A timid paw showed in the ranks. It was Whegg the rat.

“Then we’re not to be sentenced to death?” he asked anxiously.

Bella held her breath a moment before speaking.

“No.”

There was an audible sigh of relief from the prisoners.

Whegg could not resist a second question.

“What will happen to us?”

Skipper stood on the mound beside Bella.

“Right,” he said. “Clean up your lugs and listen hard, mateys. I’ll only say this once. You will each swear an oath that you will never again carry a weapon or come near Mossflower country, though if I’d had my way none of you would have got out of that lake alive today. Be that as it may, Bella of Brockhall here has said that you be spared, so you have her to thank for your lucky escape. But I’ll tell you this: any creature that doesn’t agree to our terms, let him show a paw now. The lake is still here, and so am I.”

The captives immediately sat upon their paws.

“Good!” Skipper nodded his approval. “Now you will remain here until tomorrow, when you will be escorted under guard to the flatlands west of here. You can travel west or south, but not back up north and certainly not back here to our land. That is all for now. Be still and behave.”

Bella and Skipper stepped down to join Amber and the others.

Amber looked concerned. “Where has the big cat got to?”

Timballisto was worried too. “Where is my friend? Has anyone seen Martin?” he asked anxiously.

Ben Stickle nodded. “Just before Kotir fell into the lake, I saw him on the bank. He headed up that way, yonder.”

“Then he must be found straightaway,” Bella interrupted. “Gonff, you and I will search the water’s edge. The rest of you stay here and keep an eye on this lot.”

Before they moved off Bella issued a warning:

“Watch out for Tsarmina.”

* * *

Young Dinny, Bella and Gonff halted further up the bank. Timballisto joined them, refusing to watch captives while his friend was missing.

Bella looked about. “I don’t think he would have come this far with his wound. In all that armor he couldn’t possibly have traveled fast enough.”

“Aye, besides, what would he have wanted all this way along the shore, when we were capturing prisoners further down?” Gonff agreed.

“If I know my friend, I think he must have spotted the cat.”

“Hurr, moi diggen claws be a-tellen me Marthen be about sumwhurrs. Oi do feel et.”

“Well, we’d better trust you, Din. The old digging claws haven’t been wrong yet, matey.”

“Lookit, thurr!” Squinting hard, the mole pointed further along the shoreline to where the sunlight was clearly glinting off a shining object.

Gonff broke into a run. “By the teeth and fur, matey, that must be the sword!”

* * *

The little mousethief was first to reach the fallen figure of his friend. Dinny, Timballisto and Bella came as fast as they could to the spot where the sword lay. They found Gonff blinded by tears, his whole body shaking with grief as he knelt by the pitiful bundle that was his friend. “He’s dead, they’ve killed our Martin!”