Part 16 (1/2)

”Laydeez an' gennelbeasts, watch closely! As you see, we are all holding a large magic wand each. That is, with the exception of my good friend the magic badger there. Now watch closely please, as my old uncle Flob-bears used to say. The speed of the paw always deceives the eye, an' more often than not blackens it. Are you ready? One, three, two four, whatever. Chaaaaarge!”

The huge female badger threw all her weight and speed against the shafts, sending the cart forward like a runaway boulder on a mountainside. It smashed through the surrounding corsairs, sending them scattering like ninepins as the troupe flailed and thwacked away at searat heads with their large magic wands.

160.

Clogg was taken aback momentarily, then he was up and pursuing the cart as it headed for the open gate of Marshank.

”Stop' em. It's a trick!”

Ballaw caught Gruzzle a hefty blow, sending him ears over tail. ”Of course it's a trick, old lad. I told you it was!”

Tullgrew gave a shout of alarm from the walltop as she saw the horde pounding towards the compound. ”Lookout, Felldoh. They're coming!”

Only half of the slaves were over the wall. Felldoh looked around in desperation as Hillgorse and Barkjon came running to him. The horde were now pelting around the outside of the compound towards them.

Barkjon groaned aloud. ”There's too many and we have no weapons!”

Felldoh gritted his teeth. ”At least half of us got away. Wait, this might hold 'em off a bit!” Grabbing a chunk of rock, he called up to Tullgrew, ”Throw that rope down!”

Catching the rope, Felldoh secured the rock to one end of it and began swinging it as he advanced on the horde. It took out several of them before they hurriedly backed off. The chunk of rock circled and whirred in a deadly blur as Felldoh roared, ”Come on. Who's next, you stinking bunch of cowards! Come on!”

”Get him, you dolts! Rush him!” Badrang howled with rage as he pushed his creatures forward.

Grabbing a spear from a weasel called Rotnose, Bad-rang hurled it. Still swinging the rock, Felldoh leaped to one side. The spear missed him but took Barkjon through his shoulder. Immediately, Hillgorse pulled the spear from his friend. The hedgehog was powerfully built despite his age. Wielding the spear with a strength born of desperation, he launched himself at the horde of foe-beasts, plunging and stabbing wildly. In the narrow s.p.a.ce between stockade and wall they were driven back 161.

by the spear and the swinging rock. Hillgorse stuck the spear in the ground by Felldoh.

”Give me the rope, young un. Take the spear and get your father away from here, he's been wounded. Do as I say, quickly!”

Felldoh grabbed the spear as he felt the rope taken from his paws by Hillgorse. Tullgrew had climbed halfway down the two log steps on the wall, and between them they hauled the semiconscious Barkjon upwards. Two arrows found Hillgorse as others clattered and bounced off the walls around Tullgrew and Felldoh, who had succeeded in gaining the walltop with the limp form of Barkjon held between them.

Bravely Hillgorse swung the rock, his strength failing as he shouted at the walltop, ”Get away from here, Felldoh. Save your father and the others!”

Another arrow struck Hillgorse, and the rope slipped from his paws. The old hedgehog's eyes were misting over as he gave a final roar and hurled his spiky body into the ranks of the enemy.

Felldoh tried to scramble back down to Hillgorse, but Tullgrew hung on, pulling him back. ”We must escape. He gave his life so we could be free!”

Felldoh bit his lip until blood showed. He took one last look at the scene below. Badrang and his horde were beginning to mount the logs and scale the wall, and the slaves who had not managed to escape were forcing their way back into the compound through the gap they had made. Felldoh still had the spear in his paw when he noticed who the last of the slaves was and shouted his name.

”Druwp!”

The treacherous bankvole did not turn. He knew who was calling him. He tried to squeeze through the gap back into the stockade but found his way blocked by the slaves inside.

”Out of my way or I'll report you!”

Those were the last words that Druwp spoke. Felldoh 162.

threw the spear, harder than he had ever thrown anything. It found its mark between the traitor's shoulder blades. *

”Jump!”

Holding Barkjon between them, Felldoh and Tullgrew leaped from the walltop into the night. It was a good drop, but the straw-packed mattresses broke their fall. The others were waiting for them. They looked this way and that, unsure which would be the best direction to take in the darkness. Suddenly a nearby rumbling caused them to crouch down in the wall shadows, and a voice rang out.

”What ho, is that the disappearin' fox?”

Felldoh gave a sigh of relief. ”Ballaw! I see you managed to escape safely.”

”Rather! Though at the moment there's a posse of pirates hot on our paws. I say, have you got ladies an' young uns there?”

”Aye, and a wounded father, and any moment now Badrang'll be coming over that wall with his horde.”

”Calls for a bit of quick thinkin', wot? Righto! Get the babes, mothers an' wounded into the cart. Everybeast fit to run get pus.h.i.+n', but wait until I give the word.. . Wait for it...”

The sound of Clogg's crew rounding the outside of the back wall blended with the shouts of Badrang and his horde, who had now reached the walltop. Ballaw kicked the last of the straw mattresses away into the night and joined his friends at the cart.

”Head south smartly now. Look alive, you chaps. Go!”

The wheels of the small wagon nearly left the ground as it shot forward, propelled by every able-bodied creature. In moments it had clattered off into the darkness.

Badrang pushed Hisk and Gurrad off the walltop. Grabbing others, he began shoving them off into s.p.a.ce.

”Jump, you lily-livered toads. The slaves did it easily enough. Come on, you there, Nipwort, Fleabane. Jump!”

163.

Bodies went flying from the walltop. Horde soldiers shut their eyes and leaped, preferring the drop to Bad-rang's towering anger.

The removal of the cus.h.i.+oning straw sacks made the landing hard for those who did not land on the heads of Cap'n Tramun Clogg and several of his crew members.

Ballaw had judged his timing right. Confusion reigned in the darkness as the corsair crew and the Tyrant's horde fought each other tooth and claw in the night.

164.

A monster stood on the path in front of Rose. It had the body of a fox, the talons of an owl and a huge snakelike head with three big goggling eyes surmounted above rows of fearsome teeth. Das.h.i.+ng madly along to where the dreadful screams were issuing from, the mousemaid tried to stop at the sight of the horrendous apparition. Grumm and Pallum cannoned into her back, sending her staggering straight into the arms of the nightmare beast. She screamed aloud in terror as she blundered into its embrace.

Then it collapsed on the path in a dusty heap. Straw, gra.s.s, bark, dead ferns and feathers swirled everywhere.

Rose sneezed, spitting out a mouthful of downy fur as Pallum and Grumm came gingerly forward to help her up.

”Burr, wot be et?”

”Huh, Mirdop, it's nothing but a great big doll hanging from the trees by bits of creeper!”

Rose dusted herself down, looking around wildly. ”Where's Martin?”

The horrendous screams had stopped. To one side of the path Martin sat upon a great hollow log, chuckling 165.

quietly. ”Bravo, Rose. You've just slain your first Mirdop!”

The mousemaid looked fl.u.s.tered. ”But how ... and you ... those screams ... ?”