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'Alive?' said Dangerous Beans. 'Yes.'
'All in one place?'
'It smells that way,' said Darktan. 'I think a squad should go and look.' Dangerous Beans got closer to the rat and sniffed at her again. The rat sniffed at him. They touched paws. The watching Changelings were astonished. Dangerous Beans was treating the keekee as an equal. 'Lots of things, lots of things,' he murmured. 'Many rats… humans… fear… lots of fear… lots of rats, crowded… food… rat… you said she's been eating rat?'
'It's a rat-eat-rat world,' said Hamnpork. 'Always has been, always will be.' Dangerous Beans wrinkled his nose. 'There's something else. Something… odd. Strange… she's really scared.'
'She has been in a trap,' said Peaches. 'And then she met us.'
'Much…worse than that,' said Dangerous Beans. 'She's… she's frightened of us because we're strange rats but she smells relieved that we're not… what she's used to…'
'Humans!' Darktan spat. 'I… don't… think… so…'
'Other rats?'
'Yes… no… I… don't… it's hard to tell…'
'Dogs? Cats?'
'No.' Dangerous Beans stepped back. 'Something new.'
'What shall we do with her?' said Peaches. 'Let her go, I suppose.'
'We can't do that!' said Darktan. 'We've triggered all the traps we've found but there are still poisons all over the place. I wouldn't send a mouse out into that lot. She hasn't tried to attack us, after all.'
'So?' said Hamnpork. 'What's another dead keekee?'
'I know what Darktan means,' said Peaches. 'We can't just send her out to die.' Big Savings stepped forward and put a paw around the young female, cuddling her protectively. She glared at Hamnpork. Although she might nip him sometimes if she was annoyed, she wouldn't argue with him. She was too old to do that. But her look said: all males are stupid, you stupid old rat. He looked lost. 'We've killed keekees, haven't we?' he said sadly. 'Why do we want this one hanging around?'
'We can't send her out to die,' said Peaches again, looking at Dangerous Beans' expression. He had that faraway look in his pink eyes. 'You want it trailing around eating our food and messing things up?' said Hamnpork. 'It can't talk, it can't think…'
for ages,' said a rat. 'Remember that one in Scrote? With the sparkly blue bits? It burned if you got it on your feet? People ran into it before they knew?'
'They've got that here?'
'You'd better come and see.' In one of the tunnels a rat was lying on its side. Its feet were curled up tight, like fists. It was whimpering. Darktan took one look and knew that, for this rat, it was all over. It was only a matter of time. For the rats back in Scrote, it had been a matter of horrible time. 'I could bite her in the back of the neck,' a rat volunteered. 'It'd be all over quickly.'
'It's a kind thought, but that stuff gets into the blood,' said Darktan. 'Find a snapper trap that hasn't been made safe. Do it carefully.'
'Put a rat in a trap, sir?' said Nourishing. 'Yes! Better die fast than slow!'
'Even so, it's-' the rat who had volunteered to do the biting started to protest. The hairs around Darktan's face stood out. He reared up and showed his teeth. 'Do what you're told or I'll bite you!' he roared. The other rat crouched back. 'All right, Darktan, all right…'
'And warn all the other squads!' Darktan bellowed. 'This isn't rat-catching, this is war! Everyone's to pull back smartly! No-one touch nothing! We're going to-Yes? What is it this time?' A small rat had crept up to Darktan. As the trap-hunter spun around, the rat crouched hurriedly, almost rolling on its back to show how small and harmless it was. 'Please, sir…' it mumbled. 'Yes?'
'This time we've found a live one…'
CHAPTER 6
There were big adventures and small adventures, Mr Bunnsy knew. You didn't get told what size they were going to be before you started. Sometimes you could have a big adventure even when you were standing still. - From Mr Bunnsy Has An Adventure 'Hello? Hello, it's me. And I'm going to give the secret knock now! There were three knocks on the stable door, and then Malicia's voice rose again with 'Hello, did you hear the secret knock?'
'Perhaps she'll go away if we keep quiet,' said Keith, in the straw. 'I shouldn't think so,' said Maurice. He raised his voice and called out, 'We're up here!'
'You've still got to give the secret knock,' shouted Malicia. 'Oh, prbllttrrrp,' said Maurice under his breath, and fortunately no human knows how bad a swearword that is in cat language. 'Look, this is me, OK? A cat? Which talks? How will you recognize me? Shall I wear a red carnation?'
'I don't think you're a proper talking cat, anyway,' said Malicia, climbing the ladder. She was still wearing black, and had bundled up her hair under a black scarf. She also had a big bag slung from her shoulder. 'Gosh, you've got that right,' said Maurice. 'I mean, you don't wear boots and a sword and have a big hat with a feather in it,' said the girl, pulling herself into the loft. Maurice gave her a long stare. 'Boots?' he said at last. 'On these paws?'
'Oh, it was in a picture in a book I read,' said Malicia, calmly. 'A silly one for children. Full of animals that dressed up as humans.' It crossed Maurice's cat mind, and not for the first time, that if he moved fast he could be out of the city in five minutes and on to a barge or something. Once, when he was no more than a kitten, he'd been taken home by a small girl who'd dressed him up in doll's clothes and sat him at a small table with a couple of dolls and three-quarters of a teddy bear. He'd managed to escape through an open window, but it had taken him all day to get out of the dress. That girl could have been Malicia. She thought animals were just people who hadn't been paying enough attention. 'I don't do clothes,' he said. It wasn't much of a line, but it was probably better than saying 'I think you are a loony'. 'Could be an improvement,' said Malicia. 'It's nearly dark. Let's go! We shall move like cats!'
