Tyra and Katzey had done their job well. All of the chains had been thrown overboard. Except for a pair.

Taking the chains that once held them to the oar, Tyra and Katzey ceremonially placed the chains of the cabin door, to remind them all that the seas must be rid of all of these chains, and the searats must go with them.

They spent a while rejoicing and looking for the River Moss. They passed Salamandastron before they found it. Of course the former oarslaves were overjoyed-all but the Redwallers, Katzey, Hone and Boulonnais came from a village near the mouth. So Tyra decided to bend in and picked up the fiddle she had somehow known how to play, and Katzey sang an old riddle-song taught to her by her father.

While mortals sleep I speak,

Of secrets yet untold,

Rocks don't stop to stem my way,

And plants are unable to control,

I have lived through many days,

Unwounded and unaged,

The night grows dark around me

But yet I speed away,

Night creatures howl around me,

The trees blow,

The wind sighs,

But yet I am unnerved,

Laughing and talking as I find my way to where I do go!

"Well, Katzey, what is it?" one of the oarslaves asked after Tyra stopped playing and Katzey finished the song.

"Yeah, that's wot I'm wonderin'" Tulia said.

"You, of all beasts, should know wot it is, Tulia,"Tyra replied, rubbing her sore paw and arm. "It's a river."

"Ohhhhhh." Everyone but Tyra and Katzey sighed.

Finally, the oarslaves and their families waved good-bye and the former Bloodfarl, now the SeaQueen, returned to the ford and now the ten companions found the otter and his wife to continue their journey.

************************************************************

Roughly a season had passed, so the patrol returned to Predak, where they were greeted with anger at returning empty-handed. Later Predak and Eric were talking away from the camp, out of anybeast's earshot.

"Eric," she said,"Have you ever heard of the phrase, 'If you want something done, you must do it yourself'?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I am going to do just that. I am leaving you and Ed in charge, I can trust you two. Your orders are to build a new catapult, and keep attacking the abbey. DO NOT let them know that I am not here anymore. Tell Akhal to have half of his troops ready to march. We are going to find seven little abbeybeasts. We leave tommorrow."

************************************************************

The ten had run into the Flitcheye.

Tyra and Tulia, in an amazing stand, had rescued the others from the Flitcheye, and took the leader at the same time. Right now he was in a very tricky situation. Tyra held her sword to his neck, and all of the others had their blades drawn. They were walking along the path backwards, facing the body of the Flitcheye.

"Nary a move!" Hone called.

"Unless ye want a Flitcheye shishcabob!"Kessa shouted.

"Or maybe a Flitcheye cassarole!" Katzey yelled.

"Or a nice, juicy Flitcheye-on-a-stick." Tuthine said.

"Noa! Norra Flitcheye shiscabob! Norra Flitcheye-ona-stick! Norra Flitcheye cassarole!" The massed Flitchey shouted.

"Hate ta spoil ye fun, but we've reached the extent of their territory." Tyra let the leader loose and shouted at the Flitcheye: "Now, iffn any o' ye feels Fisheye, or wotever, enought ta come after us, we'll be dinein' on Fisheye Pudden, though it twould totally destroy the good cookin'!"

************************************************************ Akhal stopped in front of his troops the next day.

"Okay, mates, since yer friends didn't bring back the hare an' 'er friends, then yer all goin' out huntin'."

"Not this!" One weasel moaned.

"Are ye goin' ta protest?"

Frightened the weasel shook his head and stepped back into rank.

Predak strode out of her tent and motioned for the troop to follow.

"We leave now."

Chapter 16

"Hah! You should have seen those looks when you said 'Fisheye Pudden'!" Hone said, laughing.

"Well, it was quite hard to miss." Tyra said.

"Oh, yeah. You were the one who said that."

Katzey, in the front, threw out her paw to stop them.

"Something bad has happened here."

In front of them lay the ruins of Camp Tussock.

************************************************************

Predak was the only one of the troop, probably being the leader, to make it through Flitcheye country unharmed. She stood, amused, and watched the rest of the patrol flop around on the grass.

"Well, that was a nice little trek. Up, you idiots, get up!"

All of the weasels lying on the ground lept up and saluted. Then, a loud shout and a laugh rang out from up ahead.

"It's them!" One of the weasels shouted.

"Noo, reeeally, you idiot," Predak said. "Why don't you announce it to the whole woodlands? No, I'm not going to kill you, I'm going to need you if they try to fight back. I'm not taking any chances while they have a hare with them. Now run, you idiots, don't stand there! Go catch them, ALIVE nonetheless, if that is too much to ask."

The troop thundered off in the direction of the shout.

************************************************************

The Abbot and Breton, had gotten the same info from each of the 5 parleys they had called. So, now they were calling anyone to steo forward with the right information: Why did the leader want Tyra so badly?

"But why?" the Abbot asked the Redwallers, "Why is it so evident that they want Tyra? Is it because she's one of our young ones? But how would they know of her?"

"I think I know," a quiet voice said from the back. Up stepped Breton's wife, named Sorraia. "I found this around her bed in the dorm while dusting. It is the medal we found when we found her at our gate many seasons ago." She held up a dull medal with Tyra's name inscribed on the front. "I decided to polish it up, as it never had one, she kept it with her night and day. Once I did, I found that her name is not as we thought. It is really 'Tyra Divinia Tussock'. And on the back of this certain medal, it is the Tussock family tree. She is a direct decendent of Tammo and Pasque Tussock. I don't know if that helps at all, but it may." She sat back down.

"Of COURSE!" The normally calm Abbot slammed his paw down on the table. Everybeast was shocked to see a burning hate in his eyes as he recalled this memory.

"Six seasons before we found Tyra at our gates, a wandering Sparra told me the following story, translated as well as I can:

All I could see was the building once known as Camp Tussock on flame. The vermin army threw fire on it, mercilessly, and the screaming of the ones inside the building wrenched my heart, though I could do nothing to prevent this evil deed. Then, near the end of the burning, a hare dashed out of the back, sobbing and holding a harebabe in her paws. She was intercepted by a gray fox in a drab cloak, no doubt a Marlfox. She pinned something onto this harebabe's tunic, then positioned herself between the Marlfox and her daughter, and drew her sword, and screamed out 'Eeluliaa'. The two fought, and it was a long, hard battle, but finally the hare was slain and her body threw back in the flames. The harebabe had disappeared. Later, once the flames were doused, the harebabe was found next to her mother's charred remains, still alive. What happened next, I do not know, for I knew what happened to the captured ones of this army, and flew off.

I would bet that that very same hare found her way here to Redwall six seasons later. It all makes sense now. They're the army, and they want her back."