“How’ll this little lot do, Scratch?”

“Scratch, where are you?”

“Scratchy-watchy, you old frogwalloper, come out. We know you’re hiding, we can see the rushes moving.”

The male swan came thundering out of the rushes in half-flight, churning up a bow wave as it hissed like a nest of serpents.

“Yooooaaaaggggghhhh!”

Only the speed of raw terror and the fact that they were racing away from the pond and its nest saved the lives of the panic-stricken pair.

“Owoowoowoo helpelpelp!”

The male swan webbed its way up onto the bank, beating its wings wide to the blue sky, hissing out its victory cry—a savage challenge to the distant runners.

The female settled securely on her babes in the nest. She preened her neck feathers, smiling with just a touch of smugness. Swans never laugh aloud.

* * *

Though they were a fair distance from the pond, Martin and his friends heard the anguished shouts on the breeze.

“Sounds like our followers from Kotir have ruffled someone’s feathers, eh, Din,” Martin remarked.

The mole looked grave. “Skwons etted ’em, oi uxpect.”

Gonff placed a paw on his heart and sang slowly,

A weasel, ferret and a stoat,
Found a pond but had no boat.
Now they can’t see the waters from
The inside of a swan.

* * *

Tsarmina stood at her high window, watching the squirrels. They had descended from the trees at the woodland edge. With them were two small hedgehogs clad in cooking-pot helmets and blanket cloaks.

Fortunata rapped lightly at the chamber door and entered.

“Milady, oh, you’ve already seen them.”

Tsarmina did not even turn to look at Fortunata. She continued peering intently at the two little figures in the middle of the squirrel group.

“Are they taunting us, do you think?” she asked.

Fortunata joined her at the window. “No, woodlanders don’t go in for that sort of display, Milady.”

To her surprise, Fortunata found Tsarmina patting her approvingly. “Good thinking, fox. Shall I send out a party to try and capture them?”

Fortunata shook her head. “I’d advise against it, Milady. They’d only sweep off into the trees, making our soldiers look foolish. Squirrels always do.”

Tsarmina smiled. She sat up on the window ledge, winking at the vixen. “Clever, very clever, Fortunata. You aren’t as dull or slow-witted as Cludd and Ashleg. Listen now, I have better eyesight than you or any creature in Mossflower. I’ve been watching those two little hedgehogs, and there’s something not quite right about them.”

“Not quite right, Milady?” Fortunata was baffled, but she tried her best to look intelligent.

Tsarmina tapped a paw to her nose. “Exactly. They’re playing little games with me, those woodlanders. But I have a game or two of my own to play. Tell me, you know these woods and their creatures better than anyone in Kotir, don’t you?”

Fortunata was pleased that Tsarmina was confiding in her, but she began to feel uneasy. There was often an unpleasant sting in the tail of her Queen’s schemes.