PART 3 The Rat
Chapter 19
"Stay you!" cried Vikus, as Luxa, Henry, and Mareth sprang up, swords in hand. "Stay you!"
The rat regarded the three armed humans with amusement. "Yes, stay you or I shall be forced to move, and that always puts me in an ill humor," he said languidly.
Luxa and Mareth stopped uncertainly, but Henry ignored Vikus's command and lunged at the rat. Without moving another muscle, the rat flicked his tail. It cracked like a whip knocking the sword from Henry's hand. The blade spun across the stone floor and slammed into the cavern wall. Henry gripped his wrist in pain.
"The hardest lesson for a soldier to learn is to obey orders he believes are wrong," said the rat philosophically.
"Take care, lad, or you shall end up like me, stripped of any respectable rank and warming your shabby old hide at the fire of your enemies." The rat nodded at the old man. "Vikus."
"Ripred," said Vikus with a smile. "We have just commenced dining. Will you join us?"
"I thought you'd never ask," said Ripred, pushing himself off the wall and slouching over to the fire. He squatted back on his haunches next to Solovet. "My dear Solovet, how kind of you to fly out to greet me. And with a war on, too."
"I could scarcely have missed an opportunity to break bread with you, Ripred," said Solovet.
"Oh, come now, you know perfectly well you only tagged along to wheedle information out of me," said Ripred. "And to gloat over your victory at the Flames."
"I destroyed you," said Solovet with glee. "Your army turned tail and ran howling into the river."
"Army," snorted Ripred. "Why, they were as much an army as I am a butterfly. I'd have stood a better chance fighting with crawlers." The rat looked at Temp and Tick, who were cowering against the wall, and sighed. "Present company excepted, of course."
Boots frowned and toddled over to Ripred. She pointed her chubby finger up at him. "You mouse?"
"Yes, I'm a mouse. Squeak, squeak. Now shoo-shoo back to your little bug friends," said Ripred, picking up a hunk of dried beef. He tore off a piece with his teeth and noticed Boots hadn't moved. He pulled back his lips to reveal a row of jagged teeth and gave her a sharp hiss.
"Oh!" said Boots, scurrying to her roaches. "Oh!"
"Don't do that," said Gregor. The rat turned his glowing eyes on him, and Gregor was shocked by what he saw there. The intelligence, the deadliness, and, most surprisingly, the pain. This rat was not like Fangor and Shed. He was much more complicated and much more dangerous. For the first time in the Underland, Gregor felt completely out of his league. If he fought this rat, he wouldn't stand a chance. He would lose. He would be dead.
"Ah, this must be our warrior," said Ripred softly. "How very like your daddy you are."
"Don't scare my sister," said Gregor, trying to keep his voice steady. "She's only a baby."
"From what I hear, she's got more guts than the lot of you combined," said Ripred. "Of course, courage only counts when you can count. I'm presuming the rest of you can count, and will be screwing your courage to the sticking place any minute now."
The rat glanced around at Luxa, Mareth, and Henry, who were keeping their distance. The bats were extending and folding their wings, unsure of what to do. "Well, come on, then, isn't anyone else hungry? I hate dining alone. It makes me feel so unloved."
"I did not prepare them, Ripred," said Vikus.
"Clearly," said the rat. "Clearly my arrival is an unexpected pleasure." He went to work on his beef bone, making an awful scraping sound.
"Meet you, Ripred the gnawer," said Vikus to the group. "He shall be joining the quest as your guide."
There was a quick breathy sound, as half of those gathered inhaled sharply. A long pause followed in which no one exhaled. Gregor tried to make sense of what Vikus had announced so calmly. A rat. He was leaving them in the hands of a rat. Gregor wanted to object, but his throat had frozen.
Finally Luxa spoke up in a voice hoarse with hatred. "No, he shall not. We do not travel with rats."
" 'The Prophecy of Gray' requires it, Luxa," said Solovet. "One gnawer beside."
"'Beside' could mean anything," snarled Henry. "Perhaps we leave the gnawer dead 'beside' us."
"Perhaps you do. But having witnessed your last attack, I doubt it," said Ripred, starting on a wedge of cheese.
"We have killed five rats since midday," said Luxa.
"You mean the idiots that I handpicked for cowardice and ineptitude? Oh, yes, bravo, Your Highness. That was a masterly piece of combat," said Ripred, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Do not flatter yourself you have yet fought a rat."
"They themselves killed Fangor and Shed," said Mareth bravely.
"Well, then, I stand corrected. Fangor and Shed were excellent fighters, on the rare occasions they were sober," said Ripred. "However, I expect they were outnumbered and somewhat thrown by the arrival of our warrior. What say you, Warrior? Do you refuse to go with me as well?"
Gregor looked into Ripred's mocking, tortured eyes. He wanted to refuse, but if he did, could he ever find his dad?
As if following his thoughts, Vikus spoke up. "You need Ripred to guide you to your father. These tunnels are unmapped by humans. You would never find your way without him."
Still, he was a rat. Gregor had only been in the Underland a few days and he already despised rats. They had killed Luxa's and Henry's parents, imprisoned his father, and almost eaten him and Boots. He felt a kind of power surging through him when he thought of how much he hated them. But if all rats were bad, who was this strange creature staring at him from across the fire, offering to be their guide?
"So, what's in this for you?" said Gregor to Ripred.
"A fair question," said Ripred. "Well, Warrior, I am planning to overthrow King Gorger and I need you to help me."
"By doing what?" said Gregor.
"I don't know," admitted Ripred. "None of us does."
Gregor rose and caught Vikus by the arm. "I have to talk to you alone," he said. The anger in his voice surprised even himself. Well, he was angry! The rat was not part of what he'd agreed to. This was not what he'd signed on for.
Vikus took Gregor's mood in stride. Maybe he had expected it. They walked about twenty yards away from the group. "So, how long have you had this plan with the rat?" asked Gregor.