The great tunnelling of Mossflower had begun!

* * *

Hidden by a screen of leaves in a high elm, a woodpigeon was witness to a very strange scene in the woods south of Kotir. Tsarmina, armed with a bow and arrows, was talking to the surrounding foliage.

“I know you’re there, brother. Oh, it’s no use hiding. The Queen of the Thousand Eyes will find you, you can be sure.”

The woodpigeon remained perfectly still. No point in offering a handy target to a wildcat with bow and arrows, he decided, even if she were looking for someone else.

“Come on out, Gingivere. Show yourself. This is between me and you.”

Silence greeted the challenge. Tsarmina smiled slyly.

“Think you’re clever, don’t you? Haha, not half as clever as your sister. I know your little game. I’ll find you!”

The wildcat Queen continued padding through the still forest, sometimes hiding behind a tree, often doubling back on her own tracks, always on the alert.

* * *

Brogg and Ratflank were sitting in the larder. As Captains, they decided it was their prerogative to sample some of the remaining rations. The two officers stuffed bread and guzzled cider from a half-empty cask.

There was a knock at the door. Hastily, they swallowed and wiped their whiskers. Brogg stamped about kicking sacks and checking casks as he called out, “Yes? Who is it?”

“It’s Squint the stoat, Cap’n,” a thin reedy voice piped back at him.

The pair relaxed.

“Come in, Squint. What d’you want?” Brogg asked.

The stoat entered. He stood to attention before his superiors. “I followed Her Majesty, just like you told me to, Cap’n Brogg.”

“Well, where did she go?”

“South into Mossflower. She took a bow and arrows with her. I kept well out of sight and watched. Funny though, she kept ducking here and bobbing there, hiding behind trees and so on.”

“What for?”

“Her brother—you know, Gingivere. She kept calling out his name. Went on like that for ages. I thought I’d better come back here and report to you.”

Ratflank wiped a crumb from his paw. “You did well Squint,” he began.

Brogg silenced him. “You keep quiet. I’m giving the orders around here.”

He turned on the unfortunate stoat. “You thought you’d better come back and report, eh? Who told you that you had permission to think? D’you realize that you’ve left your Queen out there alone in the forest, at the mercy of any roving band of woodlanders?”

“But Cap’n, you told me to—”

“Silence! Speak when you’re spoken to, stoat. Now you get back out there on the double, me bucko, and don’t come back until Milady does, and that’s an order!”

Squint stood bewildered until Ratflank joined in the chastisement.

“You heard Captain Brogg. On the double now. One-two, one-two, one-two. Step lively, Squint!”

The stoat double-marched backward out of the larder. Brogg and Ratflank fell back upon the sacks, laughing.

“Hohohoho, proper thick’ead, that one. Hey, it’s not too bad this officer lark, Brogg.”