Part 22 (2/2)
John stood up, dusting his habit off. ”What's happened, Constance? What is the matter?”
”Bad news, I'm afraid, John. You'd better come down into Cavern Hole. This concerns you.”
236.
The Churchmouse followed the badger anxiously.
The creatures who were up and about gathered round Constance as she flung three sc.r.a.ps of material down upon the table.
”Look at this!”
The Abbot picked them up. ”Sc.r.a.ps of material. What are they?”
Constance ground her teeth together angrily. ”Pieces of Cornflower and Mrs. Churchmouse's ap.r.o.ns and a fragment of baby Rollo's little habit. They've been captured by the birds.”
Abbot Mordalfus shook his head in disbelief. ”Impossible. Surely they were here last night, weren't they? Did anybeast see them?”
Foremole shrugged. ”Ma/ap, but maybe not. Oi niver thought of a-looken for 'em.”
John Churchmouse dashed his satchel to the floor. ”My wife, captured by those filthy birds. Where have they got her?”
He made a dash for the stairs and was stopped by Winifred and Ambrose. The Churchmouse struggled furiously.
”Let me go, there's no telling what those murdering savages will do to her!”
”John Churchmouse, be still!” ordered Mordalfus. ”Come and sit by this table, sir. Come on, do as I say. You aren't doing anybeast a bit of good behaving like mis. Let us hear what Constance has to say.”
John looked up in suprise. It was seldom that the Abbot spoke harshly to any creature. The fight went out of him and he allowed Ambrose to lead him to a chair.
Mordalfus turned to the badger. ”Constance, tell us all you know of this incident, please.”
”Father Abbot, there's not a lot to tell, I'm afraid. Yesterday Cornflower and Mrs. Churchmouse were in the bell tower. Rollo must have joined them later. Well, when I called all the creatures in and shut the Abbey door 237.
I musfve locked them out. They probably didn't hear me calling. There's no entrance to the Abbey from the bell tower, so they must have tried later to cross the grounds. Those birds caught them in the open. The crow said that they took them to the roofs.p.a.ces. General Ironbeak wants to see us outside at noon.”
Sitting in a corner of the dimly lit roofs.p.a.ce. Cornflower and Mrs. Churchmouse tried to make themselves as un.o.btrusive as possible, keeping baby Rollo quiet and still. General Ironbeak and his birds had returned from their dust bath on the path outside RedwalL It had done little good, and in the end they had resorted to wallowing in the brackish ditchwater to rid themselves of the sludge which dung to their feathers. It was not a great improvement; the stench still dung to them.
Ironbeak glared ferociously at his captives. ”Yaggah! You and your friends will pay dearly for this insult.”
Cornflower covered baby Rollo with her torn ap.r.o.n. ”You great bully/ you deserve all you got!”
Mangiz had not been caught by the trap on the stairway, and he stayed slightly apart from his General, turning his beak to avoid the unpleasant odor.
”Kraah! Silence, mouse! At noon you will get all you deserve. You should be pleading with the mighty Ironbeak to spare your miserable lives.”
Mrs. Churchmouse eyed the crow with distaste. ”We would never grovel to ruffians like you. Slay us if you want, but you wiD never conquer Redwall Abbey.”
”Brave words are like empty eggsh.e.l.ls. You will beg when the time comes,” Mangiz predicted.
Rollo peered out from under the ap.r.o.n.
”Gen'ral Pongo!” he said, making a face.
”Silence! Keep that small one quiet or we will kill him now.”
”Oh, shut your beak, you coward!” Cornflower called out indignantly. ”Killing infants is probably about all you scavengers are good for.”
238.
Mangiz was about to reply when Ironbeak silenced him.
”Mangiz, enough. We do not argue with mousewives.”
Mrs. Churchmouse rummaged in her ap.r.o.n pocket and found some dried fruit she had been using in the kitchens. She gave it to baby Rollo and sat with her paw about him.
”I wish your Matthias were back, he'd know what to do,” she whispered.
”He certainly would, but don't worry, your John and Constance and the Abbot will see we come to no harm. It's Rollo I'm concerned about. They can do what they like with me, as long as they don't harm a hair on that baby's head.”
Mrs. Churchmouse stroked Rollo's tiny ears. ”Yes, Mess him. CXyou remember when your Mattimeo was this size? My Tim and Tess weren't much older, and they were a trio of rascals, I can tell you.”
Cornflower smiled. ”Aye, but we had happy times with them. I hope, wherever they are now, that they're safe and well.”
”They'll all come marching back up that road one fine day, I know it. Then the enemies of our Abbey will rue the day they were born.”
239.
Stonefleck's army was indeed a large one. Mattimeo had never seen so many rats. They swarmed through the bushes, trees and hillocks of the far sh.o.r.e, efficient and silent. Every rat carried a bow and arrows, and they gathered in groups, each under a leader who took his orders from Stonefleck the commander. The captives were secured among the trees, but Mattimeo could still see the river. He sat with Tim and Auma, listening to Stonefleck and Slagar conversing.
”Let us see if your pursuers can make it across the river, Slagar. They are a determined band, but they have not met my longtail army yet. All they have had to contend with is a few slavers.”
”I have a slave line to worry about,” the Cruel One sniffed. ”Open warfare is not my business. Besides, you have a mighty army.”
”Aye, and every one of them an expert archer. I could deal with those woodlanders using only a quarter of my force.”
”Huh, then why don't you?” Slagar challenged him.
”Because I never leave anything to chance. Are you going to stay and watch, just to make sure your enemies get slain?”
”No, I will carry on south. If your army is as good as 240.
you boast, I should have no need to worry about being followed. Threedaws! Form them up into line, we've got a full day's march ahead.”
Mattimeo and his companions were jostled and prodded by Vitch. ”Say goodbye to your father and his friends, Mattimeo, they will be dead creatures before this day is through,” the rat taunted him.
The young mouse did not allow himself to be baited by Vitch, even though his heart sank at the thought of his father and the rest being caught out on the open water by tiie huge rat army that lay in wait on the sh.o.r.e of the river. He took a deep breath and smiled carelessly at the undersized rat.
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