CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE
If Matowick's fellow Gawtrybe thought to protest this treatment of their commander, Maura's towering presence and grumbled half-threats kept them from acting on their impulses. She may not have been a Badger Lord (or Lady) proper, but their seasons of serving under Urthblood had instilled in the Northlanders an almost instinctual respect toward that species, especially badgers who invoked the authority of their station, as Maura did now. Thus did she and Alexander successfully march Matowick down to Cavern Hole while the other Abbey leaders made their way to assemble there as well.
"Gee," the Gawtrybe Captain remarked laconically as he glanced at the corridor walls passing by him, "most creatures would consider themselves privileged to be guests of Redwall. Somehow the privilege escapes me at the moment."
"We'll listen to what you have to say with an open mind," Maura told the Northlands squirrel. "What you tell us will determine just how much privilege you'll get to enjoy around here - or whether you're even still a guest at Redwall at all."
Shortly thereafter, Matowick found himself seated at the central table in Cavern Hole, Alex and Maura still flanking him as they helped themselves to chairs of their own. Geoff took his customary place at the table's head, Winokur to one side of him and Arlyn to the other as the somewhat bleary-eyed Clewiston rounded out the roster of Abbey leaders. Present as well were the three rats Alex had suggested be summoned - Truax, Harth and Latura - along with Patreese, who'd been included to provide an anchor for his oft-adrift daughter. The four rats sat across from Matowick, in a perfect placement to stare him down - which two of them did, while Patreese looked decidedly out of his element as he so often did, and Latura just let her gaze and attention wander off in her usual distracted manner.
Before Geoff or any of the others could begin the proceedings, Matowick returned Harth and Truax's cold glares and stated, "I suppose it's just as well that they're here. This is all about rats, after all. It always was."
"And what do you mean by that, exactly?" Geoff leaned forward in his chair, taking from Matowick's tone that some heretofore veiled revelation might be about to be spoken.
"Well, it's obvious, isn't it? Lord Urthblood ultimately doesn't care what creatures you shelter here, and he certainly doesn't care to insert himself into Abbey affairs which would normally not involve him directly. But what he does care about, and most deeply, is the Accord with Tratton - the one that freed all of the searats' woodlander slaves, and turned a ruinous war into a fragile peace. That peace is still fragile, and could collapse at the slightest misstep or miscalculation by either side.
"I know what you're going to say, because I've already heard it myself, and so apparently has every Gawtrybe who's visited Redwall since this campaign was made known. You were not signatories to the Accord, you were not consulted about it, and you see no reason nor feel any compunction to observe it within these walls. That's all well and good, as far as it goes. If what went on inside Redwall held no bearing on the lands beyond, Lord Urthblood would be absolutely content to look the other way and allow you to conduct your affairs as you please. In this case, however, your actions do bear upon much larger issues, and that is a problem. The very problem I've been dispatched to address, in fact."
"And what does he plan to do about it?" Alex challenged. "He's already got us under a virtual siege, with you Gawtrybe murdering any rat who tries to reach the safety of this Abbey, and those who are already here being made all but prisoners who dare not step one foot outside our gates. What's next? An actual assault on Redwall?"
Truax continued to glare at Matowick. "We served t'gether up in th' Northlands, 'member? Helped you an' Urthblood tame 'em, me 'n' me brigade did. An' then 'ee turns 'round an' betrays us like this ... an' you jus' go right along with 'im! Didn't seasons o' comradeship unner arms count fer anything? How could 'ee do it? How could you? I might be th' one who's hadta give up th' title o' captain, but I deserve it a lot more'n you do!"
"So far," Geoff broke in, "you've not said anything we didn't already know, or told us anything we haven't been told this season by other Gawtrybe. Do you truly carry anything new, or are we still at the same stubborn impasse?"
"Of course I bring a new proposal, else my journey here would have been pointless. I had hoped to spend another day or two gauging the temperament of this Abbey and all its current residents before broaching the substance of my mission, but circumstances being what they are, I may as well get to it without further delay.
"If this present state of affairs was strictly between Redwall and Lord Urthblood, he might be perfectly willing to grant you the kind of leeway you would prefer, and pursue the matter no more. However, another key player figures in this equation: Tratton. Now, we may argue until our ears turn blue whether Lord Urthblood was morally justified in promising the rats of the lands to the Searat Empire as a condition for peace, but that ship has sailed, the Accord and its provisions are accomplished fact, and we are left with how things are rather than how we would like them to be. And in that light, with the preservation of the Accord and the peace it has brought us - including, I must remind you, the liberation of all woodlander slaves in searat bondage - as the top priority on our minds, the question becomes not so much whether Lord Urthblood believes your sheltering of these rats violates the letter and spirit of the Accord, but whether Tratton believes it. And, if he does, will he consider this cause for renewing his war against Salamandastron - and, ultimately, perhaps against all Mossflower."
"Tratton concerns us far less than what certain other beasts have been doing far closer to our home," Geoff said, staring over his spectacles at Matowick.
"Perhaps he should," the Gawtrybe Captain countered. "What we have been doing here in Mossflower constitutes just one phase of the overall campaign, and that campaign stands as just one aspect of a much larger security policy for all the lands. Tratton has his spies, and they are not confined to the coastlands, or the North. It is not impossible that news of Redwall's actions has already reached his ears, or those of powerful searats who could cause great trouble, should they deem the situation here a violation of the Accord. There is more to the world than Redwall and Mossflower, Abbot, and you may soon find your insular, parochial outlook being shattered by wider conflicts and intrigues reaching in to affect you here, whether you wish it or not."
"I'd say they already have, and Tratton hasn't had to lift a paw to make it happen - you and Lord Urthblood have done a perfectly fine job at that all by yourselves. And as for our views being 'insular and parochial,' we might be more worldly than you give us credit for. Worldly enough, at least, to recognize when one of our own guests insults us. If this is how you treated with the leaders of Noonvale, it's little wonder that Urthblood and his forces aren't welcome there!"
"And I still haven't heard anything to explain why Mina suddenly got it into her mind to slay one of our guests," said Alex. "At least I assume it was one of our guests, and not a full-fledged Abbeybeast? Please enlighten us."
"Sure, it was one of us!" Truax accused. "Me, or Harth, or Lattie! Who else could she have wanted dead so bad?"
Alex looked to the rats. "Where were each of you this afternoon, when this happened? That might help us determine who she was aiming at."
"I was in the orchard, conversin' with my fellow former Cap'n Grayfoot. He's still an old friend, even if some o' my other fellow cap'ns stabbed me in th' back." Truax glared at Matowick as he spoke these words. "Knowin' th' way Gawtrybe c'n shoot, Mina coulda put a shaft squarely 'tween my eyes, even from that distance."
"An' I was on th' lawns with my rats, reviewin' their readiness," Harth said. "Any number o' times I prob'ly put myself right in 'er sights ... "
"And what about Lattie?" Alex asked Patreese. "Where was she in all this?"
"Uh, up on th' wall, I think we were," the rat patriarch replied. "Don't reckon we coulda been her target, not all th' way up there."
"You don't know Gawtrybe very well, do you?" Truax taunted Patreese.
Alex turned back to Matowick. "So, which one was it?"
"I don't know," the Northlander replied, clearly flustered. "It likely was one of them, but why she got it into her head ... what possessed her to take such action that would undercut my own diplomatic mission here ... I don't know. I just don't know."
"Lyin' badred's lyin'!" Latura playfully accused Matowick. "He knows, he knows!"
Several pairs of suspicious eyes narrowed on the squirrel. "It's a pity we weren't able to corral Vanessa," Geoff lamented. "Maura says she was standing right over Mina after the bow broke. Nessa might have been able to tell us who Mina was targeting, or at least which direction she was aiming in. Hopefully somebeast else who witnessed these events will come forward and solve this mystery for us. I can't believe Vanessa was the only one who saw Mina draw her bow; it was right out on the Abbey lawns, after all!"
"What I do know," Matowick went on, "is that whatever Lady Mina was thinking, it would have jeopardized my entire purpose in coming here. It's bad enough that this near-tragedy has forced us to this meeting before I was ready. If she'd succeeded in slaying somebeast, I likely never would have been given a chance to tell you what I was sent here to tell you."
"And what, precisely, was that?" Geoff prompted, growing impatient with the squirrel's long-winded evasiveness.
"A very simple and logical proposal, authorized by Lord Urthblood personally. If the issue is whether the searats have any quarrel over what is going on here, then we'll just have to ask them, won't we? There must be searat involvement if we are to know where all concerned parties stand on this matter."
"Involvement?" Geoff probed, with some clear trepidation.
"Of course. We propose having a delegation of Tratton's representatives visit Redwall, to meet with you directly and judge the situation for themselves. If you can convince them - and they can convince Tratton - that granting these rats sanctuary according to Redwall's rules constitutes no violation of the Accord, then the matter may be all settled to everybeast's satisfaction."
"Settled?" Truax pounced, the first of the incredulous listeners to voice a reaction to this astounding proposition. "You mean, we'll be free to leave this Abbey an' come 'n' go as we please, an' no more rats'll be rounded up an' marched off to slavery, an' all the ones you've taken so far will be released an' returned home?"
"I never said that. The Accord must still be honored, of course. Our patrols will remain in place to prevent any more rats from reaching Redwall and thus exacerbating the situation, and all rats in wider Mossflower will still be subject to resettlement. My business here concerns only those rats currently within these walls, and what we must do to - "
"Then it's no settlement at all!" Truax exploded, cutting Matowick off. "It still leaves us prisoners an' refugees inside this Abbey, an' ev'ry other rat in the lands far worse off than we are! If you think we can accept that, ye're dead wrong!"
"I am negotiating with the Abbey leaders, not with you," Matowick coldly told his former comrade-in-arms. "Your fates have already been sealed. And if you imagine you still have any freedom or say in the matter, you're welcome to step outside and argue the point with the Gawtrybe patrolling nearer Mossflower."
"You may dismiss Captain Truax's views," Geoff said to Matowick, "but you cannot dismiss mine, if you are genuine about negotiating with us in good faith. And I concur with what he just said. Even if we were to agree to allow a searat delegation inside Redwall, and they were to accept our granting of sanctuary to these woodland rats as something they could live with, what would that change? Nothing, as I see it. It is not the rats we have already taken in who are the problem, but the conditions outside our walls which drove them to us in the first place. Unless that is addressed, I see no solution."
"Abbot, we are talking at cross purposes here. The resettlement campaign will continue; that is not open to discussion, even were I authorized to negotiate at that level. This is about the preservation of the Accord, and the preservation of peace. Allowing searat representatives inside Redwall may help us save what so many goodbeasts gave their lives to achieve. Will you at least consider things from that angle?"
"You speak of peace, Captain, but that peace comes at the price of an entire species. For rats, there is no peace under Urthblood's new order - and to my mind, that's no kind of real peace at all."
"So you would choose war instead? You would let a policy of Lord Urthblood's which you find personally distasteful jeopardize the agreement between major powers which holds calamity at bay? You already shelter nearly two hundred rats within your walls, yet you would turn away a pawful more - and not just rats, but envoys who could avert catastrophe? Think what you will of Lord Urthblood, but where is the wisdom in that?"
"I do find much about the current situation distasteful," Geoff said to Matowick, "and I'm not sure where this proposal you've brought us sits on that scale. I'm afraid you may have wasted a trip here, Captain, because I see this making no difference whatsoever. Does anybeast else here wish to weigh in on the matter?"
"I see it makin' a blinkin' difference," Colonel Clewiston offered. "It gets searats past our gates, without 'em having to raise a single blade or fire a shot to gain entry. Bad 'nuff we're lettin' His Bloodiness's minions in here an' offering them our spankin' hospitality, but searats? That's beyond th' bloomin' pale! We always s'pected Urthblood would try 'n' team up with his old pal Tratton somehow, an' now here we are: a treaty between the two of them, followed up by a scheme to infiltrate Redwall itself with their scurvy, bilgewater claws! What clearer proof do we need?"
Matowick showed his exasperation. "We're not talking about a military contingent here, but a mission of a pawful of searats at most! And you would only have to let in those you choose! One, or two, if that suits you."
"We'll choose not to let in any, thank you very much." Clewiston turned to Geoff. "Searat eyes must never see the inside of Redwall, Abbot. No tellin' where it would lead, tho' ruination's my best bally guess."
"You're reasoning like a fool, Colonel," Matowick challenged. "Many Gawtrybe have been in Redwall this season, as well as Northland shrews. We already know this Abbey inside and out. For that matter, Lord Urthblood himself has dwelt here among you for a time. If we were truly your enemies, and if we were truly conspiring with Tratton against you, there's no logistical edge a diplomatic delegation of searats could gain that we couldn't simply tell them ourselves. Such a mission would be utterly pointless from that standpoint. So surely you can see that's not why any searats would be visiting you."
Geoff ran his gaze around the table. "What do any of the rest of you have to say on this question? Arlyn? Wink? Maura? Alex?"
The Badgermum answered first. "I can't speak to letting searats into our home - that's your decision to make, Abbot. But if you do, I'll stick to them like glue, and pound them into the ground if they so much as quiver a whisker the wrong way."
"That's very diplomatic of you," Matowick said to Maura, still mindful of his own treatment at her paws this day, and suspecting she'd do just as she promised.
"If it were up to me," declared Alex, "I'd show the Captain and his Gawtrybe our gates, and before nightfall. We've heard him out, and if this really is what he came all this way to tell us, then he truly did waste a trip. And he still hasn't been honest with us about who Mina was trying to shoot. Lattie says he knows, and I'm inclined to believe her over him."
Matowick scowled at his fellow squirrel, deliberating how to best respond to this insult. "Then why don't you ask her, if she knows everything?"
Alex and several of the others looked to the ratmaid, contemplating doing exactly that, but they found Latura staring away from all of them, toward the short staircase leading down from Great Hall. "Hey, look who's here!" she burst out.
All heads turned to follow her gaze, and all beheld Vanessa standing on the middle step, peering in at their assembly. Most there were seeing her in her badger makeup for the first time, and weren't quite sure what to make of it.
"Oh, dear fur!" Matowick muttered under his breath, the ringing in his ears suddenly louder than before, and distractingly so.
"Vanessa, there you are!" Geoff exclaimed, as surprised as anybeast to see her here, as well as by her appearance. "Would you come down here please? We've a matter we're trying to settle that you may be able to help us with, and we'd like to ask you a few questions."
Nessa held to her spot, idly licking honey off her paws and looking down at them as if the whole thing was a play being staged for her amusement.
Maura pushed her chair back with a heavy scrape and rose to her footpaws. "I'll take care of this, Abbot."
No sooner had the badger moved toward the stairs than Vanessa turned tail and scampered up the steps toward Great Hall. Maura gave chase, moving with surprising speed for a creature her size, and it looked for a change as if she might capture the wayward former Abbess without much trouble. But, as she reached the top step, with only her lower half if even that much visible to those seated at the table, she came to a standstill, as if confounded by what she'd encountered. After a few motionless moments, Maura turned and stomped back down to rejoin the council. "Sorry, Abbot, but she pulled another of her famous disappearing acts. Honestly, I don't know how she does it!"
"That's all right, Maura," Geoff assured her, half-risen from his own chair. "You're hardly the only Redwaller who's had no luck in pinning that little whirlwind down, and if you - uh, excuse me?" Geoff interrupted himself upon seeing that Latura had stood and vaguely started off after Vanessa herself. "Were you leaving us?"
"She's real odd," the ratmaid said, by no way of reply at all. "Like she's not all there."
"Look who's talkin'," Harth muttered to himself.
"Yes, one could say that about her," Winokur remarked from the opposite end of the table, all but drowning out Harth's caustic jibe. Both Geoff and the otter Recorder stood and came around to Latura, unable to tell whether she might be in need of assistance or reassurance, as their own afflicted Abbess had so often been this season. "It's a pity she ran away again. We really could have used her here, not only to answer questions about Mina but also about how the two of you seem to share some of the same insights."
"Dunno 'bout that. Really queer ... don't think I ever seen another beast like 'er ... "
"In that you most likely are correct," Geoff assessed with a sad nod. "We've been trying to get the two of you together in the same room almost since you first arrived at Redwall, and I thought we might finally be about to do just that. But, once again, Vanessa has refused to cooperate. I really do think we might be able to learn something important if we could just sit you both down at the same table. There's a mystery here, and I suspect the two of you lie at the very center of it."
As the Abbot spoke, Latura's eyes slowly widened, and her face went ashen. Even as Geoff finished his last sentence, she reached out and touched him on the right arm, just below the shoulder. Glancing down at her extended paw with raised eyebrows, he prompted, "Yes?"
Latura slowly traced her paw across the breast of Geoff's brown habit, angling slightly downward and stopping at his left arm, slightly above the wrist. Then she shuddered. "Can't talk t' you no more," she snapped off, refusing to meet his gaze as she ducked around him and Winokur and raced for the stairs.
"Well, that was quite rude," Geoff castigated as he stood watching Lattie disappear up the steps just as Vanessa had. "That maid has no conception how to behave in polite company!"
Winokur regarded Geoff with concern. "Abbot, I think she just ... I mean ... "
At the table, Harth and Truax traded a long knowing glance, then stood as one. Patreese, seeing himself as the last remaining rat seated, quickly followed suit. "We've heard all we hafta hear from this brushtail, an' we don't need t' hear no more," Harth declared. "You folk let searats in or don't as it pleases ye, but it'll improve our lot none, no matter what comes of it. We're done here." And with that, the three rats joined Latura in abandoning the council.
"Gotta say, much as it pains me to do so, I agree with th' stinkers," Clewiston announced. "Urthblood's proposal isn't a ruse I think we should have any flippin' thing to do with. That's my two acorns, an' I'll stick by em."
"I'm not crazy about the idea of searats inside Redwall either," Maura concurred. "Unless we could somehow know it would do something to solve this entire mess, I'd not want to take any such risk."
"And you know where I stand," said Alex, glowering at Matowick.
"I'm on the fence about it myself," Arlyn admitted. "What say you, Wink? Wink?"
"Huh, what?" The otter still stood distractedly staring after the departed rats. "Uh, sure, I'll go with whatever the rest of you say ... "
At the top of the stair in Great Hall, Harth paused and said to Truax, "What passed down there 'tween Lattie an' the Abbot - did that look to you what I think it looked like?"
"You've known that ratmaid longer'n I have, so you tell me. But yeah, I caught it, even if it went over that stuffy mouse's head."
"Didn't get past that otter, tho'. That Wink's a sharp one. Didja see 'is face after Lattie ran out? Think 'ee saw it th' same as we did."
"Yeah, but what does it mean?"
Harth regarded Patreese as the older rat caught up to them. "I think it means things 'round 'ere are a lot more dangerous than we realized, an' we better stay on our toes an' be ready fer anything, 'cos th' one givin' the orders today might not be th' one givin' 'em tomorrer!"
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A short time later, after the rats had moved on, the rest of the councilbeasts made their way up into Great Hall, except for the drowsy Clewiston, who returned to his quarters in the Long Patrol warrens through the Cavern Hole connecting tunnel. Alex no longer kept a literal grip on Matowick, although he did stick close by the Captain's side and continue to regard the Gawtrybe squirrel with open suspicion. Latura's odd behavior and the rats' premature withdrawal from the meeting may have helped obscure the fact that Matowick continued to withhold the secret he clearly shared with Mina, but Alex had not forgotten that detail. Not for a moment.
"I'm not going to make any decision right here on the spot about your staying in Redwall," Geoff told the Northlander as they gained the top stair. "But I'm afraid we'll have to find new accommodations for you and your company, considering what happened to Mina today. It was one thing allowing you to have the spare beds up there when Arlyn's only patient was a ratwife who'd already given birth, but Mina's state is far more serious, and she may need attention during the night."
"Of course, Abbot. Our High Lady will naturally deserve and need uninterrupted rest, at the very least. And since there are now no longer enough beds for all of us - "
"Especially since I'll be sitting by Mina's bedside," Alex put in defiantly.
"Aherm. As I was saying, Abbot, we'll be perfectly happy to spend this night out on the lawns - on the northern grounds, of course, where we'll be far from the rats, so as not to cause any trouble. Less open area there, but then, I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding room for a mere half dozen vagabond travellers, will you?"
"If you're sure. You could always stay in Cavern Hole. Now that most of the former slaves are off at the quarry, goodness knows we've got space enough down there."
"Hmm. Perhaps I'll take you up on that, Abbot. I'm confident that wherever we lay our heads to our bedrolls within your splendid home, it will suit us well."
"You don't have to commit right away, since it's not even dinnertime yet - as we can see from Friar Hugh's staff, who are still clearing away the last of the dishes from the noon meal and setting places for the evening one. In fact, here's Hugh right here, and Balla too!"
Maura gave a smirk. "Something tells me our illustrious head chef and Cellarhog wouldn't be putting in appearances here if they weren't eager to hear what came of our discussion downstairs - assuming they weren't actually listening in on us from the top step, like a certain former Abbess I could name!"
The Friar mouse and hedgehog Cellar Keeper bustled over to the Abbey leaders, leaving their subordinates to carry on with the routine clearing and setting. "Well, it's rather odd that you mention Vanessa, Maura," Hugh remarked. "I was under the impression that you all wanted to get her and Latura together to see what would happen. I'd say you let the perfect opportunity slip through your paws. Balla and I were both wondering why you didn't just grab her and haul her down."
"If I could have, I would have," Maura said. "Unfortunately, when I chased her up the steps, she vanished, as she's so adept at doing these days. There was no trace of her by the time I got up here."
Balla and Hugh exchanged a perplexed glance between them, then looked back at the badger. "But, that ain't what happened t'all," Balla said.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Vanessa was standing right at the top of the stairs waiting for you," Hugh explained. "We both saw it. Then you just turned around and trudged back down to Cavern Hole, letting her run off without lifting a paw to stop her."
Maura drew herself up. "What are you prattling on about? No such thing ever happened!"
"Aye, marm, but it did," Balla insisted. "Just ask some of the other brothers and sisters, if'n you don't berlieve us - they saw it too!"
The badger looked to her Abbot. "Geoff, I swear she wasn't anywhere to be seen when I got up here! If she were, I'd have chased her down!"
Geoff seemed at a loss; never before could he recall an instance of esteemed Redwallers casting the same event in diametrically opposite accounts. Nodding to Balla and the Friar, he prompted, "Tell us, exactly what did you see?"
"Well," Hugh began, in his somewhat stiff and formal manner, "when Maura got up here, she and Vanessa just stood faced off for several long moments, neither of them moving. Nessa said something - just a few words, very brief she was - and then Mother Maura just turned and headed back downstairs, looking exasperated."
"That I certainly was," Maura concurred, "since she'd escaped me again. But I never traded any words with a mouse who wasn't there!"
Ignoring Maura's continued protests, Geoff asked, "What did Vanessa say to her?"
"Abbot, you don't believe - "
Geoff held up a paw to silence Maura.
"Um, we were too far away t' hear," replied Balla. "T'weren't loud, or long - just a few words, then they parted ways."
"Yes," Friar Hugh affirmed with a gaunt nod, "that's exactly what happened."
Everybeast there stared at Geoff as he puzzled over this latest conundrum. It was Winokur who finally posited, "You don't suppose Nessa can ... I mean ... "
"Yes, Wink, I suspect you and I are thinking the same thing. Now we know why Vanessa has been so hard to track down lately. Somehow or other, it appears she's learned how to become a master hypnotist!"