CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE

"See?" Cyril grabbed at the heavy cord dangling before him to demonstrate. "The pull ropes hang all the way down here to ground level, so we can sound the tolls from this spot without having to climb all those stairs to the top. That's a big help in bad weather, or if we're feeling a little ill or rundown. But Cyrus and I prefer to go up to the belfry whenever possible to ring the bells."

Jiriel, standing in the base of the belltower with the two mouse brothers, regarded them with puzzlement. "I can't imagine why anybeast would choose all that extra work when they could just do it all from right here. And doesn't it hurt your ears, being directly under the bells when they're tolling?"

"Yeah, it can get a little loud," Cyril admitted, "but we learned long ago to flatten our ears when we do it, to spare our hearing from any damage. But we can get much better control with less rope between us and the bells. There are different tolls for different times of day and meals, you know, as well as special patterns for emergencies, for storm watches, for calling councils of the Abbey leaders, for summoning the Sparra down from Warbeak Loft, for special occasions like weddings and funerals and feast days, for when we see travellers approaching the Abbey ... "

"Gee," Jiriel lauded, "all this time I thought you were just a brave adventurer who helped rescue stolen youngbeasts from slavery, but now I see you're a musician too!"

Cyrus smiled and rolled his eyes at the mousemaid's undisguised adoration of his older sibling.

"Uh, er, I wouldn't really say I'm a musician. We only have two notes to work with - the Matthias and Methuselah bells. It's not like I can play any sort of song or melody on them."

Cyrus decided to play upon his brother's bashful discomfort, just as he did when Vanessa was concerned. With a casual wave of a paw, he declared, "Oh, Cyr's just being modest. I've heard it said that we're the best bellringers anybeast here at Redwall can remember ... even old Abbot Arlyn, or Mother Maura, who helped raise Arlyn when he was just a mouselad. Why, Cyril's so talented, he could probably ring the bells just as skillfully from down here as up in the belfry!"

Blushing slightly about the ears, Cyril quickly added, "Well, it takes two pairs of paws to properly sound the tolls, so if I'm really that skilled, that means Cyrus must be too."

Jiriel beamed at them. "I'm sure you're both extremely talented!"

"Er, yes, I suppose," Cyril went on, while Cyrus just grinned. "Anyway, when the raven General Ironbeak overran Redwall back in the days of Matthias and Mattimeo, our moles dug tunnels to let Abbeybeasts come and go throughout our grounds as they pleased, without fear of attack from above. It's said there was a passage connecting our cellars to this tower, but it was eventually abandoned, and lost over time. We discovered vestiges of it a few seasons ago while excavating the warrens for the Long Patrol, but never reopened a proper exit up to the tower."

"Hey, Cyr, I thought I was supposed to be the apprentice Recorder and historian around here!"

Cyril deigned not to respond to his brother's jibe. "Anyway, another benefit of climbing to the top to ring the bells is the view from up there. You can see the whole Abbey and much of the surrounding countryside better than from anywhere else at Redwall!"

Jiriel did not seem as impressed as Cyril had hoped. "I suppose, but I always thought the belltower was supposed to be the tallest part of an Abbey, and I noticed this one doesn't even come up to the height of the main building's roof peaks."

"Yes, but you wouldn't exactly want to stand on our roof to sightsee!" Cyril explained. "And the spaces right under the roof make up Warbeak Loft, where no ground creature can easily go. So, this is the highest you can get inside our walls without wings!"

"Well then," the mousemaid said, visibly encouraged, "what are we waiting for!"

Being hale and fit mice in the prime of their youth, the three of them all but raced up to the belfry, Cyrus's sandals clopping and Cyril and Jiriel's footpaws slapping against the stone steps, and they gained the high vantage in no time at all. Before she could even avail herself of the vistas opened up to her on all four sides, Jiriel's attention was captured and held by the twin bells hanging immediately above their heads. "They're so big, this close up!"

"Yeah, and silent too," Cyrus added with a trace of facetiousness. "Seriously, we've kept everybeast waiting for lunch long enough - they're liable to start without us if we don't get to work!"

Jiriel stood back, paws clamped firmly over her ears, while Cyril and Cyrus each took solid hold of their respective bell rope, their own ears flattened as much as they could make them. With the assured confidence and unspoken coordination born of many seasons' experience, they tolled out the midday song boldly and proudly. By the time they were done moments later, no Abbeybeast could have missed or mistaken that it was time for the noon meal.

"Wow," Jiriel murmured into the fading echoes of the final ring, bringing down her paws. "That was ... impressive. You two really must be the best bellringers Redwall has ever had! That was truly magnificent!"

"Well," said Cyrus, "this duty is customarily fulfilled by somewhat younger beasts than we're getting to be. My apprentice teaching and Recorder's responsibilities are taking up more and more of my time these days, and Cyril's getting spread pretty thin with everything the Abbots have had him doing. Unfortunately, nobeast else has come forward with the ear and the sense of rhythm to match the task. Droge and Budsock have taken a few turns under our tutelage, but they strike me as more intent on raising a racket than any serious tolling. Maybe some of the new former slaves might show some promise, but until then, I guess we're stuck with it!"

"But you do it so well, it would be a shame to turn it over to anybeasts less skilled. Maybe you're both meant to keep doing this well into adulthood." Jiriel wandered over to the low wall of the belfry, for the first time taking in the view from their lofty position. "Oh, I wish I'd brought my bow up here with me! I could make such wonderful shots from so high!"

"Not planning on shooting any of the Abbeybeasts, I hope," Cyrus quipped.

"No ... although one or two of those pompous Gawtrybe could stand to have a shaft in their backsides to teach them some manners!"

"If you really take archery so seriously," Cyril suggested, "you should spend some time talking to Alex and the Forest Patrol - they're the best bowbeasts at Redwall. Unless you count Lady Mina, of course ... "

"Oh, I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to speak with them. It took us days to make the journey here; we're not going to turn right around and head home again right away. But first, lunch! Let's get back down, so I can enjoy some more of that wonderful Redwall fare!"

The three mice descended the belltower stairs almost as quickly as they'd sped up them, all eager to join friends and family for the midday meal. As they were exiting the base of the tower, all were surprised to encounter Captain Matowick, unaccompanied by anybeast else, apparently intent upon entering the structure himself.

"Oh, uh, hullo, Captain," Cyril said with forced hospitality. "Aren't you joining everybeast else for lunch?"

"I figured I'd work up a bit more of an appetite with a climb up these stairs first. I imagine the view must be worth the effort. Uh, you are finished ringing the bells for now, aren't you?"

Cyrus nodded. "Sometimes we toll them mid-afternoon as well, but since we're already past the noontide, today we'll likely not ring them again until the evening meal."

"Good. I wouldn't want ... I wouldn't want to be startled by them while I'm up there." Matowick had been about to tell them of his ear problems, and how close proximity to the booming bells would likely damage his hearing further, but he decided to keep that matter to himself; what business was his private affliction of theirs?

"Suit yourself," Cyril told him, already weary of the squirrel's superior and dismissive manner. "If you'll excuse us, we'll be at table scoffing some delicious fare. Enjoy your climb!"

"And don't fall out the window while you're up there!" Jiriel cheerfully called back over her shoulder as she marched away with the mouse brothers.

Gaining the summit, Matowick spared far less attention toward the Matthias and Methuselah bells than Jiriel had. As long as they remained silent, he deemed them hardly worthy of his consideration. Turning to gaze out from the tower, he commenced his tactical survey.

This was one of the few places in the Abbey he'd not yet been, and he hadn't felt he'd require the guidance of Mina or anybeast else for a simple vertical ascent of a tower with no proper rooms or side chambers. So, while the squirrel Lady went inside to join the lunch-takers in Great Hall, Matowick opted to investigate the belltower on his own.

Just as Cyril and Cyrus had explained to the archer mousemaid, this spot did indeed offer a panoramic overview of the Abbey grounds unique in all of Redwall. And if part of the compound was blocked by the rearing Abbey building itself, the unobscured portion lay spread out like a map below him. This vantage allowed the Gawtrybe captain to take in the visible area with the strategic conciseness he sought, setting clear in his mind the distances, terrain and egress points he and his squirrels might need for their escape with their prisoner. Between this and the survey he'd taken with Mina along the walltop, he felt himself well-armed with the information he required, at least in this regard.

Now if only he could figure out how he was supposed to snatch a rat right out from under the noses of everybeast here and make a clean getaway. And not just any rat, but one who often stood at the center of attention, surrounded by vermin and woodlander alike.

So absorbed was he in these ruminations that he failed to heed the creaking of the suddenly taut bell rope, or the first betraying sway of the Matthias bell upon its axle.

The unexpected striking of heavy clapper against sonorous alloy assailed his frail ears like a physical blow, sending him to his knees in a grip of panicked, vertiginous nausea. Not even his paws clamped over his flattened ears could keep the booms and bongs from forcing their way through with eye-watering vehemence, and his reeling mind took him back to that day on the western shores when Tratton's terrible new weaponry first inflicted this damage upon him, and to a later day at Salamandastron when further stormpowder assault made him realize he would never be able to withstand such an aural tumult again. The concussions now - ring after ring after ring - did not jar the bones or drive the breath from the body as the searats' explosions did, but the effect on him, here and now, was no less of an ambush, and no less traumatic. From his knees he glared up at the twin bells, now both swinging and singing with utter abandon, with a baleful glare of pure enmity, as if these pealing objects were a personal enemy. He wondered whether there was any way to reach out and make them stop, to silence them and end their attack, but even in his frantic state he realized how futile any such attempt would be from up here. There would be only one deliverance from this nightmare, and that was to flee.

Rising to his shaky footpaws, he staggered toward the stairs and half-stumbled down them, occasionally colliding with the wall as he went, never letting his paws leave his covered ears. Clearly this was a malicious act directed at him, and he contemplated reaching for his blade before remembering he'd surrendered his arms to the Redwallers. He only hoped he'd be in any shape to deal with whatever beasts waited for him at the bottom.

Halfway down, he realized the ringing had stopped. Risking his tortured hearing, he lowered his paws to improve his balance and pounded down the remaining steps, only to be greeted in the base of the tower by the least likely of culprits.

Vanessa, her face still adorned with mock badger stripes, stood paws akimbo, staring the larger creature down like a stern schoolmaster scolding a naughty student.

"Have I got your attention now?" she taunted.

Snarling, he advanced on her. Vanessa danced backward, but only enough to carry her over the threshold and out onto the lawn before he took savage hold of her arm. "Did you ring those bells?!" he demanded.

Vanessa's striped face clouded to match his own. "I know why you're here ... kidnapper!"

Some of Matowick's rage melted away, to be replaced by alarmed bewilderment. "Wha- ... but how ... "

"Lissen up, flufftail! If you wanna snatch Lattie the Ratty, you'll only get one chance ... so you'd better stay on your toes!" As she spoke, Vanessa raised her own leg and stamped down hard on Matowick's paw, driving her elbow at the same moment hard into his stomach and twisting to break free of his grasp in an expert warrior's move. Liberated from his hold, she darted away toward the gatehouse cottage.

Gasping and wincing, Matowick collected himself to give chase - but before he'd gone three steps he felt a massive pair of paws latch onto his shoulders. The next thing he knew, he lay flat on his back, staring up at the sky ... and at Badgermum Maura, glowering down at him.

"Am I mistaken, Captain, or did I just see you assaulting our former Abbess?"

"Former ... Abbess?" Matowick's entire world spun from the triple assault he'd endured from menacing bells, aggressive mousemaid and badger blindside. He made no attempt to get up, knowing he'd simply topple over again.

"Yes, that was Vanessa ... although it looks like she's sporting a new facial style these days. Tell me, if I hadn't come out to investigate why the bells were ringing, just how thoroughly were you planning to thrash her?"

"She ... rang the bells ... "

"Well, there's no law against that. And Nessa is full of mischief in her current state. Accepting her the way she is is part of the deal when you dwell at Redwall. And, Captain?"

"Yes ... ?"

"If I ever catch you treating another Redwaller the way you were just treating Vanessa, I will stuff your tail down your throat. And you won't like it. Am I clear?"

Matowick nodded.

"Very good." Maura searched across the lawns, but it seemed Vanessa had vanished once more. The badger turned and headed back toward Great Hall. "Feel free to join us for lunch - the damson crumble is especially delicious today." And with that she ambled away, leaving Matowick lying on his back, gazing skyward.

00000000000

Bostany eyed the quivering mass on her plate with jaundiced suspicion as her first bite of the stuff played across her tongue. "What is this? I don't like it."

"Bostany!" Hekko hissed. "Your manners!"

Geoff forced a patient smile at the adolescent badger's indelicate forthrightness. "It's belltower pudding, my child. Friar Hugh whipped it up just for all our newest visitors. I'm sorry if it isn't to your taste."

She continued to regard the dessert before her with disfavor. "What's in it?"

"Um ... well, I don't know all the ingredients off the top of my head. Pudding-y things, I would imagine."

"Pudding-y things?" Bostany almost rolled her eyes.

"If you like I can call Hugh out here, and I'm sure he'll be happy to - "

"Don't bother." Bostany dropped her spoon onto her platter with a rude clatter. "I'm full."

"As you wish. Nobeast at Redwall is forced to eat what they don't wish to."

"Except for certain youngbeasts," Metellus put in with a mischievous grin directed at his sullen cousin. "You should see the epic struggle when Mother Maura has to force them to eat all their vegetables!"

Geoff, having already devoted much time to the mouse and vole clans of Deakyne and Neblett, had decided to set aside this meal for the benefit of Lord Sodexo and his family, bidding them to share the head of the main table with him in Great Hall. Metellus, being a distant relation of the southern Badger Lord, had of course been invited too, and now the Abbot mouse found himself seated amongst the much larger creatures.

Their conversation had already covered Sodexo and Hekko's wish that Bostany remain behind at Redwall after the two of them moved on, so as to profit and prosper from the benefits of Abbey schooling. It became abundantly clear that Bostany, for whatever reason, dreaded such a prospect every bit as much as her parents welcomed it. Now, with her difficult attitude plainly on display to nobeast's pleasure, the adults moved on to other topics.

"I deeply regret that Redwall quite frankly has little to spare at present in the way of trade and exchange," Geoff lamented to Sodexo. "Well do we know and appreciate that your honey is a premium product fit to command a premium price, and we have always traded you for it accordingly. Now, however, we are short on just about everything. Rooms, beds, cloth and linens, food and drink - well, Balla's cellars still maintain healthy stocks, thanks to the seasons of inventory she has laid in there, but that's about the only part of Redwall which still boasts a surplus adequate to easily meet our current population challenges. If you might perhaps satisfy yourself with a tour down there later, to pick what you wish as payment for your honey ... "

Sodexo waved a paw and shook his head. "Nonsense, Abbot Geoff. I travelled here expecting the usual affairs of trade, but if I have caught Redwall at a crossroads of need, I would hardly be any friend to this Abbey at all if I were to demand the typical compensation for my wares. At the very least, I should gift you with two pots of my honey just for the courtesy of your hospitality at such a time as this ... although, if you are to put up with my daughter for the better part of a season or more, half my present stocks might prove a fairer deal."

"Ha ha," Bostany deadpanned with total lack of mirth. "May I be excused now?"

"If you wish," Hekko conceded with a sigh. The younger badger pushed her chair back and rose, stalking away from the table and out of Great Hall as the others watched her leave.

"What is her problem?" Metellus asked.

"School is her problem - as in, she insists she needs none, whereas my wife and I stand equally adamant that she does. I trust her behavior just now shows where the truth lies. I am a Badger Lord, and if Bostany is to blossom into the Badger Lady of her heritage, she will need to learn to comport herself with the proper decorum. She needs an education I could not provide for her in the Southern Glades. She needs Redwall. And as much as she might prefer to while away the rest of her youth in carefree, leisurely pursuits, the time has come for her to learn some responsibility, from responsible beasts."

"We will be more than happy to have her," Geoff assured Sodexo. "There is always space in our classrooms for anybeast who cares to participate - and even for those who don't. Bostany would hardly be the first unwilling or grudging pupil our instructors have had to deal with. I'm sure it will work out fine."

"Thank you, Abbot Geoff, although I am hopeful that just being at Redwall for a season or two might be enough, even should she prove too willful to keep in formal classes. There is much she can learn from merely observing how a large, cooperative community conducts itself, and from being a part of the day to day life of the Abbey. If she cannot be taught what she needs to know from the pages of a book or at the point of a stylus, perhaps she can still absorb it just by being surrounded by it day and night, from creatures who can instill such positive values in her."

"As I say, Lord, we will be more than willing to do whatever we can in this regard. And it's not like she won't have any of her own kind around her, between Maura and Metellus."

"Yes, that should be a help, I imagine. Now, getting back to the other matter we were discussing, I consider myself a friend of Redwall, and as such would be more than willing to suspend my usual trade arrangements, given your current situation. My honey is yours for the asking, in whatever quantity you desire or require, and I will ask nothing in return."

"That is ... very generous of you, Lord. You would surely earn Redwall's longstanding gratitude for such a selfless gesture."

"I could hardly do elsewise. More than this, I can return to the Southern Glades and be back at your gates by season's end with an entire caravan of mouse carts and shrew carts and hedgehog carts and otter carts, loaded with whatever provisions and supplies you need to tide you over through this crisis." Sodexo paused a moment. "I can also bring back defenders, by the score or even by the hundred, if you feel they may be needed to safeguard this Abbey. You need only say the word."

Geoff seemed thrown by this last offer. "Uh, I don't think that will be necessary, Lord. We have the Long Patrol, and the squirrels of the Mossflower Patrol, and our otters, and the Guosim as well."

"Half your otters, as I understand it, are currently assigned to the quarry, along with all your moles, and half the Guosim as well. Your forces seem divided to me. Are you certain you have enough here to discourage an incursion - or to properly deal with one should it occur?"

"I am confident that we do, Lord - although I could not envision the Gawtrybe attempting any act so brazen, no matter how much they might wish to have those rats out of Redwall. And even if more defenders were to be desired, wherever would we quarter them all? No, I do not think adding any more armed creatures to this situation would be wise; if anything, that's what we have too many of already, on both sides. We need cooler heads, not more bows and blades. As to your offer of provisions and supplies, that is something I may wish to consider. Let me think on that while we see what the next day or two holds, and we can decide at that time. I'm sure you and Lady Hekko will wish to enjoy our hospitality for at least that much longer before you move on."

"That we will, Abbot Geoff. And your counsel is indeed wise; the passage of time does often present solutions of their own accord, without any drastic action or measures needing to be taken by anybeast. We will bide our time here awhile, and see whether the situation may grow less tense in the days ahead. The course of events may often surprise, and not just to the bad, but to the good as well."

Away at a small side table in Great Hall, Lady Mina sat with the visiting Gawtrybe. Given what she'd learned from Matowick the night before, she decided it would be best to avoid mingling with the other Redwallers as much as she could. Her cause was unwittingly aided by Alex, who'd by all accounts stayed up all night while Mina (mostly) slumbered, and now he dozed up in their chambers while she went about her daily affairs. Other Abbeybeasts might whisper and gossip about married beasts maintaining a schedule that kept them from being in their shared bed at the same time, but Mina cared not one whit for whatever such tongue flappers might say. For now, this arrangement worked to her advantage, and she fully intended to encourage it for as long as she could. Matowick's mission mattered more than anything else at the moment; once it was successfully completed, then she could focus on how - or whether - she would win back her husband.

That was her plan, at any rate. But these days, plans had a habit of changing at the drop of an acorn - or the ring of a bell. Thus it would prove when Matowick, still rattled from his encounters with Vanessa and Maura at the belltower, staggered into Great Hall and made his way to their table. Mina stared at the disheveled officer while the other squirrels slid aside to make room for him alongside her. "Captain, you look like you've seen a ghost!"

Glancing around to make sure nobeast else could hear, he said to her in a low, urgent voice, "She knows!"

"Who knows? And knows what?"

"The Abbess! She knows why we're here!"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"The Abbess called me a kidnapper," Matowick hissed. "She said that if I want to snatch Lattie the Ratty - her exact words - I'd only get one chance! She knows, Lady!"

"But, how? How could she know?"

"She must have been listening to us last night! That's the only time I've uttered so much as one breath of my true purpose since stepping through the Abbey gates. There's no other explanation!"

"I don't see how that's possible. I closed the door tightly, and we spoke softly. Even if she had her ear pressed to the door the entire time ... "

"How she managed it doesn't matter now," Matowick said. "She knows, and she'll tell! I tried to stop her, but she attacked me!"

"She ... attacked you?" Mina repeated, incredulous. "Nessa attacked you?"

"Aye, Lady - with moves ferocious and assured enough to do any seasoned paw-to-paw fighting beast proud. She's stronger than she looks - would have to be, to have rung those bells the way she did."

"That was Nessa ringing the bells? I saw the Abbot send Maura out to see what that was all about, but when she came back in just now, nothing seemed amiss ... "

Matowick nodded. "I was up in the belltower making a survey of the grounds when she started ringing them. It was almost as if she knew about my ear troubles - again, she must have heard me telling you about them last night! I've told nobeast else at Redwall! It was an attack! She meant to cause me pain!"

Mina mulled this over. "Wait a moment - how did you even know it was the Abbess? She's not come out of hiding since your arrival yesterday. Did she identify herself?"

"No, she didn't. I had no clue who she was until that Badgermum told me."

Mina's eyes widened in alarm. "Maura was there too?"

"You could say that. Put me flat on my back when I tried to go after the Abbess."

"Did she hear what Vanessa said? About knowing why you're here?"

"I ... I don't think so. She didn't act like she did. But I can't be sure ... "

Mina's eyes sought out Maura, and found the Badger Mother sitting with some of the Abbey children, presiding over their usual antics like it was just another day at Redwall. Her searching gaze then went to Geoff at the main table, but he seemed deep in normal conversation with the visiting badgers and not unduly worried about anything ... or looking her way with suspicion.

"Okay," she told Matowick, "the important thing now is not to panic. If anybeast at Redwall had to find out about your mission, we should be thanking the seven fates and all four seasons it's Vanessa. She's been more erratic than ever lately, hiding herself away most of the time where nobeast else can find her. She's probably not likely to tell anybeast what she knows - or thinks she knows - and even if she tried, there's a good chance she'd not make herself understood, or be believed if she did. I think we may be safe."

"That's an awful lot of maybes and ifs, Lady."

Mina looked him in the eye. "So what do you propose? That you leave the Abbey, abandon your mission?"

"That is not an option."

"Of course it isn't. So you'll proceed as originally planned, unless or until you are called out - in which case, I will likely be expelled from the Abbey along with you and your squirrels for my complicity in this. But if it does come to such a pass, we will wait for the Abbey leaders to force the issue. Until then, getting Latura for Lord Urthblood supersedes all else. Seize her if you can, and if something gets in the way ... well, we'll deal with that if and when it happens. But completing your mission takes top priority. If you can, you must."

Matowick digested this, then nodded. "Of course, Lady."

"Good." She passed him a bowl of fruit salad. "Here, now eat something. It will look suspicious if you don't."

Matowick put a paw to his stomach, still tender from where Vanessa had so savagely elbowed him. "With all due respect, Lady, I don't have much of an appetite."