"Here, old lad, you have it. Simple device, eh wot? Makes your throwing arm twice its length and gives you double the distance."
Felldoh looked at the javelin launcher as Ballaw continued, "We've won many a supper at tribe gatherings in the south with one of those.
There was always some big brawny beast wagered he could throw a javelin farther than me or Rowanoak."
The badger offered her paw to Felldoh. "Now do you want our help?"
Felldoh grasped the big paw, his eyes alight with resolve. "Let's go and see if they've got Celandine at Marshank!"
Accusations flew thick and fast at Marshank, Clogg and Badrang blaming the whole thing on one another in the wake of the confusion at the rear wall. While the remainder of the slaves were under heavy guard, the other corsairs and horde members gathered in the courtyard to witness the argument raging between their leaders. It was a fine show of rage, spleen and insults.
"Hah, Lord 'igh an' mighty Badrang, is it? Can't 'old on to arf a passel of defenceless slavebeasts. Yore a lob stertail!"
"I'd sooner be anything but a complete idiot who lets the enemy into Marshank and has the gall to call them friends. You always did keep your brains in your clogs, Tramun, you buffoon!"
"Buffoon yerself. Ye blown up pollywoggle! There was me an' the crew nearly catchin' those creatures, an' wot did you do? Jumped off the wall on to our 'eads, you jellyfish!"
"Jellyfish? You're the one who started all this mess, addlebrain!"
"Oh, is that so? Then who set fire to my ship and who let the slaves escape? You've brought bad luck on both of us, fiddlebrain!"
"Shut your mouth, you pigtailed poltroon, or I'll shut it for you!"
"Haharr, now yore flyin' yer true colours, jugnose. I'm not stoppin'
round 'ere to bandy words with the like o' you, I'm off to do somethin'
useful. Gruzzle, Boggs, form the crew up fully armed."
"Hold hard there, woodenpaws. Where d'you think you're off to?"
"Well, clean out yer mucky lugs an' lissen whilst I tell yer. Those slaves that escaped last night is now free beasts, you got no jurisdiction over 'em anymore, Bad rang yore Lordship. So, if any beast were to recapture 'em, then they'd belong to the finder, an'
that'll be me if yer please. Come on, lads. Away, boat's crew!"
Badrang watched Clogg and his crew march off through Marshank's front gates.
"Shall we form the horde up and stop 'em, Lord?" Gurrad whispered anxiously to the Tyrant.
Badrang gave the rat a withering glance. "Stop them, what for? Let me do the thinking, Gurrad. If Clogg recaptures the slaves, where's he going to take them, what's he going to feed them on, where's he going to keep them penned up?"
Gurrad looked puzzled, "I don't know, Lord. Where?"
Badrang tapped a paw against his skull. "That's why you're a hordebeast and I'm a leader, Gurrad. What else can Clogg do but bring them back here. When he does, I'll take them from him. So, what could be simpler than allowing Cap'n Tramun Clogg to be our slave chaser."
Gurrad sniggered gleefully, rubbing his paws together. "You're a clever one, Sire. A real clever one!"
Badrang buffed his claws on his fir and inspected them. "I could buy and sell an oaf like Clogg anyday. He'll soon find that out to his cost."
Celandine was lost. When she tripped and fell while running through the night with the cart, the young squir relmaid had cracked her head and passed out on the spot. Dawn had broken a full hour before she came to. Celandine's first reaction was to sit and cry, and she did so. Sobbing and wailing broken heartedly, she lay on the clifftop, kicking her footpaws and nursing a bruised lump, just below her ear near her jawline. At regular intervals she would stop and sniff, calling out the names of Ballaw, Rowanoak, Buckler and Felldoh.
Hearing no reply, the pretty squirrelmaid would throw herself back full throated into a bout of copious bellowing and weeping. Why did no one come? There was always somebeast round to dance attention when tears flowed down her beautiful face. It took quite a long time for Celandine to realize that she was totally alone, so she set about doing what she did best, preening herself and attending to her looks.
She brushed, licked, dusted and primped, holding her head coyly on one side so that the curve of her bushy tail hid the unsightly bump she had suffered. Then she sat again and bemoaned her fate aloud to the bright morning air.
"Owwww! Why doesn't somebeast come for me? My head's aching and I must look a dreadful sight. Owww! I'm hungry and thirsty and dusty and dirty and now I'm lost. Owoooh!"
The weasel Floater had been scouting ahead. He made his way back to where Clogg was leading the crew.
"No tracks of the carts, Cap'n. They finish over yonder. Musta been somebeast coverin' the trail."
Clogg looked at the ground, chewing one of his beard plaits.
"Covered, ye say? Bad fortune fer us, matey. Lookit, 'ere comes ole Crosstooth. May'ap 'e 'as some news.
The fox pointed at a tangent to where the cart tracks had finished.
"Found a set of pawprints goin' thataway, Cap'n, but 'tis only one beast."
Clogg spat the plait out and scratched his nose. "Cfcie beast is better than none I allus says mate, lead on!"
They had not gone far when the sounds of Celandine's lamentations reached their ears. Tramun Clogg signalled for silence. Bellying down, the corsairs breasted a low hill. They peered over at the weeping squirrelmaid.
Gruzzle shook his head sympathetically. "Ain't she pretty, Cap'n.
It's enough t' break yer 'eart!"
Clogg chewed at a dandelion still attached to its stem. "Aye, 'tis sad, matey, an' even sadder when I thinks of the way I'm goin' to make that liddle beauty wail when I tickles some information out o' her with me cutlass point."
Celandine was still crying and talking aloud to herself.
"Oh, why don't any of the troupe come and find me? Owww! Oh dear, I mustn't weep so much or I'll look all ugly and puffy."
"Ho, that ye will, me liddle weepin' willow. Come on now, dry yore eyes an' give ole uncle Clogg a big smile!"
Celandine looked up in terror. Standing not ten paces from her was the corsair stoat and his villainous crew. She choked out a small frightened whimper as Clogg drew his cutlass and advanced on her, grinning wickedly.
21
Martin and his friends were captured so quickly it made their heads whirl. One moment they were sleeping peacefully, and in a twinkling they were dragged up on to their footpaws. Tough vine ropes secured their paws tight with nooses that locked around their necks. The dark slithering shapes of lizards were everywhere, slinking around the treetrunks and writhing over each other, making no other sound than a sibilant hiss.
With his paws pinioned to the sides of his head by the vine that encircled his neck, Martin struggled to get loose and reach his short sword, shouting to Rose and the others.
"Rose! Are you all... gaaaargh!"
The big red frilled lizard pulled savagely on the vine, choking Martin into silence. The young mouse tugged either side of his neck, striving to loosen the vine so he could breathe properly. Then they were off at a headlong run, pulled along cruelly with countless lizards flanking them and shoving from behind. Splashing through marshwater, cludging through mud, crashing through nettles, they rushed through the night.
Rose sobbed for breath. Tripping on a root, she fell flat in some ferns. The speeding reptiles did not stop or even slow, they continued their mad stampede, dragging her along thumping and bumping across the soggy earth. How she fought her way back upright Rose never knew, but she was certain she would have been dragged to her death had she not done so.