The rawboned fox came trotting up.

Bane stood panting with his back to the wall. "They've got us bottled up in here. Wait a moment. Badtail!" The rawboned fox came trotting up. "Here Bane." "See what the position is out there. Pinpoint where they are and report back to me." Badtail lay flat upon his belly. Sliding around the doorposts, he scrambled out onto the parade ground, tacking and weaving. Halfway across the courtyard, he bobbed up and down, checking the trees and scanning the low bushes through the open main gates. "What d'you see?" Bane's voice rang across the open space. 275 Still lying flat, Badtail raised his head as he shouted back, "Squirrels and otters. They've got the main gates open and they're shooting from the tr? An otter javelin closed his mouth forever. Bane poked his head around the doorpost. An arrow hummed its way viciously into the woodwork. He pulled back swiftly as two more buried their points in the doorpost where his head had been. Skippe. crouched behind a bush and signaled to Lady Amber, who was perched on the low branches of an oak. "Eleven down and plenty more to go," he reported. \mber drew back her bowstring and let an arrow fly. 'Make * the round dozen. Skip!" Grim-laced and determined, the crews of bo A leaders tightened paws on bowstrings, slings and javelins, waiting for the next head to show around the doorposts of Kotir fortress. Inside the building, confusion followed the panic of the initial attack. Tsarmina dashed upstairs to her chamber, dashing back down again when a fusillade of arrows greeted her through the open window. Bane sat at the foot of the stairs. "Fortunes of war," he said philosophically.