Mattimeo [Redwall 3] by Brian Jacques; Gary Chalk

Author:Brian Jacques; Gary Chalk
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Redwall Abbey (Imaginary Place), Animals, Guinea Pigs, Juvenile Fiction, Hamsters, Fantasy & Magic, General, Fiction, Fantasy, Etc, Mice, Epic, Short Stories
ISBN: 9781402565137
Publisher: Firebird
Published: 1989-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

The Abbot picked them up. “Scraps of material. What are they?” Constance ground her teeth together angrily. “Pieces of Cornflower and Mrs. Churchmouse’s aprons and a fragment of baby Rollo’s little habit. They’ve been captured by the birds.” Abbot Mordalfus shook his head in disbelief. “Impossible. Surely they were here last night, weren’t they? Did anybeast see them?”

Foremole shrugged. “May’ap, but maybe not. Oi niver thought of a-looken for ’em.” John Churchmouse dashed his satchel to the floor. “My wife, captured by those filthy birds. Where have they got her?”

He made a dash for the stairs and was stopped by Winifred and Ambrose. The churchmouse struggled furiously.

“Let me go, there’s no telling what those murdering savages will do to her!”

“John Churchmouse, be still!” ordered Mordalfus. “Come and sit by this table, sir. Come on, do as I say.

You aren’t doing anybeast a bit of good behaving like this. Let us hear what Constance has to say.” John looked up in surprise. It was seldom that the Abbot spoke harshly to any creature. The fight went out of him and he allowed Ambrose to lead him to a chair.

Mordalfus turned to the badger. “Constance, tell us all you know of this incident, please.”

“Father Abbot, there’s not a lot to tell, I’m afraid. Yesterday Cornflower and Mrs. Churchmouse were in the bell tower. Rollo must have joined them later. Well, when I called all the creatures in and shut the Abbey door I must’ve locked them out. They probably didn’t hear me calling. There’s no entrance to the Abbey from the bell tower, so they must have tried later to cross the grounds. Those birds caught them in the open. The crow said that they took them to the roofspaces. General Ironbeak wants to see us outside at noon.”

Sitting in a corner of the dimly lit roofspace, Cornflower and Mrs. Churchmouse tried to make themselves as unobtrusive as possible, keeping baby Rollo quiet and still. General Ironbeak and his birds had returned from their dust bath on the path outside Redwall. It had done little good, and in the end they had resorted to wallowing in the brackish ditchwater to rid themselves of the sludge which clung to their feathers. It was not a great improvement; the stench still clung to them.

Ironbeak glared ferociously at his captives. “Yaggah! You and your friends will pay dearly for this insult.”

Cornflower covered baby Rollo with her torn apron. “You great bully, you deserve all you got!” Mangiz had not been caught by the trap on the stairway, and he stayed slightly apart from his General, turning his beak to avoid the unpleasant odor.

“Kraah! Silence, mouse! At noon you will get all you deserve. You should be pleading with the mighty Ironbeak to spare your miserable lives.”

Mrs. Churchmouse eyed the crow with distaste. “We would never grovel to ruffians like you. Slay us if you want, but you will never conquer Redwall Abbey.”

“Brave words are like empty eggshells. You will beg when the time comes,” Mangiz predicted.

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