This is the climax of the story! After this point, things will start winding down, but we still have a ways to go until the overall end. In this chapter, Weylan explains his reasons for posing as Hood, and plans are made to spring the trap in the treasure cave. But then something unexpected happens... ;)
Chapter 34
Mattimeo and Weylan hurried through the abandoned vermin camp, heading to the meadow, both knowing time was short. And even though Mattimeo knew just how little time he had left, there were a hundred questions raging through his mind that were not going to leave him alone until they were answered.
"I don't get it, Weylan," he said to his otter friend, "why the elaborate ruse? Why pose for all this time as a vermin loyal to Toka? You must have a hundred chances where you could have ended it all!"
"Aye, so I did." Weylan admitted, looking around to double check that the camp was indeed empty. "But there was little I could do in that position anyway. If I did anythin' to get Toka suspicious, he'd kill me. Or, if I somehow managed to escape, kill you or Mokeet in vengeance. Couldn't let that 'appen, and besides, that's not wot I really wanted to do in the first place."
"Then what was it you were trying to do?" Mattimeo asked, as they found the coast clear and proceeded onward, leaving the camp and ducking into the shelter of the trees that surrounded the camp and the meadow.
"Well, back when we was ambushed by the horde, and we were on the run," Weylan began to explain, flapping the cloak he had used to keep his identity secret for so long out from underpaw, "I knew the plan was in jeopardy. We still needed to be followin' the horde until they reached the treasure, but they had caught on to us followin' 'em and would be on the lookout fer us. So I started thinkin' up a new plan. And when we stopped to catch our breaths, just before ye got knocked out, I got one."
"I dunno if ye noticed, Matti," Weylan continued as they stopped and started climbing over a large boulder that blocked their path. "But there was a rather large swamp near where we stopped to rest. I could smell it. And, as luck would 'ave it, the smell was remarkably like the odor the entire horde sports. I then got the idea of posin' as wot would later become Hood."
"See, as Hood, I could go where I pleased in the 'orde, learn wot I wanted, and no beast would suspect anythin' against me." Weylan continued, helping Mattimeo finish climbing over the boulder, "So, I took action to put meself into position to do that, by donnin' the travelin' cloak we brought, and rubbing some of that swamp mud on me to produce the smell of a vermin. Unless ye got a good look at me features, ye couldn't tell the difference."
"Okay." Mattimeo said, as they continued on again, "But why not let me know what you were doing, or going to do?"
"There wasn't time." Weylan said. "I knew that the vermin chasin' us was goin' to be on our tails agin very quickly. I wasn't even sure if I'd 'ave enough time to prepare to get meself in disguise, much less the both of us. Also, I think the 'orde would catch on to the plan if they found that in place of the two woodlanders suddenly appeared two vermin. So, I distracted ye, and knocked ye out when yore back was turned. That way, I could make it look like I, posin' as Hood, had caught ye. 'Twas much more believable that way, an' it fooled everyone, even Toka. Once in the 'orde, I could keep track of the 'orde's movements, made sure ye stayed safe, and even could spy on whomever I pleased."
"But why not tell me it was you under the hood, Weylan?" Mattimeo asked.
"Agin, at first, it was 'cause I didn't 'ave the time." Weylan said. "I wanted to tell ye, but I couldn't take the chance to tell ye and risk not havin' enough time to do it. Besides, if I told ye, ye'd most likely would've tried to convince me to let ye go under cover as well. Which I doubt would've worked, because the only sensible vermin to disguise ye as is a rat, and, to be honest, Matti, yore just a tad too small to make for a convincin' rat."
"After wards, though, once we were in our various places within the 'orde, I obviously had the time. But goin' to let ye know risked somebeast overhearin' and blowin' it all, even without the guards." Weylan explained. "And anyway, havin' ye uninformed had it's advantages, because then yore story sounded very believable."
"What about Martin's sword and our supplies?" Mattimeo asked.
"Safely hidden away near the swamp." Weylan replied. "If everythin' goes right 'ere, we can retrieve 'em on our way back."
They pressed onward for a few moments, then the otter abruptly stopped, and turned to face Mattimeo. "At any rate," Weylan said, apologetically, "Sorry to 'ave put ye through all of that."
"You meant well, Weylan." Mattimeo assured him. "Besides, at any rate, it's because of your actions that we might succeed. Toka still doesn't know what our trap is, and that we're both quite able to spring it. The only problem is that..."
But Weylan suddenly clamped a paw over his mouth, silencing him. Nervously, Mattimeo watched the otter scan the nearby woods, looking grim.
Pulling Weylan's paw off of his mouth, he looked around for anything wrong. "What is it?" Mattimeo asked quietly.
"I thought I saw..." Weylan began, but trailed off, realizing that nothing was out of the ordinary. "...somethin'."
Mattimeo looked around nervously. "If it was one of the hordesbeasts, they may have overheard our conversation." he said. "If so, then we may have only a short time before word gets out about us being around."
"Aye." Weylan replied distractedly, still looking around. "Aye, yore right. Lets go."
Mattimeo trudged forward again. Weylan hung back long enough to give the woodlands one last look before following. What he didn't see was that they were both being watched...
Mokeet gingerly lowered himself into the cavern, stepping onto the stone stairs just within the cavern. He glanced around as Toka followed him. He saw the steps continue downward, but eventually vanished into darkness, hiding whatever secrets they withheld from sight.
Toka suddenly poked Mokeet's rudder with his sword. "Keep moving." he growled.
Mokeet shot the warlord a glare, then continued on down the stairs, Toka making sure that the otter stood between him and any traps there might be. Finally, they reached a landing of sorts. Seeing nothing ahead of him but darkness, Mokeet stopped. Toka glanced around in the darkness, having better night vision than his prisoner as the horde started to file onto the landing behind them.
"There." Toka announced, suddenly, looking at a shelf carved into the rock wall. Sitting upon it was an aging lantern. Toka pointed at with his sword. "Get it." he ordered Mokeet. He wasn't taking any chances.
Slowly, Mokeet retrieved the lantern, and not needing instruction from Toka, went ahead and bent down to light it. Once lit, he picked it up and held it aloft so to light the cavern in it's entirety. Even Toka was in awe of the sight of the massive treasure the cavern held. The rest of the horde, whooping and cheering, did not hesitate to jump into the treasure, and soon were digging through it, fighting and looking over the choice items to keep for themselves.
Toka's concentration on Mokeet wavered, and soon the ferret was looking around at the treasure himself. For the moment, no one was paying attention to Mokeet. The otter used the opportunity to look around the cavern himself, but not at the treasure. He soon found the secret entrance he remembered Mattimeo mentioning, skillfully hidden from immediate view behind a pile of the more insignificant treasures. Mokeet's eyes then found the rope Mattimeo had also mentioned and followed it's path, carefully lining the wooden beams supporting the cave's roof, to see where it connected to.
His eyes fell upon it. So that was it. A simple, yet effective way to defeat Toka. And, providing that Toka and the horde rapidly filling the cave did not notice, the trap would very much work once sprung. There was only one problem.
Mokeet was in the line of fire as much as the rest of the horde.
Weylan and Mattimeo came to a stop near the end of the tree line, dividing Mossflower woods from the meadow, looking out at the hill in the center just as the last of the horde entered the treasure cave, minus the guards Toka had posted at it's entrance.
"They're all inside now." Mattimeo noted.
"Then the time to act is now." Weylan stated.
"Unfortunately, it's not that simple." Mattimeo stated. "Mokeet is in there, and is at risk of getting killed in the same trap we want to spring on Toka. And those guards are keeping watch over every portion of the meadow. If we were to head for the secret entrance, those guards would see us, and all is lost."
"Mayhaps Mokeet will do somethin' on 'is end." Weylan suggested.
"Perhaps, but he'd have to know exactly what to do, and he'd have to get himself out of harms way before doing it." Mattime said, thinking the problem through. "Maybe if we were to..."
But he stopped when the sound of a twig snapping suddenly rang out from behind. The two whirled around to face it. They saw something, but there was no denying it.
"Someone's following us." Weylan stated, looking around for the culprit.
"This isn't good." Mattimeo said, worried. "We have only a short time to enact this plan, and we have a good and innocent creature in the way, no means to trigger our trap, and somebeast is following us, and could possibly know information that could jeopardize everything."
"And it just got worse." Weylan announced dismayed, his eyes falling onto something to their right.
Mattimeo followed the otter's gaze, and nearly gasped.
Stumbling out of the woods not far from where they stood, looking very tattered and dirty, no doubt a result of being missing for several days, the weasel Grim raced out into the meadow. Ignoring the surprised shouts from the guards as they saw him, the former horde captain marched up the hill and vanished into the treasure cave...
The horde was very preoccupied with the treasure, all except for Toka, who surveyed it all from where he stood within arms reach of Mokeet, just in case the prisoner tried anything. The otter was rapidly working out a plan in his mind, weighing the ups and downs of it, wondering if it would work or not, or if there was any better way to do it.
But there wasn't one. He knew what he had to do.
Then a ripple of surprised shouts slithered through the cave as Grim suddenly made his appearance. Several of the hordesbeasts tried to get the weasel's attention, to greet him and inquire as to where he had been, but Grim had something more important on his mind, and went straight to the first creature he trusted, which was Knottail.
"Grim?" Knottail exclaimed, surprised to see his long-time friend here. "Where in the name of Ferahgo have yeh..."
But Grim cut Knottail off and began to rapidly sign out his message. Knottail followed along with Grim's motions, but kept trying to butt in.
"What do you mean, 'never mind?'" Knottail asked, annoyed, "You've been missing for over...wait, you overheard something?"
Suddenly, any creature in the cave that wasn't paying attention to Grim before this point now was, Toka and Mokeet included. Everyone suddenly saw that this was very important, and now everyone was trying to get a glimpse of Grim's signings to try and follow along with his silent narrative.
"What did you overhear?" Knottail asked, still speaking to Grim as Grim continued signing. "What plot? Mattimeo? You mean that mouse we caught...okay...and what about Hood? Wait, what? You mean..."
Grim made one final, almost decisive, motion with his paws. Knottail stared at it, slow to catch on.
"What do you mean it's a trap?" the weasel asked his friend almost innocently.
A ripple of murmurs broke out, and Toka, immediately understanding the statement, whirled onto Mokeet, the captive otter glaring back, knowing that the time to wait was up.
"This is for Jude." he told Toka sternly.
Toka let out a bellow of rage, somehow knowing what Mokeet was going to do, and swung his sword at the otter. But Mokeet jumped up and over the blade as it swung under his footpaws in a leap defiant of the otter's age and malnutrition. Latching both paws onto the rope hanging directly above him that would spring the trap, Mokeet pulled on it with all of his strength, using his body weight to add to the pull.
The rope as attached to a wooden beam supporting the arching roof of the cave. Over the years, it had worn and deteriorated to the point that it was loose. When the rope pulled on it, the beam sprung free, falling down to the ground, bringing the cave's roof with it...
Weylan and Mattimeo were just about to begin a desperate plan in which Weylan, posing as Hood, would enter the cave, and in a desperate gambit, would grab Mokeet, pull the otter to safety and spring the trap before all was revealed to the horde by Grim, when a low rumble rang out.
"What's that?" Mattimeo asked, puzzled.
Before Weylan could answer, a crumbling sound rang out, followed by a yell. The ground surrounding the entrance to the treasure cave and suddenly caved in, sending all of the guards stationed around it falling into the enlarged hole. As the quaking continued, the ground then caved into upon the guards trapped in the destroyed entrance. Then the entire hillside rumbled, cracked, then collapsed in a large crunch, sending up a massive cloud of dust.
Then, everything fell silent.