Dragon Lord Ember came out of the mountain with a spear to meet Farrago the Assassin in combat. Farrago approached from the other side of the beach, carrying a sword.

Behind Ember, the hares all stood in a straight line in front of their mountain. Farrago's Corpsemakers were all lined up behind him, standing between him and the sea. With the two armies all lined up like that, it was cruelly obvious that the vermin far outnumbered the hares, although not by a hundred to one like Farrago had said.

In his cage, Lord Urthstripe peered over the heads of the vermin, trying to see what was happening. Already the water in the cage was up to his waist.

"Are you ready for this, dragon?" Farrago asked.

The dragon's steely eyes surveyed the weasel. "Do I have your word that your vermin won't interfere?"

"Of course. This is a Duel of Chieftains. Just you and me. Other than that, there's no rules. Anything goes."

"All right," Ember said and she lunged at him with her spear. But Farrago was faster than she anticipated. He brought his sword down on top of her spear and cut it in half. Ember jumped back and shot a blast of fire at Farrago, but he held his sword up to block it and the sword caught fire! Farrago brandished the burning blade, swinging it inches from Ember's chest.

They circled around each other, with Ember shooting fireballs and Farrago trying to get close enough to strike her with his flaming sword.

"I say, that weasel is cleverer than I thought," Joshy whispered to the hare next to him. "By lettin' Ember set his weapon on fire, he's usin' her own strength against her."

Farrago laughed madly as he swung his sword in a wild arc over his head. "Hot enough for ya? Can't get close to me now, dragon!" But suddenly the flame burned out. The blade of the sword collapsed in a pile of ashes and Farrago was left holding the handle.

Ember chuckled. "This is why most warriors don't set their weapons on fire." She lunged at Farrago and slashed his face with her claws. Farrago fell down. Ember picked up the front half of her spear and advanced on him.

Just as she was about to stab him, a rat on the sidelines threw a rock at her that hit her in the head. She fell to the ground beside Farrago.

Farrago did a somersault and leaped up on the sand. "Kill the dragon!" he commanded, blood dripping down his face. "But don't shoot any arrows until I'm outta the way!"

The entire line of vermin charged toward Ember.

"I say, the bounder's breakin' his own rules!" Joshy cried.

Seeing the vermin's treachery, Sargent Sapwood called the hares to arms too. "Give 'em blood 'n' vinegar! Eulalia!"

The two sides charged into each other. The hares fought bravely even though they were outnumbered. Luckily, they had a dragon and a wizard on their side. Ember was able to get back on her feet and attack the vermin with everything she had. Her claws, teeth, and tail all came into play. Although Joshy Stag Hare didn't consider himself a warrior, he did his part too, sending many enemy soldiers flying with his spells.

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"There it is," said Rainbow Dash. "Salamandastron."

The Guosim longboat was approaching the mountain from the open ocean.

Mara took Urthwhite's paw in hers. "That's where your brother lives."

Urthwhite's eyes filled with tears. "Urthstripe, the brother I never knew!"

As they got closer to the mountain, they could see the battle going on, and Urthstripe trapped in the cage.

"Looks like one whale of a fight going on there," said Tubgutt the shrew. "That's what I came for."

They paddled over to the cage. "Dad, it's me," said Mara.

Urthstripe looked at her. "Mara? You're alive!"

"Thanks to me," said Rainbow Dash. "Not that I wanna toot my own horn or anything."

Urthstripe's eyes filled with tears. "Mara, I'm sorry we argued."

"I'm sorry too," she said.

Then Urthstripe saw Urthwhite. "Who are you?"

"I'm your brother," said Urthwhite. "Nice to meet you."

"And I'm your grandmother," said Loambudd.

"Well, we don't have time to sit around and talk!" said Log-a-log. "We've gotta stop Farrago!"

Urthwhite assumed command in true Badger Lord fashion. "I'll go in first. You shrews follow behind me. Rainbow Dash, can you get my brother out of there?"

Rainbow saluted. "Leave it to me!"

"What about me?" Mara asked.

Urthwhite jerked a thumb at Klitch. "You and Grandmother can stay here and keep an eye on this weasel, make sure he doesn't escape." He picked up a heavy oaken club which he had brought with him.

"It's a good day to do what has to be done by me and help my brother to defeat the enemies," said Urthwhite the Mighty who was Urthstripe the Strong's brother. He leaped out of the boat and charged through the shallows with a cry of "EULALIA!" The shrews followed him.

Rainbow Dash flew toward the cage. Mara was left alone in the boat with Loambudd and Klitch.

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Urthwhite turned the tide of the battle in the defenders' favor, striking down swathes of the enemy with his warclub. The vermin were terrified because they thought he was a ghost. The shrews also helped. Even though they were much shorter than the vermin, they could strike at their footpaws with their tiny rapiers and make them fall down.

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Rainbow Dash tried to pick the lock on the cage, but it was difficult with hooves. "Hang in there. I'll have you out in a minute," she promised Urthstripe.

"Stop!" said a voice. Rainbow turned around to see Farrago standing on the shore with a bow and arrow. He aimed his weapon through the bars at Urthstripe. "Back away from the cage or the stripedog dies!"

"Wait!" cried another voice. Farrago saw Mara and Loambudd sitting in the boat. Each of them held one of Klitch's arms. "We have your son," Mara said. "If you let my father go, we'll let Klitch go."

Farrago was silent for a moment. Then he let out a nasty laugh. "You haven't got the guts to hurt him," he said. "Besides, I have no use for a son who lets himself get captured." He fired the arrow between the bars of the cage and it hit Urthstripe in the chest!

Before Mara could cry out, the boat overturned and she, Loambudd and Klitch fell into the water! The Deepcoiler appeared, rearing his ugly head out of the waves. He gave an earsplitting roar even louder than the battle cry of a Badger Lord. On the shore, all the fighting stopped as everybeast turned to face this new threat.

Deepcoiler reached out a scaly arm and grabbed Farrago, tossing him into his mouth like a kernel of popcorn. That was the end of Farrago the Assassin.

Mara, Klitch, and Loambudd scrambled for the shore. The Deepcoiler followed them up onto the land.

Klitch saw a dead weasel lying nearby with a sword in his paw. He snatched up the sword. "Hey, Kelpbrain! Come and get me!" he called.

"What are you doing?" Mara demanded.

"Something stupid. Get behind me," he said.

The Deepcoiler didn't understand English, but he grasped from the tone of Klitch's voice that he was being insulted. He didn't like that! With another awful roar, he brought his ugly head down towards Klitch and scooped the weasel up in his jaws.

Klitch stabbed him in the roof of his mouth and the Deepcoiler screamed in pain! The monster tried to close his mouth, but the sword held it open. Angrily he forced his mouth shut, and as he did, he drove the sword up through his own brain, killing himself. The dead Deepcoiler collapsed on the beach.

For a long time everybeast was completely still. Then the dead monster's mouth started to move a bit. To everybeast's surprise, Klitch pushed the jaws open and crawled out of the creature's mouth none the worse for wear, except for being covered in Deepcoiler spit.

"Well, I must say that was brave of you," Loambudd admitted grudgingly.

"You saved our lives, Klitch," said Mara.

"Well, you did save my life once," said Klitch. "I was just returning the favor."

Then Rainbow Dash came flying over. "Guys? You better come over here."

Further down the beach, Urthstripe was laying in his brother Urthwhite's lap, mortally wounded. Dragon Lord Ember and Sargent Sapwood stood nearby.

"I managed to get the cage open and drag him out onto the beach, but I think he's dying," said Rainbow Dash.

Mara ran to her father. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't run away, this wouldn't have happened."

"No. You mustn't blame yourself," said Urthstripe. "I was gonna die one way or another. The writing was on the wall." He looked up at Urthwhite. "I just wish I'd gotten to know you better."

"Me too," said Urthwhite.

"Now you must rule Salamandastron in my stead," Urthstripe said. He held his brother's paw as Mara grasped Urthstripe's other paw. "I'm so proud of all of you. I can go to my rest easy knowing that the work… is… done." His eyes closed forever.

Everybeast had to cry. Not a single eye was dry.

But meanwhile the surviving vermin were all gathering around Klitch. Migroo said, "Now that your father is dead, you're the new leader of the Corpsemakers. We await your orders, Klitch the Assassin."

Everyone, goodbeasts and vermin alike, waited for Klitch to answer. Would he command the Corpsemakers to attack again?

However, Klitch surprised them all. "These beasts at Salamandastron have proven themselves more than a match for us," he said. "It's time we moved on to work our evil someplace else."

"But don't ya wanna avenge your father?" Goffa asked.

"I've already avenged him," Klitch said. "It was the Deepcoiler who killed Farrago, and I just slew him." He walked up to Mara. "We'll never be friends, you and I, but over the past few days I've developed a great deal of respect for you. Farewell, Mara. May fair winds and fair seasons attend you always."

"You too," said Mara. "For a weasel, you're not so bad."

They shook paws. Then Klitch tipped an imaginary cap to her. "I don't know where we'll go now, but for your sake, I'll leave the mountain of Salamandastron alone from now on."