We were lifted out of the Maze and placed atop it in a cage.
"Magnificent!" came Black's voice. "You finally brought the cheese back to the beginning, like I taught you dozens of times."
I was pleased with myself. I was right—I HAD figured out what Black was trying to do.
The cheese was in the shape of a key, so it made sense that retrieving the key was the goal.
What I didn't realize is that Black had told the goblins how to do it, many times apparently, and it never took. I had figured it out without any instruction at all.
Switch darted from one side of our now very tight confines to another. As far as he was concerned, we were trapped with no exit and in even more danger.
I waited for Black to congratulate me. Surely, I'd be his favorite.
CHOOM! Another cage clanged down around the goblins.
Black picked the cage up and dropped the two goblins into a smaller pen above the Maze.
"I don't know how you did it, Hack, but you trained a rat to retrieve cheese for you."
What the...
Black patted Hack on the head. Hack stuck his tongue out at Heave and then turned to beam upwards at Black like a proud child.
"As for you, Heave," Heave just looked upwards, ear flattened, "you actually fashioned a LEASH for your rat. Fantastic! You're both ready for the mission...with your rats of course."
I slapped one paw to my forehead.
"What's he saying?" asked Switch.
"He's giving the goblins all the credit for the escape," I said morosely.
"So?"
"So? Those two are idiots! Hack and Heave couldn't find their way out of a wet paper bag. They were trained to retrieve the cheese and they couldn't think enough beyond their stomachs to stop eating. So one got really fat and the other nearly starved to death...when the solution was right there all along."
"So?" asked Switch again.
"So? So? I'm smarter than they are!"
"I thought you wanted to get out," said Switch.
I sighed. Switch was right. What mattered was that, thanks to my thinking, we had survived. For now, that would have to be enough.
Black took the two goblins out of the pen and deposited them into a cage. He lifted our cage in one hand and the goblin cage in another.
We were swung about, one cage dangling from each of Black's hands, such that we caught an occasional glimpse of the goblins as Black walked. They looked angry.
"Now what, master?" asked Hack tentatively.
"Now, my little goblin, we break into the Pied Piper's house."
* * *
Things got better after that.
Black deposited a large hunk of cheese into our cage. It was so large that we had difficulty both fitting into the cage along with the cheese. Switch immediately went to work to resolve that problem.
The goblins were given hunks of meat. They set to eating it with sickening gusto. I tried not to look at them while I gnawed on some cheese. Some meat wouldn't be bad either, I thought.
"Who are we after, I wonder?" I asked to no one in particular.
"Who cares," said Switch, thinking and chewing. I had inadvertently sent the message to him by accident. "We have all the cheese."
"Yeah, yeah, lots of cheese, I know."
I looked over at Hack.
"Hey Hack." The goblin looked up, eyes narrowing on me. Meat and blood dripped from his jagged teeth.
"What you want?"
"Who is the Pied Piper?"
"Pied Piper?" asked Hack. "Rats," he replied.
"Rats? What?"
Hack stopped enough slobbering to take a deep breath and sing a poem out loud. It was coincidentally the same time when Black entered the room again.
"Rats! They fight the dogs and kill the cats,
And bite the babies in the cradles,
And eat the cheeses out of the vats,
And lick the soup from the cook's own ladles.
Split open the kegs of salted sprats,
Make nests inside men's weekend hats,
And even spoil the women's chats
By drowning their speaking
With shrieking and squeaking
In fifty different sharps and flats."
"Ha-ha!" said Black. "Well done, Hack. You know the poem. And then you know who we are after."
"Yes, master, the Pied Piper." As if Black hadn't just said it.
"Right. You will break into his home and steal his magical pipes."
Magical pipes? What was going on?
I realized that I endangered giving away too much about myself by addressing Hack directly.
"Hack, tell me," Black pulled up a chair, "how did you teach Scrap to retrieve the cheese?"
Hack glared at me, then smiled back at his master. "Hack speak rat," he said simply.
I nearly choked on my cheese. The little liar would say anything to stay in Black's good graces.
"You do, do you? Well then, tell Scrap we'll need his skills one more time. I'm afraid Heave is too slow to do this job, but we might have another job for him and his pet rat Switch."
Hack squinted at me from across the room. "Scrap knows," he said.
I sent Hack some swear words in response. Hack giggled.
"Rest up, my pets. Tomorrow, we will pay the Piper what I owe him."
Black left again with the slam of a creaky wooden door. Only flickering torchlight and the slobbering of Heave filled the room. Near as I could tell, Heave hadn't even taken a breath to look at Black. Perhaps the smarter goblin knew he wouldn't be considered for the Pied Piper job. Or perhaps he didn't WANT to be considered for the mission. Heave seemed smarter to me every minute.
"What happened between the Piper and Black?" I asked, broadcasting aloud. That was getting to be a bad habit.
To my surprise, I got a response from Heave.
"He took Black's children," said the goblin with uncharacteristic eloquence.
* * *
That night, finally out of danger and with Switch sleeping soundly in the cage, I got the first good night's rest I could ever remember. I had been running from snakes, dogs, and goblins up until that point and nearly starved to death. Finally, with all the creature comforts (for a rat, anyway), I was able to sleep.
And dream.
I met Avicenna on the steps of one of the public houses.
He was gazing listlessly at the coaches moving to and fro, wondering what his next move was. Without food or shelter, I was in dire straits indeed.
"Hullo," said a boy whom I noticed observing me before. He was dirty, with a flat brow and a snub nose. He had sharp eyes that darted. Though he was a boy, he carried himself like a man.
His hat was askew on his head, threatening to fall off at any moment. He wore a peculiar man's coat, half of it red and half of it yellow, with the cuffs turned back far enough so that his forearms were free, although for what purpose I didn't comprehend. He swaggered like a much larger fellow which was not in keeping with his four and a half feet.
"Hi," I said back, uncertain as to why this older boy was bothering with me.
"You look askew."
I shook my head. I was exhausted. "I'm tired and hungry."
"Aye, I bet yew are," said the young man. "Name's Avicenna." Avicenna shook my hand. "And now that we're friends, seems yew and I kin share a meal, roit?"
"Uh," my stomach grumbled. "Sure."
"Follow me," said Avicenna. "Are yew fond o' ham?"
"I'm fond of any meal at this point," I said desperately.
"Aye," laughed Avicenna. "I bet yew are. Well then ye'll love this."
Avicenna purchased bread and ham from the chandler's shop. While what he bought was not so extraordinary, that he could afford such a sumptuous meal was. He then led me to a small public house, and into a taproom in the rear of the place. We sat down and ate.
In my hunger, I didn't realize that Avicenna was watching me carefully and eating much less than I.
"Going to Stromgate?"<
br />
I nodded.
"Got a place to stay?"
I shook my head.
"How are you going to pay for it?"
I shrugged, still eating.
"You're not from Calximus, are you?"
I shook my head.
"You're going to need a place to sleep," said Avicenna seriously.
I stopped chewing a moment to respond. "Yes. I haven't slept under a roof...since I can't remember."
"Well then!" Avicenna slapped the table in exultation. "You've come to the right place. I happen to know a gentleman who can take care of food and lodgings and asks for little in return. It just so happens I'm apprenticed to 'im."
I kept eating. "That sounds grand, Avicenna."
"Good, it's done then!" said Avicenna. "We're friends and we'll be off to Stromgate tonight." He leaned forward conspiratorially. "And since we're friends, don't call me Avicenna. Me friends call me Piper."
"Piper?" I raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"
Piper hopped up on the table and took a grand, sweeping bow. He pulled out a yellow-striped red scarf, on the end of which hung a pipe.
Piper played a curious tune and did a little dance. It made him look ridiculous, but his fingers played so nimbly over the pipe that I couldn't deny he was talented in music, if not dance.
"I see," I said.
Piper laughed.
"It keeps the marks busy," he said. I had no idea what he meant at the time.
Entering Stromgate at nearly midnight was the first sign that I was in over my head.
The second was the street denizens themselves. It was a dirty, smelly, muddy place. A city besieged by children, which, being a child at the time, I didn't find quite as unnerving as I would have if I had been an adult.
Only the public houses had adults, filled with drunkards and wretches who rarely focused on anything beyond their drink. None of them looked to be of reputable character, which only made me follow closer to Piper.
We reached a dilapidated house at the bottom of a hill. Piper knocked in a peculiar pattern, a similar cadence to his fluting.
After a moment the door opened a crack and a man's face peered out.
"Ere now, wot's this?" asked the man. The door opened a bit wider. He thrust a candle out to get a better look at us. "Two of ya?"
Piper nodded. "Aye. Me new friend." He grinned broadly.
"From where?"
"Close enough tah be useful and far away enough for yew tah not care." Piper jutted his chin out defiantly. "Is Black in?"
"Aye." The man opened the door all the way. "Up ye go!"
We ascended rickety steps to a dark room. Piper threw open the door.
The entire room, from ceiling to floor, was blackened from dirt. A table sat in front of a crackling fire. The table had some melted candles on it. Beds made from sacks littered the floor. At the table, tending to the pot, was the man who could only be Black, in his wide-brimmed hat, black overcoat, and black boots.
Several boys were crowded around him, no older than Piper.
"This is him," said Piper to Black.
Black grinned and removed his hat, bowing slightly to me. Then he shook my hand.
"Tis a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Boys, say hello."
And that they did, patting me on the back, shaking my hand, taking my coat and hat, and otherwise making me feel very welcome. It was a treatment I had never experienced before. Black seemed like a nice enough fellow, I had good friends, and there was plenty of food to go around.
Black provided all of us a meal of sausage and bread. Then he handed me, and only me, a mug of hot gin and water.
"Drink it all down now, my pet" said Black. "The other boys will want their share."
I did and suddenly fatigue overtook me.
It occurred to me that perhaps I had been drugged, but I was too tired and sated to care. I drifted off into a dreamless sleep as darkness overtook me...
I woke up with a start.
"Switch?" I asked. "Are you awake?"
Switch's whiskers twitched, though his eyes were closed. "No," he mindspoke back.
"I had a strange dream."
Switch didn't respond. He just rolled over.
"I think I was a boy, once," I said to no one in particular.
* * *
Black carried us in two containers: one was a cage where he put Hack and I, and the other was a strange bucket. A small brush dangled from Black's waist—it banged against the cage as he walked.
"What happened to Black's children?" I asked Hack.
The goblin shrugged, and thankfully responded silently to my mental inquiry. "Children leave Black to follow Piper. Good for goblins, bad for children."
It made sense. In my dream, I saw Black surrounded by kids. He was training them. Training them to do what?
Black deposited us in an alleyway across the street from a dilapidated house. It leaned in such a way that the house looked as if it were about to fall over. It certainly didn't seem like a place worth stealing from.
Black was dressed in different attire, the clothes of a beggar. I hadn't noticed at first, so intent I was on the dream and retracing our steps as we left Black's house.
It seemed that Black was no longer the grand thief from my dream; judging by the run-down house he was living in, he had fallen on hard times.
Black meandered down the street, making a roundabout circle that most certainly had purpose, even though it appeared as if it did not. He sang. He stumbled. He burped. All the while, he made his way towards the house across the street.
The gesture he made was almost imperceptible. Certainly, it wasn't noticeable to anyone not watching him closely.
Judging from Black's behavior, he expected to be watched. My keen sense of smell told me what he was up to.
He had marked the lock. The paintbrush smelled strongly of cheese; despite having a belly full of the stuff, my stomach still rumbled. But why put cheese in the lock?
Black returned, whistling to himself. "Now, my pets, we wait."
I got my answer a few hours later.
Piper himself eventually arrived. He wore his unusual long coat, with half of it yellow and half red. He was taller and thinner than in my dream.
Piper took out a key from around his neck and inserted it into the lock.
"That's your target, my lads," whispered Black. "We'll move soon enough."
With a twist, the door opened. Piper entered, closing the door behind himself.
Black waited. As dusk fell, a lantern light was visible in one of the upper windows. Eventually, it was put out and only the sounds and smells of the night reached us.
I hadn't been outside before. It was overwhelming. I could smell and hear the birds, the other rats, Stromgate coming alive at night. Hack was unimpressed. Goblins seemed to take well to the cracks and crevices of the city.
Black took us around the alley near the house. The smell of the alley wildlife distracted me. Predators made me nervous, even cats.
"Now you know what to do," Black whispered to Hack. "Find that key and bring it back."
"How me find it?" asked Hack, hopping out of the cage and looking up at his master.
"It'll smell like cheese," said Black.
Then he opened my cage and I followed the goblin through a crack and into the house.
* * *
The crack in the wall of the house wasn't very large. A foot or so in, and Hack proved valuable as he cleared away dirt and stone from the foundation of the house.
"Me no need you," Hack whispered over his shoulder. "Hack find cheese just fine."
"Really?" I mindspoke to the back of Hack's head. "Did you forget that you're supposed to find a key, not cheese? Do you even know what a key is?"
The goblin turned to look at me, yellow teeth glittering in what little moonlight streamed in through the crack. He stared at me for a long time, long enough for me to remember that this goblin, even at a foot tall, was still more than a match for a rat.
<
br /> "Me know what key is," he muttered. "But you help Hack find it."
"Fine," I said. "But I'm leaving after we get it. I don't want to go back to work for Black."
Hack shrugged again. "If rat thinks he do better, good luck."
He had torn through the masonry enough to reach the interior of a darkened room.
There was a crackling fireplace, a large table...wait, I recognized this place! It was the house from my dream. This was once Black's house!
Hack waddled forward, sniffing the air. He cocked his head left and right. After a moment he turned back towards me. "You smell cheese?"
Hack couldn't find it. I knew it! Hack wasn't any good at finding cheese in the Maze and he was just as useless here.
I took in the air, untangling the scents that were running throughout the house. The fireplace made it difficult to smell anything else. There was something boiling over it...hot apple cider mixed with gin, if I remembered the smell correctly. There was a man in the house, Piper, I supposed. He was alone. I would have found that fact more comforting except that I could smell something else.
Something odd...
Hack slunk out into the room and looked at me questioningly.
"Hack, wait..." I telepathically whispered to him. "Something's wrong."
"What now?" Hack asked in irritation.
A yellow eye flicked open amongst a mound of fur behind Hack. A low growl emanated from its throat.
Hack slowly turned around to look in horror.
"That," I said.
* * *
"Run!" I shouted.
Hack whirled to face the beast, baring his teeth and raising his claws, and was batted away with an effortless swipe of the cat's paw. The gesture was so fast that I could barely track it. One moment Hack was there and then he wasn't.
The cat was uniformly pitch black and huge, larger than any domestic cat should be. It was over twenty-five inches long, with powerful, long hind legs and a tail that added an additional foot to its length.
I kept thinking, "what is a cat this large doing in a house?" That lasted only a second before the monstrous thing sprang at me.
I tumbled sideways as the cat landed where I had been only seconds ago. It hissed in rage at its prey's escape.
"Stop!" I mentally blasted at the cat.
It whirled, teeth bared. I apparently just managed to make it angry.
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