Song drew Friar Butty’s parchment from her tunic. “That’s where you’re wrong, Dann. I’ll wager an acorn to an oak they’re away to the island in the lost lake. We can too. I’ve got the route right here, listen.

“At the rear of redstone wall,

Find me o’er where breaks the day,

You cannot, shall not walk at all,

Just follow as I run away.”

Dippler shrugged and sat beside Dann on the bank. “You’ve lost me again, Song. You’ll ’ave to explain.”

Song translated the lines she had read. “The rear of the redstone wall is the back of the Abbey, where we left from. Now, we traveled east, through Mossflower, and day breaks in the east, so we’ve found it, the river. Obviously we cannot walk on water and the last line tells us to follow whichever way the water runs. That’s the way Fenno and the Marlfox have gone, don’t you see?”

Dann jabbed his swordpoint into the shallows. “Of course I see, but how d’we do that, Song, eh? The Marlfox wasn’t stupid, he smashed the other boats to pieces so nobeast could follow him. ’Tis like I said, we’re stranded!”

Song glanced hopefully at Dippler. “No way we could knock up a boat from the bits of broken ones, Dipp? You know about boat-building.”

The young shrew shook his head mournfully. “All you could make o’ that lot now is a good fire. It’d take me days an’ days to make the roughest ole boat, an’ that’s always providin’ we could find the right log an’ drag it down t’the waterside ’ere. No, we’re stranded, matey.”

Song looked amazed at her disheartened friends. “Hah, so you give it all up, just like that? Well, not me, I can follow a riverbank whichever way it flows.” She dashed off down the water’s edge, shouting, “I’m not letting them get away from me. Oh no!”

After a moment the young squirrelmaid chanced a backward glance. There were Dann and Dippler, running after her.

“Wait for us, mate, wait for us!”

*

Gelltor stood on the flatlands outside Redwall Abbey, out of range of arrows or missiles. Skipper jumped up onto the battlemented threshold top above the gatehouse and called out to the figure on the sun-shimmered plain. “Well, wot is it today, snipenose? What’re you after?”

Gelltor had to cup both paws around his mouth to be heard. “Blood for blood. The one you call Janglur killed a Marlfox. Give him to us, and after that we’ll talk.”

Skipper scratched his tail in amazement, and winked at Janglur. “Hoho! ’Ear that, matey? They want yer!”