Chapter 4

During the riddle solving at Salamandastron, the capturing of the young mole by the weasel trackers, and the pie incident at Redwall, Rukkar was not having a good day. The four rats and the fox had not caught any more fish (in fact one rat had been eaten by a big pike), Greyfang's visions and dreams were clouded by a strange mouse in armor with a sword, and the two weasels Kagget and Cudder had not returned yet. Rukkar did not trust the trackers; if they were to show up with Arril's head, he would be surprised.

Kagget and Cudder were dragging the young mole along to serve as a slave for Rukkar, but it was almost two days march back to Rukkar's camp and the vermin might have moved camp while they returned. They had gotten water from the nearby stream and found several dozen blueberries, which they ate most of immediately and fed the rest to the captive mole. They drank freshwater, and Kagget dug a hole and had a nap while Cudder looked for something that would tell them where they were. All he found was some sharp-thorned plants and another deep hole. Cudder could not tell what was inside, but he found out and got a nasty shock when he heard slithering and something saying,

"Ssssetorusssss, come to me, weassssel, I will ssssshow you eternity."

The weasel dashed back to where Kagget was sleeping.

"Why'd you wake me up? Come here, you."

"Kagget, we've got to get outta here! There's an adder in a hole less than twenty yards away!"

"Then we've got to take the mole with us, an'—"

"Leave the mole! I don't care about it, but I do care about my life! Cummon, Kagget!"

Suddenly the weasels froze. They could hear more slithering and twigs breaking.

"Run!"

And the weasels ran as they never had before. They were too scared to turn back as their lives depended on it. They pounded across the forest for almost a mile before they slowed down.

"I think we lost 'em, mate!" said Kagget. But Cudder was not there.

"Cudder? Where are ye?" Kagget turned around and immediately began hyperventilating. The adder Setorus was there, with a dead Cudder in his poisonous fangs.

"Garrgh!" Kagget ran again, but only for a short distance before falling into a third sinkhole. The weasel was frightened close to death and had a broken leg from the fall. Setorus passed by the hole, barely a yard from it. Kagget was stuck in a deep hole with a broken leg.

The young mole had dug away from Setorus the adder a short distance and come up in a small clearing, barely ten feet away from a bunch of tents with a bunch of vermin camped in them. The young mole returned to digging, knowing what his goal was. Redwall Abbey.

The fourteen score vermin that Kagget and Cudder used to command had gone on with their mission, even though the two weasels were missing and the ferret Fattooth as well. Fattooth was thought to have turned to the Gorvim. "That traitor!" A stoat called Browntail said to himself. He wondered if Fattooth was giving information to the Gorvim. At that moment, however, Fattooth was not. Instead, he was having a duel to the death with Arril, because earlier he had insulted the rat Captain's intelligence at least twenty times in five minutes, and things had escalated quickly. The rat and the ferret were armed with a short sword each, and nobeast seemed to be winning.

Arril attacked with a roll, ending lying on the ground, then moving his legs, tripping Fattooth, and standing up. Fattooth was up in less than a second, swiping at Arril's sword paw. Arril saw it coming, and blocked with a clash of swords. Fattooth counterattacked with a sharp punch to the stomach with his non-sword paw, and Arril retaliated by launching himself at Fattooth. Fattooth swiftly put his sword out. Arril never knew what killed him; all he knew was that Fattooth was the one who did it.

Fattooth raised his sword in triumph, and it was not long before the rest of the vermin began cheering. However, a rat called Ripnose snuck up on Fattooth. It was over in a flash; Ripnose's sword went straight into the ferret's head, and another Gorvim leader was dead. Finally, Blueback the stoat threw his sword. It went straight into Ripnose's bottom, slicing him in half. Blueback was the new leader of the Group of Runaway Vermin in Mossflower.

Unaware of the combat that was happening nearby, the fourteen score vermin had named themselves the Vttka, the Vermin Trying to Kill Arril, and named a weasel called Skorret as their leader. Skorret was smart, strong, a sharpshooter, and overall a good beast to have on your side. He also had good eyesight, and because of this he was the first to see the three dead bodies of Arril, Fattooth, and Ripnose.

"Our mission has been completed by those Gorvim! Now, let's cut off Arril's head and bring it back to Rukkar," said the weasel.

The head took about five seconds to cut off, and it was a grisly sight to see Browntail doing the deed. The severed head of Arril spurted blood everywhere, and the Vttka began their two-day march back to Rukkar.

At Salamandastron, the two badgers and the two hares were trying to solve the riddle and were succeeding. The young hare Cupper had already solved the third line, and now was trying to solve the second.

"The vermin of the night are black rats, so the riddle says to send me an' two hares who argue to face a bunch of black rats. Right, Sergeant?"

"Right, young un. Personally, I think that Drepp an' Troblaw are those 'hares who argue but for the best'. They're friends, they argue, an' they're hares. It's obvious, wot?" said Clatchworth.

"Yes, then let's go get them to join the riddle-solving club!" replied Lord Ferral.

A few minutes later, the two hares Drepp and Troblaw were racing to solve the fifth line.

"I say, this is hard, wot?" said Drepp to his friend.

"Yes, but I've already solved it," replied Troblaw.

"Wot? Did I hear you correctly?" said Clatchworth. "I say, you solved that rhyming part faster than I did! Excellent work, young un!"

"Not at night means day, what else? In bright light also means day, so I'm amazed you didn't figure it out yet!" said the smart young hare.

"You forgot about dawn an' sunset," said Cupper. "I say, where are you going, Prall?"

"It's supper already. Why aren't you hungry?" replied the badger nurse.

"Wot? I say, wait for me, you two!" said Clatchworth.

But the two young hares were dashing off, with Cupper close behind.

Supper was short and simple, with a main course of wort salad, carrot and potato soup, and blackberry cordial, with a giant strawberry pie for dessert.

"I say, pass the wort salad, would you?" asked Drepp.

"We already did this the last four days in a row, Drepp. Why d'you always ask, 'Pass the wort salad, would you?' every meal, but fine," said Troblaw.

"Yes, I agree," said Cupper, who was sitting next to Troblaw. "You do always do that, you know."

Drepp blushed and turned his attention to a big slice of raspberry pie.

"We'll see about that tomorrow," he said mischievously.

Rukkar's day was still not going well. He had sent the now three rats and the fox to go fishing a third time, but they never returned. The fox Sarrak found two rat carcasses by the stream with bite marks in them, and the other rat and the fox were never seen again. Sarrak was loyal, and had been promoted to Captain, with the horde now split between two rats, a ferret and a fox. Each vermin commanded roughly two hundred and eighty now. Day darkened into night, and all vermin in the camp were asleep.