The raft thudded in against the rocky plateau. Song and her grandpa leapt ashore as mooring ropes snaked out behind them. Securing the raft, Gawjo was forced to duck as a small cloud of magpies sped low overhead, pursued by the Mighty Megraw. They fled out across the lake with the eagle hard on their tails like some avenging beast.

Gawjo gripped Song’s paw as the sound of Dann and his slave army giving their battle cry rang out from the castle above. “Stay by me, pretty one. The family’d never forgive me if anythin’ happened to you. On the double, crew!”

They charged up the slope toward Castle Marl, slamming the gatehouse door shut as they passed and locking the half-awake guards inside. As they burst into the front courtyard, Song caught a glimpse of Mokkan at an upper chamber window. At once she remembered the original purpose of their quest.

“Dipp, Burb, there’s the Marlfox. Come on, that’s where the tapestry must be!”

For Mokkan it was like a continuation of his nightmare. There below in the courtyard of Castle Marl, the creatures he had fled from in dreams were staring boldly up at him. Fear gripped the Marlfox and he looked about wildly, seeking an avenue of escape. The shrew logboat he had arrived in still lay moored to one side of the rock plateau that served as a jetty. That was it! Dashing from his room, he motioned at the two guards posted outside. “Follow me! Slay anybeast who tries to stop your King!”

They ran obediently with him, along the corridor sloping upward to Wilce’s former room, which now belonged to Toolam, Commander of the army. Mokkan burst in on the slumbering rat. “Rouse yourself, fool, foebeasts are at large in the castle!”

Toolam rushed to get his new armor on over a voluminous nightgown, then hefted his heavy spear. “Er, sire, your word is my command, er, y’Majesty!”

“Muster the soldiers, every one, sweep these invaders from my island, slay them or take them prisoner! I will see you when this incident is finished. Fail me and you will go to serve the Teeth of the Deeps. Go now. You two, go with him!”

When they had gone, Mokkan dropped his heavily embroidered cloak of kingship and slunk swiftly down to the main chamber. There he donned his old cloak of dull brown and green weave. Immediately a transformation came over him, and his pale eyes glowed. Now he was a proper Marlfox once more, and everybeast knew that Marlfoxes were magic, invisible! Blending in with the stones of the wall, Mokkan slipped off down the back corridors.

Burble panted along with Dippler in Song’s wake, staring around in puzzlement. “Dipp, will y’look at this place, there’s neither step nor stair anywheres, ’tis all slopes, yiss yiss?”