Arula had the solution. She reeled in the rat on the bowstring. “Hurr naow lissen, vurmen. Whurr be ’ee fox gone to? You’m best arnswer oi afore oi get turrible mad!”

The rat sneered at Arula and remained silent. Spriggat smiled pitifully at the creature.

“I ’opes you don’t talk, rat. Tell you why. See yon mole, she weren’t foolin’ when she said she were mad. Take it from us, she is mad, ain’t she, Samkim?”

The young squirrel nodded, straight-faced and serious. “Mad? I’ll say she is. Remember the last rat she caught, Spriggat? Dearie me, I dread to think about that poor creature.”

The rat began to look twitchy. Spriggat shook his head sadly. “On my oath, I ’opes never to see that done to a livin’ creature again, ’specially the bit with the three squashed frogs an’ those maggoty apples. Ugh! Sickens me t’ think of it.”

The rat tried to limp away, but Arula reeled him in on the bowstring until their faces were almost touching. She put her head on one side and grinned insanely at him.

“Oh, oi likes bein’ mad, oi do! Sanken, can ’ee get oi sum big wurms, smelly mud an’ dedd wuddbeetles. Oi got a noice idea, hurr.”

The rat went limp. He fell to the ground blubbering, “No, please, don’t be mad with me! The fox’s name is Dethbrush an’ he’s got five others with him—tracker rats like myself. We’re not killers, I swear it. Dethbrush serves in the horde of Lord Ferahgo the Assassin. We were going to the South Stream to journey by water to the west shore and join up with Ferahgo. We were sent to bring back Dingeye an’ Thura, but they’re both dead. Dethbrush is takin’ the sword as a gift to Ferahgo. That’s all I know, I promise you. Don’t hurt me, please!”

Arula looked crestfallen. “Doant say you’ll take us’ns an’ show us ’ee way, pleeze. Oi wants to ’ave moi fun!”

Tears streamed from the rat’s eyes as he beseeched Samkim, “I’ll show you every footpaw of the way. I’ll show you—only please keep the mad mole away from me, sir.”

“Oh well, all right.” Samkim shrugged. “Tie him up to a tree for the night, Arula, he can show us the way as soon as it’s light.”

Samkim and Spriggat slept sitting against the log, but Arula was enjoying her new role as the terror of the woodlands. She snuggled up to the quivering rat, who was bound paw and claw to an elm.

“Goo’ noit, ratface. Doant wake oi up, it makes oi mad.”