Chapter Fourteen: On to Redwall
When Beechtail had recovered from being nearly strangled, he started to walk back to the others, leaving the fox where he lay. After a short while, he reached the clearing, which was littered with the bodies of slain vermin. About twenty squirrels were all standing in a cluster, and Beechtail could see Lutran's fake hare ears in the middle. He managed to get a view of what they were looking at, Lutran, and the gray squirrel that he had called Aspen, were finishing tying a bandage around Maplefur's shoulder. The squirrelmaid was grimacing in pain, but was alive.
Lutran looked up, "So, you're finally back, wot. Did you get the fox chap?'
Beechtail was amazed; he stared at Maplefur, "He threw a knife, I thought you were dead."
"I might have been, but Aspen here knocked me out of the way," she eyed the bandage on her shoulder, "at least mostly out of the way."
"Ahem, did you get the bally fox?" Lutran interrupted.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I did." Beechtail replied.
Aspen finished tying the bandage. He helped Maplefur to her feet. "There, how does that feel?"
Maplefur moved her arm a bit, and grimaced, "Better."
Aspen nodded, "It'll probably be sore for a while, we'll get you to Redwall Abbey, and they'll fix you up in a day or two."
Maplefur smiled at him, "Thanks, and thanks for rescuing us."
Aspen laughed, "No problem, me and Log-a-log were going to go drive off Chukka tonight anyway. He'll be upset that we did it without him. Here he comes now."
Several log boats, laden with shrews, paddled to the shore. A shrew in the lead boat called out, "Ahoy, Lutran, is that you? You're just in time. Me an' Aspen are going to go deal with a bunch of rats that have been harassing travelers." He jumped ashore, paused and stared all around at the slain vermin. "Oh, y'know, you could've waited for me."
Aspen chuckled, "We probably should have. But enough about that, we've got an injured squirrel to get to the Abbey, I don't suppose you would want to give us a lift?"
Log-a-log smiled, "Sure, we'd be happy to give you a lift. Though, you can only get so close by traveling on streams."
"How far is it to Redwall?" Maplefur asked, "I don't think I could walk very far."
"Don't fret, pretty one, we'll have you there by tomorrow evening," Aspen reassured her.
Beechtail was nonplussed, Maplefur was his best friend, and she was the only one patient enough to try to teach him to climb even though everyone, including himself, thought he was hopeless, but he had never thought of her as being "pretty". However, now that he thought about it, she really was quite pretty…
Beechtail was still considering this as he and all the squirrels piled aboard the log boats and raft. In a few minutes, the scene of the fight was deserted as the flotilla sped down the river, headed for Redwall.
Several minutes later, two of the slain rats shifted, another crawled out from beneath them; Chukka was still alive. After retrieving his ax, and vowing to get revenge, he disappeared into the woodlands.