The Second Wave (20 page)

‘They won’t pass that force!’ Marguerite said.

Rusty and the youngsters, who had never seen the Woodstock in action before, were impressed and comforted.

‘Squirrels coming,’ Rowan called from his lookout point.  ‘Greys, lots of them.’

  The senior squirrels peered down from the cave entrance and watched a posse of Greys following the scent-trail of Tamarisk and Rusty.

‘Do we give them a chance to talk, or do we just use the Woodstock when they reach the cave?’ Alder asked, seeking guidance from Marguerite.

‘From what Tamarisk and Rusty have told us, they are not going to listen to reason,’ she replied, ‘but we’ll try to talk to them.’

They waited until the Greys had reached the base of the wall and stopped to regain their breath.  Their leader was the broken-toothed female they called Ivy.

‘What do you want?’ Marguerite called down to them.

‘We have come to kill the Squarry, Russty. Iss she with you, Blassphemer?’

‘Yes – and here she stays.  The Temple Master is dead, so you can abandon your mission.’  She was bluffing – Rusty had told her that a Squarry Edict could never be lifted – but perhaps the Greys did not know that.

‘You lie, Blassphemer,’ Ivy called back.  ‘Send the Squarry out to uss and you can leave here unharmed.’

‘I should warn you that we have a weapon whose power would amaze you,’ Marguerite called down.  As she said this, she wondered if these Greys knew how to create the Stone force which their compatriots had used the previous year.  If they did, they could trap the Reds in the cave and starve them out.

The Greys ignored what she had said.  ‘We give you until sunrisse to hand over the Squarry,’ Ivy called up, ‘then we come for her, and any squirrelss, old or young, maless or femaless, who ressisst will be killed and sent to the Sunless Pit.’

She did not believe what the Reds said about Crag being killed.  Anyway, it no longer mattered to her.  He had served her purpose.  No Grey dared disobey her orders.  This power was a wonderful thing.  She, a mere female, ignored and overlooked for so long, now had only to mention the Sunless Pit and the others scurried to fulfil her commands.  If only I had learned how to use the Stone power that the old regime had used to subdue these Reds, she thought, I would have the whole of Squirreldom in my power.

She directed her party to take up positions on ledges on the wall, out of reach of dogs or cats from the village, and they crouched there to wait until sunrise.

In the cave the Reds discussed the chances of their creeping out in the darkness, unobserved.

‘We can’t, with Tansy ill, and even if we succeeded, they would follow our scent and catch up with us in a less secure place,’ Marguerite pointed out.  ‘Trust in the Sun,’ she added, ‘and the Woodstock.

‘Your prayers alone

Won’t do.  The Sun will help those

Who will help themselves.’

A youngster’s voice from the back of the cave said, ‘Can I help myself to a nut? I’m hungry.’

The laughter that followed broke the tension and the squirrels settled down to a watchful and uneasy night.

Juniper reported the first movement of Greys in the dim light of dawn and moved back into the cave behind the Woodstock, rehearsing the numbers to release its power.  A
 after the
X
did nothing, whereas a
 created a modest force and a
 was definitely a ‘whisker twister’ at that short range.  Numbers higher than that would probably kill.  He would start with a
.  There was no point in killing if he could disable the attackers effectively with a lower number.

There was a disturbance in the ivy leaves and he could see a round-eared head silhouetted against the light.  He immediately scratched a
 and felt the force fill the cave entrance.  He heard the leaves rustle as a heavy body fell out of control to the ground outside.

A second face appeared and he scratched a
 again.  More rustling and then another thump as a second body fell.

No more faces appeared, and after a while Juniper and Rowan peered cautiously out.  There was a cluster of Greys below them, gathered around two others who were pawing at their faces. 

Juniper knew from his own experiences that the Woodstock power could curl a squirrel’s whiskers into tight spirals and the only way to stop the spinning in one’s head was for the curled whiskers to be bitten off.  This, though, left the whiskerless animal unable to climb or balance properly.  On his own initiative, he sighted the Woodstock at the cluster of Greys and scratched a
 into the wood.

The cluster broke apart, squirrels tumbling and rolling down the bank, all pawing their faces.  The Reds came forward, gathering at the cave entrance to watch the helpless Greys and to congratulate Juniper.

Marguerite drew Alder to the back of the cave to discuss their next action.  Tansy appeared to be sleeping at last.  They spoke quietly.

‘If it wasn’t for Tansy, I’d suggest that we left now while the Greys are in disarray, but she’s in no fit state to travel and we can’t leave her here.’

‘Yes you can,’ said a shaky voice from behind her.’  You must get the Woodstock to Ourland.  I can follow when I’m well again.  I’ve travelled on my own before, remember.’

‘We’re not leaving here without you.  You need our help to get better.  A few more days won’t make much difference.  We know that this is a good defensive position and it’s quite likely that the pine marten is dead anyway by now.  Try and sleep, Tansy-Friend.’

It was more than a few days before Tansy was well enough to move.  Her fever raged on, sometimes easing a little, only to return with even more vehemence.  They knew that they were being watched by Greys from the hillside opposite, but small parties went out each day searching for different herbs to ease Tansy's fever.  Foraging parties visited the village bird tables daily for food, though for her own safety Rusty always stayed in the cave, sharing the duty of nursing Tansy with Tamarisk and Chip.

The Hawthorn Leaf Moon and the Catkin Moon had both gone before the fever died, leaving Tansy clearheaded but as weak as a new-born dreyling.

The effect of the Woodstock had come as a shock to Ivy and the Greys.  Not a single Grey from Purbeck had survived the previous year when the Woodstock had been used in an attempt to destroy their Power Square, so it was completely unknown to them.

When Juniper had used it on the group below the cave, the Greys had all retreated to lower ground.  Some had their whiskers curled into tight spirals, others had whiskers that were loosely curled and those who had been close under the castle wall, including Ivy and Hickory, were unaffected.  Sitka’s whiskers waved like ripples in sand.

‘Hickory, Sitka, join me,’ Ivy commanded.  Hickory came at once, though Sitka seemed slower to respond and wandered about before coming to Hickory’s side.

‘It seemss that the killing of the Squarry iss not going to be ass eassy ass we expected.  The Redss have some weapon that we know nothing of.’

Her mind was working fast.  She knew that this was a critical time.  Her authority rested primarily on her relationship with Crag, who the Reds had told her was dead, and on her false claim to have been sinless, reinforced with her constant reminders of the horrors of the Sunless Pit.  Was this enough to prevent them from turning on her, as so often happened to a leader defeated in a battle?