Chapter 12: A plan

Martin slept in the visitor domitories. He had been up almost the whole night thinking up a plan to defeat Tsarmina's hordes. But Chibb, their spy/scout, had brought news that the hordes were steadily growing larger, with their numbers reaching almost a thousand. And to make matters worse, Chibb also reported that there a raggedy band of vermin, tough-looking, coming from the south. Their leader, a fox, seemed intent on moving quickly up north. The robin spy said his name was Bane.

Martin knew that if this Bane sees Kotir, and meets Tsarmina, the wildcat queen would most likely team up with Bane to get rid of the woodlanders. But the warrior mouse had devised a plan to stop that.

There was a knock on Martin's bedroom door. "Hey, matey, time t'get up! Brought you some breakfast."

Martin sprang from his bed and opened the door, knowing it was his new friend Gonff, the Prince of Mousethieves. The previous night, they talked and joked, and Martin knew it would be a life-long friendship.

Martin grinned as he set down the tray to eat. "I'm surprised the food made it this far with you carrying it, Gonff."

Gonff stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Well, actually you did have a slice of damson crumble..."

Martin pretended to roar with mock rage, but was unable to stop himself smiling. "Why you cheeky little thief!"

Gonff was about to thank Martin for the compliment when Bella strode through the door. "How was your night, Martin? Do you have a plan we can use?"

Martin munched thoughtfully on a blackberry scone and replied, "I thought about it all last night. That band of vermin are coming from the south, heading at a north-eastern direction. If we can just sneak over to their east side, blocking their way to Kotir, and put a small fighting band to their north, we can stop them and make them turn around and go back south."

Bella nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. How many warriors do you need?"

Martin thought for a second and said, "I think we might need about 300 hundred on the east side, and a hundred or so on the north. I'll be on the north side."

Bella nodded again. "All right, that sounds like enough." She made her way to the window, and looked out to the dawn sun rising slowly into the gold- tinged sky. "When should we attack? This afternoon, maybe?"

Martin shook his head vigorously, making his answer firm. "No, the sun will be in our eyes, and it will be extremely hot by then. I understand that this band of vermin are making remarkable progress in a short time, but one wrong move we make could cost us precious lives.

Gonff felt like leaving the room, because he wasn't any good at developing war plans, but he was also amazed at his new friend's know-how about battle strategies and such. He stayed and listened to Bella and Martin weaving a plan to block Bane's way to Kotir and make them pack their bags and head back south.

Then some random thought struck him like spear, almost making him lurch with pain.

Martin switched his glance to Gonff. "Gonff, matey, what's wrong? You okay?"

Gonff straightened up on the bed again. "Uh huh, Martin, I'm fine. It's just that I thought that if we drive the stinkin' vermin back south, the woodlanders who live there would have a problem they've pro'bly had before, a gang of tough vermin. And I doubt it if those rotters go back, the goodbeasts there will invite them to tea."

Bella stroked the covers on Martin's bed absent-mindedly. "Hm, you have a point, Prince of Mousethieves. How can we stop the vermin from reaching Kotir, but stop them from returning back south?"

Martin rubbed his head and whistled. "Whew, no idea. Shall we go to the main hall to talk about this with the others?"

Bella looked uncertain of herself for while, then shook her massive grey head slowly. "No, let's stay up here until we've found a way to get rid of this band once and for all."

Gonff pasted a pained look on his face. "You mean, no food? No lunch at all?!?"

Bella stifled a smile. "No food for now. You need to keep your mind clear of thoughts, so we can drive off those vermin properly. Er, we might stop a bit to eat lunch, mind you. That mousemaid, Kastern, is a wonderful cook, and I wouldn't skip her lunch for anything at all. But, so we don't get carried away, I'll have somebeast bring it up."

Gonff looked slightly happier.



"Okay, think, think, think." Martin paced back and forth in his room, still racking his brains for a bug-free battle plan.

Gonff lay on the wooden floor, on the brink of falling asleep. At first, he had been thinking just as hard as Martin and Bella had, but his pondering proved too much for his mischieveous little mind. He fell asleep once, and was jostled awake by Bella when his snores grew too loud.

"Gonff, stay awake, please! We need to stay awake!" Bella gave him a light tap on the shoulder which nearly made him be thrown flat on the floor.

Before Gonff could retort, there was a knock on the carved oak door of the bedroom. Gonff sprang up and opened the door in a gentlemanly fashion, bowing to whoever came in the door. There was a mole carrying a large tray of assorted foods with aromas that lingered in the air and clouded Martin's brain. "Oh finally, lunch! I'd rather think of food than battle plans, to be honest."

Gonff, however, wasn't thinking of food. He jumped on the mole who came in. "Young Din! Still robbin' food Bella's kitchens?"

Young Dinny chortled and flipped over so that he was sitting on top of Gonff. "Hurr hurr, t'wasn't oi 'oo steals ee food, zurr Gonffer. Oi thinks et be's summbeast else!" Dinny patted Gonff's pudgy little stomach.

Martin smiled at the two, hiding his thoughts. Strangely, as it had been with Gonff, he felt he had always known Dinny, and he knew that was impossible because he had lived in the north all his life. Maybe it was just destiny they had met.... something that couldn't be evaded... it just had to happen... no matter what.

His mind was brought back to reality when Dinny heaved his furry black body off a chest-sore Gonff to see the parchment where Bella had drawn a diagram of possible strategies. He couldn't read, but understood their predicament.

He turned the parchment sideways and upside-down, as though trying to read a map. "Hurr, ee varmints can' goo nort', eas' or sooth, so why doan't ee varmints goo wes'?"

Gonff sat upright with an expression of sudden understanding etched on his face. "By jove, you're right, Dinny! You have something in your head besides dirt after all!"

Martin scratched his head. "What did he say? Sorry, I'm not so good at interpreting molespeech."

Bella explained. "Since we can't let the vermin go east, north or south, Dinny says why not let them go west?"

Martin still looked puzzled. "But-but there's still land.... then the sea!!"

Gonff nodded while patting Dinny on the back none-too-gently. "Exactly. Why not drive the rotters into the sea?"

The warrior mouse stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Hmmmm, it's a good plan, though it still has some flaws. How could we make sure the vermin would go straight west? And how would we know if we're not driving them into some more innocent woodlanders?"

Bella sighed. "We'll go downstairs later and see if we can ask the others later, Martin. For now, let's eat and keep our minds fresh."

Gonff perked up at the word "eat", and tripped over Dinny trying to reach the tray of food, making him fall face-first on the floor. Martin and Bella looked at each and laughed. The laughter was infectious, and soon all four joined in.