Standing a few feet away from them was the tallest ferret Shyla had ever seen. He was tall and menacing, and held a huge sword in his hand. He wore a long black cape and the skull of a mole on his head like a helmet. He was looking at the two otters with an evil gleam in his eye. "Well, well, well, what have we here?" he said in a smooth voice, "Two little otters that have strayed too far from home?" He chuckled evilly as he brandished the sword. Up until now the otters had been frozen with fear, but the idea dawned on Shyla to run. She grabbed Mika's paw and they turned to make an escape but found their path blocked by two armed weasels and a one-eared fox.
"Take them back to the camp!" the ferret ordered. The weasel named Screwtail nodded towards the ferret and then he and the other weasel seized the two otters. Mika, who was now shaking, yielded immediately, while Shlya started kicking at her captors; but she soon ceased after a few prods of a spear from the fox. The captives were led deeper into Mossflower, to a place where they had never been before. The weasels halted near a grove of very thick, tall trees.
"This is their camp?" Shyla wondered to her herself, "I see nothing but trees." The fox began examining each tree that was in a certain row, examining as if he were searching for some special marking.
"Aha!" he said when he found one that had a tiny knot its side, that wasn't noticeable unless you knew what to look for. He led the way now, on a path that you could only see once you had found the knot. After walking a little ways, Shlya was amazed to see that concealed within the grove there was a fort.
The fox knocked on a door in the short wall surrounding the fort. A panel at the top slid open, only for a second, to reveal a pair of eyes before it closed again. The door opened and the fox was greeted by a pine marten asking about orders from Razorclaw. "That must be the ferret that we saw back there," Shyla thought.
"Screwtail! Grisclaw!" the fox commanded the weasels, "Show our guests their new quarters." "With pleasure," Grisclaw said, with an evil smile from ear to ear.
They were led to a small building with one barred window and one door. The prisoners each had one ankle chained to the wall. "Now that you're all comfy," Grisclaw began, "there's something you ought to know. Screwtail and I will be outside guarding you two. And if we catch you trying anything funny, you won't get your daily bread and water ration. Understand?" he asked routinely, not expecting answer. Shyla grew bold and asked, "Why are you taking us prisoner? You have no right to-" Smack! She got no further before Grisclaw slapped her hard across the face, knocking her down.
"You wanna know why?" he sneered as Mika knelt next to her stricken friend. "Because the Chief said so, that's why! And I'm gonna tell that pine marten, Rakefur, that he can just forget about bringing you your bread and water for today!" With that, the two weasels stormed out of the cell, slamming and locking the door behind them.
"Why did we take them prisoner?" Screwtail, who was a little slow, asked his partner.
"Because, you numbskull, we need them to help us get ready for our attack on Redwall!"
