Kharanjul is a major antagonist in Loamhedge, the sixteenth book in the Redwall novel series. He is the ruthless and brutal leader of a vermin horde that resides in an abyss in Mossflower that he rules over, underneath a bridge that is the fallen Lord of Mossflower that spanned the abyss and he guards, killing whoever crosses it.
Biography[]
As the wearet ruler of a large horde, Kharanjul commands them ruthlessly and uses them to rule over the abyss in Mossflower under the fallen Lord of Mossflower, the bridge that spans the abyss. For some time, he is conveyed to have slain whichever creature crosses over the bridge or trespasses his domain. He would gain aliases such as Master of the Abyss, Great Slayer, Lord of Life and Death, and Great Wearet Lord. One day, a group of creatures, five being the main characters, Bragoon, Sarobando, Horty, Fenna, and Springalg cross the bridge, unaware that they were being watched by Kharanjul's horde below. The members of the horde inform Kharanjul of this while worshipping him, angering him as he questions where were the three guards who were sleeping at their posts when the creatures entered his gorge. They reveal to him that they are still falling into the chasm as they felt themselves to unworthy to face his wrath. Picking up his big iron trident and running his long misshapen claws across its three barbed points, Kharanjul declares that no beast has ever trespassed his domain and lived to see the sunset that day and that the creature shall not fail him again. He further declares that if the intruders set paw within a league of his gorge to return whence they came, they will let him know without fail. He orders him to double the guards both day and night and states that if the interlopers are caught, their suffering will be great to the point of where they will plead to be cast into the abyss of eternity before preparing the ambush.
Soon, they creatures begin coming close to the bridge and Kharanjul gets informed of this due to one of the horde having spoken with a raven about this and that they would reach the gorge rim in the second hour of darkness. As such, Kharangul orders the messenger to take a score of his creatures across to the other side of the long tree to hide there and await his signal. As they do so, Kharanjul further declares that none of the trespassers be slain and instead be taken alive to die at his pleasure, followed up by them chanting his name some more. When they begin crossing the bridge, Kharanjul, standing on the trunk backed by an army of vermin each holding a torch in one paw and a spear in the other, orders them to stop where they stand and tells them that they belong to him and that he will punish them for intruding on his domain. Saro, however, pushed Horty forward, but right when Bragoon was about to jump from the log onto the opposite ledge, a score of vermin rose up in front of him with the captain ordering him to stand still only to be slain with a single swordthrust, inciting a battle between Bragoon against the vermin as he yells for the others to grab some spears.
After some fighting, Bragoon and Saro manage to get Horty to escape the abyss on a rope while the two continue fighting against Kharanjul's vermin horde, who were still being urged forward by Kharanjul who took up his trident himself and went out to fight after seeing so many killed by the two old battlers who were holding off the advance. Eventually, Kharanjul begins advancing himself as the horde begins advancing on them as they retreated. Cornering them, Kharanjul pressed forward, holding his lethal trident ready as he taunted his victims with how long and slow he'll make their deaths and how despite their companions having escaped him they will pay for them. Unbeknownst to Kharanjul and the horde, however, Bragoon and Sarobando had jammed a half-dozen spearbutts under the end of the tree trunk and with a last mighty effort, they used them as levers to move the long trunk askew. Kharanjul dropped his trident and, crouching low, gripped the tree trunk trying to move forward and reach his enemy only for the mighty trunk of the tree to slide over the brink of the ledge and send Kharangul and his horde to their deaths below.
