Mokkan was concealed by high shelving rock at the side of the plateau as he climbed down to the waiting logboat with the laughter and cheers of his defeated army ringing in his ears. Durrlow crouched nervously at the water’s edge, keeping a wary eye on the pike watching him hungrily from just below the waterline. He held the stern of the logboat steady for the Marlfox. Mokkan pushed past the water rat and jumped into the waiting craft, which wobbled perilously for a moment and then settled. Seating himself, Mokkan readied his paddle, nodding to Durrlow. “Get in!”

“I ain’t goin’ with you, sire.”

Mokkan stared at his subordinate in disbelief. “What did you say?”

A look of stubborn resolution was in the water rat’s eyes. “I said I ain’t goin’ with you, Marlfox!”

A quiver of rage shook Mokkan. “When this is over I’ll be back,” he snarled. “Mark my words, rat, you’ll be screaming for death before I’m finished with you!”

Durrlow gave the logboat a hefty shove, shooting it out onto the lake, smiling happily at the irate Marlfox.

“Yore killin’ days are over. Bad luck go with yer . . . Majesty!”

The last of the water rats’ weapons had been cast into the lake when Mokkan hove into view, paddling furiously. Dippler was first to sight him, and hopped about wildly. “Look, the Marlfox! There he goes!”

Mokkan paddled like a wildbeast to get out of weapon range. Dann ground his teeth in frustration. “He’s gettin’ away. Gawjo, what’ll we do?”

The old squirrel shook his head. “We can’t do anything, Dann. The Marlfox is out o’ range. Nobeast could throw a spear that far.”

Suddenly everybeast leapt to one side. A whirring noise filled the air.

Whruuuuum! Whrrrrruuuuuuummmm!

“Take this with ye, vermin!”

A former slave, the burly young hedgehog maid, raced forward to the rocky plateau brink. She was swinging an iron slave chain in both paws. Faster and faster she whirled it, until it became a blur. Song pulled her grandpa down flat, narrowly avoiding the broken manacles at the chain’s end as the links thrummed louder and louder.

Whrrrruuuummmm! Whrrrrruuuummmm!

Whrrrrruuuuuummmmm!

The hogmaid released the chain and it whizzed out over the lake, a whirlwind of metal. She was carried forward by the mighty throw, slipping off the plateau into the water. Like lightning, Torrab and two of her brothers yanked her back, a pike clinging to her footpaw. Mokkan was just turning his head to look back as the chain struck him, wrapping around his neck in the blink of an eye and whipping him straight into the water.

The Teeth of the Deeps, the ravening pike shoals that preyed upon any living thing that was cast into their domain, closed in. Long silver bodies, bristling dorsal fins and ferocious ripping teeth, threshing the water to foam. So ended the reign of High King Mokkan, last of the Marlfoxes!