The Crocodile Caper

by A. B. Greenfield

  “HE’S TIED UP!” the crocodile queen wailed. “MY BABY IS TIED UP!”

  “DID THE BOY DO THAT?” King Sobek roared.

  “Of course he didn’t,” I said. “He wouldn’t. He’s a very nice boy. I mean, sometimes he gets up to mischief, but that’s how kids are, you know. And we love them anyway.”

  “HE’LL PAY FOR THIS,” King Sobek said grimly.

  “I’m telling you he didn’t do it,” I said, but he wasn’t interested in me anymore, and neither was his wife. They were staring at Dedi, and they were gnashing their teeth.

  I started to feel desperate. How could I keep them from attacking Dedi? “Look, I can free your baby, if that’s what you want,” I told the crocodiles. “I’ll chew the ropes off myself.”

  The queen stopped gnashing. “YOU WILL?”

  “HE’S JUST DISTRACTING US,” King Sobek told her. “HE’LL TAKE ALL DAY.”

  “Not if I help.” Miu leaped down beside me.

  “I’ll help, too,” Khepri offered, hopping down from my head. “We’ll be fast.”

  I have to admit, I never expected to find myself chewing away at a baby crocodile’s ropes, but you do what you have to do, especially when the crocodile’s angry parents are at your back.

  Luckily, Sobek Junior had been rubbing at the ropes, shimmying against a rough spot inside the bin. We had him free in a jiffy.

  He was such a young baby that his voice wasn’t much more than a squeak. “Mommy! Daddy! You found me!”

  “MY DARLING!” his mother sobbed. “COME HERE!”

  She lowered her blunt snout to him, and he raced up to her back.

  I joined Miu and Khepri in attacking Dedi’s ropes. Like Sobek Junior, he’d been fraying them himself, and they quickly started to give way.

  As the ropes fell off, Dedi reached for me, his arms shaking. “Ra.”

  Miu started in on the ropes around the lion cub. “I think maybe they drugged this one.”

  With a weak hand, Dedi unlatched the lid of a nearby basket. Two ibis hatchlings blinked up at us.

  “THAT BOY,” King Sobek roared to his son. “DID HE HURT YOU?”

  “He helped me, Daddy,” Sobek Junior piped cheerfully. “He was bringing me back to the river. Only we got caught.”

  “WHO CAUGHT YOU?” King Sobek demanded. “I’LL TEAR HIS GUTS OUT.”

  “NO.” His wife was already backing out of the storeroom. “WE HAVE OUR BABY, AND I DON’T WANT ANY MORE TROUBLE. WE’RE GOING HOME.”

  King Sobek rumbled after her. “ALL RIGHT, WE’LL TAKE HIM HOME. BUT SOMEBODY IS GOING TO PAY FOR THIS….”

  As they headed for the dung pit, Dedi stumbled to the storehouse door. Miu and I went with him, Khepri riding on my head. We were just in time to see Sobek Junior wave his snout at us as he and his parents splashed down into the pit.

  Lurching as if he were in a nightmare, Dedi sank down and knelt on the floor. “Sorry, Ra. My feet—they’re numb from the ropes.”

  “Uh-oh,” Khepri said. “That’s not so good.”

  As I nuzzled Dedi’s hand, trying to encourage him, Miu said, “We need to get help.”

  “And we need to see that justice is done,” Khepri added, “now that we know who kidnapped him.”

  “Do we know that?” Miu asked.

  “Of course we do,” Khepri said. “Right, Ra?”

  “Er…right,” I confirmed.

  Before I could fish for specifics, a hoarse whisper came from behind us. “How did you get out, boy?”

  Dedi’s kidnapper had found us.

  CHAPTER 25

  Tripped Up

  Hormin sniffled and trained his spear on Dedi.

  “Hormin?” Miu stared the spear in shock. “I never suspected him.”

  I hadn’t, either. But Khepri didn’t seem surprised.

  Still sniffling, Hormin took a step closer to Dedi. “I should have finished you off last night.”

  Dedi tried to rise and run, but his numb feet tripped him up. He collapsed near the dung pit.

  “That’s right.” Hormin came up behind him, spear raised. “Into that dung pit, boy. Or I’ll spear you through the heart and then throw you in.”

  “No!” The Keeper careened down the passageway that led from the palace. Winded, he stopped just short of the dung pit. “You can’t do this, Hormin. We’ll have to deal with the boy some other way.”

  My ears swiveled in shock. The Keeper was Hormin’s partner in crime?

  “That’s what you said last night, and look what happened,” Hormin snarled at the Keeper. “We’re dealing with him now. If he escapes, the whole game is up.”

  “But you promised me there wouldn’t be any killing,” the Keeper whined.

  “Don’t be stupid.” Hormin kept the spear trained on Dedi. “You and Qen, what a pair! Both of you wanting to profit without getting any blood on your hands. Well, I’ve taken care of Qen, and I’ll take care of you, too, if I have to.”

  “Taken care of Qen?” the Keeper repeated, trembling. “Hormin, what did you do?”

  “He stumbled into a crocodile’s path.” Hormin’s long face was expressionless. “He was having second thoughts, and I couldn’t have him running to Pharaoh, could I?”

  The Keeper was shaking even more now. “N-n-no.”

  “We have to get rid of the boy,” Hormin said. “Don’t you see? It’s the only answer. He overheard everything we said. He’ll go straight to his father, and then it’s all over for us.”

  Dedi raised his head defiantly. “If you kill me, you’ll just make things worse for yourselves when you’re caught. And they’re already bad enough.”

  For a moment, he sounded exactly like his father.

  But then Hormin advanced with the spear, and Dedi became a twelve-year-old boy again, gulping and pulling back, back, back…

  “Time to attack!” I cried.

  Claws out, Miu and I darted at Hormin’s kneecaps. Khepri leaped for his loincloth.

  “Stupid cats!” Keeping the spear pointed at Dedi, Hormin kicked at us. Miu and I went spinning, and so did Khepri.

  As we landed, stunned, Kiya came charging out of the zoo. “Don’t you dare touch my brother!” she shouted at Hormin.

  Unfortunately, she tripped over me, then tumbled into Dedi. Tangled together, we teetered on the edge of the dung pit.

  “Guess what? You’re going to have a little bath.” A strange smile split Hormin’s long face as he brought the spear closer. “A dung bath!”

  “Never!” Miu rushed toward Hormin, but when he kicked at her again, she veered toward the zoo.

  Miu was abandoning us? I couldn’t believe it.

  At least Khepri was still determined to help. Scrabbling to his feet, he crawled toward Hormin. But like most beetles, he was painfully slow.

  “We’re going to fall!” Kiya wailed.

  Below us, the dung-water gurgled. I doubted even Khepri would want to end up there—not when it led straight to the Nile, and a kingdom of angry crocodiles.

  The Keeper picked up a dung-mottled shovel.

  “Khepri, stop him! He’s going to finish us off!” I moaned.

  But Khepri was too far away.

  WHAM!

  The Keeper’s shovel hit Hormin’s spear. With a clang, the spear fell to the ground. The Keeper kicked it into the dung pit.

  Kiya, Dedi, and I rolled back from the edge and started scrambling away.

  “What are you doing?” Hormin screamed at the Keeper. “We almost had them!”

  “Some things aren’t worth it,” the Keeper told him. “Not even for an elephant.”

  “I’ll kill you all,” Hormin raged. “You and the kids and those stupid cats.”

  For a moment, it looked as though he might be strong enough to do it. But as he grabbed the shovel from the Keepe
r, a gabble of furious noise washed over us.

  “The gate!” Khepri shouted. “Kiya forgot to close it. And maybe she opened some cages, too. And Miu…”

  The rest of his words were drowned out by wild growling and howling and squawking and screeching. The zoo was on the move.

  The lioness was the first out of the gate. Snarling, she drove Hormin to the edge of the dung pit. Behind her, the ibis and the monkeys went for the Keeper, who ran screaming into the storeroom. More animals followed, some of them looking dazed by their newfound freedom.

  Last came Taweret the hippo—with Miu riding on her back. “Someone really was stealing the babies?” Taweret bellowed. “Take that, you lousy kidnapper!” Lowering her massive muzzle, she charged straight at Hormin.

  Hormin lost his head. Rocking back on his heels, he dived into the dung pit.

  Splash. Glop. Gloop. The dung-water closed over his head.

  Everyone, even the monkeys, went silent as we waited for Hormin to rise up again. But all we heard was a faint crunch—and a thump, thump, thump.

  Khepri said quietly, “Well, he made a mistake there.”

  “He certainly did,” I agreed.

  Crocodile justice is swift and harsh.

  The lioness glared at Dedi and Kiya. “What about them? Are they guilty, too?”

  “Of course not.” Miu leaped down from Taweret to guard them. “Kiya’s the one who opened your cages. And Dedi tried to rescue the baby crocodile.”

  “Oh, right.” The lioness looked a little disappointed.

  “What do we do now?” Taweret wondered.

  “Escape,” Miu suggested. “If you want to, that is. I think I hear people coming—and they might have spears. So now’s the time.”

  I have never seen animals move so fast. (And that includes me when I’m snatching a snack from the banquet table.) Within a minute, the lion had three of her cubs on her back. Grabbing the sleepy one with her mouth, she vaulted through a high window and over the moat.

  “Hold on to my feathers, my dears,” the ibis told her hatchlings as she flapped through the window. The monkeys were practically flying as they left, too. Crocodiles snapped at them in vain as they scampered over debris that had flooded into the moat.

  Taweret watched them go. “Actually, I think I might stay. I never did like having to share my pond with crocodiles.”

  As she wandered back to her mud pond, I heard familiar footsteps pounding toward us. Dedi and Kiya couldn’t hear them yet—they don’t have cats’ ears—but I jumped up and ran into the passageway.

  “Ra!” Spear in hand, Pharaoh looked as frantic as I’d ever seen him. “Ra, where are my children?”

  With a triumphant meow, I led him to Dedi and Kiya.

  CHAPTER 26

  The Surprise

  “Kiya! Dedi!” Pharaoh cast down his spear and swept them up in his arms. Behind them, Pharaoh’s guards fanned out.

  Within moments, Kiya was telling Pharaoh and Dedi about her adventures. “I hid in a crate. And then I went looking for Dedi. Only Turo caught me.”

  “He hurt you?” Pharaoh clenched his fists.

  Kiya flattened his fists, as if it were a game. “Oh, no. He was very nice to me. He even gave me a snack. But he told me I had to stay hidden. He was worried that someone had kidnapped Dedi—and they might try to kidnap me. But I didn’t want to stay hidden. I wanted to find Dedi. So I did.”

  By the time she finished her story, Pharaoh was holding both children so tight that they were starting to squirm. When he finally released them, he traced their faces with his fingertips.

  “You’re safe,” he murmured again and again. “You’re alive. You’re safe.”

  After all we’d been through, I could barely believe it myself. I nuzzled the children’s hands, just to be sure it wasn’t a dream.

  “Ra-baby!” Kiya hauled me up from the floor. “Daddy, Ra saved us from going over into the pit. He was a hero!”

  She was clutching me too hard around the middle, but for once I didn’t care.

  Pharaoh lifted me into his arms and stroked under my chin, my favorite spot. “I should have known you would find a way to keep them safe, Ra the Mighty. Even Bastet herself could not have done better.”

  I purred and purred and purred. Pharaoh’s praise was sweet—and it was even sweeter to know I deserved it. I was Pharaoh’s Cat, Lord of the Powerful Paw, and I had done my duty. I had found Dedi. I had protected Kiya. And…

  My gaze fell on Miu, sitting quietly a few feet away, with Khepri beside her.

  Yes, I had done my duty. But I hadn’t done it alone. With a loud meow, I jumped down from Pharaoh’s arms and led him over to Miu and Khepri.

  “That’s the other cat, Daddy!” Kiya hopped over to stroke Miu. “She helped, too. And the beetle. They were all there, protecting us.”

  Pharaoh smiled. “Well, then, they have my thanks, too.”

  You’d think it would be hard, having to share my glory. But it turned out to be as easy as watching the sun rise. And when I looked at my friends, I felt a warm, sunshiny glow inside me. Sometimes in life you get lucky, and you get more than one family. Miu and Khepri, I realized, were part of mine.

  Beside us, Dedi started telling his side of the story to Pharaoh.

  “Wow.” Khepri gazed up at me, dazzled. “Did you hear that, Ra? Pharaoh thanked me.”

  “He thanked us both,” said Miu, sounding pleased. “He’s a good man.”

  “You deserve it,” I said. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

  “No, you couldn’t,” Khepri agreed cheerfully. “But it was you who finally cracked the case, Ra.”

  “Oh, yeah,” I mumbled. “That’s right. I did, didn’t I?”

  “How did you figure it out?” Miu asked me.

  “Well, er…it was easy, you see…I…er…” I floundered. How had I worked it out? I couldn’t quite remember.

  “You don’t need to be so modest, Ra.” Khepri turned to Miu. “Ra asked the vital question. What use is a lion cub to anyone?”

  “Yes, that’s what I said,” I confirmed. Though, to be honest, I didn’t understand why it mattered so much.

  “The answer, of course, is that a lion cub is worth quite a lot,” Khepri said. “As Ra mentioned when we arrived, zoos are fashionable right now. Lots of rich people want to buy unusual animals like ibises and lions and crocodiles. And that’s why baby animals were disappearing from Lady Satiah’s zoo. Hormin, Qen, and the Keeper were smuggling them out and secretly selling them. But they were very sneaky about it. Even the animals didn’t realize what was happening.”

  “The ibis blamed the lion cubs for eating her hatchlings,” I remembered.

  “And when the lioness said her cub had been stolen,” Miu recalled, “we didn’t take her seriously because we thought he was sick.”

  “I figured the Keeper had to be involved if animals were disappearing,” Khepri said. “It couldn’t be done without him. But I guessed he had help. It’s no easy thing to sneak a lion cub out of a palace.”

  “How did you work out it was Hormin and Qen?” Miu wanted to know.

  “I remembered how handy they were with the nets when they captured the lion cub in the banqueting hall,” Khepri said. “The Keeper turned to them again when he wanted to catch another crocodile. No one else except the Keeper seemed to be so handy with animals—especially with trapping them.

  “Plus, they were the ones who guarded the palace at night,” Khepri went on. “And night would be the best time to move the animals, without anyone hearing growls or squawks. They could even creep out to the landing and get access to the river.”

  I had to hand it to him. It all made sense.

  “I expect they were working with someone on the outside,” Khepri mused. “Maybe the animals were picked up by boat.”

  “And
the storeroom was the holding bay for the animals that were going to be shipped out?” Miu guessed.

  “Yes,” Khepri said. “And remember what Taweret the hippo told us? She overheard Dedi say that he needed a basket to carry the crocodile. And baskets are kept in—”

  “The storeroom!” I said triumphantly.

  “So that’s how Dedi got involved,” Miu said. “He stumbled right into the headquarters of the whole operation.”

  “Yes,” Khepri said. “And if they had places to store young animals awaiting shipment, I figured they probably had places to stow a young boy.”

  “And you were right.” Miu curled her tail fondly around him.

  “It was a smooth operation,” Khepri said. “They hid Dedi and the crocodile, and then one of the watchmen made footprints outside and set a boat loose to make it look like Dedi had run away.”

  “We thought someone had kidnapped Dedi because they didn’t want him to be the crown prince,” Miu said. “We missed the real motive.”

  “But it’s hard to fool Pharaoh’s Cat,” I said proudly. “I asked the right question.”

  “You did.” Khepri tapped my forepaw. “In the end.”

  “We saved Dedi,” Miu said with satisfaction. “And Kiya. And we helped the whole zoo.”

  “We did,” I agreed. Really, we’d outdone ourselves this time.

  “I just have one question,” Miu said to Khepri. “Lady Satiah was definitely up to something, even if it wasn’t kidnapping Dedi. We still don’t know—”

  “Shhh!” Khepri warned. “Here she comes.”

  Behind us, Lady Satiah was approaching. Pharaoh and the children fell silent. The only sound was the Keeper, blubbering in the storeroom wreckage, with Pharaoh’s guards around him.

  “Keeper, is that you?” Frowning, Lady Satiah hurried toward him.

  Catching sight of Pharaoh, she stopped and sank into a deep curtsy. “O Most Gracious Ruler of Rulers, Exalted Husband of Husbands, your son Ahmose awaits you with his tutor in the…” She broke off as she took in the two children behind him. “Dedi? Kiya? You’re here?” She glared at them both. “What kind of tricks have you been playing? You should be ashamed—”