Mossflower





Book Divisions (English)

 * Book 1: Kotir
 * Book 2: Salamandastron
 * Book 3: Of Water and Warriors

Summary
The protagonist is Martin the Warrior, who comes to Mossflower Woods after recently escaping from Fort Marshank. He discovers that Mossflower is being ruled by a tyrant wildcat, Verdauga Greeneyes, who resides in the castle Kotir. After getting into a fight with some of Verdauga's soldiers, Martin is imprisoned at the orders of Verdauga. Tsarmina breaks Luke the Warrior's sword in half, and Martin swears to slay her.

Verdauga's daughter, Tsarmina, poisons her father with the aid of female fox physician Fortunata, and frames her brother Gingevere for the murder. She subsequently takes over the throne for herself and imprisons Gingevere. Meanwhile, Gonff the Mousethief is caught stealing from Kotir, and is thrown in prison with Martin. The two get acquainted, and Gonff tells the story of Mossflower and of the Council of Resistance in Mossflower (CORIM) resistance movement against Verdauga.

Martin and Gonff are given a message and pick-locking tools from the Corim, and stage a daring escape. The duo knock down the door to their cell and accidently run straight into Tsarmina and her cronies. They run off into Tsarmina's room and hide under her bed, where Gonff creates a "scorching" distraction to ensure their escape. The chase leads to the Kotir mess hall, and Martin and Gonff jump out of the window as the soldiers eating there gape dumbly at them.

Squirrel Queen Lady Amber and her archers audaciously hold off the entire Kotir army with showers of arrows. Their valiant efforts enable the Skipper of the otters and his otter crew to spirit Martin and Gonff away to Camp Willow. Tsarmina pursues them with some of her soldiers to the edge of the river, but loses the woodlanders.

Furious over the well-coordinated escape, she orders Brogg and Scratt to go back to Kotir to fetch a feral, blind water rat called The Gloomer. With the aid of a reluctant Fortunata, they bring Gloomer to the river to hunt down the fleeing otters. Skipper releases an enormous pike named Stormfin into the water, and a vicious battle ensues. Gloomer tears ferociously at the pike, but the water rat is overmastered by Stormfin and drowns. Tsarmina and her army are left with nothing but the laughter of the woodlanders as they vanish into the forest.

At Brockhall, the Corim's headquarters, the woodlanders along with Martin and Gonff hold an animated discussion about their next course of action against Kotir. Bella of Brockhall advises the use of espionage, and Gonff proposes that the robin Chibb would be an ideal spy. This idea causes much doubt and dissent, as Chibb is very self-serving and greedy. In the end, Bella and Foremole vouch for the mousethief's suggestion, and the Corim enlists Chibb to spy on Kotir. Later that evening, woodlanders celebrate the successful rescue and two little hedgehogs, Ferdy and Coggs, sons of Ben Stickle and Goody Stickle leave Brockhall, wanting to overrun Kotir.

Ordered by Tsarmina to scout the woodlands, Scratt, Brogg, Fortunata, and their soldiers bump into another Kotir group led by Ashleg in the darkness. They fight madly before they recognize each other.

Early the next morning, Chibb flies around Kotir, examines its layout, and meets Gingivere briefly. That same morning, Bella and Martin discuss the predicament of the woodlanders during their morning stroll in the woods. The seasoned badger tells him about the mountain of fire lizards, Salamandastron, and its current ruler, her father Boar the Fighter. Upon their return to Brockhall, Bella arranges a search-and-rescue effort to find the two errant hedgehogs.

Unfortunately, Ferdy and Coggs have already been captured by a third Kotir search party under Captain Cludd, a dull-witted weasel. They undergo a terrifying interrogation by Tsarmina herself, but refuse to divulge any information. The young brothers are then thrown into the cells on either side of Gingivere's cell, and the kindly wildcat befriends them. In Brockhall, Bella tells Martin more about Salamandastron. She expresses her belief that Boar the Fighter is the only one could defeat Tsarmina.

Bella, Martin, Gonff, and Dinny the mole begin an exhausting search for a map to find the route to Salamandastron. They search among Brockhall's vast piles of dusty scrolls and records, but meet with little success until Martin accidently discovers their first set of clues in a secret compartment. These clues lead them to the Brockhall family crest, where they find a scroll with a cryptic poem. This poem leads them, in turn, to the bottom of a table, which conceals another enigmatic poem. The four interpret the first few lines of the poem, which is a map to Salamandastron in verse.

Martin, Gonff, and Dinny begin the first part of the journey to Salamandastron with a Corim force headed to Kotir. They part ways, and Kotir soldiers Splitnose, Scratch, and Blacktooth stealthily shadow the three adventurers. Just outside of Kotir, the woodlanders use Chibb to ferry bags of food to Ferdy and Coggs. They are soon spotted by Tsarmina and are ambushed. Lady Amber and Skipper's forces fire successive volleys of arrows and slingstones, delaying the slow, armored beasts of Kotir. All seems lost until Foremole provides an escape tunnel to Moledeep.

Gingivere and the hedgehogs enjoy the provisions, and the wildcat hides them in his cell in a bag. Tsarmina hears of their "escape" and searches all Kotir for them, but the two little hedgehogs cannot be found.

As the hue and cry is raised at Kotir, Martin, Dinny, and Gonff attempt to outrun their pursuers. They apparently succeed, and find a quiet pond where Gonff sits down to fish. Martin, however, spots a female swan and her mate and orders the other two to silently slip off. Later, Blacktooth, Scratch and Splitnose arrive and foolishly try to throw spears at the swan. Scratch orders the other two to fetch some rocks while he wades up to stab the female swan. Scratch is killed instantly by the male swan on guard, and Blacktooth and Splitnose flee the scene.

Back in Mossflower, Skipper enlists the help of his brother Mask to free Gingivere, Ferdy, and Coggs from Kotir. Mask, an eccentric otter without a tail, is a master of diguise and can imitate a wide range of animals, from rats to squirrels. Columbine, one of the mice from Loamhedge Abbey, spots Fortunata, who is sent by Tsarmina to spy in the guise of a wandering healer. The young mouse hurries to Brockhall and alerts the Corim of the fox's presence.

Wandering aimlessly after the death of Scratch, Splitnose and Blacktooth stumble upon Gonff, Martin, and Dinny, who are sleeping on a river bank. The two villains tie them up and hold them captive while they devour all of the woodlanders' supplies. However, Gonff, in his role as "Prince of escapers," plays on their greed and causes them to fight over the food. Blacktooth is killed by Splitnose's spear and Splitnose falls into a pithole.

At Brockhall, Mask disguises himself as an fox named Patchcoat and makes contact with Fortunata. Accompanied by Mask, she visits Brockhall and takes Spike and Posy (disguised as Ferdy and Coggs) into the woods under the pretext of gathering herbs. Mask gets Fortunata lost and brings them to a fork in the woods. He suggests that Fortunata should try one path and he another. Fortunata acquiesces and follows her path until she is halted by ten arrows from Lady Amber and her archers.

Meanwile, Martin, Gonff, and Dinny attempt to cross a ford, but are ordered to pay a toll by a newt named Whipscale and a grass snake named Deathcoil. The two bullies are driven off by Log-a-Log Big Club of the Northwest Shrew Tribe. Log-a-Log takes the travellers to his home and tells them how he ended up in such a remote location. The shrew was enslaved the sea rat Ripfang, but escaped to the Great South Stream, where he now lives.

They continue their quest with Log-a-Log on his ship the Waterwing until it wrecks by a waterfall. The unconscious Martin, Dinny, and Log-a-Log are rescued by a tribe of bats and taken to Bat Mountpit, but Gonff is missing. The only exit to the cave is guarded by a hostile owl, which is more than a match for the whole bat tribe. Dinny utilizes his superior engineering skills to dislodge the owl's roost, effectively driving off the predatory bird.

Ferdy, Coggs and Gingivere are rescued by Corim and Mask and during the operation, Mask is killed by Tsarmina, who plots to kill Gingivere.

After a journey through Bat Mountpit, Dinny, Martin and Log-a-Log arrive in the Toadlands and are captured. The trio is thrown into Screamhole, where Snakefish lives and they reunite with Gonff, who was also captured by the toads. Martin and his companions help Snakefish escape Screamhole and they are guided to the edge of the marshlands by the toad king Marshgreen. They see Salamandastron in the distance.

Abbess Germaine, Columbine, Old Dinny and Foremole are exploring Kotir, whilst Tsarmina and her troops are fighting against Skipper and Lady Amber. Old Dinny and Foremole find out something very important. Later they tell it to Corim: they could destroy Kotir by digging flood tunnels into the castle and flooding it with water from River Moss. Corim agrees to the plan and the tunneling begins.

Bane the fox arrives in Kotir with his sixty mercenaries and he makes a deal with Tsarmina so that he can have somewhere to settle down for the rest of his life. Together they attack the squirrels, otters and moles, who realize the plan.

Bella leaves Brockhall for the search of another sanctuary and meets Gingivere and his wife Sandingomm. In mean time, squirrels and otters lead by Lady Amber and Skipper attack Kotir again. Bane is killed by the Mossflower eagle Argulor, and the flooding of Kotir begins, albeit at a slow pace.

Eventually the companions reach Salamandastron to meet Boar. He then reforges Martin's broken sword with metal from a star, but he unfortunately dies in combat with his mortal enemy Ripfang, who was planning to siege Salamandastron. Ripfang's former slaves (including Martin's childhood friend Timballisto) take over his ship, Bloodwake with the help from Martin and Co., and return to Mossflower Woods. Martin tells to Bella that her father was killed by Ripfang. Bloodwake, which has renamed Wuddshipp is sunk in River Moss and the tunnels to Kotir are flooded.

Kotir is attacked by woodlanders. They win and Martin kills Tsarmina, bringing peace to Mossflower Woods once again. Later Gonff weds Columbine.

The story of Mossflower was told by Bella of Brockhall to Gonff II, a grandson of Gonff the Mousethief and Columbine.

Characters in Mossflower

Awards
Winner:


 * Lancashire Libraries Children's Book of the Year Award
 * Western Australian Young Readers' Award

Nominated:


 * Carnegie Medal

Collector's Edition
In 2004, Philomel re-released Mossflower in a new special collector's edition. The hardcover book is bound in leather with pictorial front board, gold gilt design, and sewn in ribbon page marker, with all new illustrations by David Elliot.

Release details

 * 1988, UK, Hutchinson Children's Books Ltd., ISBN 0091721601, Pub. Date: July 1988, Hardcover
 * 1988, US, Philomel Books, ISBN 9780399215490, Pub. Date: November 1988, Hardcover
 * 1989, UK, Red Fox, ISBN 0099554003, Pub. Date: July 1989, Paperback
 * 1994, UK, Arrow, ISBN 0099319217, Pub. Date: November 1994, Paperback
 * 1996, US, Avon Books, ISBN 0380708280, Pub. Date: August 1996, Paperback
 * 1998, US, Ace, ISBN 9780441005765, Pub. Date: November 1998, Paperback
 * 2002, US, Puffin, ISBN 9780142302385, Pub. Date: September 2002, Paperback
 * 2004, US, Philomel Books, ISBN 0399240314, Pub. Date: February 2004, Hardcover
 * 2006, UK, Red Fox, ISBN 1862301395, Pub. Date: August 2006, Paperback
 * 2006, US, Red Fox, ISBN 1862301395, Pub. Date: September 2006, Paperback