“Oh, right. Constance, would you ask Cornflower to bring water for our guest. Tell me, Stryk, is your wing broken?”

Slowly, painfully, the big bird stood. She looked indignantly at the frail old Abbot. “Stryk Redkite mighty flyer!”

Sister May wagged an admonishing paw at the bird. “Stryk Redkite mighty fibber. Look at that wing. It’s totally useless, and I’ll wager you’ve been making it worse by trying to fly with it.”

The red kite limped sulkily off into a corner and huddled down.

“Rockslip, nestfall, Phweek! Who needs fly? Stay now, here with friends, with Habbot, with Sissismay.”

Sister May took the water from Cornflower and held it up to the huge hunting bird.

“That’s all very well, but you’d better be on your best behaviour. And my name is Sister May. Say it, Sister . . . May!”

“Sissismay, goodan’ very fierce!”

46

With Matthias and Orlando in the vanguard and Basil Stag Hare acting as scout, the depleted shrew army padded silently down the steps to the Kingdom of Malkariss. At first it was quite dark, with the morning brightness filtering down only a short way, but gradually the steps opened out on to a broad torchlit corridor.

They halted while Basil scouted the lie of the land. As they waited, Matthias took in his surroundings. The well-finished stone now coated with moss had once been an upper-story passage. Tree roots forced their way between the masonry, causing some of the wall to buckle and bend outwards and water dripped from the roof, forming small pools on the well-worn floor.

Basil was back shortly with some information.

“The blinkin’ place is worse than a great rabbit warren, with corridors, caves, passages an’ tunnels, all slopin’ downward too. As for the enemy, well, it’s rats again, old lad. They wear a black robe with a hood and their weapon appears to be a short kind o’ spear; not the throwin’ kind, you understand, more your good old stabber. They don’t seem to carry any other type of weapon. In a place this size there must be a lot of the blighters, I’d guess.”

Matthias tried to form a plan in his head as he discussed the information with his friends.

“We’d best stay together. No sense in splitting the force. Jess, you, Cheek and Jabez guard the rear and watch our backs. Orlando and Log-a-Log, stay in front with me. Guosim, have your javelins, slings and bows ready. If we run into a small bunch, pick them off right away. Don’t let them get back to their main force and report that we’re down here, or we’ll lose the element of surprise. Basil, was there no sign of our young ones?”

“No, ’fraid not. They must be further down this bally maze somewhere. I’ll keep my eyes open. Which way d’you suggest, right or left along this passage?”