Faith Spinney was at her side in an instant. “Thrugann, are you all right, my dear?”

The otter staggered up and crossed to the window. “Aye, all I need is a breath of fresh air. Help me with this window catch, Mister Furgle, I feel weak as an otter kitten.”

“Redwaaaaaaallllll!”

“Great acorns, what was that?” Faith Spinney sat bolt upright on the dormitory floor.

Thrugann flopped down beside her. “Now I know I’ve got that pesky Dryditch Fever—I’m seein’ things. I just saw Baby Dumble go flyin’ past that window!”

Furgle jumped up and down, pounding the windowsill. “I can see him too! He’s sitting in a haversack and the biggest bird on earth is carrying the thing in its claws!”

Faith Spinney and Thrugann went skeltering down the stairs toward the main door, yelling aloud.

“Murder! Help! A big bird’s got Baby Dumble!”

“I don’t care ’ow big the bird is, I’ll wring its neck if it ’urts one ’air of that infant’s liddle ’ead!”

Tudd Spinney hurried up from the cellars and hob-skipped on his cane after them. “Ain’t things bad enough without an attack of big birds!”

*   *   *

The Wild King MacPhearsome beat the air with his gigantic wings as he set the haversack carefully down on the lawn of Redwall Abbey.

“Oh, ye didnae tell me ye lived in sich a braw nest, Dumble!”

The infant stumbled from the haversack wreathed in Icetor Flowers. “It notta nest, birdie, it’s a Habbey called Redwaaaaaalllll!”

*   *   *

In the island cave Mara listened with amazement to the tale that Loambudd told.

“My son Urthound was the strongest and wisest badger in all the Southwest Lands, and his wife Urthrun was famed for her beauty and gentleness. They ruled and protected the Southwest and were loved by all. Urthound’s father Urthclaw had been dead many seasons. I was alone and there was trouble in the land, so Urthound took me in his home to live with him. It was autumn and Urthrun had given birth to two beautiful badger babes, male twins—we named them Urthwyte and Urthstripe. The trouble was called Ferahgo the Assassin and his gang of Corpsemakers. He was young and evil, a blue-eyed weasel who murdered for pleasure, with an army of vermin to back him up.