“I remember that was a hard winter. I vowed if ever I got the chance I’d pay ’er back someday. Now the time’s come!”

Wilce’s final shriek as they fell upon her was so piercing that it actually caused a lull in the fighting.

Song and her two friends emerged into the courtyard just as Wilce screamed. It was a critical moment. The water rats ceased fighting and dropped their weapons, an uneasy murmur arising from them at the sight of their two leaders lying slain. Taking in the situation at a glance, the young squirrelmaid tried a desperate gamble. Raising the Leafwood high above her head, she strode boldly among the vermin, calling out, “Surrender and you will not be harmed. The Marlfox has gone and your leaders are dead. Surrender, I command you. Surrender! Sit down upon the ground all those who want to live!”

Whether it was the authority carried by her voice, or the fact that the slow-witted vermin were conditioned to obey orders, Song never knew. She looked about, trying to hide her astonishment. Every vermin soldier was seated firmly on the ground, watching her.

Burble’s outburst almost ruined the moment. “All except you four, yiss yiss, yore fine big buckoes, I want y’to carry me nice ould chair down here an’. . . Yowch!”

Torrab had silenced the watervole by treading heavily on his footpaw. She glared at him ferociously. “Seal thy foolish mouth, rivermousey!”

Meanwhile, Mokkan hurried along the damp rock passages that ran beneath Castle Marl, holding a small lantern. The tunnels wound many different ways in mazelike patterns, but the Marlfox kept unerringly to one passage, sure of his destination. It was a rusty metal door, small and set low at the rear of an alcove. Mokkan gritted his teeth as he prized with his axblade, forcing the door to squeak in protest as it was wrenched open. He held the lantern ring in his teeth as he scraped through the doorway and began the long upward climb along a tunnel carved into the solid rock. At the top, he slid aside a flat slab and emerged into broad daylight. Tossing the lantern into the tunnel, he drew his cloak tight and took off along the boundary where the woodland grew down to meet the rocks. A sudden sound caused him to pause, then move silently back into the shade of a rowan and become almost one with it, using the Marlfox art of camouflage. Durrlow passed by him, glancing fearfully back at the high side wall of Castle Marl. Mokkan materialized behind the water rat and dealt him a sharp blow with his ax handle. Durrlow sprawled on the ground, one paw to his injured shoulder, the other held to his face as he cringed to avoid his master.

“I wasn’t runnin’ away, Majesty, I was . . . er . . . Don’t kill me!”