Fluttershy and the three otters had arrived at Redwall. They were standing outside the northeast gate. Skipper called, "Ahoy the Abbey, anybeast 'ome? We're comin' in!"
A voice yelled back, "Hold on, amigos, I'm coming to unlock the door!"
Fluttershy heard running footsteps. An instant later, the bolts were withdrawn and the gate opened. Crikulus, the shrew gatekeeper, stood in the doorway. "Hola, Skip. I see you got a pony friend with you. Welcome, whatever your name is."
"It's Fluttershy," Fluttershy said, offering her hoof for him to shake.
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In Cavern Hole, Fluttershy and Skipper were telling the council of elders about what they had seen.
"We tracked the Dibbuns to the ruins of Brockhall," said Skipper. "I was surprised two babes could've gotten that far alone."
"Huh, I'm never surprised at anythin' flippin' Dibbuns can get up to," said a hare named Mem Flackery, whose job it was to look after the Dibbuns. "Especially those two fiends Ruggun and Bikkle. But what in the name of my aunt's pinafore is Brockhall?"
The Abbey Recorder, a mouse named Malbun Grimp, explained, "Brockhall was once the home of badgers, but it was used by Redwallers before the Abbey was ever built. It was so long ago that the exact location of the place has been lost. Crikulus and I read of it in some old gatehouse records. We've been researching it, trying to find out more about Brockhall. It's a vitally important part of our Abbey's early history. Who knows what we might find inside that ancient place?"
"Could be a store of 'idden jewels 'n' gold," said Friar Gooch, the squirrel cook. "'Twould be a treasure hunt!"
A mouse named Sister Vernal leapt up, crying, "A treasure hunt! That's for me! When do we start?"
Fluttershy paled. "No! You mustn't go there, none of you! There's a monster in there!"
"She's right," said Skipper. "It's called a cockatrice. I know this is 'ard to believe, but it turns animals to stone."
Abbot Apodemus shook his head in awe. "It sounds very scary!"
Skipper was glad that their incredulous story was getting home. He glanced around at the Redwallers' fearful faces. "Oh, 'tis scary all right. It turned Ruggum and Bikkle to stone. We found their statues, but we couldn't bring them back with us because they were too heavy to move. Then the thing came after us. We barely escaped with our lives! Make no mistake, 'tis a great an' terrifyin' evil!"
"So, you just left the children behind?" Sister Vernal said.
Skipper nodded. "Wasn't nothing else we could do. But Fluttershy here says that her unicorn friends in Equestria have the power to heal creatures who've been turned to stone by cockatrices."
"So, my friend Rainbow Dash is heading back to Equestria to fetch Princess Twilight Sparkle," Fluttershy said. "In the meantime, you should all be staying in here, where it's safe."
The Abbot stood up. "Now you have all heard, so I am going to issue the strictest orders. Until this Twilight Sparkle arrives, nobeast is to leave the Abbey! Keep a sharp eye on the grounds. I do not want any more Dibbuns trying to get out by the wallgates, or any other possible exit. Mem, will you and Sister Vernal take a headcount of the Abbeybabes twice daily?"
The hare nurse saluted. "Yes sah, double roll call, got it!"
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Flurry, Fahari, and their friends had evaded their pursuers and had been trekking through the woods for the past half hour. They came to a clear pool of water, half hidden by overhanging rocks and long masses of depending mosses, in the midst of a natural grotto of enchanting loveliness. Fahari laid Kroova gently upon the flower-starred sward. She dashed cold water from the spring upon his face. She bathed his wrists, and washed his wounds, tearing strips from her skirt to bandage the horrid gash upon his breast in an effort to stanch the flow of lifeblood that welled forth with the otter's every breath.
"I think we lost them," Felch panted.
Flurry nodded. "Never had German vermin after me before. Intense."
"Flurry!" Fahari whispered.
"What is it?" Flurry asked.
"I think Mr. Kroova is dying," Fahari said, "and I- I- oh, I am so afraid."
Flurry flushed to the roots of her mane. She went over to the otter's side. "Kroova!" she whispered in the otter's ear.
Kroova turned his head wearily.
"Do youse know me, old pal?" asked Flurry. There were tears in her eyes.
Kroova reached up and took Flurry's paw in his hoof. It was evident that he had noted the unusual quality in her voice. "Yes," he said very faintly, and then, "Water, please."
Fahari brought him a drink from the spring, holding his head against her knee while he drank. The cool liquid seemed to give Kroova strength, for presently he spoke, quite strongly.
"I'm dying, Flurry Heart," he said, "but before I go, I want to tell you that of all the beasts I ever have known, I believe that you are the bravest."
"Goodbye, old pal," said Flurry. Her voice broke, and two big tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Goodbye, my friend," Fahari said. "God will reward you for your friendship, your bravery, and your devotion. There must be a special honor roll in heaven for such noble otters as you."
Kroova smiled sadly up at the two sisters. "Take good care of each other." His voice had become so low and weak that the girls could scarce distinguish his words. He gasped once or twice, and then tried to speak again. And then the body stiffened with a little convulsive tremor, and Kroova Wavedog passed over into the keeping of his noble ancestors.
"He's gone!" whispered Fahari.
Suddenly Felch staggered to his feet. The ponies sprang up, startled by the evident alarm in the fox's attitude.
"What is it?" said Fahari.
"What's da matter?" said Flurry.
"The ferret!" Felch cried. "Where's the ferret?"
Sure enough, Blad had disappeared! He had taken advantage of the preoccupation of his captors during the last moments of Kroova to gnaw in two the grass rope which bound him, and had slunk into the jungle path that led toward his castle.
"He'll tell da other vermin where we are!" Flurry cried.
"They will be upon us again now at any moment," whispered Fahari. "What can we do?"
"We better duck," replied Flurry. "I hates ta run away from a bunch o' vermin, but I guess it's up to us to beat it."
"But poor Mr. Kroova?" asked Fahari.
"I'll bury him," said Flurry. Stooping, she lifted the body of the otter to her broad shoulder, and started up the hillside through the trackless underbrush.
A hundred yards above the spring they came upon a little level spot, and here with their horns they scooped a shallow grave in which they placed all that was mortal of the captain of the Stopdog.
Then they turned to their flight again up the wild face of the savage mountain. The moon came up at last to lighten the way for them, but it was a rough and dangerous climb at best.
Shortly after midnight they struck a small mountain stream up which they followed until in a natural cul-de-sac they came upon its source and found their farther progress barred by precipitous cliffs which rose above them, sheer and unscalable.
They had entered the little amphitheater through a narrow, rocky pass in the bottom of which the tiny stream flowed, and now, weak and tired, Flurry was forced to admit that she could go no farther.
"I suppose we gotta make da best of it," she said. "Anyhow, dis ought to make a swell joint to defend."
She searched about for some soft grasses which she threw in a pile beneath a stunted tree that grew well back in the hollow.
"Here's your downy," she said, with an attempt at jocularity. "Now you'd better hit da hay, for youse must be dead tired."
"Thanks!" replied Felch.
Felch and Fahari flopped down on the grass and went to sleep, while Flurry stood guard.
The sun was well up the following morning before they awakened, and it was several minutes before they could readjust themselves to their strange surroundings.
"What can we find to eat here?" Felch asked.
"Dis crick is full o' fish," said Flurry. "If either o' youse has a string, we can make a fishin' line an' hook a couple."
Felch offered up his shoelace. Flurry tied it to her horn, and with a big locust as bait, she set forth to angle in the little mountain torrent. The fish, unwary, and hungry thus early in the morning proved easy prey, and two casts brought forth two splendid specimens.
"I could eat a dozen of dem minnows," announced Flurry, and she cast again and again, until in twenty minutes she had a goodly mess of plump, shiny trout on the grass beside her.
With her horn she cleaned and scaled them, and then between two rocks she built a fire and passing sticks through the bodies of her catch roasted them all. They had neither salt, nor pepper, nor butter, nor any other viand than the fish, but it seemed to Fahari that never in her life had she tasted so palatable a meal, nor had it occurred to her until the odor of the cooking fish filled her nostrils that no food had passed her lips since the second day before—no wonder that the three ate ravenously, enjoying every mouthful of their repast.
"And now," said Flurry Heart, "I t'ink I'll poun' my ear for a few. You two can keep your lamps peeled for da vermin, an' da first phony noise youse hears, why be sure to wake me up," and with that she rolled over upon the grass, asleep almost on the instant.
Fahari and Felch, to while away the time, explored their rock-bound haven. They found that it had but a single means of ingress, the narrow pass through which the brook found outlet. Beyond the entrance they did not venture, but through it saw, beneath, a wooded slope.
Fahari shaded her eyes with her hoof. "Something's moving down there."
Felch looked. Fahari was not mistaken- three figures were approaching. He couldn't see who they were.
Swiftly he ran to Flurry, shaking her roughly by the shoulder.
"Somebeast is coming," he cried.