Vermin screamed and wailed as the blazing pine trunk cut a swathe through the Rapscallion ranks. It thundered off the hillside, over the valley, and disappeared with a crash of loose earth into the rift, where one side of the defile fell in on top of it.

This was followed by a frightening silence.

Galloper Riffle rubbed both his eyes, peering into the fallen night. “What’s happenin’? Why’s everythin’ so bally quiet—I can’t see a flippin’ thing!”

A shrew standing by Riffle blinked hard several times. “Neither c’n I, matey, all’s I see is colored lights, poppin’ all round. ’Twas that burnin’ tree wot did it.”

Most of the Redwallers were grouped at the center of the ridge, in the place the otters had launched the trunk from. A shout from the far side of the ridgetop alerted them.

“Help! They’re attackin’ this end!”

With their sight growing clearer, the Redwallers rushed to defend that end of the summit, only to be hailed by another distress cry. “Yurr, on ee t’uther end, they’m up ’ere too!”

Damug had not been slow. Even as the burning trunk was launched from the crest of the ridge, he had issued orders for his army to split up again and attack the summit from both ends. Now the Redwall army was in deep trouble. Damug’s plan had worked; he had gained the precious moments he needed to put his Rapscallions on the ridge summit.

Tammo fought back-to-back with Pasque, sling in one paw, dirk in the other. Vermin came at them in mobs. Lieutenant Morio was surrounded and alone; gallantly he battled away, hacking at the encroaching Rapscallions with a cracked pike. Tammo and Pasque began forcing their way through to Morio’s aid, but too late. The brave Lieutenant went down, fighting to the last.

“Eulaliaaaa! ’S death on the wind! Eulaliaaaaa!”

Captain Twayblade, too, was ringed by the enemy. Her long rapier darted and flickered as she wove it around cutlass and spear, slaying every vermin she touched. “Saha! Come an’ meet me, sir vermin, I’ll have ye crowdin’ at Dark Forest gates this night!”

Tammo glimpsed a fox working his way behind Twayblade, and as the fox raised his sword, Tammo let fly with the dirk.

“A hit!” Twayblade laughed. “Over here, Tamm, come on, Pasque!”

They were joined by Skipper, and between them they smashed free of the crowding foebeasts. The otter pushed them toward the standing rock. “Over there, mates—get our backs agin somethin’!”

Perigord and Gurgan had been outnumbered and driven back along the ridge. Striving valiantly with what was left of their group, they too managed to reach the standing rock. The Major’s saber decimated the ranks of vermin swarming to get at them. Blood ran from a cut above his eye as he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Gurgan.

“Whew! I keep choppin’ ’em down, but they’re still comin’!”

The Waterhog’s huge mallet hit the Rapmark Skaup, wiping him out. “Aye, there’s nought left but to take as many as we can with us. Hearken though, I’d like t’get yon Damug atwixt my paws!”

Log-a-Log gritted his teeth, bringing down a weasel with his heavy loaded sling. “Y’won’t get close to that scum, mate. Damug’s the kind who leads his army from be’ind, like the true coward he is! Tamm, did they get ye, bucko?”

Tammo almost collapsed as Pasque drew the pike from his leg. “Aaaagh! He got me, but I made sure I got him, the blackguard!”

They ringed the pair, fighting off the attackers as Pasque stuffed herbs into the awful gash and bound it with the red silken ribbon. “There, that’ll hold you, sir. Lean on me. I knew that ribbon’d come in useful. Good job you won it for me, wot!”

*

Deodar and Algador slumped on the rift floor, gasping for breath after making their report.

Lady Cregga acted instantly. “Sergeant, take the right flank; Corporal, you take the left. I’ll hold the center. Let’s get out of this ditch and form up in a skirmish line, ten deep, fifty long. Double-quick speed, weapons out and ready. We’ll come at that ridge from the back. Rapscallions haven’t got the brains to think we’d attack that way!”

Still fighting for air, Algador and Deodar drew their blades. “We’re comin’ too, Sergeant!”

Trowbaggs nodded to Shangle Widepad. “Grab old Algy there, chum, we’ll help him along. Fallow, Reeve, lend a paw to Deodar, there’s good chaps!”

The night air thrummed to the paws of five hundred Salamandastron hares. Silent and determined, they sped off into the darkness.

*

Damug Warfang was delighted beyond measure. He stood back from the fighting, leaning on his sword by a fire. The Rapscallions had suffered heavy losses, but nothing to what the creatures of Redwall had sustained. From his position he viewed what he considered to be the last stages of the battle. His enemy would soon be soundly defeated and the famous Abbey of Redwall his for the taking.

Rapscallions crowded in on every side around the standing rock, but there was a space at the center between them and their opponents. The Redwallers had fought more fiercely than anybeasts they had ever encountered, and now, at this final part of the battle, many vermin were growing cautious, not wanting to be on the lists of the slain while their comrades enjoyed the spoils of victory.

The stoat Captain, Bluggach, was a bigger and more reckless beast than his confederates. Pike in one paw and a wicked steel hook in the other, he swaggered into the open space between the armies and began taunting his beleaguered enemy.

“Haharr, so yore the bold crew who were gonna spank us an’ send us off in tears, eh? I wager the one who shouted that is ’idin’ somewheres at the back now, prob’ly in tears hisself!”

Mass laughter and cheering from the Rapscallion horde prompted Bluggach to become bolder. He leered at the Redwallers, licking the tip of the hook he carried. “C’mon out an’ face me, ’tis my turn t’do the spankin’!”

Gurgan Spearback was already out as he spoke, wielding his tree-trunk-headed war mallet. “Stoats be windy braggarts. Come an’ spank me if thee thinks thou art warrior enough to do it!”

Bluggach gave a wild yell and charged the big Waterhog. Gurgan sidestepped and swung the mallet once. Just once.

Bluggach slumped to the ground, never to rise again.

But Gurgan’s sidestep had carried him close to the Rapscallion mob. A crowd leapt upon him, overwhelming the Waterhog Chieftain.

The Redwallers could not leave their friend in enemy paws. They charged forward into the vermin pack, roaring, “Redwaaaaallll! Redwaaaaaallll!”

They were hopelessly outnumbered, but prepared to sell their lives dearly. Strangely, though, it was Damug Warfang who saved them.

The unpredictable Warlord strode among his vermin, lashing out with the flat of his swordblade. “Halt! Enough, I say! We will take these creatures as prisoners. Nobeast must touch them. I will keep them as captives to serve me!” The Greatrat halted in front of Perigord. “All except you, hare. Nobeast talks to me as you did and lives!”

Held fast by four Rapscallions, the Major still struggled to break free and get at his enemy, even though he was twice wounded. “So be it, foulface. Give me back my saber an’ I’ll fight you, blade-to-blade. Come on, vermin, let’s have at it, wot!”

Damug looked Perigord up and down. Dried blood was caked over the Major’s brow, covering his right eye, while the Redwall tunic hung from him in shreds, revealing a ragged scar on one shoulder. The Greatrat sneered contemptuously. “Your fighting days are over, fool. I’m going to make an example of you in front of your friends. Conquered beasts always learn to behave better when they see their leader executed. Get him down in front of me and bend his head!”

A massive roar shook the night air, chilling the blood of every Rapscallion on the ridge.

“Eulaliaaaaaaa!”

Thundering forward, fifty paces ahead of her command, Lady Cregga Rose Eyes hit the vermin ranks like a lightning storm.

Tammo saw vermin actually fly through the air as the huge badger, her eyes blazing red with Bloodwrath, swung her axpike into them. Then she was upon Damug Warfang. Casting her weapon away, she seized the Firstblade with both paws and teeth.

“Spawn of Gormad Tunn! Evil murderer’s kin! Come to me!”

Hacking furiously at the Badger Warrior’s head with his sword, Damug gave an unearthly screech. Locked together, the pair hurtled into space from the ridgetop.

“Eulaliaaaa! ’S death on the wind! Eulaliaaaaaa!”

Booting aside a rat, Major Perigord grabbed his saber. “Hares on the ridge, hundreds of ’em! Eulaliaaaaaa!”