CHAPTER EIGHTY-FOUR

"Close the door."

With Vanessa already moving behind her Abbess's desk in her study - which until recently had been Geoff's desk, in Geoff's study - and Maura helping herself to the room's lone badger-sized chair, the door-closing task fell to Winokur. The otter Recorder did as bidden, firmly pulling on the handle until he both heard and felt the latch click, then seated himself facing Vanessa, at Maura's left paw.

"Why are we here?" the Badgermum practically interrogated, her tone neither cowed nor amused.

"For me to talk, and you to listen."

Maura opened her mouth to retort to Vanessa's stern tone, closed it again and nodded. "Very well. I have so much I could say, but it's all outweighed by my questions, so I'm content to hear you out." She didn't add "for now" aloud, although the inference stood out plainly in her matronly statement.

"My questions are also myriad," said Winokur, "so I am all ears. But your manner makes me somewhat ... apprehensive. Are we in any sort of ... well, trouble?"

"No moreso than any Redwaller this night. My manner has more to do with the gravity of what is to be discussed."

"Then why just the two of us?" Maura asked. "Why not Geoff, and Arlyn, and ... well ... "

"Yes, we are rather short of leaders and defenders at the moment, aren't we? With Monty and Foremole away at the quarry, and Alex, Colonel Clewiston and Log-a-Log out chasing after Latura, and Lady Mina up in the Infirmary. But the ones I want here are here, and that's all that matters for the moment."

Maura straightened in her oversized chair. "About the Infirmary - now that you've brought it up - just what did go on there this afternoon, Nessa? How did you overcome four armed rat fighters and slay them, so easily and so quickly? How did the notion to do so even enter your mind? It's not the behavior of any Abbot or Abbess I've ever heard of - nor of you, Nessa. At least not when you were Abbess - or Infirmary keeper before that."

"Only one of them was armed. That made the task admittedly easier."

"Nessa! This is nothing to be frivolous about!"

"Indeed it's not. And you're not doing a very good job of listening, Maura."

For the second time, Maura opened her mouth but no words came out.

"An answer to that question is not unreasonable, Abbess," Winokur gingerly broached, using a measured and probing approach in contrast to the badger's brusque and challenging one. "About what happened in the Infirmary ... "

Vanessa speared the otter with her gaze. "You already know, having spoken to the only surviving witness to the incident."

"Winokur has shared with me what the rat mother told him and Harth. But it still doesn't explain ... well, it still doesn't explain the whole thing."

"I promise you will not leave this room with that mystery unanswered. I have, after all, called you both here to explain to you what's really going on."

"Going on?" Maura shifted in her seat. "With what?"

"With everything. It may seem to you that the world has suddenly gone crazy, and turned all topsy-turvy, but I can assure you, the truth is far more convoluted than you imagine ... but also far simpler." Vanessa looked to Winokur again. "You've already half-guessed, haven't you?"

"I ... have some ideas. Or shadows of ideas. But every time I try to hold them up to the light in my mind, or make them fit together to form a single complete picture, it never quite ... comes together. And I'm not entirely sure I want you to elucidate me, whether I'm near the mark or far wide of it."

"Well, elucidate me!" Maura burst out. "Or I'll leave you two to your enigmatic bantering and get back to my youngbeasts, who are making a lot more sense these days than you are!"

"Maura, is that the respect you show your Abbess?"

"Nessa, after what I've seen today, I'm still not sure you're any more fit to hold that title than you were when you were running around these past three seasons like an out-of-control brat!"

"Very well then. We come to the question which lies at the crux of everything." The female mouse folded her paws on the desktop before her. "Which would you prefer, Maura - that your beloved Vanessa go back to being the wild and insolent shell of her former self that you've been contending with these past seasons ... or that she serve as a worthy vessel for Redwall's founding Warrior?"

Silence fell over the study then, a silence lasting many heartbeats, stretching out into the realms of the impossible. If Winokur's eyes were wide at having his wisps of suspicions confirmed, Maura's came to be twice as wide, the badger not having supposed anything of the sort might be going on here. When at length she broke the silence, her words added little to the discussion.

"No ... it can't ... no." But it was clear her spoken denial stood at odds with a dawning acceptance.

"Can it really be true?" Winokur asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

The mouse behind the desk favored him with a not-quite-smile. "Do you really need me to answer that?"

Maura started to speak, cleared her throat when her utterance came out as a failed croak, then started over. "Abbot Geoff needs to be told at once!"

Vanessa's grim manner reasserted itself as she shot Maura a warning gaze. "Abbot Geoff must not be told. I only trust certain beasts with this secret, and they are here in this room."

"Only two of us?" said Winokur, incredulous. "But, why us?"

"I felt somebeast ought to know. But at the same time, those in the know must be limited to as few as possible, in case things do not go well."

"Not ... well?" Winokur tentatively prompted.

"When I stated at the council today that I had returned, I was not speaking as Vanessa - as you have no doubt surmised by now. But only a hazardous time such as this could have brought me back, and hiding in plain sight in this way seemed the best approach, since nobeast is likely to deduce or even accept the truth unless forcefully confronted with it, as you were. For you see ... " Vanessa stopped in mid-sentence, head cocked to one side, then rose and came out from behind her desk, going to the door. "Excuse me a moment."

Opening the door with forceful abruptness, she revealed Geoff loitering in the hallway beyond. And if his ear wasn't exactly pressed to the door, it was plainly obvious that he'd not merely been passing by at that moment.

"Yes, Geoff, may we help you?"

"I, um, just wanted to get something from, ah, my bedchambers ... "

"We're in the middle of a private discussion. Come back when we're finished." And with that, she slammed the door on him.

Maura and Winokur sat at a loss for words as Vanessa circled back behind her desk and resumed her seat there. Maura started to say something, but the mouse held up a paw, demanding silence. At length she lowered it. "We can continue. He's gone now. I don't think we'll be disturbed further."

"How did you ... ? I know your ears are bigger than mine or Wink's, but still ... "

"That little demonstration had nothing to do with the hearing acuity of this body. Ask me where any creature within Redwall is at this exact moment, and what they are doing, and I will tell you."

Maura raised an eyebrow. "So much for privacy."

"You have as much privacy with me as you ever had. At least until Urthblood came, and blocked my ability to watch over Redwall. But now, like him, I reside with a footpaw in each world, and I can resume my role of guardian and protector - if not in the form I might have imagined, or preferred."

"So Geoff was right," said Winokur. "Urthblood's presence really was keeping you ... I mean ... " He shook his head. "I'm sorry. I'm just having trouble wrapping my mind around all of this. I mean, what are we even supposed to call you?"

"Vanessa, of course. Certainly outside this room, and inside it as well, if it helps keep your mind away from a slip which might reveal me to others."

"But, you're not Vanessa," Maura clarified. "You're ... our founding Warrior. So where is Nessa now? What will become of her?"

"I am sorry to have to tell you this, but Vanessa died when that slingstone hit her head at Foxguard. I entered her immediately, and not entirely of my own volition; even there, at that place he'd never visited, Urthblood's presence was strong enough to blind me, to bar me from this world. The stone he'd personally overseen being excavated and shaped to his will, his moles on site building his tower to the sky, his foxes who were meant to dwell there - all conspired to hold me at a distance. But it was far enough from Redwall and the quarry, and fate had ideas of its own that day, and so when she was struck down it was like a gate opening and beckoning me within, and I got through in the only way I could.

"But her body was damaged, and grievously so. Inhabiting her in the way I did forestalled death, but total recovery proved impossible. And Urthblood's influence over Mossflower remained a barrier as well - perhaps the most substantial one. Thus I was stuck partway, unable to fully animate or inhabit Vanessa, just a fragment of myself able to manifest itself. And the result, as you well know, was the addled, affected former Abbess you've had to cope with all this time. I could not have told you the truth, even had I wanted to, even had I been aware of it myself. In a way it was the worst of all possible worlds: no longer Vanessa, but no longer anybeast else either."

"You can say that again." Maura shook her head in sadness. "So, Vanessa is truly dead?"

"Yes and no. She no longer dwells in this world, not as she did, and if my spirit were to leave this body, it would surely die. But Vanessa has not moved on to Dark Forest either. She remains with me here still. Her spirit and mine have intermingled, in a sense. And just as I remember everything she has ever seen and done and said and known, so she continues to look over my shoulder, as it were, looking out these eyes and hearing with these ears and even thinking with this brain. And if she does not entirely approve of the measures I have been forced to, at least she understands their necessity. That message is for you in particular, Winokur. From her to you."

The otter straightened at having this specifically addressed to him, but was not so overwhelmed by these revelations that he failed to pick up on something the dual mouse before them had said. "But, you have died. Several times, for brief moments. No heartbeat ... not breathing ... "

Vanessa smiled and nodded. "I had to step out on those occasions, to visit a certain ratmaid."

Maura stared at her. "You brought Latura here?"

"As I said at the council, the paw of Martin is heavy in these events. He needed Latura to come to Redwall, for the reasons laid out at that gathering, and he needed Latura to leave afterward, for the reasons also stated earlier today. I may not have been entirely forthcoming as to my identity down in Cavern Hole, but otherwise, what I said there was wholly truthful."

"That still strikes me as rather, well, cold-hearted, even knowing what I know now," Winokur said. "Using Latura for your own ends like that, and then just letting Urthblood have her when you were done with her. She deserves better thanks than that, if what you say about your recovery is true. From you, and from Redwall."

"It really bothers you, doesn't it?"

Of course it does!"

"And that is why you will make a splendid Abbot. But that is a conversation for another day. For now, we must direct ourselves toward the crisis at paw."

"You mean the Gawtrybe besieging us?" Maura assumed.

"I mean their master."

"Now that we've given him Latura," the badger asked, "if she really is so important to him, do you suppose there's any chance he might relent on this campaign, and allow our rats to dwell here without harassing us any more?"

"As long as he maintains the pretense of this Accord with Tratton, those rats will be a sticking point with him, and he dare not relent, for appearance's sake if nothing else. But if it weren't the rats, it would be something else, and something else after that. No, this situation cannot be allowed to continue. Which is why I have taken the steps that I have."

"What do you mean?" Winokur inquired. "Was Latura's surrender a ploy to buy us time for something bigger?"

"Latura is the 'something bigger.' And letting Urthblood have her was not about buying time at all. You still fail to fully grasp what is going on here."

"Apparently we do," Maura said. "So please tell us."

"Latura poses a mortal threat to him, which is why he has gone to such lengths to secure her. But he misunderstands the nature of that threat, and believes it is his to eliminate at his whim. I did not send Latura his way for him to prevail, but so that she could fulfill this very destiny he so fears."

Vanessa paused, looking first Winokur then Maura squarely in the eye. "My aim is not to placate Urthblood. My aim is to destroy him. And Latura is my weapon."

The others sat speechless at the implications of Redwall's founding Warrior openly declaring a vow of annihilation upon the most powerful Badger Lord in history. "But, how ... ?" Maura murmured at last.

"When Latura is brought before him, Urthblood will most certainly have her slain. I cannot see him leaving the task to anybeast else - indeed, I am not certain whether any ordinary creature could even succeed in such an assignment. A mantle of fate surrounds that ratmaid, a power as much without her as within her. We've seen what happened with Krayne, and with Mina. In her own way, Latura might be all but invincible where most of us are concerned. But Urthblood's power stands on a level with hers, perhaps even exceeds hers, and he will be able to succeed where nearly everybeast else must fail."

"But, once he does that, doesn't he win?" said Winokur. "With her slain, the threat to him ends as well."

"On the contrary. Latura's power is passive, not active like Urthblood's. Her threat lies in her potential. And when Urthblood's blade finds her heart, or her neck, that potential will explode, as surely as one of Tratton's stormpowder kegs would explode. Not in this world, but in the next. In my world. And the shrapnel from that explosion will pierce Urthblood to the core, lacerate and shred the very center of his being. His prophetic powers will be destroyed. His ability to command others will be destroyed. And all his works will unravel and come undone as if of their own accord. He will fall, and fall hard, brought lower than the lowliest vermin he ever refused to take into his service through sheer wretchedness."

Winokur and Maura were stunned by this explanation, and again it was the badger who responded first. "And, we want this to happen?"

"We need it to happen, if we can make it so. The threat of Urthblood cannot be understated, and this may prove our only opportunity to remove it. No lesser threat could have brought me back from Dark Forest. Not even the Long Patrol, so vocal for so long about this menace to anybeast who would listen, fully grasp the danger he poses to the lands."

Maura nodded slowly. "So Urthblood is evil ... "

"Evil? No, not really. Is a summer thunderstorm evil? Is a blizzard, or a raging sea, or a howling gale? Was the earthquake that sent up the high cliff wall that sunders much of Mossflower evil? That cataclysm certainly altered the face of the lands forever, without a shred of malicious intent behind it. So it is with Urthblood. And that is what makes his danger so insidious.

"You have seen Urthblood in the flesh only. You know him through word and deed alone. I have seen him from a much more elemental perspective, without the burdensome, misleading distraction of physical form. You see, fate and destiny, like the ocean and the rivers and the winds, has currents of its own, which can be just as unpredictable, flowing this way and that according to no set pattern that any mortal or immortal eye can fully comprehend, swirling eddies and surging torrents and undertows and slipstreams and side channels, and waves crashing together. And once in a great while, all those myriad variations combine in some arcane way to produce a result so far from what is normal that it seems almost impossible. And that is what has happened now. Urthblood is the product of just such a freak confluence of strands of fate and twists of destiny. Urthblood is a thing that should not be."

"And we're stuck with him." Then something struck Winokur which had not occurred to Maura. "What of Urthfist, then?"

"Oh, he rails. He rails, and it is terrible to behold. He cannot bring himself to pass through the gates of Dark Forest, but unlike Vanessa, who tarries because of her connection to me and this body, Urthfist's insane, raging stubbornness unhinges him. Only now, in the omniscience of death, can he realize how futilely doomed was his opposition to Urthblood, how mismatched a contest he was caught in, and the true nature of the implacable enemy he faced in his brother. Imagine being a normal beast - a powerful Badger Lord, yes, but otherwise as normal in mortal terms as either of you - and finding out upon your demise that the brother who'd slain you is not evil as you'd suspected, but isn't even a real beast at all - just an empty shell, a cruel twist of fate created by a whim of chance, destined to visit unimaginable destruction upon the lands without reason or purpose. They say the spirit of Gabool the Wild is utterly mad, but that deranged pirate king pales next to Urthfist. Even the most formidable of all the past vermin warlords fear the day that Urthfist will enter Dark Forest."

"I'd ... well, I'd actually meant whether Urthfist himself was a product of fate just like Urthblood, but I think you've answered that. But, have you fully considered the ramifications of Urthblood's fall? What of Tratton, for example? Without Urthblood's forces to hold the coast, there'll be nobeast to stop that Searat King's expansionist plans or quest for power."

"Tratton is of no real concern - not compared to Urthblood. His forces are at home on the high seas and its islands. They are not equipped for extended land occupations or excursions far from their base of power. And if Tratton ever thinks to overextend himself by bringing an army to our walls to threaten us, I will make him regret it. I will make him regret it very badly."

Winokur studied the mouse. "So, do you mean to take up the sword of ... er, your sword - again?"

"That would be rather difficult just at the moment, since Montybank has it at the quarry. But if this gambit with Latura plays out as I anticipate, that really should not be necessary. Our greatest danger will have been eliminated, and Redwall boasts enough dedicated defenders to see us through the aftermath, whatever it might bring." Vanessa gave a wistful pause. "Although, some of them might not come back from this folly in which they're presently engaged."

"What if they succeed?" Maura asked. "What if they get Latura away from the Gawtrybe and bring her back? What happens then?"

"They won't succeed."

"You ... 'know' this?"

"Not with certainty - not in the way you mean. But I know Urthblood. He might have tread lightly where Redwall was concerned, dispatching only a small squad to extract Latura for him, but now that the action has moved out into the Western Plains, he will consider himself freed from any such need for restraint, and bring his full forces to bear. He won't worry about casualties on either side to get what he wants. Not now."

"So," Maura asked, "how long will you stay?"

"For as long as I have to. Although, if things go amiss with Latura, matters may grow somewhat ... hazardous. There are certain risks I took when I reclaimed the Abbess's chair as a restored Vanessa. Earlier I spoke of hiding in plain sight, but this identity may prove too open and obvious."

"Especially if you go around slaying beasts out of paw," Winokur said. "I nearly figured it out on my own, and I wouldn't be surprised if Geoff or Arlyn aren't very far behind me. If it weren't for the hectic pace of events keeping their minds otherwise occupied ... "

"Yes, I'll admit I let my Warrior's side get the best of me today, and perhaps I was too quick to resort to force. I might have some lessons to learn about inhabiting a mortal body again."

"Not as far as blade skills go," quipped Maura. "But why then didn't you stay as you were? You'd have attracted far less attention to yourself if you'd outwardly remained affected and impaired. And you'd gotten very good at hiding when you didn't care to be found. Now, all eyes are on you."

"A number of reasons. First off, although it may seem trivial in the grand scheme of things, I could not have stood by and let Percival and the leverets be punished for what I put them up to this morning. They were under my influence, acting at my bidding. It simply wouldn't have been right. But also, I felt that adopting a mantle of mortal authority might allow me to exert my will more directly here, and exercise control over events without having to resort to more otherworldly methods, as I had been. And inhabiting a revered and sorely-missed former Abbess gave me an easy avenue for doing just that. As it turns out, however, even this old ghost Warrior cannot have everything go his way. There's simply too much free will - and, in the case of our Long Patrol friends, stubbornness - involved for anything to be as clear-cut as that."

Maura noticed Winokur smiling, looking almost amused. "What is it?" she asked the otter.

"Oh, I'm just cheered that, after taking such a cold and calculating approach toward Latura, our returned Warrior is still worried about our young ones taking undeserved strappings across their tails. Maybe there's hope after all!"

"This is Redwall, Winokur. There's always hope."

"Yes, I suppose there is. But there is something else I must ask you, although I almost dread to bring it up. Last night, at our council with Harth and Matowick, after it was over Latura had a moment with Abbot Geoff that seemed quite portentous, and left me disquieted, although it seemed to go right by most everybeast else, including Geoff himself. What did Latura see?"

"I cannot say. I was not aware of that incident when it happened, and was not privy to anything about it. But it was Latura's vision, not mine, so I cannot even speculate. I myself have seen only confused glimpses of what is to come, or what may come, since the future is still being shaped even as we sit here. So much depends upon what transpires in the coming days that I suspect nothing is written in stone at this point. The entire situation remains very fluid indeed."

"Urthblood's prophecy is written in stone," Maura reminded them. "Right up in Salamandastron's throne room."

"Yes, there is that," Vanessa conceded.

"And Alexander is the only Redwaller who's seen it," said Winokur. "Pity he's not here with us now. His insight might prove useful."

"Perhaps. Then again, unless he knew how to decipher Badger Script, it was all just meaningless runes to him."

"Runes ... and pictograms," Maura put in. "Including, by all accounts, one of this very Abbey, right in the middle of the carven prophecy. A picture whose presence Urthblood has never explained to anybeast's satisfaction. Do you suppose this current mess with Latura and the rats was something he foresaw, some way or another, even back then?"

The mouse pursed her lips. "It's possible, I suppose. The appearance of Redwall in his prophecy could carry any number of meanings."

"More to the point," said Winokur, "has he foreseen you? Your return in this manner?"

"I do not believe so, although of course with Urthblood it is impossible to know. Then again, as has been said often at Redwall lately, the Seer hides the Seer - and with both Latura and myself exerting influence over these events, I suspect the prophetic plane has grown so tangled and clouded between the two of us that Urthblood's sight will be seriously limited. All his focus lies on Latura, and thus I imagine she will shield me from him. It's probable he will not deduce my involvement in these affairs."

Maura's brow revealed creases of worry. "If Matowick tells him Redwall's former Abbess helped with Latura's capture, Urthblood might be able to figure it out on his own pretty quickly."

"I took care of that. By the time Matowick and his squirrels reach Salamandastron, not a one of them will remember anything about me helping them with their mission."

Maura and Winokur regarded Vanessa with renewed awe. "Is there anything you can't do?" the badger wondered.

"A great deal, unfortunately. Which is why I have brought the two of you in on this little conspiracy of mine. I'll need other Abbey leaders to back me up if Geoff or the Long Patrol should question me too vehemently. Of course, if Urthblood does slay Latura as I anticipate, then I'll happily step down and yield the Abbot's chair to Geoff once more. Maybe become Infirmary keeper again, to give Arlyn and Metellus a badly-needed paw in that area."

"Could you do that?"

"I remember all that Vanessa ever knew, Maura."

Winokur ran his paw across his lips. "I'm still ill at ease about this. Even if Urthblood doesn't learn enough from Matowick to surmise you've returned, he could still learn of it some other way ... assuming he doesn't already know. Latura, for example."

"A valid point; I can't control what our ratmaid says or does. We can only hope Urthblood doesn't give her much chance to speak, or try to interrogate her, before carrying out his predetermined sentence."

"Would it even take that much? Urthblood's been keeping you away from Redwall for seven seasons now, and drove you to the desperate lengths of possessing a slain Abbess to reach us again. Wouldn't that suggest he's been aware of you all along?"

"I do not think so, Winokur. The part of Urthblood that kept me away operates at a level I suspect even he neither controls nor is fully aware of. In one sense, yes, he and I have been warring ever since he first set paw in this part of Mossflower, but it was an invisible war, and a silent one too, heard only by Latura - more an effect of his heavily-fated presence than any willful act on his part. Did he feel it? Did he know?" Vanessa's shoulder's shrugged. "Even I cannot fully know what Urthblood knows and what he doesn't - and I suspect to some degree he might not even know this for himself."

"So, what do we do now?" Maura asked.

"We bide our time, and wait to see whether this shaft of fate loosed at the heart of Urthblood's power finds its mark. Closer to paw, we must reassure our rat guests that they are welcome and safe here, in spite of this day's events, while at the same time letting them know in no uncertain terms that misconduct and barbarous behavior will not be tolerated."

"I think you did a pretty good job of that."

Vanessa ignored Winokur's muttered comment. "And, of course, we must prepare for the return of our rescue party, in whatever state they'll be in. It's a good thing all of Vanessa's healer's knowledge resides in me, because I fully expect casualties."

She looked to Maura and Winokur. "Your most important task, of course, will be to keep my secret, and make sure you always think of me as Vanessa whenever we are where others might hear; I will be sure to remind you if I should sense any laxity or forgetfulness on your parts. I'll also seek your support on Abbey matters, should I be forced to any further unpopular decisions or drastic measures, although I should hope that after today, the worst of those are behind us."

"You'll get it." Maura looked to Winokur. "From both of us."

"Very good. Now let us adjourn for the night, before Geoff or anybeast else comes knocking again!"

As they all rose from their chairs, Winokur said, "There is one other thing I've long wondered about, and this conversation did little to shed light on the matter. Cyril. Why did you attach yourself to him with such, ah, tenacity after your return from Foxguard? You yourself said Vanessa died there, so it would have been all you at that point."

"An impaired, partial me, not fully through to this world." Vanessa paused at the door, not yet opening it. "But the answer is perfectly obvious. Or perhaps not so obvious, since there was so much going on then, and nobeast else likely noticed. But you see, when Urthblood came to Redwall two summers ago, in the midst of all the paw-wringing and questioning and uncertainty and Geoff scouring the Abbey archives for clues, only one Redwaller ever came before the Tapestry and opened his heart, directly asking me for guidance. And while Cyril may have been asking more for himself than all of Redwall, his appeal still reached me. Even through the suffocating veil Urthblood had laid down over our home, still it reached me. And I never forgot, not even after inhabiting this body and forgetting to a large extent who I was. My behavior in this area was hardly appropriate, I admit, but I was reaching out, in the only way I was able, to the only Abbeybeast who'd fully reached out to me during those times."

The other two stood digesting this revelation, perhaps abashed at the implication that neither they nor any of their adult counterparts had taken the time or consideration to do what one novice mouse had done all those seasons ago. At length Winokur gave an amused chuckle. "I wonder what Cyril's reaction would be, if he could hear this?"

"Unfortunately, he can't. Now let us go look to the needs of Redwall, and do what we can to keep everything here together."

Vanessa opened the door, and the three of them strode out of the study into the corridor beyond, bound together by this most earthshaking of unshareable secrets.