“Take Ratflank, and find the bodies of the eagle and the fox.”

“Yes, Milady. Shall I bring them back here?”

“No, Brogg. Bury them.”

“As you say, Milady.”

“Oh, and Brogg . . .”

“Yes, Milady?”

“How do you feel about that insolent Ratflank these days?”

“Oh, him. He’s a cheekybeast, Milady. Called me lots of nasty names.”

“Yes. Me too. How would you like to bury him with the fox and the eagle?”

“Huh huhuhuh,” Brogg chortled. “Can I, Milady?”

“Yes, but not a word to any creature about it.”

“Can I have the red cloak too, Milady?”

“Yes, if you want it.”

“And Bane’s curved sword, Milady?” Brogg pressed her.

“If you can find it.”

“Where d’you think it fell, Milady?”

Tsarmina turned her eyes upward as if seeking patience. “Brogg, I wouldn’t know where the sword fell, or the eagle, or the fox. Just get out of my sight and don’t bother me with details.”

“But what about—Yes, Milady.”

* * *

Urthclaw was first to reach the underground foundations of Kotir. Tunneling steadily, he made his way along the underground wall until he met up with Billum. Together they continued until they linked up with Soilflyer, who was waiting for them.

“Burr, ’day to ’ee moles,” he greeted them. “Foremole an’ Owd Dinny be along wi’ tools soon, us’ns can brekk throo ’ee rock then.”

Lady Amber had sunk the floodgates at the other end of the tunnels, they were to be lifted by rope hoists attached to rock counterweights over high branches. Skipper and his crew had dug fresh tunnels from the river, sloping down to meet the floodgates which separated them from the main tunnels. All the workings had been shorn up with stone and timber. Foremole supervised the removal of rocks from the foundations of Kotir. The moles pried away the soft, damp stones with bars and chisels until they felt the cold fetid air on their snouts. “Burr, oo, durty owd place needen a gurt barth, hur hurr.”

Shortly before nightfall, the moles climbed out of the tunnel workings, back in Mossflower, where the woodlanders and Corim leaders had assembled. Bella rolled three large rocks over the holes from which the moles had emerged. Others moved in to pack the bung-rocks firmly in with wood and soil.

Now everything was ready.

Between the lower depths of Kotir and the distant river in Mossflower Woods, all that stood was three timber sluicegates.

Lady Amber laid her tail flat on the lower branches of a sycamore.

The woodlanders held their breath.

Skipper nodded to Foremole.

Foremole nodded to Bella.

Bella nodded to Amber.

The squirrel’s tail rose like a starter’s flag. There was a creaking of rope pulleys as squirrels launched the rocks from the high trees, riding down to earth on them, holding to the ropes. The counterweights traveled fast, humming across the heavily beeswaxed branches.

The wooden floodgates made a squelching sound as they were pulled free of the earth, then water began rippling through into the tunnels.