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Gruven Zann is the main antagonist of The Taggerung, the fourteenth book in the Redwall novel series. He is a sadistic, yet cowardly, dimwitted, and incompetent stoat who is the member of the Juskarath clan. Upon discovering that Sawney Rath was slain and that the Taggerung, who was a creature Sawney kidnapped as an infant named Deyna before raising him amongst them while naming him Tagg, partially due to being raised by his mother to do so and partially due to seeking to become the Taggerung himself, he sets out on a hunt for him with a band with intent to kill him, though two of the band, Vallug Bowbeast and Eefera often humiliate him by means of showing themselves to be more smart and competent in what they do than he is, even departing from his band at some point to hunt down the Taggerung themselves. Frustrated, Gruven Zann seeks vengeance on them and as such spends the book not only trying to kill Tagg but them also and along the way, he kills various creatures for his own amusement while robbing from them and simultaneously proving himself to be a pathetic coward in many situations.
Biography[]
Gruven Zann grew up being raised by Antigra, who had named him after his father Gruven when he was slain by Sawney Rath for challenging him and raised him to avenge Gruven become the next Taggerung by means of slaying Deyna, who had been kidnapped as an infant by Sawney after slaying his father due to him being recognized as the Taggerung by Grissoul and raised amongst the Juskarath to be like them. When he had grown up, he would act as a rival of sorts to Tagg, often participating in tracking whichever beast wronged the Juskarath, like Felch for stealing from Sawney, in order to be the first to nab and behead him and make a name for himself, though he would usually fail. During one time, due to his horrible tracking skills, he passed by him on the banktop noticing a false trail in the rain, leaving Tagg to catch Felch where he was and bring him back albeit without slaying him. A bit after, while Tagg was halfway through his meal, Gruven returns back into camp thornstung and muddied and confronts Tagg for sending him off on a false trail with Tagg merely telling him he was clever enough to follow it, angering Gruven as he tells Tagg he would have taken Felch's head an hour after dawn to which Tagg expresses doubts as he spotted him before that and reminds Gruven that he was the one sent out to bring him back.
Once he's angered enough, Gruven draws out his sword to attack Tagg only for the otter to intercept it and deal Gruven a blow just below the shoulder, paralyzing his sword paw before knocking him to the ground and throwing Sawney's blade next to his face and cutting off several whiskers. As he turns away, Sawney, who had been observing the scene and withholding Grissoul from intervening by reminding Gruven his place, puts his footpaw in Gruven's face and tries to goad Tagg into killing him with the blade, though Tagg refuses under the pretext of amusement. As Tagg goes back to his food, Sawney raised the knife to kill Gruven himself, though he decides not to out of amusement himself. As his mother Antigra fed him, she told him that he shouldn't have shouted like that due to nearly being slain by the same blade that slew his father, though Gruven brushes this off, asking what he's expected to do to which Antigra puts a paw about his shoulder and tells him that they must wait and bide their time until the right moment, which Gruven tells her she's been saying for as long as he can remember and snarling that he's sick of waiting and declaring that the right moment is there.
Just then, Grissoul the Seer entered, asking what moment that would be though while Antigra was wracked with guilt, Gruven angrily replied that it's none of her business and asked what she is doing there. He watches as she converses with his mother on him being taught any sense and gets brought four dove eggs of the dove Gruven was eating in a clay bowl by Antigra as she had instructed this for her son to become the next Taggerung. Grissoul explains how she saw ants this morning fighting among themselves on their own anthill and how the omens are not good for the Juskarath, warning Gruven not to anger Sawney and to make peace with him and be one in his favor to save their lives. Gruven was reluctant to do this, but was forced to by his mother who asked what they should do. Grissoul instructs Gruven to take a sling and stones, go out into the woodlands, and slay a pair of doves to be given to Sawney as a peace offering and get him praise as a good hunter and loyal clanbeast. Gruven then snorts, asking why she cares as she only came around to see what she could get and disregards her advice, much to the seer's disappointment as she calls him a bigger fool than she thought as she cared for the clan as a whole instead of just them and warning him even further to heed her words. After she left, Antigra gave Gruven a sling and pouch of stones and tried to have him follow her advice, though Gruven stubbornly refuses, leading to Antigra lashing the empty sling across his back, calling him as lazy and his father, and going off to kill two doves herself with Gruven being indifferent to this.
Meanwhile, Tagg had abandoned the Juskarath clan after refusing to skin Felch alive per Sawney's orders and setting Felch free, leading to Sawney pursuing him to kill him. During this, however, he happened to be nearby Antigra, who had been hunting for the doves and then notices Sawney, deciding to kill him instead with the sling, promptly overthrowing him before killing Felch and becoming the next leader of the Juskarath clan. Upon arriving near his mother's side, he asks what happened and if she saw Sawney getting killed to which Antigra shut him up and ordered him to stay out of this. He then watches as Antigra lies about Tagg killing Sawney Rath and feigns a desire to avenge him by rallying them up before Grissoul makes it look like Gruven is destined to do Sawney's will and made him look like a clan chief before he makes a declaration to avenge Sawney's death that is given to him by Grissoul's words. Grissoul herself further puts on a show by claiming that Sawney Rath calls to her from beyond the Hellgates and that Gruven must slay him and take his title while telling Gruzen to go do so to bring honor to their new-named clan, much to Antigra's satisfaction. The next day, Gruven is awakened from his slumber by his mother who tells him that there's big things for him to do since he's a clan Chieftain now, eventually forcing him to get up. Gruven dons the cloak he had been given the previous evening and tugs the sword free with anger and hatred building inside him while ANtigra straightens his cloak and encourages him by reminding him that as long as Tagg lives, he cannot really be leader of the Juskazann before she has him go. Outside the tent, Grissoul gives him a band of eight to go with him, consisting of Eefera, Dagrab, Ribrow, Grobait, Milkeye, Rabbad, Rawback, and Vallug Bowbeast to command them well and bring back Tagg's head. Gruven then leads the hunting party out of the clearing into the woods.
As the band was camping in the woodland after a night, Gruven berates Milkeye for not lighting the fire properly to which Milkeye tells him that the wood is wet with the rain happening and they can't make fire before turning to Vallug Bowbeast, who was eating some dried fish from the meager rations they had brought along, and demanding him to give him his breakfast while proclaiming himself as clan chieftain with Vallug responding that he isn't yet as he needs to prove himself first since he did nothing except complain and to get his own food. Gruven could only sit glaring at him, wishing he could've picked on someone weaker before growling that he will prove himself once they catch up to Tagg. After Eefera strode into view without reporting to Gruven, ate some dried fish, and complained about what a waste of time it was to track in the weather due to there being a stream over yonder to Rabbad who asks which way the otter must have went, leading to Vallug assuming that he went north, Gruven made an attempt to assert his authority by striding off snarling orders to head north by breaking camp and following him, though he winds up embarassing himself by going in the wrong direction as Eefera points in the opposite one, telling him it's that way. As they travel north with Gruven at the rear and struggling to keep up with others, they eventually stop as Vallug decided to have them take a short rest on the bankside and Eefera scouts ahead while the others sit down with Dagrab saying that Tagg will be aking for the big mountains, though Gruven, in an argumentative mood, asks where the sense in that is to which Grobait explains that the mountains are made of rock and that it's harder to track a beast over rock, much to Gruven's frustration as he spat into the stream and asked who asked him.
Eefera then comes in and tells the group to come and look at signs he found on the a spot on the bank further upstream showing that Tagg was there due to there being his pawprints about and states that it must've been sometime late last night. Gruven objects this and smiles believing he's right when Eefeera did not answer and strode off to which Milkeye explained that it takes a good few hours for the rain to wash away the sticky sap that leaks out and the pawprints aren't sticky. They then follow Eefera as Gruven drew his sword and raced ahead of the others to command them to follow him before Eefera orders them to stop and grab ahold of a vole, whose name was Krobzy, in the area. Seeing the bushes shake, Gruven hurls himself at them, thinking the vole is in them only to crash into Eefera who alerts them of the vole being in the water and ordering Vallug to get him, though Vallug only loosed two shafts before it disappeared underwater, getting him in the back paw. Controlling his temper with great difficulty, Eefera turns upon Gruven, berating him for making him miss as Gruven quailed under his icy glare before blustering that he yelled for him to stop him to which Eefera responded by sarcastically apologizing and declaring he didn't know it was Gruven he was shouting to as he thought it was one of the others, a beast with a bit of sense. Gruven shrugs this off and asks what he would want with a vole to which Eefera responded that he needed information before tossing Gruven's sword over his shoulder, leaving Gruven a little time locating it before he hurries back to the others. Joining them, he noticed they were eating pears and grabs hold of Milkeye, asking him where he got the pears. When Milkeye reveals it was a pear tree top of a hill yonder, Gruven forces him to run back and get him a few. Unbeknownst to them, Krobzy was nearby that area and shot Milkeye with a poison dart while hiding, making it look like he was stung by a gnat before he went back to camp after getting two pears.
Meanwhile, Eefera, having studied the bank edge, deduces that Tagg must have some sort of fast light boat with Gruven asking where he would get one and suggesting that he swam since he's an otter, though Eefera chose not to reply to him with Rabbad explaining that otters can't swim at full speed all the time against the currents, so he must be using a fast boat. Just then, Milkeye came in, staggering crazily along the bank as Gruven sniggers watching this before he collapses to the floor and dies of the poison, much to the shock of the camp before they weight the body down wit ha few stones lashed to its middle and threw it into the stream. As Eefera and Vallug confer as to the group's next move, Gruven joins the rest, foraging for berries and birds' nests and returns with a pawful of dandelion roots and two apples, boldly sitting down next to Vallug and asking what their next move is. Vallug reveals their plan to scout both sides of the water as Tagg could be leaving tracks on the other edge. Gruven declares that he's not swimming across there with Vallug declaring that he won't have to as he's staying on the side with them before Eefera wades into the stream to test the current, explaining to Vallug out of Gruven's hearing that the curent is too deep and fast and there's trailing weeds that wrap around the paws too. Soon, they come up with a plan to have Ribrow, Grobait, and Rabbad go with Eefera holding paws into the stream where they discover how deep it is with Rabbad declaring that they'd have to swim for it, though Eefera explains that it gets shallower from there to the bank and orders them to keep going while holding to each other's paws. This leads to predatory fish attacking them, prompting Eefera to escape onto the bank. He saves Grobait by pulling him out with a pole and kills the fish while Rawback and Dagrab run into the shallows beating off the other with sticks and Ribrow stumbled ashore his eyes wide with fear. Rabbad winds up being killed by several fish devouring him and sinks as he yells while Gruven stood horrified as he watched this.
During dinner where the fish Vallug got, being a burbot, was grilled over a fire, Gruven declares his plans to eat it, though Vallug tells him that he'll be the one eating it since he killed it and to get his own fish. Gruven complains by telling him Eefera is sharing his with Grobait and Vallug responds that they caught it together and earned the right to both eat it. Feeling a sense of injustice, Gruven further proclaims that he's supposed to be his chief and as such should get a share of that fish, leading to Vallug challenging him to try and take it. Gruven prepares to take him on, though Vallug floors him with a hefty punch to the nose and stands over him, telling him that the one they'll call chief is the one who brings back the otter's head and that it won't be Gruven as well as insulting him even further by reminding him of the Taggerung beating him back at the camp and declaring that his mother is tougher than him. He then threatens him to stay out of his way unless he wants to die. Lying where Vallug had felled him, Gruven makes plans to kill him as Vallug threatens to kill him with his sword if he touches it. Gruven doesn't reply and instead lay there alone with his thoughts of murder.
Later, the hunting party came together again after following both sides of the steam course up into the foothills where they find a broad shallow expanse. Noticing Grobait resting clutching a paw to his bottom, Gruven sniggers and mocks him for letting a fish take a chunk out of his behind with Eefera pushing roughly by him, telling him that it's easy for him to say that as he didn't have to get his paws wet before conversing with Vallug about his tracks and debating whether they should climb the mountain. Gruven expresses his opinion that they're on a fool's errand if not tracks lead up there, Grobait explained that he traveled upstream and that it is the only place they could go. Gruven only mocks this by stating that he won't get far in that wound, angering Grobait as he spat into the stream and declared he'll keep up. Vallug, who had been sniffing the air, then alerts them of a storm coming up and orders them to get under the rock ledge up yonder. Gruven was about to make a smart retort when the first drops of rain splattered on his head, prompting him to follow Vallug with the others. When Grobait requested that he be lent a paw, Gruven snickeringly refuses, saying he's got four like the rest of them. Once they get under the rock ledge, a thunderclap occurred, frightening Ribrow while Gruven mocks him, sarcasticallly suggesting he goes and sits out there with Grobait, who had been injured and hardly moved due to the wound on him. When Grobait didn't move in spite of the group's suggestions, Vallug tells him to save his breath as he isn't going anywhere unless the stream swells up and sweeps him away in the night. Gruven sarcastically suggests to Vallug to put him out of his misery as a bowbeast to which Vallug declared that he isn't worth wasting an arrow on, unlike Gruven, whom he would've shot 2 or 3 arrows at.
During the evening of their second day upon the mountain, Vallug and Eefera decide to abandon the group in spite of them having potential to freeze or starve to death as they brought no food or robes or cloaks to hunt the Taggerung for themselves and make up a lie about them once they arrive back to the Juskarath clan. When dawn arrived and the vermin, consisting of Gruven, Dagrab, Ribrow, and Rawback now, discovered their disappearance, having a brief debate about what happened to them, Gruven seizes control over them and declares that they will get off the mountain and track Vallug and Eefera to lead them to the otter before they kill all three of them before ordering them to move. As they travel, Dagrab points out prints in the snow, Gruven declaring that he was right before telling her to scout on ahead to see what she can find while Ribrow scoffs about him being right as he was instead lucky that Dabrag was keeping her eyes about. They soon clear the snow and enter the lower slopes among huge boulders, scrub vegetation, and shale and rested by a trickling stream, gnawing on some milk vetch leaves. Dagrab then comes back, reporting that there's plenty of food growing down there albeit with a load of shrews about well armed with clubs, knices, and spears. Tossing away a pawful of vetch leaves, Gruven declares that they take a look. Spying on them from a rocky boulder-strewn spur, they observe the pigmy shrews farming, planting seedlings, and gathering in their vegetable crops. Gruven then gets the sadistic idea to send boulders down to kill the shrews and geta good meal and pushes a rounded boulder over the edge before ordering the other two stoats to send some rocks down that slope. This creates a land slide that prompts the pigmy shrews to scatter hither and thither, squealing in panic and causes whichever shrews were not swift enough to be crushed while Gruven laughs sadistically at the scene and the others send more boulders over the edge and take equally sadistic thrill in the havoc. After the landslide subsided, Gruven smirks at his companions and displays even more sadism over the aftermath, declaring that that should tech them for eating while they are there hungry before they go down.
As they steal the shrews' food and eat them around the destroyed terraces, they laugh sadistically as they feed themselves with Gruven grabbing at Dagrab when she passed with a basket of strawberries, taking them from her. They simultaneously taunt the dead and injured shrewsa round them with the food before Tagg, having been alerted of the incident, arrives to see them with Gruven himself seeing Tagg. Stricken with fear, Gruven ran off down the mountainside in the opposite direction with the other three noticing Tagg seconds after and running after him, though Ribrow himself winds up tripping and falling unconscious to be interrogated by Tagg afterwards before being slain by the pigmy shrews to avenge the others. While running, he heard what he thought to be Tagg chasing after him when it was really Dagrab and Rawback, whom he had assumed to either take different directions or be hunted down and slain. As he pants while running faster, he tried to bridge a stream with a running leap only to come down with a splash into the shallows below the opposite bank and get his right footpaw skinned to the bone as it shot between a rock and a root under the water. Dagrab and Rawback then catch up to Gruven lying on his back trying to scrub water and mud from his eyes while cowardly wailing and begging for mercy and trying to shift the blame of the landslide on the other three, lying that he tried to stop them before breaking down, blubbering and pleading.
Rawback annoyingly reveals to him that it's them. Drying his eyes swiftly, Gruven asks if the otter is coming after them to which they tell him that they never heard him following them and that there's no need for shouting and crying. Reverting to his old self, Gruven claims he wasn't crying and was instead calling out because he was in pain due to his footpaw being trapped. As such, Rawback offers to help him and despite being able to free the paw instantly, chooses to pretend it was a difficult task and wrenches and scrapes the hurt footpaw maliciously while keeping his voice pleasant and chiding Gruven for not standing and fighting like his mother told him to. Pushing Rawback aside and wrenching his footpaw free, Gruven asks why they didn't do that and declares that he would have tracked him if they stayed to back him up before asking what Vallug and Eefera are up to with Dagrab pointing to the bankside to show their footprints. Getting up and slapping cool mud on his scraped limb, binding a dock leaf to it with weed strands, Gruven commands that they pursue them, figuring out their plan. After a bit of debate between the two as to who will make it back to the clan, Gruven declares that he'll slice his head off with this sword as they make it back and promises to promote them both to chief trackers if they stick to his story of having killed the otter along with their own followers to give their own orders to and live off the cream of the land before they begin going.
Along the way, they terrorize innocent creatures they come across for fun. One was a hedgehog named Robald whom they attacked with Gruven jabbing at him with his sword while they plundered and wrecked his home. When he rolled himself into a ball, they tied him with hos own rope, bound him painfully tight, rolled him up and down the bank, and played at their wicked game until he became a mudball before ransacking his dwelling and stealing and eating his food. Another was a group of hedgehogs called the Dillypins whom they came across with Gruven wading into the water waving his sword, threatening to chop one of them, Lollery, into fishbait if she didn't give them food. Due to shouting so loud, Jurkin gets alerted and rallies the whole Dillypin family to attack them with slings, giving them a pounding and forcing them to retreat. Their next victim is a harvesting mouse who is the father of Nimbalo, a dear friend of Tagg, and someone they had slain using his own axe above the fireplace while wrecking his home with chairs smashed, curtains and coverlets ripped, and food trampled everywhere, and taking some of the food for themselves. Coming across a camp made by a family of hedgehogs that had hidden upon noticing them, they commandeered it and ate their supper before leaving once taking everything they could carry.
As he strode along on his journey, Gruven reminisces over the past creatures he had attacked, being particularly angry about the incident with the hedgehogs, making plans in his head to go back there one night when he was clan chieftain and burn them alive in their cottage, though he expresses satisfaction in the food they got as well as the fate he subjected him to as he liked inflicting pain on others, even being angry about how they had not captured the hedgehogs at the latest camp with said incident prior having caused him to develop a hatred for hedgehogs in general. Noticing a small pool in the thick woodlands, he declares that they shall camp nearby it and orders them to get some food ready. Dagrab gets the sack of supplies from Rawback and set up a fire while Rawback ground a paste from nuts, wild oats, and barley that they had stolen from the Forthrights to make some good flatcaeks to be baked over the fire. Ignoring Rawback's comments about it, Gruven concentrates on what lay ahead, telling himself he has no fear of Vallug or Eefera and that they need to die, preferably by ambush, as they could prevent him from gaining leadership of the Juskazann, even making plots to betray and dispose of Dagrab and rawback and return to camp with a fabricated tale of the hunt with how everyone except him met their deaths. Just then, Dagrab interrupts his thinking process, much to Gruven's frustration as he berates him for this before Dagrab points out the sound of bells. Rawback just finished making the flatcakes and showed them to Gruven, though he declares that there is no time for that and orders them to pack them up in the sack as they'll eat as they go before ordering them to follow him.
Traveling further into the forest, Dagrab catches scent of a fire that is, ubeknownst to them, started by Vallug Bowbeast and Eefera, who were terrorizing Redwall Abbey and putting up a siege against it to try to get them to give them the Taggerung, unaware that they didn't have him. Drawing his sword, Gruven signals the other two to arm themselves and orders them to take no prisoners and kill any creature near the fire while having them go forward as he idiotically stays behind. As they investigate, however, Vallug and Eefera, who had heard them approaching prior, ambush them with Vallug holding Gruven hostage by choking him with his swordpoint, causing Gruven to allow his cowardly nature to take him over as he reveals there's food in the sacks. Eefera proceeds to shake the contents out in front of the fire and is satisfied by the food while Vallug mocks Gruven for having the two go forward while staying behind despite ordering them to kill any beast in the area before forcing him to say he's a gutless worm while keeping the sword at his back and the bow around his neck. Gruven begins to cry pathetically in the process before Eefera assures him that they won't kill him as they have plans for him. Vallug, despite really wanting to kill Gruven there and then, decides to agree with this to present himself as clever to Eefera also and looses the bowstring and withdraws the sword, telling him to stop slobbering and that he'll fit nicely with their plans. After having them sit together by the fire with their paws bound, Eefera reveals that he and Vallug have killed a few creatures from Redwall Abbey and relays his plan to have them be used as decoys to lure whichever warriors from the abbey arrive while looking for Juskas, claiming that it's luck of the game if there is while he and Vallug can sleep. To emphasize his intelligence, Vallug warns them not to escape as they'll be closeby watching them before they retire into the shadows.
Dagrab himself calls Gruven for being a gutless worm, causing Gruven, despite still being frightened, to tell him to shut his sniveling face as he's trying to think. This only receives him mockery from Rawback who laughs ironically at him calling Dagrab sniveling despite how pathetic and cowardly he was acting moments prior and declaring that they must have been mad to follow him, leading to Gruven to threaten to kill him for that though Rawback declares that they'd possibly be dead by morning. At dawn, Eefera releases them and issues them with their weapons, telling them that they're to take a walk up north across the path and into the ditch then back down to the main gates of Redwall, they are to use the weapons to make themselves look like Juska warriors, threatening to kill whoever makes a wrong move while Gruven remains terribly frightened of Vallug, who forces him to call him sir before they get going. They had not gone far when Eefera and Vallug noticed Nimbalo in the woods and knocked him down with his spearbutt unconscious. When they notice Sawney Rath's blade in the mouse's belt, they get more firm in their assumptions of Tagg being there. Assuming Nimbalo to be a Redwaller, they make plans to use him as a hostage before forcing the three to continue trekking north and enter the ditch. Meanwhile, Tagg, who had been wandering nearby Redwall Abbey, gets knocked out by the Redwallers mistaking him to be an evil vermin and capture him, ironically now proving Vallug and Eefera's assumptions to be correct. In the ditch, Gruven, Dagrab, and Rawback were forced to make slings and collect heaps of pebbles with Vallug striking several arrows in the ditchbed as Eefera gave them orders to keep slinging stones over the wall to trick the Redwallers into thinking they have a pile of clanbeasts and that he'll tell them when to stop.
Just then, Nimbalo came awake and insulted Vallug and Eefera, much to Gruven's amusement, leading to Vallug and Eefera beating him for laughing before Vallug fires an arrow over the abbey wall and yells at them a threat to kill them all if they don't give them the Taggerung. After continuously forcing Gruven, Dagrab, and Rawback to fire slingstones at the abbey to the point of their paws getting weary and tricking the abbey into thinking they're under siege, Vallug proceeds to drag Nimbalo out of the ditch onto the path in front of the abbey's main wallgate, making a threat to kill him if they don't give them the Taggerung with Eefera further emphasizing this. Cregga, the badger nurse of the abbey, decides to make an attempt to settle things and shows herself above the wallgates where she converses with them, not knowing about the Taggerung due to being oblivious to the term and trying to find a way to save Nimbalo before the mouse himself breaks free of his bonds and grabs the axehead to hit Vallug sideways on the elbow, leading to him releasing the arrow he had aimed at Cregga instinctively and harming her, with her eventually dying from this later on. Tagg, after getting the Redwallers to release him, bursts out of the abbey with the sword he took from it, Martin's sword, and attacks Vallug, who began shooting arrows at him, one landing in his chest, though he winds up beheading him before pursuing and eventually slaying Eefera as well. Taking advantage of the situation, Gruven makes a run for it with Rawback following him as Dagrab fled south being pursued and killed by Nimbalo. Entering Mossflower with Rawback, he comes across quicksand which he quickly steps out of. When Rawback catches up, Gruven tricks him into going into it, leading to him to begin sinking in it in the swampland as Gruven regained his breath and ran off, satisfied that he is the only one left.
After traveling for a while, Gruven comes across a sparsely grassed dunetop, listening to waves as he realized the Juskazann had moved location as unbeknownst to him, a fox leader named Ruggan Bor came along, slew Antigra, and took over the clan with his clan. At one point, he had cruelly and sadistically killed a family of mice that were camping in a cave in the side of a sandhill by collapsing the sandhill on them by jumping up and down before taking all their food as the mice suffocated to death. Watching the sun, Gruven mentally rehearsed his story cutting parts and embellishing bits until it sounded good to him while simultaneously practicing his wrathful reaction to the camp moving while he was absent, considering rooting out the culprits and slaying them to establish his authority as clan chieftain. Leaving the dunes, he eventually came across other dunes and lay down in a sand crater that he slept in before being awakened by a weasel named Gruzzle that took him to the area where the Juskazann, led by Ruggan Bor, had moved along with Wherrul, much to Gruven's shock. Arriving at the camp, Gruzzle threw him in front of a large well-made colorful tent and went in to report to Ruggan Bor, who came out with Grissoul who revealed to him that Gruven was the one who took over from Sawney Rath and vowed to slay the Taggerung. After getting his rope loosed and weapon returned, Gruven realized he was not going to be executed on the spot and tried to make himself look like a veteran killer as Ruggan Bor then introduces himsels and reveals that he took his clan and added it to his own along with slaying his mother Antigra for plotting against him before asking if he wishes to take revenge on her and challenge him, telling him that he stands armed and free and that if he is going to do anything, then would be the time for it.
In an attempt to impress the fox, Gruven introduces himself and claims that eight warriors left camp to track the taggerung with him and that only he has returned with the others being dead, falsely proclaiming to having slain the taggerung, though Ruggan's seer, Ermath, disproves this. When Ruggan Bor asks where the head of the Taggerung is since he vowed to bring it back, Gruven lies that he disposed of it when he reached the old camp due to the hot days. When Ruggan Bor repeats his first question, Gruven declares that they're both mighty warriors and that they should try to find the Taggerung, believing that they'll fail, and realize he is the real Taggerung which is when they will let the whole of the Juska decide who is leader. Ruggan Bor then has Gruven be given a tent of his own along with food, telling him he'll give him his answer the next day. As he sat eating in the tent, Gruven ponders his status while Ruggan Bor converses with his seers. The next day, Ruggan Bor has Gruven be brought to him with the cook bringing food for two and performed a trick that he learned through long seasons of commanding Juska vermin by interrogating him regarding the place where he slew the Taggerung before Ruggan Bor announces that they go to the old camp to find the Taggerung's head. During the travel, Gruven expressed no sorrow over his mother's death at all, being glad she was out of the way even, though he is rankled at Ruggan Bor having taken over his clan despite not being able to think of a way to reverse their position due to his fear of the fox.
In the meantime, he attempted to establish some authority over the six Juska detailed to guard him, though they wind up unsuccessful as they only threaten and beat him. When they stopped for the night, he was set apart from the rest while the guards circled and watched him, forcing him to drink water and eat barley bread before sleeping as they'll be on the move once it's dawn. As he rested, he rehearsed explanations for upcoming situations in his mind, unaware that he had fallen asleep and was murmuring aloud. Four days later, when they reached the old campsite, Ruggan Bor summons Gruven to him while unsheathing his saber and when he is haueld forward on his rope by the guards, he begins interrogating him about where he threw the Taggerung's head and at first, Gruven refused due to his treatment before Ruggan Bor whipped his saber through the air, slicing off the whiskers from the left side of Gruven'z muzzle and intimidating him by threatening to take off his ears with the next stroke and then start working down his body bit by bit, causing Gruven to sit down on the sand and weep like a baby as he lies about having thrown it into a stream back in the woodlands northeast of there. When Ruggan Bor asks where he threw the body, Gruven begins to hysterically laugh and lie that he threw it in the swamp, leading to Ruggan to rally his clans to go to the swamp.
When they arrive there and investigate, they wind up discovering Rawback, who had gone crazy, much to Gruven's shock as he tries to deny this by yelling that he's dead. Ruggan Bor begins questioning Rawback while giving him food and blackberry wine about whether Gruven slew the Taggerung as Gruven tried to drown him out by shouting that his word shouldn't be taken for due to being crazy, though he gets shut up by a tough lean vixen stuffing his mouth with a sod of earth as Rawback relays the story. Once Ruggan Bor deems him to have said enough, he tells him to finish his food and rest and allows him to join his clan as a Juskabor before going to Gruven who was ungagged and brought before him, asking what he has to say about it. Gruven tells him Rawback, due to having gone mad, had mistaken the Taggerung's body for Vallug's and that he chopped it off with his own sword. When Ruggan Bor asks why he didn't tell him this instead of lies, Gruven covers this up by saying he didn't want him to know he fled in the midst of a battle, but had to due to being outnumbered and repeats that he had slain the Taggerung outside Redwall's gates while trembling. To prove this, Ruggan Bor decides to lead an expedition to Redwall Abbey to find out from its residents if Gruven is speaking the truth.
Once they arrive at the abbey, as Gruven stands with his feet in the ditchbed while trying to change position and be cuffed for hopping around, Ruggan Bor has four members knock on the gates with their spears, leading to them opening and an otter, secretly Deyna who had retired from being the Taggerung and gotten rid of his tattooes, in the front of over twoscore otters while led by a hare carrying a long hoooked window pole. After introducing himself and asking if they have an otter with his face tattooed like Gruven's, with Deyna declaring that the Taggerung no longer exists and is dead, ironically backing up Gruven's lies as he seized the opportunity to push the guards aside and yell that he told them so and that he is the Taggerung now with Nimbalo further backing this up by declaring that Gruven slayed him, much to his surprise. Gruven continues bragging about this before Ruggan Bor tells Deyna to put up his sword under the declaration that they're leaving and orders the Juskabeasts across the ditch onto the flatlands. Jubilant, Gruven grabbed his sword from the vixen that took it and freed himself while laughing hysterically, declaring that no one is mightier than him and ordering the others to bow to him before confronting the six Juska taht had been his guard, ordering them to kneel and bow their heads before him, seemingly with the intent to slay them before Ruggan Bor sneaks behind him and beheads Gruven with his saber as per the rule of the Taggerung that he who slays the Taggerung becomes Taggerung himself, killing him before kicking his headless carcass into the ditch. As the Taggerung, Ruggan Bor prepared to lead his army in an attack on Redwall Abbey to conquer it before Badger Lord of Salamandastron, Russano, shows up with an army of hares bigger than Ruggan Bor and forces him to surrender and march off, saving the abbey.