Chapter 8
At Salamandastron, Cupper, Drepp and Troblaw were setting off on their quest to find and slay Rukkar the Wrecker. Each young hare had a pack full of a lot of food, though not too much so that the hares could still be agile.
"I'm hungry, chaps. Should we stop for a snack, eh wot?" asked Troblaw even though they had been traveling for about five minutes.
"No, Troblaw, we'll stop for lunch at noon. Until then, keep your mouth shut!"
"You're starting to sound like Field Sargent Clatchworth, Drepp."
"Stop talking, Troblaw!"
"Fine, fine, you didn't have to shout, I'll stop talking."
"Stop talking!"
"I am, Drepp!"
"You always have to have the last word, do you, Troblaw?"
"Aye, I do. Can we eat now?"
Drepp belted Troblaw upside the head.
After an hour Troblaw began complaining that he was so hungry that if he didn't eat in two minutes he would jump in the stream and drown. At this, Cupper said, "Fine, drown yourself. You're so annoying we don't care if you do."
Troblaw then jumped in the stream and didn't surface until Drepp dragged him out by his ears.
"You told me you didn't care, so I jumped in the strea-"
Troblaw was interrupted by his stomach gurgling.
"I told you I was hungry!"
Cupper laughed.
"Alright, Troblaw, we can stop for a snack," he said.
Drepp opened his pack and looked inside. He pulled out three blueberry scones.
"Each of us can have a scone- Troblaw, put your pack down!"
Troblaw put his pack down with a look of sadness on his face.
"Do I have to, Field Sargent Clatchworth?"
"Troblaw," said Drepp.
"What?"
"Shut up."
"Why?"
"Cos' you're being annoying!"
"Why?"
"Shut up!"
"Why?"
"Shut up!"
"Why?"
Drepp pushed Troblaw into the stream. In a few seconds he surfaced again and glared at Drepp.
"What are you trying to do, drown me?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm- Troblaw, what's that thing on your ear?"
"What thing?"
Troblaw felt around his ear and found a slimy leech, then pulled it off with some difficulty.
"What is that?" asked Cupper.
"I don't know, I should probably throw it in the stream."
And Troblaw threw the leech in the stream.
At Redwall, Bluebell had told the others about Martin's riddle to Kagget, and the party that had gotten Kagget to Redwall was now in the Infirmary room where the weasel was now almost fully recovered. Furrel was eager to begin solving the riddle, but the others wanted to wait until Kagget was completely fine, so Furrel was solving it in his head.
"I think that the fifth line is the only actual clue. The 'parchment' is in the Abbey, that much I can gather. What do you think?"
Durbee glared at Furrel.
"Fine, I'll stop talking."
In a few hours Furrel had completely solved the riddle, and wanted to say this. However, the others were still waiting for Kagget to get better. Furrel then got bored and went to get a 'light' snack from the kitchens, but was chased out by Durbee's assistant Seginus, a very strict hedgehog who was also the Cellarhog.
"Out of the kitchens! They're Durbee's, not yours! Out!"
Furrel raced down the stairs, across Great Hall, and out the door, into the Abbey lawns. He went to the gardens and picked several strawberries and blackberries, which he immediately ate. Then, he flopped down next to six Dibbuns trying to eat more than four raspberries at once, and began to snore.
At about lunchtime the Abbess, Friar Durbee, and Gruler went to find Furrel, and quickly found him snoring away next to the six Dibbuns who now had stomach pains from overeating. They woke Furrel up and took the Dibbuns to the Infirmary.
"Come on, Furrel, the weasel is recovered now. Let's go solve the riddle!" said the Friar.
"I've already solved it, I think I'll just go back to sleep an' not tell you the answer. Goodnight!"
"Don't you mean good morning?" said Bluebell.
But Furrel was already asleep again.
After a few more hours the quartet of the Abbess, the Friar, Gruler and Kagget were well into the riddle. They had already solved the first half, and were stuck on the fifth line. Friar Durbee recounted the riddle spoken to Kagget by Martin the Warrior.
"The first line, 'Weasel, weasel, listen to what I say' doesn't really matter; Martin was just getting Kagget's attention. The second one is where the riddle starts. 'The moles will dig, a small and large grave' means that the small underground cave the moles found is the grave mentioned in the riddle. The third line, 'If you do not leave, it will be for you' means that if Kagget doesn't leave, he will die and have to be buried in the cave. The fourth line, 'So find the parchment, what it says is true' says that we have to find a piece of parchment, somewhere. The fifth line says where, but I'm stumped. Any ideas?"
Everybeast shook their head except Gruler, who was ready with typical mole logic.
"Hurr, oi think we'm shudd best stop an' take ee break. Then we'm shudd be ready for tomorrer."
Everybeast agreed, so they took a break and went for afternoon tea.