Part 28 (1/2)
”Eulaliaaaa! 'S death on the wind! Eulaliaaaaaa!”
Booting aside a rat, Major Perigord grabbed his saber. ”Hares on the ridge, hundreds of 'em! Eulaliaaaaaa!”
The army from Salamandastron charged into the Rapscallions' midst to join the Redwallers. Galloper Riffle was down; a snarling weasel who was about to dispatch him with a dagger thrust fell forward, slain by a saber swing. Riffle felt himself pulled upright; he stopped a moment in the thick of battle, recognizing his rescuer. ”Algador! My brother!”
The young Runner blinked, smiling and crying at the same time. ”Riffle, thank the seasons you're alive!”
' 'Logalogalogalogalooooog!''
The shrew Chieftain, at the head of his remaining Guosim, tore into a pack of vermin and chased them the length of the ridge.
”Redwaaaaaalll! No surrender, no quarter, me buckoes!”
Skipper of Otters and his ragged band threw themselves headlong at another group of foebeasts, javelins forward.
Tammo had formed foursquare with Pasque, Midge, Tway-blade, and Fourdun, battling madly against the desperate Rapscallions. They pushed their way with blade, sling, and tooth to where Corporal Rubbadub lay stretched on the ground, limp and trampled. While the others fought, Pasque stooped to in- 307.
3o8
spect the big lump and the awesome cut across the back of Rubbadub's head. She looked up sadly at her friends. ”I think poor old Rubbadub's gone!”
”Nonsense!” Twayblade kicked Rubbadub's paw roughly.
Turning over, the drummer rubbed his head, grinning widely. ”Dubadubadubb! B'boom!”
Sergeant Torgoch found himself fighting alongside Drill Sergeant Clubrush. The pair fought like madbeasts but chatted like old pals.
”By the left, Sar'nt, yore young'uns are shapin' up well!”
”They certainly are, Sar'nt-they pulled yore chestnuts out o' the fire!”
Tare and Tuny had formed up with Trowbaggs and Furgale. They pressed forward in a straight line, driving Rapscallions off the edge of the ridge. Determined to distinguish himself in this his first action, Trowbaggs pulled away from the others and began taking on four vermin single-pawedly. ”Have at ye, y'scurvy rascals, Trowbaggs the Terrible's here!”
He managed to slay one before another got behind him and put him down with a dagger in his side. Corporal Ellbrig and Shangle Widepad rushed in to his aid, slaying two and sending the other one running.
Holding on to his side, Trowbaggs managed a weak smile. ”Chap got behind me. Wasn't very sportin' of him, was it, Corp?”
Shangle provided cover while Ellbrig ministered to the recruit. ”Trowbaggs, wot am I goin' t'do with you, eh? War isn't no game-there ain't no such thing as a vermin bein' sporty. Good job that dagger only took a bit o' fur'n'flesh. You'd be a goner now if'n that was an inward stab instead o' a sideways one. Come on, up on yore hunkers, me beauty, stick wid me'n'ole Shang.”
Furgale and Reeve Starbuck were in difficulties. Heavily outnumbered, they fought gallantly. Tammo's party saw they were in a fix and dashed over to help, but too late. Both the recruits went under from vermin spear thrusts before they could be reached. Others came running to avenge their comrades, exacting a terrible retribution on the vermin spear-carriers with swords and javelins.
Clubrush saw Furgale twitch, and he knelt by him, sup- 309 porting his head. ”Y'did bravely, young sir. Be still now, we'll git you some 'elp.”
Furgale tried to focus on Clubrush, his eyes fluttering weakly. ”Get my old job back, servin' you an' Colonel Eye-bright in the mess ... won't shout too loud though, Colonel doesn't like that.. .”
The young recruit's head lolled to one side, his eyes closed. Drill Sergeant Clubrush hugged him tightly, tears flowing openly down his grizzled face. ”I 'ope you've gone to an 'appier place than this blood-strewn ridge,”
The tide of battle was turned. What was left of the mighty Rapscallion army fled from the hill, pursued by the hares and the Redwallers. Major Perigord and Captain Twayblade limped their way down the hill and across the valley, with Tammo and Pasque following them. They found Lady Cregga in the rift, clutching the mangled remains and broken sword of Damug Warfang.
Pasque Valerian was the only one of the four who was still fit and active. She climbed down to the bottom of the rift. Perigord peered over the edge, watching her inspect the badger.
”I say, Pasque, get a chunk o' that smoulderin' wood t'make a torch.”
The young hare snapped off a billet of pine from the charred trunk and blew gently upon it until the flame rekindled itself. She looked closely at the still form of Lady Cregga, checking her carefully.
”Good news, sah! Though you wouldn't think it to look at her. Lady Cregga's alive, but Warfang must have slashed an' battered at her with his sword somethin' dreadful. Her face, head, an' eyes suffered terrible injuries, but as I say, she lives!”
The Major winced as he straightened up. ”Well, there's a thing! Our Badger Lady must be jolly well made of iron. Tammo, see if y'can hunt up stuff t'make a stretcher and find some able-bodied beasts to carry it. Tamtn, are you all right, old lad?”
Tammo sat at the edge of the rift, his head in both paws, shaking and weeping uncontrollably. ”No, I'm not all right, sah. I've seen death! I've been in a battle, I've slain other 3ID creatures, seen friends cut down before my eyes, and all I can think of is, thank the fates I'm not dead. Though the way I feel right now I don't know if I want to go on living!”
The Major sat down beside him, ”I know what y'mean, young 'un, but think for a moment. Think of the babes at Redwall and the oldsters, think of all the families, like your own, who will never be frightened or harmed by the bad ones we fought against. You've done nothin' t'be ashamed of. The Colonel an' your mother would be proud to know they had a son like you. What d'you say, Pasque? Tell this perilous feller.”
Pasque Valerian paused from her salves and dressings, capturing Tammo with her soft voice and gentle smile. She pointed skyward. ”I don't have to tell you anything, Tamm. Just look up.”
Tammo felt the other three staring upward with him.
Fading from dark blue to light, dawn was breaking, with threads of crimson and gold radiating wide. Pale, cream-washed clouds lay in rolls to the east, their undersides glowing pink with the rising of tfte sun. Somewhere a lark was singing its ascension aria, backed by waking curlews on the moor, and wood pigeons in the copses.
The spell was broken abruptly as the little owl Taunoc swooped out of nowhere to land at the rift edge. ”I see by your returning warriors and the vermin carca.s.ses lying everywhere that you won the battle.”
Perigord wiped his saber blade with a pawful of dewy gra.s.s. ”Aye, we won!”
Taunoc nodded sagely, preening his wings, ready for flight. ”I will carry the good news back to Redwall Abbey. Is there anything else you wish me to add?”
Tamello De Fformelo Tussock dried his eyes and smiled. ”Tell them ... tell them we're coming home!”
Extract from the writings ofCraklyn the squirrel, Recorder of Redwall Abbey in Mossflower Country.
Healing the wounds of war takes a very long time. It is four seasons since the victorious warriors returned to us, but still the memory of that terrible time is fresh in all our minds. When Lady Cregga was brought to our Abbey, we feared greatly for her. She spoke little and ate even less, lying in the Infirmary with her whole head swathed in bandages. Pasque Valerian and Sister Viola both knew Cregga would be blind, even before the bandages were removed.
Alas, when we did unbandage her, the rose-colored eyes were no more. They had been replaced by tightly shut eyelids. She no longer had the desire to slay, the Bloodwrath, they call it; all that was gone. Throughout the winter she remained in an armchair by the fire in Cavern Hole.
It was pure accident that a miraculous change was wrought in her. One day the baby Russano got loose and crawled off, and we found him perched in Lady Cregga's lap, both badgers entirely happy. Since then she lives only 311.