17 The Rat Queen

Eventually, Nirir guided us into a large round chamber. There was a rotten smell here, and as I raised up my light crystal and cast its glow on my surroundings, I realized why.

    Remains of furniture surrounded me. Wooden bed frames, fallen apart and rotted, with dusty and musty old fabrics in tatters upon them, lined the edges of the circular room. I realized with a start that this had once been a shelter for the citizens of Istalfax, a place where those hiding from the Orc hordes could rest and sleep in relative peace and safety. It was place built so that people could hide from certain death, long-since abandoned, and yet it still flourished with life.

    On every ruined bedroom, and along the curved walls on all sides of me, I saw rats.

    The small creatures all regarded our group with their black, beady eyes. Countless tiny noses seemed to shake and sniffle at us, and some rats repositioned themselves to get a better look, their long hairless tails flopping about behind their little round bodies as they did so.

    "So, the Peacemaker arrives," a small voice said from the darkness before me. "Step forward, chosen of destiny."

    I assumed that referred to me, so I did as instructed, walking past Nirir and holding up my light crystal to see what was before me.

    There, in the center of the chamber was what appeared to be a pile of debris; old rotted pieces of wood and fabric, thrown atop one another to form a hill of trash, upon which was perched a perfectly white rat, who regarded me with bright red eyes. Below her place on the summit, a handful of other rats sat on various spots on the trash mountain, and one, white with a dark hooded pattern of fur about his head, spoke:

    "We welcome you, Peacemaker, to the Court of Her Royal Majesty Giratina II. I pray that you enjoy your stay among our kind." <Ally with me, and help me displace this fool queen.>

    I blinked, and realized that this was not the first time I'd seen this particular rat. He'd been in my room last night. He'd cast some kind of spell; a godsdamned rat had cast a sleep spell on me. And I'd heard his voice say something about me helping him gain power then too; that strange voice I heard from people that said what they didn't want to say out loud.

    Their desires, I'd since realized. I was hearing the voice of people's desires.

    Immediately I knew that this hooded rat, whoever he was, was dangerous. He was a schemer, out for his own gain, who saw me as a useful pawn in whatever political game was played in the rat court.

    "I'm guessing that you, the albino one, is Queen Giratina?" I said. "And you, the guy talking, I don't know who you are."

    "I am Calratis," the hooded rat said. "Advisor to the Queen."

    "Calratis is wise," Queen Giratina II said. "He has aided me much in this past year, since I took the throne. But you, Peacemaker, we believe that you can aid us even more."

    "Maybe," I said. "What did you have in mind?"

    "You are the Peacemaker," Queen Giratina said. "You make peace. Our blood feud with the cats has lasted for centuries. You have the power to end it. You have the power to drive the cats out of this city." <No more bloodshed.>

    "What?" Nirir demanded from behind me. "Who are you to claim this territory? If anything, it is you and your kind who should be driven from the walls of Istalfax!"

    "Tell your pet to keep silent," Calratis said. "His voice is unwelcome in this Court."

    "Pet!?" Nirir shouted, his voice cracking with rage. "How dare you!?"

    "Calm down, Nirir," another small voice said. I glanced down to my feet and saw Miratus emerge from the shadows. "Do you really want things to get violent here and now, when you are in rat territory, alone, surrounded by rodents?" <Don't be goaded. Don't give Calratis what he wants.>

    I was extremely for this "hearing voices" power, whatever it was. It was really helping me figure out the court politics here. Apparently, Miratus and Calratis weren't allies, and considering the impression I got from Calratis, I figured Miratus was the one I wanted to be friends with, given the choice. However, Calratis clearly had the queen's ear. Giratina wanted the cats gone, and she wanted them gone in the name of peace for the rats. That made sense, I guess, but I still got the impression that there was a lot going on here that didn't understand.

    "Let me handle this, Nirir," I said. "Please." I then addressed the Queen: "You say you want peace, but I don't think there's any peaceful to remove the feline population of Istalfax."

    "The peace will come after," the Queen said. "Surely, you understand, Peacemaker: it is through war that peace is forged. Peace exists only in the silence that washes over the field when the sounds of battle at last die out."

    Fuck that was a heavy and depressing thought. But given what I knew of history, it wasn't exactly incorrect, no matter how much I wished it was.

    "That's true," I conceded, "but are cats really your number one priority right now? From what I understand, the mice aren't exactly keeping to themselves at the moment."

    "As if we have anything to fear from mice," Calratis scoffed. "Chakren is a buffoon. The mice only follow him because they are desperate and stupid; he poses no real threat."

    I thought back to the mob of mice that had confronted me the night before, and the demonic that Chakren had summoned to his side. Somehow I doubted Calratis really understood what he was talking about.

    "Still," I said, "I'd rather focus on the mice problem first."

    "Why bother?" Giratina asked. "We can handle mice. They are size of children!"

    So are dwarves, I thought. That never stopped them from kicking our asses when they needed to.

    Still, I could tell that the mouse thing was a non-started right now. So instead of arguing further, I just said: "Regardless, I can't do anything right now. I need something first."

    "Oh?" Calratis asked, not bothering to disguise the suspicion in his voice. "And what is it that you need, Peacemaker?"

    "The Crown of Arcturus Orcslayer," I said. "I've been told that your kingdom holds it."

    The rats on the trash pile hesitated and exchanged glances with each other.

    "Well," the Queen said after a moment, "technically, it is in our domain. Not far from here, in fact. But we don't actually have possession of it."

    "You don't need it anyway," Calratis said quickly. "It's really not necessary for one marked by Fate such as yourself."

    Well, shit, now definitely wanted it.

    "I really do need it, actually," I insisted. "Because of the destiny. It's uh, my destiny to get it."

    The rats all stared at me as if they expected me to admit I was joking. I was suddenly feeling extremely uncomfortable, and my mind started conjuring up all sorts of reasons as to why the rats were so resistant to the idea of me getting the Crown.

    "Very well," Queen Giratina said at last, the reluctance obvious in her voice. "If the Peacemaker insists… Miratus please escort the Peacemaker to the Crown's chamber. Alone."

    "No," Nirir declared. "I am going too!"

    I shook my head. "Stay here and keep an eye on Nell and…" I was going to say "Calratis," but figured every rat in the chamber would me say that and then it would be a whole thing. "Just keep an eye on things," I finished lamely.

    "Hey, I'm not too wild about standing around in the dark waiting for you to come back," Nel said.

    I tossed her my light crystal and fished a second one out from my pouch. "I got a spare," I said.

    "Well look at you, all prepared and shit."

    I grinned at Nel, and then nodded at Miratus. The little rat didn't seem keen and leading me to the Crown, but he did so anyway, guiding me past the royal garbage heap and out the opposite end of the chamber.

    "You are braver than I thought, Peacemaker," Miratus said as he guided me down the dark tunnels of the catacombs.

    "Thanks."

    It was only a few minutes before he stopped outside an old wooden door. "The Crown is just beyond," Miratus told me. "I pray for your success. Good luck with the lich."

    "Thanks," I said again as he turned and scurried back into the shadows. And then his words sank in.

    "Wait," I called after him. "What lich!?"