CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE

Palter blundered after Latura as best he could during her flight from the Abbey, catching glimpses of her colorful peach dress through the trees just often enough to keep from losing her altogether. A few times he called ahead to her, but if she heard him at all, she ignored him entirely. And so she drew him farther into the woods, and farther from Redwall, in her inexplicable dash from the bosom of safety into potential mortal peril.

With each hesitant, fearful step, Palter flinched and quailed, imagining shadows of menace lurking behind every trees and shrub, convinced he would be swept up by Gawtrybe patrollers at any moment. Thus he remained oblivious to the irony when he stumbled along directly beneath the same two Northland squirrels Latura herself had passed. But this time, no charm or spell blinded their eyes or muffled their hearing, and they were only too well aware of the puny rat meandering through their cordon in his haphazard pursuit.

One of the Gawtrybe signaled silently to his partner that he meant to drop down and apprehend the wayward fugitive, but she held a paw to her lips and shook her head. Waiting until Palter had ventured safely beyond earshot, she whispered in reply to his quizzical gaze, "That rat's not trying to get to Redwall; he coming from the Abbey! He must be one of the ones who's been sheltering there."

"Yeah, I thought he was going the wrong way," the male squirrel acknowledged in a soft murmur of his own. "But why would he do such a thing? Doesn't he know what awaits any rat who strays beyond the Abbey walls?"

"He must, unless he's a total imbecile. This could be important. Captain Custis thought those rats might wear out their welcome at Redwall sooner rather than later, and maybe that's finally started to happen. We need to question him, find out whether he was kicked out and what for, or if he left on his own and why - and whether any of this fellow rats have also left or been expelled, or might be in the near future. This is our chance to find out where things really stand with those Abbeybound rats, whether the Redwallers are getting sick of them at last, or even if they might be turning on each other, rat against rat. So for now, let's shadow him for a bit, and see where he's going. If he starts to get too far outside our zone, we can just drop down and take him when it suits us."

Her comrade nodded, but then had second thoughts. "What if he's a decoy, meant to draw us away while a larger group makes its escape?"

"We'll not be abandoning our place in the cordon - just ranging out a bit further. Any others seeking to flee will still have to get by us, or else they'll be picked up by the other patrols. We've got that Abbey bottled up tight from all sides; no rat is getting through, coming or going, without us spotting them!"

"I suppose. But what if he wanders into a glade or open area where we can't tail him from the trees anymore?"

"Then we show ourselves and nab him. But now he is getting too big a lead on us. Let's stop debating and get moving, before we risk losing him altogether!"

Moments later the two Gawtrybe were joined in stealthy arboreal pursuit, and Palter had unknowingly picked up the very shadow he'd feared all along.

00000000000

"There's so much I'd like to tell you, and so much you deserve to know. But sadly, I've a feeling you'd not be able to understand even half of what I have to say."

Latura stared at the mouse with the same vacantly rapt expression she'd held since crossing the brook and taking her seat on the fallen log. "Aw, you can tell me, Martymouse. Now that I know it's you, ye're a lot easier t' figger out now ... er ... "

That smile again. "Yes, I suppose I am." The smile turned more wistful, almost melancholy. "I needed you to come here, to cut through the barrier holding me back and keeping me from fully inhabiting this body. Until now, I was a simpleton in this world, reduced to an uncontrolled, juvenile state, and I must be whole for what lies ahead. Only your power could counter Urthblood's, push back the veil of his suffocating presence and let light shine through the shadow he's cast over Redwall, and Mossflower. That's why I helped you, guided you, and did what I could to make sure you and your company reached the Abbey safely."

"Still nearly didn't. Almost ran inta th' bad red, 'fore we got to Greenpup in th' big rock pit."

"I wasn't the only one pulling strings in that affair, unfortunately. And as badly as I needed you to get to Redwall, my adversary wanted just as badly to waylay you. It was a very near thing. But in the end, it all worked out ... and here we are."

"Didja also make that fog nobeast could see through?"

The smile took on a playful aspect. "I'm not that powerful. And Urthblood isn't either. Sometimes the weather is just weather."

Latura pondered this in her own imponderable way, then glanced about at the fresh green woods. "It's nice out here. I oughta get out more often ... "

"You can't stay, you know. At Redwall. I'm sorry, but you simply can't."

Latura looked at the mouse in puzzlement. "Aren'tcher gonna take me back, Martymouse?"

"No, Latura. I'm not."

"But y' could. Right past all 'em bad red beasties. You'd just make 'em not see or hear us, like before."

"Yes, I could. But that would rather defeat the whole purpose in luring you out here in the first place, wouldn't it?"

Latura mulled this over. "Yah, guess it would. What if I promise t' be good, an' not cause trouble t' nobeast? Can I go back then?"

"I'm afraid it's not that simple. Your power isn't entirely under your control, and there's no telling what would happen if you stayed." Seeing the unconvinced look on Latura's face, the mouse went on, "Lady Mina meant to slay you, you know, and was only a heartbeat away from doing just that. Did I make her bow break, or did you? Even I cannot say for certain. As much as you have cleared the way for me, things also get confused around you. You make things happen, without trying, without even realizing you're doing it. Maybe it's not so much you, as some kind of protective shroud of fate surrounding you, which bends events to your favor. Like it did with Krayne."

Latura took exception to this. "I ain't never kilt nobeast."

"My view says otherwise. The blood bubble in Krayne's head would undoubtedly have claimed him on its own, and soon, but you pushed it along, picked the time and place. Do you honestly believe it was pure coincidence that he keeled over at the exact moment you most needed him to? Maybe you didn't intend to make it happen, but you - or whatever's protecting you - did."

Latura sat in silence for several moments. "I kilt th' foxy ... "

"Let's just say you hastened his imminent and likely inevitable demise, in a manner advantageous to your circumstances."

"Ooo, now ye're usin' too big words."

"Your talents are wild, Latura, in a way I've never seen before. Untamed, unpredictable. In your own way, you are perhaps every bit as powerful as Urthblood is ... or as I am. But your powers are those of havoc and chaos, liable to lash out in any direction, no matter whether goodbeasts are in the way or not. If a creature means you harm, they will be harmed. Not always, not in every instance, but just enough to protect you, and hold you to the path you're fated to follow. And that is a force I cannot allow at my Abbey."

"Then where do I go? What happens to me now?"

"What does your future sight tell you?"

Latura squinted, furrowing her brow. "Can't really tell. Never been good at that. I'm fine fer seein' what happens to other beasts, but not so much fer m'self."

"Then that's a limitation to your gifts that must be inherent to their nature. 'The seer hides the seer' ... and in this case, your very talents may veil your future from you. In my own case, I remain hindered by Urthblood's presence ... and yours. I'm afraid I cannot see your future any better than you can, so I cannot tell you what lies ahead for you. I know only that Urthblood is determined to bring you before him - and in this case he will probably get his way, since I will not oppose him. Whether your own powers will frustrate him in this ambition ... " The mouse shrugged. "That's between you and him now."

"Don't wanna go to th' bad red. He's mean 'n' scary. Wanna stay here in th' good red, with Da an' my brudder, an' all you nice beasties, even if y' do laugh at me sometimes. Wanna stay cozy an' safe."

"Every rat now within our walls owes its freedom and perhaps its very life to you. To them, you will always be their savior. But what you have won for them cannot be for you. Your destiny lies elsewhere, but what that destiny is I cannot say. It may well be that when you come to stand before Urthblood, he will slay you outright. I'm certain that's what he intends."

"Will it be his paw takes my head?"

"It may very well be. Such a fate would solve everything very neatly, for everybeast concerned. It is, in its own way, the best possible outcome."

"Aw, that ain't a very nice thing t' say, Martymouse."

"Not nice, but necessary. The path before you now will not be an easy one; that much I can tell you even without any gift of future sight. Perhaps you will survive your ordeal against all odds, and whatever forces that have protected you so far will continue to do so. Perhaps you may even return to Mossflower someday, and see your friends and family again. And perhaps your fate is to perish before this season is out. Fate looms large in these times, with competing players seeking to bend it to their will, even as you seek to defy them. It may well be that somewhere out there now lies a blade ordained to take your head, but which blade, wielded by whose paw, remains closed to me. I am releasing you upon the world, Latura of Redwall, but what the world does to you - and what you do to the world - is a story yet to be written."

"Is that who I am now? Lattie o' Redwall?"

The smile returned, warm and yet sad. "If you want to be. Although it won't be in the way you imagine."

A haphazard rustling in the undergrowth nearby made them both turn to see Palter breaking in upon their scene, drawn to them by the sound of their voices. The mouse on the rock frowned. "He's not supposed to be here."

"Actshully, I think 'ee is ... "

"Lattie, what's got inta yer head? What're y' thinkin', leavin' Redwall like this? We gotta get back, 'fore any of them devil squirrels realize we're out here an' slap us in chains!"

Latura shook her head. "Martymouse 'ere sez I can't go back."

"Martymouse?" Palter looked at the former Abbess in befuddlement. "Who's that? Lattie, what're you talkin' 'bout? Let's get goin'!"

Before he could argue further, the two Gawtrybe who'd been silently tailing him from above dropped out of the trees right alongside Palter, practically scaring him out of his fur. The male squirrel, more than a physical match for the slight rat, seized Palter by the arm, while the female nocked an arrow to her bowstring to cover the two seated creatures.

"Don't move! You're coming with us!"

The two squirrels were almost stunned when Latura and her mouse companion said, in perfect unison as if speaking with one mind, "That's silly. How can we go with you if we don't move?" Latura looked to the mouse. "'kay, that was real weird ... "

The Gawtrybe covering them lowered her bow slightly, staring at the mouse with no sense of recognition. "Who ... are you?"

"Somebeast you didn't want to meet. Now we all have to wait for your captain to get here, because you aren't the right squirrels."

"Our captain? What trickery is ... this?" The two Gawtrybe blinked as one, along with Palter, the three of them sharing a sudden burst of disorientation, as if time had elapsed without their awareness. The sound of other beasts approaching drew the squirrels' gazes, and they gaped as one at the sudden appearance of Matowick, with Brisson at his heels. The Gawtrybe of Chetwynd's Abbey cordon hadn't even realized their comrades from Salamandastron were at Redwall. "Captain! What are you doing here?"

Matowick pointed at Latura as he fought to regain his breath. "This rat is coming with us, back to Salamandastron, Lord Urthblood's orders. Help us get her to the road - we're leaving at once!"

"What about this one?" The male patroller fairly shook Palter by way of indication.

"He's all yours. We have to travel fast and light, in case the Redwallers give pursuit. We can't have any other prisoners slowing us down."

But Latura was shaking her head at this dismissal of her fellow village rat. "Can't leave 'im behind. He's gotta go with us. Hasta go to sea."

Palter's eyes widened in horror at the implication of this quasi-prophecy, first voiced a seeming lifetime ago in the dread valley of the would-be fox emperor. "No ... no, you can't mean that, Lattie! Tell me that ain't what y' meant! That ain't what happens t' me!"

"Well, he's not going with us," Matowick spat, showing disdain for the very idea as he strode across the brook to take hold of Latura. "My orders are to get one rat, and that rat is you."

Latura eluded Matowick's questing grasp to cross her arms. "You sayin' he doesn't go don't change it. It's what 'appens."

"I'd listen to her if I were you," the mouse advised with aloof detachment, as if wholly above everything that was going on here. "If her prophetic vision has shown this to her, you won't be able to leave without him ... and you'll find your footpaws turned to stone if you even try."

Brisson forestalled further protest from Matowick. "Sir, we can't just let this one go. He'll head straight back to Redwall and raise the alarm. Right now, in all that confusion going on there, our target might not even be missed for quite some time. That's sure to change if this pipsqueak hollers his head off that we've snatched her. We can't let him go free. Not now."

Matowick gritted his teeth as he finally got a firm grip on Latura. "Okay, he comes with us. Now, let's move!"

"But ... but ... " Palter found himself being borne away, one squirrel at each arm, as Matowick and Brisson did likewise with Latura, who barely resisted this treatment.

Casting one last parting glance at the mouse who'd seemingly arranged this all for his benefit, Matowick said, "Tell me again why you're helping us like this?"

"Ask me no questions, Captain, and I'll tell you no lies. Go deliver to Urthblood the prize he seeks - although I'm not sure he'll know what to do with her once he's got her."

"I think you're underestimating Lord Urthblood. He's risking a lot for this one creature, so you can be sure he'll know exactly what to do with her. But I'll be sure to pass your concerns along to him."

"Actually, I'd prefer you didn't. In fact, I'd just as soon you forget I was ever here."

"You'd ... "

"Forget I was here, Captain."

"Saw whatcher did there, Martymouse," Latura said as Matowick and Brisson stood blinking as if momentarily dazed. "Crafty, like a foxy."

And then the four squirrels were off with the two rats, hastening along the forest trails with all the speed their captives' oft-stumbling gaits allowed, and sparing not a backward glance for the mouse who wasn't there.

"Urthblood knows only that Latura poses a threat to him," the mouse on the rock mused in solitude, "but I know how she poses a threat to him."

Then the lone figure jumped down from the mossy seat and splashed across the brook to make its invisible way back to Redwall.

00000000000

"Have the hornets stopped swarming yet?"

"Don't rightly know, Abbot. You're jolly well welcome to poke your head outside and check for yourself."

"Now, Sergeant, there's no need for that."

Peppertail rubbed at the tender welt next to his scut. "Easy for you to say, Abbot sah. You were safe indoors when they struck, out of range of their blinkin' stings an' arrows."

"Are you positive it was Vanessa who did this? Even in her current state, I cannot bring myself to believe she would hatch such harmful maliciousness. Multiple hornet stings can prove fatal."

"Then I'm whoppin' grateful those needly nuisances only pricked me once. But it most assuredly was Nessa, Abbot, as sure as I'm standin' here. I was standin' right beside her, on the subject of standin', when she uncorked this barbaric barrage on us. She had the nest hid in her barrel th' whole bally time, rollin' it along th' walltop an' drummin' on it to rile them up so they'd be in an ugly temper when she loosed 'em. An' from her attitude an' the things she was spoutin', I'm guessing she had a paw in ev'rything else goin' on out there today. Like she planned on making the whole Abbey go nutters all at once."

"I do hope the damage to the gatehouse wasn't too severe," Geoff fretted, not yet having been appraised of the fact that Vanessa's ruse there had been confined to a large tub which left nothing worse than thick interior smoke and a small scorched mark on the floor of the main room. "It's fortunate indeed that I moved the Abbey Archives down to the tunnels when I was Recorder, or else the losses to our histories and artifacts might have been incalculable, but even so ... " He shook his head in sad consternation. "Whatever could have gotten into her to have conceived and orchestrated something like this?"

Mouse and hare stood near the top of the Cavern Hole stairs, taking in the scene of overcrowded confusion reigning in Great Hall. Most of Harth's rats now lingered in the grand gathering space along with the Guosim and the families of Deakyne and Neblett and Lord Sodexo and scores of Abbeybeasts as well, all having flooded into the Hall in their flight to escape the danger without. Younger creatures still cried and wailed from the pain of their barbed afflictions, while adults yammered on to any ears that would listen about this sabotage of a beautiful Abbey day, raising the noise level to a barely-controlled cacophony. It might as well have been the aftermath of a battle.

"Well, at least now we know we can fit everybeast into Great Hall, if it comes down to it."

"Wouldn't go that far, Abbot. From what I saw, a lot of our rat squatters took to squattin' right where they were in the orchard an' never even tried to make it inside, coverin' up an' hunkerin' down as best they could. Guess they figured they'd be safer sittin' tight an' stayin' put than makin' a run across open ground."

"That might have been wise, considering how much time it took to get everybeast inside, and how long they were exposed to the swarm. Still, I hope those rats in the orchard will be all right. If the hornets don't settle down soon, it could be bad for them. And where have our otters gotten to? I perceive a distinct absence of them here."

"Last I saw," Peppertail reported, "they all dove into the pond to take shelter there. I imagine they're down there still, ridin' this out 'til it blows over. You know how long those riverdogs can hold their breath."

"Ah. Nearest port in a storm, I suppose. And what of Maura? I don't see her anywhere either, and we could really use her to help calm the children."

"Caught a glimpse of her busting her way to the north grounds, with a wet 'n' soggy Faylona in her arms. They're prob'ly still outside, if they've found a spot away from the hornets. Otherwise, it's like as not they let themselves in some other way."

"Yes, I hope so. Ah, here come Arlyn and Metellus. Let's see what they have to say on matters." The Abbey's two healers wandered by Geoff and Peppertail, looking as overwhelmed by events as any pair of beasts could be. Trailing them was Alexander, helping to carry all the salves and balms and medicines from the Infirmary that could be grabbed on short notice. "How are we looking, Arlyn?" the current Abbot inquired of the elder one.

"I think this is going to use up every ounce of tincture we have on paw," came the older mouse's frazzled reply. "We'll likely run out long before every sting is treated, and I don't know if we'll be able to make up more without foraging into Mossflower to replenish our stocks - and that's assuming the herbs we need are to be found at all this early in the growing season. We really aren't equipped or prepared to deal with anything on this scale. A fine surprise to spring on us when we've so many creatures living out of doors!"

"Thank Vanessa the next time you see her," Geoff grumbled, "since by all accounts she's behind today's mayhem."

"Nessa?" said Alex. "Are you sure? That doesn't sound like anything she'd do, even in her wildest moments. And where did she get a hornet's nest from anyway, without getting badly stung herself?"

"Maybe she speaks fluent hornet," Peppertail quipped, not realizing how close to the truth he'd come.

"Where is she now?" asked Arlyn.

"Your guess is as good as mine," the Long Patrol sergeant said. "I lost track of her once she bolted down the wallsteps and disappeared into the bally mob scene. If she was worried at all about gettin' stung herself, she didn't show it one blinkin' whit."

"We'll worry what to do about Vanessa the next time she shows her tail around here; I'm not about to call out a general search to turn her up, not with everything else she's dropped in our laps. Arlyn, Metellus, please concentrate your efforts on the very young and the very old first, along with anybeast else you determine to be in the greatest danger or distress from their stings. The rest will have to wait their turn. Just treat as many as you can, for as long as your medicines last."

"Of course. I'm just glad Mina has stabilized enough that she can safely be left on her own, so that Metellus and I could be spared for this far more daunting task."

"Yes," Geoff surmised, "she must be recovering well indeed, for Alex to have left her side as well. I'm rather surprised to see you down here."

Alexander shrugged. "I doubt she'll be lonely, or neglected. Captain Matowick will probably pick up the vigil, or some of his other Gawtrybe. I've a feeling she'd prefer their company to mine these days anyway."

"I saw some of those bushtails out when the hornets struck," Peppertail told them. "They were in as much of a tizzy as anybeast, runnin' this way an' that an' shoutin' at each other. Hmm ... odd, I don't see any of 'em in here with ev'ryballybeast else."

"See? They're probably up with Mina already." Alex gave a self-satisfied smirk. "It would serve them right if they went up to the Infirmary to have their own stings treated, only to find all the healerbeasts gone!"

"Now, Alex, that's hardly - "

Arlyn cut off his fellow Abbot. "But that can't be; we would have passed them on our way down. The stairs we took are the only direct route from Great Hall to the Infirmary."

"Must still be outside then," Peppertail concluded. "Maybe they jumped into the pond with all the otters!"

At that moment Patreese and Castor made their way through the crowd to approach the Abbey leaders. "Excuse me, sirs," the rat patriarch hesitantly broke in, "but 'as anybeast seen Lattie? We looked all over fer her an' can't find 'er anywhere."

"Oh? Well, if she's not in here amongst all the other casualties, she must not have made it inside," said Geoff. "Could be that when she saw the press of creatures all trying to squeeze through the doorway at once, she ran off to the orchard to join the rats who decided to stay there."

"That'd be some rare sense fer Lattie," observed Castor. "I had 'er by th' paw an' was tryin' t' lead her in here, but we got separated in th' rush, an' I didn't see 'er again after that."

"Hold on," said Alex, ears and tail both pricked to attention. "Lattie never made it in, and neither did any of the Gawtrybe?"

"We don't know about the Gawtrybe," Geoff said. "Some or all of them could still be inside, in some other part of the Abbey. I think at least a couple were here when everybeast else started streaming in to escape the hornets. They could very easily have gotten lost in the confusion. We don't want to jump to any conclusions."

"I'm not jumping to anything." Alex turned to the two rats. "What about Harth? And Captain Truax? Where are they?"

"They're both in here," Patreese replied, "nursin' their stings along with th' rest of us."

"Then we've got to find Lattie - or those squirrels, so that we can account for one or the other." Alexander thrust his armload of medicines into Peppertail's surprised paws. "I'm going out."

"Alex, no!" Geoff protested. "The hornets may still be swarming. You could get badly stung!"

"Then I'll run fast, and use my tail to brush them away." Saying no more, Alex was gone before anybeast could stop him.