THE CRIMSON BADGER - Chapter Sixty-One

Clewiston began untying his comrades as soon as the door to their room was shut and locked behind him. As he worked he filled them in on all that had been said between him and Urthblood. The other hares couldn't believe what they were hearing.

"He actshully expects us t' serve him?"

"Like we serve ol' Lord Urthfist?"

"Oh, that'd be a nice betrayal!"

"Colossal cheek, if y' ask me!"

"Sounds t' me like he's every bally bit deranged as he is evil."

"Or jus' plain stupid!"

"T'weren't no stupid beast wot captured Salamandastron right out from under us, that's fer sure!"

"But, oh, wot nerve! Sayin' such rotten an' disrespectin' things 'bout good old Urthfist, then askin' us t' come over t' his side!"

"With all those stinkin' vermin o' his!"

"Wouldn't Lord Urthfist just love findin' that when he gets back! That'd be a fine how-do-you-do!"

"I hope Urthblood at least got down on one knee an' said 'pretty please' to you, Colonel."

Clewiston shook his head. "Beggin's not Urthblood's style, Pepper ol' chum. Not sure yet just wot is. Wasn't expectin' that scene to play out th' way it did. Honestly, it's been so long since I knew that badger, an' we've heard such horrible things 'bout him, I didn't know wot he was gonna be like. I couldn't tell how much of wot he was sayin' was lies an' how much might be some real delusion, but he's actin' like a beast who's got right on his side. As if wot he's doin' is proper an' decent. I'll tell you one thing, he's used to gettin' wot he wants - an' he's got all them other creatures, otters, rats, mice, weasels, shrews, ferrets, hedgehogs an' stoats, all believin' he's some kinda savior, gonna protect 'em from some terrible crisis! Wait'll they find out he's the blinkin' crisis!"

"Used to gettin' wot he wants, eh?" Peppertail snickered. "I'll wager he didn't want no wine in his face, but that's wot you gave 'im, Colonel. An' a good show of it, I say!"

"Wish I'd been there t' do it m'self," lamented Gallatin.

Mizagelle broke in with a more sobering thought. "Do you think he's gonna kill us, sir? If we refuse t' cooperate?"

"I don't rightly know, Mizzy m'gel. But I didn't suppose he'd let us live even this long, so there's still cause fer hope, wot?" The Colonel glanced around at the now-liberated hares, most of whom stood flexing and stretching. "Am I correct in assumin' that cooperatin' with Urthblood is right outta th' question fer all of us here?"

The hares all looked at one another, to see if any among them might consider such traitorous thoughts. After some moments Gallatin declared, "We'd rather eat our bally spears than give Urthblood that satisfaction!"

"Hear hear!"

"You said it, Lieutenant!"

"Too bad spears is one thing we don't have," bemoaned Peppertail, "'cos I could think of much better things to do with mine than eat it!"

The door lock clicked loudly, and the hares fell silent as their prison gate swung slowly inward with a drawn-out creak. A single unarmed mouse entered, staggering under the burden of the leftover vegetable pie. Four otters, very much armed, stood behind him, blocking the way to the corridor.

The soldier mouse set the cauldron-size crock down in the middle of the floor. "Compliments of Lord Urthblood," he said cheerily as he backed out of the chamber. "Hope you enjoy it, 'cos my mice haven't eaten that well since we left Redwall." The otters parted for him, and the door slammed shut again.

Peppertail leaned over the crock, sniffing. "Sure does smell appetizin', but it's half et! Hardly 'nuff here fer a proper regimental scoff, but I guess it's all we're gonna get. How'd it taste, Colonel?"

"Can't rightly say, Pepper ol' sport. Wasn't in much of an eatin' mood, sittin' with Urthblood an' his vermin, so I didn't have any before."

"Oh, then that must've been your stomach I heard rumblin'. Thought it was mine!"

Clewiston smirked. "Yah, I guess we're all due fer some tucker, so may's well tuck in!"

"You don't reckon it's been poisoned, do you?" Melanie wondered, sniffing at the pie herself with furrowed brow.

The hares stood silently regarding the cooling half-pie for some moments.

"Well, we gotta eat," Clewiston said at last. "Keep up th' reserves, an' all that. I don't believe Urthblood's finished with us yet. He wants something from us, otherwise we'd be dead already. We can't starve ourselves, in case a chance t' fight or escape does come our way. So, let's dig in!"

As they ate, tentatively at first but then with increased enthusiasm, Melanie said to Clewiston, "Y'know, Colonel, wot we were talkin' about before, it gives me an idea."

"Wot's that, Mel?"

She kept her voice low in case the otter guards outside had their ears to the door. "I know there's no way we can consider cooperatin' with Urthblood, we're all agreed on that. But wot if we only pretended to cooperate? Tell him we've decided to follow his orders, at least until Urthfist gets back? You said yourself, he wants something from us. Mebbe it's wot he says it is, or mebbe he's playin' at some other game. Well, we could just play along. It'd get us outta this cell, an' mebbe then we'd be able t' get something worthwhile done!"

"She's got a point, sir," Gallatin put in. "Can't do no good sittin' here under lock 'n' key. Mebbe we oughta see if we c'n beat Urthblood at his own game. He plays fast 'n' loose with th' bally truth himself, but he might not be expectin' the honorable hares of th' Long Patrols t' do the same ... 'specially if we tell him just wot he wants t' hear!"

Clewiston mulled it over. "Could be dangerous. He's got so many flippin' soldiers in this mountain, we'd be closely watched at all times, no matter where we go. An' he might smell our deception. Nobeast's more likely to expect lies from others than a liar, an' Urthblood's a master at that."

"But if we refuse to cooperate at all, he'll lose patience eventually," Melanie said. "Mebbe he'll be content to keep us prisoners, or turn us inta slaves. Then again, he may decide we're more trouble than we're worth. We gotta act before then."

"I think she's right, Colonel," said Gallatin. "Urthblood's not gonna take th' whole Long Patrol prisoner ... or his brother. Lord Urthfist is bound to head back to Salamandastron sooner or later, an' when he does, there's gonna be battle like th' coastlands have never seen before. My guess is we have 'til then, 'cos Urthblood won't want us in th' way when it comes to war, an' he prob'ly won't trust us to fight fer him, unless we start convincin' him right now. We gotta get outta here, an' the sooner th' better!"

"Well, mebbe ... " Clewiston felt a cool breeze ripple the fur at the back of his neck. Turning and glancing up, he beheld the tall open window, and the black night sky beyond. This particular window was located in a sheer wall of the mountain's face, opening onto a drop that would almost surely be lethal, even for a hare. No doubt this was the reason this room had been chosen for their confinement.

Clewiston's gaze shifted to the beds piled up against one wall. Nearly a dozen beds ... and none had been stripped of their sheets or blankets in the otters' haste to make this room ready for their captives before the hares revived from the sleeping vapors.

"Then again," he twirled his whiskers as he regarded the closed and windowless door to the corridor, hiding them from the sight of their guards, "if gettin' out is our main concern, why wait for Urthblood's say so?"

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Tied all together, the sheets and blankets were converted into a makeshift escape rope just long enough reach a wide rock shelf directly below the window, from which the hares could safely climb the rest of the way down the mountain.

They worked as fast as they could, knowing that they might be discovered at any moment. But apparently their otter guards were content simply to make sure no hares got out into the corridor; they never opened the door to check on their prisoners. Working in teams, the hares bound together several shorter lengths at the same time so that those sections could then be joined into a single piece long enough for their purpose.

They debated in hushed tones as they labored, trying to agree on where they should go if they should manage to escape. Some thought they should make a break for the east or the south, and get as far away from Salamandastron as they could. Others wanted to stage a surprise counterattack, try to catch Urthblood's forces off guard and retake at least part of the mountain. What good was freedom, they argued, if they were only going to use it to run away?

Clewiston vetoed the second group. "There's way too many of 'em, and too few of us. An' there're only three entrances open at the moment. You can bet Urthblood's got a small horde guardin' each one. Our own defenses would work against us. Doubt we could pull it off, even if we had some o' that sleepy stuff ourselves. Not only don't we have that, but we don't have any bally weapons at all! Bravery alone won't accomplish anything without th' tools to get the job done, an' those we don't have. This is one instance where discretion's the better part o' valor, don'tcha know, an' if we can be discreet enuff to all get clear o' this mountain alive, that'll be victory enuff for me!"

"So, wot'll we do then?" asked Gallatin, who had led the argument for an attack rather than flight.

"We join up with Lord Urthfist," said Clewiston. "Right now, we're twenty hares he doesn't have at his side. Link up with th' main force, an' not only will we have weapons again, but we'll bolster their numbers an' improve the odds in any bid to take back Salamandastron. We hafta assume His Lordship's still at Redwall. He wouldn't know wot's gone on here. It's our duty now to get that word to him, an' then leave it up to him how we can best be of use. There's nothing we can do here, 'cept get ourselves jolly well killed, an' Lord Urthfist wouldn't like that."

Gallatin accepted his superior's decision with a grimace. "Still, it galls me that we hafta run away an' leave our home in th' filthy paws o' this lot."

"Galls me that they got inside in the flippin' first place, Gallatin ol' chum. Now, is that bally rope just about ready?"

Peppertail finished testing the last knot with a hard tug between his paws. "Should hold, Colonel. Best job we coulda done in so short a time."

"Righto. Good work, hares! Now, tie one end 'round that bedpost there closest to th' window, makin' sure it won't come loose, an' then let th' rest drop outside, an' we'll see wot we've got!"

The results were most satisfactory. While two of the Patrol kept a firm grasp on the improvised rope to ease the strain on the bedpost knot, the other eighteen hares hurriedly shinnied down to the wide ledge far below. An old, thin hare named Broyall went last, wedging the bed firmly under the windowsill so that it would be less likely to shift under his light weight. When he too was safely on the ledge, the entire group carefully moved off the rock shelf to a less precarious part of the adjacent slope. If Urthblood had any guards outside at all, none seemed to be in the immediate vicinity.

"Where to now?"

"Straight on," the Colonel pointed to the dark line of mountains that stood ahead of them. They'd come out on the eastern slopes, with the bulk of Salamandastron between themselves and the sea. "We'll head straight for the foothills. Easier to hide ourselves there than if we went north or south along the coast. Also more in th' way of trees 'n' rocks there, wot we can use t' make weapons in a pinch. Once we're clear of th' coastal plain, we can decide which course to take from there."

Stealthily they threaded their way to the east base of the mountain. Near the bottom, an upright, badger-shaped rock loomed in their path. The line of hares made to file around it and then begin their final sprint for freedom.

Then the badger-rock spoke to them.

"I take it this is your answer then, Colonel?"

Nearly every hare jumped straight up in surprise. Then their training kicked in, and they sprang into battle stances, bobbing and weaving in all directions to meet an assault from any side. Though they lacked weapons, they were fully prepared to fight, even if that meant taking on an entire armed horde in paw-to-paw combat.

No attack came.

Clewiston could not believe that there were not numbers of the enemy lying in wait all around them, ready to charge at Urthblood's command. "Don't try an' stop us, or you'll have a whole load o' deadbeasts on yer paws, badger!"

"Only dead hares, since I am alone," Urthblood rumbled out of the night. "But I have no intention of waylaying you. Your actions now make it abundantly clear that you would risk your lives defying me. You would never give me your loyalty in your present frame of mind. I only wish a final word with you before you are gone."

"Oh?" Clewiston studied Urthblood's shadowy bulk. The badger had done something to his crimson armor to keep it from shining in the moonlight; that was how they'd assumed he was just an upright boulder until he announced himself. Then another thought struck the Colonel. "You were waitin' here fer us ... you knew we were comin'!"

"I suspected you might try something like this," Urthblood said, "and I knew the way you must come. I must say that I am most disappointed, although not altogether surprised."

"Why didn't you have your guards try 'n' stop us?"

"I already told you, Colonel. If you want to escape this desperately, then you are of no use to me. I see now that your loyalty to my brother is more important to you than your proper responsibility to the rightful Lord of the Mountain. So be it. I will not force any beast into my service who would resist me so, and I will not continue to deprive you of your freedom. You are still noble goodbeasts, misguided though you may be."

Clewiston glanced around. "So, you're out here all alone, eh? Wot's to stop us from takin' you outta th' picture right here 'n' now, an' doin' all the lands a favor?"

"I am no monster, but I am not above defending myself." Urthblood's paw lay heavily upon his sword hilt, that much Clewiston could see in the moonlight. "Go ahead and attack me, if you wish to discover how quickly I can slay twenty unarmed hares."

The hares were silent. They could all sense that this was no idle boast.

"And do not think to try to re-enter Salamandastron. I have a platoon of rats and a platoon of stoats up on the plateau, along with my falcon Klystra and my kite Halpryn. I have a full squad of ferrets on alert inside the north entrance, and a full squad of weasels guarding the south. You went to great lengths to escape this mountain. Now that you are out, you will stay out. You are free to go, but I will not tolerate anybeast opposing me within my own home. You have chosen your own fate; now go to it."

Clewiston and the others kept to their battle postures. "I still think it might be worth our lives if we could take you with us."

"That will not happen."

The Colonel felt his will give way. There was such certainty in Urthblood's voice. "Ah ... you can see th' future, is that it? You wouldn't be out here t'all if you didn't know for sure it'd be safe, wot?"

"Was I not out here waiting for you?"

The other hares slumped, deflated, sharing Clewiston's sense of defeat. How do you fight an enemy who knows the outcome of a battle before it's fought?

"Yes, Colonel, I can see some of what is to come ... enough to know what I must do when faced with terrible choices. And if you think this is a blessing, let me assure you I would not wish this burden upon my worst enemy. Now, before you leave, I have a message I would like you to deliver to my brother."

"Go ahead," Clewiston said stiffly.

"Tell Urthfist he may have back the throne of Salamandastron once I am satisfied he is fit to hold rulership here, and am convinced I can count on him and the Long Patrol as allies. He must not make himself my adversary; the stakes are too high for Salamandastron to be divided. Tell my brother that war with him is the last thing I want. Tell him I would gladly speak with him, in the hope that we may settle our differences without bloodshed. He is mistaken about my prophecy, Colonel. It foretells that a great crisis will occur in my time, not that I will be the cause of it. My only desire is to avert these troubles if I may, and I believe I can. In this, nothing must stand in my way. If Urthfist presses for war with me, I will not shy away from it. There is too much to lose for me to yield in this matter, and I will not do so. See that he understands this fully. I will be waiting for his response."

"I'll tell him," Clewiston muttered grudgingly. "But I can tell you right now wot his answer'll be."

"Just deliver my message, Colonel, and you will have done your part in trying to avert a disaster for all the lands. Make no mistake, that is what a war between the two Lords of the Mountain would be, no matter which side emerged victorious."

Saying no more, Urthblood turned and strode away, confidently placing his pawsteps on an unerring path up toward the south tunnel entrance. The hares watched him recede into the darkness until he was lost in the craggy terrain of the mountain slopes. Then Clewiston addressed the others. "Come on, let's get a move on, an' double quick!"

"Why?" asked Peppertail morosely. "He's lettin' us go. We don't hafta worry 'bout pursuit anymore."

"Yah. An' I trust that bloody badger about as far as I could chuck 'im! We'll stick with the original plan, an' make for th' foothills ahead. Like t' get there well before dawn, just in case we are followed. Then we can take a breather, an' figger out where t' go from there. Now, no more gabbin'! We gotta save our breath fer runnin'! Right, off we go now!"

Although he kept it to himself for the moment, Clewiston had a very clear notion on which route they should take to rejoin Lord Urthfist. But he would wait until they reached the safety of the foothills to share his thoughts with the rest.

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A panicked Captain Saybrook met Urthblood when the Badger Lord came in through the south tunnel entrance. Mattoon's weasels were in a furor, and seemed on the verge of streaming out onto the mountainside in an armed mass.

"They're gone, M'Lord!" the otter chief sputtered. "The hares have escaped from their room!"

"Yes, Captain, I know," Urthblood calmly informed Saybrook. "I just saw them off."

"You ... but ... but they escaped! Out the window!"

"Yes. Very resourceful, as you would expect of the Long Patrol. They were not about to accept me as their master, Captain, and would only have sought to cause trouble had they remained. I sent them away to avoid that, and I do not want them pursued."

"But, sir! They'll be able to get to Urthfist, and report everything that's happened here to him!"

"Probably." Urthblood was unperturbed. "I have no reason to keep secret anything I have done here. I am the older brother, and the rightful Lord of Salamandastron. It is Urthfist who has much to answer for, not I, for turning the Long Patrol against me."

"Yeah," said Saybrook, utterly flabbergasted by this turn of events. "Against you they are, M'Lord. An' if it does come to war, now the enemy is twenty hares stronger than they would've been."

"Eighty hares or a hundred, it does not matter." Urtblood waved a dismissive paw. "This is my mountain now, and I know how to defend it. From Tratton's searats, or from my brother and his hares."

"As you say, M'Lord," Saybrook accepted without enthusiam.

Urthblood turned to his senior weasel. "Captain Mattoon, keep your squad here at full strength and on alert until daylight. I will instruct Captains Bandon, Perrett and Cermak to do the same. In the unlikely event that those hares decide to circle back and surprise us, I want all entrances covered so they will have no chance of getting back inside. But, I do not think they will be troubling us again. They realize they are hopelessly outnumbered. Those twenty will not return to this mountain unless the rest of the Long Patrol are with them. They will be going to find my brother."

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The rising sun sparkled like a fiery orange diamond as it cleared the mountain peaks to wink down upon the fleeing Long Patrol. Here, in the western foothills at the base of the mountain range, the sunshine came late, long after the new day had lit the skies to their full brightness of pale blue. Now, as the slanting rays chased away the last shadows of the morning, the hares sat resting and discussing their next move.

Lieutenant Gallatin gazed back toward Salamandastron, inspecting the slope of the coastlands that stretched out between them and the solitary mountain fortress.

"Looks like that bully badger wasn't yankin' our shanks after all, Colonel. No sign o' pursuit, unless they've turned themselves invisible."

"Or unless they're doin' it from above." Melanie glanced skyward. "Remember, he does have birds workin' for him."

"Only two, so far's we know," said Clewiston. "That's not enuff fer an all-out attack on us, big as those feathered brutes are. They might keep an eye on us from way up high, but I doubt they'll pick a fight, now that we've got some weapons of our own."

They'd arrived in the foothills just as dawn began to brighten the sky above the ridges. Melanie and her daughters were the most familiar with these lands east of Salamandastron, having been assigned to patrol them frequently over the seasons. With their guidance, Clewiston's entire brigade was soon outfitted with plenty of straight branches to serve as crude javelins and staffs, stouter limbs for clubs, and a generous supply of rocks for throwing. They'd even been able to fashion a few bolo-type weapons from vines and rocks - hardly the proper slings they were accustomed to, but they would do in a pinch.

Their foraging was not limited to weaponry. Several mountain brooks trickled through the area before drying out in the sandy regions below, so drinking water was not a problem. Pawfuls of elderberries and some wild fennel provided a meagre if sustaining breakfast.

"So, we're not bein' follered," Peppertail said, licking berry juice off his pawtips. "That means we can go any which way we like."

"Or nowhere at all," Gallatin said, swinging his bolo experientally. The Lieutenant had claimed one of those weapons for himself.

The others looked at him. "Wot do you mean?"

"Way I figger it," said Gallatin, "Lord Urthfist has gotta come back this way sooner or later. Mebbe tomorrow, mebbe next season. Either way, he's not gonna let Salamandastron stay in the clutches of that evil brother o' his. Since he's bound t' show up on the coastlands eventually, I say we just wait for him here. We can keep an eye on the enemy in th' meantime, in case Urthblood has any nasty surprises in mind. Monitor their movements, make sure they don't set up any ambushes or traps, mebbe even do a little harryin' of our own if they send smaller groups outside an' away from th' mountain. Then, when Lord Urthfist an' the main force does arrive, we'll be able to join up with 'em an' report on everything we've observed. Might save 'em from walkin' into something they wouldn't walk outta again."

"That's very temptin', I must say," Clewiston admitted. "But you're overlookin' a few points, Gally ol' chum. Fer starters, Lord Urthfist could decide to return by th' north route rather than th' south. We'd have no way of knowing which it's gonna be until he jolly well shows. Urthblood, on the other paw, has those birds, who I wager could fly all th' way to Redwall an' back in the time it'd take us just to get to one end o' this blinkin' range or the other. He'd know when Urthfist was comin', an' where from, long before we did. Even if we spread ourselves out in smaller Patrol groups all up 'n' down th' bally coastlands, we'd be too scattered to regroup in time when His Lordship would need us together most.

"But th' main thing is, Lord Urthfist has no way t' know wot's happened here, an' that's gotta be our number one job right now. We're assumin' when he gets to Redwall an' sees Urthblood ain't there, he'll be able t' figure out on his own wot's up. But it hain't our place to assume. Why, fer all we know, Urthblood really may've killed the Abbess an' left the Abbey under charge o' his scumnose slackers. That otter who said he was from Redwall might've been a lyin' spy just like Browder, an' our comrades could at this very moment be battlin' th' enemy all through Mossflower. We don't know exactly how many troops Urthblood brought down from the north with him, or if more might've followed later on, or if they all came with him to Salamandastron. Point is, we don't know fer sure wot's goin' on at Redwall, an' they can't know wot's goin' on here. The Long Patrol's divided; we gotta bring it all back together again before anything else. Hares, we must get to Redwall, an' by th' fastest way possible!"

Gallatin shrugged. "So, which'll it be? North, or south?"

"East." Clewiston stood and looked up at the mountain peaks still high above them. "Straight east. That fink Browder claimed he made it from Redwall to Salamandastron in three days. Well, let's see if we can't match that time ... or beat it!"

Peppertail nearly choked on a fennel leaf. "You mean, up over th' mountains?"

Gallatin was skeptical. "We don't even know if there really is a pass through th' range. We only got a liar's word fer it, an' that's none too much!"

Clewiston looked at the Patrol Leader whose team had first encountered Browder. "Melanie thought there was a pass. Didn't ya, Mel?"

"Wellll ... " The hare mother twirled her staff in her paw. "Mizzy 'n' Givvy 'n' me climbed halfway to th' summit with Browder, an' everything seemed t' be just where he said it would be. An' there was pawprints matchin' his comin' down. At th' time, I assumed he was tellin' th' truth, but that was before we knew he really was Urthblood's spy. I dunno. Guess he coulda faked th' whole thing, but ... " Her voice trailed off in uncertainty.

"Do you think you could find it again?" Clewiston pressed.

"Oh, sure we could!" Givadon answered for her mother. "Not hard t' find at all, once it's been shown t' you. The trail starts just a little to th' south o' here."

"Then here's wot we'll do," Clewiston addressed the whole company. "We've very little to lose by tryin' this way. If we get near th' summit an' find it's a blind end, we'll just turn about an' head back down again. But I trust Melanie's first instincts. I think there is a bally pass over th' mountains. An' if we can find it, that'll cut days off th' run to Redwall. Lord Urthfist must've had time t' get there by now, so hopefully he'll still be at the Abbey when we arrive. If it turns out we missed 'im an' he's already on his way back to Salamandastron, we can find out which route he took an' follow along; us twenty, travellin' light as we are, should be able t' catch up in time. But if it turns out they've got too big a head start on us, why, we'll just pop back over th' mountains the way we came an' rendezvous with 'em here on th' coastlands. Either way, we'll be at Lord Urthfist's side when he finally does come face t' face with Urthblood, an' that's wot matters!"

There was no argument. The Long Patrols picked more berries and nuts to fill all their pouches and pockets, since they might have to spend a night on the peaks and there was not likely to be much food available at that altitude. Then, following Melanie's lead, they marched south and east until they picked up Browder's trail. With the sun climbing slowly toward its zenith, the hares commenced their own climb, most eager to find out whether this path was just another one of Browder's lies, or if he might for a change have been telling the truth about something.