Saltar is a supporting antagonist in the book Mariel of Redwall, the fourth book within the Redwall novel series. He is one of Gabool's former searat captains, being the captain of the ship Darkqueen. While he doesn't appear a lot, he does have a bit of a role to play in starting the events of the story and demonstrates himself to be cruel and merciless, having lead a massacre on a crew of shrews on the ship Perriwinkle and causing Joseph the Bellmaker to be imprisoned by Gabool and Mariel to be forced to be Gabool's servant, which would lead to Gabool eventually attempting to drown Mariel to death for an accident and attempting to drown Joseph too.
Biography[]
Saltar used to be one of Gabool's searat captains on the ship Darkqueen. He had the reputation of being a hard searat to cross and was a corsair hook fighter, using a vicious metal hook to impale opponents before slaying them with his curved sword and throughout all his battles, he had never lost a fight or left an enemy alive. At one point, after chasing a ship called Perriwinkle for a while, he crashes above on deck onto it and leads a battle with his crew against the ship's crew of shrews, essentially massacring them in the process, with Joseph the Bellmaker and Captain Ash being tied up to the bell Joseph made while covered with cuts and bruises.
After the battle, three of the rats would fight over some wine on the cabin table and after one called Gripper snatches the wineflash, he gets kicked by Saltar who grabs the wine. As Gripper falls to the floor, he discovers Mariel hiding under the blankets, exclaiming about finding a pretty mousemaid before Mariel bites him and kicks him hard in the neck, causing him to die from choking to death. Saltar merely laughs this off, commenting on what a warrior maid she is, slaying Gripper before they both pounce on her, bundle her up in the blankets, and punch and kick at her until she goes still.
They then carry her on deck where she sees the effects of the battle through a rip in the blanket: her father and Captain Ash tied to the bell with cuts and bruises and the crew all lying about dead, wounded, or tied up. Saltar then talks to Ledder about feeding the fishes, it being heavily implied that they carved the crew up into pieces and fed them all to the fish. Afterwards, Mariel would be made Gabool's servant and Joseph his prisoner, whom Gabool would starve in order to try to coerce him into building a bell tower for him for the bell he stole from him.
Much later, Gabool would kill Saltar's brother Bludrigg out of the paranoid belief that he was intending on overthrowing him despite him merely asking for his share of the plunder Gabool got from the voyages they lead. Upon hearing of his brother's death, the corsair Captain put about, piling on sail and oars as he set course on his ship Darkqueen for Gabool's fortress on Terramort Isle while the whips cracked belowdecks as drivers flogged the galley slaves on to greater efforts. As the ship sailed, Saltar muttered beneath his breath his oath of vengenace to Gabool, declaring that he'll send him down where the fish will eat his flesh and the sea water rot his bones and that while there was never any love lost between him and Bludrigg, he was still his brother regardless and he believed that blood must be repaid with blood.
He then sheathed his sword and began polishing the needletip of his gaff hook before ordering his right-hand Ledder to douse all lights, furl in all sails when they're close enough to harbor, and tell the crew to arm up and stand ready as there's killing to be done the next day. As Ledder goes to carry out his oders, Saltar stands leaning on the forwards rail with the hook swinging from a neck cord and his sword at his side before spitting over the side at the curving bow wave, swearing that Gabool will find out that Saltar is no mousemaid as a reference to Gabool being beaten in a fight by Mariel.
Once the Darkqueen had nosed her bows into Terramort in the early morning at dawn, Saltar comes ashore with his crew who were fully armed but relaxed by the sight of the empty cove. As they approach Gabool's fighters who were armed as well, Saltar curses whisperingly albeit with no alarm before he asks one of them, Blaggtail, where Gabool is to which Blaggtail explains that he's in Fort Bladegirt and that he said that Saltar is to come up. When Ledder asks what if they choose not to, Blaggtail gives the signal to fifty archers standing up in the rocks above his head with a shaft notched to their taut bowstrings. As this is happening, Greypatch, who sought to escape the island and desert Gabool due to his growing insanity, steals his ship with a crew of his own while mocking Saltar. Ledder prepares to hurl his sword at Greypatch, though Saltar tells him to stow it and leave it to him before striding up the beach and entering the fort.
There, Gabool greets him and his crew with a friendly facade, having them sit down at his table for a banquet with Saltar being seated right next to him, though Saltar merely sits with one claw on his saber, eating and drinking nothing. Gabool then explains to him the death of his brother Bludrigg on how he had to kill him due to "disobedience, being too greedy, and wanting to take his place as king." Saltar then asks if he was armed when he killed him to which Gabool explains that he was trying on one of his crowns for size. Saltar then stands up, challenging him, Gabool responding by telling him to give them a chance as he's not carrying a sword (this being a fib as he actually has a sword underneath the table). Saltar then tells him to hurry and get himself one before mocking him for being beat by a mousemaid even with a sword, provoking Gabool to start the fight by toppling the table and pulling out his swordblade, telling him that it is a lie and he'll die for it.
As they fight, Saltar continuously insults and threatens Gabool who threatens him throughout the fight in turn. At first, Saltar appears to have the upper hand, having forced him back toward the hall, eventually having him down on one knee. However, unbeknownst to Saltar, Gabool had prepared for the fight, having set up a trap involving a hidden blade behind the wall hanging, which he drives Saltar backward into. Upon being stabbed by said blade, Saltar died instantly, an expression of pained surprise stamped indelibly upon his brutal features.