Lantur quaffed her goblet's contents. "Aye, I'll drink to that. After all, who could disturb my sleep? The White Ghost?"
Wilce topped up Lantur's goblet from the wine flagon. "How could the White Ghost disturb my lady when 'twill be lying at the bottom of the lake, wrapped around ex-Queen Silth!"
"Heehee! Pour yourself more wine, Wilce!"
Cregga stumped her way downstairs to find out what had been going on in her absence. The few days she had spent alone in her room had been irksome. Now recovered from her wounds, the blind badger was eager for company, longing to be part of the daily hum of Abbey life. Her tread was slow and sure, and she kept to one side of the stairs, using the wall as a guide. Every joint and crack of the ancient red sandstone, each paw-worn stair with its own small dip or hollow, the Badgermum knew well. Redwall Abbey was her home, and she loved it so much that she felt every stone of it was part of her.
Reaching Great Hall, Cregga's sharp instincts told her things were not as they should be. She knew it was nighttime, and there were always Redwallers about this late in the evening. But now there was a hushed silence over everything. Moreover, her senses told her that candles and lanterns aplenty were lit, for she could feel their presence, the slight warmth, a guttering flicker, the odd drip of melted beeswax from a brimming sconce, the fragrant odor of pine resin. All was not right.
Moving silently into what she knew was the shadow of a thick stone column at the edge of the hall, the big badger felt about until her paw rested on the long pole of a brass-cupped candle-snuffer. Grasping it tight, she called out, "Who's there? Speak if you know what's good for ye. I don't like creatures sneakin' about around me!"
From somewhere out at the hall's center, a voice she identified as Friar Butty's whispered, "One, two, three... Now!"
Music burst out everywhere, fifes, drums, and all manner of stringed instruments, with massed voices singing in harmony.
"Midsurrvmer midsummer the solstice is here,
And now we give thanks to the day,
We joyfully sing like the birds on the wing,
For old winter is still far away.
The high sun of noontide smiles down on us all,
Sending warmth to the earth from on high,
Soon the autumn will yield, out in orchard and field,
Where the bounties of nature do lie.
Midsummer midsummer the solstice is now,
In the midst of this season so bright,
Yea we sing, aye we sing, hear our glad voices ring,
Far into this fine summer night."
Dwopple and Blinny the molebabe dashed forward. Seizing Cregga's huge paws, they tugged her toward the feasting tables.
"Heehee! We frykkened you, Badgermum, but then us singed nice for ya!"
"Bo urr, marm, do ee cumm now, we'm got gurt 'eaps o' vittles furr ee, an' you'm can stay up late with us'n's!"
The blind badger allowed herself to be led to the festive table. Seating herself in the big Abbot's chair, she took both Dibbuns on her lap, joking with the little creatures. "I must say, you did frighten me dreadfully, but that lovely song made me feel lots better. Thank you! Can we really stay up late tonight? Then I'll behave meself an' be extra good. Mmm, I smell blueberry an' almond turnovers. Pass me the dish, please. I'm so hungry I think I'll eat 'em all!"
Dwopple shook his spoon severely at the massive old badger. "Tch tch! Thort you said y'was gonna be'ave. Friar Butty send y'back up to bed if you naughty!"
Outside the night was still, the day's heat still radiating from the sun warmed stones of the walltop. A half-moon stood clear in endless plains of dark velvet sky. At the center of the south rampart, Bargle stood talking to the shrew Mayon, on reluctant guard duty.
"Wot d'yer think the chances are of Florian an' his patrol comin' up 'ere to relieve us, so's we can get to the feast?"
Bargle shook his head at Mayon's simple and trusting nature. "You got more chance o' sproutin' wings an' flutterin' away like a butterfly, matey! Imagine ole Florian an' Skipper pushin' woodland trifle down their faces, then sayin' all of a sudden like, 'Better 'urry up, we got to go an' relieve the wallguards!'"
Mayon tried to imagine it, then sighed regretfully. "Yore right, mate, 'twouldn't 'appen in ten seasons o' plenty. Oh well, mebbe they'll leave us some fer brekkist. I 'ope?"
The four Marlfoxes crouched in the ditch. Behind them, a contingent of water rats waited, holding the siege ladder between them. Gelltor hauled himself stealthily up onto the path. When he held his voluminous cloak still, he was almost invisible against the ditch edge and the path. At his signal the rats crawled out of the ditch, taking care to make no noise with the long rough ladder. Silently Gelltor fastened it to one end of the rope that had been left hanging from the protrusion beneath the battlements near the northwest corner. The ladder rose smoothly upward as several rats hauled slowly on the rope's other end. When the ladder was raised to its full extent, Gelltor maneuvered it firmly against the wall and nodded to the others waiting in the ditch. Vannan, Ascrod and Predak led the remainder of the water rats to the bottom of the ladder. Gripping his ax handle in tight clenched teeth, Gelltor began climbing. When he was halfway up, Predak allowed the rats to follow.
The Guosim shrew guarding that area was looking over at Bargle and Mayon, not suspecting a thing. Swift and silent as a shadow passing across the moon, Gelltor slid over the walltop and slew the sentry. As the rats followed he gestured to the wallsteps in the northwest corner, whispering, "Hide down there against the wall and wait for me!"
The first group of ten water rats padded softly down the stairs, into the grounds of Redwall Abbey.
Mayon yawned and stretched wearily. "Let's 'ope that Friar Butty thinks of us an' reminds ole Florian that we're up 'ere, mate. Oooh! I dunno wot's gettin' to me most, 'unger or tiredness. Is that Fleggum over at the far corner . there? Looks like 'e's gone asleep."
Bargle stared over toward the shrew in question, who was lying prone. "Sleepin' on the job, is 'e? Well, I'll soon . . . Rats! Lookit, mate, there's rats climbin' o'er the wall! Logalogalogalooooog!"
Roused by the Guosim cry, shrews pounded around from all sides of the walltops, following Bargle and Mayon to the northwest corner.
Gelltor cursed, grinding his teeth. "Rot their lousy eyes, they've seen us!"
Bargle charged headlong across the ramparts, yelling out orders. "Three to each wallgate! Mayon, take six an' secure the main gate! Stop those vermin openin' any gates. Splikker, bring the rest an' follow me. Chaaaaaarge!"
Gelltor was in a quandary. He could not fight off the charging Guosim, but neither could he climb back down the ladder against the stream of rats already on it, forging their way upward. Judging the situation hastily, he slipped quietly off down the wallsteps.
A water rat was halfway over the wall when he met a thrust from Bargle's rapier and fell back with a gurgle, plunging out over the heads of his upcoming companions. Bargle and three other shrews mounted the battlements, slashing with their blades at any rat foolish enough to attempt climbing further. Below on the ground Vannan, Ascrod and Predak knew that the plan had been discovered, but they urged their troops on.
"Come on, get up that ladder! You at the top there, attack! Get on the wall and keep them shrews busy! Fight them!"
Bargle draped himself across the gap between two battlements, and by leaning down as far as he could, managed to catch hold of the rope, still tied to the ladder top. The brave shrew hauled on the rope while his mates kept the attackers busy, until the free end was at last in his hand. Leaping up, he yelled out commands.
"Somebeast get over to the Abbey an' raise the alarm, there's nobeast in the belltower to warn 'em! The rest of ye, follow me!"