CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT

Harth was the first to find his voice.

"I don't unnerstand - what's she doin' here? Ain't she s'posed to be daft?"

"That's hardly a courteous thing to say about Redwall's Abbess," Vanessa mildly scolded. "Now if you'd kindly excuse us, General, my fellow Abbeybeasts and I have much to discuss."

"I was promised a seat at this council," Harth objected.

"Not by me. And since I'm the one who called this gathering, I'm afraid my rules apply. Please wait upstairs, General. This is a Redwall matter, to be discussed and debated amongst Redwallers."

"I called this meeting," Geoff indignantly interjected, at last overcoming his surprised silence. "And I told Harth he could be here, so - "

"Was it you who sent Cyril and Cyrus out to ring the bells?" Vanessa interrupted. "Because they were acting at my behest - as both Cyril and Jiriel will attest - while everybeast in Great Hall was working themselves into an uproar. Now, please be seated, so that we can get to the matter at paw."

Maura strode right up to the head chair, insulating herself in a cover of stern bluster against the inner hope she dared not rush to embrace. "Nessa, after all the trouble you've caused today, I don't know what kind of game you're playing now, but the situation is most dire, and we haven't time for any nonsense!"

"Maura, I assure you the situation is far more dire than you can possibly imagine. Look into my eyes, and tell me this is just a game I am playing."

The mouse's gaze did not flinch or waver under Maura's matronly authority, and then the badger knew to relent; the green habit Vanessa wore was no mere play costume. But it was Winokur who put into words what Maura and the others were thinking.

"Abbess? Is it really you?"

Vanessa nodded. "I have returned." Solemn, unassuming, not the tone of a beast victorious, but of one accepting the mantle of reluctant responsibility.

"Well, this is, um ... quite something," Geoff said in a half-stammer. "And quite a time for this development to be sprung upon us, welcome as it is. But more pressing and immediate matters confront us now, so if you'd kindly relinquish my chair ... "

"My chair." Vanessa motioned Geoff toward the seat alongside hers. "Recorder sits to the right of the Abbess, in accordance with recent Abbey tradition. Which pushes Wink down a peg as well, I'm afraid, but it can't be helped. The two of you will have to share that side of the table - and that post - until we can get the arrangement more formally finalized. For now, however, this is how it must be."

"Now hold on just a - " Geoff stuttered to an indignant standstill, caught between Vanessa's cool assertiveness and umbrage at having his own Abbot's authority so abruptly and unceremoniously usurped. Before he could collect himself to protest further, another voice sounded from the opposite end of Cavern Hole, where two hares emerged from the connecting passage to their underground dormitory tunnels.

"Wot ho," Traveller called out as he and Melanie strolled into the meeting chamber, "have we started yet, or is there some holdup here?" Then, spying Vanessa in her green habit occupying the contested head chair, he added, "Do I see wot I jolly well think I see, or are my peepers playing wishful thinking on me?"

"Thank you for joining us, Field Marshal," Vanessa greeted him. "We were just getting underway, although there seems to be some confusion over the seating arrangement, which I'm sure will be worked out presently."

Maura, who'd yet to retreat from alongside Vanessa, asked forthrightly, "Nessa, are you sure you're up to this? After all you've been through?"

"I have never been more up for anything in my life, Maura."

"Very well. But you could have been a bit more tactful where Geoff is concerned. He has been our Abbot for two seasons now, after all."

"This is not a time for tact, I'm afraid, or for worrying about bruised egos. What I have to say here is far too vital."

"In that case ... " The Badgermum crossed around to her own oversized chair. "Let's be seated, everybeast. I'm sure our Abbess has much she wants to cover."

Geoff seemed about to argue, but the steady twin gazes of Vanessa and Maura urged him to silence, and he took his lesser seat between Vanessa and Winokur with a defeated sigh. Harth, meanwhile, remained immovably obstinate. "Well, am I welcome here or not?"

"Everybeast is welcome here at Redwall," Vanessa replied, "with one or two exceptions. But this particular matter concerns the Abbey leaders, and no others, and I would strongly encourage you to wait outside, General."

"So ye're not barrin' me outright?"

"No, General, I am not forbidding you from a seat at these proceedings, if you insist upon it. But I can tell you now, you'll not like hearing what I have to say."

Harth helped himself to a chair. "I'll be th' judge o' that. Heard a lot in my life I've not cared for, but that's never stopped me from hearin' it."

"As you wish." Waiting a few moments for every tail to find its place and get settled in, Vanessa said, "I understand how the events of today must be very upsetting to all of you, and that you feel our hospitality has been violated, our home infiltrated, and a member of our community stolen from our very midst. I am forced to impress upon you that, on the last count at least, nothing of the sort has happened."

The others couldn't believe what they were hearing. Beneath his breath, Log-a-Log muttered, "Aw, bogwater! She's still cracked in th' head after all."

"I assure you, my good shrew, that my head is in perfect working order - including my ears."

Log-a-Log shrank down in his seat slightly at this mildly barbed admonishment.

"But, Latura was stolen right away from us!" Winokur protested. "Right out of the Abbey where she'd been promised sanctuary!"

"Actually, she wasn't," Vanessa corrected the otter Recorder. "Latura was well outside our walls when the Gawtrybe took her, having left the Abbey of her own free will. In that sense, the sanctity of Redwall was never violated."

Harth's voice rose above the other incredulous mutterings at this declaration. "Prepos'trous! Why would even addle-brained Lattie leave th' safety of Redwall? An' how do you happen t' know any of this anyway?"

"Because I was there."

"But were you in yer right mind?" Harth pressed. "Quite some miracle recov'ry you've undergone, consid'rin' that only just this morn you were hatchin' a hundred ways o' mischief 'gainst us. What kind o' Abbess does that? At just what point didja stop bein' addled in th' head an' become Abbess again?"

"Mind yourself, General," Maura cautioned. "She's our Abbess now, so please address her with the respect she's due."

Harth showed his fangs. "Like I was tellin' yer Abbot upstairs - yer real Abbot - I'll show respect when respect's given back t' me an' my own. An' right now this so-called Abbess is insultin' all our intelligence, from what I'm hearin'."

Geoff found himself in the awkward position of defending the mouse who'd just forced him out of the Abbot's chair. "You never knew Vanessa before her injury. A wiser and more respect-worthy beast you would not find anywhere. And if she has now returned to us - in whatever fashion and through whatever quirk of fate - and she has something urgent to share with us - as she has indicated - then it would serve us well to heed her words. Whether we agree with them, or ultimately decide to follow her counsel, well, that can always be debated and decided after we've heard her out. That's what we're here for, isn't it?"

He turned to Vanessa. "That said, I must take issue with your dismissive attitude toward Matowick's actions. Most certainly he and his team came to us under false pretenses, abused our hospitality with the most base of secret motives, and outright lied to our faces at yesterday's council. Do you concede at least that much?"

"I do not deny any of it," Vanessa responded. "But the offender is now removed from our home with no apparent intent to return, and we know better than to admit him if he should ever darken our doorstep again."

Her tone of finality surprised every listener. "And you're ... content to leave it at that?" Geoff prompted.

"Matowick's team is no longer any direct concern of Redwall's. You might sooner ask such questions about his High Lady, who unlike him still dwells among us."

"Lady Mina?" This abrupt shift from one Gawtrybe to another threw Geoff for a moment. "Are you saying she was complicit in all of this? Some of us had our suspicions, but without any proof, or a direct admission by Mina herself, we've been hesitant to cast any accusations her way. But, now that you've brought it up, Vanessa, perhaps you could shed some light on something we've all been wondering. You were there when she was injured by her own arrow yesterday. Do you happen to know whether she was in truth aiming to shoot somebeast, and if so, who?"

"Of course. She was aiming at Latura."

"But why?" Winokur asked from Geoff's side. "Why would Mina want Latura dead?"

"For the same reason Matowick now bears her to Salamandastron, at Urthblood's orders: They both know that Latura has it within her power to destroy that badger, utterly and totally."

This pronouncement drew another moment of stunned silence from the assemblage. While all knew Latura was special - the nearly two hundred rats now sheltering at Redwall stood as proof enough of that - none there would have dreamed of articulating such a statement as Vanessa had just uttered.

It was Log-a-Log who said, "What, that liddle misfit? But she's just ... well ... how can she compare to th' most powerful Badger Lord who's ever lived?"

"If you suppose Latura's only talent is being able to glimpse some of what is to come, you would be seriously underestimating her. Sometimes those who appear meek and unthreatening possess hidden reserves that not even the most powerful warlord would be able to tame or conquer."

"And, just how do you happen to know this about Latura yourself?" Geoff asked.

"It would not be entirely inaccurate to say that I know these things because Martin the Warrior knows them."

"So it's true," Winokur surmised. "Martin really does have some connection to these events ... "

"To put it mildly," Vanessa confirmed with a knowing smile.

"And you've been ... in communication with him yourself?" Geoff probed.

"One might put it that way. Until Latura came, I straddled the worlds, caught between this one and the next. But I was not wholly in either, and that left me as you've known me these past three seasons: stunted, childlike, wild and rambunctious, not fully in control of myself, unable to fully remember who I was. Latura's powers - the same with which she might challenge Urthblood - have brought me back, bridged the gap and sealed the breech, and made me whole again. Without her, I would not be sitting here now."

"All the more reason to rescue her," Wink urged. "If she has truly restored our beloved Abbess to her old self, then we owe her a debt we will be hard-pressed to ever repay. Bringing her back to the safety of Redwall will barely begin to cover it."

"An' yet here we sit, jabberin' 'round th' matter just as I feared, while Lattie gets farther afield with each step."

"Harth is right," Geoff agreed. "We must decide at once how we are to proceed with this, and best effect Latura's recovery."

"We must do no such thing."

All present turned wide eyes to the Abbess. "Vanessa," Geoff argued, "how can you say such a thing? You, of all creatures, who owes that ratmaid more than anybeast else at this table?"

She remained resolute. "Let me make one thing very clear. Martin the Warrior does not want us to go after Latura. And if we try, he will do all in his power to frustrate our efforts."

"No!" Winokur burst out. "No, Abbess, you are mistaken! Martin would never do such a thing! It's against everything he stands for! Why would he?"

"Because he recognizes the double threat she poses to this Abbey. Latura did not heal me because she meant to, or even guessed she was capable of such a feat. And that is the way of it with her: She causes things to happen, without meaning to, without even being aware of it. Her power is such that nobeast can marshall and subjugate it - not even her, not even Martin himself. In my case, the result proved beneficial to others besides herself - but it is not always so. She can lash out in ways unpredictable and chaotic, and if she is brought back to Redwall, it will only be a matter of time before havoc is unleashed upon us."

"Even if what you say about Latura is true," said Geoff, "I must concur that the spirit of Martin would never intercede against an innocent creature who's in danger."

"No? Then think upon everything that happened within these walls this morning, all at once. Do you really suppose one impaired Abbess, with just five toddlers as her accomplices, could have created such mayhem? If so, then you give me, Chevelle, Faylona, Troyall, Lysander and Percival far too much credit."

"You mean ... " Geoff breathed.

Vanessa nodded. "The paw of Martin was evident in these events - as it will be again if we seek to interfere."

Harth sat flabbergasted as much as anybeast there, and far more outraged than most. "You ... ye're gonna give Lattie over to that murderin' badger an' his minions? All on th' say so of a ... a ghost?"

Vanessa eyed the rat coolly. "I am sure Martin would not appreciate being referred to in such terms."

"You think I care what some long-dead bag o' bones thinks?"

"I warned you you would not like what I had to say, General."

Harth looked to the others around the table. "An' this's alright with all o' you? Ye're content t' just sit there 'n' do nuthin', all 'cos th' name o' some ancient myth's been thrown about? An' I thought vermin were s'posed t' be superstitious!"

"I still don't understand," Winokur pressed. "Latura said herself that Martin helped her reach Redwall, so what you say now flies in the face of reason, Abbess."

"Not at all. Martin needed Latura to come to Redwall, and then he needed her to leave again. It's as simple as that."

"So does this mean y' ain't gonna go after her?"

"Yes, General. That is what it means."

"Now, just hold on there ... " Geoff leaned farther over the table toward Vanessa. "This has not been definitely decided yet. We have much still to debate, and discuss - "

Vanessa cut him off. "It has been decided. We are not going after her. And believe me when I say I speak with an authority greater than that of any Abbot or Abbess."

Harth banged his fists on the table. "I don't berlieve this!"

"You may be excused now, General," Vanessa told him. "We don't have much more to cover anyway, and we don't need a disgruntled influence disrupting our remaining discussion."

Harth was not alone in being incensed by this dismissal. But he was the only one who pushed back his chair, rose, and stalked from Cavern Hole, stomping across the floor and up the steps to Great Hall, glowering and silent.

Log-a-Log was the first to speak in the rat's absence. "By all rights, we Guosim ain't even Redwallers proper, but even I know not t' make light o' things where Martin might be involved. Now, Nessa, you spoke earlier of a twin threat Lattie poses to Redwall if'n she were t' stay. What's the other one?"

"I was waiting for sombeast to ask. The truth is, Urthblood wants Latura, and he wants her very, very badly. He knows, or at least guesses, the threat she poses to him, and he will stop at nothing - absolutely nothing - to gain her. What happens if we do mount a rescue expedition and, against all odds, succeed in recovering her and bearing her back to Redwall? He tried subterfuge to win this prize, and if that fails, he will not be so subtle in his next attempt. He will come to us again, not with six Gawtrybe but with a thousand warriors, if that's what it takes. He will batter down our gates, tumble our walls, and dismantle this Abbey stone by stone to get Latura. It would not even be a war; he would simply annihilate anything and anybeast standing in his way. In this sense, Latura poses an existential threat to Redwall almost as surely as she does to Urthblood, even if it is through no fault of her own." Vanessa looked to Traveller and Melanie. "The Long Patrol know whereof I speak, having debated this very matter in hushed tones in the dead of night down in their tunnels. If the rest of you doubt what I say about Urthblood, ask the Field Marshal here about the secret standing orders he and the Colonel worked out between them when the rats arrived to seek shelter among us."

All eyes went to the two hares, who looked as startled as anybeast. "How th' bally bloomin' blinkin' blazes did you know ... " Traveller started to inquired before trailing off.

"The ears of Martin hear most of what goes on in this Abbey, Field Marshal. And I will speak with you in private after we are finished here, hopefully to dissuade you from what you have in mind." Vanessa addressed the assemblage as a whole. "For those of you lacking long ears and scuts, I can tell you in a nutshell that our Long Patrol friends have long worried that Urthblood would try to create some manufactured crisis between himself and Redwall as a pretext for moving against us openly, and have more recently feared that this entire affair with Mossflower's rats may have been just that. And while I believe they are mistaken in the particulars, they may be more right in broader terms than even they realize - as I have just outlined. Urthblood might not have designed the Accord and the Purge as stepping stones to war with Redwall, but that is precisely where matters will lead if we were to continue to shelter Latura. For this reason if no other, we must let her go, as much as it pains us to do so."

"It's all well and good to sit there and talk about pain," Winokur accused, clearly holding back empathic tears of frustration, "but Lattie's the one out there who'll be feeling that pain. If she's really that great a threat to Urthblood, and that badger knows it, he'll slay her on sight."

"I suspect that is almost certainly what will happen."

"And that doesn't bother you at all?"

"Of course it does. What caring, feeling beast could not help but be moved by Latura's plight? But I accept matters for what they are, and must look to them, and past them, now. For the future of Redwall."

"Well, I cannot accept it, Abbess. I cannot."

"You must, Winokur. However much it grieves you, you must."

"The Abbess's right," Traveller announced to the group. "This is a perilous time, if wot she says about Urthblood is true. Much as it grates my gizzard to let him get away with wot he's pulled on us here, if this's something he'd go to war with us over, we can't chance it. If he brought the bulk of his forces to bear against us - an' he may be free to do just that, now that he's got this Accord worked out with Tratton - we'd never be able to stand against him. Mebbe we'll hafta face him someday, but I'd just as soon push that day off for as long as we jolly well can. We might not be ready to meet such a challenge then, but we're surely not prepared for it now." He locked defiant gazes with Vanessa for the barest moment. "No Redwaller must go after Latura."

"How did Urthblood even know about her?" Winokur asked, still overwrought at this turn in the discussion. "How did he know she was here, and to send the Gawtrybe to abduct her?"

Traveller sighed. "Could've been Lady Mina - you know she'd drop an acorn on anybeast for that badger without battin' a pretty eyelash - or those foxes with that signalling mirror up in their tower. But in my bones, I don't think His Bloodiness needed anybeast to tell him about Lattie. Power like she's got, she must've been on his bally charts for a long time - maybe seasons. Could be she's always been part of his long-term plans."

"Then why would he wait until she was at Redwall to move against her?" Geoff wondered. "It would have saved him a great deal of trouble and awkwardness if he'd taken her before we'd ever heard of her, and certainly before she found sanctuary within our walls."

"You talk about Latura as if she were just an object, an inert prize to be claimed at Urthblood's leisure," Vanessa told him. "This is more a balance of powers, a dance of prophetic wills. Urthblood wanted to find Latura, but she didn't want to be found. Add in Martin, and the situation becomes convoluted indeed, and not nearly as straightforward as you just made it sound."

Winokur cradled his head in his paws. "I can't believe we're just going to throw Latura to the wolves like this ... "

"Latura is gone," Vanessa said. "But all the rats she guided to Redwall are still here. Without her, they would have been prey to Urthblood's Purge, and would likely not have fared well this season. Every one of them is now, in a sense, a little piece of her which will endure with us here even when she cannot. And that in itself is a powerful legacy that few creatures throughout history would be able to claim." She gazed down at her interlaced paws on the table before her. "And the very fact that she is such a hero to them may cause us some problems in the short term. But I must think beyond that, and any inconvenience we may incur as a result."

Elmwood spoke for the first time; as Alexander's second-in-command of the Forest Patrol, he'd seldom been invited to participate in such councils, and up until now remained content to listen and observe. But now his very ranking in the Abbey hierarchy stirred him to speak. "So, are we not sending out any rescue party at all? Because right now Alex and Colonel Clewiston are out there chasing after Latura, thinking we'll be sending help at any moment. If we're not, we need to let them know, and let them know now."

Melanie and Traveller traded a knowing, wordless glance. "I have not forgotten my husband. His position worries me, but I can't allow personal feelings to affect what we do. I can't."

"We will send out more Sparra to recall Alexander and the Colonel, as soon as we are done here," Vanessa said. "We should be able to turn them back before they catch up to Matowick's group. If they expect reinforcements, they likely will refrain from engaging the Gawtrybe until their numbers are bolstered. Once they learn no further help is coming, they'll have no choice but to disengage from their pursuit and return to the Abbey."

"We hope," muttered Geoff.

Maura sighed, a deep, shuddering inhale and exhale of her massive badger's lungs that almost shook the table. "I don't like this any more than Winokur, I suspect - the Abbey youngsters are my primary concern, and they've all grown very fond of Latura - but if the will of Martin truly is involved in this, and if there's a chance this could lead to wider conflict with Lord Urthblood, then I concede we must yield to Vanessa's counsel, however much it rubs us the wrong way."

Geoff gave a sigh to match Maura's, if far less impressive in scope. "Well, without Alex or the Colonel here to weigh in on this - or Montybank either - I suppose we've heard from those who matter most. Our miraculously-returned Abbess, our stalwart Badger Mother and the ranking Long Patrol commander on the scene all concur we should not go after Latura. And although my heart may question that decision, my head tells me to yield to the arguments presented here. Even if we were still of a mind to mount a rescue, it would be our Abbey defenders who would have to lead it - and with those defenders now telling me they would not take part in such an effort, that rather settles things, doesn't it?"

"Not quite," Winokur interjected. "Not just yet. As you pointed out yourself, Abbot, neither Alexander nor Colonel Clewiston are here. Can we be so certain they would agree with this consensus? Their first instinct, after all, was to give chase, on the assumptions we'd send more Abbeybeasts to aid them - and I think that says it all, doesn't it? What if they refuse to break off their pursuit when we tell them to, and press on with it? Will we still withhold reinforcements, even then?"

Traveller looked distinctly uncomfortable at this turn in the discussion. "The Colonel knows wot he's gotta do - an' wot the Long Patrol's gotta do - in a case like this. He knows Redwall must not become involved in this."

Vanessa added, "Alex and the Colonel don't know what we know. Once they are appraised of all aspects of the situation, my hope is that they will see sense, and do the only sensible thing." Her gaze went to Traveller. "Although it may take some ... convincing."

The sound of angry and excited voices from up in Great Hall rose to a new crescendo of outrage, no doubt incited by Harth's account of what he'd heard in Cavern Hole. "I know at least a couple of hundred creatures who'll have as hard a time accepting this decision as I do," Winokur stated in response to the elevated noise level upstairs.

"Reckon they'll cause trouble?" Log-a-Log wondered.

"If they do, I'll be counting on your Guosim to help us keep that trouble from getting too far out of paw. But for now, let's tend to the more immediate things. Elmwood, would you please go round up Cyril and Cyrus and have them sound the toll to summon the Sparra down to us? I'd have thought the previous council tolling might have brought Highwing to this meeting, but apparently our sparrow friends are in some disarray themselves, with so many of their number out escorting Alex and the Colonel. They'll need to be called back too, so the sooner we set that in motion, the better."

"Yes, Abbess, right away!" The squirrel all but leapt from his seat and scurried across Cavern Hole to perform Vanessa's bidding, but ascending the short flight up to Great Hall he almost ran into the shrew Worssel on his way down to the subterranean gathering.

Sensing the look of urgency on his underling's face, Log-a-Log barked out, "What is it, Worss? What's goin' on up there?"

"A whole bunch of them riled-up rats tried t' storm out onta th' grounds, sayin' they was gonna retake their weapons an' do sumpthin' 'bout this if nobeast else was gonna. T'was all we an' the Abbey squirrels 'n' otters could do t' stop 'em from doin' just that."

"But y' got it under control now?"

"Aye, fer that lot. But while we were busy with 'em, a smaller group pushed their way upstairs, sayin' they meant t' take the Infirmary, an' hold Lady Mina hostage 'til her tribeskin give Lattie back."

"Well, didja stop 'em?"

"We couldn't, Chief! They had too big a head start, an' most of us were busy holdin' the doors when they did it. Looks like they're up there now."

"Are Arlyn and Metellus still in Great Hall, tending to the hornet stings?" Vanessa asked. Most everybeast else had risen to their footpaws at this alarming news, but she remained seated, radiating calm control.

"Aye," Worssel replied, "much as they can. Kinda too disrupted up there t' treat much of anything."

"Good. Then at least we still have our healers, even if we don't for the moment have our Infirmary. Otherwise, this could have been a lot worse. Still, I suppose something must be done."

"Gee, do ya think?" Log-a-Log shot back, rather nonplussed at the Abbess's seemingly detached demeanor.

"Did you really expect them to react any other way?" Winokur added, a tone of undisguised criticism directed at Vanessa. "We'll be lucky if we can prevent a full-scale riot from breaking out."

"We should have kept Harth down here until we were all ready to go up together," said Geoff, also second-guessing Vanessa. "This might become more trouble than we can handle."

Traveller and Melanie, after a quickly-whispered conversation between them, announced, "We'll go muster th' Log Patrol," as they started off toward the hares' tunnels.

"Be quick about it!" Worssel urged. "We coulda used some o' you bunnies up there just now, t' help keep them rats in their place!"

Maura shifted herself toward the stairs. "If those malcontented miscreants have done anything to harm any of the Abbey youngsters, or our guests, I'll give 'em lots worse than hornet stings to worry about!"

"Don't think that'll be an issue, marm," Worssel reported as he fell into step alongside her and Log-a-Log. "When things got t' lookin' ugly, that southern Badger Lord an' his Lady rallied all th' children to 'em, an' no rat's gone near 'em."

"Poor hosts we are," Geoff lamented, "relying on our honored guests to help serve as our own defenders in a time of crisis." He looked to Vanessa; the two mice and Winokur were alone in Cavern Hole now, everybeast else having rushed out to see to these matters. "Well, aren't we going up too?"

Vanessa finally pushed her chair back and rose to her footpaws - but her gaze lay elsewhere. "Winokur, you know a thing or two about fighting. Arm yourself, and stick close to Geoff's side. Make sure no harm befalls our Abbot. I'll join you presently, but first, there is something else I must see to."

As Geoff and Winokur looked on in puzzlement, Vanessa strode off toward the opposite exit from Cavern Hole, following after Traveller and Melanie.