Where's Nadal? Nyctllr queried coldly, even through the burning atmosphere.
Kaliban stumbled, not liking the bat's tone, the mouse's hateful gaze and gleaming sword, or the hawk's sheer size and sharpness of talon and beak. The crackling and groaning of the floundering building wasn't much helping either, nor was the utter unhelpfulness of the South Tower bow crew.
Where is Nadal ob Insame? Nyc repeated, loathing expressed in every syllable of the name.
Kaliban was scared of this beast, even though the mouse appeared to be directing his malevolent glare more directly at him. He's not here, the rat responded.
Mattachin swung Martin's sword menacingly. So, then, where is the weasel himself, rat?
He left a couple o' days ago, Kaliban sputtered, incapable of lying under such stress. Left the towers an' went out t' the mountains t' hide in the caves. I'm in charge, it's just me.
Nyctllr's eyes were suited to the artificial dark, and her keen hearing made it all the more possible for her to hone in on Kaliban. Just you, eh? She still sounded dangerous, though not in the sense that she planned to personally kill him.
Kaliban nodded.
That evil murderous being has jumped ship, leaving everyone in this mess to die so that he lives to kill again?
The rat thought a moment, then grudgingly nodded again.
Nyc fanned the hot air and smoke away with her wingsails. Do tell about these caves.
Kaliban gesticulated blindly through the smoke. Over that way, bout alf a day's walk, mebbe a quarter. Hilly rocky parts, though I don't know just which cave.
With a curt nod, Nyc noted, That will be all.
Kaliban could not help but gawk a bit. You're...not gonna kill me right here an' now?
I don't need to, Nyc smirked. There's a huge gaping burning hole in the side of this building, and that fire's not going out on its own. There's no way the top can hold for long. You'll be crushed in the fall. And I thank you for your information, the bat added darkly.
She turned, wings spread, Troyte following, prepared to collect Mattachin and evacuate the burning tower. The mouse warrior, however, had been obscured by the smoke. Already definitely stressed enough, Nyctllr was frantic as she echolocated through the dense crackling air. Fortunately, smoke does not overly distort sonic form.
She found Mattachin. He was not, as she had feared, dead. She still feared, though, for the mouse warrior had easily intimidated the bow crew into doing what he wished. At that point, he was straddling an arrow, attempting to figure out its mechanisms while it was being lit and fit to the bow.
What in blazes are you doing?! Nyctllr screeched, unaware of the irony in her choice of phrase.
Mattachin looked grimly back. Nadal's not in this tower, and I don't trust that rat worth anything about those caves. What if he's over in there? And even if he's not, his whole army is. He can't do damage, he won't if it would mean putting himself in the line to be killed.
Nyc gave Mattachin a look of terrified desperation. Our soldiers are in there, too! Do this and you're killing yourself and them! Do you not care about all of those lives?!
It's less of an evil if we get rid of the ultimate evil. With that, Mattachin swung the sword at the chief bowbeast, who took the signal and, with his crew, released the string. The arrow shot forth, and with no second thought Nyctllr bounded off the tower after it. She forced her entire weight against the arrow shaft, and as its course did not alter, she used the last moment to knock Mattachin off the arrow. She tried to suspend him in air, only to find his weight too much for her sails. They plummeted in a horrifying second, ground closing in, or at least until feathers came between it and them. Troyte had used gravity, height, and natural streamlining to his advantage, and had plunged after Nyc, prepared to make precisely the catch that he did.
The arrow continued forward, smashing directly into the North Tower. The fireball billowed out toward the other tower, meshing with the first cloud, enhancing the clash of dark and flame before being dragged along by the wind as well. In other circumstances, this could be considered a beautiful example of thermodynamics. In this case, though, it was just horrifying.
The second arrow hit lower down on its tower than the first had, clipping a corner and thus weakening the structure even further. And to consider the added weight of the Redwallers and vermin, locked in combat until the distraction of the blow...The severed section teetered precariously until heat and weight finally had their way. The crack that accompanied its detachment resounded like thunder, and its echo lingered as the top third went down, perfectly vertical, ringed in smoke, bringing the other levels down in column exactly perpendicular to the ground.
Some creatures streamed out of the North Tower barely in time to escape its own descent. All others, friend and foe alike to either side, were crushed. Troyte sped away from the scene, with Mattachin looking hatefully forward and Nyctllr horrifiedly back. And atop the quickly weakening South Tower, Kaliban knew he was going to die, but he was too afraid to even decide whether or not to jump.