Pitru is the secondary antagonist of High Rhulain, the eighteenth book in the Redwall novel series. He is the son of Riggu Felis and Lady Kaltag and the brother of Jeefra and the arrogant and sadistic prince of the Green Isle that his father rules with an iron fist over who often bullies his cowardly and weak-hearted brother before eventually killing him and making plans to overthrow his father as well while engaging in the feud he has with the rebel otters and trying to stop the hundreds of otterslaves they have from escaping.
Biography[]
As he and his brother lived with their parents in the fortress of Green Isle, he would prove to be the fiercer of the two in sharp contrast to Jeefra's cowardly nature. This would be a factor to Pitru constantly bullying him and engage in plenty of fights against him that he would easily win in spite of him being older and taller. He would have no problem with the tyranny his father exerted over the otters of the isle. One day, Riggu Felis takes them hunting for large birds to train them. They wind up capturing a big hawk named Pandion Piketalon in a catching net with a star-shaped iron barb wrapped around it and piercing the roof of the big bird's mouth. The two young feral cats circle their quarry, yowling and spitting, looking for an opening to catch their fierce prey unawares. This infuriates Riggu as he scorns their efforts to dispatch the wounded bird, turning impatiently to his pine marten aide and constant companion Atunra and sarcastically asking her if it's a kill or a dance and commenting that they fight like two frightened frogs to which Atunra states that the big bird is a dangerous fighter and it is wise they do not rush in at it. Giving a snort of derision, Riggu insulted his sons as he told them to step aside to try to snap the bird's neck himself, but when he does, Pandion escaped the net and tore at Riggu's face before flying off into the storm. As the warlord lay senseless on the wet earth, his sons looked on in horrified awe as Atunra inspected the gruesome injury inflicted by the bird. She held his head facedown, wiping away the gore as she issued hasty instructions to them to run and get help. Jeefra asks if he's going to die to which the pine marten snapped back that he will live as long as she can stop him choking on his own blood as Pitru leaned over her shoulder to which the pine marten kicked out at him and ordered both of them to go, which they obeyed, dashing off through the trees.
On the lower stairs beneath the upper tower chamber, Pitru argued with and fought as he usually does, taunting him about how if he dies, he will be Warlord of Green Isle and that he will have to watch out. Jeefra dodged past him and ran yowling to his mother's side to tell him they're both supposed to rule as warlords if their father dies, leading to her taking his paw and severely calling to Pitru to come up there. Pitru did as he was bidden, though he stayed clear of Kaltag's grasp, pouting and stamping his footpaw as he declared that Jeefra is soft and that he instead would make the best warlord. Kaltag reprimanded the pair for talking as if their father was going to die to which Pitru dodged forward, treading on his brother's trail and asking while smirking maliciously at Atunra that he will die as he saw what the big bird did to him. Atunra merely shook her head and declared that his father is a true wildcat and the healers will save him before Riggu Felis stood framed in the doorway after having flung out two old cats in rage, revealing his mauled face in front of Lady Kaltan and the two young sons before storming in to the chamber, slamming the door, clattering and rattling amid armour, and ranting about how useless his sons are and the bird that mauled his face, proceeding to declare death to all birds on the Green Isle. Outside, Lady Kaltag beckoned to her sons as she descended the stairs to come with her.
The following day at breakfast, Pitru quarreled with Jeefra over two gull eggs which they had been served by otterslaves with Pitru winning the fight and successfully stealing the egg after eating his own. Jeefra went whining to his mother about this and Kaltag tried to order Pitru to give it back and repeated the order after he tossed the egg up, caught it deftly, smirked, and said to tell him to come and get it only for Riggu to tell her to let them be and declare that if Pitru wants the egg to let him keep it unless Jeefra's warrior enough to take it back by force, challenging Jeefra to go on and show what he's made of. Jeefra merely tries to have an otterslave bring him another gull's egg, though Riggu halted the slave and ordered Jeefra to go and take the egg back, ignoring Kaltag's complaints about this. With Pitru continuing to taunt him, Jeefra reluctantly gathered his nerve and made a sudden charge, but his brother easily sidestepped him. Leaping onto Jeefra's back, Pitru forced him to the ground, holding him there as he mocked his feeble attempt before smashing the raw gull egg over his brother's head with the runny mess splattering down across Jeefra's face. Pitru contemptuously kicked his brother's backside, then freed him. As Jeefra fled indoors sobbing, Pitru licked yolk from his paw and commanded one of the otterslaves to go and bring him another egg while Riggu laughed in amusement over the situation, declaring that Pitru has got the makings of a proper wildcat. When Kaltag stated that both their sons are wildcats, Riggu angrily declared that he's the only true wildcat there and that her and all the rest of the cats are only feral rats and that Pitru only has more wildcat in him. Eavesdropping on his father's words, Pitru asked if that means he'll be the ruler of Green Isle someday to which Riggu declared that it takes more than a bully to make a warlord and that they have to be fearless like him, criticizing him for not having slain that bird on the eve of the storm, an incident he reminded them of many times. Disliking being criticized, Pitru turned on one paw and prowled off, leaving his father with a parting shot while reminding him that he tried and of the mess it made of him. Angered, Riggu seized his single-bladed axe and seemed to prepare to attack Pitru for the insult before he gets summoned to some of the cat guards reporting two prisoners they have taken.
Pitru incites another quarrel between him and Jeefra when he said that when they go to Deeplough, where Riggu Felis is going to execute the two otterslave prisoners with their families by feeding them to the lake monster Slothunog, he's going to push him in so that the monster can eat him, leading to the two of them being forcefully brought before their father's feet as Jeefra whines about what Pitru said. Silencing him, Riggu berates the two for being a disgrace and a shame to the name Felis, Jeefra for being a whining coward and Pitru for being an impertinent bully, before telling them that it all ends there. Calling up Groodl, one of Weilmark Scaut's scorecats that instills rigid discipline into his guards with his willow cane, Riggu assigns him to take his two sons in as new recruits in his troop before ordering him to take them out of his sight and see if he can knock them into shape and have them fitted out as the lowest of his guards. While Jeefra looked stunned with shock, Pitru narrowed his eyes lazily and gave a scornful snort before Riggu continued to instruct him to show them no favours and cut them no slack by using the willow cane on both of them and letting the order be lots of chores, little sleep, and plenty of guard duty. When Groodl asks if he's to bring them back to him and their mother every night, Riggu ordered to let them live in the barracks with the othe guards and if Lady Kaltag asks to see them to send her to him. Both get taken away with Jeefra weeping and begging not to be taken with his pleas falling on deaf ears and Pitru merely sneering at his father that he still has lots of seasons before him while Riggu is growing older. While sauntering off toward the barrack, Riggu ordered Atunra to mark him well as he suspects that Pitru will grow to be a dangerous beast someday.
At night, the rebel otters lead a battle against the fortress of the isle to rescue the slaves sentenced to be executed by the Slothunog monster while tipping over a lot of the crafts in the water, the last craft being the one containing Jeefra and Pitru as they were doing their chores. Both cats went under immediately, but Pitru was the first to surface. He hauled himself up onto the hull of the coracle and grabbed a paddle from the water. He had made scarcely a stroke shoreward when the vessel heeled, lurching perilously over to one side. Jeefra had a tight hold of it, digging his claws into the birchbark covering as he strove wildly to pull himself aboard, being in a mad panic, choking and spluttering between mouthfuls of water. As he begged Pitru to help him and not let him drown, Pitru glanced around at the other survivors, noticing that they were all floundering toward land, oblivious to what was going on behind them. Taking advantage of this, he bared his fangs as he brought the paddle down twice as hard as he could on Jeefra's paws and his head, murdering his own brother by drowning him to death. Throwing the paddle away, Pitru flattened himself on the upturned hull, staring into the dark waters that Jeefra had disappeared under. Then, he began paddling landward with his paws, pretending to cry out for Jeefra and search for him to cover his tracks. Back at the fortress, Jeefra's dead body is brought to Riggu and Lady Kaltag, the latter of whom is utterly torn up by his death, howling and screeching like a wounded beast while Riggu angrily orders the guards to get him away from there quickly and bury him out of sight far along the bank.
As Pitru lounged casually in the fortress doorway, his face betraying nothing, Riggu confronts him and says that he knows more about this than he is telling to which Pitru merely shrugged and lied that he never saw Jeefra after they both went into the water from their boat being upturned by the otters, probably Shellhound being one of them, and searched for him and shouted for help with none coming. When Kaltag sees her remaining son, she seized his paw, sobbing brokenly, and asked him what happened to his brother. Wrenching his paw free, Pitru pointed accusingly at his father and tells her to ask him since he was the one who forced them to join the catguards and Jeefra would still be alive if he hadn't, leading her to fling herself at the warlord, scratching and biting as he held her off and berated her and angrily explained himself before ordering the guards to take her away while she yelled at him. Pitru shed his guard's attire and gave his father a satisfied smirk before following his mother indoors. He later joins her along with Atunra when she had come out onto the pier whilst Riggu Felis had been haranguing his army. The young cat was garbed out like a chieftain himself, wearing a steel helmet with a purple scarf streaming out behind it, a cloak of dark blue, and a breastplate set with jet stones, carrying a small polished shield in one paw and a curved scimitar in the other. After Kaltag scorned Riggu for slaying those who serve him and mocked him with Riggu going off to battle against the otters while Kaltag had Atunra stay at the fortress and declared that they will defend it against attack, Pitru gets appointed as commander of the fortress by Kaltag and ordered Scaut Weilmark to get back to his master, much to Scaut's surprise. Reveling in his position as the fortress commander, he went about his devious plans gleefully. His first task was to seek out minions who would serve him well and obey orders without question, having gotten three feral cats: Yund, an old and experienced scorecat, and two his his guards, Balur and his sister Henso while Lady Kaltag largely kept to her tower chambers, allowing her remaining son the run of the fortress, which he took full advantage of.
In the late afternoon, Pitru sat out on the pier with Yund and the other two cats. They basked in the sunlight, nibbling at cooked lake trout and sipping wine. The two had hatched up a plan together concerning the defence of the fortress. They had emptied the catguard barracks and had housed the guards inside the fortress. Half of them were on day duty, some standing by the windows and some up on the sentry posts, armed with bows and arrows. The half who were off duty idled their time away, eating, drinking, and sleeping indoors. Each night the rota was changed and they took the place of their comrades on guard duty. The master stroke, however, against otter attacks that Pitru and Yund had devised was the slaves themselves. They were also taken out of the compound into the fortress but only the parents. The young ones and elders were forced to camp in the shade of the fortress all the way around the building as they would be first to receive the brunt of any assault on the place. When Yund alerts Pitru of Atunra coming out of the main gate, Pitru winked at the scorecat and settled back with his eyes closed. He waited until the pine marten was close before addressing her and asking her what she wants, having her address him as Commander when she begins her sentence. Atunra objects to him permitting all the guards to be inside the fortress along with all the slaves as Riggu Felis would never allow it, leading to Pitru placing his swordtip against her shoulder, pressing forward, and then pushing her backward as he sneered in her face that it's none of his concern and ordered her to get out of his sight which she reluctantly does as Pitru put up his blade and swaggered back to his seat. Yund commends this and suggests to Pitru to watch his back while she is around to which Pitru declared that if he had three good friends, they would watch his back for him and suggests that they would know how to deal with a spy in their midst. After he affirms that they would be rewarded and remembered as his loyal friends, Yund looked at Balur and Hinso who nodded wordlessly as he laid his spear at Pitru's footpaws and declared that they live only to obey his commands. As such, Pitru would have them kill off Atunra and dispose of her body into the waters.
Riggu Felis returns to the castle after failing in the battle and, furious to see that all the otterslaves are camped outside in the open, yells at one of the guards to get Atunra and Pitru down there and open the gate while they do so. After ordering the otterslaves to be locked back into their compound, he learns from a guard that Pitru is with Lady Kaltag in her chamber and goes there, taking down a couple guards that challenged him on Pitru's orders. When he arrives, Pitru signals Scorecat Yund with a sideways glance to bar Riggu's path by holding his spear horizontally at chest height only for him to wrench the weapon from Yund's grasp and smash it in two halves on his head before flinging down the stairs, confronting his son with no guards left to block him. Frightened of his father's wrath, Pitru moved swiftly behind his mother's chair and cried out to her to stop him and that he means to kill her like he "slew" Jeefra. He watches as Lady Kaltag faced Riggu fearlessly and mocked him for not capturing any otters and wounding his footpaw. As they converse, Kaltag points out a horrible smell Riggu brings into his chamber with Pitru pointing at him and saying that it's all over the back of his cloak with some kind of slop, leading to Kaltag mocking him further by asking if those who wounded him plastered him with filth. Infuriated, Riggu explains that all he stepped on was a thorn and angrily asks where Atunra is. When Kaltag explains that she has not seen her since he marched away from the fortress to destroy his enemies, Riggu angrily glared at Pitru, asking him what he did with Atunra. Pitru could not meet his father's gaze, but he was regaining his confidence and addressed his mother to tell him he knows nought of Atunra and that as fortress commander, he was far too busy organizing the defenses against the enemies he was supposed to have defeated. This leads to Riggu driving the knifepoint deep into the tabletop and yelling at and insulting his son for doing a poor job by allowing half the otterslaves to wander outside the walls. Kaltag comes to Pitru's defense and scorns Riggu even further by criticizing his failure, leading to Riggu realizing he lost the argument before leaving the chamber to seek Atunra out and set up a trap for the otter rebels.
At dusk, Pitr, clad in an armoured breastplate and graves, overlaid with flowing silk, emerged from the fortress with his mother and a retinue of catguards and, using his scimitar tip, clipped blithely at the timber decking as he swaggered up to greet his father, asking him if he has any luck with his fishing for Atunra's body as the guards have been at it all day. Riggu scorns him for still strutting around in borrowed finery and tells him he'll pay dearly for Atunra's death to which Pitru pretended to not know what he's talking about and asks his mother if she knows what happened to her as she scolds Riggu for showing more concern over her death than the death of his son Jeefra. Just then, a slingstone whirred out of the dusk onto Riggu's helmet, causing him to fall down on all fours temporarily stunned. Weilmark Scaut points at the shadowy figures of two otters retreating back into the shrubbery on the left shorebank and yells to sound the alarm and call out the guards before getting interrupted by a kick from Pitru at his stomach, with him grabbing him roughly and hauling him upright while telling him they'll do this his way and ordering him to take what guards they have and make no noise and to get over to the bushes to ambush the otters and wipe them out. He orders him to leave Riggu Felis when he tries to help him up and orders him to obey him or die and watches as he carries out his orders to go towards the bushes. Watching Riggu Felis staggering upright and regaining his bearings, Pitru made no move to assist him, remarking with casual insolence how he's taken care of everything while pointing to the catguards plunging into the bushes. Riggu, however, tells him he's an even bigger fool than he thought for not knowing what's going on and shot him a scathing glance as he marched off toward the rear of the fortress where the barracks and slave pens were situated, telling him to carry on playing his stupid games as he knows exactly what the otters are up to and what to do about it while Pitru sneered at his father's retreating figure and insulted him, unaware that he would capture Leatho Shellhound and knock him unconscious right afterwards.
As the guards laid Leatho's limp body upon the pier, Riggu snarled at his son that he captured their leader while Pitru was chasing shadows around the bushes before ordering Scaut to make his report. Scaut reveals that they wound up unintentionally slaying Fleng and seven of the guards under the orders of Pitru to ambush anything that moved in the bushes. This leads to Riggu striking the scimitar from Pitru's grasp and knocking the young cat flat before stamping a footpaw on his chest, holding his single-bladed axe to his son's throat, spitting in his face contemptuously, and berating him for his stupidity to fail to see it was another decoy and that he went to the slave pens since he knew the otters would try to set their friends free. As he tells him he deserves to lose his head for this, Kaltag picked up the fallen scimitar and threatened him into getting away from Pitru. As Riggu reluctantly freed him, he mocks him for letting his mother fight all his battles. When Pitru declared angrily that he'll kill him one day, Riggu asks him why he doesn't do it now and challenges him to face him with his sword and insulting him for his cowardice before Kaltag berates him to face the otters instead of trying to take the life of Pitru before Riggu replies that he no longer has to battle with outlaws now that he has the rebels' leader and has his own special plans for him. Moments afterwards, Pitru would discover two otterslaves escaping and, unaware that they were set up to escape in order to spread the word about Riggu Felis' message to the rebel otters about the cruel fate he has planned for Leatho to starve him to death if they don't surrender, has his catguards try to kill them, managing to succeed in killing one while the other got away. As such, he goes to Riggu Felis, who was sitting out with Scaut beneat ha pier awning watching the coracles fishing out on the lake, to mock him for taking a nap while his slaves are escaping and brag about how he killed one of the two runaways, signaling to his catguards to toss a slain otter down on the pier, it being the body of Runka Streamdog. As he had given orders for some slaves to escape to inform the rebels about his message, Riggu berates Scaut, who was unable to find Pitru and his guards, for failing to give his son his instructions and pushes him into the water.
When Riggu orders for him to be pulled out, they discover ropes tangled up with him that bound him to the rotting carcass of Atunra, the missing pine marten. As two guards slash away with their spearblades to free the weilmark from his horrific burden, Pitru peered distastefully at the body floating in the lake and pretended to not know what it is to which Riggu Felis angrily told him that he knows it's Atunra. Pitru smiled innocently and pretended to know know that's where she went similarly to how he didn't know the slaves should escape per Riggu's orders. When Riggu spoke accusingly to him that he slew one of his slaves, the young cat looked guilelessly at his father and stated that he never slew his slave and that it was Scorecat Yund, describing his catguards as very loyal to him to the point of killing any beast he told them to, leading to Riggu to start becoming suspicious as his guards would also slay any beast for him and he has far more guards at his command than Pitru does. Later, while on his way to the barracks, Pitru saw Weilmark Scaut and a six-guard escort approaching and watches as they capture Scorecat Yund under the orders of Riggu Felis, who seeks to interrogate him on Atunra's death. Realizing what this was all about, he hurried into the barracks where he was met by his other two close allies, Balur and Hinso, both of whom appear badly shaken and inform him of what happened to which Pitru grabbed them both by their whiskers and hissed at them to shut up before explaining his instructions to them to have Balur get to the lodge window to see if he can hear what's going on in there and then report straight back to him and Hinso to gather all the guards that are loyal to him behind the barracks and wait for him there, ordering them to go instantly. Afterwards, as they successfully escape, Riggu Felis engages in a battle against the rebel otters as they attack his fortress to rescue Leatho with the help of Long Patrol hares they met and gets slain by an ottermaid named Tiria, the otters' soon-to-be High Rhulain.
In the aftermath, Pitru stood on the highest point of a vast crater, congratulating himself for his scheme being successful and to soon be ruler of Green Isle. He had pitched his camp right across the narrow path which ran over the crater's rim. Behind him, his followers had erected a barricade of rocks and as such, no beast could come over that way since he held the pass. He outlines his plan to his confederates, Balur and Hinso, and addresses the last of the smoke that he saw from afar the previous night, asking them if they're glad they came with him. They express their gratitude and affirm loyalty as Pitru declares that they will henceforth call him Warlord of Green Isle, explaining that he knows Riggu Felis is dead from the runaways that are coming down in the foothills led by Scaut. Smiling smugly, he orders them to take his guards and surround them to disarm them and bring them to him, the mission being accomplished swiftly. By morning, Pitru had a dispirited bunch of catguards sitting on the ground in front of him. His first act was to place his scimitar at Scaut's throat and threaten his life, asking him for a reason not to slay him as the weilmark begged that he will serve him faithfully with Hinso kicking him and ordering him to address him as Warlord of Green Isle. Pitru proceeds to interrogate him on Riggu's fate to which Scaut answered that while he was not there to see it, some of the guards say that Riggu Felis was slain by an ottermaid with a sling, down on the pier. Shaking his head in mock pity at this and sarcastically commenting on how sad of a fate it was, Pitru calls him out for running off and asks what sort of a weilmark he would call himself before withdrawing the blade and suddenly knocking him flat to beat him with the long whip he had, calling him his lackey to fetch, carry, and lick the dust from his paws. Afterwards, he asks the rest of the catguards that had followed him who they serve then with all of them being only too ready to go over to Pitru and bowed before him as he tossed the whip to Hinso and ordered her to give them back their weapons and let them join his guards. When this was done, he addresses his reinforced ranks and explained his plan to defeat the otters as now that the way forward is barricaded and to one side he has Deeplough with a high hillside being in front of him that his enemies will have to scale to reach them, he and his catguards will kill them on the slopes below him before they go to seek out their families to make them into slaves to build him a fortress of stone that will not burn up there on the heights to continue the labor his father had started on them.
Unbeknownst to them, a couple of Long Patrol scouts would spot them and report of their presence to the otters, leading to an ambush being led against Pitru and his forces through slingstones being whipped uphill, most of them bouncing off the barricade which stood across the path, a few finding their way over the rough stone wall but not causing much damage to the enemy. As such, Pitru was up and at the barricade snapping out orders to the archers to stand by, spears and pikes to drop back, and slingers and boulder throwers to be up front, leading to an avalanche of rock and rubble happening and causing two clanbeasts and a hare to die before another load of boulders thundered down the slope as the catguards chant Pitru's name and death to his foes. Peering over the top of his wall, then ducking down to Hinso at his side, Pitru assumes that the avalanche stopped them and gives orders to give them another shower of rocks in a bit, though she reveals they used up all the stones they collected to which Pitru merely ordered her to het some more and fast. However, after the Long Patrol members go through a hasty Council of War, they carry out a plan that involves some distracting the catguards by having the otters whirl slingtones over the walltop, one of which struck Pitru on the paw. Wincing and sucking his paw, Pitru falls for it and thinks they have no need to fret before another shout came from below from the Redwallers who whirl another wave of slingstones over, striking with more force with one hitting Hinso in the mouth and knocking a fang out. Crouching down behind the wall, Pitru yelled for his archers, slingers, and spearcats to come up there only for another clan of otters elsewhere to whirl a big salvo of slingstones over the wall, dropping several guards in their tracks. Chancing a glance through a chink in the wallstones, Pitru sees that the otters had gained ground as a long line of them stood up as their leader shouted another warcry. It began raining slingstones fast and hard as another long rank ran ahead of them, slinging for all they were worth led by Tiria.
Gritting his teeth, Pitru drew his scimitar as anger coursed through him for things not going as he had planned and called to his catguards to get to the wall and rally to him. As the guards ran forward, a bloodcurdling roar came from lower down the rim past the wall. This came from a Long Patrol hare captain named Cuthbert vaulting over the crater rim onto the narrow pathway. Cuthbert made straight for Pitru as foe beasts fell like chaff to the scythe before his insane attack and took down several guards, bowling the lot backward in a heap that struck Pitru. knocking him into the wall which crumbled and collapsed. As Cuthbert hurled himself upon them trying to wield the pike axe which was far too long for close combat, Pitru scrambled from under the melee utterly frightened and ordered for him to be killed. Hinso lashed out with a lance from behind the hare, sticking him through the side, though he turned, snapping the weapon like a twig and went for her throat with bared teeth. Seeing that the mad hare's back was turned to him, Pitru struck with his scimitar as three guards fell upon Cuthbert. Hinso tried to wrest the pike axe from his paws but was unable to as he went forward, stumbling over fallen wallstones and dragging four cats with him before reaching Pitru. With one swift move, he trapped the young warlord, locking him to his chest with the pikestaff. As the catguards battled wildly while Cuthbert was besieged by Pitru and four cats on the far rim, Cuthbert leaped over the rim, taking Pitru and the cats with him, into the steep-shaled slope toward the vast expanse of water called Deeplough, hitting the water holding the lifeless body of Pitru, whom he had killed by breaking his back in the crushing grip of the pikestaff. The Slothunog monster would appear and devour Pitru's body before getting killed off by the hare sacrificing his life to take down the monster, having managed to stop Pitru's reign of terror as well.