At a wave of Cludd’s spear the army chanted aloud, “Tsarmina the Magnificent!”

Ashleg looked around nervously. He was standing out in front of a rank of gleaming spearpoints, all pointed at his body. The marten gathered his cloak up, knowing the cruel command that was imminent. Tsarmina’s snarl cut across his thoughts. “At the double. Carry on!”

Fortunata stood to one side, knowing that a careless word could have placed her alongside the hapless marten.

Ashleg tried not to think. Desperately he dragged himself along in a frantic hop cum hobble, in front of the lethal spears. Madly he tried to gain a little ground, only to realize that he was hard put to keep what lead he had from the relentlessly double-marching soldiers.

Tsarmina laughed mockingly and she dug Fortunata in the ribs. “Ha, thumpitty clump, eh, fox. How long d’you reckon he’ll last?”

“Not long at that rate, Milady. Look at him trying to keep ahead of those spears. Ashleg mightn’t be too bright, but at least he’s obedient and loyal.”

Tsarmina sighed moodily; her fun had been spoiled. “Hmm, you’re right, I suppose. Tell Cludd to call a halt.”

Fortunata waved a signal to the stolid weasel Captain. Cludd halted the troops at the very moment Ashleg fell face forward on the gravel, his tortured body unable to travel another pace. He was sobbing pitifully for breath.

Tsarmina prowled purposefully out in front of the ranks, ignoring Ashleg, who was dragging himself painfully toward the indoor coolness of the entrance hall. The wildcat Queen faced her command as they stood in the gravel dust with heaving chests.

“Look at you. See how you have grown fat and lazy, slugs, worms! As from today, all of this will change. Believe me, or die. Mice, two silly little mice, have escaped my prison. Together with a rabble of woodlanders, they have made fools of you all.”

Nervous paws crunched the gravel as Tsarmina’s fury and scorn lashed them.

“I’ll take revenge for the insult to my majesty. Mossflower will be drenched in the blood of any creature who will not obey me, whether it be a woodlander or a soldier of Kotir!”

Fortunata shuddered inwardly at the mad light that shone in Tsarmina’s eyes as her voice rose in the sunlit stillness.

“Cludd, Ashleg, Fortunata, you will split the army four ways. Take a group each. I will stay here to guard Kotir with the remainder. You will go into the forest and hunt out every last woodlander. Take them prisoners. Any that resist, kill. Kotir will grow strong again with prisoners to serve it. We will enslave them. The flatlands to the west will be cultivated and farmed. My father was too soft with those creatures. They took advantage of his good nature in letting them live outside the walls in a settlement. That’s what encouraged them to desert: too much freedom. Well, I’ll tell you all right now, no more settlements. It’ll be the cells for them this time; separate cells, punishment, that’s what they’ll be here for. We will hold their young as hostages. To stop any uprising, they will toil from dawn to dusk—or their families will starve. Go now, and remember, this time there will be no failure.”