by Jon Evans
"Redeye's army," Longtail whispered. "We have to send word. I'm the fastest."
Nighteye shook his tail no. The movement was barely visible in the darkness. "That's no army. Look, there's nothing behind them. It's just one group. A scout squad, just like us. They're upwind. They don't know we're here." He paused. "But they'll find out soon enough. Everybody ready. We're going to charge."
"We have to warn the King!" Longtail said, his voice quiet but shrill.
"No," Nighteye said calmly. "What you have to do is follow my orders. And I order you all to charge when I say. Ready."
Patch swallowed. He suddenly felt a little sick. His heart thumped faster and faster as he squatted down to the dirt. Around him the others were doing the same. Patch could feel the hot blood pulsing through his body. His muscles felt loose and quivery and he wondered if he would have the strength to charge, if maybe the other squirrels were right, maybe he was a coward after all.
"Now!" Nighteye commanded - and Patch leapt forward like a dog breaking free of its leash.
4. Skirmish
Unless their advantage is overwhelming, or they are commanded by a strong leader, a rat's first instinct is always to flee. Most of them scattered like a cloud of flies when Patch and most of the Ramble squirrels erupted unexpectedly from beneath the bush. A few were too surprised to move, and Patch charged right into one of those stunned rats, bowling it over, tangling his own forelegs with its tail. His nose was pressed right up against its sour-smelling neck. For a moment he didn't know what to do.
The rat bit at him. Patch dodged without thinking, just in time; then, while the rat's head was extended in attack, he instinctively bit back. His sharp teeth passed through and met in the rat's fleshy neck, and his mouth filled with the sour, iron taste of blood. Gagging, Patch let go of the rat, and blood spurted onto his face. Both he and the rat backed away from one another, but the rat's motions were twitching and spastic. As blood poured from its neck, it fell over, convulsed sluggishly, and died.
Patch looked around. He had been so focused on his private battle that he had forgotten the rest of the world. Around him other squirrels were finishing off the rats who had been too surprised to run. Longtail hung back by the edge of the bush, looking around uncertainly, while Nighteye and three others pursued the escaping rats. Patch hesitated a moment. Then he chased after his commander.
The rats fled across the concrete trail that hugged the very edge of the Great Sea like skin on bone. The squirrels pursued them onto a little finger of land that extended into the water. From here a big metal pipe descended into the Great Sea, and another, smaller pipe ran directly underground, into the Kingdom Beneath. The fastest rat began to squeeze itself into that pipe, folding and twisting its body grotesquely, seeming to physically shrink into that opening hardly bigger than Patch's paw. But it took time to contort itself into that narrow space, and the half-dozen other rats had nowhere left to run. Rats can swim, but squirrels can swim faster.
Cornered, left with no other choice, the rats turned and fought; and when they fought, they were strong and fast and vicious. One moment Nighteye was chasing them like a hawk chased sparrows; the next, they were all over him like burrs, clawing and biting.
Patch didn't hesitate. He leapt straight into the melee, knocking two rats off of Nighteye, including the largest and filthiest in the group. He didn't really remember what happened next. The world turned into a tangle of mud and fangs and claws and rat-tails. Claws raked his back, and sharp teeth gashed his side, and he bit back and his mouth filled with blood again, and then suddenly all three of them were in the water, and Patch was half-stuck in thick mud as he clawed and bit desperately at a rat that seemed to be everywhere at once, then the rat was on top of him biting, then he was on top of the rat, ripping at its belly with his teeth, and then it was gone, leaving a feathered blood-trail in the water as it tried to swim away. It didn't get far before going limp and floating belly-up.
The other rat, the one that had bitten Patch, a big rat with darkly mottled fur and blood-streaked eyes, lay on the edge of the Great Sea with its throat torn out. Patch dimly realized he had done that. He looked up to Nighteye and the other squirrels. The battle was over; they too were surrounded by dead rats. Patch thrust his head all the way into the water, opened his mouth and tried to let the Great Sea wash away the taste of rat-blood. It didn't work. He didn't know it yet, but that taste wouldn't go away for days. Eventually he gave up, emerged from the water and rejoined Nighteye.
The war-clan commander looked at Patch thoughtfully. "You killed two."
"Three. There's another back there."
"I think they would have had me if you hadn't rushed them like that."
Patch shrugged.
"You would have been bit, that's for sure," Quicknose agreed. "Bit by - oh, no!" He ran over to Patch and sniffed his side closely. "Patch, you're bit!"
"It's nothing," Patch said, "just a scratch."
"Was it that one there?" Quicknose indicated the big and odd-looking rat with his tail. "Did that one bite you?"
"I think so."
"Oh, sun and moon and stars," Quicknose swore. He turned to Nighteye. "Did it bite you?"
Nighteye looked grim. "No. It was about to, but Patch got to it first."
"We have to get you back to the court right now," Quicknose said to Patch.
"Why?"
"That rat, see its fur, its eyes, the way it smells like it's already been dead for days? It carries the blackblood disease. You've been bit. We don't get you help, you'll be gone before the day is out. Even if we do… " Quicknose hesitated. "We have to get you back to the court, that's all there is to it. Some squirrels there know how to cure it. Sometimes. If you're strong and lucky. Some squirrels survive."
The other squirrels watched Patch with wide and silent eyes, as if he was already a ghost.
Patch said, "It's okay. I'm fine. I don't need a cure."
"You don't understand, you'll die, you'll fall asleep for a week and then you won't ever wake up -"
"I'm immune. I've had it before."
That stunned all the other squirrels into silence.
"You survived the blackblood disease?" Nighteye asked, awed.
Patch nodded.
"Patch, if this is one of your stories -"
"I don't tell stories," Patch said hotly. "I'm not a liar."
Nighteye looked at him. "You expect us to believe you were really carried away by a hawk? You really fought Lord Snout?"
"It was Snout who gave me the blackblood disease."
After a moment Nighteye said, "You know, I could I almost believe you. Whatever you are, you're no coward."
Patch gave him an angry look. "Do you think I care what you believe?"
Nighteye opened his mouth, then closed it again.
"We have to go back to tell the King," Longtail said.
Patch didn't know when he had joined the other squirrels; but he knew Longtail hadn't been there for the battle.
Nighteye nodded. "You and Patch go now, tell them. And Patch, you stay at court for the night. Just in case."
Patch nodded. Without another word he began to run northeast, towards King Thorn's oak tree. He didn't bother looking back to see if Longtail followed.
5. King Thorn
"Wait!" Longtail gasped, as they approached the great oak. "Wait, you don't know the password!"
Patch slowed. It was true, he didn't, and Twitch was no longer on duty. He allowed Longtail to match his pace, but he didn't look at the other squirrel.
"Those things I said, I was just joking," Longtail said, between deep breaths. His boast of being the fastest runner had clearly not been true. "We're partners, right, Patch? We're scout partners, we have to look out for one another."
Patch halted in front of the curious guards. "Just say the password," he said curtly.
Longtail said, "Jumper."
The guards nodded and stood aside to let them climb. As he ascended, Patch wondered who had ch
osen as password the name of Jumper, last lord of the Treetops, who Patch had seen devoured by rats and Redeye what felt like so very long ago.
The oak tree was crawling with scores of squirrels, some watching and guarding, others huddled on branches in little groups; the trunk was a highway of fur as squirrels raced up and down, carrying messages to and from King Thorn's court. This oak tree was, in a way, the center of the Center Kingdom. Patch had never smelled such a melange of squirrel-scents in one place before. But even amid this thick cloud of many scents, one stood out like a green leaf on a dead tree. The scent of Silver. His mother was here, now, on this oak.
Patch sprinted straight upwards, to the very top, shouldering past other squirrels who tried to bar his way, ignoring the shouts from all around, until he was at the very crown of the tree, where a half-dozen branches joined together to form a kind of platform; and there stood Silver, speaking to a big red squirrel and little squirrel with a scarred face, while a dozen others watched from the surrounding branches.
Silver stopped in mid-sentence and turned towards Patch. She stood very still for a moment, staring at her son. Her fur shone in the sunlight. She looked as if she was dreaming, or had just awakened from a dream.
"It's true," she said wonderingly. "You're really alive. Oh, Patch, oh, my son, you're alive!"
She rushed to him and they nuzzled closely, rubbing their necks and tails together, tasting one another's scent, until their reunion was interrupted by a dry cough.
"I hate to interrupt this touching encounter," said the little squirrel with a scarred face, "and I am delighted your son has somehow survived this war, but we still must attend to important matters of state."
Annoyed, Patch looked at this little squirrel and demanded, "Who are you?"
An awed hush fell over all the other squirrels in sight. Longtail, who had just made it up to the crown, emitted a horrified little whimper.
The little scarred squirrel looked too shocked to answer. It was the big red squirrel next to him who spoke. He sounded amused. "You didn't ask me, Patch son of Silver, but for your information, I am Stardancer son of Swimmer, baron of the Seeker clan, lord of the Northern tribe. My companion here is Thorn son of Shaker, baron of the Strong clan, lord of the Ramble tribe, and true King of the Center Kingdom."
Patch's mouth fell open. Surely this Stardancer was joking. This little squirrel with the fussy mannerisms and the expression of someone who had just eaten a bad grub couldn't really be King Thorn.
The little squirrel looked coldly at Patch. "This is a council of war, Patch son of Silver, and your presence is neither requested nor desired."
"Patch, I'm sorry, the King is right," Silver said. "We have business here. Redeye and the rats are coming. Go down two levels and wait for me here."
"I know," Patch said. "They're coming from the west. I'm in Nighteye's war-clan, we just fought a group of rats northwest of the Great Sea, that's why I came here to the oak. They were out in daylight, they must have been scouting for their army."
"We will take that under advisement," Thorn said haughtily. "Now descend."
Patch hesitated and looked at Silver.
Thorn said, and his disapproval now verged on anger, "I am your King, Patch son of Silver, and I have heard the news you bear and given you an order. Not many are favoured with my personal attention. Now begone!"
Silver nodded.
"All right, all right, I'm begone," Patch said, feeling somehow betrayed and disappointed. He pushed his way past Longtail and went back down where he had seen acorns piled in a trunk; but the squirrel there said the acorns were for the king's guards and the lords, and others had to forage for themselves.
Despite the burgeoning spring, food was in short supply near King Thorn's court, and the it was late afternoon by the time Patch finally returned to the oak tree with a full belly. His foul mood vanished almost immediately. Silver was waiting for him on the ground beneath its branches.
"I'm sorry, Patch," she said. "You don't know how happy I was to hear you were alive. And that was nothing compared to how happy I was to see you. I wanted to run away and spend all day talking to you, but I couldn't, there's a war on, I had to stay with the council."
"I understand." Patch wasn't at all upset with her; he was angry with King Thorn for not being the wise, mighty, magnificent and magnanimous squirrel that Patch had always envisioned.
"But we have time now. Come and tell me, where have you been? What happened to you?"
Patch curled up with his mother and began to tell her the story of all his many adventures. At first she listened with full attention, and gasped when he told her of Jumper's death. Once his story left the Center Kingdom, though, he soon sensed that she was listening to him with only one ear; so he raced ahead, telling her only the things that seemed important, rather than the full story he longed to recount.
"I've been thinking," he said, once his story was fully summarized. "The things I've seen, my friends, we could help King Thorn. Karmerruk said he wanted to help, if we could find him. And I bet Zelina would help too. She doesn't like rats, and she's the Queen of All Cats, I mean, sort of. Also, I was thinking Toro could find Redeye's army, and then King Thorn's army could go outside the Center Kingdom to sneak up on them, there's a little strip around the edge of the kingdom where humans go but not death machines."
Silver smiled faintly. "You've been very brave, Patch. It's amazing what you've been through. I'm so proud you've survived."
"I didn't just survive. I think I could really help. If we can find Karmerruk, that's a start, imagine if there was a hawk on our side!"
"Patch -"
"He wants to kill Lord Snout. If Snout shows his face aboveground, Karmerruk can just pick him up from the air, no matter how many rats are around him! And Redeye and Sniffer too!"
Silver sighed. "Patch, please. A hawk fighting on our side? We can't afford to waste our time on daydreams. We're at war. You've spent your whole life dreaming and wandering. And I love that about you, I've always admired it, but now you have to stop. It isn't safe to dream and wander any more. Longtail told me how brave you were this morning, how you killed three rats, I'm so proud of you. And you've always been so smart. But you have to be serious now, you have to stop chasing dreams. I'm sorry to talk to you like this, but we're fighting for survival here, all of us. If Redeye wins, the rats will kill us all. All of us, you understand? Redeye and the Meadow too. Every squirrel in the Center Kingdom. You have to be serious."
"But you don't understand," Patch said, "you didn't see Alabast fight, the cats fought a whole rat army and survived -"
"Patch. No. You can't go into the mountains looking for your friend the cat who thinks she's a queen. You certainly can't go looking for a hawk. As for going around the edge of the Kingdom, you'll never convince Thorn or Sharpclaw to do that, it's unheard of, it's wasteland, there are dogs and death machines. I should know. I just came back from the mountains."
"You did?" Patch asked, astonished. "What were you doing there? I didn't think anyone else had ever gone to the mountains."
"I've been to the mountains twice now," Silver said. "The first time was near the end of winter, before the hawk took you. I must have just missed you. You see, I was looking for Lord Jumper -"
6. Silver's Tale
I remember I spent that whole winter day digging in snow and frozen dirt, looking for food for Tuft and Brighteyes. Their babies were hungry, and babies have to eat every day, Patch, or they weaken and die so fast, so terribly fast. But there wasn't any food. It was that day I realized this wasn't just a bad winter, it was much worse, it was famine, disaster. You were away somewhere, as usual. I meant to go find Jumper, but there was no need. He was waiting for me when I came back to my drey to warm up. Him and a little squirrel called Redeye.
How could we have known? We couldn't even imagine that we'd been betrayed by our own kind, that Redeye and Sniffer had been working with the rats all winter, stealing a little of our food every night
so all our buried nuts were gone before spring. There are still some squirrels who don't believe it. But most are dead now. Brighteyes is dead, Patch. I saw her die in the Battle of the Meadow. I'm sorry. I don't know about Tuft or her babies. They're sworn to the Meadow now, but I still hope they're alive. I still hope.
Jumper said Redeye knew where there was food, he had come from the Meadow to help. Redeye wanted me to come with them. I would have died like Jumper. But something didn't smell right about Redeye. His eyes, he wouldn't look at us. And Jumper had waited outside my drey, but Redeye had gone right in without any invitation. Jumper was desperate, he was lord of a tribe suffering a deadly famine, he was ready to believe any offer of help. But my gut told me that Redeye would make things worse. I should have argued with Jumper. No: I should have killed Redeye then and there. But how could I have known? I just told them I couldn't go, I had to stay with my grandbabies.
Jumper was supposed to come back that night with food, but he didn't. I spent that night with Tuft and Brighteyes. It was so cold, you remember their drey wasn't a cave, it was twigs and bark. We were all so cold and hungry, her babies were crying all night, oh, Patch, I feel sick to my heart when I think of that night. When morning came and Jumper hadn't come I went and followed his trail. It wasn't hard. Redeye had that strange smell. I followed them to the edge of the Kingdom, and then their scent disappeared into a little hole under a tree root. It was just big enough for a squirrel. If I hadn't been so hungry, if it hadn't been for Brighteyes, I would never have gone into the underworld. But I did.
I don't know how to tell you what happened next. It was awful. There wasn't just one tunnel, there were so many of them, all of them stinking of Rat. The smell was awful. I'm not like Sniffer, it was hard for me to follow Jumper and Redeye. At first I could because most of the tunnels were too small for a squirrel. Then we went into a metal thing, a human thing like a hollow trunk, it was full of water that smelled like sickness, I could hardly breathe. Other hollow metal things connected to it, smaller, like branches. Sometimes the water was so deep I had to swim in it, even though it was half-mud, and full of dead things. There were insects everywhere, cockroaches, beetles, things hissing at me. I would have gone back but I lost their scent, I didn't know where I was or how I could get back. Oh, Patch, I thought I would die. I don't know how long I wandered. I think a whole day and night. I heard things moving down there, rats and other things, I don't know what. The air made me choke I couldn't find a way out. It was like living in a nightmare.
