When this was done, he addressed his reinforced ranks. “The otters will come this way. They have a secret hideout somewhere around, but they have to pass here to get to it. I can see by the signs that they have passed here more than once. I can defeat them! Now you will see how a real warlord makes his plans, not some half-faced old fool who was served by idiots like Scaut. I hold the high ground. The way forward is barricaded. To one side I have Deeplough. In front of me is a high hillside my enemies would have to scale to reach us. They have to get past me to reach their families, but they will die on the slopes below me. Then I will seek out those families and have slaves to build me a fortress of stone that will not burn, up here on the heights!”
33
The clans were crossing a stream, Tiria, Leatho and Big Kolun leading the procession, each with an otterbabe sitting upon their shoulders. The Long Patrol had a few scouts patrolling ahead, while the rest of the hares brought up the rear. Everybeast was singing as they splashed through the water. Sunrays shafted through the trees, mottling them with patches of light and shade. The babe on Tiria’s shoulders kept heaving on her coronet, using it as a rein. But the ottermaid bore it stoically, singing along with the rest.
“Where are we going to? Holt Summerdell!
What’ll we do there? We’ll all live well!
When we get there we’ll have tales to tell,
of the day that old fortress burnt an’ fell!
Left right, I’ll never complain,
if I never see a cat again!
Left right left right!
We had a war an’ won the fight,
Left right left right!
Our queen is comin’ home tonight!
Left right left right!
The clans are marchin’ free!”
They halted on the far bank and sat down for a rest. Tiria heaved a sigh of relief as she lifted the babe over her head and set her down on the grass. The little one came to earth, clutching the royal coronet in her tiny paws. Tiria pretended to look shocked.
“So, a coronet robber, eh?”
Wrinkling her nose, the otterbabe returned the regalia. “H’a sorry, Kweemarm!”
Leatho bounced the babe in his lap. “Kweemarm, I like that, it fits ye well. Kweemarm!”
Tiria splashed streamwater at him. “Don’t you dare start calling me Kweemarm, or I’ll call you by your baby name!”
The outlaw picked up the otterbabe. Pressing his forehead against hers, he whispered, “So then, rascal, wot d’ye call me?”
The tiny otter giggled. “Heehee, Fleeko Spellbrown!”
Big Kolun sat the otterbabe on his paw. He smiled at her. “An’ wot’s my name, liddle cuddlerudder?”
She stared solemnly at him. “Unka Kolun!”
He planted a kiss on the top of her head. “Hoho, I’ll be yore Unka Kolun anytime, darlin’!”
The cooks had packed food, which they had prepared the night before. The streambank assumed the air of a picnic lunch as everybeast sat eating and dabbling their footpaws in the shallows. Quartle and Portan shared a long loaf sliced lengthwise and filled with preserved fruit. Holding an end apiece, they bit into the long sandwich.
“I say, old lad, this is better’n haversack rations, wot!”
“Rather! Yum yum, sammies!”
The little ones thought this was hilarious. After gulping down everything they were given to eat, they splashed about in the water shouting, “Yumyum sammies! Yumyum sammies!”
Big Kolun chuckled. “Wait’ll they see Summerdell—the falls, an’ the waterslide, an’ the swimpools. I tell ye, Lady, they won’t forget ye for wot ye done for ’em!”
Tiria shook her head. “You mean for what you’ve done, and our brave hares. I just stood about an’ looked like a queen most of the time.”
Kolun winked at her. “An’ ye did it very nicely, marm!”
Cuthbert came wading along. Chewing at an enormous slice of salad turnover, he waved his swagger stick at them. “Everythin’ hunky dory here, wot?”
Tiria threw him a very pretty salute. “We’re fine, thank you, Major. How are you?”
He squinched down on his monocle in a sort of half-wink. “Flourishin’, marm, thankee. Must have a word, though.”
Sitting among them, he beckoned Leatho, Kolun and Tiria close, dropping his voice. “Cap’n Rafe an’ Sarn’t O’Cragg have just reported back from the advance scouts. Seems there’s a jolly old spot o’ bother loomin’ ahead.”
Leatho became alert. “Wot sort o’ bother, Major?”
Cuthbert explained. “Top o’ that big crater over yonder. Seems a heap o’ flippin’ cats have built a wall, type o’ barricade, right across the bloomin’ path. Nerve o’ the whiskery blighters, wot! Nothin’ for you t’worry about, Milady. You stop here with the families. The Long Patrol an’ some of our otterchums will sort ’em out, sharpish!”
Big Kolun stroked his rudder thoughtfully. “Sharpish ain’t a word I’d use, Major. A few pawfuls o’ foebeasts could hold that pass agin twice our numbers.”
Leatho agreed with Kolun. “Right, mate. They could hold us there all season, stop us gettin’ back to the families at Holt Summerdell.”
Cuthbert rose in sprightly manner. “Right, then we’ll just have t’shift the villains post haste, wot! You chaps comin’?”
