Princess Kurda was the ruthless, cowardly, and rather greedy daughter of King Agarnu; she was also the granddaughter of King Sarengo and the younger sister of Prince Bladd. She and her family of Pure Ferrets ruled Riftgard Fortress. She was a self-proclaimed expert sword beast who had slaves assist her in her sabre practices by throwing fish or turnips in the air for Kurda to cut in half. Kurda slew the old squirrel slave Drufo; as a consequence, Drufo's young friend Triss vowed to someday fight and slay her.
After Triss, Shogg, and Welfo escaped Riftgard, Kurda and a deputation of guards pursued them on the Seascab, aided by ship owner Plugg Firetail and his freebooter crew. Because of her imperious, snobbish ways, she and the Freebooters took an almost instant dislike to one another and argued quite a bit; after one such quarrel, Plugg swore he would kill her himself .
When Kurda arrived in Mossflower, she tracked her quarry across the woodlands. However, every attempt she and her Ratguards made to catch the runaway slaves failed. Eventually, Triss and Shogg made it to the safety of Redwall Abbey. Kurda's Ratguards and Plugg's Freebooters split up and tried to attack the Abbey from both sides. Kurda led her group from the back, and hid when she saw the mission was failing; this action earned her more contempt from Plugg, who bluntly and openly called her a coward. The two dueled, but the three adder siblings Zassaliss, Harssacss, and Sesstra arrived unexpectedly on the scene, snatching Plugg and carrying him off to eat him.
Kurda noticed that Zassaliss was wearing one of the two tokens she would have to own in order to succeed her father as ruler of Riftgard: the crown of her grandfather, King Sarengo. Treacherously killing the new self-appointed leader of the freebooters, Kurda took over the crew and had her Ratguards force the disheartened pirates to enter the snakes' den to battle for the crown. Unfortunately for the vermin, a group of Redwallers led by Triss and Shogg had been exploring the same area and killed the adders. The Redwallers engaged the Ratguards and Freebooters in battle, totally overpowering them.
Realizing the battle was lost, Kurda grabbed the crown from the slain Zassaliss' head, and sneaked away from the conflict. Triss followed her, and challenged her to a duel. Having never before faced a sword beast who was armed and ready for her, Kurda lost her nerve and was unable to fight properly against the squirrel.
During the fight, Triss broke Kurda's sabre in half with the Sword of Martin. The Pure Ferret panicked at this and attempted to run away, but tripped and fell right on the broken blade that she still held, accidentally killing herself. Triss was upset at this, claiming Kurda cheated her of her revenge, but Log-a-Log Groo and Sagaxus told her killing an unarmed beast in cold blood wasn't the solution, and added that Kurda died as a coward, the way she had lived.