41

Abbess Tansy and her party were ready for the descent into the pit beneath the south wall. Friar Butty was armed with a stout copper ladle, his chosen weapon. Foremole Diggum and Shad the Gatekeeper had lengths of rope, lanterns, and a fine rope ladder that Ginko the Bellringer had loaned them. Tansy and Craklyn had donned their oldest smocks, and between them they carried a hamper of food.

It was a good hot summer morning. Tare and Tuny of the Long Patrol were pushing a wheelbarrow about on the lawn. Three little owlchicks and the badgerbabe Russano sat on a heap of dry straw in the barrow, taking their daily perambulation.

Tansy waved to them as they passed. “See you later. Bye bye!

Waving back, the babies repeated the word they used most often. “Nut! Nut!

Craklyn fell about laughing. Shad opened the food hamper and tossed a pawful of candied chestnuts into the barrow for them. “Bye bye, hah! These Eiddle tykes know wots good for em!

Having lit the lanterns, Friar Butty strung them at regular intervals upon a long rope and lowered it into the depths, providing illumination all the way down. Shad secured the rope ladder and let it unroll into the void. “Ill go first, he said. “Butty next, then Abbess an Craklyn. Foremole, you follow last. Remember now, take ytime an step easy!

One by one they descended into the silent pit, lantern light and shadows dancing eerily around the rough rock walls mat surrounded them. Scarcely a quarter of the way down, Fore-mole pointed a digging claw at the wall in front of him.

“Yurr, thurr bes ee writin that Bunto seed!

Foremole Diggum had remembered that Bunto, one of his mole crew, had seen writing carved upon the wall.

Craklyn studied it “See these broken rock ends and bits of shattered timber? There must have been a spiral stairway running from top to bottom of the walltower once. Theres a space that may have been a window, all blocked with earth now. This carving is beside itprobably some vermin soldier did it while he was idling away the hours on guard duty at that very window.

Tansy tweaked at her friends footpaw, which was directly above her head on the ladder. “Never mind the architecture, what does the writing say?

The Recorders voice echoed boomingly as she read out aloud.

“Turn at the lowest stair, Right is the left down there, Every pace you must count, At ten times paws amount, See where a deathbird flies, Under the hunters eyes, Radiant in splendor fair, Ever mine, hidden where?

Verdauga, Lord of Kotir.

Clinging to the ladder, Tansy looked up at her friend as the echoes faded to silence in the strange atmosphere. “Sounds like some sort of riddle to me. Craklyn, what are you doing up therewriting?

“Scrap o parchment and a stick of charcoal always come in useful, the old Recorder muttered busily as she scraped away. “I never go anywhere without them. This wont lake long. Hmm, Verdauga, he was mentioned in Abbess Ger-maines journal, some sort of wildcat who ruled Mossflower before Martin the Warrior arrived. There, Ive got it!

Foremole Diggum, who was last on the ladder, grunted impatiently. “Ho, gudd for ee, marm. Can usns git down thurr naow? Oim not gurtly pleased anginround up yurr!

It was a long and arduous descent. When they touched ground at the pit bottom, Friar Butty peered upward to the platform. It looked very small and far off.

“Phew! he said, nodding in admiration. “Just think, Skipper dove from up there, what a brave an darin beast! I think if I tried it Id probly die of fright halfway down.

Shad tapped his tail against the mud-coated rocks. “Since the waters dried up, mate, youd die fer sure if you landed ere. Right, lets git the lay o the land.

He lit another lantern and they moved gingerly on the slippery stones of the dried streambed, staring at tiieir surroundings. It was little more than a stone chamber, with a gaping hole at eye level where the water had flowed in from the right, and another hole beneath their paws to the left, where the stream had exited downward.

Tansy found a dry rock and sat down. “Its very smelly and cold. Wed best watch we dont slip and fall down that holegoodness knows where wed end up. Well, anyone got some bright ideas? This place looks like a dead end.

Craklyn studied the verse she had copied, then took a careful look around. She pointed to a spot not far above their heads. “Look there, up to the left. Theres a hole in the wall, but its blocked by rubble and old timbers. I think that was where the stairs finished originally. We must be standing below the old ground level now, where the water carved the floor away.

Shad climbed back up the ladder, swinging it inward until he could reach the hole in the side of the wall. He secured the rope ladder to a splintered wood beam that stuck out. “Aye, yore right, marm, this is where the last stair was. I think we mightve found a passage ere. Stand clear while I try an unblock it.

Huddling beneath an overhang at the caves far side, they watched rock, timber, and masonry pouring from the hole as the husky otter cleared away the debris. It was not long before he called down to them, “Haharr, tis a passage sure enoughdry, too. Cmon up, mateys!

One by one Shad helped them from the rope ladder into the passage. Foremole discovered a shattered pine beam and, using a dash of lantern oil, soon had a fire burning cheerily.

“Thurr ee go. Oi thinks usns be avin a warm an summ vitties afore us do ought else, bo urr!

Abbess Tansy wanned her paws gratefully. “What would we do without a good and sensible Foremole?

Friar Butty unpacked a latticed fruit tart, some nutbread, and a flask of elderberry wine, which he set by the fire to warm. As the friends ate they discussed the verse that Craklyn had copied.

“So, said Tansy, “it wasnt an idle sentry who carved those words, it was the Lord of the castle himself. But why put it there in plain view?

Craklyn explained what she had seen. “It wasnt exactly in plain view, though. I noticed some spike holes in the stone; there must have been a wall hanging or a curtain hiding the verse. Maybe Verdauga was getting old and he carved it there to remind himself.

Foremole sliced the tart evenly, shaking his head. “Hurr, tis a gurt puzzlement tho, marm. Roight is ee left daown thurr, wot do that mean?

“I know it sounds odd, but its not really. Creatures who hide something and write about it usually try to trick others by arranging the words so they sound strange. Right is the left down there means that the left passage is the right one to take. I could say that two ways; either the left is the right one to take, or as Verdauga put it, right is the left to take. See?

Butty poured out small amounts of the warm wine for them. “Im with you, miz Craklyn, tis right to take the left passage, an thats the one were in now, lucky enough. I think Ive got the next two lines as well.

Every pace you must count,

At ten times paws amount.

Everybeast has four paws, so add ten to that an it makes fourteen paces we must count.

A smile hovered on the Recorders lips as she challenged the Friar. “Is that right? Go on then, young Butty, take the lantern and walk fourteen paces down this passage. Tell us what you find.

The young squirrel marched off, counting precisely. He was lost to sight at the count of eight, where the passage took a bend. Shortly he returned to sit by the fire, scratching his chin. “Hmph! Wasnt a thing there, nothin except stone walls!

Craklyn shook a paw at him in mock severity. “Thats because your arithmetic was wrong, Friar. Work it out properly now. You have four paws, and the line says Ten times paws amount. Times!

The answer dawned upon Butty suddenly. “Of course, ten times four is fortyit means take forty paces!

Tansy passed him a slice of tart. “Well done, sir, but lets have our meal, then well all go and count it out together.

Beyond the turn a long passage stretched before them, dark and gloomy, layered with the dust of untold ages. So intense was the silence that they paced on tip-paws, whispering out the count. Tansy looked left and right at the forbidding bare stone walls and the worn paved floor. What sort of creatures had walked them in the distant past? How long had it been since a living beast set paw down here?

“Thirty-eight, thirty-nine, forty!

“Well wallop me rudder, look at this, messmates!

A great shuttered window stood before them, broad and high, its lintel, sill, and corbels intricately carved with sinister designs. Shad unlatched the shutters, announcing jokingly, “Wonderful view o Mossflower countryside from ere. Take a look!

Cobwebs parted as Shad drew back the creaking shutters, revealing the entire frame, packed solid with stone and dark earth. He shut them again and pushed the rusty latch into place.

“Too far down even for roots or worms to travel. Question is, wot are we supposed tlook for now?

Craklyn repeated the fifth and sixth lines of the verse:

“See where a deathbird flies,

Under the hunters eyes.

Tansy shuddered as she held up the lantern to inspect the sil!. “These carvings are skillfully done, but theyre horrible. See here, theres a snake swallowing a little mouse, and here, two rats are cutting up a skylark with curved knives. Everywhere you look theres cruelty and murder being done. No wonder Martin and his friends fought so hard against the vermin who lived here. But wheres the deathbird and the hunter?

Piece by piece they went over the grisly scenes until Shad, being the tallest, stood on the sill and held up the lantern to view the lintel overhead.

“Is this wot yore lookin for, marm?

He was pointing to a picture of a raven. The big black bird was trying to fly away, but it was trapped by a leaping wildcat that had bitten deep into the ravens back.

Craklyn clenched her paws tightly, fascinated yet repulsed by the dreadful image. “Yes, thats it, Shad! The wildcat is the hunter, and the raven has long been known as the deathbird for the way that it feasts upon carcasses of dead creatures. Im sure that is it!

They sat upon the windowsill, looking at one another in the flickering lamplight. Tansy read out the final two lines:

“Radiant in splendor fair,

Ever mine, hidden where?

Young Friar Butty hunched his shoulders, shivering slightly. “I couldnt imagine anythin radiant or splendidly fair down here, but if there is Ill bet tis behind the carvinl

Shad took out his knife and stood up on the sill. “Well, lets see, shall we!

He tapped with the knife handle, rapping the corbels and the surrounding wall, finally hitting the lintel several smart raps. “Aye, yore right, Friar. Sounds as if theres a cavity wall above this lintel. Pass me the lantern.

The light was passed up to Shad. He dug and scraped away with his blade until they were forced to vacate the sill beneath him.

“Youm sendin daown a tumble dust, zurr. Wot be youm a doin?

“Oh! Sorry bout that, mates, but theres a big stone thats stickin out a bit up ere. Im just diggin out the mortar wots holdin1 it in. I reckon wot were after lies beind it.

“Yurr, oill coom up anelp ee. Lend oi yore young shoulders thur, Butty, let oi git moi diggen claws worken on et.

Butty stood on the sill, grunting as Foremole Diggum clambered up onto his shoulders.

Shad and Foremole blinked mortar dust from their eyes as they dug, tugged, and probed. The otter grasped the lantern ring in his mouth to leave both paws free.

Craklyn watched them anxiously. “Do be careful now, mind your paws dont get jammed in the cracks.

“Stan asoide, lukkee owt naow, yurr ee comes!

With a few mighty heaves the two creatures pulled the big oblong wallstone free and dropped it.

Boom!

It shattered a section of the paved floor as it fell, sending up a choking dust cloud, through which Shad could be seen, one paw rummaging deep in the hole as he held out several glittering objects with the other.

“Ahoy there, hearties, lookit wot I found! Owowooh! Me paw!

There was a rumbling, crumbling sound as the stones above collapsed down, trapping the paw Shad had buried in the wall space. He hung there awkwardly, gritting his teeth against the pain. Then everything happened without an instants notice.

Foremole slipped from Buttys shoulders and fell backward as, with a dull roar, the entire wall and ceiling disintegrated in an avalanche of stone, mortar, and thick choking dust!