The board groaned ominously as they pushed at it. Then it came loose suddenly, clattering over onto the deck. Uggo levered himself up, getting scratched by the scupper edge as he emerged to face a half-awake searat, turning to stare at him in bewilderment.
“Worra yew doin’ round ’ere, mate?”
Uggo swung hard, with the chisel clenched in his paw. The shock ran through him as his fist belted the vermin square on its chin. The searat collapsed to the deck, totally knocked out.
Posy was holding out a paw. “Hurry, Uggo, help me!”
He had to use one paw, the other being numbed by the force of the blow he had dealt. He was massaging the paw when the hogmaid hissed at him, “Never mind that now— we need someway to get off this ship. Take a good look around. . . . Here, what are these?”
Uggo shrugged. “I dunno—some kind o’ big arrows?”
Posy, all business now, ordered him briskly, “Get me some rope—hurry!”
Uggo cast around, coming up with a sounding line. She grabbed it and began binding the four thick shafts together. “This’ll have to do as a raft. Take one end, and we’ll throw it overboard. Move, Uggo!”
Grunting, he took an end of the thick bundle. “Which side do we chuck it o’er? I mean, which way is it to the land—I can’t see any, can you?”
Posy hesitated briefly, then decided. “Left, I think. Aye, left. One . . . two . . . heave!”
The bound arrow bundle hit the water with a splash that was followed by two lesser splashes as the young hedgehogs plunged into the sea after it.
There was a shout from the deck as the sleeping corsair at the tiller was wakened by the noise.
“Ahoy, wot’s goin’ on there?”
Holding on to the spearshafts in the sea, the two friends heard the crewbeast shuffling for’ard.
Uggo grabbed a matted fender hanging from the ship’s side. “If’n we push off for shore now, we’ll be spotted. I’ll hold us in here, under the bow!”
They clung under the hull’s curve, scarcely daring to breathe. On deck, the pawpads of the tillerbeast got closer to the prow. Posy heard the corsair, a weasel, speaking aloud to himself.
“Nah, then, wot’s goin’ on ’ere? Is dat you, Dirgo? Huh, yew’ve bin at the grog agin, aincha? Cap’n Razzid’ll feed yer guts t’the fishes if’n ’e catches yer rotten drunk an’ snoozin’ on watch. Cummon, mate, up ye come, I’ll git yer back t’the galley, out o’ the way.”
There followed some heaving and cursing, then the sound of the weasel staggering off under his senseless burden. Posy set her footpaws against Greenshroud’s hull. “Let’s push off and see if we can’t get a good distance away by daybreak.”
It was not as easy as they had first thought, hanging on to the bundle whilst kicking with their footpaws.
Uggo gritted his teeth in exasperation. “We’ve been paddlin’ for a bloomin’ age, an’ we don’t seem t’be goin’ anywhere. Look ’ow close the ship still is. We’re goin’ t’get caught soon.”
They drifted slightly further on a rising swell. Posy patted her friend’s paw reassuringly. “It feels like the tide’s turned. We’ll move quicker now.”
However, Uggo continued to pose problems. “If we’re travellin’ with the tide, it’s still no ’elp, Posy. The ship’ll follow us.”
The pretty hogmaid shook her head. “See that thick rope hanging from the back of the ship? It’s an anchor, to stop it drifting. Now paddle, mate!”
Posy was right. In the first streaks of grey dawn, they had gone a good distance. Uggo laid his head upon the arrowshafts.
“I’m dead tired. Got to ’ave a little sleep—just a doze, eh?”
But his companion would have none of it. “Now’s not the time to be sleeping. Keep going. We’ve got to get ashore, before those vermin find us missing!”
Uggo opened one eye, staring at the way ahead. “There ain’t no sign o’ land anywhere. We could be goin’ the wrong way—out t’sea, for all you know.”
Posy was beginning to lose her temper with Uggo. “We’re going the right way, I’m sure of it. Now, stop complaining and start paddling. Honestly, you really are the limit, Uggo Wiltud. Yeek, what’s that?”
The sea rose around them as something huge and black displaced the water. It had four shiny humps, and several fins. Moreover, it made the most awful noise.
14
The army of pygmy shrews and sand lizards was taken completely by surprise. A huge piece of the wall smacked down on their front rank. In that same instant, Captain Rake Nightfur and Colour Sergeant Miggory came at them, leading over a halfscore of Long Patrol hares, all of them bellowing and roaring fearsome war cries.
“Eulaliiiiaaaa!”
“Give ’em blood’n’vinegar!”
“Forward the buffs an’ lay on ’em!”
“Eulaliiiiiaaa!”
Demoralised by the speedy assault and deafening battle shouts, Queen Dukwina’s horde fled in disarray. They left eight of their number stunned flat by the section of wall.
Miggory came smartly to attention, saluting Rake. “H’all runts defeated, sah! Tootled h’off like billyoh h’at the sight o’ proper warriors, sah. H’any further ordahs, Cap’n?”
The tall, dark hare sheathed his claymores. “Ah cannae see us pursuin’ ’em, Sarn’t. Form the column up, an’ let’s follow the others, at the double!”
The young Patrollers were jubilant at such a quick victory.
“I say, chaps, see how those blighters took off, wot!”
“Shouldn’t wonder if they’re still jolly well runnin’, eh!”
“I say, we should’ve pursued the little scoundrels an’ kicked a few tails, wot wot!”
It was Sergeant Miggory who brought them back to reality. “Nah, then, young gennelbeasts, h’I’ll be kickin’ h’a few tails if’n yore not back in line smartish. Follow yore offisah’s h’orders now, lead h’off by the left!”
The main party had come out amidst the dunelands. Buff Redspore was sufficiently recovered to use her pathfinding skills; she led them as her instinct directed.
“Let’s get to the flat coastland so I can get a bearin’ on our position.”
Lieutenant Scutram was feeling his temper sorely tried by Queen Dukwina. She stamped her paws in the sand, trying to intimidate him with her imperious manner.
“I’m not moving from here, d’you hear me, rabbet! I’m a queen, being dragged off from my own domain! Well, I won’t have it, you ruffian. I’m not going another step!”
Scutram favoured her with a small stiff bow. “Apologies, marm, but I’ve got my orders, an’ you’ve got to accompany us. ’T’aint your decision, d’ye see!”
With that, Dukwina plumped her backside on the ground. “Hah! Well, I’m not going, an’ you can’t make me—so there!”
The empraking tugged at Scutram’s tunic. “Stick things in her—that’ll shift her!”
Dukwina spat at him, in a most unqueenlike manner, “Shut up, you little worm!”
The little empraking twitched his snout and stuck his tongue out at her. “Yah, yah, ole bossy bum!”
Scutram had taken enough. Grabbing a rope, he looped it around Dukwina, pulling it tight.
“Drander, tow her along if she won’t walk!”
The empraking found himself a thick twig. “Please, can I beat her if she slows down?”
Big Drander turned aside, stifling a laugh. “As ye wish, Majesty.”
The queen was forced to comply, but that did not stop her screeching the direst threats and insults upon the heads of her captors.
Scutram winced, commenting to Drander, “’Strewth, what flippin’ language. It’s enough t’make a stricken toad blench, wot!”
Crumdun, the corsair stoat, climbed a small rise and peered behind. “Ahoy, ’ere’s yore cap’n an’ ’is mates comin’ through, an’ they ain’t ’angin’ round!”
When Rake Nightfur and his party caught up with Scutram and the rest, the captain was a bit breathy.
“We routed ’em back there, an’ they retreated, but Ah’m bound tae tell ye, Lieutenant, nae sooner were we in the clear than the wee villains came back in greater numbers than afore. There’s a great, braw assemblage o’ wee beasties hot on our tails. Like leaves in an autumn gale, ye ken. Och, there’s far tae many for a score o’ Long Patrollers!”
Scutram nodded. “I see, sah. Then we’d best put a bit o’ jolly fair space betwixt us’n’em. Young Redspore’s takin’ us out o’ these confounded dunes—t’the shore, she says, wot?”
Behind them the sandhills resounded with the yipping and hissing of countless pygmy shrews and sand lizards. Captain Rake signalled the column.
“Forward at the double, mah buckoes. Once we’re on flat shoreland, we’ll leave them a guid league in our wake. There’s nae a creature livin’ can outrun Long Patrol hares!”
Speed was imperative, even though it was heavy going through the soft, deep dune sand. Sergeant Miggory, bringing up the rear with another young ranker named Bribbs, could feel the enemy gaining on them. He jollied the young hare along, noting the look of fear on his face. “C’mon, young Bribbs, make a shape. Yore pa was battalion sprint champion. Let’s see ye do h’as good h’as ’im. Those shrews’n’lizards are lighter’n us, so ’tis h’easy goin’ for ’em. They don’t sink h’in the sand like h’us, y’see.”
Miggory dropped back slightly, allowing Bribbs to take the lead. “That’s the ticket, laddie buck, make ’em h’eat yore pawdust. We’ll show the blighters, eh?”
Bribbs managed a tight smile. “Indeed, Sarn’t, we certainly will!”
The column broke out onto the shoreline, setting a flock of gulls, who had been resting on the sand, wheeling into the air, crying harshly. Rake called a brief halt and issued further orders.
“Corporal Welkin, Lancejack Sage, take left an’ right point! Redspore, front an’ centre. Head north along the tideline. Scutram, ye an’ Ah’ll drop back tae the rear. Sarn’t Miggory may need us, Ah’m thinkin’.”
As they ran back toward the rear, scores of foebeasts could be seen, sweeping over the dunes in massed waves. Scutram spotted Miggory, who appeared to have been slowed down. He was supporting Bribbs. They hastened to join him, relieving him of the burden as they shouldered Bribbs between them.
Miggory ran alongside, explaining. “Young Bribbs was’it by somethin’, sah—a dart, h’I think. Couple h’of ’em just missed me, but ’e was unlucky. One or mebbe two of ’em got ’im h’in the back, sah.”
Bribbs winced, then blinked, his footpaws hardly touching the sand as he was rushed along. “Sorry about that, sah. Silly little things, never hurt much, just slowed me down a flippin’ bit.”
Scutram peered across his shoulders at the two tiny spikes tufted with downy feathers. They were buried right in the centre of Bribbs’s back.
“Slowed ye down, eh? Don’t fret—we won’t tell your pa. Get ’em out for ye once we’ve outdistanced this little lot, eh!”
As they rounded the final dune, Captain Rake was nonplussed when he saw the column waiting on their arrival. “Corporal Welkin, Ah thought Ah told ye tae take them north along the shore. What are ye doin’ stannin’ roond here?”
Welkin waved a lance in a sweeping gesture along the dunes. Both sides of the sandy hilltops, north and south, were teeming with the foebeast horde, ready to charge down on them. It looked like a hopeless position.
Scutram frowned. “Ye did well t’keep the column here, Corporal. If they’d have caught us runnin’ north, strung out along the shore, it would’ve been a flamin’ massacre, wot!”
Rake weighed the situation swiftly. Silence had fallen on the dunetops. A whole army of shrews and lizards were watching the hares, waiting for them to make the next move.
Queen Dukwina squeaked scornfully, “It’s over, rabbets—surrender or die!”
Buff Redspore glared at the queen. “Nobeast asked for your comments, marm!”
Rake moved casually, flicking the sand with a footpaw as he spoke with Scutram and Miggory. “There’s no way out o’ this, mah friends. If we fled, they’d pick us off one by one, eh, Lieutenant?”
Scutram smiled grimly. “Fled, sah? Fled, did ye say? Sorry, but we ain’t much good at fleein’, doncha know.”
The tall, dark captain nodded. “Ah’m obliged tae ye for sayin’ that. So how d’ye feel about stannin’ an’ fightin’?”
Scutram held out his paw. “Thought ye’d never ask, old lad!”
As they shook paws, Miggory’s paw closed over theirs. “Pardon me sayin’, but h’a quick dash down t’the tideline. Keep the sea at our backs, dig into the wet sand, make ourselves a trench an’ make a barrier, a fort. May as well do h’it proper, sahs!”
Scutram smiled approvingly. “Jolly good, Sarn’t—a tiptop plan. How’d ye think of it, wot?”
Miggory saluted both officers respectfully. “Put it this way, sah, h’I was fightin’ vermin while you chaps was waitin’ t’be h’enrolled as cadets.”
Captain Rake winked admiringly. “Och, there’s a deal tae be said for experience. Thank ye, mah old friend. Ah, weel, we’d best be aboot our business!”
None of the horde on the dunetops was expecting the next move. Without a word or sign, the Long Patrol column broke away, going pell-mell for the sea, carrying their wounded and captives along with them. The departure was so sudden, it took their foes a few moments to realise what was going on and mobilise themselves. Some of their leaders, who seemed to be female shrews, began to scream and brandish their thin reed lances, urging the main body forward. The horde took up their cries and charged down the dunesides.
Big Drander had hauled the queen onto his back; the empraking was hurried along between Lancejack Sage and Ferrul; Crumdun, though fat, was quite fleet on his paws, running with the column. Bribbs had totally lost the use of his limbs, so Buff Redspore, Wilbee and Flutchers bore him between them. Captain Rake, Miggory and Scutram guarded the rear of the column. They made it to below the tideline just as the first of their pursuers landed on the flat beach.
Digging like madbeasts, young hares scrabbled in the wet sand, piling it up in front of them. Captain Rake was last to leap over the barrier, into the soggy trench. He gave rapid orders. “Dinnae hurl any lances, hauld on to ’em. Those wi’ bows an’ slings, load up an’ stand ready for mah command! How’s young Bribbs farin’, Wilbee?”
The young hare saluted, choking back tears. “Bribbs’s dead, sah. We left him a moment so we could dig the trench. When I went back to him, he was lyin’ there all limp, lookin’ up at the sun, poor chap!”
Sergeant Miggory, seeing Wilbee’s distress, stepped in. “Loss of h’a young life—we’re h’all very sorry, Wilbee. But stand ready for action now, h’or you’ll be next. Time for grievin’ later. Steady in the ranks, there!”
Corporal Welkin took a hasty look at Bribbs. “Cap’n, sah, they’re usin’ poisoned darts—otherwise, Bribbs would’ve been just wounded.”
Sergeant Miggory bellowed out an order. “Off tunics, wet’em in the seawater an’ use ’em as shields. Darts won’t git through wet cloth!”
Then the charge came like a breaking wave.
There were three bows and ten slings in the column. They launched a salvo at the attackers. All the hares were bellowing war cries, loud and wild. The strike of missiles, and the fierce shouts, seemed to drastically slow the enemy onslaught.
Captain Rake decided that it was time to utilise the queen once more. Holding her in front of him, he roared stridently, “Back, all o’ ye, or Ah’ll fling her intae the sea—take mah word for it, she’ll drown!”
The empraking leapt about, assuring them eagerly, “He will, y’know, just you watch! The rabbets have lost one of their young uns, so they’re out for revenge!”
Wriggling furiously in Rake’s iron grip, Queen Dukwina shouted, “Hold! Keep back—don’t charge ’til I give the command!”
The empraking whispered to Lancejack Sage, “That did the trick. She’s terrified of the
big sea. All of us are, really, an’ the lizards can’t abide salt water.”
Sage watched the horde shuffling back. “Jolly well seems to have worked, wot!”
Corporal Welkin lowered his wet tunic. “It’ll work for a while, but the chaps at the back don’t really know what’s goin’ on. They’ll start pushin’ those in front of ’em, right, Sarge?”
Miggory nodded. “Right enough, Corp. Sooner or later, the front rankers’ll ’ave nothin’ t’do but be pushed flat or shoved for’ard—that’ll be the charge. I’ve seen h’it ’appen afore.”
An uneasy deadlock fell over both sides. The trench which the hares had dug in the damp sand below the tideline began to fill up. However, they stayed put, peering over the small barricade of sand.
A short distance from them, some of the queen’s supporters were beginning to chant, waving their venomous blowpipes and lances. It was a highly charged situation.
Lieutenant Scutram conferred with the captain. “Won’t be long now, sah, by the flippin’ look of it. Seems like we’re up the jolly old creek without a blinkin’ paddle, wot!”
Rake twitched his dark furred ears grimly. “Aye, they’d have charged long since, if only they knew Ah wouldnae drown their queen in the sea. Yer right, mah friend. There’s little left for us tae do but stan’ an’ go doon fightin’.”
Big Drander brandished his sabre. “Take as many o’ the blighters with us as we bloomin’ well can, sah—what d’ye say?”
Rake Nightfur gave the sturdy young hare a smile. “Ah, weel, laddie, we’ve got a braw day for it. Ah’m thinkin’ we may’s well open the ball!”
Drawing both claymores, the tall captain was about to launch into a war cry when a piercing scream rent the air. “Yeeeeeggh!”
This was followed by another, and yet a third scream. Pygmy shrews and sand lizards began scurrying hither and thither. A long red-fletched arrow with a fishbone tip came soaring over the enemy ranks, thudding into the sand barricade.
Buff Redspore climbed onto the sandy rampart, pointing toward the dunes. “Otters, sah—they’re bein’ set upon by otters!”