at the sound, but Florian's concern was not for the rat. "Huh! Hope that chap didn't damage the wall, wot!"
From all around the walltop sentries came running to see what the disturbance was about. The Marlfox vixen, Predak, was waiting in the ditch near the west wall. The moment she saw the shrew guards desert their posts she made her move. Climbing stealthily from the ditch, she hurried to the base of the wall, unwinding a slim length of rope with a stone tied to one end. It took four throws before a satisfactory cast was made, but on the fourth try the stone soared upward and over the top of an ornamental spur jutting from the wall, just below the battlements near the northwest comer. Predak caught the stone as it fell. Now she held both ends of the rope in her paws, and she pulled each in turn, testing it. The rope ran free over the stone spur, backward and forward. Moreover, it could not be seen from the walltop unless a sentry were to lean out too far for safety. Leaving the rope with both ends touching the ground, Predak stole away, back to the east side, where Gelltor and Ascrod awaited her. The vixen radiated satisfaction as she made her report.
"Nobeast saw me, the rope's in place, and all we have to do now is get the siege ladder nearby in the ditch, wait for nightfall, then haul it up to the wall. How did the diversion go?"
Gelltor twirled the severed rope idly. "Oh, it worked well enough, but they were onto us, more or less as I expected. That hare slashed the rope with a device he'd thought up. Stukkfur never made it over the wall, but it provided the decoy we needed."
Predak inspected the shorn rope end. "Stukkfur was a good soldier. A fool, but obedient. Pity he's gone."
Ascrod interrupted her. "Surprisingly enough, Stukkfur wasn't killed. He must have a head made of solid bone. Look, there he is."
Stukkfur was wandering in a daze around the rats who were busy building the siege ladder. Both paws were still held high over his head, grasping a long piece of rope, which he stumbled over as he meandered willy-nilly. There was not a single tooth left in Stukkfur's mouth, and beneath the bulging lump on his brow both eyes were black and blue. Bumbling about, the water rat muttered to himself, "Musht drop ober d'wallsh, ohben d'wallgatesh, musht do't!"
Bargle led his relief column of Guosim shrews up onto the walltop, where Florian greeted him huffily. "Well hoorah an' hang out the jolly old flags, relief at last, wot! A chap could fade from the famine, waitin' up here. Have a good night's sleep, did ye? No doubt you breakfasted well, early lunch too by the look of ye. Fiddle de dee, sir, tardy in the extreme!"
Bargle baited the hare unmercifully, yawning, stretching and patting his stomach. "Slep' like a mole an' snored like an 'og, mister Florian. Woke to a wunnerful brekkisthoney, 'ot scones, fresh mint tea an' a little preserved fruit wid meadowcream. 'Fraid there's none left. Very partial t'meadowcream us shrews are. Mind though, we did ask the cooks to save yer some crusts, didn't we, Mayon?"
Turning his face to hide a grin, Mayon agreed. "Ho yes. Why, I said t'the cooks meself, I said, You be sure'n save a crust or two for mister Florian an' 'is gallant sentries, a-guardin' those walls out there while the likes of us are sleepin' safe in our beds an' fillin' our stummicks!"
Florian Dugglewoof Wilffachop's ears stood erect with indignation. "Cads the lot of ye, wot! Small spiky-furred grub-wallopin' bounders! Nothin' worse than a grub-walloper. Come on, chaps, form up in a line an' march off smartly. We're not stoppin' in the company of grub-wallopers an' tuck-scoffers!"
As Florian led his sentries off down the wallstairs, Bargle called cheerily to him, "Grub-wallopers I don't mind, but tuck-scoffers is the worst kind o' beasts. You be sure an' 'urry back now, sir!"
Florian's whiskers bristled with outrage. "Unmitigated impudence, sir, confounded brass-necked cheek!"
Deesum popped her head around the kitchen serving hatch to warn the cooks. "Just thought I'd better tell you, mister Florian and the sentries are coming in from the walltops. They look pretty hungry, too!"
Brother Melilot clapped a paw to his forehead. "Oh dear, so they should be! I completely forgot to send out their breakfast this mornin'. They haven't eaten since last night!"
Grandma Ellayo rescued her turnovers from the windowledge on which they were cooling, whisking them out of sight into a cupboard.
"Gracious me! If that ten-bellied hare is hungry we'd best hide everythin', or he'll eat us out o' house an' home, and there'll be no feast at all!"
Rimrose counted her cheese and celery flans. "Florian must've already been here. There's one missing."
Foremole removed his hazelnut and elderberry pudding carefully from the oven, shaking his head at Rimrose. "Bain't no Florian tukk that 'un, marm. Ee Dibbuns beat 'im to et!"
Rimrose busily stowed the flans away, chuckling. "Ah well, who could begrudge those liddle rogues a bite to eat? Hope they didn't burn their mouths, though, these flans are still hot. Oh, Brother Melilot, is that shrimpberry pie the Dibbuns put together for Skipper ready?"
Melilot pulled the pie from an oven. "Done to a turn, marm!"
"Then why don't we serve it to Florian instead?"
Melilot grinned at the thought of Florian tackling the highly unusual pie. "Why not indeed!"
Ascrod sat in the woodland glade the Marlfoxes were using as a siege camp, watching the water rats testing the ladder. It seemed sturdy enough for the purpose. Furrowing his brow, he tapped his paws distractedly on a nearby oak. Vannan slid into camp like a wisp of smoke and seated herself next to her brother, observing his mood.
"You seem out of sorts today. What is it?"
"Arrh, we're getting nowhere with this siege. We'll never get the best of those Redwallersthe luck's on their side every time."
"So, what do you propose we do, brother?"
"Cut our losses and get out of here, back to the island."
"Hmm, I only wish we could!"
"What d'you mean, sister? What's to stop us going?"
"Listen and I'll tell you, Ascrod. While you lot have been playing with ropes and foolish ideas, I took a trip back to see what was happening at our camp out by the river. Beelu was watching Mokkan for me, and I wanted to hear his report. But guess what?"
"What?"
"There's not a trace of anybeast. The camp was deserted, Mokkan and the rats we left with him all gone!"
"Gone? What about the tapestry we stole from the Abbey?"
"Hmph! Of course, that's gone also. Six shrew logboats we had, five of them are smashed to pieces on the bank there. That means Mokkan took the sixth boat, the rat guards, and our tapestry with him, bound for the island, I'll wager."
"The traitor! I'd like to skin the deserter's hide from his back with my ax!"
"Aye, me too, brother, but it looks like we're stuck here for now. We can't go back empty-pawed."
"So, what do you suggest we do, Vannan?"
"Only one thing to do. We put all our cunning into defeating Redwall. Once the Abbey and its treasures are ours, we can force the shrews to build us new boats. We'll fill 'em with treasure, and then play the waiting game. Then one fine day we'll start back for the island, when brother Mokkan's least expecting us, and then there'll be a reckoning, I promise!"