CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

"Mykola won't be joining us," Tolar announced once he, Mina and Custis were all settled into their chairs around the Sword's conference table.

The two Gawtrybe were momentarily thrown by this seeming reversal on their host's part. "I must insist that he does. If you will not summon him down from the tower, the Lieutenant and I will go up and retrieve him ourselves."

"You would not find him there," Tolar said, keeping his tone genial. Reaching across to a pitcher and some cups at the table's center, he mildly inquired, "Would you like some water? You must both be parched after your trip through Mossflower. We get it right from the Moss here, as you know, and I find it particularly refreshing."

Mina ignored the offer. "You said he was on lookout duty up in the tower!"

"My apologies, Lady, but I never said any such thing. And for the purposes of the conversation I suspect we are about to have, I'm sure you will forgive me for any perceived misdirection on the issue, since we all want to keep these proceedings private."

This was hardly a remark to mollify the increasingly-exasperated squirrel queen. "I don't care where he is, I want him summoned now!"

Tolar poured himself a tumbler of river water, maintaining his calm. "Mykola no longer resides at Foxguard. He resigned his commission and left."

For the second time the Gawtrybe were rendered momentarily speechless. Even though they sat across the table facing him, Tolar could see their twin tails switching in agitation. "When?" Mina demanded.

"Last night."

"And you just let him leave?"

Tolar affected an air of mild umbrage. "Mykola served this brigade selflessly, and often above and beyond the call of duty, for over twenty seasons, in spite of his impediment. He'd earned the right to tender his resignation whenever he wished. Was I to forbid him?"

"Under the circumstances, yes," Custis shot back.

Tolar eyed the Lieutenant appraisingly. "And what circumstances are those, exactly?"

"Don't play games with us, Tolar," Mina warned. "You know what this is about. And now the one fox we most wanted to talk to conveniently disappears the evening before our return."

"Am I or any member of my brigade being accused of something?"

Mina realized the fox Sword meant to play coy until they spelled out their suspicions plainly before him. "Foxguard's creatures were the only beasts in Mossflower who knew of this campaign before the Lieutenant's arrival. Those rats knew to flee to the sanctuary of Redwall. How do you account for this?"

Tolar shrugged. "I cannot. So I ask again, am I being accused of something?"

"Stop being obtuse, Sword!" Custis spat. "You've made it crystal clear since my first day at Foxguard that you're against this campaign! You went out of your way to hide the presence of these rats from me at a time when they were clearly visible from the tower, and we could still have overtaken them before they reached Redwall! You've blocked and obstructed me at every turn! What were you trying to cover up?"

Tolar took a measured draught of water, his frosty stare fixed on Custis over the brim. Setting the tumbler back down, he said, "You forget your place here, Lieutenant. Not even Lady Mina herself would have dared to address Machus with the insolence you just showed me. I am Sword now, this is Foxguard, and I will command the respect I am due. One more outburst like that, and I will have you forcibly removed from my sight."

Mina jumped in before Custis could rage on. "I knew Machus as a dear and valued comrade, Tolar. If you are going to invoke his name in this matter, you had best be certain you are worthy of it."

"I sit accused of dishonor in my own stronghold, Lady. How am I to respond? You think I tipped off those rats somehow? I tell you I did not. Is my word not enough for you? What more do you need?"

Mina smirked. "After that little display of - misdirection, did you call it? - outside just now, you'll forgive me if I don't take your words at face value, or perhaps read a little more deeply into them than I otherwise might. You insist you did not warn those rats of the coming campaign. Fair enough. But I believe Mykola did."

Tolar absorbed this. "Two questions, Lady - how would he have accomplished such a thing, and why?"

"You know perfectly well why, Tolar - stop playing the fool! From the time he first entered Lord Urthblood's service, that soft heart of a fox has bent over backwards to show favoritism to the beasts least deserving of it. His support for the irredeemable very nearly cost him his career over that Wolfrum incident at Redwall, and I very much doubt he's changed, even here at Foxguard. We both know how the announcement of this operation must have struck him, and that his empathy for the affected rats might have led him astray, even into dereliction of duty and perhaps straight into treasonous behavior, aiding and abetting the enemy!"

"Is that what those rats are now? The enemy? Nobeast has ever really spelled that out for me."

Mina pounded her fists on the table. "Enough! Klystra told us of the horde that's been building in the ridge valley to the northeast, how that horde contained many rats - the very rats we now believe to be inside Redwall. And Klystra told us that you were aware of that horde's presence due to his own reports. And if you were aware of it, then Mykola knew of it too. What are we to think, Tolar? What else can we think?"

"You can respectfully think that I am telling you the truth when I say that there's no way Mykola or any other creature at Foxguard could possibly have done what you suggest. We only learned of the rat campaign earlier this season when Klystra delivered the news to us. Ask him yourself when next you see him, and he will verify this. For those rats to have reached the quarry when they did, they would have had to leave their valley base camp well before anybeast here could have delivered any such message to them. For that reason alone, I think I can safely say we stand cleared of any such accusation. Furthermore, I will attest, as will everybeast else at Foxguard, that no veteran, junior or cadet of the brigade, nor any weasel in our service here, was absent from this fortress for the period of days necessary to journey to the horde's valley, warn the rats of the campaign - as if they would have listened to any of us anyway - and then return to Foxguard. This is hardly a case where an independent-minded solitary beast could simply step out for part of the night and return before dawn with their subterfuge completed. I never ordered nor sanctioned any such contact with a potentially hostile horde, and nobeast else here could have done what you suggest without being conspicuously missed. Now, does that address your concerns sufficiently?"

"Well, they certainly listened to somebeast," Mina insisted. "A hundred and a half rats - especially a hundred and a half hordesrats - do not simply up and leave their horde on a whim, or without some compelling reason. And they do not head to Redwall seeking sanctuary unless they've been convinced that's the only place they'll be safe. Could it be that Mykola engaged somebeast else from outside Foxguard to travel to the valley and warn the rats?"

Tolar shook his head. "Mykola spent very little time outside our walls, and never forged any close relationships with woodlanders as far as I know. By the fur, we've had a hard enough time just getting the locals to trust any of us, or to get over their suspicions of foxes and weasels, in spite of our best overtures. Stop and think about what you're saying. You're suggesting that any of us here could have persuaded a reluctant woodland beast to journey several days away and venture right into the heart of a vermin horde to warn their rats to defect from their army under possible pain of death and strike out for Redwall, where creatures of their ilk are less than welcome? Do you realize how preposterous that sounds? What makes you think such a messenger would be believed? For that matter, what makes you think that messenger would even return from such a mission alive?"

Custis crossed his arms over his chest, jaw set hard. "I don't believe you."

Tolar's mouth was set in a grim, hard line to match the squirrel's. "What, exactly, don't you believe, Lieutenant?"

"Any of this - and your latest bosh least of all. We know you had one rabbit working for you, and those are speedy beasts indeed. If one, why not more?"

Tolar almost had to stifle an outright laugh. "Tibball? You speak of Tibball? Oh, yes, he worked out so well that when we sent him out to meet up with you between here and the quarry, he disappeared and never came back. The only reason he ended up with us at all was because Mona had put out word that she sought a hare to study for her researches, and an overly-enterprising mouse presented her with Tibball instead. That rabbit spent exactly one day and one night at Foxguard, as our reluctant guest, so you could hardly say he was in our employ. The one task we asked of him as a favor went woefully unfulfilled, and I harbor serious doubts we'll ever see his scut within our walls again."

Mina curled her lip. "Must not have been overjoyed with how he was treated during his stay here. But you still should not have accepted Mykola's resignation, or allowed him to leave, before we'd had a chance to question him ourselves."

"It never occurred to me you would want to, or that you would return with the attitude that anyfox here had anything to answer for. It was a Foxguard matter, and I handled it as I saw fit."

"Where did he go?" Custis asked, nostrils flared in challenge. "When he left here, where was he going?"

"He did not say, Lieutenant, and I did not ask."

"That sounds of a piece with everything I've heard here so far. Who else witnessed this so-called resignation? Was there a ceremony? Did he submit a letter?"

Tolar's gaze unwittingly dropped to the ceramic tray upon which the water pitcher sat, the previous night's residue of parchment ash cleaned away without a trace. "The affair was conducted more privately than that. As Mykola wished it."

Custis leaned back, slapping the arms of his chair. "That's just fine. All neat and tidy, and all we've got to go on is your word."

"My word should be enough for you ... Lieutenant."

"Well, it's not. Mykola needs to come back and answer for himself. And I won't be satisfied until he does. If he only left last night, he can't have gone far, not on that leg of his. He'll be sticking to the woods for cover, I imagine, and we Gawtrybe can cover the forestlands like nobeast without wings. We'll fan out through the nearer woods in a standard search formation. He shouldn't be too hard to turn up."

"You won't find him," Tolar begged to differ.

Custis's eyes narrowed. "Why do you say that?"

"Because you seem to forget who you're dealing with. Mykola's a veteran swordfox, one of the original Twenty who served with Machus. Don't be fooled by his limp; he knows enough of strategies and tactics to write a book about them, and he's extremely well-versed in the arts of scouting - and concealment. You'll not find him if he doesn't want to be found - and he doesn't."

"You sound pretty sure of that, Sword."

"I know my foxes."

"And I know my Gawtrybe. We're good. We're very, very good. And I wager your errant fox had never had to elude trackers like us before. We'll find him. And then we'll see what there is to see."

"I still say you won't find him. Foxes have much better night vision than squirrels. He'll know to go to ground during the day, when he'll be so skillfully hidden that you might well pass over right him without realizing it, and move only at night, when his sharp ears and eyes will see and hear you coming long before you can spot him yourselves. You're welcome to try, but I fear you'll only be wasting your time - yours, and your entire brigade's."

Custis levelled a long, penetrating gaze at Tolar, as if analyzing the fox's words and manner to divine some unspoken meaning from them. At last he said, "He's not even out there, is he? You're practically challenging us, building him up as such an untraceable phantom, so that we'll be goaded into expending all our forces on a wild goose chase looking for a fox who isn't there to be found."

"I don't know what you're getting at, Lieutenant. Are you suggesting Mykola's still here at Foxguard? That would be a neat trick, with tenscore Gawtrybe on these premises. Do you really believe I'd be able to hide him from so many prying eyes, anywhere within these walls?"

"I did not say he was still here either. Perhaps you discovered that he did somehow manage to violate your code of conduct, and that was more than you could bear. Perhaps he embarrassed you in a way that could not be tolerated. Perhaps his 'resignation' was not his own idea, and his punishment was far more severe than mere banishment or exile."

Tolar's eyes widened; even the unflappable Sword was shocked at the implications in this latest accusation. "I did not kill Mykola, or have him slain!"

"Even if his crimes warranted such a penalty?"

"He committed no such crimes of which I am aware. You are welcome to search Foxguard from top to bottom if you like, but you will find neither Mykola nor his corpse."

"An interesting choice of words, Sword. Especially since I happen to know you currently have at your disposal a means of making inconvenient creatures disappear that nobeast else does." Custis pushed back his chair and stood, turning toward the chamber door. "If you'll excuse me, Lady, I have a hunch that needs following ... and maybe I'll be able to get some straight answers from just about the only beast at Foxguard whose word I can still trust."

Mina remained seated as her fellow Gawtrybe stormed out. Waiting until they were alone, she said, "You should have been more cooperative, Tolar."

"And you should have been more respectful, Lady." Tolar waved a disgusted paw after Custis. "And as for him, I don't even know where to begin."

"He is only trying to carry out his charged duty, and things have gone spectacularly badly for him so far. He's looking for explanations - and frankly, so am I."

"He's looking for somebeast to blame, and I will have none of it. To be frank myself, Lady, I do not care what suspicions you and the Lieutenant harbor against me, because I know them to be groundless, and that I have absolutely nothing to apologize for. Custis claims I have been obstructing him at every turn. I seem to remember greeting him warmly upon his arrival, helping him with their carts and their loads, freely sharing my not inexhaustible supplies of food and drink with his squirrels, exchanging status reports with him and conferring on the logistics of the campaign at paw. I have not held back one whit from providing him with the requisite material and logistical support he requires, and I will continue to provide just that, because those are Lord Urthblood's orders. I have no intention of opposing this operation, or undermining it in any way. And on that, you have my word."

"Custis said you've expressed less than favorable views on this campaign ... "

"Only insofar as it's not work for swordfoxes, and I hope we are not ordered into a more active role. But to serve it in a support capacity, I have no opinion one way or the other. Am I no longer entitled to voice my own views, in my own stronghold?"

"Then what of Mykola? What of the rats at Redwall?"

"Mykola had his own opinions, and they were not compatible with this mission. I need hardly delve into that with you; you know how he felt about downtrodden and disadvantaged vermin. Could news of this operation have affected him any other way? Of course I let him go. Unwilling paws are worse than no paws at all, so this was the best thing for him, and for us. As for the rats who've escaped to Redwall, I honestly do not believe Mykola had anything to do with that, nor do I believe he could have, even had he been so inclined. It just wouldn't have been possible, for the reasons I have already laid out."

"Then how do you account for their flight to the Abbey? Somebeast tipped them off."

"Klystra mentioned that Captain Truax recently arrived at Redwall, having successfully eluded capture in the Northlands. Could he have warned them?"

"They did not arrive at the Abbey together, and did not seem to know of each other."

"Then perhaps somebeast else from the North also managed to escape and make it to Mossflower? It might not necessarily even have been a rat - just somebeast who disagreed with the operation, and wanted to spread the word ... "

"Like Mykola?"

"Yes ... but who, unlike him, actually had opportunity to do so. How did the rats themselves explain their presence?"

Mina snorted. "They claim to have a seer among them who foresaw all of this."

"Could that be true?"

"No. It could not. I have spoken with this so-called prophet of theirs, and she is a total and complete dolt who doesn't know her head from a wallstone. She couldn't have delivered anybeast out of an old sack. But she's managed to convince her fellow rats, and a few of the Redwallers as well."

Tolar raised an eyebrow at this. "Oh really? Well, that's their business now. I'm just glad that fool didn't go and start a war with Redwall."

"That 'fool' is a trusted officer of Lord Urthblood's, and somebeast with whom you will have to cooperate, whether you like it or not. And your manner in all of this could have been far more civil, Tolar. I expect better from Foxguard's Sword than what I've seen here today."

"You speak of my manner, Lady? Then put aside for a moment any lingering suspicions of my words and deeds and intent you might still possess, and assume for the sake of argument that everything I've told you is true - that I acquitted myself with the honor and dedication expected of my station, that I have only assisted and not hindered the Lieutenant in any way, and that I in no way aided or instigated those rats' flight to Redwall. To whit, that I have done none of the things I stand accused of. And then that insolent twit storms in here casting aspersions and allegations and baseless blame upon me for schemes in which I had no part, if they even existed at all, and he tops it off by all but interrogating me like a criminal or his own prisoner, right here in my own stronghold! How else should I react? A fox with less forebearance might have thrown him right out of Foxguard on his tail! And you think my attitude was out of place?"

Mina digested this. "I will have to think on this, Tolar."

He leaned across the table toward her, although two tail-lengths still separated them. "Think on this while you're at it, Lady: When that impetuous firebrand raced off in answer to your summons, I feared he might jeopardize relations between us and Redwall. After his actions here just now, I worry that he might jeopardize relations between the Gawtrybe and Foxguard."

"Tolar! Such talk smacks of sedition!"

"If there is a rift, Lady, I will not have it laid at my door. I follow orders ... but I take my orders from one beast and one beast only, and that badger is not here now. Somebeast needs to remind the Lieutenant of this fact - for his own good."

Again, Mina mulled over the fox Sword's words, nodding at last. "I will speak with him, and make him see that cooperation is paramount. We cannot be divided at a time like this."

"Thank you, Lady." Tolar rose and moved around to Mina's place, chivalrously pulling her chair out for her. "Now, let's go see where the good Lieutenant has rushed off to, and see if we can keep him from causing any more trouble!"

00000000000

Trelayne was not accustomed to interruptions during his work, and on the whole did not appreciate such intrusions. Thus it was that he, along with his assistant Kyslith, glanced up in mild irritation when Custis appeared unbidden in their workshop doorway.

"Lieutenant, can we help you with something? We're rather involved with what we're doing here ... "

"Then set aside your labors for a few moments," the Gawtrybe commander snapped off, striding into the spacious yet cluttered chamber. "This is important."

Marten and fox glassmaker exchanged questioning glances, then put down the vessels they'd been toiling with and stripped off their heavy work gloves. "You've caught us at a rather delicate phase of the tempering process, Lieutenant, but we can spare you a few moments, if this really is so urgent."

"It is." Custis elicited a nervous, subdued gasp from the two craftsbeasts as he marched right up to the edge of the oversized vitriol tub. The vat stood open and exposed, its protective steel lid winched up at a yawning angle on its heavy support chains. The tub itself was full to within a paw's breadth of the rim with the corrosive fluid, looking as peaceful and harmless as mere water but containing such astoundingly lethal destructive capabilities.

"Lieutenant," Trelayne cautioned, "would you mind not standing so close to the open vessel, if you please? That's vitriol newly distilled, in its most concentrated form."

"I'm well aware of its hazards. I do know of Tolomeo, after all."

"Ah, er yes ... "

"Master Trelayne, you and I have been acquaintances for several seasons now, first at Salamandastron and then during our march to Mossflower from the coast. In that time I have come to regard you as an upstanding and honorable beast, principled and moral as any woodlander or goodbeast, purely dedicated to your craft and equally devoted to Lord Urthblood and his cause, and above any petty obfuscations or personal bickering. I need to consult with you now, and although I know it would never occur to you to withhold it from me, I must nevertheless ask for your full truthfulness and cooperation in this matter."

"Why, of course, Lieutenant. In what regard?"

Custis reached out over the slightly-rippling surface of the vitriol and pointed straight down. "Has anybeast been put in this?"

Trelayne reared back on his heels as if slapped, while Kyslith stood aghast with jaw dropped, both creatures blanching visibly. "What?! No! Do not even suggest such a thing! That would be terrible beyond comprehension!"

"Where were you and your assistant last night? Is this vat ever left unguarded, so that others might have access to it without your knowledge?"

"Kyslith and I retired to our chamber last night after our work was done, but ... we left the vat tightly sealed, and found it thus this morning!"

"Sealed, but not locked? So somebeast could very easily have crept down here in the dead of night while you slept, and disposed of a body in this without you ever knowing?"

"No! They could not have!"

"Why not?"

"I would be able to tell!"

"How?"

"There would be telltale signs, indications. For one thing, the vitriol would present as somewhat clouded, and not clear."

Custis regarded the open vat in the cellar lamplight. "Too bad this isn't made out of glass, or crystal, with transparent sides. It's hard to tell whether the vitriol is perfectly clear or not, just looking at it from the top."

"There would be other things to look for as well. Contrary to what most beasts seem to think, the vitriol does not consume living or inert material completely. Maybe closely enough to leave a casual observer with that impression, but rest assured that there is always some small portion or remnant the fluid cannot break down entirely. Any clandestine attempt to dispose of something as large as a grown creature in this would have left a slight scum on the surface, or a film around the edges, and perhaps a few larger bits as well floating in the vitriol or resting on the bottom. I see no traces of that."

"But, can you be absolutely sure?" Custis asked, still not thoroughly convinced.

"There is one other way to tell as well," Trelayne went on. "Dissolving such a mass in this quantity of vitriol would leave it markedly diluted, and not nearly as potent. It would still retain much of its corrosive property, and be very dangerous to living flesh, but as far as using it for my sculpting purposes it would practically be spoiled after the introduction of so much foreign matter to contaminate it. And that would be very easy to test for."

"Do it."

Trelayne turned to the smaller, paw-held vessel he'd been holding upon the Lieutenant's arrival. Holding it up to the lamplight so that the illumination could shine through the glass jar, he proclaimed, "See? It's quite clear."

Custis curled his lip downward. "It looks cloudy to me."

"Hm? Oh, that. Yes, it does, doesn't it, but that's only because the inner surface is coated with beeswax, to prevent the vitriol from attacking the glass." The marten set his hazardous burden back down on the work counter again. "Kyslith and I were just about to temper this small batch for use in sculpting, so we'll go ahead and do that, if you'd care to wait. If it turns out all right, we'll know the main batch hasn't been tampered with."

"Temper?"

"Yes, Dilute it for crafting use."

"I thought you just said diluting it would spoil it."

Trelayne shook his head. "No, no, no - it has to be diluted before it can be safely used. But it must be diluted in just the right way, using the proper materials and processes - not just by chucking any old thing into it."

"Or any old beast."

The master glassmaker turned a penetrating gaze on the squirrel. "Just what, precisely, do you suspect of having happened here, Lieutenant?"

"No need to go into that until your tests tell me whether I'm barking up the wrong tree entirely."

"Very well." Trelayne and Kyslith pulled their protective gloves back on and returned to work. They barely had to exchange a word between them, so often had they performed this procedure over the seasons. Custis tried to follow their labors with his eyes, but so little of it made sense to him, it all just seemed like so much random pouring and mixing and measuring, accompanied by the occasional fizz and puff of vapors. At last Trelayne turned to the Gawtrybe officer, holding forth a shapeless piece of fuming glass clutched in a pair of tongs. "There, you see? The tempered vitriol scored this piece of test glass just as it was supposed to. That means the master batch from which we withdrew it is pristine, and has not been adulterated in any way."

"So you are positive beyond any reasonable doubt that nobeast has been dissolved in this?"

"Yes, I am absolutely ... " Trelayne broke off from what he was saying, staring past Custis to the doorway. "Mona, what are you doing here? You shouldn't be here."

The healer vixen stood at the threshold, staring in at the work area with wide eyes and pricked ears. "What ... are you talking about?"

"Nothing you need worry yourself over, my dear. The Lieutenant here harbored some rather macabre suspicions that he still hasn't fully divulged, but fortunately I was able to prove him wrong." The marten set down the glass and tongs. "How long have you been standing there?"

"I ... was just on my way to my surgery. I'll be off now." Mona and her peculiar attitude withdrew from the doorway, only to be replaced moments later by Sergeant Flesch.

"Ah, Lieutenant, there you are! I've been looking for you. The rest of the brigade is getting a little antsy, and wondering what you should have us do. Are we to leave with Captain Klystra at once to establish Gawdrey? If so, the carts need to be prepared ... "

"Have half the squad get to that," Custis ordered; now that Chetwynd had been left behind at Redwall to guard the approaches to the Abbey, Flesch stood as the Lieutenant's second-in-command on site. "The other half I want organized into a search team."

"A search team, sir?"

"Yes, it seems Foxguard has suffered a defection - or so Tolar would have us believe."

"A defection, sir? So you'll need us to fan out through the nearer woods to try to track him down?"

"No, Sergeant. I want you and your squirrels to be on the lookout, both within these premises and without, for any signs of a fresh grave."