CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SIX

It was a twin tribunal in Cavern Hole, with Vanessa and Clewiston seated against each other at opposite ends of the long table. But if the mouse still held the Abbess's chair - at least for the moment - the Colonel obviously held himself as the superior authority here, content to let Vanessa's place of prominence serve as her interrogation seat, so that the onus of explaining herself might fall squarely and symbolically upon her before all watching eyes and listening ears.

The owners of those eyes and ears included Maura and Winokur, both of whom had dutifully responded to the toll Clewiston had ordered Cyril and Cyrus to sound, as well as Elmwood, sitting in for the absent Alexander. Geoff and Arlyn had followed the arrested Abbess and her hare captors down from the Infirmary, Vanessa coming along peacefully, an almost bemused air about her. Half a dozen Long Patrol now surrounded the Abbess's chair as the council got underway, hemming her in as if she were a dangerous criminal who might explode into violence at any moment.

One figure more held a seat at the table. Lady Mina, pointedly excluded from all the Abbey's recent consultations due to her underpawed actions against the rat refugees - and on the verge of being expelled from Redwall for that very reason - had been about to argue most vehemently for her inclusion here when the Colonel amazed her by specifically requesting her presence as well. He'd not come right out and declared her under arrest too, nor had the Long Patrol afforded her the same alert attention directed toward Vanessa, but she was left with the impression that Clewiston would have made sure she was here for this - one way or the other.

With everybeast settled in, Maura took charge before any official proceedings could begin. "Colonel, is there any reason our Abbess appears to be under arrest?"

"Because she jolly well is." Clewiston twiddled the confiscated message parchment in his paws. "An' you may wish to think twice before addressin' her by that title again."

Maura and Winokur traded concerned glances. "And on what grounds do you do this?" the otter Recorder asked the Long Patrol commander.

Traveller, seated alongside Clewiston, answered, "New evidence has come to our attention - evidence we'll be sharin' with all of you here." The old hare's gaze went to Vanessa. "Evidence the Abbess here will be hard-pressed to explain away, 'specially in light of her recent actions, tho' I'd enjoin her to try."

"Colonel," Mina impatiently implored, "what did that message say?"

He fixed her with a glare fit to freeze summer rainwater. "You honestly don't know?"

"No," she responded tersely, "because you intercepted it, improperly and without cause!"

"Oh, there was cause, all right. An' if you truly are without a bally clue, I'll be very interested in seeing your reaction - and whether you can shed any light on it. Or talk your way out of it, for that matter."

Mina bristled. "Am I being accused of something, Colonel?"

"At the moment, nothing more than what we already know you're guilty of regardin' Lattie. Whether those charges are expanded depends on wot comes out here, doesn't it?"

"This all sounds very serious," said Arlyn, taking the lead for Geoff, who was still getting over his sculpture wounds. "I think you need to tell us what's going on here - or what you think is going on."

"Yes, Colonel," Vanessa agreed, speaking for the first time. "If this evidence you claim to have against me is so damning, go ahead and let us hear it. I can only say that my own curiosity is now most piqued."

Clewiston passed the parchment to Traveller, who rose and walked the length of the table to give it to Vanessa. As he did so, the Colonel said, "I'd like you to read that dispatch aloud, Abbess, so that everybeast can hear it loud an' clear. An' do keep in mind it's already been seen by me, the Field Marshall, Captain Gallatin an' several others of the Patrols, so we'll know if you deviate from wot's written there. Oh, an' we took the liberty of scrawlin' out a copy too, in case it entered your mind to tear it to shreds before anybeast else can see it. So, no trickery, wot?"

Mina bristled anew. "Colonel, that message was intended for my eyes only! You had no right showing it around to your hares like a naughty schoolbeast's classroom note! Nor to demand my private correspondence be aired openly before this council! I protest!"

Clewiston regarded the Gawtrybe Lady with a look which clearly let her know he considered himself in charge here. "Keep protesting, an' I'll only be able to conclude you're a part of it after all."

"Part of what?!"

A chuckle from the opposite end of the table drew Clewiston's gaze Vanessa's way. "You find something amusing about all this, marm?"

Vanessa sat looking down at the note she'd just read, having taken it from Traveller as the old hare returned to his seat alongside Clewiston. She shook her head slowly, as if absorbing the most preposterous thing to be sprung on her in many a season.

"Not so much amusing as absurd, Colonel. I'd sensed an attack coming our way from Urthblood's quarters, but I did not expect anything like ... this." Vanessa rattled the parchment with a distinct rumple. "It's actually most ingenious, in its own way."

Clewiston's eyes narrowed. "Is that what you're calling it - an attack?"

"Of course. And I suspect Lady Mina is quite mistaken in her assertion that this was meant for her eyes only. I think this communique found its way into exactly the paws Urthblood intended - and that it is producing precisely the results he wanted. Some accusations, once made, are very difficult to counter, even if they are entirely false. Are you absolutely certain you wish to proceed with this, Colonel?"

"Read the message, Abbess. Word. For. Bally. Word."

"As you wish - although cleaning up this mess might take some doing." Vanessa dropped her gaze to the parchment and recited the words upon it in a loud, unwavering tone.

"Lady Mina,

The Abbess is my tool, an extension of my pure will. I control her

completely. Follow her lead, and do as she says in all matters.

Destroy this note, and share this with no other.

Lord Urthblood"

No silence more shocked, stunned or complete had ever settled over any assemblage at Redwall. Arlyn, Geoff, Elmwood and Mina sat staring at the calm Abbess with eyes agog and jaws slack, while Maura and Winokur studied Vanessa with amazement and alarm equal to that of the others, if somewhat different in nature. Only the hares, already aware of the note's content, looked on with a coolness to match Vanessa's, although theirs was a predatory attitude of accusation - and battle-readiness - rather than the pragmatic self-possession exuded by the mouse holding the Abbess's chair.

"Do you deny it?" Clewiston demanded.

"Of course I deny it. And I must say I am more than a little insulted at being painted as so much less than I really am - and by the fact that you seem so ready and willing to swallow this hornswoggle without critically examining it."

"Oh, we've examined it, all right, you can jolly well believe me on that one. Had ourselves a lively little debate downstairs when Gallatin presented this evidence to us. An' I must say, once I read it, a whole lot that hadn't been makin' one bally lick o' sense suddenly became clear as day, an' all the puzzle pieces fell inta place oh so neatly. Do you really need me to elaborate, marm?"

Vanessa steepled her paws to her chin as if observing an interesting experiment. "Do go on. This should prove most ... illuminating."

"Not sure why you're feeling so sure of yourself, since there's not a beast at Redwall unaware of how different you are from the Nessa of old we all respected, revered an' trusted. Ever since Lattie got snatched, you've been throwin' your weight around more like a tyrant than an esteemed Redwaller, an' brandishin' your authority with a heavy paw less like an' Abbess an' more like an Emperor ... or, dare I say it, a Badger Lord?"

Vanessa's bemused air did not falter. "I have known many badgers in my time - but I have never been one myself."

"Funny, I seem to recall you paintin' your face fur up in black and white stripes an' proclaimin' otherwise just earlier this season. Or does the name 'Urthnessa the Bold' fail t' ring any bally bells for you? We've not forgotten that little masquerade, much as you might wish we had."

Now Vanessa's expression did sour, although it was hardly the panic of a creature caught in a lie. "Yes, in light of this present accusation, that does in retrospect loom as an unfortunate choice of fursona I could have adopted for myself. But I assure you that was just a bit of play to win Percy and leverets over to my cause. Given their own unique familial histories, I felt they'd respond best to a pretend badger than any other species."

"Then again, maybe it wasn't a masquerade at all, but a little bit of th' truth tryin' to work its way into the bloomin' daylight, wot? An' now that you've brought it up, marm, let's just talk about exactly wot that cause of yours was that you recruited our own young ones to be part of. Wot was that again? Oh, yes - causin' th' biggest blinkin' commotion this Abbey's ever seen to get all us defenders distracted, driven indoors an' tied up in knots, an' then lurin' Lattie right outta the Abbey so the Gawtrybe could get 'er. Now, you can go back to invokin' the name of Martin all you want an' sayin' how the only sensible thing to do was let those villains haul her away, but that note there before you offers a far more plausible explanation for all this. You weren't doing Martin's bidding; you were doing Urthblood's. Which is why he ended up getting exactly wot he wanted."

"My reasons for surrendering Latura were exactly as I have stated them previously - along with one other. Urthblood got what he thought he wanted - but if he'd gone through with his intended plan, he would have been in for a rude surprise indeed. And we'd all be free of him now."

"Ah. Back to that whole ploy about how givin' him Lattie was the best way to make sure she hurt him, are we? But how would you have known any of that? An' for that matter, how did you know in the Infirmary just now that His Bloodiness gave Lattie over to Tratton? The owl confirmed it was true, an' seemed surprised at your knowledge of events so far from here. Or should I say, far from here ... but not from Urthblood."

Vanessa's expression twisted into an acerbic frown. "Oh, and I'm sure I would have given myself away like that, if I truly was Urthblood's zombie. The very fact I did so works against your accusation, Colonel."

"Not necessarily. You hadn't read the note, so you wouldn't have known not to give yourself away - precisely the kind of arrogance one might expect from that badger."

Vanessa's expression turned playful again. "Glug glug glug!"

While several of the others at the table stared at her as if she'd reverted to her state of juvenile madness again, the Colonel's accusatory glare remained severe. "An' wot's that supposed to mean?"

"That, Colonel, is the sound of that particular argument sinking like a stone dinghy ... to use one of Monty's favorite expressions."

"How so?"

Vanessa nodded at the parchment. "If that message were true, I wouldn't have had to read it to know what it said, since I would have been the one who sent it."

Winokur and Maura both seemed lifted by this riposte, as if keeping mental score and awarding that point to Vanessa, whom they considered the home favorite. Clewiston merely wrinkled his whiskers, grudgingly conceding this small detail.

"Wotever. It still doesn't explain the biggest issues. Your personality change. Your assistance in helping Urthblood get Latura. Your Urthnessa business. And I've not even gotten to the most damning of all: Those four rats you took down in the Infirmary. The only living witness swears you moved like nobeast who's ever lived, or wielded steel, cutting them down where they stood before they could lift a paw in defense. Overlooking the bally fact that the Vanessa we all knew an' cherished never would have considered committing such a cold-blooded bit of mayhem, there's no bloomin' way she could have done it, even if she'd wanted to. Only one beast I can think of who could swing a blade like that, so makes sense his puppet would be able to as well, wot?"

"Actually, Colonel, I can think of two, at least. Urthblood's not the only Warrior Mossflower has ever seen - and not all of them have been badgers, either."

"Ah. So we're goin' back to Martin again, are we?" Clewiston's voice held dismissive disdain.

"Yes, it does rather all come back around to him, doesn't it? Do I at least get the courtesy of presenting evidence in my own defense, before you pass whatever judgment you have in mind for me?"

"Only punishment I had in mind was exposin' you for wot you really are - and, of course, gettin' you booted out of that chair so a real Redwaller can take charge 'round here again, don'tcha know."

"Fair enough. Would somebeast please go fetch Captain Saugus, Sister Jimmery and Sister Hazelton from the Infirmary? Oh, and Mona too, if she's still up there?"

"But, Saugus is injured," said Arlyn.

"Not so badly that he'll have any trouble getting down here under his own power. All his wounds were superficial; he's not in any danger at all. Which, in itself, is telling, after after his horrible run-in with those ruthless crows. And if I'm fully to defend myself, I deserve a chance to face my accusers - all of them."

One of the hares was dispatched to summon the requested witnesses, while Clewiston's eyes never left Vanessa. "This had better not be any kind of trick."

"On the contrary, Colonel, their presence will help refute the trick that's been played on you."

"Oh, I dunno, marm. I'm a pretty canny hare to pull a fast one on, an' not too easy to hoodwink. So, if that's wot you've got in mind ... "

"I intend nothing of the sort. I just find it ironic that, for seasons now, you and the Long Patrol have shouted from the walltops to anybeast who would listen that Urthblood was our enemy and must someday attack us - and now that he actually has, you refuse to see it for what it is." Vanessa waved the parchment before her. "Which is more farfetched: that Urthblood is controlling me from such a distance, so absolutely and completely, and even now speaks with my voice through some feat of supreme sorcery unprecedented in all the lands - or that he's simply lying, as he has so often in the past, as he did when he used Redwall as bait in his feud with his brother, as you yourself have accused him of doing over and over again. We all know the lie has always been one of Urthblood's favored weapons, wielded with deft effect when he sees the need. Doesn't it make far more sense that this message is the liar, not me - and if that becomes the case, look at the damage this lie has already caused."

"Almost persuasive, marm - except that if he is talking through you now, nothing you say is to be believed, is it?"

"And if he's not controlling me, you've played right into his paw, made yourself his lackey every bit as much as you accuse me of being, and botched things up royally." Vanessa glanced at the Gawtrybe squirrel at the table. "Meanwhile, poor Lady Mina here looks like her brain is about to explode, if it hasn't already. Have you anything to add to this discussion, Lady?"

Mina's jaw worked for several moments before any words emerged. "Can ... can it be ... true?"

"I've already said that it's not."

"Then ... I don't know what to believe."

"You and most of Redwall, once this spreads through the Abbey. And thus does Urthblood win this round, without firing a shot or deploying a single fighter to our gates, even if I do succeed in exonerating myself here. But, perhaps he will not have it all his own way in this after all. Let me finish making my case, and then we'll see what may be salvaged of this situation."

Presently, the hare returned, escorting the two sisters, the waddling Saugus and the trepidatious Mona down the steps into Cavern Hole. "Maura," Vanessa requested, "may I impose upon you to let Captain Saugus have your seat while I speak with him? I think that would makes things easier, and he can more comfortably spread out in your oversized chair than he could in any of ours."

"Of course, Abbess." The Badger Mother stood and stepped back while Saugus climbed up into the vacated seat where Vanessa beckoned him to sit, Mona and the two Infirmary mice standing attentively at his side.

"So, Captain," Vanessa began, "you say you were sent here by Lord Urthblood, to deliver this note to Lady Mina, and no other?"

The owl appeared, if not literally ruffled, then at least figuratively so. "Yes, as I have said, those were my orders. Why have I been called down here, instead of being allowed to recover from my ordeal in my bed?"

Vanessa ignored his question. "That you were sent here by Urthblood, that much I believe. But are you sure you want to stick with the rest of that story?"

Saugus threw up a bluster of affront to hide his edginess. "It is as I've said! I was instructed to deliver that message to Lady Mina, and no other!"

"Then you failed rather miserably in your mission, if that's the case. But since I can neither prove nor disprove your statements in this regard, let us move on to something where the evidence is a little more solid. Tell us more about these crows who attacked you."

Saugus fidgeted in Maura's seat. "They may have been ravens," he amended.

"Couldn't you tell? You're a bird yourself, and it was broad daylight, after all."

"I was under attack, Abbess! My main concern was getting away from them with my life! I can hardly be taken to task for not stopping to take careful note of which species of black birds they were!"

"Yes, those 'black birds' certainly did a job on you, didn't they? And yet their treatment was not so harsh that they kept you from reaching Redwall. Either that was a miraculous escape you pulled off, or else they were particularly inept as marauders." Vanessa looked to the vixen "You've had a chance to examine these wounds yourself, Mona. What was your impression of them?"

Mona worked her paws against each other. "I'm ... I'm not sure what you want me to say, Abbess."

"You implied earlier that you've treated your share of birds over the seasons, serving as chief healer for Urthblood's forces up north before coming to Mossflower. Did these look like crow - or raven - marks to you?"

Mona and Saugus locked gazes for an instant, the owl wordlessly imploring her to answer as he might wish. "No," she replied. "No, they did not."

"Ah. I suspected your unique expertise might come in useful here. So tell us, do the Captain's injuries resemble anything you've encountered in your experience?"

"Yes," Mona said as Saugus glared daggers at her.

"And?"

"There's one species I've encountered whose beaks are designed to allow the bill to flex upward. That, combined with the shape of the tip, leave a fairly distinctive mark - marks of the sort I saw on Captain Saugus."

"And what species would that be, Mona?"

She hesitated the barest instant. "Seagulls, Abbess."

Sisters Hazelton and Jimmery lightly gasped at this revelation, for reasons the others had yet to fully appreciate.

"Thank you, Mona. Now, as I was treating Saugus myself, what should I find tangled in some of his back feathers but a plume, fairly large and distinctive, which was clearly not one of his own. The way it was embedded leaves no doubt that it could only have come from one of his alleged attackers. Sister Jimmery and Sister Hazelton witnessed this, and can attest that I pulled it from the Captain's mussed plumage just as I claim. And I happen to have that very feather with me right now."

As the other Abbeybeasts looked on with rapt attention, Vanessa reached down the front of her habit and withdrew a large feather, holding it out for all to see. The feather displayed unmistakable hues of white and gray, and was clearly from neither crow nor raven.

She fixed a superior gaze upon the owl. "Black birds you say, Captain?"

Mina joined Vanessa in turning a demanding gaze the owl's way. "Captain, what is going on here? Was that message meant for me or not? I insist that you answer truthfully!"

Saugus's expression by now was nearly mortified, clearly the attitude of a creature openly caught in a lie and yet unable to admit it. "The message was for you and you alone, Lady. I am only following Lord Urthblood's orders, you must understand."

Mina continued to look agitated and confused in her frustration, perhaps catching the veiled subtext of the owl captain's reply, and perhaps not.

"Obviously," Vanessa picked up, "your attackers were seagulls. Now, the last that any of us were aware, all the gulls between here and the coast are under Lord Urthblood's command. Normally, this would leave only one possible explanation: That Urthblood, for whatever reason, sought to waylay you, to prevent you from reaching Redwall and delivering your message, and sent his gulls to stop you. Which still wouldn't explain why they failed at their task, since I imagine they must be very good at such things - as we found out ourselves when our rescue party going after Latura ran into them.

"The contents of your message, however, casts the situation in an entirely different light, and leads to a very different conclusion. You were indeed attacked, by gulls and not crows - but that attack was staged, at Urthblood's orders and with your willing participation, so that you could convincingly arrive at Redwall in the manner you did. I find it most telling that, of all the creatures occupying our grounds - including a sizable contingent of Tolar's swordfoxes, who certainly would have made sure your message reached Mina without delay - you instead landed a stone's throw away from a troop of drilling Long Patrol hares, who were all but guaranteed to intercept that very same message - and to react to it just as they have."

Vanessa's unflinching gaze locked onto Clewiston at the far end of the table. "You were set up, Colonel - and you fell for it, hook, line and sinker."

Clewiston and Traveller, looking totally thrown by this development, leaned in to each other and commenced a rapidfire, whispered conversation. Saugus, meanwhile, sent up another round of protest. "No, Abbess, it is not true! I was sent to deliver the message to Lady Mina! It was for her eyes alone, and no others!"

"You address me as Abbess, even though your message states I am no such thing. Which is it, Captain?" Vanessa turned to the two Infirmary mice. "Sister Jimmery, Sister Hazelton, please convey Saugus back upstairs and help him get settled into his bed again. He is incapable of speaking the truth here even if he wanted to, and will add nothing more to our council."

As the two sisters nodded and escorted the flustering Saugus up out of Cavern Hole, Vanessa looked to the vixen. "Thank you for coming, Mona. Your testimony here has proven most helpful. Please wait outside with your fellow foxes while we conclude our session here."

"Abbess, if it's all the same, I'd like to remain to hear the rest of this discussion. I'm not even entirely sure what is going on here. Why was Captain Saugus insisting he was attacked by crows? Why would he and Lord Urthblood stage an attack with the gulls? And who says you're not Abbess?"

"That's what we must straighten out now - which makes this Redwall business, as I'm sure you'll understand. Now, please wait outside, Mona."

Grudgingly, the healer vixen withdrew from the chamber while Maura reclaimed her seat next to Vanessa. The Abbess stared down the table's length at Clewiston. "Well, Colonel? Do you concede this changes things from your original, and rather hasty, conclusion?"

"Not quite yet, marm. It's all well an' good that you got our two fine sisters and that vixen to come down and support your tale, but how are we to know you didn't bewitch 'em upstairs while nobeast was looking, so that they'd say precisely wot you wanted 'em to say?"

"If I were capable of that, Colonel, you may as well ask why I didn't just hypnotize Captain Saugus to get him to confess to what I wanted him to? It's far easier to make somebeast forget something that's happened than to make them remember something that never did. And besides, where would I have gotten this gull feather from? You think I carry them around with me in case of gull feather emergencies?"

"Wouldn't put it past you ... "

Arlyn spoke up then. "Colonel, I happened to be looking Vanessa's way when she drew that feather out of Saugus's plumage, and I can attest that it happened as she has said. And I was at the other end of the Infirmary at the time, so I trust I can safely say she did not bewitch me."

"I have presented my evidence, and called witnesses in my defense to support my claims. And since all the Abbey defenders are here right now, we might as well hold a quorum, to see where everybeast stands." Vanessa turned to Geoff and Arlyn. "Let's start with our two former Abbots. You've heard the Colonel voice his suspicions based on this note sent by a creature known for underpawed duplicity, and you've heard me refute this accusation, catch the messenger in a bald falsehood, and state my case. Do I really strike you as some mindless husk being manipulated by some far and foreign alchemy?"

Geoff had clearly been formulating his thoughts during the course of this entire inquisition. "Well, Nessa, you do bring up Urthblood's underpawed duplicity - and what would be more duplicitous than taking control of Redwall's Abbess and seeking to influence or even control the highest levels of our decision-making processes? That being said ... no, I do not believe it, and not just because I don't want to. Urthblood has been behind many fantastic things, but this is just too fantastic, even for him. There's an old saying that if you are presented with two different explanations for the same event, always go with the simpler of the two. And as you yourself said earlier, it's far more believable that Urthblood's note is a lie than that he's working magic on the level that it suggests. He may be capable of a great many things which lie beyond our ordinary understanding, but I very much doubt he's capable of that."

"And I would agree with Geoff," said Arlyn. "I too would find it too fantastic to credit. That it represents some manner of attack seems far more likely ... although that begs a question all its own. It seems rather ... well, personal. As if his gripe is more with you than with Redwall as a whole."

Vanessa pursed her lips. "If he now sees Redwall as a legitimate adversary, it makes sense that undermining my authority could sow the kind of distrust and lead to the kind of disruption in our leadership that he might relish. It fits a certain kind of logic, viewed through Urthblood's lens on the world."

"Except," Clewiston pounced, "his message to Mina clearly states he controls the 'Abbess' of Redwall - not the 'Abbot.' How would he know you'd even come back, marm, an' that Geoff wasn't still in the Abbot's chair? Or are you just going to chalk that up to his blinkin' prophetic vision, an' sweep it neatly under the rug along with all the other inconvenient questions you'd prefer not to address head-on?"

"No, Colonel, I'm going to chalk it up to Alex, who undoubtedly told Urthblood of my return upon reaching Salamandastron. You were there with him in the Western Plains when I sent the Sparra out to recall you, so you well know he was aware of this. And speaking of that ill-fated expedition to recover Latura, carried out against my wishes, I seem to recall doing a top-notch job of patching you up when you came limping back to Redwall. Do you really think I would have placed my healer's skill so completely at your disposal if I were Urthbood's agent?"

"Would've looked mighty suspicious, a renowned healer not tendin' her patients well. Coulda been part of your cover ... an' Urthblood knows enuff 'bout healin' himself that takin' over a healerbeast is something he might be able t' pull off." But Clewiston was sounding far less sure of himself now than when he'd convened this emergency council.

"But this still doesn't address what concerns me most," Geoff went on, "and that's how you've changed, Nessa. Even without Urthblood entering into it, the things you've done, and the attitude you've thrown about ... just giving Latura over to the Gawtrybe, and ordering that nobeast go after her ... and then those four rats in the Infirmary ... "

Vanessa dropped her gaze to her paws. "I have been through a lot ... and it has changed me, I will not deny it. And I am not proud of everything I have done, or all the decisions I have been forced to. I remember my days of peace and devotion to this Abbey almost as if it was a happy dream. But I assure you I am no less devoted to Redwall now than then. And if you find fault with some of my recent actions, my only defense is that the situation has changed, and I have, for better or worse, adapted to meet them as best I can."

"That's the first trace of contrition I think any of us have heard from you since any of this started," said Arlyn. "And I don't think it's a sentiment Urthblood - or any mind-controlled minion of his - would be able to articulate as you just did. I believe you over Urthblood's note."

Geoff considered the elder Abbot's statement for a few moments, then gave a considered nod of his own. "So do I. You have my support in this, Vanessa."

"Thank you, Geoff." Her gaze travelled to Elmwood. "You've not had much to say during this session, Elmwood. Your thoughts?"

"I don't pretend to be as wise as our two Abbots," the squirrel said. "I'm only here filling in for Alex, and I can't claim that I'd speak as he would. But you've convinced me ... Abbess."

Vanessa looked then to the Gawtrybe squirrel. "And what of you, Lady?"

"I ... I don't know what to think," the Gawtrybe squirrel admitted, still looking entirely discomported by these proceedings. "I have never been aware of Lord Urthblood possessing spiritual powers of the sort even remotely hinted at in that message ... and yet, if that message was a lie, it was a lie directed as much at me as anybeast. And I would hate to feel so ... used ... as part of some reputation-damaging deceit like this."

"Welcome to how we all felt when Urthblood used Redwall as bait to draw his brother out of Salamandastron." Vanessa looked to the other side of the table. "Maura, Winokur - your thoughts?"

"You know you've had my unwavering support through all of this, Nessa," said Maura. "And I would say the Colonel seriously overstepped his bounds by conducting this inquiry as he has. But I've always believed that the truth will out in any situation, and I believe it has here as well."

"As with Arlyn," Winokur added, "I am gratified and reassured to hear you admit a trace of humility that we surely could have used from you long before now. I'd prefer to think it wasn't through coercion alone that you were forced to it, but whatever the cause, it was a welcome thing to these ears."

"Duly noted." Vanessa at last aligned her gaze with those of the two Long Patrol commanders seated at the far end of the table. "Well, Colonel? Field Marshal? Are you satisfied now?"

"Not by half, marm," Clewiston replied, while Traveller held his silence for the moment. "Every argument you've made here, an' every view an' justification you've put forth, could just as easily have been espoused by Urthblood himself, makin' you say wotever you needed to say to try 'n' wiggle out of this an' win us back over. Mina's confusion, that owl's lookin' so blindly caught in his ruse, it all coulda been part o' pullin' the wool over our eyes, an' keepin' it pulled." He gestured toward Maura and Winokur. "We all know you've been workin' on these two since day one, so it's no surprise they're supporting you now. An' as for our two fine Abbots, well, who wouldn't want to engage in a little wishful thinking in a case like this? But wishful thinking doesn't make it so."

"Then Urthblood's note has truly done its work well. And I take it you'll hardly be content to let the matter rest, and let my tenure as Abbess go unchallenged?"

"Not while there's so much doubt about the matter, marm - an' right now, I remain exceedin'ly dubious about the rationales you've spun for us. An' I'll make sure every hare of the Patrols keeps that in mind - an' keeps their eyes on you at all times."

"I thought as much. And that's hardly any way for me to conduct my affairs as Abbess, being scrutinized and second-guessed at every turn by suspicious Abbeybeasts who will now question my every motive. I was afraid it would come to this ... "

Vanessa steepled her paws before her and rested them against her lips, eyes closed as if entering serious, soul-searching contemplation. So fastened was their attention upon her that Clewiston and Traveller failed to realize right away what was happening.

Geoff's eyes closed, and his head nodded.

Next to him, Arlyn's eyes also closed, and his head similarly nodded.

And beside the two mice, both Elmwood and Lady Mina went into unbidden, seated swoons.

What most alarmed Clewiston and Traveller, however, was when all the hares surrounding Vanessa at her end of the table, and all those nearest the two Long Patrol commanders as well, promptly fell asleep right on their footpaws, eyes shut and ears drooped forward as their jaws hit their chests.

Clewiston half-rose from his chair, eyes wide upon realizing that, quite suddenly, he and Traveller and Winokur and Maura seemed to be the only ones still awake. "Hares, to attention! Rouse yourselves, an' that's an order!"

"You'll not wake them that way, Colonel." Vanessa's eyes opened, now with a gaze of cold command. "In fact, you'll not be waking them at all."

"Wot'd you do to 'em?!"

"They were looking a little tense, so I decided they could do with a bit of a rest. And we didn't really need any of the others for the next part of this discussion. You started this, Colonel, against my blunt cautions not to. Are you now ready to follow your inquisition all the way down the rabbit hole - if you'll pardon the pun - and into another realm entirely?"

Clewiston glared at Badgermum and otter Recorder. "Why're they still awake?"

"Because they know the truth."

"An' wot truth is that?"

Now a faintly bemused smile did lift Vanessa's lips. "Can you keep a secret, Colonel?"